War Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 10 – Issue 6 June 1, 2015 - Impunity Watch

FREDERICK K. COX
INTERNATIONAL LAW CENTERFounder/Advisor
Michael P. Scharf

War Crimes Prosecution WatchVolume 10 – Issue 6
June 1, 2015

Editor in Chief
Alexis KrivoshikManaging Editors
Ryanna Miller
Aaron Kearny

Senior Technical Editor
R. Tadd Pinkston

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.

Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.

Contents

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Central African Republic & Uganda

RTT News: UN Rights Chief Urges Further Inquiry Into Abuses By International Forces In CAR

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kenya

Libya

Human Rights Watch: Libya: Civilians Trapped in Benghazi

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

AFRICA

Mali

Chad

EUROPE

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Domestic Prosecutions In The Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Phnom Penh Post: US Meeting Promotes KRT Understanding

Syria

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

War Crimes Investigations in Burma

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

United States

TOPICS

Terrorism

Piracy

Gender-Based Violence

REPORTS

Commentary and Perspectives

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Central African Republic & Uganda

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Cases: Central African Republic
ICC Public Documents – Situation in Uganda

UN Rights Chief Urges Further Inquiry Into Abuses By International Forces In CAR
RTT News
May 30, 2015

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Saturday said he has urged several States to intensify their efforts to investigate long-standing allegations that soldiers in their forces sent to keep the peace in the Central African Republic may have committed very serious violations, including killing of civilians, summary executions, abductions and sexual exploitation of local women.

“These allegations were extremely disturbing,” Zeid said. “People in CAR were desperate for protection. The role of international forces in halting the worst of the fighting and sectarian slaughter in CAR has been invaluable, and their presence has unquestionably saved many, many lives. Yet, in some cases the longed-for protectors turned into predators.”

“In the wake of the revelations of alleged serious sexual abuse of children, currently under investigation by the French authorities, my Office has taken a deeper look into these issues and the extent of the follow-up into alleged serious violations by soldiers belonging to several other international contingents operating under the MISCA umbrella in 2014,” the UN Human Rights Chief said. “Some of these incidents have been at least partly investigated, and some States have apparently sanctioned some of the soldiers involved, but the fact that a number of foreign contingents may have been implicated is in itself a matter of enormous concern,” he added.

Several incidents, including ones involving excessive use of force, enforced disappearances and sexual exploitation and violence, were investigated promptly by UN human rights officers on the ground, and subsequently by the International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic, which reported on a range of violations by international forces in December 2014. These included the disappearance of at least 11 people in Boali, a small town north of Bangui. An update on that incident is currently being prepared, after the second of two investigative missions to Boali took place in late March, and this will be published by the UN Human Rights Office next week.

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Darfur, Sudan

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Situation in Darfur, Sudan

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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bemba’s Second ICC Trial to Open in September
International Justice Monitor
By Wairagala Wakabi
May 22, 2015

The witness and evidence tampering trial of former Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and his four former associates opens this September at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court announced today.

Today, judges instructed the prosecution to file a list of evidence to be relied on at trial, as well as a list of witnesses, by June 30, three months ahead of the September 29 trial opening date.

Those to be tried alongside Mr. Bemba include Aimé Kilolo Musamba, former head of the legal team that defended Mr. Bemba in a war crimes trial at the court, and Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo, previously the case manager on that defense team. They also include a former defense witness and a member of the Congolese parliament who was a chief of staff to Mr. Bemba while he was the country’s vice president.

The five individuals are charged with corruptly influencing witnesses by giving them money and instructions to provide false testimony, presenting false evidence, and giving false testimony in the courtroom. The offenses were allegedly perpetrated in various ways, including by committing, soliciting, inducing, aiding, abetting, or assisting in their commission.

Last month, prosecutors indicated that they would call 11 witnesses. However, Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji suggested this number was high. The trial is expected to be the quickest of all those that have been conducted by the court.

Central to the trial are interceptions of emails and telephone conversations between the accused individuals, which prosecutors claim show they bribed and coached witnesses to provide false testimony. Among evidence to be tendered by the prosecution will be money transfer receipts from Western Union, telephone call records, email transcripts, text messages, and summaries of recorded communications.

Prosecution evidence shows that the alleged “strategy” to corrupt evidence was conducted in up to seven countries and affected 14 witnesses who testified for Mr. Bemba in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Presentation of evidence in that trial closed last November, and a verdict could be delivered later this year.

That trial, which commenced in November 2010, charged Mr. Bemba for failure to stop and punish his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) soldiers, who allegedly committed rape, murder, and pillaging in the Central African Republic during a 2002-2003 armed conflict.

In the order scheduling the opening of the trial, judges rejected a May 8, 2015 application by the Kilolo defense for the trial opening date to be delayed until the conclusion of Mr. Bemba’s main case.

It was argued in that application that Mr. Kilolo had knowledge of information directly linked to the defense of Mr. Bemba that was essential for his own defense in the new case. Furthermore, the defense argued that Mr. Kilolo’s right to communicate such privileged information in the new case in order to contest the charges against him could affect Mr. Bemba’s right to a fair trial in the older case.

Judges ruled that it would be “wholly inconsistent” with their obligation to ensure an expeditious trial “to condition commencing trial on the conclusion of both the trial and potential appeal phases of the Main Case.”

Besides Mr. Bemba, the other suspects in the case were released from pre-trial detention last October. Mr. Bemba, whose appeal for interim release was dismissed earlier this week, remains in court custody.

International Criminal Court Sentences Former Congolese Militia Leader to 12 Years
UN News Centre
May 22, 2015

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today sentenced former militia leader Germain Katanga to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in relation to a 2003 attack in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mr. Katanga, a senior commander from the group known as the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), was convicted in March on four counts of war crimes and one count of crimes against humanity, namely murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging, relating to the 24 February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro, in Ituri district.

At a public hearing today, Presiding Judge Bruno Cotte explained that when determining the sentence, the ICC’s Trial Chamber had to consider “the legitimate need for truth and justice voiced by the victims and their family members, while seeking also to ensure that the sentence acts as a deterrent to potential perpetrators of similar crimes,” according to a news release.

With regard to the gravity of the crimes, the Chamber stressed that the crimes committed on 24 February 2003 in Bogoro were “committed with particular cruelty, resulted in numerous civilian victims, and that the scars of the fighting can still be seen today.”

As for Mr. Katanga’s degree of participation and intent, the Chamber considered that he had made a significant contribution to the commission of the crimes of attacking a civilian population, murder, pillage and destruction of property.

“Nonetheless, the Chamber considered, in determining the sentence, that account had to be taken of Germain Katanga’s conduct after the events and, in particular, his active participation in the demobilisation process implemented in Ituri for the benefit of the child soldiers and, to a certain extent, of his personal situation.”

According to the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (MONUSCO), Mr. Katanga’s group is still active in the Ituri district and continues to represent a threat to civilians.

“The decision taken by the ICC in the Katanga case sends another warning to armed groups, including the FRPI, to immediately cease attacks against the civilian population and lay down their arms,” said Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of MONUSCO, as he welcomed today’s sentencing.

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Kenya

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Situation in the Republic of Kenya

Evidence Against Ruto Not Strong – Bensouda
All Africa
By Oliver Mathenge
May 26, 2015

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said she lacks enough incriminating evidence against Deputy President William Ruto.

Consequently, she is again trying to have witnesses’ retracted statements admitted as evidence.

Ruto is charged with crimes against humanity in the 2007-08 post-election violence.

Bensouda claims the six witnesses changed their initial testimonies because they were interfered with through bribery and intimidation.

“As a result, the prosecution has been deprived of a significant portion of the incriminating evidence it intended to present to Trial Chamber,” Bensouda said in her application.

She added, “The Prosecution is compelled to resort to alternative methods to place before the chamber the relevant and cogent evidence that these witnesses would otherwise have provided.”

Bensouda is seeking to have the court admit prior statements “because the witnesses had been interfered with and turned hostile on the stand”.

The prosecutor wants the court to admit statements of missing witnesses.

The defence sees this as an attempt to use the evidence of the last witness who has refused to testify.

Ruto Witness Shows Up, But Will Not Talk
All Africa
By Oliver Mathenge
May 27, 2015

An ICC witness who has previously refused to show up to testify finally appeared yesterday and refused to talk, prompting the judges to adjourn the trial.

The judges asked the witness, who claimed to be unwell, to appear before them again today, ready with his testimony.

The witness said that his head is not all right and he would therefore not be able to testify – and then kept quiet, forcing the adjournment.

But there was more confusion at The Hague as journalist Joshua Sang, who is required to be present, was also not in the courtroom.

His co-accused, Deputy President William Ruto, is excused from some of the proceedings, but is required to be in the courtroom when a new witness testifies.

Sources familiar with the development told the Star that the witness’s lawyers last week told the court that he would be unavailable as he had a doctor’s appointment.

But yesterday when the lawyers appeared, the judges forced them to produce the witness, who is to testify via video link from somewhere within The Netherlands.

The Ruto/Sang case has stalled since February, after the last witnesses failed to show up and has refused to appear three subsequent times.

On April 28, the judges adjourned the trial until today, to give Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda time to get the witness.

The witness’s testimony was used to confirm the case against Ruto and Sang in 2011 – and Bensouda has said that it is critical to her case.

The Star also learnt that Kenya is planning to have a discussion on the ICC adopted as part of the agenda at next month’s African Union Summit in South Africa.

Kenya is said to be preparing to have the Summit discuss a decision by Bensouda to adopt a rule allowing statements retracted by witnesses to be used as evidence.

At the same time, Attorney General Githu Muigai is set to apply as a friend of the court to weigh in on the application, which is based on a rule adopted after the Kenyan cases had commenced, saying it only applies to new cases.

Allow ‘Pre-Intimidation Testimony’ in Ruto ICC Case: Prosecutor
Yahoo News
May 29, 2015

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor wants judges to allow her to use testimony from witnesses who later withdrew from her faltering case against Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto.

The call came after prosecutor Fatou Bensouda already had to withdraw charges against the east African country’s President Uhuru Kenyatta for post-election violence in 2007-08 amid widespread accusations of witness intimidation.

Vice president Ruto and radio host Joshua arap Sang remain on trial before the Hague-based court for their alleged role in violence which prosecutors say left more than 1,200 dead and displaced 600,000 others.

In Ruto’s case, the prosecution has been “deprived of the evidence necessary to prove its case by virtue of the improper interference with its witnesses,” Bensouda said in a court document seen on Friday.

“No fewer than 16 of the prosecution’s 42 original witnesses have withdrawn their cooperation… and refused to testify, citing threats, intimidation and, or fears of reprisals,” she said in the filing, published on the ICC’s website.

Bensouda therefore urged judges to allow the admissibility “of records of prior interviews of missing and recanting witnesses who succumbed to improper influences.”

“Not to do so would deny the Chamber the ability to assess the whole of the evidence. It would also reward an attempt to obstruct justice,” she said.

If judges rule in favour of her request it would set a precedent at the world’s only permanent independent body to try the worst crimes, set up in 2002.

The ICC has come under fire including from Africa, which has accused it of unfairly targeting offenders from that continent.

Kenya itself has been at the forefront of an international campaign to put Kenyatta’s trial on hold as well as that of his rival-turned-partner Ruto.

Like Kenyatta, Ruto rejects the charges.

Prosecutors throughout a marathon five-year probe have consistently alleged major witness intimidation and bribery.

In Kenya, bitter memories remain of the unrest which shattered the country’s image as a beacon of regional stability.

Violence broke out after opposition chief Raila Odinga accused then president Mwai Kibaki of rigging his way to re-election in the vote, held in late 2007.

What began as political riots quickly turned into ethnic killings of Kenyatta’s Kikuyu tribe, who in turn launched reprisal attacks in the worst wave of violence to hit Kenya since independence in 1963.

Appeals Court Blocks Barasa’s Arrest, Extradition to the ICC
Capital News
May 29, 2015

The Court of Appeal has now blocked the arrest and extradition of former journalist Walter Barasa to the International Criminal Court.

The three-judge bench directed parties in the case to file submissions within 28 days, after which a hearing date will be set on a priority basis.

Barasa, through lawyer Kibe Mungai, argues that the order for his extradition was illegal since he was never given a hearing by the High Court.

Barasa is contesting a ruling issued in October last year that allowed Interior Minister Joseph ole Lenku to commence ex-parte extradition proceedings against him.

He contends that the order was unconstitutional since the court declined to hear his application and for documents to be submitted by the International Criminal Court.

He argues that there are no rules for his extradition under the statute, and that the judge invented his own rules which formed a basis for his May 14 judgement that allowed his arrest and extradition to The Hague.

Barasa has been in and out of the courts since the ICC unsealed a warrant for his arrest last year.

The court accuses him of bribing prosecution witnesses with between Sh1 million and Sh1.5 million for them to withdraw their evidence in the case against Deputy President William Ruto.

Among the witnesses who were allegedly offered bribes is P0536 – who was the first to testify against Ruto and his co accused Joshua arap Sang.

A document from the ICC shows that she was offered Sh1.4 million to recant her evidence while another witness only identified as P0336 was offered between Sh1 million and Sh1.5 million to pull out.

The 41-year old former journalist is also accused of organising a meeting where another witness, identified as P0256, could be bribed in order to withdraw her evidence.

“Walter Barasa is criminally responsible as a direct perpetrator for the crime of corruptly influencing or, alternatively, attempting to corruptly influence witnesses by offering to pay them to withdraw as ICC Prosecution witnesses in the context of the Kenyan cases before the ICC,” the court ruled.

Barasa is accused of committing the crimes on diverse dates between May 20 and July 21 last year but he has vehemently denied the accusations saying that an official from the court has been threatening him.

AG Githu Muigai Seeks to Join DP William Ruto’s ICC Case
Standard Digital
By Whome Thuku
May 29, 2015

The Government wants to be allowed to make submissions in the case against Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court ( ICC).

Attorney General Githu Muigai has applied for permission to file observations on behalf of the Government as a friend of the court.

In particular, the AG wants to make observations on the request by the ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to be allowed to use prior statements recorded by witnesses who later recanted them.

The AG made the application as it became clear the case against Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang would depend on whether those statements are accepted or rejected by the Trial Chamber.

The Office of the Prosecution (OTP) has already indicated that without those statements, the rest of the evidence cannot sustain a charge against the two accused.

The OTP is now banking on an amendment made to the ICC rules in 2013, allowing such statements to be admitted in court as evidence. Bensouda says she wants the prior recorded testimony admitted for the truth of their contents. They include written statements and transcripts of recorded interviews and other annexed documents.

About 16 out of 42 prosecution witnesses withdrew their testimonies and stopped cooperating with the OTP. Some recanted their statements, which the OTP intended to use, claiming they had been influenced to record them. Others refused to testify, citing threats, intimidation and fear of reprisals.

The chamber however, allowed the OTP to have some of them compelled to testify and a number of them were declared hostile when they disowned their statements in court. Bensouda says there is evidence that the witnesses had been interfered with by people acting for the benefit of the accused.

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Libya

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Situation in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Libya: Civilians Trapped in Benghazi
Human Rights Watch
May 23, 2015

(Beirut) – The parties to the conflict in Libya should allow civilians safe passage out of neighborhoods in the eastern city of Benghazi and other areas caught up in the hostilities and permit access to deliver food and medical supplies.

Residents of Benghazi whom Human Rights Watch met on April 17, 2015, and interviewed by phone on May 21 said that Libyan families and foreign civilians were trapped in downtown Benghazi affected by fighting, including areas of El-Blad, Sidi Khreibish, and El-Sabri. They said the militants controlling these areas were not allowing civilians to leave, and conditions were increasingly dire, due to food shortages and lack of medical care and because electricity to most areas had been cut. One Sidi Khreibish resident who managed to leave said that the Libyan army would no longer allow people to leave unless through a coordinated safe passage by the Libyan Red Crescent, and that militants were barring people from leaving the areas under their control.

Another Benghazi resident who had managed to leave militia-controlled areas said at least four civilians had died since March, one from gunfire and three from untreated injuries.

“As fighting in Benghazi intensifies, all the forces involved need to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian property,” said Sarah Leah Whitson , Middle East and North Africa director. “It’s vitally important for the Libyan Army and militias in Benghazi to allow civilians safe passage and to facilitate access to take badly needed aid to the people inside.”

The number of people killed and injured in Benghazi has continued to rise since Human Rights Watch visited the city in April. On May 12, a shell fired into the Ard Baloun neighborhood killed three children and injured two others from the same family, according to a local news report. Militants affiliated with the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack. Two days later, one man and seven children died when a shell hit the Hay Al-Salam neighborhood, according to the website of Al-Jalaa hospital in Benghazi.

The Benghazi residents told Human Rights Watch that the Libyan Red Crescent Society had coordinated arrangements with forces loyal to the Libyan Army and the opposing militants to allow civilians safe passage out of the city’s neighborhoods until November 4, 2014. Since then, all further attempts by the Red Crescent to facilitate the evacuation of civilians had failed, including three attempts in February and March 2015, because either the militants disagreed or forces loyal to the army refused to agree, claiming that it would put the civilians’ lives at risk.

After such a failed attempt in March, an injured resident died after the Army refused to allow passage for a car carrying him insisting that residents could only leave the area by foot.

Abdelrazeq al-Nadhouri, the Libyan Army’s chief of staff, met with Human Rights Watch on April 18 at his headquarters in Al-Marj, 100 kilometers east of Benghazi. He contended that families who remained in the areas affected by fighting “wanted to stay there and refused to leave,” but said that the army would allow any who wished to do so to leave.

The same day, Zakaria Beltamer, the head of the Benghazi Crisis Committee, a body created by the Prime Ministry with several local council members and the Libyan Red Crescent, told Human Rights Watch in a separate meeting that the Red Crescent had made several calls for the evacuation of civilians, that all families had been evacuated from the affected parts of Benghazi neighborhoods, and that “whoever is still inside is with them,” meaning members of Ansar Al-Sharia or Islamist militants.

But Benghazi residents who spoke with Human Rights Watch, including a Red Crescent volunteer who helped coordinate evacuations, contradicted his assessment. The volunteer said that the Red Crescent had registered 58 people by phone in militia-controlled areas who wanted to leave but were unable to for fear of being attacked by the militias if they tried.

Beltamer said there has been widespread displacement of families from Benghazi since the outbreak of the violence in May 2014. He said that 15,000 families were registered with the Crisis Committee as internally displaced persons but acknowledged that many others had found shelter with relatives or had left the city altogether and had not registered. Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city – after the capital, Tripoli – had a population of 650,000 prior to the start of the conflict out of Libya’s total population of 6.4 million.

Under international humanitarian law – the laws of war – all forces engaged in armed conflict must allow civilians to safely evacuate from areas affected by fighting and give civilians “effective advance warning” of attacks that could put them at risk whenever circumstances permit. Even after armed forces have warned civilians of impending attacks, they must still take all feasible precautions to avoid causing loss of civilian life. This includes canceling an attack when it becomes apparent that the target is civilian or that the civilian loss would be disproportionate to the expected military gain.

Warnings such as those issued by the Libyan Army in November telling civilians to evacuate their neighborhoods do not absolve it of the duty to avoid attacks likely to cause indiscriminate or disproportionate loss of civilian life, Human Rights Watch said.

International humanitarian law also requires parties to a conflict to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. Denying civilians access to food and medical care is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and intentionally attacking personnel, installations, material, units, or vehicles involved in relief efforts is a war crime.

In the face of mounting atrocities, Human Rights Watch has called on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into serious ongoing violations in Libya. The ICC prosecutor has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Libya since February 15, 2011.

During the 28th session at the Human Rights Council in March 2015, member states created a UN inquiry to investigate serious crimes in Libya since 2014. Human Rights Watch urged the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to speed up the deployment of the mission so it can exercise its mandate.

“With each day that passes, civilians who remain trapped in Benghazi neighborhoods face worsening conditions and greater peril for their lives,” Whitson said.

The Opposing Forces in Benghazi

Benghazi has been caught up in fighting since May 2014, when then-retired General Khalifa Hiftar and allied militias operating under the name “Libya Dignity” opened a military campaign against militant groups in Benghazi. The Dignity alliance in Benghazi comprises units of the Army, the Army Special Forces (Sa’eqa), and volunteer fighters. The Libyan Army is loyal to Libya’s internationally recognized government based in the eastern cities of Tobruk and Al-Bayda, and in March 2015 Hiftar was named commander of the army.

In July 2014, the militant groups Ansar Al-Sharia, Rafallah Al-Sahati, and Libya Shield Forces, some of the militant groups the army is fighting in Benghazi, formed the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council (BRSC), which opposes the internationally recognized government and is allied with the rival self-declared government based in Tripoli. Members of groups that have pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) are also fighting the Libyan Army alongside the BRSC but are not in formal military alliance with the BRSC, Benghazi residents say.

Accounts by Residents

Due to the ongoing military operations and movement restrictions, Human Rights Watch was unable to enter the downtown areas of Benghazi to independently confirm the numbers or locations of trapped civilians.

A Benghazi resident whose father and brother had managed to flee the downtown area just a day before told Human Rights Watch on April 17, 2015, and in a call on May 21, that he knew of 50 to 60 houses in ‘ El Blad that remained inhabited with at least 15 to 20 families, as well as at least 15 families who remained in El-Sabri, and about 60 houses in Sidi Khreibish, 10 of which were inhabited by Libyan families and the rest by foreign families, including Syrians, Palestinians, and Asian and African nationals. The resident also said the most difficult area to assess was El-Sabri because it was controlled by groups affiliated with ISIS. He believed several dozen families were still in El-Sabri, close to the sea, but had no contact with them.

The resident said that while some young men refused to leave, most families were anxious to evacuate to less dangerous areas. “Most families thought it would be a matter of weeks before the war in their area was over, so they opted to stay and take care of their houses,” he said. “However, they are now stuck there, including women, children, and elderly.”

He said it had taken only three days for the Libyan Army to gain control of the Salmani neighborhood, leading many families to think that other areas would also be quickly cleared of BRSC and other militants.

He also said that his family had left their home in downtown Benghazi on November 3, 2014, under a safe passage that the Red Crescent had arranged, but that his father and brother had stayed to take care of the house. They left only on April 16, 2015:

They swam [through the sea, along the coast] for four hours at night and I was waiting for them when they arrived to safety. Those trapped have some dry food stocks, yet no medical treatment as the only field clinic belongs to the militant group Ansar Al-Sharia and they don’t treat sick or injured civilians. Most areas have no power and people charge their mobile phones in their cars.

He said the escape of his father’s and brother’s escape had been dangerous but was coordinated with the Libyan military, which had detained the two men for questioning on their arrival but released them after two days. The resident said that only a few other men and one family had managed to get away from the conflict area by swimming.

The resident said he knew of four civilian deaths through information obtained by relatives in the area:

– Abu Shawki, 75, a Palestinian, died in March when a bullet hit him in the head as he walked along Al-Sharif Street in Sidi Khreibish;

– Ossma Al-Greitli, 65, died in early April from injuries he sustained in February when he was hit by shrapnel in El-Gzeir Street. He had not received any medical treatment;

– An unnamed Syrian national also died in early April, two days after shrapnel hit him in the abdomen as he was leaving the Old Mosque in the downtown area. No medical care was available; and

– Ahmed al-Zlitni died in mid-March at his home in the El-Sabri neighborhood from a lack of medical treatment after he was burned in a fire caused by candles he used because of power cuts.

An unnamed Mauritanian national was found dead in front of a mosque in El-Sabri area in the first week of May. Two residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they believed members of ISIS affiliated militia had killed him when a group of civilians tried to leave the area which is under the militia’s control.

Another resident told Human Rights Watch on May 20 that her father was still trapped in the Sidi Khreibish neighborhood. She said that she and other family members evacuated on November 4, but that her father had stayed behind to take care of their home because he expected the army to quickly drive what the militia groups from the area.

She said that approximately 80 other families also remained in Sidi Khreibish and, like her father, existed on flour from a local bakery and tinned and dry foods obtained from supermarkets that had been shut and homes in the area. Her father and their neighbors were eating only one meal a day, she said. Power supplies to the area had been cut off four months earlier and residents had little access to phone networks and the Internet:

“I am afraid for my father as things have gotten very bad. After we left in November, we repeatedly attempted to coordinate with the Red Crescent for a safe passage for him and for others to leave the area but the takfiris [Islamist militias] controlling the area refused to allow the civilians out. Right now, even the army will not let anyone out of the area as there are no guarantees from the other side [Islamist militias].”

