US church demands end to abuse of Palestinian children

Activists in Baltimore rally in support of the United Church of Christ’s resolution on Israel’s abuse of Palestinian children in military detention. (via Twitter)

Ali Abunimah-3 July 2017

The United Church of Christ voted overwhelmingly on Sunday night for a resolution demanding Israel end its systematic abuses of Palestinian children in military detention.

The resolution – passed with the support of 79 percent of delegates at the general synod in Baltimore, the church’s top governing body – urges Israel to “exercise an absolute prohibition against torture and ill-treatment of detained children” and cease all practices that violate “international juvenile justice standards.”

It specifically calls for an end to such practices as “nighttime arrests in the child’s home, physical and verbal abuse, blindfolds and restraints, strip searches, solitary confinement, coerced confessions and confessions written in Hebrew, as well as the separation of detained children from their parents and legal counselors.”

UCC is a mainline Protestant denomination with more than 5,000 congregations and about one million members in the United States.

“Urgent moment”

Sunday’s vote was welcomed by the No Way to Treat a Child campaign, which highlights the systematic abuses against some 700 children detained by Israeli occupation forces each year.

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#nowaytotreatachild @nwttac

The @unitedchurch passes a resolution to advocate for the rights of #Palestinian children! Because military detention is #nowaytotreatachild

“This resolution from the United Church of Christ comes at a desperately urgent moment,” the campaign’s Beth Miller said. “Palestinian children are being detained in greater numbers and suffering increasingly severe abuse at the hands of Israeli forces. In passing this call to action with a strong majority, the UCC joins a growing movement of people in the US standing up and demanding a safe and just future for Palestinian children.”

Work on the resolution was led by the UCC Palestine/Israel Network, a caucus within the church, and was co-sponsored by 15 congregations.

The UCC Palestine/Israel Network said in a press release that the resolution is “based upon longstanding theological values of protecting vulnerable children and is informed by the witness of Palestinian Christian theologians” as expressed in the 2009 Kairos Palestine document.

That document challenges churches to take action for Palestinian rights, including support for boycott, divestment and sanctions.

More pressure on Congress?

The resolution explicitly calls on church members and communities to learn about the situation of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation and advocate for their rights.

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Jennifer Bing @JBing215

UCC Call to advocate for the rights of children living under military occupation #NoWaytoTreataChild

9:57 AM - 1 Jul 2017

It also calls for the US government to hold Israel accountable under the Foreign Assistance Act, “by withholding military assistance from the State of Israel due to its practices of arrest and detention of Palestinian children.”

The vote by the United Church of Christ could give a boost to efforts for such accountability in Congress.

Over the last two years, almost two dozen members of Congress have gone on record demanding Israel end its abuses of Palestinian children. That is only a small fraction of the 535 US lawmakers, but an unusually large number given the all but unanimous support for Israel usually found on Capitol Hill.

A greater mobilization among faith-based activists could mean that more representatives will be hearing messages of concern about Palestinian children from their constituents.


In 2015, the UCC voted by a landslide to support boycotts and divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Blast in Bangladesh garment factory kills 10, investigation underway

A man, who lost his daughter-in-law, cries while talking on the phone following a deadly boiler blast inside a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Probal Rashid

By Ruma Paul | KONABARI, BANGLADESH-  Tue Jul 4, 2017

A boiler explosion at a Bangladeshi garment plant near the city of Dhaka killed 10 people and injured dozens, emergency workers said on Tuesday, the latest industrial tragedy to hit one of the world's biggest garment producers.

The blast, late on Monday, occurred at a plant operated by local Bangladeshi firm Multifabs while maintenance work was going on, company and fire brigade officials said.

The explosion at the boiler, located in a tin-roofed shed, partially damaged a nearby three-storey factory building.

"I heard a big bang when I was having tea outside," factory driver Hafiz Mostafa said, as dozens thronged the factory site and firefighters moved rubble in search of missing persons. "I saw windows, doors, glasses, machinery and a section of the wall of the building go flying."

Families scoured the scene for missing people. The plant had been shut for 10 days for Eid holidays at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and was being readied to resume operations on Tuesday, when the accident occurred.

"We're looking for my brother. We checked all the hospitals, but have not found him," said Nazim Uddin, whose brother Ershad Ullah worked as an electrician at the plant for the last decade.
Multifabs has many clients in Europe, its website says.

The company started operating in 1992 and reached $70 million in exports in 2016. Its top buyers include fashion chain Lindex, which is part of Finland's Stockmann, German supermarket chain Aldi, and Rexholm of Denmark, Faruqui said.

