Showing posts with label United Nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Nations. Show all posts

Friday, March 25, 2011

Members of Congress Question Administration’s Libya Policy, Call for Congressional Hearings and Debate



On Wednesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), in a letter to President Barack Obama, called on the administration to “provide the American people and Congress a clear and robust assessment of the scope, objective, and purpose of our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved.”  Boehner provided the president with a list of questions which he believes must be answered including the “contradiction” between the stated goal of the administration — Muammar Gadhafi‘s removal from power– and that of the U.N. resolution.  On Wednesday, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Ranking Member on the Foreign Relations Committee, called for congressional hearings on the mission in Libya in a letter to the Committee Chairman Senator John Kerry (D-MA): “In my judgment, hearings on Libya are especially vital because the Obama Administration did not consult meaningfully with Congress before initiating military operations. Members have not yet had an opportunity to question the Administration on its policy goals or its diplomatic and military strategy.”

Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) also expressed concerns that Obama’s actions in Libya may violate the constitution given the lack of Congressional debate and approval for this level U.S. military involvement.  Meanwhile, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) voiced support for the President’s actions in Libya and stated that given the limited nature of the conflict and support of international community, he believes Senators would support the mission in Libya if they were to vote on it.

Update: Senator John Thune (R-SD) argued that President Barack Obama did not need the consent of Congress before ordering U.S. military to attack forces and military installations controlled by Gadhafi and will only need to do so if the fight becomes protracted: “You have to reserve to your commander in chief the authority to act in emergencies.”

March 24th, 2011 by Naureen

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Taiwan: Advocacy group against new executions of death row convicts

An alliance opposing capital punishment said Tuesday that death row convicts should not be executed until a review on the death penalty has been completed, amid reports that another execution could take place this month following an 11-month hiatus.

Lin Hsin-yi, executive director of the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, noted that Taiwan signed 2 United Nations human rights covenants -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- in 2009.

"According to the enforcement rules of the two covenants, the government should complete a review within two years to decide if capital punishment violates human rights. We think executions should not be conducted before the completion of the review," Lin said.

The alliance also issued a statement later that day pointing out that the 2 U.N. covenants clearly stipulate that death row inmates should have the right to ask for amnesty or commutation.

In addition, the United Nations Human Rights Council has asked all signatories not to execute convicts on death row before related procedures concerning requests for amnesty have been completed, the alliance added.

It pointed out that the wrongful execution of an air force private a decade ago has triggered hot debate in the last few weeks on the death penalty.

President Ma Ying-jeou has also expressed the hope that executions should be cut in stages, the alliance said, urging the Ma administration not to execute convicts "rashly and immediately" before making the law more complete and comprehensive.

Earlier in the day, Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu said that "there is a chance (that an execution could be carried out) this month."

But he also said his ministry is taking a cautious approach on carrying out executions and will only execute a death row inmate if he or she has given up or exhausted all legal avenues, such as extraordinary appeals, retrials and constitutional interpretations.

According to Justice Ministry statistics, there are currently 45 death row inmates in Taiwan.

The last executions in the country were carried out April 30 last year, when 4 death row inmates were executed, the 1st since 2005.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel, March 1, 2011


Minister of justice hints at renewal of prisoner executions

Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu yesterday said an 11-month hiatus in executions could end as early as this month, a move certain to re-ignite debate over the death penalty.

“There is a chance [a death sentence could be carried out] this month,” Tseng said during a hearing at the legislature after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng expressed concern over the execution process.

Tseng said the ministry had taken a cautious approach to carrying out the death penalty and would only execute a death row inmate if he or she had exhausted all legal avenues for an appeal, such as filing an extraordinary appeal, a retrial and asking for a constitutional interpretation.

Wu said that if inmates insisted on dying and were not granted their request, that would also constitute a form of torture infringing their human rights.

The death penalty was last carried out on April 30 last year, when 4 inmates were executed, the 1st since 2005.

The moratorium on executions drew attention early last year when then-minister of justice Wang Ching-feng, a death penalty opponent, insisted on stays of execution. Wang resigned on March 11 following an outcry from victims of violent crime and their families.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday they opposed the death penalty, pointing to the execution in 1997 of air force private Chiang Kuo-ching, who was later exonerated of the crime for which he was executed by DNA and forensic evidence.

Ministry of National Defense officials apologized in January for executing Chiang for the sexual abuse and murder of a 5-year-old girl in 1996.

“In a case like this, by the time the government found out that it had done something wrong — it was already too late,” DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling said. “This is why we need a national dialogue before any more executions are carried out.”

Kuan said that the death penalty failed to get to the root of the problem and had a negative effect on Taiwan’s image.

“They [the government] have a right to do so of course, as we have not revised our laws yet, but is it necessary [President] Ma Ying-jeou, a Harvard law graduate, should be as aware of this as anyone,” Kuan said.

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty said death row convicts should not be executed until a review on the death penalty has been completed.

Source: Taipei Times, March 1, 2011
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Trinidad and Tobago urged to stop drive towards executions

Amnesty International has urged members of Trinidad and Tobago's parliament to vote against a constitutional amendment Bill which would allow executions to be resumed in the country.

Under the proposed Bill, scheduled to be debated on 18 February, courts across the country would be able to circumvent judicial rulings that enhanced human rights protection and resulted in a halt to executions in 1999.

Authorities in the Caribbean nation claim carrying out executions is a way to tackle rising numbers of murders and deter others from committing violent crime.

"Trinidad and Tobago has a real problem with murder and violent crimes, but experience has shown that facilitating executions is not the solution," said Chiara Liguori, researcher on Trinidad and Tobago at Amnesty International.

"Hurrying executions or ignoring appeals already in progress violates defendants' rights by denying them due process guaranteed under international law.

"The proposed Bill would allow people to be executed even if they were appealing against their sentence, which is their right."

"We urge Parliament not to accept the proposed Bill and instead tackle the root causes of violent crime and reform the police and justice systems."

"What may seem a technical change in the Constitution is in fact a matter of life and death for many people."

More than 40 people are currently on death row in Trinidad and Tobago.

In 1984, the United Nations' Economic and Social Council said an execution should not be carried out if there's any appeal or recourse procedure pending on the case.

The new Bill would circumvent this principle and allow for expedited executions.

Currently, under a ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, acting as the highest court in the country, any execution carried out five years after the original sentence constitutes torture, which is illegal under the country's Constitution.

The lengthy appeals process for death penalty cases means that, in practice, no executions are able to be carried out within the five year period and most sentences have been commuted to prison terms.

But Amnesty International says the proposed Bill will ignore that ruling and make the constitution inconsistent with human rights.

We are extremely concerned that the New Bill would allow for someone to be executed within a short period after a sentence is passed, not allowing for proper appeals and that others could be kept on death row for years on end," said Chiara Liguori.

The prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has been reported as referring to the death penalty as a "weapon in [our] arsenal" to fight the murder rate.

She is quoted on her Facebook website as saying: The Government that I have the honour to lead will ensure that this law is implemented and convicted murderers must suffer and pay the ultimate price by having the sentence of death carried out."

The country is one of 93 countries in the world which retains the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

Even though death sentences have continued to be handed out in Trinidad and Tobago, no executions have been carried out since 1999.

Source: Amnesty International, Feb. 16, 2011


URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO -- Dozens of People on Death Row

On 18 February the Congress of Trinidad and Tobago will debate changes to the constitution that could put dozens of people on death row in immediate danger of execution. The new legislation is aimed at resuming executions, which have not taken place in the country since 1999.

On 14 January 2011, Trinidad and TobagoĆ¢€™s government, led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, submitted a Bill for approval by the Parliament aimed at reforming the Constitution in relation to the implementation of the death penalty. The Bill is scheduled to be debated on 18 February, and the law could be implemented in the following weeks. Amnesty International is concerned that the adoption of the Bill, as currently drafted, will put dozens of people currently on death row at serious risk of being executed in violation of international human rights laws and standards.

The Bill would enable death sentences to be carried out while appeals before international bodies are pending. In particular, it will give power to the President of posing time-restrictions for individuals under sentence of death to appeal, consult, communicate and conclude appeal with any person or body of persons outside Trinidad and Tobago. After the time limits ends, executions could be carried out even if the appeal has not been concluded. Implementing a death sentence while an appeal is pending is against international human rights standards related to the due process of law.

The Bill would also permit authorities to circumvent a 1993 ruling by the highest court of appeal for Trinidad and Tobago, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. This stated that a delay of more than five
years in implementing a death sentence would be cruel and inhuman treatment. If the Bill is passed, people who will be in the future sentenced to death could be executed even if they remain on death row for more than five years.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the desire to resume executions is being presented as a crime-control measure, despite the lack of convincing evidence of the deterrent effect of the death penalty on the crime situation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Trinidad and Tobago, along with all English speaking Caribbean countries, retains the death penalty. The last executions took place in June and July 1999, when 10 men were hanged. The country has previously executed prisoners who still had legal avenues of appeal available to them. In 1994, Glen Ashby was executed as two courts examined his appeals. One of the courts issued a stay of execution at the same time as the hanging was taking place. On 22 June 1999, Anthony Briggs was executed despite an order, issued on the 25 May 1999, from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that his life "be preserved until such time as the Court... issues a decision on the matter".

