Mark Hosenball | Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of evolving U.S. legal tactics in counter-terrorism operations, two Swedish citizens and a former British citizen detained in Africa in August have been charged in a U.S. court with supporting Somali-based Islamist militants.
The charges were filed in Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, even though court papers and a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office make no specific allegation that the three - all of whom are of Somali extraction - posed threats to Americans or U.S.-related targets.
The three suspects - two Swedish citizens and a former London resident whose British citizenship recently was revoked - were charged with supporting the militant group al-Shabaab, illegal use of high-powered firearms, and participating in what prosecutors called "an elite al-Shabaab suicide-bomber program."
Ephraim Savitt, a former federal prosecutor who represents one of the Swedish defendants, said he was unaware of any secret evidence that the men threatened U.S. interests, and he saw "no prosecutorial hook whatever to the United States."
Savitt said he was unaware of any previous case in which U.S. authorities had taken custody of foreign militants who had no obvious connection, and posed no known threat, to U.S. interests.
However, a U.S. law enforcement source said there had been cases in the past where suspected foreign militants arrested overseas who had not directly threatened the United States had been brought before U.S. courts on terrorism-related charges.
The latest suspects - Swedes Ali Yasin Ahmed and Mohamed Yusuf, and former British resident Madhi Hashi - were detained by local authorities in Africa in early August while on their way to Yemen, the statement from prosecutors said.
The suspects were subsequently indicted in October by a Brooklyn-based federal grand jury, and in mid-November the FBI "took custody" of them and brought them to Brooklyn, where a revised indictment was filed against them, prosecutors said.
No information about the case was made public until just before Christmas, however.
U.S. officials said they were unable to provide further details about where the suspects were originally arrested, who arrested them, what was the legal basis for their initial arrest, and what happened to them between early August and their first known public court appearance in late December.
ARRESTED IN DJIBOUTI
However, Savitt, who represents Yusuf, said the men were arrested in Djibouti on their way to Yemen.
He said that at one point the men had been "fighters" with al-Shabaab, a group the United States has linked to al Qaeda. But at the time of their arrest, Savitt said, the men were trying to get away from the group after an apparent falling out.
Savitt said he did not know why they were heading to Yemen.
Saghir Hussain, a British lawyer who represents the family of Hashi, told the BBC this month the case had the "hallmarks of rendition," a reference to a secret procedure adopted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
Such renditions involved teams of agency operatives taking custody of suspected militants overseas and handing them over, without legal process, to third countries, where they were sometimes mistreated.
Neither Hussain nor Harry Batchelder, Hashi's American lawyer, responded to messages requesting comment. Susan Kellman, a U.S. lawyer for Ahmed, also could not be reached.
Savitt said Hashi and the other suspects were detained and held in Djibouti by local authorities, who sometimes treated them roughly, but U.S. officials who at one point were allowed to interrogate them were "civil."
U.S. government sources familiar with the case said it could not be considered a "rendition," as in such cases suspects were not brought into the U.S. criminal justice system.
President Barack Obama's administration has declared it has stopped counter-terrorism practices such as "enhanced interrogations" and the use of secret CIA prisons, but it has not completely renounced the use of "rendition."
Hashi's family told the BBC that earlier last summer they received a letter from Britain's internal security department, the Home Office, declaring that his British citizenship had been revoked as he was deemed a threat to the U.K. security.
Under British law, Hashi had a right to appeal the revocation of his citizenship to an immigration court. A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington said that, for legal reasons, the government could not comment on whether or not such an appeal had been filed.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by David Brunnstrom)
(This story was corrected to show that the suspects detained in August and clarifies that men of Somali extraction in the first paragraph)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
In Djibouti, journalist defiant despite revolving jail door
By Tom Rhodes/CPJ East Africa Consultant
Online journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah spent more than three months in jail in Djibouti before an appeals court finally released him in November--after his defense requested bail three times, Houssein said. His crime? Officially nothing. "It appears to have been an arbitrary arrest because there is still no evidence on file," Houssein told me. He said he was accused of distributing identity cards for the opposition, but he has not been charged with a crime.
The reporter for exile-run critical news website La Voix de Djibouti slept on a mattress provided by his family in a 24-square-meter cell with 75 inmates and two toilets that functioned intermittently. The capacity of the central Gabode prison in the capital, Djibouti City, is 500, but 735 are currently inside, Houssein said. A diabetic, he had to rely on visits from doctors once every 15 days and a long bureaucratic circuit to receive medication. "In fact, everything must go through the prison warden, an ex-policeman loyal to the regime, so I was not medically monitored or allowed physical exercise to lower my blood sugar," he said.
