BRIEF: Moti Loses Legal Bid to Prevent His Deportation

BRIEF: Moti Loses Legal Bid to Prevent His Deportation

HONIARA, Solomon Islands – Julian Moti was sacked as Solomons Attorney General on Monday, and is expected to be deported to Australia on Thursday (27 December) at the latest, according to Solomons Immigration Department permanent secretary Jeffrey Wickham.

Moti filed an application to stay his deportation, but it has been denied.  He argued that since he was granted asylum in the Solomons he should be protected under the Solomons constitution.  However, the judge ruled the application out of order since Moti’s asylum protection was dependent on his remaining attorney general and it was clear at the time that the new government intended to remove him from that position.

Still concerned that Moti may attempt to escape, Papua New Guinea has issued an order to its airlines and port authorities that Moti is to be turned away from PNG.  Fiji, on the other hand, has made it clear that Moti will be allowed entry should he seek sanctuary in Fiji.  Fiji Immigration Director Viliame Naupoto said that Moti has a right to enter Fiji because he was born there.

For more information, please see:

ONE News – Moti loses legal bid to prevent deportation – 23 December 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Moti dumped as Solomons’ Attorney General – deportation process underway – 24 December 2007

The National – PNG bans Moti – 24 December 2007

Fiji Village – Moti has right to come to Fiji – 24 December 2007

The Age – Solomons set to deport Moti – 25 December 2007


For more information on the Moti affair, please see the Impunity Watch reportson Moti’s appointment as attorney general for the Solomons, PNG government involvement in Moti’s escape, the Vanuatu case status, Australia’s extradition attempt and the missing PNG inquiry report, and Moti’s fear of assassination attempts.

BRIEF: Call for Help in Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Alpha Oumar Konare, the head of the African Union Commission, called on Sudan’s government today to facilitate the deployment of a joint AU-UN peacekeeping force to Darfur.  He also called on the rebels to rejoin the peace process. 

The current AU peacekeeping force has had problems keeping the peace and Darfuris have been asking for international protection for five years.  A joint AU-UN peacekeeping force was approved in July, but the government has been repeatedly accused of purposely causing delays.    Deployment has finally been agreed to and the AU force is due to hand over power to a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force on January 1. 

Konare stated that the handover is not the end of the African Union force, known as AMIS, “but the beginning of a new phase of hybrid force.”  He called on the Khartoum government to help with the logistics of the operation.

For more information, please see:

AFP – AU chief appeals to all sides in Darfur conflict – 24 December 2007

Reuters – African Union urges Sudan to facilitate Darfur force – 24 December 2007

Egyptian Guard Killed in Shootout with Traffickers

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RAFAH, Egypt – An Egyptian border guard was killed on Friday in a shoot out with people traffickers who were trying to smuggle African migrants into Israel.

Mohammed Abdel Mohsen al-Guindi, 21, was killed when gunfire broke out after the group refused to surrender. The migrants fled across the border and the traffickers managed to escape. Egyptian authorities are currently searching in the area for suspects.

The border between Egypt and Israel has become a major transit route for Egyptians and foreigners to cross into Israel to smuggle goods, including people. The border is also used for east European prostitutes heading to work, voluntarily or involuntarily, as well as for African migrants and asylum seekers, and for smugglers of illegal weapons and drugs.

The migrants who crossed the border on Friday are likely part of influx of African asylum seekers seeking entry into Israel, where more than 2,500 of them entered illegally in the past two years. Several hundred of those are Sudanese refugees from war-torn Darfur, but most are coming to Israel looking for jobs. As a result, dozens of Africans have been arrested in recent months as they sought to cross the border, and at least three migrants were killed in the process.

On the day after the incident, Egyptian border guards arrested another 11 African migrants who were trying to cross illegally into Israel. Five were injured when guards opened fire to stop them and four were wounded while trying to jump over barbed wire along the border. One was shot in the knee.

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Egyptian guard killed in clash with smugglers at Israeli border– 23 December 2007

Reuters – Egypt says smugglers kill soldier at Israel border – 22 December 2007

AFP – Egypt policeman dies in shootout with people traffickers – 22 December 2007

International Herald Tribune – 11 African refugees arrested before crossing into Israel; 5 injured – 22 December 2007

Tahitian Lawyer Investigated in Connection With Missing Journalist

By Sarah C. LaBelle
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

PAPE’ETE, French Polynesia – Investigators searched the offices of Jean-Dominique des Arcis and seized documents believed to be related to the 1997 disappearance of journalist Jean-Pascal Couraud.  Des Arcis used to work with Couraud, and recently gave conflicting reports of what happened around the time of the disappearance.

