THE NATION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013
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FOREIGN NEWS
The life of Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf
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AKISTAN's government plans to put exPresident Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason, the country's interior minister said Sunday. Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup and became a U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, has faced a series of charges since returning to Pakistan after going into self-imposed exile for several years. Here's a look at major events in Musharraf's life: - Aug. 11, 1943: Pervez Musharraf born in New Delhi, which is now in India. - Oct. 7, 1998: Musharraf becomes chief of the army. - Oct. 12, 1999: Musharraf ousts Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. - Sept. 11, 2001: After the terror attacks, the U.S. demands Musharraf choose whether to ally with them or Pakistan's allies in neighboring Afghanistan, the Taliban.
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Musharraf chooses the U.S. - April 30, 2002: Musharraf extends his term as president for five years by holding a controversial referendum. - July 2007: Musharraf orders his forces to raid a mosque in downtown Islamabad where followers of a radical cleric were holed up. The raid leaves dozens of people dead and hardens militant opposition to Musharraf. - Oct. 5, 2007: Musharraf issues an ordinance protecting officials from past corruption charges as part of a deal that paves the way for former leaders Benazir Bhutto and Sharif to return home and contest elections. - Oct. 18, 2007: Bhutto returns from exile, surviving a massive bomb attack on her convoy in the port city of Karachi. - Nov. 3, 2007: Musharraf declares a state of emergency and sacks the chief justice of the Supreme Court, triggering a na-
tionwide protest movement led by lawyers that weakens his grip on power. - Nov. 25, 2007: Sharif returns home from exile. - Dec. 27, 2007: Bhutto is assassinated. - Feb. 18, 2008: Pakistan holds nationwide elections. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party wins the most seats. - Aug. 18, 2008: Musharraf resigns from the presidency under pressure from main political parties. - April 2009: Musharraf leaves Pakistan saying that he is going to lecture abroad. He does not return, essentially going into self-imposed exile. - March 24, 2013: Musharraf returns home saying he wants to contest elections. - April 18, 2013: Musharraf flees an Islamabad court after a judge revokes his bail in the case of detaining judges in 2007. He is later arrested. - Aug. 20, 2013: Musharraf is formally indicted in con-
Angelina Jolie, Steve Martin receive honorary Oscars
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nection with Bhutto's murder. - Nov. 4, 2013: A judge grants bail to Musharraf in a case involving the 2007 mosque raid. That decision, as well as bail being granted in other cases against the former leader, paves the way for Musharraf's release from his lavish estate in the suburbs of Islamabad, where he was held under house arrest for some six months. - Nov. 7, 2013: Pakistani authorities free Musharraf from house arrest, though he's not allowed to leave the country. - Nov. 17, 2013: Pakistan's interior minister announces the government will try Musharraf for treason.
Brazil banker Henrique Pizzolato flees from jail
N ex-director of the Brazilian state-run bank Banco do Brasil who has been convicted in a major corruption trial has fled the country to avoid jail. Henrique Pizzolato, who also has an Italian passport, said in a letter he had fled to seek a fair trial in Italy. On Friday the Brazilian Supreme Court issued 12 arrest warrants in connection with the case. Eleven defendants have surrendered, including the chief of staff of ex-Presi-
dent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Last year, the Supreme Court convicted 25 politicians, businessmen and bankers over the "Mensalao" (big monthly allowance) case. The scheme that used public funds to pay coalition parties for political support during the government of President Lula came to light in 2005. President Lula was not implicated in the case. The first sentences were only handed down at the end of 2012.
Nearly a year later, on Friday, the Supreme Court issued the first 12 arrest warrants. Pizzolato, an ex-marketing director of Banco do Brasil, was the only one who did not turn himself in. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail for money laundering, embezzlement and active corruption. His lawyer released a letter from Pizzolato and said he hoped to get another trial, free of media pressure in Italy.
OLLYWOOD star Angelina Jolie has been honoured for her humanitarian work at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual Governors Awards. The 38-year-old appeared tearful as she accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from director George Lucas. Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury and the Italian costume designer Pietro Tosi were also recognised in Los Angeles. "I can't possibly express how excited I am tonight because the Botox is fresh," joked Martin as he accepted his award. The 68-year-old has never been nominated for an Oscar, despite hosting the Academy Awards ceremony on three occasions. Lansbury has been similarly passed over by the Academy, despite being nominated three times for the best supporting actress Oscar. Angela Lansbury Lansbury is best known for her Jessica Fletcher role in Murder, She Wrote "Ms Lansbury, here is your Academy Award at last," said film historian Robert Osborne as he presented the 88-year-old with her golden statuette. It was recently announced that a new version of the British-born actress's long-running drama series Murder, She Wrote is in development with Octavia Spencer. Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Mark Wahlberg were among the star-studded audience at
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Saturday's event, held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center. The 86-year-old Tosi was unable to attend, however, and had his award collected on his behalf by Italian actress Claudia Cardinale. The event marked the fifth year that the Academy has presented its honorary awards at a separate ceremony. Excerpts from the event may be included in the 2014 Oscar telecast, to be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres on 2 March. Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California has announced it is to honour the stars of Oscar-tipped movie The Butler. Forest Whitaker will receive the Kirk Douglas Award for excellence in film on 15 December, while Oprah Winfrey will receive the Montecito Award on 5 February for her "inspirational" performance in the civil rights drama.
