时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(八月)


英语课

A Paris-based legal aid network, Lawyers of the World, says agreements signed by the United States, Britain, the European Union, and Denmark to transfer suspected Somali pirates to Kenya for trial violate the human rights of the suspects. The legal group is representing more than 40 detainees captured by European navies off the coast of Somalia and handed over to Kenya for prosecution 1.
 
Alleged 2 Somali pirates in the Gulf 3 of Aden raise their hands as US Navy teams in inflatable boats approach and a Navy helicopter patrols overhead (File)


Lawyers of the World representative Avi Singh tells VOA his organization has written to the United Nations, the European Union, and to Kenya's foreign ministry 4, expressing deep concern that more than 100 suspected pirates awaiting trial in Kenya are being denied basic human rights and the right to a fair trial.


"Under Kenyan domestic law, there is no entitlement to legal aid for anybody who is not accused of a capital offense," said Singh. "So, suspected pirates have no opportunity to have a lawyer. They have no opportunity to review the evidence against them. At no point is there any independent adjudication of whether these people are actually pirates, have actually committed a crime or not. So, basically, you have ship-catching to conviction."


In Kenya, convicted pirates can face life in prison. The east African nation became a venue 5 for piracy 6 trials after a surge in ship hijackings off the coast of Somalia stiffened 7 international resolve to prosecute 8 suspects caught at sea.


Under agreements signed in the past year with the United States, Britain, the European Union, and most recently with Denmark, Kenyan courts are responsible for trying suspected pirates apprehended 9 anywhere in the region by foreign navies. In return, Kenya is said to be receiving funding and support to reform its much-criticized judicial 10 system.


Earlier this year, U.N. human-rights investigator 11 Phillip Alston published a scathing 12 report on widespread judicial corruption 13 in Kenya. The country's courts are also reportedly overwhelmed by a backlog 14 of more than 80,000 cases.


Singh says none of the funds given to the prosecution and courts are making their way to Shimo la Tewa, a notoriously overcrowded prison in the Kenyan coastal 15 city of Mombasa. He says many of the accused hijackers have been there for months without adequate medical care and access to such basic amenities 16 as soap.


"There are juveniles 17 in there and they all have medical ailments," continued Singh. "There is actually a 14 year-old kid with bullet wounds. There is somebody with a bullet still in the body. They have had no contact with any family members or any opportunity for contact with anybody in Somalia since their arrest."


Earlier this month, Singh and several of his colleagues convinced a court in Mombasa to postpone 18 the trial of 11 alleged hijackers captured by a French warship 19 and in Kenyan custody 20 since April. Singh says he requested the two-month postponement 21 so that the defense 22 could mount a proper case.


Lawyers of the World has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to piracy suspects and to monitor their treatment in jail.


Horn of Africa analyst 23 Roger Middleton says he agrees that depending on Kenya to help solve the piracy problem in Somalia is less than ideal.


"What it shows, the fact that we are having to use Kenya, is the problem when you o not have a proper legal entity 24 to deal with inside Somalia," said Middleton. "Now, if you pick up a pirate off Portugal, you hand them over to Portugal. If it is Indonesia, you hand them over to Indonesia. And that is the way it should work and the way it works quite sufficiently 25. But because Somalia is such a mess, you cannot do that and it creates all these problems."


The International Maritime 26 Bureau says it recorded 130 piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden in the first half of this year, compared to just 24 last year. The attacks are continuing, despite constant patrols by no fewer than three dozen ships from multi-national forces and independent flotillas from China, Russia, India, and others.


On Thursday, the U.S. Navy said Somali pirates opened fire on a Navy helicopter, as it was conducting a surveillance of a captured vessel 27 in central Somalia. There were no reported casualties or damage.


The Navy says pirates fired a large caliber 28 weapon at the helicopter as it flew over a Taiwanese-flagged ship, the MV Win Far, used in the attack against the U.S.-flagged Maersk-Alabama in April. The Win Far was captured earlier this year with more than 30 crew members.



