Category: Politics

Clemency Board invites prisoners to apply

The Clemency Board has begun its work today and the President’s Office has started sending out forms for prisoners to apply for clemency under the new Clemency Law.

The law was passed by Parliament on their last session of 2009. It gives President Mohamed Nasheed the power to grant pardons and commute sentences for prisoners.

It also allows the president to reduce sentences, as well as grant life sentences where death sentences had been previously issued.

The Bill specifies crimes that will not be eligible for pardon, such as murder, terrorism, sexual abuse of children, rape, drug trafficking, offences against Islam, and homosexuality.

According to the government, the Bill is meant to help those prisoners who did not get a fair trial, were wrongfully convicted or were convicted solely on the basis of extracted confessions.

Prisoners must pass two requirements to apply for clemency. They must show they have exhausted all other avenues of appeal, and must have completed at least one third of their original sentence.

It had been previously reported that criminal records of those convicted under the old Constitution would be wiped clean if they were pardoned, but Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said that was not the case.

“There are many provisions for such matters as criminal offences and criminal records, but their records would not be wiped clean.”

“We began issuing forms today to multiple centres around Malé and they are also being sent to Island Offices,” Zuhair said.

He believes implementing the Clemency Board is a good move for the government, as “there are many pending appeals” from prisoners. “There are nearly 2,000 prisoners in the country right now,” Zuhair said.

He added that although “outrage and accusations” about the reasons for the implementation of the board will probably come, “the president is very clear on this issue and has been working on it for a long time.”

On 9 March 2010 President Nasheed appointed the members of the Clemency Board, who are to advise the president regarding the release of prisoners or commuting of sentences.

The Board is chaired by Attorney General Husnu Suood. The other members are Mariyam Suzee Adam (social sector), Nazil Afeef (legal sector), Shifa Mohamed (education sector), Dr Ahmed Razee (health sector), Sh. Mohamed Farooq (religious scholar), Maizaan Ali Maniku (civil society), Ahmed Adil (Parole Board), Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Sodiq, Ahmed Mahloof (legislature) and Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem.

President of the Board Husnu Suood said this law has been passed in accordance with the Constitution and believed the government “has moved a step forward.”

“Under the Constitution there is clemency, and there must be a provision for the president to implement this.”

Suood said under the previous Constitution this power was not implemented often, and when it was, it was usually abused.

“This will not be exercised as a political tool,” Suood assured.

He also hoped people would not see it as the government ‘releasing’ criminals, as there were established criteria under which the law can be applied.

Suood explained the president cannot give pardons for the seven specified categories but he can commute death sentences to life imprisonment.

Deputy PG Hussain Shameem said he thinks the board is a good start, but will “only work with other support systems, such as psychological and social services and a proper prison system.”

Shameem said the Clemency Law is “very tricky, the way it’s drafted,” as it “gives a lot of loopholes.”

For instance, Shameem said, the president can make the ultimate decision on pardons regarding the seven categories which are technically not eligible for pardon.

“There are some contradictions,” he said, but he believes people have to “take it positively.”

Before the Clemency Law, he said “many prisoners did not see the end of the tunnel.”

Under the new law, he believes “if prisoners have faith in the system, and they know they could get out early on good behaviour, they will behave.”

He said the law was open to anyone who had successfully completed one third of their sentence, excluding those convicted for the seven specified crimes.

Shameem added he did not believe “there are people who were wrongfully convicted” in the prison system.

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Parliament paralysed by punch-up pandemonium

Parliament was cancelled today by Speaker Abdulla Shahid, after DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf reportedly approached MDP MP Alhan Fahmy, tapped him on the shoulder and informed him he was sitting in a DRP seat.

MPs from the major parties leapt to the defence of their respective party members, and the chamber quickly degenerated into a brawl.

Fahmy recently switched to the MDP from the DRP after being suspended from the DRP for voting against the party on the issue of a no-confidence motion against foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed. Mahlouf was particularly vocal regarding Fahmy’s decision to cross the floor, at one stage describing the MP for Seenu Feydhoo as a “political prostitute”.

After the battle, MPs were displaying their injuries to journalists outside parliament.

“They tried to attack us by force, try to create fear in the chamber. We are not afraid of them,” said DRP MP Ali Waheed, sporting a bandaged wrist. He would not say who attacked him, but said “everyone came after me because I am the tallest MP around.”

Mahlouf, he claimed, was punched in the lips.

“We are ready to fight back. As deputy leader of the party, my duty is to defend my party members,” Waheed said.

Staff at ADK hospital confirmed that MDP MP Shifaq Mufeed had been discharged after he was allegedly punched in the eye. Waheed, however, maintained that Mufeed’s injury was the product of make-up applied by MDP parliamentary group leader ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, a former movie star.

“We have a video of him without any damage before he went into the office of the MDP parliamentary group leader,” Waheed said, “and with a lot of injuries to his face afterwards. Reeko is a former movie star, and I congratulate him on the high quality of his make-up skills.”

Neither Fahmy or Mahlouf were responding to calls at time of press.

Stop the session

The chamber erupted during a debate on the report submitted by parliamentary finance committee calling for the dismissal of the Auditor General over charges of corruption.

The charges were made in a letter sent to the committee by former Anti-Corruption Commission member Hassan Luthfy.

“[MDP] disrupts parliament if there is anything not to their pleasure,” said Ahmed Nazim, deputy speaker and chairman of the finance committee.

“This will bring parliament to a total standstill, because the DRP will not back down on this one, and we cannot submit another committee report until we have concluded this one because they go in sequence.”

Mahlouf’s behaviour towards Fahmy “was probably uncalled for”, he said, “but the MDP members were protesting and not allowing anyone to talk. Mahlouf went up and told him he was talking from ‘one of our seats’.”

Nazim is himself no stranger to charges of corruption, recently pleading not guilty when charged with conspiracy to defraud the former ministry of atolls development.

At a press conference in August last year, Chief Inspector Ismail Atheef said police had uncovered evidence implicated the former Atolls Minister Abdullah Hameed, Eydhafushi MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem, former director of finance at the ministry, and Nazim in fraudulent transactions worth over US$260,000 (Mf 3,446,950).

Meanwhile, Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem told the press on Sunday that the charges against him, which have now been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s office, were “made by people attempting to harm [my] office because we are trying to bring all the [stolen] money back into the country.”

However Nazim said the committee’s four members were unanimous that the Auditor General was guilty and called for his dismissal.

MDP MP Ahmed Easa said the party’s concern was not the corruption case against the Auditor General, “but a procedural issue.”

“Nazim did not get the approval of the committee,” he said, claiming that key MDP members of the committee received text messages from parliamentary staff informing them that the meeting at which the findings of the sub-committee was discussed had been cancelled.

“Staff are informed by the chairman,” he said.

At today’s sitting, Hinnavaru MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said the committee had not “completed the process” in compiling its report.

Solih said the letter from Luthfy in June last year was never officially entered in the Majlis records and parts of its annex were missing when the committee first set down to deliberate.

Moreover, said Solih, when the committee later decided to summon the Auditor General and members of the Anti-Corruption Commission, DRP MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem withdrew his motion to recommend a no-confidence vote.

Nazim however claimed that the report had been submitted according to new rules of procedure, and that MDP’s response was a cynical attempt to disrupt the chamber so no vote could be taken.

The situation is unlikely to unravel soon, and already text messages calling for rallies and protests have begun circulating. Groups of MDP activists engaged in a running protest this afternoon around parliament, pursued by police, scenes likely to continue as parliament tries to resolve its deadlock tomorrow.

“It was sad to see such pictures in parliament,” noted Ali Waheed. “But we are ready to get dirty if that is what it takes to clear this mess.”

Web of corruption: the story so far

At a DRP rally last night, MP Ahmed Nihan pledged that the Auditor General would be removed from his post and would have to “pack his belongings” before 2.30pm.

Meanwhile, at an MDP rally, ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik called on party members to protest outside independent commissions to demand action against senior officials of the former regime accused of corruption, gross misappropriation and embezzlement.

