Tonga’s Emergency Regulations Renewed Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com

Tonga’s Emergency Regulations Renewed Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com

By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – Tonga’s Government has elected to renew emergency powers for a further thirty days in parts of capital city.  The acting chief secretary and the secretary to the cabinet, Paula Ma’u, confirmed today that the Public Safety and Public Security Regulations had been extended.  According to Ma’u the regulations were renewed based upon the recommendation by the Minister of Police.
Under these renewed powers the police have the authority to stop and search any vehicle without a warrant, as well as to seek evidence inside of any vehicle.  The powers also allow officers wider authority to make arrests.  These powers have been criticized by international rights organizations for being an abuse of power and an attempt to frustrate the pro-democracy movement.
The emergency powers were originally put into place in November 2006 after a riot broke out in the heart of the capital city of Nuku’alofa.  The riot began when a group broke away from a political reform rally and began looting local businesses.  Throughout the course of the riot 150 businesses, mostly owned by people of Chinese origins, were destroyed.
For more information, please see:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Tonga extends emergency rule – 20 February 2009
Radio New Zealand International – Emergency regulations in Tonga rolled over for the 28th time – 20 February 2009
Matangi – Emergency Powers extended another 30 days – 19 February 2009

Mass Strikes Over Living Conditions in El Salvador’s Prisons

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Fourteen of El Salvador’s nineteen prisons are now embroiled in mass protests over prisoner living conditions. Inmates have refused to return to their cells, take part in workshops and other activities, allow prisoners to enter or leave the facilities, or allow visitors or medical personnel in. Prisoners are demanding better living conditions before they cooperate with authorities, who are currently on standby in case intervention is needed to restore order.

The protests began on Saturday with eleven prisons and had spread to fourteen by Monday. El Salvador’s prison system is notorious for being massively overcrowded and affording very minimal rights and protections for the prisoner population, which is currently numbered at 20,000 in a prison system that was built to house only 8,000 people. The government has been called upon consistently in the past to address the mass imprisonment of El Salvadorans.

Prisons director Gilbert Caceres blamed the uprisings on inmates who were being manipulated by gangs involved in organized crime.

For more information, please see:

The Earth Times Mass Protests in El Salvador Prisons – 16 February 2009

Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Unrest in El Salvador’s Overcrowded Prisons – 16 February 2009

Cambodia Opens Landmark Khmer Rouge Trial

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia —On February 17th, Cambodia began the trial for the atrocities of the “Killing Fields.” Former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, also known as “Duch”, faces charges of crimes against humanity. Duch, now 66, is accused of presiding over the deaths of 15,000 men, women, and children in Tuol Sleng prison over 30 years ago.

The UN-funded tribunal was established in 2006 and after much delay and controversy, the tribunal opened for the first time on Tuesday. The tribunal is to try Duch on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder. Duch faces a possible life sentence and the tribunal does not impose the death penalty. “This first hearing represents the realization of significant efforts in establishing a fair and independent tribunal to try those in senior leadership positions,” chief judge Nil Nonn said at the opening of the trial.

The Khmer Rouge regime killed 2 million people which nearly wiped out a quarter of the country’s population.  Tuol Sleng prison was used to extract false confessions from alleged traitors who were under suspicion of being agents of foreign powers including the CIA. Many inmates were taken to nearby Choeung Ek, an orchard now known as the “Killing Fields.” Adults were beaten to death while children’s heads were smashed against trees. “I prayed for dawn as soon as possible so that I could see this trial start,” said artist Vann Nath, one of the few survivors from the prison.

On Tuesday, the hearing adjourned after seven hours of legal arguments, which mainly dealt with the admissibility of witnesses. Duch’s defense lawyer Francois Roux complained to the court that it was “unacceptable” that Duch had been held without trial for more than nine years. After the first day of trial, Roux told reporters that Duch acknowledged the charges against him and wished to use proceedings to publicly ask forgiveness from his victims as well as all other Cambodian people.

Roux told the press, “Duch will try to explain some things, but he can’t explain all that happened. Is it possible to explain what has gone against humanity itself?”

Like most of the Khmer Rouge’s top figures, Duch lived freely for years until he was arrested in 1999. He was formally transferred to the tribunal in July 2007. Currently, Duch is held at villa along with four top Khmer Rouge leaders, who will face trial later this year.

