Human rights groups condemn proposal allowing officers to hold people for up to six months without informing relatives Chinese police will gain new legal powers to detain suspects for up to six months without telling their families where or why they are held, according to a state newspaper’s account of planned reforms. Human rights activists and legal scholars warned that the change would legitimise an alarming pattern of detentions under the residential surveillance law, which was initially intended as a less punitive measure than formal detention. Most of those who went missing in a crackdown on activists, dissidents and lawyers this year were taken to secret locations chosen by police. They were held for weeks or even months under residential surveillance. The law does not specify that relatives must be informed, presumably because it was assumed suspects would be held at their homes. In comparison, police must inform relatives within 24 hours of detention and must seek prosecutors’ approval for arrest within 30 days. The proposed changes are part of an overhaul of criminal procedure law now being considered by the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s legislature. “The proposed ‘reform’ is designed to legitimise this blatantly unfair, police state practice, while leaving the rest of the criminal procedure law as misleading decoration,” said Professor Jerome Cohen, an expert on China at New York University’s School of Law. He said he believed police were specifically banned from holding a suspect at an address other than his or her home under binding rules issued in 1996. Cohen added: “This is a perfect illustration of the dangers of revising the law in repressive times. The problem is that the police use each law revision round to legitimise their convenient practices and they ignore in practice the legislative and administrative reforms designed to bind them.” The draft text has not been published, but the Legal Daily newspaper reported that police would be able to hold suspects in state security, terrorism or major corruption cases at a “designated residence”, if holding them at home would impede the investigation. The decision would need to be approved by higher officials. In state security and terrorism cases the police would not have to notify the suspect’s family if they believed it might hinder the investigation – a criterion that scholars say is so vague as to be meaningless. Experts say residential surveillance has been misused in the past. But Dr Flora Sapio, of Turin’s Centre of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China, said its use against dissidents was a new phenomenon. Sapio, who has been logging proposed amendments , warned that if the change went ahead it would “entrench the powers of police much more formally” and make it harder to criticise disappearances. Joshua Rosenzweig, an independent human rights researcher in Hong Kong, cautioned that the changes were still at draft stage and might contain restrictions on the use of the measure, but said the change appeared to be “a dangerous legitimisation of a highly suspect practice”. Scholars have praised other amendments for improving protections for individuals, at least on paper. Changes include ruling out the use of confessions obtained through torture and granting the right to judicial review for mental health patients who are forcibly detained. Nicholas Bequelin, of Human Rights Watch, added: “If these are indeed the [residential surveillance] provisions, and they are adopted, it seems to be a trade-off for the public security bureau to sign off on the improvements in criminal procedure law. “There is in any case very little restraint on what the police can do in sensitive cases; what’s worrying is that this would be a tacit endorsement … It is a very dangerous precedent.” No one at the Ministry of Justice or the NPC was available for comment. China Human rights Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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In the wake of the riots David Cameron declared ‘all-out war’ on gangs. Now zero-tolerance policing is starting to reap rewards “Police! Stand still! Police!” Shortly after 6.30am on Friday, the dawn quiet of a cul-de-sac in Walthamstow was shattered by the arrival of Operation Connect officers at a nondescript terraced house with net curtains at the windows. With the might of a hardened steel enforcer ram, they broke open the door and piled into the house. The muffled tones of an angry man’s voice could be heard through the open door, and a neighbour looked on with world-weary indifference. “It’s not the first time,” said Dave, a 58-year-old who did not want to give his surname. “They’ve been here before.” Officers eventually emerged from the house with a 25-year-old man in handcuffs and a sweatshirt with the words “Smoke Homegrown” emblazoned beneath a large cannabis plant. In a storm of expletives, he gave the finger to the press as he was escorted to the van. Detective sergeant Andy Chandler, who was leading the raid, said the man had been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the supply of drugs and in money-laundering offences. The suspect, whose name was not released, had been targeted as part of Operation Connect, an initiative led by the Metropolitan police aimed at tackling a rise in gang