against repression - against prisons

NEWS ARROUND PRISON AND LAW / AFRICA

27 June 2006

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe police ‘carried out torture on a massive scale’

The first study to be based on official records, with the names and ranks of perpetrators and the sites - mostly police stations - of torture

There is “abundant evidence”, from the records of Zimbabwe’s courts - which are widely dismissed as pro-government - that state agents have carried out torture “on a massive scale”, the country’s leading human rights group said today. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a coalition of human rights groups and legal organisations, has reported over 15,000 violations of human rights in the past eight years, but the report said only 300 have entered the initial phases of litigation. Only 51 of these went to their conclusion, with the state being held accountable in 89 per cent of cases. Although the report deals with a relatively small number of cases, it is the first to be based on official records, with the names and ranks of perpetrators and the sites - mostly police stations - of torture. “The Zimbabwe Government itself is conceding liability for the perpetration of gross human rights violations,” it said. The Forum said it would send its report to the United Nations to press for further action against President Mugabe’s Government.

The report said that the low number of court cases was attributable to the fact that merely reporting human rights violations to police carries a high risk of being arrested, beaten up and illegally detained. The country’s economic crisis has also cut the rate of court litigation because many ordinary people cannot afford the cost of transport to court or to see lawyers, it said. Police were the most common perpetrators. “People in custody are likely to be beaten irrespective of their alleged crime”, political or criminal, and are commonly subjected to falanga - the excruciatingly painful practice of beating the soles of the feet, which leaves little obvious bruising. Police had “adopted torture as a means to eliciting confessions on a widespread basis”, it said. The Army was less widely cited in litigation, but soldiers were “often very brutal”. The payment of damages is rare, according to the report, and it asks whether the delay is deliberate, as a way of decreasing the damages being paid”. Only 20 cases since 1999 have resulted in compensation but, again, the economic crisis makes payments almost worthless. The report cites an award to a plaintiff of Zim $950,000 in November last year, when it was worth US $1,185. The defendants have still not been paid and the same amount is now worth about US $5.

[ zwnews.com

May 2006

SUDAN

Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) is an independent non-governmental human rights organisation established in 1993 working in Sudan and UK and has members worldwide. SOAT primary objective is preventing torture and challenging impunity. SOAT works to rehabilitate Sudanese survivors of torture; provides legal assistance to survivors and individuals threatened with inhumane and degrading punishments; human rights education; researches, documents and campaigns against human rights abuses in Sudan on a national and international level.

[ soatsudan.org

TUNISIA

24 May 2006

"Escalation of hysterical repression" in Tunisia

A grouping of 24 international human rights groups has denounced the "escalation of hysterical repression" in Tunisia, following several government attacks on human rights activists and lawyers this month. While Tunisian authorities never have tolerated human rights works and the freedom of expression, activists hold that recent government action go even further than before. The first three weeks of May witnessed "a series of escalating repressive behaviour," the 24 organisations said in a statement today. It started on 9 May, when Tunisian security forces attacked lawyers on strike to protest a new law that would give the Tunis government full control over the Supreme Institute for Lawyers and thus threaten the institute's and the profession's independence.

On 11 May, head of the newly established independent Syndicate of Journalists, Lotfi Hajji, was detained and interrogated with for four hours after he was accused of holding a secret meeting in his place. Press freedom is not granted at all in Tunisia, which figures on the top-five list of African states censoring media. On 18 May, Tunisian authorities prevented the family of recently deceased human rights activist, Adel Arfaoui, from entering the headquarters of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) to attend a memorial ceremony in the honour of Mr Arfaoui.

According to the human rights groups, "security harassments" continued to the extent that Tunisian authorities attacked a member of the executive office of the Swiss Branch of Amnesty International, Yves Steiner, while he was attending the annual general meeting of Amnesty's Tunisia Branch. On 21 May, as the meeting was underway, around ten plain clothes policemen went to the hotel and requested to see Mr Steiner. In front of 200 or so Amnesty members and the Swiss Ambassador to Tunisia, Mr Steiner was detained, without any explanation or warrant. Several hours later, Mr Steiner was able to contact his colleagues to let them know that he had left the police station, where had had been detained and that he was about to be expelled to Paris.

In what seemed "an attempt to escalate attacks against independent voices," security forces attacked on Tuesday a number of lawyers and stormed into the office of the head of the Tunisian Bar Association, Abdel Sattar Moussa, the human rights groups report. At the bar's offices, they confiscated a number of the Mr Moussa's documents. "This is a violation of the law and all international norms," the human rights groups hold.

In the statement released today, the 24 human rights groups say they "seriously condemn these attacks" and announce that they will "continue to work on revealing the crimes of the Tunisian regime against lawyers, activists, and Tunisian citizens that reached extent of harassing anyone in contact with any of these activists as was the case with the relatives and friends of the former prisoner of opinion, Hamadi Jebali, who were recently questioned about their relation with him."

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), organised in Tunis six months ago, focused international attention on the host country's poor human rights record and freedom of expression, which remains well below international standards. A recent fact-finding mission by an international freedom of expression monitoring group concluded that since the WSIS, the Tunisian government has not only failed to improve the situation substantially, it has increased restrictions on human rights defenders, judges and some independent journalists.

[ afrol.com

6 May 2006

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe rights group reports rise in use of torture

HARARE, May 6 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe state security agents have stepped up the use of torture against government opponents, with 19 cases reported in March compared with three during the previous two months, a local rights group said on Saturday. President Robert Mugabe's government dismisses as political propaganda charges that it uses intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture to keep its opponents in check in the face of a deepening economic crisis many critics blame on its policies. In a report, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum -- a coalition of 17 rights groups -- said 19 cases of torture, 32 of general assaults and 46 cases of "unlawful arrests" had been recorded in March against the police, the army and agents of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

The reports of more aggressive policing coincided with calls by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for massive anti-government protests. The torture cases included those of more than a dozen people, including some leading figures from the opposition MDC who were detained but later released over what the state called a plot to assassinate Mugabe. The rights forum charged that in one case members of the Zimbabwe National Army and officials from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority raided a hotel in the eastern border city of Mutare and assaulted and tortured workers accused of hoarding sugar and the staple maize-meal.

FORCED TO DO PRESS-UPS

About 100 women, who were arrested on Thursday in the second city of Bulawayo for marching to protest sharp rises in school fees, were still in detention on Saturday and expected to appear in court on Monday for demonstrating without police permission, an official with their group said. The pressure group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), regularly stages small street protests over political and economic issues, despite tough security laws requiring demonstrations to be sanctioned by police. Zimbabwe state television reported that police, some on horsebacks, had rounded up and arrested more than 200 touts and illegal vendors in a run-down industrial district of the capital Harare on Friday.

A year ago, Mugabe's government left hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans homeless or without jobs after demolishing "illegal" homes, shantytowns and flea markets in a programme condemned by the United Nations' humanitarian agency. Mugabe, 82 and the southern African country's sole ruler since its independence from Britain in 1980, is struggling with an economic crisis that has left it with food, fuel and foreign currency shortages and the world's highest inflation rate, 913.6 percent in March.

[ alertnet.org

5 May 2006

EGYPT

Egypt: Mubarak extends repressive Emergency Law

Egypt’s parliament last week renewed the country’s 25-year-old Emergency Law for a further two years. The parliament is dominated by the party of President Hosni Mubarak, who has relied on the wide ranging antidemocratic and repressive provisions contained in the legislation to defend his dictatorship. The measure was opposed by about a quarter of the 378 lawmakers, mainly those representing the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.

The extension of the law indicates that the government is preparing another wave of repression to maintain its increasingly shaky grip on power. The immediate pretext for doing so was the April 24 triple bombing in the resort town of Dahab, which killed at least 19 people. The government claimed that the terrorist attack demonstrated the necessity of maintaining the existing emergency legislation until adequate anti-terrorist laws are drawn up-a process that authorities claim will take at least 18 months.[...]

[ Egypt: Mubarak extends repressive Emergency Law

8 May 2006

SOUTH AFRICA

der ehemalige vizepräsident jacob zuma , der wegen vergewaltigung angeklagt war, wurde freigesprochen

S Africa's Zuma cleared of rape

Former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has been acquitted of raping a 31-year-old family friend. There were jubilant scenes in central Johannesburg as Mr Zuma addressed the crowd, and accused the media of finding him guilty before the trial started. Mr Zuma was once seen as a future president and remains popular, but analysts say evidence aired in the rape trial has badly damaged his reputation. He still faces a separate charge of corruption, to be heard in July. Delivering judgement, Judge Willem van der Merwe said the state had not proven the case beyond reasonable doubt. He also referred to evidence given by the defence, suggesting that the complainant had a history of making false accusations of rape. "The complainant was inclined to accuse men of raping her or attempting to rape her," the judge concluded.

Probabilities

Mr Zuma, who played a key role in the fight against apartheid, admitted having had sex with the woman, but insisted it was consensual. Referring to their contradictory versions of the events of the night of 2 November 2005, the judge declared "the probabilities favour the accused's version". He said Mr Zuma would not have risked forcing himself on the woman when his own daughter was in the house and police were on guard outside, who would have heard the accused if she had cried out. Because of public interest in the case, Judge van der Merwe allowed his four-hour ruling to be broadcast live on radio and television. The judge began his ruling by expressing his regret that "some pressure groups and individuals found the accused guilty and some found him not guilty" while the trial was under way.

'Bad dreams'

A significant police presence, along with rolls of razor wire and police trucks, had moved in to cordon off the court house overnight. A crowd of several hundred supporters was present as proceedings began, but had grown to more than 1,000 by midday. Women demonstrating against rape outside the court wore "kangas", or wrap-around cloths, in protest at the defence's argument that the complainant had provoked the sexual encounter by wearing such a cloth while a guest at Mr Zuma's house. The One in Nine Campaign, which has headed a campaign in supporting the complainant and calling for reform of South Africa's sexual violence legislation, said it was "disappointed but not surprised by the verdict".

A statement by the group - whose name reflects that only one in nine rapes in South Africa is reported - said the complainant had been subjected to "a relentless and invasive cross-examination aimed at discrediting her as a witness". Mr Zuma addressed the crowd in nearby Beyers Naude Square, with angry words for the media and political analysts who have criticised him. "A person who is charged remains innocent until proven otherwise - this is one of the golden rules of our constitution but the press broke this rule," he said. "Today the bad dreams have evaporated."

'Unacceptable'

While deputy president, Mr Zuma was also head of South Africa's National Aids Council and the Moral Regeneration Movement. His views on HIV prevention, which were aired in court, have shocked Aids activists. Mr Zuma said he had had a shower after sex to prevent HIV transmission and believed that a healthy man was unlikely to catch HIV from a woman. Judge van der Merwe said such behaviour was "totally unacceptable". "This trial has really damaged his reputation, his credibility," political analyst William Mervin Gumede told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. In July, he faces another trial on the corruption charges that led to his dismissal as deputy president last year. He denies the charges.

[ bbc.co.uk

[ The Jacob Zuma Rape Case: A letter to Khwezi

6 Mai 2006

ZIMBABWE

lt. dem zimbabwe human rights forum hat die repression im märz stark zugenommen. so seien der gruppe 19 fälle von folter , 32 übergriffe und 46 illegale verhaftungen gemeldet worden.

