China’s Tainted Milk Scandal Culprits Executed

November 27, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The dairy farmer and milk salesman who sold more than three million pounds of contaminated baby formula in China were executed on Tuesday.

Six babies died from drinking milk contaminated with melamine, which is a chemical used in manufacturing plastic and fertilizers, and more than 300,000 children were made ill.

Families in line at a hospital in Hebei Province for ultrasonic scan to detect health problems related to drinking tainted milk. Courtesy of AP.

Melamine is an industrial chemical with high levels of nitrogen, and can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

The Chinese officials are hoping that the severe punishment imposed on the milk producers will bring some consolation and assurance to the angry public and milk importers, in addition to brining closure to one of the country’s worst food scandals.

Much of the tainted milk ended up in baby formula sold by Sanlu Group, a major dairy company in Northeast China. Since the scandal broke, the company has been taken over by a state-controlled company.

Zhang Yujun at his trial last December. Courtesy of China Daily/Reuters.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were the only men to be executed among those convicted of lacing milk formula with melamine. Additionally, 19 others were also convicted received lesser sentences.

The milk contamination struck a core with the Chinese public because although China claimed swift response to eliminating problems in food safety, this tainted milk scandal was only one in a series of product recalls and other disclosures of inadequate public health safeguards.

Despite Beijing’s efforts to regulate small and illegally run operations, a UN report said that many of China’s small businesses pose the greatest food safety hazard. These small enterprises are often accused of injecting chemicals and additives into the food chain.

Nevertheless, China has been cooperating with U.S. officials to tighten its food safety regulations. U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, said that “Chinese suppliers…are now on notice…that it is a mistake to depend on good intentions and a few final inspections to ensure compliance with safety requirements.”

However, the outrage over the tainted milk scandal has not yet subsided. There are allegations that the Chinese government prevented the news from breaking until after the Beijing Olympics.

The cover-up allegations have never been publicly investigated, and the authorities have harassed or detained parents who are pursuing lawsuits or demanding higher compensation.
For more information, please see:

AP – China executes 2 for role in tainted milk scandal – 25 November 2009

Guardian – China executes two for tainted milk scandal – 24 November 2009

NYT – 2 Executed in China for Selling Tainted Milk – 24 November 2009

Christmas Island Asylum-seekers May Face Criminal Charges

November 26, 2009

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia – Last week a fight between approximately 150 Sri Lankan Tamils and Afghan asylum-seekers broke out at Australia’s immigration detention facility on Christmas Island.

The two groups attacked each other with tree branches, pool cues and broom handles. The fighting ended with injuries for some thirty-seven asylum seekers who required medical treatment. Three individuals were flown to Perth to receive treatment for broken bones.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans believes that the violence may be a result of frustrations amongst the Sri Lankan asylum over being held in custody.

“There hasn’t been too many problems but there has been some increased tension I think around the Sri Lankans, in particular being a bit concerned as we have had some people removed back to Sri Lanka – found not to be refugees, and obviously the spotlight on the groups that were intercepted in Indonesia,” Evans said.

Advocates for refugees claim that the facility’s overcrowded and cramped conditions created the outburst. This combined with the slow pace of detainee processing is believed to be a significant factor in the fighting at Christmas Island.

Those individuals deemed responsible for the brawl have criminal charges brought against them.

Prime Minister Rudd noted that this may affect the status of certain refugee applications. Whether or not a detainee may be granted a visa depends in part on whether the individual has committed a serious offense.

Approximately 1,000 asylum seekers are currently housed at Christmas Island. The government plans to increase the facility’s capacity to 1,400 inmates.

Over the past year, many immigrants, particularly those from Sri Lanka, have tried to enter Australia. Most of the immigrants are taken to Christmas Island to have their refugee status applications processed.

Australia takes in 13,000 refugees each year through official humanitarian programs. A majority of asylum seekers, who arrive by boat, are eventually found to be in need of protection and may settle permanently in Australia.

Opposition officials in the government claim the Prime Minister administration has been ineffective in controlling the country’s borders. Rudd claims that all asylum seekers will receive humane treatment but promises to take a hard-line approach to criminal gangs involved in people smuggling.

For more information please see:
Bloomberg – Australia to send team to Process Lankan Migrants, Herald Says – 24 November 2009

Monsters & Critics – Charges may follow asylum-seeker brawl, Australian Minister says – 23 November 2009

Voice of America – Australia Investigates Brawl Among Asylum Seekers in Camp – 23 November 2009

Mississippi Governor Draws Criticism Over Proposal

November 26, 2009

26 November 2009

Mississippi Governor Draws Criticism Over Proposal

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MISSISSIPPI, United States – Governor Haley Barbour has proposed to merge three of Mississippi’s historically black colleges into one beginning in the year 2011. The merger is part of the Governor’s plan to decrease costs amidst new budget negotiations.

Under the Governor’s plan, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State would be merged into Jackson State, the state’s largest historically black college. Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley state are located approximately one hundred miles from Jackson State. Their campuses would remain but under new names.

Governor cited many different reasons for merging the three colleges into one. Mississippi has eight colleges and universities for approximately two million, nine hundred thousand people. Barbour stated that the residents of Mississippi can not afford that many institutions of higher education. According to Barbour, the merger would save Mississippi around thirty five million dollars. The savings would come from cuts to administrative costs and eliminating academic duplication.

