The New York Times - USA (2020-07-04)

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONALSATURDAY, JULY 4, 2020 N A

ing” of Mr. Duterte’s critics, as

well as Filipinos who speak out

against his government.

Human Rights Watch ex-

pressed particular concern with

provisions that permit warrant-

less arrests and allow people to be

kept for weeks in solitary deten-

tion, elements that Mr. Robertson

said could facilitate torture.

Earlier this week, Michelle

MANILA — President Rodrigo
Duterte signed a contentious anti-
terrorism bill Friday aimed at
combating Islamic militancy in
the south, a measure that critics
warned could lead to more wide-
spread human rights abuses.
Muslims living in the southern
Philippines have spoken out
against the legislation to broaden
powers of arrest and detention.
On Friday, a regional government
in the southern island of Min-
danao that includes former sepa-
ratist rebels urged Mr. Duterte’s
government not to go through
with the measure.
The law allows for terrorism
suspects to be detained without a
warrant, prolongs the amount of
time that they can be detained
without being charged in court
and removes a requirement that
the police present suspects before
a judge to assess whether they
have been subjected to physical or
mental torture.
Rights groups and activists say
the law is designed to give Mr.
Duterte’s police and military
forces more powers to stifle dis-
sent against his populist rule amid
his war on drugs, which has killed
thousands of people.
Mr. Duterte’s spokesman,
Harry Roque, said the law was
necessary to crack down on ter-
rorism. “Terrorism, as we often
said, strikes anytime and any-
where,” Mr. Roque said. “It is a
crime against the people and hu-
manity. Thus, the fight against ter-
rorism requires a comprehensive
approach.”
He stressed that terrorist acts

in the Philippines had long

“caused unimaginable grief and

horror,” and added that the presi-

dent and his legal team had care-

fully reviewed the legislation be-

fore he signed it into law.

The law was signed days after

the police and military forces

killed four people believed to be

Filipino militants linked to the Is-

lamic State during a raid in Ma-

nila.

The militants were suspected of

working as financial conduits for

the local branch of the Islamic

State, according to the military.

Officials said they were working

with Mundi Sawadjaan, one of the

accused plotters behind the Janu-

ary 2019 bombing of a Catholic ca-

thedral on the southern island of

Jolo that killed 23 people.

The attack was carried out by

an Indonesian couple wearing sui-

cide vests. They were believed to

have been directed by Hatib Ha-

jan Sawadjaan, the leader of the

Islamic State in the Philippines

and Mundi Sawadjaan’s relative.

On Friday, Edre Olalia, of the

National Union of Peoples’ Law-

yers, said the group would chal-

lenge the “draconian law.”

“This without a doubt is the

most unpopular and perilous

piece of legislation that could ever

be pushed by a government that is

fixated with the potion of power,”

said Mr. Olalia, whose group rep-

resents activist and indigent

groups.

Human Rights Watch said the

law gave security forces the

power to arrest activists, journal-

ists and social media users by sim-

ply saying that they are suspected

of terrorist activities.

“The law threatens to signifi-

cantly worsen the human rights

situation in the Philippines, which

has nose-dived since the cata-

strophic war on drugs began four

years ago,” said Phil Robertson,

deputy Asia director for the

group.

He said the law gave the green

light for the “systematic target-

Bachelet, the United Nations high

commissioner for human rights,

released a report that attributed

thousands of “systematic” killings

that were done with “near-total

impunity” to Mr. Duterte’s war on

drugs.

“The campaign against illegal

drugs is being carried out without

due regard for the rule of law, due

process, and the human rights of

people who may be using or sell-

ing drugs,” she said.

Ms. Bachelet cited “an unwill-

ingness by the state to hold to ac-

count perpetrators of extrajudi-

cial killings,” and had urged Mr.

Duterte not to sign the antiterror-

ism bill, which she said blurred

distinctions between what is criti-

cism of the government and what

is terrorism.

A protest against an antiterror bill last month near Manila, in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the bill on Friday.

EZRA ACAYAN/GETTY IMAGES

Duterte Antiterror Law

Draws Ire of Activists

By JASON GUTIERREZ

ISTANBUL — Turkey opened a
trial into the death of the Saudi
columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Is-
tanbul on Friday, accusing 20
Saudi citizens in absentia, in a
case that friends and human
rights officials welcomed as an
important step in advancing the
search for justice in his killing.
None of the accused were
present for the trial — Saudi Ara-
bia has declined to extradite them
— and it was unclear whether the
court could legally pursue the
case without defendants.
Nonetheless, the start of the
proceedings was seen as a sign
that Turkey and its president, Re-
cep Tayyip Erdogan — who per-
sonally knew Mr. Khashoggi and
was outraged that the killing took
place in Istanbul — are deter-
mined to pursue those responsible
and even implicate the Saudi king-
dom’s day-to-day ruler, Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Mr. Khashoggi was killed when
he visited the Saudi Consulate in
Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, to obtain
papers that would allow him to
marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice
Cengiz. He never emerged from
the meeting. His body was dis-
membered, and his remains have
never been found.
Mr. Khashoggi, 59, a Saudi dissi-
dent, fled the kingdom and wrote
columns for The Washington Post
that were critical of his country’s
leadership. His killing under-
mined the image of Prince Mo-
hammed as a young ruler working
to open up the kingdom’s economy
and society.
The Saudi government has
prosecuted 11 men for carrying
out the killing, and sentenced five
of them to death in December, but
did not find any senior officials re-
sponsible. The Turkish indictment
accuses 18 men of carrying out
murder with monstrous intent
and inflicting grave torment.
Two others, both close aides to
Prince Mohammed — Ahmed al-
Asiri, the former deputy head of
Saudi general intelligence; and
Saud al-Qahtani, a former adviser
to the crown prince — were in-
dicted on incitement to murder
with monstrous intent and inflict-
ing grave torment.
Ms. Cengiz described in testi-
mony to the court how she first re-

alized something was wrong as

she waited for Mr. Khashoggi out-

side the consulate.

