Archive for April 2010
Euphemisms For Racists.
Anyone who’s ever dealt with neofascists, bigots or other assorted racists will know how they love using euphemisms.
Instead of stating what they mean they often soften their bigotry by using an alternative name.
So you would have heard in 1970s Britain “I don’t mind blacks, it is Jamaicans I can’t stand” or more recently “I like Afro-Caribbean’s, it is immigrants I can’t stand” etc etc all dressed up bigotry, that’s what it is.
Whilst such bigots can keep up this game for a few moments invariably they will slip back to their old habits and admit that they “can’t really stand any blacks or any immigrants”
It is a pattern that you will see repeated, along with the old excuse “some of my best friends are….” and then they will let their bigotry pour out.
That’s how prejudice often manifests itself, hidden in silly word games and excuses that wouldn’t convince a child.
More recently, we see examples of these techniques whenever the Middle East is discussed, and you’ll probably hear an excuse something much like this:
“I have nothing against Jews, some of them are my best friends, but it is the Zionists that I can’t stand.”
But every once in a while, the mask slips and the prejudices come forth, so it was with a Lib Dem candidate.
For her, no need for euphemisms, no need to hide her prejudice and she doesn’t even used the “it is Zionists I can’t stand” ploy, no Madeleine Kirk was direct, the JC has more:
“Ms Kirk, a long-standing local city councillor, replied that an embargo should be in place, but was not, “because of the Jewish lobby”
Later on she compounds it, by backing Baroness Tonge’s call for an inquiry into a racist allegation, which itself legitimises that racist allegation, not a good idea unless you share some of the bigotry and prejudice underlying the false allegation.
“She then went on to back disgraced Lib Dem peer Jenny Tonge’s call for an inquiry to disprove allegations that Israeli army medical teams in Haiti “harvested” organs of earthquake victims.
Baroness Tonge was stripped of her role as the party’s health spokeswoman in the Lords following her comments in February.
When contacted by the JC, Ms Kirk said: “I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused by my remarks.
“I recognise that the allegations against the IDF’s humanitarian operation in Haiti are completely unfounded and utterly reprehensible. I was not aware of the allegations when asked about them at the hustings and responded without considering their full implications.” “
We’ve seen this before with the Lib Dems, nothing learnt, nothing understood.
(H/T: Engage)
Stigmatising Dress Codes.
Sadly, I haven’t got time to do a long post on this topic.
According to the BBC, the lower house in Belgium’s parliament has passed a provisional piece of legislation on the banning of the Burka and Niqab.
This is a very bad proposal, which I believe will have to go through the upper house and finally be ratified by the Belgian King, before becoming law
Ages ago I detailed my opposition to this type of proposal in a post at the Z-word blog.
I suspect that the law of unintended consequences will come into this, it will probably blow up, literally, and its political ramifications felt widely across the globe.
What a terrible mistake.
Although I haven’t seen the voting figures it wouldn’t surprise me if the Flemish Far Right had a hand in this too.
Update 1: From the above BBC link,
“Only around 30 women wear this kind of veil in Belgium, out of a Muslim population of around half a million.”
30 women and a whole law against them, not a good idea.
Blair Peach And Officer E.
English understatement is wonderful, it’s a bit confusing for “foreigners”, even native English speakers as it were, but when you read the reports of Blair Peach’s murder it pops up time after time, but not in a good way.
Rather than state the obvious fact that Blair Peach was murdered by a policeman news reports invoke English understatement to diminish the severity of Blair Peach’s murder.
A few examples, over at BBC News:
“A police officer is likely to have “struck the fatal blow” which killed a protester in west London 31 years ago, a Scotland Yard report reveals.
Anti-racism activist Blair Peach died after he was hit during clashes with police officers in Southall in 1979.
The previously secret report attaches “grave suspicion” to an officer, who it says may also have been involved in a cover-up along with two colleagues.
The Metropolitan Police said no officers would face further action.”
