PAKISTAN

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: A case of power, betrayal and judicial injustice

As was evident at the time and became clearer in the years to follow, the trial, conviction, and sentence of Bhutto was a blatant miscarriage of justice.

Rida Hosain  

DAWN/PRISM

Published March 7, 2024 

After Ziaul Haq’s martial law, the prevailing view was that “General Ziaul Haq foresaw one grave, which would contain either his or ZAB’s body” writes Rafi Raza, who was a special assistant to then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As was evident at the time and became clearer in the years to follow, the trial, conviction, and sentence of Bhutto was a blatant miscarriage of justice.

Yesterday, nine judges of the Supreme Court rendered an opinion to the president. In their unanimous view, Bhutto’s trial in the Lahore High Court and the appeal before the Supreme Court did not meet the requirements of the fundamental right to a fair trial and due process enshrined in the Constitution. Over four decades later, in advisory jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has found that Bhutto did not get a fair trial.

First, a brief history.

Bhutto’s path to the gallows

When he rose to power, Bhutto made several pledges: roti, kapra, aur makaan (food, clothing and shelter), a classless society, nationalisation of central industries, an end to the influence and power wielded by feudal landlords. The first PPP election manifesto ended with the following words: all power to the people. His admirers cite the Simla Agreement; his party’s role regarding the 1973 Constitution; his ability to garner the support of people across all strands of society; and his pursuit of an independent foreign policy as examples of his successes.

His critics recall his part in failing to let Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rightfully form a government after the 1970 elections, the creation of the Federal Security Force (FSF), and the rigging — by most accounts — of the 1977 elections which paved the way for Zia’s regime. The FSF was Bhutto’s very own paramilitary force, armed with over fifteen thousand officers. In the words of Rafi Raza, the FSF was ineffective, except when “terrorising political opponents”. Even Bhutto’s own men were at the receiving end of the FSF’s wrath.

J.A. Rahim, one of the founding members of the PPP, was invited to dinner by Bhutto on July 2, 1974. Per Stanley Wolpert, when Bhutto failed to show up hours after the scheduled time, J.A. Rahim left the dinner saying, “You bloody flunkies can wait as long as you like for the Maharaja of Larkana, I’m going home!” When J.A. Rahim reached home that night, FSF thugs stormed into his bedroom, beat him up, and struck him with rifle butts.

Masood Mahmood, the head of the FSF, once responsible for terrorising Bhutto’s opponents and loyalists (on Bhutto’s instructions) would go on to become a key witness against him at the trial.

Zia’s martial law

The trial of Bhutto cannot be looked at devoid of context: the Zia regime was brutal and suspended fundamental rights. Scores of political prisoners including leaders of the PPP were detained and arrested. Martial law regulations gave martial law administrators blanket power to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner prejudicial to the purpose for which martial law has been imposed. Political activity was banned. Political speeches were not allowed. Certain martial law regulations included flogging as a punishment.

An Amnesty International report from 1978 states that political prisoners were sentenced to undergo flogging for “raising slogans against the government”. According to Amnesty, some individuals that chanted slogans in favour of Bhutto, were subjected to flogging as a punishment by the Zia regime. There is no denying that Zia had a special, distinct interest in Bhutto’s case.

A farcical trial

On September 3, 1977, Bhutto was arrested on charges relating to the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan Kasuri. Just over a week later, Justice K.M.A Samdani granted Bhutto bail. Bhutto’s freedom did not last long as in a fortnight, Zia ordered Bhutto to be arrested under martial law regulations. The trial that followed, by any reasonable standard, was a travesty of justice and a mockery of fair trial guarantees.

As retired Justice Manzoor Malik skilfully submitted during the hearings, the investigation in the case was closed in October 1976 on the orders of a magistrate. The investigation was re-opened only after the imposition of martial law. There was no application to the magistrate for varying the order, and effectively the investigation was re-opened while the court order closing it was still in the field.

Thereafter, the state moved an application for the trial to be transferred from the Sessions Court to the High Court. Shockingly, without any notice to Bhutto, the Lahore High Court allowed the transfer application. The immediate, unjust consequence of this was that Bhutto was denied a right of appeal.

At the time of Bhutto’s trial, the chief justice of the Lahore High Court was Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain. During Bhutto’s tenure, Maulvi Mushtaq was said to be sidelined and a judge several years his junior was made the top judge. “Maulvi Mushtaq was not going to forget the way Bhutto slighted him,” writes Hamid Khan. When the bench for the trial was formed, Justice K.M.A Samdani (who had earlier granted Bhutto bail) was excluded from the bench.

Years later, Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, one of the judges hearing Bhutto’s appeal in the Supreme Court, accepted that Maulvi Mushtaq harboured animosity towards Bhutto, and it would have been better that he had not been part of the bench. Despite this, when sitting in appeal, Justice Nasim Shah gave no weight to Bhutto’s desperate pleas alleging Mushtaq’s bias.

