Black Britons at more risk of jail than black Americans

Guardian

New study finds seven times more black people per population are in prison – in the US number is just four times as many

The proportion of black people in prison in England and Wales is higher than in the United States, a landmark report released today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals.

The commission’s first triennial report into the subject, How Fair is Britain, shows that the proportion of people of African-Caribbean and African descent incarcerated here is almost seven times greater to their share of the population. In the United States, the proportion of black prisoners to population is about four times greater.

The report, which aims to set out how to measure “fairness” in Britain, says that ethnic minorities are “substantially over-represented in the custodial system”. It suggests many of those jailed have “mental health issues, learning disabilities, have been in care or experienced abuse”.

Experts and politicians said over-representation of black men was a result of decades of racial prejudice in the criminal justice system and an overly punitive approach to penal affairs.

“People will be and should be shocked by this data,” said Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust. “We have a tendency to say we are better than the US, but we have not got prison right.”

Lyon said that although there had been “numerous efforts to address racism in the prison system … we have yet to get a better relationship between justice authorities and black communities. Instead we have ended up with mistrust breeding mistrust.”

Evidence of this damaged relationship can be found in the commission’s report. On the streets, black people were subjected to what the report describes as an “excess” of 145,000 stop and searches in 2008. It notes that black people constitute less than 3% of the population, yet made up 15% of people stopped by police.

The commission found that five times more black people than white people per head of population in England and Wales are imprisoned. The ethnic minority prison population has doubled in a decade – from 11,332 in 1998 to 22,421 in 2008. Over a similar period, the overall number of prisoners rose by less than two thirds. The commission says that the total number of people behind bars accelerated in the last decade despite “a similar number of crimes being reported to the police as in the early 1990s … the volume of indictable offences has fallen over this time”.

A quarter of the people in prison are from an ethnic minority. Muslims now make up 12% of the prison population in England and Wales.

Some on the left of the Labour party blame its policies while in power. Diane Abbott, who raised the alarm over the growing numbers of jailed black men as a backbencher, said she “very much regretted that the last Labour government swallowed [former home secretary] Michael Howard’s line that ‘prison works’.”

“There was never a serious examination of the consequences of locking up a generation of young black men. The result is there are some prisons in the south east which are now virtually all black. Many are converting to Islam.”

The problems may start at school. The commission points out that black children are three times as likely to be permanently excluded from education.

“We are reaping the effects of criminalising a community in the 1970s,” says Ben Bowling, professor of criminal justice at Kings College London and a former adviser to the home affairs select committee.

“The question is how you break the cycle when young men experience custody. Three quarters simply re-offend. We have to intervene with families more effectively to stop kids going to prison. That means looking at school exclusions. You need to deal with issues like mental health and substance abuse. It is not enough to throw our hands in the air.”

The policies implemented in the last decade mean incarceration levels in Britain are now among the highest in western Europe. England and Wales have an imprisonment rate of 155 per 100,000 and Scotland of 149 per 100,000 of the population. This contrasts with rates of less than 100 per 100,000 for most of Britain’s neighbours.

The commission also warns of the rising numbers of women in jails. It says that the “number of women prisoners has nearly doubled since 1995 in England and Wales, and since 2000 in Scotland – currently around 5% of prisoners are women”.

The Ministry of Justice said that the government would not comment on individual portions of the report.

Police Prepare for Battles in Manchester

 The News

The city of Manchester is bracing itself for a bitter street tussle — possibly running battles — as supporters of sworn enemies Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif converge on the city on Saturday in a show of force.

Now leading the newly-formed All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Musharraf has personally chosen Manchester, known all over the world for its famous Manchester United football club, as the last leg of his Pakistani community engagement after launching the party on Friday.

But after Musharraf launched vicious personal attacks on former premier Nawaz Sharif, whom he ousted from power in 1999 and exiled him to Saudi Arabia and London, the tension between the two camps has soared to fever pitch.

Greater Manchester Police are believed to have put hundreds of policemen on the spot to prevent the two sides from engaging in a Pakistani-style free-for-all brawl.

A GMP spokesman said the police force was aware of the planned visit of Musharraf on Saturday 9. He added: “The GMP is currently planning for the visit and working with event organisers to ensure an appropriate policing operation is in place.”

Sharif has found the attacks nerve-twisting and there is every indication that the former president of Pakistan will lambaste Sharif at every possible opportunity, especially using the western and Pakistan media.

A highly agitated Sharif, according to a PML source, has taken Musharraf’s attacks so seriously that he will be present in London to ensure a large-scale protest outside the invitation-only venue of Musharraf’s public meeting and also to mobilise his party activists.

