[Onthebarricades] Repression news, December 2008

[global resistance roundup]

UNITED STATES

* Censorship of torture evidence continues
* US refuses to free journalist despite Iraqi court order
* Undercover police operations at RNC exposed
* Eight protesters in court over RNC
* Eco-protesters face trial for nonviolent actions
* Cops waste thousands on Denver persecution
* Washington cop admits assault on protester, spared jail
* Crap arrest at animal rights protest
* Expulsions for sex raise eyebrows
* RNC protester admits breaking windows
* Seattle parade law ruled unconstitutional

NORTH

* UK: Police seize Tamil national flags under "terrorism" law
* UK: Baloch dissident show-trial collapses
* AUSTRALIA: MP caught harassing protester
* NEW ZEALAND: Swingeing police spy activity exposed
* UK: Police steal phone to censor news coverage of protest
* AUSTRALIA: Plans to ratchet up persecution of "trespass" protests as 
climate movement spreads
* NEW ZEALAND: Leftist persecuted by airport goons
* JAPAN: Pro-Korean group suffers police harassment
* RUSSIA: Journalist arrested for covering protest
* AUSTRALIA: Gunns settle protest SLAPP, protesters claim victory
* CANADA: Police pay compensation for persecution of housing protest
* CANADA: Byelaw fascists target snowman
* HOLLAND/US: America tries to wriggle out of plea deal with Dutch 
suspect, files new charges

SOUTH

* INDONESIA/WEST PAPUA: Plan to microchip AIDS survivors reversed
* INDONESIA: Islamists jailed for "treason" in dissent crackdown
* INDONESIA: Social cleansing operation hits vendors
* NIGERIA/US: Chevron cleared of role in murder of villagers
* INDONESIA: Village linked to plantation company burned down
* IRAQ: Shoe protester beaten, hit with gun
* TURKEY: Attempts to impose massive jail terms on young Kurdish protesters
* CHINA: Protesters, petitioners sent to mental asylums
* ZIMBABWE: Human rights activist beaten, disappeared
* INDIA: Karnataka - Ban on loud protests to be withdrawn
* VIETNAM: Court frees Catholic protesters
* IRAQ: Shoe protester jailed for a year
* TUNISIA: Trade union leader on trial over protests
* IRAN: Human rights group office closed by regime
* INDIA: Orissa - Arrested anti-POSCO leader mistreated in custody
* THAILAND: Anti-coup protesters tried, but not jailed
* PHILIPPINES: Youth group activists arrested in "terror" crackdown
* TUNISIA: Journalist sentenced in absentia for covering protests
* EGYPT: Jailed protesters are scapegoats
* INDIA: Police murder of acid attack suspects faces "muted" protests
* COLOMBIA: Indigenous activist's husband murdered at checkpoint
* SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria power protest charges withdrawn
* KOREA: Rightist goons plan new laws onslaught - anti-masking law, wiretaps
* NIGERIA: 90 murdered by police in summary executions






http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/aclu-protests-censorship-of-guantanamo.php

Saturday, December 06, 2008

ACLU protests censorship of Guantanamo detainee testimony
Lucas Tanglen at 1:50 PM ET

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] 
sought to prohibit government censorship of prisoners' testimony about 
alleged torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in a 
motion [text, PDF] filed Friday in military commission proceedings 
against five "high value detainees" [JURIST news archive] accused of 
involvement in the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. The motion says 
observers at the proceedings watch on a closed-circuit video monitor 
with a 20-second delay, allowing officials to cut the feed when it 
appears a defendant is discussing the conditions of their detention. In 
the motion, the ACLU requests that:
(1) in all future proceedings, the government not be permitted to 
exclude trial observers from hearing those portions of proceedings in 
which the defendants relate their allegations of abuse in U.S. custody; 
and (2) with respect to all prior proceedings, this Military Commission 
order the release of unredacted transcripts that include those portions 
in which the audio was turned off.
"There is absolutely no justification for the suppression of detainees' 
allegations of torture and abuse," said [press release] Ben Wizner, 
staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project.

In October, a judge for the US District Court for the District of 
Columbia granted summary judgment [JURIST report] for the Department of 
Defense, holding that unredacted transcripts allegedly containing 
evidence of torture used against the high-value detainees held at 
Guantanamo Bay could be withheld from the ACLU. Aides to President-elect 
Barack Obama have said the incoming president will likely not prosecute 
[JURIST report] Americans who approved or actually carried out the 
torture or other harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects.






http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2008/dec/11/iraq-asia

Protests at US refusal to free journalist
Comments (0)
There is mounting anger at the US military's refusal to free a Reuters 
photojournalist - despite a release order by an Iraqi court. A military 
spokesman told Reuters that Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed would be freed after 
the end of the year, depending on his "threat level."
The U.S. has said in the past that it has the right to keep holding 
security detainees even if an Iraqi court orders them freed. A 
spokesperson repeated this explanation in a statement about why Jassam 
is still being held.
Major Neal Fisher said in an e-mail: "Though we appreciate the decision 
of the central criminal court of Iraq in the Jassam case, their decision 
does not negate the intelligence information that currently lists him as 
a threat to Iraq security and stability."
Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger said: "I am disappointed he 
has not been released in accordance with the court order."
In a much more trenchant protest, the International Federation of 
Journalists "strongly condemned" the decision. It "makes a mockery of 
the coalition's handover of powers to Iraqi sovereign institutions," 
said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. "The American military 
officials in Iraq should stop interfering with the Iraqi justice and 
free Ibrahim."
Jassam was arrested on September 2 at his home in Mahmudiya, about 20 
miles south of Baghdad. His cameras were confiscated and he was arrested 
as a threat to security. Last month, Iraqi prosecutors asked the US 
military for evidence against Jassam. Receiving none, they ordered him 
to be freed. (Sources: Reuters/PDN/IFJ)








http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/12/rnc_protesters.php

RNC protesters fooled by undercover cop, Fletcher continues witch hunt
By Emily Kaiser in Protest News
Monday, Dec. 1 2008 @ 9:45AM
Leave it to the RNC Welcoming Committee to actually be welcoming to 
other protesters. Well, apparently that was their downfall. Marilyn 
Hedstrom, a deputy sheriff for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, led 
an undercover life for a year to help infiltrate the group to monitor 
protester plans for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, 
according to the Star Tribune.

So what does it take to be part of the club?
She went "dumpster diving" at the group's instructions to find food for 
the anarchists to eat. She cooked meals for some meetings, ran errands, 
coordinated committee discussions and represented the organization at 
some gatherings of the protest movement. She became friends of some of 
the activists.
And she, ironically, even helped on security for the anarchists, who 
worried that the cops were infiltrating them.
She was accepted because she wasn't the usual and sometimes suspicious 
young person, other protesters said.
"Norma Jean looked like somebody's mom," recalls Meredith Aby, a member 
of the Anti-War Committee, a group that occasionally met with the 
anarchists. "She was treated by the Welcoming Committee as if she were 
one of their own."
In other RNC protest news, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is still 
on a witch hunt rampage to find protest participants who he says 
attacked police officers. The video evidence gives police some evidence 
on who these mystery attackers are, according to the Star Tribune. He 
says there still could be more charges coming.

Why isn't he as concerned about addressing police misconduct? Fletcher 
and his fleet are perfect with stellar anger management control.

RNC protest supporters will gather once again tomorrow to try and ruin 
lead RNC case attorney Susan Gaertner's birthday and gubernatorial 
fundraiser.

Here are the details from Twin Cities Indymedia:
A rally and dance party has been planned outside her fundraiser, 
starting at 4:30 on Tuesday, December 2nd. If you want the charges 
dropped for the 18 folks facing felonies, make it known to Susan and all 
her potential supporters that her political endeavors will never succeed 
with her prosecution of of RNC arrestees on her record.
Come to the gates of the Minneapolis Club at the corner of 2nd Ave and 
8th St in downtown Minneapolis at 4:30PM dressed warmly and ready to get 
down. Bring signs, noisemakers, and your loudest and dancing-est friends!






http://www.twincities.com/rnc/ci_11240253?nclick_check=1

Republican National Convention Protesters In Court / 'RNC Eight' facing 
more felony charges
Other misdemeanor cases processed
By Emily Gurnon
egurnon at pioneerpress.com
Updated: 12/15/2008 11:32:03 PM CST

The Ramsey County attorney has added more charges for the eight people 
facing terrorism allegations in connection with the Republican National 
Convention.
As of Friday, each of the RNC Eight, as they have been dubbed, faces 
four charges. In addition to the original charge of second-degree 
conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism, they stand accused of 
conspiracy to riot in the second degree, conspiracy to commit criminal 
damage to property in furtherance of terrorism, and first-degree 
conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property.
Police have said the defendants, ranging in age from 19 to 33, were 
members of the RNC Welcoming Committee. The anarchist group vowed on its 
Web site to "crash the convention" and encouraged activists to prevent 
delegates from getting to the Xcel Energy Center.
Those charged are Robert Joseph Czernik, 33; Erik Charles Oseland, 21; 
Garrett Scott Fitzgerald, 25; Max Jacob Specktor, 19; Monica Rachel 
Bicking, 23; Nathanael David Secor, 26; Luce Gullen-Givins, 24; and Eryn 
Chase Trimmer, 23, all of Minneapolis.
They have denied involvement in terrorist activities, and several said 
they have never advocated violence against people.
Meanwhile, the courts continued to process other RNC protesters Monday. 
A trial for Vernon Rodrigues, 22, of Mount Eden, Calif., who faces 
felony charges of obstructing legal process and damage to property, was 
delayed.
Other Monday cases involved gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors. One
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protester did not appear, resulting in a warrant; one who had been 
charged with a gross misdemeanor pleaded guilty to a lesser charge; 
another guilty plea will be mailed in; one was dismissed but will be 
recharged; two were continued; and two are on call.
After the court hearing, some activists took their complaints about the 
convention directly to Mayor Chris Coleman, who was hosting a Mancini's 
Char House fundraiser for his 2009 re-election bid.
As Coleman's supporters gathered in the middle of the steakhouse's 
lounge, a group of about 20 activists sat in an adjacent seating area. 
Shortly after Coleman arrived, the activists began tinkling their 
glasses and proposed a "toast" to Coleman, briefly disrupting the 
restaurant with chants and allegations that St. Paul used a $50 million 
convention-security grant to "terrorize and brutalize our entire 
community."
Coleman ignored the group, chatting with a defense lawyer for some RNC 
protesters with whom he attended law school. One activist got on top of 
a booth before she was helped down by Mancini's co-owner Pat Mancini, 
who then showed the group the door.
The episode lasted less than five minutes.
Jason Hoppin contributed to this report. Emily Gurnon can be reached at 
651-228-5522.






http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/414218.html

Save Dave Rave, Support gig for Dave Mahoney UK RNC protestor!
WARN | 02.12.2008 22:27 | Globalisation | Repression | World
Dave Mahoney was cycling to the grocery store with his girlfriend in 
Minneapolis on September 4th 2008, when an un-marked van pulled up, and 
two men wearing FBI shirts inexplicably bundled him into the back, and 
drove off.

Dave was part of the protesters assembled at the Republican National 
Convention in the City that week, and was there to peacefully remind 
America and the rest of the world of some of the atrocities, and 
in-justices millions of people endure everyday across the globe - many 
of which link directly to the actions & policy of the Republican party.

Instead, Dave's become one of the victims... facing trumped up charges 
of Assault, and Conspiracy to Riot with a Furtherance of Terrorism; if 
convicted he could get up to 12 years in jail AND a $24,000 dollar fine...





http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/epaper/2008/12/02/1202fplprotest.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=76

Trial underway for FPL plant protesters
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
WEST PALM BEACH — Seven environmentalists arrested while protesting 
Florida Power & Light Co's new gas power plant faced a jury this 
morning, on trial for misdemeanor crimes of unlawful assembly, 
trespassing and resisting without violence.
Self-proclaimed anarchist Peter Tsolkas and others from Everglades Earth 
First! huddled around the defense table, their sport coats ill-fitting, 
their hair tousled or dyed pink, their activist spirit perfectly intact.
"We hope to show this is a time for unconventional action, urgent 
action," Tsolkas said outside court.
Tsolkas and dozens of others were arrested in February as some linked 
themselves together using PVC pipe and chicken wire, blocking an 
entranceway to the future site of FPL's West County Energy Center, 
snarling traffic for hours along Southern Boulevard.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the scene, 
calling out their Emergency Field Force - an elite unit trained to 
respond to large-scale emergencies or natural disasters, a prosecutor 
told jurors this morning in opening statements.
"You will hear they had to sit and cut apart every piece of PVC pipe and 
take the time to pry all these individuals out of these devices, 
"Assistant State Attorney Laura Burkhart said.
Assistant Public Defenders Erich Taylor and Charles Fountain II, who 
represent the group, declined to give an opening statement. But they are 
anticipated to be relying on a legal rarity: a "necessity" defense 
allowed by law but rarely used.
One after the other, sheriff's officers and witnesses took the stand as 
prosecutors Burkhart and Danielle Croke, introduced evidence - photo 
after photo of the posted no-trespassing signs, the video of the 
deputies carting the limp bodies of protesters away.
The deputies politely recounted for jurors setting up a free-speech area 
for the protesters to move to, warning them repeatedly that they would 
be arrested if they didn't go there.
"I heard traffic was blocked all the way to the Fairgrounds," said one 
witness, John William Bates, an operations manager of Palm Beach 
Aggregates on whose property who the protest occurred.
"How far is that?" the prosecutor asked.
"About 10 miles," Bates said.
One juror raised her brow.
Testimony in the case against Tsolkas, Lynne Purvis, Marc Silverstein, 
Russell McSpadden, Richard Halsted, Brandon Block and Noah Wilson is 
expected to continue through Wednesday in front of County Judge Laura 
Johnson.
Possible penalties after a conviction could vary, depending on the 
person's criminal history or lack thereof. They could range from 
probation to some jail time and subject them to possible thousands of 
dollars in fines and restitution.
This is the third separate trial held against the protesters. An earlier 
one ended in a partial acquittal, according the Everglades Earth First! 
web site. They are expected to present evidence and expert testimony 
about what they believe is the potential damage and danger of the power 
plant - belching carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and leaching 
pollutants underground just across from the Loxahatchee National 
Wildlife Refuge.
Tsolkas said the necessity defense means that one is allowed to break 
the law for the greater good and is buoyed by a recent not-guilty 
verdict for a person who used that defense in Great Britain.
Florida jury instructions require much more, though. The instructions 
say that a person would have to reasonably believe that a danger posed 
significant harm and the harm was "real, imminent and impending."
The plant, which FPL promotes as being among the cleanest of its kind in 
the nation, is still under construction.





http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/10/prosecuting-dnc-protesters-has-cost-taxpayers-2000/?partner=RSS

Cops' tab in DNC protester cases: $20,000
By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published December 10, 2008 at 3:43 p.m.
Updated December 10, 2008 at 11:54 p.m.
So far, it has cost taxpayers $20,000 for Denver police to prepare and 
testify in trials of protesters arrested during the Democratic National 
Convention this summer, according to figures compiled by the city.
The tally came in response to a request by the People's Law Project, 
which has stressed that prosecuting the protester cases is a waste of 
taxpayer money.
About 100 people were arrested Aug. 25 for blocking 15th Street at Court 
Place. About 60 people were set for trials that began in October and 
will continue into January. About half of those cases have been resolved 
by trial, dismissal or guilty plea.
So far, five people have been convicted by juries.
"The 316 hours is nearly 40 days of police time spent by police officers 
in court of preparing for court instead of being out fighting crime," 
said Brian Vi cente, director of the People's Law Project which helped 
find lawyers for the arrested protesters. "This is a major expense to 
prosecute people who were just out there trying to exercise their free 
speech rights," he said.





