jail tony blair

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=320446&sn=Detail&pid=71654



South African Welcome Being Prepared for Blair; Subpoena, Arrest Demanded

Before he is scheduled to arrive in South Africa for an Aug. 30 conference in Durban, Tony Blair is being hit for his crimes when he was Prime Minister, from two different flanks: 


1) a demand that he be subpoenaed for his role in bribing South Africans, and other actions by him in a BAE arms deal to South Africa; and 


2) that he be arrested and tried for war crimes, since it was his lies that instigated the 2003 Iraq war.



These organizers assert that since the ICC almost uniquely prosecutes Africans for alleged war crimes, it is only just that Blair also be arrested and charged, instead of being allowed to travel the world, gathering huge speaking fees.


* The BAE-related arms scandal: Terry Crawford-Browne issued a call yesterday that Blair be subpoenaed to answer questions about four issues related to this scandal:


1) the pressure he put on the South African government in the 1990s to buy fighter aircraft, despite the fact that the South African air force thought the fighters were unsuited to their requirements, and were also too expensive;


2) the complicity of his government in payment of bribes of 115 million British Pounds to South Africans, and his placement of British officials to block investigations into the fraudulent contracts;


3) the default clauses of the 30 year Barclays Bank/ECGD [Export Credits Guarantee Department] agreements for the contracts, and their catastrophic consequences for South Africa;


4) The role of the so-called "BAE/Al Yamamah slush fund" administered by the Bank of England, and its purpose to destabilise resource-rich countries in Asia and Africa.



Crawford-Browne considered this question to be particularly germane after the events last week at the British-owned Lonmin mine, in which 34 striking miners were shot and killed by South African police.


* The arrest warrant: The South African Muslim Network is calling for the arrest of Tony Blair on charges of war crimes for the Iraq war which was instigated by his lies. He was British Prime Minister at the time. 


Various Muslim organizations are discussing organizing protest marches, sit-ins, and having a warrant of arrest issued against him, to prosecute him or deliver him to the ICC. The network and several other organizations are calling on the organization holding the conference to withdraw the invitation to Blair, citing his complicity in the murder of thousands of people in Iraq, and are demanding that he be tried for war crimes. As a fall-back, if the warrant is not issued, they are raising money to offer a reward to people who attempt to make a citizen's arrest of Blair for launching an unprovoked war.