Zimbabwe rights group reports rise in use of torture

Zimbabwe state security agents have stepped up the use of torture against government opponents, with 19 cases reported in March compared with three during the previous two months, a local rights group said on Saturday. President Robert Mugabe's government dismisses as political propaganda charges that it uses intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture to keep its opponents in check in the face of a deepening economic crisis many critics blame on its policies. In a report, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum -- a coalition of 17 rights groups -- said 19 cases of torture, 32 of general assaults and 46 cases of "unlawful arrests" had been recorded in March against the police, the army and agents of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO).

FORCED TO DO PRESS-UPS

"The employees were forced to 'stand on their heads' and to do press-ups on their knuckles while the security agents continued to assault them," the coalition said in a report in which it urged Mugabe's government to stop abusing human rights. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum said its reports do not cover all cases of torture, assaults and detentions but that the 46 cases of arrests recorded in March had brought the cumulative total of illegal arrests in the first three months of the year to 336. The government's security and home affairs departments were not immediately available for comment on Saturday. About 100 women, who were arrested on Thursday in the second city of Bulawayo for marching to protest sharp rises in school fees, were still in detention on Saturday and expected to appear in court on Monday for demonstrating without police permission, an official with their group said. The pressure group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), regularly stages small street protests over political and economic issues, despite tough security laws requiring demonstrations to be sanctioned by police.

Zimbabwe state television reported that police, some on horsebacks, had rounded up and arrested more than 200 touts and illegal vendors in a run-down industrial district of the capital Harare on Friday. A year ago, Mugabe's government left hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans homeless or without jobs after demolishing "illegal" homes, shantytowns and flea markets in a programme condemned by the United Nations' humanitarian agency. Mugabe, 82 and the southern African country's sole ruler since its independence from Britain in 1980, is struggling with an economic crisis that has left it with food, fuel and foreign currency shortages and the world's highest inflation rate, 913.6 percent in March.

[ yahoo.com

3 Mai 2006

ERITREA

seit september 2001 greift präsident iIsayas afewerki journalisten und kritiker seiner politik verstärkt an. in den knästen sind zur zeit mind. 16 journalisten, genaue zahlen gibt es nicht.

Jailed Eritrean journalists 'have virtually disappeared'

Good news about media freedom in Eritrea is rare -- so it's understandable that delight and relief greeted the announcement last November that Isaac Dawit, an Eritrean journalist with Swedish nationality, had been released after four years in prison. Sweden's ambassador to the East African country, Bengt Sparre, issued congratulations. Dawit's family -- waiting back in Sweden -- was overjoyed. But days after the news broke, Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Dawit had merely been released for hospital tests -- and was going directly back to prison.

What went wrong? A miscommunication between the Swedish ambassador and Eritrea's government? A change of heart on the part of officials in Asmara irritated by press freedom campaigners? The truth may never reach the public sphere. Described by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the world's worst jailers of journalists, Eritrea has at least 13 reporters in prison. And as Dawit's story shows, campaigning on the issue is delicate and perhaps even counter-productive.

"They say it's an internal issue -- nothing to do with other countries," one diplomat commented. "And it's better not to give them [the journalists] a trial because Eritrea still has the death penalty -- that's the message we get." In 1991, a euphoric Eritrea won independence from neighbouring Ethiopia after 30 years of struggle, and enormous human suffering. Eritreans returned from overseas, the economy grew, and then United States President Bill Clinton admiringly described head of state Isayas Afewerki as a "new leader" for Africa -- marking a break with the previous generation of oppressive and corrupt rulers. But the dreams turned sour.

The Eritrean-Ethiopian relationship deteriorated, and the two countries fought a border war between 1998 and 2000. By the time a peace deal was signed, a quarter of Eritrea was occupied, its infrastructure destroyed and a third of its population displaced. Isayas was also accused of missing out on opportunities for better peace proposals. Inevitably, many in Eritrea -- including the journalists now jailed -- questioned the government's handling of the war and other political issues. Then, while the world's attention was distracted by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001, a crackdown on the media began.

"With the world's attention thus diverted, Isayas ordered the arrest of the G-15 [a group of 15 leading politicians], the closure of the country's entire private press, and the detention of the offending media's leading editors and reporters," says veteran observer of Eritrean politics Dan Connell in his book Conversations with Eritrean Political Prisoners. Since then, little has been heard of the journalists. The charges against them apparently include avoiding the military draft and threatening national security. "The journalists have virtually disappeared since the September 18 2001 press crackdown and closure of privately owned newspapers. Eritrean officials have refused to provide information on their health, whereabouts or legal status," noted a CPJ press release in September last year. "Some reports say they may have been tortured. The government's monopoly of news and the families' fear of intimidation make it extremely difficult to gather information about the detainees."

Even the number of journalists imprisoned is unclear. In November 2005, the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) put the number at 13. A few months later, the CPJ said 15 journalists were still jailed. According to the US government, "at least" 15 are in custody -- although the number may be as high as 16. With many of the reporters virtually unknown at the time of their arrest, it has proved difficult to keep their plight on the international agenda. In addition, they are competing for attention with political detainees and persecuted religious minorities, among others. Locally, most Eritreans have no access to information about the reporters or much else, but that approved by the government; besides, they are working hard just to look after themselves and their families. Opposition to the administration may not have been totally crushed in Eritrea, but it is completely silent.

Reports by the CPJ, RSF -- and the US government's annual report on human rights -- mean the fate of the imprisoned journalists is not forgotten. And the issue will doubtless come under discussion on May 3, when the global community marks World Press Freedom Day. But that seems to be as far as it goes. Diplomats have other things to worry about. New conflict with Ethiopia is still a possibility, as is a humanitarian crisis linked to government restrictions on emergency aid for helping the country to address the effects of a severe drought.

Journalists thought to be in prison (Sources: CPJ, Amnesty International):
Arrested January 1999
1. Zemenfes Haile Arrested June 2000
2. Ghebrehiwet Keleta Arrested September 2001
3. Amanuel Asrat
4. Medhanie Haile
5. Yusuf Mohamed
6. Mattewos Habteab
7. Temesgen Ghebreyesus
8. Said Abdelkader
9. Dawit Isaac
10. Seyoum Tsehaye
11. Dawit Habtemichael
12. Fesshaye "Joshua" Yohannes Arrested late 2001
13. Selamyinghes Beyene Arrested February 2002
14. Hamid Mohammed
15. Saidia Ahmed 16. Saleh Aljezeeri
Journalists arrested and since released: Ruth Simon, Semret Seyoum and Aklilu Solomon-- IPS

[ mg.co.za

30 April 2006

EGYPT

im parlament wurde das notstandsgesetz aus dem jahr 1981, daß u.a. unbegrenzte haft ohne verhandlung erlaubt, um zwei jahre verlängert.

Egyptian parliament renews law permitting detention without trial

CAIRO - Egypt's parliament voted Sunday to extend for two years an emergency law that allows indefinite detentions without trials and otherwise restricts civil liberties. The law's extension is a setback for the Bush administration, which has been pressing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to be less repressive. Mubarak had promised during his re-election campaign last year to replace the 25-year-old law with a new statute targeting terrorists, but his government chose to renew the old law instead. Parliament approved the extension 287-91.

Civil society groups and members of opposition parties have long demanded the law's abolition. Under it security forces forcefully disperse demonstrations and detain anyone deemed risky to national security, even people said to be slandering Egypt's image. Human-rights groups say that thousands of prisoners sit in Egyptian jails without formal charges. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazief told parliament that the two-year extension "was not long when measured against the dangers which threaten us and our future. We will never use the emergency law other than to protect the citizen and the security of the nation and combat terrorism."

Egypt was rocked last week by bombings in the Sinai peninsula. The first took place Monday in a coastal tourist resort on the Red Sea and left 24 dead and 160 wounded. The second happened Wednesday when two men blew themselves up, one near a car carrying multinational peacekeepers, the other next to a police car. Only the two suicide bombers were harmed. Security forces arrested thirty people and killed one suspect in a gun battle. "Current events and terrorist crimes call for a mechanism to face these crimes that afflict citizens," said Maher el-Drby, a member of parliament's majority party. Opposition bloc members said that the law has been in force for 25 years and hasn't stopped any terrorist attacks.

"The executive uses this law to repress political opposition," said Mohamed Saad el-Katatny, a member of the influential Muslim Brotherhood, which holds 88 seats in parliament and forms the main opposition bloc. Mubarak had hinted last week, even before the Sinai bombings, that the emergency law would be extended. "How can we believe in the rest of the president's promises, which he made during the last electoral campaign?" said George Ishak, coordinator of the widespread Kifaya opposition movement, which in Arabic means "Enough." The law has been in force since the 1981 assassination of former President Anwar Sadat.

[ mercurynews.com

22 April 2006

ZIMBABWE

nach einem neuen gesetz wird das ausüben von "hexerei" mit einer geldstrafe oder 5 jahren knast bestraft. auch diejenigen die "hexen/hexer" einstellen sollen bis zu 5 jahren in den knast.

Mugabe gives assent to anti-witchcraft law

Harare - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has approved amendments to the country's laws that will see anyone convicted of witchcraft given a fine or a five-year jail term, local reports said on Saturday. This is the first time the existence of witchcraft practices will be recognised under Zimbabwean law. "The Witchcraft Suppression Act was amended and is now at the criminal courts," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald newspaper. "Comrade Robert Mugabe has assented to the amendments and criminals will be charged for breaching certain sections of the act as from July this year," he said. Chinamasa said that court officials were being trained to administer the new law, which comes into effect July 1.

Before the amendment it was a crime to label someone a witch. But critics said the refusal to acknowledge the existence of witchcraft was a hangover of previous colonial administrations that did not take into account traditional beliefs. Under the amended clauses "any person who engages in any practice knowing that it is commonly associated with witchcraft, shall be guilty of engaging in a practice commonly associated with witchcraft," said the Herald, quoting the new law. People convicted of hiring witch hunters - notorious here for extorting money from local communities - will also be liable for a jail term of up to five years under the new amendment. It also "disqualifies as defence to murder, assault or any other crime that an accused was influenced by a genuine belief that the victim was a witch or wizard," the Herald said. - Sapa-dpa

[ iol.co.za

14 April 2006

BURUNDI

die seit 34 jahren zwischen mitternacht und sonnenaufgang bestehende ausgangssperre wurde aufgehoben.

Burundi lifts 34-year old curfew

Burundi has lifted a midnight to dawn curfew that has been in place for 34 years, saying the country is stable. A new government was elected last year following a civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people. The curfew was used by the government in the 1970s - dominated by a Tutsi minority - to try to maintain control. But the country soon spiralled into chaos - as Hutu rebel groups took up arms against increasingly brutal repression by the military. The curfew remained in force for the next three decades - with Burundians prohibited from venturing on to the streets between midnight and dawn. Now the government says these restrictions are no longer necessary. Peace has returned to almost all of Burundi - with only one small rebel group still active and the government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with them. And Burundians themselves are increasingly confident about the future. Many in the capital have ignored the curfew in recent years - to visit the growing number of bars and nightclubs. At the heart of this new found stability is a power sharing deal, which guarantees the Tutsi minority a share in government and parliament. The key challenge now the for newly elected government is to bring into this process the final Hutu rebel group - the National Liberation Forces.