The company said the plant was functioning well and the six-year-old boiler, procured from Germany, had just been serviced.

"The boiler was running well," Mahiuddin Faruqui, Multifab's chairman told Reuters. "After servicing when workers were trying to restart it, it went off."

Firefighter Faruk Hussain said a body had been retrieved from the rubble in the morning and that the search was still on for more victims.

INVESTIGATION

Bangladesh's roughly $28 billion garment sector, the biggest in the world after China, employs 4 million people and generates about 80 percent of the country's export earnings.

It came under scrutiny after the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people, and a fire at a garment factory in 2012 that killed 112 workers.

The Rana Plaza disaster sparked demands for greater safety and put the onus to act on foreign companies sourcing clothing from Bangladesh.

A spokeswoman for Stockmann said it was investigating the disaster, but was still seeking more information.

She said Stockmann is a member of the industry body Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), and that said Multifabs had cleared a BSCI audit in May 2016 that was valid for two years.

Lindex said Multifabs was one of its main suppliers and said it was monitoring the situation.

The Multifabs site hurt by the blast made 100,000 garments a day, generated around $6 million of revenue a month and employed about 6,000 workers, said Mesba Faruqui, factory and operations director in the family-run business.
Two international coalitions were formed after Rana Plaza to help fund improvements to building and fire safety at thousands of garment factories across Bangladesh.

One of the coalitions, signatories to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, inspected the Multifabs site in 2015 and noted among numerous concerns that Multifabs' boiler was not separated by fire-rated construction.

As of last week, however, the Accord's updated corrective plan on the facility listed that issue as having been corrected.

But the coalition itself does not inspect boilers, which are monitored by the Bangladesh government.
Bangladesh's chief boiler inspector Mohammad Abdul Mannan said his department had inspected the Multifabs' boiler a year ago and that the next inspection had been due this month.

Sulav Chowdhury, chief executive of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, of which Multifabs is a member, said the industry had gone through a "huge shift" since the Rana Plaza disaster.

"There has been structural change, and we've worked hard for it," he said. "So I'd say this is a stray incident."

Still, critics say more work needs to be done.

"There is still an enormous amount to be done to improve safety in the Bangaldeshi garment industry" said the IndustriALL Global Union, a signatory to the Bangladesh Accord and a member of the Steering Committee.

It added that union signatories to the Accord would demand that it be expanded swiftly to include boiler safety.


(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir in DHAKA, Krishna N. Das in NEW DELHI, Promit Mukherjee, Abhirup Roy, Zeba Siddique and Euan Rocha in MUMBAI; Tuomas Forsell in HELSINKI; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Euan Rocha; Editing by Paul Tait and Gareth Jones)

People 'burned to death in homes' by South Sudan's government militias

Amnesty report describes atrocities including torture and rape, as advisers urge UN to protect civilians in ‘treacherous killing fields’

 Soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army cross the river Nile in Malakal, in the north of South Sudan. Photograph: Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images

Ruth Maclean in Dakar-Tuesday 4 July 2017

The government of South Sudan and its militias are behaving with vicious brutality in the country, with reports of men being locked in huts and burned to death, and of machete attacks being carried out in remote villages.The atrocities are just one of the causes of the major refugee crisis in the region, with almost a million people fleeing to Uganda. Out of a population of some 12.5 million, more than 1.7 million are enduring severe hunger, classified as just one step below famine, and the number at risk of starvation is 6 million and growing. On top of that, a fast-spreading cholera outbreak threatens to kill thousands.

The human rights group Amnesty International, which has been gathering together reports from the conflict, said forces – those loyal to the government and also some to the opposition – had also cut food supplies to parts of the country.

Women and girls are increasingly being abducted and raped in the region of Equatoria, a new frontline in the conflict, which is now a region of “treacherous killing fields”, according to Amnesty.

“The escalation of fighting in the Equatoria region has led to increased brutality against civilians. Men, women and children have been shot, hacked to death with machetes and burned alive in their homes. Women and girls have been gang-raped and abducted,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior crisis response adviser.

Joanne Mariner, another crisis response adviser for Amnesty, said: “It is a cruel tragedy of this war that South Sudan’s breadbasket – a region that a year ago could feed millions – has turned into treacherous killing fields that have forced close to a million to flee in search of safety.”

