open verdict

looks like the inquest into the shooting of Jean-Charles de Menezes has ended with an open verdict. Not that the jury had many options to choose from.

I reckon if some common or garden criminal had shot the guy after mistaking him for somebody else, that would still count as murder, wouldn't it?

very depressing all this.

10 years miami 5

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the arrest of the Miami Five, and there have been whole-page ads in the papers to draw attention to their plight. Essentially, they were arrested for spying on the Cuban exiles in Miami hatching plots to overthrow the Cuban regime. Various sources including Amnesty International and the UN have concluded that they did not have a fair trial. article in today's Guardian

The case has a very high profile in Cuba, I've seen posters and calendars with the pictures of the Miami Five everywhere, but I have hardly ever heard it mentioned elsewhere, so it's definitely a good thing if all the Nobel laureates and other celebrities can raise some awareness. I reckon this is one thing the next US president may want to look at.

life and death

I read a feature this weekend about people who received sentences of life without parole for crimes committed when they were 13-17. Deeply depressing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2140431,00.html

Never mind that a few of the cases reported look like clear miscarriage of justice to me, the whole idea of spending 70 years in jail for something you did (or in a few cases, didn't stop others from doing!) when you were 13, looks perverted to me.

Although some people are apparently allowed to kill at random. Jean-Charles de Menezes did nothing wrong except looking a bit foreign. The inquiry into his death has now finished with essentially no consequences:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2140692,00.html