Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

ICC delegation jailed in Libya, accused of spying

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Ilona Lo Iacono
WVoN co-editor

A four-member International Criminal Court (ICC) delegation has reportedly been jailed in Libya, following their visit to Muammar Gaddafi's detained son, Saif al-Islam, last week.

Melinda Taylor, an Australian lawyer, was detained in the mountain town of Zintan on Thursday and accused of "exchanging papers with the accused Saif al-Islam", according to Ahmed Jehani, Libya's envoy to the ICC.

The ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of Gaddafi’s son on June 27, 2011. He is charged with two counts of crimes against humanity (murder and persecution).

Taylor, who has been appointed by the ICC as one of Saif's defence lawyers, was reportedly searched by female guards after her visit to Saif was cut short when she allegedly tried to pass him a letter.

Jehani claims that the search revealed she was carrying a pen camera, a recording device and, among other papers, a coded letter from Mohammed Ismail, Saif's former henchman, who is now on the run.

"According to Libyan law, it would be spying, communication with the enemy," Jehani said.

Alajmi Ali Ahmed al-Atiri, the head of the brigade that initially detained the delegation, and which also captured Saif in 2011, said: ”They were transferred yesterday to a prison on the orders of the prosecutor general.”

He said the ICC team had asked to meet alone with Saif but the request had been declined.

“We tricked the ICC team by presenting them with one of our men who we told them was deaf and old and illiterate but he is actually a wise man who can speak four languages including English,” Atiri said.

“That is when we found out the lawyer had a letter written in English that they wanted him to sign admitting that there is no law in Libya and asking to be transferred to the ICC. When we searched the woman we found she had a letter from Mohammed Ismail for Saif and another one written back to Ismail.”

Taylor was also allegedly carrying blank papers signed by Saif.

Ismail, speaking to Time by phone from Cairo on Sunday, said: "She was carrying letters from family and friends."

Taylor had complained in April that Saif was being cruelly treated in a “legal black hole“, held in complete isolation and refused treatment for tooth pain.

The Zintani rebels are unwilling to hand him over either to the National Transitional Council in Tripoli or to the ICC. They say he is safe from the bloody fate of his father, and also unable to escape, as long as he is held in Zintan.

The Zintanis also say that Saif has information that could implicate Libya’s interim leaders and foreign countries in wrongdoing.

In May, Libya filed a legal challenge, contesting the Hague-based court’s right to try the case. The ICC recently ruled that he could stay in detention in Libya while the court decides if it has the jurisdiction to try him.

Taylor and her interpreter, Lebanese-born Helene Assaf, were initially detained in a guesthouse. Assaf is accused of being an "accomplice" to a crime.

The two other members of the delegation, former Russian ambassador Alexander Khodakov and Spanish law professor Esteban Peralta Losilla, were reportedly allowed to leave but opted to stay with Taylor and Assaf.

”A decision was made to put them in preventive detention for 45 days while investigations are conducted,” an official in the Libyan Attorney-General’s office told Agence France-Presse.

The ICC President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, has requested their immediate release, saying: "We are very concerned about the safety of our staff in the absence of any contact with them. These four international civil servants have immunity when on an official ICC mission."

Australian authorities are seeking consular access to Taylor, and the nation's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has called on the Libyan government to "expedite the end of Ms Taylor’s detention."

Colombians march against sexual violence in Bogotá

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Alice Rogers
WVoN co-editor 

About a thousand people marched last week through the streets of Bogotá, Colombia, to call for tougher action against violence against women after the rape and murder of a 35-year-old woman.

On 23 May Rosa Elvira Cely was brutally attacked and raped in Bogotá's National Park, which lies right in the centre of the city.

She was found with stab wounds, blows to her head and face and may have been tortured.

She died four days later in hospital.

Police have arrested a 44-year-old man in connection with the incident after bloody clothing was found at his home. A second suspect was picked up by police on Sunday.

The incident has led to an outcry in Colombia, where violence against women is widespread.

The rape and torture of women was also used a strategy of the civil war in Colombia between government military forces and leftist guerillas.

Both male and female protesters marched through the city holding placards reading, "Not one more" and "Life sentence for the rapist".

“We regret the death of Rosa Elvira and reject violence,” said Cristina Plaza, a government minister on women's affairs, who took part in the demonstration.

“We want quick justice in such cases, because impunity is a form of violence against women.”

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos also showed his support for the march by tweeting, “all Colombians vehemently reject any form of violence against women. We all support the march”.

UK women urged to attend cervical screening tests

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 02:30 AM PDT

Ilona Lo Iacono
WVoN co-editor 

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK's only dedicated cervical cancer charity, has launched an awareness campaign to mark national Cervical Screening Awareness Week (10-16 June).