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=prnw.20081219.DC54004&show_article=1

Washington, D.C., Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Unprovoked Assault on 
Protestor

Dec 19 04:56 PM US/Eastern Comments (0)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christopher Huxoll, an 
18-year member of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, 
pleaded guilty today to one count of aggravated assault for striking an 
unarmed man in the face with his riot baton during a march in 2005. 
Huxoll faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison when he is 
sentenced by Judge Russell F. Canan on March 6, 2009.
The incident took place on Jan. 20, 2005, in the Adams Morgan 
neighborhood of Washington, D.C., during an unauthorized march related 
to the 2005 Presidential Inauguration. Huxoll was on duty and responded 
to the Adams Morgan area when some of the marchers began engaging in 
incidents of vandalism. In his plea hearing, Huxoll acknowledged that he 
threw the victim to the ground because he believed, erroneously, that 
the victim had thrown bottles at him and other officers. Huxoll also 
admitted that, although the victim did not resist and was not 
aggressive, he grabbed the back of the victim's head while he was still 
on the ground, lifted it up and struck the victim across the face with 
his riot baton. The victim suffered a broken nose, lacerations and 
abrasions as a result of this assault.
"Most law enforcement officers serve our Nation bravely, but in 
instances where they not only fail to uphold the law, but willfully 
break it, the Justice Department will not hesitate to vigorously 
prosecute," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General 
for the Civil Rights Division.
"This prosecution serves as an important reminder that although law 
enforcement officers have a tremendously difficult job, they are 
expected to perform their duties with the high level of professionalism 
that is the hallmark of the overwhelming number of law enforcement 
officers in this country," said Jeffrey Taylor, U.S. Attorney for the 
District of the District of Columbia. "As the resolution of this case 
demonstrates, where there is sufficient evidence that excessive force 
was used by a law enforcement officer, this office will not hesitate to 
prosecute."
"All law enforcement officers have a duty to protect," said Cathy L. 
Lanier, Metropolitan Police Department Chief. "Mr. Huxoll's actions are 
reprehensible and completely contradictory to what my department stands 
for. His behavior does nothing but taint the phenomenal work done every 
day by officers who serve our city with distinction."
The Justice Department is committed to the vigorous enforcement of every 
federal civil rights statute, including those laws that prohibit the 
willful use of excessive force or other acts of misconduct by law 
enforcement officials. In Fiscal Year 2008, the Civil Rights Division's 
Criminal Section filed the largest ever number of federal criminal civil 
rights cases in a single year in the Section's history and the 
second-highest ever number of official misconduct prosecutions.
The case was investigated by Detective Michael Shuck of the Metropolitan 
Police Department's Force Investigation Team. This case is being 
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cummings of the District of 
Columbia and Trial Attorney Edward Chung of the Justice Department's 
Civil Rights Division.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice







http://indymedia.us/en//2009/03/36566.shtml

Former MPD Officer Sentenced to Probation in Assault
DC , Mar 24, 2009 @ 23:01 GMT
Former Metropolitan Police Department Officer Christopher Huxoll, was 
sentenced on Wednesday, March 13th in DC Superior Court, after pleading 
guilty in December to aggravated assault, or beating an anti-Bush 
Inauguration protestor with a riot baton, in 2005. The protester lost 
consciousness and suffered a broken nasal bone.
[article.to_original.homepage.prefix]: http://dc.indymedia.org/







http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/145940/index.php

Another activist arrested in Baltimore while leafleting at Ringling 
Brothers Circus
Author
• Robin
Date Created
• 02 Apr 2009

An animal rights activist was arrested tonight, April 2, 2009, in 
Baltimore. He was legally and peacefully protesting the treatment of 
animals at Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, which is showing at 
the 1st Mariner Arena.

Adam Ortberg arrived to join other leafleters in front of the arena, and 
was met by a plain-clothed police officer who is always seen at 
Baltimore Ringling shows. The officer told Adam that he was a "marked 
man" and that if he stepped over an imaginary line that they designated 
as a "no leaflet zone" (on public sidewalk), that he was going to jail 
for 18 months. It was obvious Adam was singled out amongst the rest of 
the activists by these police, as they hadn't said anything at all to 
any other activist present tonight.

Preparing for the usual infringement upon Baltimore activists' rights, 
another activist took out her camera phone and began videotaping the 
scene. One of the plain-clothed cops saw her filming, walked over, and 
put his camera phone approximately 3 inches in front of her face. This 
is an obvious violation of police conduct. In an effort to protect the 
activist, Adam put a leaflet between the activist's face and the cop's 
camera. At that point, the cop told Adam he had assaulted him. Luckily, 
the whole incident was filmed, and what the cop claimed was obviously 
false, as it clearly shows in the footage.

The activist who was filming told the police that there would be yet 
another lawsuit filed against them for false arrest and harassment. She 
was then told that if she "kept talking" that she'd be "locked up" as well.

Several activists politely asked the cops for their badge numbers, and 
all were either completely ignored or rudely declined. All were caught 
on film.

The video of the incident will be uploaded after clearance from Adam's 
lawyer, as there will be a false arrest civil suit filed against the 
officer.

Last Wednesday, another activist, Aaron Ross, was arrested in front of 
the 1st Mariner Arena, for leafleting at the Ringling Brothers show. He 
was told he crossed the imaginary line into the "no leafleting zone" (on 
public sidewalk). As with all of the approximately 20 arrests of 
Baltimore animal rights activists in the past year, he was released with 
no charges.

This is what the Baltimore City Police Department likes to refer to as a 
"walk through," when a person is arrested, taken to booking, processed, 
and released with no charges. Police succeed in getting protesters away 
from the scene by giving unlawful orders and then arresting, but then 
they are not held accountable for the false arrests, as they personally 
do not have to pay the settlements to the falsely arrested activists.

This is a disgrace to the people of Baltimore. Our tax dollars are 
paying police to harass and falsely arrest peaceful activists, while the 
crime rate in Baltimore is outrageous! The murder rate in Baltimore is 5 
1/2 times the national average, yet police are wasting time hassling 
people who are merely handing out leaflets and holding signs for abused 
circus animals.

Please call Central Booking of Baltimore to request that Adam Ortberg be 
released in a timely manner, and that he is given vegan food.






http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20081219_Mother_protests_one-sided_suspension.html

Posted on Fri, Dec. 19, 2008

Mother protests one-sided suspension
By MENSAH M. DEAN
Philadelphia Daily News
deanm at phillynews.com 215-854-5949
Veronica Goss is the first person to admit that her son, Walter Ransome, 
made a big mistake in the stairwell of Francis Pastorius Elementary 
School the week before Thanksgiving.
Walter, a tall, lean boy with a shelf full of trophies from a Christian 
Youth Basketball Association, agrees that he was foolish that afternoon.
Before going to the after-school program at his Germantown school, 
Walter, 13, and an eighth-grade female classmate stopped in the stairwell.
It was there that that they briefly had sexual intercourse. Walter got 
kicked out of school for the incident. The girl stayed in school. Now, 
Goss is demanding to know why.
"I'm not going against the school board whatsoever. Punish these 
children the way they are supposed to be punished, but don't just punish 
one and not the other when they both were involved. That's not fair," 
she said.
In an e-mailed statement, Fernando Gallard, the district's director of 
media relations, said:
"Pastorius Elementary School is actively investigating an incident 
involving inappropriate sexual contact between students at an 
afterschool program at the school. All students involved in the incident 
will face disciplinary action in accordance to the district's Code of 
Student Conduct.
"The disciplinary process is executed relative to each student's case 
history and background and in accordance with the law. Due to students' 
privacy rights under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy 
Act, the district cannot provide further details on this incident."
Gallard and Cecilia Cummings, his boss, declined to say what punishment, 
if any, the girl has faced.
Pastorius, a kindergarten- through eighth-grade school on Sprague Street 
near Stenton Avenue, has been abuzz about the incident since it 
happened. Student gossip reached teachers and finally the assistant 
principal, who on Dec. 5 suspended Walter for five days, Goss said.
On Monday, Goss went to the school as instructed to meet with Assistant 
Principal Steven Hawkins about the incident and, she believed, to get 
Walter back in school.
Instead, she was told that Walter's suspension would be extended through 
the end of this week. Goss said Hawkins told her the school would be 
sending her a letter concerning Walter's fate.
The fact that her son was suspended for 10 days - considering what he 
did - was acceptable, said Goss, who has three younger children.
But what was not acceptable, she believes, is that the girl involved was 
allowed to stay in school, which she also learned on Monday.
This seeming inequity upset Goss so much that she called the Daily News 
Monday night.
"I know he was wrong, he knows he was wrong. That part is resolved," 
Goss said.
"But how come the little girl is not wrong? She participated in a sexual 
act also," Goss, 34, continued.
Hawkins referred questions to Principal Kimberly Weston-Williams, who 
then referred all questions to the district's Office of Communications.
District officials said they were not sure if the stairwell incident was 
captured on the school's surveillance cameras that constantly relay 
images from the school's grounds, stairwells and hallways to a monitor 
in the main office.
"We don't know, we'll have to get back to you on that," Cummings said.
Walter said he spends his days watching television, reading the 
newspaper and waiting for his friends to come home from school.
He, like his mother, believes the school was wrong to bar just him from 
school. Now he's worried that his typically "C" and "B" grades will suffer.
"Yes, I think I should be suspended, but I think she should be suspended 
too because she was in it too. All she had to say is she didn't want to 
do nothing, then it just would have been over," he said.
Besides her son, Goss said other male students have been suspended for 
sexual activity while the girls involved have been allowed to remain in 
school.
Walter noted that two other boys who engaged in "touching" another girl 
on a different part of the stairwell the day of his incident were also 
suspended, while the girl was not.
Goss said a school employee told her that sexual activity is so rampant 
among some students that girls have been found with sexual contracts 
stipulating to whom they wanted to lose their virginity.
"Who the boys and girls are, we didn't get all into that. But this is 
what he said to me and I'm like, shocked. Like I can't believe I'm 
hearing this," Goss said.
The school of 679 students suffers from a lack of adult supervision, 
said Goss, who noted there is just one school police officer and no 
nonteaching assistants on staff.
Making matters worse, she said, students in grades six through eight are 
crowded together on the school's third floor. Those three grades were 
added to the former elementary school over the last several years.
When provided with the names of three other boys whom Goss said had been 
suspended for sexual contact with girls who were not disciplined, 
Gallard referred to his previous statement.
He said the school has a record of two other morals offenses this year.
Concerning the sexual contract allegation, Gallard said: "The school has 
no knowledge and no evidence of sexual contracts." *





http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=532670

RNC protester admits to smashing windows
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A California man has pleaded guilty to smashing 
windows at the U.S. Bank building in downtown St. Paul on the first day 
of the Republican National Convention.
Nineteen-year-old Dustin Machett Morales of Santa Cruz, Calif., admitted 
to the charge of first-degree damage to property, a felony.
A criminal complaint alleges that Morales and another man -- 26-year-old 
Jesse James Forrey, also of Santa Cruz -- were throwing rocks at the 
bank's windows on Sept. 1.
Morales is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 5. The Ramsey County 
Attorney's office says the judge will consider giving him a stay of 
imposition if he successfully completes probation, meaning the charge 
could be reduced to a misdemeanor.
Forrey is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 12.
Replacing the windows was estimated to cost $17,400.





http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008507613_demonstrations13m.html

December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (27) E-mail article Print view
Seattle's parade law is unconstitutional
Seattle's parade law is unconstitutional because it gives the police 
chief broad power to bar protesters from marching in the street, the 
Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled.
By Sharon Pian Chan
Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattle's parade law is unconstitutional because it gives the police 
chief broad power to bar protesters from marching in the street, a 
three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 
Friday.
The case involves a group protesting police brutality in 2003, as part 
of a national campaign.
In Friday's ruling, Judge Raymond Fisher wrote that the city's ordinance 
"vests the Seattle Chief of Police with sweeping authority to determine 
whether or not a parade may utilize the forum of the streets to 
broadcast its message. The First Amendment prohibits placing such 
unfettered discretion in the hands of licensing officials and renders 
the Parade Ordinance constitutionally defective on its face."
Judge Ronald Gould agreed, while Judge Sandra Ikuta dissented.
The ruling reversed a summary judgment made by Judge Robert Lasnik in 
the U.S. District Court for Western Washington.
The Seattle affiliate of a national coalition, the October 22nd 
Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization 
of a Generation, requested permits in 2002, 2003 and 2004 to march in 
the streets.
Two of those years, police Chief Gil Kerlikowske issued the permit on 
the condition that if fewer than 200 people showed up, the group had to 
use sidewalks and obey traffic signals.
In 2003, the group received a parade permit, without restrictions on 
group size. At the start of the march, police told the group of 80 to 
100 people that they had to march on sidewalks and obey traffic signals.
"The right to march peacefully in the streets has to be treated with 
respect,"said Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU of Washington, which 
represented the marchers.
The city has not decided whether to rewrite the parade law or appeal, 
said Suzanne Skinner, director of the civil division in the Seattle City 
Attorney's Office. "We have to figure it out."






http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/427063.html

Large Protests Erupt In Support Of Tamils
IMC Features | 09.04.2009 10:56 | Anti-militarism | World
Spontaneous protests have erupted in London as a result of the ongoing 
state violence in Sri Lanka. On Monday, over 500 Tamil youths blockaded 
Westminster Bridge, which remained closed overnight. On Tuesday and 
Wednesday large numbers gathered outside parliament and had reached at 
its peak up to 3000 to call on Gordon Brown to 'open his eyes' and work 
towards securing an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Under the banner 
'Stop the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka' a protest march has been 
called for Saturday 11th April at 1pm in Central London.
Police tactics were again violent, with unprovoked attacks on 
demonstrators. On Wednesday morning Tamil flags were being confiscated 
under the Terrorism act. Demonstrators reported that police used 
truncheons and dragged protesters across the ground. A three-year-old's 
leg was reportedly broken in the process. Seven people have been 
arrested, two under the terrorism act on suspicion of carrying articles 
supporting proscribed literature.
More than 300,000 Tamils are currently under siege by the Sri Lankan 
forces. Aerial bombardments and shelling of civilians are continuing. 
Women, children and elderly are dying as a direct result of the aerial 
bombardment. There has been increased violence in Sri Lanka following 
the capture of Tamil territory. It is estimated more than 70,000 people 
have already died in the conflict.







http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/2488810-british-court-acquits-harbiyar-marri-and-faiz-baloch

British court acquits Harbiyar Marri and Faiz Baloch
By: ranigee
Lahore : Pakistan | about 1 month ago
1 0
Views: 27
British court acquits Harbiyar Marri and Faiz Baloch
LAHORE: A British court has acquitted Baloch nationalist leader Khair 
Buksh Marri’s son, Harbiyar Marri and his close aide Faiz Baloch of all 
cases against them, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday.