Justice Shah was asked in an interview whether Bhutto’s sentence could have been reduced. He said that this could have been done. He claimed that the death penalty was partly due to the weakness of the judges, and partly because Bhutto’s lawyer Yahya Bakhtiar annoyed the judges by failing to argue mitigation of sentence (kuch thori si humaari bhi kamzori thi… kuch [Yahya Bakhtiar] ne humein ek kisam ka naraaz kar diya tha). The interview of Justice Shah is damning, as he admitted that a former prime minister was sentenced to death for extraneous reasons: ‘annoyance’ at the lawyer, and the weakness of the judges themselves.

Part of the trial in the Lahore High Court was held in camera. Public hearings and open justice are crucial elements of a fair trial. There was no justification for part of the proceedings in the Lahore High Court to be held in the absence of the public. In appeal, the Supreme Court found that the Lahore High Court had reasonable apprehension that Bhutto would make further “scandalous allegations” against the Court, which would undermine its dignity, and therefore the in-camera proceedings were justified. This was an absurd finding, as a court cannot deny an accused their fundamental rights in a quest to essentially protect its own dignity and reputation.

Judges are expected to maintain impartiality and independence; however, Bhutto faced judges who harboured animosity towards him. Judges must make decisions based on the law, yet judges sitting in appeal over Bhutto’s death sentence admitted to considering external matters that had nothing to do with the law. A right of appeal is a fundamental aspect of a fair trial, yet Bhutto was denied a right of appeal as the trial was transported to the High Court without any notice to him.

Over 40 years later

Article 186 of the Constitution sets out the Supreme Court’s advisory jurisdiction, and states, “If, at any time, the President considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the question to the Supreme Court for consideration”. The plain wording of Article 186 states that the President can refer a question of law considered to be of public importance to the Supreme Court for rendering an opinion.

Over the past few weeks, hours were spent going over intricate details of Bhutto’s trial. The questions framed with regards to Bhutto’s trial, conviction, and sentence were largely not questions of law. Some questions require the court to dive into the merits of its earlier decision, other questions require a detailed factual inquiry. The merits of a case decided in adjudicatory jurisdiction (where the review has also been dismissed) cannot be re-opened in advisory jurisdiction. The court cannot go on a fact-finding mission/inquiry in its advisory jurisdiction. Courts revisit decisions in their adjudicatory jurisdiction. Unjust, outright wrong decisions are corrected when subsequent cases come before the Court. Not through an advisory jurisdiction.

In its short opinion, the Supreme Court has stated that it cannot undo the judgment in its advisory jurisdiction. Per the Supreme Court, “the Constitution and the law do not provide a mechanism to set aside the judgment whereby Mr. Bhutto was convicted and sentenced; the said judgment attained finality after the dismissal of the review petition”. The Supreme Court has not overturned the judgment and accepted that since the review has been dismissed, it has attained finality. However, the Court has gone on to opine that there were constitutional and legal lapses and a fair trial was denied to Bhutto.

The core aspect of the opinion was the following question: whether the requirements of due process and fair trial were complied with in the trial of Bhutto. Unanimously, the Supreme Court found that the trial failed to comply with various fundamental rights: the right to be treated in accordance with law (Article 4), the right to life and liberty (Article 9), the right to a fair trial (Article 10A (post the 18th Amendment)). The trial was grossly unjust: biased judges, the prevailing martial law regime of Zia, excluding judges perceived to be in favour of Bhutto, denying a right of appeal, ‘annoyance’ at Bhutto’s lawyer for not arguing mitigation of sentence as was revealed by Justice Shah.

In rendering an opinion that the trial of Bhutto failed to comply with fair trial guarantees and fundamental rights, the Supreme Court holds, “We must, therefore, be willing to confront our past missteps and fallibilities with humility, in the spirit of self-accountability…we cannot correct ourselves and progress in the right direction until we acknowledge our past mistakes”.

As became evident, the decision in Bhutto’s case was about many things, except the law itself. For decades the case would be referred to as a ‘judicial murder’. Ultimately, the highest court and the institution responsible for upholding the death sentence have now effectively accepted it made a grave mistake.

The writer is a barrister and an Advocate of the High Court. She tweets/posts @RidaHosain.

PAKISTAN

The winds of change

Tariq Khosa 

DAWN

Published March 7, 2024 


SILENCE is complicity, said the Philippines Nobel laureate journalist Maria Ressa in her 2022 memoir How to Stand Up to a Dictator. Our biggest problems are the results of choices made by those in power. I have seen the rule of law crumble from within. The powerful forces — people, institutions, interests — are the main obstacles to a better future for Pakistan.

There is no doubt that pre-poll and post-poll rigging carried out in the latest national elections was the worst since the break-up of the country in 1971. We must speak truth to power. The string pullers used tried and tested tactics to tame a digital-savvy generation — but could not win.

