Cries of the innocent

The arrest of fugitive Bella Ruby Santos, suspect in the killing of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last week, couldn’t have been more timely.

Oct. 8, the day of Santos’ arrest, was the eighth month since Ellah was found dead off a cliff in Barili, and October is National Children’s Month.

This celebration was enacted through Presidential Proclamation No. 267 by Fidel Ramos in 1993. The theme for this year’s children’s month is “Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) for a Bright Child: Let’s Activate, Strengthen and Help It.”

Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006 provides for the organization and strengthening of the LCPC in every city and town in the country.

Now more than ever, citizens should bring pressure to bear on the LCPC in their locality, if one exists at all, considering the tragedies that have befallen Cebuano children.

The kidnap and grisly murder of Ellah of Minglanilla town wasn’t the only incident that claimed the life of a little one this year.

Tabuelan town’s Lara Mae Concodes, 6, was killed last May by her own uncle, who confessed to the crime saying that he was trying to stop Lara from turning into a manananggal.

Mandaue City’s Cort Cabucos, 7, drowned last May in a muddy creek that swelled during a heavy downpour.

Mandaue City’s Kate Arianne Chu Flores, 5, died last August after allegedly suffering unrelenting physical abuse in the hands of her stepmother.

Mandaue City’s Gabriel Morales, 7, was allegedly killed by his mother’s live-in partner. Gabriel’s corpse was found buried in the suspect’s toilet.

Barili town’s Ramsel Halos, 13, was found hanging lifeless from a mango tree in Maghanoy Elementary School. He was allegedly despondent over personal matters.

For an island whose central locality has been named an Asean City of Culture, Cebu doesn’t look like a safe place for children—our future—without whom any talk of flourishing culture is cheap.

Children’s month would be an opportune time for Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and the mayors to give the public an update about the the state of the LCPCs in Cebu’s towns and cities.

Had these child protection councils been activated—the children’s month theme seems to suggest they haven’t been—perhaps we wouldn’t have had to read about the tragic nipping of budding lives. Perhaps the state in its parens patriae role would have done more to educate parents and guardians about child rearing, school officials about intervention for depressed children, communities about watching against kidnappers and creating safe places for children to pray in.

Until the LCPCs are fully functioning to protect and promote the welfare of our children, we are a City of Culture on the wane, and as a Galilean Master would have it, we despise little ones to whom heaven belongs.

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Source http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/73601/cries-of-the-innocent

The most innocent in society are using their voices to spread a message of peace

The children of the Boys and Girls Club of the Suncoast are young, only five to eighteen years old. But the lyrics of a song they are performing and helped write, describe a pain no one should feel at any age.

One of the kids, Alexis Feacher said, "It captured a moment on what happened to the fallen officers."

Alexis was one of sixty kids who performed the song "Let's Get Together."

The idea for it came after three police officers were killed in the line of duty of this year. Another child, Kiara Rivera said they were haunted by it.

"When this happened, I was surprised like who would really kill an officer," Kiara said.

The group got together to talk. The resident artist, named "LX" had an idea. He went into another room that had a piano.

"I started to write a song," LX said. "I used the kids' words, the emotions they were feeling."

"Lets Get Together" came together. LX, recruited producers and writers from New York. He also involved Big Three Records, a local studio, and a video was created.

Now available on iTunes, 100 percent of the proceeds benefit the families of Officers Jeffrey Yaslowitz, Thomas Baitinger and David Crawford all killed in the line of duty.

"It is empowering because it provides a platform as well as an opportunity for them to voice their feelings and emotions about you know all of this happenings that are going on that are not so healthy for our community," LX said.

Alexis and his friends hope their voices will help heal and maybe, just maybe, send a message at the same time.

"Let's get together and keep peace and harmony so we don't have a bad city. So we don't have to have gun shots everywhere," said Alexis.

Source http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_south_pinellas/st_petersburg/the-most-innocent-in-society-are-using-their-voices-to-spread-a-message-of-peace

Entrapping Innocent Muslims

A recent New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) report is titled, "Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the 'Homegrown Threat' in the United States."

Post-9/11, Muslims have been ruthlessly targeted. Paid informants have infested mosques and their communities to entrap them. As a result, over 200 were persecuted on bogus terrorism related charges. Despite "tout(ing) these cases as successes in the so-called war against terrorism....former (FBI) agents, local lawmakers," and many others "have begun questioning the legitimacy and efficacy" of entrapping innocent victims for political advantage.

