Embassy Row: On the record

An old diplomatic joke says that ambassadors think twice before saying nothing, but sometimes even a bland statement gets headlines.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray in the political hotbed of Zimbabwe was trying to avoid a direct comment on a court case involving the conviction of six opponents of authoritarian President Robert Mugabe.

“Not specifically commenting on a particular case, having a judiciary system which is equitably applied to all citizens is healthy for democracy and development and vice versa,” he said in a weekend interview with Radio VOP in the capital, Harare.

That sounded like a safe, noncommittal comment.

However, Radio VOP - the initials stand for “Voice of the People” - splashed his words on its website with the headline: “U.S. Ambassador Condemns Selective Application of Law.”

The Zimbabwean courts are widely seen as biased toward Mr. Mugabe, and the convictions appeared to be another case of judicial partisanship, Radio VOP reported.

The courts last week imposed fines of $500 and 420 hours of community service on the defendants, who include Munyaradzi Gwisai, a member of the Zimbabwean legislature from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Their crime was watching a video of Arab Spring protests.

DUE DATE

A Senate Select Committee on Intelligence member is calling on the State Department to provide a special briefing to explain why an Iranian dissident group is listed as a terrorist organization.

The State Department also is facing a federal court deadline Monday to justify the continued blacklisting of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The dissidents were designated a terrorist group in 1997 in what many believed to be a political act by President Clinton to open talks with Iran.

Sen. Roy Blunt complained in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that her department has spent most of the past year stalling his requests for details on why the dissidents are on the terrorist list.

“For the past year, my staff and I have been seeking information from the department and from other federal agencies on this [terrorist] designation but have thus far received little substantive response,” the Missouri Republican wrote Friday.

DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC

Foreign visitors in Washington this week include:

Monday

• Stanislau Shushkevich, a former president of Belarus, who receives the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

• Mohammad Nakibur Rahman, the son of Bangladesh opposition leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, and Toby Cadman, an international war crimes attorney. They hold a 3 p.m. news conference at the National Press Club to discuss the current international tribunal against political leaders suspected of war crimes in Bangladesh.

Tuesday

• Defense Minister Alberto Otarola of Peru, who addresses the Inter-American Dialogue.

Thursday

• Joaquin Almunia, vice president of the European Commission, who addresses the American Bar Association. On Friday, he holds a 4:30 p.m. news conference at the office of the European Union Delegation at 2175 K St. NW.

Friday

• Mayor Jozias van Aartsen of The Hague; acting Secretary-General Brooks Daly of the Permanent Court of Arbitration; Secretary-General Hans van Loon of The Hague Conference on Private International Law; Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals; Judge Sang-Hyun Song, president of the International Criminal Court; and Judge Peter Tomka, president of the International Court of Justice. They meet administration officials, members of Congress and federal judges. They also address the Brookings Institution and the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297 or email jmorrison@washingtontimes.com. The column is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.