Update: Taylor Trial Continues as Defense Continues to Present its Case

Update: Taylor Trial Continues as Defense Continues to Present its Case

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Last week Charles Taylor testified that he negotiated the release of UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone.  He also denied having control over Liberians who traveled to Sierra Leone during its 11-year civil war.

These Liberians migrated to Sierra Leone after Taylor came into power.  They joined either the Special Task Force, which was a group of Liberians aiding the Sierra Leonean army, or the RUF, the Liberian rebel group called the Revolutionary United Front.  Taylor denied having any power over them saying he would not have been able to punish them for any crimes committed in Sierra Leone.

“How do you punish someone when he is not under your control?  You can only be responsible for people under your direct command.  Nobody can say that Taylor ordered me to do X, Y, or Z.  I did not have contact with them and there was no control over them.  I did not help them in any way,” Taylor said.

Taylor maintains that the United States and Britain were misinformed when they alleged that he supported RUF rebels and supplied them with arms and ammunition and provided a safe haven in Liberia for rebels.  He said the two countries were “after him.”

During testimony Taylor provided a detailed timeline which would show Sierra Leone and the international community that he wanted peace in Sierra Leone and was not supporting the RUF rebels.

Taylor admitted to actively participating in efforts to get President Tejan Kabbah and RUF leader Foday Sankoh into peace negotiations but denied doing it for Sankoh’s benefit.

“My plan to bring peace to Sierra Leone was not for Foday Sankoh but for the people of Sierra Leone.  This has never been for Sankoh but for Sierra Leone.  I was in a hurry to do something for my people in Liberia and this cannot move ahead without peace in Sierra Leone.  If there is no peace in Sierra Leone, there will be no peace in Liberia,” he said.

Taylor claims he encouraged Sankoh to change the RUF into a political machine, saying, “Stop the war, go into politics, drop the gun and go into politics.  You can’t go into politics with a gun in your hand.”

RUF ‘Salute Report’ from Sam Bockarie to Foday Sankoh makes no mention of help from Taylor.

For more information, please see:

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – RUF Salute Report Made no Mention of Help Received From Charles Taylor – 13 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – “My Interest in Sierra Leone was for Peace for the People, Not Foday Sankoh,” Taylor Says – 12 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Charles Taylor Expelled RUF Collaborators From Liberia; Gives a Chronology of Steps He Took to Bring Peace to Sierra Leone – 11 August 2009

CharlesTaylorTrial.org – Taylor Did Not Have Control Over Liberians Who Travelled to Sierra Leone, Blames West for Mis-Information – 10 August 2009

Impunity Watch – Update: Charles Taylor Trial – 10 August 2009

Brazil and U.S. Conspired to Overthrow Democratically Elected Chilean President

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. published declassified White House secret memos showing that Brazil and the United States discussed plans to overthrow or destabilize Chilean President Salvador Allende in a 1971 meeting.

According to the formerly secret documents that reveal a deeper collaboration than previously known between the United States and Brazil, President Nixon discussed with Brazilian military regime-era President Médici a cooperative effort to overthrow the democratically elected Chilean administration.

Nixon, at a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 9, 1971, said he was willing to offer Brazil the assistance, monetary or otherwise, it might need to rid South America of leftist governments, the White House memorandum of the meeting shows.

The United States and Brazil, Nixon told Médici, “must try and prevent new Allendes and Castros and try where possible to reverse these trends.”

The records released also reveal that Brazil was involved in the Uruguayan election fraud of 1971 with consent from the United States.

Nixon saw Brazil’s military government as a critical partner in the region. “There were many things that Brazil as a South American country could do that the U.S. could not,” Nixon told his Brazilian counterpart, according to the memos.

Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archives, noted that “a hidden chapter of collaborative intervention to overthrow the government of Chile” was now emerging from the declassified documentation. “Brazil’s archives are the missing link,” he said, calling on President Ignacio Lula da Silva to open Brazil’s military archives on the past. “The full history of intervention in South America in the 1970s cannot be told without access to Brazilian documents.”

