The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomes the release of Dr. Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The release came after the court rejected the State’s appeal to increase his sentence from 36 to 42 months.
“We hope that this good sign will be followed by others and that the other Palestinian legislators still held in Israeli jails will be released”, said the President of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs.
The case of Ms. Malalai Joya from Afghanistan was among the cases the Committee examined during this session. It deplored her continued suspension from parliament although the parliamentary authorities themselves have repeatedly acknowledged that she should be reinstated.
The murder of Sri Lankan parliamentarians and the attacks and threats targeting in particular those belonging to the Tamil National Alliance have been a longstanding concern. “The authorities have always indicated that suspects in these cases had fled to the territories formerly controlled by the LTTE. The Committee believes that it should be easier to apprehend them now that the government has defeated the LTTE and regained control over the entire State territory”, said Senator Carstairs. She also hoped that parliamentarians of Tamil origin can now practice their duties in security and full participation.
Iraqi MP Mr. Al-Dainy, known for his human rights work on conditions of detention in Iraqi prisons, disappeared in March 2009, but has recently given signs that he is still alive. “We fear that in the case of his return to Iraq, Mr. Al-Dainy will be at grave risk, especially as another parliamentarian, Mr. Al-Obaidi, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, was assassinated on 12 June”, stated Senator Carstairs. Mr. Obaidi had proposed the establishment of a commission of inquiry to look into prison conditions in Iraq.
During its session in Geneva which ends today, the Committee examined the cases of 263 legislators, among them public cases concerning 207 parliamentarians in 18 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Eritrea, Iraq, Lebanon, Mongolia, Myanmar, Palestine/Israel, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
The other Committee members present at this session were its Vice-President, Senator Rosario Green (Mexico), its titular members: Senator Zahia Benarous (Algeria), Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel (Philippines) and Senator Philippe Mahoux (Belgium).
The IPU helps legislators to represent their constituents freely, safely and effectively. In 1976, it established the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which has since examined cases in over 100 countries and, in many instances, helped to provide victims or those at risk with protection or redress. This has taken a variety of forms, such as the release of detained parliamentarians, reinstatement to a previously revoked parliamentary seat, payment of compensation for abuses suffered, investigation of such abuses and effective legal action against their perpetrators.
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