Promises and Challenges: The Tunisian Revolution of 2010-2011

The Report of the March 2011 Delegation of Attorneys to Tunisia.

In March 2011 three members of the Haldane's executive committee joined colleagues from America and Turkey in an international human rights delegation to Tunisia. Co-chairs Katherine Craig and Anna Morris travelled to Tunis with Russell Fraser where they spent five days meeting with politicians, trade unionists, bloggers and democracy campaigners. The delegation heard evidence of state torture and corruption. During the Ben Ali years a culture of impunity reigned, a feature common to dictatorships across the world. Another feature common to such regimes is the interference of Western governments in furtherance of imperial desires. Tunisia is no different and has experienced French and US meddling in its internal affairs in its recent history.

The group has produced a report on its activities, those they met, and recommendation for the future which can be downloaded here.

Haldane Society supports campaign to free imprisoned pro-democracy campaigners, Swaziland

A campaign has been launched to free Maxwell Dlamini, the president of Swaziland's NUS (SNUS). Dlamini was arrested, along with political activist Musa Mgudeni, on the eve of the pro-Democracy protests on April 12 and charged with possession of illegal ammunition, although he denies this charge.

His supporters say that the Swazi government is trying to smear Dlamini because he is a popular and well-known figure in Swaziland having led many battles with the government on behalf of the students since he took office.

Dlamini was voted in as president of the NUS in October 2010 and has since led campaigns against increased tuition fees, against proposed cuts to scholarship programmes, and in favour of compelling the Swazi government to honour its constitutional commitment to introduce free primary school education.

Swazi parents currently pay fees for education at every level. A situation that forces some to educate only some of their children and only in the months that they can afford to pay for schooling.

The UK's incoming NUS vice president for society and citizenship, Danielle Grufferty, described Dlamini as "the figurehead" of Swazi student politics. "Maxwell is well-known as a radical within the democracy and union movements in Swaziland," she said. She also said the police knew him as the organiser of recent student protests.

Grufferty, who has lived in Swaziland for a year, was in the country at the time of Dlamini's first bail hearing. She said that the prosecution tried to establish Dlamini as a threat to society. "At the hearing, the prosecution kept asking the police if they thought he was a threat to society, and the police kept saying they believed he was but they couldn't produce any evidence. They asked questions about previous misconduct and there were none. They asked about previous convictions and there weren't any of those either. In the three days that I attended court they didn't produce any evidence to support the allegation that he was in possession of explosives. The people in the gallery began to laugh at the police because of their answers, which annoyed the judge and she warned the gallery: 'There are enough cells down there for you all'."

The prosecution argued that they needed more time and the hearing ended without the judge ruling on whether or not Dlamini could be bailed.

Grufferty filmed this interview outside the court where Dlamini's supporters were singing Swazi liberation songs, and pledging to return to the court each Friday until Dlamini's case is heard.

Swazi school teachers took to the streets last week demanding that King Mswati III's assets to be frozen following a warning from finance minister Majozi Sithole that the government could not ensure salaries would be paid beyond June.

Human Rights in Tunisia

Three members of the Haldane Society's executive committee are currently in Tunis as part of a delegation of human rights lawyers and academics investigating human rights abuses under the Ben Ali regime, the complicity of the US and EU states in those atrocities and the prospects of restorative justice for the victims, particulary political prisoners. They will also be investigating the role of Tunisian Trade Unions in the revolution and their ability to protect worker's rights in this fast-changing environment.

The delegation's progress can be followed at their blog:www.tunisiahumanrights.wordpress.com

The twitter feed is here

Haldane Society Statement On Morong 43, Philippines

The Haldane Society notes with concern the case of 43 health and community workers – known as ‘the Morong 43’ – currently being detained in the Philippines. The Morong 43 detainees were arrested whilst attending a training camp for health workers on 6 February 2010 when the premises were stormed by almost 300 army and police personnel. The search warrant presented by the police, which was not until presented until after they had entered the premises, was patently defective: it was not specific to the premises being searched, it was issued in a different district to where the search was to be carried out – that alone making it invalid under Filipino law – and, most egregiously of all, was made out in the name of someone who neither lived at the premises nor was present there at the time. No arrest warrants were presented which, in conjunction with the invalid search warrant, makes the detainees arrests flagrantly illegal.

