I cut my “legal teeth” nearly four decades ago pouring over the Magna Carta, Blackstone’s “Commentaries” and Edward Coke’s legal treatises on the primacy of common law principles and the rule of law. Coke enunciated the principle of judicial review (and supremacy) in Bonham’s Case declaring, “when an act of parliament is against common right or reason, or repugnant, or impossible to be performed, the common law will control it and adjudge such act to be void.” Blackstone later described the power of Parliament to make laws in England as absolute and without control. Judicial review today is the linchpin of American democracy as President Donald Trump has learned.
More recently, I took great pride in
For nearly three decades, I have taught my course on civil liberties and free speech by requiring my students to read John Milton’s tract
I have always had the highest regard for British jurisprudence in the historical context. I have not had the opportunity to study contemporary English law.
I began to doubt my fascination with British law when I recently became aware of “terrorism” allegations against Tadesse Biru Kersmo, an Ethiopian dissident living in the U.K. Kersmo was charged in several counts with violation of section 58 of the U.K. “
According to one
I was flabbergasted by the allegations, but even more stunned by the apparent essential similarity between the
Ironically, the Licensing Order of 1643 appears to be more enlightened than section 58 of the Terrorism Act in the fact that it imposed blanket censorship subject to exceptions of the official censor. Section 58 uses vague and overbroad language to criminalize any publication deemed “useful in committing terrorism”. An academic researching guerrilla tactics or other forms of asymmetric warfare could easily be charged under section 58 for possession of information likely to be useful for the commission of terrorism. That is the abysmally incomprehensible nature of section 58. It gives the Crown prosecutor unfettered and limitless powers to suppress and criminalize information merely by asserting that it is “likely” to be “useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”
Roll over in your grave, John Milton!
What is utterly incomprehensible is the fact that the “proscribed” publications alleged to be in the possession of Kersmo are all available for purchase online from Amazon.com or could be freely accessed on various websites according to reports in social media. (No, Amazon.com is not a co-defendant in the Kersmo prosecution.)
The publications allegedly possessed by Kersmo deal with “urban guerrilla warfare” and include manuals on sniper training, hand-to-hand combat, and analysis of intelligence principles. Kersmo’s computer(s) allegedly contained photographs of persons apparently clad in camouflage and Kersmo interacting with persons in military-style uniform, a tract on non-violent struggle against the regime in Ethiopia, documents written in Amharic allegedly providing instructions on making explosives and other sundry documents.
Who is Tadesse Biru Kersmo?
Kersmo is an academic who holds an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in social sciences and Master’s in Economics. In Ethiopia, Kersmo was department chair of economics at Unity University. He also taught at Addis Ababa University. In the U.K., he taught at the International Leadership Institute, affiliated with the University of Greenwich in London.
For a number of years, Kersmo served on the executive committee of the Ethiopian Economic Association and was a member of a taskforce for higher education reform at the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia. Kersmo has a weekly public affairs television program “Yetimihirt Bilichita” [Spark of Education] broadcast on Ethiopian Satellite Television and available on the internet. Kersmo has conducted numerous programs on civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.
In 2005, Kersmo and his wife “
The ruling TPLF regime in Ethiopia has been persecuting Kersmo even after he left the country.
In March 2014, The New Yorker
Who is the real terrorist?
The charges against Tadesse Biru Kersmo are the first and only terrorism charges ever brought against a “member of Ginbot 7”, an organization that has members not only in the U.K. but also in the U.S. where it was established and many other countries in Europe and throughout the world.
The Ginbot 7 movement is not listed as a “terrorist group or organization” in any country in the world, except in Ethiopia where the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) has “outlawed” that organization.
In an ironic twist of the pot calling the kettle black, the ruling TPLF regime in Ethiopia is itself a terrorist organization listed in the
The last recorded terrorist act by the TPLF was committed almost a year ago on
In July 2014, the TPLF “
The
Eight months after Andy Tsege’s abduction by Ethiopian forces, it’s astounding to see that British ministers knew he was being tortured from the start—but still chose to make nice with their Ethiopian counterparts. This is a British citizen facing a death sentence at the hands of a notoriously brutal government—one that appears to face no consequences for its actions. It is high time the UK took decisive action to end his ordeal.”
Tsige is still held captive under a death sentence in Ethiopia in violation of international law and the UK government has made no public call for his release. “The UK government has the
In 2013, the TPLF
In August 2016, Boris Johnson, U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, tried to mislead the public on his government’s failure to demand the release of Tsgie by issuing a
TPLF persecution/prosecution by British proxy: I smell a rat!
I am not convinced that the prosecution of Tadesse Biru Kersmo is a genuine “terrorism” prosecution.
