PAKISTAN

ISI and MI say Imran Riaz not in their custody, senior cop tells LHC

Rana Bilal 

DAWN

Published May 25, 2023 

Lahore police Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Kamran Adil told the high court on Thursday that both the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) had said that anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan — whose whereabouts remain unknown since his arrest on May 11 — was not in their custody.

The police official made the remarks as the Lahore High Court (LHC) resumed hearing a plea seeking the recovery of the anchorperson, who was among the individuals apprehended in the wake of protests that erupted in the country after the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan.

Later, his lawyer told Dawn.com that a writ petition was filed on May 12 over the anchorperson’s arrest and the LHC directed the attorney general to present him before the court the same day. But, after its orders were not followed, Sialkot police were given a 48-hour deadline to recover Imran.

A first information report (FIR) pertaining to the matter was registered with Civil Lines police on May 16 on the complaint of the anchorperson’s father, Muhammad Riaz.


The FIR was registered against “unidentified persons” and police officials for allegedly kidnapping Imran, invoking Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

At the previous hearing, Punjab Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar had told the court that there was no trace of the journalist at any police department across the country.

The LHC had subsequently directed the ministries of interior and defence to “discharge their constitutional duties to effect the recovery” of the missing anchorperson.
The hearing

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti presided over today’s hearing during which the Lahore police DIG (Investigation) appeared before the court instead of the Punjab IG.

The lawyer representing the Punjab government requested the court to exempt the provincial police chief from appearing as he was attending a ceremony in connection with Martyrs Respect Day in Gujranwala.

The LHC CJ inquired about the IG’s schedule and asked for the record to be submitted. The DIG assured the court that the record would be submitted to the court.

During the hearing, the DIG stated, “The ISI and MI have said that Imran Riaz is not in their custody”.

Meanwhile, the anchorperson’s counsel, Advocate Azhar Siddique, told the court that Imran’s father, Muhammad Riaz, wished to speak.

Justice Bhatti emphasised the court’s commitment to upholding fundamental rights while Riaz said his son was “being punished for making a vlog”.

The court directed the journalist’s lawyers to meet with the police team later today and told them to provide the police with any evidence that was in their possession.

The hearing was later adjourned.
Info minister called out for remarks on Imran’s disappearance

Earlier this week, journalists and human rights activists had strongly criticised Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb’s comments regarding Imran’s case.

Journalist Secunder Kermani, a Channel4 News foreign correspondent, had shared a video of an exchange with the information minister about the missing anchorperson.



He questioned Aurangzeb about journalists going missing and being detained, adding that these were the same issues that the PML-N had raised as matters of concern when in opposition during the previous PTI government.

In response, Aurangzeb asked Kermani to name even a single journalist who was missing. When Kermani mentioned Imran, the minister responded, “Imran Riaz is a political party spokesperson now. You really have to draw [a] distinction.”

She further said, “You have to differentiate between journalists and the journalists who have joined political parties. Once they have joined political parties, they are inciting violence, they are spokespersons of that political parties.”

Aurangzeb’s response elicited severe criticism from several journalists and rights activists, who reminded the minister that a person’s disappearance was an issue of basic human rights irrespective of what political party they favoured.

Lawyer and social activist Jibran Nasir said that Aurangzeb believed Imran “should be seen as a supporter of PTI and hence considered a sub-human who deserves the treatment being meted out to them.

“Now just imagine the plight of ordinary citizens suffering military trials,” he added.

Pakistan Initiative at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Centre Director Uzair Younus said Imran’s status as a journalist or not should not matter.

He said that Imran had fundamental constitutional rights granted to him on account of his Pakistani citizenship.

“Stop violating his rights and those of countless others. These disappearances are heinous!” he tweeted.

PAKISTAN
FSC on transgender persons

It is far-fetched to extrapolate that transgender persons as a whole and in all contexts are repugnant to Islam.

Sara Malkani

Published May 25, 2023

ON May 19, the Federal Shariat Court declared that key provisions of the landmark Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, are repugnant to Islam. The FSC has called for invalidating a law that serves to protect some of the most marginalised persons in our society. Unless the FSC decision is appealed before the Supreme Court, its ruling will become effective in six months.

The FSC finds that the definition of “transgender persons” in the law conflates a range of identities, each of which has distinct physical characteristics and also a distinct status in Islam. Crucially, the FSC has held that Section 3 of the 2018 Act which recognises the right of transgender persons to their self-perceived gender identity is contrary to Islam. The ‘voluntary change of sex’ on the basis of self-perceived gender identity is also against Islam.

The FSC states that the definition of “transgender persons” under the 2018 Act includes intersex, eunuchs and khwaja siras, transgender men and transgender women. Intersex persons are “special” and “deprived”. Eunuchs and khwaja siras, according to the FSC, refer to the same category of persons “with serious and permanent sexual infirmity in their male sexual organs”.

