In U.S. puppet governments, some guilty of terrorism, war crimes, human rights abuses

Posted by Joshua Holland at 11:32 AM on February 6, 2007.

Two stories. One's getting some attention today, the other's flown largely beneath the radar.

This is a hot topic …

A man sentenced to death in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies now sits in Iraq's parliament as a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, according to U.S. military intelligence.

Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's seat in parliament gives him immunity from prosecution. Washington says he supports Shiite insurgents and acts as an Iranian agent in Iraq.

U.S. military intelligence in Iraq has approached al-Maliki's government with the allegations against Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, whom it says assists Iranian special forces in Iraq as "a conduit for weapons and political influence."

Less so, is this story …

The Afghan parliament has approved a bill granting an amnesty from charges of war crimes during the past 25 years of conflict.

Critics said the move was to protect warlords who have become MPs and have been accused in the past of human rights abuses.

The lower house of parliament, which approved the bill, said it was in the interests of peace and reconciliation. However, the motion has to be passed by the upper house before being sent to President Hamid Karzai to become law.

The proposed legislation has been criticised by the country's human rights watchdog and Malalai Joya, one of the few MPs who did not approve the bill, describing it as being tantamount to "forgiving national traitors".

Human Rights Watch called last month for a truth and reconciliation court to deal with war crimes and human rights abuses, including by some who still "hold high office".

The National Reconciliation Bill says the "defenders" of the jihad "must be treated with respect and be defended against any kind of offence," An MP supporting the proposal said: "It is a move to reconcile different communities, the law states that no political party or groups involved in the past two-and-a-half decades of war will be pursued by the judiciary."

Ms Joya, known for standing up to jihadi commanders who occupy many of the seats in parliament, said the draft was unjust and went "against the will of the people". She said: "National unity cannot be achieved through forgiving national traitors.

"They must be tried. In fact, they have already been tried in the minds and hearts of people and they should be tried officially."

There are circumstances in which amnesty allows a country that's been torn apart by a brutal government to move on. Amnesties have at times been granted as a condition for making the transition to democracy, as in South Africa and Chile. But it's pretty well understood that such a policy has to be part and parcel of a larger process of truth and reconciliation. The guilty, at a minimum, have to admit their crimes. The victims and their families need to be allowed to express their grief and outrage. The law proposed in Afghanistan doesn't do that -- it's simply a free pass.

File all of this under: Nothing Terribly New.

Tagged as: iraq, terrorism, afghanistan, human rights, amnesty

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.