A delegation from the human rights group Amnesty Interna-tional expressed concern on Thursday about "serious problems" in Haiti's police force and justice system as the team ended a visit after more than a month of sporadic violence.
The delegation cited reports of summary executions by police, beatings by police and illegal arrests. Scores of people have been killed in recent violence pitting police against armed supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
"There are serious problems in the functioning of ... justice in particular and the functioning of the police in general," the delegation said in a statement, concluding an 18-day visit.
The group urged the interim government to create an independent commission to investigate executions carried out by men in black uniforms and masks.
Residents in one Port-au-Prince slum reported 13 killed on Oct. 26 by men who appeared to be police. Residents elsewhere said four young men were slain on Oct. 28 by men in black uniforms who used a police vehicle.
Police denied involvement, and Justice Minister Bernard Gousse ordered an investigation to determine whether rogue officers were involved.
Gousse said on Thursday he was "very adamant" that just as with fighting crime, "with the same strength I will fight human rights abuses."
Amnesty criticized the government's choice of putting a public prosecutor in charge of the investigation. Gousse defended it as standard procedure in a murder investigation.
At least 86 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince since Sept. 30, including a bus driver and a 1-year-old girl shot and killed by unidentified gunman at an intersection on Wednesday night, said a local doctor.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
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