The voter’s response was defiant. Against all odds, they thronged to the polling stations and their message, as reported by author and journalist Mohammed Hanif for the BBC, was clear: “We may not be able to take you on in the streets, you have your guns, but here’s our stamp on the ballot. Do what you will with it.”

The Feb 8 polls clearly revealed that the winds of change are blowing in Pakistan. Millions of tech-savvy youth participated in the electoral process for the first time in their lives. Pakistan’s youth is a large and growing demographic and an important voting bloc: 44 per cent of the electorate this year was under 35.

Social media was the dominant political campaign tool. Middle-class voters turned out in big numbers. Women and girls were also very actively involved. The distinction between urban, peri urban and rural voters could not be made. People have mostly voted for the mainstream, national parties, instead of narrow-based religious or ethnic political entities.

Three major political forces have emerged: the PTI, PML-N and PPP. The voters of KP have clearly voted big for the PTI, consistently increasing its vote bank in the three previous elections of 2013, 2018 and 2024. Punjab this time has clearly broken the pattern of voting for ‘electables’ — prominent political families relying on patronage politics. People mostly voted on party lines, rejecting the establishment-sponsored parties launched to create a dent in the vote bank of the most popular party.

Sindh remains the stronghold of the PPP, thanks to the Bhutto legacy. The declared results of Karachi do not reflect the reality: the city is not dominated by a single ethnic party. Both the PTI and PPP have a strong following. Balochistan presents a very troubling scenario. The footprints of the establishment muzzling the voices of dissent are writ large. The Baloch nationalist regions and Pakhtun areas are witnessing a rising tide of resentment. The issue of missing persons remains a festering wound.

The politicians have not learnt any lesson from our history of ‘de jure’ and ‘de facto’ military rule.

Like most of the previous elections, the recent Feb 8 polls were unfortunately rigged massively. On joining government service in 1973, I saw every election rigged by the state institutions. I was part of the elections monitoring cell of the Punjab Police in 1977 when selective rigging and a managed unopposed election of a few prominent politicians resulted in a mass movement by the opposition parties. Their leaders were arrested and detained at Police College Sihala near Rawalpindi.

After their release and the promulgation of martial law in July 1977, we saw Z.A. Bhutto detained and brought to Police College Sihala, the same place of detention but with a change in the status of the prisoner. Such has been our political saga.

Like the US president Franklin Roosevelt, it seemed Mr Bhutto was asking to be judged by the enemies he had made. His trial in the infamous murder case and hanging in April 1979 was fraught with a gory irony: a general low in the seniority list but selected as army chief, based on expected loyalty, was instrumental in the ‘judicial murder’ of his benefactor.

After a sham referendum of 1984, the army chief declared himself president for five years, followed by non-party elections in 1985, wherein people were selected to promote the agenda set by the dictator. Removing that dictator proved to be an uphill task despite the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy launched in protest against a sham democratic façade. The activists and workers of the PPP bore the brunt of brutal state tyranny. We then saw the decent and honest prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo, appointed by the military dictator in 1985, sacked by the same general in 1988.

Fate had a violent end written for the tyrant military chief; having completed more than a decade-long reign of decadence, he died in a mysterious plane crash in August 1988. Next followed a decade of political ping-pong between two political parties headed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. The military establishment called the shots and the resultant political instability led to the nation lurching from one crisis to another.

The politicians have not learnt any lesson from our chequered history of ‘de jure’ and ‘de facto’ military rule. Nawaz Sharif repeated his earlier mistake of selecting an army chief in 2016 who was not the senior-most. The role of the deep state in the elections of 2018 is an open secret. Then it was ironic that prime minister Imran Khan gave a three-year extension to the army chief in 2019, believing in the same-page mantra. The toppling of his government and subsequent political engineering since April 2022 are so widely known. And now the current government installed after the latest highly controversial elections is being dubbed as the “coalition of losers”.

It is little surprise that Pakistan was recently downgraded from a hybrid to authoritarian regime by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most effective response to authoritarians and autocrats is to echo Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s challenge to “live not by lies”. For how long will we live by lies? To those who wield power today, one can whisper: ‘memento mori’, a reminder of inevitable mortality.

The writer is a former IG police and DG FIA.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024

PAKISTAN

Gwadar calamity

Dr Noman Ahmed  

DAWN

Published March 6, 2024 

WEATHER experts have warned that a new rain system will strike Balochistan in the next few days. This will increase the extent of damage already caused by the recent bout of torrential rains. Thousands of people in Gwadar and the adjacent areas found themselves without shelter as the intense rainfall rendered their modest homes uninhabitable. Lanes, access roads, major arteries and highways were inundated. People could be seen draining the water from their homes and shops. Many lost their already meagre resources. Mass depression prevailed across neighbourhoods.

