HRW Calls IOC To Ban Saudi Arabia

HRW Calls IOC To Ban Saudi Arabia

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – On 15 February 2012, Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) called for the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) to prevent Saudi Arabia from participating in the Olympic games until the country allows women  to compete, beginning with the 2012 London Games.  Saudi Arabia has received criticism that the country violates the spirit of the Olympics by not bringing a female team to participate at the international event.

Girls in Saudi Arabia at basketball practice. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

HRW’s 51-page report entitled “Steps of the Devil: Denial of Women and Girls’ Right to Sport in Saudi Arabia” highlights discriminatory practices against females when the State denies them physical education at state schools, limits women’s athletic facilities, and refuses to support female athletes participation in the Olympic games.

HRW’s report documents that “opponents of sport for women and girls put forward the ‘slippery slope’ argument that, once women start to exercise, they will shed modest clothing, spend ‘unnecessary’ time out of the house and have increased possibilities of mingling with men.”  Opponents also purpose women could engage in sport outside the view of men while wearing modest cloths.

Since the country’s law restricts women from driving, women face challenges accessing athletic facilities.  Furthermore, when a woman is outside, she must wear an abaya, a black cloak that covers her from head to toe.  HRW reported a woman received permission to run a marathon a few years ago if she ran in the abaya.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia’s denial of women’s right to sport raises health concerns for women and girls, where obesity and diabetes rates climbed in the country.

HRW asserts Saudi Arabia’s policy violates the pledge of equality in IOC charter.  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei are the only countries that have not sent women’s teams to the Olympics.  However, their cultural counterparts, including Indonesia, Algeria, Bahrain, and Iran, have supported women’s Olympic teams.

The IOC has banned countries in the past for their policies toward women.  Afghanistan, for example, could not participate in the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of the country’s stance on women under Taliban rule.

In 2006, Reema Abdullah organized Jeddah King’s United, the country’s first all-female soccer team, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  The 33-year old reported the women practice three times a week on “a proper size football field with grass that is surrounded by a wall.”

Regarding the upcoming Olympic games, Abdullah told the Associated Press, “We will watch the London Olympics and we will cheer for our men competing there, hoping that someday we can root for our women as well.”

For further information, please see:

The Guardian – Olympic Outrage at Saudi Ban On Women Athletes – 25 Feb 2012

Hamilton Spectator – Saudi Arabia’s Sports Gap – 22 Feb 2012

Sports Illustrated – Female Athletes In Saudi Arabia Challenge Tradition Muslim Norms – 17 Feb 2012

Human Rights Watch – IOC/Saudi Arabia: End Ban on Women in Sport – 15 Feb 2012

HUNDREDS OF TIBETANS DETAINED FOR REEDUCATION

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of Tibetans returning from India have been arbitrarily detained and now face “political re-education.”

A Tibetan refuge participates in a candle light vigil in India (left), while Chinese troops patrol the streets in Kangding, Ganzi Prefecture (right). (Photograph Courtesy of The Telegraph).

The detainees were part of a group of 7,000 Tibetans who were granted permission by the Chinese government to attend teaching sessions held by the Dali Lama in Bihar, India. The travelers reportedly possessed all the necessary documentation for the journey including Chinese-issued passports.

At first, human rights groups hailed the initial travel grant as a relaxation of Chinese government policy in Tibet. However, applause for the perceived policy shift has been abruptly cut short in recent weeks as China continues to expand its crackdown on ethnic minorities.

According to Human Rights Watch, some 700 ethnic Chinese accompanied the Tibetans on their journey to attend the Dali Lama’s teaching sessions. However, the group stressed that there have been no reports of ethnic Chinese travelers being detained upon re-entry into China. Accordingly, Human Rights Watch believes that the travelers are being detained solely based upon their ethnicity.

In addition to extensive indoctrination sessions, the “reeducation” faced by many of the detainees reportedly will include forced denunciation of the Dali Lama as a spiritual leader. Though there has been no official word regarding the duration of the detainees’ reeducation, previous programs have typically lasted for several months. Sources cited by Human Rights Watch suggest that detainees’ families have not been notified of the detentions.