Eventually, a CIA-supported coup, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, toppled the Allende government in Chile in 1973.

The daughter of Salvador Allende requested that Brazil open any secret archives that could shed light on any role it played in the 1973 overthrow of her father’s administration.

“It seems to me Brazil owes an explanation, if not an apology, to Chile in the form of a full historical reckoning of its role in the overthrow of Allende and the advent of Pinochet,” Kornbluh said.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – Allende seeks Brazil documents on ’73 Chile coup – 18 August 2009

The New York Times – Chile: Allende’s Daughter Seeks Secret Records About Coup – 18 August 2009

The New York Times – Memos Show Nixon’s Bid to Enlist Brazil in a Coup – 16 August 2009

National Security Archive at George Washington University – Brazil Conspired with U.S. to Overthrow Allende – 16 August 2009

Human Rights Watch Calls for Iraq to Act to Protect Homosexuals

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On August 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report titled “They Want Us Exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation, and Gender in Iraq” which details the attacks that gay men in Iraq have suffered in recent months.

According to the report, militias in Iraq are persecuting gay men, torturing and killing them.  Although there have been reports about attacks by several small militias, HRW believes that most of the attacks are being perpetrated by the Mahdi Army, a militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr.  To support this claim, HRW cites the facts that the attacks seem centered around Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad that is named after al-Sadr’s martyred father.  

Moreover, Sadrist Mosques and officials of the Mahdi Army have been spreading warnings about the “third sex,” a derogatory term for homosexuals in Iraq.  According to the report, men have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered for something small, such as wearing a tight shirt, tight jeans, or a certain hairstyle – fashions claimed to be worn by the “third sex.”  HRW describes the situation as “social cleansing.”

According to HRW, hundreds of men have been killed in the last few months.  A hospital employee interviewed by HRW after he fled Iraq described the stories he was receiving from colleagues, “a fellow doctor-a colleague, a classmate of mine, who works at al-Kindi hospital-told me over the phone that more were killed yesterday. Four were brought in with their genitals cut off. And some were brought in, not dead, with glue in their anuses.”  The report explains that injecting glue into the anuses of suspected gay men has become a common form of torture, and men who suffer its effects are brought into hospitals almost daily.

HRW explains that the most astounding aspect of the situation is the lack of action to stop the killings.  According to the report, government officials actually participate in the persecution.  The report details the story of a man in Baghdad who ran safe-houses for gay men who had been disowned by their families.  He told HRW that officials for the Ministry of the Interior has arrested him, tortured and raped him, and finally he was freed when he bribed one of the guards.  According to HRW, ministry members take these actions claiming that they are within the law, punishing those who have participated in “indecent acts.”

The report concludes by calling on the Iraqi government to take action s to stop the persecution of gay men.  HRW reminds Iraq of their international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require states to provide for the rights to Life and Security (Article 9), to Protection against Torture, and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (Articles 7 & 11), and to Non-Discrimination and Fundamental Rights (Articles 26, 17, 19, and 21).   They ask the government to publicly condemn such action and to prosecute those responsible.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Gay Men Attacked, Executed in Iraq, Rights Group Says – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iraq: Stop Killings for Homosexual Conduct – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq – 17 August 2009

USA Today – Rights Group Reports Anti-Gay Death Squads at Work in Iraq – 17 August 2009

The Washington Post – Gay Men Targeted In Iraq, Report Says – 17 August 2009

UN Cites Human Rights Violations in Operation Cast Lead

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East


GENEVA, Switzerland
– United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has called for an in depth, transparent investigation of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. Pillay stated that “there is significant prima facie evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law having been committed by the Israeli forces and Palestinian militants,” during the operation which took place between December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that at least 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and at least thirteen Israelis, three of which were civilians during Israel’s 22-day offensive on Gaza.