After more than half a century of struggle, South Sudan gained independencefrom Sudan in 2011. The celebrations that marked the birth of the world’s newest country were emotional, but two years later, a falling-out between the country’s president, Salva Kiir, and his then vice-president, Riek Machar, sparked new conflict. Kiir is Dinka and Machar Nuer, two dominant ethnic groups in South Sudan that have been rivals for more than a century, and although Machar, now leader of the opposition, fled the country after a peace deal collapsed last year, troops loyal to him continue to fight the government.

The report describes one incident in May, in which six men were killed: soldiers forced them into a hut in Kudupi village near the Ugandan border and set it on fire, then fired shots into it. The troops shot four of the men as they tried to flee. Another six were killed in a similar attack in Payawa village two days later, which one of their widows said was “the fifth time the village was attacked by the army”. On previous occasions, she said, they would rape, torture and loot, but not kill. Eyewitnesses described seeing government soldiers carry out many such killings.

“All parties to the conflict must rein in their fighters and immediately cease targeting civilians, who are protected under the laws of war,” said Mariner. “Those on all sides responsible for atrocities must be brought to justice. Meanwhile, UN peacekeepers must live up to their mandate to protect civilians from this ongoing onslaught.”

East African leaders said last month they would try to push for peace talks to be revived and to delay next year’s scheduled elections.

“There is no way to be safe so long as we are alive, this is how bad it is,” one 23-year-old rape survivor, Mary, told the human rights group. “The only way for women and girls to be safe is to be dead.”

Returning home, rebuilding lives: Syrians head back to their homeland

Thousands headed home just before Eid - and now many plan to stay for good

Syrian families cross the Turkish Cilvegozu border near in the southern Hatay province on 14 June (Reuters)--A displaced Syrian girls looks on during a sand storm at the al-Mabrouka camp in the village of Ras al-Ain on the Syria-Turkey border (AFP)

Nezar al-Omar's German residential permit (Nezar al-Omar/MEE)--The Arab Spring School which Nezar al-Omar set up in Aleppo for children with special needs, destroyed after it was bombed in September 2016 (Nezar al-Omar/MEE)

Arwa Ibrahim-Zouhir Al Shimale-Areeb Ullah-Tuesday 4 July 2017

They returned home to the ruins of a destroyed town. But the sense of happiness among the Syrian refugees was undiminished.

"Despite the marks of war and destruction in every corner, there is nothing like being here again," Ashamed al-Ali, 50, told Middle East Eye as he ventured back to al-Bab in northern Syria.

Despite the marks of war and destruction in every corner, there is nothing like being here again

- Ahmed al-Ali, al-Bab

Thousands of refugees crossed into rebel-held areas of Syria from Turkey ahead of the Eid festival that marks the end of Ramadan.

Ankara has given the refugees the right to return to Turkey within a month - but many have chosen to remain despite the war and countless struggles they expect to face.

For them, nothing can compare to living back in their homeland. Ali, 50, returned with this wife and three children to al-Bab after nearly three years of living in Turkey.

Nezar al-Omar with children at the Arab Spring School in Aleppo in August 2015 (Nezar al-Omar/MEE)

He had been forced to leave when Islamic State (IS) moved into his hometown in 2014. He settled in the suburbs of Konya, a city in southern Turkey, where he and his 19-year-old son supported the family by doing odd jobs in a clothing factory and sawmill.

But despite enjoying a sense of security and relative stability, Ali never felt settled in Turkey. Instead he became constantly pre-occupied with the thought of returning to Syria

"I began to feel hopeful when the Euphrates Shield Operation was launched and as soon as my town was liberated from IS, I began making the necessary arrangements for my journey back," said Ali, who re-entered Syria during the last week of Ramadan.

A Syrian boy runs with the others who say they are returning to Syria ahead of Eid al-Fitr, near the Cilvegozu border crossing on 15 June (Reuters)

Free Syrian Army fighters, backed by Turkish jets, tanks and special forces, cleared IS from Turkey's border before launching an assault, dubbed the Euphrates Shield, on al-Bab in December. Ankara and its Syrian rebel allies retook the key city in February.

"My journey to al-Bab was filled with sheer happiness that I was finally returning to my home which I’d lived in with my wife for 14 years and to the streets and neighbourhood I’d grown up in," Ali told MEE.

Yearning to be back

Ali's story resonates with many other Syrian refugees who left Turkey to settle in al-Bab and other rebel-held districts of Syria.

According to the UN, 450,000 Syrians have returned home to areas of Syria, including 31,000 from neighbouring states so far in 2017.

Syrian refugees watch during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp, which shelters some 80,000 Syrians on the Jordanian border (AFP)

Like Ali, Said al-Gebaily, 42, his wife and two children headed for al-Bab just before Eid.

"It was an indescribable feeling, breathing in the air of my homeland, the country in which I grew up and hope to die," he told MEE.

He was forced to flee as IS moved into the town in early 2014. He settled in Killis, a small Turkish town near the Syrian-Turkish border, where he took a job at a restaurant to support his family.

"I left [Syria] because I feared for my family, but I was filled with hope that I would someday return," he told MEE.

Gebaily said that although his Turkish neighbours treated him with utmost kindness and welcomed him and his family, he too never planned on staying in Turkey.

"As soon as I found the opportunity to return, I seized it," said Gebaily, who made arrangements for the journey back to Syria when he received news that IS had fled al-Bab. He crossed over when the Turkish authorities opened up the border ahead of Eid.

It was an indescribable feeling, breathing in the air of my homeland, the country in which I grew up and hope to die

- Said al-Gebaily, al-Bab

Despite returning to an overwhelming amount of damage and destruction, Gebaily was determined to rebuild his life in al-Bab.

"It has been sad to see so much lost and destroyed," said Gebaily who has since rebuilt the walls of his home and assembled new furniture for his family.

"Every day is a struggle, but I will never return to Turkey because slowly but surely things will get better here," he said.

Sense of duty

The majority of Syrian refugees returning from Turkey over the past few month longed to be home, but the return of Nezar al-Omar, 35, from Germany last year involved something more.

Omar left Aleppo in August 2015, then made his way to Munich, Germany with the help of smugglers through Turkey and Greece. He said he felt a strong sense of moral duty towards his countrymen and the resistance movement that he had been involved in from the outset.

Despite being welcomed with open arms in Germany, and finding there the peace, security and help he could never have dreamed of finding in Syria, Omar decided to return home soon after he made the gruelling journey.

"For nine months I spent in Germany, every day I followed the news. I couldn’t stand watching from afar while children were being massacred and homes were being destroyed," he told MEE.

Nezar al-Omar's German residential permit (Nezar al-Omar/MEE)

"I felt like a traitor to my country and to the cause which I so deeply believed in."

After several months of moving from one city and refugee camp to the next, Omar finally secured a residential permit which would give him the right to live in Germany - but by then he had already decided to head home.

I felt like a traitor to my country and to the cause which I so deeply believed in

- Nezar al-Omar, 35, Idlib

So he packed his bags and travelled back through Europe using his German residential permit, then once again stared death in the face as smugglers helped him reach Syria through Turkey.

Omar returned to the outskirts of Aleppo at the peak of the months-long siege on the city late last year. He said he helped the rebel movement until a ceasefire was agreed in December 2016 and civilians were evacuated to rebel-held Idlib, where he now lives.

To Omar, his return to Syria was a matter of being faithful to his beliefs.

A displaced Syrian girls looks on during a sand storm at the al-Mabrouka camp in the village of Ras al-Ain on the Syria-Turkey border (AFP)

"Every person lives by a certain principle or belief. To give up on this belief, is to give up on life and for me this belief was Syria," he said.

Omar faced resistance and criticism from family and friends for leaving a promising life in Germany, but he is at peace with his decision. "I am struggling on every level in Syria, but at least my conscience is at peace here."

Rebuilding a homeland

According to Omar most returnees have come back to rebel-held areas where they can escape the persecution of the Assad-led government.

"The millions of us who took part in the protests know that we’d be detained and executed by the security forces if we attempted to enter government-controlled areas," said Omar, who has encouraged others to return to Syria.

The Arab Spring School which Nezar al-Omar set up in Aleppo for children with special needs, destroyed after it was bombed in September 2016 (Nezar al-Omar/MEE)

He said it was better for Syrians to return and rebuild than to stay in refugee camps in several neighbouring countries where they might not be welcome or neglected. Many of the millions of displaced Syrians now reside in informal tented settlements in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey among others.

Before leaving Aleppo, Omar, an Arabic teacher by profession, headed a training centre for educators in the city. But since the start of the conflict, he dedicated his time to setting up and running the only school for disabled children in the city.

His passion for the school, which he named the Arab Spring School for children with special needs, was the reason he came back.

"Even while I was in Germany, I saved money and sent it back to Syria to help keep the school running," he said.

I am struggling on every level in Syria, but at least my conscience is at peace here

- Nezar al-Omar, Idlib

Although the school he once set up was destroyed by an air strike in September 2016, Omar said he hopes to set up another one for the thousands of children who have become disabled as a result of the war.