The detainment follows recent escalating unrest in the regions of Sichuan and Gansu, which both possess sizable ethnic Tibetan populations. In recent weeks, at least 15 monks are thought to have died in the two regions from self-immolation in protest against Chinese rule. An additional seven Tibetans were shot dead and dozens wounded in clashes with police in Sichuan in January.

However, the recent detainees reportedly hail from areas as of yet untouched by the recent unrest. This has led some analysts to view the detainment as a preemptive move by the Chinese authorities to tighten control over the Tibetan plateau in order to prevent violent unrest from spreading to the regional capital, Lhasa.

A February 10 article in the Beijing-based newspaper, Global Times, reported that Chinese officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) had been ordered to “prepare for a war against secessionist sabotage.” The government-owned tabloid quoted Xiong Kunxin, a professor at the Minsu University of China, who explained the recent string of self-immolations as having to do with “geographic and historical factors, which made the Tibetan people [in Sichuan] more aggressive.” The professor was further quoted as he decried “less strict management” for having contributed to the “problem” as well.

Conversely, the exiled Dali Lama has blamed the self-immolations on a “cultural genocide” committed by the Chinese authorities against his people. However, he rejects government claims that he is behind the violence.

Growing unrest in the region has led China to significantly bolster its police, military and secret service presence in an effort to clamp down on dissent and tighten communist party control. For instance, the Gami Temple, which lies at the edge of the TAR, houses not only Buddhist monks, but also a local police headquarters. Such close proximity between police and local religious leaders allows for easy surveillance and control and is increasingly commonplace.

Additionally, in many parts of the region police roadblocks make travel difficult. In some towns, the authorities have even gone so far as to block all internet and telecommunications access by the local population.

In a statement released on its website, Human Rights Watch alleged that the recent crackdown has seen the largest number of Tibetan laypeople detained by the Chinese Government since the 1970s.

As a result of the authorities’ heavy-handed tactics, traditional Tibetan New Year celebrations, which the Tibetan Government in exile had called upon Tibetans to boycott, appear to have largely gone off without incident. However, some activists suggest that China’s approach may be serving to unite ethnic Tibetans against Chinese rule. Some analysts suggest that the March 10 anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule may pose more of a challenge to security forces than the innocuous new year celebrations.

China has ruled Tibet since its troops occupied the region in 1950. Many Tibetans fear that Chinese migrants and government policies are eroding Tibetan culture.

For more information, please see:

AP News — As China Clamps Down, Tibet Struggle Grows Radical — 22 February 2012

Reuters — Tibetans Mark New Year under Shadow of Immolations — 22 February 2012

Reuters — China Detaining Tibetans Returning from India – Human Rights Watch — 18 February 2012

Jurist — China Must Release Tibetan Prisoners: HRW — 17 February 2012

The Guardian — China Detains Hundreds of Tibetans for ‘Re-education’, Says Human Rights Group — 17 February 2012

The Telegraph — Hundreds of Tibetans ‘Detained and Forced to Undergo Political Re-education’ — 17 February 2012

Human Rights Watch — China: End Crackdown on Tibetans Who Visited India — 16 February 2012

The Global Times — Tibet Officials ‘Prepare for War’ — 10 February 2012

Prosecuting the Dead

by David Crane
Originally published through Jurist 20 Feb 2012

In 897 AD in what was called “the Cadaver Synod,” Pope Formosus was tried for various violations of Church laws. He was found guilty, his edicts were annulled, his robes were taken from him, and three fingers on his right hand were severed, before the former Pope was thrown in the Tiber River. Bizarrely, Pope Formosus had died of natural causes several months earlier. They prosecuted a dead man. Fast forward over a thousand years to 2012. Russia is about to put on trial a dead man, Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer, who died in prison from the effects of his imprisonment and torture by the Russian government in November 2009.

 

Magnitsky’s death has caused universal condemnation by world leaders, international organizations, such as the EU, as well as human rights groups. His crime was exposing a massive tax fraud scheme by the Russian government and officials within the Medvedev/Putin regime in the amount of over $230 million dollars. Not content to leave Magnitsky in peace, the Russian government has hounded his family and harassed his mother, Natalia Magnitskaya. They are even going to bring charges in absentia against Magnitsky’s former employer, William Browder, a British citizen, of the Hermitage Capital Fund.