The Trust is urging more women to attend cervical screening tests, as statistics show a downward trend in uptake of screening invitations, with a 10-year low in 2012.

With the exception of a dramatic rise in 2009, following Big Brother star Jade Goody's battle with cervical cancer, screening uptake figures have declined year on year since 2002. Overall uptake among eligible UK women now stands at 78.6%.

While some women surveyed said that they simply don't feel the screening is necessary, others said they had trouble arranging appointments to fit around their work schedules.

Robert Music, director of the Trust, added: “Another major contributing factor to women not attending is embarrassment and fear of the procedure.

“We want to reverse this trend by reassuring those who are nervous about the test that it’s a simple five minute procedure that could save their life."

Cervical screening detects early changes in the cervix, which can be treated before they progress into cancer.

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme, which is offered to all UK women aged 25-64, is estimated to save 4,500 lives a year.

Some women will have already developed cervical cancer by the time they receive their first screening invitation.

Hazel Nunn, head of evidence and health information at Cancer Research UK, says that screening is not offered to women under 25 as, for biological reasons, it is less effective at correctly identifying cervical cancer in young women.

She said: "Whatever your age, if you have any bleeding between periods, during sex or after the menopause, you should go to your GP."

The results of a Swedish study, published in March this year, showed that those who were diagnosed with the cancer via screening had a 92% chance of complete recovery, compared with only 66% of those diagnosed after going to the doctor with symptoms.

A 2011 University of Manchester study, funded by Cancer Research UK, found that the incidence of cervical cancer in women in their 20s rose by more than 40% in England between 1992 and 2006, despite the overall incidence of cervical cancer dropping by 30%.

The rising incidence is thought to be due to young women having sex earlier in life, and with more partners.

Smoking, which can damage cells in the cervix, making them less able to fight off infections, is another risk factor. One in four UK women in their 20s smokes.

Dr Robert Alston, study author, said: "Crucially our findings demonstrate the importance of the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccination programme and for as many women over 25 as possible to go for cervical screening."

Younger women – especially now that the so-called Jade Goody Effect has worn off – are the least likely age group to take up their cervical screening invitations, despite the fact that this is the most common form of cancer among women under 35 years of age.

But, despite a perception that it is a cancer of young women, six out of 10 cervical cancers are diagnosed in the over 40 age group.

Music said earlier this year that too few women over 50 are going for smear tests, especially those who are not in a relationship.

“Divorce rates amongst this group of women are rising dramatically as rates fall for all other ages and our survey showed women in the single, separated and divorced groups were most likely to say the screening invitation seemed irrelevant,” he said.

“Over half of women in this age group – 51 per cent – told us they thought cervical cancer was caused by having multiple sexual partners and almost one in five – 18 per cent – thought it was hereditary.

“We clearly need to remind women that they can have one sexual partner and still be at risk from HPV,” he said.

Further information, including posters and factsheets, are available to download from Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust here.

Greek MP assaults two women live on TV, claims he was provoked

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Still from CNN via YouTube

 

Catherine Scott
WVoN co-editor 

Greek MP Ilias Kasidiaris remains unrepentant following his attack on two female politicians during a televised debate last Thursday.

Kasidiaris, a member of the ‘neo-Nazi’ Golden Dawn party, threw water at left-wing MP Rena Dourou, then repeatedly struck Communist MP Liana Kanelli in the face and head.

Video footage of the incident shows Kanelli attempting to shield her head in self-defence as Kasidiaris, a weightlifter and former member of the Greek military, continues to hit her.

Kasidiaris released a defiant statement on Facebook, claiming:

“The events that took place on Thursday morning on Antenna TV were staged with the sole aim of provoking an extreme reaction on my part”.

Perhaps even more amazingly, Kasidirias implies he is owed legal redress for this ‘provocation’, saying: “I will go to the prosecutor in person to sue those behind the illegal actions that have taken place in the last two days”.

In a separate statement to Star TV, Kasidiaris claimed Liana Kanelli struck the first blow, and that ‘the police ought to arrest her’.

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets in protest at Kasidiaris’ actions, with rallies organised in Athens by left-wing and anti-racism groups.

The government and other political parties have also condemned the attack, with government spokesman Dimitris Tsiodras labelling the violence “an attack against every democratic citizen.”

An arrest warrant for Kasidiaris has been issued, but he remains in hiding.

He is also awaiting a hearing about a 2007 mugging case – it was allegedly Rena Dourou’s question about this matter which sparked Kasidiaris’ outrage on Thursday.