He added it would take months to summon all complicit to court as they included the former president’s family, in-laws and associates.

“It would take more than 48 hours to read the verdict against even one of them because of all their theft,” he said.

The debate over the past two sittings proceeded intermittently as MDP MPs continually raised points of order claiming procedural violations and irregularities in the compilation of the report.

However, the Speaker ruled that as the case had not yet reached court, he had to table the report in the agenda.

Maafanu West MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem, who originally proposed the motion of no-confidence, accused MDP MPs of trying to “sabotage” the sitting and prevent the vote.

Presenting the report yesterday, Nazim said a sub-committee was formed to investigate the allegations against the Auditor General in a letter sent by former ACC member Hassan Luthfy.

The committee confirmed that the allegations in the letter were based on a report compiled by the ACC in June 2009 after reviewing financial records and documents at the Auditor General’s Office, he said.

There were four main allegations against Naeem: forging receipts to show that he paid for a trip to Baa atoll Thulhaadhoo; using office credit cards for personal purchases; purchasing health insurance through the office although it was included in his salary; and creating a “slush fund” of Rf6 million from the office budget for personal expenses.

After the subcommittee submitted its findings, Nazim continued, two motions were forwarded.

While MDP MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih proposed summoning the auditor general, DRP MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem proposed a motion that the committee should recommend a vote of no-confidence.

Article 218 of the constitution states the Auditor General can be removed on the grounds of misconduct, incapacity or incompetence if “a finding to that effect by a committee of the People’s Majlis […] and upon the approval of such finding by the People’s Majlis by a majority of those present and voting.”

Although Raheem later withdrew his motion, Nazim said it was done after the committee voted to pass it.

“Therefore, Abdullah Abdul Raheem’s claim that he took it back is a definite falsehood. It is misleading. It is being done by people who don’t want this to go ahead and wants to keep the auditor general in his post,” said Nazim.

Nazim was shouted down by MDP MPs who raised points of order, left their seats and engaged in acrimonious arguments with opposition MPs.

Nazim said Naeem wrote to the Bank of Maldives himself to get a Visa Credit Card and an American Express Credit Card, both with credit limits of US$10,000.

Although Naeem himself wrote the offices’ operating manual, said Nazim, the auditor general used both cards for personal use without reimbursing the office 14 months after the expenses.

The subcommittee found that Naeem spent Rf91,000 from the Visa Card and Rf422,000 from the American Express Card.

Further, Nazim said Naeem transferred Rf6 million from the office account at the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to a BML account for personal use.

But, he added, the finance committee had ordered the account to be closed when it finalized the state budget for 2010.

Naeem’s actions were in violation of several provisions of the state’s finance and asset regulations, he said.

Further, the ACC had noted that a Sony VIAO laptop Naeem purchased in Singapore was paid for by the office and import duties were not paid.

Nazim concluded by proposing the motion approved by the committee to call a vote of no-confidence.

In the ensuing debate, MDP MPs said the report was intended to discredit Naeem and the audit reports he issued that alleged rampant corruption under the former government.

DRP MP Ahmed Nihan meanwhile observed that Naeem showed up first in Google searches for “corrupt auditor general”.

Naeem was nominated by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and approved by a DRP-dominated Majlis.

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Parliament accepts drug bill

Parliament yesterday accepted a drug bill that will lead to greater sophistication in the country’s treatment of drug crimes.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair explained the bill would dramatically affect many drug cases, distinguishing between ‘soft drugs’ and ‘hard drugs’. and detailing punishments for dealers and users.

“[It proposes] a special court for drug cases,” he said, noting that the government discussed the bill with the Islamic Ministry before presenting to the parliament.

Maldivian Democratic Party MDP MP Ahmed Easa said the bill was “remarkable” and that the government deserved to be praised.

”The bill was designed based on the experience the country has had during the past years, after discussion with concerned departments and NGOs,” Easa said.

One of the most significant points in the bill, Easa said, was the protection for witnesses to drug cases.

Easa also said that while the bill included rehabilitation for drug abusers, “the punishment for dealers is very strict.”

”There would be a Rf50000 (US$3850) to Rf5000000 (US$385,000) fine and a prison sentence of 5-15 years, as well as confiscation of the offender’s properties by the government.”

He said according to the bill a drug court would be built where all the drug cases would be heard, “with a special team appointed to identify drugs and their level.”

He said if the bill was approved, “all the doors for drugs would be closed.”

DRP MP Waheed said there were amendments to be made to the drug bill, but said would not like to go into details at this time.

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Former Hill & Knowlton employee now working for government

A former employee of global public relations agency Hill & Knowlton, which was controversially contracted by the former government to improve its international image, continues to work for the government in its Geneva office.

In a previous interview with Minivan News, Independent MP and former Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed said the PR firm was hired to respond to the allegations of human rights abuses promulgated by the MDP.

He also said that while he believed it had whitewashed some of the activities of the former government, its primary agenda was to encourage the government to show a more democratic face.

The PR company was also criticised for editing the statements on the country’s wikipedia entry critical of the former government, after was caught in the act by data-mining tool Wikiscanner.

Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said there “might be one staff member [from Hill & Knowlton] in Geneva who was hired by the former government.”

“Cancelling the contract was more expensive than continuing it,” Zuhair explained.

He added that this person was probably still doing PR work for the government.

Minivan News contacted the Permanent Mission of the Maldives to the United Nations in Geneva and spoke to the man in question, Mark Limon.

Limon said he finished his work for H&K nine years ago, but could not give any details of his work with the firm or with the former Maldivian government due to contractual clauses.

“I am helping as a local employee [in the Geneva Mission],” Limon said. He added that the rumours of continued links with the PR firm were “absolutely not true. There are no links or contracts at all [between the Maldivian government and Hill & Knowlton].”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed Shaheed said the rumours of a Hill & Knowlton employee working for the current government were “total rubbish. There is no one from Hill & Knowlton [under the current government].”

He confirmed that Hill & Knowlton was hired by the former government in 2004 and stopped working for them in 2007, he said, noting that there were currently only two foreign nationals working in Maldivian Missions in Europe – one in Brussels and one in Geneva.

Shaheed dismissed rumours the foreign nationals were receiving an extravagant pay checks of up to ₤80,000 a year, saying that they were being paid “competitive rates, comparable to that of an ambassador.”

State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem said the MDP had been concerned about Hill & Knowlton’s work with the previous government, and the current government had no one from the firm working for them.

To claim otherwise was “a ridiculous suggestion”, he said.

“There are so many people inherited from the previous government. This doesn’t mean they work for Hill & Knowlton,” he said.

Mohamed Hussain ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, spokesman for the former president, confirmed that the former government had terminated its contract with the firm in 2007. Rumours that a Hill & Knowlton employee was still on the government payroll were incorrect, he said.

“The gentleman in Geneva is a former employee of Hill & Knowlton, but is now working for the government,” Mundhu said.

He said Limon “still has all the skills” from his time in Hill & Knowlton and had been “instrumental” in in setting up the Mission in Geneva.

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DRP reclaims top position in membership battle

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has again become the political party with the most number of members in the Maldives, after it was eclipsed by the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) last month.

Secretary General of the Elections Commission (EC) Ahmed Ali Didi has confirmed that as of yesterday the DRP’s membership stood at 32,539 while the Maldivian Democratic Party’s MDP’s membership stood at 30,848.

DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali told a party meeting yesterday that once the completed forms for DRP membership are submitted to the EC, the DRP’s membership could  rise as high as 37,000.

Didi explained that forms were received by the EC  every day from different parties, and they could only know how many of those were for DRP once they had screened everything. The results would then be published on the EC’s website, he said.

Didi added that sometimes the parties gave out a membership estimate depending on how many forms they have in their office waiting to be sent to the EC for screening.

DRP Spokesperson Ibrahim Shareef said DRP’s majority was “nothing new”, and said he thought it was “very likely” that the DRP would now maintain membership majority.

“MDP only had majority for a brief time,” he said, accusing the MDP were “forcing” members to change from DRP to MDP with promises of jobs.