The detainees are accused of being communist rebels and are charged with various offences relating to possession of firearms and explosives supposedly found at the scene. The detainees were transferred to a military compound where they remained until 1 May 2010, at which stage they were transferred to a jail just outside of Manila. Over the period when they were detained in the military compound, the detainees were beaten, intimidated, subjected to mock executions, offered bribes and had threats made against themselves and their family in an attempt to force them to confess or give evidence against their fellow detainees. It is also alleged that the evidence supposedly found during the search was planted by the police, as the search was carried out unsupervised.

The progress of the case through the Filipino courts has been protracted. A habeas corpus petition was unsuccessful at the Court of Appeal and was appealed to the Supreme Court. However at this point, seven months after the case was referred to it, the Supreme Court has still not heard any evidence and the detainees continue to languish in prison.

Haldane Society members were part of a delegation of lawyers from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers that met with the Filipino Justice Secretary, Leila de Lima, in mid September. The delegation was encouraged to hear that Secretary de Lima shared many of our concerns regarding injustices apparent in the case, and that she intended to review the case. Secretary de Lima has since given a report on the case to President Aquino. The Haldane Society hopes that President Aquino considers the report and moves to repair the injustices committed against the Morong 43, and break away from the previous administration’s dire record on protecting human rights, by doing everything within his power to have them released.

by Mike Goold

Wrongful Conviction of Greenpeace Activists by Japanese Court

RICHARD HARVEY ON BEHALF OF HALDANE SOCIETY OF SOCIALIST LAWYERS

Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki exposed the blackmarket trade in whale meat in the course of a Greenpeace investigation into Japanese so-called ‘scientific’ whaling. Crewmembers of a taxpayer-funded whaling ship were illegally selling the priciest cuts of whale meat.

Junichi and Toru intercepted a box of whale meat in a storage depot in the port of Aomori. They presented their findings at a press conference, delivered the box to the prosecutor’s office in Tokyo and offered the judicial authorities their cooperation to further uncover the smuggling ring. Instead of investigating these black market activities, the Public Prosecutor dropped the investigation and arrested Junichi and Toru.

The ‘Tokyo Two’ were convicted of theft and trespass on 5 September 2010, and sentenced to one year, suspended for three years. Greenpeace rightly describes this result as wholly disproportionate and unjust, and they will appeal.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said that the detention of Sato and Suzuki was unjustified and contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, especially Article 19 of this Covenant guaranteeing the right to express, impart, receive and seek information. Japan is a party to this treaty.

The Haldane Society joins other international human rights groups in condemning the prosecution, as the ‘Tokyo Two’ clearly had no intention to steal whale meat, but rather, in the public interest, to expose unlawful practices in the Japanese whaling programme. Under international human rights law, peaceful protest by NGOs, investigative reporting by journalists and others, whistle-blowing and participation in public debate on matters of interest for society should be guaranteed and protected by public authorities.

In the international court of public opinion, the ‘Tokyo Two’ were found not guilty long ago. By the principled way in which they have fought their case, Greenpeace’s activists have turned Japan’s normally establishment-oriented media completely around. When they were arrested over two years ago, the media all wanted to know why the ‘Tokyo Two’ refused to apologise for their conduct. Today, the press is demanding that the prosecutor explain why he has failed to investigate the misconduct that Greenpeace exposed.

For more information please click here

Protest against Israeli military attack on Gaza aid flotilla

Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers demands legal and political consequences

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, together with the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) denounce in the strongest terms the military attack by Israeli military forces on the Gaza aid flotilla in international waters, and the killing of at least 10 peaceful demonstrators. See BBC World News “Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship” at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10195838.stm

Instead of acknowledging its responsibility for the crimes committed during the military attack on Gaza one and a half year ago – which have been documented in the UN “Goldstone Report” – and stopping its unlawful siege of Gaza, Israel is adding new crimes to its long record of unlawful actions.