Well, it certainly wouldn’t have been anyone else.
There were no National Front around that area and groups of police officers were periodically going into the crowd and streets in a very aggressive fashion (ops, English understatement again) that is attacking people with truncheons.
So when Blair Peach suffered a head injury from a blunt object it doesn’t take Inspector Morse two weeks to work out who would have done it, a group of Metropolitan Police SPG officers, and only them.
The Metropolitan police were culpable for Blair Peach’s murder and no invocation of English understatement will change that.
Update 1: I should have added that successive governments and the Metropolitan police have blocked the publication of the Cass report, which was written between July 1979 and May 1980.
Yes, that’s correct. Its publication was deliberately obstructed by politicians and police officers for over 30 years. Even a comparatively recent freedom of information request in 2008, was rejected.
Update 2: The Cass Report is here, in a rather sloppy format (a lot of scanned type written pages) which doesn’t lend itself to easy reading, plus the fact it has been redacted.
Update 3: The Indy on the Cass Report:
“The officers involved made “false statements” regarding details surrounding his death, a previously secret report found.
Met police chief Sir Paul Stephenson said the report made “uncomfortable reading” but despite this the force insisted that nobody involved would face prosecution.
Mr Peach’s partner Celia Stubbs said the findings “vindicated” her belief that the activist was killed by police.
The document – written by Commander John Cass, a former senior officer at the Met’s internal complaints department, singled out the actions of the three officers, named as E, H and F.
He wrote: “The most serious aspect of this case has, without doubt, been the obstruction of the investigating officer in execution of their duty.”
Commander Cass recommended the three officers should face prosecution.
He added: “I strongly recommend that proceedings be taken against Officer E, Officer H and Officer F for obstructing police in the execution of their duty, conspiring to do so, and attempting or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.”
Mr Peach was struck on the head during the protest on April 23 1979. He died in hospital of head injuries the next day.
Some 14 witnesses reported seeing him being hit by a police officer.
The names of the officers and witnesses involved were removed from the report for legal reasons.
Police insisted this had not been done to prevent embarrassment to the force.
The report said it could “reasonably be concluded that a police officer struck the fatal blow”.
It continued: “The attitude and untruthfulness of some of the officers involved is a contributory factor. “
Update 4: Not unsurprisingly an ex-former Inspector in charge of the SPG group tries to blames someone:
“In July, former Scotland Yard inspector Alan Murray, who led a unit of the Special Patrol Group, said that he believed Mr Peach was murdered or unlawfully killed, but not by police.
Mr Murray, now a 59-year-old Sheffield University lecturer, denied killing Mr Peach and said he did not believe anyone in his unit was responsible. The former officer said the inquiry was flawed and a verdict of death by misadventure at Mr Peach’s inquest was “inappropriate”.
The Metropolitan Police reiterated that despite the findings of the report none of those involved would face further action for Mr Peach’s death.”
Update 4: What was in their lockers?
“Some of the statements given by the six officers contradicted each other. Others, warned Commander Cass, felt like a cover-up.
Officer F, the van’s driver, said that E and H had “got out of the carrier on the corner and went straight into the crowd”.
Officer F’s police station locker was searched and investigators found a lead cosh, and other truncheon-like weapons. He denied having them with him at Southall.
Officer E was subjected to lengthy questioning because the circumstances indicated that he could have been responsible for the blow. When detectives accused him of trying to mislead them, his solicitor advised him not to answer any more questions.
“[Officer E] has not given a credible account of his movements and it is disturbing,” Commander Cass wrote.
“There was no doubt that he was suffering from stress which together with his driving personality attaches to him grave suspicion, if not as the officer responsible but for concealing it.
“He has since transferred from the Special Patrol Group. He is a [redacted] and I have reason to believe he was well thought of with potential for high rank.”
But Commander Cass said there was insufficient evidence to charge any officer with the death.
