April, 29 2009, 02:22pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
AIUSA media office,Email:,media@aiusa.org,Phone: 202-544-0200 x302
Update on Displacement and Civilian Casualties in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province from Amnesty International
WASHINGTON
The Pakistan government must
begin to provide assistance to at least 65,000 civilians who have fled
fighting between Pakistani Taliban and government forces in Lower Dir district
of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Amnesty International said
today.
The need for systematic assistance to the
displaced population is all the greater as Amnesty International is now
observing civilians beginning to stream out of neighboring Buner district,
where government forces have launched attacks using artillery and aerial
bombardment.
"There is no sign that the central Pakistan
government has prepared for the exodus of civilians," said Sam Zarifi,
Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director. "As the military operations
spread, most likely to Swat next, the government has to ensure that the
fleeing civilians have adequate food, shelter, and health care."
The Pakistani NGO Al Khidmat told Amnesty
International in Timergara, the main town in Lower Dir, that it had registered
at least 65,000 displaced people. As the operations apparently ended after
four days, Al Khidmat said it was the only group assisting the displaced
population, without any assistance from the central government.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban issued a
written warning to journalists in Timergara, Dir, threatening them if they
persisted in presenting material against the Taliban and the Nizam-e Adl
regulation that gave the Taliban administrative control over a wide swath
of NWFP. The Pakistani Taliban warned journalists would be tried in the
Taliban's Sharia courts and called the press club in Timergara today,
threatening to send a car full of explosives.
"The Taliban's warning against journalist
shows again their absolute disdain for human rights," Zarifi said. "The
Taliban have consistently jeopardized the well-being of the people living
under their control."
Update on the situation in Maidan tehseel
(subdistrict) Lower Dir:
The District Hospital in Timergara confirmed
a total of 13 civilians killed during the fighting, including eight civilians
killed today: two women, a boy, and five men (two of them primary school
teachers).
Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International in
Timergara that at least 28-30 houses had been completely destroyed while
dozens of houses have been partially damaged.
Civilians told Amnesty International that
security forces had warned civilians to evacuate their villages during
the operations. Locals reported use of helicopter gunships and heavy artillery
again today, though the fighting seemed to have ended by day's end.
On Wednesday, most businesses in Timergara
observed a general strike and several towns in Lower Dir witnessed demonstrations
against the army operations. The demonstrations were attended by local
workers and leaders of most of Pakistan's major parties.
Update from Buner:
Amnesty International observed hundreds of
civilians leaving Buner district as the Pakistani army and Frontier Corps
units launched operations around 4 p.m. Wednesday (in U.S. EDT, 6 p.m.
on Tuesday, April 28), using jet fighters and helicopter gunships. Forces
were moved from Mardan through the area known as Bakhshali, according to
our sources in Buner.
Thousands of people are arriving in adjacent
Sawabi and Mardan districts. Security forces have
asked the people fleeing the area not to
move in small groups as they might get hit because the Taliban are also
moving in small groups. Curfew has been announced in all the main towns
on the main road starting from Shehbaz Garaha till Ambela, Buner. Those
who are leaving Buner for safer places are facing difficulties because
of the curfew.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning
grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters,
activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human
rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates
and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice,
freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
Supreme Court Urged to 'Rule Quickly' After Trump Immunity Arguments
"It'd be a travesty for justices to delay matters further," said one legal expert.
Apr 25, 2024
After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
"Trump could sell pardons, ambassadorships, and other official benefits to his wealthy donors, members of his clubs, or cronies who helped him commit other crimes," CREW warned. "Trump could sell nuclear codes and government secrets to help pay back crippling debts."
"But this isn't just about what Donald Trump could do. It's really about how total immunity for the president would threaten our democratic system of checks and balances," the group continued. "The president could order the military to assassinate activists, political opponents, members of Congress, or even Supreme Court justices, so long as he claimed it related to some official act."
After warning that a president could also order the occupation or closure of the Capitol or high court to prevent actions against him, CREW concluded that "the Supreme Court never should have taken this appeal up in the first place. They should rule quickly and shut these ludicrous claims down for good."
The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
"In the name of accountability, the court must not delay its decision," the Brennan Center for Justice said Thursday evening. "The Supreme Court's time is up. It needs to let the prosecution move forward. The court decided Bush v. Gore in three days—it should act with similar alacrity in deciding Trump v. U.S."
In Bush v. Gore, the case that decided the 2000 election, the high court issued a related stay on December 9, heard oral arguments on December 11, and issued a final decision on December 12.
On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
"It is not an 'official act' to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power or the Constitution, even if you conspire with other government officials to do it or use the Oval Office phone," the center said. "Trump's attorney was pushing the court to come up with a sea change in the law. That's unnecessary and a delay tactic that will hurt the pursuit of justice in this case."
In a departure from previous claims, Trump's attorney, D. John Sauer, "appeared to agree with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, that there are some allegations in the indictment that do not involve 'official acts' of the president," NBC Newsreported, noting questions from liberal Justice Elena Kagan and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee.
Barrett summarized various allegations from the indictment and in three cases—involving dishonest election claims, false allegations of fraud, and fake electors—Sauer conceded that Trump's alleged conduct sounded private, suggesting that a more narrow case against the ex-president that excluded any potential official acts could proceed.
Due to Trump attorney's concessions in Supreme Court oral argument, there's now a very clear path for DOJ's case to go forward.\n\nIt'd be a travesty for Justices to delay matters further.\n\nJustice Amy Coney Barrett got Trump attorney to concede core allegations are private acts.\u2b07\ufe0f— (@)
According to NBC:
Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
Ultimately, he said, the case will go to trial "absent some external intervention—like Trump ordering [the Justice Department] to drop the charges" after having won the election.
At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
"It was fascinating to watch Barrett nodding along as Dreeben pitched a compromise that would largely preserve Smith's January 6 prosecution but limit what the jury could hear, or at least consider," Stern added. "That, though, would take months to suss out in the trial court. More delays!"
Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
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Trump was not at the Supreme Court on Thursday; he was at his trial in New York, where he faces 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The are two other cases: a federal one for mishandling classified material and another in Georgia for interfering with the last presidential contest.
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Stop the Money Pipeline co-director Alec Connon said: "To have any chance of reigning in the climate crisis, we must stop investing in fossil fuel expansion. Yet, Citibank is pumping billions of dollars into new coal, oil, and gas projects."
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