 |
|
 Legal news from Saturday, December 25, 2010 |
|
|
ECOWAS threatens use of force in removal of Ivory Coast president
Eryn Correa on December 25, 2010 6:01 PM ET
[JURIST]
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) [official website] on Friday urged incumbent Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo [BBC profile] to step down, threatening the use of force if he attempts to maintain power. Gbagbo has refused to cede power to president-elect Alassance Ouattara [BBC profile], who won the November 28 runoff electio,n according to international observers. Gbagbo's supporters have allegedly been engaging in violence and intimidation against opponents, which has resulted in more that 170 deaths [JURIST report], hundreds of arrests and the use of torture, ill treatment and forced disappearances, according to UN human rights officials. Gbagbo has faced multiple threats and sanctions levied by both the regional and international communities, including travel bans and freezes on financial assets, in addition to personal pleas from neighboring heads of state. Despite this, Gbagbo has refused to step down, describing actions against his government as illegal [BBC report] and rejecting the possibility of a power sharing agreement modeled on those created after the disputed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe [JURIST news archives]. ECOWAS is also expected to send a delegation [Montreal Gazette report] of the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde to meet with Gbagbo hoping to convince him to make a peaceful exit so as not to have to depend on forced removal.
On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council [official website] adopted a resolution condemning the post-election violence. Also Thursday, Ouattara's prime minister Guillaume Soro [BBC profile] called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to launch an investigation into possible crimes being committed by Gbagbo's supporters. Earlier this month, the Council of the EU [official website] adopted a decision instituting sanctions [JURIST report] against the Ivory Coast. There has been unrest in the country [JURIST report] since elections were held at the beginning of this month. The UN certified Ouattrara's victory, despite a ruling by the Ivorian Constitutional Council in Gbagbo's favor. Both have taken oaths of office. Approximately $340 million in aid from the EU could also be withheld if Gbagbo does not concede victory to Ouattrara.
Link |
|
subscribe |
 |
latest newscast |
archive |
 Facebook page
|
India court sentences rights activist to life in prison
Drew Singer on December 25, 2010 10:36 AM ET
[JURIST] A judge for the Raipur Sessions Court [GlobaLex backgrounder] of Chhattisgarh state India found human rights activist Binayak Sen [Hindustan Times profile] guilty of aiding rebels and sentenced him to life imprisonment Friday, amid criticism from international rights groups. Sen was convicted under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act of 2005 [text, PDF] and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 2004 [text] for involvement with the Naxalite Maoist rebellion [CFR backgrounder]. Sen, along with two others, was also acquitted of charges of waging war against the state [WP report] by Judge B.P. Verma, both of which are punishable by the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. The two other defendants were Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal, whom prosecutors said aided Sen. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called the charges "politically motivated" [press release] and called for them to be immediately dropped, sayingLife in prison is an unusually harsh sentence for anyone, much less for an internationally recognized human rights defender who has never been charged with any act of violence. ... Dr Sen, who is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was convicted under laws that are impermissibly vague and fall well short of international standards for criminal prosecution. ... [A]uthorities in Chhattisgarh should be acting to protect the people of the region from the abuses committed by the Maoists, as well as state security forces and militias. AI also criticized the conduct of the trial, which lasted over three years due to repeated delays. Sen, who had been free on bail since May 2009, was taken into custody [TOI report] following the ruling.
The Indian government has faced both international and domestic criticism for its anti-terror laws. In 2008, AI urged Indian President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil [official website] to reject [JURIST report] the Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment of 2008 (UAPA) [legislative materials], which allows the government to hold terrorism suspects for up to 180 days. The bill, which came in response to the Mumbai terror attacks [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Proponents of the UAPA have said that there are safeguards in place to make sure that the new law is not misused. In 2006, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [party website], alleged that the Mumbai train bombings [BBC report] were "a fallout of repealing" [JURIST report] the country's Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) [text], set aside by the incumbent United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2004.
Link |
|
subscribe |
|
latest newscast |
archive |
Facebook page
|
| For more legal news check the Paper Chase Archive...
|
|
|