According to the channel, they were arrested in London on charges of 
carrying out terrorism and sabotage activities in Balochistan.

Harbiyar Marri was a provincial minister during the last regime of the 
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz but went to London and sought asylum there 
after former president Pervez Musharraf took over in 1999.

He was arrested after law and order worsened in Balochistan. According 
to the channel, Baloch National Front leader Saddiq Raisani said the 
decision of the British court was proof that Harbiyar and his aide were 
innocent











http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24748081-29277,00.html?from=public_rss

MP slapped for snapping protester
By Karlis Salna
AAP
December 03, 2008 10:05pm

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has blasted a Labor backbencher for taking 
photos of a protester who threatened to set himself alight outside 
Parliament House in Canberra.
Queensland Labor MP James Bidgood also agreed to supply the pictures to 
a newspaper in exchange for a reported donation of $1000 to a charity of 
his choice.

The photo, which appears on the News Limited website, is of Marat 
Aminov, 28, who had doused himself in petrol and threatened to set 
himself alight.

Mr Rudd tonight blasted Mr Bidgood for taking the photos and ordered him 
to apologise to the Aminov family.

"The prime minister believes the member's actions were deeply offensive 
and has demanded he apologise to the family," a spokesperson for Mr Rudd 
said.

Mr Bidgood told parliament tonight that his actions were highly 
insensitive and inappropriate and that he would write a letter of 
apology to the family.

"I deeply regret my actions and I apologise once again for any offence I 
have caused," he said.

Earlier this week, Mr Aminov jumped onto the floor of parliament and was 
led away by guards.

Mr Aminov wanted to draw attention to the plight of his parents - Samil 
and Alija Aminov from Sydney - who have long sought to obtain permanent 
resident visas.

The family had been protesting on the lawn in front of Parliament House 
for the past week, according to the Social Justice Network.

The incident occurred before Question Time as Families Minister Jenny 
Macklin addressed a function for International Day of People with 
Disability a short distance away.

"Suddenly he stood up and he took off his clothes. He tried to put some 
petrol on himself and has a lighter in his hand," Social Justice Network 
spokesman Jamal Daoud said.

"He said 'anybody come here I will set myself on fire, you need to 
listen to me'. And he started to talk about his family's ordeal."

Mr Daoud said police convinced Mr Aminov to put down the lighter. He was 
then taken to hospital.
The family, originally from Azerbaijan, was regarded as stateless.

"This family has been in Australia for 11 years and they are still on 
bridging visas which entitles them to nil," Mr Daoud said.

"The Australian government has tried ... to deport them to any country 
on the earth. They could not."
Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Mr Aminov was a permanent resident 
and did not have a live immigration case before the department.

"His concern seems to be with his parent's situation, who have 
applications before the department," he told reporters.

Mr Aminov's parents have applied for permanent aged visas and are in a 
queue.

Senator Evans said there was no threat that they would be deported.

In April 2001, Pakistani man Shuharyar Kiyani died after dousing himself 
with petrol and setting himself alight outside parliament house in a 
protest against delays in bringing his wife and children to Australia.






http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=94002&cat=987&fm=newsmain,narts

Protesters deny they are a threat to security
Greenpeace and Save Happy Valley Coalition is concerned about claims 
police spying on members and says there is no need
15 December 2008
Some of the groups who have allegedly been spied on by a special police 
investigation unit are denying they are any threat to national security.

It is claimed the Special Investigation Group has been paying informants 
to spy on organisations such as Greenpeace, animal rights groups and 
anti-Iraq war demonstrators. The Sunday Star-Times has reported that 
Christchurch man Rob Gilchrist was paid to pass on information about 
protests and members' personal information to the SIG.

The investigation group was set up in 2004 with the brief to concentrate 
on national security and terrorism threats. Police Minister Judith 
Collins is meeting with the Police Commissioner Howard Broad before 
deciding whether to launch an inquiry.

Greenpeace says if police really are spying on its members, it is a 
complete waste of taxpayers money. New Zealand executive director Bunny 
McDiarmid, says any spying activity would be a gross invasion of the group.

"Greenpeace is a very open organisation. The police can walk in there 
any day they like and talk to us about what we're doing and why we do 
it. It's ridiculous to think that they need to spy on Greenpeace."

Ms McDiarmid would like to know just how much money has been spent on 
the alleged informants.

The Canterbury group protesting against Solid Energy's mining activities 
on the West Coast is reassuring the public it is not a terrorist group.

Alan Liefting from the Save Happy Valley Coalition says the police 
anti-terror squad should not be interested in his group.

"They (the SIG) are set up to look into national security and counter 
terrorism. Now, there is no way that we fit into any of those categories."

Mr Liefting says it is likely the police unit simply wants to be 
pro-active about knowing where and when major protests are happening.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7770921.stm

Monday, 8 December 2008
'The police are taking my phone'
Police have made more than 50 arrests following an environmental protest 
at Stansted airport that grounded flights and caused severe delays.
Protester Olivia Chessell, speaking from police custody, was explaining 
why she felt the need to take action when the police took her phone.






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/23/2453808.htm

Activist airs climate change protest fears
Posted Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:24pm AEDT
• Map: Kingaroy 4610
A protester who helped shut down a coal-fired power station near 
Kingaroy for five hours says he is worried about the future of 
legitimate climate change protests in Australia.
No convictions were recorded against John MacKenzie, Bradley Smith and 
Eleanor Smith for entering the Tarong power station last month, but each 
must complete 90 hours community service.
The Smiths must also each pay a $375 fine.
John Mackenzie says it is unfortunate the penalties to protect energy 
assets are under review after state and federal energy ministers 
recently agreed current trespassing laws are not harsh enough.
"I think it's particularly worrying at a time when the Federal 
Government has introduced a fairly woeful targets for addressing climate 
change that attorney-generals are examining specifically the types of 
penalties that will be available or that will be made available, to 
people that are taking non-violent and peaceful action against coal," he 
said.





http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0812/S00289.htm

Communist League leader protests harassment
Monday, 22 December 2008, 1:13 pm
Press Release: Communist League
Communist League leader protests harassment
*by customs officers at Auckland airport***
A leader of the Communist League, Annalucia Vermunt, has issued an open 
letter to government officials protesting at how she was treated by 
customs officers at Auckland International Airport after they detained 
her on November 17. Vermunt, a meat worker, has been a Communist League 
candidate in elections, including standing for Manukau East in the 
November general election. She is an active unionist and has been 
involved over two decades in political campaigns for Maori rights, 
women's rights, and other working class struggles.
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Over 90 fellow meat workers in Otahuhu, Auckland, have signed Vermunt's 
protest letter, as have officials of her union, the National 
Distribution Union, including national president Robert Reid and 
national secretary Laila Harré. The letter has been signed by other 
union members and officials as well as by members of political 
organisations and supporters of civil liberties.
Vermunt was detained at Auckland airport for over four hours. After 
subjecting her to two interrogations, searching her bags and taking 
swabs, officials found no evidence of narcotics or contraband. Despite 
this, she was subjected to a degrading strip search. Then, again without 
cause, officers continued to detain Vermunt and subjected her to a third 
interrogation. The customs official demanded that she answer questions 
about her political activity as a leader of the Communist League.
Vermunt's letter to the ministers of immigration and customs demands 
that such harassment by officials of their departments cease. Vermunt 
was previously detained by customs officials at Christchurch airport in 
2005 and 2006.
Other individuals signing the protest letter include solicitor and Maori 
rights activist Annette Sykes; professor of law at the University of 
Auckland, David Williams; Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty; Helen Te 
Hira of the Council of Trade Unions Runanga; national secretary of the 
Service and Food Workers Union, John Ryall; national secretary of the 
Unite union, Matt McCarten; John Minto of Global Peace and Justice; Omar 
Hamed of the Auckland University Students Association; and Maire 
Leadbeater of the Indonesia Human Rights Committee. The Women's 
International League for Peace and Freedom signed as an organisation.
Annalucia Vermunt commented, "What happened to me is an illustration of 
how increased powers being granted to police, immigration, and customs 
will be and are being used to target working class activists and 
political dissent. The October 15, 2007 police 'anti-terrorism' raids 
targeting Maori rights supporters demonstrated this. So too does the 
revelation last weekend of a 10-year infiltration of political 
organisations in Christchurch by a police spy." Vermunt and the 
Communist League were among those spied on by Rob Gilchrist, the police 
informant. "It is important that every violation of our rights, such as 
happened to me at the airport, is met with a response," Vermunt said. 
"That's why it is significant that so many have joined me in submitting 
this open protest letter."
Vermunt's lawyer, Matt Robson, has written to the ministers of 
immigration, customs, and the Security Intelligence Service, requesting 
that they release all information they hold on file on Vermunt.
Janet Roth
Communist League






http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2008/200812/news18/20081217-10ee.html

December 18. 2008 Juche 97

Japanese Authorities' Suppression of Chongryon Protested

Pyongyang, December 17 (KCNA) -- Representatives of the General 
Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) including O Jae Se, 
managing director of the Permanent Council of the Korean Federation of 
Korean Workers in Commerce in Japan visited the Cabinet Office of Japan 
on December 11 to lodge a protest with the Japanese authorities against 
the search operation and human rights abuses ceaselessly perpetrated 
against Chongryon and the federation in pursuit of a sinister political 
purpose.
They handed to it a written request addressed to the prime minister of 
Japan on behalf of the Korean Federation of Korean Workers in Commerce 
in Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Association of Korean Workers in 
Commerce in Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Shinjuku Association of 
Korean Workers in Commerce in Japan.
The wholesale search operation the police authorities conducted on the 
groundless charge of "violation of the law on taxation" on October 29 
and November 27 did harm to the dignity of the federation, threatened 
the rights of Koreans to do business and exist and created unrest in the 
Japanese society, too, noted the written request.
It urged the Japanese authorities to stop the unreasonable suppression 
of Chongryon and the federation and provide the living conditions of the 
Koreans in Japan and guarantee their rights.
It also urged the Japanese authorities to implement the DPRK-Japan 
Pyongyang Declaration at an early date and lift the sanctions against 
the DPRK.
Then, O Jae Se held a press conference at which he referred to the 
sufferings the members of associations in different parts of Japan are 
undergoing owing to the politically motivated suppression by the 
Japanese authorities.
He demanded the Japanese authorities stop at once the brutal suppression 
of organizations of Chongryon and immediately release the arrested 
compatriots.






http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/99383

Journalists arrested while covering protest

Country/Topic: Russia
Date: 17 December 2008
Source: Glasnost Defence Foundation (GDF)
Person(s): Vyacheslav Melman, Yegor Skovoroda, Alexander Artemyev, 
Sergey Lantyukhov, Roman Dobrokhotov
Target(s): journalist(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): arrested
Urgency: Flash
(GDF/IFEX) - A dissenter's march was held in Moscow on 14 December 2008. 
Authorities had not given approval for the march to be staged in the 
center of the city, so in response to the march OMON (the special police 
force) severely clamped down on the protesters detaining over 100 people 
and reporting their "effective control over attempts to commit acts of 
hooliganism".
Several reporters covering the march were detained together with 
opposition activists. Encouraged by their commanders' radio instructions 
"to be more active", policemen grabbed people in all directions without 
trying to discern journalists from protesters. It is also possible that 
the police deliberately targeted reporters to minimise the number of 
media reports of OMON "heroism".
The detainees include Vyacheslav Melman of http://www.Grani.ru ; Yegor 
Skovoroda of http://www.Liberty.ru ; Alexander Artemyev of 
http://www.Gazeta.ru ; Sergey Lantyukhov of http://www.Life.ru ; and 
Roman Dobrokhotov of the Govorit Moskva radio station who recently lost 
his job after he interrupted a speech by President Dmitry Medvedev in 
the Kremlin Palace.
According to other sources, the police officers also detained a 
photographer for the website http://www.Kasparov.ru , a reporter for 
"Kommersant Daily" and a crew of reporters for REN-TV.
The detainees were charged with violating article 20.2 of the RF 
Administrative Code ("Breach of order of an organisation's internal 
rules or the rules of holding a meeting, a rally, a demonstration, a 
march or a picketing action"). They will be required to appear in court 
and possibly pay a fine.
The above information is based on Moscow Echo, http://www.Grani.ru , 
http://www.Gazeta.ru , http://www.Liberty.ru and "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" 
reports.





http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25195010-26103,00.html

Gunns settles Wilderness Society claim
• Font Size: Decrease Increase
• Print Page: Print
By Xavier La Canna | March 16, 2009
Article from: Australian Associated Press
GUNNS Ltd and an environmental group have continued a war of words, each 
claiming the other was putting a false spin on the agreement, despite 
settling a four-year legal dispute today.
The Wilderness Society claimed the move was "a significant win for free 
speech".

The Wilderness Society said that after seeking $3.5 million in damages 
from 20 protesters, Gunns had to pay $350,000.

The Wilderness Society's Virginia Young compared the payout to the 
"McLibel" court case, when McDonald's successfully sued activists for 
defamation but was perceived by many to have had a public relations 
disaster.

"After spending probably $3 million of shareholders' money claiming that 
the Wilderness Society organised a grand conspiracy against them, Gunns 
has now had to drop the claims against the Wilderness Society and pay us 
money," Ms Young said.

But a spokesman for Gunns Ltd had a very different interpretation of 
events.

"Quite frankly their press release... I am trying to avoid calling it an 
out-and-out lie but it certainly glosses over some important facts, such 
as them paying us damages and them having to, on a net basis, having to 
pay us costs as well," the spokesman said.

He said under the terms of the settlement the Wilderness Society would 
pay $25,000 in costs and, including amounts already settled, $105,000 in 
damages.

The Gunns spokesman said while his organisation had to pay the 
Wilderness Society $350,000 in costs relating to part of the court 
action, the environmental group owed Gunns $375,000 in costs from a 
separate court action.

"They had trespassed, it was alleged, onto Gunns property and damaged or 
destroyed logging equipment," he said.

But Greg Ogle from the Wilderness Society said Gunns' figures about 
costs paid to them were false.

"They have made that up completely," Mr Ogle said.

Mr Ogle said Gunns were trying confuse matters by mixing in decisions 
from different court actions.

"Where they are getting the $375,000 claim from is a case that we ran 
against the Federal Government over the pulp mill that they were a party 
to," Mr Ogle said.

"That is their guesstimate on costs. There has been no award for that 
amount and we have not paid that amount. They are bringing in a 
completely separate case, which is a federal court case directed at the 
Federal Government," he said.

There is still action ongoing against seven other defendants named in 
the case who were part of the original 20 named in Victorian Supreme 
Court action by Gunns.

