Human rights group calls for tribal arrest power

BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A northern Idaho human rights group says a county sheriff is refusing to cooperate with the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe on law enforcement, leading to a growing number of criminals being released without prosecution.

The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations on Thursday called for the Idaho Legislature to pass a bill that will let Idaho tribal police officers arrest non-tribal members who violate state law on the reservation.

The proposal, due to be introduced next week at the Capitol, would require those arrested by tribal police to be tried in state court. Tribal officers would have to be certified by the state police academy near Boise, as Coeur d’Alene tribal officers are now. Other tribes, including Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone-Paiute tribes in southern Idaho, wouldn’t be forced to participate.

Christie Wood, a task force leader, wrote in an open letter to Idaho lawmakers Thursday that Benewah County Sheriff Bob Kirts refuses to respond to tribal calls for help with reservation crimes and won’t reinstate a cross-deputization agreement with tribal police. Without such a pact, Coeur d’Alene tribal police can’t currently arrest non-tribal members on Indian territory.

“The failure of Sheriff Kirts to work with the Tribal Police has left citizens in bedlam,” Wood wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Associated Press. “Perpetrators have been set free that have committed serious criminal offenses against citizens living in Benewah County.”

The tribe contends the county’s conduct results in at least 90 non-Indians every month who are suspected of crimes from domestic violence and drunken driving to serious criminal assaults being freed without prosecution.

Kirts said the tribe’s account – and the letter to lawmakers – are inaccurate and misleading.

“I think somebody is feeding them a line of fecal matter,” he told the AP, adding the tribe is trying to pressure his agency. “They came to me and said, ‘If you deputize us, we will not put the law through the Legislature. To me, that’s a threat. I said, ‘Let’s go.”’

The Coeur d’Alene reservation’s checkerboard property ownership – its 10,000 residents include about 8,600 nonmembers – means tribal officers often encounter crimes committed by nonmembers in both Kootenai and Benewah counties. The tribe has a cross-deputization agreement with Kootenai County that allows its 13 full-time officers and five reservists to arrest non-tribal members on the reservation there.

“This agreement has worked remarkably well to protect citizens from criminal activity,” the task force wrote.

A similar pact with Benewah County collapsed in January 2007, in part due to a dispute over tribal authorities’ power to handle some minor offenses.

The two sides have different versions of what happened.

“They started to cite non-tribal members in tribal court, saying ‘If you take care of this here, there will be no record on your license,”’ Kirts told the AP.

Helo Hancock, the tribe’s attorney and legislative director, conceded there were fundamental disagreements between Benewah County and the tribe over its authority to cite a non-tribal member for a civil infraction. But he maintained that’s within the tribe’s purview, but said tribal officials have offered Kirts an olive branch: They would discontinue the practice if he would uphold the cross-deputization pact.

Kirts has rebuffed offers to reinstate the agreement, Hancock said, leaving the tribe no other choice but to go to the Idaho Legislature for help.

“We have a growing problem that requires a reasonable solution,” he said. “When Benewah County deputies are unable or unwilling to respond, it means we have to turn perpetrators loose, simply because we don’t have the authority to make an arrest.”

Source: http://nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3029:human-rights-group-calls-for-tribal-arrest-power&catid=55&Itemid=31

U.S., EU ‘Condemn’ Iranian Human Rights Violations

The United States and the European Union on Monday offered a condemnation against Iran’s government for human rights violations, saying intimidation, detentions, show trials and executions of presidential election protesters defies international standards.

The Human-Rights Facade Is Beginning to Crumble

Noah Pollak – 02.08.2010 – 8:26 AM

Japan breached human rights of Greenpeace protesters, says UN

Human Rights World Report 2010: Iran Targets Human Rights Messengers

The 612-page report, HRW’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations.

Human Rights Watch cited Sudan and China as countries that routinely shut down human rights groups and Iran and Uzbekistan as countries that openly harass and arbitrarily detain human rights workers and other critics.

In Iran, Human Rights Watch covered the continuing governmental crackdown on peaceful activists following the disputed presidential election of June 2009. Human Rights Watch documented the arrests of thousands of ordinary and high-profile people, providing detailed accounts of state violence against peaceful protesters, arbitrary detention of human rights defenders, and abuse and torture in Iran’s illegal detention centers.

Disbarring Lawyers
In June 2009, following the disputed presidential elections, the Iranian government adopted new regulations that severely limit the independence of the Iranian Bar Association, giving the government control over a lawyer’s right to practice. Until then, the Bar Association, which has the exclusive power to grant or deny licenses to practice, had resisted government efforts to rein in lawyers who defend human rights.

Criminal Charges
The Iranian government has arrested scores of NGO activists and sentenced them to prison on the grounds that their work or speech allegedly “harms national security” or that they are “foreign agents.” Members of Kurdish rights organizations have faced even worse, with lengthy prison sentences, including the death penalty, for their work reporting on rights violations affecting the Kurdish community. In 2008, the government sentenced to death Farzad Kamangar, a member of the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan, claiming without proof that he was a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). It also sentenced Sadigh Kaboudvand, who headed the group, to 11 years in prison for his NGO activities, along with prison terms for 12 of his colleagues.

Torture and Ill-Treatment of Political Prisoners
Following the disputed election, both ordinary protestors and prominent opposition figures faced detention without trial, harsh treatment including sexual violence and denial of due process including lack of access to lawyers of their choosing.

Freedom of Expression
Iranian authorities continued to imprison journalists and editors for publishing critical views, and strictly controlled publishing and academic activities.

Freedom of Association
The government increased restrictions on civil society organizations that advocate human rights and freedom of speech. Security forces on December 23, 2008 shut down the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, led by 2003 Noble Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Death Penalty
Iran carries out more executions annually than any other nation except China. These executions frequently occur after unfair or political crimes with inadequate access to legal counsel.

Human Rights Defenders
The government escalated its crackdown on human rights lawyers in 2009, subjecting some to arbitrary detention, travel bans, and harassment.

Treatment of Minorities
The government continues to deny members of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest
non-Muslim religious minority, freedom of religion.

See complete report on Iran and a few selected countries by clicking on the following  images.

Source: http://www.astreetjournalist.com/2010/02/08/human-rights-world-report-2010-iran-targets-human-rights-messengers/