[ bbc.co.uk

13 April 2006

SOUTH AFRICA

in südafrika findet seit einiger zeit ein prozeß gegen jacob zuma, den ehemaligen vizepräsidenten des landes, wegen vergewaltigung statt. begleitet wird der prozeß mit einer heftigen und ekelhaften pressekampagne gegen die 31 jährige hiv positive frau. symphatisantinnen von zuma verbrennen bilder der frau und bedrohen und beleidigen diese. zuma hatte versucht den prozeß mit einer art abfindung ( er bot der frau und ihrer mutter mehrere kühe an) zu verhindern.

dies ist ein solidaritätsschreiben von frauen aus verschiedenen afrikanischen ländern, die sich in johannesburg traffen um sich über frauenrechte und hiv/ aids auszutauschen.

zwei zitate daraus:

"6. die unverantwortlichen und ungenauen bemerkungen bedenkend, die jacob zuma hinsichtlich des risikos einer hiv übertragung machte und der berüchtigten dusche ( zuma hat dies als hiv prävention vertreten) , fordern wir die demontage des south african national aids council ( sanac) da es offensichtlich ein instrument für fehlinformation und falsche aufklärung ist, und es seinem gesetzlichen auftrag der hiv prävention, behandlung und betreuung nicht nachkommt und es zulässt als instrument für politische machtmißbrauch benutzt zu werden.

7. das offen machen der sexuellen gewalt die k. als 5 und 13 jähriges kind erlebte durch eine genaue überprüfung des gerichtes ist unzulässig. dies sind vorfälle die passierten als sie eine minderjährige war die schutz brauchte. es ist unfair sie als teil des gegenwertigen falles zu benutzen."

The Jacob Zuma Rape Case: A letter to Khwezi

Fifty-four women from 21 African countries, meeting in Johannesburg to discuss women's rights and HIV/AIDS, have issued a statement expressing concern about the Jacob Zuma rape trial. Zuma, the former deputy president of South Africa, has been charged with rape following allegations by a 31-year-old HIV-positive woman. The trial has been characterized by ugly scenes outside the court building, with Khwezi, as the complainant has been nicknamed by her supporters, being abused and insulted by supporters of Zuma.

We, 54 women from 21 African countries representing 41 national, regional and international women's organizations in Africa; comprising of HIV and AIDS organizations, feminist associations and human rights institutions, meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa between April 6 and 7, 2006 to formulate advocacy positions on women's rights in the context of HIV and AIDS are outraged at the direction that the rape trial of the deputy President of the African National Congress, ANC, Jacob Zuma is taking. We find the conduct of the defence lawyers, the media, the courts and the police dishonorable.

1. We have been and continue to be affected by the twin epidemics of Violence Against Women and HIV and AIDS in various ways. Many of us are living with HIV, provide care and support to members of our families and communities who are infected with HIV and living with AIDS. We have either as young girls, or in our adult life, survived violent crimes committed against us by men in powerful positions within our families and in our communities. Some of us remember those women who have been senselessly murdered through acts of violence committed at home, at work and at school. We know that women are often raped by men who are known to them.

2. We take this opportunity to publicly state that we stand in solidarity with Khwezi. We applaud her brave stance in reporting her experience to the police and in standing before the courts to name her violation. Khwezi has shown respect for the mechanisms that exist in South Africa to report and resolve crimes. Confronting powerful men in powerful positions is a difficult and courageous task. We wish her, all of South Africa and the world to know that she has our love and our support.

3. We are outraged by the horrific and unethical victimization Khwezi has received in and through the mainstream broadcast and print media. She has been vilified by a form of reporting that is biased and blatantly sexist. We are noting those sectors of the media that continue to serve as judge and jury through the lens of the mass media, conferring guilt on Khwezi through inappropriate coverage of her HIV status, her dress, and her sexual past based on violations committed during her childhood.

4. We are angered by the inaction of the police, who, rather than provide a safe environment for Khwezi, have left thousands of Zuma's supporters to burn underwear and images of Khwezi outside the courts in ghastly acts of hatred and intimidation. We believe that the Commissioner of Police has continued to permit what amounts to public violence to unfold in the vicinity of the courts. Where he could have ensured a peaceful atmosphere prevailed, he has let Khwezi suffer dramatically brutal acts of bullying in her journey to and from the courts.

5. We are offended by the manner in which Jacob Zuma has manipulated traditional Zulu practice and custom. We are also outraged by Zuma's admitted attempts to abuse Zulu culture by seeking to buy off Khwezi and her mother with a few fattened cows. It makes women seem like a bag of meat that can be humped and the issue settled by trading a few cattle as marriage negotiation. This tactic of invoking customary options is a manipulative affront to a continent that daily struggles with notions of barbarism and primitivism in a global world that is built on racist and unequal frames and that believes that Africans cannot respect human rights.

6. Given the irresponsible and inaccurate remarks made by Jacob Zuma with respect to risk of HIV transmission and the infamous shower, we call for the dismantling of the South African National Aids Council (SANAC) as it is evidently a vehicle of misinformation and miseducation that permits the abuse of political power rather than meeting its statutory mandate with respect to HIV prevention, treatment and care.

7. Opening up the sexual violations Khewzi experienced as a five year old or thirteen year old child to the scrutiny of the courts is improper. These are incidents that happened when she was a minor who needed protection. It is unfair to present them as part of the present case history.

8. South Africa prides itself as a democracy whose Constitution promotes and protects women's human rights and freedoms from sexual violations. It prides itself on promoting and protecting the rights of women and people living with HIV and AIDS. South Africa claims to have a sophisticated judiciary that is free of political and other powerful influence. We want these bold claims to hold true.

Given South Africa's pivotal role in regional and international politics, how the Zuma Rape Case is treated by the media, the courts, the police, the ruling African National Congress, the Office of the President, by Parliament, by the Human Rights Commission, by the Gender Equality Commission, by every single arm of government, will send strong signals about the Human Rights of Women in Africa in the 21st century. A century where South Africa and the other 52 nations of the African continent have adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa under the auspices of the African Union. And also where the SADC region has a Gender and Development Declaration and its Addendum on Violence against Women that has been signed by all its members including South Africa.

The women of the African continent deserve better than this. Women's rights are human rights and should not be violated under any circumstances; religious, political or cultural. Will South Africa walk its talk by upholding its Constitution and its Commitments at regional and international levels on women's rights?

Signed: Ama Kpetigo, Women in Law & Development (WILDAF), Amie Bojang-Sissoho, GAMCOTRAP, Amie Joof-cole, FAMEDEV,Beatrice Were, Uganda, Bernice Heloo, SWAA International, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, AWDF, Buyiswa Mhambi, Empinsweni Aids Centre, Caroline Sande, Kenya, Dawn Cavanagh, Gender AIDS Forum, Diakhoumba Gassama, Dorothy Namutamba, ICW, Ednah Bhala, Ellen Chitiyo, The Women's Trust, Ennie Chipembere, South Africa, Everjoice Win, South Africa, Faith Kasiva, COVAW – Kenya, Faiza Mohamed, Somalia, Flora Cole, WOLDDOF –GHANA, Funmi Doherty, SWAA – Nigeria, Gcebile Ndlovu, ICW, Harriet Akullu, Uganda, Helene Yinda, Switzerland, Isabella Matambanadzo, OSISA, Isatta Wuire, SWAA - Sierre Leone, Izeduwa Derex-Briggs, Nigeria, Jane Quaye, FIDA – Ghana, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Women's Aids Collective (WACOL), Ludfine Anyango, Kenya, Marion Stevens, South Africa, Mary Sandasi, WASN, Mary Wandia, Kenya, Matrine Chuulu, WLSA, Neelanjana Mukhia, South Africa, Sandasi Daughters, Zimbabwe, Olasunbo Odebode, Prudence Mabele, Positive Women's Network, Rouzeh Eghtessadi, Sarah Mukasa, Akina mama Wa Afrika, Shamillah Wilson, AWID, Sindi Blose, Siphiwe Hlophe, SWAPOL, Sisonke Msimang, OSISA, Tabitha Mageto, Africa, Taziona Sitamulaho, South Africa, Theo Sowa, Therese Niyondiko, Thoko Matshe, Vera Doku, AWDF, Oti Anukpe Ovrawah, National Human Rights Commission - Abuja

[ pambazuka.org

10 April 2006

Mauritius

in einem bericht über 8 südafrikanische frauen in einem knast in mauritius steht u.a. daß die frauen seit 8 wochen isoliert sind. sie wurden in eine zelle gesperrt in der es weder betten noch decken gibt, es wird ihnen nicht erlaubt zu duschen oder kleidung zu wechseln. als toilette haben sie einen eimer/ nachttopf. in die zellen wurden sie zu "ihrem schutz " verlegt, da angebl. eine der frauen von gefangenen frauen aus mauritus angegriffen wurde. die frauen sind im hungerstreik . 28 südafrikanische menschen sind in den knästen in mauritius, alle sind des drogenschmuggels beschuldigt.

SA women held in the 'dungeons' in Mauritius

Eight South African women have been locked up in a Mauritius prison for the past eight weeks, News24 reported on Monday. It quoted Marius Mey, fiancé of 27-year-old Michelle Roux, one of the women, as saying: "They have been held in the dungeons for the past eight weeks. "They don't have beds or linen, they aren't allowed to shower and they have been wearing the same clothes. They have to use a chamber pot for a toilet." The women recently went a hunger strike in protest against the conditions under which they were being held.

According to the report, the South African government had done little to assist them. "The last time South African embassy staff visited these women was in December last year," Mey said. "They don't give a damn about them. The same applies to the Mauritius government. Only the British embassy tries to help the South Africans." Most of the eight women were being held after drugs apparently had been planted on them with or without their knowledge, but without their consent. "They were moved to the dungeons after seven women Mauritius prisoners assaulted Michelle," said Mey. There are about 28 South Africans in Mauritius jails, all of them allegedly for smuggling drugs.

Roux apparently delivered a suitcase -- in which 800g of heroin was hidden without her knowledge -- on behalf of a friend to someone in Mauritius in June 2003. She was arrested at the airport in Mauritius. As a result of her testimony, the so-called friend and a Mauritius drug lord were arrested. Roux has been kept in custody and still is awaiting trial. "The drug lord threatened Michelle, saying she must withdraw charges, but she refused," Mey said. "I have paid thousands of rands for attorneys, air tickets and money into an account for Michelle. I have also lost a farm and a house, and I am working 17 hours a day to cover the costs." - Sapa

[ mg.co.za

7 April 2006

NIGERIA

etwa 40.000 menschen sind in nigeria inhaftiert. 2/3 davon sind nicht verurteilt. im januar hat die regierung angekündigt, etwa 25.000 menschen zu amnestieren. die, die bereits länger in u-haft sind als ihre strafe wäre, sollten sofort entlassen werde, genau wie alte und todkranke und hiv-positive. allerdings blieb es bis jetzt bei der ankündigung.

The 'notorious' jails of Nigeria

Prisons in Nigeria are notorious, with many of the country's 40,000 inmates crammed into massively overcrowded, dilapidated cells in old prisons. The most shocking statistic is that some two thirds of all the prisoners in Nigeria have not been convicted. Many have to wait for years for the case to come to court. Inside prisons, conditions are squalid and disease is rife; tuberculosis is common. Human rights groups say inmates often fall ill, some die from a lack of adequate medical treatment.

