December 2010 – Page 5 – Warren Throckmorton

Buturo censors human rights documentary

In Uganda, Nsaba Buturo is serving out his term as Minister of Ethics and Integrity. He lost his bid for re-election and will presumably not be back in that role. However, even as a lame duck, he is making waves. According to the Monitor:

Human rights defenders yesterday gathered in Kampala to voice their distress following Monday’s incident where Ethics minister blocked the viewing of a movie chronicling their experiences.

Led by Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) chairperson Medi Kaggwa, the rights defenders in a joint statement said Mr Nsaba Buturo’s move was unconstitutional.

“The documentary was one of the series of activities aligned in commemoration of the International Human Rights Day on December 10 and its aim was to highlight the work of Human Rights Defenders and the challenges they face,” read the statement delivered by Mr. Kaggwa.

In Uganda, the UHRC spearheaded the activities to mark the day in partnership with the UN Office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Network –Uganda, the Human Rights Centre and other organisations who work as rights defenders.

But while justifying his action, Mr Buturo said the organisers wanted to indoctrinate the youth on homosexuality.

Mr Buturo told Daily Monitor that the organisers refused to delete the homosexual content in the documentary.

The article then describes the nature of the censored content.

Mr Kaggwa said the film only contains interviews of human rights defenders on their experiences and challenges in performing their work as well as recommendations for promotion of human rights especially among the minority groups such as women and people with disabilities.

In the documentary that was shown to journalists at UHRC headquarters, Mr Kikonyogo Kivumbi comments on the rights of the homosexuals to health services and cites the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that allows medical practitioners to report gay patients to police.

“We are giving a very strong voice to Parliament not to pass the Bill because it will discriminate against minority groups like the homosexuals. Uganda is committed to fighting HIV and Aids and when minorities are threatened with arrest, they will fear to go for medication and yet it is their right,” Mr Kivumbi says in the documentary.

This is what seems to have aroused Mr Buturo’s disquiet in the documentary, leading to blocking of its viewing at the National Theatre. Mr Buturo was not available for comment yesterday as his known mobile number remained unanswered.

If true, this would be more indication that the purpose of the AHB and other initiatives in Uganda is not to protect children, as proponents of the AHB claim, but to punish and eliminate an unpopular minority. There really is little doubt of this despite the claims of defenders.

Sign the petition to free Asia Bibi

Please sign this petition targeting the Ambassador to the United States from Pakistan, along with Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister.

Writing in 1954, psychologist Gordon Allport said, “The role of religion is paradoxical. It makes prejudice and it unmakes prejudice.” In no case is Allport’s observation better illustrated than in the tragic situation of Asia Noreen Bibi. On Monday, NPR’s Julie McCarthy chronicled the story of Bibi, a 45 year-old, Christian mother of five who is now in a Pakistani jail with a death sentence over her head. Her crime? She was convicted last month of blaspheming the prophet Muhammad, which under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws, allowed the court to sentence her to death. Although no person has yet been executed under these laws, local Muslim extremists, including those representing the Taliban, have threatened violence if she is not executed.

Bibi has been in prison for over a year, awaiting the resolution of her fate, after being arrested following a verbal altercation with Muslim co-workers. According to reports, the Muslim women refused to accept water from her, calling her “unclean” due to her faith. She reportedly defended herself and then later was detained by the women, who tried to convert her. When this failed, Bibi was arrested and held in isolation until recently when the sentence of death was handed down.

Last week, Imam Maulana Yousuf Qureshi, who once gained international notoriety by calling for the murder of Danish cartoonists who drew caricatures of Muhammad, issued a $5800 reward for the murder of Bibi. Qureshi said that Muslim extremists will kill Bibi if she is freed.

Asia Bibi’s case requires an international outcry from people of all religious views. The bullying and murder of minority religious adherents in Pakistan must stop. Call upon the Pakistani government to free Asia Bibi and to guarantee safety for her and her family.

Free Asia Bibi

This from NPR:

It began in the summer of 2009 as a quarrel over water in a sweltering farm field in the province of Punjab. When the heated words were over, Asia Noreen Bibi was charged under the strict blasphemy laws of predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

A Christian wife and mother, the woman commonly known as Asia Bibi was convicted by a district court last month of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad. The punishment is mandatory death and Asia Bibi became the first female in Pakistan to be sentenced to hang for blasphemy.

APAsia Bibi at a prison in Sheikhupura, near Lahore, on Nov. 20. She appeared in a televised interview from her prison, tearfully denying the blasphemy charges that led to her death sentence.

Asia Bibi, a Roman Catholic, says she did not commit the crime. The case has drawn international condemnation, and Pope Benedict XVI has called for Asia Bibi’s release.

What will you do today to help free Asia Bibi? The State Department needs to know that you want this matter to be a prominent topic of discussion with Pakistan (202.647.9823).

State Department: Anti-Homosexuality Bill “major violation of human rights” but Bahati was not asked to leave country

Just a bit ago, I talked to Andy Laney of the U.S. Department of State who contradicted a report in the Uganda Observer that David Bahati was asked to leave the country.

Mr. Laney said, “We did not ask David Bahati to leave the country,” adding that the State Department did not have that authority.

However, Mr. Laney confirmed that State Department officials met with Mr. Bahati while he was in the United States and told him

…that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a major violation of human rights and that we strongly oppose it.

Mr. Laney’s statement about Bahati’s departure from the country is in sharp contrast to what I reported earlier today based on the Observer article:

Reports from the US state that Bahati, who was taped for Thursday’s Rachel Maddow TV Show, was told to get out of the USA by the authorities Thursday.

Bahati who had planned on staying in the USA and to leave over the weekend, was asked to leave right away by department of State officials.

The US authorities informed Bahati that he was no longer welcome and nor was he legally entitled to remain in the USA. He was put on a plane for Paris and is probably on his way back home.

The Observer article adds that protests were planned in DC.

A large group of activists were planning to protest today – Friday. But now that Bahati has left , the protests have been called off and the activists assert they are happy he is gone.

This may be more the real reason he left – to avoid protests.

Mr. Laney did not know whether Mr. Bahati had indeed left the U.S.

UPDATE: Bahati confirms that he was not asked to leave the country. The article incorrectly attributes Mr. Laney’s quote above to the Lez Get Real website.

Author of Uganda anti-gay bill on his way home

I am trying to confirm these facts but this article from the Uganda Observer says David Bahati is on his way home, with a little help from the US State Dept.

He is not answering his phone and has not returned emails. I suspect he is indeed in transit.