Houssein and his colleagues at La Voix de Djibouti are accustomed to harassment by authorities. "Since my release I go every Thursday to register with the court," he said, "Judge Lamisse Mohamed told me I am still facing two proceedings, one of which dates back to February 2011, when they accused me of participating in an insurrectional movement."
In February 2011, Houssein was arrested along with five colleagues and spent four months in preventive detention at Gabode for participating in a protest rally, local journalists told me. That rare series of protests was organized by civil society and opposition parties in response to an amendment to the constitution that allowed President Ismael Omar Guelleh to run for a third term, according to news reports. (Guelleh was re-elected in April 2011). In February this year, police beat La Voix de Djibouti reporter Abadid Hildid in the capital and detained him for about 24 hours, warning him to stop his reporting, local journalists said.
It is no wonder Le Voix de Djibouti is routinely blocked within the country and its staff face problems; Djibouti has been run like a family fiefdom since independence in 1977, with zero tolerance towards dissent. The website is run by Houssein's brother, Daher Ahmed Farah, the leader of one of the main opposition parties, the Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD). In 2008, Guelleh banned the party, accusing it of supporting neighboring Eritrea in a plot to invade the country, according to the United Nations. The party is appealing the ban at the Supreme Court, local journalists said, and the European Parliament in a 2009 resolution urged the government to let the party resume its activities.
As in many autocracies, rare independent media such as La Voix de Djibouti tend to be highly critical of the regime, acting as a slight counter-balance to the state's media. The national broadcaster, Radio Television of Djibouti, holds a near monopoly of the airwaves and operates as the ruling party's mouthpiece, unquestioningly reporting on the president's visits and appointments. Only 7 percent of Djiboutians use the Internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union, and the single state-controlled Internet service provider ensures state censorship of the Web, local journalists told me. Despite constitutional guarantees protecting free expression, criminal laws on publication of "false news" and defamation are used to stifle criticism. There are hardly any independent civil society organisations, local journalists told me, and with nearly all employment controlled by the state, criticism of the ruling party could jeopardise any potential employment opportunities.
And yet, you will hardly hear a whimper of protest from the international community. The United States consulate did visit Houssein in prison, local journalists told me, but did not make the visit public. Although Djibouti is tiny, the coastal country is hugely significant for the Western world and elsewhere. Djibouti's Camp Lemonnier, the operating base of U.S. Africa Command, holds 2,000 U.S. troops in addition to occasional naval forces, according to news reports. The country's harbor has become a central base for American, European, and NATO anti-piracy activities--its strategic location in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden helps protect some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Houssein has a long history of writing critical stories for La Voix de Djibouti, such as on the ongoing detention of political prisoners, chronic water shortages, and corruption in the government's management of traffic lights. Despite the repeated arrests, Houssein vows to continue. "My arrest recalls that freedom of the press is trampled in Djibouti," he said. "I will continue to write, although it is not without risks, because power always uses repression to silence dissent."
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| Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh addresses the media after his re-election in April 2011. (AP) |
Online journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah spent more than three months in jail in Djibouti before an appeals court finally released him in November--after his defense requested bail three times, Houssein said. His crime? Officially nothing. "It appears to have been an arbitrary arrest because there is still no evidence on file," Houssein told me. He said he was accused of distributing identity cards for the opposition, but he has not been charged with a crime.
The reporter for exile-run critical news website La Voix de Djibouti slept on a mattress provided by his family in a 24-square-meter cell with 75 inmates and two toilets that functioned intermittently. The capacity of the central Gabode prison in the capital, Djibouti City, is 500, but 735 are currently inside, Houssein said. A diabetic, he had to rely on visits from doctors once every 15 days and a long bureaucratic circuit to receive medication. "In fact, everything must go through the prison warden, an ex-policeman loyal to the regime, so I was not medically monitored or allowed physical exercise to lower my blood sugar," he said.
Houssein and his colleagues at La Voix de Djibouti are accustomed to harassment by authorities. "Since my release I go every Thursday to register with the court," he said, "Judge Lamisse Mohamed told me I am still facing two proceedings, one of which dates back to February 2011, when they accused me of participating in an insurrectional movement."
