Sept. 20
IRAQ:
Saddam may face execution after trial next month
Saddam Hussein, now being held in one of his former Baghdad palaces, could
go on trial for crimes against humanity as early as next month, the Iraqi
interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said yesterday.
An October trial would offer a powerful political boost to President
George W Bush in the run-up to the presidential election on Nov 2.
Dr Allawi, a tough, even ruthless, former neurologist with long-standing
links to the CIA and MI6, said he did not expect the trial to take very
long and hinted at hopes that it would end with Saddam's execution.
"Maybe he will appear in November or December, but definitely in October
the whole issue will start," Dr Allawi told ABC television, referring to
the war crimes tribunal set up to try Saddam and his cronies. "I don't
think it will take a long time, because the evidence against him is . . .
overwhelming. So we hope justice is served."
Asked if that meant a death sentence, Dr Allawi answered: "The death
penalty has been restored in Iraq."
News has also emerged about Saddam's physical condition. The New York
Times said he was being held in an air-conditioned cell, 10ft by 13ft, in
the grounds of one of his former palaces, in what is now a heavily guarded
US camp within a camp, known as Camp Cropper.
The former dictator, who wears plastic sandals and an Arab robe, has been
in solitary confinement since his capture last December, kept apart from
some 80 other high-ranking detainees being held nearby. His diet includes
US military MRE instant rations, or "meals-ready-to-eat", though he has
been demanding muffins, cookies and cigars.
The former leader is allowed into a small courtyard for three hours a day,
where he gardens, placing white-painted stones around each plant he tends.
In his cell, he has a fold-up bed, a small desk and plastic chair, a
supply of bottled water and ice, a prayer mat, the Koran and his choice
from a Red Cross library of 170 Arabic-language books.
He favours works about the golden era of Iraqi power, nearly 1,000 years
ago. He insists that he is the constitutionally elected president of Iraq.
Scans and blood tests have shown that he has an enlarged prostate, a
possible warning sign of cancer, but he has refused a biopsy.
The timetable for Saddam's trial has sharply accelerated. Officials once
said it could be more than 2 years before a hearing.
Dr Allawi has his own re-election bid to consider in January's national
poll. But he denied political motives for speeding ahead, saying instead
that Iraq needed to "bury the past".
Under emergency measures being drawn up by Iraq's independent election
commission to take account of the precarious security situation, large
parts of the country could be closed down if violence flares on polling
day. Dr Farid Ayar, spokesman for the nine-strong commission said: "As
soon as our officials see signs of trouble at a polling station they will
close it down. We will keep counting votes in areas where there is no
fighting."
The measures could lead to no votes at all being cast in insurgent
strongholds such as Fallujah should violence continue to flare. It emerged
meanwhile that military commanders in Iraq are planning a winter offensive
to retake Fallujah before national elections take place, once the US
presidential election is safely out of the way.
A senior member of Iraq's national security council said freshly trained
Iraqi soldiers would join American troops in an all-out offensive to
occupy the city should peaceful efforts to disarm the insurgents fail.
"We've got to deal with Fallujah before elections [in January]. The fact
that Fallujah and other cities are controlled by insurgents is not
acceptable to the Iraqi government," said the senior Iraqi official. A
senior American commander suggested that operations could begin as early
as November or December so that order could be restored before a Jan 31
deadline for elections.
"We would like to end December in control across the country," he said.
(source: The Telegraph)
UZBEKISTAN:
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI Index: POL 30/036/2004 20 September 2004
Anti-death penalty activists speak out
"From the day we learned that the police were looking for Iskandar, the
life of our whole family was turned upside down." Dilobar Khudoberganova,
whose brother Iskandar Khudoberganov is on death row.
Two leading Uzbekistani campaigners against the death penalty will offer a
unique insight into the brutal reality behind this most inhuman of
practices during a two-and-a-half-month tour of European and Canadian
cities.
Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova are two women whose loved ones
were sentenced to death in Uzbekistan, one of only two countries in the
former Soviet Union still carrying out executions. The other country is
Belarus.
>From 23 September to 5 December, the two women will be touring various
cities to recount their personal experiences and explain why their
government should abolish capital punishment.
