Fiji’s 2000 coup leader George Speight, who has been serving time in prison for more than 20 years, has applied for a presidential pardon so he can be released.

When questioned by Fijivillage News, Attorney-General and Chair of the Mercy Commission, Siromi Turaga confirmed that Speight had made an application and the consideration process was underway.

According to the 2013 Constitution, on the petition of any convicted person, the commission may recommend that the President exercise a power of mercy by granting a free or conditional pardon to a person convicted of an offence; remitting all or a part of a punishment.

The commission may dismiss a petition that it reasonably considers to be frivolous, vexatious or entirely without merit, but otherwise

• must consider a report on the case prepared by the judge who presided at the trial; or the Chief Justice, if a report cannot be obtained from the presiding judge;
• must consider any other information derived from the record of the case or elsewhere that is available to the Commission; and
• may consider the views of the victims of the offence.

The Constitution states that the President must act in accordance with the recommendations of the commission.

Fijivillage News has received information that the process has gone through the Fiji Corrections Service, the case management process for George Speight has been done through the judiciary, the commission has had its meeting and a decision is expected from President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere.

Next batch release?
Based on the processes followed under the Constitution, Speight could be released in the next batch of people to be given mercy by the President.

Speight was arrested and taken into custody on 26 July 2000.

In February 2002, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death — the sentence was later commuted to life in prison by the President.

George Speight led a small group of armed men to the Parliament complex in Veiuto on the morning of 19 May 2000, and seized then Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government hostage.

The hostage crisis lasted for 56 days.

In 2020, the then Leader of Opposition, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu urged the President and the then government to also consider the release of prisoners like 2000 coup leader George Speight and Naitasiri high chief, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata.

When questioned by Fijivillage News, Ratu Naiqama said there were more than 3000 people that were charged and incarcerated in relation to the events of 2000, and all including George Speight should be released.

While speaking in Parliament at the time, Ratu Naiqama said this was not to create another coup but to take a step forward.

Vijay Narayan is news director of Fijivillage News. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A curfew has been imposed in part of Papua New Guinea and extra police have been moved in to quell unrest over the shooting dead of 16 prisoners.

The prisoners attempted to escape on Sunday by cutting open part of the fence at the Lakiemata prison in West New Britain province.

One inmate is in hospital and a further seven are on the run.

PNG media reports in the aftermath of the shooting say angry relatives and opportunists looted several stores with police shooting two men inside a local hardware shop in Kimbe town.

Police commander Chief Superintendent Peter Barkie has confirmed the arrival of Mobile Squad 18 to assist in easing tensions in the province.

Provincial Chairman for Law and Order John Rova said: “We are trying to address the issue and allow normal businesses to commence and operate and allow for outside communities to travel in to receive basic services.

“After the PEC meeting, we have agreed that a curfew will commence at 8pm and go until 5am every day and we will try to monitor the movement of residents because of law and order issues.”

Full investigation promised

The PNG Post-Courier reports Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr saying Corrections officers are mandated by law to ensure that the orders of the court are adhered to and that they are stopped.

But he said any death was regrettable, and he offered assurance that when seeking to prevent a prisoner from escaping, the last thing that anyone wanted was for loss of life to occur.

He promised a full investigation.

“There are several points that I think is important to I make,” he said.

“The first is that the men who escaped were in custody because of the crimes that they had committed.

“In Papua New Guinea, our criminal justice system is underpinned by the Criminal Code that mandates that when individuals commit certain crimes that they must serve time in prison.

“In this sense, those individuals in prison are re-paying their debt to society.

“The second point I would make is that our corrections system is focused on rehabilitation and preparing those detained for re-integration to society.

“It is a requirement that prisoners participate in rehabilitation and re-integration programmes before they can become eligible for release.

“Those that seek to escape custody before serving their term of imprisonment are demonstrating contempt for our laws.”

Some escapees on remand
However, Papua New Guinea’s Correctional Services Commissioner has confirmed that seven out of the 24 prisoners who tried to escape were not yet convicted of an offence.

Commissioner Stephen Pokanis said the ages of the prisoners who tried to escape was  between 22 and 40.

He said the court system was often slow, which meant someone could be on remand for years while they waited for their court session.

“Time spent in prison as a remandee sometimes goes up to even eight years. For them I do not know but I would think they would have been in prison for maybe two to three years or more,” he said.

RNZ Pacific is investigating reports that a number of the prisoners who were shot had already turned themselves into authorities.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A testing centre is being set up at a marae in New Zealand’s Waikato settlement of Kaiaua today after three community cases of covid-19 were confirmed in the region.

They are household members of a man with the virus who is in remand at Mount Eden prison in Auckland.

The Ministry of Health said two of the cases went to Mangatangi School and one had symptoms while there.

The National Māori Pandemic Group says the new cases mean Cabinet must keep Auckland at level 4 and include Waikato, and wants the upper North Island in level 3 as a precaution.

Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki says drive-in swabbing will be done at Wharekawa Marae in Whakatīwai.

The government is due to announce any possible alert level changes this afternoon and it is unclear how the development in Waikato will affect its decision.

‘Irresponsible,’ says mayor
Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said the prisoner should never have been bailed outside Auckland to the area where cases of covid-19 have now been discovered.

The prisoner spent more than a week there on electronically-monitored bail.

The infections were discovered after the man returned to prison in Auckland and tested positive for the virus.

Sanson told RNZ Morning Report it was “totally irresponsible” to send a prisoner on bail outside the lockdown boundary and into the small community.

