By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku issued a permanent stay of prosecution on Monday in the case of the prominent human rights activist Jestina Mukoko and eight other defendants facing charges of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe’s government. Mukoko had been illegally abducted, beaten, and tortured in jail, by Zimbabwe’s security forces last year. Chidyausiku ruled that Mukoko and her co-accused could not be tried now, or in the future, because their constitutional rights had been violated.  Read more...

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On September 28, a number of Iraqis died as a result of a number of bombings that took place throughout the country. While the exact number of dead has not been confirmed, estimates range between thirteen and eighteen dead as a result of the first major acts of violence in the country that followed the end of Ramadan. There had been somewhat of a pause in violence in the country since the Muslim holy month ended. Additionally, at least fifty five people were injured as a result of the bombings.  Read more...

By Brenda Lopez Romero

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PARIS, France – Education International, a global union federation, released a report today finding that Colombian teachers face the highest rates of political violence against teachers in the world. The detailed report, entitled Colombia’s Classroom Wars details incidences of murder, disappearances, torture, death threats, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, and other violations of human rights..  Read more...

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ARUSHA, Tanzania - After 15 years of being on the run from Rwandan authorities, former Mayor of the small Rwanda town of Kivumu, Gregoire Ndahimana, was finally arrested this past August.  Much talk has been made about the eventual detainment of a man who is alleged to have been the primary executor of a plan leading to the deaths of 2000 Tutsi’s in a small church in Kivumu, Rwanda.  After fleeing Rwanda for the neighboring country of the DR Congo many in Rwanda feared Ndahimana, and many others involved in the Genocide who also fled to the Congo, would never be brought to justice.  Read more...

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MASHKHEL, Iran – The Pakistani government recently released the eleven alleged members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) whom border police detained for illegal entry into Pakistan.   Although the Pakistan initially identified the arrested individuals as members of the IRG, they later confirmed their status as security guards.  It is unknown how this reclassification informed the government’s decision to release the prisoners. 

Pakistani border control was patrolling the area for drug-dealers crossing into Pakistan.  Suspecting the eleven men were drug-dealers, border control pursued them after they crossed the Pakistani border.  Pakistan’s border police arrested the men in the Baluchistan province.   Read more...

by Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PORT VILA, Vanuatu – Since the 1990s, Vanuatu has been criticized by the international community for its reckless treatment of prison inmates and its disregard for human rights. After years of pressure from the international community, Vanuatu is finally taking steps to improve its prison conditions.

According to various reports in the years of 1995-1998, the prison conditions in Vanuatu were especially degrading, and posed serious international human rights violations. The Ombudsman of Vanuatu investigated the prison conditions during this time period, and found them severely unsatisfactory. The Ombudsman requested further inspection and new construction for the prisons. However, because of the severe lack of funding, Vanuatu disregarded many of the complaints.  Read more...

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, AsiaKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA- An Islamic court of appeals in Malaysia on Monday upheld the sentence of six strokes of the cane which will be given to a Muslim woman.  She was caught drinking beer in public at a resort.  She was caught by Islamic enforcement officers.

The significance of this ruling means that the woman, Kartika Sari Dewo Shukarno, a former model and nurse and a 32-year old mother of two, is set to become the first woman to be caned under the country’s religious laws that apply only to Muslims. Analysts have stated that the government fears that the punishment could damage Malaysia’s reputation abroad.  Malaysia uses a two-track legal system; where the majority Malays are subject to Islamic law, while the Chinese and Indian minorities are not.  Read more...

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – As Iran continued missile tests, Saudi officials in a closed door London meeting with British Intelligence chief John Scarlett and his Israeli counterpart Meir, agreed to give logistical support to Israel in the event it decides it decides to attack Iran. During the meeting it was agreed that Saudi Arabian air space would be available for Israeli airplanes to launch a hit-and-run operations against Iran. The Israeli offense and possible Iranian retaliatory strikes could result in the death of as many as 6 million people.  Read more...