Gunns had earlier dropped its actions against five activists, including 
Greens leader Bob Brown.








http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/559364

Police, activists settle suit over housing protest
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Dec 29, 2008 07:50 PM
Comments on this story (2)
Isabel Teotonio
STAFF REPORTER

Note: This article has been edited from a previously published version
Alex Brown is an unemployed truck driver who lives in a west-end rooming 
house and is on social assistance. He could use some money.
But he won't touch a penny of the $116,000 that the City of Toronto and 
Toronto police agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit launched by Brown and 
two other housing activists nearly eight years ago.
"It's very hard," he told the Star today about donating a portion of the 
settlement toward a trust fund for grassroots housing initiatives. "But 
what about the needs of others? You can't walk by (homeless people) and 
not care."
His comments came after a news conference outside City Hall where the 
activists announced the settlement, which was reached days before an 
anticipated two- to three-week trial that was to begin Dec. 8.
The settlement was a "victory" and should shed light on the issue of 
homelessness, said Brown, who lived on the street for about five years.
His comments were, in part, echoed by his lawyers and co-plaintiffs, 
Oriel Varga and Elan Ohayon.
Lawyer Vilko Zbogar, who represented the trio with Peter Rosenthal, 
called the settlement "a significant victory and vindication" in this 
"important human rights case."
"Hopefully, the city's settlement offer in this case is an indication 
that the government authorities are listening and learning about the 
rights of the homeless," he said.
But lawyer Kevin McGivney, who represented the city and police, later 
said in a phone interview that calling the settlement a "victory" is a 
"bit like calling a tie hockey game a victory."
"This is purely just a settlement, a compromise on both sides," said 
McGivney. "Considering it's litigation over events that occurred 10 
years ago, the best decision was to compromise the case and achieve a 
resolution rather than spend weeks in court fighting."
Not only would fighting the matter have cost a "significant amount," he 
said, but "memories have faded, and evidence is not as clear, as fresh 
as it might otherwise have been."
The plaintiffs had been seeking $150,000 in damages. Of the $116,000 
settled upon, $60,000 was for damages and $56,000 was for pre-judgment 
interest and legal costs.
Of the money received, about $70,000 will go into a trust, while the 
rest will go to lawyers' fees and others who worked on the case.
The activists planned to argue a police crackdown on any shelter of a 
homeless person and their advocates - given the lack of housing and safe 
shelters - violates Section 7 of the Charter, which guarantees right to 
life, liberty and security.
The matter stems back nearly decade when the trio were part of the Allan 
Gardens Project, a series of protests that started in August 1999. At 
the time, Brown was homeless and Ohayon and Varga were university students.
For more than 120 consecutive Fridays, homeless and community activists 
slept in Allan Gardens, located at Sherbourne St. and Gerrard St. E., to 
protest what they considered a housing crisis.
On Oct. 21, 2000, police cleared the park and arrested Ohayon, whose 
charges were later dismissed. The following year, they launched a 
lawsuit alleging the police and the city had violated their human rights.
When asked why he participated in the suit, Brown pointed out: "Money 
was not the object here. It was basically for all levels of government 
to wake up."





http://www.snowzilla.org/page/3/

Snowzilla, be warned: Rondy looks at building its own giant
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | Snowzilla Articles | SnowZilla
Festival’s version would be even taller
The first thing he’ll need is a name.
Frosty Kong?
Coldlossus?
Or maybe just “Son of Snowzilla.”
Indeed, the city is likely to face another giant snowman this winter. 
But unlike the renegade Snowzilla — that 25-foot behemoth that appeared 
in Airport Heights last week despite a city ban — this one has the 
mayor’s blessing.
The plan is to create a snowman as tall, or taller, than Snowzilla in 
Ship Creek as part of the annual Fur Rendezvous winter festival, Rondy 
board president Ernie Hall said Tuesday.
“We’d like to make it huge,” he said.
As of Tuesday, Hall hadn’t compared notes with Billy Ray Powers, father 
of the guerrilla Snowzilla on Columbine Street. Powers’ snowman is 
roughly 25 feet tall and, according to the city, a safety hazard and 
public nuisance in a neighborhood that’s too small for giant snowmen.
The city says Powers amassed a whopping pile of fines and assessments, 
his place appears to be a junkyard and he’s rebuked the city’s efforts 
to work with him. Powers describes himself as “a welder and hobby 
blacksmith, a father and a gardener.” He says the city’s harassing and 
slandering him, and that it’s city officials, not him, who refuse to 
negotiate.
Throw in a towering snowman in a top hat and you have a tale that swept 
the country this holiday season.
Snowzilla was an Internet hit for a time and a stream of cars and 
gawkers flock to see him each day. He’s got his own Web site and 
T-shirts, and someone built a cluster of elf-sized snowmen “protesters” 
outside City Hall last week.
Fur Rondy is looking to capture some of that magic as the festival 
continues trying to reinvent itself from a fading tradition to a 
contemporary, can’t-miss attraction. For 2008, the festival added the 
“Running of the Reindeer” — which is exactly what it sounds like — downtown.
This winter, Hall hopes to see the festival begin building its own giant 
snowman as early as late January, in time to welcome the annual snow 
sculpture contest held near the Alaska Railroad each year.
Meantime, Fur Rondy, which officially runs from Feb. 27 to March 8, 
could hold a contest encouraging people to build their own snowmen — 
regular, not super-sized — in front yards across the city.
Hall said he’s talked to the railroad and to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich 
about the plan.
It’s easy to imagine this new snow giant emerging as Snowzilla’s rival. 
His very own Mothra.
But Hall said that’s not the idea and hopes Powers will be involved in 
the Fur Rondy project, perhaps helping to create the new snow giant 
while demolishing Snowzilla back in Airport Heights.
“We would be thrilled to death if he said, ‘Gosh, this is a great 
opportunity and I would love to build a bigger and better one down in 
the railroad yard,’” Hall said.
He asked a reporter for Powers’ phone number.
The Fur Rondy board still has to approve the idea at its next meeting in 
January, but Hall said he’s talked to other members and is “99 percent” 
sure the plan will proceed.
Powers, meantime, hadn’t heard Hall’s idea Tuesday night.
Sounds like the city wants to take away his snowman but capitalize on 
its popularity, he said. (Technically, Fur Rondy is its own independent 
nonprofit, though it gets some funding from the city.)
Still, Powers said, “Any time anyone talks about building a snowman, I’m 
all for it.”
In fact, each snowman is an original work of art. That’s why the Fur 
Rondy snow giant shouldn’t share the Snowzilla name.
“Why would you make a painting of a beautiful woman and name it the 
‘Mona Lisa?’ ” Powers asked.
By KYLE HOPKINS, adn.com





http://www.snowzilla.org/page/4/

Saving Us From Snowzilla
Sunday, December 28th, 2008 | Snowzilla Articles | SnowZilla
Every year for the past three years a massive snowman has risen from 
Billy Power’s yard in Anchorage, Alaska. Starting out at nearly 16 feet 
tall his first year, the snowman has grown larger each year reaching a 
whopping estimated 25 feet this year. As might be expected, the snowman, 
dubbed “Snowzilla,” has annually drawn large crowds of admirers to the 
east Anchorage neighborhood he calls home. But this year the city 
government of Anchorage has chosen to bravely step forward to protect 
their fair city from Snowzilla.
The city tacked a cease-and-desist order on Billy Power’s front door 
deeming Snowzilla a nuisance and a hazard to the neighborhood. And yet 
somehow – mysteriously – Snowzilla still arose this year bigger and 
better than ever. Powers takes no personal credit for the latest 
incarnation of Snowzilla; when asked how the giant snowman got there, he 
replied, “Magic.” So how long will it be before the SWAT team is 
mobilized to deal with such an affront to public safety?
It’s not a facetious question. Implicit in every law, ordinance, 
statute, and code is a mechanism for enforcement which, taken to its 
logical end, allows the state or municipality to use increasing amounts 
of coercion up to and including lethal force, if necessary, against the 
non-compliant. This is worth remembering when government at any level 
seeks to “protect” us with official actions from “monsters” that seem to 
exist primarily in the minds of busybodies who are eager to use their 
power to control, intimidate or inconvenience citizens who dare think 
outside the box. Safety is fast becoming an Orwellian buzzword for 
justifying increased government control at all levels.
It doesn’t appear that any official move is afoot to address the 
nuisance of those appreciative spectators caused by Anchorage homeowners 
who decorate their homes so beautifully with Christmas lights. So why 
single out Powers? Part of the answer may lie in the fact that Powers 
has been a target of city code enforcers for some time now over what the 
city calls “land use violations” involving his business which have 
earned him nearly $100,000 in fines. In spite of his friction with city 
hall, Powers has managed to keep his sense of humor intact as the city 
considers its next move.
But how far can a man be pushed? The city of Kirkwood, Missouri, found 
out the hard way about a year ago when they annexed an unincorporated 
area and imposed their codes on a business owner named Charles Lee 
Thornton, hitting him with tens of thousands of dollars in fines for 
doing things exactly the same as he had legally done for the previous 20 
years. They threw him out of city council meetings; they beat his 
lawsuit in court and it finally ended when he walked into city hall and 
killed 6 people including the mayor. There is no justification for 
Charles Thornton’s murderous rampage – he acted like a government, after 
all – but the $64,000 question remains: Were the city’s actions really 
necessary to protect rights and serve justice?
The truth is that many of the monsters from which government claims to 
be protecting us are those of its own creation.
By Bryan Hyde, a talk radio host and graduate student at George Wythe 
University in Cedar City, Utah.





http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/630926.html

City code officer slays Snowzilla
Giant snowman deemed a public nuisance, safety hazard
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
ebluemink at adn.com
Published: December 21st, 2008 10:14 PM
Last Modified: December 23rd, 2008 01:43 PM
Anchorage's famous giant snow man, Snowzilla, finally met its match.
It wasn't the weather. It wasn't angry neighbors bearing shovels and 
pick axes.
It turns out Snowzilla's biggest foe -- the one who felled the 
controversial but much-loved giant -- was a notice-bearing city code 
enforcement officer.
That's right, Snowzilla was abated.
It was just a few years ago that 16-foot-tall Snowzilla arose in a 
residential yard in Airport Heights, launching an annual procession of 
local gawkers and an international media blitz.
Camera crews came from Russia and Japan.
But Snowzilla attracted a lot of naysayers too.
Not everybody in the neighborhood liked all the cars and visitors.
So, city officials have deemed Snowzilla a public nuisance and safety 
hazard.
A few weeks ago, city code enforcers left three red signs at Snowzilla's 
bottom body ball telling its builders to cease and desist.
The city also tacked a public notice on the door of the Powers family 
home at 1556 Columbine St. The Powers family and some of their neighbors 
have been building Snowzilla in the Powers' front yard since 2005.
When the notices went up, Snowzilla still didn't have a full torso or head.
"The kids had spent hours and hours of work on it," Billy Powers said on 
Sunday.
City officials involved in the cease-and-desist order could not be 
reached for comment on Sunday.
But on Dec. 11, the city notified the Airport Heights community council 
about its decision to abate Snowzilla, telling council members that the 
two-story snowman caused increased traffic to the point of endangerment 
and that the structure itself was unsafe.
The city also asked council members to watch out for continued 
construction and to consider weighing in on Snowzilla at an upcoming, 
council members said.
At last Thursday's community council meeting, no one offered a 
Snowzilla-related motion. "We're not really a policing agency," said 
Becky Kurtz, the council president.
Now, Snowzilla is just a big pile of snow rubble.
Powers said he doesn't plan to rebuild.
He can't.
Under the city's nuisance abatement order, if he tries, he could get 
arrested.






http://www.aol.co.nz/news/story/Terror-suspect-faces-new-charges-in-jail-riot/1431381/index.html

Terror suspect faces new charges in jail riot
December 11, 2008, 12:25 AM Post Comments

An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen facing U.S. terrorism charges has been hit 
with new charges stemming from allegations that he beat a prison guard 
unconscious.
Justice Department officials say Wesam al-Delaema, 35, pleaded not 
guilty in Washington D.C. Superior Court Monday to two counts of 
aggravated assault for allegedly beating Charles White, a correctional 
officer at the jail.
The alleged assault occurred in December 2007 during a jail riot 
involving Al-Delaema and six other inmates, who also are accused of 
attacking White, according to court documents.
Al-Delaema's next hearing on the assault charges is scheduled for February.
Al-Delaema has been held in the D.C. jail since January 2007, after he 
was extradited from the Netherlands on allegations that he conspired to 
kill Americans in Iraq and use explosives to destroy U.S. property, 
among other charges.
He pleaded not guilty last year to the charges, which Justice Department 
officials called the first U.S. terror charges against insurgents 
targeting Americans in Iraq.
A hearing on those charges is scheduled for January, Justice Department 
spokesman Dean Boyd said Tuesday.
Al-Delaema had been wanted by the United States since 2003, when he and 
his fellow "Mujahideen from Fallujah" videotaped themselves planting 
explosives along an Iraq road used by U.S. troops. The explosives did 
not result in any deaths.
Al-Delaema has said he is innocent, and his lawyers have argued the U.S. 
does not have the right to try him.
As part of the extradition agreement with the Netherlands, al-Delaema 
will be tried in a federal court _ not by a military commission such as 
those set up for terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Boyd told the Associated Press last year that the U.S. will also not 
oppose al-Delaema serving his sentence in a Dutch prison if he is convicted.
Boyd declined to comment Tuesday on where al-Delaema, if convicted on 
the assault charges, would serve his sentence.










---------------------------------------------------

Papua puts off controversial microchip plan

Jakarta Post - December 16, 2008

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura -- Papua's provincial
legislative council has decided to postpone the
endorsement of the Papua HIV/AIDS Handling bylaw
planned for approval this Monday, after the
provincial administration deemed it would violate
human rights.

"The endorsement was postponed because the
legislative and executive branches had different
perceptions on the use of microchips for people
with HIV/AIDS," council deputy speaker Komarudin
Watubun told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"The executive sees it as violating human rights,
while we councilors view it as an effort to build
awareness within society." Several NGOs working on
HIV/AIDS and women's issues have also expressed
strong opposition to the draft bylaw, Komarudin
added.

Because of this deadlock, he went on, the
provincial administration and the legislature might
agree to strike the controversial microchip article
from the draft, following widespread public
rejection of the article.

"If the public cannot or will not accept (the
article), the council cannot force its will," he
said. "The bylaw's endorsement depends on public
reaction. Why would we pass it if the public was
against it? The draft bylaw will only be passed
when the administration, legislature and NGOs agree
on it. Meetings will be held to reach this."

Papua Vice Governor Alex Hasegem, reading the
administration's response at the legislature's
plenary session, said HIV/AIDS handling should
apply universal principles. One of those
principles, he went on, was to respect people
living with HIV/AIDS by eradicating stigmata and
discrimination.

"Implanting microchips in people with HIV/AIDS is
not in accordance with these principles because it
is a form of stigmatizing," Alex said. The proposed
measure has never been done anywhere in the world
and has not been tested to gauge its success.

Alex rejected the inclusion of the microchip
article in the draft bylaw, saying the regulation
was not meant as a test run for the microchip
scheme. As it stands, the 40-article bylaw requires
microchips be implanted in people with HIV/AIDS
deemed aggressive, or actively seeking sexual
intercourse.

In November, councilor John Manangsang said the
public should not misunderstand human rights as it
related to this issue. "If we respect the rights of
people living with HIV/AIDS, then we must also
respect the rights of those without," he said.

