OTTAWA — Senator Doug Finley led a call Tuesday to scrap a section of Canada’s Human Rights Act that he and other Conservative senators say is being used to stifle free speech in Canada.

Finley was one of a quartet of Tory senators to lead a Senate inquiry into free speech rights in Canada, rights they felt had come under attack when the speech by a controversial American pundit at an Ottawa university was cancelled and again when a woman in Vancouver sued a comedian because she didn’t like jokes aimed at her.

“Despite our 400-year tradition of free speech, the tyrannical instinct to censor still exists,” Finley said. “We saw it on a university campus last week. And we see it every week in Canada’s misleadingly named human rights commissions.”

Saskatchewan Senator David Tkachuk picked up on Finley’s theme to excoriate the University of Ottawa’s administration for what he saw as failures of leadership that led to the cancellation of a speech there last week by controversial American pundit Ann Coulter. The event’s organizers cancelled the event believing that the safety of neither Coulter nor the event’s participants could be guaranteed in the face of an angry group of several hundred protesters who argued that Coulter had a history of hate speech.

“But the mob took its cue from the provost,” Tkachuk told the Senate. The provost, university vice-president Francois Houle, sent a letter to Coulter before the event cautioning her about Canada’s speech laws, specifically the prohibitions in the human rights act.

“The letter closed with a line that could have come straight out of the re-education camps of Pol Pot’s Cambodia,” Tkachuk said.

He then accused university president Allan Rock of “a tepid response” following the cancellation.

“The University of Ottawa has failed us,” Tkachuk said. “They have failed the country.”

The speeches were part of the two-hour long Senate inquiry, a kind of procedure unique to the upper chamber to allow Senators to raise important issues. Usually, aside from drawing attention to a given subject, Senate inquiries have little effect.

But Tuesday’s Senate inquiry was not led by just any senator. Finley is a close confidante of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the architect of both of Harper’s election victories. He is also the spouse of Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. And that section of the Human Rights Act has been particularly irksome to many conservatives in Canada who view it as a symptom of the worst excesses of the politically correct left.

Senator Finley said he has encouraged his colleagues in cabinet, particularly Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, to review the speech he gave in the Senate Tuesday with an eye toward reconsidering a re-write of one part of Canada’s Human Rights Act. That section, which prohibits speech that is likely to expose a person or a group to hatred or contempt, has been used as the basis of complaints against journalists and others.

“Too many Canadians, especially those in positions of authority, have replaced the real human right of freedom of speech with a counterfeit human right not be offended,” Finley told the Senate.

Conservative commentators Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant, among others, have had to defend work they’ve published before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which was acting on complaints that they disparaged Muslim Canadians in their writings.

“In a pluralistic society like Canada, we must protect our right to peacefully disagree with each other. We must allow a diversity of opinion — even if we find some opinions offensive,” Finley said. “Unless someone actually counsels violence or other crimes, we must never use the law to silence them.”

Conservative Senators Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy, both former journalists, also spoke in favour of Finley’s inquiry.

“Prosecuting the actions of journalists was clearly not the intention of Parliament when it passed hate speech laws,” Duffy said.

In addition to the Coulter example, Finley also cited a lawsuit in British Columbia in which a comic is defending comments he made about gays and lesbians after a lesbian woman heckled him on stage. The man could be fined up to $20,000 for those remarks.

“They may have been offensive. But what’s more offensive is that a government agency would be the arbiter of good taste or humour,” Finley said.

Finley conceded that while the federal government can do little about the B.C. case because of jurisdictional issues, he wanted his inquiry to look into the details surrounding the Coulter case; “to show moral support for those who are battling censors:” and to investigate what, if any changes, might be required to Canada’s Human Rights Act.

“Too many Canadians, especially those in positions of authority, have replaced the real human right of freedom of speech with a counterfeit human right not to be offended,” Finley said.

“If we can rededicate our parliament to protecting this most important right, we will have done our country a great service,” Finley said. “But if we fail to stop and indeed reverse this erosion of freedom, we will have failed our most basic duty — the duty to uphold our Constitution and the rights it guarantees for all Canadians.”
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Tory+Senators+call+changes+Canada+Human+Rights/2745478/story.html#ixzz0kKrbKsHu

The government has gradually been resettling around 300,000 ethnic minority Tamil people, most displaced in the final phase of the army offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended with the Tiger’s defeat in May after a 25-year war.

Various foreign aid and human rights groups, as well as U.N. officials, have criticized conditions in the camps and have urged the government, which needs foreign help and investment to boost Sri Lanka’s post-war economy, to resettle the Tamils quickly.