“We don’t have the means to pressure members into signing with us,” Shareef said, noting that “many new members of DRP are signing on their own accord.”

MDP Spokesperson Ahmed Haleem said they “are not worried” about DRP’s current majority.

“I think after one month or so MDP will regain majority. There are a lot of forms in our office waiting to be processed.”

He said many DRP members were moving to other parties, “and in about one month they will have maybe 25,000 members.”

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PA claims senior government officials “are not very religious”

People’s Alliance (PA) Leader and MP Abdulla Yameen has claimed that the senior officials of the government are “not very religious”, during a rally to celebrate the day the Maldives embraced Islam.

Secretary General of the PA, Ahmed Shareef, also claimed the government was not interested in religion and had done “many things to weaken Islam in the country.”

”Last year during Ramadan the government allowed non-muslims to eat in day time,” Shareef said,”and they disbanded women’s mosques.”

He said the government had also dismissed many Imams from their position, “and gave away the land belonging to the Kulliyathu Dhiraasathul Islamiyya school,” he added, when it was brought under the Maldives College of Higher Education.

”They also discussed the building of temples in the country and selling alcohol on inhabited islands,” he said.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the claims were untrue.

”The government has done many things to strengthen and protect Islam in the country,” Zuhair said.

He said the government’s policy was to leave all the religious issues to Islamic scholars.

”As we are not religious scholars we always leave religious issues to the religious scholars,” he said, pointing to new freedoms given to scholars.

“Yameen is not a religious scholar,” he added.

Spokesperson for Maldivian Democratic Party MDP Ahmed Haleem said the government had always tried to protect Islam in the Maldives.

”It’s a fact that the government has never arrested a religious scholar, unlike the former government,” Haleem said.

Haleem claimed the former government arrested more than 20 religious scholars after their sermons.

”I never knew that Abdulla Yameen was so religious,” Haleem said. “Maybe in the future we will see him at the mosque with a long beard and short trousers.”

Sheikh Abdulla Jameel said in his view Islam in the Maldives “has become very strong”, particularly among young people “who are now very interested in Islam.”

”I have noted that the number of people going to the mosques has also raised,” he said.

He said he believed this had happening because the government’s efforts to promote the role of religion in people’s hearts.

”The new government allows scholars to give sermons as they wish,” he said.

President of Islamic NGO Jamiyyath-al-Salaf, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Ibrahim, said the group did not wish to comment on issue.

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ACC charges an attempt to stop recovery of stolen millions, says Auditor General

The Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem today responded to charges of corruption put against him by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), claiming the case was an attempt to discredit his office and prevent him from reclaiming the government’s money stored in overseas bank accounts.

The ACC has forwarded two cases concerning Naeem to the Prosecutor General’s Office, alleging that Naeem used an official credit card to purchase personal items and fund a private visit to the island of Thulhadhoo in Baa Atoll.

“A lot of the government’s money was taken through corrupt [means] and saved in the banks of England, Switzerland, Singapore and Malaysia,” Naeem claimed, during a terse press conference.

”There are houses and assets of the government saved in those countries,” he said, ”and there is the government’s money stored in personal accounts.”

The ACC’s cases against him were, he said, made by people “attempting to harm [my] office because we are trying to bring all this money back to the country.”

He pledged he would “bring all the money back within the year.”

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair observed that Naeem was being accused of defrauding the government of a “comparably negligible amount of money compared to the millions he’s exposing. It’s not surprising he has powerful enemies.”

The first allegation of making personal purchases was a mix-up between a personal and a corporate credit card, Zuhair claimed. “He bought a tie and later paid when he realised his mistake.”

The second claim, that Naeem had used government money to chartered a boat to Baa Atoll for person reasons, was met with scorn by the Auditor General.

“It was not a personal trip. Neither the parliament nor the president can decide whether my visits are official or personal,” he said.

Zuhair said he expected the Prosecutor General would now send the case to court where the Auditor General would most likely absolve himself of the charges.

