Amnesty International’s Global Round-Up

A legal win for the NZ govt on Zaoui – but where is the justice?

Far from vindicating the Government's position on the imprisonment of Algerian refugee, Ahmed Zaoui, today's Court of Appeal decision finding that his imprisonment is legal emphasizes the duty of the Government to ensure he receives a fair hearing of the allegations made against him, Amnesty International said in a statement issued this afternoon.

In a 2-1 majority judgment the Court decided that Mr Zaoui's detention was not unlawful or - at this stage - "arbitrary", and he could not therefore be granted bail or moved to less restrictive detention, despite psychologists' findings that continued imprisonment was adding to the effects of trauma suffered by Mr Zaoui during his time in detention in Algeria and his subsequent decade in exile.

Describing the position in which the Court found itself, Justice McGrath argued that "The ability of a court to exercise a judicial discretion in the grant of bail requires some understanding by the Judge of underlying matters raised by the certificate. That is simply not available…. The Court cannot conclude that there is no risk arising from his release, because it does not and cannot have, before it the classified security information on which the security risk certificate is based. "

"During the case the New Zealand Government appeared to be arguing that a refugee subject to a security risk certificate could be imprisoned indefinitely despite no provision in place for a fair hearing of the reasons for his detention," said AI's NZ director, Ced Simpson.

Amnesty International has consistently argued that the security certificate review process - yet to get underway 21 months after Mr Zaouyik was first imprisoned - does not explicitly provide for a fair hearing of the allegations against Mr Zaoui, and has expressed concern that the Government has refused to put in place provisions outlined by the European Court of Human Rights as being necessary for a fair handling of refugee cases with a "national security" dimension.

The review process does not, for example, provide for the ability of security-cleared counsel representing Mr Zaoui to challenge assertions by the Director of Security, making it inherently unfair," Mr Simpson said.

"This is very disappointing coming from a government rightly committed to 'create and sustain a world-leading human rights environment'."

"As Justice Hammond put it,

…The notion of national "security" is not a mantra, or a security blanket for the state, to be thrown lightly over an object. That "object" is a human being, and the blanket can become oppressive and debilitating and disproportionate. (Justice Hammond [198])

To contend, in this day and age, that a person (not on a criminal charge) can be incarcerated for something like two years, with common (and not so common) criminals, whilst the state decides what to do with him, beggars description. What has happened here is that the relevant processes, taken as a whole, have not dealt timeously with Mr Zaoui. His incarceration has become oppressive, and quite disproportionate to the things which are said against him. (Justice Hammond [199])

Sudan: Return of Secretary General and mission delegates from Darfur

Amnesty International's Secretary General is currently in Sudan, to review the current human rights crisis (read the latest update here). She will return on Tuesday 21st September and will immediately present an assessment at a press conference at the Foreign Press Association in London.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGAFR541202004

Iraq: Urgent inquiry needed into civilian killings by US troops

Amnesty International is calling for an inquiry into recent attacks in which civilians were killed in Iraq in circumstances that may have violated international law.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE140472004

Syria: Hopes of human rights reform set back

Three years ago, the "Damascus Spring", a short-lived period of openness to public debate and calls for reform in Syria, was effectively crushed.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE2417092004

Indonesia: Editor's jail sentence threatens press freedom

Handing down a jail sentence for a libel case has serious implications for press freedom in Indonesia.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGASA210372004

UK: Public inquiry must be held into Finucane killing

Four leading human rights organizations have called urgently on the UK government to immediately implement Judge Peter Cory's recommendation for a public inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGEUR450222004

World: Child executions on the way out

The US Supreme Court has the opportunity to consign the execution of child offenders to history and bring the USA into line with the vast majority of countries that have already done so.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGPOL300352004

International protection for indigenous peoples' human rights long overdue

Military atrocities against Hmong children are war crimes.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGPOL3010092004

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