Feb. 1
EGYPT:
Egypt: death sentences for anti-Muslim "film"
An Egyptian court on Jan. 29 upheld the in absentia death sentences of seven
Coptic Christians and an American preacher on charges stemming from the amateur
anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims, which sparked violent protests in the
Middle East last year. A criminal court in Cairo sentenced the convicted
defendants in November, pending the final verdict just announced. The death
sentences are primarily symbolic, as all of the defendants live outside of
Egypt. The 8 defendants include Mark Basseley Youssef, the California man who
produced the film, as well as Florida pastor Terry Jones, who aroused
controversy last year by publicly burning a Koran. The film depicts the Prophet
Muhammad as a fraud and a womanizer. The court found the defendants guilty of
subverting national unity, spreading false information and insulting Islam,
charges that carry the death penalty.
Innocence of Muslims has generated a great deal of political, religious and
legal controversy. In September an actress who claims she was duped into
appearing in the film filed suit in the US District Court for the Northern
District of California requesting that the film be removed from YouTube.
Earlier in September UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai issued a statement
condemning the violence that erupted after the film's release. Kiai stated that
protests and rallies must be peaceful to be protected by international human
rights law and urged the Middle East states to prosecute those responsible for
the violence. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also urged
religious and political leaders to encourage an end to the violence that
followed the release of the film.
(source: WW4report)
**********************
Egypt can't overcome instability Port Said violence over the football verdicts
and protests against Morsi is evidence that Egyptians still feel betrayed and
alienated.
Soccer violence broke out again in Egypt last week. The cause was controversial
judicial verdicts relating to the worst incident of sports violence in Egyptian
history, which occurred a year ago February in the city of Port Said.
21 people were sentenced to death for their roles in the 2012 tragedy. Rioting
soon resulted after these verdicts were announced, claiming another 33 lives.
Police, aided by tanks, were quickly deployed in Port Said to restore calm.
In February 2012, 74 people were killed and about 1,000 injured in the stadium
at Port Said when violence broke out after local team al-Masry defeated their
Cairo rivals, al-Ahli. Many of those killed were supporters of the visiting
Cairo team. Local fans, however, blamed the police for not taking adequate
steps to protect those in the stadium. The tragedy brought the domestic
football league to a standstill.
Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid read out live on state television the death penalty
verdicts for 21 of the 73 standing trial. All the convicted were locals from
Port Said. The verdicts are being sent to the supreme religious authority in
Egypt, the Grand Mufti, for review and approval.
Supporters dressed in red outside al-Ahli's ground in Cairo celebrated the
verdicts, while residents of Port Said took to the streets to vent their anger.
Gun-toting protesters attacked two police stations and a number of official
buildings, including a power station. Eventually, 33 people in Port Said were
killed. The emotions were still high the next day when at least 7 more people
were killed during funerals for the earlier victims, which had drawn thousands
of mourners.
Some al-Masry fans have claimed that the death penalty verdicts were an attempt
to make their club and its fans a scapegoat, and resulted from a calculated
decision to avoid further violence in Cairo. Hooligans associated with al-Ahli
were threatening to take matters into their own hands if they did not see
justice done by the court.
Last week also saw the second anniversary of the overthrow of long-standing
Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. As a result, the soccer verdicts arrived at a
time when political sensitivities were particularly raw. Demonstrations against
the government of Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist party, the Muslim Brotherhood,
occurred in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, and had already resulted in 11
fatalities when the football verdicts were announced.
President Morsi declared a state of emergency and enforced curfews in the
provinces of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia.
As Morsi struggles to maintain control over his country, critics are
questioning his commitment to democracy. Many who supported the original 2011
uprising in Tahrir Square now feel the promises of the Arab Spring revolution
have been discarded, and those who sacrificed so much to bring about Mubarak's
political demise now feel abandoned.
Morsi faces massive challenges domestically. The economy is still in tatters.
