Prosecutors indict Palestinian leader for attacks
By Sudarsan Raghavan
TEL AVTV, Israel (KRT) — Vowing
that the “uprising will be victori
ous,” Palestinian leader Marwan
Barghouti raised his cuffed hands
defiantly at a packed courtroom on
Wednesday, minutes before he was
indicted for masterminding the
killings of dozens of Israelis.
Barghouti’s courtroom outburst set
the stage for a raucous, confrontation
al trial scheduled to start on Sept. 5.
Israel will attempt to prove com
plicity of senior Palestinian leaders
in dozens of attacks on Israeli civil
ians, while Barghouti made clear
his intention to turn the trial into a
political indictment of the Israeli
government.
The trial is the first civilian crimi
nal proceeding against a senior Pales
tinian leader since the second Pales
tinian uprising began 23 months ago.
Pounding his clasped hands in die
air like a hammer, Barghouti yelled
in a mix of Hebrew, Arabic and Eng
lish for an end to Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza as if he
was speaking at a political rally.
“The Israeli nation is paying a
heavy price for its government’s
policies,” declared the unshaven
Barghouti, 43, dressed in brown Is
raeli prison overalls.
Barghouti was charged Wednes
day with murder, attempted murder,
and active participation in terrorist
groups, among other allegations. He
was not asked to make a formal plea.
The seven-count indictment al
leges that he was behind 37 separate
attacks on Israelis over the past two
years, the deadliest of which was an
attack in January that killed six peo
ple in a banquet hall in Hadera.
The indictment also said that
Barghouti reported directly to
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
suggesting that Arafat had knowl
edge of the attacks.
His lawyers denied the Israeli al
legations.
Israel prosecutors say he is the
main organizer of the A1 Aqsa Mar
tyrs’ Brigades, a group linked to
Arafat’s Fatah faction that is behind
many suicide bombings and shoot
ing ambushes.
During the trial, Israeli prosecu
tor Devorah Chen said she would
present testimony from Al Aqsa
militants, many of them in Israeli
jails, and activists, including two of
Barghouti’s deputies, Nasser Abu
Hmeid and Nasser Awaid.
She would also present alleged
confessions Barghouti made during
interrogation, and documents that Is
raeli soldiers seized during raids of
Palestinian offices earlier this year.
If convicted, Barghouti could
face life in prison.
His lawyer, Jawad Boulos, denied
that his client made any confessions.
Boulos added that Israel had no ju
risdiction to try Barghouti because as
a Palestinian politician he has diplo
matic immunity. Israel violated in
ternational laws by arresting him in
a Palestinian city of Ramallah and
taking him to Israel, he said.
“Marwan has prepared a list of
charges against Israel and the Israeli
occupation,” Jawad Boulos, Bargh
outi’s lawyer told reporters. “We
will try to convince the world that
the one that has to be brought to tri
al is the occupation.”
Boulos said he did not plan to call
any witnesses because an Israeli court
had no authority to try Barghouti.
“Our position is that we will not
recognize the competency of the
court to try Marwan,” said Boulos.
Chen said Israel had every right
to bring charges against Barghouti.
“Barghouti is responsible for the
murder of hundreds of Israeli civil
ians and soldiers of Israel,” she
said. “So it’s quite obvious that the
court in Israel has the authority to
get an indictment.”
Boulos told Judge Tzvi Gurfinkel
that at the Sept. 5 hearing, his client
would bring an indictment against
Israel. The judge warned that he
would not allow Barghouti to “turn
this court into a political stage.”
But Barghouti got up and de
manded to be heard.
“When can I speak? I have a
charge sheet with 50 clauses
against Israel for the bloodshed of
both peoples,” he said in Hebrew.
The judge responded: “Right
now you can’t speak. You have ex
cellent lawyers. When the time
comes, you can speak.”
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Nevada voters to decide whether to legalize recreational pot
By V. Dion Haynes
LAS VEGAS (KRT) — Nevada es
tablished its renegade reputation in
the 1920s, when local leaders
thumbed their noses at the federal
ban on alcohol, with one mayor
openly threatening to put “a barrel
of whiskey with a dipper” on every
street comer.
Now the state, regarded by many
as the sin capital of America, is again
pioneering a new frontier: the legal
ization of recreational pot smoking.
In November, Nevada voters will
decide whether to become the first
state to legalize the recreational use
of marijuana, for quantities of 3
ounces or less, for adults 21 and old
er. If the measure passes in Novem
ber and again in November 2004 as
required for amendments to the state
constitution, Nevada also would tax
marijuana and establish a system for
distributing the drug.
Last week, the state’s largest law
enforcement group, the Nevada
Conference of Police and Sheriffs,
endorsed the initiative, saying de
criminalizing marijuana would free
officers to concentrate more on
“life-threatening and serious inci
dents.” But Friday, the group re
versed the endorsement and fired
its president, Andy Anderson, cit
ing a “misunderstanding.”
“What this does is allow re
spectable people to use marijuana
in their homes and bans it every
place else,” said Billy Rogers,
spokesman for Nevadans for Re
sponsible Law Enforcement, the
measure’s sponsor.
“This will allow law enforce
ment to concentrate on more seri
ous criminals: terrorists, rapists,
murderers,” Rogers said.
“We want equal rights with peo
ple who use alcohol and tobacco,”
said Mikki Morris, director of the
Northern California-based Cannabis
Consumers Campaign.
Most states have lowered marijua
na possession charges from a felony,
punishable by a mandatory prison
sentence, to a misdemeanor or a fin
able offense. Yet in 2000, some
743,000 people nationwide were
imprisoned for marijuana posses
sion, the highest number ever.
No organized effort has yet
formed in Nevada to oppose the
measure. But the initiative is facing
harsh criticism from the federal
government.
“This is the wrong message to
send, the wrong program for Neva
da,” said DEA spokesman Will
Glaspy. “We will respond to this in
a way similar to the approach used
for the cannabis buyers clubs. This
is still against federal law.”
Other opponents say the Nevada
measure is a well-orchestrated,
well-financed attempt by propo
nents to achieve the eventual legal
ization of all drugs.
Robert Maginnis, vice president
for policy at the Family Research
Council, asserts that arguments
about compassionate use of med
ical marijuana are merely a smoke
screen by proponents who want to
liberalize laws to allow recreational
use of pot.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re
not comparing age-old memories of
Woodstock with what’s going on to
day,” Maginnis said.
“Today’s cannabis is much more
potent,” he said. According to the
DEA, the level of THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana, has risen
to 7 percent from less than 1 per
cent in 1974. “You’ll get addicted
much faster.”
Along with the quality, the price of
marijuana varies widely across the
country — from $400 to $5,000 a
pound. The Nevada initiative would
require the state to establish a price, a
tax structure and distribution system
for marijuana. The issues of quality
and purity aren’t addressed, but that
is something that the state most like
ly would have to consider.
“We spell out that it couldn’t be
sold in places that allow gaming ...
and that the establishments would
have to go through a licensing
process,” said Rogers of the initia
tive campaign.
“What (the distribution system)
would look like is impossible to say. ”
©2002, Chicago Tribune.
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