He added the public should judge the draft bylaw as
a whole rather than by its constituent articles.
"The draft, for instance, requires everyone to take
HIV/AIDS tests so preventative measures can be
taken early on."

---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------



Proponents of Islamic state jailed



Jakarta Post - December 20, 2008



Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- The Bandung District

Court has convicted and sentenced 17 alleged

members of the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) to

between two-and-a-half and three years in prison

for treason.



On Friday, the panel of three judges, hearing 14

dossiers, said the defendants were guilty of

violating Article 107, clause 1, of the Criminal

Code on treason, and Article 55 on conspiring to

commit treason.



Judges Yance Bombing, Joni Santosa and Abdul Moehan

said the 17 defendants had caused public

disturbance and threatened the integrity of the

Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).



"They have deviated from the NKRI by acknowledging

the NII as their state," the judges said in their

verdicts.



The sentences handed down were lighter than those

demanded by prosecutors, who had sought prison

terms of four to five years. But the judges said

the defendants had no prior criminal convictions

and had behaved well during the trial that began on

Aug. 8.



Police arrested the men last April in the Bandung

districts of Cihanjuang, Cijerah and Riung Bandung.



The four men who received three-year sentences

were: Suganda, alias Miftahayatudin, accused of

being the Region 7 (Southern West Java) vice

governor and chief spokesman; Mulyadi, the so-

called Region 7 sharia division head; Uden

Abdullah, the alleged Region 73 (Cianjur and

Sukabumi) head; and Oban, considered the Region 72

(Garut and Sumedang) head. The men have not said

whether they would appeal the verdicts.



During a heated discussion with defense lawyer

Seprandjaya at the court's detention room, the

defendants said they feared receiving longer

sentences should they file appeals with the West

Java High Court.



Seprandjaya called the verdicts ambiguous, claiming

the judges did not take into consideration facts

revealed during the trial that showed the men were

unaware they were part of the NII.



"The judges should not break the rules, they should

be professional in handing down verdicts and not

eliminate facts uncovered during the trial," he

said, adding he would recommend his clients file

appeals.



"There were no witnesses called to testify, except

for the defendants themselves." He added it was

clear they knew nothing about the NII.



"It all started when the defendants became involved

in conversations with people such as Haidir, Musa

and Abu Patin, who are still at large," he told The

Jakarta Post after the sentencing.



"These people then asked the defendants to join

Koran study groups, leading to their being named by

the police as NII officials."



Most of the defendants, the lawyer went on, were

only infak (tithe) collectors for the real NII

leaders who had evade arrest.



"If they are guilty of treason, then there must be

masterminds who can attest to the defendants being

part of the NII," he said. "But during the trial,

no one knew who the masterminds were."



---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------



Thugs are gone, for now, but the vendors linger



Jakarta Post - December 1, 2008



Jakarta -- Armed with wooden sticks, several young

police officers were seen banging on public

minivans loading passengers at Tanah Abang market,

Central Jakarta, and blocking the roads.



One police officer turned to a line of fruit

vendors on the roadside and picked up a rambutan

with paying for it while chatting with the seller

before returning to his job.



The police officers were carrying out a public

order operation against undisciplined public

transportation workers, thugs, illegal-parking

attendants and street vendors causing congestion in

the area.



The Central Jakarta administration, in cooperation

with the police, has been conducting the operation

since Nov. 25 to improve the market's image as

Southeast Asia's biggest textile market. The

operation is scheduled to last for four months.



The operation has done little to ease traffic, but

has been successful in temporarily ridding parts of

the city of thugs.



"I can run my business without having to pay thugs

security money," said Juned, a clothing vendor. "I

do not have to worry about the thugs messing up my

stall because there have been no thugs here for the

past three days." Juned said he was afraid the

thugs would return after the operation was over.



Tambunan, a bus driver, said that thanks to the

operation, the streets were safer because there

were no more thugs, but he doubted whether it would

last long.



Suwardi, from the Tanah Abang Police command post,

said police were focusing more on the eradication

of thugs. "The police are responsible for the

eradication of thugs and clearing traffic, while

the illegal vendors are the responsibility of the

subdistrict office," he said.



Despite its successes, resident said they still

felt skeptical about the operation because it had

not been conducted thoroughly.



Harun, a Tanah Abang street vendor, said the police

and public order officials only raided the vendors

during the morning from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. "Most of

the vendors here know that it is safe again to

start selling after 2 p.m," he said, adding that

earlier this morning some 10 fruit stalls had been

raided by police.



An ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver who refused to be

named said an operation like this costs money and

that was why it had not been conducted thoroughly.

"The operation is just ceremonial, it's just a

token measure to impress the mayor and the police

chief," he said.



He said similar operations had been conducted

several times in the past, but the police failed to

net many thugs and illegal street vendors because

there were police insiders who tipped them off.



"Some of these stalls are owned by retired police

officers and civil servants, that's where they get

the information prior to the execution of the

operation," he said.



Imam, a passing car driver, said the authorities

were not serious about the operation. The operation

does not reduce congestion in the area, he added.



"Just look around you, there are a lot of minivans

and buses still loading passengers anywhere they

like, and there are a lot of illegal vendors

selling their goods on the sidewalk and the

roadside," he told The Jakarta Post.



He said the problem of congestion would still

remain unless firm action was taken against street

vendors. "The vendors will feel that they have more

freedom to run their businesses because they will

no longer have to worry about paying thugs security

money," he said.



Last week, Central Jakarta municipality announced

it would deploy 470 officers to "clean Tanah Abang

market". The officers comprise 150 policemen, 150

public order officers, 60 officers from the

transportation agency, 60 hired security guards, 20

from the parking agency and 30 from the military.



Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni was quoted by

beritajakarta.com as saying that the municipality

would put 40 banners and 1,000 stickers to announce

information on the sweep effort. In addition to

that, a car equipped with an announcer will circle

the area every two hours to blast out information,

she said. (fmb)



---------------------------------------------------









http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/02/BUR014FG4P.DTL

S.F. jury clears Chevron of protest shootings
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
________________________________________
(12-01) 17:22 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal jury in San Francisco 
cleared Chevron Corp. of wrongdoing Monday in the shootings of Nigerian 
villagers who occupied an offshore barge in 1998 to protest the 
company's hiring and environmental policies.
Two men were killed and two were wounded by security forces summoned by 
Chevron after three days of negotiations with leaders of about 150 
tribesmen from the oil-rich Niger Delta. Villagers and their supporting 
witnesses said they were unarmed and peaceful, but Chevron's witnesses 
said the protesters threatened violence, held crew members captive and 
demanded ransom.
After a four-week trial, the nine-member jury deliberated less than two 
days before unanimously rejecting the plaintiffs' claims that Chevron 
was responsible for assault, inhumane treatment, torture and wrongful 
death. The 19 plaintiffs included the two wounded men, relatives of one 
of the slain men, and the family of a fourth man who was beaten and died 
later of unrelated causes.
Jurors left without talking to reporters. Their verdict didn't specify 
whether they had concluded - as Chevron argued - that the company was 
justified in calling for military intervention to protect its workers. 
They also could have found that excessive force was used but that 
Chevron had no reason to foresee it and therefore wasn't at fault.
The company called the verdict a vindication.
"The jury upheld our position that our response was reasonable to a 
dangerous hostage-taking situation where our employees were in peril," 
Chevron spokesman Don Campbell told reporters. He said the company 
sympathizes with Niger Delta residents but doesn't believe they should 
use violence to solve their problems.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Bert Voorhees said his clients will appeal the verdict.
"This was a difficult story to tell across several cultural barriers," 
he said. But the fact that the case even went to trial, despite 
Chevron's attempt to dismiss it, should serve notice that "corporations 
like Chevron can be held accountable," he said.
Standing alongside Voorhees, lead plaintiff Larry Bowoto, who still 
suffers the after-effects of a gunshot wound to an elbow, said "We are 
not hostage takers."
The suit is one of several that have been filed recently against 
U.S.-based corporations under the Alien Tort Claim Act, a law passed by 
the first Congress in 1789 that allows foreigners to sue in U.S. courts 
for violations of international human rights.
A similar suit by villagers in Burma against Unocal for allegedly 
encouraging brutality by soldiers guarding its pipeline was settled in 
2005 for an undisclosed amount of money, but no jury has yet found a 
company responsible for human rights violations by a foreign government.
In the case of Chevron, which has a refinery in Richmond, villagers 
occupied a barge tethered to the company's Parabe platform, 9 miles 
offshore, in May 1998. They said drilling and dredging were polluting 
their wells and killing trees and fish, but Chevron's Nigerian 
subsidiary had refused to meet with them.
Plaintiffs' lawyers cited a faxed message from an official of the 
subsidiary to the U.S. Embassy on the third day of the protest, saying 
the villagers were unarmed and the situation was calm. The soldiers and 
a mobile police force widely known as the "kill and go" arrived the next 
morning on helicopters leased by Chevron.
But Chevron's witnesses said the protesters had written letters 
threatening violence and sea piracy, struck one or more crewmen, and 
poured diesel fuel on the barge and threatened to set it on fire - 
leaving the company with no option, its lawyers argued, but to call on 
the Nigerian government for help.
E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko at schronicle.com.






http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/416052.html

Protest against fire-bombing of Indonesian village linked to plantation 
company
Renewable Fuels Bullshit | 26.12.2008 00:14 | Climate Chaos | Energy 
Crisis | Globalisation
Protest against fire-bombing of Indonesian village linked to plantation 
company

Agrofuels still killing kids

On 18th December, a village in Riau Province, Sumatra, was attacked by 
armed police and paramilitaries and also fire-bombed from a helicopter. 
This is a serious escalation of violence and human rights abuses in one 
of many land conflicts related to plantation expansion in Indonesia. The 
village of Suluk Bongkal was attacked by the police and by over 500 
paramilitaries, armed with fire-arms and tear gas. A helicopter dropped 
incendiary devices which eye witnesses reported contained napalm. 
Although the nature of the bombs has not yet been confirmed, hundreds of 
houses immediately went up in flames. Two toddlers were killed, 400 
villagers fled into the forest. Others were detained and 58 people 
remain in the village, under enormous psychological pressure and cut off 
from the outside. On 20th December, a helicopter dropped stones on tents 
set up by refugees from the village.
The violence is linked to Sinar Mas, one of the largest pulp and paper 
and palm oil plantation companies in Indonesia. This particular 
plantation belongs to Sinar Mas subsidiary Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), 
which reportedly owns the helicopter used in the attacks. APP is one of 
the two largest pulp and paper companies in Indonesia. Many of their 
plantations have been set up in contravention of Indonesian laws, 
involving the destruction of highly biodiverse rainforests, plantings in 
water catchment areas and on steep slopes, and the displacement of 
communities. The plantation industry in Riau province is also linked to 
the deforestation, drainage and burning of peat swamps, one of the 
largest single sources of climate-change causing carbon dioxide 
emissions in the world.
Please sign the letter below which will be sent to authorities in 
Indonesia and which supports demands by WALHI (Friends of the Earth 
Indonesia) that the state authorities must guarantee the human rights of 
the population and investigates and punishes those responsible for this 
crime, and that the business permit granted to the plantation company in 
question must be withdrawn and that the rights of the population must 
not be sacrificed for companies’ economic interests.






http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10549266&ref=rss

Beaten shoe protester hit in an eye with a gun
4:00AM Monday Dec 22, 2008
Afif Sarhan

Muntadar al-Zeidi. Photo / AP

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush 
was viciously beaten after being taken into custody, according to a 
police officer who accompanied him to prison.
Wrestled to the ground and then buried under a frantic mound of security 
officers, Muntadar al-Zeidi was last seen being dragged into detention.
Controversy has since raged over what treatment was meted out to the man 
hailed a hero in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world for his protest 
against the invasion of Iraq. Yesterday there were further 
demonstrations in the Middle East calling for his immediate release.
Witnesses to his arrest and imprisonment have said Zeidi was badly 
beaten, during and after his arrest, and that he risks losing the sight 
in one of his eyes.
Zeidi is expected to be charged with insulting a foreign leader, which 
carries a prison sentence of up to two years. His family have received 
offers from hundreds of lawyers willing to represent him.
An Iraqi judge said Zeidi had bruises on his face and around his eyes. 
These, said the judge, had been sustained during his arrest at the 
Baghdad news conference during which Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush, 
shouting: "This is the farewell kiss, you dog."
Advertisement Advertisement
His family, who have been denied access to him, have claimed he suffered 
far more extensive injuries and was subjected to a prolonged and vicious 
beating, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding. The 
allegations appear to be borne out by others.
One police officer who accompanied him to prison said the journalist, a 
Baghdad correspondent for Cairo's Al-Baghdadia TV, had been subjected to 
violence throughout the journey. The officer, who asked not to be named, 
said he witnessed security forces beating Zeidi in the car with such 
force that his ribs were broken.
"I felt sorry when I saw them beating him. His mouth was badly injured 
and he did not utter a single word throughout until one of the guards 
hit him in his left eye with a gun. Then he cried out that he couldn't 
see, and I saw blood inside his eye. I am a police officer but even I 
have to say I felt proud of what he did."
A doctor called to examine Zeidi said his right arm had been broken and 
he had haematomas - indicative of internal bleeding - all over his body, 
particularly on his left leg, shoulders, face and head. The doctor, who 
also asked to remain anonymous, said specialists called in to treat him 
warned security guards that they must make sure his eye was protected 
for fear of a further haemorrhage which could cause him to lose his sight.
Zeidi's family allege that it is because of the severe nature of
his injuries that he has not been called before a public court.
Born into a traditional Shiite family, Zeidi made no secret of his 
vehement opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq and, according to 
family and friends, had said many times he would like revenge on Bush.
A younger brother, Haythem, said Zeidi had unexpectedly found himself 
called on to cover the press conference held by Bush and Iraqi Prime 
Minister Nouri Maliki. His first action, it seems, was to return home 
immediately to change his foreign-made shoes for Iraqi-made ones.
A colleague at the TV station said Zeidi mentioned just before going 
home that "if something had to be done, it had to be 100 per cent Iraqi".
His family believe his actions may have placed both them and himself in 
danger and claim to have received threatening calls.
- OBSERVER





http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=160858

‘Demands for long prison terms for young protestors may escalate terror’