A volunteer at the Libyan Red Crescent Society, who is in charge of the evacuations of civilians from the downtown areas of Benghazi, told Human Rights Watch on May 21 the Red Crescent had only registered 28 Libyan nationals and 30 foreigners by telephone, including some women and children, who remained trapped in the downtown area. The Red Crescent has had no access to the area since November, the volunteer said. The volunteer acknowledged that many families and individuals did not register with the Red Crescent for fear of being targeted by the extremists or because they sympathized with them:

“Despite assurances by the army that everyone would be allowed to exit the areas, including the injured of the other side [Islamist militia groups], many people who are inside the downtown area are afraid of the extremists. We were informed that one man who used to negotiate with them [Islamist militia groups] has now gone missing and hasn’t been heard of for five days. It has become very complicated for us, as there is no longer one person or a single group side to coordinate with. There are at least three, with Ansar Al-Sharia, The Libyan Shield Forces, and those loyal to the Islamic State, dividing the downtown area between them.”

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Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents – Situation in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire

Ivory Coast Opposition Coalition Launched as Crowd Chants Gbagbo’s name
AFP
May 15, 2015

Ivory Coast politicians on Friday launched an opposition coalition ahead of October presidential elections as crowds chanted the name of ex-strongman Laurent Gbagbo, currently awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.

More than 1,000 people, including political heavyweights, attended the launch at an Abidjan hotel, with the coalition’s charter calling for Gbagbo to be freed along with others it labelled “political prisoners.”

It also called for the dissolution of the current electoral commission amid claims it is biased in favour of President Alassane Ouattara, who will be seeking re-election and is the only major candidate in the race so far ahead of the October vote.

Former prime minister Charles Konan Banny and the ex-president of the National Assembly, Mamadou Koulibaly, were among those at the first meeting of the National Coalition for Change launched on Friday.

Long-time leader Gbagbo’s refusal to concede defeat to Ouattara after 2010 elections sparked a bloody five-month standoff in which some 3,000 people died, according to the United Nations.

Gbagbo, held in The Hague since his transfer to the ICC’s detention unit in late November 2011, will go on trial in November for his alleged role in the violence.

Int’l Court Case Against Ivory Coast Ex-1st Lady Admissible
Associated Press
By Mike Corder
May 27, 2015

International Criminal Court appeals judges upheld a ruling Wednesday that the court can prosecute Ivory Coast’s former first lady on charges including murder and rape linked to violence that left 3,000 people dead after the country’s disputed 2010 presidential election.

The ruling read in court by Presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski puts more pressure on Ivory Coast officials to hand over Simone Gbagbo for prosecution in The Hague.

The ruling said that the case against Gbagbo is admissible because Ivory Coast had not proved, at the time it challenged the case’s admissibility, that Ivorian authorities were investigating her for the same allegations as those she faces in The Hague. The International Criminal Court is a court of last resort that can only take action when a government cannot or will not prosecute a suspect.

Since Ivory Coast filed its challenge in 2013, a court in that country has convicted Gbagbo of undermining state security and sentenced her to 20 years’ imprisonment.

The International Criminal Court appeared to leave open the possibility of Ivorian authorities filing a fresh challenge based on that conviction, saying in a statement that under the court’s founding treaty, “in exceptional circumstances, the Court may grant leave for a challenge to be brought more than once.”

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Gbagbo in 2012, the first time the court had filed charges against a woman. It said evidence suggested she was a key member of the inner circle surrounding her husband, former president Laurent Gbagbo, which planned attacks on his political opponents after he lost the 2010 election to his opponent Alassane Ouattara.

Judges who issued the warrant said that evidence submitted by prosecutors suggested Gbagbo wielded so much power that she “acted as an alter ego for her husband, exercising the power to make State decisions.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if authorities in Ivory Coast will now hand over Gbagbo, whose husband already is in The Hague awaiting trial on similar charges.

Human Rights Watch’s senior international justice counsel, Param-Preet Singh, said Wednesday’s ruling “eliminates any doubt” about Ivory Coast’s “duty to surrender Simone Gbagbo to The Hague.”

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AFRICA

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

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Chad

Chad: At War with Boko Haram
All Africa
May 20, 2015

The Nigerian-based Boko Haram insurgency has been plaguing the country since 2009, but last year the armed group dramatically stepped up its campaign of violence – capturing large areas of territory, displacing many tens of thousands of people, and killing 4,000 more, the vast majority of them civilians. By the beginning of 2015, the group had seized and taken control of several major towns in northern Nigeria and were seeking to extend their influence across West Africa by launching further attacks in neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and in and around Lake Chad, which adjoins the borders of the four nations.

In February, the governments of those four countries – Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon – responded by forming a military coalition to take on the insurgents. The charge would be led by Chad; its troops among Africa’s most battle hardened and feared. The central African nation committed 2,000 men to a proposed African Union force of around 8,000. Its aim: to smash Boko Haram and end a conflict that has caused the death of 13,000 people and made refugees out of 1.5 million more.

In March 2015, two French filmmakers, Charles Emptaz and Marine Courtade, joined a unit of Chadian troops as they flew into Boko Haram’s northern Nigerian heartland, where some of the fiercest fighting had been taking place. In the preceding weeks, the Chadian army had enjoyed a string of successes and had managed to push the rebels back, liberating key Nigerian towns in the process.

In the face of this unexpected onslaught, Boko Haram’s response had been typically defiant. In a video released on the internet, the insurgency’s leader Abubakar Shekau publicly swore allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and rebranded his organisation as the Islamic State’s West Africa Province – a direct challenge to the region’s established powers. He even had a personal message for Chad’s President, Idriss Deby: “You, Idriss Deby, the ‘King of Africa’, you’re too late! I dare you to attack me, I’m ready!”

Emptaz and Courtade arrived in Nigeria around the same time and were immediately whisked by the Chadian military (and by Colonel Azem, its enthusiastic media relations officer) to Dikwa, a town that had been at the epicentre of the fighting and which had only just been liberated. Soldiers proudly paraded the bodies of defeated militants killed less than 24 hours earlier and took the journalists to Boko Haram’s now trashed headquarters – a villa the militants had forcibly requisitioned from the area’s emir.

But the most macabre moment of the trip came when the filmmakers were ushered out to the courtyard and encouraged to point their cameras at a fatally wounded insurgent left lying in the dirt. The young man had not been treated and it was clear that to make some kind of revengeful point, he was merely being abandoned to die slowly and in agony – against all the supposed conventions of modern warfare. Certainly, when the filmmakers suggested he needed help, their protests were brushed aside.

Yet for all the brutality exhibited by the combatants towards each other in this conflict, it is the local civilian population who are probably suffering the most. Splitting off from their military minders, the filmmakers drove 350km towards the Lake Chad region and the town of Ngouboua, just across the border, inside Chadian territory. Boko Haram had crossed over from Nigeria and raided this community two weeks earlier – looting, burning property and killing seven local people.

Such attacks are frequent along this porous border and the violence and destruction has thrown thousands of refugees out of their homes and onto the roads. Ordinary life has become impossible. Since the beginning of this year over 25,000 people have left Nigeria and sought sanctuary in Chad.

Some are Nigerians fleeing the violence, others Chadians who had emigrated and are now returning to their place of birth, leaving behind their businesses and land in a bid to survive. All are desperately in need of aid, precious little of which is available.

While the increased presence of Chadian soldiers in their villages and towns over the past few months may have relieved some pressure on the local population, few are yet willing to believe that this brutal conflict is going to end any time soon. For the foreseeable future, it appears that ordinary civilians will continue to suffer and be driven from their homes.

Chad: Talking About Rose
All Africa
By Reed Brody
May 21, 2015

Sifting through the thousands of documents we had found strewn across the floors of an abandoned secret police headquarters in Ndjamena, Chad, we glimpsed the final moments of Rose Lokissim’s brave life.

We first heard about Rose from survivors of Hissene Habre’s brutal 1980s government in Chad. A former elite soldier, Rose was arrested smuggling documents to rebels who had taken up arms against a dictatorship they could no longer tolerate. Her cellmates described her as a strong woman who kept up the prisoners’ morale in their overcrowded, putrid dungeon.

She shook off her own torture, but became indignant when others were mistreated or executed. Risking her life, Rose noted these abuses and smuggled messages through to relatives. Ultimately, Habre’s secret police – the feared “DDS” – learned of her actions and killed her.

But it was the report of Rose’s last interrogation on May 15, 1986 that we found in the abandoned DDS offices 15 years later that truly revealed Rose’s passion.

Rose’s passion

According to her captors, Rose said that “even if she dies in prison, she doesn’t regret it, because Chad will thank her and history will talk about her”. They concluded that Rose was “irredeemable and continues to undermine state security, even in prison”, and recommended that “the authorities punish her severely”.

Rose was executed the same day.

Now, 29 years later, Rose’s courage is finally being remembered and her prophecy fulfilled as Hissene Habre prepares to stand trial on July 20 before a special court in Senegal, where he has lived since he was overthrown in 1990, and a new documentary narrated by the French actress Juliette Binoche tells Rose’s story.

Backed by the United States and France as a bulwark against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Habre is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture. In the DDS documents we uncovered alone are the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention – including Rose – as well as of 12,321 victims of torture and other abuses.

Despite this evidence, and Habre’s first indictment in 2000 by a Senegalese judge, the government of Senegal refused to allow the case to advance.

For that, it would take what the Toronto Globe and Mail called “one of the world’s most patient and tenacious campaigns for justice” by a group of survivors, a 2012 ruling from the International Court of Justice ordering Senegal to prosecute Habre “without further delay”, and the election the same year of a new president, Macky Sall.

Under Sall’s leadership, Senegal and the African Union created special chambers within the Senegalese court system, which again indicted Habré in July 2013 and placed him in pre-trial detention.

After a 19-month investigation, during which they carried out four missions to Chad, interviewed over 2,500 witnesses and victims, analysed the DDS documents and uncovered mass graves, a team of four judges found that there was sufficient evidence for Habre to face charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture.

The trial will be held before a bench led by a jurist from Burkina Faso who had served on the UN’s war crimes tribunal for Rwanda. A fair and transparent trial could justify le Monde’s description of the case as “a turning point for justice in Africa”.

Habre’s henchmen

Back in Chad, the authorities followed suit by dusting off the victims’ complaints and bringing to trial dozens of Habre’s henchmen, many of whom had still been serving as police chiefs and government officials. In January, after an emotional trial at which over 50 survivors testified about their torture, a Chadian court convicted 20 former officials to sentences of up to life in prison.

The court ordered the Chadian government and the people who had been convicted to pay $125 million in reparations to over 7,000 victims. And it ordered the government to create a monument at the “Plain of the Dead”, where Rose and hundreds of other prisoners were dumped into mass graves.

Rose was 33 years old when she was killed in 1986, but thanks to the discovery of her last words, and the tenacity of the survivors in bringing Habre to court, her memory lives on.

As Juliette Binoche says in the new film, “Rose’s chosen mission, for the world to know the truth about Hissene Habre’s prisons, is finally being achieved.”

And history is indeed talking about Rose.

Reed Brody and Olivier Bercault have worked with Hissene Habre’s victims on behalf of Human Rights Watch since 1999. The film ‘Talking about Rose’ is available on-line. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

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Mali

Gunman Attacks U.N. Vehicles, Residence in Mali Capital
Reuters
By Adama Diarra
May 20, 2015

An unidentified gunman on Wednesday shot at United Nations vehicles in Mali’s capital Bamako and targeted a house where U.N. staff were staying, wounding a guard, the world body said.

The attack was the first on U.N. staff or buildings in the southern capital, though the Mali mission has been hit by numerous rocket attacks and bombings in the desert north since it deployed in mid-2013.

The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, said the shooting erupted after the attacker tried to torch U.N. vehicles parked outside a residence for U.N. troops.

“MINUSMA would like to reiterate that Malian authorities are responsible for the security of U.N. personnel, especially in Bamako,” the mission said in a statement.

At least 35 U.N. peacekeepers have been killed and over 150 others injured since the mission was deployed to Mali, which is struggling to stamp control on the north, occupied by separatist rebels and Islamist militants.

Many southern Malians are frustrated that peacekeepers have not done enough to help its weak security forces clear the array of gunmen out of the northern desert zone, where national security forces are barely present.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people protested in the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal on Wednesday, complaining against the U.N. mission blocking rebel moves to reclaim control of the town of Menaka, recently lost in fighting with pro-Bamako militia.

3 UN Peacekeepers Injured in Mali Landmine Blast
Press TV
May 28, 2015

Three United Nations peacekeeping forces have been injured after their convoy triggered landmines in central Mali, sources say.

Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) Major General Michael Lollesgaard and the mission’s police chief Abdounasir Awale “escaped death on Thursday in the Timbuktu region when mines on the route of their convoy wounded three peacekeepers from Burkina Faso”, a source in the force told AFP.

Lollesgaard and Awale were on a field visit when the vehicle triggered at least one mine between the towns of Dire and Ber, another MINUSMA source said.

It was “very likely” that the mines had been planted just before the convoy’s arrival to target the two commanders, because security forces had checked the route a few hours earlier, the source added.

MINUSMA denounced the “terrorist act” in a statement released following the incident.

“MINUSMA strongly condemns this terrorist act which aimed to paralyze the mission’s operations in this part of Mali,” the statement said, adding, “Mines in Mali indiscriminately affect United Nations personnel and innocent civilians.”

The UN has worked over the past months to bring back stability to the landlocked West African country.

Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré was deposed in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said the ouster of Touré was in response to the government’s failure to contain the Tuareg rebellion in the north, where the rebels are fighting to gain autonomy.

In January 2012, the Tuareg rebels took control of northern Mali, which they call Azawad. The country has since experienced months of turmoil.

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EUROPE

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website [English translation]

Branko Vlačo Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 14, 2015

The Panel of the Appellate Division of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent out, on April 27, 2015, a second instance Verdict in the case of Branko Vlačo, refusing as ill-founded the appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Verdict of the Court of BiH of July 4, 2014, and granting, in part, the appeal filed by the accused Branko Vlačo. Thus, the convicting part of the referenced Verdict was revised with regard to the legal qualification of the offense, and the Accused’s acts, enumerated in the convicting part of the contested Verdict, legally qualified as the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity (by persecution) under Article 172(1)(h) of the Criminal Code of BiH (CC BiH), as read with Article 180(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code BiH (CPC BiH). With regard to the decision on sentence, the Trial Verdict was revised in the way that, applying Articles 39, 42, 48 of the CC BiH, the accused Branko Vlačo was sentenced for the referenced criminal offense to a prison sentence for a term of 13 (thirteen) years. Pursuant to Article 56 of the CC BiH, the time the Accused spent in custody shall be credited towards the prison sentence imposed.

As to the remaining, convicting part of the Verdict, and its unchallenged acquitting and refusing part, the Trial Panel shall remain unaltered.

No appeal lies from this Verdict.

Pursuant to Article 285 of the CPC BiH, the Verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina of July 4, 2014 found the accused Branko Vlačo guilty of the commission of the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172(1)(h), in conjunction with sub-paragraphs a), c), e), i) and k), all as read with Article 180(1), Article 29 and Article 31 of the CC BiH. Pursuant to Articles 39, 42 and 48 of the CC BiH, the Court of BiH imposed on the Accused, for the criminal offense at issue, a prison sentence for a term of 15 (fifteen) years. Pursuant to Article 284(c) of the CPC BiH, the same Verdict acquitted the accused Branko Vlačo of the charges that, by the acts described in Counts I.1, I.3., I.7 and II.5 of the Indictment, he committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172(1)(h), in conjunction with sub-paragraphs a), c) and k) of the CC BiH, all as read with Article 180(1) of the same Code. Ultimately, pursuant to Article 283(b) of the CPC BiH, the same Verdict dismissed the charges that, by the acts described in Counts I.6. and II.1 of the Indictment, the accused Branko Vlačo would have committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172(1(h), in conjunction with sub-paragraphs a), g) and i) of the CC BiH, all as read with Article 180(1) of the same Code.

Pursuant to Article 188(1) of the CPC BiH, the Accused shall reimburse the costs of criminal proceedings in the scheduled amount of KM 300.00 within a 30-day time line following the day the Verdict became final. In relation to the acquitting and refusing part of the Verdict, pursuant to Articles 188(2) and 189(1) of the CPC BiH, the Accused shall be relived of the duty to reimburse the costs of criminal proceedings, which shall be paid from the budget appropriations.

Pursuant to Article 198(2) of the CPC BiH, the injured parties were instructed to pursue their possible claims under property law in a civil action.

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office appealed the referenced Verdict on the ground of the decision on criminal sanction under Article 300(1) of the CPC BiH, and moved the Appellate Division Panel of the Court of BiH to grant the appeal as well-founded in its entirety, alter the contested Verdict and impose on the Accused, for the committed crime, a sentence of long-term imprisonment, or alternatively, a prison sentence exceeding 15 years.

Defense Counsel for the accused Branko Vlačo appealed the Verdict on the grounds of essential violations of the criminal procedure provisions under Article 297(1)(d), h), j), and k) of the CPC BiH, incorrectly or incompletely established state of facts under Article 299 of the CPC BiH, violation of the criminal code under Article 298 of the CPC BiH and the decision on sentence under Article 300 of the CPC BiH, and moved the Panel of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH to grant the appeal, revoke the contested Verdict and order a hearing, or to alter the Trial Verdict and acquit the Accused of the charges.

The Appellate Panel held a public session on February 25, 2015, where the Prosecution and the Defense Attorneys orally presented their respective appellate complaints.

The Appellate Panel reviewed the appeals within the grounds and arguments of the respective appeals and rendered the referenced decision.

Trial Verdict Confirmed in the Case v. Željka Bukmir
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 21, 2015

The Panel of the Appeals Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent out on May 14, 2015 the Appeals Verdict dated March 18, 2015, refusing as unfounded the appeals filed by the Defense Counsel for the Accused Željka Bukmir and confirming the Verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. S1 3 K 007846 14 K dated November 28, 2014.

Under the Trial Verdict S1 3 K 007846 14 K dated November 28, 2014, the Accused Željka Bukmir is found guilty of the criminal offense of Breach of Secrecy of Proceedings in violation of Article 237(1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CC of BIH). Under the said Verdict, in line with Article 58 and 59 of the CC of BIH, the Court pronounced a suspended sentence of six months in prison which shall not be executed if the Accused does not commit another criminal offense within the operational period two (2) years.

Under the said Verdict, pursuant to Article 188(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of BIH (CPC of BIH), the Accused is obligated to reimburse the costs of the criminal proceedings in the amount of BAM 228.00 and to reimburse the lump-sum of BAM 200.00 within fifteen days as of the day when the Verdict becomes final and binding.

The Defense Counsel for the Accused Željka Bukmir challenged the Verdict on grounds of essential violations of criminal proceedings, erroneously and incompletely established state of facts, violation of the criminal code and decision as to the sanction moving the Appeals Panel to revise the challenged Verdict and acquit the Accused or to revoke the challenged Verdict and order a re-trial.

The Prosecutor sent a response to the appeal moving the Appeals Panel to refuse as unfounded the defense appeal in its entirety.

The Appeals Panel held a public session on March 18, 2014, in which the Defense Counsel maintained the averments and motions of their written appeals.

Having reviewed the challenged Verdict within the limits of the appeals averments, the Appeals Panel reached the aforementioned decision.

Zaim Laličić Sentenced to 9 Years of Imprisonment
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 25, 2015

On May 25, 2015 the Trial Panel of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered a verdict finding the accused Zaim Laličić guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 142(1) of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (CC SFRY), as read with Article 11(1) of the same Code. Pursuant to Article 285 of the BiH Criminal Procedure Code (CPC BiH), and pursuant to Articles 38 and 41 of the CC SFRY, the Court of BiH sentenced the accused Laličić to 9 (nine) years of imprisonment.

The accused Zaim Laličić was found guilty because during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the armed conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Army of the Serb Republic of BiH, between November 1992 and April 1993, and during 1993, in the territory of the Ilidža municipality, as a member of the VJ 5063 of the First Corps of the Army of BiH, and as a guard at the detention facility located in the basement of an unfinished residential building in Hrasnica, he subjected to inhumane treatment two detained Serb civilians, and with the use of physical force and threats he raped a woman.

Pursuant to Article 188(4) of the CPC BiH, the Accused is relived of the duty to reimburse the costs of criminal proceedings.

Pursuant to Article 198(2) of the CPC BiH, the injured parties are instructed to pursue their possible claims under property law in a civil action.

An appeal form this verdict may be filed within 15 days of the day when the written copy was received.

Having delivered the verdict of May 25, 2015, pursuant to Article 126.b, Paragraph 5, of the CPC BiH, the Court of BiH issued a decision extending the prohibitive measure of the ban on traveling outside of BiH, while terminating the prohibitive measure of house arrest under Article 126(1) of the CPC BiH and the measure of ban on meeting with certain persons under Article 126.a, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph c), of the CPC BiH.

The prohibitive measures may last for as long as necessary, but not longer than the moment when the verdict becomes final, or until the Court has issued a different decision.

An appeal from this decision shall not stay its execution.

An appeal from this decision may be filed with the Appellate Division Panel of the Court of BiH, within three days of the day when the written copy was received.

Second-instance Verdict in the Zemir Kovačević Case Sent Out
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 26, 2015

On May 19, 2015, the Appellate Division Panel of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent out the second-instance Verdict in the case of Zemir Kovačević. Under the Verdict, the Appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is dismissed as unfounded, the Appeal filed by the accused Zemir Kovačević is partially upheld, and the first-instance Verdict of the Court of BiH dated May 21, 2014 is revised in the sentencing part by crediting the time the Accused spent in custody towards his prison sentence, in accordance with Article 50(1) of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The Verdict of May 21, 2014 issued by the Court of BiH remains unchanged in other parts.

This Verdict may not be appealed.

Under the first-instance Verdict of May 21, 2014 issued by the Court of BiH, the accused Zemir Kovačević was found guilty that, by his acts described in detail in Sections 1 and 2 of the operative part therein, he committed the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 142(1) of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Republic of Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (the CC of SFRY), as read with Articles 11 and 22 of the same Code. Pursuant to Article 285 of the CPC of BiH and Articles 38 and 41 of the CC of SFRY, the Court sentenced the accused Zemir Kovačević to a prison term of ten (10) years. Under the same Verdict, pursuant to Article 284(1)c) of the CPC of BiH, the accused Zemir Kovačević was acquitted of the charges that, by his acts described in the acquitting part therein, he committed the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 173(1)c) and f), as read with Article 29 and Article 180(1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pursuant to Article 189(1) of the CC of BiH, the Accused was relieved of the duty to reimburse the costs of the criminal proceeding and the relevant lump sums, which would be entirely covered from the Court budget.

Pursuant to Article 198(3) of the CPC of BiH, the injured parties were referred to pursue their property claims in a civil action.

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH appealed the sentencing part of Verdict pursuant to Article 300(1) of the CPC of BiH, moving the Appellate Panel of War Crimes Department of the Court of BiH to entirely uphold the Appeal as founded, to revise the appealed Verdict and impose of the accused Zemir Kovačević a longer prison sentence for the committed criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians.

The Defense Counsel for the accused Zemir Kovačević appealed the Verdict on all appellate grounds: essential violations of the criminal procedure; erroneously and incompletely established facts and the decision on sentence, moving the Appellate Panel to entirely uphold the Appeal as founded and to revise the impugned Verdict in the sentencing part by acquitting the accused Kovačević, or to revoke the appealed Verdict and order a retrial before the Appellate Panel.

The Appellate Panel held a public session on January 30, 2015 at which both the Prosecution and the Defense orally presented their appellate allegations.

The Appellate Panel examined the Appeal within the allegations of the Appeal and decided as stated above.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Mladic Witness Recalls Branjevo Preparations
Institute For War & Peace Reporting
By Daniella Peled
May 19, 2015

Prosecution contends that ex-army chief was in command of soldiers who carried out the killings.

A former Bosnian Serb soldier has told the trial of Ratko Mladic that he unwittingly supplied the ammunition and equipment used in the massacre of some 1,000 Bosnian Muslim detainees at the Branjevo farm in July 1995.

Dragan Todorovic was giving evidence as a defence witness in the trial of the former Bosnian Serb army chief.

Defence lawyer Branko Lukic began by asking Todorovic about his experiences in his home town of Kladanj in eastern Bosnia in the run-up to the war.

The witness recalled that Bosnian Muslims were organising themselves into armed groups and that he himself had been invited to join the Patriotic League, a paramilitary body that later became the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although he did not respond.

“Trust started dying, people started avoiding their former friends and acquaintances, guards started patrolling the town,” he recalled, adding that he finally left Kladanj at the end of April or beginning of May 1992.

“A man in uniform came – he was my neighbour. He said, ‘Go! I can help you today [but] I can’t help you tomorrow’…. I realised it was not a joke. I went to my village, to where my parents lived. I stayed there for a while.”