“There needs to be questions asked as to why it actually happened,” he said.

“I would have thought if you were bailing somebody you would have bailed them into Auckland, and not out of the Auckland area.

“They don’t let anyone else out of Auckland into a level 2 area without them having tests now, so what’s the difference with this? This person’s been in the community for well over a week.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

West Papuans are facing the start of 2021 with sorrowful news about the death of Mispo Gwijangge, a victim of accusations and torture over alleged crimes he did not commit.

Some human rights advocates and lawyers, including Amnesty International Indonesia, have expressed their condolences for his death in Wamena on January 6, reports Tabloid Jubi.

Amnesty International Indonesia says Gwijangge was charged over the killing of 17 PT Istaka Karya workers in Nduga at the end of 2018.

The Papua Advocacy Team found a number of irregularities in the case.

Gwijangge, who was not fluent in the Indonesian language, explained through the help of an interpreter that he did not commit the murders he was accused of.

He said he was in a refugee camp in Wamena when the murder of PT Istaka Karya took place on December 2, 2018. Gwijangge was sentenced to death, even though he was still under age, who should not have been given a death sentence, say advocates.

Amnesty International Indonesia turut berduka cita sedalam-dalamnya atas kepergian Mispo Gwijangge, orang asli Papua korban penyiksaan dan rekayasa kasus pembunuhan di Nduga tahun 2018. pic.twitter.com/DPg2SMp1rS

— Amnesty International Indonesia (@amnestyindo) January 7, 2021

Michel Himan, one of Gwijangge’s defence lawyers who handled the case, while expressing his deep condolences, said that Gwijangge had been arrested on 12 May 2018. He was only 14 years old when he was detained at the Jayawijaya police headquarters.

In prison cell for 333 days
For 333 days, he remained in a prison cell and was often tortured.

Himan said that without the knowledge of his family Gwijangge had been transferred to Jakarta for “security reasons”, while the trial of another case at the same time went smoothly.

Gwijangge was forced to accept this unjust legal process. He had never committed the murder, say advocates.

Himan, who is known as a prominent young lawyer from Papua in the Indonesian capital, recalls his conversation with Gwijangge at Salemba prison in Jakarta.

“Mispo said, ‘I never went to school. I can’t read and write and have never been out of town, always live in the village, I’ve never been involved as alleged, I don’t know anything.’

“’I just wanted to go home because no one takes care of my mum. My mum is alone in the jungle [temporary refugee camp], Mispo told Himan while staring at the clouds.

“My head is dizzy, and I am worried about my mother, I just wanted to get back to Papua as soon as possilble,” Himan recalls about what Gwijangge told him.

Pneumonia, back pain
Gwijangge was badly sick with pneumonia and back pain as a result of the torture he had received.

“We were all worried about his situation at that time. We have done our best to help him for the sake of healing,” said Himan.

Tabloid Jubi reports that according to Mispo’s older sister with initials DG, Gwijangge had still been traumatised after being arrested in the middle of last year. He was accused of being involved in the murder of dozens of Trans Papuan Highway workers in Nduga regency in early December 2018.

“He didn’t want to take medication. He was worried that someone would try to find fault with him, and then he would be arrested again,” said DG.

Gwijangge’s family decided to take care of him from home.

Nduga refugees volunteer Raga Kogeya said it was natural that Mispo Gwijangge had still been traumatised. The youth had been arrested and accused of crimes he did not commit.

At that time, the threat was the maximum of a death penalty.

Luckily, the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court, who tried the Gwijangge case, rejected all of the charges against him by the public prosecutor.

The judges were willing to consider various irregularities presented by Gwijangge’s legal team. Finally, they decided to drop the prosecution and to free him from detention.

This report has been compiled by a special Pacific Media Watch correspondent. Tabloid Jubi articles are republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The 16 protesters at Waikeria Prison have surrendered to authorities after a six-day stand-off.

The news that the men had ended the stand-off came in a statement from Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, who said he escorted the prisoners out about 12pm today.

Waititi said the prisoners were ready to come down.

“Naturally, they were tired and hungry but still very determined to see change.

“They have achieved what they set out to do when they embarked on bringing attention to their maltreatment in prison.”

Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said the men received food and water and would soon be transported to other prisons around the country.

A plume of smoke could still be seen rising from the fire-damaged buildings at Waikeria Prison this morning.

The 16 inmates had been protesting at the prison since Tuesday, when several fires started.

Widespread destruction
Corrections has said there had been widespread destruction of buildings and property, and the men had acted violently.

But the men had said they were protesting against unacceptable conditions at the prison, after complaints about inhumane treatment had not been listened to.

Davis said the protesters had done a lot of damage to the part of the prison they were in and it was now unusable.

The arson, violence and destruction carried out by the men were reckless criminal acts, and the responsibility for laying charges was with police, he said.

There were many legitimate avenues for prisoners to raise concerns about their conditions, Davis said.

Five of the men involved in the disorder are deportees from Australia, and three are subject to returning offender orders because of their criminal convictions.

At a press conference this afternoon, Davis said he was involved from the outset, but wanted to give professionals the space, time and resources to do their ob.

‘True hero’ negotiators
He said the “true heroes” were the negotiators who spent six days at this site working with the prisoners.

Davis said he had noted before that he did not like the state of the upper part of the prison, but that did not excuse the actions of the protesting inmates.

He said he had “total confidence” all prisoners across the network were being looked after in accordance to the Corrections Act.

