| Letter to Canada’s House of Commons
by Lawyers Against the War |
| Uruknet.info, Monday, December 21, 2009
Open letter to the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan
Dear Committee Members: Chair: Rick Casson, Vice-chair: Bryon Wilfert, Members: Jim Abbott, Ujjal Dosanjh, Francine Lalonde, Claude Bachand, Laurie Hawn, Dave MacKenzie, Paul Dewar, Greg Kerr, Deepak Obhrai: Lawyers against the War (LAW) urges the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan to recommend: The immediate cessation of transfers of people taken prisoner in Afghanistan (prisoners) by Canada, to third countries, including Afghanistan; and, That Canada immediately undertake effective protective and remedial measures with respect to all prisoners already transferred by Canada to third countries; and, The creation of a judicial inquiry mandated to inquire into allegations that the transfers violate Canadian and international law and to recommend the civil and criminal remedies required by law. |
Archive for the ‘Human rights’ Category
Torture: The Transfers of Afghan Prisoners
December 24, 2009Lithuanian Probe Reveals Two CIA Black Sites
December 23, 2009CIA Conducted ‘Interrogations’ in Stable
The Lithuanian Parliament released its findings into a probe of CIA activities in the nation today, confirming that the American spy agency in fact operated two “black sites” inside the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius.
The probe further showed that at least five CIA planes landed in the city and that Lithuania’s own domestic spy agencies prevented border guards from inspecting them. Lithuania’s civilian government denies ever having been informed of any such actions beforehand, and Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius called it a “matter of great concern.”
Rather the requests are said to have gone directly to Lithuania’s State Security Department, which approved the CIA’s requests establishing both a single-cell “interrogation” facility and later a larger site. A former stable on the outskirts of the city served as the CIA’s interrogation center.
The US has declined all comments into this probe so far, but the Lithuanian government seems determined not to allow the activity to damage relations at any rate. The State Security Department’s chief, Povilas Malakauskas, resigned last week in anticipation of the results of the probe.
Liu Xiabao Chinese dissident goes on trial
December 23, 2009| Al Jazeera, Dec 23, 2009 | ||||||
The trial of a leading Chinese dissident accused of trying to subvert the power of the state has ended after lasting just two hours. Liu Xiaobo, a 53-year-old academic, who was previously jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, has been charged with “inciting subversion of state power” for co-authoring a report appealing for political liberalisation. Liu’s brother told reporters after the trial that a verdict was expected on Friday. The highly-sensitive case has been criticised by human rights groups and Western governments who have urged China to drop the charges and immediately release Liu. Western diplomats in Beijing had requests to attend the trial rejected, while other key Chinese dissidents were also reportedly warned to stay away. Dozens of police ringed the courthouse on Wednesday as Liu’s trial was set to get underway. If convicted, Liu faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He has already been jailed for 21 months for participating in the Tiananmen protests. The case against Liu centres on his co-authoring of a petition called Charter 08, which calls for the protection of human rights in China and reform of the country’s one-party communist system. Petition circulated
According to China Human Rights Defenders, a network of activists, the petition had been widely circulated online, and was signed by more than 10,000 people, including other dissidents and intellectuals.It specifically calls for the abolition of subversion in China’s criminal code – the very crime with which Liu has been charged. Bao Tong, a former aide to ex-Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, who was jailed for sympathising with the Tiananmen protests, also signed the petition. “I insisted that I am a part of this case. If Liu Xiaobo is to be tried, then I should be tried as well,” he told AFP news agency. “If he is found guilty, this will be a problem because it will mean that the freedom of speech and freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution are fake.” Liu is fighting the charges but has no plans to appeal if the verdict goes against him, his wife, Liu Xia, said ahead of Wednesday’s trial opening. “With a government like this, a government without principles, there is nothing you can say,” she said. Access barred Gregory May, a political officer with the US embassy in Beijing, said he and other diplomats had been refused access to the trial. “We were told all the passes were given out. We understand no one can get
“We call on the government of China to release him immediately. We urge that any judicial proceedings be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.”Nicholas Weeks, the first secretary of the Swedish Embassy, said diplomats from at least 15 countries were outside the court. Human rights groups say the sensitive trial has been deliberately timed by Chinese authorities to coincide with the Christmas holiday period, in the hope that international media and foreign governments will overlook the case. The subversion charge faced by Liu is often brought against those who voice opposition to China’s ruling Communist Party, and rights groups have accused the government of abusing such charges to silence its critics. “Liu Xiaobo’s detention and trial show that the Chinese government will not tolerate Chinese citizens participating in discussions about their own form of government,” Sam Zarifi, the director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme, said in a statement. “After Liu Xiaobo, more than 300 Chinese scholars, lawyers and officials who proposed a blueprint for improving their political system may be at risk, as well as nearly 10,000 signatories.” |
Liu Xiabao is a literary critic, a former professor of literature and human rights activist.