Transgender men and women on the other hand are persons whose self-perceived gender identity differs from the sex assigned to them at birth. The FSC considers the latter un-Islamic because Islam does not recognise any distinction between sex and gender identity.

It is far-fetched to extrapolate that transgender persons as a whole and in all contexts are repugnant to Islam.

At the outset, the FSC’s understanding of these sexual and gender identities is flawed. Contrary to what it says, khwaja siras are persons with distinct gender identities and it must not be assumed that they suffer from infirmities or disabilities. The identification of a person as khwaja sira is based on the self-perceived identity of the individual. There is no physical or medical assessment undertaken by the khwaja sira community when admitting new members. Indeed, there are no set physical or biological characteristics that make a person khwaja sira; rather it is a combination of psychological, physical and cultural factors that shape the identity.

Further, the FSC’s reasoning that any distinction between sex and gender identity is contrary to Islam is based on flawed reasoning. The FSC acknowledges that in “some cultures and societies a person or a human being is defined and identified by his or her ‘gender’ and not by his or her ‘sex’”, but then goes on to assert that “in Islam the defining factor for a human being in this context is ‘sex’ not ‘gender’”.

This conclusion is based on an obvious error of logic. The FSC relies on verses of the Holy Quran which declare that God created men and women. Since no other sex is specified, the FSC concludes that Islam does not recognise any other sex or gender. However, it does not logically follow from the verses acknowledging the creation of men and women that any other sex is repugnant to Islam, and that sex alone is the basis of gender identity. Indeed, none of the Quranic verses or hadith referred to by FSC support its conclusion that recognition of any distinction between sex and gender is contrary to Islamic injunctions.

The error of logic is obvious when we break down the argument as follows: a) The Quran recognises two sexes; b) the Quran does not explicitly recognise any distinction between sex and gender identity; c) Therefore, Islam forbids recognition of any distinction between sex and gender identity.

It is obvious why ‘a’ and ‘b’ does not entail ‘c’. If the Quran is silent on a matter, it does not entail that it finds that matter repugnant.

The FSC also relies on hadith that the Prophet (PBUH) disapproved of “effeminate men”. However, the ahadith cited involve only two incidents — one where the Prophet turned an “effeminate man” away from his house and the other where he banished a man who applied henna. Historians of the early Islamic period conclude that the “effeminate” men or “mukhannath” were common in society and played visible roles. However, there is no evidence to suggest that there was a blanket ban on these persons and these two incidents could well be isolated and context-dependent. It is far-fetched to extrapolate from these ahadith that transgender persons as a whole and in all contexts are repugnant to Islam.

It is similarly far-fetched to extrapolate from these ahadith, as the FSC does, that “in Islam males as well as females are not allowed to act and behave as an opposite sex” to the one assigned to them at birth. The FSC does not consider whether the categories of “effeminate” men or “mukhannath” as used in early Islamic society almost 15 centuries ago are identical to transgender identities as we understand and perceive them today. Today, there is a growing global consensus that gender identity falls on a spectrum, and is based on a range of biological, social and cultural traits.

The range of acceptable gender expression changes significantly over time. Is there any item of clothing, or hairstyle or even gait that can be deemed exclusively for ‘men’ or ‘women’? Who will make this determination? For example, are women with short hair and men with long hair expressing a gender identity contrary to their sex? Under the FSC’s reasoning the range of behaviour deemed repugnant to Islam is not only extremely broad but also impossible to identify.

What is particularly disappointing is that the FSC has ignored the distinct cultural status of the khwaja sira community in the subcontinent prevailing for several centuries. The fact that the FSC deems khwaja sira persons to have a disorder amounts to the stigmatisation and erasure of this community.

It is striking that the FSC has not considered fundamental rights provisions in Pakistan’s Constitution that guarantee life, dignity and equal protection under the laws to all persons. Its ruling could possibly vitiate the hard-won rights of transgender persons who face persecution and marginalisation on a daily basis. Surely the protection of their right to exist as equal citizens cannot be deemed contrary to Islam.

The writer is a lawyer.
Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023

PAKISTAN ACADEMICS' COLLECTIVE

AN OPEN LETTER – CALLING FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO STATE VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN

MAY 23, 2023

Please sign our petition here

As scholars and academics, we are alarmed by recent events in Pakistan. We condemn the state-sanctioned violence, murder and torture of protestors, use of sexual violence against women and men, curbs on media, bans on freedom of assembly and speech, and arbitrary arrests of thousands of political leaders and workers belonging to the main opposition party.