The allegations which warrant further investigation include Israeli attacks on Gaza civilians, civilian hospitals, schools, administrative facilities and 27,000 private homes. Of particular concern for the UN is the “targeting of the civilian population and wanton destruction of property and religious and cultural objects” according to a separate report by a UN investigative team, released on August 14. “While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence,” Pillay said.

Pillay’s report to the UN Human Rights Council also calls for the immediate easing of Israeli restrictions in the Palestinian territories. She hopes that this easing will lead to a lifting of the blockade on Gaza, which has been economically devastating to the people living there. Pillay claims that the blockade and restrictions on movement of people and goods in the West Bank “amount to collective punishment.”  The alleged torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and collective punishment both contravene the Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a party.

Moreover, the report specifically calls for Israel to cease its settlement expansion immediately. It also asks Israel to cease evictions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, and address the persistent impunity for settler violence. Pillay remains concerned over Israel’s disregard for the International Court of Justice’s recommendation regarding the barrier wall that Israel is constructing to keep assailants out. The wall would enclose 9.5 per cent of the West Bank area.

Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar rejected the findings of Pillay. Leshno-Yaar felt that the report failed to note recent moves by Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians, and reflected an anti-Israel bias by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Arab News Network al Jazeera reports that Israel is now running an ad campaign to discredit human rights agencies that have reported negatively on Israel, including Human Rights Watch.

For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – UN: Israel Had ‘Impunity’ in Gaza – 15August 2009

Al Jazeera – Israel Questions Gaza War Reports – 14 August 2009

Christian Science Monitor – Israel Killed Palestinians Waving White Flags, Report Says – 14 August 2009

Fox News- U.N. Human Rights Chief: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza Strip Is Illegal– 14 August 2009

United Nations – Significant Prima Facie Evidence of Serious Rights Abuses in Gaza, UN reports – 14 August 2009

China Jails Eight Tibetans

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– A court in northwest China sentenced a group of Tibetans for their role in anti-government protests which took place earlier this year.  Six monks and two lay people were sentenced to jail terms ranging from six-months to seven years in Qinghai province, a region that is largely ethnically Tibetan and includes the birthplace of exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The eight Tibetans were accused of inciting a mob attack of a police station in a Tibetan town of Rabgya back in March.  The unrest began when a Buddhist monk jumped into the Yellow River to escape police interrogation.  He had hung a Tibetan flag on the roof of his monastery on March 10, which was the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan revolt against the Chinese government, and had distributed anti-government pamphlets.  The Chinese police detained about 100 monks after the violence broke out, and hundreds of Tibetans rioted and attacked the police station.

Tibetan monkMonk Palden Gyatso received the harshest sentence, seven years in prison (Source: NYT)

This recent violence resembled the mass protest of March 2008 in Tibetan-populated regions of China, which was the largest anti-government protest by Tibetans in decades.  According to the exiled Tibetan government, the subsequent crackdown by the Chinese government since last year’s riots has led to more than 200 Tibetan deaths.

Local Chinese officials have refused to release any information on the riots which took place this past March, and a court clerk told a news agency that she had no knowledge about the case of the eight Tibetans who were sentenced.  Remaining anonymous, she said, “We don’t know anything about the trial.  Nobody at our court knows.”

However, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy expressed “its serious concern over Chinese authorities’ manhandling of the case and awarding lengthy prison sentences to what was a mere…exercise of the freedom of expression…guaranteed by the Chinese Constitutions….”  The Centre is urging China to reverse the verdict and ensure fair and free trial to the eight Tibetans.
For more information, please see:

AFP – China court jails eight Tibetans: rights group – 18 August 2009

AP – Report: 8 Tibetans jailed over protests in China – 18 August 2009

Reuters – China sentences 8 Tibetans over protests – activists – 18 August 2009

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy – China sentences eight Tibetans to varying prison terms in Tibet – 14 August 2009