20 - 26 December 2001
Issue No.565
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 December 2001 Issue No.565 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The Arab Afghan tragedy
The true tragedy emanating from the war in Afghanistan is the crisis facing several thousand "Arab Afghans," predominantly young men from Arab and Muslim countries who, misled by the call of extremism, followed Bin Laden's Al- Qa'eda, engaging in absurd terrorist operations that could only lead them and their families to destruction.
Some of these fighters died under American fire or in combat with Northern Alliance forces, while others are besieged in the mountain caves of Tora Bora, or still missing -- dead, alive, or imprisoned somewhere in Afghanistan.
Pursued by American fire and the attacks of the Alliance, they left their homes without a clear destination. Held responsible for the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud, many of them were assaulted; their wives and children, having been brutally attacked, were left to perish in the snow. These people represent Arab and Muslim countries from Egypt and Jordan to Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya.
Despite the disasters these fighters brought on their countries and peoples, their regimes remain responsible for ensuring their rights in accordance with international law and the Geneva Convention, which stipulate that prisoners of war should receive humane treatment. These countries cannot abandon their responsibility on the pretext that, as terrorists, the Arab Afghans got what they deserved. This despotic logic was one of the reasons why these young men embraced international terrorism in the first place.
US Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld has demanded that the prisoners of war captured in Afghanistan be executed, a clear breach of the 1949 Geneva Convention. And the innocent women and children have nowhere to go, and must not be left prey to tribal conflicts and revenge killings. Anyone with a conscience must endorse initiatives by the Red Cross and charitable organisations like the one headed by Seif Al-Islam, the son of Colonel Gaddafi, to improve their conditions and transport them back to their homelands, as well as agreeing with Afghan leaders to ensure their security amidst the prevailing chaos.
Some Arab countries have already moved in this direction, with the Saudi foreign minister announcing, in an interview to the Washington Post, that it was Saudi Arabia's "responsibility" to take them in and put them on trial. France adopted a similar position with regard to Zacaria Moussaoui, who was recently charged with arranging the communications that led to the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September. The French government rejected the option of a military court, and exercised its diplomatic right to defend him as a French citizen even as it conceded that the charges were valid. The horror of the attacks on America, while no doubt justifying the punishment of the perpetrators, does not justify flouting justice. The instinctive desire for revenge must not triumph over the rule of law. And Egypt must assume its responsibility in this context, if it is to be a truly civilised country that cares for its citizens' rights.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page