violence in the capital. The project, which draws on successful anti-gang approaches taken by police in cities such as Boston, Massachusetts and Glasgow, has been running since the spring, with Waltham Forest to be used as a blueprint for other boroughs. But, after a summer in which gangs have returned to the headlines in a big way, interest in Connect is greater than ever. Speaking in the aftermath of the riots in English cities this month, David Cameron declared an “all-out war” on criminal gangs. They had been, he told MPs on another occasion, “at the heart of the protests and have been behind the co-ordinated attacks”. Out of the glare of the media and Westminster spotlight, however, Operation Connect has been progressing steadily in Waltham Forest, where a spasm of gang-related violence last summer, among other factors, encouraged the police to single out the borough for particular attention. Using information from a variety of sources – including previous convictions and community intelligence – police have built up a database, or “matrix”, of around 100 people they believe to be the most dangerous gang members in the borough. Ranging from their mid-teens to their early-30s, the individuals are given a rating indicating how dangerous they are thought to be. The next stage in the Connect process is for direct contact to be made with those people, either in person or in writing, and offer them the chance to “disengage” from gang life. This is a modified version of the “call ins” organised by the Boston Gun Project of the mid-1990s and, more recently, by Strathclyde police in Glasgow. But, while those cities held mass events for many gang members at a time, Scotland Yard believes a different approach is more suitable for London, where gangs are structured less hierarchically and such forums, it is felt, would be of limited use. For those who do agree to a “diversion” plan – and around 50 people have done so thus far in Waltham Forest – an array of support services is on offer, ranging from help with employment and substance abuse, to rehoming for members and their families who feel they need to move as a part of the rupture. In parallel with police efforts, Waltham Forest council runs its own gang prevention programme which, in the months since it was launched this year, has claimed many successes including getting one former gang member off the matrix and into work, and another into university outside London. However, sources say its future is uncertain: despite vocal support from Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary who will be joint head of the government’s so-called “gangs committee” and whose constituency includes Waltham Forest, there are concerns that cuts to government grants will make the council unable to follow through on all its targets in the long term. A council source said the situation was “very difficult”. For those gang members who reject the offer of engagement, however, the soft approach is ditched, and no-holds-barred enforcement kicks in. “It’s an Al Capone sort of approach,” said Chandler. “We will target them for their criminality.” That could be dealing in class A drugs or the non-payment of a TV licence. Detective Chief Inspector Tim Champion, from Operation Connect, said officers were justified in their pursuit of those gang members for the smallest of offences. “We would not be targeting them for no insurance if they weren’t a violent gang member,” he said. “We are there to reduce gang-related violence. We will do that by any lawful means. If that individual has been offered … a way out … and they’ve chosen not to do that, they’ve been given a very clear steer that we will target them.” For many in communities blighted by gang violence, the tough approach will be welcome. And there are already signs that Connect is having an impact in Waltham Forest: the latest figures show that, over the first three months of the project, knife crime fell by 5%, robbery by 13%, and gun crime by 25% compared with last year. But Scotland Yard is under no illusions that a big reduction in London gang violence will be anything other than long and fraught with difficulty. In areas such as Waltham Forest and Haringey, the next stage in Connect’s development, gang-related problems remain rife. Yesterday, another raid carried out in a semi-detached house in Leyton led to the arrest of one person, a 39-year-old Vietnamese man, on suspicion of cultivating cannabis in a factory spread over four rooms in the property. In one room, around 250 cannabis plants lay growing under heat lamps, while extractor fans and mothballs were used to lessen the pungent smell. In another, soil lay in a heap next to a pink dust-pan and brush. According to one estimate, the factory had the capacity to bring its owners an income of over £500,000 per year. Although the raid was not part of Connect, it was gang-related: a local officer said they suspected the Vietnamese man was being paid “peanuts” to work for a local street gang. In the area, several gangs have influence, most prominently the Beaumont Crew, which is understood to have several members on the Connect matrix, but also the Boundary Boys and the Drive & Marlow (DM). The officer said that certain features of the factory led him to believe it was being run by “a big gang with a lot of money”. Waltham Forest superintendent Adrian Hutchinson said tackling drug-related criminality was crucial to curbing gang-related violence. “Gangs need money for crime to survive and to grow, and one of the areas they [do that in] is drugs.” Despite the sustained intelligence gathering, some anti-gang work can still be hit and miss: local officers had originally raided the Leyton address expecting to find evidence tying local gang members to the riots. No such items were found. And, while the government is pointing the finger of blame at gangs, officers in the field would prefer to wait and see the evidence before concluding that such a link was justified. “Were there gang members involved [in the riots]? Without a doubt,” said Champion, saying it was “natural” that the riots had refocused attention on gang-busting efforts. “But you have to be very careful because until the actual statistics come out about how much of it was gang-related and how much of it was pure violence, we’re only speculating.” Crime UK riots Gangs Drugs Drugs trade Metropolitan police Communities Police London Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hurricane Irene threatens to plunge US east coast into major power blackout
August 26, 2011 No Comment
‘Storm of a lifetime’ puts up to 65m people in harm’s way as Obama urges Americans to take precautions The entire sweep of the US coast from North Carolina to New England was warned of widespread power outages and public transport shutdowns in the face of a hurricane of historic magnitude at the weekend. As hurricane Irene began to bear down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, bringing heavy rain and 9ft waves before its expected landfall early on Saturday, officials warned residents of some of the most densely populated parts of the country they could lose some of the essentials of modern life. The New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, told a press conference that the authorities would begin shutting down the subway system from Saturday – for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, officials warned of widespread power black-outs – potentially lasting for days or even weeks in rural areas – because of high winds from the hurricane. As many as 65 million people could be in harm’s way as hurricane Irene begins its slow crawl along the entire east coast. Irene was downgraded to a category two storm early on Friday, with 105mph winds, but authorities said repeatedly it would be folly for people on its path to think they were in the clear. As meteorologists warned them, for people on the east coast, this was the storm of their lifetimes. “All indications point to this being a historic hurricane,” Barack Obama said in a statement from Martha’s Vineyard. The island is also on hurricane watch and Obama was expected to cut short his holiday by a day. “If you are in the path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now,” he said. “Don’t wait, don’t delay.” If it follows its present trajectory, Irene will be the biggest storm to strike on the east coast since 2005, making its first landfall in North Carolina early on Saturday morning. The storm will then lumber up the coast, bringing high winds and flooding to Washington DC, Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Long Island, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts. The primary concern of meteorologists was the danger of storm surges – with 11ft high waves predicted in North Carolina. Parts of New Jersey and New York City were also at risk. Those threats were magnified by the extraordinary breadth of the storm system. Max Mayfield, a former director of the national hurricane centre, called a storm on such a scale his “greatest nightmare”. “This is going to be a real challenge … There’s going to be millions of people affected,” he told reporters. By mid-morning on Friday, the authorities were warning that time was running out for people to evacuate safely. They said the aftershocks of Hurricane Irene – power outages, downed trees, flooding – could be felt for days, weeks or longer. “It’s going to be a huge geographical area with lots of people affected,” Elizabeth McGovern, president of the Red Cross, told a press conference. “From a time perspective this could take weeks maybe even months to respond to.” The authorities also pleaded with people not to take comfort from the downgrading of the hurricane. Irene could still inflict severe damage well inland. “It does not mean that there will not be damages. It does not mean there will not be power outages,” Craig Fugate, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the press conference. Governors in every state from North Carolina to Massachusetts declared states of emergency. Mandatory evacuation orders were declared in low-lying and coastal areas most in harms’ way. “As governor of this state, I want to tell you: this hurricane is real. It is coming our way,” said North Carolina’s governor, Bev Perdue. Eleven counties in the state have made disaster preparations. Flights and trains were cancelled, and travellers warned they would face further delays and the possibility of blocked tunnels and bridges if they waited until Saturday to evacuate. Outdoor concerts were cancelled and major league baseballs games rescheduled. Students at several small colleges were told not to report to their dorm