“Whilst it can reasonably be concluded that a police officer struck the fatal blow, and that that officer came from carrier 1-1, I am sure that it will be agreed that the present situation is far from satisfactory and disturbing.
“The attitude and untruthfulness of some of the officers involved is a contributory factor.”
He went on: “The most serious aspect of this case has, without doubt, been the obstruction of the investigating officer in the execution of their duty.”“It can be clearly seen from the various statements and records of interviews with these officers that their explanations were seriously lacking and in the case of Officer E, Officer F and Officer H, there was deliberate attempt to conceal the presence of the carrier at the scene at the vital time.”
Update 5: The Sause has excellent background information:
The identities of the six officers who travelled to Beachcroft Avenue where Peach was attacked in patrol van Unit 1 have been dedacted from the report despite the fact they attended an open inquest a year after Peach died.
The dedactions are likely to have been made because the force has not found conclusive evidence that the six officers named by Cass were the most likely to have inflicted the fatal blow.
Inspector Alan Murray was in charge of Number One Unit SPG on the day of Peach’s death. He resigned from the force in the Summer of 1980 to join his brother in a jewellery business in Scotland. He is now now a lecturer in corporate social responsibility at Sheffield University.
The other officers in the van were PC Anthony Richardson who had been with the SPG for six months; PC Michael Freestone, who claimed he was transferred out of the unit because it was “politically expedient; PC Raymond ‘Chalkie’ White, the van driver; PC James Scottow believed to have told Peach to get ‘on your bike’ after the blow and Sgt Anthony Lake who was driving a second van.
A PC Greville Bint, part of Unit One, is understood not to have been among the officers whose identities was dedacted. He gave conflicting evidence to the original inquest about where he got in and out of the van at the time of Peach’s death.
Durnig a search of SPG lockers Bint was found to have been in possession of a lead weighed plaited leather covered stick, Nazi regalia, bayonets, German awards and medals from the first and second world wars. he was transferred out of the riot squad to Brixton in June 1979.
The names of the officers in Unit 1 are recorded in David Ransom’s book, The Blair Peach Case: Licence to Kill which was published by the Friends of Blair Peach Committee. The six officers named by the Cass report were leaked to the Lobster magazine and also published in the Sunday Times.”
Update 6: ITV News has fair coverage:
Update 7: This clip provides a reasonable report of why problems started in Southall, the Met Police’s desire to protect the NF:
Update 7: Remembering Blair Peach: 30 years on by Chris Searle from 2009 is a must read.
Update 8: Thanks to Entdinglichung, here’s is Linton Kwesi Johnson – Reggae Fi Peach 1980, a rather nice tune:
Update 9: Bob has some good links.
Fred On Tibet And Other Things.
Sadly, Fred Halliday passed away.
Now I am not really into obituaries (writing them that is) but Fred made an informed contribution to debate on international topics for decades, whilst you might not always agree with his sentiments in all aspects one could not deny that he was a thoughtful and considered individual.
Looking through the long list of his articles at Open Democracy I came across this one on Tibet, Palestine and the politics of failure.
Fred makes some very lucid points concerning Tibet:
“Lhasa in the world
For all the differences of region and political context, a comparable process was taking place at that time over Tibet, where aspirations to independence were crushed as the forces of the victorious Chinese revolution of 1949 subordinated and incorporated the territory into the "People's Republic of China".
Here, much of the energetic debate about Tibet's "historical status" – whether (as Tibetan nationalists and their supporters claim) it was an independent state before China occupied it in 1950-51 or whether it is (in Chinese nationalist terminology) an "inalienable part" of historic China – is based on a dubious premise. For "history" and its associations is not the unarguable source of judgment that both sides see it as.
Even if Tibet had been an integral part of China for centuries, this would not gainsay its contemporary right – as a territory with a clearly distinct language and culture, and with several decades of de facto and modern sovereignty before 1950 – from claiming independence. After all, Ireland was long ruled by England, Norway by Sweden, and Finland, Ukraine and the Baltic countries by Russia, without this contradicting their right to independence in the 20th century.
