Iraq: Blix, ElBaradei To Cite Gaps In Weapons Declaration

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POTA Trial falls short of International Standards: Amnesty

India: The cause of justice is not served by judicial murder

London - Amnesty International is dismayed at the death sentences handed down to three people accused of the 13 December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. "The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," Amnesty International said today.

"We oppose the death penalty unconditionally, whether it is imposed on alleged criminals or on so-called terrorists," the international human rights organization added. The death penalty is a harsh punishment, but is not harsh on crime. A survey conducted for the United Nations, concluded: "...research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment. Such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. The evidence as a whole still gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis".

A former Chief Justice of India, P.N. Bhagwati observed: "There are no objective standards regulating the imposition of the death penalty. Life is too precious a thing to be submitted to the subjective decision of a judge." "The risk of executing innocent people is increased when international fair trial standards have not been implemented. In the present case, we are concerned that the trial of Abdul Rehman Geelani and two other men may have failed to meet international standards for fair trial," Amnesty International said. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) -- the legislation under which the three men were charged and tried for conspiracy and waging war against India -- falls considerably short of international fair trial standards.

Amnesty International acknowledges that the Indian government has the right and the obligation to ensure law and order and to protect citizens from violent crime. However, in the attempt to curb "terrorism", governments must not relegate human rights protection to second place. Security concerns must not override respect for human rights.

Media coverage of the trial has abused the defendants' right to a fair trial, as it has been extremely prejudicial. On the anniversary of the attack, and only three days before the designated POTA trial court announced its verdict, a private television channel screened a film which was exclusively based on the premise that the defendants were guilty of the charges made against them. Amnesty International believes that the government of India took insufficient care in ensuring that the defendants' right to be presumed innocent, the most basic aspect of the right to a fair trial, was respected.

In a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, nine people were killed and 16 injured. Four people, Mohammad Afzal, Shaukat Hussain, his wife Najot Sandhu, and Abdul Rehman Geelani were arrested and tried for various offences under the Indian Penal Code, POTA, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act. On 16 November the three men were convicted of waging war against India and attempting to kill politicians in the parliament building. On 18 December they were sentenced to death. Najor Sandhu was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for concealing the plot.

Before the trial started, Amnesty International expressed concern regarding the right to fair trial of the four accused in an Open Letter to the Union Law Minister. More than half the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law and many others have abolished it in practice. This worldwide trend is reflected in the statutes of the International Criminal Court, the Yugoslavia and the Rwanda Criminal Tribunals, which completely reject the death penalty including for crimes against humanity and genocide. The right to life is an inalienable human right --accorded equally to every individual regardless of their identity or actions. -keralamonitor.com

IRAQ: Blix, ElBaradei To Cite Gaps In Weapons Declaration

New York - December 19, 2002 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said today upon arriving at U.N. headquarters to brief the Security Council that "not much" new information is contained in Iraq's weapons declaration to the United Nations.

"There is a good bit of information about nonarms-related activities," said Blix, who heads the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. "Not much information about the weapons." Blix added that the document contains gaps, saying, "The absence of supporting evidence is what we are talking about mainly. That continues." Blix said he would tell the council U.N. inspectors have been given "prompt access to sites all over, and there has been a good deal of help on the logistical side" (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Dec. 19).

AP reported earlier that Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei were expected to highlight questions left unanswered in Iraq's weapons declaration when they briefed the council. AP sources said the two were expected to resist pressure to declare Iraq in violation of Resolution 1441, however.

Blix planned to tell the council that many of the questions submitted to the Iraqi authorities were not addressed in the declaration, U.N. diplomatic sources said. ElBaradei was also likely to say that "there's nothing new" in the Iraqi report, according to an IAEA official quoted by AP.

"There is new information, but it is related to Iraq's peaceful research into and use of nuclear radioisotopes for medicine, agriculture and industry, something they are permitted to engage in," the official said.

The Iraqi declaration reportedly does not contain answers to U.N. inspectors' questions on VX nerve agent, remains of 50 long-range missile warheads that Iraq said it destroyed and 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas. The document also reportedly fails to address queries on the size and ultimate fate of Iraq's anthrax production, as well as on material used to grow biological agents.

