Car Bomb in Beirut Kills Intelligence Official, Syria Blamed

Car Bomb in Beirut Kills Intelligence Official, Syria Blamed

By Emily Schneider
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – At least three people were killed and over eighty injured by a car bomb in East Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district during Friday afternoon’s rush hour. Wissam al-Hassan, the Internal Security Forces’ (ISF) intelligence chief, was among the dead.

Flames engulf a car at the site of Friday’s bomb attack in Beirut. (Photo courtesy of CNN)

Hassan had long been known for his anti-Syrian sentiment.  He was one of several intelligence officers who proved invaluable to the uncovering of a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of Michel Samah, a Lebanese politician close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Samah was accused of trying to help smuggle explosives into Lebanon.  Hassan was also involved in pursuing those responsible for a series attacks and assassinations in Lebanon between 2005 and 2008, including the murder of Rafik al-Hariri.

Saad Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, was who he thought was responsible for Friday’s bombing. His reply: “Bashar Hafez al-Assad. Who killed Wissam al-Hassan is as clear as day. Certainly the Lebanese people will not be silent over this heinous crime and I, Sadd Hariri, promise that I will not be silent.”

Others were not so quick to give their opinions on who was responsible. Ziad Baroud, another former Lebanese interior minister, said that it was too soon to tell who was behind the car bombing.

“High-ranking officials have not said anything so far, and therefore neither can I,” Baroud told Al Jazeera. “We have no indication whatsoever [of who is behind this]. We know this is a strong and sad message, and we know this could destabilize the whole country.”

The incident gives credence to fears that the civil war in Syria is spilling over into the country, which shares a border. Tensions between Lebanese factions caught on opposite sides of the conflict are heightening. Just two days ago, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab envoy peace to Syria, warned that “you cannot expect the Syrian crisis to remain within Syrian borders.”

The explosion occurred in a predominantly Christian area on a street lined with shops, churches, and office buildings. There is usually a significant number of police in the area. According to Aram Nerguizian, a teacher at a school around the block from the attack site, the area is “among the safest” in Beirut.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Lebanon Intelligence Official Assassinated – 19 October 2012

CNN – Anti-Syrian Official Killed When Car Bomb Rocks Beirut – 19 October 2012

The Daily Star – Top Security Official Killed in Beirut Bombing – 19 October 2012

The Daily Star – Hariri Accuses Assad of Assassinating Lebanese Security Official – 19 October 2012

Washington Post – A Car Bomb in Beirut: Photos of Lebanon in Shock – 19 October 2012

France to Aid Mali Against Militant Group

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—France has began a mission with African nations to flush out Islamist militant groups linked to al-Qaeda in the northern region of Mali. Recently there has been mounting alarm over threats from these insurgents to both regional and western national security.

Mali’s Army Will be Retrained and Equipped to Fight Against Islamist Insurgents. (Photo Courtesy of The Telegraph)

These insurgents have ruled a large area of northern Mali since March of this year. This has divided the country in two. Francois Hollande, the President of France, gave a speech in Senegal and discussed “a reign of terror” in Mali, with “hands cut off, women raped and an area awash with weapons.” During Hollande’s trip to Africa, he began to rally regional leaders on the cause to work with Mali to change the state of affairs in the country.

The French plan is to create a force made up of troops from Mali and other countries in the Economic Community of West African States. While several countries are willing to cooperate, many of them do not have the capacity to mount an offensive operation without logistical and intelligence support. The French are willing to contribute but have decided not to send out ground troops and America is reluctant to get involved.

Late last week, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution giving the West African states 45 days to create a plan to take back Mali’s northern region. This resolution has taken on a sense of urgency after these insurgents were linked to last month’s attack on the United States consulate sites in Libya that killed the United States ambassador there and three other American citizens.

West African nations have tentatively offered to send 3,300 personnel to aid Mali in its fight. The bulk of the personnel would come from Nigeria. Non-combat personnel will also be sent into Mali including police officers, engineers and doctors. Guinea-Bissau has offered to send its own personnel as well even though its army is currently occupied governing the country.

The Ivory Coast is another big backer of military support, along with Nigeria even though the Ivory Coast is hosting United Nations peacekeeping missions after its own civil conflicts.

To further complicate the situation, these insurgents are holding six French hostages—two were kidnapped in Mali last year. Dominique de Villepin, the former prime minister, warned that France should be cautious in this mission, saying that he feared that the country could get caught in a “trap.”

 

For further information, please see:

The Economist – An African Journey – 19 October 2012

FT World – Africa Force to Take on Mali Militants – 18 October 2012

The Telegraph – African Force Set for Northern Mali – 18 October 2012

The Wall Street Journal – Plan to Combat Mali’s Militants – 17 October 2012

Widespread Criticism Ahead of Refugee Center Opening

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia — With the first boatload of refugees expected to arrive as early as the end of next week, local resentment toward the Australian processing center on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island is growing.

 

Residents of Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island have criticized the Australian government for excluding them from key decisions as it prepares to reopen its refugee processing center on the island. (Photo Courtesy of Special Broadcasting Service Online)

On Wednesday, the governor of Manus Island criticized the Australian government for not consulting with locals about re-opening the asylum-seeker processing center, which was abandoned in 2004.

“[W]e are still in the dark about Australia assisting us,” Governor Charlie Benjamin said in an interview with the Australian Associated Press regarding a government aid package.  “That is arrogance.”

Benjamin said the same situation happened in 2001, when contracts were signed without any input from Manus Island officials.  This time around appeared to be different, however.  Two Manus representatives went to Brisbane last week for negotiation with Australian leaders, according to Benjamin.  But when they arrived, the Manus representatives were told the contracts for Australia’s aid plan were already handed out.

“We have no problem with Australian companies being considered because you want a job you would be satisfied with,” Benjamin told the AAP, “but we have tried our best to be involved in this, but they have not even consulted us.”

Local property owners are so fed up, they are prepared to take matters into their own hands.

On Thursday, landowners said they would sabotage the Australian processing center if their concerns were not heard, according to Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.

“They’re prepared to start considering things like cutting the services that flow through their land to the processing center, things like road access, electricity access,” reported correspondent Liam Fox.

Residents complained of having very little information from the national and provincial governments, much the same frustrations expressed by Benjamin regarding the Australian government.  But Fox reported that the lack of information only compounds the speed with which the center nears opening.

“In just over a month, the Australian Defence Force engineers have transformed the place,” Fox said.  “It was overgrown with weeds and bushes and very dilapidated, and now it’s ready to take around 150 asylum-seekers.”

Even the head of Australia’s Human Rights Commission has expressed concerns.

Gillian Triggs said on ABC Radio Australia this week that she would like to inspect Australia’s offshore processing centers, including the one Manus Island.  She would like to see how things would work at the centers.

“I’m hoping that the government will work hard to ensure that there is a proper and speedy process,” Triggs said, referring to the reported risk of asylum-seekers being held in these types of centers for half a decade or more.  “[T]hat is our most particular concern, along with the mental illness that seems to go very directly with the concept of unlimited detention in confined contexts.”

But the Australian government indicated on Wednesday that not everything is as set in stone as it appears to be.

“The Australian government is yet to be advised of the preferred location of the site for the permanent facility on Manus,” read a statement issued by the Australian High Commission.  It implied that there is plenty of work and collaboration yet to finish and that it all is subject to change.

“Once the site is agreed, an experienced contractor will be appointed to build the facility consistent with the consultative terms of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both governments on the establishment of the Regional Processing Centre.”

For further information, please see:

Australia News Network — Manus Landowners Prepared to Sabotage Asylum Seeker Centre — 18 October 2012

ABC Radio Australia — Australian Human Rights Commission President Plans Nauru, Manus Inspections — 17 October 2012

The Australian — Manus Refugee Facility Opening Is Clouded — 17 October 2012

Sky News Australia — Manus Governor Says Australia Arrogant — 17 October 2012

Special Broadcasting Service Online — Manus Refugee Facility Opening is Clouded — 17 October 2012

Teacher Cuts Female Students’ Hair for Not Wearing Headscarves

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Eman Abu Bakar, a teacher in the Luxor province of Egypt, recently cut the hair of two schoolgirls as punishment for not covering their heads. Abu Bakar has since been transferred to another school and been docked a month’s payment. The father of one of the girls has filed a complaint against the teacher with the prosecutor’s office in Luxor. Zakaria Abdel Fatah, head of the state’s Education Directorate in Luxor, has also referred the teacher for administrative prosecution.

In Egyptian public schools, some girls wear traditional Muslim hijabs while others choose not to. (Photo Courtesy of Al Arabiya)

While Abu Bakar wore a niqab, a garment that covers everything but the woman’s eyes, all she required out of her students was a hijab, or headscarf. According to Berbesh Khairi el-Rawi, father to one of the girls, she made the girls stand in class with their hands above their heads for two hours. During that time, she would repeatedly warn them to cover their heads. Eventually a student would reach into his bag for scissors and would urge Abu Bakar to “implement” her threats. The teacher claims that her cuts “did not exceed two centimeters.”

“Whether in schools or outside schools, the general sentiment is that any abusive action, if it is justified as protection of Islam, is tolerable,” says Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.

In Egyptian public schools, girls are not required to wear some kind of Islamic veil. Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim insists that wearing such a garment is a personal choice. Nevertheless, corporal punishment still occurs quite frequently, and Ghoneim supports it as long as it is not too severe. Such actions were not uncommon under “[f]ormer president Anwar Sadat [who] allowed Islamists to delve freely in the cultural and social arenas in return for confronting leftists and Nasserists,” said Kamal Moghith, an expert at the National Center of Education Research and Development. “Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood have been trying to intervene in education, both in syllabi and administration,” he claimed.

This incident arose during a time of serious debate about the role religion will play in Egypt’s new constitution. The panel tasked with drafting the constitution is largely Islamic, which has scared many liberals and Coptic Christians. At this time, there has also been a great increase in the amount of Christians who have been brought to trial for allegedly showing contempt for religion.

One such Coptic Christian on trial is twenty-seven year old Alber Saber Ayad. He was arrested after his neighbors told the authorities that he posted the “Innocence of Muslims” film to his Facebook page. While he was detained, he was beaten and cut with a razor blade. Despite the accusations against him, investigators were unable to find any trace of the video. Nevertheless, Saber faces a six-year prison sentence and a fine of five hundred Egyptian pounds for the charge of “defamation of religion.”

“Criticism of religions and other beliefs and ideas is a vital component of the right to freedom of expression,” claims Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Egypt Teacher Cuts Hair of Schoolgirls for not Wearing Muslim Headscarf – 17 October 2012

AnsaMed – Egypt: Teacher Cuts off Students’ Hair for not Wearing Hijab – 17 October 2012

Egypt Independent – Update: Teacher Faces Discipline for Cutting Unveiled Pupils’ Hair – 17 October 2012

Guardian – Egyptian Teacher ‘cut Hair of Schoolgirls who Refused to Cover Heads’ – 17 October 2012

Amnesty International – Egypt Must Release man on Trial for Criticizing Religion – 16 October 2012

UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Calls on Government to Disclose Names on Visa Bans Lists as a Result of Magnitsky Case

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

18 October 2012 – Yesterday, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that the British Government should publicly disclose the names of human rights abusers who have been denied entry into the UK.

Dmitry Klyuyev, black suit on right, attends meeting in Monaco in early July in Europe where delegates voted for a resolution calling on parliaments to draw up visa bans on suspects in the Magnitsky case. (Photo Courtesy of Voice of America)

The new policy recommendation was announced as part of the British Parliament’s review of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s approach to Human Rights, which was published in the Foreign Affairs Committee Third Report of Session 2012-13.  (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmfaff/116/116.pdf )

The Foreign Affairs Committee report and their recommendations followed the submission of evidence from Amnesty International, Fair Trials International, Hermitage Capital, Human Rights Watch, REDRESS and others.

“The Russian officials who tortured and killed Magnitsky are hiding behind a cloak of impunity and secrecy. Making the visa ban list public is the first step towards accountability for their actions and we are pleased to see the recommendations of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee calling on the British Government to do this,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

The Foreign Affairs Committee made this recommendation in the context of the high profile torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky by Russian officials.

The key recommendation of the Foreign Affairs Committee states: “The Government does not routinely publicise the identity of individuals denied a visa to enter the UK, and it has resisted calls to make public any denial of visas to enter the UK for those who held responsibility in the chain of events which led to the death of Mr Sergei Magnitsky in pre-trial detention in Russia in 2009. However, we believe that, when used sparingly, publicising the names of those denied entry on human rights grounds could be a valuable tool in drawing attention to the UK’s determination to uphold high standards of human rights, and we recommend that the Government make use of it.”

The report follows the House of Commons Backbench Committee motion in March 2012 entitled, “Human Rights and the Death of Sergei Magnitsky”, where MPs from all British political parties unanimously voted for the British Government to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on the Russian government officials who tortured and killed Sergei Magnitsky.  (http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/news/debate-on-human-rights-and-death-of-sergei-magnitsky/)

“It’s high time Britain named and shamed those responsible for the brutal murder of Sergei Magnitsky and similar atrocities in Russia and elsewhere, so the perpetrators can’t waltz into the UK as if nothing had happened,” said Dominic Raab MP, author of the Backbench Committee motion on Sergei Magnitsky.

Sergei Magnitsky (8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009), an outside lawyer for the Hermitage Fund, discovered that Russian police and government officials were involved in the theft of $230 million of state taxes through the largest tax refund fraud in Russian history. Magnitsky testified against the state officials involved, and in retribution was arrested and tortured to withdraw his testimony. Despite the systematic physical and psychological torture, Magnitsky refused to change his testimony. He died on 16 November 2009 at the age of 37 after being beaten to death by police with rubber batons while still in custody, leaving a wife and two children. In 2010, Transparency International, a leading civil society organisation fighting corruption, awarded its annual ‘Integrity Award’ posthumously to Sergei Magnitsky.

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/