I believe it is a sophisticated and highly coordinated legal strategy between the U.K. and the TPLF regime in Ethiopia and the first step to decimate or completely neutralize the Ginbot 7 movement and strike fear and trepidation in its members in the U.K.
This is not the first time for the T-TPLF has tried to coordinate legal action with another country to neutralize its opponents.
The T-TPLF tried to get Ginbot 7 listed on the U.S. terrorist organizations list but was unsuccessful. However, the T-TPLF was successful in getting Obama and other high- level officials to declare de facto that Ginbot 7 a terrorist group.
In 2015, U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman traveled to Ethiopia and
Obama repeated the
The U.K and the TPLF government have longstanding relationships. The U.K. has provided billions of pounds over the years to finance and sustain the TPLF regime and perpetuate its oppressive rule.
On March 18, 2017, the foreign minister of the T-TPLF
The T-TPLF openly
According to a
In 2012, the
Describing the T-TPLF’s “police and defence forces” as “among the best” in the region is a shameless hypocrisy or an outrageous insult to the intelligence of those who toil to defend and advocate human rights for all people.
Why I believe the British Government’s persecution by prosecution is a coordinated effort to suppress the Diaspora Ethiopian opposition with the TPLF regime
First, I have no personal knowledge of “Ginbot 7”, its charter, leadership, membership or activities.
Ginbot 7, a
In 2008, Ginbot 7
Gibot 7 is not mentioned in any official “terrorism list”.
Ginbot 7 is not listed on
Ginbot 7 is not listed on the
Ginbot 7 is not listed on European Union List of Terrorist Persons and Organizations” or the “
Since its establishment in May 2008, Ginbot 7 has conducted numerous fundraising campaigns in the U.K., the U.S. and elsewhere without any legal action by any government.
Indeed, in
In August 2015, Ginbot 7 held a major
The only “legal action” taken against Ginbot 7 from the very beginning has been by the T-TPLF.
In April 2009, the T-TPLF “joint anti-terrorism task force”
The T-TPLF has made it fashionable to jail its opponents by labeling them “Ginbot 7 members”.
In September 2011, the TPLF “federal police and national intelligence and security service joint taskforce”
In September 2011, the
In 2012, award-winning journalist Reeyot Alemu was sentenced to 14 years in prison, reduced to five years on appeal, for alleged membership in Ginbot 7.
In 2009, the T-TPLF railroaded to long prison terms dozens of innocent citizens as members of Ginbot 7. The T-TPLF kangaroo “court
The T-TPLF uses “Ginbot 7” as the terrorist boogeyman to scare U.S. and U.K. officials into dumping the hard earned dollars and pounds of their taxpayers to support its repressive rule.
There are two simple questions that need to be answered at the threshold: 1) If Ginbot 7 is a “terrorist organization”, why is it not included in the
U.K. terrorism prosecutions
I had an opportunity to review terrorism prosecutions of the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between
Review of cases concluded in
In 2016, there were 31 terrorism prosecutions listed on the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service’s
Transportation of chemicals and components for making fireworks, display of materials of an extremist nature on Facebook, providing a terrorist suspect in Syria funding, providing one’s “brother in Syria with a pair of walking shoes,” “arrangement to make available a pair of ballistic glasses”, sending a book entitled, “Join the Caravan” written by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, making funding arrangements for terrorist purposes, making statement on Facebook about the risks to Sikh girls should they go out with men from the Muslim community, possession of a handwritten letter of an extremist nature, planning to go on to Syria to fight with Islamic State, posting twitter messages in support for IS and their actions in Syria and Iraq, travelling to Syria with the intention of joining a terrorist group and showing of ISIS propaganda videos, demonstrating “a significant interest in Islamic extremism”, possession of chemicals to make lethal poisons, attempt to “purchase chemicals in order that a bomb could be manufactured and targeted on British soldiers”, “systematically deleted a number of instructional videos regarding combat fighting”, possession of “substantial quantities of chemical explosives including primary and secondary detonators and relevant paraphernalia”, “disseminating a terrorist publication”, mailing out “letters praising the actions of Islamic extremists and encouraged the reader to engage in similar activity,” “plotting with an Australian jihadist to commit an attack upon an Anzac Day Parade in Melbourne”, possession of ISIS materials, “publishing written material intending to stir up racial hatred”, “disseminating terrorist publications”, failure to answer questions at an airport, possessing “handwritten notes entitled ‘Mujahid Minimum Training’, using a forged qualification certificate, sharing “extremist ideological beliefs and supporting the use of serious violence in order to create an Islamic state,” and “social media posting material of an extremist nature.
In 2016, there were 24 terrorism prosecutions listed on the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service’s”
Plotting to harm police officers in pursuance of ISIL goals, encouraging terrorism and membership in ISIS, giving assistance to unnamed terrorists in Syria, possession of a magazine called ‘Smashing Borders – Black Flags from Syria’/ information likely to be useful to a person preparing to commit terrorism, sending money to unnamed terrorist elements in Syria, wilfully failing to comply with passport inspection requirement, failure to answer questions at the airport, planning to join ISIL, disseminating pro-ISIS literature and video, tweeting to encourage others to join Daesh, suspected involvement in a plot to behead a member or members of the public, support for Islamic State, travel to Syria to join and fight with ISIS or the Islamic State, possession of attire that could be of use in Syria, possession of 33 thousand Euros at an airport, use of library computers for materials on Nazis and other racist groups, attempt to leave the UK covertly for the purposes of joining Daesh, soliciting funding for terrorist activity, funds and equipment for Jabhat al Nursra, dissemination of a terrorist publication, travelling to Syria to join ISIS.
Nearly all of the “Crown terrorism prosecutions” over the past decade involved radical and extremist individuals and organizations claiming to operate under Islamic religious principles. The major allegations involved preparation for acts of terrorism, training to commit acts of terrorism, fundraising for terrorist purposes, dissemination of terrorist publications and possessing, collection and or dissemination of information of a kind to provide practical assistance to a person committing an act of terrorism with the clear, imminent and actual (not “likely) possibility of use in terrorism.
Kersmo’s prosecution simply does not fit or even approximate the profile of previous terrorism suspects or defendants in any way, shape or form.
Why is Tadesse Biru Kersmo the object of U.K. government persecution and prosecution?
I have no doubts that Tadesse Biru Kersmo is being prosecuted and persecuted by the U.K. government because the T-TPLF has made a special deal with the U.K. government to wipe out Ginbot 7. I believe it is a prosecution well-coordinated with the T-TPLF to send a clear message to all Ethiopians in the U.K. that if they continue their support and membership in Ginbot 7, they too should expect prosecution for terrorism. (I hope Kersmo will be allowed to conduct full discovery into the relationship between the U.K. government and the TPLF with respect to their coordinated activities to neutralize Ginbot7.)
Truth be told, for the longest time I have had doubts about the role of the U.K. government in the abduction of Ginbot 7 secretary general Andargachew Tsgie in 2014. The gnawing question that has always bothered me is whether the U.K. government had a role in his
There is irrefutable evidence that the U.K. government has been involved in “
In 2005, U.K. foreign secretary Jack Straw
In February 2008, the “UK Government acknowledged that UK airspace and territory (on the small island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean) had been used for extraordinary rendition flights.”
In February 2009, the “UK Government admitted that it had yet again misled Parliament over extraordinary rendition, acknowledging that UK forces had handed over individuals in Iraq to US authorities who then illegally rendered them to an Afghan prison known for its inhuman conditions.” British complicity in torture.
In January 2017, U.K.’s
Did the U.K. government facilitate or play any role in the extraordinary rendition of Andargachew Tsgie?
Given the lackadaisical attitude and complete indifference to the plight of Andy Tsgie, I am not convinced that the U.K. government did not have a role in his “kidnapping” (extraordinary rendition) in Yemen in 2014.
Three top
Johnson responded by issuing a
Johnson simply does not tell the truth because in October 2015 British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond
It is also a fact that the U.K. security services and police have been “getting access to
I ask myself a simple question: What is the role of the U.K. government in the kidnapping and abduction of Andargachew Tsgie?
Suffice it to say that I have my own theories and conjectures based on analysis of specific facts.
What next for Tadesse Biru Kersmo?
I am following the persecution by proxy prosecution of Tadesse Biru Kersmo with considerable interest.
I will conclude this commentary by making two observations.
First, I hope my modest commentary will spark public debate in the U.K. about section 58 of the U.K. Terrorism Act. (No! No! I have no delusions of grandeur.) My “problem” is and has always been that I speak the inconvenient and unvarnished truth to power!
Second, as a votary of English literature and law (at least historically) and thinking about section 58, I am reminded of few lines from “Oliver Twist” by the great British author Charles Dickens:
“That is no excuse,” returned Mr. Brownlow. “You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and, indeed, are the more guilty of the two, in the eye of the law; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.”
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass — a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience — by experience.”
That is exactly what I wish for the section 58 of the U.K. Terrorism Act of 2000; that “his” eye be opened by experience.
In his closing argument defending a cabinet minister of a former British colony somewhere in Africa, Rumpole of the Bailey
“… When London is nothing more than a memory, and the Old Bailey has sunk back in the primeval mud, my country will be remembered for three things: the British breakfast, the Oxford Book of English verse and the presumption of innocence. That is the golden thread which runs through the whole history of our criminal law… No man shall be convicted if there is reasonable doubt as to his guilt.”
I shall argue that there are a thousand doubts based on reason and facts as to the guilt of Tadesse Biru Kersmo on charges of terrorism.
To be continued….