Saturday, August 26, 2017
Mosque attack in Afghanistan Kills at Least 30
The terrorist outfit ISIS has attacked inside a mosque in Afghanistan killing at least 30 worshippers. To read the news, click here.
Rohingya Civilians Come under Heavy Military Attacks in Northern Arakan
The news below is from the RB News:
August 25, 2017
Maungdaw -- Rohingya civilians at large have come under heavy attacks of the Myanmar armed forces across Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Buthidaung Townships after the members of a Rohingya resiatance group raided dozens of the Boder Guard Police (BGP) Force and military bases this early morning, government sources say.
As of now, at least 200 civilians are believed to have been killed by the Myanmar military and BGP across the three townships. Due to indiscriminate shootings and killings by the armed forces, many villages have been entirely displaced in the region.
Torching and burning down of Rohingya homes by the state armed forces in collaborations with Rakhine extremists are quite rampant and widespread. In Rathedaung Township alone, 700 Rohingya homes in Chein Khali village, 200 shelters in the 'Chein Hali' IDP camps have been entirely burnt down by the joint forces of the military, the BGP and the Rakhine extremists since this morning 7am. The Zaydi Pyin village that had been totally blockaded by the state-backed Rakhine extremists for more than three weeks was partially burnt down but all the villagers were forced to leave their homes handing their properties over to the Rakhines.
"Our region is in total chaos now. They have burnt down our homes using fire-launchers, seized our properties and forced us to leave our homes. We have become totally displaced. We don't know where we will have to go now", said a displayed villager from Zaydi Pyin when contacted on phone.
Thousands of displaced Rohingyas in Rathedaung are now hiding in the nearby forests. Their lives are in maximum danger as the Myanmar armed forces can raid their hideouts and kill them at any time.
Other Rohingya villages have been under heavy military offensives are:
1) Kwan Thi Pin, 2) Mi Htaik Chaung Wa, 3) Nat Chaung, 4) Taman Thar, 5) Zee Pin Chaung, 6) Lon Doong, 7) Zin Paing Nya, 8) Ye Myet Taung, 9) Kyi Kan Pyin, 10) Tharay Kun Baung, 11) Pa Nyaung Pin Gyi, 12) Padin, 13) Alay Than Kyaw, 14) Thawan Chaung, 15) Thinbaw Kwe, 16) Udaung, 17) Myint Hlut, 18) Taung Bazaar, 19) Phaung Daw Pyin and many other villages have also come under attacks.
Over 50,000 civilians are reported to have already been displaced across the three townships on this single day alone.
The Rohingya resistance group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), claimed on twitter that it had to take defensive measures against the Myanmar military and security forces as the atrocities (by the military and security forces) against the Rohingya people have become intolerable. During the clashes between the Myanmar armed forces and the resistance group, both sides are reported to have casualties. Exact figures are unknown yet.
Besides, a Rakhine internal sources reveals that the Myanmar government is now plotting an inter-communal violence between Rohingyas and Rakhines.
In days to come, fightings between the Myanmar armed forces and ARSA members are likely to be more intensified. An urgent humitarian intervention and a ceasefire with international intervention are critically needed.
__________________
UPDATES:
1) The Joint forces of Myanmar and BGP along with Rakhine extremists have burnt down at least 200 Rohingya homes in 'Myint Hlut' village in Southern Maungdaw since 5pm local time.
More and more homes are being set ablaze now.
___
2) At least 11 civilians have been killed and many others were critically injured in 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village during the military raids this morning and afternoon.
Although no action by the ARSA against the Myanmar armed forces have occured in the village, the military conducted raids in the village, indiscriminately opened fire at the villagers at home and while fleeing", said a man from the village on the condition of anonymity.
The victims killed are:
1) Mohammed Taher (32), s/o Mv Osman
2) Abul Boshor (25), s/o Abdu Rozark
3) A middle-aged woman (Wife of Abul Hashim and daughter of Rashid Ahmed)
4) Ammuni (25), d/o Abdu Salam (the military also threw 11-days old son into the stream by shooting him dead.)
5) Ledu (50), s/o ?
6) Mujee Ullah (18), Ledu
7) Rashidullah (16), s/o Ledu (No. 4 is the father and 5 & 6 are his 2 sons.)
8) Osama (17), s/o Mv Abdul Amin
9) Noor Fisal s/o --- age - ?
10) Noor Boshor (17), s/o Noor Mohammed
11) Jahangir (13), s/o Nurul Amin
A teenage girl was critically injured and is struggling to survive. She is 'Rofiqa (18), d/o Noor Hussain.' Another 11 months old baby is also missing due to the chaos of blood created by the military.