Many cells have no beds or mattresses, the inmates sleep on concrete floors. Securing a blanket or a mat to sleep on is a luxury. Although official statistics suggest there is little overcrowding - despite the evidence - the government does accept that there are huge problems. It says there have been some improvements, however, including a fall in the prison death rate from 1,500 a year in the late 1980s to 89 a year in 2003. Prisons have also been opened to humanitarian organisations.

'Amnesty'

Food is basic and the ration small, usually a bowl of beans in the morning and cassava in the afternoon and evening. Some rely on their families to bring food to the prison. Former inmates say money can buy better conditions - the guards taking their cut. Last year the US State Department wrote: "Prison officials, police, and security forces often denied inmates food and medical treatment as a form of punishment or to extort money from them." Prison reform groups say that in the last year, there have been at least five prison riots. Some people have waited for their trials for more than a decade. Their files had been lost, they were forgotten. The problem was so glaring that the government announced in January that all those who have spent three to 10 years awaiting trial will have their cases reviewed for immediate release. Those who had already spent more time in prison than their prospective sentences would be let out, along with the elderly, the terminally ill and those with HIV. In total, that amounted to 25,000 inmates. But this amnesty has yet to be implemented.

'Human face'

The president of human rights group the Civil Liberties Organisation, Titus Mann, said the government had failed to deliver on promises of prison reform. "Decongesting the prisons is the biggest challenge facing the prison system. But I am sceptical the government could do it quickly." A former armed robber turned priest, Pastor Kayode Williams has set up a prisoner rehabilitation project and is on the presidential committee for prison reform and rehabilitation. He says there has been some improvements, but inside prison the attitude of the guards has to change. "One of the key needs is to train the prison staff. They must treat the inmates with a human face. Prison should be about reform not just punishment." He says his organisation has helped over 2,500 former inmates, from murderers to fraudsters. They are given training in agriculture and craftwork to help them earn a living.

'Very hostile'

Pastor Williams says he set up the organisation because he saw that many of his fellow inmates were repeat offenders. Once branded a criminal, he said, former inmates were outcasts in Nigerian society. "Many were coming back to prison, because they were not properly rehabilitated. They had no where to go. Society had rejected them, their family had rejected them. "When I came out people were very hostile. No one would receive me or walk with me. "So I tell them, don't expect society to roll out the red carpet - but don't get discouraged." But for those inside, the struggle to survive is the main concern. Even if the government does succeed in reducing overcrowding in the prisons, it needs to address the failures of a justice and penal system which has allowed thousands of Nigerians to be in prison for years without trial.

[ bbc.co.uk

4 April 2006

ZIMBABWE

weil es zu wenig knastbekleidung gibt, sind gefangene in den knästen zum teil nackt . menschen in u-haft und die, die gerichtstermine haben tragen noch knastuniformen, viele andere müssen entweder nackt oder in decken gehüllt herum laufen. begründet wird das ganze mit der finanzellen situation des landes. den gefangenen ist es verboten eigene kleidung zu tragen.

Prisoners in Zim jails go naked

Prison officials and some former inmates say the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) is unable to provide adequate uniforms for the ever-increasing number of inmates, resulting in prisoners having to share the available uniforms. Inmates on remand and who will be attending court are the first priority to get uniforms, while those not going to court have to stay naked or use prison blankets to cover themselves, a senior official at Harare central prison said. Prisoners in Zimbabwe are banned from wearing their own clothes and must wear prison-issued uniforms.

The prison official, who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to disclose such information to the press, said: "There is a serious shortage of uniforms for prisoners that they have to share. "Priority for uniforms is being given to suspects in remand prison who would be attending court. Some of the prisoners have to stay naked, but it's kind of rotational." A former prisoner at the notorious Chikurubi prison, just outside Harare, Elton Mandiro, said it is "most humiliating" when he and other inmates have to hang around the prison naked because there are no uniforms. Mandiro, who was released from Chikurubi last month, said: "We were told to remove our uniforms and hand them over so that the guys going to court appearances could wear them. We would stay naked or sometimes we would wrap those torn prison blankets, but then again they are not enough."

ZPS commissioner Paradzai Zimondi was not available for comment on the matter, while Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, under whose portfolio prisons fall, said he was not aware of the uniforms shortage and promised to investigate the claims that inmates sometimes had to stay naked. Chinamasa said the government has tried to ensure conditions in jails meet international standards, but admitted it has in some cases failed to do this because of lack of money. He said: "That's [prisoners staying naked] news to me. We try to provide dignified conditions for our prisoners according to international requirements. To a large extent we have managed, although in some cases funding affects us."

The uniforms shortage is only one of several problems affecting the poorly funded state jails. There is also serious overcrowding with the more than 40 prisons holding more than 22 000 inmates, which is way above their designed carrying capacity of 16 000 prisoners. Overcrowding plus a shortage of medical drugs in prison hospitals has seen the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis in prisons. Food is also in short supply with numerous reports in the past of inmates, for example at Chikurubi prison, going for months without running water or spending weeks on a diet of dirty cabbage soup and maize-meal porridge. A poor diet has resulted in a higher incidence of malnutrition-related illnesses among prisoners. In a confidential report to President Robert Mugabe last February, Zimondi said conditions in the country's prisons were so bad, with prisoners dying regularly, that every inmate was virtually on death row.

Most of those dying in prison or just after being released were dying of treatable diseases, the country's chief jailer said in the report. Describing the mortality rate in prisons as a "cause for concern", Zimondi said at one of the country's jails, which he did not name in the report, 127 prisoners had died over a period of 12 months.

The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) in 2004 described conditions in prisons as hazardous and said the country's jails were virtual death traps. The LSZ, the representative body for the legal profession in Zimbabwe, was speaking after touring prisons. The government is hard pressed for resources as it grapples an acute food shortage affecting a quarter of the 12-million Zimbabweans and a severe economic crisis that has spawned shortages of fuel, electricity and essential medical drugs, among other key commodities. -- ZimOnline

[ mg.co.za

10 April 2006

MAURITIUS

in einem bericht über 8 südafrikanische frauen in einem knast in mauritius steht u.a. daß die frauen seit 8 wochen isoliert sind. sie wurden in eine zelle gesperrt in der es weder betten noch decken gibt, es wird ihnen nicht erlaubt zu duschen oder kleidung zu wechseln. als toilette haben sie einen eimer/ nachttopf. in die zellen wurden sie zu "ihrem schutz" verlegt, da angebl. eine der frauen von gefangenen frauen aus mauritus angegriffen wurde. die frauen sind im hungerstreik . 28 südafrikanische menschen sind in den knästen in mauritius, alle sind des drogenschmuggels beschuldigt.

SA women held in the 'dungeons' in Mauritius

Eight South African women have been locked up in a Mauritius prison for the past eight weeks, News24 reported on Monday.

It quoted Marius Mey, fiancé of 27-year-old Michelle Roux, one of the women, as saying: "They have been held in the dungeons for the past eight weeks. "They don't have beds or linen, they aren't allowed to shower and they have been wearing the same clothes. They have to use a chamber pot for a toilet." The women recently went a hunger strike in protest against the conditions under which they were being held. According to the report, the South African government had done little to assist them. "The last time South African embassy staff visited these women was in December last year," Mey said. "They don't give a damn about them. The same applies to the Mauritius government. Only the British embassy tries to help the South Africans."

Most of the eight women were being held after drugs apparently had been planted on them with or without their knowledge, but without their consent. "They were moved to the dungeons after seven women Mauritius prisoners assaulted Michelle," said Mey. There are about 28 South Africans in Mauritius jails, all of them allegedly for smuggling drugs. Roux apparently delivered a suitcase -- in which 800g of heroin was hidden without her knowledge -- on behalf of a friend to someone in Mauritius in June 2003. She was arrested at the airport in Mauritius.

As a result of her testimony, the so-called friend and a Mauritius drug lord were arrested. Roux has been kept in custody and still is awaiting trial. "The drug lord threatened Michelle, saying she must withdraw charges, but she refused," Mey said. "I have paid thousands of rands for attorneys, air tickets and money into an account for Michelle. I have also lost a farm and a house, and I am working 17 hours a day to cover the costs." - Sapa

[ mg.co.za

7 April 2006

NIGERIA

etwa 40.000 menschen sind in nigeria inhaftiert. 2/3 davon sind nicht verurteilt. im januar hat die regierung angekündigt, etwa 25.000 menschen zu "amnestieren". die, die bereits länger in u-haft sind als ihre strafe wäre, sollten sofort entlassen werde, genau wie alte und todkranke und hiv-positive. allerdings blieb es bis jetzt bei der ankündigung.

The 'notorious' jails of Nigeria

Although official statistics suggest there is little overcrowding - despite the evidence - the government does accept that there are huge problems. It says there have been some improvements, however, including a fall in the prison death rate from 1,500 a year in the late 1980s to 89 a year in 2003. Prisons have also been opened to humanitarian organisations.

'Amnesty'

The problem was so glaring that the government announced in January that all those who have spent three to 10 years awaiting trial will have their cases reviewed for immediate release. Those who had already spent more time in prison than their prospective sentences would be let out, along with the elderly, the terminally ill and those with HIV. In total, that amounted to 25,000 inmates. But this amnesty has yet to be implemented.

'Human face'

A former armed robber turned priest, Pastor Kayode Williams has set up a prisoner rehabilitation project and is on the presidential committee for prison reform and rehabilitation. He says there has been some improvements, but inside prison the attitude of the guards has to change. "One of the key needs is to train the prison staff. They must treat the inmates with a human face. Prison should be about reform not just punishment." He says his organisation has helped over 2,500 former inmates, from murderers to fraudsters. They are given training in agriculture and craftwork to help them earn a living. 'Very hostile' Pastor Williams says he set up the organisation because he saw that many of his fellow inmates were repeat offenders.

Once branded a criminal, he said, former inmates were outcasts in Nigerian society. "Many were coming back to prison, because they were not properly rehabilitated. They had no where to go. Society had rejected them, their family had rejected them. "When I came out people were very hostile. No one would receive me or walk with me. "So I tell them, don't expect society to roll out the red carpet - but don't get discouraged." But for those inside, the struggle to survive is the main concern. Even if the government does succeed in reducing overcrowding in the prisons, it needs to address the failures of a justice and penal system which has allowed thousands of Nigerians to be in prison for years without trial.

[ news.bbc.co.uk

4 April 2006

ZIMBABWE

weil es zu wenig knastbekleidung gibt, sind gefangene in den knästen zum teil nackt . menschen in u-haft und die, die gerichtstermine haben haben noch knastuniformen, viele andere müssen entweder nacht oder in decken gehüllt herum laufen. begründet wird das ganze mit der finanzellen situation des landes. den gefangenen ist es verboten eigene kleidung zu tragen.

Prisoners in Zim jails go naked

Prisoners in some of Zimbabwe's overcrowded jails have to stay naked because of a shortage of uniforms that highlights deteriorating conditions in prisons as the cash-strapped government struggles for resources to maintain the institutions, independent news provider ZimOnline has learnt. Prison officials and some former inmates say the Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) is unable to provide adequate uniforms for the ever-increasing number of inmates, resulting in prisoners having to share the available uniforms. Inmates on remand and who will be attending court are the first priority to get uniforms, while those not going to court have to stay naked or use prison blankets to cover themselves, a senior official at Harare central prison said.