Department of Corrections chief executive Jeremey Lightfoot said there was “no excuse” for what the men did, and there were multiple ways for prisoners to complain, including to the Ombudsman.

“Let me be clear, there are many channels to complain,” he said.

Lightfoot said it was not appropriate to take this action as a way of complaining, and it was a criminal act.

He said he was proud of the collaboration between Corrections staff, police and other emergency colleagues, as it was a very complex matter in a dangerous area that took a lot of effort and planning to ensure it was resolved safely.

Prisoners’ supporters on site
Several family members of the prisoners were outside the gates again today and were calling for a peaceful end to the protest.

One told RNZ that their cousin who was protesting did not care if he lived or died, because he was standing up for his rights.

She said he had become fed up with conditions in the jail, and was determined to stick it out.

“He was agitated, he was hungry, he was thirsty… but he said he’d stick it out… at least he knows he’s standing up for his rights and the rights of others who are going to be incarcerated in this prison.”

The woman said her cousin was only on remand for non-payment of fines and had a 6-month-old baby at home.

Corrections had said the men have been given opportunities to negotiate, and would not be given water unless they surrendered.

In a statement earlier this morning, Corrections said the situation remained “incredibly volatile”.

“The prisoners have continued to light fires within the facility overnight, make threats toward our staff and police and throw debris at them from the roof of the buildings.

“Our options for intervention are limited due to the dangers present.”

Waititi, who previously tried to negotiate with the prisoners at their request, had said an Ombudsman’s Report, published in August, supported the men’s claims about the conditions at the prison.

He has called on the government to resolve the situation and end basic human rights breaches.

He said today that while people that do crime must serve their time, they must also be treated in a just and humane way.

“Even prison guards acknowledged to us that the state of the unit was unacceptable.

“These men are not animals, they are humans; they are brothers, fathers and sons and are deserving of better treatment.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Amnesty International is calling on New Zealand’s Corrections Minister to ensure force is not used to end the impasse at Waikeria Prison – where 16 inmates are entering a sixth day of protest.

The human rights group said de-escalation techniques should be used to end the protest.

It said the protesters had already raised concerns about poor treatment, and the use of excessive force and withholding food and water would make things worse.

Sixteen inmates are now in their sixth day of a protest that began on Tuesday at the prison, near Te Awamutu.

Significant damage had been done to the “top jail” facility, after fires in several places during the protest.

Amnesty also wanted Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis to end what it described as “dehumanising practices” at Waikeria, and to launch an inquiry into the state of the country’s prison system.

Relatives of the men protesting have told RNZ the men are trying to raise awareness of conditions they describe as “inhumane’”, including brown drinking water, lack of toilet paper and clean bedding, and cramped overheated cells.

Significant damage
But Department of Corrections Incident Controller Jeanette Burns said the men’s actions were violent, and they had caused significant damage to buildings and property, and were making weapons to use against staff.

Attempts to negotiate their surrender had been made, but had not resolved the situation, and water would only be provided to them on their surrender, she said.

However, a former inmate of Waikeria told RNZ he feared that once the current protest was put down, the long term problems at the jail would not be addressed.

Billy McFarlane now runs the Puwhakamua Programme for high-risk offenders in Rotorua.

He said unrest had been brewing over prison conditions around the country for some while, and something had to give.

But he was worried for the men involved.

‘Suffer the wrath of the system’
“They’re all going to get charged, they’re probably all going to end up in maximum security, they’re probably all not going to get paroled,” he said.

“They’re going to suffer the wrath of the system and then slowly this whole problem will probably go under the mat again.”

McFarlane said he remembered complaining about the same thing himself, in the 1980s.

He felt New Zealand prisons do not do enough to rehabilitate prisoners or reintegrate them back into society.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Afghanis who say they have witnessed torture and murder at the hands of Australian soldiers want the chance to testify in court as well as compensation, a journalist says.

Australia’s Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell announced yesterday that there is information to substantiate 23 incidents of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people by 25 special forces personnel in Afghanistan.

He was commenting on a four-year inquiry that found “credible information” supporting allegations of war crimes by the country’s special forces.

Major-General Paul Brereton’s report also said junior soldiers were often required by their patrol commanders to shoot prisoners to get their first kill in a practice known as “blooding”.

The inquiry also found evidence soldiers gloated about their actions, kept kill counts and planted phones and weapons on corpses to justify their actions.

One victim had told him four of his family had been killed – two brothers and two cousins.

In another village he spoke to a number of victims about their bad experiences and they described “murders after murders”.

“One man did say to me that he wanted to look up in the eyes of these killers and ask them why did they kill so many innocent Afghans.”

Another man he interviewed could not stop crying as he likened the sound of bullets from a gun with a silencer to “drops of water”.

“These families… have been telling me that they want to get justice, that they want to make sure this is a transparent process and that those responsible are brought to justice.”

They have asked him if those directly affected will get the chance to fly to Australia to give evidence in courtrooms there, Sarwary said.

Many of the people involved were very poor and they had also asked him about their chances of receiving compensation from Australia.

Sarwary said that the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission has demanded that Australia adopts a transparent process as it lays charges against the perpetrators and there should be compensation for victims.

‘We crossed a very bad line’ – ex-soldier
The Brereton inquiry heard from more than 400 witnesses, including former SAS paramedic Dusty Miller, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012.

He told the ABC he witnessed a number of unlawful killings and has since struggled with “psychological wounds”.

He said he felt vindicated after reading the report and was in no doubt that some of the soldiers needed to go to jail for their crimes. It might be hard for the Australian public to accept such behaviour had occurred, he said.