CHRGJ discussed several high-profile cases, using well-paid informants often performing services in return for reduced charges or sentences they face, a powerful incentive to cooperate.

Nearly always, Washington invents plots foiled in the nick of time, entrapping innocent victims with no intent to commit crimes. America's media headline them. The public feels safer with no idea they've been scammed or that blameless citizens and residents are falsely charged.

In fact, calling Muslims "potential threats" or "homegrown terrorists" violates core constitutional freedom

Source http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/19/18682294.php

IDF to open probe after every W. Bank civilian death

Some officers warn that commanders will have operational freedom restricted as part of policy change regarding innocent Palestinian deaths.

In a bid to minimize criticism of IDF actions in the West Bank, Military Advocate- General Maj.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit announced on Wednesday that the Military Police will immediately open criminal investigations into the deaths of allegedly innocent Palestinians.

The new policy was presented to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It changes the guidelines that had been in place since 2000, under which Military Police investigations were only launched after operational probes, conducted by field commanders, uncovered alleged wrongdoing or negligence.

Under the new policy, a criminal investigation will be opened immediately after an innocent Palestinian is killed by the IDF, except in cases involving an exchange of fire. For this reason, the new policy does not apply to the Gaza Strip.

Mandelblit began a review of the old policy under then-chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and the new policy was approved by his successor, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.

The IDF will present the new policy to the Turkel Commission that was set up to investigate the IDF operation to stop the Gaza protest flotilla last year but is also conducting a review of the military legal process.

Mandelblit’s decision to change the policy is a result of the lull in terrorism in the West Bank, where there are currently no combat operations, unlike in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, though, such Palestinian deaths are rare.

Mandelblit has reserved the right to reverse the decision if hostilities escalate in the West Bank.

Mandelblit’s decision met with mixed reactions throughout the IDF.

Some officers said that it was sign of how the military was becoming more “legalized” and that such a move could limit commanders’ operational freedom.

On the other hand, officers said they understood the decision as being part of the military’s efforts to prove to the world that it can be trusted to investigate itself.

This was a central Israeli claim against the Goldstone Report, which was recently reinforced by the Davis Committee set up to evaluate Israeli investigations following Operation Cast Lead. The Davis Committee concluded that Israel was responsibly investigating allegations of misconduct, albeit a bit slowly, leading Judge Richard Goldstone to publish his retraction in The Washington Post last Friday.

B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, welcomed Mandelblit’s decision on Wednesday.

At the same time, the organizations said that the policy change was insufficient to uphold Israel’s obligations regarding accountability.

“The MAG’s [military advocate- general’s] announcement indicates that the policy change is dependent on the security circumstances.

This means that renewed security tension could lead to the policy’s reversal and a return to the situation in place over the past 10 years, in which the vast majority of civilian deaths were never investigated,” the organizations said in a statement.

Source http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=215432

Former HS Coach Accused Of Rape Faces Judge

A former Hennessey basketball coach accused of raping a Hennessey student pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape before a district judge Monday.

Ben Davis Forsythe, 32, is charged with second-degree rape. Forsythe is accused of having sex with one of his students.

Forsythe walked quietly into court alongside his wife, family and lawyer, and said he is not giving up the fight.

"Well, he (Forsythe) feels like he's being accused of something he didn't do," defense attorney David Slane said.

Slane said he will file a motion this month arguing the constitutionality of the case, because he believes his client is innocent; and even if he's not, the girl he's accused of having sex with was 18 years old.

"While we don't agree that it happened, she was 18 at the time. And even if we agree that it happened, it shouldn't be a crime," Slane said.

During a preliminary hearing, a student testified to having sex on several occasions with Forsythe. The student was 18 at the time and on the coach's basketball team.

Forsythe was arrested in December after police said a student claimed she had a relationship with Forsythe from November 2009 through May 2010 while attending Hennessey High School.

The girl claims that when she wanted the relationship to end, Forsythe threatened her position on the team.

"While you don't have all the information, we know this young woman has given different stories to teachers, her mother and friends, so there'll be a day when all will come out. We don't have anything to hide," Slane said.

According to Oklahoma statues, a teacher is not allowed to have sex with a student, no matter the student's age, and it doesn't matter if they consent.

Slane said that Forsythe has been hired by a different school district and is working as a teacher again.

"He's (Forsythe) still working as a school teacher and a coach, so obviously, another school district has certainly felt he is not a threat," Slane said.

Slane said a jury trial will be scheduled May 11.

