From jaromil at dyne.org Sun Jan 4 14:01:24 2009 From: jaromil at dyne.org (jaromil) Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 14:01:24 +0100 Subject: happy new years and sanctuaries for all! Message-ID: <20090104130123.GA2512@dyne.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 please take the time to look at this web site. Kader is an incredible person who deserves to live in canada....and we know that if he were a white american or european he wouldn't be imprisoned like he is. http://www.soutienpourkader.net/en/index.php ciao - -- jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org GPG: 779F E8B5 47C7 3A89 4112 64D0 7B64 3184 B534 0B5E -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAklgsyIACgkQe2QxhLU0C152jwCgmQsFGQgPqK+BmDjyKwmpHF3r LuoAmwVfb8Ld3gMt4NWfZ8Q70gfrBby2 =1Y+E -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From jo at xs4all.nl Mon Jan 5 23:13:45 2009 From: jo at xs4all.nl (jo van der spek) Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 23:13:45 +0100 (CET) Subject: EU court takes on Schiphol Fire Message-ID: <17581.194.109.198.181.1231193625.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> M2M Radio International Press Release Amsterdam, Holland 6th of January 2009 European Court of Human Rights admits case against Dutch ministers for Schiphol Fire The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has informed Dutch lawyer Mr.N.M.P. Steijnen that the Court has admitted the application against two former Dutch ministers, or the State, in relation with the Schiphol Fire. This fire on the 26th of October 2005 killed eleven detained migrants in a detention center on the premises of Hollands main Schiphol airport. Mr. Steijnen is pressing these charges representing committee of non-governmental organizations, survivors and relatives of the deceased against Mr. J.P.H. (Piet Hein) Donner, who was at the time minister of Justice (and today of social affairs) and against Mrs. M.C.F. (Rita) Verdonk, who was at the time Minister of Immigration and Integration. They are charged with cruel and humiliating treatment (Art.3 ECHR) of both the killed inmates and the survivors of the fire. Donner is held responsible for the construction and the management of the complex, while Verdonk was in charge of the administrative detention of undocumented migrants and of the treatment of the survivors after the fire. The European Court's decision brings this procedure now to the international level, after the Dutch legal instances have decided against prosecuting, on the grounds that servants of the state cannot be held accountable in person. The independent Dutch Security Board concluded in 2006 that the disaster would have been much smaller if the authorities had lived up to the regulations. As a consequence of this report two Ministers then resigned, Donner and Mrs. Dekker (Housing and Environment). Verdonk remained in office and is now heading her own populist, right-wing party "Trots op Nederland" (Proud of the Netherlands). The only one man being prosecuted in relation to the Fire will stand to appeal in the coming months. The accused is Ahmed Isa Al-J(eballi), a migrant from Libya, who was detained in Block K of the Detention Center of Schiphol East in order to be transported back to his native country. In the night of the 26th of October 2005 a fire took place in this Block, which killed eleven inmates. Ahmed Isa is charged for setting fire to his cell by throwing away his cigarette butt before falling asleep. In 2006 he was condemned to three years of confinement by the Court of Haarlem for causing the fire and thus killing eleven people and severely wounding fifteen others. The judge thereby endorsed the argumentation of the District Attorney that Ahmed Isa consciously took the risk of causing the disaster by negligently throwing away his cigarette: conditional intent. The technical evidence is highly disputed and is under revision by an expert team at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). There is serious evidence that the fire started elsewhere in Block K. The chance that the particular type of cigarette the accused was smoking could effectively start a fire is very small. It was a roll-your-own ?shaggie? rolled with paper called Blue Rizla, known to extinguish rapidly. Last December two experts, Prof. Wagenaars en Koppen, pointed out that the memory of the accused, particularly his admitting that he pitched his cigarette that very evening of the fire, is highly unreliable. This is another major blow for the persecutor, comments Ahmed isa?s lawyer mr. Eduard Damman. However, the fundamental argument against the