Home page: www.statewatch.org
1. Italy-Tunisia: Allowing someone to live or letting them die
2. EU: FRONTEX: Frontex General Report 2007
3. AI: Report: Migration-related detention a global concern
4. Spain: CEAR expresses concern over asylum law reform (Statewatch)
5. UK: Jacqui calls Vodafone man to run massive snoop database
6. EU: Czech Data Protection: Democracy is flourishing, but not individual freedom:
7. UK: Information Commissioner’s response to Surveillance Society
8. UK: What terror jury was not told
9. EU: Justice and Home Affairs “Agenda”: Statewatch analysis
10. ECJ: Huber v Germany
11. EU-FRONTEX: Pro Asyl: Appeal to the European Parliament
12. EU: Ombudsman criticises age discrimination by the Commission
13. How a child dies in Venice: 11-year-old Afghan boy dies to avoid controls by the border police
14. USA-TORTURE: Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry
15. EU-EP: Conservatives and Socialists block search for rendition truth
16. Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) repeals a provision of the Data Retention
17. EU-EP: Report on the situation of fundamental rights in EU
18. Renditions/Italy: Interpretation of “state secret” leads to suspension of Abu Omar trial
19. GREECE: The police shooting and death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos
1. Italy-Tunisia: Allowing someone to live or letting them die: Italy contravenes European Court of Human Rights instructions by deporting Tunisian by Gabriella Petti:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/12italy-tunisia.htm
“Six days have passed since Mourad Trabelsi’s expulsion, yet we know nothing about his fate once he arrived in Tunisia. His
relatives have looked for him in prisons without any results, and his lawyer has not received any news. The Italian government has
probably co-operated with the umpteenth disappearance of an individual involved in trials for international terrorism.* According to
lawyers, many of those expelled, when they return to their countries of origin, have been arrested, subjected to torture and and
have sometimes disappeared. In this case, we are dealing with someone who was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment that he
has just served in an Italian prison, with a further twenty years to serve in a Tunisian jail, following a sentence issued in absentia in
his country of origin.”
2. EU: FRONTEX: Frontex General Report 2007 (63 pages):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-frontex-ann-rep-2007.pdf
3. Amnesty International report: Migration-related detention a global concern:
www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/POL33/004/2008/en/c4b6797b-c873-11dd-b5e7-cf1e30795cb4/pol330042008eng.pdf
4. Spain: CEAR expresses concern over asylum law reform (Statewatch):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/11spain-cear-asylum-manifesto.htm
5. UK: Jacqui calls Vodafone man to run massive snoop database (Register, link):
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/18/imp_tim_hayward/
“Exclusive A senior Vodafone network architecture specialist has been appointed by Jacqui Smith to draw up proposals for a multibillion pound central silo of communications data, amid a Whitehall row about the future of the project, The Register has learned.
The Home Office team responsible for the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) have been told to make the case for the expansion of state surveillance it would involve again, according to insiders.”
6. EU: Czech Data Protection President: Democracy is flourishing, but not individual freedom:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/dp-czech-talk.pdf
“On the threshold of the 21st century we are witnesses to a reinforcing of democracy, but it seems that the freedom of the individual has become less important. As though collective problems such as global climate change or the defence against terrorism have been prioritised to the detriment of personal freedom. Measures are now being implemented regardless of the risks, difficulties and costs they can present for the individual, restricting his or her freedom, such as the right to privacy.”
Igor Nemec. President of the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection.
7. UK: Information Commissioner’s response to Home Affairs Select Committee report: A Surveillance Society?: Information Commissioner’s Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report of Session 2007–08: www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/uk-ico-response-to-hasc.pdf
A Surveillance Society?: www.statewatch.org/news/2008/jul/uk-gov-response-to-surveillance-society-report.pdf
Background: Report on the “Surveillance society” by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: Report: Vol 1 (1.5 MB):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/jun/uk-hasc-surveillance-society-report-vol1.pdf
Evidence Vol 2 (1.6 MB):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/jun/uk-hasc-surveillance-society-report-vol2.pdf .
8. UK: What terror jury was not told: “They tore my nails out. Then I was interrogated by MI5" (Guardian, link) – Britons found guilty of al-Qaida membership – Convicted man alleged torture by Pakistani agents: www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/19/terrorism-al-qaida-pakistan/print
9. EU: Justice and Home Affairs “Agenda”: Statewatch analysis: The EU’s JHA agenda for 2009: by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex:
www.statewatch.org/analyses/eu-sw-analysis-2009-jha-agenda.pdf
10. ECJ: Huber v Germany: The processing and storage of those data relating to Union citizens for statistical purposes or with a view to fighting crime is contrary to Community law (Press release)
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ecj-databases-huber%3Dprel.pdf
and Judgment – full-text (Judgment):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ecj-databases-huber.pdf
“as regards the question of the use of the data contained in the register for the purposes of fighting crime, the Court holds, in particular, that that objective involves the prosecution of crimes and offences committed, irrespective of the nationality of their perpetrators. The register at issue does not contain personal data relating to nationals of the Member State concerned. Consequently, use for the purposes of fighting crime is contrary to the principle of non-discrimination and hence contrary to Community law.” (emphasis in original)
11. EU-FRONTEX: Pro Asyl: Appeal to the European Parliament “Stop the death trap at the European Borders!” More than 1500 documented cases of deaths at the doors of Europe over the last 12 months illustrate a serious human rights record (Press release):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-frontex-pro-asyl-prel.pdf
and Petition to the European Parliament: Year by year thousands die at Europe´s borders. Stop the deathtrap at the EU borders! (Petition):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-frontex-pro-asyl-petition.pdf
12. EU: Ombudsman criticises age discrimination by the Commission Special report:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/eu-ombs-com-age-discrimination-sreport.pdf
13. How a child dies in Venice: 11-year-old Afghan boy dies to avoid controls by the border police
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/10death-of-a-boy.htm
“He was fifteen years old. No, he was twelve. Maybe, in reality, he was only eleven. As the day progressed, his age changed several times, turning increasingly younger. In any case, he was a boy. He was found dead in Via Orlanda in Mestre, Venice, run over by the lorry under which he had hidden to escape the checks by the border police. Why, one would wonder, does an Afghan minor, a figure that is well protected by international conventions, by the ECHR, and even by the Bossi-Fini law [on immigration], risk his life in such a way in order to avoid being intercepted by the border police?”
14. USA-TORTURE: Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the treatment of detainees in US Custody:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/usa-detainees-torture.pdf
15. EU-EP: Conservatives and Socialists block search for rendition truth – Ludford (Press release):
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ep-cia-rendition-ludford-prel.pdf
“The Socialist (PSE) and Conservative (EPP) groups, which together have a majority in the European Parliament, have allied to deny a request made by the Liberal, Green and the Communist groups for a debate on Guantanamo and the CIA extraordinary rendition programme in next week’s European Parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg.”
16. The Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) repeals a provision of the Data Retention in the Internet Regulation:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/09bulgaria-telcom-internet-decision.htm
17. EU-EP: Report on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union 2004-2008: Committee on Civil Liberties: Rapporteur: Giusto Catania (As adopted by the LIBE Committee): www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/ep-annual-report-on-fundamental-right.pdf
18. Renditions/Italy: Interpretation of “state secret” leads to suspension of Abu Omar trial:
www.statewatch.org/news/2008/dec/08italy-abu-omar-trial.htm
19. GREECE: The police shooting and death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos: Athens riots spin totally out of control Athens riots spin totally out of control (kathimerini, link): www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100002_09/12/2008_102874
During 2008 Statewatch received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Garden Court Chambers, “Friends of Statewatch” and the European Commission (an operating grant for our ongoing work).