“Someone of 25 to 30 years old

came out,” she said, according to

Turkish reporters who were in-

side the court. “He had an anxiety-

inducing, fearful facial expres-

sion.”

“He said ‘I checked the rooms,

there’s nobody,’ but he couldn’t

look at my face,” she added. “At

that moment, I experienced a fear

I had never experienced before in

my life. It wasn’t only fear, it was

horror.”

She named a consulate employ-

ee called Ekrem Sultan as the per-

son who had called Mr. Khashoggi

to attend a meeting on Oct. 2.

“They summoned him with great

betrayal and trickery,” she said.

“When they killed Jamal, they

hurt something very big,” she con-

cluded. “They hurt the image of

Islam and justice.”

Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Mr.

Erdogan and close friend of Mr.

Khashoggi, described how Mr.

Khashoggi’s criticism of Prince

Mohammed and his policies, in

particular his prosecution of the

war in Yemen and boycott of Qa-

tar, had forced him to flee Saudi

Arabia.

Mr. Khashoggi’s role as the

head of advocacy group Democra-

cy for the Arab World Now irritat-

ed the Saudi leadership still fur-

ther, Mr. Aktay said. “The activi-

ties of the association made the

government of Saudi Arabia an-

gry,” he noted. “To them, democra-

cy is like a curse.”

Mr. Aktay said that Mr. al-Qah-

tani had communicated with Mr.

Khashoggi on WhatsApp and told

him that he needed to stop talking

and return to Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Aktay said he had advised

his friend not to go to the Oct. 2

meeting at the Saudi Consulate. “I

said it might be a trap, but he did

not take my warning seriously,” he

said.

Seven other Turkish witnesses

who worked at the consulate also

took the stand on Friday. Several

workers said they were ordered

not to go to the consul’s residence,

a building down the street from

the consulate, that day.

Zeki Demir, a technician, said

he was called to the consul’s resi-

dence at 2 p.m. on Oct. 2 to light

the gas oven in the garden used

for barbecues. “There was an air

of panic,” he said. “It was as if they

wanted me to leave as soon as pos-

sible. I left after lighting the oven.”

Turkish lawyers representing

the defendants said that they had

not been able to reach them for

consultations, but they said that

their clients denied the claims.

The board of judges announced

that the next hearing would be

held Nov. 24.

The Turkish trial offers the clos-

est chance for justice available in

the Khashoggi killing, said Agnès

Callamard, the United Nations

special rapporteur on extrajudi-

cial killings, who arrived in Istan-

bul on Thursday to attend.

“It is going to give a different

meaning and a more rigorous ap-

proach to the murder of Jamal

Khashoggi, which is what we

should expect from a trial,” she

said on the eve of the proceedings.

Despite Turkey’s recent reputa-

tion for poor application of judicial

standards — critics have cited the

justice system’s lack of independ-

ence and the abuse of defendants’

rights — Ms. Callamard said she

hoped the proceedings would re-

veal more about the chain of com-

mand in the killing.

Ms. Callamard concluded after

a five-month investigation that

Mr. Khashoggi’s death had been

carefully planned and endorsed

by high-level Saudi officials. C.I.A.

officials have concluded Prince

Mohammed ordered the killing.

Ms. Callamard said she hoped

the trial would reveal what inves-

tigators had found in Mr.

Khashoggi’s cellphone and com-

puter, and whether the devices

had been hacked which could indi-

cate intent to do him harm.

She said the proceedings had a

broader significance.

“It is important also for the rest

of the world — we have to keep in-

sisting that no one can kill a jour-

nalist and get away with it lightly,”

she said. “We need to keep insist-

ing that he pays a price,” she add-

ed of Prince Mohammed.

The Turkish indictment alleges

that Mr. Khashoggi was “consid-

ered by Saudi officials and au-

thorities as a threat against the

government of Saudi Arabia, be-

cause of his articles, speeches in

the meetings and conferences he

joined, and his dissident acts for

the change of the government.”

The intention of the Saudi authori-

ties was to bring him back to the

kingdom and if he did not agree, to

kill him, the indictment states.

On issuing the indictment in

March, the Istanbul prosecutor

said in a statement that it was

based on evidence from cellphone

location records of the accused,

records of their entry and exit

from Turkey, and their presence at

the consulate. Evidence was also

drawn from searches of their hotel

rooms, the consulate and the con-

sul’s residence; from Mr.

Khashoggi’s cellphone, laptop and

iPad; and from witness state-

ments, the statement added.

The indictment names 54 wit-

nesses, including 26 Turkish

members of staff of the consulate

and the consul’s residence, among

them drivers, clerks, translators,

cooks, cleaners and a tea server.

Mr. Erdogan is pursuing a

proxy war on several political and

regional levels with the Saudi

crown prince — although he has

made a point of showing respect to

the Saudi king — and will be seek-

ing a verdict that damages his ri-

val, said Soner Cagaptay, the di-

rector of the Turkish Research

Program at the Washington Insti-

tute for Near East Policy.

“He is going to use the trial to

embarrass the crown prince by

reaching a very different set of

conclusions,” Mr. Cagaptay said,

“and also having his own verdict

so that the case does not end with

the Saudi verdict.”

Turkey Opens Trial of 20 Saudis in Absentia in Writer’s Killing and Dismemberment

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of Jamal Kashoggi, testified Friday about realizing something was

wrong as she waited for him outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. He never emerged.

EMRAH GUREL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By CARLOTTA GALL

Supporters of a slain

journalist hope for a

chance at justice.

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