According to government data, it had resettled 127,352 people in their areas of origin as of Wednesday. Over 140,000 are yet to be resettled.

At one point over 280,000 displaced people were being kept under guard in northern Vavuniya, 260 km (161 miles) away from Colombo, inside cramped military-run camps.

Many have now been resettled in their original home areas, after the government determined there was not a threat of land mines. But those Reuters spoke to say the conditions leave much to be desired.

“We don’t have drinking water or toilet facilities,” said Muttaiah Sivayoganathan, a 53-year-old father of three in the colony of Parannattakal, 10 km north from Vavuniya town.

“Backside forest has been used as our toilet.” he said, referring to woods behind his house.

“I don’t have any money to resume farming. But still we were asked by the government to build a house on our own land temporarily before proper resettlement.”

His wife and three children had gone to have a bath in one of his relative’s house in Vavuniya town, where they also cook their food due to lack of clean water around his newly built house.

Walls of the 9 square-meter, one-room house are made of coconut fronds and the roof of galvanized tin sheets. The dirt floor was wet due to pouring monsoonal rain outside.

Along with some dry rations, the government gave him 16 galvanized tin sheets, 5,000 rupees ($43.70) in cash, and some farming equipment to rebuild his house and resume his livelihood.

POISONOUS SNAKES

Many others in the resettlement area complained about conditions as well. Some had been bitten by poisonous snakes when they were using forests for lavatory purposes.

“The government should punish those who were involved in terrorism, not all ethnic Tamils,” a dejected old man in the colony told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Two weeks ago, his wife was bitten by a snake, but luckily survived after a four-day treatment in a nearby hospital.

“They promised us (the government would) provide everything. But so far nothing has happened in the last two months since we resettled here.”

Some said they stay in the area only in the daylight hours, going to relatives’ house at night due to the presence of snakes and lack of facilities.

The Sri Lankan government gave freedom of movement from December 1 to the displaced persons housed in military-run camps, after facing pressure to speed up resettlement not just internationally, but locally ahead of a presidential election January 26.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration promised the United Nations to resettle between 70 and 80 percent of those in the camps by the end of the year and all by end-January.

However, many remain in the camps because their home areas have not yet been opened up as mine clearance operations are still going on.

That is the situation for tens of thousands of Tamils from the former rebel-held districts of Mullateevu and Kilinochchi.

“I won’t feel freedom, until I go to my own home,” said M. Iruthayanyahi in Vavuniya town while waiting for a bus to return to Manik Farm camp, the largest, after staying 15 days at a relative’s house.

She had lost her eldest son on January 10 in Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district by a shell attack and her second son is in army custody over suspicious LTTE links.

Which candidate most of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority chooses to support could be an important factor in the presidential election, with the resettlement process one of the issues.

Rajapaksa’s main challenger General Sarath Fonseka, who led the military to defeat the LTTE as the then-commander of the army, says the government has resettled the displaced persons without proper planning.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BN0R820091224

London, England (CNN) — China will execute a British man convicted of smuggling heroin within the next day, his family said Monday.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, has been informed by the Chinese authorities that he will be executed, said Seema Khan and Latif Shaikh, first cousins of the condemned man.

Khan and Shaikh told CNN Shaikh’s mother had not been informed of his execution, scheduled for Tuesday. “We are keeping the news away from her,” Khan said. “We don’t feel she can take the news and bear the brunt of it.”

Shaikh has exhausted all his legal appeals.

The Chinese government is not known to give 11th-hour reprieves. But Khan and Shaikh say they are “hoping the Chinese government will show some compassion.”

Shaikh’s supporters maintain he is mentally ill and Chinese officials did not take that into account when trying him.

A United Nations official has asked China not to execute Shaikh. Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has said it would be a “major step backwards for China” to execute a mentally ill man.

“Both Chinese and international law clearly indicate that a person who committed a crime while suffering from significant mental illness should not be subjected to the death penalty,” Alston said in a statement released by Reprieve, a British legal group. “I very much hope that the government will grant clemency in this case.”

The British government also has asked China not to execute Shaikh.

But China says it has followed the law.

“This case has always been handled according to law. During the trial, the defendant has been guaranteed his legal rights,” Jiang Yu, spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said last week. “Everyone knows that international drug smuggling is a grave crime.”

Shaikh was convicted of carrying up to 4 kilograms (almost 9 pounds) of heroin at the Urumqi Airport in September 2007. His final appeal — to the People’s Supreme Court — was rejected a week ago.

He would be the first European Union citizen executed in China in 50 years, Reprieve said.

