Two Shiite Protestors Shot and Killed by Saudi Authorities

Two Shiite Protestors Shot and Killed by Saudi Authorities

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Two Shiite protesters, Akbar Al-Shakuri and Mohammed Al-Filfil, were shot and killed by police in the Saudi Arabian town of Qatif.  The police were sent to disperse those who gathered to protest the arrest of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqer Al-Nimr.

Protesters
Shiite protesters in Saudi Arabia march down a street hours after the arrest of Shiite cleric Nimr Baqer Al- Nimr. (Photo Courtesy of Al Bawaba)

A statement from an Interior Ministry spokesman, Major General Mansour Turki, said the deaths followed a protest in the village of Awamiya after the arrest of Nimr, but said that no clash occurred between protesters and police.

“Security authorities had been notified by a nearby medical center on the arrival of four individuals brought in by their relatives,” Turki told Reuters.  “Two of them were dead, the other two were slightly injured.  Competent authorities initiated investigations over the incident.”

The Awamiya protests followed earlier demonstrations held in Qatif, where at least six protestors were shot and killed after the city held the largest protest it has seen since November and December.

“In the aftermath of the arrest … a limited number of people have assembled in the town of Awamiya,” Turki said. “Gun shots have been overheard in random areas of the town. However, there was no security confrontation whatsoever.”

Hussain Al-Alk, a resident of Qatif and a staffer at the Adala Center for Human Rights, states that hundreds of protesters gathered in Qatif hours after Nimr was shot and arrested last Sunday.  Alk believed that Nimr was arrested because the government adhered to the demands of influential Sunnis to escalate its pressure on Shiite opposition.

“It seems that in the last month the government became too worried. The Sunnis have started saying, ‘Why when the Sunnis are talking against the government you are arresting him immediately, while Shias, you are not doing anything to him,'” said Alk.

Saudi officials stated that Nimr hurt his leg when authorities were chasing him.  Seen as a radical cleric by the government, Nimr was arrested because the Interior Ministry considered him an “instigator of sedition.”  The Ministry also said that he would be interrogated after he receivedtreatment for his injury.  The official Saudi press agency reported that Nimr was arrested after he and his followers exchanged fire with security forces and crashed into a police vehicle.

Nimr’s brother, Mohammed, stated that the cleric was arrested while driving from a farm to his house in Qatif.

“He had been wanted by the interior ministry for a couple of months because of his political views,” Mohammed said.  “In the past couple of months he has adopted a lot of Shiite issues and expressed his views on them, demanding their rights.”

Mohammed also said that the cleric was previously detained for several days in 2004 and 2006.

In a sermon delivered ten days ago, Nimr confidently stated that he would be arrested or killed, saying that he had only “heightened” the claims of his supporters.  Shiites in the Sunni-ruled kingdom say they struggle to get government jobs or university places, that their neighborhoods suffer from under-investment, and that their places of worship are often closed down.  The government denies charges of discrimination.

For further information, please see: 

Al Bawaba — Saudi Arabia: Two Shiites Killed During Clashes with Police — 9 July 2012

Al Jazeera — Saudi Protest Crackdown Leaves Two Dead — 9 July 2012

BBC News — Two Die During Saudi Arabia Protest at Shia Cleric Arrest — 9 July 2012

Rasid — Saudi Security Forces Kill Two Protesters in Qatif — 9 July 2012

Reuters — Saudi Arabia Says Two Killed after Cleric’s Arrest — 9 July 2012

Argentina’s Former Dictators Sentenced to Jail Time for Baby Thefts

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s former dictators were sentenced on Thursday, August 6, to fifty years (Videla) and fifteen years (Bignone) in jail for masterminding a plan to steal the children of political opponents, kill their mothers, and send them to live and be raised by “good” military families.

Former Dictators, Bignone and Videla, Were Sentenced to 15 and 50 Years in Prison Respectively. (Photo Courtesy of The Telegraph)

The verdict last week was the conclusion of a trial that began in February 2011, during which hundreds of hours of testimony were heard proving that these kidnappings were a deliberate policy action carried out by the top leaders of Videla and Bignone’s regimes. British journalist and one of the main witnesses in the trial, Robert Cox, noted that “the kidnapping of newly born babies is the last crime that former members of the military regime are willing to admit. It’s like the Nazis, what they did was so terrible they could never admit it.”

Shortly after Videla’s regime came to an end and Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983, a “Never Again” commission was created documenting thousands of crimes against humanity throughout the military regime. However, hardly any of these crimes were brought to court and prosecuted until the late Nestor Kirchner was elected to the presidency 20 years later.

While an estimated 30,000 people were killed under Videla and Bignone’s regimes, this trial was brought in order to establish the true identities of about 500 babies that were alleged to be stolen by the dictators. At the conclusion of the trial, the prosecution could prove that over 100 babies were stolen—some were born in captivity, while others were kidnapped with their families, and raised by other families linked to the dictatorship.

Spectators watched in anticipation and celebration as the verdicts were announced on large television screens outside the federal courthouse of Buenos Aires. Human rights activist Tati Almeida exclaimed, “This is an historic day. Today legal justice has been made real — never again the justice of one’s own hands.”

Today, 105 of these kidnapped children, now in their 30s, have undergone DNA tests and have been reunited with their families through the efforts of an organization called Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo that was created by the mothers of missing women whose infants were stolen.

As the effort to restore Argentina’s democracy continues, Juan Garcia, who was left at an orphanage after his father was murdered by a military guerrilla group, said, “We’ll continue this fight for justice.”

 

For further information, please see:

Belle News – Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone Found Guilty of Babies Theft in Argentina – 9 July 2012

The Guardian – Jorge Rafael Videla Convicted of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

The Telegraph – Former Argentine Dictators Found Guilty of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

Winnepeg Free Press – Argentina’s Dictators Guilty of Stealing Babies From Prisoners – 5 July 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 8 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

A Change To End All Change!

 

The International Community has long shifted its focus on Syria from supporting democratic transition to containing an impending “catastrophe,” to borrow Hillary Clinton’s term. But in both cases they remain unsure as to what needs to be done. That lingering uncertainty is exactly why catastrophe is fast becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Saturday July 08, 2012

 

Today’s Death toll:  60. The Breakdown: 14 in Damascus Suburbs, 12 in Homs, 10 In Daraa, 7 in Deir Ezzor, 6 in Hama, 6 in Idlib and 5 in Aleppo.

 

Many towns and cities across the country came under heavy pounding today, including:

 

Karak, Yadoudeh, Sheikh Miskeen, Ghabaghib, Bosra, Maarabha, Izraa, Mseifrah, Ghariyeh and Daraa City (Daraa Province), Deir Jammal, Eizaz, Hreitan and Anadan(Aleppo Province), Deir Ezzor City and Mayadeen (Deir Ezzor Province), Homs city, Houla, Rastan, Qusayr, Tal Kalakh and Talbisseh (Homs Province), Douma, Jisreen, Diyabiyeh Misraba and Madaya (Damascus Suburbs), Hama City and Sahel Al-Ghab(Hama Province), Khan Shaikhoon (Idlib Province).

 

News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Op-Eds & Special Reports

 

 

A Change to End All Change

 

The Scenario: A national unity government is agreed under the presidency of a Sunni figurehead. Assad is out, but rather than going to Russia, he goes to Lattakia where he is the undisputed leader of an ethnically cleansed Alawite-majority enclave, and still in charge from behind the scenes of manipulating the national army and security apparatuses which remain for years to come under Alawite control. Kurdish enclaves are granted autonomy, and the rest of the country is held together by a Sunni Arab-majority government. FSA groups are gradually reintegrated into the regular army.