“We’ve got this proud ANZAC tradition that we’re trying to uphold but unfortunately it’s like finding out that Santa Claus isn’t real.

“We crossed a very bad line and we crossed it for a number of years and we need to pay that price now.”

The report also warned that more killings would be revealed in the future and Miller said he was sure that is true.

Some soldiers’ lives had been ruined by what they had witnessed in Afghanistan. It also meant the end of his own military career, Miller said.

‘Everybody knew what was going on’
“Everybody knew what was going on. It was a day-to-day occurrence. We normalised it… you certainly had to go along with what was happening because the alternative would have been professional suicide. You’d have been ostracised.

“There was no way you would have flagged this with the commanders or speak up – that would have been unthinkable.”

Miller said the commanders must have known what was happening especially as they had debriefs after every mission.

However, it was “a minority group” who acted badly and the majority of men he served with were “honourable” although they operated in a “dog eat dog” aggressive environment.

Clear differences between NZ and Australian troops, says author
Investigative journalist Jon Stephenson, the co-author of Hit and Run, the book which led to the Operation Burnham Inquiry, said there was a difference between the way Australian forces behaved and the conduct of New Zealand forces.

“It’s clear that for Operation Burnham the allegations concerned civilian casualties but they weren’t deliberate. The New Zealand forces were involved in an action in Afghanistan that led to civilian casualties but they didn’t intend for those people to die,” Stephenson told Morning Report.

“Whereas in the Australian case, there’s a clear difference, in that they deliberately planned and carried out unlawful actions, alleged war crimes – shooting people who were in their custody and posed no threat or civilians.”

Australian and New Zealand troops worked together in some places, such as headquarters, but they did not go out in large numbers on missions together.

After New Zealand troops had bad experiences working with the US in Afghanistan a decision was made that New Zealand troops would operate as independently as possible so they would not be “contaminated” by some of the behaviour they saw.

In some cases they did support missions, but generally they acted on their own or with the Afghans, Stephenson said.

Australian federal police will investigate the specifics and decisions will be made about which troopers should be prosecuted over the 39 alleged murders. This process may take years, he said.

“It would be my expectation, based on what I’ve heard, and the people I’ve spoken to, that there will definitely be a large number of prosecutions.

“It’s inconceivable to me given that, for example, people have been shown on camera shooting unarmed young men in a field who posed no threat, that there will not be successful prosecutions, convictions and some people will serve serious jail time.”

Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell identified a significant problem with what he called “toxic warrior culture” in Australian forces and this was not seen in the New Zealand forces.

However, Stephenson said it is important for New Zealanders to consider if their troops had served as many rotations in the same same high intensity conflict areas and had lost as many troops in conflicts as the Australians did whether such a culture might evolve.

He believes that NZ troops would not have resorted to this type of behaviour.

“I think there are significant cultural problems in the Australian military. They have got a very different attitude towards indigenous people than our troopers have.

“That’s not to say that our forces have acted impeccably at all times, but I do think there are significant cultural differences, training differences between New Zealand and Australia.”

With New Zealand’s smaller numbers it was also easier to identify bad behaviour.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A group of 31 men on remand have escaped from a Papua New Guinea police station holding facility in Lae after taking the key from a guard who was fast asleep, reportedly drunk, police say.

Metropolitan Superintendent Chris Kunyanban said the officer guarding the facility – called the “watch house” – was suspended because he was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and had fallen off to sleep.

The 31 fled sometime between 1am and 6am on Wednesday morning.

“The cell guard was fast asleep after consuming alcohol with juvenile prisoners in the watch house. The detainees took the cell keys from his pocket, opened the cell gates and escaped,” Superintendent Kunyanban said.

He said the metropolitan police were alerted around 6.35am and managed to arrest four of the men on Seventh Street.

The other 27 were still at large.

Of the 31, 15 were facing charges relating to serious offences, six were charged with being in possession of dangerous drugs, and 10 for minor offences.

One facing murder charge
Kunyanban said of the four re-arrested, one was facing a murder charge while the other three had been charged with minor offences.

He called on the people, especially family members of the men, to assist the police in rearresting them.

He blamed the incident on the negligence of cell guards.

“The cell guard on duty has been suspended and investigation has commenced,” he said.

“The investigation will also look at the system in place, security protocols and standard operating procedures.”

There are more than 140 prisoners kept at the facility which should only be holding a maximum of 100 people.

Some have already been convicted and were awaiting their transfer to Buimo prison.

33 still at large
Meanwhile, police are yet to re-arrest the 33 who escaped from Buimo on August 14.

He said some of those on the run knew well how police conduct their operations. They avoid places where police frequent.

“It is becoming very hard. But we are relying on public assistance,” Kunyanban said.

Police suspect that some could have travelled to other provinces.

He warned people, especially family members, that harbouring criminals was an offence.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes The National articles with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Warning: This story discusses details of the 15 March 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre.

An Auckland University law professor says there is a risk the mosque terrorist could walk the streets of Sydney if he was deported to Australia to serve his life sentence.

After a four-day sentencing hearing in the High Court in Christchurch, Australian Brenton Tarrant, 29, was sentenced yesterday to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.

Justice Cameron Mander’s sentence marked the first time in New Zealand’s history that the harshest punishment has been imposed.

Shortly after the sentencing, New Zealand First Leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Tarrant should be deported to his home country.

But Professor Bill Hodge told RNZ First Up there was no law in place where a sentence could be transferred, so Australia would not have to keep to the terms of the sentence.