While various government agencies have sprung into action, it will take a long time and much effort before lives can be rebuilt. One can question how Gwadar is living up to claims of being at the heart of a multi-modal development corridor that can turn around Balochistan’s — in fact, the entire country’s — fortunes. A sleepy town of less than 350,000 people, it is hard to imagine how large-scale regional development can take place to make dreams of national prosperity, on the back of CPEC, a reality.

The existing settlements are not prepared to take the impact of torrential downpours that could become frequent as climate patterns change. High-scale precipitation demands a drainage system that ensures the rapid draining of rainwater. Unfortunately, while Gwadar suffers from the shortage of potable water, it does not have the capacity to store rainwater for extended periods.

The concerned authorities are busy with the Gwadar Smart City Plan meant to give direction to development. Such a plan will only benefit the people if it conserves and protects existing settlements, introduces critical infrastructure to enhance the quality of life, and up-scales livelihoods. The usual practice of identifying large swathes of land for real estate and its clandestine distribution to favoured stakeholders will not bring the desired relief for Gwadar’s residents. If the proposed development process does not factor in the lives of the ordinary and lift them out of poverty, then such development may have little value.

It will take much effort before lives can be rebuilt.

The people of Gwadar also complain about being removed from self-governance. Whether they are development choices or routine administrative matters, the entire hierarchy of the provincial government, federal agencies and military establishment is involved. Decisions about development locations and land allocation and the choice between establishing enterprises or retaining traditional boat-making and fishing are made without consulting the local people, their elders or representatives, leading to protests and agitation.

As new governments begin to take charge at the centre and in Balochistan, a different approach to win back the people of Gwadar and the extended area can be considered. A broad-based steering committee should be constituted comprising members of the provincial and national assemblies from the area, community elders and administration staff to chalk out a relief, rehabilitation and redevelopment strategy. Existing plans and projects can be revised to accommodate the aspect of disaster preparedness. Executing the plans must be done in collaboration with community elders to revive a sense of local inclusion in the management of local affairs.

Relief and rehabilitation works can best proceed under conditions of peace in the larger coastal area. For this, various stakeholders can come together to restore the trust of the people. A few tough decisions are required. The incoming regi­­me must announce an amnesty for those they see as creating trouble. The top lea­ders of all the political for­ces, within and outside the assemblies, may be invited to dialogue sessions by the provincial government.

The objectives of the dialogue must be on striking a working relationship between the government, political parties and tribal elders; developing a roadmap to stop acts of violence through confidence-building measures; and the preparation of an agenda of negotiation with the centre. This is vital because there are many matters over which no provincial government possesses jurisdiction and authority. The attempt may prove futile if the establishment does not show an open approach.

The process of release of political detainees and locating missing individuals can be initiated by the establishment to convince the other side of its sincerity. Besides, dissenting voices in Gwadar and the extended coastal region must not be shrugged off. The best way forward is to provide political space so that a feeling of participation evolves. No political group can be a security threat if its concerns are genuinely accommodated in the normal political process. Fear and danger only raise their head when such groups are denied a space where they can prove their political worth.

The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2024

Pakistan: Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora becomes Punjab province's first Sikh minister

Arora has been allotted the portfolio of minorities of Punjab province in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet

PTI Lahore Published 07.03.24,

Sardar Ramesh Singh AroraFacebook / Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora

Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, a three-term legislator, was on Thursday sworn in as a provincial minister, making him the first Sikh to occupy such a position in post-partition Punjab.

Arora has been allotted the portfolio of minorities of Punjab province in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet, a report in Dawn.com said.

Belonging to the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, Arora has returned to the Lahore provincial assembly for the third term after winning the February 8 polls.

Hailing from the district of Narowal, Arora was also the first-ever Sikh member of the Punjab provincial assembly taking oath in 2013.

Another member representing the Christian minority community of Punjab, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, has also been inducted into the Punjab cabinet and has been assigned the portfolio of human rights.

Donald Trump's "Nationalism" poses a danger to the United States, Germany's deputy Chancellor, Robert Habeck, has claimed.

News7 March 2024
Peter Caddle

Former US president Donald Trump’s “nationalism” poses a danger to his own country, Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck claimed.

The Green MP made the comment during an official visit to the US on March 7, the aim of which was to dissuade American politicians from further pursuit of isolationist trade policies.

According to German media, Habeck’s trip has been derailed by the collapse of Nikki Haley’s US presidential election campaign, with the centre-right Republican’s decision to abandon the race leaving Trump as the sole viable candidate for the party.

Speaking in the wake of the Trump victory, Habeck warned the American public against his re-election, insisting that would be bad for the country.

“This cannot be in the interests of the Americans,” he said, claiming Trump had “broken” countless norms of foreign diplomacy during his previous time in office.

“Nationalism harms the economy, harms peace and the people.”

Habeck added that the real US presidential campaign “hasn’t even started yet”, before praising the administration of current US President Joe Biden as having helped to create “good progress in building co-operation” between Germany and the US.

