By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia –   A boat carrying forty-eight asylum seekers was intercepted by Australia’s navy this past Wednesday off the north-west coast of Western Australia, near the Ashmore Islands.

The Ashmore Guardian vessel, working under the Border Protection Command, stopped the boat around 9AM on Wednesday.

These individuals have been taken to Christmas Island for mandatory health, national security and identity checks.

In the last week alone, border authorities seized a total of three boats carrying asylum seekers and crew.  This past Monday, the navy intercepted eleven asylum seekers near the Ashmore Islands.  Again, on the following day, the navy intercepted an additional thirty asylum seekers and three crew members, who were attempting to enter Australia.  Read more...

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

EREZ, Gaza/Egypt Border – International activists against the blockade of the Gaza Strip protested across Egypt on December 30, calling for Egypt to open its border with Gaza at Rafah. Egyptian border officials refused to allow the activists to cross into Gaza, telling the activists that they were not allowed to cross because of the “sensitive situation,” and that the Egyptian border is opened occasionally, and then only to goods, not people.

   Read more...

31 December 2009

Criminal Charges Against Former Blackwater Employees Dismissed

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RAMADI, Iraq - Twenty four people died on December 30 as the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, Ramadi was rocked by a double suicide bombing. In addition to the dead, sixty people were wounded in the bombings. Among the wounded was the Anbar province’s Governor, Qassim Mohammed. Iraqi officials have described his condition as “very serious.”

According to Iraqi police, the first bomber was in a car while the second was on foot and wearing an army uniform. The first attack took place at 9:30am at a traffic junction near the provincial administration buildings located at the center of the city. A suicide bomber in a car triggered the first blast at a checkpoint on the main road.  Read more...

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PESHAWAR, Pakistan- On Wednesday Pakistan’s main Taliban faction claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 43 people at a Shiite parade in the commercial capital of Karachi, and have threatened more attacks.  Asmatullah Shaheen, one of the commanders of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, made the claim on Wednesday in phone calls to news agencies from an undisclosed location.

“My group claims responsibility for the Karachi attack and we will carry out more such attacks, within 10 days,” he said, referring to the bombing of the previous day.  Read more...

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On December 31, Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei stated that opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi would be put on trial if they do not denounce the anti-government protests that took place earlier in the week.  Ejei’s statement was published in the state-owned newspaper.

The Prosecutor stated that the anti-government leaders would be charged with “supporting apostates,” meaning that they would be charged with aiding those that go against God.   Read more...

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A series of investigations and trials are underway in a renewed attempt to confront the legacy of the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Fifteen policemen and officers are on trial before a three-judge panel for their roles in the “dirty war” deaths of over 30,000 people.  DNA test are being used to determine the origin of children thought to have been stolen from “disappeared” parents. 

Military and police defendants are charged with running clandestine torture centers known as the Athletic Club, the Bank, and Olimpo. The defendants are some of the dictatorship’s most notorious figures. They include the leader of the junta that governed Argentina after the 1976 coup and Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s last dictator.  Read more...

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKE, Rohingya  – The Burmese government has recently conceded to the repatriation of 9,000 of an estimated 28,000 Rohingya Muslims.  The Muslims who have just been granted access into Burma are among an alienated group of peoples who have been fleeing from religious persecution perpetrated by the Burmese junta.  Since the 1970’s, Bangladesh has experienced an increasing influx of Rohingya Muslims escaping mistreatment and discrimination by the state and civilians of Burma.  Escape into Bangladesh has proved the most effective means for Rohingya Muslims desperate to evade maltreatment and unequal consideration in social aspects such as employment and trade.   Read more...

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Journal, Africa Desk

BLANTYRE, Malawi-Today, two men, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, were arrested and jailed after participating in Malawi’s first same-sex public wedding ceremony over the weekend.  The ceremony took place on Saturday.  The two men are set to appear in court soon, to face charges of gross indecency. Homosexuality is banned in the conservative southern African country where discussions involving sexual orientation are still very taboo. The country’s penal code outlaws homosexuality and sodomy, which are both punishable by a maximum of fourteen years in jail.  Read more...