In February 2011, Houssein was arrested along with five colleagues and spent four months in preventive detention at Gabode for participating in a protest rally, local journalists told me. That rare series of protests was organized by civil society and opposition parties in response to an amendment to the constitution that allowed President Ismael Omar Guelleh to run for a third term, according to news reports. (Guelleh was re-elected in April 2011). In February this year, police beat La Voix de Djibouti reporter Abadid Hildid in the capital and detained him for about 24 hours, warning him to stop his reporting, local journalists said.
It is no wonder Le Voix de Djibouti is routinely blocked within the country and its staff face problems; Djibouti has been run like a family fiefdom since independence in 1977, with zero tolerance towards dissent. The website is run by Houssein's brother, Daher Ahmed Farah, the leader of one of the main opposition parties, the Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD). In 2008, Guelleh banned the party, accusing it of supporting neighboring Eritrea in a plot to invade the country, according to the United Nations. The party is appealing the ban at the Supreme Court, local journalists said, and the European Parliament in a 2009 resolution urged the government to let the party resume its activities.
As in many autocracies, rare independent media such as La Voix de Djibouti tend to be highly critical of the regime, acting as a slight counter-balance to the state's media. The national broadcaster, Radio Television of Djibouti, holds a near monopoly of the airwaves and operates as the ruling party's mouthpiece, unquestioningly reporting on the president's visits and appointments. Only 7 percent of Djiboutians use the Internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union, and the single state-controlled Internet service provider ensures state censorship of the Web, local journalists told me. Despite constitutional guarantees protecting free expression, criminal laws on publication of "false news" and defamation are used to stifle criticism. There are hardly any independent civil society organisations, local journalists told me, and with nearly all employment controlled by the state, criticism of the ruling party could jeopardise any potential employment opportunities.
And yet, you will hardly hear a whimper of protest from the international community. The United States consulate did visit Houssein in prison, local journalists told me, but did not make the visit public. Although Djibouti is tiny, the coastal country is hugely significant for the Western world and elsewhere. Djibouti's Camp Lemonnier, the operating base of U.S. Africa Command, holds 2,000 U.S. troops in addition to occasional naval forces, according to news reports. The country's harbor has become a central base for American, European, and NATO anti-piracy activities--its strategic location in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden helps protect some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Houssein has a long history of writing critical stories for La Voix de Djibouti, such as on the ongoing detention of political prisoners, chronic water shortages, and corruption in the government's management of traffic lights. Despite the repeated arrests, Houssein vows to continue. "My arrest recalls that freedom of the press is trampled in Djibouti," he said. "I will continue to write, although it is not without risks, because power always uses repression to silence dissent."
Briton, 23, accused of working with terror group secretly quizzed by CIA for three months in African prison
By Robert Verkaik
PUBLISHED: 6 January 2013
Mahdi Hashi, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences
PUBLISHED: 6 January 2013
Mahdi Hashi, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences
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| Charged: Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences
A British man controversially stripped of his citizenship last year by the Home Secretary has spent three months being interrogated by US agents in an African prison.
Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences.
His sudden appearance in America five months after his family had reported him missing has prompted claims that he is the victim of international kidnap or ‘rendition’.
Now it has emerged that between August and the middle of November he was being questioned by teams of agents from the CIA and FBI while being held by the secret intelligence service of Djibouti, a small African state that borders Somalia.
The former care worker lost contact with his family while staying in Somalia last year. When they began looking for him, they were told by Foreign Office officials that the British Government could not provide assistance because the Home Secretary Theresa May had issued an order depriving him of his UK citizenship over allegations of Islamic extremism. A few weeks later he was detained by Djibouti’s secret police, who it is claimed raided a house in which he was staying in the capital, Djibouti City. A source close to the case said Mr Hashi was taken to the intelligence service headquarters, where he spent nearly four months before being sent to America for trial. ‘He was sojourning in Djibouti when he was picked up by Djibouti’s secret intelligence officers and thrown in a cell in solitary confinement,’ said the source. ‘Soon after he was visited and interrogated by FBI officers and then later by the CIA.’ The American interrogations were continuous and all the time the Djibouti security officers were present, said the source. ‘It was as if they were telling him that if he didn’t fully co-operate with the Americans, he would be left to the special interrogation skills of the Djiboutis,’ the source added. On November 15, he was shackled and put on a plane for the US. His case has been picked up by the US media as evidence of President Obama’s new rendition programme, where suspects who are deemed to pose a threat to the country are secretly held in African states allied to America. Mr Hashi, who came to Britain from Somalia when he was five, is accused of working with the terrorist group al-Shabaab, which is at war with the government of Somalia. If convicted, he faces a life sentence. His family deny that he has ever been involved in terrorist activities and say he was planning to return to London to complete his education. He left Britain in 2009, firstly for Somalia where he married a local woman. He has a grandmother in Djibouti. Mr Hashi is now being held in solitary confinement in a top-security prison in New York. |
Ethiopia on track to complete first mega-dams by 2015-minister
Mega dam along Nile River to generate 6,000 MW
- Plans to spend over $12 bln and produce 40,000 MW by 2035\
- Hopes to become Africa's biggest power exporter
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's energy minister played down concerns on Monday about how it would finance the first of an array of mega-dams due to revolutionise east African power markets, saying it was on track to have three plants on line by 2015.