He told First Up a new law would be required in New Zealand – but more importantly, a new law would be needed in Australia.

“Because if he’s deported now, gets on a plane and goes over to Sydney, he can just walk free because there is no statutory authority, no power to enforce the New Zealand sentence in Australia at the moment.”

Rainbow Warrior spies transfer
New Zealand has been down this pathway before more than 30 years ago.

The two French spies in jail for 10 years for manslaughter in the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour were allowed to be transferred for three years in military detention on Hao atoll in French Polynesia under a deal agreed to with France by former prime minister David Lange.

Before very long both prisoners were back home.

“We got burned quite frankly…”

Hodge said moving the terrorist would have to be with Australia’s cooperation and he could not see why they would agree to it.

“We don’t know exactly what their attitude is …let’s not go down that pathway until we get something really sealed in cement over there to make sure he will stay inside and not become part of a reality TV show, which is what happened to one person who came back from [jail in] Indonesia.”

Morrison open to prospect
The ABC is reports that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has left the door open to working with New Zealand on the issue, but there would be some hurdles to overcome.

Despite the strong ties between Australia and New Zealand, there is no formal prisoner transfer deal between the two countries.

Prisoner transfers are different to extraditions – which is when one country demands another help to secure someone wanted for an offence, and have them shipped over to face investigation and trial.

International law expert Professor Don Rothwell, from the Australian National University, said there were multiple options that could be pursued if the transfer was on the cards.

But he said the most likely was what he described as the “David Hicks option”.

Hicks, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and spent time in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, was sentenced by a military commission in the United States.

“Australia and the US negotiated a special agreement purely to deal with the Hicks situation, and that was appropriate given the security concerns and legal issues,” Professor Rothwell said.

The key difference
The key difference is that Hicks only had to serve another nine months in jail (his conviction was set aside by a US court in 2015).

The mosque gunman’s sentence expires when he dies. So, keeping him behind bars for the rest of his life would need to be an explicit term in any agreement.

There are two other potential options for transferring him to Australia.

The first would be for the two countries to negotiate a new bilateral prisoner transfer treaty. The second possibility would be for New Zealand to sign up to an international convention, such as the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

“The Christchurch gunman is going to be an irritant in Australia-New Zealand relations for some time,” Melissa Conley Tyler from the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne said.

“New Zealand is very aware that when its citizens are convicted of crimes in Australia, we deport them back to New Zealand – admittedly after they’ve served their sentences – and this is for much less serious crimes.

“From a New Zealand perspective, this is a terrorist who is an Australian citizen and New Zealand taxpayers will be footing the bill for his incarceration for the rest of his life.

“So even though Australia may not be legally obliged to agree to a transfer, I’d expect that New Zealand will continue to make this request.”

‘Proud’ of NZ’s justice system
In relation to how the justice system has operated with regard to the arrest and trial of the terrorist, from the police response on the day of the 15 March 2019 attacks to the conclusion with the handing down of the sentence yesterday, Professor Hodge said it had been through a stress test and had been proved “fit for purpose”.

As a teacher in a law school it had made him feel proud, he said.

“I think all New Zealanders were brought into that courtroom by the judge by his very powerful speech. It was denunciation; it was speaking for the nation; and it showed a unique purpose that we don’t see very often in New Zealand courtrooms.

“I think justice has come to the fore in a very positive way and I’m proud of it.”

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There is no death penalty in New Zealand, unlike the United States. But Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant, due for sentencing this week, will be going to jail for a very long time.

A minimum of 17 years is required for a murder committed as part of a terrorist act, and Tarrant has admitted to 51 such murders (among other crimes).

Also unlike the US, New Zealand does not allow cumulative sentences on indeterminate sentences (such as life imprisonment). But it does allow for the imposition of what could become an indeterminate sentence with no minimum parole period.

READ MORE: Will life mean life when the Christchurch mosque killer is sentenced?

To lock Tarrant up in perpetuity will be very expensive. He is currently costing just over NZ$4,930 a day due to the extra levels of security, considerably more than the average of about $338 for a standard prisoner.

The next two years alone will cost New Zealand taxpayers about $3.6 million. The final sum for the 28-year-old terrorist will depend on how long he lives and the ongoing level of security he requires. If he has a normal life span the cost may be in the tens of millions per decade.

Should he stay or go?
In the minds of many, the costs and hassle of incarcerating Tarrant will be an acceptable price to pay. Foreign citizen or not, there is a symbolic and ethical responsibility for us to keep the rat we caught.

New Zealanders old enough to remember are still jaundiced from the last time we caught terrorists, the French secret agents Dominque Prieur and Alain Mafart who were directly linked to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

The two were handed back to France as part of a reconciliation deal. But the French government quickly broke the terms of agreement, repatriating the prisoners from their detention on the South Pacific atoll of Hao to a normal life in France.

Another such act of bad faith is unlikely, as Tarrant has no government in his corner arguing for his repatriation. He does, however, have a government behind him that has implemented specific legislation to obtain the transfer of its own citizens when incarcerated in foreign countries, to serve their sentences on home soil.

This is not unusual legislation. Although there is no overarching international law, regional and bilateral initiatives are common. Australia’s International Transfer of Prisoners Act, for example, aims to facilitate the transfer of prisoners between Australia and countries with which it has agreements.

Prisoners can serve their prison sentences in their country of nationality or in countries with which they have community ties. There are strong economic, social and humanitarian reasons for this approach.