Following the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s elected government in April 2022, the ruling establishment has unleashed a reign of terror in a desperate bid to hold on to power, and deny the people of Pakistan a say in their future. While violence and censorship by the state and the military establishment has continued over decades, we are witnessing this at a very different scale and intensity presently. The current government—backed, kept in power, and operated by the military establishment—is refusing to hold elections as mandated by the Constitution and ordered by the Supreme Court. The regime enjoys no popular mandate to rule and is depriving people of their right to vote, while seeking to eliminate the largest opposition party from the political arena.

Meanwhile, the people of Pakistan are facing an unprecedented onslaught on their civil liberties. Most recently, in flagrant violation of international human rights conventions, the military has announced its intention to establish military courts for trying civilians who protest and register their political dissent in the public domain, bypassing due process of law. The government has also attacked the judiciary, and court orders to release political leaders arrested under fabricated charges have been ignored. This is all occurring at a time when people are facing dire living conditions: over the last year, unemployment has spiraled, the currency has lost 55% of its value, and inflation has tripled.

We, the undersigned concerned scholars, write this open letter to express our solidarity with the people of Pakistan, and denounce attempts to impose a brutal and violent tyranny upon the country. The suspension of the rule of law, the use of state terror against the population, and the collapse of constitutional order is only deepening the political, economic, and social crisis in Pakistan.

Therefore we call upon the ruling establishment to:Restore civil rights: It is vital to restore and uphold the fundamental rights and liberties of the people of Pakistan. This includes protecting freedom of expression, assembly, and association, as well as ensuring the right to a fair trial and due process for all individuals. We further contend that audiences within and outside Pakistan have a right to access accurate information about newsworthy events, and demand immediate cessation of state interference with, and curbs on, press freedom.

Release all political prisoners: We urge the regime to immediately release all political prisoners who have been detained without just cause or due process. The continued incarceration of individuals including journalists, lawyers, doctors, academics, and other civilians for exercising their constitutional rights violates international law and principles of justice.

Cease efforts to use military courts for civilians: Trial of civilians under military courts represents a gross violation of the Constitution and contravenes international law. Legal proceedings must be pursued under the existing judicial system, which must be allowed to function without coercion.

Investigate and prosecute officials who have violated and abused citizens: We demand independent and impartial investigations be carried out to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations. These include murder, torture, and use of sexual violence against political activists, journalists, and innocent civilians. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and victims provided reparations.

Respect the democratic process, end military interference in politics, and hold elections immediately: The state should desist from banning or breaking up any political party and engage in introspection on the deep drivers of grievances and the absence of institutionalized mechanisms to channelize these grievances. In a country of 230 million people, with an increasingly young and urban population, there is a legitimate expectation that people should have the right to choose their leaders and government.

 parties) consistently denies this right and public grievances are more likely to be directed at the Army. To avert imminent chaos, we demand that the ruling establishment must step back from this interference and hold timely, and free and fair elections, with all legitimate political forces allowed to contest.

Current signatures on petition here

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScM89_fECwvGjT888xI4WR40achjYd62_zXCPJk3zCNcFyJBw/viewform?pli=1


PLEASE NOTE: All signatories are being uploaded manually by only a few volunteers. Please be patient with us while we continue to update the list. Thank you all for the incredible support!

 ‘Women of Pakistan lost an ally today,’ says journalist Maria Memon after Maleeka Bokhari quits PTI

1 hour ago

I now want to give time to my profession and family: Maleeka Bokhari

After announcing her resignation from the PTI, Maleeka Bokhari says she now wants to give time to her profession and family.

Addressing a press conference, she said, “As a lawyer, I want to play an important role in Pakistan. And as a mother and daughter — because my mother is a cancer survivor — I now want to give time to my profession and family.”

33 minutes ago

Maleeka Bokhari condemns attacks on military installations on May 9

Former parliamentary secretary for law Maleeka Bokhari has condemned the attack on military installations on May 9.

“May 9 was a very difficult and painful day for every Pakistani,” she said at a press conference.

While condemning the incidents, she also mentioned that “I am a mother, I have a 13-year-old son”.

1 hour ago

Maleeka Bokhari resigns from PTI, ‘disassociates’ herself from party

Former MNA Maleeka Bokhari has resigned from the PTI and announced that she is “disassociating” herself from the party.

She added that she was no pressured to quit the party. “It is very difficult to be behind bars in the heat of May.”

DAWN

South Africa under more scrutiny over Russian ship as ruling ANC says it would ‘welcome’ Putin

By Gerald Imray

AP

yesterday

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks to South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, right, during a plenary session at the Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia on Oct. 24, 2019. The U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, has accused South Africa of providing weapons to Russia saying the U.S. government was certain that weapons were loaded onto a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town for three days in December. 

(Sergei Chirikov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The South African government was under more pressure Wednesday for declining to release cargo documents relating to the visit by a Russian ship that the United States alleges collected a consignment of weapons for Moscow.

