Too much doubt…again

It has been almost a year since the State of Georgia put Troy Davis to death against the back drop of three words that have scarred the conscience of the USA: Too Much Doubt.

Too much doubt because Troy’s conviction was based on circumstantial evidence. Too much doubt because of police brutality against witnesses.  Too much doubt over whether Troy was guilty to justify keeping him in jail without a re-trial…let alone taking his life.

But the authorities went ahead and amidst the protests, desperate last minute appeals and thousands of individuals taking to the streets around the world, they strapped him to a table and killed him.

And now, in a matter of months, the whole grotesque spectacle may be played out once again; this time in the state of Missouri. The man facing the long walk to the execution chamber is Reggie Clemons, accused of being an accomplice in the murder of two young women, who were pushed off a disused bridge in 1991. Yet like Troy Davis, enormous questions remain over whether he actually has blood on his hands at all.

For one thing, there is not a shred of physical evidence linking Reggie to the crime. Then there is the horrendous litany of discrepancies on which Reggie’s conviction was based. Proven incitement of the jury, a strong possibility of police brutality, improper dismissal of black jurors and contradictory witness statements, to name just a few aspects of this case, paint a picture of at best a vehemently unsound verdict and at worst a lynching contrived amongst the racial tensions of 1990s Missouri. That is certainly the view of the juror who said that had she known the what she knew now, she would not have voted for the death penalty.

Yet in spite of the well documented failings of the legal system, Reggie has spent almost two decades on death row, coming within days of execution before being granted a temporary reprieve. Now his fate is about to be sealed: on 17 September a Special Master appointed by the Supreme Court of Missouri will spend one week reviewing the case for a final time. The Special Master can free Reggie, commute his sentence to life in prison or uphold the death sentence.

If it is the latter there will be no more chances: a date will be set, an execution chamber will be prepared and a man will be killed. A man over’s whose guilt there is simply too much doubt….again.

Technorati Tags: Reggie Clemons,Troy Davis,Kerry sisters,too much doubt,execution,death penalty,USA,#toomuchdoubt,lethal injection

USA vs LRA

2011 may prove to be a key year in the struggle against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the brutal group led by convicted War Criminal Joseph Kony, that has waged a twenty-four-year campaign of terror throughout Central Africa. 

Intermittently professing the intention of overthrowing Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni and setting up a state based on the Ten Commandments (though briefly flirting with Islam), Kony’s rag-tag band of devotees and press-ganged child soldiers has long shed any vaguely coherent objective; simply rampaging through Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, carrying out a horrifying string of human rights abuses, including looting, rape, mutilation and thousands of murders.  Three factors however, may soon bring this terror to a close.  

Firstly, the secession of South Sudan in July, has given the Sudan Peoples’ iberation Movement (SPLM) – a long avowed enemy of the LRA, the strength and status of an official government, as well as potentially reinforcing Kony’s physical detachment from his backers in Khartoum, who as late as 2010 were allegedly using the LRA as proxies to attack opposition in Darfur.

Secondly, an advanced crisis-mapping project has now been launched, compiling information on the LRA’s scattered activities across Central Africa’s porous borders, raising international awareness and providing unprecedentedly detailed data for the governments and NGOs seeking to track and ultimately halt the brutality.

Perhaps, most importantly of all however, Barak Obama this week announced the deployment of one hundred US troops to train and support the four national governments combating the LRA. 

Though only mandated to engage in combat for the purpose of self defence, this force will be working with units actively pursuing Kony, marking the most significant external involvement to date and a distinct strengthening of international efforts to crush the LRA once and for all.  Possibly the key effect of this will be ingraining a level of professionalism and commitment that has been lacking from previous regional efforts due to a range of incompetencies and hidden agendas.

Resolve, the key human rights group working to end LRA atrocities has welcomed the move, highlighting the likelihood of quicker responses, better intelligence and more focussed US assistance.  Still, that hasn’t stopped certain other quarters from criticising the deployment, drawing parallel's with the tragic 1990s US mission to Somalia, pointing out that the LRA is already at its weakest point to date and questioning whether the conflict is even relevant to US national interests.

To a great extent, these objections are fallacious.  Unlike Somalia, this is to be a limited non-combat mission, which inevitably poses risks, but to nowhere near the level of the circumstances that led to Black Hawk Down.  In terms of the LRA’s perceived weakness, whilst the group is seemingly now fragmented and boasts nowhere near the thousands of troops that it once did, it is still capable of carrying out appalling massacres as demonstrated just last February.  It is also worth noting that LRA weakness has been highlighted for years, yet still it lumbers on. 