Source http://www.koco.com/news/27345174/detail.html

Illinois governor abolishes death penalty

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn abolished the death penalty Wednesday, more than a decade after the state imposed a moratorium on executions out of concern that innocent people could be put to death by a justice system that had wrongly condemned 13 men.

Quinn also commuted the sentences of all 15 inmates remaining on Illinois' death row. They will now serve life in prison with no hope of parole.

State lawmakers voted in January to abandon capital punishment, and Quinn spent two months reflecting on the issue, speaking with prosecutors, crime victims' families, death penalty opponents and religious leaders. He called it the "most difficult decision" he has made as governor.

"We have found over and over again: Mistakes have been made. Innocent people have been freed. It's not possible to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system," Quinn said.

Prosecutors and some victims' families had urged Quinn to veto the legislation.

The governor offered words of consolation to those who had lost loved ones to violence, saying that the "family of Illinois" was with them. He said he understands victims will never be healed.

Illinois' moratorium goes back to 2000, when then-Republican Gov. George Ryan made international headlines by suspending executions. Ryan acted after years of growing doubts about the state's capital-punishment system, which was famously called into question in the 1990s, after courts concluded that 13 men had been wrongly condemned.

Shortly before leaving office in 2003, Ryan also cleared death row, commuting the sentences of 167 inmates to life in prison. Illinois' last execution was in 1999.

When the new law takes effect July 1, Illinois will join 15 other states that have done away with executions.

New Mexico had been the most recent state to repeal the death penalty, doing so in 2009, although new Republican Gov. Susana Martinez wants to reinstate it.

Quinn consulted with retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and met with Sister Helen Prejean, the inspiration for the movie "Dead Man Walking."

A Chicago woman whose teenage son was gunned down in 2006 said she was disappointed in Quinn's decision — a move, she said, that victims' relatives tried to talk him out of a few weeks ago.

Pam Bosley said nobody is in custody in her son's death, but whoever killed him does not deserve to live.

"I don't want them to breathe the air that I breathe," said Bosley, whose 18-year-old son, Terrell Bosley, was killed in front of a church on Chicago's South Side.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan appealed directly to Quinn to veto the bill, as did several county prosecutors and victims' families. They said safeguards, including videotaped interrogations and easier access to DNA evidence, were in place to prevent innocent people from being wrongly executed.

But death penalty opponents argued that there was still no guarantee that an innocent person couldn't be put to death. Quinn's own lieutenant governor, Sheila Simon, a former southern Illinois prosecutor, asked him to abolish capital punishment.

Twelve men have been executed in Illinois since 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated. The last was Andrew Kokoraleis on March 17, 1999. At the time, the average length of stay on death row for the dozen men was 13 years.

Kokoraleis, convicted of mutilating and murdering a 21-year-old woman, was put to death by lethal injection.

Source http://www.sify.com/news/illinois-governor-abolishes-death-penalty-news-international-ldkhauajaif.html

Raymond Davis case: Pakistani law holds sway over Vienna Convention

The Raymond Davis killings have forced the increasingly uneasy Pakistan-US relations into another tight corner. The ruthless killing of three Pakistanis followed by the heart wrenching suicide of the 18-year-old Shumaila, the desperate widow of one of the victims, has transformed a macabre tragedy into a test of national resolve and the right of Pakistani’s to life. If mishandled, this crisis harbours the serious potential of proving a catalyst for major unsettling developments within Pakistan. That the majority of Pakistanis love to hate Americans is a proven sombre statistic and Shumaila’s needless death is bound to further inflame passions. In her last and widely televised statement before death, the young woman said that she was frustrated by the total absence of any meaningful action against the arrested American and all she wanted was justice for the wanton killing of her husband. Her death could easily transform this matter of the State Vs Raymond Davis into that of people Vs the State. According to available details, what really stands between Raymond Davis and his deserved conviction is any lateral diplomatic immunity extended by a browbeaten Pakistani government. The critical issue which arises now is: Can Raymond walk away with murder on the crutches of the much touted Vienna Convention?

The understandable emotional outburst of the people notwithstanding, the situation warrants a dispassionate view of the rights of the Pakistani citizens enshrined in the Article 9 of the Constitution of Pakistan. The Article states that, “No person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law”. Bringing the solemn state guarantee to protect the life and liberty of all citizen of Pakistan, in a non-discriminatory fashion. This also means that it is the duty of the state to protect the ‘innocent’.

