international criminal justice
A Somali Judge’s Assassination and the Struggles of a Tattered System
Published November 19, 2009 @ 05:39AM PT
An excellent post yesterday from Daniel J Gerstle on the War and Peace blog offers important -- and highly personal -- background on the tragic story of a Somali judge’s recent assassination.
Judge Sheikh Mohamad Abdi Aware was shot and killed outside his mosque last week, allegedly by separatist leaders or pirates angry with him for handing down harsh sentences to pirates and criminal kingpins.
Daniel writes about the time he spent in Somalia conducting the first review of juvenile justice in the country got the UN. He writes that he struggled to come to grips with a weak, fledgling court system that was torn between traditional, Islamic and state law. His post makes clear the incredible courage of people like Judge Aware to stand up to violent factions when in an attempt to establish the rule of law in a war-torn land. Daniel writes:
Judge Aware's surviving colleagues have near their reach the reigns of law for northeastern Somalia. With success there, chances are better to bring greater rule of law to the south. But their number, those who can equally satisfy not only the state but also the Islamic and traditional leadership, which requires gravitas, are dwindling.
Torture and Intimidation in China's Secret "Black Jails"
Published November 13, 2009 @ 08:03AM PT
A new report from Human Rights Watch documents torture and illegal detentions in China's "black jails" -- prisons hidden in state-owned hotels and nursing homes used to silence critics of the state.
Chinese officials deny the existence of black jails, but Human Rights Watch spoke with 38 former detainees whose horror stories or beatings, sexual assault and psychological torture weren't fabricated.
The jails are used primarily to detain people who travel to Beijing and provincial capitals to lodge legal complaints that have not been resolved at the local level. To avoid reprimand, local officials pay the black jails to detain and silence these petitioners. It's a system that doesn't only torture Chinese citizens but also intimidates people to stop them from filing legal appeals to uphold their rights.
Global Bloggers Under Threat
Published November 08, 2009 @ 08:20AM PT
Popular Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was stopped and beaten by police this week on her way to an anti-violence rally in Havana. She was one of three bloggers reportedly detained and assaulted by Cuban officers -- probably for their outspoken online criticism of the country's political rulers. Global Voices has an excellent roundup of the incidents and Sanchez wrote about the incident and posted video of the anti-violence rally she missed.
Also this week, Tunisian blogger and theater professor Fatma Riahi was imprisoned for three days and could face defamation charges for allegedly writing poltical satire and commentary on her blog. She was freed yesterday, but her laptop was confiscated, and advocates fear she could be arrested again once officers dig up evidence that she criticized the state. A community of bloggers has rallied around her, and Global Voices and the LA Times have reported on her situation.
There's great promise in new media to challenge oppressive regimes around the world and bring sunlight to unjust practices of dozens of world governments. That's why these governments crack down on bloggers like Riahi and Sanchez -- they're scared of the power of blogs to bring international attention to their actions.
Will Russia Reinstate the Death Penalty?
Published November 02, 2009 @ 08:14PM PT
Russia is at a crossroads on capital punishment.
Ten years ago, the Russian Constitutional Court introduced a moratorium on death sentences until the country made the switch to the jury system. The country's leaders also pledged to abolish the practice as they were joining the Council of Europe, and the jury delay was seen as a step toward abolition.
The switch to juries is nearly complete, and human rights advocates and death penalty abolitionists are watching Russia's next steps on capital punishment.
A Typewriter in Kenya, and the Need for Global Justice Journalism
Published October 28, 2009 @ 03:51PM PT
The Global Post -- an excellent source of news from around the world -- ran a story recently on a Kenyan prison with a paralegal class and a single typewriter.
It's an inspiring -- and frustrating -- story. A Christian legal organization called CLEAR runs a paralegal training class in Kenya's Kisumu prison. Prisoners help one another with appeals and they learn a trade they'll be able to practice once they're released.
But here's the frustrating part: the prison office has a single typewriter, and every appeals goes through it. Since appeals in Kenya need to have seven copies, it takes a while to get a single document written. The appeals process was paralyzed recently when the typewriter broke down.
This case tells us a great deal about justice in the developing world, and I've written before about how something as simple as paperwork can cause terrible injustices. But I want to focus for a moment on the reporting itself.
Hiding ‘Problem Prisoners’ to Pass Inspection
Published October 20, 2009 @ 03:48PM PT
A fresh scandal in the U.K. reveals that officers at two London prisons routinely shuffled prisoners between facilities in order to pass inspections.
Reports released today from an independent examiner find that the practice -- known as “ghosting” -- was commonly used at two London facilities, where prisoners were transferred from one to the other in anticipation of an audit, and then returned immediately after the review. Justice Secretary Jack Straw ordered a nationwide investigation.
The frequent moving of prisoners is a common practice around the world, and under normal circumstances it can be destructive -- interrupting medical care, education and positive relationships, moving prisoners far from families and support networks and causing violence by forcing prisoners to repeatedly prove themselves to new populations. But hiding prisoners from inspectors is a new low.
I’ve known people who have been moved more than ten times during a 15 year sentence -- some in New York call it the “upstate tour.” Of course, there can be legitimate reasons for moves as well -- prisoners can request transfers to facilities with certain programs or to avoid violent circumstances.
Held Without Trial in Nigeria
Published September 22, 2009 @ 06:55AM PT
An NGO report released this summer uncovered serious problems with the criminal court process in Nigeria -- finding that more than two-thirds of the country’s approximately 40,000 prisoners are held without charges. Some prisoners have been behind bars for nine years without a trial, the report found. In some of these cases, the paperwork has been lost and there is little hope of piecing together a fair trial.
A May report from the Nigerian Centre for Social and Legal Studies (CSLS) found that 85 percent of prisoners in one facility were held without charge. Last year, Amnesty International found that 65 percent of the country's prisoners haven't been formally charged.
The Amnesty report also pointed to serious human rights abuses in Nigeria's prisons:
Living conditions in the prisons are appalling. They are damaging to the physical and mental well-being of inmates and in many cases constitute clear threats to health. Conditions such as overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of food and medicines and denial of contact with families and friends fall short of UN standards for the treatment of prisoners. The worst conditions constitute ill-treatment. In many Nigerian prisons inmates sleep two to a bed or on the floor in filthy cells. Toilets are blocked and overflowing or simply nonexistent, and there is no running water. As a result, disease is widespread.
