Governments’ Violence against Justice

Workshop participants from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, as well as the United States, pointed out that, in such societies justice was often used for legitimizing violence by the states and that, in most cases, it was closely related to politics and ruling political structures.Bahaa Ezzelarab, a lawyer from Cairo and member of “The Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights”, said that more than 500 people were sentenced to death penalty in Egypt and that such verdicts represented a direct violation of human rights. “The government structures and courts in Egypt are trying to introduce a collective guilt system as a method of punishment. For instance, if one policeman is killed during demonstrations, at which several thousands of people participate, if I attended those demonstrations, I can be sentenced just like the person, who committed the murder of that policeman. This represents a classic example of intimidation, which is implemented by courts in Egypt,” Ezzelarab explains. Workshop participant Bassem al-Tamimi, an activist from Palestine, was imprisoned more than nine times. He was arrested, in 2012, for having participated in demonstrations against Israel. He pointed out that he was detained and physically mistreated during each of those arrests.“They killed my sister and brother and arrested my wife and son. However, our fight is legal. We are fighting for peace and our rights and the country, which is occupied. We therefore believe in international justice and protection of our human rights, irrespective of all the difficulties we are facing in my country of origin,” Al-Tamimi says. Katherine Gallagher, an attorney from the USA, who represents prisoners held in Guantanamo prison, spoke about violation of human rights of prisoners. She pointed out that, despite the announcement by USA President Barrack Obama that Guantamo prison would be closed, this had still not happened. “More than a hundred persons are still held in that prison. Some of them have been held in it for 12 years. They have still not been tried. What we are constantly representing is – either try those people or release them. This is what the American Government has still not done, despite numerous announcements that it would be done, and this is where the human rights of all prisoners are violated,” attorney Gallagher said. Legal expert Goran Simic, as well as Denis Dzidic of the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN of BiH, addressed the workshop participants as well. Speaking about the importance of war crimes trials in BiH, Simic and Dzidic pointed out that, besides the processing of those crimes, victims in BiH either still do not have confidence in judiciary or are not satisfied with verdicts pronounced. “The society in BiH is still divided even though twenty years have passed since the war. Post-war generations of young people have proven to be more radical than the generations, who participated in the Bosnian war. This is what we, the journalists, face on a daily basis. On one side there are trials and legitimate verdicts, but, on the other side there is the society, which is still divided despite the war crimes verdicts,” Dzidic explained. During the course of “The Peace Event” Sarajevo has hosted more than 50 European organizations promoting peace, non-violence and culture of justice.