Lukic asked Todorovic whether he knew what happened to the Bosnian Serbs who remained in Kladanj during the war.

“Some of them joined the military and those that refused to join were taken to a camp,” he replied, recalling four young men who were relatives of his. They disappeared and their bodies were only found after the war. “Those who were in the camp survived, thanks to the Red Cross organisation that registered them,” he added.

Todorovic went on to join the Bosnian Serb army and served in a number of positions. By summer 1995, he was in charge of logistical support with the Vlasenica platoon of the 10th Sabotage Detachment.

Soldiers from this unit took part in the mass execution of more than 1,000 captured Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) at the Branjevo farm on July 16, 1995. This was part of a series of killings carried out by Serb forces after they overran the Srebrenica enclave on July 11 that year. As commander of the Bosnian Serb army, Mladic is accused of genocide and other crimes in relation to the killing of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys over that period.

Todorovic’s commander was Milorad Pelemis, who testified as a defence witness in the Mladic case last month.

The prosecutor’s office in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) regards Pelemis as a war crime suspect and has issued an arrest warrant for him.

Lukic asked the witness about the events of July 11, 1995, when Todorovic was among the Bosnian Serb troops which entered Srebrenica.

The witness said Pelemis ordered them to proceed to the police station and warned them to be on the alert and take no risks as they “could expect anything – an ambush, mines, explosives.”

Dragomir Pecanac, intelligence officer from the army’s Main Staff and an aide to Mladic, came to their base in Vlasenica a few days later to recruit soldiers for a special operation. This turned out to be the mass killings at the Branjevo farm.

Todorovic said that as logistics officer, he had supplied the equipment for this group, but that neither he nor any of the men knew what the assignment was.

He stressed that at that time, “things were done without any papers, orders”.

In cross-examination, prosecuting lawyer Peter McCloskey highlighted the ties between Pecanac and Mladic. He turned to evidence which Todorovic gave at the trial of former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic to show their close links.

“You’ve described him as General Mladic’s aide de camp or adjutant, haven’t you?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s how he introduced himself to me, so I stick by that. Sometimes he would say he was chief of security. I don’t know what he was; I don’t even know what adjutant is,” the witness responded.

McCloskey went on to remind the witness of his previous claim “that General Mladic was always with him” (Pecanac).

Todorovic replied that it was Pecanac’s responsibility to stay near the army chief, adding that “all the officers of our army liked to be close to General Mladic”.

“And you tell the court that Pecanac was always with General Mladic, correct?” McCloskey continued.

“Nearby, by him, around him, whatever all of that mean,” the witness responded. “He said he was there. Maybe he was just carrying papers around. I wasn’t there….”

The prosecutor continued to press the witness on this point, saying, “As far as you knew, Pecanac would carry out General Mladic’s orders, correct?”

“Of course, he wouldn’t be carrying out my orders. I carried out the orders of my commander too, whatever it was that he ordered,” Todorovic said.

The witness described how on July 15, 1995, Pecanac arrived at their barracks and ordered the officers to get “a group of people” together for an unspecified special task.

Todorovic confirmed, as he has previously done in a number of testimonies, that Drina Corps security chief Vujadin Popovic also came to the barracks on that day.

The witness said that he clearly remembered seeing Popovic’s “cherry-red” military vehicle at the gates, but that he never crossed into the barracks.

“I claim with full responsibility to this day that Popovic did not enter the compound. His vehicle was outside the compound about 30 metres away. I know that vehicle.”

McCloskey reminded him of previous testimony in which the witness recalled Pecanac talking about another senior officer.

“Did Pecanac say anything about Beara?” he asked.

“That he should see him, meet up with him [in Zvornik],” the witness said.

Ljubisa Beara was security chief in the army’s Main Staff. He and Popovic were both found guilty of genocide at the Hague tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Later, the prosecution returned to events in the summer of 1992. McCloskey asked the witness to verify testimony previously given by Pelemis that a group of Bosniak women were held captive in the village of Pelemisi during that period.

“Yes,” the witness replied, adding “They were not held captive – they were brought [there] in order to be exchanged for some people in Kladanj.”

Asked whether this meant the women were prisoners, Todorovic said he “didn’t ask too many questions… there was no prison, there were no bars on any windows. The houses were just normal village houses”.

McCloskey asked whether the young women were “fraternising” with Bosnian Serb soldiers. Pressed on this, Todorovic said there might have been some “socialising”.

He said that were not enough soldiers available to guard the women properly, but that an old man they called Uncle Momir was instructed to watch them. “If he can be considered as a person who guarded them, I don’t know,” he added.

McCloskey raised the issue of one of the captives, a 16-year-old girl who was raped, and asked whether this was reported to Pelemis.

“Yes, and he punished that soldier,” the witness replied. “I know that he was beaten, that a report was drafted and presented to the brigade; that’s all I know about that case.”

McCloskey then asked several times whether Todorovic knew the name of the rapist. The witness said that he did not.

The prosecution went to on to state that the body of the 16-year-old was later found in a mass grave five kilometres from Pelemisi, along with the remains of 59 other people.

“How did she get there?” McCloskey asked.

“Please believe me when I say that I don’t know whether she was returned to Vlasenica again or taken from Vlasenica. I wasn’t there, I cannot comment,” the witness said.

McCloskey asked him whether he knew what happened to the other women found in the mass grave.

“No,” Todorovic replied.

“Too many mass graves, too many rapes?” the prosecutor asked. “Is that why you can’t remember?

“I don’t know,” the witness responded. “All I know is that I did not hurt anyone and that I can stand before anyone, all those who were there, who met me, who got to know me from the Muslim ethnic group. I am available to all of them. I cannot comment about who did what. I don’t have information about that.”

ICTY: Goran Hadzic to Return to Serbia Soon
inSerbia
May 22, 2015

The Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) granted another temporary release for indictee Goran Hadzic which will be realised as soon as Serbia submits the necessary guarantees.

The same conditions will apply for Hadzic’s release this time as was the case in April when he was released pending trial for the first time for medical treatment purposes. This means, among other things, that the indictee would be under everyday police surveillance and will not be able to make statements for the public, the ICTY released.

In early May, Hadzic was returned to the ICTY for a medical check-up. The trial against Hadzic was interrupted in October 2014 when he fell ill in court detention. The defence team specified that Hadzic has a tumour and that the condition is in its final stages.

In the indictment, Hadzic is charged with banishment of Croats on racial, religious and political grounds, as well as annihilation, murders, illegal detention, abuse, inhumane acts, deportation and forceful displacement in the period from 1991 to 1993.

UN Court Orders Serbia to Send Seselj Back to Cell
Yahoo News
May 26, 2015

Serbia’s justice ministry on Tuesday said it had received an order from a UN war crimes court to return the ailing ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj immediately to his detention unit.

Alleged war criminal Seselj, 60, was allowed to travel to Serbia last year for cancer treatment pending a verdict in his case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, and he underwent emergency surgery earlier this month.

Seselj was accused of leading ethnic Serb volunteers in persecuting Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs during the 1990s wars in Croatia and Bosnia, but he has pleaded not guilty on nine counts, including murder, torture, cruel treatment and wanton destruction of villages.

The justice ministry received the order to return Seselj to The Hague on “Tuesday, May 26 or as soon as possible,” a source at the ministry told AFP, requesting anonymity.

He said the request would now be reviewed by the government.

Since his release on humanitarian grounds, Seselj has repeatedly lashed out at the tribunal, vowing not to return for his sentencing or to serve any time, as well as resuming his nationalist rhetoric.

The ICTY subsequently revoked his provisional release in March.

Rasim Ljajic, the minister in charge of cooperation with the UN tribunal, said the only way to return Seselj to The Hague on Tuesday would be if he voluntarily surrendered, something the suspect had earlier firmly rejected.

“It is impossible that Seselj can be transferred on May 26. We are obliged by the law (on cooperation with the UN court) which sets forth precise deadlines,” Ljajic was quoted as saying by the Blic daily.

The minister said that there would a ten to 15 day procedure if Seselj was arrested before he could be extradited.

Seselj voluntarily surrendered to the UN court in 2003 and went on trial four years later.

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Domestic Prosecutions In The Former Yugoslavia

War Crimes Accused Denied Final Appeal
SBS News
By AAP
May 15, 2015

A man accused of war crimes in Croatia has run out of legal options to fight his extradition after being refused an appeal to the High Court.

Dual Australian-Serbian national Dragan Vasiljkovic, 60, was last year ordered by the Australian government to be extradited to Croatia, almost nine years after the eastern European nation made the request.

Vasiljkovic, also known as Daniel Snedden, applied for leave to appeal the extradition in the High Court in Melbourne on Friday, his final hope in a legal battle he has been fighting since Croatia made the request in January 2006.

In 2013 he won an appeal in the Federal Court but that was overturned by the full bench of the Federal Court in December.

In denying him a High Court appeal on Friday, Justice Kenneth Hayne said an appeal “would not enjoy sufficient chance of success”.

Vasiljkovic’s lawyers say his final hope now is a change of heart by the Australian government.

The attorney-general’s department said it would not comment on operational matters including “the timing or logistics for surrender”.

Serbian-born Vasiljkovic is accused of ordering the killing of prisoners of war and leading an assault on a village where civilians were killed during the 1990s Balkan war.

He denies allegations he killed Croatians as a paramilitary commander, known as Captain Dragan, with the Krajina Serbs between 1991 and 1995.

Vasiljkovic’s lawyer, Dan Mori, said his client’s fate now rests in the hands of Justice Minister Michael Keenan, who has the power to overturn the extradition order.

But he said it was unclear if or when a decision would be made, or when Vasiljkovic might be sent to Croatia to contest the claims.

“This provides (Vasiljkovic) finally, if he does go, the first opportunity to really challenge the actual allegations against him,” he said.

Croatian lawyers say the case against Vasiljkovic appears weak, he told reporters.

The Australian government has been asked to ensure Vasiljkovic is granted day for day credit for the almost nine years he has spent in detention in Australia, and that they ensure his safety in Croatia.

Mr Mori said the case highlighted flaws in Australia’s extradition laws, which go against the Geneva Convention in not requiring evidence of wrongdoing by Australians overseas before extradition is granted.

Vasiljkovic is detained in Sydney’s Parklea prison.

Two Croatian Serb Paramilitaries Charged With War Crimes Against POWs
Dalje
May 19, 2015

The prosecutorial authorities in Rijeka have indicted two members of the Croatian Serb paramilitary forces for war crimes against Croat prisoners of war, committed in 1991/92 in Stara Gradiska, around 140 km southeast of Zagreb.

Since both men, aged 59 and 66, are in Serbia and beyond the reach of Croatian police, international warrants have been issued for their arrest, the Rijeka County Prosecutor’s Office said on its web site.

The two Croatian Serb paramilitaries are suspected of having kept prisoner, between November 1991 and May 1992, in Stara Gradiska, 36 members of active and reserve forces of the police station from the central town of Slunj and the National Guard Corps (ZNG).

The prisoners were subjected to psychological abuse and physical torture. Some of the prisoners sustained serious bodily injuries and all sustained damage to their health, the prosecutors said.

Serbia Still Harbors War Criminals
The Hill
By Sandra Olovic and Praveen Madhiraju
May 26, 2015

During the 1990’s, the United States led two separate NATO bombing campaigns to end Serbian war crimes in Kosovo and Bosnia. Current Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic gave panache to the criminal politics in play then. His first official visit to Washington, D.C. next week should not sidestep his lack of action to resolve war crimes now.

“You kill one Serb and we will kill one hundred Muslims.”

This type of flamboyant rhetoric – made days after 8,000 men and boys were separated and slaughtered in Srbenica – catapulted Vucic’s political career. He was only 28 years old when he was named Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s Minister of Information during the ethnic cleansing campaign in Kosovo. He continued this extremist course for the next decade.

In 2008, Vucic professed an about-face. He broke with ultranationalist politicians and professed a rather single-minded goal of joining the European Union. He’s since led painful reforms to the economy and against corruption that have matched his new and more moderate rhetoric.

He’s also expressed genuine remorse for his advocacy of war crimes. He’s called Srbenica a “horrendous crime” that Serbs should be “ashamed” to be associated with. He has also supported efforts at regional reconciliation and truth through the RECOM initiative.

On war crimes accountability, however, Prime Minister Vucic’s actions betray his words. Victims and their families expect more.

For years, the Humanitarian Law Center, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the European Commission have all lamented that high-level suspects enjoy effective immunity in Serbia. Prime Minister Vucic is neither passive nor impotent in these regards. Two examples stand out.

When the Humanitarian Law Center accused the current Army Chief of Staff, Ljubisa Dikovic, of war crimes in Kosovo, Vucic lashed out before even reading the report, accusing the NGO of trying to “bring down” the army and country. Dikovic is accused of overseeing civilian massacres in Kosovo villages in April and May 1999, when he commanded the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army.

The Dikovic case should be of concern for the United States because of its close cooperation and assistance to the Serbian military. Given the allegations, continued assistance likely violates the Leahy Law, which prohibits the United States from providing military assistance to foreign military and security units that violate human rights with impunity. The United States provides roughly $3 million dollar per year in direct assistance to the Serbian military.

Prime Minister Vucic also harbors the main suspect in the war-crimes murders of three American citizens. Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi were kidnapped, executed, and dumped into a mass grave by Serbian officials in July 1999. Evidence indicates that the crimes were ordered from the highest-levels of the Yugoslav government and passed on through Goran “Guri” Radosaljevic.

Radosavljevic currently sits on the Executive Board of Prime Minister Vucic’s Progressive Party. The two are often seen publicly celebrating Progressive Party milestones together.

Neither Dikovic nor Radosavljevic have been properly investigated by authorities. Their prominent positions give each a safe space to block investigations from taking seed. For example, leaked diplomatic cables show that Serbian prosecutors fear that Radosavljevic intimidates witnesses and interferes with the Bytyqi case.

On the other end, the Serbian government has done little to create a safe space for witnesses. Police and protection units are riddled with war veterans, who often threaten and intimidate the very witnesses that they are charged to defend and protect.

Vucic may be reformed, but he is not reformed enough. Having advocated for and defended war crimes for more than half of his public career, he has a special responsibility to cure their effects. As Prime Minister, he should not be giving safe harbor to individuals with clear connection with mass war crimes like Ljubisa Dikovic and Goran Radosavljevic. U.S. officials should not tiptoe around this issue.

ICTY Orders Serbia To Return Seselj To Detention
Jurist
By Alexandra Farone
May 26, 2015

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday ordered Serbia’s justice ministry to return Vojislav Seselj, ailing alleged war criminal, to his detention cell immediately. Seselj had been held in The Hague on charges of leading ethnic Serbs to persecute non-Serbs during the Croatia and Bosnia wars in the 1990s but was released last month to return to Serbia for cancer treatment. Seselj has pleaded not guilty on nine counts including murder and torture. The ICTY had revoked his provisional release in March, because Seselj spoke at a news conference in Belgrade and stated that he would not return voluntarily to The Hague. The ICTY’s request for his return will now be reviewed by the Serbian government.

In February JURIST Guest Columnist Gregory Gordon of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law discussed the ICTY’s decision to grant provisional release to Seselj and its repercussions on international criminal law and transitional justice. The ICTY and the Balkan States continue to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced. In December police in Bosnia and Serbia arrested 15 individuals accused of perpetrating the massacre of 19 unarmed men during the height of the Balkan conflict. The investigation has identified Bosnian Serb warlord Milan Lukic as the mastermind of the massacre. The trial for Seselj began in 2007, after he was charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, and accused of establishing rogue paramilitary units which are believed to have massacred and otherwise persecuted Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan conflict. In January 2012 Seselj sued the ICTY for USD $2.6 million in damages due to alleged unreasonable delays in his trial, alleging that the tribunal failed to give him materials in Serbian; denied him communication with family members, doctors and legal counsel; delayed his trial interminably and refused him a right to his own independent counsel.

Montenegrin NGOs Ask For Criminal Responsibility For War Crimes
Dalje
May 27, 2015

Several political parties and nongovernmental organisations asked the Montenegrin state authorities on Wednesday to determine criminal responsibility for the arrest and deportation of Muslim refugees who fled Bosnia and Herzegovina 23 years ago and to stop denying this war crime.

“In May 1992 Montenegrin police unlawfully arrested at least 66 civilians who fled to Montenegro to escape the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Montenegro’s police handed them over as hostages to the Bosnian Serb army which used them for the exchange of POWs. Most of those extradited were killed instantly and the rest were killed in detention camps and only a few survived the torture and were eventually exchanged,” said human rights NGO (HRA) member Tea Gorjanec-Prelevic.

A member of the Kotor-based ANIMA NGO, Ljupka Kovacevic, said that for some of the victims deported from Herceg Novi on May 27, 1992 it is still not known where they were buried or where exactly they were killed.

The Bosniak Party, parliamentary party and junior member of the ruling coalition, asked the state and judicial authorities to stop denying the war crime committed against Bosniak refugees and to determine criminal responsibility in court. The party also supports the idea of building a memorial site in Herceg Novi where the majority of civilian refugees was arrested.

EU Judges Jail 11 Ex-Kosovo Albanian Guerrillas For War Crimes
Reuters
By Fatos Bytyci
May 27, 2015

European Union judges in Kosovo sentenced 11 former Kosovo Albanian guerrillas, two of them close to ex-prime minister Hashim Thaci, to prison terms on Wednesday for war crimes committed during Kosovo’s 1998-99 pro-independence uprising.

In two parallel trials, judges from the EU police and justice mission said atrocities were committed against Kosovar civilians held in a camp run by the then-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought Serbian security forces in the war.

Political killings of Kosovo Albanians by their own kin were common in the former Serbian province during and after the war, sometimes over allegations of collaboration with Belgrade.

The EU mission, established after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, handles sensitive war crimes cases in a country where ex-guerrillas are revered as heroes of the struggle for statehood.

The charges in the two trials also related to the killing in 1998 of a Serbian police officer and a Kosovo Albanian civilian accused by the KLA of being a spy for Serbia.

Sami Lushtaku, a former senior KLA commander, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Sylejman Selimi, currently Kosovo’s ambassador to neighboring Albania, was sentenced to eight years for mistreating civilians. He once headed the Kosovo Security Force, a lightly-armed 2,500-strong civil protection and crisis response force trained by NATO.

Lushtaku and Selimi were close allies of former Prime Minister Thaci, the former KLA commander in chief who is now Kosovo’s foreign minister.

A member of parliament from the ruling Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK) was sentenced to three years in prison while the jail terms for eight others ranged from three to seven years.

The verdict may complicate a parliamentary vote due on Friday on creating a new Kosovo war crimes court to try ethnic Albanians accused of committing atrocities in the 1998-99 war.

The 11 defendants were war comrades and associates of some current lawmakers and their jailing could make them reluctant to approve the war crimes court legislation, analysts said.

A two-thirds majority is needed to set up the new court and if this fails to transpire, the United Nations is expected to take over pending cases and possibly create a new tribunal.

Some 10,000 and 12,000 people, mainly ethnic Albanians, were killed in the late 1990s conflict between the KLA and security forces loyal to then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Another 800,000 were displaced in the conflict, which ended after a NATO bombing campaign ousted Milosevic’s forces from the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority region.

UNSC Insist On Formation Of Special Court For War Crimes In Kosovo
InSerbia
By Tanjug
May 27, 2015

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in New York that his country considers that international presence is still necessary in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM), adding he urges further quarterly reporting by the UN Security Council on the situation in KiM.

It is very important for Serbia that the UNSC continuously monitors developments in KiM. We advocate keeping the institution of quarterly reporting, although some countries advocate reports twice a year, Dacic said after a UNSC session,

All participants of the meeting noted as important to form the community of Serb municipalities as soon as possible, as this is the priority in implementing the Brussels agreement, he said.

All UNSC member countries insisted on the speedy formation of a special court for war crimes in Kosovo committed by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, in connection with the report of (former Council of Europe Rapporteur) Dick Marty, Dacic pointed out.

Serbia’s position is that such sessions should continue to take place, the foreign minister stressed.

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MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)

Official Website of the Extraordinary Chambers
Official Website of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT)

US Meeting Promotes KRT Understanding
Phnom Penh Post
By Sean Teehan
May 18, 2015

As the Khmer Rouge tribunal is watched with a close eye by many in Cambodia, a US city with one of the largest Khmer populations last week held a community meeting to discuss the proceedings.

A statement released by the district attorney’s office in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, announced that several government and civil society figures had organised a gathering in Lowell – home to the second-largest Khmer population in the United States – focusing on the tribunal proceedings.

“Tonight’s discussion was an opportunity for the Cambodian community to hear what is going on with the trials in their native country and to continue to try to heal from the horrific events they or their family members may have witnessed or experienced,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian T Ryan said in a statement released after Thursday’s meeting.

In addition to Ryan, Rady Mom – the United States’ first Khmer state representative – and representatives of mental health and immigration service organisations convened with members of Lowell’s approximately 106,000-person Khmer community to discuss the trials, the statement said.

Phillip Weiner, chief of the legal division in the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also attended and spoke at the event.

The fact that Cambodians living abroad are interested in the goings-on of the tribunal is significant, ECCC spokesman Neth Pheaktra said in an email yesterday.

“Like their compatriots living in Cambodia, those people [living abroad] should be informed about the developments of the ECCC’s legal proceedings . . . [and] ask questions to better understand,” Pheaktra said.

“Hav[ing] a community discussion on [Khmer Rouge] history and also the work of the ECCC is very crucial for their community. Victims can share their experiences during [Democratic Kampuchea] Regime and learn about the legal proceeding against the leaders of [Khmer Rouge] Regime.”

While agreeing with the importance of Cambodians living in the US to follow the trials, independent analyst Ou Virak said many of the people who migrated from Cambodia did so to avoid reminders of tragedy.

If more Cambodians abroad had discussions like Lowell’s community meeting, Khmer Rouge victims and their families could gain more closure, he said.

“[Cambodians] in the US are pretty much trying to forget the past,” Virak said. “I think that . . . having more in-depth conversation about this will help them move on.”

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Syria

UN Adopts Resolution on Protection of Journalists in Conflicts
Voice of America
By Margaret Besheer
May 27, 2015

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday on the protection of journalists in conflict zones.

The measure comes as the number of deaths and kidnappings of media professionals continues to climb. Reporters Without Borders says 66 journalists were killed last year and 25 more have died since January. In the last decade, 700 media workers have been killed in the field or because of their profession.

The Security Council resolution condemns such attacks and warns parties to conflicts, including governments and armed groups, that they should take all reasonable steps to protect journalists. It also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of reporters who are hostages in conflict zones.

Iraq, Syria are most dangerous

The head of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, said Iraq and Syria have become two of the most dangerous places for journalists to work. He said 45 media workers were killed in Syria since that conflict started in 2011 and at least 15 have died in Iraq since 2013.

He said ensuring accountability is key to preventing future attacks.

“In the world, more than 90 percent of crimes against journalists are never prosecuted, are never punished,” said Deloire. “It is like an encouragement for all those who commit crimes against journalists. If we want to protect journalists, we have to fight impunity.”

Deloire said attacks on journalists in conflict zones could be considered war crimes and should be referred to the International Criminal Court.

Not just war zones

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, herself a former journalist, said even in countries at peace, erosions on press freedoms and the harassment and intimidation of reporters often signal a crackdown on civil, political and human rights.

She gave as an example the current political turmoil in Burundi, where part of the military challenged President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek what is widely seen as an unconstitutional third term in power.

“Since the unlawful attempt to seize power was quashed, several independent journalists report being told that they are on a list of people to be arrested, and many more reportedly have been threatened with death, torture and disappearance, leading them to go into hiding,” she said.

Power said regimes — like the one of Bashar al-Assad in Syria — and armed groups — such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State — target journalists because they do not want people to see them for what they really are.

As the Security Council met, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement condemning the murder of Brazilian radio reporter Djalma Santos da Conceicao, whose tortured body was found Saturday, one day after he was reported to have been kidnapped by gunmen in the country’s northeast. It was the second murder of a Brazilian journalist in less than a week.

Palmyra Destruction by IS Would be Considered War Crime, Says EU
IANS
May 22, 2015

The European Union said on Thursday that the mass killings and the deliberate destruction of the Syrian archaeological ruins of Palmyra by Islamic State (IS) would be considered a war crime under the Rome Statute.

EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Frederica Mogherini said on Thursday that acts of terror on the cultural and archaeological heritage “in Syria and Iraq amount to a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” a statement published on the EU website said.

At least 462 people have died during the IS offensive on Palmyra and in the central province of Homs.

