From: statewatch [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 February 2003 08:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Statewatch news, 5 February
Statewatch, 5 February 2003
Contents of this message
1. Statewatch News Online review, January-February
2. News in brief
3. Statewatch bulletin vol 12 no 6
ITALY: INTERIOR MINISTER LINKS TERRORISM AND ACTIVISTS
- "widespread political illegality":
The Italian Interior Minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, appeared in parliament on
27 January 2003 to answer questions on the threat of terrorism with a
detailed report in which he warned of a growing climate of "widespread
political illegality" which must be monitored and combated. The Minister
mixed together Islamic terrorist groups, endogenous left-wing armed groups,
anarchist insurrectionaries in general, and right-wing groups, as part of a
common threat. Thus anarchist insurrectionaries are a "vast armed group"
(terrorist organisation) in spite of "a lack of strategic leadership and
hierarchical organisation"; although there is "a lack of evidence of
interaction between Islamic groups and endogenous subversive organisations"
investigators are following this line of inquiry due to contacts between
people in prison from Maghreb countries and the far-left; likewise,
"widespread political illegality ... does not result in terrorist actions",
but it must be monitored and combated because it is "undoubtedly" dangerous.
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/feb/02italy.htm>
EUROPEAN DIGITAL RIGHTS (EDRI) LAUNCH NEWSLETTER
European Digitial Rights (EDRI) have launched about freedom, rights and
rules in the information society in Europe. EDRI-gram is produced by
members of European Digital Rights and will appear every 2 weeks. The first
issue includes: Implementing the European Copyright Directive, European
Parliament members rally against mandatory data-retention, Update from the
United Kingdom: Identity Card, Action against governmental censorship in
Germany.
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/feb/01edri.htm>
FRANCE: OUTRAGE OVER DEATHS OF MIGRANTS BEING DEPORTED
"PARIS (AFP) Three French police officers have been suspended after the
death of a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Somalia who lost
consciousness while being deported last week, the police service said
Wednesday. The three, all stationed at Paris's Roissy-Charles de Gaulle
airport, were relieved of their functions Tuesday, the service said in a
statement. They had been assigned to deport the Somali, identified as Getu
Hagos Mariame, on a flight last Thursday to South Africa. Mariame fell
unconscious during the process and was taken to a Paris hospital, where he
died Saturday. An autopsy was being performed to determine the cause of
death. The French police have come under increasing scrutiny after a number
of incidents involving deportees..." (Agence France Presse, 22 January
2003).
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/10fran2.htm>
SPAIN: CEAR LAWYER DETAINED FOR ASSISTING IRAQI REFUGEES
Francisco Jiménez, a lawyer from the Spanish Commission for Assistance to
Refugees (CEAR), was detained after providing legal assistance on 29
December 2002 to three Iraqi stowaways on the Candelaria B, a boat that was
anchored opposite Valencia port, leading to the submission of their asylum
applications. The CEAR issued a press statement condemning the detention,
and alleges that this is not an isolated incident because "during the last
few years, complaints have been made to several bodies (Ombudsman, UN Human
Rights Commission in Geneva) about the practice by Spanish authorities in
relation to asylum seekers, with a trend towards the denial of immediate
legal assistance to stowaways who are detected along its coast."
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/08spain.htm>
FRANCE: ARGENTINE MIGRANT DIES DURING DEPORTATION
On the evening of 30 December 2002 a 52-year-old Argentinian, Ricardo
Barrientos, died during an attempt to deport him from Paris Roissy airport
on flight Air France 416 heading for Buenos Aires. Barrientos was an
undocumented migrant due for expulsion after serving a prison sentence, and
was escorted onto the flight by two police officers. He was sat down in the
last row, with handcuffs on, before the other passengers embarked, and was
held down "bent in two" by the officers, who leaned on his shoulder blades
to keep him in this position. After struggling briefly, he died and was
taken to the front of the aeroplane "like a sack of potatoes", according to
witnesses, and a passenger who was also a doctor certified his death. The
subsequent autopsy found that Barrientos died of a heart attack. According
to the Association nationale d´assistance aux frontiers pour les étrangers
(Anafé, National Association for assistance to foreigners at borders): "Mr.
Barrientos was taken on board in a muscular way, and kept bent down in two
with firmness by the two police officers escorting him. This was when he
died."
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/04fran.htm>
NETHERLANDS: ID CHECKS TO BE INTRODUCED
In future police will be authorized to require anyone in the Netherlands
older than 12 to show proof of his or her identity. Failure to do so can
result in a prison sentence of up to two months or a fine of up to 2,250
Euro. Police will be given powers to request proof of identity for the
purpose of carrying out all their regular tasks, specifically the
investigation of criminal offences, maintenance of public order, and
providing assistance. Those responsible for carrying out administrative
supervision will also be given the same powers, in order to improve law
enforcement.
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/05neths.htm>
DIAMANDOUROS WINS EUROPEAN OMBUDSMAN ELECTION
The new European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, was elected by 294 to
215 votes over the runner up, UK Conservative MEP, Roy Perry. He will take
over from Mr Soderman on 1 April 2003. Mr. Diamandouros is currently the
National Ombudsman of Greece, having been appointed Greece's first National
Ombudsman in 1998.
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/07omb.htm>
EUROPE: ANALYSIS - DEATHS DURING FORCED DEPORTATION
Case details of nine deaths during forced deportations in Switzerland,
Germany, Belgium, Hungary, France, Austria and the UK (IRR News Service).
Iimmigrants and asylum seekers subjected to arrest, detention and forced
expulsion or deportation are frequently denied basic dignity - they are
often removed without time to put their affairs in order or say goodbye to
friends or sometimes family; they are sometimes physically manhandled,
sometimes shackled, sometimes illegally sedated - and occasionally, killed.
See: <http://www.irr.org.uk/2003/january/ak000003.html>
FRANCE: MALIAN TV CREW PROTEST DEPORTATION SCUFFLE
"PARIS (AFP) French police defended themselves Tuesday over an incident in
which they detained a television news crew from the west African state of
Mali and erased part of their camera tape after being filmed manhandling
two Malian illegal immigrants. The national police service issued its
statement a week after the December 30 scene on an Air France plane about
to leave Paris for the Malian capital Bamako carrying four officers
escorting the two immigrants being deported. The officers were roughly
holding down the immigrants when they realised they were being recorded by
a camera crew from Malian national television that happened to be
accompanying Malian textile specialists on board. The two African
journalists were quickly detained and their camera tape confiscated. A
French student who allegedly insulted the officers was also arrested, at
which point the plane's pilot ordered all of them off the aircraft".
(Agence France Presse, January 7, 2003)
See: <http://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/jan/03malia.htm>
STATEWATCH NEWS ONLINE - NEWS IN BRIEF
See <http://www.statewatch.org/news/Newsinbrief.htm>
* EU: Full text of Consolidated EU Treaty incorporating the Nice Treaty
which entered into force on 3 February 2003.
* EU: Joint sea patrols mounted in Med by Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and
UK
* UK: All Party Parliamentary Committee rejects data retention: Report from
All Party Internet Group
* UK: New Labour and new authoritarianism in criminal justice, by Lee
Bridges, Chair of the School of Law at Warwick University, comments on the
government's new Criminal Justice Bill
For full contents of the latest Statewatch bulletin, see:
<http://www.statewatch.org/swbul.html>
To have your e-mail address removed from this list, or to subscribe to it,
just e-mail us at <[log in to unmask]> and let us know.
Statewatch, PO Box 1516, London N16 0EW
************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
*************************************************************************************
|