It is not yet clear whether Sharif will himself lead the protest rally in Manchester, but his party activists are urging him to announce his own participation in the rally to increase the participation.
The news has learned on authority that the PML-N leadership in Pakistan has also asked the UK chapter to step up the fight against Musharraf’s activities in London. Top PML-N leaders are now personally involved in the preparation for October 9 protest.

But the PML-N leaders are facing a difficult task in assembling a large number of people in the city, where Chaudhry Altaf Shahid and Asif Shahzad, two known and skilled political organisers, are hoping to bring out at least 3,000 people to cheer Musharraf on.

Zubair Gull, PML-N’s UK leader, told The News his party was organising a demonstration in Manchester to show “solidarity and support to the victims of cruel regime of ex-dictator Musharraf in Pakistan”.

Gull said the decision to hold the demonstration against Musharraf was a local decision and the orders had not come from the above. “We will be holding the demonstration to expose Musharraf to the world. After selling Pakistanis for dollars while he was in power, these days he is speaking the language of the Indian establishment. He has insulted the feelings of millions of Kashmiris and Pakistanis and we will be there to show our true feelings to him.”

Chaudhry Altaf Shahid and Asif Shahzad said in a statement that the success of the AMPL launch in London and the Birmingham event, where over 1,500 people attended the public address, had given them the confidence that Musharraf’s message was being received well.

They said every effort was being made-especially after the Birmingham rally incident in which two protesters agitated during Musharraf’s speech. They alleged that Punjab government was using money to bring people to Manchester against Musharraf.

Italy to become next European country to ban burka after government report recommends forbidding it in public

 Daily Mail

Italy is set to become the next European country to ban the burka after a government report ruled in favour of the proposed legislation.

MPs from the anti-immigration Northern League party, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling right wing coalition, have presented the proposal in a bill.

It comes just weeks after France banned the wearing of burkas and other forms of face veils – a decision which prompted al Qaeda terrorists to vow revenge.

An Interior Ministry report now being considered by the Constitutional Affairs Commission says that if introduced the law should make clear burkas and other face coverings were being banned not for ‘religious reasons but for security reasons.’

As part of their investigation the Interior Ministry heard from several leading Muslims on the use of the burka and several pointed out there was no mention of its use at all in the Koran.

Ejaz Ahmed, of the Italian Islam Committee said: ‘The use of the burka and the niqab does not have its origins in the Koran – in fact it is not even mentioned in the Koran.

‘The burka has nothing to do with religion and was being worn even before Islam was founded – it was worn by the Romans, Byzantines and Persians and wearing it is not a religious obligation.

‘There is no connection between the burka and the niqab with the Islamic religion – the burqa should be banned to respect women’s dignity and the safety of the public given that in Pakistan many suicide bombers have hidden devices under burkas.’

However others from the Islam Committee ruled that the burka was part of Muslim culture.

Ahmad Gianpiero Vincenzo said: ‘The government risks inflaming Islamophobia by introducing this law.

‘They think that by saying it is for public safety they are washing their hands of it but any ban of the burka will simply be exploited.’

The Interior Ministry report to the Commission said: ‘The law should consider public safety and consider that wearing such clothing prevents immediate recognition by the forces of law and order and, if necessary being described by witnesses.

‘Recognition of a person must be guaranteed especially in light of the risk from international terrorism.

‘The law should avoid any reference to Islam or religion in order so as not to fuel controversy.’
Italy has more than one million Muslims but it is rare to see women wearing the full burka.

There have been incidents, especially in northern cities such as Milan and Verona, where women wearing it have been asked to remove at least the face veil.

Technically it is illegal to be seen in public wearing anything that prevents immediate identification and there have been several cases in recent months of zealous officials fining burka wearing women.
Earlier this year Amel Marmouri, 36, was fined £430 for wearing a burka at her local post office in Novara and her husband Ben Salah Braim said he would keep her indoors rather than let her go out uncovered.

There has also been a backlash against the ‘burkini’, a bathing costume that is suitable for Islamic dress.

Several Muslim women who have used swimming pools wearing burkinis in Italy have been asked to leave, with officials claiming the garments are ‘unhygienic’.

The Northern League’s proposal aims at amending a 1975 law, introduced amid concern over domestic terrorism, which bans anyone wearing anything which makes their identification impossible.

The Constitutional Affairs Commission is expected to report back later in the autumn and the law is unlikely to go through parliament until next year at the earliest.

