Protests Continue in Ferguson, Missouri After Another Fatal Police Shooting

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America Last weekend thousands of citizens staged protests, consisting of marches, vigils, and other demonstrations in St. Louis, Missouri. The demonstrations were sparked by a national campaign being called, Ferguson October. The campaign consists of four days of events, which started Friday afternoon outside the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office in Clayton.

Protests continue in Ferguson, Missouri (Photo Courtesy of Reuters).

The St. Louis area has seen an increasing number of protests since the fatal shooting of an African American teenager in August. A grand jury is currently reviewing the case, and the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation. Since August, three other fatal police shootings of black males have occurred in the St. Louis area of Missouri. The most recent fatality occurred on Wednesday when an off-duty officer working for security patrol shot and killed 18-year-old Vonderrrit D. Myers. The officer has alleged that the teen opened fire and only then did the officer respond by firing 17 rounds.

This months protest campaign started with a ½ mile march through downtown St. Louis. Organizations such as Hands Up Unite led the demonstration. The crowd started by gathering around a memorial where Michael Brown was fatally shot in August. The protests continued onto Saturday night when more than 30 demonstrators gathered outside the Bush Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the San Francisco Giants in the fist game of the National League Championship Series.

It was not until Sunday, 12 October 2014, that the protests turned violent. A video transmitted by a witness showed a small protest in Shaw, Missouri. The video depicted dozens of individuals sitting on the ground outside a convenience store. Police dressed in riot-gear then arrested at least 17 demonstrators after they refused to disperse from the sit-in. Some witnesses stated that the protestors were hit with pepper spray and tear gas, but these allegations have not been confirmed.

 

For more information, please see:

 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Thousands March In St. Louis To Protest Police Violence – 11 Oct. 2014.

FOX NEWS –  Thousands in St. Louis To Protest Fatal Police Shooting – 11 Oct. 2014

REUTERS – Thousands March In St. Louis To Protest Police Violence – 11 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – St. Louis Area Police Arrest At Least 17 During Weekend Of Protests – 11 Oct. 2014.

Experts Believe Hannibal Directive may have led to War Crimes in Gaza

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

JERUSALEM, Israel/Palestine – Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza during, which approximately 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis lost their lives over the course 50-days, drew commendation from members of the international community. Among the most highly criticized operations that took place during the conflict was an Israeli air and artillery bombardment carried out on August 1st that killed 150 people in a matter of hours, the events of which unfolded just as a three-day ceasefire was supposed to enter into effect. Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel inside the Gaza Strip and ambushed three Israeli solders, killing two and taking the third hostage. Hamas representatives claimed the ambush was carried out before the ceasefire was scheduled to take effect while the Israeli military claims it was carried out after. Israeli reacted to the ambush and kidnapping of an Israel solder by invoking the controversial Hannibal Directive.

Palestinians stand on what witnesses say was a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike carried out in Rafah, a city of 200,000 in southern Gaza, in this August 2, 2014 file photo. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

The Hannibal Directive is a protocol that calls on Israeli Defense Forces to rescue a captured solider, dead or alive, to ensure that Hamas cannot use the soldier as a hostage. The Israeli Army allegedly invoked the Hannibal directive as an order compelling units to do everything they can to recover an abducted comrade.

The order led to a furious assault on a confined area on the eastern edge of Rafah, the largest city in southern Gaza. The city is home to around 200,000 people. Israeli artillery and tanks bombarded four neighborhoods for several hours – at times firing a shell a minute. Fighter jets also carried out air strikes in the area. Medics in Gaza say around 200 people were wounded, the majority of whom were civilians. 150 people were killed during the bombardments making August 1st the deadliest day of the seven week conflict. Some legal experts say the use of the Hannibal Directive in this matter, which called on the Israeli military to use any means necessary, including the targeting of areas heavily inhabited by civilians, may have constituted a war crime.

The Israel Defense Forces have not clearly defined the Hannibal Directive. The Hannibal directive was first drafted in 1986 after three soldiers from the Givati Brigade were captured in Lebanon. Their saw the vehicle getting away and did not open fire on the captors. Israel has in the past paid a heavy political price for kidnapped soldiers. In 2006, Gilad Shalit was seized near Gaza and spent five years in Hamas captivity. He was released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Critics say the Hannibal directive throws international humanitarian law out of the window in the interests of preventing a hostage situation, not only are civilians in the conflict thrown in the crossfire but the directive itself also suggests that the goal of the Israeli military should be to prevent hostage situations at all costs, even concluding that it is better to have a dead soldier than a captured one.

In the weeks since August 1st, civil rights activists, international legal experts and even some Israeli military officers have raised concerns about the legality and morality of the assault. One specific reservation is whether the attack was proportionate and discriminate, specifically whether the abduction of a single soldier could have justified a heavy and relentless use of force in a heavily populated area.

A panel set up by the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission is due to start investigating potential abuses in the war by both sides in the near future, with the August 1st incident in Rafah set as one of several incidents investigators have indicated they will examine. The head of the U.N. Human Rights Commission panel investigating the Gaza war has said any evidence it gathers could be used by the International Criminal Court in a potential war crimes case against Israel. The panel’s final report is due by March next year.