They will tell how relatives have been held hostage by the police or
harassed and ill-treated. Some are even tortured to disclose a suspect's
whereabouts or as a means of persuading suspects to hand themselves in to
the police, to sign a "confession" or to incriminate others. They will
also describe how police have extorted bribes from them, how death
sentences are passed after unfair trials, how executions and burials are
carried out in secrecy and how relatives are denied a last farewell with
their loved ones and the solace of visiting their graves.
Journalists are welcome to interview Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar
Khudoberganova when they visit the following cities:
Rome - Padova - Asolo - Venice - 23 - 28 September Milan - Turin - Rome -
Naples - Florence - Rome - 12 November - 5 December (Contact: Amnesty
International Italy +39 06 44 90 224; [email protected] ) Warsaw (Dilobar
Khudoberganova only) 5 - 8 October (Contact Amnesty International Poland
+48 22 828 56 77 [email protected]) Montreal (Tamara Chikunova
only) 5 - 10 October (Contact: Amnesty International Canada +1- 514 766
9766; Ext 230 [email protected]) Amsterdam (Dilobar Khudoberganova
only) 9 -11 October (Contact: Amnesty International Netherlands +31 20 77
33 667; [email protected] ) London - 12 - 20 October (Contact: Amnesty
International UK +44 207 814 6238; [email protected] )
Stockholm - 20 - 27 October (Contact: Amnesty International Sweden +46 8
729 0220; [email protected])
Paris - 27 October - 2 November (Contact: Amnesty International France +33
1 53 38 65 77/6541; [email protected] )
Berlin - 2 - 12 November (Contact: Amnesty International Germany +49 30
420248-306; [email protected])
Background
Tamara Chikunova is the founder and Chair of the non-governmental
organization "Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture", based in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In 1999, Tamara's son, Dmitry Chikunov, was accused
of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2000. Tamara
Chikunova has never been told where her son was buried. She has faced
harassment and intimidation when defending the rights of her son, for
example by approaching the international community with information about
his treatment in detention, including serious allegations of torture, as
well as for her subsequent anti-death penalty activities. The authorities
have exerted psychological pressure on her relatives to force Tamara
Chikunova to give up her human rights work. Police repeatedly visited her
76-year-old mother who is confined to her bed and warned her that "things
would end up very bad for her daughter" if she did not "shut up". Tamara
Chikunova reported that she frequently received anonymous phone calls at
night that she believes are intended to induce fear in order to silence
her.
(See: Uzbekistan: Anti-death penalty speakers' tour, Tamara Chikunova -
profile: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacFkXaa97F5bb0havb/ )
Dilobar Khudoberganova's brother Iskandar Khudoberganov was detained in
Tajikistan and handed over to Uzbek law enforcement officers on 5 February
2002 on suspicion of involvement in bomb explosions in Tashkent in
February 1999. Iskandar Khudoberganov was sentenced to death on 28
November 2002 on charges including "terrorism" in a trial characterized by
a diplomat who monitored it as blatantly unfair. Dilobar Khudoberganova's
family was harassed by the police to force them to disclose the
whereabouts of Iskandar - her father and brother were reportedly severely
beaten in the police headquarters. Dilobar Khudoberganova was sacked from
her job with the state radio and is still unable to find employment in a
state-run institution. The stress of constant visits by heavily armed
police officers has had a detrimental effect on the health of the children
in the Khudoberganov family.
(See: Uzbekistan: Anti-death penalty speakers' tour, Dilobar
Khudoberganova - profile:
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maacFkXaa97F6bb0havb/
Both Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova have received death
threats.
On 4 October, Amnesty International will launch its report Belarus and
Uzbekistan: the last executioners - The trend towards abolition in the
former Soviet space and an accompanying campaign as part of the
organization's work towards full abolition of the death penalty in Europe
and Central Asia.
Amnesty International (AI) works for an end to executions and the
abolition of the death penalty everywhere.
*****************************************************************
You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main text is
not altered in any way and both the header crediting Amnesty International
and this footer remain intact.
(source: Amnesty International)
