Bahrain press conference November 13

Press conference this morning to discuss the Bahrain government's unlawful deprivation of 31 people's citizenship. There was no judicial process, contrary to the comstitution and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and there is no practical possibility of an appeal because firstly no grounds were given for this measure and secondly, everybody knows that it was decided by the king, whose word IS the law. I was interrviewed by al Jezira and it was on their news bulletin at 21.00 this evening

EVAR surveillance

This morning I had the regular six-monthly EVAR surveillance. This is to check that the Endovascular Aneurysm Repair performed on July 19, 2010 is still working.

The plastic aorta is joined to the main artery coming from the heart at the top, and to the two branches going into the legs at the bottom, leaving the original aorta surrounding it to collapse.

They need to make sure there isn't any leakage at the joins, and so far there hasn't been any problem.

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal: abduction of defence witness Shukho Ranjan Bali

On November 5, 2012 at around 10.00, defence witness Shukho Ranjan Bali was abducted from the International Crimes Tribunal premises.

He was coming to testify for the accused Allama Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

As the car taking Bali and the senior defence counsel Mizanul Islam approached the Tribunal, uniformed policemen stopped it for a security check at the entrance. The police said they had instructions not allow anyone except designated lawyers to go inside the Tribunal Room.

As Mizanul Islam was explaining that Bali was a defence witness, a group of plain-clothes men approached the vehicle, grabbed Bali and tried to pull him out of the vehicle. Islam and his associate counsel tried to prevent them and called the uniformed policemen who were silently observing the unfolding event.

At this point one of the plain-clothed men identified himself as member of the ‘Detective Branch’ and said that he had instructions from the ‘higher authority’ to take the witness away. They then removed him from the vehicle and forced him into their car.

Islam’s colleague Shohag Banna asked where they were taking Bali, and was told that it was to the Detective Branch head office at ‘Minto Road, Dhaka’. The uniformed policemen made no attempt to intervene.

Defence counsel believed these plain-clothes men belonged to the ‘Rapid Action Battalion’ an elite security agency, in view of the similarity of the incident to others in which the RAB were known to have been involved.

The Chief Defence Counsel Abdur Razzaq brought this to the notice of the Tribunal, and prayed that the Tribunal should issue directions to the law enforcing agencies to ‘produce’ the defence witness before the Tribunal. The Tribunal merely requested the Chief Prosecutor and Chief of the Investigation Agency to ‘look into the matter’. Defence counsel immediately tried to amend the order of the Tribunal, considering the probability that it was the Investigation Agency and Prosecutor themselves who had ordered the abduction, but the Tribunal refused this application.

Bali was both a victim and eye witness to crimes committed in 1971. He saw his brother Bisha Bali’s murder and arson which destroyed their village.

Mizanul Islam tried to file an official complaint (known as a ‘General Diary’ or GD) with the Shahbagh Police Station on the evening of the incident, November 5, but the police refused to accept it. They also refused to say why they were refusing to accept the GD. a legally obligation.

An urgent application before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh was filed seeking direction upon the government to produce Bali (Writ of Habeas Corpus under Article 102(2)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Bangladesh) on November 6, 2012 and the Court fixed the hearing date as November 7, 2012. At that hearing the Deputy Attorney General appeared before the court and informed it that the Attorney General himself would appear on behalf of the Government, but not at that time due to personal difficulties. The Court felt obliged to postpone the hearing and fixed November 11, 2012 for the next hearing.

On November 8, 2012, the Chief Prosecutor held a Press Conference at which he alleged that the defence had engaged in ‘False Propaganda’. He claimed that the witness Bali was hiding due to intimidation by the defence team. He further claimed that Bali’s daughter Shukho Ranjan Bali had filed a General Diary with Police confirming that he was being so intimidated. The Prosecutor referred to GD No. 773 filed on February 25, 2012, almost 10 months previously, in the ‘Undur Kani Police Station’, according to the Investigation Officer’s deposition of August 5, 2012.