The current threat to Egyptian stability should not be underestimated. The
military is sending large numbers of troops to cities along the Suez Canal to
restore peace. Defense minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sissi warned that the
unrest could ultimately lead to the collapse of the state. Post-Mubarak Egypt
has failed to develop a meaningful consensus on how to prioritize the country's
challenges. Feelings of betrayal are growing among large segments of the
population. As the Islamists and the liberals argue among themselves over
policy, the military appears to be waiting uneasily in the background.
American support is crucial for the Morsi regime, although its anti-Semitism
and anti-Israeli rhetoric makes that support highly controversial and, perhaps,
ultimately counterproductive. Barack Obama's foreign policy legacy will be
judged in part by his decision to allow Mubarak to fall, when there was no
clear view on what sort of leadership would replace him. Egyptians continue to
suffer the consequences of this fateful decision. The verdicts in the Port Said
soccer tragedy place the blame for the deaths on locals, rather than security
officers or government officials. By shifting any blame away from Cairo,
al-Masry supporters and other residents rioted, demonstrating how fragile
Morsi's control over his country actually is. By taking their grievances to the
streets, more innocent people died. This inability to maintain public order and
security may be the most fatal indictment so far against Morsi and his Islamist
party.
Not every dispute breaks down cleanly into disagreements over political
ideology or religious belief. Often there are underlying concerns and
grievances that incite in people anger against their government and their
leaders. The Arab Spring was not sufficient in itself to enable Egypt to reform
itself and its political and economic institutions. The myriad of problems that
it faced over recent decades remain unresolved today. The violence in Port Said
over the soccer verdicts, as well as the widespread protests against Morsi's
government, demonstrate that many Egyptians still feel betrayed and alienated.
Failure to adequately prepare for the consequences of an unstable Egypt will
have serious repercussions in this volatile region.
(source: Orange County Register)
MOROCCO:
Rival protests outside Morocco trial of 24 Sahrawis
Rival protests were held on Friday outside a military tribunal in the Moroccan
capital where 24 Sahrawis accused of killing members of the security forces in
the Western Sahara in 2010 are being tried.
The politically charged trial, which is being attended by a number of
independent foreign observers, has been repeatedly delayed, with the defendants
held in custody for more than 2 years.
The authorities say 11 people died in the clashes, among them members of the
security forces, which broke out as the army moved to dismantle the Gdim Izik
camp where thousands of local Sahrawis were living in November 2010.
The Sahrawis arrested during the unrest are accused of violence against the
security forces, of pre-meditated killing and of mutilating the victims'
bodies.
Some 100 people demonstrated outside the court in Rabat on Friday, among them
families of the victims, pro-Saharwi activists and relatives of the accused,
many of whom were allowed to attend the trial, an AFP journalist said.
Some relatives of the victims remained outside the tribunal, waving banners
that read: "We know who the killers are, so where is justice?" Ahead of the
trial, observers and rights groups expressed concern over allegations the
defendants were tortured in custody, about the case being tried by a military
court, and about the possible death penalty facing the accused, if convicted.
At dawn on Nov. 8, 2010, Moroccan security forces moved to dismantle the
Western Sahara camp, near the territory's main city of Laayoune, which
thousands of Sahrawis had set up in protest over their living conditions.
The intervention sparked clashes that spread to nearby Laayoune, where
businesses and public buildings were looted and torched.
The authorities said 11 were killed in the unrest, while the Algeria-based
Polisario Front separatists said dozens of people lost their lives.
Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, in a move never recognised
by the international community.
The Polisario Front launched its struggle for independence even before the
annexation, with the resulting war lasting until 1991 when the UN brokered a
ceasefire, but a settlement of the conflict still remains elusive.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
INDIA:
Father sent to gallows for hacking teen daughter after rape bid
A lower court in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal on Thursday sent a
father to gallows for hacking his 13-year-old daughter after she resisted his
attempt to rape her.
Mohammad Islam (37), a resident of Islampur and butcher by profession, killed
his daughter when she resisted his attempt to rape her on June 10, 2011. "Judge
Subhashis Ghoshal of the fast track court while announcing the quantum of
punishment today said the case is rarest of rare and the accused needs to be
given an exemplary punishment," said Nanigopal Biswas, the public prosecutor in
the case.