Separately, a top official in South Africa’s ruling party added to the scrutiny of the country’s relationship with Russia by saying the party would “welcome” a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

The comments by African National Congress Secretary General Fikile Mbalula regarding Putin were made in an interview with the BBC and in the context of the Russian leader attending a summit of the BRICS economic bloc in South Africa in August. The bloc is made up of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

“If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country,” Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC’s social media channels on Tuesday. “We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS.”

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court treaty, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country. The South African government has indicated it will not carry out the arrest warrant if Putin does travel for the summit, although it hasn’t said that explicitly.

“Do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere?” Mbalula, a former Cabinet minister who is now the ANC’s top administrative official, said in the BBC interview.

He told the BBC interviewer there was hypocrisy on the part of the West related to the arrest warrant for Putin because, he said, Britain and other Western nations committed crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and no heads of state were arrested.

Mbalula last month referred to the United States as one of the countries “messing up the world.”

There has been increasing anti-U.S. and anti-West rhetoric in the ANC and sometimes in parts of South Africa’s government since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, despite South Africa maintaining it has a neutral stance on the war.

The trend is troubling for the U.S. and other Western partners of South Africa because of its status as an influential democracy in the developing world, and Africa’s most developed economy.

The Russian vessel, Lady R, is docked at the Simon's Town Naval Base near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. The U.S. ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of providing weapons to Russia. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said the U.S. government was certain that weapons were loaded onto a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town for three days in December. (AP Photo)

South Africa has a historical relationship with Russia connected to the old Soviet Union’s military and political support for the ANC when it was a liberation movement fighting to end the racist apartheid regime that oppressed the country’s Black majority. The West appears concerned that the ANC’s old ideological ties to Russia are now pulling South Africa into Moscow’s political orbit amid burgeoning global tensions. There are also growing economic ties between Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, and China.

The concerns were laid bare by the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa earlier this month when he accused it of providing weapons to Russia via a cargo ship that docked at a naval base near the city of Cape Town in December. Ambassador Reuben Brigety said “I would bet my life” that weapons were loaded onto the Russian-flagged Lady R, which is under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to a company that has transported arms for the Russian government.

The South African government has denied it made any arms transaction with Russia, although it hasn’t categorically ruled out the possibility that another entity did so secretly. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an inquiry.

On Wednesday, South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, challenged the government to come clean if it had nothing to hide and release a cargo manifest for the Lady R’s visit to the Simon’s Town naval base.

A DA lawmaker also asked Defense Minister Thandi Modise to release the documents during a debate in Parliament on Tuesday. Modise refused to do so while also using an expletive to repeat the government’s denial that any weapons were loaded onto the ship.

Modise has said that the Russian ship was visiting to deliver an ammunition shipment to South Africa that was ordered in 2018 but delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modise’s refusal to make public the cargo manifest was supported by fellow ANC lawmakers, who said the documents were “classified.” Modise said they would be handed over to the inquiry into the incident.

___

More AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

NOT REALLY PRO LIFE

Louisiana lawmakers reject bill to abolish death penalty

Sara Cline

 In this Sept. 18, 2009, file photo, Warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Burl Cain, discusses the gurney used for lethal injections to Ruth Graham, far right and others as they visit the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. For the fifth time in six years, Louisiana lawmakers have blocked attempts Wednesday, May 24, 2023 to abolish the state’s death penalty. (AP Photo/Judi Bottoni, File)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — For the fifth time in six years, Louisiana lawmakers have blocked attempts to abolish the state’s death penalty.

Despite a new push by Democratic Gov. John Bel and testimony of proponents from all walks of life — exonerated death row inmates, religious leaders, a judge, family members of murder victims and other members of the public — a GOP-controlled legislative committee voted 11-4 Wednesday against a bill to repeal the state’s longstanding death penalty.

Louisiana has held 28 executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The last lethal injection was in January 2010, when the state executed Gerald Bordelon, a convicted sex offender who confessed to strangling his 12-year-old stepdaughter and waived an appeal.

Sixty people sit on Louisiana’s death row, with no execution dates set, according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections.

Death penalty opponents argue that it should be eliminated due to the cost of executions, racial disparities and religious beliefs. Critics also note that Louisiana has had frequent exonerations. Between 2010 and 2020, 22 inmates sentenced to death had those sentences reduced or were exonerated, according to the corrections department.

Among those exonerated is Shareef Cousin, who was convicted of murder in New Orleans in 1996 at 16 years old. He became one of the youngest people in the nation condemned to death row at the time. Cousin served several years on death row at Angola, Louisiana’s notorious state penitentiary. His conviction was later reversed after the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled prosecutors mishandled Cousin’s case.

“Ask yourselves, if any one of your children was put in a position where they were accused of something they did not commit, what would your position be?” Cousin told the legislative committee.