On Wednesday, IS operatives took full control of Palmyra, whose ruins are included in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation list of World Heritage Sites, among the many others in Syria endangered by the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Mogherini, who is also vice president of the European Commission, said that in the occupation of Palmyra, “hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more risk to be exposed to arbitrary violent actions and more destructions of cultural sites might be perpetrated”.

She stressed that in this situation, “the EU has taken all the appropriate steps in accordance with (UN Security Resolution) 2199 to prevent the illegal trade of cultural property; such illicit traffic of cultural artefacts directly contributes to the financing of (IS) and other terrorist organisations”.

The militants have executed at least 17 people since they took control over the ancient city of Palmyra on Wednesday, a monitor group said on Thursday.

Some of the slain people were government forces along with people who are loyal to the government, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The London-based watchdog group said some of the executed people were beheaded by the terror group, following the large-scale offensive on Palmyra on Wednesday.

The head of European diplomacy underlined that the EU supports the United Nations’ efforts to end the four-year conflict destroying Syria, as well as its part in the anti-IS coalition that seeks to put an end to the terrorist organisation.

Syria War Crimes Justice Unlikely Despite Evidence: Experts
AFP
By Charles Onians
May 15, 2015

The chances of anyone being prosecuted for Syrian war crimes are today smaller than ever, experts say, as realpolitik smothers an increasingly solid mountain of evidence accumulated during the often barbaric four-year conflict.

Rights groups have steadfastly documented atrocities committed on the ground, and on Wednesday a committee of renowned investigators said it had enough evidence to prosecute up the chain of command to President Bashar al-Assad himself.

But while those dossiers, collected by the Western-backed Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) including former investigators from international tribunals, claim for the first time to be “trial ready,” the world is not.

For political reasons, there is no court able to judge the crimes committed in a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people, including at least 67,000 civilians and 11,000 children.

“It’s very likely that no conflict has ever received as much investigatorial attention of mass atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity, with so little justice,” said London-based international law expert Mark Kersten.

– No jurisdiction –

The International Criminal Court, which judges the world’s most serious crimes, has no jurisdiction in Syria as it is not a member and ally Russia is expected to block the UN Security Council from authorising an ICC investigation.

At the same time, many now consider Assad a “necessary evil” in any peaceful end to the conflict, so the international community is also unlikely to set up an ad hoc tribunal such as that created after the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia.

“You have to wait for regime change in Syria, for a post-revolution truth commission, fact-finding and settling with the past by a new administration,” Olivier Ribbelink, senior researcher at the TMC Asser Institute in The Hague, told AFP.

Some countries have universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to prosecute crimes not committed on their soil, but those would likely only be used against rebels, including European nationals fighting alongside the Islamic State group.

“Western judicial authorities can perhaps use the evidence they’re finding now against returning jihadi fighters… but no one is going to start a trial against Assad’s regime or Assad himself,” said Ribbelink.

Ad hoc tribunals such as those set up by the United Nations to judge crimes committed in Yugoslavia and the 1994 Rwandan genocide were “part of post-Cold War euphoria, things are different now,” he added.

– Lost evidence –

Even without a court to bring cases to trial, the ICJA evidence has a role to play.

“If we wait for the ICC, or if we wait for an ad hoc tribunal, a lot of this evidence is somehow going to be lost,” said Kersten.

“There will be the opportunity to shred it, there’ll be the simple passage of time so people won’t be there to recall events as easily.”

The mere existence of the evidence is potentially damaging for Syria’s government as “it could become difficult for a number of states to continue to support the regime,” said Ribbelink.

But there is no certainty that the millions of documents, photos and videos collected by the CIJA, many at great risk, would be admissable in court.

There have been precedents for independently collected evidence being used in international prosecutions, including at the ICC, but it could be deemed corrupted, said Jill Coster van Voorhout, researcher at The Hague Institute for Global Justice.

“There can be a few obstacles, for example when the evidence has not been collected for the purpose of a trial,” said Van Voorhout.

“In such a case, the evidence could be considered corrupted and therefore not accepted or given less evidentiary value before a court.”

Law expert Kersten said that the CIJA evidence must be tested in court to know if it’s strong enough, but whether that happens depends on the international community.

“It’s really not up to the law, it’s up to politics — whether there’s political will or whether there’s a political context and it’s feasible to prosecute not just Assad but anyone, those most responsible from both sides of the conflict,” Kersten said.

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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

5 Accused of Conspiring to Go to Syria Plead Not Guilty
The New York Times
By The Associated Press
May 20, 2015

Five Minnesota men accused of conspiring to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group have pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism charges.

The men entered their pleas Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; Hamza Naj Ahmed, 21; Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19; Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19; and Guled Ali Omar, 20, are each charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

All but Farah also face additional charges. Two other men charged in this case weren’t scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Authorities have described the men as friends in Minnesota’s Somali community. Some of them were part of a group that took a bus to New York in November and were stopped at JFK Airport before they traveled overseas.

Prosecutors: Minnesota Men Who Tried to Join IS Made Threats
The New York Times
By The Associated Press
May 21, 2015

One Minnesota man accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group told an informant he’d kill FBI agents if they tried to stop him, while another told friends he’d “spit on America” at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a document filed Thursday by prosecutors.

The document reveals new details about Mohamed Abdihamid Farah and Abdirahman Yasin Daud, both 21. They are among six Minnesota men arrested last month for conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Authorities have described the Minnesota men as friends in the state’s Somali community who recruited and inspired each other to join the Islamic State group. Authorities allege some of the men made repeated attempts to get to Syria and developed a plot to get fake passports and travel overseas through Mexico.

Daud and Farah were arrested last month in San Diego as authorities say they were attempting to make that trip. Daud has since been transferred to Minnesota; Farah is listed as being in federal custody in San Diego.

In the new court document, filed in advance of a Friday detention hearing for Daud, prosecutors argued Daud should stay in custody because he is a flight risk and a danger to the community. They said Daud conspired for at least a year to get to Syria along with others to fight and, in some cases die, for the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors allege Daud went to extraordinary lengths to plan his travel, provided a photo and down-payment for a false passport and used his own vehicle to drive himself, Farah and an informant to San Diego.

Prosecutors say Daud had communicated with members of the Islamic State group including Abdi Nur, a Minnesotan who is believed to be in Syria.

When Daud was arrested, authorities found additional electronic communications between Daud and an unidentified member of the militant group who provided detailed instructions on how to get to Syria, including what type of SIM card Daud should buy for his cellphone once he arrived in Turkey, a gateway for many to Syria.

Daud also allegedly said at least once that his family knew he was going to Syria and they “won’t say a word.” He also spoke of getting an assault rifle in Syria and said he, Farah and the informant would become martyrs.

In a conversation recorded as Daud, Farah and the informant were driving to San Diego, Daud allegedly said: “I’m going to spit on America at the border crossing.” The men also discussed tweeting FBI Agents upon arrival in Syria.

In another recorded conversation, Farah told the informant he would kill FBI agents “if our backs are against the wall,” prosecutors said.

Daud’s attorney, Bruce Nestor, said the government is cherry-picking what it considers to be the most damaging information.

“Many of the alleged statements are simply youthful boasting which, like the so-called conspiracy, were encouraged and facilitated by a government informant who himself tried to join ISIS and repeatedly had lied to the government,” Nestor said.

Farah’s mother declined comment Thursday. Efforts to reach Daud’s family were unsuccessful.

The Minneapolis area is home to the largest concentration of Somali immigrants in the U.S.

Authorities have said a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to fight with militants. Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men have also traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the militant group al-Shabab.

California: Two Accused of Trying to Aid Terror
The New York Times
By The Associated Press
May 22, 2015

Two California men arrested by the F.B.I. wanted to join the Islamic State group and bought a plane ticket for one of them to travel to Turkey with the hope of becoming a martyr, federal prosecutors said Friday. The United States attorney’s office charged Nader Elhuzayel and Muhanad Badawi, both 24, with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorism group. Mr. Elhuzayel was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport, and Mr. Badawi was arrested late Thursday in Anaheim, where both men live, the authorities said. The two men discussed their support for the Islamic State on social media and in conversation, saying it would be a blessing to join the fight and die on the battlefield, prosecutors said in a complaint. Mr. Badawi let Mr. Elhuzayel use his debit card to buy a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv with a layover in Istanbul, the complaint said. Salem Elhuzayel, Mr. Elhuzayel’s father, said he had dropped off his son for an Israel-bound flight so he could visit Palestinian aunts and cousins.

Saudis Say ISIS Ordered Suicide Bombing of Mosque
The New York Times
By David D. Kirkpatrick
May 23, 2015

The Saudi Interior Ministry on Saturday said that a Saudi man taking direction from the Islamic State had carried out a deadly suicide bombing a day earlier, bolstering the group’s claim of responsibility.

The ministry’s conclusion added to the sense of alarm that the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, might be extending its reach inside the kingdom, which has so far largely escaped the violence engulfing Iraq and Syria.

The suicide bombing on Friday killed at least 21 worshipers at a Shiite mosque in a town near Qatif, in the Eastern Province. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in an official statement, the first time its leadership had claimed responsibility for such an attack inside the kingdom.

The Interior Ministry, however, has blamed the Islamic State for previous attacks, and last fall supporters of the group released a video claiming responsibility for shooting a Danish executive in his car in Riyadh, the capital.

The ministry said in a statement on Saturday that after examining human remains found at the site of the Qatif attack, it had identified the suicide bomber as Salih bin Abdulrahman Salih al-Ghishaami, a Saudi citizen.

The ministry said he had been wanted for arrest as a member of a terrorist organization that took its instructions from the Islamic State. Twenty-six other Saudi members of the same organization have already been arrested, the ministry said. Five of those, the ministry said, had participated in a recent attack on Saudi security forces near Riyadh that led to the death of a soldier.

Ministry officials have also blamed the Islamic State for a shooting last November that killed at least eight people in another Shiite village in the Eastern Province. But the Islamic State has not claimed responsibility for that attack, or for the killing of the soldier.

U.S. Man Charged With Conspiracy to Provide Support to Islamic State
The New York Times
By Reuters
May 26, 2015

A Houston-area man was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Islamic State by attempting to fight for the militant group in Syria, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

Asher Abid Khan, 20, of Spring, Texas, was arrested on Tuesday morning and was due to appear in federal court in Houston later in the day.

According to a criminal complaint, Khan and a Texas-based friend, identified only as S.R.G. by prosecutors, plotted on Facebook to join Islamic State in Syria in January 2014 and left for Syria the following month.

At the time, Khan was living in Australia with relatives, where he had been since October 2013.

Both men conspired with a Turkey-based Islamic State supporter to get to Syria, with Khan alleged to have sent a message in which he stated: “I wana join ISIS can you help?”

He also sent another acquaintance a message saying: “I wana die as a Shaheed [martyr],” according to the criminal complaint.

The two U.S. men repeatedly exchanged messages on social media talking about their plans and support for Islamic State.

S.R.G eventually made it to Syria, but Khan returned to the United States from Turkey after being tricked into returning by his family, who told him that his mother had been hospitalized.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Khan’s arrest is the latest in an uptick of cases over the past few months in which the United States has detained what has been alleged are would-be U.S.-based Islamic State fighters.

On Friday, two Southern California men were arrested and last month six Somali-American men from Minnesota were charged, all on similar counts.

U.S. prosecutors have increasingly used social media, particularly Facebook messages, in building their cases.

A lawyer for Khan could not immediately be reached for comment.

Georgia Man Pleads Guilty to Seeking to Join Islamic State
The New York Times
By The Associated Press
May 27, 2015

A 37-year-old Georgia salesman pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he supported terrorists, saying he bought a one-way ticket overseas to join the Islamic State group.

Leon Nathan Davis of Augusta told a U.S. District court judge he planned last fall to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, where he said, “I was to be smuggled into Syria and at that point in time join ISIS.”

A stocky, pale man with a shaved head, Davis answered with a pronounced Southern accent when the judge asked if he understood the U.S. considers the Islamic State to be a terrorist organization: “Yes, sir, I did.”

Davis is among several dozen people charged in the last year with trying to fight alongside the Islamic State and other militants or with lending them material support. Federal charges against him were filed Wednesday just before his plea hearing.

Judge J. Randall Hall, who will sentence Davis at a later date, did not ask about his motivations for seeking to join Islamic militants. Prosecutors and Davis’ defense attorney declined to discuss the case further after his plea hearing.

Charging documents filed with the court say Davis is also known by the names Abdul Wakil Khalil and Abu Hurairah Al Amreekee. Georgia Department of Corrections records show he was imprisoned in October 2005 after being sentenced to 10 years for cocaine trafficking. He was released in September 2008, but returned to prison for more than a year starting in February 2012.

Davis told the judge he worked as a salesman for a company selling mail-order medical supplements before his most recent arrest. He also said he’s been married since 2013 and has a stepdaughter.

Federal authorities began watching Davis more than a year ago after he tried to contact Islamic State members through social media, FBI agent Gutis Zunde testified. He said Davis booked a flight to Turkey online last fall and traveled to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to catch his plane Oct. 24. Authorities arrested Davis at the Delta Air Lines check-in counter.

Zunde said Davis later told investigators he expected to teach English to other Islamic State members once he reached Syria.

“He said he wasn’t sure if he would be a fighter or possibly a recruiter for them,” Zunde said.

Davis faces up to 15 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he’s sentenced on the charge of attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Prosecutors since February held him on a charge of illegal firearms possession by a convicted felon, saying Davis owned six rifles, four handguns and two shotguns. The judge said prosecutors plan to drop that charge.

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Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Official Website of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
In Focus: Special Tribunal for Lebanon (UN)

STL Should Have Been More Protective of Witnesses: Chouaib
The Daily Star
By Elise Knutsen
May 15, 2015

For the first time, a witness on the stand has sharply criticized the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Afif Chouaib, head of the Inspection and Investigation Bureau at the Civil Defense, repeatedly criticized the STL during his testimony on behalf of the defense in the contempt case against Al Jadeed and Karma Khayat.

Chouaib was one of the individuals who appeared in Al Jadeed’s controversial miniseries in August 2012 which the court alleges revealed personal details about alleged witnesses scheduled to appear before the STL.

Chouaib, however, laid the blame almost entirely on the STL for failing to keep his identity confidential.

Almost immediately after being summoned to speak to investigators looking into the death of Rafik Hariri, Chouaib said his life took a turn for the worse.

His summons was not sent to him directly, but rather routed through a public prosecutor and other authorities, he said. By the time the notice of his summons reached the director-general of the Civil Defense, word had already circulated around the agency that he was to speak with the investigators.

Many accused him of being “a false witness,” telling lies to the tribunal’s authorities for political gain, Chouaib said, describing he period as “the bleakest” of his life, and places the blame squarely on the STL. “When they summoned me along with other colleagues, they were saying that it was highly confidential and no one would be aware of these meetings except the STL staff … What happened to the confidentiality?” he asked indignantly.

Even before Al Jadeed used a hidden camera to record and later broadcast a brief meeting with him, Chouaib said the damage had been done. Many already knew he was a witness for the STL. When asked if he suffered any difficulties or hardships as a result of the Al Jadeed broadcast, Chouaib said “no.”

The series, he said, was “a minor problem” compared with the “huge problems” that already existed.

Chouaib repeatedly stressed that the language barrier that existed between him and the STL authorities has been a problem in his dealings with the tribunal. “We would have hoped that all of the people dealing with the investigation [would have] mastered the language of the witness,” he said.

He repeatedly called into question the English translation of a statement he gave to the defense, excerpts of which the amicus curiae prosecutor read aloud in court. “I cannot read to you in your own language, you cannot read to me in my own language. Maybe this third party is not true to the text, so who should be held liable for that?” Chouaib said.

After Chouaib concluded his testimony the defense concluded its case. Contempt judge Nicola Lettieri asked the parties to file their closing briefs by June 8. A date for closing arguments will be set soon.

STL Spokesperson Says Transfer of Samaha Case Requires Approval of Lebanon, U.N.
Naharnet Newsdesk
May 20, 2015

The spokesperson of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has said there was no direct contact with the court on efforts to refer to it the file of former Minister Michel Samaha, adding the issue required an agreement between the Lebanese government and the United Nations.

“I cannot comment on the statements made by politicians or officials,” Wajed Ramadan told As Safir daily published on Wednesday.

Her remarks came in response to a question on Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi’s statements that he was working on transferring the terrorism case of Samaha to the STL.

There have been claims that the explosives which Samaha had transferred to Lebanon were similar to bombs used in murders and assassination attempts after the Feb. 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Last week, the military court sentenced Samaha to four-and-a-half years in jail over terrorism charges, including the time he served since August 2012.

Rifi promised to submit a draft-law to the cabinet to dissolve the court after a video was broadcast showing the former information minister discussing with undercover police informant Milad Kfouri plans to carry out explosions in Lebanon.

The video was an indication that Syrian President Bashar Assad was aware of the plot, Rifi said.

But Ramadan told As Safir that article one of the STL statute says the court has jurisdiction over persons responsible for Hariri’s assassination.

If the tribunal finds that other attacks that occurred in Lebanon between October 1, 2004 and December 12, 2005, or any later date decided by the parties and with the consent of the U.N. Security Council, are connected and are of a nature and gravity similar to Hariri’s murder, it shall also have jurisdiction over persons responsible for such attacks.

If such conditions exist, then the prosecutor should inform the STL president, who in his turn would ask for the transfer of his conclusions to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, Ramadan said.

The U.N. secretary general would then pave way for the Security Council and the Lebanese government to take the final decision on whether to grant the court the jurisdiction to deal with Samaha’s case or not, she added.

Hariri Adviser Tells Court of Syrian ‘Paranoia’ Over 1559
The Daily Star
By Elise Knutsen
May 20, 2015

In the weeks before former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated, a “paranoid” Syrian regime was preparing for an imminent military attack against Syrian territories, according to Hani Hammoud, a media adviser to the late prime minister.

Hammoud made the startling revelations during his first day of testimony at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Tuesday. Hammoud said that he learned from fellow journalist Ali Jaber in January 2005 that the regime was “building fortifications, transporting munitions [and] weapons to protect the Alawite area from a potential attack.”

Jaber, who had just returned from a trip to Damascus, had met several high-ranking Syrian officials including military intelligence officers Assef Shawkat and Ghazi Kannan.

Jaber shared details about the unsettled atmosphere in Damascus at a lunch meeting with both Hammoud and Hariri on Jan. 10, 2005.

“He [Jaber] said, ‘They’re all going mad. They’re paranoid,’ he used the word paranoid,” Hammoud recalled.

The Syrian regime, Jaber had said, was convinced that Hariri was complicit in the adoption of U.N. Security Resolution 1559 in September 2004 calling for the total withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

“They are putting the responsibility of 1559 on your back. They are accusing you of being a traitor and a traitor to Syria,” Hammoud recalled Jaber telling Hariri. “They’re ready to do anything possible, and they’re all insulting you together.”

At the time, Syria was deeply rattled by both Resolution 1559 and the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Iraq. The conflation of the two geopolitical drifts, “according to what Mr. Ali Jaber said, created an atmosphere of paranoia in Syria, namely among the ranks of the senior military officials,” Hammoud told the court. “They were expecting a military attack against Syria that would lead them to withdraw back to their own areas, that is the Syrian coast, known as the Alawite Mountains.”

At the January lunch meeting, Hariri was also surprised to hear that a number of high-ranking Syrian officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid al-Moallem, had freely expressed their animosity toward him. “I believe … Prime Minister Hariri did not expect that Walid al-Moallem would participate in this concert of insults against him,” Hammoud said.

Hammoud acknowledged Hariri was not-so-privately rooting for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

Sometime in the fall of 2004, Hammoud says he found himself in Hariri’s car as part of a larger convoy driving to Damascus. Hammoud smiled as they passed through a Syrian checkpoint. “The prime minister asked me ‘Why are you smiling?’ I said ‘I’m smiling at this occurrence: I’m seeing the prime minister of Lebanon receiving indications … from the Syrian official.”

“He told me ‘In a year from now, you will not see them [the Syrian army] here in Lebanon … I bet you … write that down and remind me a year from now that we had a wager on this topic,” Hammoud recalled.

Hammoud demurred when asked if Hariri had a hand in drafting Resolution 1559. “This was an accusation that was repeated by those who could be called the allies of Syria in Lebanon,” he said. However, he agreed that Hariri “was happy with the issuance of Resolution 1559 and was not opposing such a resolution.”

The resolution, Hammoud explained, “expressed a strategic change in international politics in the Middle East,” one that would have dramatically loosened Syria’s grip on internal Lebanese affairs.

While five Hezbollah members have been charged with plotting Hariri’s assassination and the ensuing cover-up, the prosecution has moved toward suggesting Syria’s involvement in the conspiracy. Hammoud will continue his testimony at the U.N.-backed tribunal Wednesday.

Defense Quizzes Hammoud on Harari’s Warning
The Daily Star
By Elise Knutsen
May 22, 2015

Hezbollah tried to caution Hariri against angering the Syrians prior to his assassination, according to members of the defense counsel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Defense attorney Iain Edwards quizzed Hariri’s former media advisor Hani Hammoud about two meetings in which high-ranking members of Hezbollah told a journalist that Hariri was “crazy” to cross the Syrians. The Syrians, one Hezbollah official told the journalist, “will kill” Hariri for refusing to accept pro-Syrian candidates on his electoral lists and aligning himself with openly anti-Syrian politicians.

Hammoud said he believed that the statements by Hezbollah officials which the journalist later relayed to Hariri were messages “emanating from a person who perhaps wanted the good for Rafik Hariri … a piece of advice that aims at circumventing or removing any dangers or threats to Rafik Hariri.”

Five Hezbollah members have been accused of plotting the blast that killed Hariri and 21 others on Feb. 14, 2005.

“But the question [which] has to be asked is this: Why would the most senior Hezbollah officials be trying to persuade Mr. Hariri to adapt his position ahead of the upcoming elections if they were planning or even knew that he was going to be killed in the days or weeks to come?” Edwards asked the court.

The defense also advanced a theory it has raised before: that jihadis, possibly working in conjunction with Syrian authorities, killed Hariri.

In a written statement submitted to the U.N. investigators charged with investigating Hariri’s murder, Hammoud said that former Information Minister Elias Murr believed he had thwarted a previous attempt on the prime minister’s life.

Originally announced as a foiled plot by Al-Qaeda-linked militants to bomb the Italian Embassy in Beirut in September 2004, Murr reassessed the conspiracy after Hariri’s killing.

“After the assassination he [Murr] started thinking and believing that what had been uncovered and discovered by the Lebanese security forces was not a bomb plot on the Italian Embassy, but perhaps a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and that he [Murr] had thwarted this first attempt,” Hammoud told the court.

Murr also told Hammoud that when ISF agents were sent to the eastern Bekaa village of Anjar to follow a lead about the source of the jihadis’ explosives, armed men allied with top Syrian intelligence officer Rutom Ghazaleh and pro-Syrian General Ali Hajj intervened.

Hundreds of kilograms of explosives were discovered “practically in the backyard” of Ghazaleh, who ran Syrian intelligence operations from Anjar. Murr told Hammoud that the explosives were “operationally in the garden” of Ghazaleh.

Ghazaleh has emerged as a central if still shady figure in the case. The prosecution has cast him as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s right-hand man in Lebanon who loathed and extorted Hariri. To date, the defense has done little to dispute this characterization of Ghazaleh.

Moreover, among the jihadis arrested in the sweep that September was Ismael Muhammad al-Khatib. Khatib was described in media reports at the time as an Al-Qaeda leader in Lebanon. He died in custody soon after his arrest.

At an earlier court session, defense counselor Antoine Korkmaz posited a possible scenario to witness Mustapha Nasser, one of Hariri’s aides who helped coordinate between the prime minister and Hezbollah. “What do you think about this hypothesis; namely, Mr. Hariri was killed by a jihadi group, which held him responsible as prime minister of the death of Khatib in custody, one of the heads of the organization?” Korkmaz asked.

Hammoud completed his testimony Thursday. Next week former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is slated to return to testify before the U.N.-backed court.

Testimony of Abu Adass’ Dad Read at STL
The Daily Star
By Elise Knutsen
May 23, 2015

The father of Ahmad Abu Adass, the Palestinian who disappeared from his house in Sabra and was filmed on video taking responsibility for the Rafik Hariri assassination shortly after the crime, described his son as being “religiously committed” and having “few friends,” the Special Tribunal heard Friday.

The prosecution read several witness statements in court, including two made by the now deceased father of Abu Adass. While Taysir Abu Adass acknowledged that his son had become more religious in the years preceding Hariri’s assassination, he said that his son had “no animosity toward anybody.”

