From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, 3 February 1999 07:59 Subject: new brit archive on Pinochet Here's a new Pinochet archive at http://www.lakota.clara.net It's a response by several Brit.TV-news reporters to the well-known deficiencies of the commercial media. To me it's also an good example of what internet activism is all about. ======================= "The site idea came from a meeting in a London pub whereby a few reporters were a little hacked off with their proprietors/columnists rewriting history. Hence the PinoFacts/PinoFiction idea. We also wanted a central one-stop resource for information in depth and thought it might be useful to others. (We're looking to extend this concept to other international news stories). On the decision, the tip is the hearing closes tomorrow(Wednesday) and we get the word in two weeks or so. My guess is that they will rule that Pinochet goes to Spain (I can detail you why if you wish) but that the British Home Secretary will -- at some stage in the summer -- rule that he goes back to Chile on compassionate grounds (as he did with Roisin McAliskey, the suspected IRA terrorist - wanted in Germany, last year). That solution gets everyone off the hook. { They say : We'd be really interested in comments and feedback, plus any errors of coding, speed or appearance.We'd also like to know how we can make it better... Email to pinoc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]] "I work as a news and current affairs producer for an independent company mainly working for Channel 4 ( http://www.channel4.com ). We have four other reporters directly involved plus numerous supporters. 'Tis done on the fly, either from home or on the desktop. We have outside contributors in Spain (where I used to live) and Chile, which was my girlfriend's patch in South America. We also have people in the US who supply us with material. There's a web designer and a couple of interested lawyers. We've had people in court -- I've even been there myself, but it's bum-numbingly tedious. Even the agencies are labouring hard to get anything out of it. The legitimacy of torture as an instrument of government was an "interesting" point but it's more about legal philosophy rather than justice. There are implications for international law (jump off the legal pages for the US version, but also for British justice) and that gives the Pinochetistas a slim chance (Law Lords never want to change anything). But the real debate is whether a head of state has immunity. There is some disagreement anyway as to when Augusto was made head of state. The Foreign Office here seems to think some time in 1975. If that's accepted, many of the crimes listed in the Garzon writ were committed before he had possible immunity. the crimes listed in the Garzon writ were committed before he had possible immunity. Small point also: Britains "most wanted criminal" - and they really, really want him - Kenneth Noye (road rage killing, cop killing and the rest) was in court in Spain yesterday on an extradition warrant to the UK. He reappears in a month. How do you think the Spanish will feel if they're refused Pinochet? ... My own view is that the news organisations are vastly underestimating the issue in terms of interest and ratings. The strange thing about the Pinochet case is that it defines *exactly* where a person is on the political map. When I was at university, Nelson Mandela was "God" and Pinochet "the devil". For Thatcherites it was the other way around, which is why Lady Thatcher invited Pinochet to tea and why a former Thatcher cabinet minister was able to call him "that good and brave and loyal soldier." I can't get worked up over income tax; I feel 'uneasy' about bombing Iraq; but I'd happily go to the barricades over Pinochet. The Home Secretary. Jack Straw - a Labour politician and former President of the Students Union and must be acutely aware of this - perhaps even feels a little of it himself, cold fish though he is... *****
