Rick Halperin
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:52:32 -0600
Dec. 15 IRAQ: UN urges Iraq to treat Saddam-era officials fairly The top U.N. envoy in Iraq has urged the Shiite-led government to treat imprisoned Saddam Hussein-era figures fairly after the American military hands them over as part of a detainee transfer required under a new security pact. The stakes are high for Saddam's cousin known as "Chemical Ali" who already faces two death sentences handed down by an Iraqi court and other former officials who were captured by U.S. troops years ago and accused of playing a role in decades of abuse and killings of Shiites and Kurds. Staffan de Mistura, the U.N.'s special representative in Iraq, called for the high-profile figures and other detainees to be given due process "if possible with some international observation." He also reiterated the U.N.'s opposition to capital punishment. "The wish of the U.N. is that the death penalty is not applied," he told The Associated Press on Saturday in a telephone interview. The fate of Ali Hassan al-Majid, nicknamed "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds, former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie and an ex-deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces Hussein Rashid Mohammed has been in limbo since an appeals court upheld their death sentences in September. The 3 men were sentenced to hang for a 1980s crackdown against Kurds. But the U.S. military refused to relinquish control of the detainees after Sunni leaders launched a campaign to spare the life of al-Taie, who is widely viewed as a respected career soldier who was forced to follow Saddam's orders in the purges. The security pact, which takes effect on Jan. 1, stipulates that the U.S. military must transfer the more than 15,000 detainees in its custody to the Iraqis or release them if the evidence is not sufficient to hold them. Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, indicated earlier this month that those would include the former regime officials. "All of the detainees that we have in our control, we'll work with the government of Iraq to return those detainees in a safe and orderly fashion. That includes all of them," he said when asked about the status of the condemned men at a news conference. The Americans already have identified detainees to be released next month, and the Iraqi government will begin reviewing more files on Monday to determine who should be released or transferred to Iraqi custody starting on Feb. 1, military spokesman Maj. Neal Fisher said. The U.S. military has been heavily criticized for its past treatment of detainees, particularly following the publication of photos of inmates being humiliated by American guards at the now-closed Abu Ghraib prison. American authorities have since implemented a series of reforms, although they still face complaints about prolonged detentions without charges. Concern is currently focused on the beleaguered Iraqi judicial system, with the United Nations warning in a recent human rights report about overcrowding and "grave human rights violations" of detainees in Iraqi custody. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has been accused by Sunnis of seeking revenge over justice in its pursuit of the former regime officials. Human rights groups also denounced the December 2006 execution of Saddam, who was taunted as he went to the gallows, and the subsequent hangings of 3 of the dictator's former deputies. De Mistura said the upcoming transfer of detainees was a chance for Iraqi authorities to "send a signal that they are joining the human rights environment" by treating them fairly. Chemical Ali received a second death sentence on Dec. 2 for his role in the crushing of a Shiite uprising in the wake of Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. Former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, who was well-known as Saddam's envoy to the international community, also faces a possible death sentence in separate proceedings. The trials have been a major source of sectarian friction that has threatened to jeopardize security gains. De Mistura expressed hope that Jan. 31 provincial elections would enfranchise Sunnis and other minority groups and stem support for the insurgency. The U.N. also has decided to delay a report on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas that had been due in late November until this spring to prevent the issue from inflaming an already dangerous situation ahead of the vote, he said. A suicide bomber killed at least 55 people Thursday in a restaurant where Kurdish officials, who are seeking to incorporate the city into their semiautonomous region, and Arab tribal leaders were holding a reconciliation meeting. Iraqi lawmakers agreed on a much-stalled provincial elections law only after deciding to postpone the vote in Tamim province, which includes Kirkuk, and instead come up with separate legislation for elections there by March. (source: Assoicated Press) JAMAICA: Death Penalty Denies Due Process of Law- Senator Meadows Debate on the death penalty continued in the Senate yesterday (Dec.12) with Government Senator, Dennis Meadows, arguing that capital punishment denies due process of law, as it deprives an individual the benefit of new evidence, or new law, that might warrant the reversal of a conviction or setting aside of a death sentence. "The death penalty violates the constitutional guarantee of the equal protection of the law. It is applied randomly at best and discriminatorily at worst. It is disproportionate upon those who find the cost of a good advocate prohibitive," Senate Meadows stated. He further argued that the death penalty gives society the unmistakeable message that human life no longer deserves respect and obscures the true causes of crime. He proposed proper moral socialisation; equitable distribution of goods and services including access to education from childhood upwards; harmonious social development; and first class judicial and rehabilitation systems, as some of the solutions to solving the crime problem. Opposition Senator Norman Grant also agreed that hanging will not solve or reduce the problem of crime in Jamaica. "What we need to do is to look at the problem and fix it," he stated. "My real concern as it relates to the murder rate in Jamaica is that we are not catching them (the criminals). We need to remove them from society, but we don't have to hang them to remove them from the society," he pointed out. According to Senator Grant, the world is turning away from the use of the death penalty and since 2003 the United States has been the only country in the Americas to carry out executions. He further informed that 137 countries have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice and only 24 nations carried out executions in 2007. Meanwhile, Opposition Senator, Basil Waite stated that the death penalty remains Jamaica's most potent weapon against crime. "I support the implementation of the death penalty and the retention of the death penalty on our books, because I believe it is one of the tools that we can use to tackle the crime that we have in our society," Senator Waite said. He noted however that implementing the death penalty by itself will not stop murders from being committed. "I think more importantly that there must be an assault on the garrison communities in the sense that we must implement social, economic and infrastructural improvements in these communities to improve the lives of these people," he suggested. Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Senator Warren Newby also stated his support of the death penalty. The debate will continue on December 19. (source: Jamaica Information Service)