Prisoners in Zimbabwe are banned from wearing their own clothes and must wear prison-issued uniforms. The prison official, who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to disclose such information to the press, said: "There is a serious shortage of uniforms for prisoners that they have to share. "Priority for uniforms is being given to suspects in remand prison who would be attending court. Some of the prisoners have to stay naked, but it's kind of rotational."

A former prisoner at the notorious Chikurubi prison, just outside Harare, Elton Mandiro, said it is "most humiliating" when he and other inmates have to hang around the prison naked because there are no uniforms. Mandiro, who was released from Chikurubi last month, said: "We were told to remove our uniforms and hand them over so that the guys going to court appearances could wear them. We would stay naked or sometimes we would wrap those torn prison blankets, but then again they are not enough." ZPS commissioner Paradzai Zimondi was not available for comment on the matter, while Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, under whose portfolio prisons fall, said he was not aware of the uniforms shortage and promised to investigate the claims that inmates sometimes had to stay naked. Chinamasa said the government has tried to ensure conditions in jails meet international standards, but admitted it has in some cases failed to do this because of lack of money. He said: "That's [prisoners staying naked] news to me. We try to provide dignified conditions for our prisoners according to international requirements. To a large extent we have managed, although in some cases funding affects us."

A poor diet has resulted in a higher incidence of malnutrition-related illnesses among prisoners. In a confidential report to President Robert Mugabe last February, Zimondi said conditions in the country's prisons were so bad, with prisoners dying regularly, that every inmate was virtually on death row. Most of those dying in prison or just after being released were dying of treatable diseases, the country's chief jailer said in the report.

Describing the mortality rate in prisons as a "cause for concern", Zimondi said at one of the country's jails, which he did not name in the report, 127 prisoners had died over a period of 12 months. The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) in 2004 described conditions in prisons as hazardous and said the country's jails were virtual death traps. The LSZ, the representative body for the legal profession in Zimbabwe, was speaking after touring prisons.

The government is hard pressed for resources as it grapples an acute food shortage affecting a quarter of the 12-million Zimbabweans and a severe economic crisis that has spawned shortages of fuel, electricity and essential medical drugs, among other key commodities. -- ZimOnline

[ mg.co.za

5 April 2006

DUBA / ABU DHABI

Emirate testen weltweit einmaliges Überwachungsprojekt

Mit der Hilfe britischer Satelliten soll in Abu Dhabi und Dubai die Geschwindigkeit der Fahrzeuge kontrolliert und damit der Aufenthaltsort aller Wagen in Echtzeit erfasst werden Die Emirate Dubai und Abu Dhabi gehen einen großen Schritt in Richtung Totalüberwachung voran, die vermutlich nach und nach auch in anderen Ländern umgesetzt wird. Erst einmal sind die Emirate aber Pioniere, die zusammen mit IBM das "modernste und umfassendste Verkehrsleit- und Sicherheitssystem der Welt" [extern] realisieren, bei dem jedes Fahrzeug permanent überwacht wird.

[ heise.de

23 March 2006

EGYPT

Egypt to lift emergency laws

Cairo - Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention.Critics have long claimed the laws are used against opponents of the regime.Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament late on Wednesday.

He said the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, which has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent years.Nazif said he had ordered the formation of a committee of experts to draft the new law, without saying when he expected it to come into force.The committee was expected to draw on laws passed by countries such as the United States and Britain, as well as on existing international conventions and treaties, he said.Parliament has renewed the emergency laws every three years since they were imposed after the 1981 assassination of president Anwar al-Sadat.It has consistently ignored opposition demands, and calls from local and international human rights groups, that they be repealed.The legislation was last extended in 2003 and is due to expire at the end of May.

Opponents can be detained for 45 days

The laws allow the government to detain anyone deemed to be threatening state security for renewable 45-day periods, without court orders. They also give military courts the power to try civilians.Public demonstrations are banned under the legislation, which opponents also see as an attempt by the state to stifle basic freedoms, including freedom of association.Opposition parties and the pro-reform movement Kefaya (Enough) have already launched a campaign calling on parliament not to extend the laws when the government refers them to the assembly.The government, led by the ruling National Democratic Party of veteran President Hosni Mubarak, says it has invoked the laws only in specific cases, such as its fight against suspected Islamist militants.Islamist militants launched a bloody campaign in 1992 against Mubarak's regime, culminating in 1997 with an attack in Luxor that left 58 foreign tourists dead.

[ news24.com

07 March 2006

NAIROBI

Where Inmates Wait in Pain As Judiciary Drags Its Feet

For as long as a decade, some suspects at Meru Prison have waited for justice.

With their cases far from being finalised, they are not sure whether their tribulations will ever end and fear they may not leave the prison alive."We are already being punished. If the court finds I was innocent, I will have wasted all these years," said Mr Isaac M'amariu, a former primary school teacher who has been in remand since 1998.Prisoners live in appalling conditions due to congestion. This is as a result of a lethargic court system, inefficiency by the police and a slow pace of prison reforms.The Government's tough talk on reforms, which were started by Vice President Moody Awori in 2003, appear like a mockery to prisoners here. Apart from more humane treatment by warders and the administration, they say conditions remain as bad as ever and the reforms have not been felt.A television set, radio receivers, footballs and books brought to the jail as part of the reform programme are stacked in a store because the facility lacks halls where inmates could use them.

Prisoners crouch

But Mr Henry Kisingu, the officer in charge of the prison, agrees that supplying such items would not solve anything."Which halls would you put the TV sets? Who's going to watch them - the ones sitting, squatting or the ones standing?" he posed. He was referring to the cells, where prisoners spend days and nights standing or crouching due to overcrowding.He admits that lives of prisoners are in constant peril."What we have here is a case of daily survival."Problems at the jail appear to be a result of neglect. Since it was put up by the colonial government in 1962, it has never been expanded despite a rise in population and crime.Even the ground reserved for inmates to bask in the sun is too small and is one of the reasons why child offenders mingle with hardcore criminals.The prison, moreover, lacks land for expansion.At one time, the VP ruled out expansion, saying the Government would use other methods to decongest jails. But it is the courts that take much of the blame. Due to the delays in hearing of cases, the jail is congested with over 1,400 prisoners, yet it was built for 350.

Cases postponed

Scores of inmates say their cases have been delayed because judges and magistrates keep pushing them to later dates."For a long time, judges in the High Court were tourists," complained Mr Joseph Muriungi, a remandee in Ward Four. "Most times, they would not turn up in court and when they did, they kept on postponing our cases." Isaac M'amariu and Muriungi Baiburi who have been in prison for about 10 years each waiting for their cases to be concluded.Sometimes, they would be told that the judge's or the magistrate's diary was full, and the case would be pushed back by a year. That would mean that for a full year, the suspects would be forced to persevere the horrendous conditions in the jail.However, they hope that with the recent posting of a new judge to the High Court in Meru, the situation will improve.Ms Esther Waikuru, a paralegal officer with the Legal Resources Foundation that is assisting inmates with legal aid, said there have been several cases of files lost in the court registries. This only delays cases further.In an attempt to speed up hearings and ease congestion, the paralegals identify the delayed proceedings and raise the issues with the police, the courts and the prison.However, a major problem is failure by witnesses and complainants in the various cases to appear in court on the day of the hearing.

Clerks conceal files

Waikuru blames this on failure by police to bond or to inform witnesses of the dates when the cases come up for hearing.In one of the 50 cases where the paralegals have intervened, a robbery with violence suspect, Mr Richard Gitire had gone for hearings 15 times, but the complainants were never in court. When they raised questions, Gitire was freed because the police could not trace the complainants.This appears to have been the case for Mr Muriungi Baiburi, who has waited 10 years to have his case concluded. He said the hearing of his case has been postponed many times because assessors, witnesses, prosecutors and judges have failed to attend court.Prisoners claim court clerks in the Meru Law Courts and the High Court conceal files and ask for bribes. "If your relatives pay them, your file reappears," said a remand prisoner.The Meru Prison is further overwhelmed because it remands suspects from four districts; Meru North, Meru Central, Meru South and Tharaka-Nithi. Apart from Kangeta Prison in Maua, most suspects are held at Meru.

Difficulties in transporting prisoners to courts compound the situation. Kisingu says police, who have only one Land Rover with a capacity of 15 people, are expected to transport as many as 80 suspects each day to and from Maua in Meru North, about 100 kilometres away."If the vehicle carries 15 suspects, it means that the cases of the remaining are not heard at the appropriate time," said Kisingu.

Lethargy in the Judiciary

Following intervention by the paralegals, prison authorities are building new halls at Kangeta Prison, which would hold at least 60 more suspects to be transferred from the Meru facility.But these would be too few to make much difference in the prison, which has over 1,400 inmates.Fatigue and lack of sleep was having a toll on prisoners and most of them have been losing cases in the courts, said Waikuru. This is because they doze in the courtroom and hardly defend themselves as they cannot afford to hire lawyers.

Without legal representation, suspects do not even understand court procedures and sometimes even incriminate themselves before the judges, Waikuru said. However, the paralegal officers have been holding mock trials with suspects at the prison to familiarise them with court procedures.Lethargy in the Judiciary has not helped matters. Many convicts who have filed their appeals have waited in vain to have them heard. The situation is worse because they have to wait for the Court of Appeal in Nairobi to send appellate judges to Meru to hear them.A prisoner, Ngirisa Lelukei, 40, said since he filed an appeal against a death sentence in 1998, it has never been heard. Enquiries in Nairobi indicated that his file was sent back to the Meru High Court, but officials there say it is not in the registry.

Non-custodial sentences

One of the proposals to ease congestion in prisons is to encourage magistrates to give petty offenders non-custodial sentences. The Community Service Order allows such offenders to be sentenced to manual work in the community.However, the paralegal officers and Kisingu said this has seldom happened in Meru districts. Indeed, they said the bulk of the prisoners at the jail are petty offenders."It does not make sense to lock them up here. It appears that magistrates have not understood these issues and have not utilised the Community Service Order."

Other decongestion programmes such as a blanket amnesty to petty offenders have been rejected by the police, who say it would frustrate efforts to fight crime.Once the courts order that suspects be remanded, the prison's administration is compelled by law to accept them, no matter how bad congestion is: "I must accept them. If I refused, I would risk being jailed for contempt of court."He said although there has been major reforms in the justice system, this was not enough. The entire system should be overhauled."It has now come a time when whether we like it or not, we have to expand the prison to deal with congestion," he said.

[ allafrica.com

06 March 2006

ALGERIA

nachdem ein junger mann von der polizei erschossen wurde ( er soll mit einem beil in eine wache gekommen sein und gedroht haben einen polizisten zu töten) kam es zu riots an denen hunderte jugendliche teilgenommen haben.

Killing by cop sparks riots

Algiers - A weekend killing of a young man by a policeman in a suburb of Algeria's capital caused riots in which hundreds of youths attacked public buildings and burned down a bank, said witnesses on Monday. The unrest was at its height late on Sunday afternoon in the western Zeralda district of Algiers, where violence erupted after news spread that a policeman had shot a youth who burst into a police station during the night, wielding an axe.

An official in the security forces on Monday said that the young man had gone to the police station about 03:00 seeking "vengeance in a love rivalry" against one of the officers. The source said that he attacked policemen and one opened fire and killed him. Reinforcements Police reinforcements were on patrol in Zeralda on Monday morning after the rioting and a clash between hundreds of youths angered by the killing and riot police using tear gas who moved in after public buildings were vandalised.