The terrorist PKK has been using minors in illegal demonstrations for a 
long time, but prosecutors have started demanding longer prison 
sentences in the past few months.
Several civil society organizations have raised their voices against 
demands for long prison terms for elementary school students 
participating in illegal demonstrations, saying such penalties may 
escalate tension and terror in the country, rather than deterring young 
protesters from attending such illegal activities.
It all started last month, when a prosecutor demanded 23 years in prison 
each for six students, five of whom were in elementary school, between 
the ages of 13 and 14 for participating in illegal demonstrations in 
Diyarbakır and throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at the police 
during protests against a visit by the prime minister to the 
predominantly Kurdish Southeast. Then came a similar demand from an 
Adana prosecutor, who called for a highly debated sentence -- 58 years 
per protester -- for six youths between the ages of 13 and 16.
Minors can be sentenced to several years in prison under various 
articles of Turkey’s Anti-Terrorism Law, including “spreading the cause 
of a terrorist organization,” “committing a crime on behalf of a 
terrorist organization without holding membership,” “resisting police 
dispersion attempts with weapons or instruments” and “vandalizing public 
property.”
“Punishing young children with long prison terms serves no purpose other 
than escalating terror. I don’t think the Republic of Turkey can solve 
the terrorism problem as long as it approaches it with harsh sentences,” 
said Ömer Faruk Gergenlioğlu, chairman of the Association of Human 
Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER).
The Higher Criminal Court for Juveniles will hear the Diyarbakır case in 
a few weeks. Many of the minors are under arrest pending trial.
Gergenlioğlu stressed that the real reason behind the illegal 
demonstrations being attended by Kurdish citizens is not terror, as is 
believed by state and government officials. “The real reason is the 
Kurdish question. The problem of terror in Turkey will not be solved 
unless the Kurdish question is solved,” he noted.
Turkey’s Kurdish question has existed ever since the founding of the 
Turkish Republic, but has turned violent in the last 25 years, with the 
terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launching an armed campaign 
against Turkish civilians and security forces for autonomy in Turkey’s 
predominantly Kurdish Southeast.
The Radikal daily wrote in its lead story on Thursday that more than 100 
children have faced the risk of being sentenced to more than 20 years in 
prison for participating in illegal demonstrations or rallies since last 
October.
Demonstrations reached their peak in early November as Prime Minister 
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traveled to Turkey’s eastern and southeastern 
regions, with pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) supporters 
protesting the visit violently in clashes with the police, throwing 
stones and burning vehicles. Demonstrators were protesting against the 
alleged mistreatment of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is being 
held on the prison island of İmralı, where he is the sole inmate. The 
allegations were put forward by Öcalan’s lawyers and no evidence was 
provided.
Last month DTP leader Ahmet Türk also slammed prosecutors asking for 
long prison terms for children, saying the ruling Justice and 
Development Party (AK Party) cannot win the people back “by turning the 
whole country into a prison.”
“What kind of a mindset is this? Is this the way you embrace the public? 
These children grow up under the shadow of guns and tanks,” he said, 
also criticizing a recent verdict by the Supreme Court of Appeals 
punishing people who had participated in demonstrations held in support 
of the PKK as if they were PKK members.
“This verdict means that all individuals participating in democratic 
demonstrations will be punished on charges of membership in a terrorist 
organization. It seems that the government will soon set up courts in 
the streets and judge millions of people,” he remarked.
Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD), said 
punishing children with harsh sentences would not deter them from 
participating in other illegal demonstrations. “On the contrary, such 
sentences will have an adverse influence on youngsters. Punishing 
children with prison terms should be the last resort,” he argued.
Stressing that children in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern regions 
grow up in the midst of conflicts and clashes, Türkdoğan noted that 
youngsters participate in illegal demonstrations due either to the 
encouragement of their elders or of their own will.
“How can anyone believe that long prison terms will deter these children 
from attending other rallies? How old are they? Are they old enough to 
make a distinction between good and bad?” he asked.
Türkdoğan said the behaviors the children display in demonstrations are 
closely related to the attitude the police and security forces take 
toward them.
“There was a demonstration in Mersin in October. Police distributed 
balls and toys to children to prevent them from participating in the 
tension that erupted between security forces and demonstrators. You see, 
if the police behave toward the children in a positive manner, the 
children do the same,” he explained.
Türkdoğan also noted that there must be a directly proportional 
relationship between the crime and the punishment, adding that a child 
accused of throwing a stone at security forces should not be sentenced 
to prison as though he committed murder.
“I don’t think these children will end up being good citizens under 
unfavorable prison conditions. We all know about the conditions inmates 
are faced with in prisons. How can anyone expect to prevent these 
youngsters from joining a terrorist organization by sending them to 
prisons?” he added.
Seda Akço, from the İstanbul-based Child Abuse Prevention Platform, said 
children in the East and Southeast are caught in an unjust dilemma. “On 
the one hand, there is a terrorist organization and, on the other, the 
police. It is known by everyone under what conditions these children are 
dragged into clashes with the police. We need to prevent them from 
participating in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. 
Punishing them severely is no solution,” she noted.

07 December 2008, Sunday

BETÜL AKKAYA DEMİRBAŞ İSTANBUL






http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/12/08/china-protestors-and-petitioners-penned-up-into-madhouse/

China: Protestors and petitioners penned up into madhouse

Monday, December 8th, 2008 @ 09:06 UTC
by Bob Chen
若干年后，整个人类都会为今天发生的事，而震惊！！！！！！！！！！！
Years later, the entire humanity will be astonished at what happens 
today!!!!!!!!!
This is a comment people left after a news story. It is a story about 
petitioning, protest and madhouse. Reading the story, I am almost 
drowned by a sense of desperation infused in what Mr. Sun has gone 
through all these years, but also very much touched by Mr. Shi’s courage 
to expose such a scandal to public. I know, this would be a story worth 
record, and translation.
In China, it’s a long tradition that people wronged by their hometown 
officials would trek to Beijing to appeal for justice. It is called 
petitioning, a mild way of protest. As mild as it is, however, no local 
government involved would easily let the petitioner go, and 
interruption, detain, threat are never unusual. And now, a more 
civilized way is employed, that is, asylum, or, madhouse. That’s where 
the story started.
57岁的农民孙法武一下车，就四处张望寻找。约好的同伴还没到。
　　突然，一辆面包车“嗖”地停在老孙面前。车上下来三人，将他半包围了。
　　老孙认得其中一人，新泰市泉沟镇信访办主任安士智。
　　“干什么去？”
　　“北京打工去。”
　　“打什么工！你是去上访。不能让你走！”
两男子一左一右上来，老孙掏出手机报警，被劈手夺下。随后被塞进面包车。
Xintai Town, Shangdong.
Mr. Sun-fawu, 57, got off the car and looked around for his companion he 
was to meet. Yet no one was there. All in a sudden, a microbus rushed to 
him and stopped, 3 people coming off and closing him in. One of them was 
identified as An-shizhi, Sun recalled, who is the director of the 
Petitioning Office (the official agency handles complaints) in the town.
“what are doing?”
“to find a job in Beijing。”
“Looking for a job? No, you are to petition. You are not let go!”
Two men came up, snatched away the cellphone Sun was to use for 
police-calling, and pushed him into the microbus.
Sun’s nightmare started. The place he was sent to is exactly the City 
Asylum, where the mentally disordered stay. The government men left him 
there.
　老孙冲着那医生大喊：“我没病！我是上访的！”
　　那天很多“病人”听到了这喊声，包括后来跟老孙关系密切的老时。
　　“医生说，我管你有没有病，你们镇政府送来的，我就按精神病来治。”
Sun yelled to the doctor coming to him, “I am not lunatic! I am just 
going to petition!”
The shout was heard by many “patients” there, including Mr. Shi, a close 
friend to Sun later.
The doctor says, “I don’t care whether you are ill. You are sent by the 
town government, and I’ll treat you as of psychosis.”
What he later went through was that:
“手脚全绑在床腿上，外套蒙在了脑袋上。”老孙听到有人说快灌药，接着脸部被捏 
住，嘴被动地张开了。
医生捏了他下颌，几粒药“自己下去了”。
当晚7点左右，主治医生朱风信来给老孙打了一针，之后老孙“没了意识”
“I had all my limbs tied to the bed legs, and head wrapped up by a 
mask.” Sun heard some one saying “pouring the medicine quickly”, and his 
mouth was forced to open. Mandible clutched, the pills ran into his 
throat. At 7 pm, Dr. Zhu gave Sun a shot, and he then lost all his 
consciousness.
During his days there, Zhu has thought to escape, though he claimed time 
over time again he was normal. He pleaded the dean. But the answer was 
as cold as the patient room, that “only those sent you here sign an 
agreement, you are allowed to go”. And a “suggestion” followed, “ask 
your family to find the government.
But how to? Sun asked himself, with no phone with him.
Sun’s grief
Sun’s grief dates back to several years ago, when the land in his 
village sunk so much that it was no more arable due to the thriving 
mining at the place. Since 1988, the mine owners have compensated the 
affected villagers for a few times.
按补偿标准，老孙家可获4万多元。但据老孙及村民徐学玲等人讲，全村300多户都 
没领到补偿款。
According to the criteria, Sun’s family could get over 40 thousand. But 
as Sun and some other villagers said, over 300 households in the village 
got no compensation at all.
But the village officials insisted the fund has been distributed. Since 
2001, villagers voted Sun as one of their delegates, to complain to the 
town government. The city inspection group, however, alleged that the 
fund has indeed been allocated after investigation. The villagers 
defied, sending more complaints and inquiry of further probe.
三天后，当年10月1日晚，十多人闯入老孙家打砸。当时老孙没在，老孙的儿子、 
新婚第五天的孙贵强被砍成重伤。据孙妻张学芳回忆，那些人喊着，“再上访弄死 
你们全家”。
Three days later, 1, Oct, at night, over 10 people broke into Sun’s home 
when he was not there, and hacked down Sun’s son, who got married only 5 
days ago, to be seriously injured. Sun’s wife, Zhang-xuefang recalled, 
those people yelled “We’ll kill out your family if you keep on petitioning.”
Sun didn’t stop. He haunted around town, city, and provincial 
Petitioning Offices, and even to as far as Beijing. In 2004, he was 
detained for 14 days, the prosecution being “disrupting social order”. 
In 2005, he was sentenced to prison, again, but for over 1 year this time.
Then in 2007, a new weapon was put in use. He was put in the asylum.
“开始天天吃药，打针”。老孙对药物敏感，“头一直晕，站不起来”。
“Every day I took pills and injection.” Sun was sensitive to medicine. 
“I felt dizzy, and can’t stand up.”
He stayed there for 3 months, 5 days. Only did he pledged that no more 
petitioning would he committed was he released.
In 2008, Oct, the story at the beginning of the article happened. This 
has been his second time to be a “mad man”.
A secret recorder
老时秘密进行着自己的“任务”，迄今，他记录了18名被关进医院的上访者
Mr. Shi, 84, has his own secret mission. Up till now, he has recorded 18 
petitioners penned up into the hospital.
He used to go to Beijng to complain the negligence of duty of the local 
government. In 2006, he was sent by Tianbao government (another one) to 
the same hospital.
He was called to go out later, but he refused. He required an 
explanation of such a treatment, and holds that if there is none, he 
would stay.
No explanation was given, and he stayed. In the 2 years 5 months he 
spent there, he has been collecting evidence about the petitioners 
contained in the madhouse.
老孙做了许多记录，记在纸片上，甚至旧药盒上。
老时说，一切都是“秘密进行”的，因为护士不让“上访病人”间交谈。
日记和记录的纸片，老时藏在褥子底下。
Sun made a lot of record, writing them on paper slips, sometimes even on 
used pill boxes. He said, all this was secret, because nurses didn’t 
allow the “petitioner patients” to talk. The diary and papers were 
hidden under quilts.
One of his diaries writes:
“一些精神病人老是打我，只要我和医生、护士顶了嘴，等他们走后，几个病人一 
定会打我，掐我脖子。肯定是这些医生指使的。”
“some patients kept beating me up, as long as I quarreled with doctors 
and nurses. After they were gone, the patients would come up and hit me, 
clutched my neck. They must have been ordered to do so by the doctors.”
进来第二天开始，每次吃药，他都将药压在舌下，等护士走了再吐掉。
　　护士很快发现，后来吃药会检查舌头。老时和“上访病人”李元亮也这样说
Since the second day in the asylum, he was forced to take pills. He 
would hide the pill down the tongue, and spit them after the nurses 
turned away. It was soon found out, however. And then, nurses would 
inspect their tongues every single time. Shi and another patient both 
said so.
This is the end of the news story. It was released by the well-known 
Beijing-based paper New Beijing on 8, Dec, and very soon, it has caught 
the attention of the Chinese blogsphere. The comment at the beginning 
gained as many as 10000 support clicks on 163.com, and what we see is a 
gloomy picture of a muzzled world by methods as ridiculous as you can 
expect. How long has this happened? Would this keep on going if it was 
not revealed? And we have enough reason to doubt how many more remain 
undiscovered.
And we are more than shocked. The life in madhouse is expected to be so 
horrible, that every word, every pleading, every complaint you yelled 
out would be considered a mad word, and no one would trust you. That's 
why those petitioners are more than admirable.
Or, the entire society has already been such a madhouse? And finally, 
will we lose our sense of judgment, that we ourselves would doubt “are 
we mad”? Is this what we are hoped to be?






http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=683902&rss=yes

Chinese protesters put in mental asylums
19:09 AEST Mon Dec 8 2008
The government of an eastern Chinese city has abducted protesting 
citizens and held them in mental asylums, state media has reported.
At least 18 people were believed to have been detained in the city of 
Xintai, with some being administered debilitating drugs when they 
objected, according to an investigative report by the Beijing News, on 
Monday.
The report said victims were released only when they vowed to drop their 
complaints.
Under a system dating from imperial days, Chinese people who suffer 
injustices can petition central authorities in Beijing for help.
The tradition has survived into the Communist era but has become a 
perilous undertaking for petitioners, who are often intercepted by local 
officials to prevent their complaints being aired in Beijing.
The abductions have been occurring in Xintai city in Shandong province 
since at least 2006, the report said, quoted an unnamed retired official 
who counted at least 18 such cases.
However, the head of the Xintai Mental Health Centre, Wu Yuzhu, was 
quoted admitting that the centre had "many" such petitioners in its 
care, paid for by the local government.
The report focused on the case of Sun Fashi, 57, who for years had 
sought compensation for himself and fellow villagers over land 
subsidence, caused by excessive coal mining, that damaged homes and 
farmlands.
Sun was abducted on October 19 as he headed for Beijing to petition once 
again over the issue.
He was taken to the mental health centre, where he was frequently bound, 
drugged and threatened by staff and other patients when he demanded his 
release, the report said.
"The doctors said, 'We don't care if you are sick or not. If the 
government sent you, we are going to treat you'," Sun was quoted saying.
He was released on November 12 after signing a pledge to cease petitioning.
Wu was quoted saying the centre had turned away many people brought by 
officials who were obviously healthy but that the government often 
provided documents certifying they were mentally ill.






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/03/zimbabwe.banks/index.html?eref=rss_latest

December 3, 2008 -- Updated 2042 GMT (0442 HKT)

Zimbabwe activist abducted by 12 gunmen
• Story Highlights
• Amnesty International demands to know whereabouts of human rights 
activist
• Jestina Mukoko taken by force at dawn from her home in pajamas and 
barefoot
• Amnesty fears government trying to silence activists after trade union 
protests
• Zimbabwe is beset with political, economic crises and cholera

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Amnesty International demanded Wednesday to 
know the whereabouts of human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who it 
says was abducted at dawn by armed men in civilian clothes posing as police.

People walk by shops that were looted by Zimbabwean soldiers who 
couldn't get money from banks Tuesday.

Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was taken from her home 
south of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, Amnesty spokeswoman Suzanne Trimel 
said in a written statement. ZPP monitors and documents human rights 
abuses in the troubled country.
According to a witness, at least 12 men stormed Mukoko's home in Norton 
about 5 a.m., taking her by force while she was still in pajamas and 
barefoot, Trimel said. The men then drove off in two cars, one of which 
did not have registration plates.
CNN is trying to get comments from police or other officials.
Last Saturday, about six men, who Amnesty believes to connected to the 
group that kidnapped Mukoko Wednesday, tried to enter her house when she 
was away, said Trimel, quoting the same witnesses who described the 
alleged abduction.
Amnesty International said three of Mukoko's colleagues at a clinic 
treating cholera victims were arrested in late November.
"Mukoko's abduction or arrest was part of an established pattern of 
harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders by Zimbabwean 
authorities in an attempt to discourage them from documenting and 
publicizing the violations that are taking place," said Erwin van der 
Borght, Amnesty's program director in Africa.
The human rights organization fears authorities may have launched a new 
campaign to silence human rights activists in the wake of protests by 
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
"We hold the Zimbabwean authorities responsible for anything that may 
happen to Jestina Mukoko," said van der Borght. "She should be released 
immediately."
Zimbabwe is beset with political, economic and health problems. Watch 
why the Elders were not allowed into Zimbabwe »
Earlier Wednesday, police in the capital chased away residents who were 
in long lines in front of banks and arrested several trade union leaders 
ahead of protests over limits on cash withdrawals from the 
inflation-ravaged African nation's central bank.
Trimel said the secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of 
Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe, and a journalist working for a South African 
broadcaster were among the trade unionists arrested in Harare.
A federation of trade unions issued a statement saying 69 people were 
arrested across the country during Wednesday's demonstrations against 
the bank restrictions.
Amnesty "fears that authorities may have launched a new campaign to 
silence human rights activists in the wake of protests by the Zimbabwe 
Congress of Trade Unions," Trimel said.
Queuing up to withdraw money has become a daily sight in the country, 
which is facing an acute shortage of cash. Zimbabweans complain that the 
money banks give out is not enough to purchase basic necessities.
On Tuesday, Zimbabwe's former defense minister appeared on television, 
flanked by two top army officials, to warn the union groups against 
holding the protests.
The former minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, accused the unions of colluding 
with soldiers who went on rampages in Harare twice in recent days.
The angry, unpaid soldiers clashed with foreign currency exchangers and 
some civilians Monday. Last Friday, soldiers who had failed to get cash 
from their banks also looted some shops they suspected to be illegally 
dealing in foreign currency. iReport.com: Share questions for Christiane 
Amanpour
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe allows a maximum daily withdrawal of 
500,000 Zimbabwean dollars -- the equivalent of about 25 cents in the 
United States -- as a way to ease the country's acute cash problems. The 
amount is not even enough to pay for a loaf of bread, which costs about 
2 million Zimbabwean dollars ($1 U.S.).
The cash rationing has added to the chaos in a country that is engulfed 
in an economic collapse and where the official inflation rate of 231 
million percent is the world's highest.
Meanwhile, health workers are grappling with a cholera outbreak sweeping 
through Zimbabwe that had claimed at least 565 lives by Tuesday, the 
U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Office said.
Medical professionals blame the resurgence of the water-borne disease on 
the lack of safe water in many parts of the country.





http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/11/stories/2008121153460300.htm

Karnataka - Shimoga

Ban on loud protests to be withdrawn
Special Correspondent
A revised order will be issued soon: Shimoga Deputy Commissioner

Exchanging views: Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey during a 
discussion with representatives of various organisations on the ban 
order in Shimoga on Wednesday.
SHIMOGA: Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said here on Wednesday 
that the order banning loud protests on his office premises, issued 
under Section 144 of the Cr.PC, would be withdrawn in the light of 
objections from various quarters.
He, however, said that a revised order would be issued retaining some of 
the restrictions mentioned in the earlier order to ensure smooth 
functioning of offices located on the premises. Mr. Pandey announced 
this at a meeting convened by him with the representatives of various 
organisations and parties to discuss the ban order.
He said it was impossible to suppress demonstrations in a democratic set 
up, but it was important to note that use of loudspeakers and drums 
during protests on the office premises would not only cause 
inconvenience to visitors but also affect working in various offices 
located on the premises.
The Deputy Commissioner said that such noisy demonstrations would 
disturb proceedings of his court.
The restrictions were imposed keeping all these aspects in view and also 
to curb noise pollution on the office premises, he said. Replying to 
observations at the meeting, Superintendent of Police S. Murugan said 
that people or protesters need not be apprehensive over imposition of 
the ban order. He said that a revised “office order” would be issued 
retaining some restrictions of the earlier order.






http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=10689

Vietnam court lets Catholic protesters walk free
(12-08 19:40)
A court in Vietnam allowed eight Catholics to walk free with suspended 
jail terms for disturbing public order and damaging property in protest 
vigils over a land dispute.

The defendants were among thousands of parishioners who joined prayer 
meetings and peaceful rallies over the past 12 months in the capital 
Hanoi calling for the return of church properties seized by the state 
half a century ago.

Hundreds of Catholic supporters on Monday cheered and presented flowers 
to the defendants, four men and four women, as they left the Hanoi court 
building.

Seven of the Catholics received suspended jail terms of 12 to 15 months, 
minus time already spent in custody, and administrative probation of up 
to two years, while one defendant received a warning, said the presiding 
judge.







http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE5363NA20090407?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Iraq shoe thrower's sentence cut to one year
Tue Apr 7, 2009 3:21pm BST

By Aseel Kami
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi reporter who was jailed for hurling his 
shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush has had his sentence 
slashed to one year from three, the Iraqi Judiciary Council said on Tuesday.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, shot to instant global fame in December when he 
threw his shoes at the visiting president, who was deeply unpopular in 
Iraq because of the 2003 U.S. invasion and the years of insurgency and 
sectarian carnage it unleashed.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assaulting a visiting head of 
state and his family were devastated at what they called an excessive 
initial penalty of three years in prison. The shoes missed Bush, who 
ducked nimbly.
"The appeal court issued its decision today to decrease the sentence 
against Muntazer al-Zaidi from three years in prison to one year, taking 
into consideration that he's still young and doesn't have any previous 
convictions," said Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for the Iraqi 
judicial council.
"Thank God, today we found out the Iraqi judiciary is so strong in Iraq, 
after we were so afraid. Of course, I am happy," said Zaidi's brother, 
Haithem.
The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was standing next 
to Bush at the news conference and tried to block one of the shoes, 
called the incident a "barbaric act."
At the start of his trial in February, Zaidi said Bush's smile as he 
talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of "the killing of 
more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of mosques 
and houses, the rapes of women."
In what will be remembered as one of the defining moments of Bush's 
military adventure in Iraq, Zaidi removed his shoes and hurled them one 
by one at Bush, shouting: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, 
dog."
In the Middle East, hitting someone with a shoe is considered an insult. 
In Iraq, a year's prison sentence is actually 10 months, so Zaidi, who 
has been in custody for four months, has six left to go.
(Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Michael Christie and Mark Trevelyan)






http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNAU200812048511&lang=e&rss=recentnews

Tunisian trade union leader on trial for role in protests
4 December 2008

A trade union leader and 37 others face trial in Tunisia on Thursday, 
accused of fomenting unrest during protests earlier this year in the 
Gafsa region. Adnan Hajji, Secretary General of local office of the 
General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) in Redeyef, and his co-accused 
face charges including "forming a criminal group with the aim of 
destroying public and private property".

If convicted, they could face up to more than ten years of imprisonment. 
At least six of 38 accused are to be tried in their absence.

The phosphate-rich Gafsa region, in south-east Tunisia, was wracked by a 
wave of popular protests in the first half of this year. They began in 
the town of Redeyef after the region’s major employer, the Gafsa 
Phosphate Company, announced the results of a recruitment competition.

These results were denounced as fraudulent by those who were 
unsuccessful and others, including the UGTT, and the protests, which 
developed into a more general protest about high unemployment and rising 
living costs, then spread to other towns as the authorities deployed 
large numbers of police and other security forces into the region.

Hundreds of protestors were arrested and more than 140 have been charged 
with offences, some of whom have been convicted and sentenced to jail terms.

Amnesty International has called on the Tunisian government to order an 
independent investigation into allegations of torture and other abuses 
by security forces when quelling the protests.

In a letter to Tunisia's Minister of Justice and Human Rights Béchir 
Tekkari, Amnesty International called for the authorities to disclose 
the outcome of an official investigation. The organization said the 
investigation had been set up after police opened fire on demonstrators 
on 6 June 2008, killing one man and injuring others, sparking 
allegations that police had used excessive force.

The letter also detailed cases in which people suspected of organizing 
or participating in protests are reported to have been detained and 
tortured by police. The police are accused of forcing them to sign 
incriminating statements that could be used against them at trial and 
falsified their arrest dates in official records.






http://news.indiainfo.com/2008/12/26/0812261548_iran_nobel_winners_group_to_protest_office_closure.html

Iran Nobel winner's group to protest Friday, December 26, 2008 15:47 [IST]
Tehran: The rights group headed by Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin 
Ebadi is to lodge a complaint against the "illegal" closure of its 
office, a founding member of the centre said today.

Iranian police on Sunday raided and shut down the office of the Human Rights
Defenders Centre as it was to hold a belated ceremony marking the 60th 
anniversary of the United Nations declaration on human rights.

"We are lodging a complaint on Saturday. We are also going to write to 
judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi to protest this 
violation of the law," Mohammad Ali Dadkhah told AFP.

Iranian authorities said the office was shut down because the centre did 
not have an interior ministry permit to operate, but the police action 
signalled a toughening crackdown on rights groups in the Islamic republic.

Ebadi's group says it has sought to obtain authorisation to no avail 
while insisting that founding associations without an official permit is 
lawful as long as they are not against Islam.

"We went to the ministry six years ago and submitted all the required 
documents," Dadkhah said, adding that a former deputy interior minister 
in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government "also said we were not 
illegal".

"This is an organisation that does not seek power but it has solely been 
targeted for defending human rights," he added.

Political parties and associations must have such a permit to be legally 
recognised in Iran.

Source : PTI







http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/arrested-anti-posco-protests-leader-being-humiliated-alleges-son_100134640.html

Arrested anti-Posco protests leader being humiliated, alleges son
December 24th, 2008 - 4:21 pm ICT by IANS -
Bhubaneswar, Dec 24 (IANS) Abhaya Sahu, who was leading protests against 
the Posco steel plant in Orissa until his arrest in October, is being 
ill-treated by police, his son alleged Wednesday while demanding a probe 
by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). In a petition submitted to 
the SHRC, Abhijit Sahu said his father was being subjected to mental 
torture and humiliation by police.
“He is being treated like a criminal by police. He is taken to the 
doctor with handcuffs, which is inhuman and causes severe humiliation to 
him,” Abhijit said in the petition.
Abhaya Sahu is chairman of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), 
one of the frontal organisations against a proposed project by South 
Korean steel major Posco in Orissa. He was arrested Oct 12.
Abhijit urged the rights body to declare his father a political prisoner 
and ensure all the facilities accorded to one.
“My father suffers from asthma, rheumatism, high blood pressure and 
diabetes,” Abhijit told IANS.
Posco plans to build a $12-billion steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district 
in one of the largest foreign direct investments in India.
The world’s fourth largest steel maker signed a deal with the state 
government in June 2005 to build the plant by 2016 near Paradeep port, 
some 100 km from the state capital Bhubhaneswar.
However, over 20,000 people from around 15 nearby villages have been 
protesting the project, saying it would take away their homes and 
livelihoods.
Posco claims the plant would affect only 500 families but would create 
thousands of jobs.
Police say the charges against Sahu include rioting, violence, attacking 
people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, 
kidnapping, attempt to kill people and possession of illegal weapons.






http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/12/25/politics/politics_30091825.php

Trio avoid jail for anti-coup protest
By The Nation
Published on December 25, 2008

The Criminal Court handed suspended sentences yesterday to three 
activists for damaging the Democracy Monument by burning an effigy 
during an anti-coup rally last year.
In its verdict, the court noted the gesture to safeguard democracy ended 
- ironically - by seriously damaging the iconic monument.
It found grounds for leniency and suspended the one-year jail term for 
two years. It also ordered the three to complete 24 hours of community 
service within a year.
Chaiyarit Chawiset, Ong-art Wichittranont and Boonsin Yokthip organised 
a mass rally in November 2007 to protest against the coup staged in 
September 2006.
As an act of defiance against the power seizure, the three set an effigy 
of the Constitution on fire, but it got out of control and inflicted 
about Bt58,700 worth of damage to the monument.
During the trial, which started last December, the three pleaded guilty 
and agreed to pay for the damage.
The trio was originally sentenced to jail on charges of attempting to 
resist arrest and recklessness in setting a fire in a public place.
The punishment was suspended because they showed remorse, cooperated 
with the judicial review and paid compensation for the damage.






http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20081223-179625/Youth-group-hits-arrest-of-15-protesters

Youth group hits arrest of 15 protesters
By Karen Lapitan
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 18:06:00 12/23/2008

Filed Under: Protest
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna--The youth group Anakbayan in Southern Tagalog slammed 
on Tuesday the arrest of 15 protesters in Batangas City on Monday, 
claiming that it was part of a crackdown against militants in the region.
John Paulo Bautista, Anakbayan-ST chair, said, "It is clear that the 
wholesale filing of criminal cases against activists in the region has 
become the Arroyo government's policy in facing the protest of the people."
Among the 15 arrested are leaders of militant groups in Batangas.
They are Isagani Iseta, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Batangas 
spokesperson; Thelma Maranan, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap-Batangas 
spokesperson, and June Arante, Anakbayan-Batangas secretary-general.
They were arrested at around 11:30 a.m. on Monday while marching toward 
the city mayor's office.
They were supposed to seek a dialogue with Mayor Eddie Dimacuha, 
Bautista added.
Other members of militant organizations in the region are facing 
criminal charges for allegedly being involved in an ambush against 
government troops in Calapan City on March 2006.
Among them is Pedro Santos Jr., former secretary-general of 
Anakbayan-Southern Tagalog.






http://allafrica.com/stories/200812200010.html
International Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House (Toronto)
Tunisia: TV Reporter Sentenced in Absentia to Six Years in Prison for 
Covering Demonstrations
19 December 2008

Reporters Without Borders has learned that a court in Gafsa (350 km 
south of Tunis) sentenced reporter Fahem Boukadous in absentia on 11 
December 2008 to six years in prison on a charge of "forming a criminal 
association liable to attack persons and their property" for covering 
demonstrations in the Gafsa mining region.
Boukadous works for Al-Hiwar Attounsi, a privately-owned TV station 
based in Italy that broadcasts to Tunisia.
"This harsh sentence is yet another example of the arbitrary manner in 
which all those who upset the authorities are treated," Reporters 
Without Borders said. "Journalism is a high-risk profession in Tunisia. 
The judicial system is subservient to the government led by President 
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and is always ready to convict anyone who could 
oppose the regime. Boukadous was just doing his job as a reporter."
Boukadous' lawyer, Abderraouf al-Ayadi, told Reporters Without Borders 
the aim of the sentence was to prevent Boukadous from working as a 
journalist. "Fahem Boukadous never participated in the protests," he 
said. "He just sent footage of the incidents in the Gafsa mining region 
to the TV station."
The lawyer added: "The police reports criticise Boukadous for his 
coverage of the protests, but Tunisian law does not punish TV broadcasts 
or working as a journalist. This decision was designed to sow terror 
among Tunisian journalists."