As the case, details of the State Versus Raymond Davis unfold, they beg the question as to what are the legal implications of the case? The case is about the murder of three innocent Pakistanis at the hand of the so-called diplomat, whose diplomatic credentials are still to be established and proved. The central questions are whether one ‘diplomat’ while in a country on a visit visa, can be considered a diplomat? and whether the Vienna Convention grants a carte blanch to do anything to anyone deemed to be a diplomat? These are the questions of law for the courts to decide. It may be pointed out however that given the fact that the Pakistani diplomatic and consular privileges Act 1972 is already in place, the legal outcome will be shaped by the statutes of the domestic law, which enshrines the convention and not vice versa.

According to the domestic law, the accused now stands liable for four murders, two by the extra-judicial and terrorist activity carried out by direct fire in a public place by the accused and the other two dying as an indirect consequence of the same event. The legal basis for this are rooted in Article 41 of the Act which states that the diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state except ‘in the case of grave crime and pursuant to the decision of competent judicial authority’.

This article clearly establishes the writ of the Pakistani judicial process and courts on the matter at hand. Furthermore, Article 43 of same Act states that immunity from jurisdiction is exempted in a case of civil action, arising out of damage caused by a third party from ‘an accident in the receiving state caused by the vehicle, vessel or aircraft.’ In addition, Article 45 sub- article 4 clearly protects judicial process in the receiving state. This when seen with the much trumpeted Article 37 of the Act states that the privileges given to the diplomatic agent, in this case the administrative and technical staff, will not be exempt from the civil and administrative jurisdiction of the receiving state specified in Paragraph-1 of Article 31 shall not extend to acts performed outside the course of their duties or consular functions.

In short, the domestic law clearly places the criminal act carried out by Mr Raymond Davis as a crime, punishable under local law, making the case of diplomatic and non-diplomatic status, as irrelevant to the current ongoing judicial process.

The issue which is of great concern and surprise, is the illegal possession of a weapon carried out by the accused, punishable under the provisions of the Arms Ordinance of 1965, taking law into his own hand to punish others, an act punishable under section 7 of anti terrorism act 1997; intentional murder of two innocent persons, punishable under section 302 of Pakistan penal code and the murder of the third innocent person by the rash and negligent driving of Mr Davis’s co-accused, who is still an absconder, punishable under Section 279 and 320 of Pakistan Penal Code. This would further complicate the role of the consulate itself, which is harbouring an absconding accused, just to save his skin from punishment, which is also punishable under Section 216 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Last but not least, the latest crime in the sting of the innocent murders, is the death of the victim’s wife Ms Shumaila through committing suicide; considering herself as helpless and in despair on the US insistent to release the accused, clearly constitutes an offence of committing Qatal Bis Sabab punishable under Section 322 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Therefore, the matter is not that of Davis being a diplomat or not but of committing a string of heinous crimes against innocent people, and violating the basic human rights of the people of Pakistan as protected under Article 8 to 28 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The obedience to the constitution and law as under Article 5 sub article 2 of the Constitution is the inviolable obligation of every citizen where ever he may be, and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan.

The stance taken by the accused of self defence will hardly be helpful or beneficial to him having been exceeding the authority and it is yet to be proved as to whether, there was any attempt or any action by the deceased persons on the accused, requiring and justifying such extreme forceful action. The scene does not support the questioned action of the accused in any manner whatsoever nor the act of indiscriminate firing upon both the deceased persons could be defended easily. The entire burden is now upon the accused to establish his legal (diplomatic or non-diplomatic) status in the Country; the purpose and the nature of his activity and the presence at that very place; justification to keep an illegal weapon; self defence; taking photographs of deceased; escape from the venue; threatening and harassing the traffic wardens and inviting another vehicle to come rashly and cause death of another innocent person.

Of course, it is a very heavy burden upon his shoulders to answer such legal questions. It cannot be overlooked that the material recovered from his possession during the course of investigation has made him highly suspicious. It is not easy to answer why he was having such material and the information which ostensibly did not fit with his stated official duties. The public sentiments on the occurrence are natural and understandable. It is the duty of the Government to investigate the case deeply without getting pressurised or harassed from any side because now the nation is very vigilant and highly concerned.

The simple fact is that Raymond Davis is not a diplomat, period. And even if he were, under the Pakistani law which takes precedence over the Vienna Convention, he does not get to walk away without standing trial for the cold blooded murders. Any leniency towards the accused, for any reason whatsoever, shall surely sire a volatile public reaction. Foreign relations must be based upon equality and sovereignty, and not built on the deaths of innocent citizens.

Source http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=30251&Cat=2&dt=2/9/2011