It is not essential to this line of argument, but worth saying anyway, that even on historical grounds the Tibetans have as good or better case for independence as these other lands (see Donald S Lopez Jr, "How to think about Tibet", 31 March 2008). Chinese armies have certainly occupied Tibet on various occasions in past centuries, as English armies occupied much of France. But from the mid-18th century, Tibet was in practice independent under its Dalai Lama rulers based in their capital, Lhasa. The few European travellers who reached this "forbidden city" in the 1840s (such as the French travelling priests, Père Huc and Père Gabet), the Chinese presence was purely formal, the two ambans (Beijing officials) posted there having no more power than, say, a British high commissioner has in independent Australia or India.”
Update 1: This is a good article on Fred from the World People’s Blog.
Update 2: Norm on Fred.
Update 3: One Big Unhappy Family at the New York Review of Books.
Update 4: Not forgetting The Jihadism of Fools By Fred Halliday:
“OVER the last few years, and especially since the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, there have been indications across the world of a growing convergence between the forces of Islamist militancy, on the one hand, and the “anti-imperialist” left on the other. Leaving aside widespread, if usually unarticulated, sympathy for the attacks of September 11, 2001, justified on the grounds that “the Americans deserved it,” we have seen since 2003 an overt coincidence of policies, with considerable support for the Iraqi “resistance,” which includes strong Islamist elements, and, more recently and even more explicitly, support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the Middle East itself, and on parts of the European far left, an overt alliance with Islamists has been established, going back at least to the mass demonstrations in early 2003 that preceded the Iraq War, but also including a convergence of slogans on Palestine—supporting suicide bombings and denying the legitimacy of the Israeli state. Last year, for example, radical Basque demonstrators were preceded by a militant waving a Hezbollah flag. Moreover, since most of those who oppose the U.S. action in Iraq of 2003 also opposed the war in Afghanistan in 2001, this leads, whether clearly recognized or not, to support for the anti-Western Taliban, armed groups now active across that country.
At the same time, some far left-wing politicians in Europe have sought, on issues of “anti-imperialism” and of social exclusion within the West, to find common cause with representatives of Islamist parties. An example of this is the welcome given by the British left, including the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to the Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. More important, of course, and separate from support for Islamist guerrilla groups, has been alignment at the state level: Iran, for example, has received increasing support from Venezuela. Hugo Chávez has been to Tehran no less than five times. This partnership has been made all the easier by the shift noticeable over the past two decades whereby solidarity based, at least formally, on class or socialist grounds has been replaced by identity politics as the basis for political activism. Inchoately perhaps, a new international united front is being created. ”
Update 5: Jeff Weintraub take on the above.
Update 6: Fred on the Taliban.
Update 7: Jeff Weintraub and Norm remind us of an interview with Fred on Internationalism and universal rights.
BNP Election Watch 1.
I haven’t covered the BNP in what seems like ages and in this particular General Election they are proving to be the pile of scumbags, thugs and liars that we thought them to be.
Left Foot Forward has how an Essex newspaper has become the mouthpiece of the BNP.
From Kirklees Unity, BNP lies outrage campaigners and Liverpool BNP Campaign in Disarray.
At Lancaster Unity, On the front line of the war against the BNP and Police probe after the BNP parades fake soldier Walker.
Finally, Norfolk Unity has BNP council candidate denies assault charges and Second rate and stupid – BNP’s East Anglian clowns rise to new lows.
That last bit sounds about right.
Not forgetting Hope Not Hate have produced a good election guide.
Anti-imperialist’s Poison?
The Taliban will do anything to attack girl pupils and female students in Afghanistan, from indiscriminate shootings to acid attacks and the destruction of badly needed schools. Even gas attacks.
The Taliban has done that and much more.