3) And in the village of 'Nyaung Chaung' in southern Maungdaw, six people were killed when the military rampantly fired at the fleeing villagers.
4) At least 9 Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar armed forces and the Rakhine extremists in ZediPyin in Rathedaung Township on August 25.
After 3 weeks of blockade, they partially burnt down the Rohingya village including a historical mosque and expelled all the villagers. Nowhere to go.
m RB Vision:
August 25, 2017
Maungdaw -- Rohingya civilians at large have come under heavy attacks of the Myanmar armed forces across Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Buthidaung Townships after the members of a Rohingya resiatance group raided dozens of the Boder Guard Police (BGP) Force and military bases this early morning, government sources say.
As of now, at least 200 civilians are believed to have been killed by the Myanmar military and BGP across the three townships. Due to indiscriminate shootings and killings by the armed forces, many villages have been entirely displaced in the region.
Torching and burning down of Rohingya homes by the state armed forces in collaborations with Rakhine extremists are quite rampant and widespread. In Rathedaung Township alone, 700 Rohingya homes in Chein Khali village, 200 shelters in the 'Chein Hali' IDP camps have been entirely burnt down by the joint forces of the military, the BGP and the Rakhine extremists since this morning 7am. The Zaydi Pyin village that had been totally blockaded by the state-backed Rakhine extremists for more than three weeks was partially burnt down but all the villagers were forced to leave their homes handing their properties over to the Rakhines.
"Our region is in total chaos now. They have burnt down our homes using fire-launchers, seized our properties and forced us to leave our homes. We have become totally displaced. We don't know where we will have to go now", said a displayed villager from Zaydi Pyin when contacted on phone.
Thousands of displaced Rohingyas in Rathedaung are now hiding in the nearby forests. Their lives are in maximum danger as the Myanmar armed forces can raid their hideouts and kill them at any time.
Other Rohingya villages have been under heavy military offensives are:
1) Kwan Thi Pin, 2) Mi Htaik Chaung Wa, 3) Nat Chaung, 4) Taman Thar, 5) Zee Pin Chaung, 6) Lon Doong, 7) Zin Paing Nya, 8) Ye Myet Taung, 9) Kyi Kan Pyin, 10) Tharay Kun Baung, 11) Pa Nyaung Pin Gyi, 12) Padin, 13) Alay Than Kyaw, 14) Thawan Chaung, 15) Thinbaw Kwe, 16) Udaung, 17) Myint Hlut, 18) Taung Bazaar, 19) Phaung Daw Pyin and many other villages have also come under attacks.
Over 50,000 civilians are reported to have already been displaced across the three townships on this single day alone.
The Rohingya resistance group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), claimed on twitter that it had to take defensive measures against the Myanmar military and security forces as the atrocities (by the military and security forces) against the Rohingya people have become intolerable. During the clashes between the Myanmar armed forces and the resistance group, both sides are reported to have casualties. Exact figures are unknown yet.
Besides, a Rakhine internal sources reveals that the Myanmar government is now plotting an inter-communal violence between Rohingyas and Rakhines.
In days to come, fightings between the Myanmar armed forces and ARSA members are likely to be more intensified. An urgent humitarian intervention and a ceasefire with international intervention are critically needed.
__________________
UPDATES:
1) The Joint forces of Myanmar and BGP along with Rakhine extremists have burnt down at least 200 Rohingya homes in 'Myint Hlut' village in Southern Maungdaw since 5pm local time.
More and more homes are being set ablaze now.
___
2) At least 11 civilians have been killed and many others were critically injured in 'Kyi Kan Pyin' village during the military raids this morning and afternoon.
Although no action by the ARSA against the Myanmar armed forces have occured in the village, the military conducted raids in the village, indiscriminately opened fire at the villagers at home and while fleeing", said a man from the village on the condition of anonymity.
The victims killed are:
1) Mohammed Taher (32), s/o Mv Osman
2) Abul Boshor (25), s/o Abdu Rozark
3) A middle-aged woman (Wife of Abul Hashim and daughter of Rashid Ahmed)
4) Ammuni (25), d/o Abdu Salam (the military also threw 11-days old son into the stream by shooting him dead.)
5) Ledu (50), s/o ?
6) Mujee Ullah (18), Ledu
7) Rashidullah (16), s/o Ledu (No. 4 is the father and 5 & 6 are his 2 sons.)
