TADHAMUN تـضـامـن

Tadhamun (solidarity) is an Iraqi women organization, standing by Iraqi women's struggle against sectarian politics in Iraq. Fighting for equal citizenship across ethnicities and religions, for human rights, and gender equality.

جمعية تضامن تدعم المساواة في المواطنة بغض النظر عن الأنتماء الأثني أو الديني وتسعى من أجل العدالة الأجتماعية و حماية حقوق الأنسان في العراق

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The day I tried to arrest Tony Blair

Wednesday 24 March 2010 19.00 GMT

Is it possible to perform a citizen's arrest for war crimes on the former prime minister for war crimes? One man decided to find out . . .

It was only when I saw the glow from Tony Blair's tan that I knew I couldn't chicken out. I'd hatched a vague plan the previous day to place the former prime minister under citizen's arrest, during his scheduled visit to the European Parliament – but wasn't certain I would have the guts to go through with it.

But with Blair just a few metres away from me, I walked up to him and placed a hand on his right arm. "Mr Blair, this is a citizen's arrest," I said. For a millisecond, he looked at me with an expression that seemed to blend puzzlement and contempt.

I had intended to invite him to accompany me to the nearest police station, but was abruptly shoved out of the way by at least one of his bodyguards. "You are guilty of war crimes," I shouted at his back, as he made his way towards a meeting room.

My attempt was inspired by the Arrest Blair campaign that George Monbiot, the environmental activist and Guardian columnist, has set up. As mine was the second attempt since he launched the initiative, many well-wishers have expressed a hope it will be third time lucky.

I'm no expert on the legal issues surrounding citizen's arrests, but I did know a precedent had been set by Peter Tatchell when he tried to apprehend Robert Mugabe, also in Brussels, in 2001.

Britain and Belgium have both ratified the Rome statute, which entered into force in 2002. This accord, which covers the activities of the International Criminal Court, refers to the crime of aggression. In my view, the war that Blair and George Bush declared against Iraq just over seven years ago was demonstrably not an act of self-defence. Yet, so far, the ICC has only issued indictments against Africans – why should international justice not apply to white men such as Blair and Bush?

I also wished to highlight the obscenity of Blair's role as a "peace envoy" in the Middle East. Last year, I visited the house of Maher Hanoun and his family in East Jerusalem – who were later evicted by an Israeli settler company, Nahalat Shimon. Blair has an office in the nearby American Colony hotel, yet said nothing. How can he be trusted to bring peace?

Petition sign and circulate:

Release Iraqi women hostages, victims of terrorism themselves

بعيدا عن الوطن؛ حراك التضامن مع الوطن فنا، شعرا وكتابةً
Away from Home; Memory, Art and women solidarity: you are invited to an evening of poetry and music 22/3/2017 18:30 at P21 Gallery London click here for more details
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Public meeting at The Bolivar Hall, London Sat.14/5/2016 at 15:00 IDPs : Fragmentation of Cultural and National Identity



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Protest the suffering of Iraqi Christians: No to terrorism No to state terrorism.Hands off our minorities. Hands off our people. Shame on the human rights violators on all sides. Assemble 11:30 on 28/7/14 near Parliament Square, near Westminister tube station London. For more past events click here

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Useful links






Halt All Executions! Abolish The Death Penalty!

We women of Tadhamun condemn the persisting practice of arbitrary arrests by the Iraqi security forces. We condemn their arrests of women in lieu of their men folk. These are 'inherited' practices. We are alarmed by credible media reports of the Green Zone government’s intentions of executing hundreds of Iraqi men and women.


For more info click here
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Professor Zaineb Al Bahrani of Columbia University NY speaking at a our meeting on the destruction/damage to historical sites in Iraq

On youtube: Part1
Part 3
Part4
One more video:



Human Rights Watch: No woman is Safe

Disclaimer

Articles published on this site do not necessarily reflect the opinion of WSIUI or its members


المقالات المنشورة على هذا الموقع لا تعكس بالضرورة آراء منظمتنا أو أعضاء منظمتنا


Samarra Minrate built in 852 AD

Samarra Minrate built in 852 AD
Building of 1 500 massive police station !
From the angle of the photo, it is possible to calculate that the complex is being built at E 396388 N 3785995 (UTM Zone 38 North) or Lat. 34.209760° Long. 43.875325°, to the west of the Malwiya (Spiral Minaret), and behind the Spiral Cafe.
While the point itself may not have more than Abbasid houses under the ground, it is adjacent to the palace of Sur Isa, the remains of which can be seen in the photo. While the initial construction might or might not touch the palace, accompanying activities will certainly spread over it.Sur Isa can be identified with the palace of al-Burj, built by the
Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil, probably in 852-3 (Northedge, Historical Topography of Samarra, pp 125-127, 240). The palace is said to have cost 33 million dirhams, and was luxurious. Details are given by al-Shabushti, Kitab al-Diyarat.
Samarra was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO at the end of June. The barracks could easily have been built elsewhere, off the archaeological site.--
Alastair Northedge Professeur d'Art et d'Archeologie Islamiques UFR d'Art et d'Archeologie
Universite de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) 3, rue Michelet, 75006 Paris
tel. 01 53 73 71 08 telecopie : 01 53 73 71 13 Email :
Alastair.Northedge@univ-paris1.fr ou anorthedge@wanadoo.fr