Seeking justice in Morocco
Wednesday, 27 Feb 2008 16:57
Abou El Kassim Britel is still in jail
Abou El Kassim Britel is in trouble. This Italian national has been jailed for nine years in Morocco for forming an illegal group, a crime his defenders say he should not have been convicted of. Mr Britel denies any wrongdoing. But, since his passport was rejected six years ago in Pakistan, he has been tortured, beaten up and deprived of sleep. Mr Britel cracked and made "false admissions under pressure", his backers say. He is now on hunger strike in a Moroccan jail, having been detained for nearly six years.
The person
Catherine Wolthuizen is doing her best to help him. She is the chief executive of Fair Trials International (FTI), an organisation based in London which seeks to help cases like Mr Britel's. FTI currently helps around 300 people who are struggling against a perceived miscarriage of justice – or impending miscarriage of justice – in criminal trial processes around the world.
"[Mr Britel's] case demonstrates the very serious sorts of breaches of fair trial rights that some of our clients experience. And also the very real difficulties of having those breaches addressed in a cross-border context," she said.
"It's a question of keeping up the pressure on governments so they who are in a position to do something about it can exert pressure."
"An unsafe conviction"
The Italian government had begun proceedings of its own against Mr Britel but dropped them last year when the judge ruled a lack of evidence which would stand up in a trial. After pestering from FTI, the Italian government guaranteed "maximum effort" towards seeing Mr Britel released.
He remains in prison, however, which raises questions about the usefulness of FTI's campaigns. Does its work really make a difference? As with so many people working in international affairs, Ms Wolthuizen acknowledges it's difficult to tell. But she insists the evidence suggests FTI is helping.
"It's often hard to know, because you don't run a trial twice," she admits.
"But we can look at cases on the degree to which we provide assistance and how that's reflected in both verdict and sentencing.
"Without our intervention it's most likely this person wouldn't have had the more favourable outcome that they did."
Creating hope
Fighting for the individual against seemingly monolithic states can seem like a tough challenge. But FTI remains politically neutral, as it only seeks to hold governments accountable to international legal standards they have signed up to. Persuading them they're in the wrong can be "taxing", Ms Wolthuizen admits.
"Some of our cases are very distressing. When one looks at both the circumstances in which someone is held or the flimsy or non-existent basis for their conviction it is undeniably distressing to see and emotionally difficult," she explains.
"We need to overcome that to focus on the fact that we do have success, we are able to overturn convictions and bring people home. And every time we do that it brings hope to people who we're supporting."
Pushing for change
FTI began in 1992 when its founder, Stephen Jacobi, found himself swamped with demand for representation in numerous cases overseas. Its casework expanded rapidly but it soon became clear more could be done.
As a result FTI started investing in wider campaign work. It lobbies and produces advocacy and research to make sure its issues are addressed on the global stage.
"Raising those issues, getting into the debate and bringing attention to the concerns that we might have, and drawing on our unique position of conducting casework to bring in real-life examples of the kinds of problems we think some proposals might raise – we believe those can make a difference," Ms Wolthuizen says.
Whether it's drawing public attention to a specific case, or pressuring whichever agency or body can make a difference in alleviating an individual's particular difficulties, her organisation does whatever it can.
Alex Stevenson
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