8) Osama (17), s/o Mv Abdul Amin
9) Noor Fisal s/o --- age - ?
10) Noor Boshor (17), s/o Noor Mohammed
11) Jahangir (13), s/o Nurul Amin
A teenage girl was critically injured and is struggling to survive. She is 'Rofiqa (18), d/o Noor Hussain.' Another 11 months old baby is also missing due to the chaos of blood created by the military.
3) And in the village of 'Nyaung Chaung' in southern Maungdaw, six people were killed when the military rampantly fired at the fleeing villagers.
4) At least 9 Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar armed forces and the Rakhine extremists in ZediPyin in Rathedaung Township on August 25.
After 3 weeks of blockade, they partially burnt down the Rohingya village including a historical mosque and expelled all the villagers. Nowhere to go.
m RB Vision:
An Open Letter to Mr. Kofi Annan
Dear Mr. Annan,
I am very disappointed
with your statement, dated August 25, 2017,
concerning the latest violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. You stated, “I
am saddened to hear of the loss of life of members of the security forces. The
alleged scale and gravity of these attacks mark a worrying escalation of
violence. No cause can justify such brutality and senseless killing.
Perpetrators should be held to account.”
From the first sentence
of that paragraph, it is not difficult to understand where your sympathy lies.
It is, sadly, with the Myanmar government that sponsored your Commission and
its criminal perpetrators – the Myanmar security forces and surely not with the
Rohingya victims who should have deserved such. You equivocated when it was
necessary to take the moral high ground and to call a spade a spade. I am very worried
that such mixed messaging will only justify the on-going genocidal crimes
against the Rohingyas, much like what happened in Rwanda that you continue to regret for happening under
your watch as the UN Chief.
Has not history taught
us all that violence is the last resort of an oppressed community when all pleas
and other non-violent means for stopping violence directed against it have been
ignored or shut down by the oppressor? And even then, the so-called violence of
the oppressed against the much better armed, equipped and financed oppressor is
motivated by the single factor: defending or protecting its own community. It
would be gross misjudgment to equate their struggle for self-defense with the
extermination campaign of the more powerful oppressor.
I am sorry to observe
that you have been misinformed.
It is an irony
that the victims of the genocide
- the Rohingyas - are now framed as the ones in the wrong side because of their
alleged attacks on Myanmar security forces this past week or back in October of
last year. Forgotten in that calculus are decades
of genocidal
crimes
of the successive military regimes since the days of General Ne Win that were
to continue full-blown to this very date under Suu Kyi’s government. Overlooked
in that context is the mere fact that being denied citizenship simply because
of its racial and religious identity more than half the Rohingya population has
been forced out of its ancestral
land in Arakan (Rakhine state). Ignored also are the facts that Myanmar
epitomizes apartheid policy in our time and flouts the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR)
by denying such rights to the Rohingya people. As a matter of fact, when it
comes to the Rohingya – rightly recognized by the United Nations (that you once
led) as the ‘most persecuted people’ in our planet – not even one of the thirty
rights (Articles) enshrined in the UDHR is honored by the Apartheid Myanmar.
I would like to believe
that as the Chairperson of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, you know that
the Burmese military (a.k.a. Tatmadaw - long known as the Rapist Burmese Army) has been building
its troops in Rohingya areas of northern Arakan since August
10, effectively blockading those areas and terrorizing the already marginalized
community. Under the name of interrogation, hundreds of Rohingya
men and boys were taken away by military from the IDP camps. They were tortured
and many were killed while Rohingya women left behind were raped as a weapon of
war to ethnically cleanse them. Their homes were torched, too. The UN and Human
Rights Watch, amongst many human rights groups, all were asking the Myanmar
military to back off but to no avail.
The
latest episodes of atrocities perpetrated by the military resulted in fresh
influx of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh. That
is despite stepped-up patrols by Bangladeshi border and coast guards, who last
week had pushed back a boat carrying 31 Rohingya, including children. The
Balukhali camp (in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh) alone saw new arrivals of some
3,000 Rohingya refugees in the last few days. And all these happened days
before the alleged attack by the Rohingya ‘insurgents’ against Rakhine police.
As
I write this letter, per credible reports,
on August 25, in the early AM hours 25 Rohingya villages were bombed by Burmese
military reportedly using six gunship helicopters, navy ships and tanks as
Rohingyas were sleeping in the middle of the night. It is feared that hundreds
of Rohingyas have been slaughtered and more than a thousand homes set on fire
on Friday making tens of thousands of Rohingyas homeless because of the latest
military action.