Even though no execution has been carried out since 1999, death sentences have continued to be handed out. The execution of Charles Elroy Laplace in St Kitts and Nevis in December 2008 was the first in the English-speaking Caribbean since 2000. His execution sparked fears that other English-speaking Caribbean nations will follow suit as pressure grows on the region's governments to be seen to be tackling an increase in violent crime.

The jurisprudence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court of final appeal for most English-speaking Caribbean nations, and of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have set important standards to regulate the implementation of the death penalty.

Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are the only English-speaking Caribbean countries which retain mandatory death penalty for murder. However Barbados has pledged to remove the mandatory sentence, as Guyana did it last October 2010. The proposed Bill in Trinidad and Tobago retains the mandatory imposition of the death penalty for certain categories of murders, meaning that sentences of death are not the product of individualized determinations and are imposed without affording the convicted person the opportunity to present mitigating circumstances. The UN Human Rights Committee stated that "the automatic and mandatory imposition of the death penalty constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life". Regional and national jurisdictions have been continuously ruled out the mandatory imposition of the death penalty.

Trinidad and Tobago suffers from high levels of violent crime -- there were 472 reported homicides in 2010 and already 46 murders are reported just for January 2011. Scientific studies have consistently found no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Given the low conviction rate in Trinidad and Tobago, the emphasis should instead be put on improving the capacities of the police to detect and solve crimes, on the implementation of an effective witness protection programme and the implementation of effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The organization recognizes the duty of governments to tackle violent crime but believes that the death penalty is by nature ineffective and arbitrary, and is not an effective deterrent to crime. The application of death penalty inevitably leads to inconsistencies and errors, inescapable flaws which are exacerbated by discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate legal representation. It brutalizes those involved in the process of executions and wider society as a whole. The organization believes that the rise in crime affecting much of the Caribbean will only be solved by addressing urgent reforms to police and justice systems and by implementing effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence, not with state killings.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Asking the Head of the ruling party and the Leader of the opposition to instruct the Members of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago to reject the proposed amendment to the Constitution, contained in the Constitution (Amendment) (Capital Offenses) Act, 2011, as it would enable executions in violation of international human rights laws and standards;
- Reminding them that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime;
- Calling on them to ensure that all people on death row are not executed;
- Calling, pending abolition, to immediately remove all provisions in national law which are in breach of international human rights law and standards, in particular by abolishing all provisions which provide for mandatory death sentences.

APPEALS TO:
Head of the ruling party
The Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Office of the Prime Minister
13 - 15 St. Clair Avenue, St. Clair
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 622 0055
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Leader of the opposition
The Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley
Parliament
Red House P.O. Box 878
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 625 4672
Salutation:Dear Sir

COPIES TO:
President of the Senate
Senator the Hon. Timothy Hamel-Smith
Parliament
Red House P.O. Box 878
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 625 4672

Ambassador Glenda Patricia Morean-Phillip
Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
1708 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 785 3130

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Iran: Ahmadinejad government on death penalty spree

Onlookers at a public hanging,
Tehran, January 5, 2011
Source: Iran-Resist
"The radical Islamic government of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reportedly executing prisoners at an alarming rate, according to International Campaign for Human Rights. Iran is suspected of executing one person every eight hours. Since the beginning of 2011, Iran has executed 87 people on various charges." [According to this blog's own sources, at least 92 prisoners were executed in January 2011 alone. See here]

While the international news media and government officials are preoccupied with events occurring in Egypt, the Iranian government's execution of a Dutch-Iranian woman government officials claimed was involved in drug smuggling has created a firestorm in Amsterdam, Holland over the weekend.

Those who knew Miss Bahrami, 46, claim the drug charges were bogus, and police officials in The Netherlands say that she was originally arrested for participating in anti-government protests two years ago when civil unrest in Iran followed accusations of a corrupt presidential election.

After being arrested and processed on charges of sedition, the Iranian government allegedly changed the records to show Bahrami was arrested for cocaine smuggling and possession, a capital offense in that Islamist nation.

Uri Rosenthal, Holland's foreign minister, blasted government officials in Tehran for not granting the executed woman's relatives entry into Iran to bury Bahrami. Instead of turning over her remains to her relatives, the Iranian officials secretly took Bahrami's body more than 200 miles outside of the Iranian capital and held her last rites and burial ceremony without her relatives in attendance.

"This is a shocking fact which bears upon the regime which does not meet the normal standards of civilized behavior towards citizens and foreigners," Rosenthal said.

