By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – On June 12, 30 Arab human rights groups issued a joint statement to the Saudi government to release Dr Matruk al-Faleh. Faleh is a prominent reformist who was arrested on May 19.

In the joint statement, the groups expressed concern over Faleh health. According to Faleh’s wife, he has been on a hunger strike since his arrest in mid-May. In addition, Faleh suffers from diabetes and hypertension.

The human rights groups called upon the Saudi government to “end to their arbitrary practices targeting Saudi activists who aspire to effect democratic reform in the kingdom.”

The reason for Faleh’s arrest is unclear, although the human rights groups believe that it is linked to Faleh’s representation of reformist Abdullah al-Hamed and a statement Faleh wrote after visiting him, which was critical of conditions in the jail.

In August 2005, King Abdullah pardoned and released Faleh after he spent 17 months in prison for advocating a constitutional monarchy.

For more information, please see:

Middle East Times – Arab Rights Groups Urge Saudi to Free Jailed Reformist – 12 June 2008

AFP – Saudi Activists Appeal to King Over Jailed Reformist – 5 June 2008

Washington Post – Saudi Critic Jailed After Decrying Justice System – 21 May 2008

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SANANDAJ PRISON, Iran – On June 10, Iran ignored international pleas and executed a juvenile offender, Mohammad Hassanzadeh, aged 17. Hassanzadeh was convicted for a murder he committed when he was 15 years old and is the second juvenile offender that Iran has executed this year.

Amnesty International criticized Iran: “This latest execution of a juvenile offender is yet another blatant violation by the Iranian authorities of their international obligations under the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child not to sentence to death those under the age of 18 at the time of the offence.”

Also on June 10, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, head of Iran’s Judiciary, granted a one month reprieve to two other juvenile offenders; Behnoud Shojaee, and Mohammad Feda’i. Shojaee and Feda’i were convicted of separate incidences of premeditated murder. According to letter written by Feda’i, he was beaten by prison authorities until he agreed to sign a confession without knowledge of its content.

According to Amnesty International, there are 85 juvenile offenders sentenced to death in Iran. In 2007, Iran executed at least 335 individuals, seven of which were juvenile offenders.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Iran Executes Juvenile Offender – 12 June 2008

Jerusalem Post – 2 Iranian Kids Reprieved from Execution – 12 June 2008

Amnesty International – Kurdish Boy Executed in Iran – 11 June 2008

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HEBRON, West Bank – On June 9, Thamam al Nawaja (58 years old), her husband (70), and their nephew, were assaulted by four masked men. Nawaja had been herding her goats near the Jewish settlement of Susia, near Hebron.

“The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land,” said Nawaja. “They don’t want us to stay on our land. But we won’t leave. We’ll die here. It’s ours.” When her family refused to leave, the men began attacking Nawaja and her family. Nawaja was badly injured and transported to an Israeli hospital, where she stayed for three days. Her husband and nephew were transported to a hospital in Hebron.

The incident was filmed on a camera distributed by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, as part of their “Shooting Back” project. The objective of the project is to provide video evidence, instead of an oral statement, of an assault to the Israeli police.

Oren Yakobovich, who leads the “Shooting Back” project, states “When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon.”

The Yesh Din human rights organization commented that Palestinians have filed six complaints about assault in the last three months. Two have been closed on grounds that the perpetrator was unknown.

For more information, please see:

BBC – ´Jewish Settler Attack´ on Film – 12 June 2008

Ha’aretz – Three Palestinian Sheperds Tell Police: We were attacked by masked settlers in Hebron Hills – 10 June 2008

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANAA, Yemen – A Yemeni court sentenced 13 Zaydi Shiite rebels to up to 10 years in jail on Monday and another to death after convicting them of forming an armed group to attack the state and civilians.  Fighting between the rebels and government forces have continued in Saada since 2004. Last month 15 people were killed by a bombing outside a mosque.

Jafar al-Murhabi was sentenced to death, but no reason has been given for the much tougher sentence he received compared to the other 13 men.  The defendants were convicted of charges relating to plots to attack Yemeni troop transporters and government buildings, and contaminate water supplies to military bases.

Among those sentenced was journalist Abdel Karim al-Khaywani, editor of the opposition newspaper al-Shura.  Khaywani was sentenced to six years but is appealing the conviction.  Yemen’s union of journalists protested the sentence.

“The court sentence against Khaywani is harsh. We reject and condemn it, and it should be revoked,” said the head of the union, Nasr Taha Mostapha.

The sentence comes just days before an event in London at which Khaywani is in line to win a human rights media award.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Death Sentence for Yemen ‘Rebel’ – 9 June 2008

Reuters – Yemen Court Sentences 13 Rebels to Jail, 1 to Death – 9 June 2008

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CAMP PEDELTON, California – A US military jury acquitted Lt. Andrew Grayson of the charges that he helped cover up the killings of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.  Originally four officers and four enlisted Marines were charged with the murders.  Three of the Marines and two of the officers have had their charges thrown out.  Grayson was the first defendant to go to trial.