The deportation of ex-prisoners will increase
Here is the catch. New Zealand has no such relationship with Australia. Unlike most comparable countries, we have little interest in the international transfer of prisoners, preferring to take a hard line when it comes to Kiwis in foreign jails.

Partly because of this, since 2014 Australia has allowed non-citizens to have their visas cancelled on character grounds, including having been sentenced to prison for more than 12 months.

So, although New Zealand prisoners in Australian jails may not be transferred to serve their sentences at home, they will be deported at the end of their sentences.

From early 2015 to mid-2018, about 1,300 New Zealander ex-prisoners had been deported from Australia. After a brief interlude due to covid-19, the deportations resumed.

It is no exaggeration to say this policy (and the cruel standards by which it is applied) are a significant irritant between the two countries.

If it doesn’t change it’s likely to get worse, too. As of mid-2019, New Zealand prisoners made up 3 percent of the total Australian prisoner population (43,028) – about 1,100 people.

Conversely, there were only about 35 Australians in our jails, out of about 320 foreigners in New Zealand’s much smaller prison population (9,324 as of March, 2019).

Time for new deal on expat prisoners
Somewhere in the middle of this darkness there is a glimmer of hope – the chance of a deal and a better relationship between the two countries.

Sign a prisoner transfer agreement. Exchange Tarrant and make him serve out his sentence in Australia, as ruled by the New Zealand judicial system.

Revise the rules for the deportation of New Zealanders who have committed crimes in Australia but been resident for a long time. Move the threshold for deportation from one to three years in prison and make it reciprocal.

Thereafter, recent arrivals in either country who commit serious crimes (such as Brenton Tarrant) are transferred home to serve their time in accordance with their sentences.

Do this and we might start to move forward.

Dr Alexander Gillespie is professor of law, at the University of Waikato. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Eleven prisoners have been shot dead in Papua New Guinea, one was recaptured and 33 others are still at large following yet another massive breakout at Buimo jail outside Lae city at the weekend.

Correctional Services and police officials say the breakout at the troublesome jail happened on Friday under the pretext of the prisoners seeking medical help for a sick prisoner.

The real cause of the escape is being investigated, and comes more than a week after the jail became the first in the country to report a confirmed case of covid-19.

Correctional Services Commissioner Stephen Pokanis confirmed on Sunday that a total of 45 prisoners, comprising 35 remandees and 10 convicts, were involved in the escape.

He said they had gathered at the prison gate and shouted at a duty officer to allow them to take a sick prisoner to the clinic to seek medical attention.

“They then rushed in numbers to the gate when taking out the sick prisoner; they attacked the duty officer with a kitchen knife and ran out to the outer gate in the compound. Two officers standing there were outnumbered when they rushed out,” Pokanis said.

The prisoners ran out from the main prison compound and towards the officers’ accommodation quarters and off to the hill behind the quarters to Buimo mountain, Pokanis said.

Six officers on duty
He said six prison officers were on duty shift from 6am to 2pm when the incident occurred.

Pokanis said the alarm was raised and the Lae police sector patrol helped prison warders to search for the escapees, and in the process shot the 11 and recaptured one.

Lae metropolitan police commander Chris Kunyanban said the reasons for the mass breakout were not known and is under investigation.

“Police also began operations to recapture the escapees, checking public transport travelling out of Lae to ensure that they are confined to Lae so we can recapture them,” Kunyanban said.

“Some escapees are from rural areas and they will escape out of Lae so our appeal to the public is to assist police with any reliable information of the whereabouts of the inmates who escaped.”

Kunyanban said the escapees need to be recaptured and locked up because they will make life miserable for the people in the community, the public and the business houses.

Kunyanban said in another jail breakout in January this year, one prisoner was killed and 10 escaped and are still on the run so the responsible authorities must consider upgrading the capacity of the jail by having good facilities for the inmates to use and deter escapes.

Still searching for escapees
Correctional Services Minister Chris Nangoi confirmed the warders and police were still searching for the escapees, adding that the reason for their escape may be in fear of coronavirus since the jail already recorded its first case, which was a 53-year-old female warder.

Nangoi said the remandees were the ones behind the mass breakout and they are still waiting for the release of K7 million from the government to build a high capacity security fencing and accommodation for CS officers to boost manpower as currently there were not enough warders at the prison.

“Police and warders are working closely to find the 33 still on run, none of our officers were injured,” he said.

He said more information about the breakout and investigations would be available this week.

Marjorie Finkeo and Joan Bailey are reporters for the PNG Post-Courier.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Clifford Faiparik in Port Moresby

Repatriation of about 120 Papua New Guinea citizens from the Papua province of Indonesia to West Sepik under the Indonesian special covid-19 state of emergency (SOE) will start next week, says PNG’s Covid-19 SOE Controller David Manning.

Manning said the PNG citizens included prisoners serving various terms in Indonesian prisons – mostly in the West Papua region of two provinces –  for alleged drug-smuggling and illegal entry.

“The repatriation of 123 Papua New Guinea citizens from Jayapura will happen on either Wednesday or Thursday next week,” he said.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – WHO warns 190,000 could die in Africa

“The first lot of 39 Papua New Guinea citizens will be received at the border by PNG authorities from Vanimo.

“This group comprises 24 prisoners from Abepura jail in Jayapura who were serving various terms for illegal entry and 15 stranded PNG citizens with expired visas.”

Manning said that generally the situation across the country was quiet.

“But our recent focus on security is the 760km border between PNG and Indonesia,” he said.