The organization claims Shaikh may be suffering from bipolar disorder, a severe mental condition characterized by delusional and manic behavior. The group claims Chinese authorities have refused requests for Shaikh to be examined by a doctor and for his mental condition to be taken into account during his trial and sentencing.

“We deeply regret that mental health concerns had no bearing on the final judgment despite requests by Mr. Shaikh’s defense lawyer and repeated calls by the prime minister, ministers, members of the opposition, as well as (the) European Union,” the British Foreign Office said last week.

A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNN in October there was no evidence of mental illness.

“The British Embassy and a British organization proposed to have a psychological exam but could not offer any proof of mental illness,” the spokesman said. “The defendant himself said that his family does not have a history of mental illness.”

Shaikh claimed he was given a suitcase to carry by another man who had duped him into believing he was traveling to China to become a nightclub performer, and was unaware of the concealed drugs.

Reprieve campaigners have revealed details of Shaikh’s erratic lifestyle prior to his arrest — including traveling to Poland to start an airline and then on to Central Asia to become a pop star.

While living in Poland, Shaikh was approached by a man who helped him write a song that Shaikh believed would bring world peace, according to Reprieve.

The man said he knew people in Kyrgyzstan who could help Shaikh become a pop star. Once there, Shaikh was introduced to another man called Okole, who told him he owned a nightclub in China where they would launch his singing career.

The pair traveled together to Tajikistan, staying in a five-star hotel.

Okole then told Shaikh he would have to travel on to China himself because there was only one seat available on the plane — and gave him the suitcase to carry, according to Reprieve.

Forensic psychologist Peter Schaapveld said he strongly suspected Shaikh is suffering from a severe mental disorder.

Schaapveld traveled to Urumqi earlier this year for Shaikh’s appeal hearing but was unable to meet Shaikh or attend the appeal. He said British consular staff told him court officials had been “bemused and amused” by Shaikh’s “incoherent” testimony.

Schaapveld also examined hundreds of pages of rambling e-mails sent by Shaikh to the British Embassy in Poland and various public figures, including then-U.S. President George W. Bush and former Beatle Paul McCartney.

He said the evidence “very clearly” suggested Shaikh was “probably suffering from bipolar disorder and may also have an additional delusional psychosis.”

CNN’s Jo Ling Kent in Beijing and Zain Verjee and Simon Hooper in London contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/china.smuggler.execution/

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s president has given legal experts four more months to study a US State Department report cataloging alleged war crimes on the island, the presidency said in a statement Monday.

President Mahinda Rajapakse extended the December 31 deadline of the panel he appointed in November to formulate a response to the US report, which accused Sri Lankan forces of war crimes while battling Tamil separatists.

“The president has… extended by four months the period given to the committee to study and report on the US State Department Report,” the president’s office said in a statement.

A recent query by the United Nations over remarks by the country’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka that some surrendering rebels were killed in cold blood was also being referred to the panel for study, the statement said.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has already dismissed the US report as “unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence.”

Sri Lanka has been under international pressure to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes during the final stages of its battle against the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated in May.

Among claims detailed in the US report was the accusation that Tiger leaders were executed after reaching a surrender agreement with government forces.

Fonseka, who is challenging Rajapakse in a January 26 election, has said he was given information about the alleged killing of the surrendering rebels by an unnamed state media reporter embedded with troops.

Fonseka said he himself was away in China at the time of the incident.

Sri Lanka’s then foreign secretary Palitha Kohona had earlier said the rebel leaders were killed by their own men while they tried to surrender during the final days of fighting.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jc0EVps_AISFtJ_-j9AS1rKGq6wA

By ANDREA HOUSTON , EXAMINER STAFF WRITER

As the frigid wind whipped through Confederation Square last night, the small group of activists crowded around a candle and joined in as a local family sang a South African freedom song to mark International Human Rights Day.

The song, calledThula Sizwe, is a prayer sung during South Africa’s apartheid, said New Canadian Centre’s Fezi Mauncho.

“This is about more than hope,” she said. “Just being here we are using our voices to speak as one.”

Although some didn’t know the words, about 25 people joined her in the song. Others kept the beat by playing maracas.

As Mauncho sang, her nine-year- old daughter Mphilo Mauncho declared her prayers for the future.

“Speak up against injustice. Your voice counts,” she said. “God, no more slavery. Please say no to racism. No more discrimination. No oppression. No more poverty. Lord, let there be liberty.”

The event marks the 61st anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Daphne Ingram of Amnesty International, who organized the event, said the candlelight vigil is a reminder to the community that there’s many people in the world whose human rights are still not recognized.