When
life on earth has become unbearable and worse than death for the oppressed
Rohingya is it difficult to fathom why some would ‘radicalize’ and choose to
fight back – and justifiably so – with whatever means available? Now the
criminal Burmese military claims that 59 "insurgents" and 12 soldiers
were killed after Thursday midnight. They say that "insurgents" were
armed with machetes. As you know too well, farmers use machetes, "insurgents"
don’t.
No one would disagree with
you that violence is not the solution and that exercising restraint is
important to avoid further escalation. However, the ball is in the military’s
court and it is they who need to be restrained from harming the Rohingya people.
Truly, if our world leaders had the moral fortitude these war criminals would
have been tried long time ago in the International Criminal Court for their
decades of crimes against humanity - which by no means were limited to the
Rohingyas alone but also to other ethnic minorities that have been fighting for
their survival. It would be sensible to reflect that for the last
40 plus years Rohingyas have been peacefully asking for the restoration of
their citizenship and other rights whereas the other ethnic groups, non-Bamar Buddhists
and Christian, in Myanmar are fighting the government with guns.
Suu Kyi and her brutal
military have been too cunning for too long to deflect international pressure. Bluntly
put, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that you chaired was
one such window-dressing attempt by the Myanmar
government to ease pressures from the international community and humanize the
hideous face of Myanmarism that has contributed to so much human suffering: the
destruction of tens of thousands of homes, businesses, schools and mosques, the
encampment of some 140,000 Rohingyas in the concentration-like IDP camps, widespread
rape of women, let alone the
forced exodus of nearly 87,000 to neighboring Bangladesh, since 2012 alone. [According
to the UN, 52% of the women they surveyed in refugee camps in
Bangladesh were raped
by the Tadmadaw. Seventy percent of these 87,000 refugees are women and
children since men are either killed or imprisoned.]
Suu Kyi’s government
won’t even allow any international investigation team to visit the troubled Rakhine
state and inquire about serious charges of war crimes perpetrated by the
government security forces - all committed in cahoots with ever growing
fascist elements within the broader Buddhist society that see no
place for religious minorities to live inside Myanmar.
Mr. Annan, you have admitted
in your own report the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that she
formed "is a national entity and the majority of its members are from Myanmar". Its mandate
did not allow the use of the term 'Rohingya' in accordance with the wishes of
Ms. Suu Kyi. In spite of such obstacles you faced, I am glad that the report
you submitted is a milestone for the Rohingya by calling for
lifting restrictions
on movement and citizenship for its persecuted Rohingya minority if Myanmar wants to avoid fueling
"extremism" and bring peace to the Rakhine state.
Suu Kyi, sadly, has
never been sincere to resolving the Rohingya problem. She has denied their very existence and has
been widely condemned by all quarters, including fellow Nobel Laureates.
Did you ever ponder about why the
so-called insurgency of the Rohingya who had hitherto,
by all accounts, been the most non-violent minority happened just shortly after
your appointment as the chair to the commission and also within hours of submission
of your final report this week? Who benefits from such violence, and who loses?
It is the Rohingya that loses the
game played in such an uneven playing field. It is the Myanmar government and
its Tatmadaw that win. They never wanted a peaceful solution to the decades-long
problem, which they had initiated. And they don’t want to implement the
recommendations you have put forth in your commission report either. So, they planned, moved to the Rohingya areas,
cordoned off and committed war crimes to trigger off the latest episode blaming
once again their victims to justify their on-going atrocities under the pretext
of being attacked by the insurgents. The violence that they unleashed this week
and before is all part of a very sinister long-term strategy to ethnically
cleanse minority Rohingyas. It was no accident and did not happen in vacuum!
Your commission report rightly noted
that if human rights were not respected and "the population
remain politically and economically marginalised - northern Rakhine State may
provide fertile ground for radicalisation, as local communities may become
increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by extremists". "While
Myanmar has every right to defend its own territory, a highly militarised
response is unlikely to bring peace to the area," the report also said.
The perpetrators of violence are the
Myanmar security forces who should be held to account. They have failed to heed
to your recommendations, and won’t be sobered by mixed messaging coming from international
dignitaries like you. It is high time to try these brutes and savages in the
International Criminal Court to save humanity, failing which I am afraid, Mr.
Annan, we may see the end of Rohingya community in the den of intolerance
called Myanmar. She remains the last vestige of an apartheid state in our time.