The Horn of Africa country has laid out plans to invest more than $12 billion in harnassing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands to generate more than 40,000 MW of hydropower by 2035, making it Africa's leading power exporter.
Energy chief Alemayehu Tegenu said the plan's centerpiece - the $4.1 billion-Grand Renaissance Dam along the Nile River in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region - was on course to be completed on time in 2015.
Two other smaller dams should also come on line by that point, he said, generating a total of more than 8,000 megawatts of power at full capacity.
"Everything is going according to plan. It (the Grand Renaissance) is on good status," Tegenu told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an energy conference in Addis Ababa.
"So far we have achieved 13 percent of the total construction."
The dam - Africa's largest - will generate 6,000 MW at full capacity.
It is just the latest of a series of ambitious infrastructure projects launched by Ethiopia following years of solid economic growth. The government says funding will come from both domestic and foreign sources.
Worried about the state's ability to raise the billions needed, however, some experts have called on Addis Ababa to sell off state firms and assets they say could rake in a potential $9.6 billion.
Alemayehu said the country has raised more than 5 billion birr ($277.1 million) for the construction of its Grand Renaissance Dam to date, the vast majority of it from sales of government bonds.
"This dam may not be constructed only by selling bonds, but the (power) utility can finance some part of the financing," he said.
"The option we have designed is financing by the people of Ethiopia, the utility and the government."
The other major near-term project the government hopes to complete is the Gilgel Gibe III dam along its southern Omo river, set to generate 1,870 MW from the end of 2013 at a cost of $1.8 billion.
Alemayehu said over 65 percent of construction on that dam had been completed.
Another 254 MW project is being built in the Oromiya region and is due to be ready in two years. Together the three projects will churn out 8,124 MW, compared to Ethiopia's existing capacity of around 2,167 MW of hydro and wind power.
EXPORT TO NEIGHBOURS
Egypt fears that the Nile dams will reduce the flow of the river's waters further downstream and Addis Ababa has long complained that Cairo was pressuring donor countries and international lenders to withhold funding.
An international panel of experts is set to announce its findings on the impact of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile's flow in May 2013.
Analysts suspect that any shortfall in funding of such projects could draw further Chinese capital to Africa, where Beijing has begun to accumulate natural resources and volumes of trade.
Critics have already slammed China's willingness to lend money for Gilgel Gibe III's turbines over concerns the dam would create serious environmental damage.
Addis Ababa is already providing more than 50 MW to Djibouti, while Kenya's border town of Moyale is importing a small amount.
"We have started exports to Sudan, as well as the border town of Moyale. We will gradually expand to Sololo (in eastern Kenya) and plans for Somaliland are also going well," Alemayehu said.
Newly-independent South Sudan has also signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a transmission interconnector to import power, he added.
Another project - a 3,000 km 500 kV line linking Ethiopia with Sudan and Egypt, is also in the pipeline, while the construction of a 1,300 km 500 kV transmission interconnector with Kenya will start soon.
"We have secured the finances (for the project linking with Kenya) and the design has been complete. For construction the tender has also been floated," Alemayehu told Reuters.
"The project is expected to start in less than two months." (Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Patrick Graham)
For CIA chief, Obama taps adviser who defended drone strikes
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| U.S. President Barack Obama (L) stands next to John Brennan, (R), during the announcement for his nominations for a new secretary of defense and new CIA director at the White House in Washington January 7, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 7, 2013 |
This is the second time that Obama has sought to put Brennan at the helm of the CIA, and his confirmation process is likely to revisit old controversies over U.S. counterterrorism measures undertaken by the administrations of Obama and George W. Bush.
Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew his name from consideration as Obama's first director of the agency in November 2008 following liberals' criticism that he had done too little to condemn the use by the Bush administration of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, widely considered torture.
This time around, Brennan's defense of targeted killing by drones is likely to provide additional fodder for critics, although barring new revelations, he appears likely to be confirmed.
Deprived of the CIA post four years ago, Brennan, 57, became instead one of Obama's closest advisors on counterterrorism and homeland security. That proximity has made him a more powerful figure in the administration than the director of national intelligence - who will become his boss if he is confirmed.
Brennan, who grew up in New Jersey, is described by those who know him as a "straight arrow" and man of high morals.
"The word for John is ‘intense'," said A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a former top CIA official who was once Brennan's boss there. "John's all about commitment."
His long working hours at the CIA and the White House are legendary. Obama, in announcing Brennan's nomination on Monday, quipped: "I'm not sure he's slept in four years."
Brennan pledged, if confirmed, to "make it my mission to ensure that the CIA has the tools it needs to keep our nation safe and that its work always reflects the liberties, the freedoms, and the values that we hold so dear."
PICTURE OF CLOSENESS
Brennan was at the president's side during some of the most significant security incidents during his first term.
The White House last week released a photograph of him briefing Obama on the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. He is also visible in an iconic photo of top officials at the White House monitoring, in real time, the U.S. commando raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
Brennan is praised by former CIA officials who have worked with him. "John is a great choice - highly experienced, extremely dedicated, a person of integrity," said John McLaughlin, former acting CIA director.
But, by choosing him, Obama has given both liberals and conservative Republicans an opportunity to re-open the debate over Bush administration interrogation policies.
In a 2007 CBS television interview, while Brennan was out of government, he appeared to assert that enhanced interrogation techniques had produced useful information. "There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hardcore terrorists. It has saved lives," he said.
Inside the CIA, where career intelligence officers consider it a point of pride to be above politics, employees will want to see whether Brennan's time at the White House has made him a more political figure.
"He will have to overcome the impression that he has become a political player who overachieved in spinning things to favor the president at the expense of the agency," a former CIA official said on condition of anonymity.
Shortly after the Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden, Brennan briefed the press, telling them that the al Qaeda leader had been killed in a firefight and had tried to use one of his wives to shield himself from the attackers.
"Here is bin Laden, who has been calling for these attacks, living in this million-dollar-plus compound, living in an area that is far removed from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," he said at the time. "I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years."
The White House later retracted this account but said Brennan was speaking on the basis of the best information available at the time.
Although he rose through the ranks of the CIA's analytical wing, Brennan also worked on the agency's operational, spying side, and at one point served as the agency's chief of station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Said to be conversant in Arabic, Brennan played a hands-on role in Obama's Yemen policy, which was aimed at easing President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office while ensuring counterterrorism cooperation stayed on track. He traveled to Sanaa several times.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee that will hold a hearing on the nomination, said Brennan would make a "strong and positive director" of the CIA. In a statement, the California Democrat said that she would discuss with Brennan CIA detention and interrogation operations.
DEFENDER OF DRONES
In April 2012, Brennan publicly defended the U.S. campaign of lethal drone strikes as legal under international law. It was a rare public justification for classified operations that government officials infrequently discuss in public and that the CIA does not officially acknowledge.
In June 2011, Brennan alluded to drone strikes more opaquely, saying that over the prior year "not a single collateral death" had resulted from counterterrorism operations that were "exceptionally precise and surgical." Rights groups challenged the assertion that no civilians died during that period as a result of drone strikes.
The earlier comment came three months before a CIA drone killed Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American born member of al Qaeda, in Yemen. Another drone strike killed his 16-year-old U.S.-born son.
U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have been a source of tension with the United States. One national security official familiar with Brennan's White House record said he is expected to favor aggressively moving forward with drone operations, even at the expense of offending Pakistani sensibilities.
The CIA and the U.S. military in recent years have been working more closely together, as in the bin Laden operation, which was run by the CIA but executed by the SEALs.
"Everybody looks at the CIA as insular, as sometimes difficult to establish relationships with, and so the degree to which the director can be one of the key forces for reaching out and breaking down those walls is really helpful," retired General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with Reuters. "I think he can certainly be one of those types of leaders."
(Additional reporting By David Alexander and Patricia Zengerle.; Editing by Warren Strobel and Christopher Wilson)
Front Line Defenders Human Rights Defender at Risk Award Finalist: Rafiq...