The senior German minister’s comments come amid attempts by his country to strengthen economic relations with the US and encourage it to increase its support for Ukraine.

A key element of Habeck’s trip was designed to try to help boost trade between Germany and the US. The Green politician’s country has become ever more reliant on trans-Atlantic commerce as relations between China – its single largest trading partner – and the West sour.

Habeck is now calling for an to end all US tariffs on European steel and aluminium. He also wants to persuade the Biden administration that German electric cars should be given equal treatment to similar US-made vehicles in the country.

While his aims for the trip are ambitious, Germany’s industry leaders do not appear to think he will succeed.

Siegfried Russwurm, the President of the Federation of German Industries, warned that Habeck’s free-trade hopes are not universally appreciated in the US.

“Not everyone in the US is convinced,” he said, noting the protectionist nature of Biden’s own Inflation Reduction Act, which has already caused problems for Europe’s “green” industry.

Habeck is expected to hold meetings on that topic with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Finance Secretary Janet Yellen and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

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Haiti's Prime Minister Locked Out of His Country, Faces Pressure to Resign

HAITI IS STATELESS WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT DO?!

March 07, 2024 
By Associated Press

A Gulfstream IV jet, U.S. registration N129NS, is parked on the tarmac at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 6, 2023, after transporting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is struggling to stay in power as he tries to return home, where gang attacks have shuttered the country's main international airport and freed more than 4,000 inmates in recent days.

As of midday Wednesday, Henry remained in Puerto Rico, where he landed the day before after he was barred from landing in neighboring Dominican Republic because officials there closed the airspace to flights to and from Haiti.

Locked out of his country for now, Henry appears to face an impasse as a growing number of officials call for his resignation or nudge him toward it.

Here's what to know about the embattled prime minister and the crisis he faces:

Who is Ariel Henry?

The 74-year-old neurosurgeon who trained and worked in southern France got involved in Haitian politics in the early 2000s, when he became leader of a movement that opposed then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

After Aristide was ousted, Henry became member of a U.S.-backed council that helped choose the transitional government.

In June 2006, he was named director-general of Haiti’s Ministry of Health and later became its chief of staff, helping to manage the government’s response to a devastating 2010 earthquake.

In 2015, he was named minister of the interior and territorial communities and became responsible for overseeing Haiti’s security and domestic policy.

Months later, he was appointed minister of social affairs and labor but faced calls for resignation after he quit the Inite party.

FILE - Haiti's designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry gestures during his appointment ceremony in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 20, 2021, weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7 at his home.

He then largely disappeared from the limelight, serving as a political consultant and working as a professor at Haiti’s medical university until he was installed as prime minister shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, who had selected him for that position.

Moise’s party likely thought Henry would bring credibility and some kind of constituency, said Brian Concannon, executive director of the U.S.-based nonprofit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

“It seems to me he must have been a pretty big figure. Presidents don’t just pick random people,” he said.

Why are people demanding that Henry resign?

Henry has faced calls for resignation ever since he was sworn in as prime minister with the backing of the international community.

Those demanding that he step down include gangs vying for political power and Haitians angry that general elections have not been held in nearly a decade. They also note that Henry was never elected and does not represent the people.

Concannon noted that Henry has served the longest single term of any Haitian prime minister since the country's 1987 constitution was established.

“He was not appointed through any recognized Haitian procedure,” Concannon said. “He was basically installed by the courtroom.”

Henry has repeatedly said he seeks unity and dialogue and has noted that elections cannot be held until it’s safe to do so.

In February 2023, he formally appointed a transition council responsible for ensuring that general elections are held, calling it a “significant step” toward that goal.

But elections have been repeatedly delayed as gang-related killings and kidnappings surge across the country. Last year, more than 8,400 people were reported killed, injured or kidnapped, more than double the number reported in 2022.

Why is the prime minister not in Haiti?

Henry left Haiti last month to attend a four-day summit in the South American country of Guyana organized by a regional trade bloc known as Caricom. That's where Haiti’s worsening crisis was discussed behind closed doors.

While Henry did not speak to the media, Caribbean leaders said that he promised to hold elections in mid-2025. A day later, coordinated gang attacks began in Haiti’s capital and beyond.

Henry then departed Guyana for Kenya last week to meet with President William Ruto and to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force, which a court in the East African country ruled was unconstitutional.

Protesters holding Haitian national flags and handmade signs with messages demanding Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry resign, gather outside of the Marriott Hotel where they believe Henry is staying, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 6, 2024.

Officials never said when Henry was due back in Haiti following the trip to Kenya, and his whereabouts were unknown for several days until he unexpectedly landed Tuesday in Puerto Rico to the surprise of many.

He was originally scheduled to land in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but the government closed its airspace and said Henry’s plane did not have the required flight plan.

What happens now?