World ‘failed Gaza over Israeli blockade’ – aid groups
December 22, 2009
|
By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem |
Aid agencies say the world community must put more pressure on Israel
|
Aid agencies have strongly criticised the international community for failing to help bring an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
The charities made the accusation in a report published just ahead of the anniversary of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The aid agencies condemn not just Israel, but the world community.
In the words of Oxfam’s director, Jeremy Hobbs, “world powers have failed and betrayed Gaza’s ordinary citizens”.
Gaza, Afghanistan and International Law
December 22, 2009| Interview with Richard Falk
Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and author of “Crimes of War: Iraq” and “The Costs of War: International Law, the UN, and World Order after Iraq” recorded October 17, 2009 in Seattle
Information Clearing House, posted Dec 21, 2009
|
‘The UK is not a banana republic’
December 18, 2009| By Daud Abdullah, Al Jazeera, Dec 18, 2009
|
||||||
David Miliband, the UK’s foreign secretary, has apologised to his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, after the humiliation and embarrassment caused by the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister.The arrest warrant was issued over Livni’s suspected war crimes role during Israel’s war on Gaza, but was later withdrawn after she cancelled her visit to London. Miliband also promised to begin work immediately to change UK laws to ensure that no such warrants would be issued for Israeli officials in the future. As an added sweetener to the act of contrition, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, also personally called Livni to assure her she would always be welcomed to visit the UK. All of this is easier said than done. Already there is a huge outcry in Britain over the mere thought of changing UK laws or reneging on treaty obligations simply to protect Israeli officials involved in the serial breach of international law. In their deluded fantasy the Israelis claim that the judicial order in London will seriously impair bi-lateral relations between London and Tel Aviv, jeopardise the Middle East peace process and undermine Britain’s image in the region. Historic Middle East role
What a gross distortion. Britain’s historic relationship and role in the Middle East is unquestioned. Even though it has on many occasions acted against the national interests of the people of the region and the Palestinians in particular, it would be wishful thinking to suggest that it could be excluded from future negotiations.Instead of being eternally grateful to Britain for creating their state in Palestine, Israeli officials are today attempting to bite the very hand that fed them. To claim that Britain is in trouble or would be the loser because of the court order is disingenuous. Actually, the only losers are those who planned, commissioned and executed the war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. They are the ones in hot water, so to speak, and the greatest service Brown could make on behalf of universal jurisdiction is to leave them to stew in it. These sentiments were expressed by his former cabinet colleague Clare Short, a member of the Labour Party and an independent MP, while addressing a conference organised by the Palestinian Return Centre, in London. A former minister for international development, Short said the crimes committed in Gaza during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead last year marked a defining moment in the conflict. She criticised how Israel has undermined the international system by its cavalier breach of conventions and established norms in an apparent attempt to tell the world that there are special laws for certain states and that it is a state above the law. She derided the hypocrisy of those who seek to prosecute Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, while at the same time they refuse and obstruct efforts to investigated and prosecute Israeli criminals. Violations of international law The groveling apology to Israel, after the British ambassador was summoned for a reprimand by the Israeli foreign ministry, is the type of reaction expected from a banana republic, not from Great Britain. Should the foreign secretary entertain Lieberman, a Jewish settler himself and a resident of Nokdim, a West Bank settlement considered illegal under international law? What a contradiction. The official policy of the UK government is that all settlements in the lands occupied in 1967 are illegal and violate UN Security Council resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is poignant to point out that Livni’s father and mother were regarded as “terrorists” by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine in the 1940s and were both captured and