Duch Found Guilty: War Crimes Day of Reckoning

July 26, 2010

David L. Chaplin II

Impunity Watch Reporter; Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The man who ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge regime was found guilty of war crimes Monday and sentenced to 35 years in prison — with 5 years taken off that sentence for time served. The verdict against Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, also convicted him of crimes against humanity, murder and torture. Duch ran Tuol Sleng prison, where “enemies” of the Khmer Rouge regime were sent.

At least 1.7 million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population — died under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime from execution, disease, starvation and overwork, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia. But prosecutors said the former maths teacher ordered the use of brutal torture methods to extract “confessions” from detainees – including pulling out toenails and administering electric shocks – and approved all the executions.

A meticulous record-keeper, Duch built up a huge archive of photos, confessions and other evidence documenting those held at Tuol Sleng.

Despite acknowledging the role he played at Tuol Sleng, codenamed “S-21”, he insisted that he had only been following orders from his superiors, and on the trial’s final day in November shocked many by asking to be acquitted.

Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.

“I can’t accept this,” Saodi Ouch, 46, told the Associated Press news agency. “My family died… my older sister, my older brother. I’m the only one left.”

Some said they wanted a tougher sentence. “There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,” said Hong Sovath, whose father was killed in Tuol Sleng. Many called the War crimes tribunal efforts a “shame” and “slap in the face” to survivors.

The group’s top leader, “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, died in 1998. The other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, the minister of social affairs.

For more information, please see:

CNN World – Khmer Rouger survivors angry over Duch jail sentence – 26 July 2010

Al Jazeera – Khmer Rouge prison chief convicted – 26 July 2010

BBC – Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty – 26 July 2010

Venezuela Agency Aims to Silence Critics

July 24, 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

President Chavez at the presidential palace Wednesday. Photo courtesy of The Associated Press.

CARACAS, Venezuela—Public debate in Venezuela is again in jeopardy after the creation of a new governmental office. The office, formed by controversial President Hugo Chavez, may silence opposition in a country already stifled under censorship.

The Center for Situational Studies of the Nation (Centro de Estudio Situacional de la Nacion) emerged after Chavez issued a presidential decree on June 1 of this year. The Center was given a high degree of discretion and can limit public dissemination of “information, facts or circumstance[s]” that it determines should be “reserved, classified or of limited release.”

The Center, a part of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, has been given the power to “compile, process and analyze” information from governmental entities and civil society “regarding any aspect of national interest.”

Chavez recently launched criminal investigations into human rights organizations working in the country and accused such groups of being funded by the United States. Any information considered capable of compromising “the security and defense of the nation” will now be subject to criminal prosecution under the Venezuelan National Security Law.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, has been critical of the Center. The group’s director of the Americas, Jose Miguel Vivanco, called attention to Venezuela’s official efforts to silence critics and human rights defenders. He said that Chavez “has created a new tool for controlling public debate in Venezuela. The new decree would allow the president to block the discussion of topics that are inconvenient for his government, blatantly violating the rights of expression and to information, which are at the heart of a democratic society.”

Human Rights Watch believes that the Center may lead to more restrictive legislation. A broad clause in Chavez’s decree states that laws or other norms determined by the government may grant the Center even more expansive powers to block information sharing. The American Convention on Human Rights, of which Venezuela is a party, prohibits censorship of this kind.

Chavez has shut down several independent media outlets, and recently took control of the last remaining opposition TV station, Globovision. He now has plans to disrupt Vale TV, a Catholic channel which the Archdiocese of Caracas has operated since 1998. “I have ordered a review [into Vale TV] so that we can repossess the channel and put it at the service of the nation,” Chavez said. Vale TV, a non-profit station, issued a statement saying “editorial independence” and “plurality” is at stake.

For more information, please see:

UPI-Human Rights Watch: Venezuela government office muzzling critics-23 July 2010

CNA-Venezuelan president aims to shut down Catholic television channel-23 July 2010

AP-Rights Group Criticizes New Venezuela Info Office-22 July 2010

The Western Star-Rights group concerned about new Venezuela gov’t agency that will monitor information-21 July 2010

U.S. resumes ties with Indonesian military group known for human rights abuses

July 24, 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

Indonesian soldiers welcome U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who announced that the U.S. was lifting a ban on engagement with special Indonesian military forces. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles Times.)

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The U.S. military has decided to lift a decade-long ban on engagement with Indonesia’s Komanda Pasukan Khusus (Kopassas), a special forces unit that has been accused of humans rights abuses.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, during a visit to Jakarta on Thursday, said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that a limited program of engagement with the group would be permitted after the Obama administration concluded that the group has demonstrated a commitment to human rights.