Geert Wilders trial suspended after he attacks judge

 The Telegraph

Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam politician, told a Dutch court that he stood by his opinions that the Koran is a “fascist book” and Islam is as dangerous as Nazism, as he went on trial for inciting racial hatred.

The flamboyant, peroxide blond MP, who holds the balance of power in the Netherlands after coming third in recent national elections on an anti-Muslim platform, told judges that he had no regrets over the comments.

Mr Wilders is being prosecuted for describing the Koran as “fascist” and for comparing it to Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, a text that is banned in the Netherlands.

In March 2008, he released a film called Fitna, Arabic for Strife, which linked the verses in the Koran to anti-Semitism, terrorist attacks in New York and London and urged that, like Nazism, “Islamic ideology has to be defeated”.

Prosecutors pointed to a series of quotes and remarks he has made in recent years. In one opinion piece he wrote: “I’ve had enough of Islam in the Netherlands; let not one more Muslim immigrate,” adding “I’ve had enough of the Koran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book.”

Last year, the Dutch Court of Appeal ruled that, despite the case being dropped by prosecutors, that it considered “criminal prosecution obvious for the insult of Islamic worshippers” being compared to Nazis.

Mr Wilders faces five charges of inciting racial hatred between Oct 2006 and Mar 2008. If found guilty, Mr Wilders faces over a year in prison or a £6,600 fine.

Speaking at his trial yesterday, Mr Wilders said: “I am sitting here as a suspect because I have spoken nothing but the truth. I have said what I have said and I will not take one word back.”

Throwing down an open challenge to the court, Mr Wilders, 47, attacked the three judges sitting in the Amsterdam court for prosecuting him for “stating my opinion in the context of public debate”.
“I can assure you, I will continue proclaiming it,” he said.

However, proceedings were suspended for 24 hours, after Mr Wilders demanded that the court’s presiding judge be replaced.

After an opening statement by Mr Wilders, Bram Moszkowicz, his lawyer told the court that the defendant would exercise his right to silence and would not answer questions during the trial.

Jan Moors, the presiding judge then noted that Mr Wilders has been accused of being “good in taking a stand and then avoiding a discussion” of the issue. “By remaining silent, it seems you’re doing that today as well,” he said.

Attacking “scandalous” remarks, Mr Wilders and his lawyers asked for the court to be dissolved. “With this presiding judge and such a panel of judges, a fair trial isn’t possible anymore,” he said.
If the court rules in favour of the objections, new judges will need to be appointed, delaying proceedings.

He also accused the Dutch authorities of putting on trial the 1.5 million voters who backed his anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) during June elections, making Mr Wilders a kingmaker in Dutch politics.

He and his party’s 23 other MPs have lent their support to a minority conservative government in return for key policy concessions, such as a Dutch burka ban and new curbs on immigration.

“I am on trial, but on trial with me is the freedom of expression of many Dutch citizens,” he said.
Mr Wilders launched his political crusade against Islam after resigning from the centre-right VVD party in 2005 over its support for EU membership for Turkey.

He then polarised the country by making the first European call for full Islamic dress to be banned. In 2005, he was given police protection after the exposure of an Islamist terrorist plot on his life.

Malaria threatens 2 million in Pakistan as floodwaters turn stagnant

 The Guardian

Pools of standing water in southern Sindh province potentially home to disease-carrying mosquitoes that breed and hatch.

More than 2m cases of malaria are expected in Pakistan in the coming months in the wake of the country’s devastating floods, aid workers have warned.

Two months into the crisis, large areas remain submerged in southern Sindh province, creating stagnant pools of standing water that, combined with the heat, are powerful incubators of a disease spread by mosquitoes that breed and hatch in the pools.

More than 250,000 cases of suspected malaria, including some of the fatal falciparum strain, have been reported, according to the World Health Organisation.

Aid agency Plan International worries the figure will surpass 2m. “The most vulnerable are women and children,” said its Pakistan director, Haider Yaqub.

The malaria threat is part of a wider health emergency, with more than 20 million people affected by the floods struggling to cope as the winter approaches.

Last night the UN reported 881,000 cases of diarrhoea, 840,000 cases of skin diseases and almost 1m cases of respiratory disorders. Dr Dana van Alphen of the WHO said: “There are no epidemics yet – it’s not Goma in 1994. But we have to be very careful.”

Increasing UK aid to £134m recently, the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, warned of extremely serious public health dangers.

The floods have devastated Pakistan’s flimsy public health system. More than 500 clinics have been damaged, while the government estimates that 30,000 “lady health workers” – a programme that is the backbone of the community health system – have been made homeless.