locked up. Under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Britain still has an obligation to “to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts”. What is at stake in this imbroglio is the independence of the British judiciary, an institution that for hundreds of years has been a source of national pride and emulated by many nations. It is for this reason there is anger and outrage over the government’s declared intent to succumb to Israel. The implication, of course, is the fear that in future Britain would not be able to lay any claim to be a bastion and guardian of international law. The rhetoric of ‘rule of law’ will run hollow if there was any change of the law for no other reason except to protect war criminals who happen to be members of the club. Compelling evidence
It must be recalled that these laws came into being because of the Nazi war crimes and crimes against humanity. Only last month there was great satisfaction and hubris when John Demjanjuk was brought before a German court more than 60 years after allegedly committing his crimes.The message was clear: that war crimes and crimes against humanity are so repugnant that they must not go unpunished. The case against the Israeli minister and her accomplices was made not by Richard Goldstone only. A number of independent reports including the report of Independent Fact-Finding Committee on Gaza to the Arab League, the Martin Commission report to the UN secretary-general on attacks on UN premises, and reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights and the National Lawyers Guild, all support the conclusion that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the Israeli military in its Operation Cast Lead. It was because of this compelling evidence that a British judge issued the warrant for Livni’s arrest. To present the matter as if it were a malicious witch hunt is simply beside the point. Surely it would be a travesty of justice if what occurred in Gaza was not investigated and prosecuted. Peace in the region has remained elusive precisely because of this failure to be even-handed in the application of international law, always at the expense of Palestinian rights. If Palestinians do not have recourse to the law, one wonders what other options are left to them when their legitimate grievances are ignored. Daud Abdullah is the director of the Middle East Monitor, an independent media research institution founded in the United Kingdom to foster a fair and accurate coverage in the Western media of Middle Eastern issues and in particular the Palestine Question. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy. |
Desmond Tutu On Cyprus
December 17, 2009By Christiana Voniati, Countercurrents.org, Dec 16, 2009
Some call him Father; others call him “the voice of global consciousness”. As a child, he experienced the criminal nature of Apartheid in South Africa. Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu was the man who, along with Nelson Manedla, brought an end to the racist regime of his country, marking an immense victory of humanity. Small in stature, giant in spirit, Tutu has become a global symbol, not only for peace, but also for reconciliation, which “can only come about through forgiveness”. In the post-Apartheid era, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which aimed at examining the circumstances under which the horrific crimes took place during the resist regime. The Commission had the authority of granting amnesty to those who gave a full confession concerning the politically motivated crimes they had committed. Transferring the wisdom of his struggle and experience, the Chairman of the Elders has recently visited half-occupied Cyprus, offering his moral support to the laborious negotiations for a peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem. When asked why he chose to visit Cyprus, of all the other problematic areas of the planet that may need his support, Tutu answered: “I can smell the scent of peace here… I came to give it a little push, if I can”…
Peace and Justice Post 
International outcry after Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years
December 26, 2009(AFP/Getty Images)
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia in Beijing
China meted out its harshest punishment for subversion in two decades yesterday, sentencing the country’s leading dissident to 11 years in jail in a verdict that provoked international condemnation.
Liu Xiaobo, who organised a petition calling for political freedoms, stood silently in the No 1 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing to hear the judge declare him guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”.
Continues >>
Share this:
Tags:charges, Charter 08, human rights organizations, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo
Posted in China, Commentary, Human rights, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »