April 17
KUWAIT:
Kuwait’s Parliament must halt plans to introduce death penalty for blasphemy
A proposed legal amendment that would make blasphemy a crime punishable by
death in Kuwait would be a massive step backwards by the country's authorities,
if passed by parliament, Amnesty International said today. The draft law was
quickly introduced and passed by the Kuwaiti Parliament’s Law and Legal Affairs
Committee following the arrest of a man accused of insulting the Prophet
Muhammad on Twitter.
Hamad al-Naqi, a member of Kuwait’s Shi’a Muslim minority, is being held in
pre-trial detention charged with “defaming the Prophet” in tweets posted on the
social-networking website last month. He has denied making the posts, saying
that somebody hacked into his Twitter account.
Kuwait's parliament voted in favour of the amendment on 12 April. Before it is
passed, the amendment must go to a 2nd vote 2 weeks after the 1st and then be
approved by the government and Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
“We urge Kuwait’s parliament to reject such an amendment which would constitute
a flagrant breach of the country’s international human rights obligations,”
said Ann Harrison, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and
North Africa Programme.
“All eyes are on Kuwait’s recently-elected legislators. They must immediately
scrap any plans to introduce the death penalty for blasphemy.”
Article 111 of the Penal Code prohibits defamation of religion, currently
providing for up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine.
Under international law, “religious” offences do not fall under the category of
“most serious crimes”, the minimum threshold prescribed for crimes carrying the
death penalty.
In November 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called on Kuwait to
“revise its legislation on blasphemy and related laws […] to ensure their
strict compliance with the [International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, or ICCPR]” to which Kuwait is a state party.
Article 15 of the ICCPR prohibits states from imposing a heavier penalty than
the one applicable at the time an alleged offence was committed.
“If it emerges that Hamad al-Naqi's Twitter account was indeed hacked then he
has no case to answer; otherwise he is being held solely for exercising his
right to freedom of expression and, unless charged with an internationally
recognizable offence, he must be released immediately,” said Ann Harrison.
“On no account should he be sentenced to death.”
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception,
as a violation of the right to life as recognized in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
(source: Amnesty International USA)
LIBERIA:
Liberian authorities release mercenary on bail accused of leading massacres in
Ivory Coast
Liberian authorities have quietly released on bail a mercenary known as "Bob
Marley" who is accused of leading massacres in neighboring Ivory Coast last
year that left more than 120 people dead.
The man, whose real name is Isaac Chegbo, has been implicated by both the
United Nations and Human Rights Watch in attacks including 1 with machetes and
rocket-propelled grenades that killed at least 37.
Chegbo, 39, who is known for his voluminous dreadlocks, is prohibited from
leaving Liberia while on bail pending his trial on charges of "mercenarism."
The 1st-degree felony can carry the death penalty or life imprisonment if
convicted.
However, Daku Mulbah, the government attorney responsible for trying the case,
said that he was unaware of Chegbo's whereabouts since his release on $1,000
bail in February.
"We had no knowledge of it," said Mulbah, who said he still hoped to try the
case next month against Chegbo.
Matt Wells, West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch and the author of a
report on the postelection violence in Ivory Coast, said Liberian authorities
needed to monitor Chegbo vigilantly.
"Chegbo's bail demands that Liberian authorities closely monitor his activities
to prevent additional crimes and any attempt to flee from prosecution," Wells
said. "Instead, it seems like relevant legal officials scarcely know his
current whereabouts, or even that he was released."
The attacks came toward the end of a 5-month conflict that erupted after former
President Laurent Gbagbo lost a runoff presidential election in November 2010
but tried to cling to power through force of arms in Ivory Coast.
The U.N. estimates at least 3,000 people died during the power struggle between
Gbagbo and now-President Alassane Ouattara, a conflict that experts say was
exacerbated by violence from mercenaries recruited in neighboring Liberia.
Chegbo's charge sheet says he and his colleagues were recruited to fight for
Gbagbo in early 2011 and were promised free reign to loot.
He and four other recruits traveled to Abidjan in February 2011 to meet with
high-level Gbagbo officials before receiving 55 AK-47 assault rifles to arm
their fighters, according to the charge sheet.
Chegbo was captured in eastern Liberia on April 13, 2011, 2 days after Gbagbo
was arrested, according to the final report of the U.N. Panel of Experts on
Liberia, released in November.
Though Chegbo initially was released, he was later re-arrested and transferred
to Monrovia, where he was charged with "mercenarism."
The HRW report details two massacres in March 2011 that were reportedly led by
Chegbo. In one, pro-Gbagbo militiamen and mercenaries armed with automatic
weapons, RPGs and machetes killed at least 37 West African immigrants while
pillaging homes and looting valuables.
A few days later, in the town of Blolequin, attackers killed more than 100
immigrants and natives of northern Ivory Coast who were trying to flee the
conflict.
Witnesses said Chegbo separated refugees by ethnicity to avoid killing any
Guere, an ethnic group seen as being supportive of Gbagbo.