Bahrami, a naturalized Dutch citizen, was hanged on January 29 after being convicted of the drug offense. Iranian prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi alleges that an unspecified amount of cocaine was found in a search of her temporary residence during the country's national elections in 2009.

Her execution nine says ago prompted the Dutch government to freeze all contact with what it labeled a "barbarous regime."

Meanwhile, 2 American citizens who claim they accidentally wandered into Iran last year are still being held in Iran . While the government released their female companion, Sarah Shourd, 31, her boyfriend Shane Bauer, 27, and a friend, Josh Fattal, 27, remain captives accused of being foreign spies.

The radical Islamic government of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reportedly executing men and women at a shockingly high rate, according to officials with the International Campaign for Human Rights. The ICHR claims Iran executes at least three prisoners every 24 hours.

Many of those given the death penalty are political prisoners who oppose the rule of Islamic clerics in Iran.

According to Aaron Rhodes of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, "The Iranian Judiciary is on an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies."

Iranian judges are widely believed to lack independence and their decisions are frequently subordinated to the wishes of security agencies. Also, the actual number of prisoners executed in Iran is difficult to verify but many believe is higher than is reported.

Iranian prisons are often the scenes of mass execution such as in January when more than a hundred people were executed in a mass hanging in just one Iranian prison, according to International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The high rate of executions in Iran has prompted the United Nations order Iran to halt its execution of prisoners, but Iran continues its hardline approach to criminal justice and law enforcement.

Even Iranians with dual citizenships or permanent residency abroad have been arrested, sentenced to death by Iranian courts, and then summarily executed.

In a case that outraged the world's journalists in 2003, an Iranian-Canadian journalist taken into custody by the secret police was later murdered by Iranian security agents while in a Tehran prison, according to Canadian police officials. The reporter, Zahra Kazemi, was brutally tortured and sexually assaulted by her interrogators.

Source: Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly 5th Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police; The Examiner, February 13, 2011
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Sunday, December 26, 2010

UN General Assembly Approves New Resolution For Universal Moratorium on Death Penalty

December 22, 2010: The United Nations General Assembly yesterday approved a new resolution in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty. It is the third time after the historic resolution approved in December 2007 and then again in December 2008.

108 countries voted in favour, with 41 against and 36 abstentions (another 7 countries were absent at the time of the vote). It recorded a decisive step forward compared to 2007 when in a plenary assembly the votes in favour were 104, with 54 against and 29 abstentions (with 5 absent at the time of the vote). Another step forward was taken also in respect to the second vote on the pro moratorium Resolution in December 2008 when there were 105 in favour, 47 against and 34 abstentions (6 were absent at the time of the vote).

The most significant political data regarding the favourable is that of 6 countries that in 2008 voted against (Kiribati, the Maldives and Mongolia) or abstained (Bhutan, Guatemala and Togo) or the abstentions of 4 countries (Comoros, Nigeria, the Solomon Islands and Thailand) that in 2008 voted against. The number of cosponsors of the Resolution also increased, 90 in total, three doing so for the first time: Cambodia, Russia and Madagascar.

The only new part of the text of the Resolution concerns the request – in part contained in the 2007 text – directing the member states to ‘make information available relevant to the use of the death penalty to allow an informed and transparent national debate.'

“The new vote at the UN in favour of the moratorium records the positive evolution happening for more than ten years around the world towards the end of the State-Cain and the ending of the fake and archaic principle of an eye for an eye,” Hands Off Cain secretary Sergio D’Elia said.

Sources: Hands Off Cain, December 22, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

UN votes to reinstate resolution condemning execution of gays

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to restore a reference to sexual orientation in a resolution opposing the unjustified killings of minority groups.

Last month, a UN panel deleted a reference to gays and lesbians in resolution introduced by Morocco and Mali. The vast majority of countries in support were African or Arabic.

Many of the supporting countries criminalise homosexuality and five treat it as a capital offence.

But today, the UN General Assembly voted 93 in favour of the United States’ proposal to restore the reference to sexual orientation, 55 countries voted against and 27 abstained. The assembly then approved the amended resolution with 122 in favour, none against and 59 abstentions.

The amendment passed last month called for the words “sexual orientation” to be replaced with “discriminatory reasons on any basis”. The resolution made explicit reference to a large number of groups, including human rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities and street children.

It narrowly passed 79-70 and was then approved by the UN General Assembly committee with 165 in favour and ten abstentions. The motion condemns extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings, is voted on by the UN General Assembly every two years. For the past ten years, it contained references to sexual orientation.

