Headline

Legal Chaos In Poland As President, New Govt Clash

Published

4 months ago

January 15, 2024

Editor

A standoff between Poland’s new pro-European government and its nationalist president, who is allied with the previous populist ruling party, is creating legal chaos and political instability.

During eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Warsaw was at odds with Brussels over judicial reforms which the government said were needed to combat corruption.

The EU said the reforms undermined democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Poland and had blocked billions of euros in recovery funds.

“The institutions of the rule of law have been violated in Poland with the help of the president and the new government is now trying to re-establish them,” Marcin Zaborowski, an expert from the Globsec think tank, told AFP.

The new pro-European coalition headed up by former EU chief Donald Tusk, which came to power in December, has promised to restore rule of law.

Tusk has accused Duda, whose mandate only runs out in 2025, of being the “author of this constitutional and legal confusion”.

While the head of state’s responsibilities are relatively limited in Poland, Duda still has veto power on legislation which the new government is not in a position to overrule.

– ‘Legal dualism’ –

Duda is supported by Law and Justice, which is still a powerful force despite its electoral defeat in October as it has influence over institutions such as the Constitutional Court.

Tensions have been rising ever since the new coalition took power and embarked on major reforms of the judiciary and public media.

The refusal of the previous ruling party to accept a series of new nominations to key institutions has created a confusing situation.

“There is a de facto legal dualism,” Zaborowski said.

Wagner mercenaries train Belarus special forces near Polish border
“Within the Supreme Court, there is one chamber that says the president is right and another that says he is wrong,” he added.

The latest confrontation has been over two former Law and Justice MPs who have been jailed for a case dating back to 2007.

Mariusz Kaminski, a former interior minister, and his colleague Maciej Wasik were arrested last week in the presidential palace where they had been invited by the president.

“This is an unprecedented situation for a democratic country when the president gives refuge to two people who have been convicted by a court,” said Stanislaw Mocek, head of the Collegium Civitas university in Warsaw.

In 2015, the two men were sentenced to prison terms for making false accusations against a leading political figure when they were in charge of the anti-corruption agency.

They then both received a presidential pardon, which was questioned by the Supreme Court.

The Constitutional Court has since rejected the verdict of the Supreme Court, authorising the president to say his pardon was still in force.

– ‘Fuel to the fire’ –

The two were elected to parliament in October but have since had their convictions confirmed on appeal and their parliamentary mandates cancelled.

Now under arrest, they have begun hunger strikes and Duda has launched another pardon procedure.

“The president is adding fuel to the fire, while claiming that he wants to find a compromise. Only one compromise is possible — the rule of law,” Mocek said.

In the furore that ensued, Duda has spoken out against the “terror of the so-called rule of law” while Tusk has called it “a basic principle” that needs to be followed.

The stage is set for a prolonged confrontation that observers say could well last until the end of Duda’s mandate.

“The new government has already shown that it will not pull back from reforms while the president has shown that he will not hesitate to veto them,” Zaborowski said.

Headline

Iran Gets Interim President After Raisi’s Death

Published

8 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber to assume interim duties after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash a day earlier.

“In accordance with Article 131 of the constitution, Mokhber is in charge of leading the executive branch,” said Khamenei in a statement, adding that Mokhber will be required to work with the heads of legislative and judicial branches to prepare for presidential elections “within a maximum period of 50 days”.

Recall that President Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country.

Raisi was travelling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who also died in the accident.

Rescue teams had been scouring the area since Sunday afternoon after a helicopter carrying Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials had gone missing.

Early Monday, relief workers located the missing helicopter, with state TV saying the president had died.

“The servant of Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people,” state television said Monday, with Mehr news agency also saying he was dead.

State television broadcast photos of Raisi, with the voice of a man reciting the Koran playing in the background.

Iran’s vice president for executive affairs Mohsen Mansouri posted on X a Koranic verse used to express condolences.

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has announced a five days of mourning for President Raisi.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.

Headline

UK Threatens To Deport Physically-challenged Nigerian After 38 Years

Published

8 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

The United Kingdom has threatened to deport a physically-challenged Nigerian man, Anthony Olubunmi George, over an alleged forged entry stamp in his passport.

George who has lived in the UK for 38 years, after he left Nigeria at the age of 24 in 1986, according to the Guardian UK.

The 61-year-old Nigerian has no criminal convictions and made several applications for leave to remain in the UK, which the Home Office has rejected, most recently on 7 May.

George’s case became the second African facing a huge disappointment with the UK Home Office after spending several years in Britain.

Vanguard reported last week that a 74-year-old Ghanaian Nelson Shardey, who has resided in the UK since 1977, was refused indefinite leave to remain despite being in the country for most of his adult life.

As the case of the Nigerian, he has never left the UK and has no criminal convictions, with the reports of having two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility in 2019.

When George arrived, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and Rishi Sunak is the ninth to hold office since George has lived in the UK.

He has endured many periods of homelessness and disclosed he has lost count of the number of friends who have given him shelter over the years, adding that he no longer has any close family in Nigeria.

The Guardian UK said in 2005, his previous solicitors submitted a forged entry stamp in his passport and have subsequently been reported to the police and the legal regulatory bodies.

George told the Guardian he knew nothing about the passport stamp until many years later. His current lawyer, Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors, cited his poor previous legal representation as the reason for George’s problems.

In his most recent refusal, Home Office officials said: “Unfortunately this is not something that is considered an exceptional circumstance.”

Kandiah has lodged an appeal against the latest refusal.

A previous Home Office rejection of his case states: “It’s open to your family and friends to visit you in Nigeria.”

George said, “I don’t know how many different sofas I’ve slept on – too many to count. I don’t have my life, living the way I’m living now. My health problems since I had my stroke are my biggest worry. All I’m asking for is some kindness from the Home Office.”

Headline

JUST IN: ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrants For Netanyahu, Hamas Leaders

Published

9 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza for war crimes.

According to BBC, Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from at least 7 October 2023.

The ICC, based in The Hague, has been investigating Israel’s actions in the occupied territories for the past three years – and more recently the actions of Hamas as well.

Mr Netanyahu recently called the prospect of senior Israel figures joining the ICC’s wanted list “an outrage of historic proportions”.

Last week, 13 Western countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Japan and others cautioned Israel over its resolve to launch a full-scale operation in Rafah.