Ross Foote, a retired district judge, said he fears that there may have been cases in which an innocent person has wrongfully been sentenced to death and executed.

“You can have miscarriages of justice and the finality of the execution makes me shudder,” he told lawmakers.

Abolishing the death penalty in Louisiana was a newfound priority this legislative session for Edwards, who is unable to run for reelection this year due to term limits.

Edwards recently said that the penalty is “inconsistent with Louisiana’s pro-life values, as it quite literally promotes a culture of death,” referring to the fact that the state has a near-total abortion ban.

Those against the bill advocated for justice for the families of victims who believe it is the appropriate punishment for certain crimes. Critics of the stalled executions described prosecutors frustrated by lengthy legal battles that surround the pursuit of a successful death sentence.

Twenty-seven states have the death penalty, and 18 inmates were executed last year across the country, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.

PRO LIFE GOVERNORS

2 former Alabama governors from opposite sides of the political aisle express doubts over executions

ByAssociated Pressyesterday

 Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman speaks to the media in Atlanta, Aug. 10, 2017. Siegelman, a Democrat and former Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, who oversaw executions while in office, wrote in a Tuesday, May 23, 2023, opinion piece that they are now troubled by the state's death penalty system and would commute the sentences of inmates sentenced by judicial override or divided juries. 

(AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley speaks to the media during a news conference, in Hoover, Ala., Sept. 19, 2016. Bentley, a Republican, and fellow former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, who oversaw executions while in office, wrote in a Tuesday, May 23, 2023, opinion piece that they are now troubled by the state's death penalty system and would commute the sentences of inmates sentenced by judicial override or divided juries.

 (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Two former Alabama governors, from opposite sides of the political aisle, wrote in an opinion piece that they are now troubled by the state’s death penalty system and would commute the sentences of inmates sentenced by judicial override or divided juries.

Former Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, and former Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, who both oversaw executions while in office, penned the Tuesday opinion piece for The Washington Post. The governors said that have both come “to see the flaws in our nation’s justice system and to view the state’s death penalty laws in particular as legally and morally troubling.”

“We missed our chance to confront the death penalty and have lived to regret it, but it is not too late for today’s elected officials to do the morally right thing,” the governor’s wrote.

Bentley and Siegelman each let eight executions go forward while they were in office, according to a list maintained by the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The governors said they are particularly concerned that a large number of the state’s death row population was sentenced to death by either divided juries or over a jury’s recommendation.

Alabama in 2017 became the last state to end the practice of allowing judges to override a jury’s sentence in a capital case and send a person to death row when a jury recommended life imprisonment — a practice that critics argued interjected election-year pressure into sentencing decisions. But the change was not retroactive and did not impact inmates already sentenced to death by judicial override.

“As governors, we had the power to commute the sentences of all those on Alabama’s death row to life in prison. We no longer have that constitutional power, but we feel that careful consideration calls for commuting the sentences of the 146 prisoners who were sentenced by non-unanimous juries or judicial override, and that an independent review unit should be established to examine all capital murder convictions,” the two governors wrote.

Only four states out of the 27 that allow the death penalty do not require a unanimous jury to sentence an inmate to death. Alabama allows a death sentence with 10-2 decision in favor of execution. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed legislation ending that state’s unanimous jury requirement and allowing death sentences when at least eight jurors are in favor. Missouri and Indiana let a judge decide when there is a divided jury.

The governors cited statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center that one person on death row has been exonerated for every 8.3 executions. Applying that exoneration rate to the 167 people on Alabama’s death row, Siegelman said would suggest as many as 20 inmates could have been wrongfully convicted.

“We all should agree that if the state is going to be in the business of killing people, that we should make sure that we have the right person,” Siegelman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday night.

Siegelman said after reviewing cases that he is now personally haunted by one of the eight executions that happened during his time as governor.

Freddie Wright was put to death in Alabama’s electric chair in 2000 after being convicted of killing a couple during a robbery. Siegelman declined to stop the execution, saying at the time that the “death penalty is appropriate in this case.” Twenty-three years later Siegelman said that he now believes Wright “was wrongfully charged, prosecuted and convicted for a murder he most likely did not commit.”

Siegelman said that he “never felt comfortable with the death penalty” but that his views have evolved over the years, at least partly sparked by his own criminal conviction.

The last Democratic governor in a state now dominated by Republicans, Siegelman was convicted of federal bribery and obstruction of justice charges largely related to his appointment of a campaign donor to a state board. Siegelman, who has maintained his innocence, said he came to see the system as flawed.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

DEA’s failure to punish distributor blamed in opioid crisis raises revolving door questions

ByJim Mustianand

Joshua Goodman

AP

today

An automatic system drops pharmaceutical orders on a conveyor belt to be placed into boxes at Morris and Dickson Co., in Shreveport, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping opioid painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended in 2018 it lose its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis.