http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=December2008&file=World_News2008121692028.xml

Egypt jails 22 over food riots
Web posted at: 12/16/2008 9:20:28
Source ::: AFP
CAIRO: An Egyptian state security court jailed 22 demonstrators for 
between three and five years yesterday for taking part in deadly food 
riots in April, a judicial source said. Another 27 defendants were 
acquitted. The protesters were jailed for vandalism, resisting arrest 
and taking part in an illegal demonstration during the protests against 
low wages and high food prices in the Nile Delta industrial city of 
Mahalla on April 6-7.
“A special court in Tanta (in the Delta) sentenced 22 people to between 
three and five years in prison in accordance with the emergency law. 
Twenty-seven were acquitted,” the official said. Most of the defendants 
were workers at Mahalla’s textile mill, the largest in Egypt. One of 
those jailed was a woman demonstrator.
Three civilians, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by police, 
dozens were hurt and hundreds were arrested during the protests, part of 
a wave of demonstrations that swept the country earlier this year. Many 
of the arrested demonstrators were subsequently illegally handcuffed to 
their hospital beds during their recovery, sparking an outcry from 
Egyptian human rights groups.
Demonstrations called to protest rising food prices turned violent when 
police used rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas on protesters who tore 
down billboard images of President Hosni Mubarak. Footage of the posters 
being torn down — a crime against the president under Egyptian law — and 
the subsequent violence could be seen on many television channels and on 
the Internet.
In October, an Egyptian television agency boss was fined 150,000 pounds 
($27,000) for broadcasting images of the rioters tearing down the 
portraits. Egypt’s emergency laws were imposed in 1981 after the 
assassination by Islamists of president Anwar Sadat. They allow special 
courts to try civilians with no right of appeal and are repeatedly 
criticised by human rights groups and regime opponents.
Egypt extended its state of emergency by two years in May despite 
pledges to replace it with new legislation. The Egyptian Organisation 
for Human Rights slammed the use of military courts to try civilians and 
demanded a retrial before an ordinary court. The rights group deplored 
“the ongoing phenomenon of civilians being tried by military and state 
security tribunals. This is a clear violation of the universal right to 
face ordinary justice.”
“The accused should be tried again by ordinary courts in order to 
guarantee all their legal rights,” it said in a statement. Amnesty 
International also called for a retrial in ordinary courts. “We urge the 
Egyptian authorities to stop undermining the ordinary criminal justice 
system by using extraordinary emergency courts that entrench human 
rights abuses, including torture,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East 
and North Africa Deputy programme director, said in a statement.
“Those sentenced today are scapegoats used by the authorities to hide 
their inability to adequately handle the Mahalla protests and to cover 
up for their failure to investigate the killing of three people, 
including a 15-year-old boy”, she said.






http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE200812158682&lang=e&rss=recentnews

PRESS RELEASE
December, 15 2008
Emergency court rulings on Mahalla protests entrench abuses

Amnesty International calls for the retrial by an ordinary court of 22 
people sentenced today by an Emergency Court for their involvement in 
the violent protests of Mahalla in April 2008.
“Those sentenced today are scapegoats used by the authorities to hide 
their inability to adequately handle the Mahalla protests and to cover 
up for their failure to investigate the killing of three people, 
including a 15 year old boy,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East 
and North Africa Deputy programme Director.
The Emergency Supreme State Security Court (ESSSC), which was 
established under the Emergency law, flouts basic guarantees for fair 
trial and denies defendants the right to appeal.
Monday’s prison sentences, which ranged from three to five years, are 
the first to be pronounced by the ESSSC since Egypt renewed the state of 
emergency in May 2008 invoking the treats of terrorism and instability 
in the region.
Tariq Mohamed Abdel Hafiz Al Sawi, Ali Ali Amin Abu Omar, Ahmed Kamel 
Ahmed Mohamed Ismail, and Karim Ahmed Al Sayed Al Rifa’y, aged between 
19 and 38, told the judges that they had been tortured by State Security 
investigations (SSI) officers to confess. However, the ESSSC has failed 
to order an independent investigation and used their confessions to 
sentence them to three years imprisonment.
The 22 people sentenced on Monday are among a group of 49 people tried 
for their alleged participation in the violent protests against the rise 
in the cost of living which took place on 6 and 7 April in the 
industrial city of Mahalla, north of Cairo. At least three people, 
including schoolboy Ahmed Ali Mabrouk, died after being shot by the 
security forces while dozens were wounded in what appears to be 
excessive use of force during the protests.
Amnesty International has been calling for an investigation into the 
killings by riot police of Ahmed Ali Mabrouk, as well as two men during 
the Mahalla protests. Such investigations are yet to take place.
The ESSSC in Tanta, north of Cairo, acquitted all 49 people of the 
charges of arson and unauthorized assembly “with the aim of disturbing 
public order and security” but sentenced 19 of them, mostly craftsmen in 
their twenties, to three years imprisonment on charges of theft. Ahmed 
El Sayed Al Dahan, a driver aged 24, and Mahmoud Abu Bakr El Shenawi, a 
carpenter aged 22, also received three years prison terms on charges of 
possession of firearms. Ahmed Abdel Raouf Hassanein, a 40-year-old 
unemployed man, was sentenced to five years for assault on police 
officers and possession of arms.
“We urge the Egyptian authorities to stop undermining the ordinary 
criminal justice system by using extraordinary emergency courts that 
entrench human rights abuses, including torture,” said Hassiba Hadj 
Sahraoui.






http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076885

AP: Muted protests to killing of acid attack accused
Uma Sudhir
Wednesday, December 17, 2008, (Hyderabad)
There was shock and public outrage after the acid attack last Wednesday 
on two final year engineering students in Warangal.

The police was criticised for not acting promptly and effectively on one 
of the girls' complaint. The girl had complained that she was being 
hounded, and her family was being threatened with violence for not 
responding to her stalker's overtures. (Also see)

"My husband is an ex-serviceman. He was supposed to defend the country. 
And yet there was no one to come to our rescue, to give us safety,'' 
said Sreelatha, mother of acid attack victim.

A police force under pressure arrested and presented the three boys who 
threw acid before the media. Srinivas, one of the boys, confessed to the 
crime and even said that he had practiced throwing water 17 times on a 
doll. He said that he practised so that he would not miss causing 
maximum damage to the girl he claimed to have loved.

Not much after the press conference, the police shot the three youth 
dead because the latter had apparently challenged an escorting police team.

It's a theory few are buying, but given public celebrations at the 
deaths, no one's asking questions. The government also says that there 
will be no enquiry.

"This kind of an action, intended or unintended, justifiable or 
unjustifiable, sends a clear message to those people who are likely to 
indulge in this kind of crime, by throwing acid. This is most cruel 
because you make a person suffer for as long as he lives,'' said M V 
Bhaskara Rao, Former DGP, Andhra Pradesh.

The voices of outrage against the death of the attackers were limited 
and mostly confined to human rights activists.

"If the police must do things like this for people to be scared, then we 
should take to public execution. Let us have a martyrs square every 
Sunday, start chopping off hands, legs and hands. Make a public example. 
Don't have a court, don't have the rule of law, don't have the courts, 
abolish everything,'' said Vasant Kannabiran, human rights activist.

Opposition parties have said that the killing in custody was wrong but 
have not chosen to make too much noise about it.

"Encounters are not the answer to solve the problem. We have to look at 
it differently where the mistake lies and why these things are happening 
in Andhra Pradesh,'' said Kadiam Srihari, TDP MLA, Warangal.

One senior police officer who did not agree with the encounter killings 
said there was too much public and media pressure. But the question is 
whether the rule of law can be overruled by public opinion.

"We need to nip it in the bud. It is important to report. These kind of 
attacks happen when there is no reaction. We need to take action fast, 
go to concerned authorities, be responsible,'' said Chalin Sawang, a 
student.






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/12/16/colombia.shooting/index.html?eref=rss_latest

December 16, 2008 -- Updated 1919 GMT (0319 HKT)

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian soldiers on Tuesday killed the 
husband of a Colombian Indian protest leader, an army source said.
Edwin Legarda was at a military checkpoint in the country's southwestern 
region when soldiers shot and killed him, the source said. He was the 
husband of Aida Quilcue.
Legarda was killed when the military fired at his car some distance away 
from the checkpoint, a native Colombian Indian source said.
Legarda's death comes not long after tens of thousands of Indians 
marched from the mountains of southwest Colombia to Cali, a city of 2 
million, to demand more land, better education, health care and 
protection from corporations encroaching on their ancestral land. 
Protesters and police have clashed as well.
Colombia's 1.3 million Indians rank among the most impoverished of the 
country's 40 million people.






http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Crime%20And%20Courts&set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20081229153015598C995794

Pretoria protesters let off the hook

December 29 2008 at 04:20PM

Charges have been withdrawn against 35 residents of the Schubart Park 
block of flats in Pretoria, police spokesperson Captain Dumisani Ndlazi 
said on Monday.

They were arrested during violent protests in the Pretoria CBD on 
Christmas Day over power cuts apparently caused by a lightning strike at 
a power station.

Police opened fire on the crowd with rubber bullets.

It is understood that the case was withdrawn because those arrested 
could not be definitively linked to the protest. - Sapa







http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/12/113_36899.html

12-28-2008 20:56

Largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) leaders protest against 
governing Grand National Party leader’s plan to pass some 85 bills this 
year at the DP’s headquarters in Seoul, Sunday. DP leader Chung 
Sye-kyun, right, holds a placard reading “No wiretapping of mobile 
phones.” Others read, “No ownership of banks and TV networks by chaebol” 
and “no criminalization of protestors for wearing masks”.

/ Yonhap







http://allafrica.com/stories/200812221084.html

Nigeria: In Jos Riot-Police Killed 90 Youths in Summary Executions - Report
Muhammad K. Muhammad
21 December 2008
Abuja — Men of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army carried 
out more than 90 summary executions in suppressing the rioting that 
rocked Jos in November, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.
It listed a dozen separate incidents in which mainly Muslim men and 
youths were gunned down by men in uniform after the governor of Plateau 
State, Jonah David Jang, gave security agents a shoot-on-sight order.
"Most of the killings", HRW said, "came on the same day after the 
Plateau State governor issued a 'shoot-on-sight' order to security 
personnel on November 29."
In a report published yesterday, the US-based rights group referred to 
"seven separate incidents of arbitrary killing by the police during 
which at least 46 men and boys, all but two of whom were Muslims, were 
killed".
"The vast majority of police killings were perpetrated by a specially 
trained anti-riot unit called the Police Mobile Force, known locally as 
MOPOL", the report said. It quoted a mechanic as saying that a number of 
mobile policemen had massacred at least 26 people in a garage.
HRW also listed "six incidents involving the arbitrary killing of 47 men 
by the military. According to witnesses, all of the victims were Muslim 
men, nearly all were young, and most were unarmed at the time".
There were wide allegations that uniformed men had broken into homes to 
bring out men, particularly youths, and shot them. In one incident, the 
HRW report said, "Witnesses described how four men wearing military 
uniforms and carrying assault rifles broke into three houses on two 
adjacent streets and gunned down at least 25 unarmed young men found 
hiding in these homes".
According to the Associated Press, senior West Africa researcher at 
Human Rights Watch, Corinne Dufka, expressed dismay over the incidents, 
saying: "The duty of the police and military was to stop the bloodshed 
generated by this extremely tragic episode of inter-communal violence, 
not contribute to it.
"The Nigerian authorities should immediately set up an independent 
investigation into these extremely serious allegations".
HRW also quoted military spokesman, Brigadier General Emeka Onwuamaegbu, 
in its report as saying: "Our soldiers went out with very strict 
instructions to use minimum force and follow the rules of engagement."
The assistant commissioner of police in charge of operations in Plateau 
State, Oga Ero, also told the rights group that "there was no order by 
my officers to shoot on sight as far as I was aware".
A number of fake soldiers were also arrested during the crisis, which 
resulted in the death of over 500 people and the destruction of billions 
of naira worth of property, including churches and mosques.
Shortly after the crisis which was widely reported to have been poorly 
handled by security agents in Plateau State, police authorities 
redeployed the Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, Mr Samson 
Wudah to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The authorities also ordered the mass redeployment of men and officers 
attached to the Plateau State Command, while those attached to the 
Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) and its 
Chairman, Mr Gabriel Zi, were withdrawn.
Rising from a meeting over the Jos crisis last Thursday, the Yoruba 
Council of Elders (YCE) called for the decentralisation of the Nigeria 
Police Force.
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan after the meeting, the President of 
the YCE, retired Major General Adeyinka Adebayo, said "YCE reiterates 
its calls for the decentralisation of the Police Force to all the three 
tiers of government and the private sector as has been done in many 
other parts of the world" if the nation were to overcome most of the 
security problems it faces currently.
Adebayo also condemned what he called "the barbaric actions of some 
predators in human flesh who caused mayhem and murdered many innocent 
Nigerians recently in Jos", and called on the government "to find means 
to prevent a recurrent of such anywhere in Nigeria".
Meanwhile, the plateau state local government election petition tribunal 
has been inaugurated at the chief magistrate court, Jos, over the weekend.
The chairman of the tribunal, Ishaku Kunda, who presided over the 
session which marked the beginning of the tribunal, said they had so far 
received 33 petitions out of which six were for chairmanship while 27 
were for councillorship elections.
Kunda further stated that 15 petitions were from the southern zone, 18 
from the central zone while the northern zone was yet to submit any.
He also urged lawyers to avoid unnecessary applications so that the 
tribunal could quickly dispense justice, adding that the tribunal would 
live up to the tenets of its oath in adminstering justice without any 
sentiments.
According to him, sittings for the purpose of taking evidence would be 
conducted in Pankshin and Shendam, headquarters of the respective zones, 
with six working days for each, in order to reduce the burden of 
transporting cases. He added that cases from the Pankshin zone would be 
heard on January 5.
Mentioning of all petitions and preliminaries will take place from 29 to 
31 December at the secretariat of the chief magistrate court 6.
Reacting to the inauguration of the tribunal, the Coordinating chairman 
of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties CNPP, Alhaji Muhammad 
Yusuf Kanam, said the setting up of the tribunal was irrelevant, 
pointing out that the election ought to have been cancelled by the state 
government.
He also faulted the tribunal, alleging that one of its members was a 
card carrying member of the PDP.
"We are challenging the state government on this tribunal because Mr 
Henry B. Gyang is a card carrying member of the PDP as well as their 
legal adviser; so how do you expect one to get fair hearing from people 
who are there to protect the interest of their party?" he asked.
He condemned the Plateau State House of Assembly for keeping mute on the 
matter, stating that the House ought to have issued a comprehensive 
statement of its position on recent developments in the state but 
instead, it decided to remain silent.
Kanam also called on the leadership of the State Assembly to come out 
and issue a comprehensive statement on recent developments in the state 
adding that CNPP would soon release a comprehensive statement to further 
make its position known to the world.
(Daily Trust)