Only defendants Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani remain, without a single guilty verdicts or pleas handed down.  The military judge at Wuterich’s preliminary hearing has written that he doubts a conviction is possible because of lack of forensic evidence and unreliable statements by witnesses.  Chessani’s lawyers feel that if their client goes to trial, he too will be found not guilty.

With only two remaining defendants, not a single person has been found responsible for the deaths of the 24 Iraqi civilians.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Marine Cleared over Iraq Killings – 5 June 2008

LA Times – Haditha Case Dwindles with Innocent Verdict – 5 June 2008

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BAGHDAD, Iraq – A suicide car bomb exploded near an American patrol base on June 8, killing one US solider and wounding 20 other people.  18 of the wounded were American soldiers and two were Iraqi contractors.

Iraqi police said the car bomb targeted a U.S. patrol base in a mostly Sunni Arab residential area in Rashad, about 25 miles southwest of Kirkuk.  The suicide attacker rammed his vehicle into blast walls outside the gates of the U.S. base, Qadir said.

According to an Associated Press tally, at least 4,094 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Iraq Suicide Blast Kills US Soldier, Wounds 18 – 8 June 2008

Reuters – Iraq Suicide Bomber Kills U.S. Soldier, Wounds 18 – 8 June 2008

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – On May 5, Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner told Congress that he was reopening his investigation into whether the US Justie Department improperly deported Canadian Maher Arar.  Arar was detained in New York in 2002, during a stopover from Tunisia to Canada.  Arar was deported to his native Syria, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured.

A Justice Department spokesman, Peter A. Carr, said that its inquiry began in March 2007.  The inquiry examined the role of department lawyers in expelling Arar to Syria.  He was transferred to Syria despite requests to for him to be deported to Canada and fears that he would be subjected to torture if he returned to Syria.

In a report, which was heavily redacted, Skinner said that “the assurances upon which INS based Arar’s removal were ambiguous regarding the source or authority purporting to bind the Syrian government to protect Arar.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – US Officials Reopen Case of Wrongly Detained Terror Suspect – 6 June 2008

New York Times- Justice Dept Investigating Deportation to Syria – 6 June 2008

Reuters – U.S. Probes Deporting of Canadian to Syria – 6 June 2008

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INSTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has accused the country’s highest court of violating the constitution by overturning a government move to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves in universities.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party campaigned for re-election last year on a promise to lift a ban on head scarves, claiming the prohibition violated religious and personal freedoms. Upon victory, the government passed constitutional amendments to lift the ban.

On May 5, the court threw out the amendments Thursday, saying they violated Turkey’s secular principles. The decision, which is final, threw up a heavy legal barrier to any further attempts to lift the ban and has deepened the divide between the Islamic-leaning government and secular institutions.

Bulent Arinc, a top member of the AK Party described the decision as grave.  “It gives me goose pimples… The Constitutional Court has indirectly seized the power of parliament,” said Arinc, a former parliament speaker.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Turkey Headscarf Ruling Condemned – 6 May 2008

Associated Press – Turkish Gov’t Scolds High Court on Head Scarf Ban – 6 May 2008

New York Times – Turkey’s High Court Overturns Headscarf Rule – 6 May 2008

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TEL AVIV, Israel – On June 2, the Israeli Supreme Court heard a petition from Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, representing two Gazan students who had their exit permits denied.  The students were granted Fulbright Fellowships to study abroad in Great Britain and Germany but had their requests to leave Gaza denied by Israel.

In its holding, the court criticized the Israeli government for its almost total ban on student travel.  A member of the court stated that Israel’s policy was harming “any chance of coexistence” between the Jewish state and its neighbors in Gaza.  Also, the court stated that the government should review its policy within the next two weeks.  According to Gisha, if Israel does not relax its travel restrictions against Gazans soon, hundreds of students will miss deadlines to pursue studies abroad.

This decision follows the reinstatement of seven students’ Fulbright Fellowships after they were withdrawn on May 30.  These students’ fellowships were briefly deferred as a result of Israel denying them exit visas.  According to officials in the US State Department, the students’ fellowships were reinstated following US intercession.

Sari Bashi, Gisha director, said, “We hope that Israel will listen to the clear message of Secretary of State Rice’s comments regarding the importance of the right to access education and let all Gaza students leave and study abroad.”

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Israel to loosen Limits on Gaza Scholar – 6 May 2008

Associated Press – 4 Fulbright Students Leave Gaza – 5 June 2008

Reuters – Court Tells Israel to Review Gaza Student Travel – 2 June 2008