Appeals court tries to roll back reading of `Miranda'
rights
A federal appeals court in Virginia ruled February 9 that
police can take a "confession" from an arrested person and
submit it in a court of law without reading the accused their
"Miranda" rights. Under the 1966 Supreme Court ruling Miranda
v. Arizona, police are required to inform anyone they detain
of their right to remain silent, to an attorney, and that any
statements made thereafter can be used as evidence in court.
If a person is not clearly informed of those rights any
statements in police custody are supposed to be invalid.
Before the Miranda ruling, judges had discretion to decide whether statements to police were "voluntary." In 1968, Congress passed a law that in essence undermined Miranda, codifying the pre-1966 standards. This law, which had never been enforced, was resurrected by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the basis for its recent ruling.
U.S. jets fly near Russian islands
Seven U.S. war planes performed unannounced military
exercises on February 12 in close proximity to the Russian
islands of Komandorskije - less than 400 miles off the
mainland. The U.S. pilots, who carried out similar flights
February 7, remained in neutral air space. Moscow's federal
border patrol, noting how close the plane were to Russian
territory, sent guards to monitor the path of the planes.
Finland: strike shuts airport
Air traffic controllers in Finland reached their 12th day
on strike February 12, unable to settle a pay dispute with the
aviation board. The Helsinki airport was reported to be closed
on February 13, with international charter flights moved to
Tampere or Turku airports in western Finland. Nearly all
regular international flights were canceled.
France: farmers protest austerity
Hundreds of farmers in France, furious at the "reforms"
being shoved down their throats by the French government,
occupied and ransacked the offices of Environment Minister
Dominique Voynet in early February. This latest action is one
of the many that have occurred over the last three months. So-
called reform measures - aimed at competing with other
capitalist rival countries in the European Union - include:
cutting farm subsidies for milk by 15 percent, cereal by 20
percent, and beef by 30 percent, as well as taxing pesticides.
Cops arrested hundreds of farmers, most of whom were later
released.
Thai farmers begin mass sit-ins
Pressing the demand for a five-year moratorium on $10
billion of debt owed to the government bank and loan sharks,
more than 10,000 working farmers began a sit-in February 5 on
parade grounds in central Bangkok. Demonstrators have
projected up to 40,000 more farmers will join the action
against Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. Another demand of the
farmers is for an immediate rehabilitation of the collapsed
farm sector. Farmers have been hit hard by the devaluation of
the Thai currency, the sharp drop in prices they receive for
their produce, and a prolonged drought. The Thai government
has agreed to some relief but rejects the proposal for a
moratorium.
INS arrests man on drug charges
A thousand people rallied in front of Queens Country
Courthouse in New York, February 12 to denounce the treatment
of Rev. Frank Almonte.
A legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Almonte could face up to seven years in prison on criminal drug charges and deportation for bringing a steroid appetite enhancer for his son, prescribed by a doctor in the Dominican Republic, back to the United States. Almonte was taken into Federal custody under the 1996 immigration law that allows for the detention and deportation of any legal immigrant who has been charged or convicted of a drug-related crime.
Bomb `suspect' is denied rights
The U.S. government is preventing Wadih el Hage from
calling his imam at a mosque in Texas. El Hage has been
imprisoned in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York
for months after being accused in the 1998 U.S. embassy
bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. El Hage served as a secretary
in a company owned by Osama bin Laden, who Washington blames
for the bombing. Prosecuting attorneys accuse el Hage of being
bin Laden's "front man."
The government is invoking a rule that restricts the mail, visits, phone calls, and media contact of el Hage and other inmates held under similar accusations. Washington claims they are preventing el Hage from contacting imam, Moataz Al- Hallak - a leader of the Islamic Society in Arlington, Texas -because of ambiguous "specific concerns." They imply the mosque has some role in the bombing, which Al-Hallak denies.
Men who beat Black soldier plead guilty
Five men accused of the May 30, 1998, brutal beating of
Carlos Colbert, a Marine who is Black, plead guilty January
14. Jessie Lawson, one of the five, admitted to administering
brass-knuckle blows to Colbert that are believed to have
broken his neck and rendered him a quadriplegic. Investigators
say witnesses who attended a party where the beating took
place say Lawson and Robert Rio yelling "white power" and
other racist remarks while stomping Colbert. Lawson plea
bargained for a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison. The
other four men, Trenton Solis, Jed Jones, Robert Rio, and
Steve Newark negotiated a year in jail and five years
probation. Charges of torture and aggravated mayhem, which
carry life sentences, where dropped.
Brian Taylor