rooms. In Virginia, the US navy took 27 ships and submarines out of its Norfolk base and dispatched them to the north. Meanwhile, the air force shifted more than 70 aircraft from bases along the east coast to Ohio. In the northern Virginia suburbs around Washington DC, the authorities began distributing sandbags in the event of flooding and a storm surge from the Potomac river. Maryland’s governor, Martin O’Malley, warned residents in beach towns they could be forcibly removed by police if they ignored evacuation orders. “It is the height of selfishness not to evacuate,” he told CNN. Authorities in New York City cancelled construction permits for the weekend, and drew up evacuation plans for low-lying, costal areas of New York city including Coney Island in Brooklyn, Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan and parts of Staten Island, said the mayor, Mike Bloomberg. Bloomberg urged able-bodied people in low-lying areas to evacuate and said a decision about wider evacuations would be made Saturday morning. He said said officials had to “assume the worst, prepare for that and hope for the best”. The city evacuated a nursing home and residents were urged to stock up on groceries and flashlights and prepare for potential evacuations. The police commissioner Ray Kelly said rowing boats were being sent to police precincts in flood-prone areas. Forestry contractors have been hired to deal with fallen trees. The city is preparing to shut down its transit system as early as Saturday. Nursing homes in low-lying areas began evacuation residents on Friday/. Events including a concert by the Dave Matthews Band on Governors’ Island have been postponed, street fairs and other outdoor activities have been scrapped to clear the streets for emergency vehicles. In New Jersey, traffic helicopters showed pictures of long lines of cars streaming out of Atlantic City. Holidaymakers began leaving Fire Island, the 32-mile barrier island off the Atlantic coast of Long Island. A mandatory evacuation of barrier islands in Cape May county, New Jersey, began on Friday. New Jersey governor Chris Christie said wider evacuations were being considered. “If I order it, I expect it to be complied with,” he said. “Let me assure you, we are not overreacting.” Hurricane Irene Natural disasters and extreme weather Barack Obama Michael Bloomberg United States North Carolina Washington DC Pennsylvania New Jersey New York Massachusetts Dominic Rushe Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk
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Cambridge hospital and Department of Health accused of acting unlawfully by husband of woman who died The husband of a woman who died in one of Britain’s best-known hospitals is taking its management and the health secretary Andrew Lansley to court, alleging an illegal use of “do not resuscitate” orders. David Tracey claims doctors at Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge , twice put such orders in his wife’s medical notes, cancelling the first after she objected to it only to put in a second three days later without her consent or any discussion with her. Tracey alleges the hospital’s actions deprived his 63-year-old wife Janet of the right to life and subjected her to degrading treatment, while he was denied respect for his personal and family life. He is also seeking to force the coalition government to draw up a policy for England on the use of Do Not Attempt Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) instructions, and claims the present system of local policies is open to abuse. The case is likely to ignite a public debate over whether patients should have the final choice over their life and death, or whether doctors ultimately “know best” on when such treatment might be futile. Thousands of “do not resuscitate” instructions are added to medical notes each year. There is UK-wide guidance for health professionals, but the NHS in England leaves official policy to local health trusts, although there are moves at regional level to harmonise approaches. Scotland has a countrywide policy. Solicitors have lodged a claim for David Tracey and the estate of his wife Janet, the manager of Trent Lodge care home for older people in Enfield, north London, with the high court, alleging breaches of the 1998 Human Rights Act. It wants a judicial review of the actions of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS trust which is responsible for Addenbrooke’s, and the Department of Health, both of which deny they have acted unlawfully. In February Janet Tracey, who had four daughters and seven grandchildren and had recently been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, was admitted to Addenbrooke’s after breaking her neck in a car accident. She died 16 days later. Her husband alleges the trust acted illegally by not having an appropriate policy on resuscitation decisions – and that the health secretary had not issued any “clear policy or guidance” which told patients and their families of their “rights and legitimate expectations”. David Tracey claims the lack of a standard policy is liable to create a system that is “arbitrary, variable between hospitals and open to abuse” – and, in the case of his wife, failed to offer “a minimum degree of protection” of her human rights. Tracey said: “My wife cared for the elderly