 

This it seems the current scenario being thrust upon us. There myriad problems with this scenario, but the most important one is the fact that events on the ground are moving too fast for it. This scenario requires a lot of micromanagement, but no party, domestic, regional or international is well-positioned or equipped to do it effectively. This is why Russia wants Iran to be onboard, but even their combined efforts cannot stand the test of unfolding realities.

 

People need to get real on Syria.

 

 

Assad’s recent interview with Germany’s ARD TV provides us with few revealing gems that should help dispel some illusions, if only international leaders and experts are willing to listen.

 

On the infamous Houla Massacre

 

When asked directly about the killing of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian village of Houla in May, he blamed it on gangs who “came in hundreds from outside the city.”

 

This is the second time Assad has had a chance to tell us about the identity of the victims. But neither in his speech that took place after the massacre nor in this interview did Assad claim that the victims of Houla were Alawites or recent convert to Shi’ism. As such, we must in all fairness dismiss such claims as blatantly false and stand by the initial reports and eyewitness accounts, supported by videos and satellite photography, that putt eh blame clearly on pro-Assad militias. The Massacre of Houla came as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at Sunni inhabitants in key locations that Assad and his supporters want to transform into an Alawite majority enclave as part of their Plan B in dealing with the current situation.

 

Reform vs. Freedom

 

Assad said a “majority of the people ask for reforms, political reforms (but) not freedom.”

 

This particular pearl of wisdom should be quoted in each standard textbook on political science, political philosophy and psychology. This is exactly the kind of wisdom for which Assad should be remembered for eternity. That’s the sum total of his heritage.

 

On Stepping Down

 

He stressed that he still had the overall support of Syria’s people,firmly ruling out stepping down. “The president shouldn’t run away from challenge and we have a national challenge now in Syria,” he said.

 

There it is then: Assad has no plans to step down voluntarily, and the Russians want him to be part of the political transition process. What does that mean really? Political solution without military muscle will not be possible in Syria. It’s as simple and plain as that.

 

On dialogue

 

While he said he was ready for political dialogue with the opposition, Assad left no doubt that he would fight those his government perceives as terrorists. “But as long as you have terrorism and as long as the dialogue didn’t work, you have to fight the terrorism. You cannot keep just making dialogue while they are killing your people and your army,” he said.

 

 

The ethnic cleansing of Syria has already begun, warns Dall’Oglio. But he insists that it is a project of the Assad government, not an objective of the Sunni-led guerrilla forces that have inspired such misgivings among Christians and other Syrian minorities, including Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

 

“The regime is already acting in the logic of division of the country,” says Dall’Oglio, citing rumors of contingency plans for an Alawite-run rump state carved from the Mediterranean shore to the Orontes River. “What do you do with most of the Sunni population? They have started to kill them, massively.”

 

 

BUSINESS INSIDER: HACKED STRATFOR EMAILS

 

The emails were published back in March, 2012, but their subject is still pretty much relevant.

 

“After a couple hours of talking, they said without saying that SOF teams (presumably from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey) are already on the ground focused on recce [i.e. reconnaissance] missions and training opposition forces… They have been told to prepare contingencies and be ready to act within 2-3 months, but they still stress that this is all being done as contingency planning, not as a move toward escalation.” They then discuss the option of an air campaign in Syria and what its objectives would be, saying the situation “makes Libya look like a piece of cake” because of the geography and Syria’s robust air defenses. “The main base they would use is Cyprus, hands down. Brits and French would fly out of there. They kept stressing how much is stored at Cyprus and how much recce comes out of there… There still seems to be a lot of confusion over what a military intervention involving an air campaign would be designed to achieve.”