Yet they may be sinking to a new low, the poisoning of girls, as the BBC reports:
“In May 2009, Afghan authorities launched an investigation after about 90 schoolgirls fell ill in Kapisa province.
Although officials suspected deliberate poisoning, the results of the inquiry were inconclusive.
In recent years there has been an increase in attacks on schoolgirls in Afghanistan, mainly in the south and east of the country where several acid attacks on schoolgirls have been reported.
Girls were banned from attending school during the rule of the Taliban, who were overthrown in the American-led invasion of 2001.”
47 Seats.
According to the Beeb nearly all the votes are counted in the Hungarian election and it seems that the neofascists in the Jobbik Party will have about 47 seats in the new parliament.
With approximately 12% of the vote they have a sizeable bloc in the Hungarian political system.
One can only wonder how this will galvanise neofascism in Eastern Europe. How depressing.
Home Office Plays Dirty With Florence and Precious.
Just received an update on Florence and Precious Mhangos, Anne McLaughlin writes:
“The time is coming closer.
The Mhangos’ solicitor was given a date for their “judicial review” a couple of weeks ago. It was to be at the end of May.
However the date was one that Nick O’Brien (their brilliant Advocate who got them through the appeal in February) is going to be abroad.
Just to give you an idea of how much the Home Office really seems to have it in for them, their lawyers were asked to agree to a different date and refused. It makes no difference to them and indeed, given that there’s an election coming up and a potential change of government, it should make no difference to their political bosses.
However, they are determined to give Florence and Precious as few chances as possible and refused. So it’s now gone to the courts to decide.
If the courts don’t agree, the hearing will be at the end of May and we will have to find a different Advocate. If they do agree, it will be fairly soon after that date anyway.
So I’m just letting you know that we are nearing decision time. I will keep you updated and let’s hope it all goes well. A week on Monday will see the 7th anniversary of Precious and her mum coming to live in the UK. It would not be unreasonable or unusual for the Home Office to drop the legal objections and grant them leave to remain.
As I said they are clearly determined to deport them. We have to be as determined to keep them here and I really do thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your ongoing support. “
Grim But Necessary Reading.
Thanks to Matt at Ignoblus for pointing this out, Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead:
“As a teenager, Frank Meeink was one of the most well-known skinhead gang members in the country. He had his own public access talk show, called The Reich, he appeared on Nightline and other media outlets as a spokesman for neo-Nazi topics, and he regularly recruited members of his South Philadelphia neighborhood to join his skinhead gang.
At 18, Meeink spent several years in prison for kidnapping one man and beating another man senseless for several hours. While in prison, Meeink says, he was exposed to people from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds and started reevaluating his own racist beliefs. His transformation solidified, he tells Dave Davies, after the Oklahoma City bombing, when he saw the iconic photo of a firefighter cradling a lifeless girl in his arms.
“I felt so evil. Throughout my life, even when I was tattooed up and wanting to be a skinhead, I felt like maybe I was bad on the outside. But I felt good on the inside,” he says. “And that day it switched. I felt OK on the outside, but I felt so evil inside. I had no one to talk to. … So I went to the FBI and … I told them my story. I said ‘I don’t have any information on anybody, but I just need to let you know what it’s like.’ And of course they wanted to listen, because the Oklahoma City bombing had happened.”
The FBI recommended that Meeink contact the Anti-Defamation League — which he did. He now regularly lectures to students about racial diversity and acceptance on behalf of the ADL, and he has written a memoir about his past, called Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead. “
Deportation Campaign Against Iranian Activists.
I was alarmed to see the HMG is still deporting activists back to Iran and the clutches of the Ahmadinejad regime, Nadia Arzane and Bashir Foris are about to be sent back:
“The UK continues its deportation campaign against Iranian activists, this time a young pregnant couple whose deportation was scheduled for today. The woman, Nadia Arzane, became very distressed at time of boarding and due to stress on the unborn child, they did not fly today as planned. However, they are back in detention and still at very high risk fo deportation.