In the wake of the assassination on Feb. 14, 2005, a prerecorded video appeared in which the younger Abu Adass claimed to have been the suicide bomber behind the attack.

Taysir Abu Adass confirmed that his son did not know how to drive and did not have driver’s license.

His father said that in the video his son looked thin and was speaking in an unusual tone.

The court also accepted into evidence a written statement by a Lebanese truck driver who may have unwittingly imported the Mitsubishi Canter van which the prosecution claims was used to kill Hariri. The driver had taken a load of disassembled pickup trucks from the United Arab Emirates to Tripoli in 2004.

Finally, the court also entered into evidence a number of receipts for the purchase of cell phones which the prosecution alleges were used to plan the assassination.

Despite attempting to conceal their identities, the perpetrators left a few key traces when they purchased the phones, the prosecution alleges, which help show that the attack was “meticulously panned over many months.” The traces include listing the same alternate phone number on multiple purchase orders. The number belonged to an individual who was in contact with some of the accused, including Mustapha Badreddine.

Detention of 4 Generals Was Not Political, Siniora Tells STL
The Daily Star
May 27, 2015

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Wednesday that the detention of four Lebanese generals arrested after the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri was politically motivated.

Defense counsel Antoine Korkmaz, who represents one of the Hezbollah members accused of involvement in the blast that killed Hariri and 21 others, suggested that Siniora was aware that the four Lebanese generals were being detained arbitrarily.

“These were not political decisions being made against these people,” Siniora, who served as prime minister from 2005 to 2008, said.

The four were arrested in 2005 after being accused of involvement in the assassination. They were held for four years despite warnings by international investigators that there was not sufficient evidence to keep them in prison.

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Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

War Crimes: Mahidur-Afsar Verdict Wednesday
Dhaka Tribune
By Ashif Islam Shaon
May 19, 2015

The International War Crimes Tribunal is set to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday in the case against Muslim League leaders Mahidur Rahman and Afsar Hossain alias Chhutu of Chapainawanganj for their alleged crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 Chairman Obaidul Hasan fixed the date on Tuesday morning.

On April 22, the tribunal kept the case for verdict, after recording the closing arguments placed by both the prosecution and the defence lawyers.

The accused, who were arrested on September 16 last year in a criminal case, were later shown in the war crimes case. The charges brought against the duo include mass killing, arson, looting, abduction, torture, confinement, and murder committed in the district in 1971.

War Criminal Abdur Razzak Held in Moulvibazar
Prothom Alo Bangladesh
May 19, 2015

Habiganj’s alleged war criminal Abdur Razzak has been arrested by police from Moulavibazar’s Atengi Hill area on Tuesday Morning

Abdur Razzak, accused in a case for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971,was a wanted fugitive.

Officer-in-charge of Baniachang Police Station Nirmalendu Chakrabarty said on a tip-off, policemen conducted a drive in the area and arrested him at about 9:00am.

Earlier, International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued an arrest warrant against Abdur Razzak following a petition filed by the prosecution.

Since then, Razzak was on the run.

Mahidur-Afsar to Die in Jail
Dhaka Tribune
May 20, 2015

International crimes Tribunal has sentenced Muslim League leaders Mahidur Rahman and Afsar Hossain alias Chhutu to imprisonment until death for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 led by Chairman Obaidul Hasan gave the verdict on Wednesday morning.

They have been awarded imprisonment until death in charge 1, five years imprisonment in charge 2, and have been acquitted in the 3 charge.

The prosecution had submitted three charges against the duo, that include murdering 24 people, plundering and torching 70-80 homes, and killing four people after abduction during the war. The tribunal framed the charges on December 11 last year.

The duo were arrested on September 16 last year in a criminal case, and later shown arrested in the war crimes case. Mahidur hails from Dadanchak village while Afsar is from Satrashia in Shibganj, Chapainawabganj.

Mahidur and Afsar, aided by hundreds of armed razakars and members of the Pakistani Army, had attacked the Chandshikari, Chamatol, Kabirajtola and Eradot Biswasertola villages, and abducted 39 people in two phases on October 6, 1971. The abductees were later tortured in confinement and 24 of them were shot dead.

According to the second charge, the duo, accompanied by razakars, launched a systematic attack at Kabirajtola and Eradot Biswasertola and burnt down houses after looting them on October 13.

The other charge says the duo, together with 30-35 armed razakars, broke into the homes of Kalumuddin Mondol, Abdur Rashid, Gajal and Ilias Mondol of Sherpur Bhandar village, and detained and tortured them on November 2.

Jatiya Party MP MA Hannan Faces War Crimes Charges
BDNews24
May 20, 2015

Rahima Khatun, the wife of martyred freedom fighter Abdur Rahman of Trishal, filed the case against Hannan and two others with a district court on Tuesday.

Mymensingh Amali Court-1 took cognisance of the case and forwarded it to the International Crimes Tribunal.

The two others accused in the case are Fakhruzzaman and Golam Rabbani.

Plaintiff’s lawyer Piyush Kanti Sarker said Hannan was Mymensigh district unit chief of Peace Committee, formed during the Liberation War to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation.

He and his associates from Razakar, a militia force loyal to the Pakistani army, picked up Abdur Rahman, a commander of a unit of freedom fighters, from Gouripur on Aug 9, 1971, the lawyer said.

They killed him after gouging out his eyes and breaking his right arm at a torture cell at the Agricultural University, he added

Former Jatiya Party MP Abdul Jabbar and Syed Md Kaiser had been sentenced to life in prison for war crimes.

Three War Crimes Suspects Arrested in Cox’s Bazar
Dhaka Tribune
May 21, 2015

Police have arrested three war crimes suspects hours after the International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants against 16 alleged war criminals of Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar.

The arrestees are Moulvi Nurul Islam, 75, son of the late Ali Mia; Jinnat Ali, 78, son of the late Meer Ahmed; and Osman Goni, son of the late Lal Mia.

Earlier in the day, International Crimes Tribunal 2 issued arrest warrant against 16 war crimes suspects of Cox’s Bazar district for their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.

Moheshkhali police Inspector Didarul Ferdous said police conducted a drive after the tribunal issued arrest warrants against 16 war crimes suspects on Thursday afternoon.

“So far, we have arrested three suspects. Our drive is on to arrest the others,” said the official.

They are accused of killing, torture and arson during the 1971 Liberation War.

The suspects were associates of the then Peace Committee president in Moheshkhali Moulvi Zakaria and general secretary Rashid Mia.

Bangladesh Arrests Another War Crimes Suspect
New Kerala
May 25, 2015

Bangladesh has arrested another war crimes suspect, three days after the Dhaka tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him and 15 others.

The suspect, Shamsuddoha, is from the Maheshkhali upazila of Cox’s Bazar, said inspector Didarul Ferdous of Maheshakhali Police Station.

The Daily Star said Shamsuddoha had gone into hiding immediately after the arrest warrant was issued by International Crimes Tribunal-2 on May 21.

With the arrest of Shamsuddoha, police have arrested five of the 16 war crimes suspects.

State Begins Making Argument Against War Crimes Convict Mujaheed’s Death Sentence Appeal
BDNews24
May 26, 2015

The four-strong bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, heard the argument of the state lawyers on the eighth day of hearing on Tuesday.

The court will resume on Wednesday.

Justices Nazmun Ara Sultana, Syed Mahmud Hossain and Hasan Foez Siddique were the other members of the bench.

Khandker Mahbub Hossain and SM Shajahan were the defence lawyers at the hearing, and they were assisted by Shishir Monir.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state.

After the hearing, Alam told reporters that he presented argument, supporting the first and third charges against the Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general.

“We’ll argue on the other charges on Wednesday,” he said and hoped that his argument would end on Wednesday.

Khandker Mahbub said he told the court that his client could not be punished based on the deposition of the witnesses.

“Moreover, the seventh charge was not included in the formal charges brought against him. The tribunal did not take the charge into cognisance.”

Attorney General Alam said the first charge was pertaining to abduction of journalist Sirajuddin Hossain.

“The defence argued that one Khalil had been sentenced for the murder of Sirajuddin Hossain, so another accused cannot be punished for the same crime,” he said.

“But I’ve said that the charge (brought against Mujaheed) was of abduction,” he added.

Alam said he also argued for punishment of Mujaheed based on a report published in daily Sangram that quoted Mujaheed.

According to the report, Alam said, Mujaheed on Nov 24, 1971 made derogatory remarks on Sirajuddin Hossain.

“He (Mujaheed) said that (they) would have to be defended.

“Especially, the death threat he gave to Bengali intellectuals led to the abduction of Sirajuddin Hossain and other intellectuals and their killings,” Alam said.

“My point is that he (Mujaheed) has been punished for abduction,” he said.

“But before this,” he added, “The then leaders of Al-Badr and (Islami) Chhatra Sangha created the ground for his (Sirajuddin Hossain) abduction.

“As the then president of Chhatra Sangha, Mujaheed was responsible for those acts. Though the tribunal did not punish him separately for this, it rightly found him guilty for this,” the attorney general said.

Al-Badr was a force formed to collaborate with the Pakistani army during the Liberation War while Chhatra Sangha was the student front of Jamaat, the party that openly opposed Bangladesh’s independence.

According to Alam, the third charge against Mujaheed was of torturing one Ranjit Nath.

“The defence argued that an army officer ordered to take him (Nath) while Mujaheed was only present there but did not torture him,” he said.

“I argued that the group consisting of the army officer, Mujaheed and others, ordered to pick him up.

“Usko le jao (take him away) – the order was something like this (in Urdu). He was taken away and tortured following the order,” Alam said.

“So, this torture cannot be seen as a different issue. He was taken away and tortured following the order. This (torture order) is also a crime against humanity,” the attorney general said.

The second International Crimes Tribunal on July 17, 2013 sentenced the Jamaat leader to death after finding him guilty of five of the seven war crime charges levelled against him.

The former Al-Badr commander challenged the verdict in the Appellate Division on Aug 11, 2013.

The hearing on the appeal started on Apr 29 this year.

Moheshkhali War Crimes Accused Dies at DMCH
Dhaka Tribune
May 27, 2015

Detained war crimes alleged Moulavi Shamsu Doha has died of old age complications at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). He was 90.

He died at around 2:20pm on Wednesday, DMCH police outpost In-Charge Mozammel Hoque told the Dhaka Tribune.

The war crime accused was detained from Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar on May 24.

He was produced before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 2 on May 25. The court on that day sent him to jail, but his sudden health complication landed him at the hospital.

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War Crimes Investigation in Burma

Myanmar Says It’s Not to Blame for Migrant Crisis
ABC News
By Robin McDowell
May 16, 2015

Myanmar refused to shoulder the blame for an escalating crisis involving thousands of persecuted Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea, and doubts whether it will attend a regional meeting in Thailand later this month to find an urgent solution on how to deal with the boats of refugees.

Boats filled with more than 2,000 desperate and hungry people have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and thousands more migrants are believed to be adrift at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.

All three countries have dispatched their navies to push boats away or execute a so-called “help-on” policy of giving the boats food and water — and pointing them to other countries.

The migrants are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar, and Bangladeshis looking for a better life abroad.

“We are not ignoring the migrant problem, but our leaders will decide whether to attend the meeting based on what is going to be discussed,” said Maj. Zaw Htay, director of the office of Myanmar’s president. “We will not accept the allegations by some that Myanmar is the source of the problem.”

He directed some of the blame on Myanmar’s neighbors, saying that from a humanitarian point of view, “it’s sad that these people are being pushed out to sea by some countries.”

The migrants seem intent on reaching Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country that has hosted more than 45,000 Rohingya over the years but now says it can’t accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances.

Thailand has organized a May 29 meeting with officials from 15 countries to discuss the “root causes” of “irregular migration in the Indian Ocean.”

Zaw Htay said Friday that Myanmar’s government “will not attend a regional meeting hosted by Thailand if ‘Rohingya’ is mentioned on the invitation.” He accused governments of trying to divert their human smuggling and slavery problems by dumping the blame on Myanmar.

On Saturday, he said an official invitation still had not arrived.

An increasingly alarmed United Nations warned Friday against “floating coffins” and urged regional leaders to put human lives first. The United States urged governments not to push back new boat arrivals.

“The gravest violation of human rights are committed by those corrupt officials who are involved in human trafficking activities and colluded with the trafficking syndicates,” Zaw Htay said.

Thai authorities, long accused of turning a blind eye to human trafficking in exchange for pay, launched a crackdown May 1 after finding dozens of bodies buried at traffickers’ jungle camps on Thailand’s border with Malaysia. Dozens of Thai officials were arrested and more than 50 police are under investigation for complicity.

The U.N. calls the Rohingya one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. For decades, the Rohingya suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination in Myanmar. Denied citizenship by national law, they are effectively stateless.

In the last three years, attacks on Rohingya have left hundreds dead and sparked an exodus of an estimated 120,000 people who have boarded human traffickers’ boats to flee to other countries. The flight helped fuel a longstanding human smuggling industry in the region.

Even the name Rohingya is taboo in Myanmar, which calls them “Bengalis” and insists they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though Rohingya have lived in the predominantly Buddhist Southeast Asian country for generations.

Rohingya boatpeople deserve ‘human rights’: Myanmar opposition
Channel NewsAsia
May 18, 2015

Rohingya boatpeople fleeing dire conditions in Myanmar are entitled to “human rights”, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) urged Monday (May 18), in strikingly bold comments on the group who are deeply marginalised in the Buddhist-majority nation.

The plight of the Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar has been thrust into the international spotlight as thousands of desperate migrants from the country – alongside economic migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh – have swum or been rescued off the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent days.

Suu Kyi has faced criticism for not speaking strongly on the issue, as surging Buddhist nationalism has deepened the desperation of a group largely viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

But her party spokesman took the highly unusual step Monday of urging Myanmar to give stateless Muslims in the country a chance to get citizenship.

“If they are not accepted (as citizens), they cannot just be sent onto rivers. Can’t be pushed out to sea. They are humans. I just see them as humans who are entitled to human rights,” Nyan Win told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting between political parties and President Thein Sein in Yangon.

Myanmar’s estimated 1.3 million Rohingya are not accepted as an ethnic group and most are denied citizenship. They have long been subjected to daily prejudice and a raft of severe restrictions such as controls on movement and family size.

Deadly communal violence in western Rakhine state between Muslims and Buddhists in 2012 saw their situation deteriorate dramatically, displacing tens of thousands who remain trapped in miserable camps. The violence was the catalyst for a huge exodus of migrants across the Bay of Bengal, with thousands taking to makeshift boats heading for Thailand, Malaysia and beyond.

Denial of rights in Myanmar, Bangladesh cause of boat refugee crisis: HRW
The Online Citizen
By Howard Lee
May 27, 2015

Rohingya and other survivors of dangerous boat voyages from Burma and Bangladesh describe horrific treatment by unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers in Burma, and abuse and neglect aboard ships, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

The international group also called for the regional meeting scheduled 29 May 2015 in Bangkok to find solutions to the emerging crisis.

Rohingya have explained to Human Rights Watch how they endured two months at sea, packed below decks in cramped conditions with limited food and water and very poor sanitation.

Boats carrying approximately 100 mostly Rohingya men and women each abandoned passengers at an undisclosed location along Thailand’s coast, leaving them to fend for themselves until they were found by the Thai authorities.

According to international agencies, 3,000 to 4,000 people may still be aboard ships at sea.

“Survivors describe how they flee persecution in Burma only to fall into the hands of traffickers and extortionists, in many cases witnessing deaths and suffering abuse and hunger,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. “Interviews with officials and others make clear that these brutal networks, with the complicity of government officials in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia, profit from the desperation and misery of some of the world’s most persecuted and neglected people.”

HRW also called for regional states and other governments to make commitments to redouble search-and-rescue efforts and ensure that thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi asylum seekers and migrants have full access to procedures for seeking international protection and humanitarian assistance.

“Burma and Bangladesh need to stop persecuting Rohingya, while Thailand and Malaysia urgently need to shut down camps where boat people are held to end abuses and ensure that no more mass graves are created on their soil,” Mr Adams said.

In recent weeks, boats carrying thousands of Rohingya asylum seekers and migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh have arrived in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The three governments responded by pushing the boats back out to sea, leading to domestic and international condemnation and forcing them to reconsider these policies.

Following a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 21 May, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to permit boats to land, on condition that the international community provide humanitarian assistance and help resettle or repatriate all the passengers within one year.

Rohingya in Myanmar suffer from limited access to education, employment, and the freedom to travel or observe their own religion, which are cited as the common reasons for them fleeing their country.

However, Rohingya also told HRW that in some cases, smugglers lured and duped people to make the sea journey without disclosing what was involved, and sometimes handed them over to traffickers.

Crisis at sea, crisis on land

The current crisis was in part sparked after the discovery of mass graves of people suspected to be Rohingya and Bangladeshi.

On 25 May, Malaysian government authorities announced they had discovered as many as 139 graves in a series of 28 camps on the Malaysian side of the border. This followed the discovery of mass graves in Thailand in May.

“Thailand and Malaysia need to act immediately to close any remaining camps of victims and offer aid and protection to any survivors found,” said HRW.

Rohingya and Bangladeshis described to HRW how they have been held in camps in Thailand and Malaysia until they could pay a ransom. They were beaten and abused if they could not pay.

The Thai authorities subsequently began a crackdown on transit camps on 1 May.

HRW called for the leaders of Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to show greater recognition of and respect for the rights of the Rohingyas and Bangladeshis on these boats.

“The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and other international agencies should be permitted access to survivors of boat voyages to assess their claims for protection in accordance with international standards and to help identify people who are fleeing persecution, those who were trafficked, and those who are migrating for economic reasons,” said HRW. “Burma and Bangladesh should hold to account anyone found to be abusing Rohingya and others by coercing them or deliberately deceiving them to embark onto boats, where they are held in atrocious conditions.”

“Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia need to agree to never again engage in pushbacks of people stuck at sea, find any remaining boats, bring the people on board to safe ports, and ensure that their rights are respected,” Mr Adams said. “Just as important, there will be no long-term solution unless Burma ends its rights-abusing and discriminatory policies toward the Rohingya and joins other countries in taking action against smugglers and traffickers who abuse and prey on them.”

Accounts of boat refugees on their ordeal given to HRW

“They dragged me to the boat, they had sticks, and threatened to beat me. I screamed, I cried loudly. My parents were weeping, but they couldn’t do anything.” – 13-year-old Rohingya girl

“There was a group of six men, they were Rakhine Buddhists from Bangladesh, they had knives and guns. They forced me to get on a boat, they told me I was leaving Myanmar. They pushed me to the small boat, I fell into the water up to my shoulders. Fifteen other Rohingya were on that boat. All the people were forced onto the boat.” – 16-year-old Rohingya girl

“I was on the way to my father-in-law’s house with my husband when a broker and many men took us. They forced us onto the big boat. On the boat I couldn’t understand (the traffickers’) language, I cannot speak Burmese or Rakhine, I don’t know who they are.” – Rohingya girl

“We spent two months on that boat, more people kept coming to the big boat, small boats all the time. We [the women] were under the boat, it was so small. I couldn’t see outside the boat, just feel it go up and down. People were throwing up, I felt dizzy and uncomfortable the whole time.” – Rohingya girl

“When I got to the big boat … I cannot explain my feeling I was so scared. We were about 16 people in one small room. The doors were always locked. The smugglers put the food and water through a small hole, we never saw them.” – Rohingya girl

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NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

ISIS Official Killed in U.S. Raid in Syria, Pentagon Says
The New York Times
Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt
May 16, 2015

American Special Operations forces mounted a rare raid into eastern Syria early Saturday, killing a leader of the Islamic State and about a dozen militant fighters, as well as capturing his wife and freeing an 18-year-old Yazidi woman whom Pentagon officials said had been held as a slave.

In the first successful raid by American ground troops since the military campaign against the Islamic State began last year, two dozen Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed the leader, a man known as Abu Sayyaf. One American military official described him as the Islamic State’s “emir of oil and gas.”

Even so, Abu Sayyaf is a midlevel leader in the organization — one terrorism analyst compared him to Al Capone’s accountant — and likely is replaceable in fairly short order. And the operation, while successful, comes as the Islamic State has been advancing in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, demonstrating that the fight against the Sunni militant group in both Iraq and Syria remains very fluid.

Yet the Pentagon’s description of a nighttime raid that found its intended target deep inside Syria without any American troops being wounded or killed illustrates not only the effectiveness of the Delta Force, but of improving American intelligence on shadowy Islamic State leaders.

A Defense Department official said Islamic State fighters who defended their building and Abu Sayyaf tried to use women and children as shields, but that the Delta Force commandos “used very precise fire” and “separated the women and children.” The official said the operation involved close “hand-to-hand fighting.” (The accounts of the raid came from military and government officials and could not be immediately verified through independent sources.)

The American forces eventually entered the building where they found Abu Sayyaf and his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf, in a room together. His spouse was captured and later moved to a military facility in Iraq, officials said.

The raid came after weeks of surveillance of Abu Sayyaf, using information gleaned from a small but growing network of informants whom the C.I.A. and the Pentagon have painstakingly developed in Syria, as well as satellite imagery, drone reconnaissance and electronic eavesdropping, American officials said. The White House rejected initial reports from the region that attributed the raid to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

“The U.S. government did not coordinate with the Syrian regime, nor did we advise them in advance of this operation,” said Bernadette Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman. “We have warned the Assad regime not to interfere with our ongoing efforts against ISIL inside of Syria,” she added, using another name for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS.

In a statement early Saturday, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the killing of Abu Sayyaf dealt a “significant blow” to the group. The militant leader was said to be involved in the Islamic State’s military operations and helped direct its “illicit oil, gas and financial operations” that raised the funds necessary for the organization to operate. Officials said the raid was approved by President Obama.

Defense Department officials said the Delta Force soldiers carrying out the raid came under fire soon after they landed near a building used by Abu Sayyaf as his residence, in Amr, about 20 miles southeast of Deir al-Zour, near the oil facilities that he oversaw for the Islamic State.

The commandos had left Iraq aboard the aircraft, and were soon on the ground in Amr, a Defense Department official said. They came under fire, the official said, and fired back, killing around a dozen Islamic State fighters.

“The objective was the building, a multistory building,” the official said. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Abu Sayyaf “tried to engage” the commandos, the Defense Department official said, and was shot and killed. The commandos took his wife and the Yazidi woman back to the waiting American aircraft, which, by then, had sustained a number of bullet holes from the firefight with the Islamic State fighters.

Defense Department officials said only Islamic State fighters had been killed in the mission, and that they had received no reports of civilian casualties. But officials acknowledged that they were still gathering information on the raid.

The commandos were back in Iraq with the two women around dawn local time, officials said. They said the American forces were able to seize laptop computers, cellphones and other materials from the site, which may prove useful in intelligence assessments.

The Yazidi woman, Mr. Carter said, will be reunited with her family as soon as possible. It was unclear on Saturday what would be done with Umm Sayyaf, who, according to Mr. Carter’s statement, is suspected of playing an important role in the group’s activities and “may have been complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement” of the Yazidi woman.

The Yazidis are a religious minority persecuted by the Islamic State.

American interrogators will question Umm Sayyaf about the organization and its operations, but given that she is an Iraqi citizen, authorities there are also likely to seek custody of her, a senior American official said.

Had Abu Sayyaf been captured alive, the official said, the plan was to interrogate him in Iraq and then send him to the United States for criminal prosecution if authorities believed they could build a strong case against him. David Thomson, an analyst and author of the book “The French Jihadists,” said by email that he had confirmed with sources inside the Islamic State that Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian emir who had traveled to Iraq as far back as 2003. As a member of the first wave of jihadists who arrived in Iraq more than a decade ago, he and his Tunisian colleagues were called “Al Iraqi,” creating confusion over his nationality.

The operation came just months after three unsuccessful raids by American commandos in Syria and Yemen to free American hostages.

In the first one, in Syria last summer, two dozen Delta Force commandos raided an oil refinery in the northern part of the country as part of the effort to free James Foley, an American journalist, but found after a firefight that there were no hostages to be saved.

Mr. Foley was later beheaded by the Islamic State.

In the second, on Nov. 25, American Special Operations forces entered a cave near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia in an effort to free Luke Somers, an American photojournalist. But he was not there; the forces freed eight other hostages and killed seven militants.

A few days later, in December, American forces mounted another attempt to free Mr. Somers, storming a village in southern Yemen, but that raid ended in tragedy with the kidnappers killing Mr. Somers and a South African held with him.

Saturday’s raid into Syria represents an important threshold for the administration in showing that it will continue to send American ground troops into conflicts outside major war zones — as it has in Yemen, Somalia and Libya — to capture or kill suspected terrorists.