As for ‘national interest’, one only needs to highlight that halting the systematic rape of young girls, conscription of young boys and murder of whole villages is – or least should be – in every state’s interest, no matter where in the world it is taking place.

Still, there are are some serious questions to be answered: such as those around the dangers of training Ugandan forces known to contain political death squads, Democratic Republic of Congo forces known to have committed mass rape and Central African Republic forces guilty of torture and enforced disappearances.  Could the US involvement ultimately end up improving the capacity of these armies to terrorise their own populations?

There is also the long-term issue to consider: other militias operating in Central Africa, particularly in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, are just as dangerous as abhorrent as the LRA.  What action, if any, will subsequently be taken to disarm them?

The USA must tread carefully, but Obama is taking a risk in order to draw a line under one of the most barbaric chapters of African history and for this he must be commended.  Some are already questioning US motives, particularly whether this is a return favour for Uganda’s work against Al-Shabab in Somalia or part of an ongoing trend based around targeting particularly dangerous or loathed individuals.  Though, whilst these questions must be asked, they will ultimately be of little relevance to those who have lived in fear of the LRA for two decades, if and once Kony and his men are finally stopped.

Technorati Tags: Lord's Resistance Army,Lords Resistance Army,USA,US,troops,Obama,Democratic Republic of Congo,DRC,Uganda,Yoweri Museveni,Central African Republic,South Sudan,Darfur,child soldiers,human rights,Al-Shabab,Somalia,Black Hawk Down,Resolve,massacre,LRA,Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement,SPLM,Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army,SPLA,International Criminal Court,ICC

Troy Davis…and the road from Georgia

There is very little to say about the execution of Troy Davis that has not already been said.  In the end the State of Georgia authorities went ahead- and they did it with the whole world watching.

In a final cruel twist, Troy was given a temporary reprieve at the moment he was scheduled to be executed.  Few who watched the footage of celebrations outside the prison and of Amnesty Director Larry Cox breaking away mid-interview in euphoric disbelief, will ever forget the excitement and relief of that moment.  Nor will we forget the crushing horror when just hours later news broke that Troy was being strapped to a table and killed.

Seconds before he was injected with drugs to destroy his organs, he calmly proclaimed his innocence once more.  The most shocking aspect of this whole saga is that he may well have been telling the truth. 

With no physical evidence linking him to the 1989 murder of which he was accused, seven out of nine witness testimonies retracted, clear signs of police corruption and credible suggestions that another man (one of the two remaining witnesses) was is fact the real killer- all combine to make Troy’s innocence distinctly credible.  At the very least they cast too much doubt on his supposed guilt to justify keeping him in detention without a retrial, let alone taking his life.

The judges, prosecutors and parole board have put to death a man who may well have done nothing wrong.  They will have to live with that.  As will Barak Obama- the flailing president who has gone from disappointment to disappointment but has scraped new lows by remaining silent as one of his citizens was killed in what resembled nothing more than a twenty-first century lynching. 

He will also have to face up to the legacy that his government and the Georgian State authorities have left for future American presidents and politicians who try to speak out against executions in China, Iran or Somalia.  The CCP, Ayatollah’s and Al-Shabab can simply answer any criticism of brutality or rigged justice with two words: Troy Davis.

In this context, it is worth recalling the particularly dark moments on the final day of Troy’s life when Georgia’s parole board first blocked all e-mails sent via the Amnesty International Website, then blocked incoming correspondence altogether.  Such was the perverse lust for blood, that they were willing to side-line the people’s democratic right to speak out against the decision.

Yet while the road to that death chamber in Georgia was paved with corruption, savagery, incompetence and a callous disregard for human rights, the road onwards will be built by the very people who tried so hard to get their message across – right up until the moment when Troy took his last breath. 

As those hell-bent on killing Troy regardless of his potential innocence rubbed their hands at his impending execution, thousands upon thousands more throughout the world took a stand.  Protests were held at US embassies, #troydavis #toomuchdoubt and #theworldiswatching took over twitter and the Amnesty International website crashed under the weight of supporters flooding on.

People who had never before been involved in human rights activism have come out in defiance against this most shameful moment in US history.  People who have been involved for years have been reinvigorated by the passion and support shown from London to Sydney and from Paris to New York. 

