Honduras Suspends Civil Liberties

Honduras' interim leaders have suspended key civil liberties,
empowering police and soldiers to break up "unauthorised" public
meetings, arrest people without warrants and restrict the news media.

Honduras'
ousted President Manuel Zelaya, holding up a copy of the Honduran
Constitution, speaks during a press conference at the Brazilian embassy
in Tegucigalpa, Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. Honduras' interim government
leaders have suspended constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in a
pre-emptive strike against widespread rebellion Monday, three months to
the day since they ousted Zelaya in a military-backed coup. (AP
Photo/Esteban Felix)

The announcement came just hours after
deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called on supporters to stage
mass marches today marking the three-month anniversary of the June 28
coup that ousted him. Mr Zelaya described the marches as "the final
offensive" against the interim government.

President Zelaya, who
surprised the world when he returned to Honduras last Monday and sought
refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, is demanding he be reinstated to
office, and has said that the government of interim President Roberto
Micheletti "has to fall."

The government announced the decree in
a nationwide broadcast, saying it was "to guarantee peace and public
order in the country and due to the calls for insurrection that Mr.
Zelaya has publicly made."

The measure empowers police and
soldiers to arrest without a warrant "any person who poses a danger to
his own life or those of others," although unlike martial law, it
requires that anyone arrested be turned over to civilian prosecutors.
The Honduran Constitution forbids arrest without warrants except where
a criminal is caught in the act.

The measure also permits authorities to temporarily close news media outlets that "attack peace and public order."

The
media restrictions appear aimed at pro-Zelaya radio and television
stations that — while subject to brief raids immediately after the coup
— had been allowed to operate freely, openly criticising the government
and broadcasting Zelaya's statements.

But under yesterday's
order, authorities may now "prevent the transmission by any spoken,
written or televised means, of statements that attack peace and the
public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or
attack the law."

The decree states that the country's national
telecommunications commission, known as Conatel, is authorised "through
police and the armed forces ... to immediately suspend any radio
station, cable or television network whose programming does not comply
with these regulations."

The interim government also Sunday
expelled personnel from the Organization of American States looking to
set up a mediation effort and gave Brazil a 10-day ultimatum to either
hand over Zelaya or give him political asylum and get him out of the
country.

OAS Special Adviser John Biehl told reporters in the
capital, Tegucigalpa, that he and four other members of an advance team
— including two Americans, a Canadian and a Colombian — were stopped by
authorities after landing at the international airport Sunday. Biehl,
who is Chilean, said he was later told he could stay, but the others
were put on planes leaving the country.

Mr Biehl said he was in
Honduras to set up a visit by OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel
Insulza, who he said would arrive "at the appropriate time."

Interim
President Roberto Micheletti has previously said the OAS was welcome to
come, but suggested that representatives begin arriving Monday. Foreign
Minister Carlos Lopez said that the team's arrival didn't come "at the
right time ... because we are in the middle of internal conversations."

Talks between Zelaya and Micheletti's representatives have produced no results.

A
Micheletti spokesman warned Brazilian authorities Sunday to
"immediately take measures to ensure that Mr. Zelaya stops using the
protection offered by the diplomatic mission to instigate violence in
Honduras."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
immediately rejected the missive, saying his government "doesn't accept
ultimatums from coup-plotters."

Mr Micheletti didn't specify what
he would do after 10 days. He has said previously that he plans to
arrest Zelaya, who faces treason and abuse of authority charges for
ignoring court orders to drop plans for a referendum on rewriting the
constitution.

Brazil - like the rest of the international
community - recognizes Zelaya as Honduras' legitimate president, and
says it wants to protect him.

The UN Security Council has issued
a statement that "called upon the de facto government of Honduras to
cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy."