GAMBIA: PRESIDENT SET TO GO AHEAD WITH PRISONER EXECUTION

In what many would consider a ‘slow news week’, the Banjul government attracted the sort of publicity which in most weeks would have passed unnoticed under the global news radar.

Last week Amnesty International revealed that the government had executed about nine of the country’s 47 death row prisoners. Amnesty International added that further executions were to follow “in the coming days”. The recent executions come as a shock not least because the last State sanctioned execution occurred in 1985.

At the time of writing President Yahya Jammeh’s motives for persevering with the executions are still unclear although some of the executed individuals had been arrested on treason allegations. Unfortunately Jammeh’s latest pronouncements indicate that more executions are to follow. In early last week’s press release, Jammeh asserted: “By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way my government will allow 99% of the population to be held to ransom by criminals.”

President Jammeh’s government appears to be backtracking somewhat on the back of the criticism it has faced since Amnesty International’s revelations. In a statement released late last week the government muddied already murky waters by appearing to refer to Amnesty International’s report as mere speculation. It has to date failed to clarify either one way or the other whether it has indeed executed any prisoners at all.

Ousainou Darboe, leader of the UDP opposition party has called on the government to reveal the whereabouts of the nine prisoners said to have been executed in this seemingly first round of capital punishments. “If the government denies that any execution has taken place, it should go further and parade all those on death row on TV for their families and the public to see them. If the execution has indeed taken place, the international community should consider imposing travel bans on Jammeh and his ministers,” Darboe said.

The second strand of Darboe’s statement appears to have been assimilated and heeded by Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign affairs supremo. In a counter statement in response to Jammeh’s threats to execute all prisoners on death row within the next month, Ashton demanded an immediate cessation of all executions. “In light of these executions, the European Union will urgently consider an appropriate response,” she added.

If the government’s latest statements are to be used as a barometer to gauge its determination to follow through on the promise of further executions, it may well appear that its appetite has been quenched by the furore which has enveloped it since its internal affairs became breaking global news. Jammeh’s unpredictability however implies that the preceding statement must be absorbed in tandem with a disclaimer. Now in his fourth term since he came to power via a coup d’etat in 1994, Jammeh continues to lead a government which pays little to no regard to matters relating to civil liberties, human rights and press freedom. In spite of his ego and unstinting obduracy the country’s heavy reliance on foreign aid means that Jammeh can ill afford to alienate the EU and the international community who are responsible for propping up its precariously unstable economy.

BAHRAIN: GOVERNMENT CONTINUES ASSAULT ON OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS

The writer refers to Bahrain as the gift that keeps on giving, the reason being that the Bahraini government keeps on providing enthusiasts of global politics and international law with something to write about. It has certainly been successful at grabbing our collective attentions although not for the reasons it would prefer to be famous for.

Last week, opposition activist Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to three years in jail for effectively having the audacity to lead ‘peaceful’ protests against the government. The country’s courts are expected to hear his appeal next week.

Although the decision to sentence Rajab came as no surprise to observers, the length of the sentence for the ‘crime’ was even by Bahraini standards unprecedented. The EU’s foreign affairs High Representative Catherine Ashton has led calls against the Bahrain government’s anti-democratic stance. Ashton highlighted that Rajab had done nothing wrong and added that his sentencing was linked to his calls for the government to respect its citizens’ fundamental freedoms.

Victoria Nuland, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman stated that the U.S. was deeply troubled by Rajab’s sentence. She continued; “We’ve made it clear that it is critical for all governments, including Bahrain, to respect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.” The NGO Amnesty International has gone even further than both the EU and the U.S by stating that it was a “dark day for justice.” Amnesty International’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui averred that Rajab’s sentence eliminates the potential for change in the country. Sahraoui affirmed: “Like many others in Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

The government’s publicity machine has since gone into overdrive in anticipation of the global opprobrium it expects to rain down upon it. The government insisted that it had evidence to hand which conclusively showed that Rajab had caused the deaths of innocent people by inciting “violence and escalation against law enforcement officers”. The country’s interior ministry also confirmed that about 700 security officers have been injured since clashes began last year. It has however failed to explain why others charged with the same offence appeared to have been given lighter sentences that that which befell Rajab.

For its part the Bahrain government has no incentive to restrain itself from maintaining the current status quo not least because its strategic location in the Middle East makes it a viable alternative as an oil transport route out of the Gulf region to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran currently holds sway. The fact that the country also hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet further complicates matters thus rendering any idea of political will being mustered and mobilized by the U.S. redundant. The Bahrain government, like its Russian counterpart who drew the ire of the watching world with its absurd decision to jail members of the Russian female punk rock band, Pussy Riot last week, fails to appreciate the significance of the oft-repeated mantra spawn by the current writer. The said mantra being that the movement for change is akin to a hydra which will not cease to exist when one of its heads - the movements’ individual foot soldiers – are incarcerated or silenced.

FRANCE: SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT CONTINUES WITH PREDECESSOR’S ROMA EXPULSION PROGRAMME

Last week, France’s new Socialist government continued in the same vein as its predecessor, the administration led by Nicholas Sarkozy, by repatriating persons alleged to be illegal immigrants. This week’s raids centred on Roma immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in Paris, Lille and Lyon. In scenes reminiscent of the U.K’s October 2011 eviction of unauthorised travellers from Dale Farm in Essex, security forces donning riot gear were tasked with removing Roma immigrants from the illegal encampments.

