Feb. 17
LIBYA:
Libya arrests foreign 'missionaries'----4 foreign nationals accused of
distributing Christian literature, a charge that could carry the death penalty
4 foreigners have been arrested in Libya on suspicion of being missionaries and
distributing Christian literature, a charge that could carry the death penalty.
The 4 - a Swedish-American, Egyptian, South African and South Korean - were
arrested in Benghazi by Preventative Security, an intelligence unit of the
defence ministry, accused of printing and distributing bible pamphlets in the
city.
Libya retains a law from the Muammar Gaddafi era that makes proselytising a
criminal offence potentially punishable by death. The arrests underlined the
sometimes difficult relationship between churches and the new authorities.
"Proselytising is forbidden in Libya. We are a 100% Muslim country and this
kind of action affects our national security," security official Hussein Bin
Hmeid told Reuters.
All 4 remain in custody in Benghazi, and local reports say they may appear in
court next week.
It is reported that the foreigners, who have received consulate assistance from
their embassies, have been in Libya for some time and had contracted a local
printer to produce pamphlets explaining Christianity. Security officials have
focused on those pamphlets said to have already been distributed.
Benghazi lawyer and human rights activist Bilal Bettamer said Libya was a
wholly Muslim country and Christians should not be trying to spread their
faith. "It is disrespectful. If we had Christianity we could have dialogue, but
you can't just spread Christianity," he said. "The maximum penalty is the death
penalty. It's a dangerous thing to do."
Preventative Security is a unit created from several rebel formations during
the 2011 uprising, although until now it has had a low profile, and this is
Libya's 1st known arrest on proselytising charges since Libya's Arab spring
revolution. 3 years ago, several dozen British, American and Dutch missionaries
were arrested and expelled from Morocco on similar charges.
Libya, a conservative Muslim country, has no known Christian minority, and
churches, the preserve of foreign residents, have seen few of the attacks seen
in Egypt and Tunisia, where there have been church burnings.
But Libya is home to groups of Islamist extremists blamed by some for the
attack in September on the US consulate in Benghazi, in which the ambassador,
Chris Stevens, and three US officials were killed.
The minority Sufi sect has felt the brunt of extremism in Libya, with more than
70 sites attacked, including the bulldozing by militants backed by police of
Tripoli's prominent al-Sha'ab mosque last summer.
Christian symbols have also been targeted. A bullet narrowly missed the priest
of Tripoli's Greek Orthodox church last year, with another attack destroying
icons.
In April, militants filmed themselves wrecking tombstones and the cenotaph at
two Commonwealth war graves cemeteries in Benghazi, and in January two Egyptian
christians were killed by a bomb that exploded in the coptic church in Misrata.
The international committee of the Red Cross last year suspended its activities
in much of the country after its offices in Benghazi and Misrata were bombed.
Tripoli's Anglican Church of Christ the King held its normal Sunday service on
Sundaywith the priest, Reverend Vasihar Baskaran, saying that, as during the
Gaddafi era, the authorities placed no restrictions on worshippers.
But he said the 5 Christian churches in Tripoli have a tacit agreement with the
authorities not to proselytise. "We don't distribute literature, so we don't
have any problems," he told the Guardian. "It is better not to indulge in these
activities because we respect Libyans. We respect their religion."
The Anglican church, present in Tripoli for more than 200 years, has no Libyans
in the congregation, and Revd Vasihar said he had yet to meet a Libyan
Christian.
On Sunday, Libya's de facto head of state, speaker of congress Mohammed
Magariaf, pledged that Libya would incorporate sharia law into its future
constitution, during a speech in Benghazi to mark the second anniversary of the
2011 revolution.
(source: The Guardian)
INDIA:
CPI to fight for commutation of death sentence: D. Raja----He meets family
members of Veerappan's associates and assures support
CPI national secretary D. Raja on Sunday met the family members of the 4
associates of Veerappan, who were sentenced to death in the 1993 Palar landmine
blast case, and assured them that his party would fight along with them to
secure commutation of their sentence.
Stating that capital punishment was not an effective solution to reduce crime,
the CPI leader urged the Union government to abolish it. "We should initiate
positive efforts and bring in police, prison and judicial reforms to fight
crimes. Death penalty is certainly not a solution," he said.
The 4 associates of Veerappan - Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavendra -
were convicted of killing 22 persons in the landmine blast. Gnanaprakash's wife
Selvamary, daughter Benita Mary and his brother Anthonysamy, Bilavendra's son
Selva Joseph Victor, Simon's brother Jayaraj, Madaiah's wife Thangamma and his
close relative S. Deepa met the CPI leader.
Earlier, Mr. Raja addressed a conference organised by the Tamil Nadu Tribal
Welfare Association here to demand justice for victims of alleged atrocities by
the Special Task Force that hunted Veerappan for many years. The State
government should form a committee to identify all those left out of the list
of victims of alleged atrocities. A number of poor and innocent families that
suffered the atrocities of the STF had not been identified and not provided
compensation when the matter was investigated earlier.
Representatives from the human rights organizations and tribal welfare
associations should be included as members of the committee.
Earlier, addressing the conference, Thangamma and Deepa broke down and remained
distraught while talking about Madaiah.