all her life and her treatment at Addenbrooke’s caused unnecessary suffering to her, our daughters and me. She would have taken great pride in seeking a change to the system which would mean future patients and their families are not forced to endure the same experience.” Alison Noeland, one of her daughters, said: “We believe mum’s experience is a consequence of the lack of clear policy on decisions relating to end-of-life care. A clear and national policy is needed. It should not be the case that there is a different policy from area to area. This just does not make sense.” Noeland and her sister, Kate Masters, have also made formal complaints to the hospital. But the hospital has told them it will not respond to these until the legal action is concluded. Tracey’s solicitor Merry Varney, of Leigh Day & Co, said: “The use of DNACPR orders are widespread, yet patients and their families seem often to be unaware of the decision-making procedures, the meaning of the term and even their use. “The fact that under current policy, treatment with the potential to sustain life can be withheld without the consent or knowledge of a fully capacitated patient raises real risks of gross violations of an individual’s basic human rights, and appears perverse considering the current law regarding assisted suicide and the right to die. “Janet’s medical notes clearly stated that prior to her death she was unaware of the DNACPR on her file, which reinforces that the current system is open to abuse and can disregard patient choice. We hope to bring an end to this and seek coherent national guidance giving full information on a patient’s right to choose and be informed, and what to do if a dispute arises.” Addenbrooke’s hospital told the Guardian: “We do not agree with the account given by the family, but we cannot debate the issues involved because we are subject to ongoing judicial review proceedings. “Our clinicians followed the DNACPR policy, which remains in place.” The hospital sent the Guardian a copy of its policy, but said it did not have a patient information leaflet. The Department of Health said in a statement: “Decisions on Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation must be clinically appropriate for the individual involved, weighing up the possible benefits of CPR against any burdens or risks associated with the treatment. “Because clinical judgement is so important in these decisions, it’s our view that guidance provided by a responsible body of professional opinion, based on direct experience of the complexity and sensitivity of these circumstances, is more appropriate than the setting of national guidance by the department.” NHS Andrew Lansley Health policy Health James Meikle guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lawyers warn illegal immigrants against turning themselves in on false amnesty rumors
August 26, 2011 No CommentLawyers are warning illegal immigrants not to turn themselves in to the federal government in the hopes of benefiting from the Obama administration’s plan to dismiss certain deportation cases. “We were getting a lot of reports of people thinking that a new amnesty had just been declared,” Crystal Williams, the president of the American Immigration
Continue reading …A California state Senate panel has approved a measure that would allow illegal immigrant college students to receive public aid. The panel’s approval of the bill, the second part of a pair of bills known as the California Dream Act, means the measure will head to the full Senate and…
Continue reading …Now that Steve Jobs isn’t running a rival company, Mark Zuckerberg is totally into him. He showed his love for the former Apple CEO by “liking” him on Facebook, the Daily Intel reports. How much does he like Jobs? About as much as he likes In-N-Out Burger, according to his…
Continue reading …The man who brought you “Zenga Zenga” has a new music video, and this time it’s a Libyan rebel on the mic. Israeli musician and journalist Noy Alooshe autotuned a Sky News interview with a fighter who said he swiped Moammar Gadhafi’s famous military headgear from the leader’s compound in…
Continue reading …Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced today he would resign after almost 15 months in office amid plunging approval ratings over his government’s handling of the tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis. In a nationally televised speech, Kan said he was stepping down as chief of the ruling Democratic Party of…
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Former IMF chief and onetime saviour of the left will not get a warm welcome at party conference on return from US As the French Socialist party gathered for its conference on La Rochelle waterfront, the souvenir postcard stand still featured a pile of black-and-white portraits of a grinning Dominique Strauss-Kahn. But delegates seemed to be avoiding them. Days after a New York prosecutor dropped all the charges against Strauss-Kahn for allegedly attempting to rape an immigrant hotel maid, the one-time saviour of the French left remained far from welcome among his own party’s grassroots. “I’m terrified he’ll turn up here,” whispered a 50-year-old regional councillor from rural south-west France, who did not want to be named. “If he wants the party to win next year’s presidential election, he’ll