On the morning of his execution Troy Davis stated “The struggle for justice doesn’t end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davis’s who came before me and all the ones who will come after me.” That means Reggie Clemons and the other death-row inmates in the USA who’s ‘guilt’ is just a tenuous as Troy’s was.  That means the Iranian men and women sent to the gallows for being gay.  That means the Tibetans put before firing squad for protesting against the occupation of their land.  

The road from Georgia will be a long and hard one, but at the end of the road is the prize worth fighting for: the end of the death penalty…everywhere and forever.

Technorati Tags: Troy Davis,#toomuchdoubt,#theworldiswatching,#TroyDavis,execution,Georgia,USA,Barak Obama,Amnesty Internationa,Reggie Clemons

Troy Davis and the death of innocence

His name has been at the forefront of the worldwide anti death penalty movement for over a decade, but Troy Davis may now be in the final weeks of his life. Today his execution was set for 21st September at 7:00pm local time in Georgia, USA.

For those not familiar with his case, Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer during a late-night confrontation outside a fast food restaurant in 1989.  Always protesting his innocence, he was convicted on eye-witness testimony, due to an absence of any physical link to the crime.  However, the validity of this was thrown into doubt in the years following the trial, as a picture emerged of witnesses being harassed, assaulted and even threatened with execution by police officers. 

It takes just a handful of the many quotes compiled in Amnesty International’s damning 2007 report on the case to highlight the context in which the testimonies were given: 

“I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true.”

“I was real tired because it was the middle of the night and I was pregnant too… I
was scared that if I didn’t do what the police wanted me to do, then they would try to
lock me up again.”

“I remember that they asked a lot of questions and typed up a statement which they told me to sign. I did not read the statement before I signed. In fact, I have not seen it before today.”

“They told me that I was going to the electric chair. They got in my face and yelled at me a lot. The cops then told me that I did the shooting over in Cloverdale. I just kept telling them that I didn’t do anything, but they weren’t hearing that. After four or five hours, they told me to sign some papers. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.”

Such a situation is perhaps understandable: police officers angry at the murder of their colleague, under strenuous public pressure, during a time when regulations and standards of conduct were lower, and terrified at the prospect of no one ever being brought to trial – stooping to the lowest possible grounds in order to secure a conviction. 

Though if understandable it is never acceptable: for building a case on this makes a mockery of justice, particularly when in the absence of physical evidence, witness testimony is the only basis for the case.  Now, seven of the nine original key witnesses have formally retracted their statements (one of the remaining two was another suspect in the case) whilst others who were nearby the crime scene or who knew Davis have highlighted additional evidence, that may have helped the defence, but was ignored by the police and prosecution at the time. 

Of course, this does not vindicate Davis, but it raises serious questions about his guilt; so serious that in 2009 a juror in the case stated that “Troy Davis would not be on death row” if she had known back then what she knew now.

Like in the case of Reggie Clemons in Missouri, a man is set to be locked to a table and pumped full of poisonousness chemicals on the back of a case that is riddled with doubt, malpractice and hugely infirm evidence.  The strongest case against the death penalty in the USA right now is the possibility that innocent people are being executed.  Before even addressing the inhumanity of judicial murder or the undermining of international standards, the fact stands that in the cases of Davis, Clemons and numerous others – based on evidence that appears to be coerced, fabricated or simply incorrect. the jury may have got it wrong. 

There is however, still hope.  Davis’ execution has already been scheduled and postponed three times (in 2008 being called off with less than two hours to go); due to a combination of legal challenges and a global campaign that has been supported by thousands including Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and even a former FBI director, as well as the European Union and Amnesty International. 

If pressure over the coming days can secure another stay, a strong signal will be sent and there may be a genuine chance to  review Davis’ case to the full and thorough extent that he, and all those living under US law, deserve.

Technorati Tags: Troy Davis,execution,death penalty,USA,lethal injection,Reggie Clemons,Georgia

An illegal execution in the land of the free

The fairness of the trial was in question and the convict had not been allowed access to the consular services of his home nation.  Pleas from the President to grant a temporary stay of execution were ignored by the Governor.  Phone calls from the convict’s embassy were ignored.  The United Nations intervened, stressing that international law was about to be violated.  But to no avail.  Thirty eight year old Leal Garcia was strapped to a table, put into a medically induced coma, then injected with chemicals to paralyse his organs and take his life. 

Welcome to Texas.