"Just before 6 o'clock, armed men broke into the room where we were. It was the
Liberian mercenaries ... led by a guy who goes by the name 'Bob Marley,'" said
a survivor quoted in the HRW report.
"They had a Guere militia guy standing there, who asked each person what ethnic
group he was from ... If you could speak Guere, they led you outside. If you
couldn't, they forced you into another direction. ... We were standing outside
and they had us wait while they opened fire on everyone who wasn't Guere. I
don't know how anyone could have survived. There was so much noise from the
firing, from the crying," he said.
Human Rights Watch and the U.N. say Chegbo's mercenary activity dates back to
2002-03.
"Given the gravity of the crimes Chegbo's implicated in, Liberian authorities
should quickly demonstrate progress toward a speedy and fair trial," Wells
said.
He said the prosecution of mercenaries "is essential in showing the Liberian
government's commitment to end the impunity of soldiers for hire who have
wreaked havoc on both sides of the border."
An untold number of ex-combatants from Liberia's brutal 14-year civil war,
which ended in 2003, are still struggling to support themselves, experts say,
prompting concerns that they can be easily recruited into conflict.
The U.N. Panel of Experts report notes that "few mercenary commanders have been
detained by the Liberian authorities," and warns that the artisanal mining
sector in eastern Liberia "remains fertile ground for potential mercenary
recruitment."
(source: Associated Press)
LIBYA:
Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam 'may be tried in Libya' ---- Saif al-Islam has been
held by militiamen in Libya since November 2011
The International Criminal Court could soon drop its demand that Saif al-Islam
Gaddafi be transferred to the Hague for trial, officials have told the BBC.
They say the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could be tried inside
Libya but under ICC supervision.
The argument over who should try him has been going on ever since his capture
in November last year.
The ICC has indicted him for crimes against humanity, but Libya insists he be
tried on its soil.
The Libyan justice ministry says a deal is being finalised under which Mr
Gaddafi would be tried in Libya but with security and legal supervision
provided by the international court.
The BBC's Jon Donnison, in the Libyan capital Tripoli, has been told by a
Western official with good knowledge of the case that a deal is close to being
agreed.
But the official warned it could be months before any trial might begin.
'Ground-breaking'
Describing the suggested arrangement as ground-breaking for the ICC, the
official acknowledged concerns that 39-year-old Saif al-Islam could face the
death penalty in Libya.
But he added that the court could accept a death sentence if the trial was fair
and transparent, and there was an adequate appeals process.
The ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is due to visit Libya this week.
The Libyan authorities have been refusing to hand Mr Gaddafi over to the ICC.
Human rights groups have argued that the Libyan justice system is not capable
of dealing with such a high-profile case.
A lawyer involved in the case has described that view as patronising and
colonial.
He told the BBC that the ICC should only try cases in which the country
concerned was unwilling or unable to conduct its own trial.
Mr Gaddafi is currently being held by a militia in the Zintan region of Libya.
He was once expected to succeed his father, Libya's late leader, Col Muammar
Gaddafi.
The group has given no indication of when they will hand him over to the Libyan
government.
Set up in 2002, the ICC made its 1st successful conviction last month, when
Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga was found guilty of recruiting child
soldiers.
(source: BBC News)
JAMAICA:
Jamaica currently has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
More people are killed proportionally in Jamaica monthly than are recorded
killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same period.
The country remains among the 10 nations with the most murders per 100,000
population, according to international data.
While March represented the lowest number of murders in one month in Jamaica
since 2003, there were still a total of 69, in a country with a population of
under 3 million.
Shootings and beheadings are the current favorite methods of murder. The
Kingston Public hospital is unfortunately one of the best hospitals in the
world for the treatment of gunshot wounds.
Jamaica appears to be a society turning on itself in a malicious way. Nobody
can be totally confident that they will not be the next victim of gunmen.
Jamaica is not a peaceful place. Murderers are, for the most part, escaping
from arrest. Some of them are politically connected and gang-related.
Jamaica No Problem! This has developed into an assurance that if you are
sufficiently evil and ruthless you can kill anybody in Jamaica without
consequences.
It is almost as dangerous to condemn corruption publicly as it is to be an
honest police officer. Many police officers who have stood up to the criminal
gangs have either been harmed or run out of the force.
However, too many of Jamaica’s police are forced into corruption by their low
wages and limited professional opportunities.
We should invest more in our police officers.
Consistent regular capital punishment for murder will reduce the murder rate.
Some human rights groups may complain, but somebody has to have the political
will to put an end to this trend of social self-destruction.
Proper, more sophisticated policing, too, will make a dent in the murder rate.
Until each prospective murderer knows that they are facing the noose of
retribution, I believe that mayhem will be the rule rather than the exception.
Neither tourists or investors wish to be shot at.
(source: Op-Ed; David P Rowe is an attorney in Florida and Jamaica and a
professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law--Caribbean Journal)
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