On March 26, 2004, you stated with respect to
Rwanda genocide, “If the
United Nations, government officials, the international media and other
observers had paid more attention to the gathering signs of disaster, and taken
timely action, it might have been averted. Warnings were missed.”
Sir, there is no excuse this time. There is no
‘guilt of sin of omission’ within us. Ms. Yanghee Lee, the United Nations
special rapporteur, has warned us; the international media, Human Rights Watch,
Fortify Rights, Amnesty International and other observers have all warned us repeatedly about the Rohingya catastrophe. It needs a leader like you to stop their extinction. In
this regard, remember that genocide is a process and not an outcome. Stop it
when it is not late.
Please, be forceful in
condemning Myanmarism and its viciousness that have caused so much human
suffering in our time. If it is not you, who will? The lessons from Rwanda
should make you better prepared to stop this slow-burning genocide that the
minority Rohingyas are facing today. Help them to survive and live as equal
citizens in Myanmar. Please, take the lead in this noble cause.
Thanking you for reading
my letter.
Kind regards,
(Dr.) Habib Siddiqui
Gorka out
Sebastian Gorka, accused by many as being a fascist or a sympathizer of Nazism, has left the White House. It is a welcome news.
You may recall that a few days ago a pair of Democratic legislators - Jared Huffman and Barbara Lee submitted amendments to a government spending to cut off salaries for both Gorka and Miller for their kowtowing with white supremacy. Miller makes $179,700 annually as an assistant to the president and senior adviser for policy, while Gorka earns $155,000 as a deputy assistant to the president and strategist.
Miller previously worked as communications director for Attorney General Jeff Sessions while he was serving in the Senate. Gorka, meanwhile, was a former national security editor at Breitbart.
The legislators accused Miller and Gorka of encouraging white supremacists, citing Miller’s involvement in Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries and Gorka's work at Breitbart.
"The removal of Steve Bannon is an important first step in rooting racism from the White House. But, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller's continued presence in the West Wing ensure that Steve Bannon's sick ideology will persist in this Administration. Now is the time for Congress to take a clear stand against hate and refuse to authorize salaries of White House officials who embrace the views of white supremacists, white nationalists and Neo-Nazis,” Lee said in a statement.
Richard Spencer, a prominent white nationalist, told Vanity Fair that he mentored Miller while they were both at Duke University. But Miller has disputed that account and told Mother Jones in 2016 that “I completely repudiate his views, and his claims are 100 percent false.”
Gorka drew controversy for wearing a medal from a Hungarian order, Vitezi Rend, that was founded by an ally of Adolf Hitler. But he has said he wore the medal to honor his late father, who was awarded it for fighting communism.
You may recall that a few days ago a pair of Democratic legislators - Jared Huffman and Barbara Lee submitted amendments to a government spending to cut off salaries for both Gorka and Miller for their kowtowing with white supremacy. Miller makes $179,700 annually as an assistant to the president and senior adviser for policy, while Gorka earns $155,000 as a deputy assistant to the president and strategist.
Miller previously worked as communications director for Attorney General Jeff Sessions while he was serving in the Senate. Gorka, meanwhile, was a former national security editor at Breitbart.
The legislators accused Miller and Gorka of encouraging white supremacists, citing Miller’s involvement in Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries and Gorka's work at Breitbart.
"The removal of Steve Bannon is an important first step in rooting racism from the White House. But, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller's continued presence in the West Wing ensure that Steve Bannon's sick ideology will persist in this Administration. Now is the time for Congress to take a clear stand against hate and refuse to authorize salaries of White House officials who embrace the views of white supremacists, white nationalists and Neo-Nazis,” Lee said in a statement.
Richard Spencer, a prominent white nationalist, told Vanity Fair that he mentored Miller while they were both at Duke University. But Miller has disputed that account and told Mother Jones in 2016 that “I completely repudiate his views, and his claims are 100 percent false.”
Gorka drew controversy for wearing a medal from a Hungarian order, Vitezi Rend, that was founded by an ally of Adolf Hitler. But he has said he wore the medal to honor his late father, who was awarded it for fighting communism.
Trump pardons Arizona Sheriff
President Trump on Friday pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio — a move that keeps one of his staunchest political allies out of jail and will likely cheer his conservative base, which supports both men’s hard-line views on illegal immigration.
The unusual pardon — coming less than a month after Arpaio was convicted, and before his planned October sentencing — will further anger the president’s critics and is likely to worsen the president’s already tense relationship with the judicial branch, which he has repeatedly criticized.