Thursday night’s execution was the state’s 470th since it reintroduced the death penalty thirty-seven years ago.  Ominously, almost half of these have taken place during the decade-long tenure of incumbent Governor Rick Perry – a man with his sights on the White House.

Of course, there is a strong likelihood that Garcia committed the horrendous murder for which he was put to death.  Unlike the markedly tenuous case of death-row inmate Regie Clemons, it is broadly accepted that Garcia was guilty: that he killed a sixteen year old girl with a block of asphalt back in 1994.  But, painful and emotive as the sickening crime may be, that should not detract from his right to a fair trial – including access to consular services.  For Garcia was a Mexican citizen, but was never informed or allowed his basic right of legal or linguistic support from the Mexican authorities.

Not only is this a clear violation of the Vienna Convention in and of itself, but it puts other prisoners abroad at risk, should the government’s of the states where they are detained choose to follow suite and similarly deny access.  It also undermines the authority of the US and states close to its government, when it comes to opposing executions elsewhere in the world.  Arguments against the judicial murder of people such as Iranian teenager Sina Paymard and mentally ill British citizen Akmal Shaikh rested largely on the legal irregularities and disregard of international obligations by the Iranian and Chinese governments in the respective sentencing.  The botched and unacceptable handling of Garcia’s trial flushes away any moral high ground when such situations arise.

And all of that before even considering the moral repugnancy of governments legislating people’s lives away or the shocking position of the USA in the top ten states for executions, above the likes of Burma, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.  Combined with the nature of execution, the number of killings and the potential weakness of convictions as demonstrated by the Clemons case, the gaping legal holes in Garcia’s execution paint a shocking picture that those in US politics have an urgent duty to address.

Unfortunately this appears unlikely to happen anytime soon – indeed there is speculation the Governor Perry’s decision to ignore concerns and refuse any delay in the execution was a politically motivated move to boost his chances for the Republican presidential nomination.  If this is the case, then the issues around the incident are multiplied significantly – for politics should never come into the judicial process of individual cases- particularly when lives are at stake.

Some level of comfort may be drawn from President Obama’s attempted intervention and by the worldwide attention.  But the events that led to Leal Garcia’s death reflect a problem remains vast, serious and with wide-reaching consequences affecting everyone from American prisoners abroad, to political dissidents in dictatorial states, to activists and politicians leading the campaign for worldwide abolishment of the vile and backward practice that is judicial execution.      

Technorati Tags: death penalty,execution,lethal injectio,Texas,Leal Garcia,Rick Perry,Sina Paymard,Akmal Shaikh

Death on the bridge

Today I looked through the Amnesty International USA report on Reggie Clemons – it’s one of the most disturbing things I’ve read in a while. If you have the time to take a look at it- I can guarantee it will shock you.

Regie is currently on death row in Missouri – as an accomplice in the murder of two young women who were pushed of a bridge into the Mississippi in 1991. One of his friends has already been executed for the crime; another had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

He may have committed the crime. But he may not have. For a start there is no physical evidence...understandable as one of the murdered women was not pulled from the water until three days after she went in and the other was never found. But more concerning still is the mile-long list of irregularities and accusations that mar Reggie’s conviction.

Like the allegations of torture by police officers (made all the more suspicious by unexplained injuries to Regie as he sat in court and a large out-of-court payment to another suspect who alleged abuse). Like the cousin of the murdered girls who changed his story several times (even admitting to the murder himself) before finally pointing the finger at Regie and his friends. Like the misconduct of the prosecution lawyer that nearly resulted in the case being thrown out. Like the irregular jury selection process in which potential jurors were chosen on the basis of their skin colour and their support for the death penalty – even in cases where the law would not normally impose it. These are problems that have not only been noted by human rights groups – but by one of the judges before his calls for a review were overturned at a higher level.

I’m not saying this makes Regie innocent – but I challenge anyone to read the 14 page report then say that he doesn’t deserve at least a retrial.

In an age of DNA testing and CCTV the “what if we got the wrong person?” argument is often brushed aside in debates about the death penalty. People point to cases such as the Soham Killings to demonstrate that the culprit can be beyond doubt, then move on to (equally important) matters such as the relative morality of state-sanctioned-killing or the ‘eye-for-an-eye’ philosophy.

But in Regie Clemons’ case we have an example of a young man – in a liberal democratic state with a supposedly fair legal system – facing execution at some point in the coming weeks, months or years – for a crime that no one can say for sure he committed.

What if the jury did get it wrong?