Many groups and state legislators are opposed to the Governor’s plan. The presidents of the historically black colleges are unanimously opposed to the proposal. Jackson State University president Dr. Ronald Mason stated that “Mississippi needs historically black colleges because we traditionally serve the underserved.” Some Mississippi state legislators stated that they will not support the proposal. They believe that all Mississippi universities should be subject to the same scrutiny in regards to cuts or mergers. Representative Adrienne Wooten said, “I only know there are certain universities that are having to come forward and prove why they should remain open.”

The Obama administration has also questioned Barbour’s proposal. John S. WIlson, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities believed that cost savings should not be a goal. According to Wilson, the goal of the state should be improving the campuses’ capacity to educate more students. Wilson also believed that the Governor’s proposal may hurt the White House’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

For more information, please see:

MSNBC – Proposal to Merge Black Schools Draws Fire – 22 November 2009

WJTV, Jackson, MS. – School Chiefs Oppose Merging Black Universities – 18 November 2009

AFRO – Proposal to Merge HBCUs Draws Fire – November 2009

Men Indicted for Alleged Ties to Hezbollah

November 26, 2009

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania– On Tuesday, four men were indicted by a grand jury in Philadelphia for an alleged plot to support Lebanese based Hezbollah through a number of illegal practices, including providing the group with hundreds of weapons.

The indictment filed Tuesday says two suspects sought to provide over a thousand machine guns to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon. The indictment states that two of the alleged plotters were to purchase the weapons in Philadelphia and then ship them to a port city in Syria where they would eventually be distributed to Hezbollah. The two other indicted men were accused of trying to raise funds for the terrorist group with fake passports and counterfeit cash said U.S. Attorney Michael Levy. According to Levy, “They were selling counterfeit visas. They were trying to sell counterfeit U.S. currency as a way of raising money for Hezbollah.” The FBI has said that an undercover agent thwarted the plotter’s plans.

In a released statement, Levy noted that the indicted men were seeking to support Hezbollah with some serious firepower. He added that “the purchase of stolen goods- or what they believed were stolen goods- was a way of raising money by selling those items. The purchase of machine guns is clearly buying military weapons, which can only be used in warfare.”

In addition to the four men indicted, eight others were charged with lesser offenses related to schemes to traffic in stolen or counterfeit goods. In all, federal authorities have said that thirteen suspects are in custody, while eleven more were being sought in connection with the alleged plot to aid Hezbollah.

The indictment comes just a day after officials say they broke up a similar plot. That plot was disrupted when undercover meetings in Philadelphia unearthed plans to send machine guns and anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Said Levy, “We have, in this case, charged a number of people who are basically part of a supply stream for a terrorist organization. But this is just part of an ongoing fight we’re going to have for a long time.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press- Feds: Philadelphia Plot to Buy Weapons for Hezbollah– 25 November 2009

Fox News- Grand Jury Indicts Four Men for Alleged Plot to Support Hezbollah– 25 November 2009

KYW Newsradio- Four Indicted in Philadelphia in Alleged Plot to Support Terrorists– 24 November 2009

Colombian Ex-General Jailed for Role in 1997 Massacre

November 26, 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Jaime Uscategui, a retired general, was sentenced to forty years in prison on Wednesday for his involvement in a massacre by right wing paramilitaries. A court ruled that Uscategui, who was a commander of the eighth brigade in 1997, was complicit in the murder of forty-nine civilians by paramilitaries.

In July of 1997, over 100 armed members of a right wing paramilitary groups entered the village of Mapiripzán, despite being officially banned from activity. The paramilitaries commenced a five-day killing spree, where civilians were tortured and murdered.

The military failed to stop the massacre or stop the paramilitaries at one of the many checkpoints on their way into the village. A pair of chartered planes full of right wing gunmen landed and were dispatched to oversee the mass killings form Uscategui’s area.

During the five-day massacre, the town’s judge, Ivan Cortes, repeatedly called Uscategui for help, with no response. Bodies were “hacked up and many were thrown into a river.” Hundreds of suspected leftist rebel sympathizers were killed during the 1990s.

The court overruled an earlier acquittal, finding that Uscategui abandoned the people and had knowledge that some of his officers were collaborating with paramilitaries. The forty year sentence is the highest ever to be imposed in Colombia on an officer of Uscategui’s ranking. Uscategui was also ordered to pay a fine of 10 million pesos.

The killings were committed predominantly by the Self Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU), a paramilitary group organized by landowners. Another former army general, Rito Alejo del Rio, is in jail until a civilian court tries him on charges of murder for death squad killings during the mid-1990s.

Uscategui was initially arrested in 1999 and tried by a military court, where he was sentenced to forty months in prison for “omission.” A battalion commander who did not stop the Mapiripán massacre was convicted of murder in 2007 and sentenced to forty years in prison.

For more information, please see:

AP-Court Convicts Ex-General in Colombian Massacre-26 November 2009

The Guardian-Former Colombian General Jailed for Rule in Maripiripán Massacre-26 November 2009

BBC-Colombia Jails Death Squad General Over Massacre