 

 

“He says there are in Syria about 3,000 IRGC men and 2,000 HZ fighters, in addition to 300 Amal Movement men [i.e. Lebanese Resistance Detachments] and 200 [Syrian National Socialist Party] militiamen. The IRGC men are leading the pro-regime armed gangs. Syrian soldiers who refuse to open fire on protesters are killed by the Iranians and pro-Syrian Lebanese allies. The Iranians and Lebanese usually stand behind Syrian troops and kill Syrian soldiers immediately if they refuse to open fire. The 17 Syrian troops dumped in the Orontes River in Hama were killed by HZ men.”

 

 

The former director of the security firm Blackwater aided the Libyan opposition and was subsequently sent to contact Syrian rebels in Turkey at the request of a U.S. Government committee, according to published Stratfor emails and reported by Al-Akhbar English.

 

Video Highlights

 

This leaked video from a defector shows the aftermath of an attack that he filmed before defecting. It was an attack by a local resistance unit on a pro-Assad military facility that left 48 loyalists dead. The attack is said to have taken place on June 28 in Iz Ma’areen Village in Hama Province http://youtu.be/5qwhIpUeT2o

 

Local resistance groups in the town of Anadan, Aleppo Province, take possession of a cannon that was used by pro-Assad militias in pounding their townhttp://youtu.be/embeLcpC4Os

 

In Hreitan, Aleppo Province, an Islamic local resistance group clash with invading pro-Assad columns http://youtu.be/PWUwt5Yg85Y

 

In Deir Jammal, Aleppo Province, tanks http://youtu.be/Tc5j-CVdmEc and helicopter gunships http://youtu.be/ASaLyYYtpUI take part in the pounding.

 

Helicopter gunships take part in pounding Eizaz, Aleppo Province http://youtu.be/Kju-Q5s4ZOQ

 

The sounds of nighttime clashes in Abassid Square in downtown Damascus Cityhttp://youtu.be/9v5GCPNBdvs

 

The pounding of Homs City continues http://youtu.be/Oy2l10Zodjw ,http://youtu.be/HxTwXPl6DT8 So does the pounding of Houlahttp://youtu.be/TYTzchb4iAY and Talbisseh http://youtu.be/yc1nWGLvteY the pounding was aimed at stopping this funeral for a local martyr http://youtu.be/fCrDajbo2NQ

 

In Daraa, the pounding of Maaraba by helicopter gunships continuehttp://youtu.be/_IgUp4s0MX0 , http://youtu.be/_IgUp4s0MX0

 

Different neighborhoods and suburbs in Daraa City also comes under pounding, leaving many houses on fire http://youtu.be/6l4_EdmKz-s

 

The Damascene suburb of Madaya comes under pounding http://youtu.be/eCxIa5CRTsY ,http://youtu.be/2ZkKACaVv5c , http://youtu.be/BQN0PQnRma0

 

Greek Authorities Fail to Address Police Violence

By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ATHENS, Greece – The Greek government’s failure to acknowledge the widespread cases of police brutality in Greece has led to the routine use of excessive force, including the use of chemical sprays and stun grenades, on peaceful demonstrators, migrants, asylum-seekers, and members of other vulnerable groups.

Greek police arresting a demonstrator. (Photo courtesy of Cryptome)
Greek police arresting a demonstrator. (Photo courtesy of Cryptome)

A case study done by Amnesty International detailed the amount of mal-treatment, physical abuse, and even torture that protestors and migrants have suffered at the hands of police.  The report also listed the brutal methods that the police use during peaceful demonstrations, which includes using tear gas and other types of chemical weapons.

In one case, a protestor was hit by a police motorbike during a demonstration in central Athens.  She suffered serious head injuries, a fractured collarbone, and fractured ribs as a result of the collision.  A doctor, also a participant in the demonstration, was beaten by the police with batons when he tried to provide medical aid to the woman.

Such brutality continues to exist mainly due to the lack of investigation, prosecution, and punishment in these types of cases.

Greek authorities have minimized the issue of police brutality, claiming that while such cases do exist, they are rare and isolated.  As a result, authorities have refused to adequately address the issue.  Investigations, if launched, are often conducted with biases.  Authorities have even denied victims prompt medical care and access to lawyers.