Malawian human rights defender Rafiq Hazat short listed for 2012 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk
Rafiq Hajat, Director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), is one of the leading human rights defenders in Malawi where the Government has been seeking to repress protests and silence all critical voices.
Rafiq Hajat has been publicly acccused by President Bingu wa Mutharika of being an enemy of the state and he has been forced to go into hiding. However, in spite of the threats against him he has continued to speak out about human rights violations in Malawi.
On 3 September 2011, at 1 am approximately, a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of the IPI office in the Chichiri area of Blantyre, following which the front room of the building caught fire resulting in extensive damage.
Once considered a country where civil society could express itself freely, Malawi has descended into a spiral of authoritarianism in recent years. The situation deteriorated further in early 2011 when civil society reacted to corruption scandals and high commodity prices with demands for reform and good governance. The Government, mindful of events in North Africa, reacted with force. The authorities made statements inciting violence against human rights defenders and civil society leaders. The President repeatedly called on supporters to fight all those opposing his views or criticising the Government, stating he would “smoke them out”. In reaction to demonstrations, local authorities banned protests in the main cities. Mass protests on 20 and 21 July were violently suppressed by the police and resulted in the death of 19 protesters and injuries to hundreds. The day before, members of the ruling party took to the streets waving machetes, threatening members of the public not to participate in the demonstrations.
Rafiq Hajat, is one of the leading figures of the civil society coalition behind the pro-reform protests and convenor of the Southern Region Demonstration Group. IPI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious and non-governmental institution which was formed in 2001 to promote enhanced participation by all Malawians in the processes of political, economic, and social decision-making at all levels, within a fully participatory democratic framework. At the international level, Rafiq Hajat is Chair for the International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa, a network that is advocating for justice in the use and extraction of Africa`s natural resources and has helped steer the development of the network to a level whereby it is recognised by the AU, NEPAD and the African Commission.
As a result of the threats he has faced Rafiq Hajat has been forced to constantly change where he is staying in order to evade Government supporters who are reported to be seeking him. Virtually all HRDs involved in the pro-reform movement have received serious threats, including phone calls to family members asking for the location of the offices or homes of their HRD relative. This situation has placed great stress on Rafiq Hajat's family as well as on his health, exacerbating his existing heart condition.
On 25 August, the President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika had publicly stated that he was ready 'for war' with his critics. Human rights defenders in Malawi believe that such hostile statements by government representatives have incited government supporters to target civil society and human rights defenders. Reacting to media queries on the IPI petrol bombing, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba reportedly stated that the Government had received information which led them to believe that NGOs were deliberately burning down their offices in order to destroy evidence of misuse of funding.
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Rafiq Hajat, Director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), is one of the leading human rights defenders in Malawi where the Government has been seeking to repress protests and silence all critical voices.
Rafiq Hajat has been publicly acccused by President Bingu wa Mutharika of being an enemy of the state and he has been forced to go into hiding. However, in spite of the threats against him he has continued to speak out about human rights violations in Malawi.
On 3 September 2011, at 1 am approximately, a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of the IPI office in the Chichiri area of Blantyre, following which the front room of the building caught fire resulting in extensive damage.
Once considered a country where civil society could express itself freely, Malawi has descended into a spiral of authoritarianism in recent years. The situation deteriorated further in early 2011 when civil society reacted to corruption scandals and high commodity prices with demands for reform and good governance. The Government, mindful of events in North Africa, reacted with force. The authorities made statements inciting violence against human rights defenders and civil society leaders. The President repeatedly called on supporters to fight all those opposing his views or criticising the Government, stating he would “smoke them out”. In reaction to demonstrations, local authorities banned protests in the main cities. Mass protests on 20 and 21 July were violently suppressed by the police and resulted in the death of 19 protesters and injuries to hundreds. The day before, members of the ruling party took to the streets waving machetes, threatening members of the public not to participate in the demonstrations.
Rafiq Hajat, is one of the leading figures of the civil society coalition behind the pro-reform protests and convenor of the Southern Region Demonstration Group. IPI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-religious and non-governmental institution which was formed in 2001 to promote enhanced participation by all Malawians in the processes of political, economic, and social decision-making at all levels, within a fully participatory democratic framework. At the international level, Rafiq Hajat is Chair for the International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa, a network that is advocating for justice in the use and extraction of Africa`s natural resources and has helped steer the development of the network to a level whereby it is recognised by the AU, NEPAD and the African Commission.