Pregnant woman are a particular concern. An estimated 50,000 flood-affected woman will give birth in the coming month, 7,500 of whom will require surgery for pregnancy-related complications.

The floods have highlighted the poor health of many rural people even before the flood. Doctors with the Pakistani Medical Association found that almost all women in Sindh and Punjab are clinically anaemic – half of them seriously so.

Midwives at refugee camps in Karachi, housing about 50,000 people, say many women had never previously been seen by a trained doctor. Pakistan already has one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality, with 276 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The UN has requested more than $2bn to meet the humanitarian crisis, its largest appeal ever; so far about one-third of that amount has been pledged or donated. “We desperately need donors… These people have lost so much, but they still could lose more,” said Jane Cocking of Oxfam.

So far UN agencies have treated five million flood victims; however, the onset of winter may make it harder to reach the remaining stricken victims. Access to the most northerly areas, in the Hindu Kush, will soon be restricted. Meanwhile, in southern Sindh province continued flooding means wide swaths are accessible only by boat or helicopter.

MoD manual reveals ‘execution’ of prisoner by Afghan soldier

 Guardian

Details of shooting by Afghan soldier on UK base in Helmand province revealed by MoD as part of Baha Mousa inquiry

A prisoner has been “executed” on a British base in Helmand province by an Afghan soldier, Ministry of Defence documents have disclosed.

The shooting of the detainee on the small UK-controlled patrol base in Musa Qala in March was revealed in an MoD training manual for troops deploying to Afghanistan. The manual was released as part of the Baha Mousa public inquiry into abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

British troops did not directly witness the killing but were, it is believed, nearby at the time. They handed the Afghan soldier over to local authorities but it is not known what then happened to him, despite a subsequent inquiry into the affair.

The revelation came as the MoD admitted having paid £102,000 to the families of at least 35 Afghan civilians killed as a result of Nato operations in Afghanistan.

Compensation claims relating to the deaths of another 17 Afghans are still under investigation, according to data released by the MoD in response to a freedom of information request.

Campaigners have long expressed concerns about the treatment of Afghan prisoners captured by British forces. In June, anti-war activist Maya Evans won a partial victory in her high court challenge against Britain’s policy of transferring Taliban suspects to the Afghan authorities.

She said the policy had led to “horrible abuse” of detainees in violation of international law and human rights.

The MoD training manual, which has a “restricted” security classification, outlines how UK forces should treat detainees captured during operations. Referring to the current situation in Afghanistan, it says: “Allegations of detainee abuse by ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] and Isaf [the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force] troops continue – some reported to ICRC [the International Commission of the Red Cross] … Alleged that during Mar 10 a [sic] ANA [Afghan National Army] soldier ‘executed’ a detainee who was in their custody within a British-controlled PB [patrol base].”

Musa Qala was under the control of soldiers from the Household Cavalry at the time the detainee was shot dead. The district was handed over to the US Marines shortly afterwards and a programme to expand the Afghan security forces introduced.

Concerns have, however, been expressed about the quality and allegiance of some of the new recruits. In July an Afghan soldier murdered three British troops from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles at a base near Helmand’s capital, Lashkar Gah.

An MoD spokesman said: “UK forces were in the vicinity when a member of the ANA shot and killed a detainee at a patrol base in Musa Qala in March this year.”

“UK investigators provided immediate assistance at the scene and passed evidence gathered to the Afghan National Army, as was appropriate, for further investigation.

“Working as part of Isaf, we will continue to offer support, advice and mentoring to the ANA on the proper treatment of those in their custody.

“The overwhelming majority of soldiers serving in the ANA are loyal, courageous and professional.
“The ANA is developing well as a fighting force in Afghanistan and is becoming increasingly capable of participating in operations with Isaf forces as is shown by their growing independence in operations.”
He added: “We will continue to work closely with the government of Afghanistan and the international community to build the capacity of the ANA and police.”

Meanwhile, a multimillion-pound compensation deal has been agreed with the families of crewmen who died when their Nimrod aircraft exploded over Afghanistan.

The MoD declined to reveal the exact figure but it is believed to be in the region of £15m according to the Mail on Sunday.

The deal comes two years after the families first raised legal action over the 2006 crash which killed 14 crewmen and prompted a scathing review which accused the MoD of sacrificing safety to cut costs.

They asked about Osama Bin Laden, then took my DNA

 Belfast Telegraph

Hundreds of British Muslims leaving and returning from holidays abroad face harassment and intimidation by security forces when they pass through UK airports and seaports, an investigation has found.