"I remember that throughout my time in Germany, I read about the world wars and how Germans worked to rebuild their country," he said. "I feel Syria deserved the same from me."

What Are Republicans Reading? An Elephants in the Room Summer 2017 Reading List.

BY ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM CONTRIBUTORS-JUNE 30, 2017

As summer travel and holidays get underway, your Elephants in the Room contributors have resurrected a tradition from our erstwhile Shadow Government days and put together our summer reading list.

Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself, by Garrett Graff. This is a deeply reported and richly detailed account of one of the most sensitive secrets of the Cold War era: the U.S. government’s myriad plans to preserve some semblance of a functioning, democratic government in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. These efforts, collectively known as continuity of government and continuity of operations plans, developed incrementally over the decades of the nuclear era as leaders grappled with the daunting task of thinking the unthinkable. Graff’s skepticism that these plans and systems would actually work is palpable and we all should be deeply grateful they have never been put to the ultimate test. This is a topic I studied very closely at the start of my professional career, and though I have just started the book, I am amazed at what Graff was able to uncover. So far, I am learning something on every page. And the nuggets add up to one important insight: As difficult as the geopolitical challenges are that preoccupy our leaders today, they still do not add up to the civilization-threatening challenge of deterring or surviving a global thermonuclear war.

What Are Republicans Reading An Elephants in the Room Summer 2017 Reading List..docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Bangladesh: The passing of a bold Bengali Freedom Fighter

“I am a rebel and freedom is my cause. Many of you are fighting similar struggles. Therefore, you must join our cause.”

by Anwar A. Khan- Jul 3, 2017

( July 3, 2017, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Syed Shahidul Haque Mama, popularly known as ‘Mama’, is a bold Bengali Freedom Fighter of our glorious Liberation War of 1971. More than a month back, he left Dhaka for Doha en route to his present home in Sweden with serious heart and kidney ailments. But he suddenly suffered a massive cardiac arrest on-board Qatar Airways Flight and he was immediately rushed to Al-Wakara Hospital, Doha, Qatar where he died (Innah Illahi…Rajeun) last Friday night, the 30th June 2017 after struggling life and death for several days. He was the Chief of ‘Mama Bahini’ during our glorious Independence War of 1971 and fought bravely in the frontline to establish Bangladesh. He was also one of the heroes of liberating Mirpur on 31st January 1972. The sad news has come to the nation, particularly for me as bolt from the blue. M-ama and I are close friends and read together in the History Department of Dhaka University during the 1972-76 batch.

Having spent considerable years with him, I want to add our own appreciation and share some memories with his many comrades, colleagues and admirers. Like them, I share my profound sense of loss of this gentleman having no lust or greed, a highly principled man, a valiant freedom fighter, an arduous fighter for re-establishing the true spirits of our 1971 war, establishing social justice, and we hope to encourage a new generation of activists to examine what will be his enduring legacy.

During Liberation War in 1971, Mama’s inspiring words were worthy of merits, “I am a rebel and freedom is my cause. Many of you are fighting similar struggles. Therefore, you must join our cause. Our cause is a dream of freedom of Bangladesh and you must help us making our dream reality. For why should we not dream and hope? Is not revolution making reality of hopes? Let us work together that our dream is fulfilled that we all will return with our people out of exile to live in one democracy in peace in Bangladesh. Is not our dream a noble one and worthy to stand beside freedom struggles everywhere in Bangladesh.”

While commemorating this brave freedom fighter on these very distressing hours, I remember a few lines of Poet Dennis Brutus:

The sounds begin again;
the siren in the night;
the thunder at the door; and
the shriek of nerves in pain.

Then the keening crescendo;
of faces split by pain;
the wordless, endless wail; and
only the unfree know.

Importunate as rain;
the wraiths exhale their woe;
over the sirens, knuckles, boots; and
my sounds begin again.

Shahidul Mama was like a Royal Bengal Tiger and roared like that. During the rat-bag Ershad’s early regime, he picked up a big quarrel with Ershad on the values of our glorious Liberation War for which Bangladesh was established in 1971. He categorically told him that Bangladesh had to be run based on the true inspirits of Bangladesh. But having compelled under inciting attacks by the government spy agencies, he went to Sweden along with his family and settled there permanently leaving his beloved country for which once he fought valorously to attain it.

