‘Supermax’ Prison Awaits Moussaoui

US — Zacarias Moussaoui, who has testified that he was involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the September 11 attacks, looks set to live out the rest of his days in a super-maximum security Colorado prison, dubbed ‘the Alcatraz of the Rockies’.  

Officially, it is the ‘Administrative Maximum’ facility at the Florence Correctional Complex (‘FCC’). It is the federal Bureau of Prison’s highest security lock-up and is already home to a number of other prisoners incarcerated as part of what the US calls its war on terror.  

A typical ‘Supermax’ cell’s furniture – bed, desk, stool – is made from poured concrete. Supermaxes tend to be the end of the road for those in the prison system. Transfer to an even marginally less restrictive environment can require several years of good behaviour.  

To their supporters, these jails are the most appropriate way to house the worst of the worst in the prison population.  

Critics describe them as a breeding ground for monsters – with regimes that are tantamount to torture. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

Judges Chosen for Cambodia Trial

Cambodia — The trial of top Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide moved another step closer as 30 officials were selected to serve a UN-backed tribunal. 

In a meeting chaired by King Norodom Sihamoni, Cambodia’s Supreme Council of Magistracy approved 17 Cambodian and 13 international officials for the role. A tribunal spokesman said prosecutors would begin work in June, with the trial phase set to begin in 2007.  

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his regime collapsed shortly afterwards, but several senior Khmer Rouge figures are still living freely in Cambodia.  

In 2003, Cambodia and the UN agreed jointly to convene trials, but there were fears the process could be undermined by the dire state of Cambodia’s judicial system, which was badly debilitated by the Khmer Rouge policy of targeting the intelligentsia for extermination.  

A complex formula of majority voting by both Cambodian and international judicial officials has been devised to try to ensure that tribunal decisions are backed by both sides.  

Almost every Cambodian family lost a relative to starvation, disease, forced labour or execution during the Khmer Rouge regime. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

Make Media Search Warrant Guidelines Law, Demand Legislators

Hong Kong SAR — Proposed guidelines on the search and seizure of journalistic material should be passed into law as soon as possible, lawmakers said.  

Under the guidelines revealed at a special meeting of the Legislative Council’s security panel, all law enforcement agencies, including the police, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and the immigration and customs departments, should apply to the District Court for search warrants to seize such material, Principal Assistant Secretary for Security, Apollonia Liu Lee Ho-kei said.  

Serious cases, however, will have to go to the Court of First Instance and could be appealed against in the Court of Final Appeal, she said. ‘Exceptions would be to cases involving an imminent risk of serious harm to life and limb, or sensitive issues like serious corruption allegations made against very senior government officials,’ Liu said.  

The new guidelines provide a means of appeal as judicial reviews could be made, she added. At present, law enforcement agencies can apply for warrants to the Court of First Instance or the District Court. (Source: www.thestandard.com.hk)

Global Child Labour Figures Fall

Geneva — The number of children working around the world has fallen significantly for the first time, a new study says. 

Some 218 million are classified as child labourers, the International Labour Organisation (‘ILO’) found, down 11 per cent from 246 million in a previous report in 2002. Campaigns and new laws have helped reduce child labour, the ILO said, raising hopes that many types of child labour could be eradicated in a decade.  

The ILO study is the second by the organisation in four years, allowing direct comparisons between data collected in 2000 and new figures. The organisation hailed the overall results as a breakthrough, saying that an end to child labour ‘is in our grasp’ for the first time.  

The largest numbers of children working are still found in Asia, where 122 million work, a decline of five million. China and Thailand were singled out for special praise by the ILO.  

Under the terms of the ILO’s Minimum Age Convention, ratifying states must specify a minimum age at which children are allowed to begin work. Most developed countries set the level at age 15, and many developing countries at 14. Youths under 18 are considered under-age for work hazardous to health, safety or morals, the ILO says. 
(Source: www.bbc.co.uk)