A pardon is perhaps the only way to make Arpaio — a longtime county sheriff who gained national fame and notoriety for his aggressive pursuit of undocumented immigrants — a more polarizing figure than he already is.
The decision on Arpaio is the latest chapter in a line of historically controversial pardons granted by presidents — rare but not unprecedented uses of power that draw fire for being politically or personally motivated. Legal experts have compared an Arpaio pardon to the one President George H.W. Bush granted to former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger in 1992 over the Iran-contra affair, or the one President Clinton granted to fugitive financier Marc Rich in 2001.
But Arpaio’s pardon — the first of the Trump presidency — is a rarity among rarities. In recent decades, presidents have tended to issue controversial pardons at the end of their terms, not the beginning. The move raises questions about how often the president might pardon other political figures — and for what types of offenses.
In a statement announcing the pardon, Trump made no mention of Arpaio’s offense — criminal contempt of court — but praised his past military service.
“Arpaio’s life and career, which began at the age of 18 when he enlisted in the military after the outbreak of the Korean War, exemplify selfless public service,” Trump said. “Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.
“Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon,” the statement continued.
Arpaio’s lawyer, Jack Wilenchik, said simply: “Justice has been done.’’
In a tweet, Arpaio thanked the president “for seeing my conviction for what it is: a political witch hunt by holdovers in the Obama justice department!’’
Arpaio told the Associated Press that he appreciates the president’s action and will always stand by him. He said he will speak more about the matter next week.
The sheriff’s critics spent years trying to stop the police practices that Arpaio sanctioned and that they charge were discriminatory and abusive; in recent weeks, they had vociferously objected to the pardon that Trump repeatedly hinted was coming.
A deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union called the pardon “a presidential endorsement of racism.’’
“Trump has chosen lawlessness over justice, division over unity, hurt over healing,’’ said Cecillia Wang, the ACLU official. “Once again, the president has acted in support of illegal, failed immigration enforcement practices that target people of color and have been struck down by the courts.’’
The president traveled this week to Phoenix, where he suggested at a rally that he was on the verge of pardoning Arpaio, but said he would not do it that night because it would be “controversial.’’
Earlier this month, the president told Fox News he was “seriously considering’’ a pardon for Arpaio, who was convicted last month of criminal contempt for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants.
Trump called Arpaio a “great American patriot” who had “done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. . . . He has protected people from crimes and saved lives. He doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.”
Trump’s pardon came late on a Friday night, at a time when much of the country was focused on a Category 4 hurricane bearing down on Texas.
The reaction among advocates and Democrats was swift.
“President Trump is a coward. He waited until a Friday evening, as a hurricane hits, to pardon a racist ex-sheriff,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who represents Phoenix. “Trump should at least have the decency to explain to the American public why he is undermining our justice system.”
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) also accused the president of “using the cover of the storm to pardon a man who violated a court’s order.”
Normally, pardon applications are submitted to the Justice Department, where they are scrutinized over a period of months before recommendations are made to the White House. Some applicants wait years to find out whether they will receive pardons or clemency.
Arpaio’s pardon came much faster, and it was not subject to a Justice Department review, according to officials.
Arpaio’s sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 5, and he had faced up to six months in prison.
Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said the president has “yet again damaged himself, the rule of law, and our country tonight. This pardon sends a dangerous message that a law enforcement officer who abused his position of power and defied a court order can simply be excused by a president who himself clearly does not respect the rule of law.’’
Arpaio’s lawyer has maintained that the prosecution of Arpaio was a political vendetta against a foe of the Obama administration and that therefore the political act of a pardon was a fair and just way to end the case.
Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., has long been an advocate for Trump and spoke in support of him at the Republican National Convention in July 2016. The men seem to have the same views on illegal immigrants and the use of harsh tactics against criminals or suspected criminals. Arpaio is well known in part for forcing his inmates to wear pink underwear and sleep outdoors in his Tent City Jail.
The legal saga surrounding Arpaio dates back years. In 2011, as part of a lawsuit, the then-sheriff was enjoined by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow from detaining people he thought to be illegal immigrants, when they were not charged with any other crime. Prosecutors alleged that Arpaio continued to do so, and last year, the Justice Department decided to pursue a criminal contempt-of-court case against him.
Critics said that his policy of detaining people on mere suspicion was racist and illegal, and that his refusal to honor a court’s order to stop was brazen. Arpaio’s lawyers argued that the judge’s order enjoining their client’s conduct was “not clear,” and they suggested that Arpaio was merely doing what others do routinely: turning over those in the country illegally to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Friday, August 25, 2017
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