The Gaza aid flotilla, originally comprising 8 ships carrying thousands of tons of construction materials, medical equipment and other aid, intended to sail to Gaza in order to deliver its humanitarian aid, and in order to break symbolically the unlawful blockade of Israel imposed on Gaza. Among the estimated 700 peace activists on board were the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, an elderly Holocaust survivor, and European legislators. One participant was Professor Norman Paech (German MP for the Left Party up to 2009), who is also a member of the German lawyers association VDJ, a member association of ELDH.

The Haldane Society demands that the United Nations and the European Union take all necessary political and legal steps to demonstrate to Israel that they are not prepared to accept such humanitarian atrocities and violations of international law.

In particular the Haldane Society demands:

• Immediate release of the peace activists, the crew and the ships
• Immediate transfer of all humanitarian aid materials and equipment to Gaza
• An international investigation of the crimes committed during and after the military attack on the Gaza aid flotilla
• Prosecution of the responsible Israeli soldiers and politicians
• An end to the unlawful blockade of Gaza by Israel
• Acknowledgement by Israel of the crimes committed during the military attack against Gaza in 2009

The European Lawyers Association for Democracy and Human Rights protest against Israeli military attack on aid flotilla is here

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers call for an international investigation into Israeli murder of human rights workers is here

Arrest of Peter Erlinder in Rwanda

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers condemns the arrest of Peter Erlinder by Rwandan authorities and demands his immediate release. Professor Erlinder, a faculty member at William Mitchell College of Law in the United States and president of ADAD, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Defense Lawyers Association, was arrested by the government of Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president. He is charged with violation of Rwanda’s so-called “"Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology," apparently because, in the course of his representation of clients before the ICTR, he has challenged the accepted story of the Rwandan Genocide. He has also been a critic of Kagame and filed suit against him in the United States, alleging he triggered the genocide by ordering the assassinations of Juvenal Habyarimana, president of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of Burundi, whose plane was shot out of the sky in 1994.

It is evident that Erlinder’s arrest was politically motivated and seeks to punish him for fulfilling his responsibilities as a lawyer, to be a vigorous and conscientious advocate for his clients. The appropriate venues to test the truth of Erlinder’s claims are the courts in which he is litigating and the pre-emptive strike against that by the Rwandan government can only lend credence to those claims. The Rwandan government and President Kagame should not fear fair and public trials. Erlinder’s advocacy is in the finest tradition of the legal profession and every individual and government committed to the rule of law, especially including the government of Rwanda and President Kagame, should applaud his dedication to his clients’ causes.

We call on the British government, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations and individuals around the world to prevail upon Rwanda to release Erlinder immediately.

Concern at Sentence for Abdullah Ocalan's Lawyers

The Haldane Society notes with serious concern that the lawyers, Irfan Dündar and Firat Aydinkaya, who act on behalf of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, have been sentenced in Istanbul for "spreading propaganda for a terror organisation".

The Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court gave both lawyers prison sentences of ten months each (which was suspended for five years because of "good conduct and no previous criminal record"). At the same time the same court acquitted former Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP Aysel Tugluk of similar charges.

Ocalan's lawyers were sentenced because of the appearance of a newspaper article entitled "A chance for Öcalan" published in Özgür Gündem on 29 and 30 April 2009. The court stated that the article included phrases made by Dündar and Aydinkakya such as "The lawyers conveyed Öcalan's opinion on the developments within KONGRA-GEL (PKK)", "He is experiencing the pain of change" and "Öcalan's opinions are important for an enduring peace".

Informed by the findings of a number of its members who participated in an International Delegation to Turkey in February 2008, the Haldane Society firmly believes that the sentence reflects the intolerable conditions under which lawyers acting for the Kurdish leader have been subject since his apprehension in 1999 and the subsequent trial.

Unfortunately, it is nothing new for not only have they been subjected to various forms of harassment and intimidation while performing their normal professional duties and seeking to represent their client, they have been treated as terror suspects themselves.

The fact is that Turkish law as presently constituted permits such charges to be routinely brought against lawyers simply for putting across the case of their client.
The Haldane Society considers that this situation is utterly unacceptable and will continue to publicise the cases of, and express solidarity with, those lawyers seeking to perform their professional duties in the most difficult of circumstances.