FOREIGN DISCOURSE
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Morsi's trial: A travesty of justice
HE sentencing, last week, of undergraduate students to 17 years imprisonment for daring to protest against the rape of democracy in Egypt signals the descent of that cradle of civilisation into the abyss of authoritarianism. As the attention of the world focused on Egypt where the unrepresentative, unelected and Juntabacked administration brings to trial, the deposed, first freely elected president of that country, Dr Mohammed Mursi over spurious charges of murder, and incitement to murder among countless other charges, this development in one of Africa's most important nations and the most populous Arab nation on earth calls for concern. Indeed, the world was treated to a macabre dance of undiluted shame by the ruling Egyptian junta when it brought Mohammed Morsi to trial two weeks ago. There were echoes of the Epetedo declaration by the late Basorun MKO Abiola declaring himself the legitimately elected President of Nigeria when Morsi declared, during the court hearing, that he was the legitimately elected President of Egypt and the ruling junta and its kangaroo courts were usurpers. The forces of retrogression that the military and its civilian collaborators represent appear to be having a field day with their tyranny, supported as it were by the silence of global powers who remain some of the largest beneficiaries of an undemocratic Egypt. As one of the few remaining countries on the African continent under military dictatorship, the flame of hope for a people's rule kindled by the brave Arab spirit in the revolution of January 25, 2011 became effectively extinguished by the connivance of those who lost out of the democratic process in the new Egypt, the remnants of the
By Comrade Shakiru Yekini
Mubarak era who dominated state institutions, and their external backers from the big spending 'Princes' in some of the Gulf states to global powers. What seems obvious to any discerning observer is that Morsi ousting is due to high-level geopolitics that is not yet prepared to entertain any populist expression of peoples' power in the Middle East. And, as the ruling junta in Egypt gets bolder by the support of big powers and 'big spenders' - the ignoble act of seizing power through the butts of the gun notwithstanding - they are bringing to trial the deposed presi-
tice of apartheid and discriminatory killing and repression by the ruling junta in Egypt. The context within which this charade of a trial is taking place is worrisome. Firstly, the men in charge of this trial are proven to lack integrity going by their antecedents and composition. They were the same men who quashed a corruption case for Ahmad Shafiq, their favorite in the June 16-17, 2012 run off Presidential election who was defeated by Morsi. They are the same men who hurriedly quashed Mubarak's trial for the death of hundreds on the eve of the revolution. They are the same men who presided over
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What gives concern and discomfort is the selection of one particular case – that under Morsi - which was a clash between citizens, not directly instigated by him, as against the other two instigated by Mubarak and El Sisi which were direct military orders to kill civilians! Also, the charge file brought against Morsi only gave names of three of the 11 dead in the clash for which he is standing trial ignoring the other eight who were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, just as the death of hundreds of Morsi’s supporters on El Sisi’s orders were passed over. This is home grown apartheid. The classification of the ‘dead’ in the fake trial shows the disdain with which the old regime and its remnants hold a section of the Egyptian citizens
dent, setting a dangerous precedent in the region. The only plausible conclusion that could be drawn is that the trial of Morsi indicates an open declaration of support for repression, corruption, unaccountable government, naked corruption, unprecedented state violence against armless and defenceless citizens by supporters of the coup that ousted Morsi. This is nothing but a travesty of justice and open embrace of the prac-
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the proscription, confiscation and freezing of assets and finances of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) both to which Morsi belong. They are the same men that supported the crackdown by the military on the sit in protests organised by the Anti Coup /Pro Mursi Coalition in which thousands were killed in July this year! These, aside other things, put a huge question mark
on the aim of the trial. Secondly the basis of the trial itself is flawed. Egypt has witnessed three waves of violence since the revolution. One was that of January/February 2011 under Hosni Mubarak who was then in effective control of state apparatus (the Army, Police and SSS) and under whom hundreds were killed by state agents acting on his orders to prevent a fall of his regime. Then, there was the December 5 2012 clash in front of the Presidential palace involving Pro and Anti Morsi protesters where 11 people died, eight of whom were supporters of Morsi, with deliberate police inaction to prevent the clash as it erupted and globally transmitted. Surprisingly, this is the trial Morsi is being arraigned for. Then, the July 8th killings of supporters of Morsi in a crackdown at the Rabaa al Adawiya Mosque and other places in which hundreds were killed on the orders of El Sisi and the new military regime. What gives concern and discomfort is the selection of one particular case that under Morsi - which was a clash between citizens, not directly instigated by him, as against the other two instigated by Mubarak and El Sisi which were direct military orders to kill civilians! Also, the charge file brought against Morsi only gave names of three of the 11 dead in the clash for which he is standing trial ignoring the other eight who were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, just as the death of hundreds of Morsi's supporters on El Sisi's orders were passed over. This is home grown apartheid. The classification of the 'dead' in the fake trial shows the disdain with which the old regime and its remnants hold a section of the Egyptian citizens. It's seems unreal that the trial is taking place at all going by the charges
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against Morsi but more worrisome is the fact that it is indeed a reality that beneficiaries of an open rape of democracy in Egypt are putting to trial the democratically elected President of Egypt and countries that have thrived on democratic values and principles are not doing enough to curtail this democratic aberration. Evil thrives where all men of conscience fail to take a principled stand when the rights of the weak and the oppressed are openly violated. Therefore, it is important for all people of conscience to speak up and against the open rape of democracy in Egypt. All well meaning individuals and organisations should persist in keeping the Egyptian issue in the front burner of discourse with the following demands: a restoration of the structures and institutions of democracy including the reinstatement of Morsi, an immediate halt to the persecution and dubious trial of opponents of military rule, the restoration of constitutional order and protection of the fundamental and inalienable rights of all citizens regardless of faith. Comrade Yekini is the Partnership and Advocacy Officer of the Nigerian Muslim Initiative (NMI). laidetop06@yahoo.com