"The mother of the victim, Ruksana Khatun, was also attacked and she received
sharp cuts in a bid to stop her husband from raping the girl. The mother raised
an alarm, which led the villagers to nab Islam. She later registered a
complaint with the police," added Biswas. She had demanded death penalty for
her husband.
Biswas said in 2008, Islam had raped his daughter when she was 11 years old.
"Then Ruksana lodged a complaint against Islam, and he was arrested. But Islam
managed to convince her that he was repenting for his act. The wife then
withdrew the complaint. At first, Islam was not allowed to enter his village.
However, he returned to the village in 2011 and tried to rape his daughter
again," said Biswas.
(source: Indian Express)
RUSSIA:
Death penalty for murdering journalists eyed in Russia
MPs in the South Russian Region of Kabardino-Balkaria have suggested the
federal parliament re-introduce the death penalty for those convicted of
killing reporters.
Currently the Russian Criminal Code has an article against creating obstacles
to journalists' work - this is punishable with up to six years in prison.
Kabardino-Balkaria politicians want to amend the article with a paragraph that
describes attempts on a journalist's life aimed which prevents them from
carrying out their profession, as well as in revenge for such activities.
Legislators consider it fair that such an offence is punishable by 12 to 20
years in prison or life in prison or even capital punishment.
Russia currently has a moratorium on the death penalty introduced in 1996 in
order to comply with the regulations of the Council of Europe. Khamid Bashorov
of the Kabardino Balkaria Public Security Committee told the Interfax news
agency that the move was prompted by the need to increase the level of
protection for Russian journalists, and to secure additional legal guarantees
for their work. "Pressuring reporters to the point of attacks on their lives
remain the most acute everyday problem in our life," the official said.
The move comes after the killing of Kazbek Gekkiyev - a correspondent who
worked for the state television company Vesti KBR. Gekkiyev was gunned down on
December 5, about 6 months after he started anchoring a news program at Vesti
KBR. Before that the journalist and his colleagues had repeatedly received
threats over their coverage of counter-terrorist operations in the republic.
Police established the identities of Gekkiyev's 2 attackers by studying CCTV
records and put the men on a wanted list. One of the criminals was killed by
police on January 22.
According to the Russian NGO Glasnost Defense Foundation 4 journalists and
media workers were killed throughout Russia in 2012 and over 90 reporters
became victims of attacks while at work.
(source: RT News)
PHILIPPINES/SAUDI ARABIA:
Blood-money sets death-row man free
A Filipino sentenced to death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for killing a man he
said tried to sexually abuse him is to walk free after blood money was paid to
the victim's family, officials said on Friday.
Rodelio "Dondon" Lanuza is expected to be released after more than 12 years in
prison following the Saudi government's decision to pay 2.3 million riyals
($615 000) to the victim's family, Vice-President Jejomar Binay said.
"I am glad to announce that our compatriot has been spared from the death
penalty," Binay said in a statement. The remaining $245 000 of the compensation
sought by the victim's family was raised by Lanuza's relatives, he added.
The Saudi embassy in Manila confirmed the deal, saying in a statement that
Riyadh "has paid the balance of the blood money."
Under the Saudi legal system, acceptance of blood money leads to the signing of
a waiver by the victim's family signifying forgiveness, Binay's office said.
Lanuza, a 39-year-old draughtsman, went to work in Saudi Arabia in 1995. He was
sentenced to death after he admitted stabbing his victim to death in 2000.
However, Binay said another Filipino death row prisoner, Joselito Zapanta, is
expected to be beheaded soon unless more than $800 000 in blood money is paid
to the family of his Sudanese landlord, who he murdered in 2009.
The construction worker won a 4-month stay of execution in mid-November to give
him more time to raise the amount but is still believed to be a long way short
of raising the required funds.
Labour rights monitor Gary Martinez, who runs Migrante International, a migrant
workers' rights group, said about 125 Filipinos were on death row abroad - most
of them in China on drug convictions.
About 9 million Filipinos work overseas. Their remittances are a mainstay of an
economy that has struggled to create well-paying domestic jobs.
(source: IOL News)
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