Lawyers attempt to have President Bush declared persona non grata in Canada

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gep2

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 07:30:52 +0000 (GMT)

Lawyers attempt to have President Bush declared persona non

grata in Canada

 

 

 

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bushlied

 

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 21:40:20 EST

[bushlied] Lawyers attempt to have President Bush declared

persona non grata in Canada

 

bushlied

 

 

Lawyers attempt to have President Bush declared persona non grata in

Canada

 

Friday, November 19, 2004

 

The Right Honourable Paul Martin Prime Minister of Canada

Office of the Prime Minister Langevin Block 80 Wellington Street Ottawa,

Canada K1A 0A2 Tel: 613 6868 Fax: 613-941-6900 Email: pm

 

Dear Prime Minister Martin:

 

It was with absolute dismay that we learned of the planned visit of

President

Bush to Canada on November 30th 2004.

Surely you are aware of the many grave crimes against humanity and war

crimes

for which President Bush stands properly accused by the world,

starting with

the Nuremberg Tribunal's `supreme international crime... of waging an

aggressive war against Iraq in defiance of international law and the

Charter of

the United Nations, and including systematic and massive violations of the

Geneva Conventions Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and

Relative to

the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as the

United Nations

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment or

Punishment. As recently as November 16, U.N. High Commissioner for

Human Rights

and former war crimes prosecutor Louise Arbour called for an

investigation into

crimes against the Geneva Conventions in the assault by US forces on the

densely populated city of Fallujah.[1] The terrible toll in life and

limb of

these crimes was documented in a study carried out by the Johns Hopkins

University School of Public Health in Baltimore and published in the

October 29,

2004 issue of the British Medical Journal The Lancet which conservatively

estimated that the war had taken 100,000 Iraqi lives, mostly women and

children.[2] This was well within the range predicted before the war, for

example by a British affiliate of International Physicians for the

Prevention of

Nuclear War who, in November 2002, assessed the probable death toll at

a minimum

of 48,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and predicted that post-war

conditions would

cost an additional 200,000 lives.[3]

 

The President's responsibility for these offences derives not only

from his `

command responsibility' as Commander in Chief of US forces, for crimes

that

he knew were being committed, or ignored through willful blindness,

but did

nothing to prevent; it also comes from his direct involvement in the

formulation

of policy. This includes his personal involvement not only in the

devising and

waging of an aggressive, illegal war, but also of the unlawful refusal to

grant prisoner of war status to prisoners of war, contrary to specific

provisions of the Geneva Conventions, an act repudiated in the US

Courts.[4] It

also includes the approval of techniques of interrogation by his direct

subordinate, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, that legally and morally

constitute

torture and that led directly to the disgraceful violence against Iraqi

prisoners, for example at the prison at Abu Ghraib.

 

As you know, not only are these acts criminal under international law, but

many of them are also criminal under Canadian law, under laws enacted in

pursuance of our international obligations, most importantly the

Crimes Against

Humanity and War Crimes Act, put in place just four years ago under a

Liberal

government. They also violate the provisions on torture in the

Canadian Criminal

Code.

 

By these laws, Canadians and non-Canadians alike are liable to

prosecution in

Canada, no matter where in the world they have committed their crimes.

Furthermore, as the Attorney General can advise, the fact that these

crimes have

been committed by Mr. Bush while President of the United States is

absolutely

irrelevant to his personal liability to prosecution in Canada,

according to

principles established at Nuremberg and universally recognized since then,

including by the British House of Lords in the Pinochet case in 1999.

And if

President Bush were to visit Canada after leaving office, we would be

seeking

the Attorney General's permission under section 9 of the Crimes

Against Humanity

and War Crimes Act and section 7 of the Criminal Code to commence

proceedings

against him.

 

However, as you also know, should President Bush come to Canada now, while

still President, he would be clothed with both diplomatic and head of

state

immunity from our laws and we would be powerless to bring him to justice.

 

Your invitation in these circumstances, therefore, shows contempt for both

Canadian and international law and is a grievous insult to the literally

hundreds of thousands of victims of President Bush's international

crimes. It is

also our belief that the invitation endangers Canadians' security at

home and

abroad, because it is a departure from our steadfast refusal to this

point to

participate in this criminal war of the Bush administration. In fact,

it is our

belief that this invitation can only act as an encouragement to

President Bush

in his continuing criminal activity, providing him with an important

platform

in this, his first post re-election foreign visit, to defend illegal

US actions

in Iraq and to improve his international standing despite them, all this

against the wishes of the majority of Canadians.

 

Indeed, we feel bound to point out that your invitation to President

Bush may

thus constitute an abetting of the crimes he and his administration and

military continue to commit. As such you and your colleagues could be

personally

liable to prosecution under the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes

Act by

virtue of section 21 of the Canadian Criminal Code, for crimes so

serious that

they are punishable in Canada by up to life imprisonment. Abetting a

crime, as

the Attorney General will advise, is regarded as equally criminal to

actually

committing it and is complete when one intentionally, knowingly, or with

willful blindness encourages the commission of a crime by another.

 

Nor would President Bush's immunity be capable of shielding you and your

colleagues from prosecution, because, as the Attorney General will

advise, the

immunity applies only to foreign officials visiting Canada and not to

members of

the Canadian government itself. Nor does the inability to prosecute a

criminal

affect the criminal liability of an abettor.

 

It is for all these reasons we urgently request a meeting with you, the

Foreign Minister, the Attorney General or your representatives in

Ottawa, so

that

we might have the opportunity to elaborate on these matters and to

persuade you

to declare President Bush persona non grata in Canada, or at least to

rescind

this invitation, and thus to avoid implicating yourselves and Canada

in the

most serious of international crimes.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michael Mandel and Gail Davidson on behalf of Lawyers against the War

(LAW) a

Canada-based committee of jurists and others with members in thirteen

countries.

 

http://207.44.245.159/article7349.htm

 

 

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