Any deportation of people to Iran, which detains, tortures, and executes political activists just like this couple, is unconscionable. But somehow the idea of sending a pregnant woman to her death is more revolting still. “
The background:
“Nadia Arzane and Bashir Foris are a married Iranian couple in their early 20s. They are currently detained in Yarl’s Wood IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK tomorrow, Friday 23rd April on Air Baltic BT652, from Gatwick airport to Riga, Latvia. Where it is likely they will be returned to Iran.
Nadia is an activist from Iran who supported the opposition party by making a stand against human right abuses. On a protest in July 2009, in the town of Bandar Abbas, she saw a person beaten to death by government agents. She handed out leaflets and CDs in her local area calling on people to vote against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A few days later, she returned home from work and witnessed her father being beaten and arrested because he would not hand over information about her. Her father spent two months in an Iranian prison where he was tortured. As a young Christian and human rights activist she has suffered prolonged persecution from the Iranian government and will be arrested and possibly executed if she is returned.
Nadia has shown immense courage and conviction in her Christian Faith and her belief in Human Rights. Her and her husband have been detained since their arrival in the UK and are currently being detained in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
Nadia and Bashir are under immense stress. Nadia’s physical and mental health are a serious concern. Nadia she is terrified. She is 14 weeks pregnant and at the stage during which miscarriages are most common. She has not had a full psychological assessment as recommended by health professionals; She is showing signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is unable to eat or sleep. Without a full psychological assessment there is no way of knowing the full state of Nadia’s mental health, and how the stress of the imminent removal will affect the health of her unborn child. She is not receiving any treatment.”
Strike Out The Cherry Libel.
Dave Osler’s long and protracted libel case may be struck out tomorrow.
Supporters, or those just curious, may wish to attend:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
COURT 13
Before MR JUSTICE EADY
Friday, 23rd April 2010
At half past 10
Jury List
PRE TRIAL REVIEW
& APPLICATION NOTICES
TLJ/09/0316 Kaschke v Osler
Dave has more.
The Lib Dem Baroness, Her Patronage And David Duke.
Baroness Tonge has many duties and is probably canvassing for the Liberal Democrats as I write, but one of her sidelines is as the patron of the Palestinian Telegraph.
She presumably agrees with much that it writes, even when it indulges in the Offal libel and openly pushes anti-Jewish racism.
She presumably even reads it once in a while?
So I wonder how will she react when she sees David Duke’s face on the front of the Palestinian Telegraph’s web site?
Will she condemn it? Or will she try to excuse it away?
I would hope that even Baroness Tonge is familiar with David Duke, neo-Nazi and onetime grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan?
Surely she would realise why it is a very bad idea for the Palestinians’ cause to be associated with such a despicable professional racist and arch antisemite.
What type of editorial process goes on in the Palestinian Telegraph which means it finds it acceptable to post a David Duke video ? Unbelievable. What racist filth.
[H/T: Michael Weiss]
Update 1: Just in case there is any doubt, here’s a screen shot:
David Duke at the Palestinian Telegraph.
Update 2: I wrote this tongue in cheek guide about 2 years ago, but it seems even more relevant nowadays.
For UCU Activists – How To Avoid Re-posting from Neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan or White Power Web Sites.
Update 3: A few years back Andy Newman did a rather good guide to Duke’s racism and why it must be opposed.
Malawi Prisoner Steven Monjeza Is Very Ill.
Peter Tatchell hightlight’s the plight of Steven Monjeza:
“Still not getting medical treatment – Needs hospital care
London – 19 April 2010
http://petertatchell.net/international/malawi-prisoner-steven-monjeza-is-very-ill.html
“Steven Monjeza remains very ill in the notorious Chichiri Prison in Blantyre, Malawi, according to people who have seen him in the last two days. I have been sent an appeal to get him medical help,” reports London-based human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell of OutRage!