For more information please see:

Al Arabiya – Egyptian foreign policy stages comeback after Gaza summit – 13 October 2014
Reuters – Did Israel’s ‘Hannibal directive’ lead to a war crime in Gaza? – 13 October 2014
BBC News – Palestinian leader accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ at UN – 26 September 2014
The Times of Israel – IDF disputes death toll after Rafah kidnap attempt – 22 September 2014

Appeals Court To Hear Claim for Secrecy Demands for Telecom Records

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – On 8 October 2014, the United States Court of Appeals addressed a lawsuit challenging the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s ability to force Internet and telecommunications firms to produce customer records without revealing the reasoning behind the governments demand.

At the hearing, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit considered the First Amendment as it relates to national security matters. A lower court in San Francisco, previously reviewed the question of whether recipients of national security letters can discuss their nature under the First Amendment. The lower court held that such gag orders by the government were unconstitutional.

The government contends that secrecy is vital to the national security of the United States, because cases dealing with such could have the potential effect of endangering an individual’s physical safety. Additionally, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Douglas Letter, stated that the FBI does not have the appropriate resources to review every case, which may have a national security interest to determine whether or not secrecy is warranted. Requiring such strict review would render the agency unable to function.

The plaintiff in the case before the 9th Circuit, claimed that the FBI’s gag order surrounding national security letters represents an “unprecedented grant of authority” and violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. Other tech companies have also filed suit against the government regarding how much information the companies can disclose about government surveillance. The companies include: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc., and Twitter Inc.

Judge Sandra Ikuta, who sat on the 9th circuit panel, states that the law may not violate the Frist Amendment right to free speech because the government only sought secrecy for information that impacts national security, it does not prohibit speech about information someone received independently.

 

 

For more information, please see the following:

BUSINESS INSIDER – U.S. Court To Hear Appeal Over Keeping U.S. Demands For Telecom Records Secret – 8 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – Update 1 – Appeals Court Wrestles With Secret U.S. Demands For Telecom Records – 8 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – U.S. Court To Hear Appeal Over Keeping U.S. Demands For Telecom Records Secret – 8 Oct. 2014.

YAHOO NEWS – Appeals Court Wrestles With Secret U.S. Demands For Telecom Records – 8 Oct. 2014.

 

 

British man returns home after being jailed in Morocco for sexual orientation

MARRAKESH, Morocco

Ray Cole, and 70 year old British citizen, was jailed in Morocco for “homosexual acts.” Cole travelled to Morocco for a vacation with a Moroccan man, Jamal Jam Wald Nass, with whom he had developed an online relationship with in the preceding months. The two had explored Morocco; Cole had frequently updated his Facebook with pictures of the sites and cities he visited with his partner. On September 18th, the two men were arrested at a bus stop in Marrakesh, after a police officer had approached the men for suspected homosexuality. After being brought to the police station, Cole and Nass were jailed for being gay.

Ray-Cole-gay-homosexual-equal-rights-519786

Ray Cole- Photo courtesy of Express UK

Cole reveals that the conditions in the jail were horrible. He was forced to sleep on the ground, due to over-crowding, with little more than a blanket. Everything else, including his glasses, were taken away. Cole, who was jailed for nothing more than his sexual orientation, was held with men who had committed serious crimes, including murder. The British consulate worked actively to get Cole home to his family, and on October 2nd, he finally boarded a flight back to the United Kingdom.

 

While Cole returned home to a country that allows citizens to exercise their freedom of sexuality, this episode underlines a serious cultural barrier for homosexuals in Muslim countries—homosexuality is criminalized. As a result, gay and lesbian individuals are forced to keep their identity an absolute secret, or deal with the ramifications of being gay in a Muslim country, which can include prison, stoning, and death. Furthermore, as briefly touched upon, the crime of homosexuality puts offenders in the same category as some of the worst criminals, including murderers. How can these two crimes be reconciled as equally egregious?

 

Film maker Abdellah Taïa uses his work to explore the pain, challenges, and heartache of being gay in Morocco, documenting how a mob had yelled outside of his home about raping him, and not a single member of his family defended him. This sense of abandonment is not uncommon for homosexuals in Morocco and other Muslim countries. Taïa urges that something must change legally and culturally in these countries, as the criminalization of homosexuality is not sustainable.

 

So while Ray Cole returned home to Britain after the ordeal of being jailed for homosexuality, many are still relegated to silence in order to preserve their freedom and lives. While homosexuality remains a crime in Morocco, people that identify as homosexuals will not be able to live without the threat of violence. Will the attention brought to the situation in Morocco by Cole’s experience benefit the homosexual community in this Muslim country?

 

For more information, please visit:

The Guardian- British man jailed for four months for ‘being gay’– Oct 5, 2014

The Guardian- Morocco releases British tourist jailed for ‘homosexual acts’– Oct 7 2014

The Guardian- Moroccan partner jailed with Briton for ‘homosexual acts’ freed– Oct 9, 2014

The Guardian- Abdellah Taia: In Arab countries, homosexuality is a crime. This has to change– Oct 3, 2014