EDITOR’S NOTE: The same fate awaits most the ruling Woyanne officials of Ethiopia.
STRASBOURG, France (AFP) — A Tunisian ex-diplomat, accused of torturing the wife of an opposition member in the 1990s when he was a police chief in Tunisia, was sentenced to eight years in prison in France on Monday.
Khaled Ben Said, who served as Tunisian vice-consul in the French city of Strasbourg from 2000 to 2001, had faced up to 20 years in jail if found guilty of torture.
The prosecution had asked for him to be acquitted, arguing that his case was “absolutely void”.
Targeted by an international arrest warrant, 46-year-old Ben Said stood accused by Zoulaikha Gharbi of leading a group of officers who interrogated and tortured her in a police station in the Tunisian town of Jendouba in 1996.
Gharbi claims she was subjected to torture during 24 hours for information about her husband Mouldi Gharbi, an opponent of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who holds refugee status in France.
The 44-year-old woman alleged that her torturers partially undressed her, hung her from a metal bar, insulted, scratched and pinched her breasts.
Ben Said was tried under French laws on universal jurisdiction that allow courts to prosecute foreigners for crimes committed anywhere in the world.
Tunisian officials have rejected the charges against Ben Said as “totally unfounded”, and questioned the French court’s competence to try the case.
The Tunisian government issued a statement describing the case as “sheer fabrication and a propaganda ploy by fundamentalists” bent on discrediting Ben Ali’s government.
“Torture and other forms of inhumane and degrading treatment are strictly forbidden under Tunisian law,” said the statement issued in Tunis.
Gharbi, 44, who now also lives in France, lodged the suit in 2001.
A Tunisian journalist and a political expert took the stand in the eastern city of Strasbourg on behalf of the plaintiff and described torture as a regular occurrence in the north African country.
“Violence is one of the central tenets of the Tunisian regime,” said Vincent Geisser, a research fellow for the CNRS institute, who said it was a “state-sponsored practice”.
“Torture is institutionalised” in Tunisia, said journalist Sihem Bensedrine. Once confined to special interior ministry rooms, torture is nowadays “practiced everywhere, even in the smallest police station,” he said.
It is the second time a legal case was opened in France under the provisions of universal jurisdiction, following the trial for torture of a Mauritanian military officer in 2005.
Written into the UN convention against torture, the principle has been making inroads into international law ever since the detention of Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998.
The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues was a civil plaintiff in the case, in which the Tunisian president and ambassador to France have both been called to testify.
Two Dartmouth students turned a trip to Ethiopia into an opportunity to help shine a light into the lives of young Africans thousands of miles away.
In 2007, Ben Beisswenger, a member of the class of ’09 and classmate Zoe Dmitrovsky, were both on summer service fellowships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a trip funded by the Tucker Foundation and supporting the Human Capital Foundation. During their weeks there, the two, along with students from other American colleges, continued to be amazed by the optimism and cheer of the young people in the Selamta Children’s Center.
The Selamta Children’s Center is a children’s home and a sustainable living facility for children orphaned due to the devastating affects of HIV/AIDS in their communities.
Committed to being more than just impressed by the spirit of the Ethiopian students, Beisswenger, Dmitrovsky and the remaining American students wrote a book to tell the story of Selamta and the young people who live there. “An Unlikely Family” by Anemone Publishing Co. is a collection of first-person stories about the lives of various kids in Selamta. Often heartbreaking, the young people featured remain hopeful of their futures.
“The kids in Ethiopia were greatly interested in the book project,” said Carolynne Krusi, a former dean at Dartmouth and advisor on the Selamta project.
Krusi did the page layout and art selection for the book while American students, called ambassadors, were sending stories and other snippets to Krusi over the summer. When the American students returned, they filled in the gaps and helped with the editing and proofreading. It took nearly 18 months from the time Beissenwenger, Dmitrovsky and the other American students collected the Ethiopians’ story to the time the book came out.
Dmitrovsky worked as a teacher to the young students that summer and through a series of writing assignments each week, the seed was planted for the book.