“This is a time to get together and remember there is still work to be done,” she said. “We still need to work on human rights for all.

“Even in Canada, there are many people who are not recognized and living in poverty, like some First Nation communities, and women are still being abused.”

ahouston@peterboroughexaminer.com

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2217366

T V Sriram

Colombo, Nov 1 (PTI) Amid speculation that Sri Lanka’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen Sarath Fonseka may fight the Presidential polls, the country’s army chief has warned military personnel against dabbling in politics, saying soldiers in uniform have no right to engage in political work.

Army Chief Gen Jagath Jayasuriya also made it clear that action would be taken against any personnel engaged in political work.

“We should be partial to the government in power. All governments at the end of their tenure hold elections. Army officer or a soldier wearing a uniform has no right whatsoever to engage in political work with any contesting candidates,” the army website quoted Jayasuriya as saying.

“Any soldier or officer if found (violating the advisory) will be subjected to disciplinary action and faces discharge from the Army,” he said while speaking to senior army officers here late last week.

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Russian police said they detained at least 50 people on Saturday at an unsanctioned human rights protest in central Moscow, but protesters put the number higher.

Police dragged off dozens of people to waiting buses and jostled scores of reporters towards metal barriers while protesters continued to chant “Freedom!” and “Respect the constitution!”.

“I want Russia to be free, not to rot in a policeman’s nightmare,” said a protester in a black mask who refused to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said about 50 people had been detained at the protest which he said was attended by about 100 people and 100 reporters.

Opposition activists said about 70 people had been detained and that 500 people had showed up.

Hundreds of police and interior ministry troops encircled the “march of the discontented” on Triumfalnaya Square, just a few km (miles) north of the Kremlin. Unlike previous protests, riot police were not used to make arrests.

Human rights groups say the Kremlin has muzzled the media and rolled back freedoms since Vladimir Putin was first elected president in 2000 and the situation has not improved under his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin is believed by many diplomats and Russian citizens to be the real ruler in Russia despite stepping down as Kremlin chief to become prime minister in May 2008.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet dissident and one of Russia’s best known human rights campaigners, attended the protest with a police colonel, an escort she said was needed to ensure she was not crushed by the crowds.

“I came here to defend the constitution,” Alexeyeva, 82, told Reuters as she was pushed towards metal barriers by a crowd of police, reporters and protesters.

(Additional reporting by Aidar Buribayev; Editing by Michael Roddy)
By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Russian police said they detained at least 50 people on Saturday at an unsanctioned human rights protest in central Moscow, but protesters put the number higher.

Police dragged off dozens of people to waiting buses and jostled scores of reporters towards metal barriers while protesters continued to chant “Freedom!” and “Respect the constitution!”.

“I want Russia to be free, not to rot in a policeman’s nightmare,” said a protester in a black mask who refused to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said about 50 people had been detained at the protest which he said was attended by about 100 people and 100 reporters.

Opposition activists said about 70 people had been detained and that 500 people had showed up.

Hundreds of police and interior ministry troops encircled the “march of the discontented” on Triumfalnaya Square, just a few km (miles) north of the Kremlin. Unlike previous protests, riot police were not used to make arrests.

Human rights groups say the Kremlin has muzzled the media and rolled back freedoms since Vladimir Putin was first elected president in 2000 and the situation has not improved under his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin is believed by many diplomats and Russian citizens to be the real ruler in Russia despite stepping down as Kremlin chief to become prime minister in May 2008.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet dissident and one of Russia’s best known human rights campaigners, attended the protest with a police colonel, an escort she said was needed to ensure she was not crushed by the crowds.

“I came here to defend the constitution,” Alexeyeva, 82, told Reuters as she was pushed towards metal barriers by a crowd of police, reporters and protesters.

(Additional reporting by Aidar Buribayev; Editing by Michael Roddy)
By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Russian police said they detained at least 50 people on Saturday at an unsanctioned human rights protest in central Moscow, but protesters put the number higher.

Police dragged off dozens of people to waiting buses and jostled scores of reporters towards metal barriers while protesters continued to chant “Freedom!” and “Respect the constitution!”.

“I want Russia to be free, not to rot in a policeman’s nightmare,” said a protester in a black mask who refused to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said about 50 people had been detained at the protest which he said was attended by about 100 people and 100 reporters.

Opposition activists said about 70 people had been detained and that 500 people had showed up.

Hundreds of police and interior ministry troops encircled the “march of the discontented” on Triumfalnaya Square, just a few km (miles) north of the Kremlin. Unlike previous protests, riot police were not used to make arrests.