One man interrogated by police over his British credentials was asked whether he watched Dad’s Army, while another was questioned over the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

New figures seen by this newspaper show that the number of innocent people stopped and questioned at airports and other points of entry to the UK has doubled in the last four years, raising serious concerns about racial profiling. Many British Muslims have cancelled future vacations rather than risk being questioned and held for up to nine hours by anti-terrorist officers.

Senior Muslim police officers are also understood to be concerned about the overuse of the special powers granted under the Terrorism Act 2000. The frequent searches at ports and borders have been criticised by Lord Carlile QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who argues that the number of cases can be “reduced in number without risk to national security”.

Earlier this year the Home Secretary, Theresa May, scaled back section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which gives police officers the power to stop and search members of the public without any reasonable suspicion. But under Schedule 7 of the same legislation, police officers have greater powers to stop and detain travellers leaving and entering Britain, including taking samples of their DNA.

Figures obtained by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) under the Freedom of Information Act show that the number of people stopped and questioned has risen from 1,190 in 2004 to 2,473 in 2008. The most recent numbers of Schedule 7 cases of stopping, questioning and searching last year show that, between January and September, police and Special Branch officers carried out 1,773 operations.

In the last five years 1,110 people were held and questioned by the police for up to nine hours. And despite a total of 10,400 “stops” carried out over the same period, only 99 people have been arrested. Of these, 48 were charged with terrorist or terrorist-related offences.

Mohamed Nur, 26, was stopped at Heathrow airport in June after returning from a holiday in Dubai. He was held for nine hours and forced to give DNA samples and fingerprints. During the questioning, one of the police officers asked about his British credentials. “He asked me ‘Do you consider yourself to be English?’ I said I consider myself to be British, rather than just English,” Mr Nur said.

“He said ‘How do you consider yourself to be British when you have no historical links with Britain? It’s like me going to Somalia and living there and people still not considering me to be Somali because of the way I look.’

“I said ‘I’ve lived most of my life in Britain so that’s why I’m British’. Then he asked me about Dad’s Army, and whether I watched it or not. I said ‘Yes’. He said ‘Do you find it funny?’ and I said ‘Yes’. Then he said ‘I consider you British’.”

Mr Nur’s complaint is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

Asif Ahmed, 28, a property developer from Renfrew in Scotland, was stopped at Edinburgh airport as he returned from Stansted airport with his wife. The couple were collecting their bags when two plain-clothed officers approached them. They were taken to an interrogation room, separated and questioned for more than an hour. During the questioning Mr Ahmed claimed: “I was asked if I knew where [Osama] bin Laden was.”

Zin Derfoufi, civil liberties officer for FOSIS, told The Independent: “Schedule 7 is the most wide ranging ‘stop’ power in the UK but it is also the least transparent. This new information will not only assist the public’s understanding of how this power is being used but, significantly, 10 years after it was first introduced, it is also the very first step in empowering us all to be able to monitor its use and to hold the police to account.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Stopping people at airports is, on occasion, a necessary activity to protect public safety. These figures cover from 2004 to 2009. No figures are kept on ethnicity of individuals who are stopped and it is therefore not possible to conclude if any particular group is targeted unfairly.”

Adil Hussain, 26: Detained and quizzed on beliefs for six hours
The PhD computer student at Imperial College London was stopped by police at Dover in April this year at the start of his walking holiday in the Alps.

Although Mr Hussain and his companions protested that they were simply spending the weekend on a short break, anti-terrorist officers told them that some of the terrorists who attacked Britain were also well educated and enjoyed hill walking.

They were held for six hours, during which time they were searched and had their phones confiscated. At first the group believed their detention would last no longer than a few minutes.

Mr Hussain said: “Half an hour or so passes and one of the officers comes by for me to sign a paper outlining my rights and declaring that I have been held under the Anti-Terrorism Act. I am asked whether I would like anything to drink or eat – they have halal food. It turns out to be lamb curry and I think they must have a lot of Muslim visitors. They even have a prayer mat. I am reminded that I do not have the right to remain silent – if I refuse to answer any questions I could be arrested. ”

For the next six hours the men were separately interrogated about their interest in Islam, their friends in the UK and their views on British and American troops in Afghanistan. Finally they were released, but all their electronic equipment was confiscated.

Mr Hussain added: “My being singled out randomly for a ‘pat down’ and for my car to be inspected for dangerous materials is understandable – all of this delaying me an hour or so.

“However, I find it wholly unacceptable to be held a further five hours late into the night simply for the officers to profile me, questioning my religious and political views and threatening to charge me for refusing to answer any questions. I find this outrageous and do not see why I have to be subjected to such treatment merely on account of my ethnicity and religion.”