Related articles: 'UN deletes gay reference from anti-execution measures', Reuters, Nov. 16, 2010, Pink News, Nov. 19, 2010, Pink News, Dec. 14, 2010, The Guardian, December 21, 2010

Source: Pink News, December 21, 2010

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Iraq has 835 prisoners on death row

BAGHDAD — Iraq has 835 people waiting to be executed, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said Monday, just days after the UN envoy to Baghdad called on the country to abolish capital punishment.

Speaking at a news conference about anti-terrorism measures, Bolani said Iraqi courts had convicted 14,500 people for such offences, with an unspecified number serving life sentences in addition to those due to be executed.

"The government is keen on providing justice," he said, noting "14,500 criminals have been convicted, with 835 receiving death sentences and others life imprisonment."

Iraq executed 230 people from 2005 to 2009, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in July, adding that, at the time, 1,254 death sentences had been handed down.

Bolani's remarks came after UN envoy Ad Melkert called on the Iraqi government to abolish the death penalty, in a speech marking International Human Rights Day on Friday.

"On this day we would like to reiterate our universal call to refrain from carrying out the death penalty and would encourage Iraq to consider banning this instrument as a fundamental feature of applying justice in a new Iraq," he said, according to a transcript of his speech.

Baghdad reintroduced the death penalty in 2004, after a brief moratorium immediately after the US-led invasion of 2003. Those sentenced to death are usually hanged.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is an ardent supporter of capital punishment, but President Jalal Talabani opposes its use.

Source: AFP, December 13, 2010

Saturday, December 11, 2010

UN asks Iraq to abolish death penalty

The top U.N. envoy in Iraq is calling on the country's government to abolish the death penalty amid demands by Iraq's interior minister for the swift execution of terror suspects.

United Nations Special Representative Ad Melkert made his appeal Friday on the 62nd anniversary of a U.N. treaty calling for worldwide human rights.

Last week, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani demanded death sentences for 39 suspected insurgents before they have been tried or convicted of involvement in bomb plots in Baghdad.

Melkert's appeal comes after several European governments and the Vatican have requested amnesty for Tariq Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle who was sentenced to death in October for persecuting Shiite political parties.

Source: Associated Press, December 10, 2010

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pakistan Flood: Facts And Figures Of Aids

Pakistan's Flood Effected
More than four million homeless.

Six million people desperate to get food, clean water.

Indus River is at forty times from its normal volume.

Asian Development Bank announced Thursday to offer $2 billion emergency loan for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

World Health Organization announced estimations on Wednesday saying over fifteen million people have been affected in the floods and only about 1.2 million of them are getting safe water supplies.

Out of 1,167 health facilities, 200 of it are damaged in the floods, including hospitals.

WHO reports of growing fatal diarrhea and respiratory tract infections.

By Wednesday United Nations, organizations and individuals had sent $231 million aid to Pakistan and had pledged to send another $40 million.

So far, UN alone has sent $82 million aid and is the largest single donor.

United States claim had contributed $90 million, which includes boats, helicopters and temporary bridges.

Britain has sent so far over $40 million and said to double it to over $90 million.

Among the Muslim countries, Turkey is the largest donor. The country has donated $11 million.

Kuwait donated $5 million according to UN figures.
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Further Read 

Pakistan Flood Coverage Lingers

The Aid For Pakistan Flood Helps To Keep Terrorists At Bay: Qureshi
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Butcher of Punjab Gets Audience at UN

PunjabNewsline.com - The Butcher of Punjab Gets Audience at UN




Punjab Newsline Network
Wednesday, 10 March 2010

CALIFORNIA: Interfaith International, an NGO with consultative status
with the Economics and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSO),
has accredited 17 Indian citizens to represent India at the 13th
Session of Human Rights Council in Geneva this month.



One of those 17 is KP Gill, known as "the Butcher of Punjab," because
of his gross violations of Human Rights, including the fake-encounter
killings of Sikh youth.

The inclusion of KPS Gill, a former Director-General of the Punjab
police has shocked many Sikhs.

In addition, it is said he participated in abduction, torture,
persecution and the eventually killing of Sardar Jaswant Singh
Khalsa, the Human Rights Activist from the ruling Akali Dal-Badal
party. Gill murdered hundreds of thousand of Sikhs youth during his
tenure with the Punjab Police. Punjab was occupied by india in 1947.

KPS Gill was also appointed a 'Special advisor' to Narendra Modi, who
carried out the genocide of Muslims of Gujarat in 2002-2003.

A group of California Sikhs have written to Madam N Pillay, the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking her to prevent KPS Gill
from entering the United Nations Human Rights Council. They say
instead that Swiss authorities should arrest and try him for crimes
against humanity.

Courtesy: Newsblaze.com