Police Investigate a Video Showing Two Recaptured Prisoners Being Brutally Beaten

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SUVA, Fiji – A nine-minute video was recently posted on the video-sharing site, “YouTube,” showing Fijian officials brutally beating two men who were allegedly runaway prisoners.

Still image from the video showing the two captured prisoners being beaten. (Photo Courtesy of Yahoo News)

Both of the captive men in the video are handcuffed and maliciously attacked by their captors with weapons.  One man is repeatedly beaten with wooden batons and metal sticks, stripped down to his undergarments, and is further beaten while unclothed.

At one point in the video, one of the attackers can be seen sexually assaulting the victim who had been stripped down to his undergarments with a baton.  Large purple welts are also clearly visible on the victim’s legs.

The second captive man can be seen in the video being attacked by a dog under the direction of the captors.  The captive man’s clothes seem torn with blood on them.  The attackers can be heard laughing and jeering in the background throughout the video.

Amnesty International had raised concerns regarding a different incident involving five runaway prisoners last year.  The men were allegedly recaptured and severely beaten and tortured by their captors.  One of the men allegedly had a leg amputation due to an untended open fracture in his leg after his brutal beating.

The police, however, investigated the incident and said that the information regarding the victim’s leg amputation was inaccurate.  Police released official statements to local newspapers stating that the prisoner had diabetes, and the leg amputation was related to his illness.

Last year’s incident had been brought to the attention of Fijian autocratic leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who had promised the restoration of democracy and an end to brutal incidents, like the one involving the recaptured prisoners.

This most recent incident, involving the two recaptured prisoners and the video of their beating being posted on YouTube, seems to be similar to the incident involving the five recaptured prisoners last year.  This raises doubts in the eyes of international rights groups as to whether or not Bainimarama will follow through with his promises.

The international community sought comment regarding the video from the current Fijian government, however, Sharon Smith-Johns, an official government spokesperson declined to comment, stating that no official statements were to be released until after the police completed their official investigation.

The Fijian Police Force did release a statement calling the video of the two recaptured prisoners being beaten disturbing and said they would investigate the incident thoroughly.  Although the video was described as disturbing, the police noted that the men being beaten were supposedly escaped prisoners.

For further information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji police and regime refuse further comment on beating video – 8 March 2013

ABC News – Fiji Police Probe Apparent Beatings of 2 Prisoners – 6 March 2013

BBC – Fiji police to investigate abuse video – 6 March 2013

Australia Network News – Fiji police ‘disturbed’ by graphic beating video – 5 March 2013

Yahoo News – Fiji police ‘disturbed’ by graphic beating video – 5 March 2013


Congolese Army May Lose UN Support Due to Human Rights Violations

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo – The United Nations announced that it will suspend its support to two battalions of the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) which reportedly have been involved in several human rights violations including mass rapes.

National army soldiers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Photo courtesy of UN News Centre/IRIN/Eddy Isango)

For the past three months, the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) has been investigating Minova, North Kivu, and neighboring towns. The mission’s report reveals that two units of the FARDC engaged in mass rapes, among other human rights violations. It found out that at least 126 women were raped in Minova after Congolese army soldiers fled to the town to avoid M23 rebels who seized the nearby province of Goma.

“Many rapes were committed. We have investigated, we have identified a number of cases and we demand that the Congolese authorities take action legally against those people,” a UN official told the press last week. According to him, the UN has demanded the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to prosecute the soldiers involved in these crimes. Otherwise, the official added, the DRC army will lose the support of U.N. peacekeepers.

“Since nothing sufficient has happened at this stage we have already put two units of the armed forces of Congo on notice that if they do not act promptly we shall cease supporting them,” he said. “They have to shape up.”

So far, MONUSCO has sent the Congolese Armed Forces Chief of Staff a second and final injunction to initiate the formal suspension of support to these two units. MONUSCO has not yet received a response.

“MONUSCO is continuing to advocate with Congolese authorities at the highest level to ensure that the alleged perpetrators, including FARDC commanders, be brought to justice and held accountable,” said UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky. “The Mission will maintain, together with other partners, its support to Congolese judicial authorities to pursue their investigations and will offer its support for any trial to be held,” he added.

MONUSCO was mandated by the UN to protect civilians and supports operations by the Congolese army. As of today, there are more than 17,000 peacekeepers deployed in Congo.

Reports say that the UN peacekeepers have been “stretched thin” by the M23 rebellion. This has led the UN Security council to consider creating a special intervention force that aims to “search and destroy” M23 rebels, as well as other insurgents in the country.

M23 rebels took over the eastern part of the DRC last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal.

 

For further information, please see:

UN News Centre – UN calls for suspension of DR Congo military units involved in mass rapes – 8 March 2013

UN Radio – UN mission in DR Congo to suspend support to two battalions – 8 March 2013

UPI – U.N.: Congo soldiers perpetrated mass rape – 8 March 2013

790 KGMI – U.N. threatens to stop working with Congo army units accused of rape – 7 March 2013

 

News of Death Sentences for Football Rioters Leads to More Rioting

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt  – The death sentences for twenty-one individuals deemed responsible for the February football riots of last year have been upheld. Twenty-four others, including two police officers were sentenced to jail, while twenty-eight others were acquitted. The court’s ruling was televised throughout Egypt, and was met by much protest.

Protesters set football stadium ablaze in Port Said after verdict upholds twenty-one death sentences. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The football riots occurred in Port Said during February 2012 when the local Al-Masry squad was taking on Cairo’s out-of-town, Al-Ahly. When the game ended, a majority of Al-Masry supporters stormed the pitch, while the police locked the stadium gates, turned off the electricity, and kept away from the violence. Many who tried to escape the stadium were trampled in the process. Seventy-four people died as a result of the riots. Most of the deceased were supporters of Al-Ahly.

After the verdict was announced, hundreds of Al-Masry supporters congregated outside of the local government headquarters of Port Said calling for independence. Football fan Mohamed Ataya said that, “what we need now is to separate from the rest of the country,” after describing how his friend was given jail time for “helping to carry the dead outside the stadium.” