ANECDOTES AND ANTIDOTES: courts

Wednesday 21 May 2014

PREGNANT WOMAN GIVEN DEATH SENTENCE IN SUDAN FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN.

A women has been sentenced to death in the sudan for not denouncing her christian faith. Meriam Ibrahim was born to a muslim father but was brought up to be a christian by her mother. At present she is kept shackled to a wall although she is 8 months pregnant and with her is her 20 month old son Martin The court sentenced her for refusing to recant her Christianity and marrying Christian Daniel Wani - a Sudanese man with US citizenship who lives in New Hampshire. They found her guilty of apostasy - leaving Islam - even though miss Ibrahim testified that she was never a muslim, and was brought up as a christian by her Ethiopian born mother. The case was brought to the authorities attention in august by Miss Ibrahims fathers family who said that she had been born a muslim and renounced Islam. Fatih Al_Deen, Sudanese parliament speaker, said Miss Ibrahims brother had denounced her. "I was never a muslim" she told the court " i was raised a christian from the start" Her husband who was in the US at the time of the verdict said " I am so frustrated. I don't know what to do. I'm just praying". He was only allowed to see her on monday and found her shackled to a wall and her legs were swollen. Miss Ibrahim;s sentence of death by hanging will not be carried out until after the birth of her child. Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, said " I am truly appalled that a sudanese court has sentenced Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag to death for apostasy. This barbaric sentence highlights the stark divide between practices of the Sudanese courts and the country's international human rights obligations"

Edit: 23/6/2014 Meriam Ibrahim has been freed, her lawyer tells the BBC. http://bbc.in/1szat6m new edit:Meriam Ibrahim re-arrested lawyer tells CNN news http://cnn.it/1iuDMms

Friday 4 April 2014

NEW BAILIFF LAWS COME INTO FORCE.

Under new laws restrictions will apply when bailiffs come to your door. From the 6th of april bailiffs will be banned from calling at night and entering premises using physical force. When children are the only people at home enforcement agents will be prevented from entering premises. They will also be prevented from taking essential items such as cookers,fridges,freezers, microwaves and washing machines.Bailiffs will now have to be trained and certified to practice so as to put an end to the bullying and aggressive behaviour of agents attempting to seize property. Chris Grayling, the justice secretary said "People will still have to face up to their debt but they will no longer need to fear their home being raided at night,the threat of violence or having their vital household equipment seized. "We are stamping out bad practise and making sure bailiffs play by the rules. Those who don't will be banned." Other changes mean landlords will not be able to use bailiffs to seize goods for rent debt without going to the courts first, the bailiffs would then also have to go court to explain their means of entry and the amount of force that may be needed before any warrant is granted. Bailiffs will also have to give 7 days notice before taking possessions unless they have been given specific permission from a court.

Jo Salter, researcher at the think-tank Demos, said its research had shown "aggressive" behaviour by bailiffs played a big part in the emotional harm caused to families by debt.

"Council tax arrears is an example of one type of debt that many said resulted in bailiffs getting involved. The actions of bailiffs could often overwhelm people's rational ability to deal with the debt itself. As a result our research showed that arrears can often be just as harmful to people as payday loans."

The Citizens Advice chief executive, Gillian Guy, said: "We help with 1,000 bailiff problems a week. People have reported bailiffs giving debt letters to their children and threatening violence. These new rules reflect just how out of control the industry is and are a welcome step towards protecting people in debt.

"What is missing from these changes is accountability for bailiff firms. We'd like to see a licensing system that means firms are struck off if bailiffs break the rules."