By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

(Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

KINGSTON, Jamaica-Seventy-three people have reportedly been killed and five hundred arrested during Jamaican police efforts to capture Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Coke is a well known leader in the Kingston slums, who is wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges. Authorities intend to extradite Coke to the United States.

Amnesty International called for a thorough investigation into the violence and deaths. The rights group recognized that while authorities have a responsibility to ensure order, the current extraordinary powers exerted by the Jamaican security forces could lead to human rights violations.  Read more...

By Celeste Little
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda- Monday, May 31 begins a two week conference in Kampala, Uganda to review the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court hosted by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The conference will be attended by representatives of state parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Hague, the Netherlands. Fifteen hundred to two thousand delegates are expected to attend.  Read more...

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

POTOSI, Bolivia — In a public meeting, members of five indigenous communities in northern Potosi, Bolivia, admitted to lynching four police officers on Sunday.  Responding to accounts that the officers were tortured and killed, indigenous leaders described them as “thieves disguised as police.”  The leaders said they would not hand over the bodies until the police conduct an investigation into the alleged “murder” by police of several area residents that took place months ago.  They also accuse the police of stealing seven cars from their community and voted to retain the bodies until those cars are returned.  Read more...

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says it warned of a possible attack, urging the government “to provide fool proof security to the Ahmadi community.”

Unknown gunmen have launched simultaneous raids on two mosques of the minority Ahmadi Islamic sect in Lahore, killing more than 80 people, Pakistani police say. The attackers fired guns and threw grenades at worshippers during Friday prayers. Three militants later blew themselves up with suicide vests. Pakistani forces have secured both buildings, but are still searching for militants who fled the scene.  Read more...

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MEZHDURECHENSK, Russia – Two weeks ago, in western Siberia, twin methane explosions destroyed Russia’s largest coal mine.  At least 67 miners were killed and 23 are still missing.  The mine is owned by the Raspadskaya Coal Company, which is mainly controlled by the powerful steel giant Evraz, who owns a 40 percent stake in the Raspadskaya mine.  Read more...

By Dallas Steele,
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Al Jazeera faces an indefinite ban in Bahrain. (Source: Al Jazeera)

MANAMA, Bahrain — On May 18, Bahrain banned Qatari-based Al Jazeera from operating within Bahrain for an indefinite period of time, and barred a broadcast crew from traveling to Bahrain to interview former UN Climate Chief Yvo De Boer. According to the official Bahrain News Agency, the ban was imposed for “breaching the professional media norms and flouting the laws regulating the press and publishing.”  Read more...

NANGARHAR, Afghanistan – Investigation into questionable night raids continues as the death toll rises over the past week.  The US military has been conducting night raids on several targeted villages in Afghanistan. These raids are night efforts to catch and put a stop to the villages harboring Al-Queda operatives.  Night raids or “sneak attacks” by US troops have been demonized by casualties’ bereaved families, for they are often premised on faulty evidence.

Night rights increase tension between US/NATO forces and Afghan civilians  Read more...

For a link to the e-newsletter, please visit War Crimes Prosecution Watch.

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.

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INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
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AFRICA
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
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EUROPE
European Court of Human Rights
Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia  Read more...

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Southern Colombian Paramilitary Group (Photo Courtesy of justiceforcolombia.org)

BOGOTA, Colombia – According to a retired Colombian police major, President Alvaro Uribe’s younger brother, Santiago Uribe, commanded a death squad in the early 1990s that killed nearly fifty people, including petty thieves, suspected guerillas, and their sympathizers. Santiago Uribe allegedly led the right-wing group from the Uribe family’s cattle ranch in the Antioquia state municipality.  Read more...