“The most remarkable thing about these kids is they have experienced unbelievable hardships, yet they’re so appreciative of everything they have at Selamta,” she said. “I asked them to talk to me about what they wanted to do when they grow up and all of them said wanted to do good things for Ethiopia. Their desire is to transform Ethiopia for the better and they’re so thankful that it’s given them the ability to start a new life for themselves.”
As a show of support, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Dartmouth Bookstore located in downtown Hanover is hosting a book launching reception from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. The entire purchase price of each book bought at the launch will be contributed to the Selamta Family Project.
Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 12/15/08 • Media Contact: Latarsha Gatlin • (603) 646-3661
I’ve been predicting for years that Wi-Fi would get freer and freer until almost nobody could muster the gall to charge for it. Now, with the economy down and competition for scarce customers up, the trickle of free Wi-Fi hotspots is becoming a flood.
The airlines lately have been rolling out Wi-Fi that is the opposite of free: They charge way too much for it (there are few monopolies as perfect as the provision of wireless networking at 35,000 feet). However, Delta plans to start offering Wi-Fi on its puddle-jumper shuttle flights tomorrow. To promote the new service, they’ll offer the Wi-Fi free for the next two weeks.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a free hotspot. Somebody’s got to pay for it. Increasingly, however, companies are folding in the costs of supporting a Wi-Fi network into the operations budget, and spreading the costs across all customers. I think this is a good thing.
My belief is that the demand for free Wi-Fi is driven at least as much by the hassle factor as it is the cost factor. People just want to fire up their laptops or iPhone and be online. As Wi-Fi devices, including the iPhone, BlackBerry Bold and ubiquitous netbooks go mainstream, the provision of free Wi-Fi just makes sense for business of all stripes.
In November 2008, International Rescue Committee health teams undertook a week-long campaign to conduct vital eye surgeries for 89 people in Sherkole camp, a safe haven for southern Sudanese refugees in western Ethiopia. Doctors targeted people suffering from cataracts, a clouding of the lens, and trachoma, an inward rotation of the eyelashes which rubs the cornea (and is most commonly found in rural areas without good water supply). Both diseases can cause blindness if left untreated.
“This was an important intervention that helped to bring much-needed services to hundreds of people in a remote part of Ethiopia,” said Bayleyegn Birhanu, the IRC’s “Vision 20/20” program coordinator.
IRC teams collaborated with government staff and an external consultant to examine 318 patients during the clinic. The services were made available to members of the neighboring Ethiopian communities as well as camp refugees. Indeed, of the 318 patients examined, approximately 82 percent were Ethiopian.
Before surgery, patients underwent preliminary screenings. Those with minor cases of vision impairment were treated with antibiotics. The teams then carried out 73 major and 16 minor surgeries. All patients were booked into the camp’s general health clinic for follow-up appointments conducted by government nurses and IRC staff trained by an ophthalmologic consultant.
The IRC offered similar surgeries in other refugee camps earlier this year. In Shimelba, we treated 54-year-old Lemlem Baheta who had been virtually blind for 10 years due to cataracts. The day after her surgery, while the examiner was checking her eyes, Lemlem could not restrain a cry of joy: “Stop it, I can see everything!”
The IRC now runs a permanent vision center in Shimelba’s health clinic. Since its inception in June 2008, technicians have examined well over 300 patients. Another 150 have been treated with antibiotics and given vitamin A supplements, while 37 people have received minor surgery. Additionally, 144 patients have received free eyeglasses following thorough consultations with IRC staff.
The IRC has made special efforts to reach children, according to Mengistu Scundado, an IRC Vision 20/20 officer in Shimelba. Children under 10 years are particularly vulnerable to trachoma—they often don’t wash their faces properly and have difficulty keeping flies, transmitters of the disease, away from their eyes. The IRC has treated 1,678 refugee children and 387 local Ethiopian children with antibiotics while also providing them with vitamin A supplements in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines.
To help parents protect their children from trachoma, IRC experts have trained 24 social workers to talk to families about personal hygiene and provide options for treatment of eyesight problems. They also trained teachers to recognize vision problems in children and to refer them to the local health center.