When the International Crimes Tribunals (ICTs) began trials of the war criminals of 1971, he could not remain silent and stay back in Sweden. Once the trial of the war criminal, Kader Molla, infamously known as “The Butcher of Mirpur” started, he flew back to Dhaka at his own cost to testify against this mass murderer in the court. He appeared in the court-room to give his testimony, but Molla deliberately avoided his presence there sensing Mama’s presence through his lawyers. Mama, in no time, roared like a Royal Bengal Tiger and reused to give witness in the court-room. The next day, Molla was made present by the order of the ICT judges. Mama then gave a big jerk in the court-room and identified him in the dock and unmasked his beastly character and gave horrendous accounts of his grievous crimes that he committed in Mirpur and other areas in 1971 in a pin-drop silence. It was largely because of his true but patriotic testimony and the Ganojagoron Mancha Movement for which this beastly creature who was at large for a very long time, did not escape the hangman’s noose.

He had a good oratory skills and made extensive tours throughout the country along with his compatriots and mobilised support from the people in general to punish the rest of the perpetrators. Shahidul Mama fought with diligence for the freedom of this country like all other great freedom fighters. One of the greatest freedom fighters and a revolutionary, Mama was committed to free Bangladesh by any means from the cruel clutches of the Pakistani military junta and their cruel local henchmen mostly from Jamaat-e-Islami, Al-Badr, Al-Shams…

A few months back, he expressed keened, “Golam Azam, the “Angel of Death,” was hiding in UK. It was the military dictator Zia who brought him back to Bangladesh to further ravage its soil with his evil lieutenants. This Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Golam Azam, the gang-supremo of Al-Badr force died in his late 90s without bearing due punishment which is all the more surprising. He died, but the ghosts are still here.” Like Mama, veteran FF Syed Hafizul Hoque has said, “Al-Badr high-ups, “the architect of the Holocaust” in 1971 in Bangladesh escaped from arresting, remained both hiding and were at large because of willful patronisation of them by the wretched military dictators, Zia and Ershad and then by a charwoman voyeur politician for more than 4 decades before being captured. Some observers believe the documents, now in possession with the ICT Investigation Agency, would shed embarrassing additional light on those thuggish collusions on the “ratlines,” an already proven postwar operation to protect the 1971 war criminals.”

There are many war criminals who are still on the run. But there is also the hope that the mountain of documents may throw up lights on the living fugitives. Md. Mujibur Rahman, a first batch trained guerilla warfare in the world famous Dehradhun Military Academy of India, added: “Each day that passes makes that less and less likely but I do not want people to say in the future that we did not try those perpetrators.” He and his compatriots believe the ICT Investigation Agency may also provide clues to these brutal criminals who sneaked back to the motherland to live out their days undetected.”

Mama lamented, “To our utter shame, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UK, USA… have been safe havens for the 1971 war criminals of Bangladesh for long. Jurisdiction to prosecute more than 20 war criminals, are still living in these countries. It is a dismal failure. So true! Time is running out at a frightful speed to round up the last of the scum. They are dying of old age and other silly reasons, never paying for what they have done. The governments of those countries are at times responsible for some of the worst scum coming over to us and living charmed and affluent lives. That is rather sick. If a lion mauls a kid, it is shot there and then. Not send off to entertain people in a zoo or used for breeding. Shot!”

Mama may rightly be considered to be the most influential revolutionary during the Independence War for Bangladesh in 1971. Because of his bravery, patriotism and love for the country, he merited to receive the state honour like the National Award, the gallantry award…during his lifetime. He loved Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman so dearly and was his true votary. Still the time has not gone out to the full. The government may consider decorating him with any colourful laurels posthumously. His sudden death will prove to be an awakening for the youth of the nation to love Bangladesh so dearly and strive hard to punish the fugitive war criminals. Let us salute him and others Freedom Fighters from the core of our hearts for creating Bangladesh. Let us pray for Syed Shahidul Hoque Mama. May his soul rests in peace in Heaven.

In Conversation with South African Judge Dikgang Moseneke: Mandela’s comrade recalls ‘life’ on the bench

Dikgang Moseneke was the former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa. He was an unswerving judge who served in the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country, for 15 years, 11 of which were as Deputy Chief Justice. He was the youngest political prisoner in the country when he was arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island at the tender age of 15 for his political beliefs. Moseneke served on the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of South Africa in 1993. He was the deputy-chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, which conducted the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994. In 2005 he was appointed as the Deputy Chief Justice and he retired last year in May. His memoir ‘My Own Liberator’ unfolds his awe - inspiring life story. In an engaging interview with the Daily Mirror during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, Justice Dikgang Moseneke shared inspiration from his remarkable life during and after apartheid, and the South African experience of constitution making.

Excerpts of the interview:

"In our system everybody has a right to be a Muslim, to belong to the Hindu religion, the Christian religion or no religion. The constitution specifically protects that right"

You were arrested when you were 15 years old for being a member of the then banned Pan-Africanist Congress and you were imprisoned for 10 years at Robben Island. One would have expected you to neglect your education. On the contrary you grew up to be a great legal mind of South Africa. What motivated you to go this far?

2017-07

If you are a freedom fighter your responsibility is to change society and you must be armed for that task. Isn’t it? You have a job at hand. If you want to be a great chef what do you do? Learn how to be a good chef and you learn all the good recipes, so you could have a good outcome. 
It’s the same thing. I have reasoned when I was young that if you are a freedom fighter and if you want to change society, I have to be well equipped, and I wanted to be a lawyer- an Activist lawyer- when I came out of prison. So I studied for that. I didn’t know how long we were going to take to defeat apartheid. But I knew that I needed to stay focused, and be an honest lawyer, a hard working lawyer.   

How was it like to be working on your degrees while in prison?

The harder it goes the more you have to work. And I did that. I registered with a long distance university and made sure that I passed through the course work in the evening after working as a prisoner during the day. In the evening I would take a cold shower and I would work. I would study and there was no short cut. Whether you are working in prison or outside you still have to work and study.   

South Africa has a unique culture, a proud history of producing legends like Nelson Mandela and defeating apartheid. At the same time it has its share of political turmoil. How reflective of this is your memoir ‘My Own Liberator’? 

In the last chapter of ‘My Own Liberator’ I ask the question ‘Was it all in vain?’ So I am examining that and saying ‘look at the great struggle we had. Look at the great leaders we had.’ I write a lot about Nelson Mandela and other leaders. My favourite leaders are Oliver Tambo and Robert Sobukwe. Once you’ve talked about their greatness you must come to today.   

Can you give us an insight into the character of Nelson Mandela in your associations with him?

He was a great strategist, a committed leader. He knew how to soak up pain while at the same time how to forgive. Twenty seven years in prison. We sometimes forget the brutality. He had children who grew up in his absence. He had a very beautiful wife who lived for 27 years without him and I write about that and my role in defending Mrs. Winnie Mandela at the request of Mr.Mandela, when she was charged,. He was an inclusive man. I was from the Pan African Congress and not from the African National Congress. It mattered nothing to him. He just wanted a good comrade, a patriot who is committed and asked me to be his executive from among his comrades. So he was an inclusive man and inclusive also with the oppressors. He didn’t recognize those lines, those thin lines among human beings. It is what we do and the contribution we make that matters, and not how you look. It helps if you have a bit of looks in life (laughing) but that is just the beginning.   

When you started practicing as a lawyer the bench was all white. What was it like to be working in the legal profession under apartheid rule? 

We had to exploit the loops in a bad legal system. But our duty was to protect communities and activists. I knew that I had to help protect people in detention. I knew that my work is to help my comrades, in other words to provide ambulance service to those people who were hurt in their struggle, those who were in trouble. Sometimes I would collect money for comrades to study on Robben Islands and money for their families to be supported. It was quite a time. I was a lawyer and a freedom fighter all at once.  

South Africa is known for its high crime rate with violence occurring in broad daylight. Why has the legal system failed to curb this? 

The legal system is failing by and large. I agree with you there in the sense that whilst it is operating well and trials are going on we have not succeeded to curb violence that comes from socio-economic conditions. Remember that most of the violence comes out of poverty, exclusion, and disintegration of families. So we have not succeeded to produce a peaceful society, and part of the violence is historical and we are struggling with that issue. The statistics are high. South Africa is more violent than Sri Lanka.   

"When I talk to working class people I say to them you have the responsibility to make sure that you find leaders who will do what you need and what you want"

The South African Constitution is regarded as the most progressive constitution in the world. It has been in existence for more than 20 years. Do the poor and the marginalized appeal to it when their rights are violated? Is there a culture of appealing to it for recourse?

I think poor people in South Africa use the system. It is true that the societies aren’t equal. It is true that we are struggling with unemployment, with financial inequality, and with access to some of the important things that destroy property. It is true that the current government has lost focus in the sense that they are looking more at themselves and less and less at the people. When I talk to working class people I say to them you have the responsibility to make sure that you find leaders who will do what you need and what you want. Most people just vote, but actually people should vote for people who would look after them. This remains a challenge. In fact it is called the social distance in South Africa and it’s still big. The future governments must work hard to deal with the issue of poverty and social inequality. There is full political equality but there is no social equality.   