As a result of the threats he has faced Rafiq Hajat has been forced to constantly change where he is staying in order to evade Government supporters who are reported to be seeking him. Virtually all HRDs involved in the pro-reform movement have received serious threats, including phone calls to family members asking for the location of the offices or homes of their HRD relative. This situation has placed great stress on Rafiq Hajat's family as well as on his health, exacerbating his existing heart condition.
On 25 August, the President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika had publicly stated that he was ready 'for war' with his critics. Human rights defenders in Malawi believe that such hostile statements by government representatives have incited government supporters to target civil society and human rights defenders. Reacting to media queries on the IPI petrol bombing, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba reportedly stated that the Government had received information which led them to believe that NGOs were deliberately burning down their offices in order to destroy evidence of misuse of funding.
HELP US PROTECT RAFIQ HAJAT -- SHARE THIS VIDEO OF HIS STORY WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
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The Front Line Defenders Award
Front Line Defenders is currently accepting nominations for the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013.
The annual Front Line Defenders Award was established in 2005 to honour the work of a human rights defender who, through non-violent work, is courageously making an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.
The Award seeks to focus international attention on the human rights defender's work, thus contributing to the recipient’s personal security, and a cash prize of €15,000 is awarded to the Award recipient and his/her organisation in an effort to support the continuation of this important work.
If you would like to nominate a human rights defender for the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013, please click on the following link to access a secure online nomination form (in English):
Online Nomination Form 2013 or you can found the online nomination form at : http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/front-line-award-human-rights-defenders-risk
Please note:
- Incomplete nominations will not be considered.
- Nominations can be submitted by organisations or individuals.
- Individual nominees may not play a prominent role in a political party and must be currently active in human rights work (the Front Line Defenders Award is not intended to recognise a historical or posthumous contribution).
- Nominees should be active human rights defenders, and must not be living in exile.
- Self-nomination is not permitted.
- All nominations must be accompanied by 2 referees.
- The nomination process will remain open until midnight (12am GMT) on Sunday, 20th January 2013.
Recipients to date include the following human rights defenders:
2012 - Razan Ghazzawi, Syria
2011 - Joint Mobile Group, Russian Federation
2010 - Soraya Rahim Sobhrang, Afghanistan
2009 - Yuri Melini, Guatemala
2008 - Anwar Al-Bunni, Syria
2007 - Gégé Katana, Democratic Republic of Congo
2006 - Ahmadjan Madmarov, Uzbekistan
2005 - Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Sudan
Somaliland: Reviewing the 2012 Local Council Elections
 |
| Hasan Omar Horri |
By: Hasan Omar Horri
HARGEISA - This article examines the pre and post 28th
November local council elections which remain one of the most memorable events
in the country during 2012.
The initial steps towards the local council elections
were initiated by the president H.E Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo when he established a
committee of prominent personalities to collect public views on the opening of
political group's registration which was one of the president's campaign
pledges.
Timeline
- In 2001 and 35 years after the country's independence from Great Britain citizens voted 97% in a nationwide referendum for the first constitution of a sovereign Somaliland.
- December 2002: First democratic local council elections are held
- 2003: presidential elections held with the then ruling UDUB political party defeats the Kulmiye party's presidential bid with less than 100 votes. The graceful acceptance of the verdict by current president Silanyo become a democratic milestone touted every in Africa where a lot of countries were and are still embroiled in election violence i.e. Zimbabwe/2005, Kenya/2007, Ivory Coast/2010 & DRC/2011
- 2005: the local councils whose mandate had expired continue to hold office after differences between the then three national parties of UDUB, Kulmiye and UCID differ.
- 2010: Presidential elections are held and incumbent president Dahir Rayale Kahin of UDUB party who upon an overwhelming defeat at the polls hands over peaceful to current president Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo of Kulmiye party
- November 2012: local council elections contested by 7 political groups are held nationwide
While the electioneering process was conducted peacefully
the results of the 28th November 2012 local council elections which were
disputed by some political groups led to disturbances that ensued with a number
of deaths and injuries.
 |
| Voters at a polling centre anxiously await supply of extra ballot papers by NEC |
In reference to these fateful events and subsequent
opinions by many people on the pros and cons of the 28th November 2012 local
council elections and in lieu of similar exercise in the future of free and
fair elections it is imperative that a number of issues be addressed as I have
highlight below:
1. For the conduct of free and fair elections its is
mandatory that the National election Commission-NEC act impartiality as a
prelude to establishing a level playing field for all contestants by utilizing
lessons learned in past elections as well as cooperation with the government,
parliament and experts both local and foreign.
