I Find a Party

This has been a really good day. I got to go to class again, seeing the students and discussing the rights of suspects to remain silent and to be represented by a lawyer – and if the suspect cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to him/her. And these are the rights of suspects in Afghanistan.

I got really tickled at the officers’ discussions. Their comments sounded very much like comments I hear at home, only from a much more varied group: “If we tell the defendants of their rights, they won’t confess!” “Why do the defendants have so many rights?” “If the suspects confess, why do we have to do anything else in the case? Isn’t the confession enough?” “Why does a suspect have to have a lawyer? Can’t his brother defend him?”

In Afghanistan, until this point, it has not been unusual for a defendant to be convicted only on his confession, and that the confession was often beaten out of him/her, ergo the need for a law that says that defendants will not be tortured in order to get a confession. In the previous kind of legal system, most officers would not even look for evidence. Now, however, the laws are changing, and the system is responding to the needs of the people for a justice system that offers fairness to all involved. Now, officers are looking for and collecting evidence. They are interviewing witnesses. Lawyers are finding the laws to support their clients’ positions, whether the client be a defendant or a governmental entity such as the city or the country. Judges are considering the cases from a legal standpoint. All of this means Afghan society wins.

Then, after we had discussed these issues, one of the students told a story that tells that the court system simply must be fair and impartial. A man who was a deaf mute had been accused of beating his mother, and he was told, although I’m not sure how, that he had a right to a lawyer. His brother volunteered to defend him and interpret for the court. The suspect began signing, and the interpreter brother said that the defendant brother had confessed and had indeed beaten their mother. After a few minutes, a very astute and fair-minded prosecutor noticed that the signs were different; the defendant made lots of signs, while the brother said very few words. The prosecutor stopped the proceedings and demanded another interpreter. It turned out that the defendant did not confess at all; the defendant was trying to tell the court that he was innocent, and that his brother was the one who was beating the mother, and the deaf mute brother as well!

I thanked the students for their stories and discussion, and told them that we have the same issues in America, and that we all have to follow our rules: police officers have rules and they must follow them; lawyers have rules and they must follow them; and judges have rules and must follow them – and if we all follow our rules, the people who should be convicted will be convicted according to the rules, which keeps them convicted.

I was relieved that they seemed happy to see me and not at all holding bad feelings about our previous discussion regarding the film that has caused so much upheaval all across this part of the world and regarding our right to free speech.

Then something else happened.

I got to go to the American Consulate in Herat tonight! The consul was hosting a reception for staff members, and we were invited. We were not locked down, and so we went! It was a blast – except that we had to climb seven flights of stairs to get to the rooftop. I felt as if we had escaped, and that the world really did exist outside our walls. How much fun!

I saw some of the people I have met before – Rob, the guy who had my job a few years ago and now works at the consulate; Mary, who participates in the Rule of Law program; and Dave, who is the representative in a different province; most important, I met a Green Bay Packers fan who was still reeling from the disastrous call last night. I say disastrous, but I don’t really know, because I, of course, could not see the game OR the call. I have been looking for it on line, and I know it will be there somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet. I got really tickled at him because he was saying that when the game is over, it’s over, and he just forgets it and goes on, but he couldn’t stop talking about it, and in fact, was going downstairs to watch a replay of the game. I had to giggle, but did so to myself. After all, I had just met him and he isn’t used to my sense of humor.

Rob, the man I had met previously and who was at the reception, told a great football story: A die-hard Broncos fan, he wanted desperately to go to the Super Bowl in 1998, when the Broncos played the Packers in San Diego. He had dreams about going. He dreamed that he found a ticket outside the stadium, and he got to go to the game. He called his father and told him that he was going to the game to buy a ticket and watch the game. His father told him that to make the trip was foolish. He had not been employed for too long, and the trip was going to be an expense that he really couldn’t afford, his father told him, but Rob wanted to go. The dreams came more often, and in every dream, someone approached him at the stadium and offered him a ticket. So rather than paying attention to his realistic, solid father, Rob followed his dreams, got in the car and drove from Denver to San Diego.

I’m not sure whether he stayed someplace or drove all night, but he began his ticket quest on Game Day at 7 a.m. He waited and waited, and finally, about an hour before the game began, a man approached him and said he had a ticket to spare. I cannot tell the cost of the ticket, because that is his story to tell (and it is atypical and funny), but I can tell you that Rob made out like a bandit, he saw the game, saw the Broncos win, drove home, called his dad and told him the story, and says that he has the Super Bowl ticket framed. He said that paying attention to his dream was one of the best things he ever did.

At the party, I also talked with a young man who works for the State Department, and who is well-educated about the situation in this part of the world. I didn’t get to talk to him long, but he has met the Secretary of State, and I am hoping that he will remember to call me should she be in this part of the country any time soon. I know that lots of people don’t like Hilary Clinton, but I think she is brave, smart, powerful woman. What I like about her is her ability to land on her feet when things don’t turn out the way she expects. I like to hope that I would be able to do the same.

Anyway! I was also thrilled that I got to go to the party! I have missed being at parties! I was on the roof of the American consulate in Herat, as the sun was just beginning to go down, looking out over this very ancient city, and I felt as if I were in another world. All too soon, Huge and Ferocious came to tell us that it was time to leave; we didn’t want to be driving through the city after dark.

All in all, though, it was a lovely party, and all of a sudden, I felt normal again – talking to people, being around people, laughing, having a good time. It was a very nice end to a very good day.

And I wonder what tomorrow will bring.