Although Abu Sayyaf himself was not a well-known figure, he was important as much for who and what he knew about the Islamic State’s hierarchy and operations, as for his actual job.

“He managed the oil infrastructure and financial generation details for ISIL,” the senior United States official said. “Given that job, he was pretty well-connected.”

Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst now at the Brookings Institution, said the operation looked like “a collection mission, the goal to capture someone or two someones who can explain how ISIS works.” With Abu Sayyaf now dead, he said, “perhaps the wife can do that.”

But, he added, “To me, it demonstrates we still have large gaps in our understanding of the enemy and how it is organized.”

Okinawa Governor Prepares to Take His Anti-Base Message to Washington
The Washington Post
Anna Fifield
May 21, 2015

U.S. military officials have behaved like “terrible thieves” in Okinawa, taking land for bases and then wanting new land once the bases get too old, the governor of the Japanese island prefecture said this week ahead of his first official visit to Washington.

Takeshi Onaga, elected in November on a pledge to stop the relocation of the U.S. Marines’ Air Station Futenma to Henoko, a more remote part of Okinawa’s main island, hopes to take his appeal directly to Obama administration officials early next month.

“In the United States, I would like to talk about the contradiction they are making. I would also like to correct their misunderstanding about the situation,” Onaga said in an interview Thursday. “I think the United States still believes that the Henoko construction is feasible and possible. However, their attitudes and actions are not in line with protecting human rights and freedom and democracy in Okinawa.”

The southern island chain of Okinawa bears the overwhelming weight of Japan’s military alliance with the United States, hosting three-quarters of the American bases in Japan and confronting the noise and safety issues connected with them.

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is the most controversial of the bases, situated in the middle of the most crowded part of Okinawa’s main island, surrounded by houses and schools.

For 18 years, the U.S. military has sought to close that base and build a new one farther north. However, the plan requires the construction of two offshore runways, involving massive land reclamation that local officials say would devastate the environment.

The Pentagon says the proposed base at Henoko is part of a plan to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Okinawa. As the new air station is built over the coming years, the number of Marines based in the prefecture is projected to fall from about 18,000 to about 10,000 as more are deployed elsewhere in the Pacific.

But Onaga wants Futenma closed rather than moved, and the people of Okinawa largely agree. Polls have consistently shown that 70 percent of locals oppose the Henoko base, and 35,000 people joined a protest rally in the Okinawan capital, Naha, on Sunday.

Onaga’s pleas have fallen on deaf ears in Tokyo, however, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe refusing to meet with him for the first six months of Onaga’s term. In April, the two finally met, but neither budged an inch on the issue.

After Abe’s successful visit to Washington last month, when the prime minister said he was doing everything he could to advance the Henoko project, Onaga is now making his own visit.

“I would like to convey the message that Henoko cannot be built,” the governor said Thursday. Okinawa officials opened an office in Washington this year to help press their cause.

But Onaga’s schedule between May 30 and June 4 hardly looks packed. Onaga said he is waiting to hear back from the State and Defense departments on his requests to meet the relevant assistant secretaries, but analysts say it is unlikely he will meet anyone more senior than a desk officer.

“The Henoko conversation has long been a thorn in the side of Okinawa’s relationship with Tokyo and therefore a thorn in the side of the alliance,” said Sheila A. Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“My sense is that we’ve lost sight of this policy goal of closing Futenma because we’ve become so focused on Henoko. The question is whether Mr. Onaga is going to reposition the debate to focus on that policy goal,” Smith said.

Onaga said that Okinawa, long considered a backwater in Japan, has been treated badly for too long. The island chain was occupied by the United States for almost three decades after the end of World War II, and the bases remained even after it was handed back to Japan in 1972.

“We think that they deprived us of our own land with force,” Onaga said. “Now they say Futenma air station is not functioning and needs to be replaced and that the new facility should be built in Okinawa. Frankly speaking, I have to say that they are terrible thieves.”

Onaga’s predecessor approved the construction of Henoko, and the new governor has been looking for ways to legally overturn that approval — something analysts say is highly unlikely to happen. Onaga has commissioned a panel to investigate whether he can stop construction, and its findings are due next month.

In the meantime, Onaga and the mayor of the district that includes Henoko have been exploring options to slow the construction process, including denying permits.

“Our belief is that Henoko cannot be built, but we have to stop it in a legal way,” Onaga said. “So what Okinawan people are doing now is demonstrating in a nonviolent way.”

Abe and his chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, have made it clear that they are not interested in discussing the Henoko project.

At a news conference this week, Suga declined to comment on Onaga’s U.S. trip, but he reiterated the Abe administration’s view that it is the Japanese government that is responsible for keeping the country secure.

Indigenous Caucus Withdraws From Negotiations on the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
IC Magazine
Agnes Portalewska
May 26, 2015

The Indigenous Caucus of the Americas at the Organization of American States (OAS) has withdrawn from negotiations on the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a process that has been going on for over 17 years. The most recent negotiations took place May 13 to 15, 2015 in Washington, DC at the eighteenth meeting of the Working Group to Prepare the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The American Declaration is hoped to be a comprehensive, regional human rights mechanism that promotes, protects, and fulfills the rights of Indigenous Peoples in North, Central, and South America, and in the Caribbean. The American Declaration will also be used as a tool to ensure that states respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights through its application within the Inter-American Human Rights System.

In 1989, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States requested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to prepare a legal instrument on the rights of “Indigenous populations.” The OAS Working Group on the draft American Declaration began drafting the text in 1997 and held several rounds of negotiations before postponing its effort in 2012 due to a lack of funding. In December 2014, the Chair of the Working Group announced that the negotiations would resume in 2015 with monthly sessions with a goal to finalize the text in time for the OAS General Assembly in June 2015.

At the most recent meeting, Caucus members pointed to the “deceit and lack of good” will of Colombia, Brazil, Belize, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela, governments most opposed to Indigenous rights, as the reason for the withdrawal of the Indigenous Caucus. “They all wanted to subject Indigenous rights to inferior national constitution restrictions,” wrote Caucus member Damon Corrie, commenting on the process where several States introduced last-minute new text aimed at making the provisions in the American Declaration unclear, eroding the standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Below is a public statement from the Indigenous Caucus:

Position of the Indigenous Caucus of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

Distinguished Chairman of the Permanent Council, we the representatives of Indigenous Peoples express our position in regards to the last session of negotiations of the working group responsible for drafting the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We regret that some States insist to hinder negotiations which have been held for more than 17 years, by introducing at the last minute, new text to make the provisions in the American Declaration ambiguous, taking it below the standards of the Declaration of the United Nations and not recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is contrary to international human rights law.

The Caucus considers this a vile disrespect and bad faith and will not accept any disposition that limits the human rights of Indigenous Peoples to the constitutions, domestic laws and public interest and allow the continued violation of indigenous rights and destroy all progress we have achieved in the American Declaration.

The Indigenous Caucus denounces before the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs, the Permanent Council and the General Assembly that the conditions for the adoption of an American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas are absent at this time, because there is no respect for the principles of the negotiation process that led Indigenous Peoples to the negotiation of an American Declaration, without weakening it and or compromising its standards to be lower than those of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We ask the Committee on Legal and Political Affairs, the Permanent Council and the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), to take all the necessary measures to guarantee the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in the discussion and adoption of the American Declaration in a context of respect and equality.

We the Indigenous Peoples will not accept any language that is contrary to the UN Declaration. We Indigenous Peoples reject and denounce the text of the American Declaration submitted for discussion and consider it illegitimate.

Having said that and in view of the fact that there are no conditions for negotiations at this eighteenth session, we the Indigenous Peoples remove ourselves from the negotiating table and will not recognize any text.

FBI: Surveillance Tools in Jeopardy Amid Patriot Act Debate
The Washington Post
Eric Tucker
May 27, 2015

As Congress wrestles over renewing the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records, federal law enforcement officials are warning that legal authority is also at risk for lesser-known surveillance tools that are even more valuable in fighting terrorism.

The Patriot Act authorities give the FBI flexibility to intercept the calls of terror suspects who continuously switch phones during the course of an investigation and to conduct surveillance on “lone wolf” individuals who pose threats but aren’t affiliated with an international terrorism organization.

U.S. officials have defended the need for those powers over the last decade, but have amplified those efforts in recent weeks as the expiration dates for their authority nears without any signals of a congressional compromise that would keep them from lapsing along with other parts of the act on June 1.

The Senate returns to session Sunday, facing a deadline to reach a last-minute agreement to renew a once-secret National Security Agency program that collects Americans’ phone records in bulk. Provisions of the Patriot Act dealing with lone-wolf targets and roving wiretaps would also expire at midnight with the phone records program.

FBI Director James Comey has called bulk phone collection a useful tool to the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts. But recently he has expressed more concern about being able to maintain the lone wolf and roving wiretap capabilities, as well as a separate Patriot Act provision that allows the FBI to obtain secret court orders to collect documents such as hotel and travel records during terrorism investigations, and which also would be affected by the deadline.

“I sure hope Congress figures out a way to make sure I don’t lose these essential tools,” he said during a visit Tuesday to the New Haven, Connecticut, field office of the FBI.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch warned Wednesday against permitting the expiration of “vital and uncontroversial tools we use to combat terrorism and crime.”

But civil liberties lawyers say the FBI already has the tools it needs and haven’t presented enough information to justify the use of these additional authorities. The American Civil Liberties Union accuses intelligence officials and some in Congress of “scaremongering” about the Patriot Act and says the debated authorities give the government too much discretion in national security investigations.

“Existing laws provide ample authority for the government to obtain information about individuals who are planning attacks of terrorism,” ACLU lawyers wrote in a memo urging Congress to let the provisions expire.

The FBI has had roving wiretap authority since the 1980s for criminal investigations such as drug cases, and the Patriot Act of 2001 extended its use for counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations. That authority lets federal agents, instead of seeking permission to tap each separate phone an individual may use, eavesdrop continuously on targets regardless of the device they’re using. Law enforcement officials see it as an effective way to thwart suspects who try to avoid detection by constantly changing phones, including going through a series of “burner” cellphones.

“I think terrorists increasingly engage in the kind of sophisticated tradecraft that spies and foreign intelligence agencies do, and the same authority is required to investigate them,” said Todd Hinnen, a former acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The “lone wolf” provision, meanwhile, enables FBI surveillance of a non-U.S. person who is suspected of plotting terrorism but aren’t agents with any foreign powers or connected to terror groups.

With that power, a judge can “authorize the interception, even if he can’t say, well, they are al-Qaida — no, they are ISIL, no, they are AQAP,” Comey said at a Georgetown University summit last week, using acronyms for the Islamic State and for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The FBI has said that authority was shown to be necessary in the case of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. In the weeks leading up to the attacks, FBI officials wanted to seek a surveillance warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but determined that they lacked evidence tying Moussaoui to a foreign power. But a 2003 Senate Judiciary Committee report said FBI agents and lawyers had misunderstood the law and failed to use powers they already had.

Hinnen testified before Congress in March 2011 that it had not yet been used up to that point. A U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was unaware of the authority having been utilized since then but said officials want to hold onto the capability at a time of growing concerns surrounding individuals who aren’t connected to organized terror groups.

Nonetheless, Comey has tried to make a case for preserving the Patriot Act tools by contending that they are not controversial, perhaps drawing a contrast with a phone records program that has raised bipartisan alarms since its details were first revealed two years ago.

Important authorities could “go away June 1, and I don’t want them to get lost in the conversation about metadata,” Comey told the Georgetown audience.

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TOPICS

Terrorism

Poland: Reparations Deadline to Be Met for 2 Terrorism Suspects Held by C.I.A.
The New York Times
Joanna Berendt
May 15, 2015

Poland will meet a Saturday deadline set by a European court to pay a total of $260,000 in reparations to two suspected terrorists who were interrogated in a secret C.I.A. prison in Poland, a foreign ministry spokesman said Friday. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in July that Poland had violated the rights of the two inmates by permitting the C.I.A. to imprison them in 2002 at a facility in northeast Poland. The secret prison is now closed. “We will abide by the ruling, as we always do,” said Marcin Wojciechowski, the chief spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In February, Mr. Wojciechowski said the authorities had come up with a plan to put the money into accounts that the suspects could gain access to only after they had been released. The two men – Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking Al Qaeda official, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was accused of planning the attack in 2000 on the American destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden – are being held in the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

2 Men Charged in California in Terrorism Probe
The Washington Post
Amy Taxin
May 22, 2015

Two California men arrested by the FBI aspired to join the Islamic State group and bought a plane ticket for one of them to travel to Turkey with the hope of becoming a martyr, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The U.S. attorney’s office charged 24-year-olds Nader Elhuzayel and Muhanad Badawi with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group.

On Friday, both men appeared in shackles in a packed federal courtroom in Santa Ana. Elhuzayel, who looked down during much of the proceedings, was arrested late Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport and will return for a detention hearing Wednesday. His family and lawyer declined to comment after the hearing.

Badawi, who appeared to listen intently to the judge, was held without bail, though his attorney said she may seek his release with restrictions to ensure he attends court. He was taken into custody late Thursday near his home in Anaheim, where both men live, authorities said.

The FBI said in a court affidavit that the two men shared their support for the Islamic State on social media and in conversation, saying it would be a blessing to join the fight and die on the battlefield.

In April, Badawi let Elhuzayel use his debit card to buy a one-way Tel Aviv, Israel-bound plane ticket with a six-hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey, the document said.

Elhuzayel had met a Palestinian woman on the Internet he planned to marry who also supported the Islamic State group. Badawi told another man about Elhuzayel’s plan, saying “I’m gonna join soon. I don’t know how soon, but I will go,” the affidavit said.

After his arrest, Elhuzayel told authorities he was planning on getting off the plane in Turkey and traveling to fight with the Islamic State, according to the court filing.

If convicted, each man could face a maximum sentence of 15 years, prosecutors said.

Kate Corrigan, Badawi’s lawyer, said her client was young, somewhat immature and scared at the prospect of a potentially long prison sentence. He came to the United States with his family eight years ago from Sudan and is studying engineering at Fullerton College, she said.

“There’s no indication he had any intention of him going to any other country,” Corrigan said, adding that she will seek community support for his release. “I’m looking forward to sorting out whether what the government claims it has can be backed up.”

While Elhuzayel’s father declined to comment after court, he previously told the Orange County Register that he had dropped off his son at the airport late Thursday so he could visit Palestinian aunts and cousins.

“I think they’re looking for a victim,” the elder Salem Elhuzayel said. “He’s an innocent human being.”

FBI and SWAT officials searched the family’s Anaheim motel room, where they have been living since they were evicted from their home, Salem Elhuzayel said. Authorities also searched Badawi’s home.

Badawi’s sister and brother declined to comment on the allegations.

The arrests in the suburban Southern Californian county trail two other recent cases involving young people accused of trying to aid terrorist groups overseas. Last year, Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen was sentenced to 13 years after pleading guilty to a federal terrorism charge and admitting he attempted to assist al-Qaida by providing weapons training.

Earlier this year, 21-year-old Adam Dandach was charged with trying to support the Islamic State group. He has pleaded not guilty.

Teenager in Austrian ‘Playstation’ terrorism case gets two years
Thomson Reuters
Shadia Nasralla
May 26, 2015

A 14-year-old boy from Austria who downloaded bomb-making plans onto his Playstation games console was sentenced to a two-year jail term on Tuesday after pleading guilty to terrorism charges, a court spokeswoman said.

As well as researching how to build a bomb, the boy made contact with militants supporting the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria, prosecutors said ahead of the trial.

Sixteen months of the sentence were suspended. The boy, a Turkish national, will serve what remains of the eight-month custodial term in a juvenile detention center, the spokeswoman for the regional court in Sankt Poelten said.

He had been briefly placed in investigative custody in October on suspicion of terrorism-related activity, before being conditionally released. He was detained for a second time in January.

He had faced up to five years in jail for supporting a terrorist organization and planning an attack.

Those charges were based on data found on the boy’s Playstation, including bomb-building plans downloaded from the internet, prosecutors said.

More than 200 people have left Austria to fight in the Middle East, some 30 of whom have been killed while around 70 have returned, according to the interior ministry.

In a separate case, a court in Vienna on Tuesday acquitted a 16-year-old girl accused of preparing to join a jihadi terrorist organization, according to a court spokeswoman.

Al-Qaida Operative Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charges
ABC News
May 27, 2015

An al-Qaida operative has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.

Saddiq al-Abbadi pleaded guilty Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court to conspiracy to murder American troops abroad and to providing material support to a terrorist group.

He admitted he “fought in Iraq between 2005 and 2009 against the United States of America with the intention to hurt, wound or kill these forces.” He also admitted to being a member of al-Qaida.

Prosecutors say that in 2008 he led attacks against American troops in which one Army Ranger was killed.

Prosecutors say he also helped a Long Island man, Bryant Vinas, secure membership in al-Qaida. Vinas was arrested for plotting an attack on the Long Island Railroad and later became a cooperating government witness.

Al-Abbadi is set to be sentenced Sept. 25.

Singapore Arrests 2 Teenagers On Terrorism Charges; 1 Planned Local Attacks
International Business Times
Aditya Tejas
May 27, 2015

Two Singaporean teenagers radicalized by the Islamic State group were arrested by local authorities on terrorism-related charges, officials said Wednesday.

One of them, 19-year-old student M. Arifil Azim Putra Norja’i, had made plans to join ISIS abroad, the Straits Times reported, citing Singapore’s ministry of home affairs (MHA). Authorities reportedly said that he had planned to conduct terror attacks in Singapore if he failed in his pursuit to travel to Syria to fight alongside the militant group. He was arrested in April.

The second was an unnamed 17-year-old who was arrested earlier this month.

Arifil is the first-known case of a self-radicalized citizen of Singapore plotting a local terror attack, authorities said. Investigators reportedly said that he began viewing terrorist propaganda online in 2013, after which he grew to support the extremist ideology.

“Fortunately, another person who knew Arifil noticed the changes in him, and had brought him to the attention of the authorities, who were then able to investigate the matter and take action before he could carry out his violent attack plans in Singapore,” the MHA statement reportedly said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean warned that Singapore faces a significant threat from radicalization like other countries in the region, and called on family, friends and public institutions to help counter the extremist ideology.

“Our community leaders have worked hard to counter radical ideology. And we should all, from all communities in Singapore, support one another. … If you know or suspect anyone who is becoming radicalized, please notify the authorities early,” he said, according to the Straits Times. “You may be helping to save that person from harming himself and others.”

Deputy Chairman of the Home Affairs and Law Committee Edwin Tong reportedly said that youth were especially vulnerable. “Youths today are very impressionistic, not yet mature enough to differentiate what are ideals and what is practical and reality.

“It’s about being close to them, know what they are reading online, and observing any change of behavior,” he said.

Over 12,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria from at least 81 countries to join ISIS and similar groups, according to a June 2014 study. The typical profile of a foreign fighter is a young man aged between 18 and 29, although women and many younger people including teenagers have been radicalized as well. Teo warned in 2014 that a small number of Singaporeans, including one woman, were known to be fighting in Syria.

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Piracy

Somalia: Somali Pirates Hijack Vessel for First Time in 3 Years
Horseed Media
March 26, 2015

According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Somali gangs seized an Iranian illegal fishing vessel off the coast of Somalia, especially the waters close to Mudug’s Ceel Huur village, citing a UN official.

“An Iranian vessel, fishing illegally in Somali waters, was hijacked earlier this week,” Head of UN’s office on Drugs and Crime, Alan Cole, was quoted by the French agency.

Authorities in Somalia are yet to confirm on the hijacking of the unidentified Iranian vessel, which might lead to the revival of Piracy in the war-ravaged nation’s sea and leaves concern on the maritime bodies.

The UN senior official went on to warn over the resurgence of the pirates.

The number of attacks by Somali pirates dropped sharply since 2012, largely because of an international naval effort. One of the other major factors that led to the decline of Piracy was the growing lack of support or even resistance to piracy operations by local communities. As much as many Somalis along the coast resented the international navies, they resented the effects of piracy on their communities even more.

Relative stability in Somalia in the past last three years after 20 years of chaos and war has raised hopes that it could lead to a more permanent solution to a problem that has driven up shipping insurance rates, but it has yet to solve the issue.

This first hijack of Somali pirates in three years comes as Somali fishermen have continuously complained of illegal fishing trawlers, leading them to lose their economic opportunities and opted to quit their jobs for safety reasons

UN Report: How Kenya Invited and Hosted Somali Pirates
Standard Digital
Willis Oketch
May 24, 2015

Questions abound over who in Kenya benefited from billions of shillings laundered by two Somali men jailed in Belgium over extortion and supporting sea piracy.

The latest United Nations Monitoring Report on Somalia and Eritrea depicts Kenya as a gangsters’ paradise where officials can easily be misled by blue collar criminals to allow high crimes, including money laundering, to thrive and morph into legitimate-looking business.

It suggests that millions or billions of shillings from Somalia’s piracy industry have entered Kenya’s airline, car import, fishing and energy sectors and could be supporting crimes such as arms trafficking, and that many Kenyan businessmen still operate financial links with proceeds of crime and suspects described as lords of Somalia’s sea piracy.

Mohamed Abdi Hassan, alias Afweyne, and Mohamed Abdullahi Moalim Aden, alias Tiiceey, who have had businesses in Kenya, are cooling their heels in a Belgian jail following their arrest on October 12, 2013, for facilitating piracy. Belgian police detained them when they arrived in Brussels and placed them under investigation for the hijacking of Belgian vessel Pompeii in 2009 but it is not clear if the Kenyan authorities ever investigated the two for any crimes.

Invested billions

Now the UN report claims that after purporting to renounce piracy about five years ago, the two men invested billions in an airline — Central Air Aviation — which operates from Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Bishkek in Kyrgzystan and Somalia. These are the three nations where the two men enjoyed what is described as an “environment of impunity” that allowed them to invest in new forms of business and launder profits in airlines, renewable energy technology and other sectors.

After investing in the khat trade, Afweyne is said to have sanctioned or been involved in 24 sea hijackings until 2012, when he made millions of US dollars and decided to invest in other businesses. This led to the establishment of Central Air Aviation in partnership with Tiiceey and several Kenyan Somali businessmen. “Between 2012 and 2014, Central Air was found to be operating multiple aircraft with several airline companies in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan, and had established offices throughout Somalia,” says the report.

The report alleges further that “Tiiceey financially benefitted from Afweyne’s piracy by supplying his piracy network with communication devices and facilitating hostage releases, ransom payments, negotiations and other arrangements.

“The prevailing climate of impunity enabled Afweyne to invest the proceeds he had illegally accumulated during the past decade in the newly-established airline Central Air, and it enabled others to partner with him unhindered.”

Between 2012 and the time of writing the report, Afweyne was preparing to buy an aircraft from Ukraine’s Defence ministry and had leased planes from five Kenyan private airlines operating from Wilson Airport.

The report says that Afweyne’s arrest did not deter his alleged money laundering or the criminal ways of his sons and friends, because Central Air Aviation continues to operate from Kenya and other places. It is also said that following his detention, his accomplices plotted to kidnap a Belgian to be used as a bargaining tool.

The UN report published in October last year for the UN Security Council documents claims that Afweyne and Tiiceey sanctioned a large-scale criminal empire that involved activities such as money laundering, killing, extortion and plunder with the support of a massive criminal network of brokers, government officials, pirates and other outlaws in Kenya and Somalia.

Tiiceey’s activities are more relevant to Kenya because the report says that besides operating bank accounts in Kenya, he was contracted by the Kenyan authorities to negotiate with pirates who hijacked the Ukrainian flag ship Mv Faina laden with 33 T-72 tanks imported by the Kenyan military in September 2008. Foreign media claimed the Kenyan authorities imported the tanks for the Government of South Sudan, which the Kenyan administration denied.

Yesterday, former Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka told The Standard on Sunday that he does not know Tiiceey or Afweyne or have information about their alleged activities in Kenya. He also said the Foreign Affairs ministry was not involved in the negotiations for the release of MV Faina.

Top secret

“I am not aware that any negotiations [for the release of MV Faina] took place concerning the consignment or whether a ransom was paid,” says Onyonka who adds that the matter was a top secret mission conducted by “other departments of state other than the Foreign Affairs ministry within the strictest confidence in government.”

According to Onyonka the military is best placed to respond to the questions arising over the matter. When we spoke to Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Karanja Kibicho on Tuesday, he said he had not read the UN report.

Apart from Mv Faina, Tiiceey is said to have negotiated in about seven other hostage/kidnap situations from the safety of a restaurant in Nairob, where Kenyan authorities allegedly allowed him free reign and even wrote a letter acknowledging his role as a negotiator with pirates and kidnappers.

One of these alleged negotiations featured Judith Tebutt, the British woman kidnapped from a hotel in Lamu on September 11, 2011, and set free after a ransom of between $800,000 (about Sh78 million) and $1.1 million (Sh107 million) was paid. From this, Tiiceey is said to have made $20,000 (Sh1.9 million).

Kenyan authorities are said not to have known he was behind sea attacks and piracy/hijackings.

Tiiceey’s roles in the negotiations are described as “facilitation” and his interest in seeking the release of the tanks was suspect but not understood. The report declares that “Tiiceey’s facilitation services are neither free nor cheap” and shows that all the hostages he allegedly helped free, including Tebutt, were flown out of Somalia from his private airport in Adado, where he extorted landing fees.

Besides collecting billions of shillings in ransoms from distraught families in Nairobi for pirates in Somalia’s Hobyo and Harardheere areas, the report claims Tiiceey swindled distraught families and governments and was behind some piracy schemes or facilitated the multi-billion-shilling criminal empire of his co-suspect Afweyne.

Regarding MV Faina, the UN report alleges for the first time that UN monitors received credible information that Tiiceey played a role in the negotiation for its release and that he was actively engaged with Kenya’s intelligence services and an official of the Kenya government using the pseudonym Major Yahya.

Tiiceey, who also holds US nationality, is depicted in the report as a smooth criminal and self-styled president of the so-called Himan and Heeb regions of Somalia who made loads of money using allies in the Kenyan and Somalia governments.

The New Pirate Era: 6 charts that Reveal how Piracy has changed and Grown in Recent Years
The Independent
Zachary Davies Boren
May 22, 2015

There has not been a single successful Somali pirate attack so far this year.

That statistic tells the story of an astonishing turnaround since 2011, when East African pirates captured nearly 300 ships, many of them high-value targets, and held hundreds of people hostage.

An international crackdown on piracy in the region has devastated a criminal industry that just a few years ago was thriving.

Bill Box from SaveOurSeaFarers charity credits the “involvement of joint naval forces, use by ships of armed guards, and adherence by ships to best practice guidelines” for reducing the successful number of pirate attacks to nil.

Following a explosion in Somali piracy late last decade, a series of dramatic incidents drew the media’s attention and prompted action from the international community — not least because the Gulf of Aden is one of the world’s most important trade routes.

26 seafarers are still held by Somali pirates following the release of four hostages earlier this year; those remaining captives were picked up in March 2012 and their families last heard from them in February 2013.

SaveOurSeaFarers says there are 38 people currently held hostage around the world. 140 hostages were taken in the first three months of this year, three times as many as over the same period last year, and the vast majority were released after the robbery was finished.

But as the world has focused on East Africa, it failed to tackle piracy in the Gulf of Guinea or prevent the resurgence of maritime crime in South East Asian waters.

West African pirates ‘more violent’ and less reported

On the other side of Africa, the number of attacks has remained consistent for years — far fewer than at the height of the Somali pirate boom.

But, according to Cyrus Mody from the International Maritime Bureau, the yearly average of 50 pirate attacks in the waters of West Africa betrays the scale of the problem.

Mody says there’s a “significant lack of positive of reporting in the region,” estimating that 60-70 per cent of attacks remain unconfirmed — and that’s only incidents of a certain size. In addition to that, pirate raids on small local fishing boats are even more rarely reported.

Unlike their East African counterparts, pirates from these territories are not as showy, they don’t take as many hostages and their ransom demands are not often exorbitant.

Somalian pirates, for instance, would ask for anywhere between $150,000 and $20 million for the vessel and everything that’s on board, crew members included.

According to Mody, in West Africa pirates are primarily after oil cargo that can be easily sold on the black market; gasoline is preferable to crude.

The ship is taken for between 8 to 14 days, and the crew are normally held for that period and released at the end — unless the pirates deem them particularly valuable.

“There’s been a growth of a different form of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea,” Box told The Independent, “one in which ships are violently boarded and part of the cargo stolen leaving a traumatised crew.”

The number of attacks around the world has increased in recent decades, but increased reporting/coverage no doubt has played a role

Compared to the “more violent” West African pirates, deaths in Somali pirate attacks are “rare” — this is primarily because hostages need to survive if they’re going to be traded.

That’s not to say those captured are not badly treated, or that casualties do not happen, but the type of attacks mean that death is something the pirates would want to avoid.

That West African pirates are more violent is purely anecdotal, with a few experts saying this is the case without any data to back it up — but that’s because there’s not much data at all.

Roy Paul from the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme said that it’s far harder to tackle piracy in West Africa than in East because they operate in territorial waters rather than international.

That means the responsibility nominally lies with the nations whose waterways the pirates commit the attack; Nigeria, for instance.

Piracy in SE Asia is growing rapidly

And then there’s the tangible growth area of piracy: South East Asia.

The Mallaca Strait and the South China Sea are now home to more than half of the world’s pirate incidents, most of which are raids on small coastal tankers.

Deutsche Welle calls these “fuel heists”.

“The attacks usually take place at night, with the ships’ crews being held hostage for up to twelve hours – just about long enough so that their cargo ships, usually carrying petrol or diesel, are completely emptied.”

Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB, said: “The frequency of these hijackings in South East Asia is an increasing cause for concern. There’s a risk that the attacks and violence could increase if left unabated.”

Roy Paul said for a while there was less pirate activity in the region, but there is an undoubted resurgence.

They don’t take hostages, especially not long-term ones, in South East Asia. “Very, very few,” said Paul.

The pirates, mostly from Cambodia and Indonesia, focus on the fuel. And they want to get the job done quickly because their waters are policed more comprehensively than those around Western Africa.

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Gender-Based Violence

Sudan Says It Prevented ICC Jurisdiction in Crimes Against Women and Children
Sudan Tribune
May 23, 2015

The Sudanese government said that it aborted a move by the European states within the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Crime Commission) to give the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes against women and children.

In its 24th session concluded on Friday, the Crime Commission passed nine resolutions including one on the UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (known as the “Mandela rules”).

The commission brought together as many as 1,000 delegates from member states, non-governmental organizations and civil society, including several high-level speakers.

Several participants from poor nations in South America, Africa and Asia, stressed importance of the punitive measures included in the Mandela rules but voiced reservation over lack of necessary financial capabilities to build prisons.

The UN for its part vowed to provide financial assistance to enable those countries to apply the rules in the future.

Sudan’s permanent representative before UN agencies, Mohamed Zaroug, said his country already applies those rules.

He pointed that his country, in coordination with several non-member states of the ICC, managed to prevent attempts by the European countries to consider the crime against women and children a war crime and give the ICC jurisdiction over it.

Zaroug told the Turkish news agency Andolu Saturday that violence against women is usually committed under normal conditions and not necessarily linked to wars, noting that ICC non-member states could not be forced to become parties to the Rome statute.

According to western diplomats the European bloc withdrew their request in order to avoid a vote that could lead to its rejection by at the plenary session of the commission.

The Mandela rules include extensive revisions and additions to the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners‚ which date back to 1955.

They contain an expanded section of basic principles‚ including the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel‚ inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The rules also provides clear and detailed instructions on issues such as cell and body searches‚ registration and record keeping‚ investigations into deaths and complaints of torture and other ill-treatment‚ the needs of specific groups‚ independent inspections of prisons‚ the right to legal representation and more.

Resolutions of the Crime Commission are expected to be adopted by the UN General Assembly during its 70th regular session in September.

Peace in Colombia Relies on Tackling Systemic Violence Against Women
The Guardian
Lisa Maracani
May 25, 2015

After more than 50 years of conflict marked by widespread and systemic sexual violence, Colombia has established a national day to remember the appalling suffering experienced by so many women, whose plight has until now been largely ignored.

The first National Day for the Dignity of Women Victims of Sexual Violence caused by the Internal Armed Conflict takes place on Monday 25 May.

The establishment of this special day and the inclusion of survivors of sexual violence in the peace talks in Havana aimed at ending the conflict demonstrate how public awareness of the issue is growing.

It is hard to quantify the numbers affected. One survey estimates that between 2000 and 2009, almost half a million women suffered some form of sexual violence in areas affected by the conflict.

But that is just an estimate. The truth is, in Colombia, as in many other countries with poor prosecution records, most women tend not to report acts of violence against them. According to the same survey, some 82% of women who have survived sexual violence in Colombia, domestic and conflict-related, have not reported the attacks.

One of those at the forefront of demanding public recognition of this form of violence, and the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators, is Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima, who 15 years ago was abducted, tortured and raped by three paramilitaries while investigating a story about arms trafficking. For years after the attack she had remained silent.

The UN security council recently commended Colombia for introducing a landmark law that recognises that sexual violence can constitute a crime against humanity, and enhances the status of sexual violence survivors so that they can receive reparations, psychosocial support and free medical care.

But the problem remains as marked as ever, if not worse, despite the fact the government and the Farc, the main insurgent group, have been engaged in peace talks for more than two years. Following a freedom of information request made by Claudia Mejía, director of NGO Sisma Mujer – a Christian Aid partner – the National Institute of Forensic Services revealed that they recorded a 93% increase of sexual violence in the context of the conflict.

They also disclosed that there were 30% more killings of women by partners or ex-partners, and a sharp increase in threats against women’s human rights defenders.

Explaining this apparent escalation of gender violence is not straightforward. One suggestion has been that more women are coming forward to report violence. Also, as more women dare to speak up, more may be facing a backlash.

To women’s rights experts like Mejía, the persistence of violence against women, however, shows that there are other forces at work. She believes that the root causes are the deeply entrenched discrimination and inequality that condones gender violence and, crucially, the almost complete impunity, particularly of military perpetrators. For this reason, Sisma Mujer and other organisations recently filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court, calling for sexual violence to be recognised as a deliberate strategy and war crime, and condemning the failure to prosecute perpetrators.

There is reason to hope that the final peace deal may bring some change. Thanks to relentless pressure by women’s groups, the negotiators in Havana have established a special gender sub-committee and listened to testimonies of victims of sexual violence. These are positive and innovative steps, although long overdue given numerous, unfulfilled international commitments to incorporate women and gender perspectives in peace negotiations.

Yet, because these are negotiations, and because all parties continue to deny their responsibility for such crimes, there is a very real risk that perpetrators may get away with some form of amnesty, as has happened with a number of other peace deals in Latin America.

Failure to deal with abuses and allowing perpetrators of war crimes to walk free risks allowing such violence to become normalised, although the country may officially be at peace.

The peace deal that is sought is the opportunity to introduce radical change, and to shape a more equal society, tackling the root causes of the conflict. Guaranteeing justice and reparations for women and girls is an essential step towards a peace that is lasting and meaningful.

The work of women’s rights groups including Sisma Mujer, alongside initiatives such as choosing a national day to recognise victims of sexual violence are vital to maintain pressure on the peace negotiators.

Islamic State’s Brutal Sexual Crimes Revealed By UN, Including Burning Woman for Refusing ‘Extreme Sex Act’
The Huffington Post
Ryan Barrell
May 25, 2015

Islamic State (IS) reportedly burned alive a young woman for refusing to take part in an “extreme sex act,” it has been claimed.

The violent extent of the Islamic State’s shocking war crimes have been revealed by a UN worker, Zainab Bangura, with refugees speaking of the terrifying and abhorrent treatment of women in IS-held areas of the Middle East, with young virgins being bought and sold at auction by wealthy sheikhs. Bangura said the woman burned alive was Zuhour Kati, 20. Speaking as the United Nations’ special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Bangura told of how female refugees had escaped the shocking conditions forced upon them by IS, sometimes known as ISIS or ISIL. Iraq’s minority Yazidi women are particularly at risk, with the extremist group believing them to be “devil-worshippers” and “apostates”. A jihadi bride recently wrote in the Islamic State’s propaganda magazine Dabiq of how raping Yazidi women is considered acceptable “because the Qu’ran condones it”. “They commit rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution and other acts of extreme brutality,” Bangura said. “We heard one case of a 20-year-old girl who was burned alive because she refused to perform an extreme sex act. We learned of many other sadistic sexual acts. We struggled to understand the mentality of people who commit such crimes. “After attacking a village, [IS] splits women from men and executes boys and men aged 14 and over. The women and mothers are separated; girls are stripped naked, tested for virginity and examined for breast size and prettiness. The youngest, and those considered the prettiest virgins fetch higher prices and are sent to Raqqa, the IS stronghold. “There is a hierarchy: sheikhs get first choice, then emirs, then fighters. They often take three or four girls each and keep them for a month or so, until they grow tired of a girl, when she goes back to market. At slave auctions, buyers haggle fiercely, driving down prices by disparaging girls as flat-chested or unattractive. “We heard about one girl who was traded 22 times, and another, who had escaped, told us that the sheikh who had captured her wrote his name on the back of her hand to show that she was his ‘property’.” Having worked on similar cases of sexual violence across the world, Bangura says the Islamic State’s crimes were the worst she has seen. The UN specialist collected information, which she said left her sick, from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The hardline extremist fighters of IS have even banned their female slaves from wearing headscarves after some used them to hang themselves. Aid workers have reported finding a nine-year-old girl pregnant after being released by the group, having been subjected to a horrific barrage of sexual exploitation by at least ten men. Speaking to CNN, a Yazidi and escaped slave said: “They would line about 50 of us up at a time, in rows of 10. They would say don’t move, don’t cry or we will beat you. The men would come in and describe the kind of girl they wanted and then they would pick and choose as they pleased.” Now Zainab Bangura is calling for a global response to the humanitarian crisis brought on by the fundamentalist surge in the Middle East. “We need a humanitarian surge. It can’t be just Canada, it can’t be just Europe — everyone has a role to play in attending to the sheer scope to the damage,” she told the Toronto Star. “There are 40,000 men from more than 100 different countries inside the Islamic State using brutal sexual violence as a strategic tactic to terrorize. We need all 100 countries involved, helping to deal with the aftermath. “The girls that I sat with, I told them, ‘They tried to strip away your humanity. Now we must do everything possible to help you strip victory away from the Islamic State – we will have your backs, we can provide counselling, we can help you go to school and make something of yourselves, become whole again.’ “This is precisely what ISIS does not want. It can be a kind of vengeance, helping these women recover and giving them a path to thrive. But they need qualified medical and psychosocial support and neither the UN nor the regional authorities are in a position to provide it.”

Nigeria Bans Female Genital Mutilation: African Powerhouse Sends ‘Powerful Signal’ About FGM With New Bill
International Business Times
Lora Moftah
May 26, 2015

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill this week that criminalizes female genital mutilation or cutting, a practice that a staggering 19.9 million Nigerian women are thought to have undergone. The landmark legislation is being hailed as an important step for Africa’s most populous country but also one that experts hope will have a potential ripple effect on the 26 other African nations that have significant populations of women who undergo the practice.

Nigeria’s decision to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM) sends “a powerful signal not only within Nigeria but across Africa,” according to J. Peter Pham, the director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. “Nigeria, just because of the sheer size of its population, has one of the highest absolute number of cases of FGM in the world,” he said, adding that the bill now effectively criminalizes a significant percentage of FGM on the African continent. “One cannot overestimate the impact of any decision by Nigeria [on the continent].”

More than 125 million girls and women around the world are estimated to have undergone some form of FGM, with the majority concentrated in 29 countries, all but two in Africa, according to a 2013 study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). FGM, also known as female genital cutting or female circumcision, is a procedure in which all or most of the external female genitalia is either removed or otherwise surgically altered for nonmedical reasons. The procedure has no documented health benefits and is considered a violation of the human rights of girls and women by international bodies like the World Health Organization.

Despite international efforts to rout the practice, FGM has prevalence rates of as high as over 95 percent in countries like Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Egypt. In Nigeria, which has a population of 175 million, the national prevalence is estimated at around 27 percent, with considerable variation across regions, the highest of which is represented in the southern portion of the country. The continued prevalence of the procedure is a result of deeply ingrained cultural and social factors. This has posed a challenge both for international health and rights advocates as well as national and local players who have sought to end FGM.

In this regard, the timing of Nigeria’s decision to outlaw the procedure is no coincidence. While advocates have campaigned for this legislation for over a decade, it was only passed this week, in the final days of the Jonathan presidency. “There’s a price to be paid by bucking norms that are widely observed,” said Pham. “It took a lame duck president and lame duck legislators who don’t have to face voters to undertake something that goes that much against the cultural norms or practices.”

Indeed, Pham argued that Jonathan has even done a favor for his successor, President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, who will now not have to face future voter backlash by legislating the controversial issue. “It’s already signed and Buhari can say he’s simply enforcing the laws,” he said.

As momentous as this step is, activists have warned that it will not change the high prevalence rates of the procedure in Nigeria — or the rest of the continent — overnight. As much as the legislation sends a clear message about impunity and provides activists with the legal framework to hold the government to account, criminalization of the entrenched practice still has its limitations, according to Stella Mukasa, the director of gender, violence and rights at the International Center for Research on Women.

“While legal safeguards are an important step towards ending FGM, they are not enough to eliminate it,” she wrote in a commentary for the Guardian. “Ending violence against women and girls requires investment, not just laws written in statute books. This is why we must emphasize community engagement, with a view towards shifting social norms, as a critical component of the eradication of FGM.”

The challenge of shifting social norms has been underscored in the case of other African countries like Egypt, where the prevalence of FGM was recently revealed to be at roughly 92 percent among married women despite the practice being outlawed in 2008. More than half of women surveyed by the government said they continued to be in favor of FGM because they viewed it as being in accordance with their cultural and religious traditions.

Kidnapped Nigerian Girls Likely Being Used by Boko Haram as Suicide Bombers, Experts Fear
Fox News
Perry Chiaramonte
May 28, 2015

Fears are mounting in Nigeria that the so-called “Chibok girls” kidnapped by Boko Haram more than a year ago are being used in the Islamist terror group’s stepped-up campaign of suicide bombings.

The terrorist organization, which has aligned itself with ISIS and operates out of the African nation’s northeastern sector, has been blamed for 27 suicide bombings so far this year, more than it carried out all of last year, according to a recent UNICEF report. The agency found Nigeria has endured an especially “alarming spike” in suicide bombings carried out by girls and women. The surge, combined with the mystery surrounding more than 200 young females unaccounted for more than a year after the mass kidnapping, has experts and citizens of Africa’s most populous nation fearing the worst.

“Without a doubt, the bombers being used are definitely part of the kidnapping spree by Boko Haram,” Pastor Laolu Akande, of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, told FoxNews.com from Nigeria. “Even the authorities here believe that many of these girls are from Chibok. The suggestions are sufficiently widespread among the community.”

Some 276 young girls were kidnapped from the Borno state village of Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. The abductions were immediately linked to Boko Haram, the terror organization whose name means “Western education is forbidden.” Although the group had committed previous mass atrocities, including an attack a month earlier in which 29 boys at a boarding school were locked in the building and burned alive, the Chibok incident drew unprecedented international condemnation. Many high-profile people, including first lady Michelle Obama, spoke out against the attack, and a social media campaign calling for authorities to “Bring back our girls” waged for several weeks.

Boko Haram was believed to have taken the abductees to its stronghold in the Samibisa national forest. Although some escaped and others were believed sold as sex slaves, the fate of most of the girls has never been determined. Several groups of subsequently kidnapped females, including hundreds taken from towns and villages in Nigeria’s northeast, have since been rescued from the clutches of Boko Haram, but none have been identified as the Chibok girls.

Although bombers are typically not identified by Nigerian forensics experts, national publications have published side-by-side photos of dead suicide bombers and missing Chibok girls, suggesting they are the same people. Experts believe it is highly likely.

“The numbers are just not out there; but if you see what has been happening in the region, it makes sense,” Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical analysis for global intelligence and advisory firm Stratfor, told FoxNews.com. “Now we need the forensics to prove it.”

Women and children have carried out the vast majority of recent suicide attacks, with girls between the ages of 7 and 17 years blamed for nine bombings since last July, according to the humanitarian agency.

Recent attacks include a May 16 bombing at a bus station in the northeastern city of Damaturu, where a 12-year-old girl detonated an explosive device hidden underneath her clothing, killing seven and injuring 31. Last November, five people were killed and more than 30 wounded when two girls set off bombs in a crowded market in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

“We have never seen another Jihadi group use these many suicide bombers,” Stewart said. “And as far a volume, we have never seen this many of them be young women.”

Experts say Boko Haram is likely brainwashing young women into carrying out the attacks, or forcing them to endure such misery that they are willing to kill and die to escape it.

“Children are not instigating these suicide attacks; they are used intentionally by adults in the most horrific way,” Jean Gough, UNICEF representative in Nigeria, told FoxNews.com. “They are first and foremost victims – not perpetrators.”

It’s not clear how many thousands of children and women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram, as new abductions have become a weekly occurrence in the northern region of Nigeria. UNICEF said it estimates that 743,000 children have been uprooted by the nearly 6-year-old Islamic uprising, with as many as 10,000 separated from their families.

“Many children have been separated from their families when they fled the violence, with no one to look after them,” Gough also said in the statement. “Without the protection of their families, these children are at greater risk of exploitation by adults, and this can lead to involvement in criminal or armed group activities.”

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REPORTS

UN Reports

UN Says ‘War Crimes’ Committed in Libya—Activists and Journalists Targeted by Armed Groups Since the End of the 2011 Revolt
Gulf News
May 16, 2015

Armed groups in Libya are abducting and torturing civilians, the United Nations said Friday, warning that such actions are “war crimes.”

“Armed groups across Libya are responsible for abductions of civilians, including minors, on account of their actual or perceived origin, opinion, family and political affiliation,” the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement.

“Those abducted are usually at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, and are frequently denied any contact with their families. Some have died in custody, possibly summarily executed or tortured to death.”

Libya plunged into lawlessness after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with armed groups battling for control of the North African country’s oil wealth and cities.

The chaos has been further compounded with the country politically divided, with rival governments and parliaments vying for power and Daesh also spreading its influence.

“Hostage-taking, torture and murder are war crimes,” said UNSMIL, which is trying to mediate a settlement to the crisis.

“Those responsible for committing, ordering or failing to prevent such crimes when in a position to do so are criminally liable, including in front of the International Criminal Court.”

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bin Souda told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that she was ready to investigate crimes committed by Daesh in Libya, where the group said it has beheaded dozens of Christians.

Rights groups have repeatedly bemoaned violations of human rights in Libya, with activists and journalists the target of armed groups since the end of the 2011 revolt.

A report drafted by the UN rights office and UNSMIL and released on March 25 said activists speaking out against abuses faced reprisals from all sides, and that many have been killed.

Claudio Cordone, head of UNSMIL’s human rights division, said at the time there were an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people armed people in Libya, 10 times more than those who fought in the uprising.

On March 27, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council adopted by consensus a resolution to send a mission to the country to investigate violations and abuses.

UN Says Will Engage Israel on ‘Realistic Options’ to Revive Talks with the Palestinians
Star Tribune
Cara Anna
May 19, 2015

The United Nations’ new Middle East envoy said Tuesday that he and the U.N. secretary-general will engage Israel’s new government to explore “realistic options” for a return to talks with the Palestinians aimed at a two-state solution within a reasonable time frame.

Nikolay Mladenov also used his first briefing to the U.N. Security Council to remind Israel that settlement activity is illegal under international law and to call on Israel’s government to stop such actions.

The international community is looking for ways to revive talks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly before his re-election in March that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch.

A French-proposed council resolution setting a framework for negotiations has been on hold as Israel’s new government formed. It likely will see little progress until world powers complete nuclear talks with Iran by a deadline they have set for the end of June.

Even if that text moves forward, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has traditionally used its veto power as a permanent council member to block resolutions on the issue that it considers unbalanced.

Two decades of talks brokered mainly by the United States have failed to produce a two-state solution. The latest effort fell short last year after nine months of negotiations. Gaps between Israeli and Palestinian positions remain vast.

Frustrated by the stalled progress, the Palestinians in April officially joined the International Criminal Court in hopes of prosecuting Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 50-day Gaza conflict last year.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda this month told The Associated Press that prosecutors also will look at other issues, potentially including Israel’s settlement construction on occupied Palestinian lands.

Mladenov on Tuesday called for Israel’s new government to freeze settlement activity and take other “credible steps” to help talks with the Palestinians resume.

“The coming period will be critical to the future of the peace process,” he said, adding that any agreement will require a regional solution and “greater engagement with key Arab states.”

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NGO Reports

Ukraine: Breaking Bodies: Torture and Summary Killings in Eastern Ukraine
Amnesty International
May 22, 2015

The stories of torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners held by both sides in connection with the conflict in eastern Ukraine are not only shocking, they are all too common. Amnesty International interviewed 33 former prisoners for this briefing paper, 17 of whom had been held by separatists, and 16 by pro-Kyiv military and police forces, including the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). All but one of them described severe beatings or other serious abuse, particularly during the initial days of captivity.