Human rights groups say the Kremlin has muzzled the media and rolled back freedoms since Vladimir Putin was first elected president in 2000 and the situation has not improved under his protege, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin is believed by many diplomats and Russian citizens to be the real ruler in Russia despite stepping down as Kremlin chief to become prime minister in May 2008.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a Soviet dissident and one of Russia’s best known human rights campaigners, attended the protest with a police colonel, an escort she said was needed to ensure she was not crushed by the crowds.

“I came here to defend the constitution,” Alexeyeva, 82, told Reuters as she was pushed towards metal barriers by a crowd of police, reporters and protesters.

(Additional reporting by Aidar Buribayev; Editing by Michael Roddy)
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLV111333

New York, October 30, 2009—Chinese police have reportedly arrested two Uighur journalists who published online about Uighur issues in Xinjiang, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Chinese authorities blamed local and international Uighur Web sites for fueling July’s ethnic violence, according to international news reports. 

Security officials arrested Web site manager Hailaite Niyazi in his home in the regional capital, Urumqi, on October 1, according to The Associated Press and Radio France Internationale today. Authorities informed his family on October 4 that he had been detained for endangering national security, RFI reported. Niyazi, who has worked for state newspapers Xinjiang Legal News and Xinjiang Economic Daily, also managed and edited the Web site Uighurbiz until June this year, according to AP.

A second Uighur Web site manager, Dilixiati Paerhati, has been missing since August 7, when unidentified men detained him in his apartment Urumqi, AP report said. Amnesty International publicized the case last week when Paerhati’s brother Dilimulati, a U.K.-based student, appealed for his release. Paerhati’s popular Web site, Diyarim, has been inaccessible since early July, when violent rioting sparked by ethnic tensions between indigenous Uighurs and Han Chinese who have settled in the area prompted a widespread crackdown on the Internet in Xinjiang. The autonomous region remains largely offline, according to international news reports.

“We are concerned that Hailaite Niyazi and Dilixiati Paerhati, who covered the volatile Xinjiang region, have been detained,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program coordinator. Urumqi authorities must clarify their status immediately. Managing a Web site is not a crime.”

Paerhati was detained and interrogated about the riots on July 24 but released without charge after eight days. No formal notification of his arrest followed his disappearance on August 7 and his whereabouts are unknown, according to Amnesty. “He only edits a Web site, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” his brother told the group.

Uighurbiz founder Ilham Tohti was questioned about the contents of the site and detained for more than six weeks before being released in August, according to international news reports. Tohti told AP he did not publicize Niyazi’s arrest earlier for fear of damaging his case. Niyazi’s wife believes Niyazi gave interviews to foreign media outlets about the situation in July that may have led to the charge against him, Tohti told AP.

“In China, sometimes even if you are just defending human rights, if you say something a little bit extreme, you’ll be in trouble,” Niyazi told AP in July.

New York, October 28, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by ongoing threats to Sri Lanka’s journalists and media organizations. Anonymous letters with death threats, at left, recently sent to Sunday Leader Editor-in-Chief Frederica Jansz and News Editor Munza Mushtaq echo those that ended in the death of the paper’s founder, Lasantha Wickramatunga, in January. 

“Our concern is that these most recent threats, like so many others, and the deaths of 11 journalists since President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power in 2006, will remain unexplained and those behind them will remain unprosecuted,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The air of impunity surrounding violence against the media is having a chilling effect on journalists.”

The written threats are “almost identical to what Lasantha got three weeks before he was murdered,” Jansz told CPJ in an e-mail message. No one has been charged or prosecuted in Wickramatunga’s death. The editor was killed in his car on his way to work on a busy street in a suburb of Colombo. According to his brother Lal Wickramatunga, chairman of the paper’s parent company, Leader Publications, the editor had been receiving anonymous death threats for months.

According to Jansz, the two letters she and Mushtaq received on October 22 are identical—written in red ink, postmarked October 21. Both letters threatened: “If you write anymore, we will kill you and slice you into pieces,” Jansz said. The Sunday Leader has a long history of being critical of the government, but Jansz said she thinks the latest threat stems from a controversy surrounding an interview she gave to Al-Jazeera about footage aired by Britain’s Channel 4 News that apparently showed a man in a Sri Lankan military uniform executing Tamil prisoners, some unclothed and with their hands tied behind their backs. The government denied the video’s validity, and claimed Jansz’s comments supported claims of the video’s accuracy. 

http://cpj.org/2009/10/death-threats-sent-to-paper-of-slain-editor-in-sri.php