 

The Magnitsky case is indicative of Russian justice in the twenty-first century. Joseph Stalin did not prosecute the dead, yet the current government plans to move forward with the prosecution unless Magnitsky’s family ceases its efforts to seek justice for their family member, Sergei. “Even in Stalin’s time, the authorities did not prosecute people who were dead. The Interior Ministry is so desperate to justify its repression of Sergei Magnitsky that government officials are running roughshod over all legal precedent, practice and morality,” said an Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

 

Boris Kibis, the very investigator who found in 2010 no credibility to the Russian President’s Human Rights Council report that Magnitsky had been tortured and mistreated in violation of the European Human Rights Convention, is now completing the investigation against the long dead Magnitsky and intends to refer the case for prosecution this year. What those charges are remains to be seen.

 

It is important to note that the United States Senate has taken up the cause of the torture death of Sergei Magnitsky to sanction the officials who were responsible for his death. Led by Senators John McCain and Ben Cardin with 28 co-sponsors, the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (S. 1039) is being considered this congressional term.

 

Sir Tony Brenton, United Kingdom Ambassador to Russia, 2004-2008, declared on the one year anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnitsky, November 2010: “The death of Sergei Magnitsky is an appalling indictment of some parts of the Russian judicial system. It is important for Russia, as it is for the wider world, that they clean this poison out.”

 

Prosecuting dead people has only happened a few other times in history. Such dead defendants included Joan of Arc, Thomas Beckett, John Wycliff, and Martin Borman. The Catholic Church banned the practice centuries ago. In modern jurisprudence prosecution of the dead is unheard of, particularly by civilized nations who respect the rule of law. We simply do not try the dead. This Russian example of justice brings shame to the rule of law and discredit upon its judicial system.

 

David Crane is a professor at Syracuse University College of Law and the founding former Chief Prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal in West Africa called the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 2001-2005.

Lawlessness in Egypt an Issue of Concern

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt — The revolution that changed Egypt is nearly a year old, and a growing security problem has many wondering if Egyptian security forces are complacent about or complicit in the mayhem around them.

Egyptian security forces are drawing criticism for a rise in violent crime (Photo courtesy of Ahram Online).

There has been an unprecedented rise in violent crimes since 2011, which has largely been attributed to prison breakouts and a lack of police.

The brazenness of the violence is also troubling. Seven men went into a bank robbery shooting in January; the same day, three men stormed an armored car and made off with $500,000.  A few days later, there was a surreal scene as families lined up outside of a Cairo morgue to watch the procession of coffins carrying the 74 people killed in the Port Said soccer melee.

Historically, Egypt has been safer than many Western countries, but this trend has changed.

Earlier this month groups of American and South Korean tourists were kidnapped in the Sinai peninsula by Bedouin tribesmen.

Currently, at least 20 Jordanian nationals are trapped in the Ras Sidr area in the governorate of south Sinai.  “They can’t move because the road is being blocked by tires set on fire by Bedouin protesters demanding the release of Sinai prisoners,” said an Egyptian interior ministry source.

This increase in violent crime has taken police by surprise, as many city neighborhoods seem to slip fervently out of their grasps.

“We keep reading about crimes that never before existed in our community,” said Mohamed Radwan, the owner of a Cairo gift shop.  “After so many years of financial frustration under [President Hosni] Mubarak,  a certain class of people is willing to do anything for more money, even if that means killing people while robbing them.”

It appears that many of the criminals feel that Egyptian security forces are too busy confronting political issues to seriously deal with crime or provide security.

Ironically, the crime and unrest have brought a sense of equality to some Egyptians as both poor and rich share concerns over security. “We got used to burglaries and attacks and assaults in our poor neighborhoods,” said Soad Mahmoud, a Cairo street vendor. “But I see this everywhere now, cars getting stolen and people murdered for money in places that once used to be the safest.”

The Egyptian police have consistently made statements saying that the situation is under control, however the almost daily incident reports continue to bring criticisms of the security forces.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Jordanians “trapped” in Egypt’s Sinai — 26 Feb. 2012

Philadelphia Inquirer — Brazen crimes add unease to Egypt — 26 Feb. 2012

Boston.com — Egypt: Tribesmen kidnap 3 Korean tourists in Sinai — 10 Feb. 2012

Al Jazeera — Security in Egypt’s Sinai a cause for concern — 05 Jan. 2012