Caribbean leaders spoke to Henry late Tuesday and presented him with several options, including resigning, which he rejected, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to share details of the call.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Grenada said Henry told officials that his plan is to return to Haiti.

The U.N. Security Council planned to hold an emergency meeting later Wednesday to talk about Haiti and the troubles Henry faces.

Ahead of that meeting, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. and its partners are asking Henry to make concessions.

“So we are not calling on him or pushing him to resign, but we are urging him to expedite the transition to an empowered and inclusive governance structure," Miller said

Prince Salman Did Not Free Saudi Women from Sharia Dress Code

Ali Orokzai

FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP
Share

Globe Eye News, blue-checked X account

“Saudi Prince Salman: From now on, only Saudi Arabian women can decide what clothing Saudi Arabian women will wear.”

Source: X

MISLEADING

On February 25, Globe Eye News, a blue-checked X account, claimed that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud promised Saudi women the freedom to choose what to wear.

Global Eye News’ post, which had gained nearly 8 million views by the time of this writing, features a photograph of Prince Salman next to the picture of a group of women wearing black burkas, a type of loose female attire that covers entire body and face except for the palms.

The post states:

"Saudi Prince Salman: From now on, only Saudi Arabian women can decide what clothing Saudi Arabian women will wear."

That is misleading.

Polygraph.info could not find any recent interview with or statement by the Saudi Arabian prince about his nation’s dress code for women.

While Saudi Arabia does not have a law laying out a dress code for women, they are expected to dress in accordance with Sharia law.

Prince Salman made that clear in a March 19, 2018, interview with CBS:

“The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of Sharia: that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men. This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover. The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”

In saying that “the decision is entirely left for women,” Prince Salman seemed to be referring to the choice of color rather than the type of clothing, which he said is stipulated by Sharia law for both men and women.

X added a community note to Globe Eye News’ post, stating that it was “missing important context.”

Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which is popularly known as the mutawa and functions as a religious police force, imposed a strict dress code on women and gender segregation between the early 1980s and 2010s.

While the religious police still exist, Saudi King Salman abolished the mandatory burka for women in 2015. In 2019, women were given permission to drive cars, wear colorful clothes instead of black burkas and choose different clothing styles and designs.

Still, women in Saudi Arabia remain restricted in their choice of clothing, and many designs are listed as prohibited. Among the banned items are clothes that reveal too much skin, garments that do not cover the knee or elbow, bikinis, and tight or see-through clothing.

Saudi Arabia also has dress code for foreigner visitors, called the “Public Decorum Charter,” which describes the types of prohibited clothing in both words and illustrations.

Foreigners are banned from wearing clothes bearing human photographs, human silhouettes, or signs and phrases that violate “common decency.”



Recent social media posts and YouTube videos show that more women in Saudi Arabia interpret the Sharia dress code liberally, with some abandoning head and face covers and even switching to modern clothing, while many continue to cover their bodies fully.



While Saudi Arabia's dress code is experiencing some reform, other Muslim nations, like Iran and Afghanistan, are moving in the opposite direction.

Afghanistan had liberal dress code from the early 1900s to the 1970s, when it was a kingdom.

In the 1920s, Queen Soraya Tarzi, the wife of King Amanullah Khan, emerged as a stylish and powerful figure in the Middle East. During her reign, King Amanullah Khan famously remarked, "I am your King, but the Minister of Education is my wife, your Queen."

Queen Soraya Tarzi was an exemplar of modern Afghanistan, establishing the first school for girls and launching the kingdom’s first women’s magazine in 1927, called Ershad-I-Niswan, or "Guidance for Women."

However, Afghanistan subsequently saw a regression in women's rights. After coming to power in 1996, the Taliban banned girls for attending schools. In 2021, after retaking power, they barred girls from studying beyond sixth grade, enforced stricter dress codes and imposed other limitations that led to the increased isolation of women from public life and narrowing professional opportunities.

In Iran, the religious police, bearing a name similar to the one in Saudi Arabia, is infamous for its brutal enforcement of the dress code for women.

With the regime’s encouragement, this morality police and its adepts have physically attacked women in Iran, with some having had flesh-eating acid thrown on their faces and others even beaten to death for wearing “loose hijabs.”



Thousands of Iranians protested in 2022, accusing the regime’s religious police of killing Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died in police custody after being arrested for wearing a loose hijab.

Iran’s Islamic clergy responded to the public unrest by introducing even stricter legal limitations on women and girls who violate the dress code, including punishments of up to 10 years in prison and fines of around $8,500.