 (Henrietta Wildsmith/The Shreveport Times via AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping highly addictive painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended it be stripped of its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis.

The DEA did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about its handling of the case against Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy.

But the delay has raised concerns about how the revolving door between government and industry may be impacting the DEA’s mission to police drug companies blamed for tens of thousands of American overdose deaths.

“If the DEA had issued its order in a timely manner, one could then credibly believe that its second-in-command was not involved despite an obvious conflict of interest,” said Craig Holman, an ethics expert at the watchdog group Public Citizen in Washington. “The mere fact that its action has been delayed four years just raises red flags. It casts the entire process under grave suspicion.”

Last week, after the AP reached out to the DEA for comment, the agency broke its silence on the issue and abruptly notified Morris & Dickson that it has decided to revoke its registration to distribute controlled substances, according to two people familiar with the development who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the exchange. However, no final order has yet been published. The company has described revocation as a “virtual death sentence” and is almost certain to challenge the decision in federal court.

Louis Milione, who was named DEA’s principal deputy administrator in 2021, did not respond to requests for comment. He retired from the DEA in 2017 after a storied 21-year career that included two years leading the division that controls the sale of highly addictive narcotics. Like dozens of colleagues in the DEA’s powerful-but-little-known Office of Diversion Control, he quickly went to work as a consultant for some of the same companies he had been tasked with regulating, including Morris & Dickson.

Milione was brought in by Morris & Dickson as part of a $3 million contract to save its registration to supply painkillers after the DEA accused the company in 2018 of failing to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders.

Testifying in 2019 before federal Administrative Law Judge Charles W. Dorman, Milione argued that Morris & Dickson “spared no expense” to overhaul its compliance systems, cancel suspicious orders and send daily emails to the DEA spelling out its actions.

But those efforts were too little, too late, the judge wrote in a 159-page recommendation which has not been previously reported and was recently obtained by the AP. Anything less than the most severe punishment, he said, “would communicate to DEA registrants that despite their transgressions, no matter how egregious, they will get a mere slap on the wrist and a second chance so long as they acknowledge their sins and vow to sin no more.”

“Acceptance of responsibility and evidence of remediation are not get-out-of-jail-free cards that erase the harm caused by years of cavalier disregard,” Dorman wrote. “Allowing the respondent to keep its registration would tell distributors that it is acceptable to take a relaxed approach to DEA regulations until they are caught, at which point they only need to throw millions of dollars at the problem to make the DEA go away.”

Pharmaceutical orders fall into boxes as workers make sure the orders are complete at Morris and Dickson Co., in Shreveport, July 13, 2016. 

(Henrietta Wildsmith/The Shreveport Times via AP)

Shreveport, Louisiana-based Morris & Dickson, the nation’s fourth-largest wholesale drug distributor with $4 billion a year in revenue and nearly 600 employees, has said losing its license would effectively shut it down and have a “catastrophic” effect on patients in 29 states.

In a statement to AP, the company said it has invested millions of dollars in compliance systems, executives and advisors. “If DEA attempts to revoke our license for previous actions, the company will vigorously appeal and seek a stay in federal court,” it said. “We are confident we will achieve an outcome that safeguards the supply chain for all of our healthcare partners and the communities they serve.”

Neither Milgram nor two DEA administrators who preceded her have taken any enforcement action since Dorman’s 2019 recommendation, allowing Morris & Dickson to continue operating even as it pursued a potential settlement. Former DEA officials told AP a nearly four-year wait in such a case is highly unusual, noting it rarely takes the agency more than two years to issue a final order.

Milgram’s management of DEA since the Biden nominee came into office nearly two years ago has been called into question on another front. AP reported last month that a federal watchdog is investigating whether the agency improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire Milgram’s past associates.

As for Milione, federal ethics rules bar government employees from taking part in decisions that could benefit companies where they previously worked. DEA spokesperson Christina Pryor declined to comment, but a person familiar with Milione’s work said he recused himself from issues related to Morris & Dickson after returning to the DEA in 2021. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about DEA officials’ recusals.

Milione, a lawyer and former bit Hollywood actor, impressed fellow DEA agents for his risk taking and toughness. Among his achievements was running the overseas sting that in 2008 nabbed Russia’s notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout, aka “The Merchant of Death.”

In this image from video provided by C-SPAN, Louis Milione, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s principal deputy administrator, speaks during a hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in Washington on Dec. 2, 2021.

But after taking over as the head of Diversion Control in 2015, he ended his predecessor’s refusal to meet with drug manufacturers and distributors and opened the DEA’s doors to the industry it was charged with regulating.

