2021年经济学人 印度的人权--我们在监狱的父(1)

Asia

亚洲板块

Human rights in India

印度的人权

Father, who art in prison

我们在监狱的父

An 84-year-old activist¹ perishes awaiting trial

一名84岁的激进分子在等待审判中死去

Slow justice may be no justice, but a slowly unfolding tragedy remains² no less a tragedy.

迟到的正义或许不是正义，但缓慢展开的悲剧仍是悲剧。

When police charged Father Stan Swamy with terrorism and threw him in jail last October, friends of the Jesuit priest and human-rights activist feared for his health. They were right to worry.

去年10月，当警察以恐怖主义罪名指控神父斯坦·斯瓦米并将他投入监狱时，这位耶稣会牧师和人权活动家的朋友担心他的健康。他们的担心是对的。

Prison wardens³ denied Father Stan, as he was known, in his 80s and shaking from Parkinson's disease, the use of a straw and sippy-cup from which to drink water until the press raised a fuss.

众所周知，斯坦神父已经80多岁了，患有帕金森氏症，全身发抖，而监狱看守不让斯坦神父使用吸管和吸管杯喝水，直到媒体引起了骚动。

Judges turned down repeated pleas for bail⁴, even as his health declined and India entered a second, ferocious⁵ wave of covid-19 in the spring.

尽管斯坦神父的健康状况不断恶化，今年春天印度又出现了第二波新冠疫情，法官仍多次拒绝了他的保释请求。

They insisted that since he was charged under special terrorism laws, this frail⁶ old man with no criminal record, who had devoted⁷ his life to helping⁸ remote tribal⁹ peoples, must somehow represent a danger to the republic.

他们坚持认为这位没有犯罪记录且一生致力于帮助偏远的部落人民的虚弱老人由于是在特殊的恐怖主义法律下被起诉的，所以一定会对共和国构成某种威胁。

In May Father Stan, now unable to feed himself or walk, was finally allowed to visit a private hospital.

到了5月，斯坦神父已经吃不了饭也走不了路，于是终于获准到一家私人医院就诊。

Doctors promptly¹⁰ diagnosed covid-19. Soon he was on a ventilator.

医生很快诊断出他患了新冠，很快就只能靠呼吸机来过活。

On July 5th, as yet another judge was set to hear yet another bail plea, he died.

7月5日，就在另一名法官准备审理另一项保释请求时，他死了。

The death of an "undertrial", as India calls people who are yet to be found guilty of anything but languish¹¹ in jail nonetheless, is not normally news.

在印度，那些尚未被判有罪但却在监狱里备受煎熬的人被称为“候审者”，而候审者的死亡在印度已经不是什么新闻了。

After all, they make up more than two-thirds of the country's prison population.

毕竟，他们占了这个国家监狱人口的三分之二以上。

Even the death of detainees accused, like Father Stan, under the draconian¹² Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), seldom raises eyebrows¹³.

即使是在严厉的《非法活动防止法》下，被指控的被拘留者的死亡，比如斯坦神父，也很少引起关注。

In January Kanchan Nanaware, a 38-year-old tribal activist, died during her sixth year awaiting trial as a "terrorist".

今年一月，38岁的部落活动家Kanchan Nanaware在她作为“恐怖分子”等待审判的第六年里去世了。

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 wardens   

n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官

参考例句：

• Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
• The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句

4 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

5 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

6 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

10 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

11 languish   

vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎

参考例句：

• Without the founder's drive and direction,the company gradually languished.没有了创始人的斗志与指引，公司逐渐走向没落。
• New products languish on the drawing board.新产品在计划阶段即告失败。

12 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

13 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。