Currently there is an ongoing debate on constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka. One of the key proposals is to establish a Constitutional Court. We find recent constitutions such as the Nepal Constitution of 2015 establish a constitutional chamber in the existing Supreme Court. What is the exceptional role of a Constitutional Court?

In our democracy the Constitutional Court is the ultimate arbiter on constitutional disputes. An example of a dispute would be a breach of the fundamental right to freedom. Let’s say that there is a breach of your right to practice your religion and we’ve had cases like that. You then go to the Constitutional Court and ask it to protect you against the invasion of your right to practice your religion. That is why we have a charter of fundamental rights. If anybody, including the state, breaches them the Constitutional Court decides on that. The Constitutional Court in our jurisdiction also decides on the validity of laws because in our system we follow constitutional supremacy. So no law can be in conflict with the constitution.   

Wouldn’t a Supreme Court be able to do that? Or is the power of the Supreme Court limited?

In our case we created a Constitutional Court because we introduced a new constitution and we wanted new judges to create a new jurisprudence. In your case if there is a constitutional chamber it’s going to depend on what powers it has.   

There is an argument that unelected judges should not be given the power to decide on matters involving resource implications in the case of constitutionalizing socio-economic rights. The South African constitution contains judicially enforceable ESC rights. Could you share the South African experience with regard to this? 

Let’s start with the argument that unelected judges should not have the power to make decisions about socio-economic rights. It is true that judges are not elected. But it is not true that when they decide on socio-economic rights they are actually invading the budget. When that happens it happens on the periphery. Let me give you an example. When you go to court in our jurisdiction and say I want access to education, the court will ask the government whether they have made plans for this person to have access to education. The government will have to show that they have and that they have plans to extend and allow access to education. So the court does not take over the budgetary functions. It does not decide on how much money you use on education. But it requires the State to have a plan, so that ultimately everybody has access to education. So the argument mischaracterizes the role of judges.  
The second thing is that poor people and those who have no means of their own must be able to hold the government accountable. Some would say, well, they must do it every five years. True, that they must also do. But in between the elections if you have no access to water what should you do? You should be able to go to a court and say I have no access to water. The government will then be held to account about why they haven’t brought water to this community, what the plans are and whether there are funds to fulfill those plans.   

How have judicial decisions in South Africa been able to address cultural practices and age old beliefs which contradict human rights?

In our system everybody has a right to be a Muslim, to belong to the Hindu religion, the Christian religion or no religion. The constitution specifically protects that right. But nothing will be protected which is inconsistent with the Constitution. For instance, under African customary law, the law was that women don’t inherit and only adult male children can inherit. We find this system called male primogeniture in many societies where only men inherit. When that came before the court we struck it down. We said no, that it is inconsistent with the Constitution. If we allow that, it means that all women who fall under African tradition will always be poor and the boys will always inherit. So in fact you increase gender inequality. If any practice, culture or religion invades the tenants of the Constitution they cannot be enforced in our system. They are not valid. For instance, South Africa is struggling for instance with issues of child marriage. In our system a child is defined as someone who is below the age of 18 and therefore you cannot marry someone who is a child, and that would be enforced. So yes, fundamental rights will alter cultural practices which are inconsistent with the Bill of rights.  

As a judge for 15 years in the Constitutional Court were there any judgments you had to make against your conscience?

Yes. There were judgments which the law required but which my conscience told me differently, and I made them, and that’s an important thing. For instance, I vowed as a judge that I will treat all South Africans fairly including those who were former oppressors. Once you take the oath in our system you cannot treat other people differently because they are members of that political party, or they are from that race, or from that culture. It is forbidden completely. When I took the oath I seriously told myself I will treat fairly, even white South Africans who were in the past oppressors of South Africa. So that’s something quite important that I had to live with. I am heterosexual, but I understood very well the importance of protecting the choices that LGBT people made. So I don’t have to be homosexual myself to understand and accept that they have a right to make choices, and those choices must be respected. If gay people are consenting adults I don’t think the law should have to interfere with those choices and that is just one example. Other choices are about religion, pregnancy, whether to make love or not, about how people want to eat etc. Those are choices that are personal and ought to be allowed.   

Now that you have retired from the court what does the future hold?

I’m writing another book about my fifteen years on the bench for young lawyers around the world, not just South Africa. I hope to tell you what it is to be a judge and what your responsibilities are and what changes you can make. I get invited to different parts of the world. I’ve been to the Oxford University, the University of New York, the University of Zurich Law School and I write about all of that.