Free Tayseer

As the restrictions imposed by the American war machine on the free and independent media continues, and the pressure on them intensifies, so do the massacres and human rights violations committed by the American military wherever they happen to have a foothold. This aggressive war machine continues to endeavour tirelessly to gag every free, independent and self respecting media organization in the world that tries to convey a message of truth to others without distortion or perversion. As we strongly condemn and denounce the Spanish government's yielding to American pressure and arresting Allouni and leave him to languish in jail despite his poor health, which reconsider a violation of basic human rights and the principle of free press which the West has long been paying lip service to. The Spanish government, in our view, has done itself a great disservice by giving in to the demands of the Americans. It has thus proven once again to be an obedient servant of the American imperialists. In the process, the Spanish judiciary has inflicted upon itself a great deal of damage to its credibility and honour. We therefore call upon human rights organisations and all those who concern themselves with defending the rights of journalists to bring pressure to bear on the Spanish government and through lawful means to bring about a speedy release of Mr. Allouni. We believe this matter to be of great urgency in view of what has reached us from reliable sources of the conditions surrounding Mr. Allouni's incarceration. He is being kept in a tiny cell (2.5 by 1.6 m ). He is also being subjected to near total solitary confinement and not allowed outside his cell except for two hours in the morning and two in the evening, and even this is only into a small space in which he is not allowed to see more than five inmates on the strict condition of not engaging in any form of conversation and under close guard. The temperature in the cell where he is being kept is very cold reaching below zero at times. The heating is only switched on for two hours a day which has severely aggravated the back pain Mr Allouni suffers from. He is only allowed two visitors a time which means that he is deprived of seeing his entire family together

Challenging a Sacred Cow

Excuse me while I put on my flak jacket. For many the touting of democracy as the best system of governance — indeed, the only form — has become almost a religion. Democracy, they say, means freedom, choice, justice and prosperity. It’s the cure of all ills; a political holy grail, an ideal to which we should all aspire. George Bush says the US has never been threatened by a democracy, so that’s all right then. Sounds good, doesn’t it? There is just one slight problem, though. Does a “by the people, for the people” utopia actually exist? The majority of Iraqis appear to think it might, judging from their excitement at voting for the very first time in their lives. They’ve been promised democracy and, sure enough, they were handed a piece of paper to tick and stuff into a ballot box. The truth is very different. Iraq is occupied. The occupiers have no timeline for moving out and any Iraqi government will have to defer to the US for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, residents of Sunni areas were either intimidated by insurgents not to vote or refrained from doing so due to their suspicions the exercise was little more than a sham to make the Americans look good. The litmus test will come if and when the new government asks the occupiers to leave, and refuses the idea of permanent US military bases. There is a lot more to democracy than the ballot including a free press, an independent judiciary, the sanctity of human rights and civil liberties, backed up by stable institutions. Iraq currently possesses none of these prerequisites.