The call to Fairfax police about a bank robbery in progress at a McLean bank came at 11:21 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Ten minutes later, just across the Arlington line, three Fairfax police officers fatally shot a 19-year-old bank robbery suspect, at 11:32 a.m.
The suspect, Hailu Brook, also known as Hailu Brook Hailu, was a senior at Yorktown High School in Arlington County. He lived on the 7400 block of Eldorado Street in McLean, according to Fairfax Police, but had been recently living with relatives in Arlington and enrolled at Yorktown in September, according to Arlington County Public School Spokesperson Frank Bellavia.
Hailu turned 19 years old on Nov. 4, according to search warrants filed by Fairfax officers.
Arlington County and Fairfax County detectives are coordinating an ongoing investigation, according to an Arlington County Police press release.
FAIRFAX OFFICERS were initially called to a reported bank robbery at 11:21 am, Dec. 10, at Branch Banking & Trust Bank at 6220 Old Dominion Drive in McLean.
“In that robbery, the suspect entered the bank, brandished a semi-automatic handgun and robbed the teller,” according to a search warrant filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court. The suspect was wearing “a black-hooded sweat shirt with the hood over his head” as well as a mask, blue jeans, and white and black running shoes.
Two witnesses helped police locate the suspect, including one citizen who was at a drive-thru window when he observed the suspect enter the bank with the handgun, and then flee in a champagne-colored Honda, according to the court documents.
“The witness followed the suspect in his vehicle until the suspect crashed into a light pole,” according to the search warrants. That crash occurred at Old Dominion Drive and Valley Wood Road, according to both Arlington and Fairfax police.
Another witness then observed the suspect exit the vehicle with a white bag, later found to contain money.
“The second witness called 911 and stayed on the phone with the dispatcher as he followed the suspect,” according to the warrants.
Officers confronted Hailu Brook in the 5300 block of North 36th Street, just over the Arlington County border.
“The suspect produced a handgun and failed to obey the officers’ commands. Three officers fired at the suspect, striking him in the upper body,” according to both departments.
“The officers challenged the suspect, who matched the description of the bank robbery suspect, and then ended the encounter by utilizing deadly force,” according to the warrants written by a Fairfax officer.
THE THREE OFFICERS, all assigned to the McLean District Station, were veterans on the force, who had worked for 21 years, nine and three years, according to Fairfax Police.
Fairfax County Public Information Officer Shelley Broderick could not comment on how many shots were fired, how many times Hailu was shot, or whether he spoke English.
“Anytime there’s a shooting, we’re going to have an internal investigation,” she said. “There is no estimate as to when the investigation will be completed.”
Arlington Police were alerted to the incident from a Fairfax Police helicopter, according to Arlington County information officer Crystal Nosal. “They were alerting us because they had sightings of the suspect near a school.”
Williamsburg Middle School, Yorktown High School and Nottingham Elementary School were all locked down during the incident, she said.
Nosal added that she was once involved in a police shooting in the past, and that the investigation takes a significant amount of time.
“[That shooting] took place in October, and we didn’t send the [information] to the Commonwealth Attorney until spring. They want to go through the whole investigation and they like to be very meticulous.”
Hailu Brook was the son of an Ethiopian diplomat, Brook Hailu Beshah of McLean, who formerly served as Ethiopia’s deputy ambassador to the United States and is currently a part-time professor at George Washington University.
OFFICER DON GOTTHARDT, another Fairfax County Police Department spokesperson, said Fairfax Police could not answer questions Friday because Arlington County is now in charge of the investigation.
When asked if police have guidelines when to pursue a suspect and when not to, Gotthardt answered, “there are general orders, when we will … and when we shall not.”
Gotthardt refused on Friday to answer questions about the specific guidelines.
Ethiopians in Washington DC demand the release of Teddy Afro
Hundreds of Ethiopians residing in the Washington DC area held a protest rally in front of the Woyanne-occupied Ethiopian embassy to demand the immediate release of Teddy Afro. Several Ethiopian musicians were among the protesters.
Ethiopians in Washington DC demand the release of Teddy Afro: Protest in front of the Woyanne embassy
Two Dartmouth students turned a trip to Ethiopia into an opportunity to help shine a light into the lives of young Africans thousands of miles away.