Couraud, former editor of Les Nouvelles de Tahiti (a Tahitian newspaper), disappeared in 1997, and authorities declared it a suicide at the time.  In October 2004, however, former spy Vetea Guilloux testified during France’s Clearstream scandal that Couraud was in fact killed by drowning during a horrendous interrogation by the Polynesian Intervention Group (GIP).  [GIP was a police unit under the command of then-president Gaston Flosse to monitor the government’s political opponents.]  Guilloux changed his testimony a few times, first saying that he was present at the interrogation, and later saying that he had only overheard two GIP colleagues, Tino Maraa and Tutu Manate, boasting about it.  He then retracted the murder claim altogether, only to reiterate during his appeal that Couraud had been murdered.

There have been rumours that Couraud was killed because he had information on then French president Jacques Chirac’s involvement in “questionable dealings” related to the Clearstream affair, according to the New Zealand Herald, while other rumours give a series of articles that portrayed Flosse in an unflattering light as the reason for Couraud’s disappearance.

In response to Guilloux’s testimony, Couraud’s family filed a murder complaint against unknown persons for Couraud’s death.  Couraud’s brother Phillipe told the New Zealand Herald that he does not believe his brother’s death was ordered by either Chirac or Flosse, but that he believes Jean-Pascal was accidentally killed during GIP questioning.

The probe was about to be closed this November because the first investigative judge did not find any evidence of murder.  Couraud’s family appealed this finding, and a new investigative judge will be appointed to continue the inquiry.  Phillipe Couraud said, “We really think things will change and we will get to the end of this.  In the file, what we have are a lot of declarations of people who were not friends but colleagues [of the alleged killers], who have heard people from the GIP telling the story of the assassination.  […]  Twelve people came to see us and said ‘hey, your brother has been killed by these people.’ “

Reporters Without Borders has been calling on the French government to get to the bottom of the case:

“Recent developments suggest the inquiry into [Couraud’s] presumed death can now move forward.  It is urgent, morally and legally, that all elements in this case are revealed.  The French authorities must not provide an argument for those who think French Polynesia is a place where shady deals are done or the law can be flouted.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International – Reporters Without Borders calls for Couraud case to be probed – 13 December 2007

Scoop (Reporters Without Borders) – France Urged To Act In Case Of Missing Journalist – 16 December 2007

Radio New Zealand International – Lawyer’s office searched in case of missing French Polynesian journalist – 20 December 2007

New Zealand Herald – Journalist’s death poses questions, 10 years on – 23 December 2007

Bahraini Protesters Arrested

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain- Police arrested the Shiite demonstrators protesting against the Sunni government.

The riots began on Monday marking the ten year anniversary of the death of a prominent Shiite civil rights leader.  The majority of the Bahrainis are Shiite, however, the ruling family is Sunni.  This has lead to a clash between the two groups as the financial and economic disparity between the groups has continued to grow.  The Shiites have continually complained about the fact that they have been discriminated against by the Sunni government.

The protestors voiced their opinions this week.   The response by the government has been to dramatically increase security. The government immediately tried to halt the rally through using gas grenades, killing one protester.  Reportedly Friday following morning prayers, Security Forces arrested many of the protesters of the Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy.

The group issued a statement regarding the worshipers being arrested on Friday.  “They were faced brutally by the Special Forces, which entered the mosque … while pursuing the rest who fled towards the nearby Water Garden park. Tear gas was fired on the people in the park.”  (Guardian Unlimited)

The government has responded that it was just trying to keep the peace during a volatile time.  The heightened security has solely been a response to the out of control mob, which has destroyed public property and burned a police car.

The Security Forces have extended its quest to going to the homes of the opposition leaders to arrest them in their homes.  They have placed the northern villages under siege and have roughly handled the citizens in their search to detain suspects.

For more information, please see:

Albawaba- Demonstrators reported in Bahrain- 23 December 2007

Guardian Unlimited- Violent Clashes Erupt in Bahrain- 22 December 2007

International Herald Tribune- Bahraini police stage security sweeps following clashes- 22 December 2007

Reuters- Bahrain arrests activists after week of unrest- 22 December 2007