“Mr Monjeza, who is on trial with his same-sex partner, Tiwonge Chimbalanga, has been sick for more than two weeks. He is vomiting, coughing and suffering from pain and pressure in his chest. His eyes are jaundiced. He is thin and weak, with barely enough energy to smile. People who saw him at the weekend are very worried about his condition,” added Mr Tatchell.
“He needs to be admitted hospital to undergo medical tests and receive treatment. He is not getting adequate care in prison.
“Although he has not been convicted of any offence, Steven has been held on remand in an overcrowded, fetid call for nearly four months, without proper food, sanitation or medical care.
“Together with Mr Chimbalanga, Steven is being prosecuted on charges of homosexuality. They were arrested after holding an engagement ceremony last December. Such a ceremony is not illegal in Malawi and there is no evidence that they have committed any criminal homosexual acts.
“This weekend I was sent another request to get Mr Monjeza transferred to hospital.
“At first sight, some of Steven’s symptoms seem like flu. But the prison authorities have discounted this possibility. They suspected that he had TB. Steven was sent for tests. But the TB tests have come back negative. The prison authorities would not have sent him to be tested for TB if his symptoms corresponded to flu.
“Prison officials are unable to determine Steven’s illness. Although they are unsure, they are not doing further medical tests.
“Even if Steven had only bronchitis or pleurisy, we should be concerned. These can develop into pneumonia, which can sometimes be fatal.
“Steven’s poor health is confirmed by his partner, Tiwonge Chimbalanga, who has also expressed concern about Steven’s condition.
“Both men have urged that Steven receives hospital treatment as soon as possible.
“My independent sources agree. They say Mr Monjeza needs to go to hospital for a full medical examination and treatment. His health is likely to deteriorate further unless he gets medical care.
“Mr Monjeza is being held in a small cell, with up to a dozen other men. There is not enough space to sleep comfortably.
“Toilet and washing facilities are deficient.
“Mr Monjeza receives only two prison meals a day. It is always the same maize porridge with beans, which has low nutritional value. The families of other prisoners bring them food to supplement their meagre rations. But Steven and Tiwonge’s families have abandoned them. The two men say they are getting little or no assistance, apart from occasional prison visits from straight Malawian sympathisers.
“Chichiri prison was built for 800 prisoners. It currently holds nearly 1,900 inmates.
“All the prisoners are suffering in the jail’s overcrowded, sub-standard conditions. Sickness is rife, with high rates of disease and infection. The prison needs reform and upgrading for the sake of all detainees.
See this report on prison conditions from the Malawi Medical Journal:
http://ajol.info/index.php/mmj/article/viewFile/10790/14408and here:
http://ajol.info/index.php/mmj/article/view/10937“Chichiri jail was one of the prisons used to incarcerate Malawian dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of the western-backed anti-communist dictator, Dr Hastings Banda, from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.
“Steven and Tiwonge are being held on remand. They have not been convicted of any offence. Yet they are being treated like criminals and imprisoned with hardened felons convicted of serious crimes. Although they have never been found guilty of any crime, they have already served almost four months in jail.
“Thankfully, most of the prison guards and other prisoners seem more enlightened and compassionate that some of Malawi’s political and religious leaders. Steven and Tiwonge are not suffering homophobic abuse or ill-treatment in prison. They have friends in prison.
“Requests by Mr Monjeza and Mr Chimbalanga for bail have been turned down repeatedly, even though people accused of violent assaults and murder have been granted bail. The denial of bail for a victimless alleged crime is very unusual. It looks like they are being singled out for special victimisation by the courts.
What you can do
“Please lobby your elected representative. Get him or her to press the government of Malawi to transfer Mr Monjeza to hospital and provide him with medical treatment. Thank you,” said Mr Tatchell.
See background to the case and details of the London protest in support of Steven and Tiwonge here, including a link to protest photos:
http://www.petertatchell.net/international/malawi-protest-in-london-free-steven-tiwonge.html “
ModernityBlog 