Palestine (State of): ‘Strangling Necks’ Abductions, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict
Amnesty International
May 26, 2015

Hamas forces in Gaza committed serious human rights abuses, including abductions, torture and summary and extrajudicial executions with impunity during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict. To date, no one has been held to account for committing these unlawful killings and other abuses, either by the Hamas de facto administration that continues to control Gaza and its security and judicial institutions, or by the Palestinian “national consensus” government that has had nominal authority over Gaza since June 2014.

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WORTH READING

Worth Reading

What Courts Have to Say About a Nuclear Iran
Timothy M. Ravichr
May 17, 2015

This article aims to contribute a judicial perspective to the national conversation about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Methodologically, this article approaches the proposed nuclear framework agreement with Iran through the prism of judicial opinions involving claims against that regime under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDA”) amendment to the Federal Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”). Based on a data set consisting of Iranian terrorism and skyjacking cases specifically, this article submits that legal precedent — not political talking points — mitigates against the deal being brokered with Iran now. These court decisions — as with judicial opinions generally — are probative in ways that politicized statements by the president and Congress about Iran cannot be. FSIA and AEDA cases are not talking points to be fact-checked, but fact-centered analyses arising from allegations that have overcome important hurdles such as substantive and procedural due process and rigorous tests under the rules of evidence, including admissibility and reliability. In this context, skyjacking cases show Iran to be a persistent driver of international disorder and offer no factual or legal precedent to suggest a nuclear capable Iran will change its behavior.

Stepping on (or Over) the Constitution’s Line: Evaluating FISA Section 702 in a World of Changing ‘Reasonableness’ Under the Fourth Amendment
New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, Forthcoming
By Patrick Walsh
May 22, 2015

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 program collects vast amounts of information — some on U.S. citizens located inside the United States — without a judicially authorized search warrant. Over one hundred federal terrorism prosecutions have involved evidence gathered through Section 702 warrantless interceptions. But this program may violate the constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and federal courts have signaled that they are capable and willing to rule on the constitutionality of FISA Section 702.

Federal courts and government oversight panels have narrowly approved section 702 interceptions, focusing on the jurisprudence from prior foreign intelligence cases. But two significant shifts in constitutional jurisprudence that courts have yet to consider cast doubt on whether Section 702 warrantless wiretaps are consistent with the protections provided in the Fourth Amendment. First, the Supreme Court has increased scrutiny on traditional criminal wiretaps searches in ways that equally apply to FISA Section 702. These cases constrict the government’s ability to act without judicial approval. Second, the Courts have significantly shifted away from their previous “deference” to the executive branch in areas of national security. While past courts might have created exceptions to these traditional wiretap rules that would protect national security searches, the present judiciary is unlikely to do so. Courts now freely venture into areas at the heart of national security, ruling on central national security issues when past courts would have demurred. The combination of these two factors creates a very real possibility that a future court will find that FISA Section 702 is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Commentary and Perspectives

Why Central African Republic’s Hybrid Tribunal Could be a Game-Changer
Justice in Conflict
By Mark Kersten
May 14, 2015

A new international criminal tribunal is born. Following pressure from international human rights groups and the United Nations, the Central African Republic (CAR) has established a hybrid tribunal with the aim of prosecuting atrocities committed by Séléka and anti-Balaka forces during the country’s latest spate of political violence. As readers will know, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is already investigating crimes in CAR. But if the Special Criminal Court (SCC) of CAR emerges as something more than a stillborn institution or paper tiger, it could set new precedents for shared responsibility between domestic and international institutions in prosecuting international crimes.

When the ICC became a reality in 2002, there was a widespread sense that the institution would be a court to end all courts. Proponents were convinced that the ICC was the solution to what had been, until then, piecemeal international criminal justice. With a permanent ICC, there would be no need for ad hoc tribunals. Whatever ad hoc or hybrid tribunals would otherwise investigate would now be handled by the ICC.

In recent years, however, the idea of the ICC being the only game in town has slowly withered. Where the prospects of ICC interventions are slim, members of the international community have instead called for the creation of ad hoc or hybrid tribunals. This has been the case in Syria and, more recently, South Sudan.

The potential hybrid tribunal in the CAR, however, is an altogether different beast insofar as it represents an attempt to complement an ICC intervention rather than present an alternative to the Court.

A number of the SCC’s features have now been clarified. In line with being a hybrid tribunal, key positions at the SCC will be divided amongst domestic and international actors. The court will have twenty-seven judges: 14 from the CAR and 13 from abroad. It will have an international “special prosecutor”, but its chief judge will come be a citizen of CAR. Its jurisdictional reach will extend to all war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the Central African Republic since 2003. Crucially, it will not compete with the ICC for cases. Senior officials in CAR have consistently reiterated they will cooperate with the ICC. Those perpetrators from both the anti-Balaka and Séléka forces deemed to be “most responsible” and who are eventually indicted by the ICC will be sent to The Hague.

Of course, important and unresolved questions remain. First, early versions of the law that created the Special Criminal Court included provisions which would prohibit the granting of immunities, presumably via government-issued amnesties. However, these provisions are no longer present, suggesting that the government may offer immunity from prosecution in certain cases. What remains unclear is whether and why Bangui is planning on bartering accountability for peace with some anti-Balaka or Séléka fighters. Moreover, under what conditions will the CAR grant amnesties and will such offers of immunity be conditional on, say, participation in a Truth Commission?

Second, it remains unclear exactly how the SCC will be funded and, as importantly, whowill fund it. The CAR is a desperately impoverished state and international criminal justice doesn’t come cheap. It seems almost certain that the lion’s share of funding will have to come via external sources. This, however, comes with certain risks, namely leaving the tribunal susceptible to political manipulation by interested international actors which may seek to guide the tribunal’s focus by tugging on its purse strings. To avoid this fate, international funding must be transparent and should go through the United Nations rather than directly from states.

Third, nothing has been said about an office for defence counsel or what its role will be in the functioning of the tribunal. International criminal justice – or any form of criminal justice, for that matter – is a farce without effective defence teams, due process, and fair trial standards. But defending the rights of alleged war criminals can be a dangerous endeavour and one that creates more enemies than friends. For the SCC to be effective and legitimate, it will have to create an appropriate, safe, and adequately-funded environment for defence counsel to represent their clients.

Fourth, while the focus tends to be on how the CAR government will cooperate with the ICC, it remains to be seen how the Court will cooperate with CAR. The ICC has been increasingly interested in framing its work through the concept of ‘positive complementarity’, the Court’s role in instigating and galvanising domestic accountability for international crimes. For the CAR to be a case of positive complementarity, the SCC must deliver. And to do so, the ICC itself needs to consider what kind of relationship it will have with the SCC with regards to sharing evidence and capacity-building.

The creation of the SCC marks the first time a hybrid tribunal will work within a country that is also under investigation by the ICC. This new precedent has, and will continue to, throw up new questions as well as new possibilities. As is always the case with international criminal justice, expectations for the SCC should be tempered. There’s no reason to believe that the CAR’s hybrid tribunal will itself bring peace or that it’ll achieve justice for all victims and survivors. As with all such courts, the odds are stacked against it. But if the SCC can bring a significant number of perpetrators to justice, retain fair trial standards, minimise external political instrumentalisation, and maintain a productive relationship with the ICC, it could help usher in a new model for domestic-international partnerships in prosecuting mass atrocities.

Some Domestic and International Law Questions Raised by the Abu Sayyaf Raid
Lawfare
By John Bellinger
May 16, 2015

Today’s White House statement about last night’s spectacular Special Operations raid into Syria states that “This operation was conducted with the full consent of Iraqi authorities and, like our existing airstrikes against ISIL in Syria, consistent with domestic and international law.” However, the raid raises complicated questions about the domestic and international law basis both for the incursion into Syria, and for the detention of Abu Sayyaf’s wife, who was captured in the raid, and for Abu Sayyaf himself, had he been captured, rather than killed.

Presumably, the domestic law authority both for the raid, and for the detention, is the 2001 AUMF, upon which the Obama Administration has been relying since last September for military operations against ISIS, despite the near unanimous agreement of observers that it is legal stretch to do so (given that the 2001 AUMF is directed at the “nations, organizations, or persons” responsible for the 9-11 attacks). It’s especially ironic that the Administration would continue to rely on the 2001 AUMF for detention for ISIS members, given that President Obama has repeatedly said that he wants to “repeal” the 2001 AUMF. By now, most legal experts see this as an aspirational nod to the left wing of the President’s base, rather than a legally prudent objective.

Detention of ISIS members also underscores the urgent need for Congress to pass a new AUMF that focuses on ISIS. If the Executive branch detains ISIS members for any length of time, and the detainees bring legal challenges to their detention, the Executive branch may be forced to explain in court why the 2001 AUMF also applies to ISIS, and allows indefinite detention of ISIS members.

The raid into Syria and detention of Abu Sayyaf’s spouse also raises complicated questions under international law. It appears that Syria did not consent to the use of force on its territory, so presumably the Administration justified the raid as an action in pre-emptive self-defense of the United States or U.S. nationals or collective defense of Iraq, where Syria was “unable or unwilling” to give its consent to the use of force. I suspect that few European governments, or US or international human rights groups, will condemn the raid, or the detention of Abu Sayyaf’s wife (or the potential detention of Abu Sayyaf), even though the Obama Administration’s domestic and international law rationale for the raid is presumably identical to the much-criticized legal rationales upon which the Bush Administration relied for military operations against members of Al Qaida in various countries outside Afghanistan.

Finally, the detention of Abu Sayyaf’s wife (and the potential detention of Abu Sayyaf himself) raises questions regarding whether and how they might be (or might have been) prosecuted for war crimes or other offenses. Presumably, the Administration had a plan about what they might do with Abu Sayyaf, rather than simply detain him indefinitely. (Now the Administration will have to decide what to do with Abu Sayyaf’s wife.) Perhaps he could have been (or she could be) prosecuted in federal court in the United States for material support for terrorism, but this would raise difficult policy questions about whether members of ISIS captured by the U.S. military in Syria belong in federal court. Earlier this year, I suggested in an op-ed in the New York Times entitled “Make ISIS Leaders Face Justice” that the U.N. Security Council should refer ISIS to the International Criminal Court, and that at least some senior ISIS leaders (though not necessarily Abu Sayyaf) might better be prosecuted in the Hague as international war criminals, rather than in New York or Baghdad.

Five Questions on the Colombian Sentencing Practice and the Principle of Complementarity under the Rome Statue
Opinio Juris
By Marina Aksenova
May 25, 2015

The ICC prosecution team has been conducting preliminary examinations in Colombia for over ten years and has yet to decide whether to move to the stage of formal investigations. In doing so, it must assess, among other things, whether reduced or suspended sentences rendered to senior perpetrators by the local judiciary are adequate in light of the gravity of the crimes committed during the continuing civil war. The ICC prosecution noted in its 2012 report on Colombia that some paramilitaries may benefit from the sentences of 5 to 8 years imprisonment if convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes provided they demobilize. The matter is further complicated by the ICC’s capacity to frustrate the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the FARC guerrillas. These talks aim at ending a conflict disrupting the country for over fifty years.

The issue of sentencing in Colombia illustrates the difficulties the Court faces in applying the principle of complementarity in practice. What are the exact criteria of assessing the state’s willingness to undertake genuine prosecutions? The ICC will evaluate domestic penalties with the reference to two different legal regimes provided by the Rome Statute – admissibility and sentencing. Up until now, the Court has not treated these two issues in conjunction with each other. The post discusses five specific concerns that this exercise may produce. This working paper elaborates on the context surrounding the questions presented below.

Proportionality of sentences

The idea that a penalty must be in proportion to the gravity of the crime is widely accepted in international criminal law. In the Lubanga sentencing decision (para. 36), the ICC held that the ‘gravity of the crime’ is one of the principal factors to be considered in the determination of sentence, which should be in proportion to the offence and reflect the culpability of the convicted person. How will this consideration play out in the complementarity analysis? Will a sentence of 5 to 8 years of imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes be considered grossly disproportionate?

The principle of complementarity presupposes the primacy of states in handling cases domestically. Thus, according to Article 17 of the Rome Statute, a case comes within the purview of the Court only if the crimes are of sufficient gravity and the country in question is unable or unwilling to address them via its national criminal justice system. Article 17(2) specifies that the state is ‘unwilling’ if it initiates the proceedings with an unjustified delay or with the purpose of shielding the person concerned from criminal responsibility or fails to conduct the proceedings independently or impartially – all of which signals lack of intent to bring the person concerned to justice. It is important that the offences allegedly prosecuted and investigated on a national level cover substantially the same conduct as those charged by the ICC, while legal characterization of the underlying incidents matters less.

Consequently, even if domestic prosecutions cover the ‘same conduct’ but result in disproportionately light penalties, this may evidence the state’s intent to shield some persons from responsibility, and, thus, render the case admissible to the ICC. There are three caveats to this argument. First, the ICC’s own sentencing practice so far has been rather lenient: Thomas Lubanga received a sentence of 14 years of imprisonment and Germain Katanga received a sentence of 12 years. The Lubanga analysis of proportionality suggests that no rigid guidelines are available for measuring the correlation between the gravity of the offence and the sentence. The Chamber in its sentencing decision (paras. 92-93) rejected the strict numerical approach suggested by the OTP and upheld its own discretion to assess the totality of factors when deciding on the ultimate number of years of imprisonment. The deficiencies in Mr. Lunbanga’s mens rea and his cooperation with the Court played an important role in the determination of his sentence.

Secondly, in the Al Senussi admissibility decision (paras. 218-219), the ICC dealt with the reverse situation – the Defence argued that the threat of a death penalty, which the accused faced in Libya, rendered the case admissible because of the adverse effect on the accused. The ICC rejected this plea and granted local authorities a wide margin of appreciation when it comes to punishment, claiming it is not a human rights court. One might expect similar flexibility in cases on the other side of the spectrum.

Finally, Article 53(1)(c) of the Rome Statute allows some room for a manoeuvre granting the prosecution the power not to commence an investigation even where the situation is formally admissible if it serves the ‘interests of justice’. The ‘interests of justice’ is a broad category open to various interpretations, but ultimately it leaves the door open for a political compromise. The fragility of the Colombian peace talks is likely to fall within this category because arguably it provides for a valid reason not to proceed to the official investigations by the ICC.

Participation of the convicted persons in political life

Participation of convicted persons in political life is a burning issue in the peace talks in Colombia. Many senior perpetrators have links to the government or the FARC and hope to remain in power after a deal has been reached. Even if certain leaders from both sides receive formal punishment, the question still remains whether these people will be allowed to form part of a future government. Is it possible to conceive of suspended or lenient sentences as sufficiently reflecting public censure if the convicted person re-enters politics? Can such punishment deter future violations by senior perpetrators?

The Rome Statute does not give any guidance as to whether convicted persons may participate in political life; it restricts the types of punishment to a maximum sentence of 30 years of imprisonment, fine and forfeiture of assets. If one looks at the broader picture, Article 27 renders the official capacity as is generally irrelevant to the ICC prosecutions. This provision is not directly relevant to sentencing, but it reflects the spirit of the Rome Statute. One might argue that for this reason alone the ICC may criticize participation of the convicted person’s in political life.

In its complementarity analysis, the ICC may also refer to the general sentencing practice of the respective state. The Colombian Criminal Code appears rather flexible in this regard; it leaves it up to the judges to decide whether to ban the offender from political life. The law provides for the suspension of rights and public functions as well as the loss of public office as an additional punishment for various offences, such as, murder of certain persons. Loss of public office can last up to 5 years, while suspension of other rights can vary from 5 to 20 years. In certain circumstances, rights can be restored at an earlier date (Articles 43(1), 43(2), 92, 135 of the Colombian Criminal Code).

The ICC is unlikely to be guided solely by the provisions of Colombian law, however. Instead, it is may look at the standards applicable in other states in an attempt to discern generally recognized principles of law deriving from the multitude of domestic legal systems. This is one of the sources of international law along with treaty and custom. It seems that in some jurisdictions there is a blanket prohibition to occupy public posts for those convicted of serious offences. For example, Article 45 of the German Criminal Code reads as follows: ‘Whoever is sentenced for a serious criminal offense to imprisonment for at least one year shall lose for a period of five years the capacity to hold public office and attain public electoral rights.’ This provision reflects an understanding that the public censure element of punishment is severely compromised if someone convicted of a grave offence is allowed to re-enter public life.

Relevance of domestic law for the ICC complementarity analysis

The Rome Statute does not suggest that the ICC should consider the scale of penalties of the relevant state. Its determination of sentences shall solely be guided by the gravity of the crime, individual circumstances of the accused, and mitigating and aggravating factors. It is in contrast to the statutes of the ad hoc tribunals, which allow recourse to domestic law; although, it has rarely been seen in practice.

The ICC will assess Colombian criminal law in its complementarity analysis in the light of the principles enshrined in the Rome Statute and international law. The general principle is that the person cannot invoke domestic law to avoid responsibility under international criminal law. When it comes to the admissibility test, it is essential that the penalty imposed at the national level is not intended to shield the person from criminal responsibility.

Disparity of sentences

The sentencing practice of the Colombian courts shows some disparity in sentences meted out to various parties to the conflict. Colombia attempts to bring to justice different responsible actors, but their penalties are significantly different. How will this aspect play out in the complementarity analysis of the ICC? The question of disparate sentences is tightly linked with the idea of individualized punishments and judicial discretion widely accepted at the ICC. There are a number of factors that might support Colombia’s claim for lenient (and, to a lesser extent, suspended) and/or disparate sentences.

Firstly, it seems that the ICC prosecution already pointed to broad discretion of the Colombian judiciary in its 2012 report (para. 206), when it confirmed that the ICC would examine local sentences individually on the basis of particular factors, such as, the intent to bring perpetrators to justice, the gravity of the crimes and the efforts to establish the truth. Secondly, the ICC practice itself shows relative leniency in its two available sentencing rulings. Thirdly, the reasoning in the Katanga sentencing decision (para. 38) exhibits a trend of integrating reconciliatory aims in sentencing considerations. Fourthly, the Rome Statute upholds the power of the prosecution to halt investigations if it is not in the ‘interests of justice’ in light of the gravity of the crimes and the interests of victims.

Remedy to the victims

When combining two legal frameworks for the purposes of complementarity analysis, the ICC might have to decide where it stands on the issue of enforcement of human rights and victims’ rights. In the recent complementarity decision in the Al Senussi case (paras. 218-219), the ICC refused to act as a human rights court and rendered the case inadmissible, notwithstanding the death penalty threatening the accused. The Court’s view might be altered when victims’ rights are at stake, as is the case in Colombia. Both the Colombian national legislation and the Rome Statute contain provisions upholding victims’ rights in the process of criminal adjudication. Reduced sentences for war crimes and crimes against humanity may be at odds with the victims’ quest for justice. One way to resolve this contradiction is to ensure that victims receive adequate reparations for their suffering. It will not ‘offset’ the perceived impunity of senior perpetrators entirely, but it will help in mitigating the concern.

Mexico: The War on Drugs and the Boundaries of Crimes Against Humanity
EJIL: Talk
By Darryl Robinson
May 26, 2015

Mexico ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute in 2006. Since that time, in the context of the ongoing conflict with drug cartels, there are credible reports (from governmental and non-governmental sources) of tens of thousands of killings, tens of thousands of disappearances, and thousands of cases of torture. While the precise figures are disputed, the numbers are large. The 2014 kidnapping and disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students by police drew international outrage, but it is part of a bigger pattern. In terms of the scale and nature of the crimes, these figures would appear to place the situation among the gravest within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Yet international criminal lawyers generally tend to give limited attention to the violence in Mexico, and hesitate to apply the label of crimes against humanity.

Against compartmentalization: drug-related violence as crimes against humanity?

In international criminal law practice, we are most accustomed to two configurations of crimes against humanity: state repression of political opponents, and atrocities by parties to armed conflict. By contrast, we tend to label the violence in Mexico as “drug-related violence” and therefore not as crimes against humanity.

But should we separate crimes into watertight compartments? After all, we recognize that an act of terrorism can also be a crime against humanity or war crime. We should not assume that organized crime, or responses to organized crime, must fall into a completely separate compartment. Instead, we should look at the elements of crimes against humanity. The motives behind the crimes (eg. economic motives or the laudable goal of restraining cartels) do not per se prevent widespread and systematic violence against civilians from constituting crimes against humanity.

Addressing factual controversy

Another obstacle is the difficulty of ascertaining the scope and patterns of the crimes, given the scale of crimes (thousands of killings and disappearances) and limited records. The Mexican government has launched several important initiatives to collect and systematize information on crimes and victimization, and NGOs have also embarked on valuable projects.

Recently, Mexican officials have reacted vehemently against the conclusion of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture that torture is “generalized”. However, on a dispassionate assessment, the sheer number of reported cases and the consistency of patterns support such a conclusion, at least on a “reasonable basis to believe” standard.

Addressing legal uncertainty

The situation in Mexico requires us to clarify the boundaries of crimes against humanity. Important questions include (1) what is a “State or organization” and (2) what is needed to show a “policy”.

On the first question, the law of crimes against humanity was initially regarded as an offshoot of human rights law, and thus often tended to focus on repression by the state. It is now well-recognized that the law of crimes against humanity also applies to non-state actors. The ICC Statute (Article 7) expressly refers to states or organizations. While Judge Hans Peter Kaul notably argued in the Kenya authorization decision that organizations must be “state-like”, that view has not prevailed in the jurisprudence. Chambers are consistently adopting formulations that capture the various types of non-state actors with the capacity to inflict massive harm on civilian populations. As Leila Sadat notes, this more “modern” understanding allows the law to address contemporary violence, and as Gerhard Werle notes, it accords with the ordinary meaning of the term ‘organization’.

The Mexico situation is complex, inter alia because offences are reportedly carried out by (i) organs of the state (army, navy, police), (ii) by drug cartels, and (iii) by state officials corrupted and infiltrated by drug cartels. On the modern understanding, each of those variations could constitute crimes against humanity.

On the second question, what evidence is needed to show a “state or organizational policy”? Some read that element as requiring a formalized policy adopted at the highest level. But that is precisely what the jurisprudence has always emphasized is not required. The requirement of state or organizational policy was included only to ensure that crimes must be connected in some way in order for them to be described as an ‘attack directed against a civilian population’, as opposed to widespread but random common crime. The policy element has always been explicitly accompanied by key points to ensure that it is not a burden to legitimate prosecutions:

The purpose of the policy element is to screen out “ordinary crime”, ie. acts of individuals on their own unconnected criminal initiatives.

The term “policy” is not equivalent to the term “systematic”. “Policy” does not necessarily require deliberate planning, direction or orchestration. It requires only that some state or organization must have at least encouraged the attack, either actively or passively.

A policy need not implicate the highest levels of a state or organization.

Most importantly, a policy need not be expressly stated or formalized. A policy may be implicit. The existence of a policy can be inferred from the manner in which the acts occur. In particular, it can be inferred from the implausibility of coincidental individual activity.

These points are emphasized in the Yugoslav Tribunal’s seminal Tadic decision, and have consistently appeared in a large body of transnational jurisprudence, which has often been neglected in the mainstream debate. I’ve tried to draw attention to these cases and these points, because it is essential to keep them in mind if the law is not to become unworkable.

Accordingly, proving policy does not require directives and instructions or insider testimony. It can be more simply proven by looking at the patterns of crimes, evidence of planning, preparation or coordination, repetition of acts, utterances of perpetrators, similarities in modus operandi or in who is targeted, and generally the implausibility of random occurrence. As I’ve noted, Latin American jurisprudence has been instructive in this regard.

Addressing political sensitivity

The issue is understandably a sensitive one. However, the questions raised here do not entail any general judgment on Mexico or its accomplishments and stature in the world. The violence in Mexico would pose great difficulties for any state.

The questions asked here are simply evidentiary and legal. What are the parameters of crimes against humanity? Does the available information provide at least a reasonable basis to believe that such crimes have occurred?

If the label of crimes against humanity is applicable, it may further galvanize international and national calls for decisive action to restrain and punish these abuses. Communications on the Mexico situation have been submitted to the ICC. The ICC may be hesitant to open a preliminary examination of the situation, perhaps because of the ‘compartmentalization’ habit mentioned above. But if one clarifies crimes against humanity, the situation seems to warrant preliminary examination as much as any other situation before the Court. Given the exceptional scale of the crimes and the paucity of actual prosecutions, the gravity and complementarity tests would also seem to be met. ICC scrutiny can add one more reason to the already urgent reasons for effective national action.

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