The headquarters of the state-owned Local Development Bank (BDL) was razed and its cash point machine destroyed. Protestors also smashed windows of the post office. It was reported that the day after the incidents, the suburb had calmed down. The tribunal said that the state prosecutor at the court in Cheraga, west of Algiers, had ordered an autopsy on the youth shot in the early hours of Sunday and an enquiry into his death in the police station. Local police officials made no comment on the death.

[ news24.com

1 March 2006

TUNISIA

Tunisia still holds some 200 political prisoners

Although Dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali this weekend freed a total of 1600 prisoners to mark Tunisia's upcoming 50th anniversary of independence, rights activists complain that most political prisoners still remain in jail. Only 80 out of Tunisia's estimated 280 political prisoners were released. Writers, journalists and human rights defenders are withheld.

It was presented as a nice gesture - a mercy for the ones vegetating in Tunisia's inhospitable prisons. The former French colony is soon to celebrate 50 years of statehood. What a petty to be locked up in prison when the streets of Tunis, Sfax and Sousse are filled with red-and-white banners and photos of a smiling President.

The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) sees it differently. The "traditional" amnesty given prior to any important event "this time comes to cover over a ban on a demonstration demanding liberties and the release of opinion prisoners in Tunisia," the human rights group holds.The most relevant Tunisian human rights activists were not affected by the presidential pardon, ANHRI noted. Lawyer and human rights writer Mohammed Abbou, for example, remains in prison. Mr Abbou was detained exactly one year ago after posting an article on the Internet where he criticised the human rights situation in Tunisia and compared it with the Iraqi Abu Ghareib prison. For that, he was sentenced to three years and a half imprisonment.

Amnesty International does not see the situation equally negatively and welcomed the limited amnesty given by President El Abedine. After all, "more than 80 political prisoners" had been released. Merely a beginning, though. According to the human rights group, some 200 other political prisoners remain in Tunisian prisons. Among the 80 released political prisoners, thee were 75 prisoners who had been put to jail for more than 10 years because of their membership of Ennahda, an Islamist organisation that is banned in Tunisia. "Most of the Ennahda prisoners were arrested, tortured and sentenced to long prison terms after unfair trials in 1992," Amnesty holds. "While serving their sentences, many were subjected to harsh prison conditions, including prolonged solitary confinement and ill-treatment as an additional punishment."

But also among the Ennahda prisoners, most of those given the harshest sentences were not included in the presidential pardon. Several of those who were sentenced to life imprisonment still remain in detention. They have been in prison for over ten years.One of those released was Hamadi Jebali, an Ennahda leader and former editor of the Islamist publication 'al-Fajr' (Dawn), who was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment after an allegedly unfair trial before a military in 1992. He spent many years of his imprisonment in solitary confinement and was on many occasions denied medical attention and dietary needs while in prison, Amnesty says. "Visits were also often denied without reasons being given to the family."

Also six members of the so-called Zarzis "terrorist" group were released. The six men originally from the town of Zarzis in the south of Tunisia, were arrested in February 2003 and imprisoned on terrorism-related charges in April 2004 after an allegedly unfair trial before a Criminal Court in Tunis. "The main evidence against them was confession statements that they alleged were extracted from them under torture while they were held incommunicado in pre-trial detention," Amnesty claims.While welcoming the releases of political prisoners today, Amnesty said it was concerned that the releases were conditional. "If those freed violate the conditions of their release, they could risk being re-arrested to serve the remainder of their sentence following a simple decision of the Minister of Justice and without any judicial process," the human rights group holds. "They could also be put under house arrest or placement in a public or private institution, or both, for the remainder of their sentence."

Also human rights groups within Tunisia are generally concerned over the direction the regime is following. The Tunisian Observatory for Freedom of the Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC) today warned that February had been one of the worst months so far regarding acts of censorship in the country. Both local and international newspapers had been confiscated from news kiosks throughout the country.Earlier this month, the political police publicly summoned many human rights defenders, as well as members of the editorial board of the newspaper 'Kalima' and confiscated copies of the newspaper in their possession after having subjected them to a search. President El Abedine, also known as the "Arab Pinochet", surely will know how to fill up prisons again after Independence Day, rights activists fear.

[ afrol.com

28 February 2006

UGANDA

Local Prisons Need Address

After failing to get bail, Batya Ndugwa knew prison was his next stop. He was not that scared however, because his was a minor case and he was going to a local administration prison (LAP) rather than the much-dreaded Luzira Upper Prison where he had spent two years for capital offences committed. But he was in for the shock of his life. "If pain and suffering were measurable, the pain I suffered for the few weeks I spent in a LAP was greater than the two years I spent in Luzira Upper prison on capital offences. I lived in terrible conditions besides torture and hard labour. And the pain inflicted on me, I had never thought, existed in modern times," Batya says.

Ndugwa Batya has served sentences in different prisons, both LAPs and central government prisons. Kasangati LAP in Wakiso district is the last one he has been in. "The prisoner prefect (chachi) read to me over 40 rules and ordered me to recite them in order without changes," he explains. The chachi claims that reciting rules determines whether the rules are on the new inmate's fingertips. But it is a method devised to tease a new inmate. Batya failed the test and was told to lie down and get 25 strokes for failing what they called a very simple test. As he was still nursing the injuries, he was again drawn into another trick. "I was told to measure the height of the wall using my hands and I positively responded to avoid a beating for being slow but I was reminded after I was through about the rule of not touching the walls and I was whipped 10 more strokes," he says. As if that was not enough, he was ordered to entertain the inmates with 10 latest songs that were released when they (inmates) were in prison.

At night, he slept in discomfort due to the congestion in the ward. The chachi subdivides the ward into three columns and inmates occupy them according to the status they have in the prison. According to Batya, the first class space, which is a column near the wall and is relatively peaceful goes for Shs5,000 and those without money share the middle column where there are a lot of inconveniences and limited space.

Poor conditions

"All inmates in the middle column must lay facing one side and for anyone to change his position, it must be a consensus of all inmates in the middle column that they change position or face another side. Any inmate who does otherwise violates one of the rules and is punished by inmates," Batya explains. He also claims that offenders have no mattresses and blankets and they sleep naked on a bare parasite-infested floor. Surprisingly, he says, the rule stands that no louse has to be killed even if it bites you. According to their unwritten constitution, killing a louse is the same as killing a prison warder, in other words a capital offence. They reason that lice are prison warders who welcome all inmates and keep the prison when they (inmates) leave. The punishment for that crime is very grave if one is found guilty. According to the District Prison Commander (DPC) of Wakiso district, Nathan Mpoza, who was once the officer in charge (OC) of Kasangati prison, the situation has greatly improved from the time Batya was in remand. "We have recently constructed new prison wards and rehabilitated old ones in all LAPs in the district and we have incorporated human rights in all our duties," Mpoza says.

Mpoza however says that offenders do not make applications to enter the prison. They receive a big number of inmates everyday so they do not get time to plan for that number. "You can't say that, 'Today I am going to feed this number of inmates'," Mpoza says. Formerly, LAPs were planned to have shambas on which they had to grow their own food but in the 1960s and 1982, there was restructuring of many LAPs and they lost their land to individuals and the government. Now getting food has become a burden for all LAPs and the inmates have to work on private farms to raise enough resources to run the prison. "Many of the prisoners are happy going out to work because if they remain at the prison, each eats only 680gms of food a day yet in shambas they eat a kilogramme and 140gms of beans a day." Mpoza says. He adds that many inmates who have been living in urban areas do not want to do hard work in prison which is why they see it as Human Rights abuse.

When asked about the teasing and torture, he says that all inmates are informed to report such behaviours to the management. "I passed a circular on Human Rights that I gave to all warders, prisoners, chachis and kattikiros (prison head prefects) to refrain from torture or teasing and report all who do abuse inmates. We take actions and court records can prove it," he explains. "It isn't easy to know what goes on in the wards if the inmates don't inform you that they are teased." However, Apollo Kakaire, the Public Relations Officer Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), says conditions in all prisons be it for local or central government are generally bad, but the situation in many LAPs is horribly worse. "The administration of LAPs isn't streamlined. They neither officially fall under the local government nor the central government," Kakaire says. He explains that many districts' funding of the LAPs is based on what individuals think about prison rather than major goal of reforming inmates. Most if not all LAPs are constrained in their discharging of professional duty due to the poor facilitation and funding from the government and districts.

Establishment

LAPs were established in 1967 under the Local Government Act to separate capital offence criminals from the petty ones. The government had also intended to quicken the criminal justice system by bringing courts near to the people. All LAPs were entirely dependent on the central government funds. It was recently that the government rethought their decision to put all prisons under one management. In 1998, the LAPs were formally handed over from the districts to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be run and funded under the Uganda Prison Service. Unfortunately, there were no corresponding budgets so they have remained in the hands of the districts. The Commissioner Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), Constantine Karusoke was quoted in the Monitor newspaper 2000 advising the government to close all sub-county and district prisons if it could not facilitate them.

"Neither the government nor the districts facilitated the LAPs, which put the rights of the prisoners in a balance," the Monitor reported. According to Dr. Sita Masamba, the Director of United Nations African Institute for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders (UNAFRI), the problems don't stem from getting used to prisons. It is the poor living conditions with congestion, hard labour then the mixture of hardcore criminals and petty criminals and violation of human rights like torture, which he says affect the criminal justice system. "The mission of the correctional system (prisons) is to socially rehabilitate an inmate and reintegrate the prisoner into the society. But if the LAPs are going elsewhere, something has to be done to get them on track," he says.

"They just need to centralise all the LAPs to be under one institution for the good administration of collection system. Prison is part of the criminal justice system and works well if it is under one management and supervision," Masamba who has a PhD in criminology adds. According to the UHRC 2004 report, warders, kattikiros and chachis engineer the tortures and these orderlies and prefects get orders from the prison warders to beat prisoners. The 2003 UHRC report also reported deaths caused by pneumonia, tuberculosis and cardiac arrest which are associated with coldness, Aids and psychological torture. Despite the negativities that follow such inhumane treatments to the new and weak offenders, chachis are proud of the teasing.

They regard most of them as methods that calm new inmates and train them to answer questions in court. Secondly, although the inmates say they suffer various human rights abuses, they don't report them to the authorities because they fear that the chachis and kattikiros will find out who reported them. "You can't know who is abused if he or she hasn't told you. But for some who inform us about the abuse, we try as hard as possible to protect them from danger," Mpoza says.

Improvement needed

The human rights conditions and the health standards in LAPs prisons are still below the minimum standards set by the United Nations of the treatment of prisoners and offenders adopted in 1977. However, Dr. Sita Masamba says that despite existence of the United Nations (UN) standards for the treatment of offenders, the instrument is not compulsory to member countries. So there is no way the UN can come directly to enforce changes but only advise and provide technical support to the member states.

[ allafrica.com

12 January 2006

BURUNDI

Burundi rights group slams mass release of prisoners

BUJUMBURA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A Burundian human rights group has criticised the provisional release of 673 prisoners involved in the 1993 killing of the country's first democratically elected president and the ethnic reprisals it triggered. Human rights watchdog Ligue Iteka said the authorities' decision this week to free hundreds of detainees charged with political assassination, murder and breaching state security undermined Burundi's reconciliation efforts. "It is evident that the danger is there. When you free people who have been sentenced as criminals, it is impossible for the victims to welcome such a decision," Ligue Iteka's director Jean Marie Vianey Kavumbagu told local radio.