Among those Milione met with on at least two occasions was Paul Dickson Sr. — then-president of Morris & Dickson. That included a 2016 visit to the Louisiana headquarters with DEA investigators to discuss the company’s compliance program.

John Gray, the head of the Healthcare Distributors Alliance, a lobbying group that includes Morris & Dickson, recounted in a 2015 email how Milione, under orders from then-incoming DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, wanted to “reset” relations with the drug industry. And Milione even delivered the keynote speech at the group’s annual meeting.

“Overall, he was engaging, exceedingly pleasant and seemed genuinely concerned that we had lost touch with each other,” Gray wrote. “It is a very different tone and approach than we have all seen in the past 8-10 years.”

Morris & Dickson had been punished for its mishandling of addictive drugs before. In 2019, before Dorman issued his recommendation, the company agreed to pay $22 million in civil penalties to resolve federal prosecutors’ claims that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to report suspicious orders of hydrocodone and oxycodone. The company also agreed to multimillion-dollar upgrades of its compliance program to ensure it reports suspicious orders moving forward.

The case drew far less attention than the enforcement actions DEA took in recent years against Morris & Dickson’s larger competitors, a trio of pharmaceutical distributors who have agreed to pay the federal government more than $1 billion in fines and penalties for similar violations. Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson also agreed to pay $21 billion over 18 years to resolve claims as part of a nationwide settlement.

Among the more than 12,000 suspicious orders that Dorman said Morris & Dickson should have reported to the DEA were 51 unusually large orders of opioids made by Wilkinson Family Pharmacy in suburban New Orleans.

Accompanied by local law enforcement, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raid Wilkinson Family Pharmacy in Chalmette, La.

 (Sophia Germer/The Advocate via AP)

Wilkinson purchased more than 4.5 million pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone from Morris & Dickson between 2014 and 2017, and federal prosecutors say during that time owner Keith Wilkinson laundered more than $345,000 from illegal sales made with forged prescriptions or written by “pill mill” doctors.

In one month, as many as 42% of all prescriptions filled by Wilkinson were for painkillers and 38% of those were paid for in cash. The DEA considers a pharmacy’s sales of controlled substances suspicious whenever they surpass 15% or cash transactions exceed 9%.

Yet Morris & Dickson never suspended any shipments to the pharmacy. Over three years, it filed just three suspicious order reports to the DEA – none of which resulted in shipments being suspended.

“Anybody with half a brain could’ve seen something wasn’t right,” said Dan Schneider, a retired pharmacist near New Orleans whose fight to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic was featured in a Netflix documentary series. “They were way out of line.”

_____

Goodman reported from Miami. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

Takeaways of AP report on DEA probe of drug distributor accused of fueling opioid epidemic


Jim Mustian

JimMustianJMustian@ap.org

Joshua Goodman

APJoshGoodmanjgoodman@ap.org

 

AP

yesterday

In this image from video provided by C-SPAN, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram speaks during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science in Washington on May 10, 2023. At center left behind Milgram is Louis Milione. After temporarily leaving the DEA in 2017, like dozens of colleagues in the agency's powerful-but-little-known Office of Diversion Control, Milione immediately went to work as a consultant for some of the same companies he had been tasked with regulating, including Morris & Dickson. He was named deputy administrator in 2021. On another front, a federal watchdog is investigating whether Milgram improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire her past associates. (C-SPAN via AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping addictive painkillers for nearly four years despite a judge’s recommendation to strip its license for turning a blind eye to thousands of suspicious opioid orders.

The case has drawn attention to the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy.

Here are the key takeaways from AP’s investigation.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

A federal administrative law judge in August 2019 found that Morris & Dickson failed to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders from pharmacies and recommended that it lose its license.

Failure to follow DEA rules by Morris & Dickson and other major distributors has been blamed for leading to more than 700,000 American overdose deaths in the past two decades..

The company said it overhauled its compliance system, canceled suspicious orders and sent daily emails to the DEA spelling out its actions. But Judge Charles W. Dorman said it was too little, too late, and issued a ruling to deter similar actions by other companies.

“Acceptance of responsibility and evidence of remediation are not get-out-of-jail-free cards that erase the harm caused by years of cavalier disregard,” Dorman wrote in a 159-page ruling obtained by The Associated Press.

But since Dorman’s 2019 recommendation, neither Milgram nor two DEA administrators who preceded her have taken any enforcement action. Former DEA officials told the AP that a nearly four-year delay is highly unusual, and that most such cases are resolved in half the time.

WHO IS MORRIS & DICKSON?

Shreveport, Louisiana-based Morris & Dickson is the U.S.′ fourth-largest drug distributor, with annual sales of more than $4 billion. But it trails a trio of pharmaceutical distributors known as the Big Three, all of whom agreed to pay the federal government more than $1 billion in fines and penalties for similar violations.

Morris & Dickson officials have repeatedly said in court filings that the loss of its license would be a “virtual death sentence.”

Among the more than 12,000 suspicious orders that Dorman said Morris & Dickson should have reported to the DEA were several placed by the Wilkinson Family Pharmacy in suburban New Orleans.

In one month, March 2014, 42% of all prescriptions filled by Wilkinson were for controlled substances such as painkillers and 38% of those were paid for in cash.

“Anybody with half a brain could’ve seen something wasn’t right,” said Dan Schneider, a retired pharmacist whose fight to hold drug companies accountable for the opioid crisis was featured in a Netflix documentary series.

WHO IS LOUIS MILIONE?

Louis Milione was named DEA’s principal deputy administrator in 2021. He had previously retired from the agency in 2017 after a storied 21-year career that included two years leading the division that controls the sale of highly addictive narcotics. Among his earlier achievements was running the overseas sting that in 2008 nabbed Russia’s notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

Morris & Dickson brought Milione as part of a $3 million contract after the DEA accused the company in 2018 of failing to flag thousands of suspicious, high-volume orders.

Testifying in 2019 before federal Administrative Law Judge Charles W. Dorman, Milione argued that Morris & Dickson deserved to keep its license because it “spared no expense” to overhaul its compliance systems.

WHAT DOES DEA SAY?

The DEA did not respond to repeated questions about its handling of the Morris & Dickson case or Milione’s involvement.

But a person familiar with Milione’s work said he recused himself from issues related to Morris & Dickson after returning to the DEA in 2021. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about DEA officials’ recusals.

‘Mother Nature has no mercy’: Man gets stuck waist-deep in Alaska mud flats, drowns as tide comes in

ByMark Thiessen

AP

yesterday

A channel flows through the mud flats along the Seward Highway and Turnagain Arm in Alaska on Oct. 25, 2014. Authorities said, a 20-year-old man from Illinois who was walking Sunday evening, May 21, 2023, on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary, got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him. 

(Bob Hallinen/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said.

Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was submerged Sunday evening as the tide came in, and his body was recovered Monday morning, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told The Associated Press. A member of Porter’s group called 911 when they couldn’t get him out, but it was too late, authorities said.

The accident was the latest tragedy at Turnagain Arm, a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long) estuary carved out long ago by glaciers that travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels a major highway. At low tide, the estuary is known for its dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks. At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many more have been rescued, including someone who was fishing there last month.

“It’s big, it’s amazing, it’s beautiful, and it’s overwhelming,” Kristy Peterson, the administrator and lead EMT for the Hope-Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department, said of Alaska. “But you have to remember that it’s Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.”

Peterson, who responded to the call, spoke with others in Porter’s party but didn’t talk to him during the desperate rescue attempt.

“When we respond, we respond with the utmost of good intentions and as mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers,” she said. “We respond with as much passion and vigor as we can.”

The volunteer members of the department will gather later in the week for a debriefing, she said.

“I have been in contact with all my members, and they’re all heartbroken,” Peterson said. “This is a hard situation.”

The accident occurred near the community of Hope, a quaint community of about 80 people. It lies across Turnagain Arm just 22 miles — but a 90-minute drive — from Anchorage.

The estuary travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels the Seward Highway, the only highway that goes south and delivers tourists from Anchorage to the sportsman’s paradise of the Kenai Peninsula.

At low tide, Turnagain Arm is known for its mud flats that “can suck you down,” Peterson said. “It looks like it’s solid, but it’s not.”

When the tide comes back in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, loosens up and can create a vacuum if a person walks on it.

Signs are posted warning people of hazardous waters and mud flats.

“I’ve really got to warn people against playing the mud,” Peterson said. “It’s dangerous.”

Some people attempt to walk across Turnagain Arm or walk the 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Anchorage to Fire Island during low tide, sometimes prompting rescue efforts.

There have been other deaths on the mud flats. In 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison were gold dredging on the eastern end of the arm when her ATV got stuck in the mud, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She then became stuck when trying to push it out and drowned with the incoming tide.

In 1978, an unnamed Air Force sergeant attempting to cross Turnagain Arm was swept away with the leading edge of the tide. His body was never found, the Anchorage newspaper reported. In 2013, Army Capt. Joseph Eros died while trying to cross from Fire Island back to Anchorage.

Earlier this month, a man was rescued from the mud flats after one leg became stuck, and he sank to his waist while fishing in Turnagain Arm.

Peterson said they got the rescue call after Porter was in serious trouble, and it takes time to mobilize. Another department — about an hour’s drive away — also responded.

Peterson urged people to call 911 as soon as possible.

“If you think that there’s an issue, if you think that there even might be an issue, call,” she said. “Because we can get resources moving, and we would rather turn around and go home then it be a disaster.”