1 prosecution
n.起诉,告发,检举,执行,经营
  • The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
  • He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。
2 alleged
a.被指控的,嫌疑的
  • It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
  • alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为
3 gulf
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
4 ministry
n.(政府的)部;牧师
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
5 venue
n.犯罪地点,审判地,管辖地,发生地点,集合地点
  • The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
  • The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。
6 piracy
n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害
  • The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
  • They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。
7 stiffened
加强的
  • He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去,这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
  • She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。
8 prosecute
vt.告发;进行;vi.告发,起诉,作检察官
  • I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
  • Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据?
9 apprehended
逮捕,拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 ); 理解
  • She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
  • The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。
10 judicial
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的
  • He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
  • Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。
11 investigator
n.研究者,调查者,审查者
  • He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
  • The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。
12 scathing
adj.(言词、文章)严厉的,尖刻的;不留情的adv.严厉地,尖刻地v.伤害,损害(尤指使之枯萎)( scathe的现在分词)
  • a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
  • Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 corruption
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
14 backlog
n.积压未办之事
  • It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
  • Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。
15 coastal
adj.海岸的,沿海的,沿岸的
  • The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
  • This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
16 amenities
n.令人愉快的事物;礼仪;礼节;便利设施;礼仪( amenity的名词复数 );便利设施;(环境等的)舒适;(性情等的)愉快
  • The campsite is close to all local amenities. 营地紧靠当地所有的便利设施。
  • Parks and a theatre are just some of the town's local amenities. 公园和戏院只是市镇娱乐设施的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 juveniles
n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 );扮演少年角色的演员;未成年人
  • Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗? 来自生活英语口语25天快训
  • Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗? 来自互联网
18 postpone
v.延期,推迟
  • I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
  • She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。
19 warship
n.军舰,战舰
  • He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
  • The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。
20 custody
n.监护,照看,羁押,拘留
  • He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
  • He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后,他立即被押了起来。
21 postponement
n.推迟
  • He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
  • Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。
22 defense
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
23 analyst
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家
  • What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
  • The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
24 entity
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物
  • The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
  • As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体,公司必须纳税。
25 sufficiently
adv.足够地,充分地
  • It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
  • The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。
26 maritime
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的
  • Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
  • The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。
27 vessel
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
28 caliber
n.能力;水准
  • They ought to win with players of such high caliber.他们选手的能力这样高,应该获胜。
  • We are always trying to improve the caliber of our schools.我们一直在想方设法提高我们学校的水平。
学英语单词
Ban Bo Na Wong
banalizing
benzo-hydroperoxide
black-tar
bond series
brawniest
bring sb. to justice
British Association of Ship Suppliers
burnisher error
can opening key
carbapenemases
cells of partitions
ceramic condenser
cfb
Chirripo
congruence relations
corrosion protection of tanks
crab-eating opossums
crown buoy
Daranyi's test
deadicated
delayers
diffusion of gases
duebill
duplex feedback amplifier
elutriation by air
endangerers
ends means analysis
enteric intussusception
epichordal
european gallinules
exocrinosity
explo
extonsion speaker
factory salesman
fallible score
footbrake
freewheeling roller clutch
frequency modulation-phase modulation
funny papers
galerites
genevieves
genus Ptychozoon
graft and corruption
harbin
Harland
hartill
heat indication test
helminthiasis wuchereri
hemibel
high pressure gas-filled cable
individual rhythm
infiltration efficiency
initial elastic instability
Ipupiara
Islaam
jeppesen
jet height
labor force survey
m.ta
mallalieu
matrix deflation
memecylon scutellatum (lour.) naud
mitskovski
occlusivus
offshore soil mechanics
option mortgage scheme
oryzastrobin
palpating the chest and abdo men
pancuronium bromide
petty deposits
pick something out of a hat
platinum solder
potassium styphnate
pro-grams
proper bearing
Pseudoobryum
pycnonuclear reaction
radiation protection
reinforced hole
religious conflict
rim degeneration
scrawlingly
severalizing
shaking grate
Sibine
side chests
slab lines
small artery
stalky
Stilezia
submental artery
supersister
symptomatic disease
testimony of the accused
thioglycolic acid
Titanoenadkevichite
tlme
tugan
unherd
vor-
yttrium nitrate