240 confirmed cases
“And in Papua, there are 240 confirmed cases [of covid-19].

“The death toll remains at six and recoveries at 48.

“While the daily cases curve is flattening at 2.45 percent, we are taking all precautions at the border areas to ensure that this does not spread over into PNG.

“We have a strong presence of security forces in the northern and southern border provinces (Western and West Sepik) as well as the Gulf province.”

Meanwhile, Jayapura-based PNG Consul-General Geoffrey Wiri said West Sepik administrator Conrad Tilau had advised him to send the PNG citizens in batches of 30 and 40 due to their limited quarantine capacity.

“As I understand it, they have allocated a vacant property in West Tower area in Vanimo for quarantine and then the PNG citizens will be released after 14 days,” he said.

Wiri is also concerned that the PNG-Indonesian border has been shut since January 29.

‘Good bilateral relations’
“I need a copy of Manning’s emergency orders for me to inform the Papua provincial government authorities to open the gate since they are also under lockdown condition. But they are willing to open the gates because of our good bilateral relations.”

He said only the 24 Papua New Guinea prisoners jailed at Abepura Prison for illegal entry were being released.

“But not the remaining 74 prisoners serving various terms for drug-smuggling,” Wiri said.

“I understand that negotiations between PNG and Indonesian government for the repatriation for these convicted drug smugglers has not begun yet.”

Wiri said 66 prisoners were in the Doyo Baru narcotic prison in Papua province while seven were in the Bolangi narcotic prison in Sulawesi Province and one in a prison in Manokwari, West Papua province.

Clifford Faiparik is a reporter for The National newspaper.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Vasinatta Yama in Mt Hagen

Eight prisoners at the Baisu Correctional Service prison near the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mt Hagen are dead following a massive jail breakout.

Western Highlands Acting Provincial Police Commander David Kongui confirmed that two prisoners have surrendered, while an unknown number of prisoners escaped.

Many of the fugitives, who escaped about midday yesterday, are those who have committed summary and criminal offences and who were remandees at Baisu jail.

READ MORE: Inside the world’s toughest prisons – Bomana in PNG

The reports were still sketchy earlier today, but police and warders have been patrolling the province in an attempt to track them.

After hearing about the Baisu prison breakout, police in Mt Hagen traveled to all suspected escape routes prisoners may have used.

Task force almost ambushed
Mt Hagen Task Force Rat One team nearly lost their lives when they were caught in crossfire between two warring groups at Dei electorate.

The seven policemen on board were nearly ambushed with high-powered guns, but they remained calm and were disarmed by more than 20 men along the Gumanch bridge in Dei electorate.

Police Constable Jonathan Rami, who was driving, said the armed men disarmed them, taking away with more than 30 rounds of ammunition.

This warring group also gave their demands to the police.

Vasinatta Yama is a reporter for EM TV News. Asia Pacific Report republishes articles in partnership with the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There has been little real debate on an important Government announcement made last weekend. Justice Minister Andrew Little said the Government had decided to give the right to vote back to prisoners with sentences of three years or less.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that there was no great reaction. After all, the change affects so few prisoners – about 1900 – and is likely to have no real electoral impact. And, in fact, the Government was probably keen for as little publicity as possible, given their fear of any negativity from conservative voters about being too liberal on crime.

For the details, see Isaac Davison’s Prisoners serving sentences of less than three years to vote at 2020 election. And for a background to the issue, see my earlier roundups: Will the Government reverse the “fascist” ban on prisoner voting?, and Suffrage reality check – prisoners still can’t vote.

There was certainly something for progressives to celebrate in the Government’s decision. This announcement was the culmination of a long campaign by justice reformers, including some maverick prisoners – see Andrew Geddis’ The reversal of the prisoner voting ban is a big move, and especially sweet for two men.

The National Party sought to create a backlash over the issue, with leader Simon Bridges calling the decision “soft on crime” and promising to reverse the decision once in government. But, despite the rhetoric, there isn’t actually a huge difference between the major parties on the issue, as Labour has decided to retain the voting ban on prisoners with longer sentences. Essentially, they’ve agreed to revert to the pre-2010 situation in which only those prisoners with sentences of more than three years are prohibited from voting.

I’ve written about this today in the Guardian, arguing that this amounts to a half-measure, and is the bare minimum the Government could get away with given recent declarations against the ban from the Waitangi Tribunal and the Supreme Court – see: Ardern’s prisoner voting compromise exposes the cynicism of NZ politics.

I argue this compromise “solution” falls short of what progressives might really want: “Progressives – and possibly even most Labour MPs – support all prisoners being given the right to vote. But the government fears this would be too unpopular and so has compromised, hoping to appease progressive voters with an improvement, but not scare conservatives by retaining the voting ban for the worst criminals.”

Essentially the Labour-led Government is allowing the National Party to set the agenda on law and order issues, and it “doesn’t augur well for next year’s election campaign, which could descend into an auction of awfulness on crime and punishment.”

Other commentators have also lamented that the Government hasn’t been braver. Blogger No Right Turn says the decision “raises a number of questions. Most obviously, why they’re not going the whole way, and restoring voting rights to every prisoner, rather than just going back to the status quo ante? Because the arguments for short-term prisoners being able to vote apply just as powerfully to long-term ones. But Labour is the government of half-measures, so I guess that’s all we’ll ever get from them” – see: Erasing the infamy.