Imprisonment of Minors in Turkey

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is deeply concerned at reports (The Guardian, 1st Feb 2010) that a 15-year-old girl, a Turkish Kurd, named Berivan, has been jailed in Turkey for nearly eight years after being convicted of "terrorist" offences. She was arrested at a demonstration in the south-eastern city of Batman in October 2009. The 13-and-a-half-year sentence originally imposed on her was later reduced on appeal to seven years and nine months because of her age. She was found guilty of "crimes on behalf of an illegal organisation" after prosecutors alleged she had hurled stones and shouted slogans. She was also convicted of attending "meetings and demonstrations in opposition to the law" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation". There are substantial concerns as to the fairness of her trial and conviction.

The Society understands that under counter-terrorism legislation introduced in 2006, Turkey has been trying juveniles as adults, and jailing them for up to 50 years. Recent official figures have revealed that there are currently 2,622 minors in Turkish prisons. According to the Diyarbakir Human Rights Association, some 737 minors have been charged under the counter-terrorism legislation since its introduction. Out of 267 tried in Diyarbakir last year, 78 were given extended jail terms.

According to the European Court of Human Rights, between 1959 and 2009 Turkey was the worst violator of the European Convention on Human Rights, with almost 19% of all violations, and 2,295 judgements issued against it. Turkey also had the highest proportion of violations in 2009, with 347 out of 1,625 negative rulings. The right most commonly violated was the right to a fair trial. Turkey was also condemned in 30 cases of inhumane or degrading treatment.

Turkey ratified the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 4 April 1995. Berivan is a “child”, whose rights are protected by this Convention. Article 37 (c) of the CRC provides that

“(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;”

The Society considers that an 8 year sentence on conviction for the crimes reported is grossly disproportionate, and appears to be a violation of Turkey’s treaty obligations under the CRC.

Statement in Support of Climate Defenders

As practising lawyers committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, we are deeply disturbed at reports of excessive use of force and arbitrary mass arrests of climate activists by police during the course of the peaceful climate demonstration in Copenhagen on Saturday 12 December.

Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee the right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and the rights to receive and impart information. We urge the Danish Government to uphold those rights and to support the just demands of civil society for climate justice.

We refer to the article by Dirk Voorhoof below.

"Copenhagen police actions in total disrespect of fundamental human rights"
15-12-2009 15:51:08
I'm a law professor from Belgium, teaching at Copenhagen University, Law Faculty. This semester I've introduced the European standards and values on freedom of expression, democracy and human rights to visiting students. In class we have highlighted the standards in Scandinavian countries on these matters. Denmark is a good example on how freedom of expression is guaranteed according to human rights' principles. The last days in Copenhagen I have, beside my work at university, participated in some events related to the Climate Conference. I'm impressed by the commitment of the whole Danish Society in the actual climate policy debate.

The events of Saturday 12 December 2009, and more precisely the absolute unacceptable way the Danish police treated and arrested nearly 1000 demonstrators during the Climate demonstration, have shocked me. I have seen a lot of people being inhumanly treated by the police, being kept for hours pushed on the ground in the middle of the streets on a cold winter evening. It was obvious that hundreds of them had done nothing wrong, except from just being there, participating in the demonstration.

It is necessary and appreciated that the police isolates and arrests violent activists, but the intervention by the police forces at Amagerbrogade and the arrest of hundreds of innocent demonstrators was out of proportion. The police action was in total disrespect of the principles in the European Convention of Human Rights.

How can Denmark be an example to the rest of the world when so many people participating in a peaceful demonstration coming up for a sustainable development of the planet are inhumanly treated and arrested as criminals by the police forces?

Tomorrow I will leave Denmark for a while, hoping that when I come back around Christmas the Danish political authorities explicitly have condemned the police actions during the Climate demonstration of Saturday 12 December, unworthy for a democracy.

If the Danish authorities take no clear action against the police interventions of last Saturday, Denmark will undoubtedly loose credibility in the international human rights' community. A society that leaves a too big gap between the theory and practice of human rights cannot uphold the perception of being truly committed to these values and principles.

Author: Dirk VOORHOOF