ruling of the court is a political one: even if it were true that Ahmed Isa caused the fire then the Dutch State has done everything to make it possible for his cigarette to create a major disaster. Basically the state is responsible for those detained in their facilities. The building and safety regulations had been neglected and the training level of the personnel was substandard. Free Ahmed Isa = Justice for All Survivors The cause of justice for all survivors boils down to the case of the only man that has been accused so far: Ahmed isa Al-J(eballi). A proper administration of justice is of the highest importance for their well being and indeed for their lives. Therefore M2M Radio calls on international law experts to monitor this case. There are several reasons to seek international monitoring of the upcoming proceedings. - The International dimension: the victims of the Schiphol Fire are citizens of at least thirty five different countries around the world. - The disaster happened in the domain of administrative law aimed at tackling irregular migration in the Netherlands. The Dutch government has been criticized in many instances both by the European Court, the Commission for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatment of the European Council and by Amnesty International for not living up to internationally established standards of rule of law and human rights. - The Dutch State is party in this case and therefore it is doubtful if it can guarantee a fair trial. - The case of the Schiphol Fire has severely damaged the confidence of many citizens in the democracy of the Netherlands. - Finally, not only the accused, but also the survivors and relatives of the dead, are suffering until this day from the physical, material and psychological consequences of the fire. A proper administration of justice is of the highest importance for their well being and indeed their lives. To facilitate the monitoring M2M Radio will produce live coverage of the trial and parallel sessions on the internet: http://m2m.streamtime.org From jo at xs4all.nl Thu Jan 22 11:50:36 2009 From: jo at xs4all.nl (jo van der spek) Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:50:36 +0100 (CET) Subject: M2M Radio stream at SMART Project Space, Amsterdam Message-ID: <56092.213.84.151.84.1232621436.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> http://www.smartprojectspace.net/upcoming_events/m2m/ Live radio broadcast and dinner by M2M Radio in connection with the exhibition Coalesce: Happenstance SMART Project Space in collaboration with Het Blauwe Huis Date: Friday 23 January Time: 19.00 ? 22.00 hrs Location: Arie Biemondstraat 105-113, Chapel Entrance: free Stream: http://m2m.streamtime.org To coalesce means to link, to merge, to mingle. The exhibition ?Coalesce: Happenstance? deals with these notions on different levels. The broadcast of M2M Radio is a quite political take on the notion of coalescing. M2M Radio was initiated in 2007 by artist Papa Sakho (Cheikh Sakho) and by radio journalist & media maker Jo van der Spek. M2M Radio is a vehicle for the survivors of the so-called Schiphol Fire and for migrants in general to show an alternative approach to migration. As an environment of free communication the web radio station M2M Radio produces connections between migrants, activists, artists, and researchers. M2M Radio serves as a communication platform for exchange of information and for reaching out to a wider environment of migrants and activists. Broadcasts usually take place from Het Blauwe Huis, a community art project in Amsterdam initiated by Jeanne van Heeswijk. M2M Radio is one of the guests of Het Blauwe Huis. A special broadcast takes place at SMART Project Space in the framework of the exhibition ?Coalesce: Happenstance?. Conversations take place with ?Coalesce? artists Sophie Hope, Garrett Phelan, and Bob & Roberta Smith, as well as with Jeanne van Heeswijk and Irene den Hartoog from Het Blauwe Huis, and Jo van der Spek, Papa Sakho and Jennifer from M2M Radio, Migrant to Migrant. There will be a live acoustic music performance by Mustapha Boukhari (ud and guitar). The radio show will be broadcasted in the exhibition space, the live stream can be attended to throughout the evening. *During the Schiphol Fire in 2005, eleven detained migrants / refugees died. The Schiphol Fire was the result of a policy of creating a juridical limbo, where irregular migrants and refugees who have exhausted their ways to claim asylum were detained without limits, supposedly awaiting transport to their home countries. See also http://www.vertrokkengezichten.nl http://m2m.streamtime.org/