Fostering dialogue between Roma civil society and Ukrainian government discussed in Warsaw

7 March 2024


Representatives of Ukrainian Roma civil society, national authorities and international experts discussed ways to tackle war-related challenges facing Roma communities at a conference hosted by ODIHR in Warsaw. 7 March 2023. (OSCE/Piotr Markowski) 

Engaging civil society and the Ukrainian government in a constructive dialogue to tackle the issues reported by Roma over the past two years of war was the focus of discussions hosted this week in Warsaw by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Following a workshop on 6 March that brought together Roma civil society representatives and human rights defenders to map out war-related challenges experienced by Ukrainian Roma, the Roma activists joined state representatives and international experts for a conference the next day, to discuss co-operation to ensure better protection for Ukrainian Roma. ODIHR organized both events together with the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, while conference organizers also included the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

The challenges facing Roma, including forced displacement, prejudice and socio-economic difficulties, continue to raise serious concerns, and protecting their human rights must be a priority, participants said. State efforts should be supported by civil society as well as local and international partners to develop policies that help improve the lives of Roma.

“This conference is a well-suited and timely platform provided by ODIHR to take stock of the human rights situation of Ukrainian Roma affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said Ihor Lossovskyi, Deputy Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience. “The challenges are extremely complex and in order to address them, we need to join efforts with civil society and partners for co-operation and work together to find solutions.” 

Mykhailo Spasov, representing the Ukrainian Ombuds Office, emphasised the necessity of safeguarding the rights of Roma without any discrimination. “This group of population continues to experience particular challenges linked to prejudice,” he said at the conference. “Today’s event allows us to identify appropriate ways to address these issues.”  

“Roma people affected by forced displacement should be provided equal access to essential services,” said Rada Kalandiia, manager of the Romodrom Integration Centre in Mukachevo, western Ukraine. “Besides, the war has exacerbated the already difficult socio-economic situation of Roma. The authorities need to work together with civil society to better tackle these issues.”

ODIHR has a mandate to facilitate dialogue among OSCE participating States and civil society to ensure protection for Roma communities at risk, in line with the 2003 Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti within the OSCE Area. Since February 2022, ODIHR has been providing support to Ukraine, including by conducting human rights monitoring of displaced Roma, including women, in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. The Office also invested efforts to help build the capacity of Roma and pro-Roma human rights defenders, and facilitated Roma participation in OSCE human dimension events.

Sexually transmitted infections on the rise across Europe, new data reveals

Promoting consistent condom use and talking more openly about STIs can help, the boss of Europe’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says.


As the rate of STI's rise in Europe, countries are making efforts in order to prioritize sexual education | Stephane de Sakutin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

MARCH 7, 2024 
BY PIERRE EMMANUEL NGENDAKUMANA

Sexually transmitted infections are on the up.

STIs surged in Europe in 2022, with gonorrhoea cases rising by 48 percent compared to the previous year, syphilis cases by 34 percent and chlamydia cases by 16 percent, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its latest annual data reports.

“We must prioritize sexual health education, expand access to testing and treatment services, and combat the stigma associated with STIs. Education and awareness initiatives are vital in empowering individuals to make informed choices about their sexual health,” said ECDC Director Andrea Ammon.

Promoting consistent condom use and talking more openly about STIs can help reduce transmission rates, she said.

Some countries have already introduced new measures to combat the rise.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced at the end of 2022 that, starting in January 2023, the government would make condoms free for 18 to 25 year olds in a bid to boost sexual health.

“We’re not very good on this subject,” he said at the time, referring to sexual education. “The reality is very, very different from the theory.”

According to the World Health Organization last year, more than 1 million sexually transmitted infections are acquired every day worldwide.

Gird your loins! Jockstraps are still holding up after 150 years

By LEANNE ITALIE,AP Lifestyles Writer

Updated March 7, 2024 




This image released by BIKE Athletic shows a collection of jockstraps in New York on March 6, 2024. (Andrew Werner Photography for BIKE Athletic via AP)

Andrew Wenner/AP


NEW YORK (AP) — Happy 150th birthday, dear jockstrap. How far you've come from your modest but mighty days of protecting the precious parts of bicycle messengers as they navigated the bumpy cobblestones of Boston.

Invented for that purpose in 1874 by C.F. Bennett, who worked for a company now known as Bike Athletic, the strappy little staple of yore has become a sex symbol of sorts with a reach well beyond the athletic world.

Fashion designers have fancied them up for catwalks and store shelves. Kristen Stewart recently pulled on a Bike jockstrap for the cover of Rolling Stone, earning barbs from some conservatives. Some athletes, both recreational and professional, still reach for one. And the jockstrap owes a debt to the gay men who have embraced it since the 1950s, when a hyper-masculine aesthetic in gay fashion was in vogue.

“They’re very coquettish. They reveal, they conceal. It’s like a push-up bra,” said 53-year-old Andrew Joseph in New York.

While many athletes and others with a need to keep things safe and secure have traded out jockstraps for compression shorts and other teched-up alternatives, Joseph draws from his extensive collection to don one every day.

Sean McDougle, 55, a queer nudist-naturist in upstate New York, owns about 40 jockstraps.