Amnesty International stated that the government’s lack of response led to the creation of a “climate of impunity.”

The lack of identification is a common obstacle to prosecuting and punishing those that engage in police violence.  Demonstrators, especially those who have been severely beaten and gassed, often have a hard time in making out the identification number of the offending officers.  Even if the protestor can see clearly after enduring the gas and pain, the identification numbers are still difficult to find because they have been strategically placed, if at all, on the back of the officers’ helmets.

Being unable to provide any identification numbers makes reporting an abusive officer virtually impossible.  Other reasons why many cases go unreported are either lack of faith that reporting would bring any change, or, as in the case of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers, fear of retribution.

Although Greek police have not issued a response to Amnesty International’s report, Greece’s new justice minister, Antonis Roupakiotis, called on prosecutors to address the issue of police brutality.

“Justice officials must investigate incidents of police violence rapidly and effectively without the long and dubious procedural delays that reinforce a sense of impunity,” Roupakiotis told a newspaper.

 

For further information, please see:

Greek Reporter — Greek Justice Minister Speaks Out Against Police Violence — 8 July 2012

Amnesty International — Greece: New government should address police violence — 3 July 2012

Jurist — AI: Greece police routinely use excessive force, violence — 3 July 2012

Washington Post — Human rights group Amnesty International criticizes violence by Greek police — 3 July 2012

 

Danger Increases in Mali

By Vicki Turakhia
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali – School closures in Mali have increased the vulnerability for children making them susceptible to violence or recruitment as a child soldier. The increased violence in Mali has caused families to be torn apart. The age of the child soldiers are reported to be as young as 12 years old.

Since January, the fighting has displaced some 95,000 people within Mali and has forced more than 100,000 to flee (Photo Courtesy of All Africa).

Hassan Toure, a citizen of Mali, has stated that he chose to stay in Mali because he owns a shop there and wanted to prevent the shop from being destroyed or looted. But in March, Toure’s eldest son never returned home and is missing to this day.

While some children have been recruited as child soldiers, some girls also as young as 12, have been kidnapped and raped. In addition, UNICEF is fearful that 560,000 children are at risk for malnutrition this year with 220,000 needing a more involved treatment. Already, 70,000 children have already been treated for malnutrition in Mali this year.

Around 330,000 people have fled their homes in Mali, a fifth of them being children. Many of these people have fled to neighboring countries due to the fighting taking place in Mali.

As of April, the rebels in Mali have announced a new state called Azawad and are fighting with the help of the weapons from Libya. The group fighting for the separate state of Azawad calls themselves the Movement for the National Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and have been known to use child soldiers.

A separate group in Mali fighting against the MNLA, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), have also been using child soldiers. M’Bera, a refugee camp, is where many Malian citizens have gone to get away from the instability.

M’Bera is located in Mauritania and is now considered the fourth largest town in Mauritania. Security has become an issue, the Mauritanian government is reacting by providing free military escorts to aid workers. This is to prevent the same situation that occurred in Dadaab where aid workers were being kidnapped.

Other problems also remain with the availability of resources such as food, water, and firewood. The refugee population is now greater than the local population. The resources are depleted to a point where the humanitarian standard for providing 20 liters of water per person has been diminished to 10 liters per person, per day.

Solutions discussed include dispersing the people of Mali with the use of local hospitality of neighboring countries and people.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Mali: Unicef Warns of Increasing Violence Against Children in North – 6 July 2012

Huffington Post – Mali Conflict: Children Recruited Into Armed Groups, U.N. Says – 6 July 2012

Yahoo News – Mali children raped, maimed, recruited by armed groups – 6 July 2012

All Africa – Mali: Beyond Big Refugee Camps – 3 July 2012

All Africa – Mali: Child Soldiers Used in Conflict – 4 May 2012