"They (STF personnel) killed my father (Munian) and my uncle," Deepa alleged.
"Now he (Madaiah) is also going to leave us. I was a 2-year-old when he was
arrested by the STF police and I barely remember his face. My children want to
see him. Please help us," she appealed.
Families of the 4 associates wanted the death sentences to be commuted. "My
husband never met Veerappan. He was an innocent farmer," said Selvamary, wife
of Gnanaprakash.
A few victims of alleged atrocities committed by the STF also spoke at the
meeting.
Plea for special probe
Henri Tiphagne of People's Watch demanded a special investigation into the
alleged atrocities and action against the STF personnel who committed them.
"Only 89 affected persons have received the compensation. But more than 1,000
persons fell victims to the atrocities committed by the STF personnel," he
said.
(source: The Hindu)
***********************
Jurist Fali Nariman against death penalty, says laws for life imprisonment must
be amended
Senior Supreme Court Advocate Fali Nariman has said that in a country like
India, death penalty should be abolished but also empahasised that life
imprisonment must mean imprisonment for entire life.
The eminent jurist while speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate said the
law needs to be amended by Parliament to ensure that in the rarest of rare
cases life imprisonment means imprisonment for actual life.
Below is a transcript of excerpt of the show:
Fali Nariman: If by statuette you can say that imprisonment for life
notwithstanding the powers of the local and the Central government to commute
etc, can be and should be set aside then perhaps you are right. Keeping them
for the lifetime is maybe there, but you must remember sovereign function of
every republic or every state, the mercy jurisdiction is always open to be
exercised. And courts are very reluctant to control it.
Karan Thapar: So you are saying, if you don't have life imprisonment which
means imprisonment for life..
Fali Nariman: But by law, because today although thereby a judge made law, you
do have.. There is a bench decision by three judges, which says so.. That life
means life. But in my view that's not quite in accordance with the Indian Penal
Code. It will have to be amended.
Karan Thapar: Let me interpret what you are saying. You are saying, that if the
death penalty is to be abolished, in your eyes, that would be only acceptable
if the law is first amended to say that life imprisonment means life
imprisonment for life.
Fali Nariman: Absolutely. And that the prerogative of mercy, which is a also a
Constitutional prerogative, but it can only be done in those circumstances.
Karan Thapar: And not otherwise?
Fali Nariman: And not otherwise.
(source: IBN Live)
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh parliament amends war crime law to challenge sentence----Change
follows 13 days of protests demanding death penalty for prominent Islamist
given life sentence by war crimes tribunal
Bangladesh's parliament has amended a law allowing the state to appeal against
the life sentence given to an opposition leader for his role in mass killings
and rape during the 1971 war for independence.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators in central Shahbag Square cheered as the
assembly approved the changes on Sunday.
Protesters have gathered in central Dhaka for the past 13 days demanding the
death penalty for Abdul Quader Mollah, an assistant secretary general of the
Jamaat-e-Islami party, for war crimes. The prominent Islamist was given a life
sentence by a tribunal last month, stunning many Bangladeshis.
The amendment will "empower the tribunals to try to punish any organisations,
including Jamaat-e-Islami, for committing crimes during the country's
liberation war in 1971", the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, said.
The government is facing growing pressure to ban Jamaat-e-Islami and groups
linked to it. Ahmed told reporters the government was considering such a ban.
Lawyers said Sunday's amendment sets a timetable for the government to appeal
against Mollah's sentence and secure a retrial. The previous law did not allow
state prosecutors to call for a retrial except in the case of acquittals.
The Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) of the former prime minister Begum
Khaleda Zia and its allies were absent from the vote, having boycotted
parliamentary sessions almost since Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League,
took office in 2009.
On Sunday, the BNP held a rally outside the party's central office in Dhaka,
calling for the next general election, scheduled for next January, to be held
under a non-party caretaker administration.
"The government is trying to use the protests over the war crime trials to
divert attention from critical national issues such as our demand for election
under a caretaker authority to ensure a clean and unbiased vote," the BNP's
acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, told the rally.
Other BNP leaders urged the demonstrators at Shahbag to speak out against
"corruption, politicisation of the administration ahead of the polls and
tampering the judiciary to persecute rivals".
Hasina and Khaleda have rotated as prime minister of Bangladesh since 1991 and
their unending enmity has led to them being described as the "Battling Begums".
The 2 are likely to face off again in the next polls, party officials said.
The BNP also accuses Hasina of using the war crimes tribunal as a weapon
against her opponents. She denies the accusation.
In its 1st verdict last month, the tribunal sentenced a former Jamaat leader,
Abul Kamal Azad, to death in absentia for killing, murder and torture.
8 other Jamaat leaders, including its current and former chiefs, are being
tried by the war crimes court that Hasina set up in 2010 to investigate abuses
during the 1971 conflict. T3 million people were killed and thousands of women
were raped.
Jamaat activists have called a country-wide strike for Monday, but
demonstrators and many shopkeepers have pledged to resist any attempt to
enforce such a stoppage.
The authorities deployed paramilitary soldiers in the capital on Sunday evening
trying to prevent violence during and ahead of the strike.
(source: The Guardian)
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