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25865: Boswell: (reply) Re: 25852: Dailey (reply) re #25288: Professor Boswell , the People's Weekly World and Yvon Neptune (fwd)





From: Richard Boswell <boswellr@pacbell.net>

I won't respond to all of the points mentioned in Mr. Dailey's comments -- several are worth mentioning.

1) The fact that a country is and has been engaged in violations of the law in the past do not in my mind justify its continued abuse. The point of my involvement in this case with our law students was that we saw an injustice. The fact that there was an injustice in this instance does not mean that there were no other injustices in other cases. Indeed, I am familiar with the condition of Haitians being returned to that country under the Aristide government and we (with our students) raised questions about their abuse at the time. I suspect that Mr. Dailey is responding to how he feels about Yvonne Neptune the political figure, than Yvonne Neptune the human being. Obviously Mr. Neptune is not the only one facing long term and indefinite detention in Haiti -- but if the Haitian authorities will do this to someone who is able to capture international attention, imagine what they are doing to lesser know individuals.

2) The point of the case involving Mr. Neptune was to violate the violation of law -- international as well as domestic. It is an argument, that is kind of like a common American expression which goes like this "shit or get off the pot." If a prosecutor (or in this case a judge is unable to bring charges) those charges should be dropped. I'm sorry, but even Haitian law does not contemplate that the government should be able to go around arresting everyone in sight and then wait a few years to see whether a case can be made. To Mr. Dailey, imagine yourself on the receiving end of such a regime. I along with my students believe strongly that we are trying to help make the system work by using the law, and arguing for its application. You will notice that in our case presented to the Human Rights Commission we argued the law, not politics.


I will not bother to respond to the personal attacks against Mr. Neptune's character.