Despite the missing data, sources said both Blix and ElBaradei would probably resist reported U.S. pressure to declare Iraq in violation of Resolution 1441 (Lederer, AP II/Yahoo! News, Dec. 19).

Security Council members said as they arrived today that they were withholding their views on the declaration until after hearing from Blix and ElBaradei. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "I will definitely have some remarks after the consultations. But first and foremost, we'd like to hear what Dr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei have to say." Mexican U.N. Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said, "It's too early to come to conclusions; we are making our analysis. ... We are eager to hear the comments of other members of the council" (Jim Wurst, UN Wire, Dec. 19)

U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein missed his "last chance" to make an open admission of his weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is said to be debating whether to declare Iraq in formal violation of the council's resolution (Lederer, AP II/Yahoo! News, Dec. 19).

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, said in an interview yesterday evening that the administration will not immediately assert a "material breach" that could lead to war. "My guess is that the United States will take some time and will talk to some of our friends and allies around the world about the [Iraqi] declaration and share ideas and thoughts about what's in it and what may not be in it," he said (Nadia Abou el-Magd, AP/Yahoo! News, Dec. 19).

Syria Returns Declaration In Protest

Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria said as he arrived today that he would not participate in the discussion of the declaration "since we did not receive the whole text. So how can we judge the report if it is not complete?" (Wurst, UN Wire). Syria yesterday followed through on a promise to return its copy of the Iraqi declaration in protest of receiving, like all 10 elected council members, an abridged version of the document. While the original declaration reportedly runs to 12,000 pages, Syria and other nonpermanent council members were given a 3,500-page text from which technical information reportedly usable for building weapons of mass destruction was excised.

"This is an unacceptable discrimination; either we take a full copy, or we don't take anything," said Syrian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad. "Syria as a member of the council has the right to receive the report in full," he said, adding that "the decision that was made was not legal."

Norway also made a minor protest over the move (William Reilly, United Press International, Dec. 18).

Germany Tipped For Sanctions Panel

Germany is slated to head the Security Council panel on Iraqi sanctions when it joins the council next year, Reuters reports. The United States, though, is said to fear that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government would challenge U.S. policy on Iraq and has been lobbying for Chile or Spain, both incoming council members, to head the panel.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher refused to comment last week on the alleged dispute, saying only, "I'm sure that Germany will get a suitable assignment. These are private discussions on who's going to do what committee, and let's try to let them work it out." Germany, which headed the panel in 1995-96, would replace departing council member Norway. The panel is charged with decisions on Iraq's oil-for-food program, including oil prices and goods shipped to the country (Reuters/New York Times, Dec. 19).

The United States is seeking to tighten regulations on which items Iraq is allowed to import, prompting fears in Iraq that some needed medicines, including ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics usable to counter anthrax exposure, could end up in short supply, the Washington Post reports. Many other humanitarian goods are said to be more available than in the years immediately following the 1991 Gulf War. UNICEF has said Iraq's child malnutrition rate has dropped from 32 percent in 1996 to 23 percent this year. UNICEF Iraq director Carel de Rooy said, however, that the rate still represents a relatively high total of 1 million Iraqi children suffering from chronic malnutrition (Peter Baker, Washington Post, Dec. 19).

Inspectors Held Up

Iraqi authorities today delayed for 30 minutes weapons inspectors attempting to enter a military guesthouse north of Baghdad because the inspectors had not given prior notice, al-Jazeera television reports. A witness cited by AP, however, said the delay lasted only five minutes while officials searched for keys to the complex. The incident took place at al-Fao, an industrial facility alleged by a defector to have hosted work on weapons of mass destruction. It was one of four sites visited by the inspectors today, Iraq said (Abou el-Magd, AP/Yahoo! News).

Council Calls On Iraq To Speed Property Return

The Security Council issued a statement yesterday urging Iraq to expedite the return of property stolen from Kuwait during its 1990 invasion and expressing "deep concern at the continuing plight of the Kuwaiti and third-country nationals still remaining in Iraq." "Members of the council expressed their hope that this issue would continue to be dealt with as a strictly humanitarian one by all sides concerned and be resolved urgently," said current council President Alfonso Valdivieso (U.N.