Former Alliance MP Liz Gordon has challenged the decision to re-introduce the three-year prison sentence as the threshold for voting rights: “While National can be criticised for its essentially nonsensical position, the Labour coalition really are not much better.  What the government has done is applied exactly the same test as National but simply drawn the line higher. Those people sentenced to more than three years in prison are beyond the pale. They should not be allowed to vote. Really? Why three years, and not two or four?” – see: Votes for all.

Gordon ponders whether Labour’s argument for excluding some prisoners from voting amounts to some sort of slippery slope: “Are ‘prisoners’ the only category we may want to exclude? How about ‘white supremacists’, for example, or men who watch child pornography. That’s the tricky thing about values – they are a slippery slope down which the principles of a universal suffrage can quickly disappear.”

Similarly, Gordon Campbell puts the case against the three-year “arbitrary” threshold for human rights: “Usually when the state imposes subsequent restrictions on rights in the wake of criminal sentences being served – eg on the future ability to own weapons, or to drive vehicles – there is a direct connection between the original offence and this subsequent restriction of rights. Cancelling the right to vote though, bears no such connection to the original offence. It seems utterly gratuitous” – see: On restoring prisoners’ right to vote.

Of course, it was a difficult decision for Labour. Writing prior to the announcement, the Herald’s Audrey Young explains that the party “has to balance its reforming instincts with the electoral reality” – see: Labour squeezed from all sides on prisoner voting ban, no one happy (paywalled).

A moderate path had to be found, because “the Labour Party again finds itself in a halfway house pleasing no one between the ‘hard on crime’ coalition partner New Zealand First and the ‘soft on crime’ confidence and supply partner in the Greens.”

Elaborating on this, the Otago Daily Times pointed out earlier that liberalising too much would be seen as “soft on law and order” and would not be “a winning strategy” – see the editorial, Prisoners and the right to vote.

The newspaper endorsed a compromise solution: “The middle road, that established before 2010, might not satisfy the purists on each end of the debate. But sometimes such approaches are pragmatic and as just as possible.”

The Herald appeared to take a similar position, believing that a middle road should be taken by reverting to the 2010 status quo – see the editorial, Voting ban on prisoners is all stick, no carrot (paywalled).

But is the issue even that important? Not according to talkback radio host Andrew Dickens, who says Anger over prisoner voting rights is a lot of hot air. He says both sides of the debate are engaging in “hollow virtue signalling” over something of little consequence – especially as few prisoners are likely to take up the opportunity to vote anyhow.

Similarly, columnist Martin van Beynen thinks it’s a non-issue: “The kerfuffle reflects a trend where a minor issue distracts from more important problems much more deserving of attention. Those relatively trivial issues then become like a scout badge for the bleeding heart left, another box to tick to prove their empathy with the oppressed” – see: Prisoners have forfeited the right to vote.

Van Beynen also succinctly explains why prisoners shouldn’t be allowed to vote: “Some have asked what purpose the disfranchisement serves. Pretty obvious, I would have thought. A prison sentence is essentially treating adults like naughty and sometimes dangerous toddlers.”

Liam Hehir gives a more theoretical explanation: “The basic premise of the social contract is that people exchange total freedom of action for the protection the rules the legitimate government. If you are found unwilling to adhere to those rules, being stripped of your right to influence them for the period of your ostracisation. After all, what is prison but a period of suspended freedom? When the prisoner is restored to the community, he or she is then, of course, permitted to participate in the act of governing once more. The return full democratic and civil rights is mark of the former prisoner’s restoration to society” – see: Prisoner voting ban: Not required; not not required.

But what does the public think about the issue? According to a recent Colmar Brunton survey, there’s a majority in favour of liberalisation: “The poll found 26 per cent of people believed all prisoners should vote and 28 per cent wanted just prisoners serving sentences with three years or less to be able to vote – pulling total support for sentences three years or less to 53 per cent. Forty-four per cent were against any prisoner voting” – see 1News’ Pressure to reinstate prisoner voting rights grows as 1News poll reveals over 50 per cent public backing.

What do the prisoners think? According to one report, there is a desire to participate – see Denise Piper’s Prisoners want to vote in council elections, general election.

One prisoner is quoted, making the case against the prisoner voting ban: “I’ve voted in every other election prior to coming to jail and I had hoped that my human rights would have been upheld… It raises the concern that if they’re willing to overlook our human rights, who’s next? People in the community – the disabled, mental health facilities – who else is at risk of losing their vote?”

Finally, with the general political climate on crime and punishment heating up, it’s worth looking at satire on the issue – see my blog post, Cartoons about the politics of law and order in NZ.

By Theresa Baranangko of New Dawn FM

Eighteen prisoners who have escaped from Bougainville’s Buka police station are still at large.

Police station Commander Kingsley Lua has called for the communities, chiefs, community leaders and church leaders in North Bougainville to take the lead in reporting the criminals who escaped from Buka police station three days ago.

According to Lua, most of the escapes are waiting court for serious cases such as murder, incest and drug consumption.

He said the 18 escapees managed to flee from the cell blocks by bending cell bars which had rusted over several years.

The escape happened in the early hours of Tuesday, January 2,  between 3am to 4am.

Lua said this incident occurred under the watch of two or three police officers who were on duty that night. However, they were out in front of the police station when the escape took place at the back of the building.

-Partners-

Lua said that when questioned, the other detainees admitted they were also not aware of the escape as they had been sleeping.

The police are still investigating and have called for the support of the general public to report immediately if they manage to see any suspects in hiding.

Bougainville is an Autonomous Region in Papua New Guinea.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz