Slovak Constitutional Court: Mustapha Labsi should not be sent to Algeria

Amnistía Internacional publicou onte unha nota de prensa sobre a decisión do Tribunal Constitucional eslovaco, que considera insuficientes as “garantías diplomáticas” para extraditar a Mustapha Labsi, quen é reclamado polas autoridades de Alxeria. O tribunal argumentou que Labsi ten direito á protección xudicial e que, se é enviado á Alxeria, exponse a ser detido en réxime de incomunicación, torturado e xulgado nun xuízo sen garantías.

A nota de prensa leva por título “Slovakia: Constitutional Court upholds the absolute prohibition of torture”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

Amnesty International welcomes the decision by the Slovak Constitutional Court on 26 June 2008 in the case of Mustapha Labsi, which reaffirms the absolute duty on the authorities not to send any person to any place where they face a real risk of torture or other ill-treatment, and underscores the obligation of Slovakia not to rely on diplomatic assurances.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling was made in the context of reviewing the decision of the Supreme Court which gave the green light to the Slovak authorities to extradite Mustapha Labsi to Algeria. The Consitutional Court concluded that the decision by the Slovak Supreme Court, violated Mustapha Labsi’s rights to judicial protection because the Supreme Court had not taken into consideration the human rights situation in Algeria and the fact that Mustapha Labsi would be at risk of torture if returned there.

Based on its research on the human rights situation in Algeria,Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concerns that there is a real risk Mustapha Labsi would face serious human rights violations if forcibly returned from Slovakia to Algeria. In particular the organization considers that if returned to Algeria Mustapha Labsi would be at risk of being detained incommunicado in a secret location, and as such being subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. Furthermore Amnesty International considers that if returned to Algeria, Mustapha Labsi also faces a real risk of an unfair trial. Therefore, Amnesty International has concluded that his extradition to Algeria would violate both Slovak law and Slovakia’s obligations under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. [...]

AI report: Europe’s role in rendition and secret detention

Amnistía Internacional publicou antonte un informe de 76 páxinas sobre o papel de varios Estados europeos nas detencións e entregas secretas ás axencias dos Estados Unidos no marco da “guerra contra o terrorismo”. Entre os Estados europeos mencionados no informe están Alemaña, Reino Unido, Italia, Suecia, Romanía, Polonia, Austria, Portugal, Bosnia e Macedonia.

O informe leva por título “State of denial: Europe’s role in rendition and secret detention”. Copio o principio da súa introducción:

Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina arrested Mustafa Aït Idir and five other men. An Italian officer aided the abduction of Usama Mostafa Hassan Nasr, usually known as Abu Omar, in Milan. Macedonian officials seized Khaled el-Masri. Swedish police picked up Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed El Zari. Information supplied by German security forces may have led to the arrest of Muhammad Zammar in Morocco, and telegrams sent by UK security forces resulted in the detention of Bisher Al-Rawi and Jamil El-Banna in the Gambia.

What unites all these detainees is what happened to them next. All were transferred to the custody of another state, covertly and outside any judicial process, and transported to another country. Some were transferred from US custody to countries where they faced a real risk of torture or other ill-treatment; others were transferred to detention centres in Afghanistan or Guantánamo Bay. All found themselves locked away in places where the rule of law seemed not to apply, where no one would tell them what was going to happen to them next. Some were victims of enforced disappearance, including in US custody. All say they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated. In short, all were victims of the US-led rendition programme.

The involvement of European states in such cases has long been known, despite repeated denials and obfuscation by individual governments. However, the extent of their involvement has become increasingly clear and disturbing as more and more information has emerged as a result of investigations into European involvement in the US “war on terror”. [...]

HRW report on rights violations in Ingushetia

Human Rights Watch publicou onte un informe de 111 páxinas sobre as violacións dos Direitos Humanos cometidas en operacións de contrainsurxencia na república de Ingushetia, pertencente á federación de Rusia.

O informe leva por título “As If They Fell From the Sky”: Counterinsurgency, Rights Violations, and Rampant Impunity in Ingushetia. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

[...] Law enforcement and security forces involved in counterinsurgency have committed dozens of extrajudicial executions, summary and arbitrary detentions, and acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

These practices evoke, albeit on a far smaller scale, the thousands of enforced disappearances, killings, and acts of torture that plagued Chechnya for more than a decade. They are antagonizing local residents and serve to further destabilize the situation in Ingushetia and more widely in the North Caucasus. [...]

In a striking move to intimidate independent observers, 16 human rights advocates and journalists were variously abducted, detained, and expelled from Ingushetia by security forces as they attempted to monitor two planned public rallies in November 2007 and January 2008. [...]

Law enforcement and security forces responsible for human rights violations in Ingushetia are not brought to justice. [...]

Many of those who have sought justice as well as eyewitnesses to the abuses have been subjected to verbal and physical threats. [...]

AI report on Turkmenistan: no effective human rights reform

Amnistía Internacional publicou esta semana un informe de 53 páxinas sobre Turkmenistán, centrado nas violacións dos direitos civís e políticos, como:

• liberdade de expresión
• liberdade de asociación
• liberdade de relixión
• direito a un xuízo xusto
• direito a non sufrir tortura nin maltrato
• direito dos obxectores de conciencia a un servizo civil alternativo
• …

O informe leva por título “Turkmenistan: No effective human rights reform”.

Palestrina: “Sicut cervus desiderat” (coro “Viadana”)

Unha coñecida obra de Palestrina (ca. 1525 – 1594), “Sicut cervus desiderat”, cantada polo coro húngaro “Viadana”:

O texto é unha versión do versículo 2 do salmo 42, case igual á da Nova Vulgata:

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus

Presentación na Coruña da NOGADA

Informa o blog da Asociación Nacional de Arquiveiros, Bibliotecarios, Arqueólogos, Museólogos e Documentalistas de Galicia (ANABAD-Galicia) que este venres, 27 – VI – 2008, terá lugar na Coruña (Arquivo do Reino de Galicia) unha xornada de presentación da Norma Galega de Descrición Arquivística (NOGADA).

“Cartoteca digital” do Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya

Coñezo a través de chuza! a colección de mapas, disponible en liña, do Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya. O servizo chámase Cartoteca digital.

AI report on Tunisia: incommunicado detention, torture, unfair trials

Amnistía Internacional (AI) publicou onte un informe de 42 páxinas sobre as violacións dos Direitos Humanos cometidas polas autoridades de Tunisia usando como pretexto a loita contra o terrorismo islamista. Estas violacións inclúen arrestos en réxime de incomunicación durante longo tempo (constituíndo ás veces “desaparicións”), torturas, procesos militares a civís e sen acceso a unha defensa adecuada…

Outro aspecto a destacar é que moitos dos detidos cuxos direitos se violaron procedían (vía expulsións / devolucións / deportacións / extradicións), de países como Exipto, Francia, Italia, Irlanda, Bosnia, Luxemburgo e os Estados Unidos. Estes países teñen parte de responsabilidade, xa que non atenderon ás denuncias de AI e outras organizacións.

O informe leva por título “In the Name of Security: Routine Abuses in Tunisia”.