The evacuation programme began in mid-2010 when the French government announced with vigour its attempts to crackdown on illegal immigrants. The Roma Evacuation/Repatriation Programme as it is now known, owing to the fact that mainly Romanian and Bulgarian Roma have been repatriated, has so far seen the demolishment of illegal camps and the forced deportation of thousands of Romanis to their Eastern European countries of origin. Most of the deportees were reportedly paid around £230.00 each to leave the country but some have since returned

The continuance of the programme has confounded analysts not least because the policy was hewn by the former conservative government just before the May elections in what some considered a sinister ploy to win over voters aligned with the right side of the country’s political spectrum. What most observers least expected however was that the liberal socialist government of Francois Hollande would persevere with the same policy.

The European Commission (EC) have been unimpressed by the government’s actions and have followed up its criticisms of the government which it dished out several years ago by reminding the French that the organisation’s watchful eyes are being trained on the country. The European Commission’s spokeswoman Mina Andreeva confirmed that the organisation was “monitoring the situation” and that “the Commission…has requested further information from the French authorities on the expulsions to ensure that they are being conducted in compliance with EU rules.” The NGO Human Rights Watch have also added their voice to the controversy with one of its directors, Veronika Goldston calling on Hollande to abide by his pre-election promise of ending discrimination against the Roma.

France’s Interior Minister, Manuel Valls refuted claims that the repatriations amounted to “forced expulsions”. Valls’s statements in reference to the health risks which the deportees’ pose and the unsanitary nature of their camps is somewhat contradictory to his claims that they were being repatriated following an “individual evaluation of their legal status in France.” Whatever the case may be the French appear to be treading precariously in respect of one of the EU’s fundamental principles which is the prohibition of discrimination based on racial or ethnic grounds. Evidence as seen from afar appears to suggest that a group of individuals with similar characteristics are being targeted for expulsion from the French territory. On this basis the French will do well to find the legal grounds to justify the expulsions.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON PROTESTERS' LEGITIMATE DEMANDS

Amidst the mutterings that the Arab spring was about to claim its latest victim, the ruler of the country’s Sharjah emirate last week moved quickly to calm fears that the country’s forces was wantonly jailing persons responsible for organising the unprecedented recent episodes of protests against the state. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qassimi inferred that the arrest of several individuals over the last couple of weeks was linked to its investigation of “crimes against the security of the state” and added that the state’s forces had a “duty” to protect the country against the individuals involved in the alleged plot.


Background

Over recent weeks several dissidents and protesters have been arrested in a synchronised crackdown against activists in the country. The activists arrested in the crackdown are allegedly linked to the al-Islah (Reform) Islamic group which calls for a stricter observance of Sharia’a law in what is already the most conservative part of the country. About 50 dissidents are reported to have been arrested since last year without recourse to an effective judicial system. Moving swiftly to set an example of the activists and to perhaps dissuade others from joining the perceived revolution the government has stripped some activists of their citizenship while others have been issued summary jail sentences.


Criticism

If the rapidly modernising country thought that stamping down swiftly on voices of protest may prevent attention being drawn to the revolutionaries’ causes they had better have a rethink. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have voiced concern over the treatment of activists. In its statement last week, Amnesty International urged the government to release details of the location of those it had arrested. Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director called on the United Kingdom and the US to rein in its ally. Stork stated: “After all their fine words over the past year about standing up for democracy and human rights in the Arab world, the U.S. and the UK have completely lost their voices when it comes to the UAE.”


Campaign of intimidation

The Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch statements follow recent criticisms of the government’s actions by related international organisations. Rupert Colville, the UN human rights spokesman asserted that the government’s actions were effectively a ruse to silence legitimate protests. Colville stated: “It appears that national security is increasingly being used as a pretext to clamp down on peaceful activism, to stifle calls for constitutional reform and on human rights issues such as statelessness.” The highly respected Geneva based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) whose mission statement includes the implementation of principles which advance human rights have added to the debate. Said Bernabia, the organisation’s Senior Legal Advisor for its Middle East and North Africa Programme stated that the government’s move was “part of a broad campaign of intimidation and harassment by UAE authorities that aims to silence any and all critical voices”. Bernabia called for the crackdown to cease immediately.


Oil wealth

The UAE is made up of seven emirates or states which united to form a federation in 1971. The country’s oil wealth has placed it amongst the world’s fastest growing economies and the standard of living of its people has risen significantly since its discovery of the oil resource. The country is as liberal as they come in comparison with its neighbours. Its allegiance with the major players on the international scene such as the US and UK is testament to its status as one of the leading figures in the Middle East. The country’s overly generous welfare system has enabled it to avoid the disturbances in the region which has led to the toppling of four governments during the Arab spring.


Sound-off

Nevertheless the government appears not to have learnt any lessons from recent events in the Middle East as rather than engaging the public and its opponents in debate about political reforms and civil rights, it has opted to demonise activists as ‘Islamists’ and jail those it deems as threats to its stability. It clearly has not learnt that its attitude may be counterproductive as it stands the risk of galvanising further protests against it as the recently deposed governments of Ben-Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt highlight. The government’s close ties with the US and U.K means that the West’s political will to cause change may not be forthcoming in the immediate future. The country’s rulers will do well to learn some lessons from the past, most notably from events which transpired in neighbouring Egypt whose deposed government’s close ties with the West counted for nothing when the waves of change could no longer be held back by revetments.