The Prosecutor did not say why Bali was not able to file the GD himself, nor could he say where either Bali or his daughter were now.

The Tribunal and the police ignored the testimony of the four eye-witnesses to the abduction, Senior Defence Counsel Islam, Senior Defence Counsel Manjul Ansari, Defence Counsel Hasanul Banna Shohag, and the driver of the vehicle Uzzal. No witness statements were taken from the police officers who saw the abduction, and there has been no attempt to find the abducted witness.

Knowing the fate of others who have been abducted by RAB in the past, if Bali has come to any harm, command responsibility will rest on senior law enforcement officials, and on those who were in charge of the Tribunal’s security.

A detailed account of this event by David Bergman: http://bit.ly/TRLjMW

Disposal of nuclear waste

Tomorrow Lord Jenkin of Roding will ask the Government what their plans are for a geological disposal facility for nuclear waste in the United Kingdom.

I hope to get in a supplementary about the 100 tonnes of plutonium stored at Sellafield, to follow up a letter I wrote the Secretary of State on September 23, see below.

If Parliament is to assess the relative merits of the alternatives for disposal of the large stocks of plutonium, it is essential that there is transparency on the costs of storage. This consideration must override commercial confidentiality, and the Freedom of Information Act must come into play if necessary.

From Lord Avebury

September 23, 2012

Dear Ed,

Congratulations on your speech to Conference, and particularly your reiteration of our commitment to a low-carbon economy. I’m so glad you are Secretary of State!

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority held a consultation on the long-term management of the UK’s 100 tonnes of separated civil plutonium, to which DECC’s reply was published in December 2011.

The NDA’s Plutonium Credible Options Analysis states that

Current strategy assumes extended storage but no costs or infrastructure is provided beyond 2075 (Dounreay) or 2120 (Sellafield)

In answer to my written question in the Lords Dick Newby said:

The estimated costs of storing plutonium at Sellafiels have not been disclosed as a single line in the Sellafield Plan, published on 1` August 2011, as they relate in part to commercial contracts with third parties. The Sellafield Plan (a link to the electronic document is included below) contains a section entitled ‘Safe Storage of Pu’ which provides information on this topic

www.sellafieldsites.com/publications/sellafieldplan/Sellafield_Plan.pdf

The concealment of these costs means that Parliament is unable to assess the relative merits of different proposals for dealing with the Pu stocks.

The NDA Annual Report 2011-12 says that

Work has continued steadily on the UK’s preferred policy to re-use the plutonium as MOX fuel for use in new nuclear reactors.

The NDA’s Plutonium Credible Options Analysis says that the present strategy for extended storage (2075 Dounreay and 2120 Sellafield) after which time no plans are developed, is neither prudent nor sustainable in the long term even if it is considered to be technically viable.

Disposal would be contrary to the UK’s 50-year old strategy of separating and storing the plutonium from spent (immobilised) fuel, and it would foreclose the option of exploiting the significant green energy potential of the material. The preferred policy is therefore, as the NDA’s Annual Report 2011/12 says,

…to re-use the plutonium as MOX fuel for use in new nuclear reactors. The NDA also continues to work with the Government and other organisations to examine emerging alternative technologies where these have the potential to deliver a safe, affordable solution within an affordable timeframe.

In the US, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ordered construction of a MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), originally estimated that to cost about $1.4 billion and to be completed by September 2004. This has now escalated to $4.9 billion, with MOX fuel assembly production scheduled for 2018, according to the Sovernment Accountability Office [1/usa.gov/MPVfnj]. Apparently the NDA/DECC are under the impression that a new UK MOX plant can be constructed at a much lower cost, but embarking on a project of this size where the costs are to say the least uncertain, may not sit well with the Government’s policy of reducing the deficit.

The alternative is a proposal from GE-Hitachi to build two 300 MW PRISM reactors at Sellafield, shifting the risk from the UK taxpayer to a private funding model based on “pay for performance” under which all the costs of construction would be funded by the US Ex-Im Bank, and a private operator of the plant would be paid to reuse the PU and sell 622 MW of electricity to the grid. This would also eliminate the risk that there may not be any customers for the MOX fuel, as appears possible from the US experience.

The NDA announced on June 12 that they were considering the PRISM option and would reach conclusions by the end of 2012. They would then assess the information and consider how best to proceed aqlongside the preferred option of reuse as MOX.

The NDA continue to assert that PRISM is not a proven technology, but in July GE-Hitachi submitted a 1,000 page feasibility study to the NDA, including an independent assessment showing that PRISM reactors are licenseable The reactors would be located at Sellafield, reducing to a minimum the transport of highly radioactive Pu over British roads, and creating thousands of jobs in an area of high unemployment. This is a great opportunity for the UK to be at the forefront with an innovative technology, that could provide us with a major new source of low-cost green energy while eliminating the substantial costs of Pu storage

I would be grateful if instead of leaving this decision to the NDA, bearing in mind their previous commitment to the MOX solution, you would call it in and decide it yourself, on the basis of advice from independent experts recommended by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser. May I also repeat the request I made to Dick Newby in a letter of July 31, following his answer to my Question already mentioned, that the non-disclosure of the storage costs of plutonium at Sellafield be formally reviewed, so that when the time comes, Parliament can assess the relative merits of the competing proposals for their disposal.



The Rt Hon Ed Davey MP,
Department for Energy and Climate Change,
3 Whitehall Place,
London SW1A 2HH

Livy's death

It is sad to record that my sister Olivia died yesterday in Canberra, Australia, just short of her 86th birthday. We were 22 months apart, and were brought up closely together when we were little. During the war years, too, we spent a lot of the holidays with one another at Wildwood, Shanty Bay with Uncle Doug and Auntie B Woods, our wonderful foster-parents in Canada. Back in England at the end ofthe war, she was in the WRNS and I was at Oxford, so our paths didn't often cross, and then after she married Geoffrey she went to Australia. I saw her only on rare trips to Sydney, and when she visited us a few times in England. But we picked up the threads easily whenever we did meet, and the close bonds of childhood lasted a lifetime. She was a gentle, affectionate person who deserved a better hand than she was dealt by life.

Haematology

Hb 10.2 WBC 4.52 Platelets 546 Neutrophils no result New haematologist examined my spleen, found no enlargement. So she decided not to increase the hydroxycarbamide but wait to see what the platelets are next time, on December 3. Appointment was for 10.00 and I was actually called at 10.55, so I will make a further request for the system to be reviewed.

Dear little Olivia. What a star!

 

 

Olivia in her new ball gown, with her friend

High Elms, early sixties

Paul Buckley

Friday evening, with Lyulph to Balliol,for a dinner to celebrate engineering at Ballion and to mark the retirement of Dr Paul Buckley, the Maurice Lubbock Fellow. The Master spoke about the success of engineering at Balliol, and three former students who had been tutored by Paul provided curtain-raisers to the toast. Its great that the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund will continue to benefit from Paul's wisdom and experience, as a Tustee.

 

 

At Victoria's party for my birhday

With the Mayor of Bromley and Nick Hopkins. After the ceremony in the Visitors' Centre we looked at the site of the house, and the reconstruction of the ground plan by Nick and his splendid team of volunteers.

High Elms

Friday morning, to High Elms, for a ceremony to mark the completion of a research project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and managed by Nick Hopkins, on the history of the house and the Lubbock family.

Events last week

Tuesday: Meeting at the Equality and Human Rights Commission: Jeremy Corbyn MP, self and Meena Varma representing the APPG on Caste with John Wadham, General Counsel, Razia Karim & Esther Maynard, lawyers, and Ellie Rose, Head of Parliamentary Affairs, to discuss their policy on caste. We were pleased that they support the activation of S 9(5)(a) of the Equality Act, to add caste to the list of protected characteristics, and that they will post a statement accordingly on their website. Wednesday: Meeting with Lulu Todd and Dr Ahmed, to discuss recent developments in the Horn of Africa, and the prospects for enhancing Somaliland's relations with the Commonwealth, the AU etc, as steps towards eventual recognition as an independent state. Thursday: Meeting at the Irish Travellers Movement in Britain offices in Holloway Road, to review the situation at Dale Farm and prospects for a solution that would avoid a further eviction onto yet another roadside. For as long as there are no vacant sites to which Travellers can go. eviction is a zero-sum game: the problem isn't solved, but moved to another location within the same local authority or somewhere else in the county. At the same time the health, education and future prospects of the families who are shunted around the countryside are damaged, leading to increased burdens on taxpayers for decades to come. In the evening, attended the annual meeting of the Sarawak Association where I unexpectedly met cousins John Philip and Marjatta Cunynghame, and Simon Tanlaw, President of the Association, whose mother was the daughter of Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, last of the Rajahs of Sarawak, who ceded the territort to Britain in 1946.

Myelofibrosis

September 20 was Myelofibrosis Awareness Day in the US, see http://bit.ly/SfKg8I You wouldn't expect there to be much awareness of this or other myeloproliferative neoplasms in the UK, but it would be good if there was an information website on all rare blood cancers. What does exist? Either the most elementary descriptions of these diseases, or papers from learned journals that require detailed knowledge of haematology to be understood, with nothing in between.

KIRF fundraising event

At the dinner for Kashmir International Relief Fund, Walthamstow Town Hall, September 20. Over £50,000 was raised in cash and promises for the KIRF's health, education, water and other humanitarian projects.

With Bridy Purcell and Sophie Vale. Bridy interviewed me for an article she's writing for the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain

 

 

Sarafkandi commemoration

 

Packed meeting to commemorate the life of Dr Sadegh Sarafkandi, Leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, assassinated with his comrades by agents of the Iranian régime on September 17, 1992 at the Mykonos restaurant, Berlin. The principal speaker was Abdallah Hassanzadeh, current Leader of the KDPI. Other main speakers were Roya Hakakian, writer and journalist; Parviz Dastmalchi, leading Iranian intellectual and writer, survivor of the Mykonos massacre; Jeremy Corbyn MP, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group; Dr Alireza Nourizadeh, Iranian scholar and contemporary historian, and Golaleh Shrafkandi, member of the leading committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The meeting was organised by Mouloud Swara, UK Representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Bhante, presiding over the ceremony

Close of the ceremony, after the circumambulation. We process three times round the Buddha Grove, concentrating successively on the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha

 

Springhill Anniversary

At the 21st annual celebration of the Buddha Grove at Springhill Prison. This was probably the largest attendance we have ever had, with no less than 15 monks, and 400 people sitting down to a splendid meal provided by the Thai community in the prison canteen. This was the first and most splendid Buddha Grove of the many that now grace the prison system, built by the prisoners themselves under the leadership of the inimitable Sam Cutler, then doing nine years. The governor Tim Newall had the imagination to encourage the project and his successors have welcomed many distinguished guests to the annual commemorations such as the late prisons Minister Lord Williams of Mostyn and the then Director of the Prison Service Martin Narey. It is also an opportunity of celebrating the valuable work of the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy and its Spiritual Director, the Ven Khemadhammo Mahathera (Chao Khun Bhavanaviteht) OBE

Blood test September 10

Main blood parameters from September 10 test. Platelets are within normal range and so are neutrophils. Haemoglobin is low as usual and so are White Blood Cells, but these are not a worry.

Bahrain

At yesterday's Parliamentary Human Rights Group/Index on Censorship seminar on Bahrain with Maryam al-Khawaja, foreign affairs representative of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

With Sue Shutter

My turn

Dilbagh Chana speaks

Chris Rennard speaks