Kan Hann, whose brother and sister died of starvation and overwork under the Khmer Rouge, came to the trial on Tuesday. “My dream has come true now as I have been waiting for the trial for 30 years,” he said.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Cambodia Killing Fields Trial Opens; The Chief Accused Expresses Remorse– February 2009

APF – Cambodia opens landmark ‘Killing Fields’ trial – 17 February 2009

New York Times – Khmer Rouge Genocide Trial Opens in Cambodia – 17 February 2009

APF – Picture of Dutch on Trial

Mexican Border Towns Protest Federal Troops Violence

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MONTERREY, Mexico – Hundreds of people in Mexico have blocked key crossings into the US in protests against army deployment and operations to fight drug traffickers.  Traffic was brought to a halt on a number of bridges in several border towns in northern Mexico.  The protesters accused the army of abuse against civilians. The protesters blocked bridges in Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa. Government officials claimed drug gangs, which paid people to do so, had organized the blockades and the protests.

Police chased protesters away with water cannons.  The protesters chanted “Soldiers out!” and “Stop abuse by the Federal Preventative Police!” The demonstrators also shut roads in the industrial city of Monterrey.

Mexico’s President Calderon has sent 45,000 troops and federal police across Mexico to fight drug gangs since late 2006. According to Mexican officials, more than 5,400 people were killed in drug-related violence last year.  In some parts of the country, the army has taken over the role of the police, which have often proved easily corrupted when bribed or threatened by the gangs.

Many of the protesters said border towns had become more dangerous since President Felipe Calderon sent the army in. On Tuesday, for example, ten people died and fifteen were wounded in a gun battle between federal troops and a drug hitmen in Reynosa. Human rights activists say there are legitimate complaints about reported abuses by the troops, including alleged cases in which army patrols have fired on civilians at checkpoints. Calderon, however, has Washington’s support for using the army. Bloodshed across the Mexican border has prompted some experts in recent months to issue dire warnings about Mexico’s future stability and the potential security risks to the United States.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Mexicans block US border in anti-army protest – 18 February 2009

BBC News – Marchers block Mexico-US border – 18 February 2009

Reuters – Mexicans protest army campaign against drug cartels – 18 February 2009

Pelosi says U.S. Won’t Press Allies on Guatanamo Inmates

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ROME, Italy- U.S. President Barack Obama is not expected to ask Washington’s allies to host inmates from Guantanamo prison unless they have citizens detained there, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday.Obama has ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, closed within a year, but the fate of the prisoners there remains a big question, particularly those who cannot return to their own countries.

Obama had been expected to ask EU states to take in some of the roughly 245 remaining detainees.
“I don’t think we’ll see a situation where the president will be asking countries to accept people unless it happens to be the country of origin,” Pelosi told reporters during a trip to Italy. “And then it’s up to the country’s discretion as to whether they would accept them or not.”

President George W. Bush’s administration failed to persuade its allies, in particular those in the 27-nation EU, to take in inmates who were unable to return to their home country and who the United States did not want to accept either. They included Chinese Muslim Uighurs who Washington said cannot return to China because they would face persecution, together with Libyans, Uzbeks and Algerians also seen at risk.

Pelosi recalled that Obama ordered a review process to look at the nature of the detention of Guantanamo inmates, some of whom have been held for years without trial. “President Obama has said that he will have a review of every situation, every person, at Guantanamo to establish the facts of why they are there,” she said.”When that is determined, there will be some resolution of what to do with these people, some going back to their country of origin.”

The Pentagon says some 520 detainees have been released from Guantanamo since 2002. About 60 others have been declared eligible for transfer or release but remain at the prison pending discussions with other governments. “One thing is for sure: Guantanamo will be closed and the president intends to do it correctly,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said that the US administration is committed to a “new era of cooperation” with its allies
She added: “We have to make a judgement. … And I mean we, Italy, the European Union, the United States, NATO — all of us — as to what is in our national security interests, and we have to make a commitment that is commensurate with that but which is not … impossible to achieve.”

For more information, please see:
AFP- Pelosi pledges ‘new era of cooperation’ between US, allies-16 February 2009

International Herald Tribune- Pelosi says U.S. won’t press allies on Guantanamo inmates– 16 February 2009

AP- Officials say Italy will not take Gitmo inmates– 16 February 2009