“I was pleased to be able to tell the president that as a result of Indonesian military reforms over the past decade, the ongoing professionalization of the [Indonesian armed forces], and recent actions taken by the ministry of defense to address human rights issues,” Gates told reporters after meeting with Yudhoyono, “the United States will begin a gradual, limited program of security cooperation activities with the Indonesian army special forces.”

Yudhoyono promised that Indonesian Military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) reforms would continue and that there would be no repeat of the abuses that once took place.

According to Human Rights Watch, Kopassus members have engaged in serious human rights abuses, including carrying out abductions, forming deadly militia forces in East Timor in 1999, engaging in arbitrary detention of civilians in Papua, and abducting and killing Papuan activist and leader Theys H. Eluay in 2001.

The U.S. government severed all aid to the Indonesian military in 1999 because of the widespread human rights violations.

Human rights groups have expressed concern with the recent decision.

“The Obama administration has just failed a key test. This is not the way to encourage reform with a military that has yet to demonstrate a genuine commitment to accountability for serious human rights abuses. This decision rewards Kopassus for its intransigence over abuses and effectively betrays those in Indonesia who have fought for decades for accountability and justice,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, in response to Thursday’s decision.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Gates that outlined recommendations on how to approach continued engagement with the Indonesian military, urging the Obama administration to focus on a relationship that would both protect human rights in Indonesia and further national security objectives in the United States. However, as the letter noted, “without the necessary reforms in place, such assistance may facilitate continued violations of human rights in Indonesia and reinforce impunity.” The letter detailed past and recent human rights violations.

The decision comes in the development of the U.S.’s attempt to strengthen ties with Indonesia. President Obama has planned two trips to Indonesia this year. Both had to be cancelled in the wake of important domestic events: the health care reform bill and the Gulf oil spill.

Pentagon officials have indicated that the relationship will develop slowly, and that no cash aid will be delivered. Gates noted that members of Congress had been briefed on the decision and response was positive.

Indonesian officials also welcomed the announcement. “This is a positive start,” said Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s commander-in-chief, adding, “we will prepare ourselves.”

For more information, please see:

Asia Sentinel – Kopassus Reinstatement Stirs Outrage – 23 July 2010

Jakarta Post – Kopassus officially off US military embargo – 23 July 2010

Los Angeles Times – U.S. to resume aid to controversial Indonesian army unit – 23 July 2010

Washington Post – U.S. to end ban on Indonesia’s special forces, angering human rights groups – 23 July 2010

CNN – U.S. to resume ties with once-notorious Indonesian military unit – 22 July 2010

Department of Defense – Gates Seeks Stronger Military Ties With Indonesia – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Indonesia: US Resumes Military Assistance to Abusive Force – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Letter to US Department of Defense Regarding US Military Assistance to Indonesia – 4 February 2010

Conviction of Charles Taylor’s Son Affirmed

July 23, 2010

Erica Laster

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Last Thursday, the Federal Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit’s three judge panel upheld the conviction and 97 year sentence of Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Chuckie Taylor. Emmanuel is the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, and is notorious for leading a violent paramilitary unit, Anti-Terrorism Union, ordering the torture of dozen’s of his father’s political opponents between 1997and 2003.

The panel also affirmed the constitutionality of the Torture Act, a 1994 law allowing prosecution for torture acts committed overseas. Emmanuel’s attorney’s argued that the torture law was broader than the Convention Against Torture treaty which authorized his prosecution. Attorney’s also claimed the provision making use of a firearm during the crime an additional violation should not apply to overseas actions. The criminalization of foreign government actions they argued, was outside the jurisdiction of the United States. The panel held that Congress’s power to criminalize torturous acts was “a valid exercise of congressional authority,” under the Torture Act, rejecting all of the arguments.

United States Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus wrote that “The facts of this case are riddled with extraordinary cruelty and evil.” Emmanuel, now 33, a Boston born United States citizen was convicted in 2008. His convictions included the use of gruesome techniques including electric shocks, cigarette burnings, the use of scalding water, shoveling biting ants onto prisoners and using water filled holes on torture victims. Five Liberian torture victims sued Emmanuel after his criminal trial, winning $22.4 million in damages. Emmanuel blasted his charges “deceptive propaganda,” claiming the U.S. was using him as a “poster boy for human rights abuse.”

Associated Press reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tracked Emmanuel for years for possible illegal arms violations. After attempting to get a passport by using a fake name for his father on the application, Emmanuel was arrested at a Miami airport in February of 2006. Emmanuel pled guilty later that September. Emmanuel’s father remains on trial for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone in The Hague, Netherlands. His father is facing 11 counts of violations of the Geneva Convention, crimes against humanity and efforts to terrorize the civilian population of Sierra Leone.

For More Information Please See:

Jurist Federal appeals court upholds sentence for son of Liberia ex-president 16 July 2010

Associated Press Court upholds torture conviction of Taylor’s son 15 July 2010

Arab Man Who Had Consensual Sex with a Jewish Woman in Israel Convicted of Rape Under a “Sex Through Fraud” Law

July 22, 2010

By Elizabeth Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – An Arab man has been sentenced to jail time by a Jerusalem District Court for holding himself out to be a single Jewish bachelor to a Jewish woman he had consensual sex with.

Pictured: 30 year old Sabbu Kashur / Photo: Courtesy of Haaretz.com — Photo: Sabbar Kashur / Courtesy of Emil Salman, Haaretz.com

According to the woman, thirty-year-old Sabbar Kashur introduced himself as a single Jew looking for a serious relationship. The two then had sex in a nearby building. When the woman later discovered that Kashur was not Jewish, she filed a police complaint which ultimately let to charges of rape and indecent assault.

Prosecutors acknowledged that the sex was consensual, but accused Kashur of ‘rape by deceit.’

Judge Zvi Segal said, in the verdict, that the court had the duty to protect the public from sophisticated criminals who could deceive innocent victims. “If she hadn’t thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated.”

The standard for ‘rape by deception,’ according to High Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, is whether an ordinary person would expect such a woman to have sex with a man without the false identity he created. Rubinstein stated that a conviction of rape should be imposed whenever a “person does not tell the truth regarding critical matters to a reasonable woman, and as a result of misrepresentation she has sexual relations with him.”

Abeer Baker, an attorney with Adalah, an organization that advocates for Arab rights in Israel, said of the legal standard: “In this case, the ruling seems to say that if a ‘reasonable’ Jewish woman knew a man was an Arab, then she would not make love to him.”

Baker called this a “dangerous precedent,” and said it opened the door to allowing the Israeli government to interfere in the private lives of citizens.

Kashur has been under house arrest for nearly two years since the incident occurred. He said that he first met the woman, who was in her late twenties, when he was leaving a grocery store in downtown Jerusalem and she asked him about his motorcycle. He told the woman his nickname, which was ‘Dudu,’ a common Jewish nickname for Daniel. He said:

“I said my name is Dudu because that’s how everybody knows me. My wife even calls me that.”

Kashur asserts that the verdict is racist, and his lawyers are contemplating an appeal of his sentence. He said:

“For two years I’ve been under house arrest for nothing . . . If I were Jewish they wouldn’t even have questioned me. That’s not called rape. I didn’t rape her in the forest and throw her away naked. She agreed to everything that happened.”

The High Court of Justice set a precedent for rape by deception in 2008 when they convicted Zvi Sleiman, a Jewish man who impersonated a senior official in the Housing Ministry whose wife worked in the National Insurance Institute. He told the women he deceived that he could get them a better apartment and higher insurance payments if they slept with him.

The High Court also convicted a man on three counts of fraud for telling a woman he was a neurosurgeon in order to persuade her to have sex with him.

Elkana Laist of the Public Defender’s Office said that the Jerusalem District Court’s conviction had gone too far, “opening the door to a rape conviction every time a person lies regarding the details of his identity.” She added: “Every time the court thinks a reasonable woman would not have had sex with a man based on that representation, the man will be charged with rape. That approach is not accepted around the world either.”

Laist also said that the decision is paternalistic to women and problematic in application. “It means that every time a man tells a woman he loves her, based on which she sleeps with him, he could be convicted of rape.”

Dana Pugach, head of the Noga Center for Victims of Crime, said, however, that she had no problem with the verdict.

“We all have different characteristics, and it is a person’s right to have sexual relations with a person knowing the facts about those characteristics. I see no difference between impersonating a Jew if you are an Arab and a wealthy pilot when you are penniless, if those are relevant characteristics to the decision to have sex.”

A 2007 poll conducted by Israel’s Geocartography Institute found that more than fifty percent of Israeli Jews thought marrying an Arab was “equal to national treason.”

Intermarriage between Arabs and Jews is actually forbidden in Israel, and, in the settlement of Pisgat Zeev, a vigilante group patrolled the streets for more than a decade looking for mixed couples. Another settlement, Petah Tikva, has established a team of pyschologists and counsellors to “rescue” Jewish women from relationships with Arab men.

Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, asked whether the “rape by deception” law would have been applied differently in the case of an Arab woman deceived into having sex with a Jewish man.

“Would he have been convicted of rape?” Levy asked. “The answer is: of course not.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel jails Arab for ‘deceit rape’ – 21 July 2010

Haarezt.com – Jurists say Arab’s rape conviction sets dangerous precedent – 21 July 2010

Reuters – Israel jails Arab in “sex through fraud” case – 21 July 2010

The Atlantic Wire – Israel Jails Arab for Bedding Jew Under False Pretenses – 21 July 2010

Haaretz.com – Arab man who posed as Jew to seduce woman convicted of rape – 20 July 2010