stay well away,” she added. “This whole Strauss-Kahn affair is far from over. Politically, he’s fried. I don’t know how he could come back knowing what we now know about his behaviour. Whatever the truth about these allegations, the whole party was blackened by this saga, its credibility was put on the line.” Only three months ago, Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and a former French finance minister, was tipped to beat Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election in 2012. His hopes of being nominated as the Socialist’s candidate next year are now utterly dead. But released from bail, Strauss-Kahn has said he is desperate to return to France and “normal life” as soon as possible. He has been given back his passport and this weekend flies to Washington, where his millionaire TV journalist wife will put their townhouse on the market before, as expected, they return to Paris in around a week. First, Strauss-Kahn is expected to visit the IMF to say goodbye to his former staff. He had also considered speaking out about his views on the global financial crisis to claw back his economic prestige, but all this has been postponed to avoid overshadowing the Socialists’ conference. Strauss-Kahn has also promised to publicly explain himself to the French, but whether this will happen remains uncertain. Any account of events that took place in the Sofitel hotel room on 14 May would be difficult, given the public outrage about aspects of his private life. The French feminist backlash has not abated, and many continue to question how a nine-minute encounter in a hotel room between two complete strangers, a powerful man and a poor hotel worker, could have been consensual. Strauss-Kahn will not have an easy landing in France. A poll on Friday found 80% of people do not want him to play any role in the Socialist primary race to choose a presidential candidate. If the party elite confidently rushed to proclaim their joy and relief after the New York case was dropped this week, it illustrated how far they are from public feeling. French voters are sceptical over the confusing and unresolved affair. Strauss-Kahn’s private life and treatment of women has been pored over, his reputation tarnished. The French justice system also continues to investigate a complaint by the writer Tristane Banon, who said Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during a 2003 interview. A court in the Bronx in New York is still to examine a civil case for damages by the hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo. Her lawyers have now also filed a complaint in France alleging that an official in Sarcelles, where Strauss-Kahn was once mayor, attempted to bribe one of their witnesses. They said a French woman contacted them with evidence about Strauss-Kahn’s behaviour to support their case. Her family was then contacted by an official close to Strauss-Kahn’s camp who asked “how much” she wanted to keep quiet. An inquiry for witness bribery was opened in France this week. Amid this backdrop, Socialist party activists in La Rochelle were jittery about what role Strauss-Kahn might try to play in the open primary race. The vote will take place in early October and the frontrunners, two former party leaders, François Hollande and Martine Aubry, are currently trying not to live up to the cut-throat war of personal attacks the party is famous for. Socialists fear any public comments or position taking by Strauss-Kahn will alienate voters, particularly women, and bring a new round of ego battles that the party is trying to calm. Jean Lemarié, a former France Telecom worker, Normandy councillor and party activist for 30 years said: “Judicially and politically, Strauss-Kahn can’t come back. All that we’ve learnt about his personality and behaviour these past three months, party activists and the party don’t like that. But he could play a role as an adviser behind the scenes, or even publicly.” “He’s dead, politically,” lamented one 61-year-old socialist activist who said it was a “big loss” for the party. “Finally, we had found someone who could present a moderate-left programme without scaring the right. Someone who could win. But he can’t make a come back politically before the civil case is over.” “If he had been found innocent by a jury, things would be easier,” said another activist of the prosecutors’ decision to drop charges based on doubts over the credibility of the hotel maid. “What we point out is that he has not actually been cleared by a court, the charges have been dropped on a technicality,” said Patricia Perennes, an economist and activist who was at the La Rochelle stand for the feminist group Osez Le Féminisme. But Gerard Tourette, a former post office worker and activist in Averyon, was banking on French voters’ short memories, claiming that perhaps not now but in a few years, Strauss-Kahn could be back. “We’ll need him as an adviser in the primary race. His expertise will be useful. But I don’t want him to speak publicly, everything that’s happened means he’ll have to stay in the shadows. In the future, I could see him as a minister, or senator, even head of the senate.” Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe Nicolas Sarkozy IMF Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk
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