Extremist Tutsi soldiers killed President Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, in an attempted coup months after Burundi's first multi-party polls in 1993. The murder sparked a cycle of retaliation between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis -- mirroring earlier cycles of slaughter since Burundi's independence from Belgium in 1962. Most of the freed detainees are Hutus and were classified as political prisoners by a commission comprised of politicians and magistrates. "We don't know the criteria determining who is a political prisoner and who is not. The decision was taken in hurry, and for me, this is not the kind of decision to strengthen peace and reconciliation among Burundians," Kavumbagu said.

He expressed fear that those released may target witnesses and survivors of the bloodshed. "The first thing the government should do is to protect the victims, because most of them have been in court to charge these killers. There's a risk the victims may be threatened by the same people who were released." President Pierre Nkurunziza has promised to release all prisoners accused of politically-motivated crimes this year, in addition to those who had served a quarter of their sentence, in a bid to ease overcrowding in jails. Those temporarily freed this week will face questioning by a truth and reconciliation commission investigating Burundi's violent post-independence period. The yet to be established commission is expected to submit its findings to a special court which will decide whether suspects should spend more time in prison.

[ alertnet.org

10. January 2006

SOUTH AFRICA / ZIMBABWE

SA-Zimbabwe migrant centre to open

South Africa and Zimbabwe are to open a border reception centre to try to curb the flow of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe into South Africa.The office at the Beit Bridge border will help Zimbabweans get work permits.Supported by the International Organisation for Migration, it also aims to help the 2,000 Zimbabweans deported from South Africa each week.Immigration from Zimbabwe has risen amid economic collapse and a government housing demolition programme.Staff will also offering counselling on HIV-Aids. "Deportees and other people in need of legal documents will be served food and other basic amenities while their papers are being sorted," South African government spokesman Page Boikanyo said. He said the office would help minimise the abuse of Zimbabweans by unscrupulous employers seeking to make profits.South African Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana described the opening of the centre as an attempt to decrease crime along the border and to fight xenophobia.

[ bbc.co.uk

7. Januar 2006

ETHiOPIA

734 , die seit zwei monaten inhaftiert waren, weil sie an den riots nach den wahlen beteiligt gewesen sein sollen, wurden jetzt entlassen. das justizministerium behauptet in einem statement zu den entlassungen daß es zwar beweise gäbe für die beteiligung der 734 menschen, diese sich aber der schwere ihrer taten nicht bewußt gewesen seien. über 10.000 menschen die seit anfang november verhaftet wurden, wurden im laufe der zeit entlassen. gegen 129 werden zur zeit prozesse geführt. bei den riots nach den wahlen sind mind. 90 menschen getötet worden.

Ethiopian authorities release 734 detained over post-election riots

Addis Ababa - Ethiopian authorities said Saturday that 734 people detained for two months in connection with post-election disturbances in June and November in Addis Ababa and several other major cities have been released. In a statement published in the government press Saturday, the Ministry of Justice said that although there was evidence of the involvement of the detainees in the riots, it was decided to free them, \'as it has been established that they were not aware of the gravity\' of what they were doing.

Over 10,000 persons, who had been detained in Addis Ababa and other cities in the country since early November in connection with the disturbances that sparked violence in the streets, had been released on several occasions previously on account of their minor roles in the disturbances. The statement by the Ministry of Justice did not say whether all those detained in connection with the post-election riots have now been released. Some 129 people are presently on trial in connection with the disturbances, which claimed the lives of close to 90 people in June and November during violent street clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Addis Ababa and several other major cities.

They include top leaders of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), human rights activists as well as publishers and editors of private newspapers, including five news readers and editors of the Amharic language service of the Voice of America, the international broadcast agency operated by the American government and based in Washington D.C. The seven charges against the 129 on trial range from sedition and high treason to genocide for allegedly inciting and instigating the post-election disturbances which were in protest at alleged fraud during the mid-May third multi-party general election in Ethiopia.

The authorities claim the leadership and supporters of the CUDP instigated the disturbances with the intention of overthrowing the government when their party failed to win the elections. Those on trial say they are political prisoners arrested for their opposition to the government.

[ monstersandcritics.com

5. January 2006

ZIMABWNE

Children endure the hardships of prison life

BULAWAYO, 5 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Annastasia, 12 months old, her hair plaited with red and white ribbons to match her flowery dress, conjures the ideal image of a cute toddler, a perfect contender for a baby pageant.The only discordant note is her surroundings - four high white walls make up Annastasia's world, and she will only discover what lies beyond them in six months' time, when her grandmother fetches her to live with her four siblings.Prison Fellowship of Zimbabwe (PFZ), the local charter of an international Christian alliance for rehabilitating and assisting former inmates, estimates that over 200 children are in the country's jails with their detained mothers.

At Mlondolozi Prison, a mental facility on the outskirts of the southern city of Bulawayo where female prisoners are held pending psychiatric review, 14 toddlers are serving sentences with their mothers.Among them is Annastasia's mother, Sibusisiwe Nkala, who is serving a 10-year sentence for culpable homicide after killing her husband who was allegedly abusing her.Mlondolozi Prison is the only home Annastasia has known. A small corner of the courtyard has been converted into a playground where female prisoners take turns watching over the toddlers. The youngest is just three weeks old, and the oldest is aged two.

"I had no clothes for my baby," said Thenjiwe Ncube, the mother of the three-week-old. Sympathetic prison officers chipped in and donated what they could, because "there are no provisions for baby clothes here". Zimbabwe's prison regulations stipulate that children be released into the custody of relatives or the Department of Social Welfare once they reach the age of two."The extended family concept is dead, as people struggle to obtain the basic necessities to feed their families," said PFZ's Emmanuael Nyakasikana, noting that the Department of Social Welfare's homes have been stretched to the limit by the influx of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Fiona Mandiziva, mother of a 16-month-old boy, is serving four years for housebreaking. She says that given the option, she would prefer serving a community sentence and watching her child grow, as "I can't impose my child on relatives, because I understand that things are not that rosy out there."In the past the prisons department used to provide mothers with extra rations of soap and food, mainly peanut butter and milk, to meet the needs of their children. But soap has become one of the most expensive necessities in Zimbabwe, with peanut butter and milk fast disappearing from most shops, including the prison department's stores.

Zimbabwe's prison system is over-stretched, with more than 30,000 prisoners crammed into 11 jails designed for 16,000 inmates. While women account for only three percent of the prison population, at Mlondolozi there are 11 inmates in cells designed for four, according to the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation, an NGO running rehabilitation programmes.There are no separate sleeping arrangements for babies, and during winter both mothers and their children are forced to cuddle together for warmth under the few threadbare blankets provided by the system."It would be ideal if the children could sleep in cots separately from us," lamented one inmate.

[ irinnews.org

5. January 2006

NIGERIA

die regierung hat angekündigt das 25.000 gefangene vorzeitig entlassen werden. als grund wird die überbelegung der knäste und die lange wartezeiten bei den gerichten angegeben. 40.444 gefangene sind z.zt. in den 227 knästen, 65% davon warten auf ihren prozeß.

NIGERIA: Thousands of prisoners awaiting trial to be freed

ABUJA, 5 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Nigeria plans to free some 25,000 inmates, many of whom have been awaiting trial for years, in a bid to decongest overcrowded and unhygienic prisons and improve its human rights record."The issue of awaiting trial inmates has become an endemic problem in Nigeria," said Justice Minister Bayo Ojo after a cabinet meeting late Wednesday. "The conditions of the prisons are just too terrible. The conditions negate the essence of prison, which is to reform."

According to government figures, two thirds of Nigeria's 45,000 prisoners have not yet had a trial - in some cases because their files have gone missing, in others because witnesses were unavailable.A government-commissioned survey published last year found that suspects were dumped in violent, overcrowded cells and left with no legal assistance, no trial date and no hope of getting out - a process which has long drawn the ire of human rights groups.

"We have found that recently there has been a series of jailbreaks which are just samples of what is waiting to happen if immediate intervention is not undertaken," the justice minister said on Wednesday.Under the new government scheme, inmates who have spent between three and ten years waiting for a trial will have their cases reviewed for immediate release. Prisoners who have already been in jail longer than they would have been if convicted are also eligible, as are the elderly, those infected with HIV/AIDS and other terminally ill prisoners.

"By the time the process is completed we hope to have reduced the number of inmates to between 15,000 and 20,000," Ojo said.Six "halfway houses" will be set up across the sprawling West African nation, to rehabilitate inmates and offer them trade and skills training before they go back to their communities.An official at the justice ministry said that around 1 billion naira (US $78 million) had been set aside for the plan to free up prisons, with much of the funds going to government-hired lawyers who will review the thousands of cases.

The government has also approved setting up a prison board for each of the country's 227 prisons, which will be made up of law enforcement officials and human rights workers. There will also be a nationwide chief inspector of prisons who will report to President Olusegun Obasanjo.The president has in the past pledged reform of the prisons system after acknowledging his first-hand experience of conditions in Nigerian jails, during the time he was imprisoned for allegedly plotting a coup under the rule of former military leader General Sani Abacha. Obasanjo emerged from prison after Abacha's death and went on to win elections designed to end a 15-year stretch of military rule.

[ irinnews.org

Nigeria to free 25,000 prison inmates

ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Nigerian government announced it would release as many as 25,000 inmates to ease prison overcrowding and unclog its legal system. Nigerian Justice Minister Bayo Ojo made the announcement in the capital, Abuja, and called the prison situation "an endemic problem," the BBC reported. He said there are currently some 40,444 inmates in 227 prisons across Nigeria, with 65 percent of those incarcerated awaiting trial. "Out of this 65 percent, some of them have never seen the inside of a court room before for various reasons ranging from the fact that their case files are missing, the person investigating the case has been transferred to another location or has retired from the police force," he said. Ojo said the government will build six halfway houses to provide those being freed with education and training.

[ sciencedaily.com

2. January 2006

MOROCCO

Morocco, Spain Get Tough on Illegal Immigrants

CASABLANCA, Jan 2 (IPS) - Illegal immigrants seeking to start a new life in Europe will now find it impossible to jump the border after Moroccan and Spanish armies have erected a barbed wire between their common frontier.Between 14 and 16 Africans were shot dead in October 2005 after they attempted to enter the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which are both claimed by Morocco.

Following the incident, Moroccan government embarked on a programme to deport the migrants. While others were turned back, some, abandoned in the middle of the desert without food or water, were expelled. The Moroccan media recently reported the deaths of another dozen migrants.For years, Europe did not pay much attention to the plight of the migrants until it realised that people were being maimed or murdered each day while on their way to the West. The migrants are seeking their share of what they considered as the wealth plundered by Europe during centuries of contacts with Africa.The incident spurred the creation of humanitarian campaigns. And, since then, Morocco and Spain have signed agreements to deport illegal immigrants.

The fate of some 50 asylum seekers remains in the balance in a refugee camp in Guelmim, southern Morocco. Morocco, a signatory to a 1951 refugee protection convention, is obliged to respect the rights of asylum seekers.Mehdi Lahlou, a Moroccan researcher specialising in immigration affairs, said: ''Only one refugee has been expelled from Morocco out of more than 3,000 since October 10 - under pressure from European Union and Spanish authorities''. Lahou is based in Rabat, the capital of Morocco.Before the storming of Ceuta and Melilla, African migrants were rarely bothered in Morocco, where they traveled more or less unfettered and without official documents. Migrants lived openly in Rabat's working-class neighborhoods where they had no conflicts with locals.