“The fact that parliament is already considering a no-confidence motion probably amounts to legal double-jeopardy,” Zuhair noted.

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Pain and politics: Torture Victims Association inaugurated

The Torture Victims Association (TVA) held its inaugural meeting last night, following its founding in January 2010 by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem, Tourism Minister and human rights lawyer Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad, and Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

Naseem, who is president of the organisation, said the organisation’s purpose was to support torture victims and “prevent these types of things from happening again in Maldives.”

He said the organisation was founded “so there is a place [torture victims] can go and talk about what happened to them, and take some solace, get some comfort.”

“[Torture] happened a lot, openly,” said Naseem, who says he was himself a victim of torture.

“It happened under several governments… through government institutions. It wasn’t the exception, it was the norm here.”

A political thing

The TVA has come under scrutiny already for being an MDP-led NGO, of which President Nasheed has just become a member.

“It’s non-governmental, and it is not a political organisation,” Naseem insisted, “it is totally egalitarian.”

Torture through silence

“At the [inaugural] meeting, there were victims who were tortured as well as people who torturered through their silence,” Sawad said. “Through their silence, they condoned a culture of torture.”

The previous government has been accused of torture, but none of the accused have been taken to court.

The first step in bringing justice to victims of torture is, according to the TVA, gathering information and evidence.

“Gathering information is the very initial stage,” Naseem said. “We also need the support of the people of this country. It’s a traumatised society. Families have been traumatised.”

Creating a historical record of torture in the Maldives, and breaking the silence, are two major steps forward, claims the TVA.

“We are the only country in the world who doesn’t have a historical record regarding this,” Naseem noted. “In the Pol-Pot regime, in Nazi Germany, in Kosovo, they know how many people were killed. But here, we don’t know. We just see in the papers that some people have been lost. That’s it.”

Dr Sawad said the entire culture of torture “has been called a myth by powerful members of our community. But it happened. With that acknowledgement, we can focus on accountability.”

Kevin Laue, a lawyer with London-based human rights NGO Redress, is working with the TVA to seek justice for victims of torture.

“Finding out what happened is key…then we can decide what needs to be done,” said Laue.

Politics

Mohamed Hussain ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, spokesman for the former president, said there has been no formal response from Gayoom to the TVA’s allegations “because they are not an entity we recognise as being worthy of response.”

“Just look at who’s in charge. When the association starts with a name like Reeko Moosa, who hates Gayoom, there is very little reason to take them seriously.”

Mundhu said the TVA wanted people to believe it is was an NGO – impartial, free of government intervention and politically unbiased – but he said suggested that it had been formed as a “political ploy… to divert people’s attention from the failures of this government.”

When asked whether the number of politicians in the Association could be a liability for the impartiality of their work, Naseem answered, “what can you do?”

“All the people who participated in the human rights movement in the Maldives are now in government, so you can’t avoid it. Some went to jail, some people were brutalised and some people died. You can’t say it’s the government, we are human beings.”

Naseem reiterated that the TVA is “not a political thing” and it only becomes political when people are looking for a “quick fix.”

“A process like this takes years,” Naseem said. “We work through the government and the judiciary, and if the government doesn’t get involved, it is much better.”

The TVA says members of the former government “cannot” admit to torture allegations because they would be tried in court, but Mundhu said that none of the “ridiculous claims of defamation of character” against former president Gayoom have held up in a court of law.

“Gayoom is the single most popular individual in this country,” he said. “The government should be ashamed of accusing him of torture.”

Accountability

Dr Sawad said the TVA does not believe it was up to the government or the state to decide what would happen to the torturers.

“It’s for the victim to launch the claim and for the judicial system to decide. And we are here to facilitate that,” he explained.

He added that the TVA wants to “document and push the claims of torture within the judiciary.”

“If we believe that the claim has not been addressed through the domestic judicial system, we are prepared to take it to the next level.”

Laue said that “if [torturers] are not prosecuted [in the Maldives], we must not forget torture is a crime which is under universal jurisdiction.”

Assuming there is enough evidence, Laue claimed a perpetrator could be arrested and tried in a foreign country, extradited or sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

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