“There’s a certain feeling of freedom,” he said. "I remember as a child the first time I wore one and thought, what is this thing? They give you this thing, you know? But the look and feel is just somehow really alluring.”

THE JOCKSTRAP SWAGGER


Jockstraps are all things to the people who love them. For some, they're just utilitarian, part of the gear for sports and exercise. But for others, they're comfy little secrets under clothes. They're cheeky, two ways, with their butt-exposing leg straps and wide waistbands and pouches peeping out from shorts and trousers. And they're worn with or without leather gear at one of the world's numerous bars that host jockstrap nights.

To date, Bike Athletic has sold more than 350 million jockstraps worldwide. Tom Ford, Versace, Calvin Klein, Thom Browne, Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Savage x Fenty have put out jockstraps.

Browne included them on the runway for his spring/summer 2023 menswear collection. So did the French label Egonlab. John Galliano showed fur coats and jocks in 2004. Four years later, Miuccia Prada had black, red and blue jockstraps peek out over waistbands of her menswear collection. Niche sellers are all over the internet and in queer boutiques.

“It’s evolved almost into kind of male lingerie at this point,” said Alex Angelchik, who bought Bike Athletic with other investors in 2019. “From the '70s through today, it became kind of a cult favorite within the gay community and expanded to the metrosexual urban community.”

Today, about 70% of Bike's customers are gay men, he said. The company's top seller is a jockstrap that's been around since the beginning, the No. 10. It's the one Stewart wore in the March issue of Rolling Stone. Kim Kardashian got there first, showing off a jockstrap in the September 2022, Americana-themed issue of Interview magazine.

Overall, Angelchik said he sells several million dollars worth of jockstraps a year, primarily in boutiques and Urban Outfitters stores.

Like so much in fashion, the jockstrap had obvious antecedents (the medieval codpiece among them), said Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

“Once it came in, it had the potential to become an eroticized piece of male underwear, which was unusual because it was really women’s underwear, predominantly, that became eroticized because women were thought of as, you know, THE sex and things were seen from the sort of heterosexual male viewpoint,” she said.

“But this period, in the late 19th century when the jockstrap was supposedly invented, was right when women’s lingerie was becoming much more elaborate,” Steele added.

Working out of Chicago, inventor Bennett set out to solve a problem in Boston for its so-called “bicycle jockeys” when they rode on the city's uneven streets. In that day, “loose britches” were the norm, offering little in the way of support.

From there, the lowly jockstrap found massive success as the men's underwear industry grew.

The slip-in cup came later, as the little piece of fabric and elastic moved into the sports world, around the 1920s. Now, some compression shorts also can accommodate a cup, and help with chafing.

“I guess the biggest change is when I started playing, we had steel cups. In fact, I still have a couple of those around the house and my grandkids didn’t know what they were. Now they have made things a lot more comfortable for the players,” said baseball’s Bruce Bochy, the Texas Rangers manager who guided his team to a World Series championship last year.

Nostalgia is in play, Angelchik said.

“When I first bought the brand, I talked to a lot of my cousins and friends, guys that were in their 50s, 60s, some of them in their 70s. I was shocked how many of these guys kept their jockstraps from high school and college, and still had them in a drawer or somewhere in a box,” he said.

The variations of jockstraps today are endless, said Timoteo Ocampo, a Los Angeles-based designer who sells them online and in boutiques around the globe. His company, Timoteo, puts out men's underwear, swimwear and other clothing.

“There's detachable fronts, zipper fronts, colors,” he said. “Some companies are doing diamond chains on their jockstraps. ... People get very creative. It's more personal and showing who they are and being proud of that.”

A DEBT TO GAY MEN

Mark Mackillop, an actor-singer-dancer in New York, is a jockstrap enthusiast. In 10 years, he has raised nearly $400,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit serving those in need in the theater industry around the U.S.

He's done that primarily through the auctioning of underwear, jockstraps included, for the organization's annual Broadway Bares. Broadway Bares is a burlesque-esque show that features, you guessed it, jockstraps, along with other gear and lots of peekaboo nudity. Mackillop, who is gay and the show's top fundraiser, also performs in it, wearing a jockstrap.

“Things like Kristen Stewart wearing a jockstrap are making them more mainstream,” he said. “But I know gay men are the reason that there is a jockstrap industry in the underwear world today.”

Bike Athletic is the largest sponsor of the Atlanta Bucks, a rugby team that plays under the International Gay Rugby umbrella. Another sponsor is the Eagle bar in Atlanta, where there are frequent jock events.

“There's definitely an integral history between Bike and the gay community,” said the team's president, Jonathan Standish, who's also a player. Do he and his teammates prefer jockstraps?

“A lot of people, me included, will do both. We wear jockstraps as a way to have support without having too much fabric, and put compression shorts over to take care of chafing. I have thick thighs," he laughed.

___

Freelancer Jack Thompson in Surprise, Arizona, contributed to this story.