These migrants, who had been living in Morocco's greener, cooler, northern climate, now suddenly find themselves in a military camp in Bouyzakern, near Guelmim, in the drier south. There are no sanitary facilities, and the asylum seekers are waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to process their documents.''We're living in terrible conditions. The wind, sand, and cold are a constant problem. We don't have enough blankets and to make matters worse, the only food we have is bread and beans,'' Issa Mutebule, a Congolese asylum seeker, who was turned back, told IPS.Congolese, Ivorians, Liberians and Sierra Leoneans represent some of the African nationalities living at the camp. ''I'm fleeing fate. The (Laurent Desire) Kabila regime killed my father and I don't want to find myself in a similar situation,'' Kissanga Lusinko, another Congolese, said bitterly.

Kabila's rebel forces overthrew the regime of the Zairean dictator Mobuto Sese Seko in 1997. The conflict has displaced millions of Congolese some of whom have found their way into Morocco.In Morocco, most of the immigrants live in bad conditions, said Bouthayna Chaara, a physician for the Moroccan Human Rights Association in Tetouan, 40 kilometres from Ceuta.''In October we organised a visit to the forest of Belyounech, near Ceuta. I immediately saw (the refugees') terrible condition, which required immediate attention,'' said Chaara. ''The refugees were undernourished and lack basic sanitary conditions.'

In mid-November, a group of Moroccan, Belgian and Spanish non-governmental organisations wrote an open letter of appeal to all concerned parties, including UN Secretary-General Koffi Anan.''Right now, as it has been for more than 20 years, women, children and men continue to be beaten up, locked up, humiliated, overexploited, turned back, and sometimes even killed just because they dream of a decent life, unattainable in their own countries,'' the letter stated.''Fleeing war, abject poverty, dictatorships and no future, they are crushed by state machinery which refuses to listen to, or see, them. These victims can be seen in Paris, Madrid, Rome, Brussels, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli,'' the document added.

For Morocco, the desire by the migrants to use its territory as a gateway to Europe is a new phenomenon. Lacking the resources to deal with a problem of this magnitude, the kingdom has decided to turn a blind eye. Even EU aid would not be enough to stem the flow of the migrants.The solution lies probably elsewhere, starting with the urgent need for development in the countries that produce refugees, according to immigration researcher Lahlou.All is not rosy for asylum seekers.

''Asylum seekers, who go to the UNHCR in Rabat to file a case, receive an acknowledgment stating a date they need to return for their case to be heard. Right now, such dates may be in 2007 or 2008,'' he explained. ''The people who filed these cases have no refugee status and thus none of the protection such status entails. They continue to be considered illegal''. UNHCR has registered 1,700 asylum cases, the majority of them from sub-Saharan countries.But, according to the UN refugee agency, ''asylum seekers enjoy the same rights as refugees, until a definitive ruling is handed down on their cases''.Even Morocco's November 2003 immigration law stipulates, in effect, that Morocco must abstain from deporting, turning back or expelling asylum seekers or refugees until all legal appeals have been exhausted.

Merouane Tassi, a UNHCR official in Morocco, told IPS that they ''have validated only a few cases among the about 30 asylum seekers they interviewed'' in the Guelmim camp.Mutebule, one of those turned back on Nov. 23, confirmed that the 45 people rejected had exhausted the avenues of recourse granted by UNHCR, which is the only body with jurisdiction to determine the fate of asylum seekers.Once a case is rejected after all avenues of recourse are exhausted, the person in question then falls under the legal jurisdiction of Moroccan immigration law. People living in Morocco illegally are supposed to be deported: this was the unfortunate fate that befell Mutebule and his 44 colleagues.

But human rights groups question the criteria upon which cases are accepted or rejected. ''How can you ignore the risks run by people turned back to countries where they have no guarantee of living in peace?'', wondered Jamaleddine Laamarti, the president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association in Tetouan.A Moroccan government official, who requested anonymity, told IPS, ''For young sub-Saharans, Morocco is only a transit to Europe. Therefore, the request for asylum in no way means that the seeker wants to remain in the country''. This poses a problem, he said.''We cannot keep all the immigrants. There are thousands of them and don't forget that we ourselves have our own immigrants (in Europe) who sometimes live under the same conditions,'' he added. ''We need a global solution to this problem. The countries producing immigrants must be held equally responsible''.

[ ipsnews.net

2. Januar 2006

EGYPT

3 monate hatten sudanesische flüchtlinge einen kleinen park in kairo, in der nähe drs uno- büros besetzt. sie wollten damit erreichen daß die uno anträge der flüchtlinge wieder bearbeitet. diese hatte 2004 aufgehört, die anträge der flüchtlinge auf einen "flüchtlingsstatus" anzunehmen. dieser status ist aber voraussetzung um entweder in ägypten bleiben zu können oder in ein anderes land zu kommen.

die regierung hat 3 monate gewartet bevor sie am 30. dezember 2005 mit einem großeinsatz von einigen tausend polizisten das protestlager von etwa 3000 personen in dem park bei der mustafa-mahmud- moschee im stadtteil muhandisin stürmen ließ. dabei starben mind. 25 menschen. das innenministerium sprach von einem gedränge und paniksituationen. auch wies es darauf hin, dass die Asylsuchenden gewalttätig gewesen seien. die sudanesen hätten sich geweigert, freiwillig ihr Lager zu räumen. angeblich haben die unbewaffneten flüchtlinge etwa 70 polizisten, die in vollem riot-aufzug mit helm u.sw. bekleidet waren verletzt.

alle flüchtlinge wurden in knäste gebracht wo sie nach ihren papieren gefragt wurden. die mit ausweisen oder un-papieren ,die ihnen den aufenthalt in ägypten erlauben, wurden entlassen. die ohne papiere, oder menscjhen die zweimal von der uno abgelehnt wurden, sollen in den sudan abgeschoben werden. allerdings haben viele menschen während der mehrere stunden dauernden auseinandersetzungen ihre papiere verloren.

SUDANESE Released From Detention Camps in Cairo

Hundreds of Sudanese have been released from police detention camps onto the streets of this city with no money, no place to live - and in many cases, no shoes - three days after riot police attacked a squatter camp set up as a protest to press the United Nations to relocate the migrants to another country. The walled-in courtyard of Sacred Heart Church here was packed today with men and women searching for a blanket, a meal, a place to live, word of a lost relative, anything that might help rebuild a life after police charged their camp on Friday. The attack officially left 26 dead - including seven small children - and many others injured.

"It is a terrible situation," said the Rev. Simon Mbuthia, a priest at the Roman Catholic church, as he considered the throng of people looking for help. "The government here has done nothing." Abdul Aziz Muhammad Ahmed, 29, sat shivering on the steps just beneath the metal door leading to Father Mbuthia's offices. "I'm not sick," he said through a far off gaze. "My daughter, Asma, was killed." Asma was 9 months old, and her uncle said he dropped her when the police clubbed him. "I haven't told my wife yet," Mr. Ahmed said. "She is already sick."

The government waited for three months before sending the police out to empty the squatter camp, in one of

Cairo's more upscale neighborhoods. After the police yelled at the squatters through bullhorns, ordering them to leave, and shot water cannons into the crowd when they refused, the Sudanese remained defiant - and so the police attacked. So many were left dead, and the international condemnation was so embarrassing, that President Hosni Mubarak has told the attorney general to investigate. But the government's official position is that the Sudanese are to blame. Magdy Rady, the government's chief spokesman, said the Sudanese injured their own people by trampling those who collapsed, and he said they also attacked the police, injuring more than 70 officers.

The Sudanese were unarmed and many were barefoot. The police were wearing riot gear, including helmets with face shields and big black boots - and wielding truncheons. "We are sorry, what happened is unfortunate, it is sad, but it was not the intention of the police," Mr. Rady said. "The Sudanese pushed us to do this. They do not want even to settle in Egypt. They want to move to another country. We did not know what else to do. It was a very difficult situation." After clearing the park, the police took all of the Sudanese, about 3,000 in all, to detention camps where they were asked for identification papers. Those with passports or United Nations documents allowing them to be in Egypt were being released. Those without documents - or those who had twice been denied refugee status by the office of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees - would probably be sent back to Sudan, Mr. Rady said. Officials acknowledged that many people lost their documents during the melee. "I do not understand, what were they fighting for," Mr. Rady said.

The Sudanese who had lived together, huddled together in a small park in the middle of traffic, said they were fighting for a better life. The ultimate goal was to go abroad, to be declared refugees and then be sent to live in Canada, or the United States or Europe. But many of them said they would have been satisfied if the United Nations had even paid attention to their needs, their demands and their rights. Though some of the migrants had approval to remain in Egypt, in 2004 the United Nations had stopped processing their applications for refugee status, which would give them a chance to be relocated to the West. The refugee agency, contending that most would not qualify because the part of Sudan they left is no longer at war, said that its decision was in the migrants' best interests. The Sudanese saw it as a closed door, another indignity.

Even now, a United Nation spokeswoman said that the agency wants to help all of the people who had been in the park to find a new place to live, and that they would help with the first month's rent. But the refugees doubted the agency's sincerity, At the Sacred Heart Church, Father Mbuthia said the only sign of the refugee agency was the blankets purchased with United Nations money and distributed through a Catholic charity. "At the moment, we're giving out a lot of assistance, but it's emergency assistance like paying bills at hospitals, first aid, and blankets," said the refugee agency spokeswoman, Astrid Van Genderen Stort. But, she added: "It has to be organized so we can do it in a structured way." But there was no order - and no one trying to impose order - on the church courtyard, which was the only place many of the people from the camps had to go. The church staff said they expected more than 100 people to spend the night. The indignities kept piling up.

The dead bodies have not yet been released - and so they cannot be buried. Personal documents that had been saved from the camp site were sitting on the pavement in the church courtyard. People flipped through the crumpled papers looking for birth certificates, medical records, school records - something that confirmed their past.

"What will happen to us," said Osama Gasim, 26, father of two small girls, who had pinned his hope of a better life on the sit-in. "What are we going to do? I am afraid." Why, Mr. Gasim was asked, did he and his friends not get on the buses when the police ordered them to leave the park, before the attack? "I did not expect the police to use this force, this power," he replied. "I imagined they were only threatening us, not to attack us this way. They had no pity." Many of the men and women hobbled through the church courtyard on feet wrapped in gauze, with arms wrapped in casts, wounds bandaged. They seethed with anger, and despair, directed at Egyptians and at the refugee agency, and at anyone who was not one of them. "We will kill you," the crowd began to shout at visitors.

"A lot of people have died," one man shouted. "I will kill you, I will kill you." He waved his hands over his head as others, calmer, restrained him. The anger and despair were interchangeable. Solaiman Youssef, 32, said he was holding his 3-month-old daughter in his arms when police clubbed her over the head. She screamed for a while, and then died. His wife is still missing. "I just wanted to live with dignity, that is all I wanted," he said. "Now I feel angry, sad, and I want revenge. I am boiling and I want revenge. I have no hope, no idea what I am going to do next. No money, no clothes, no family."

[ nytimes.com

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