- Registration: the current NEC which received accolades from all quarters after its professional management of the last presidential elections held on 26th June 2010 failed in a number of issues during the local council polls especially as related to the utilization of available Data and manpower. There were 1,069,914 registered voters and 5000 trained election workers while past elections utilized 8000 field personnel. All contesting parties both winners and losers had various reservations with the impartiality of NEC after the election body went it alone without consultation with relevant stakeholders thus a dictatorial conduct which were exacerbated by the holding of elections devoid of a voters register, an anomaly that ensued for NEC after both houses of parliament approved an election law amendment that scrapped the then existing voters register. The holding of elections devoid of a voters register exacerbated matters.
- Polls management: NEC having allowed the conduct of balloting without a voters register, it was then discerned that anybody could vote so long as his color was black. On election day long queues of voters among them under age children and incidences of people who had already voted overtly removing the paint from their fingers thus double/triple/quadruple voting were not only visibly to all but actually reported by the international election observers mission. This anomaly did not only infringe on the rights of citizens but cost the local council elections and NEC credibility as well.
- Number of Contesting Parties: Though the high number of 7 contesting parties was more than double that of three that contested the last presidential elections, this was not sufficient reason for the voters tally to double as per those of 2010 elections.
- Use of Candidate Numbers: The NEC decision, despite three contrary attempts by members of parliament (house of Representative) to use numbers instead of the usual symbols designated each candidate exacerbated matters further considering the literacy level in the country is low as rated at #199 worldwide.
The literacy levels are 37% for male and 25% for women in
Somaliland at position #199 worldwide which is ahead of Sierra Leone 35.1%,
Chad 34,5, Mali 31.1%, Niger 28.7%, Afghanistan 28.1% and Burkina Faso 21.8%.
In reference to the literacy level in the country the
change from candidate symbols to identification numbers infers that 75% of the
voters were disfranchised.
2. The electioneering process by political groups and their
candidates together coupled with their superb voter awareness raising was an
action worthy of the apt democratization process in the country.
3. Votes Tabulation and Results: These important activities
were in the domain of NEC which we believe did a poor job considering the
number of blunders that led to disturbances and subsequent attempts by the
election body to reverse them, thus negating all the good performance by the
administration, legislators, parties and citizens with the subsequent fateful
events.
To conclude it is imperative that the National Election
Commission put its act together thus deter the conduct of similar elections in
the future.
horri@somalilandsun.com
Somaliland: Today in History -370 Days Ago
Ownership of public property criminalized
• HRW Calls for an End to Forced Return of Refugees
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) - Ownership of public property criminalized The president of Somaliland, H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo has warned against the fraudulent acquisition of public property for personal use.
In a press statement President Silanyo said that he is aware that public property especially buildings have been grabbed by crooked individuals who acquire fake ownership documents of ownership.
Posted on Wednesday, 04 January 2012 18:18
http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/politics/77-ownership-of-public-property-criminalized
HRW Calls for an End to Forced Return of Refugees
The Somaliland authorities should cease forcibly returning refugees and asylum seekers to possible persecution in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 28, authorities returned 20 Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers in violation of the fundamental international refugee law prohibition against "refoulement," the forcible return of anyone to persecution or to a place where their life or freedom is threatened.
Posted on Thursday, 05 January 2012 19:32
http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/component/content/article/79-human-rights-watch-end-forced-return-of-refugees
source: somalilandsun.com
• HRW Calls for an End to Forced Return of Refugees
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) - Ownership of public property criminalized The president of Somaliland, H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo has warned against the fraudulent acquisition of public property for personal use.
In a press statement President Silanyo said that he is aware that public property especially buildings have been grabbed by crooked individuals who acquire fake ownership documents of ownership.
Posted on Wednesday, 04 January 2012 18:18
http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/politics/77-ownership-of-public-property-criminalized
HRW Calls for an End to Forced Return of Refugees
The Somaliland authorities should cease forcibly returning refugees and asylum seekers to possible persecution in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 28, authorities returned 20 Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers in violation of the fundamental international refugee law prohibition against "refoulement," the forcible return of anyone to persecution or to a place where their life or freedom is threatened.
Posted on Thursday, 05 January 2012 19:32
http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/component/content/article/79-human-rights-watch-end-forced-return-of-refugees
source: somalilandsun.com
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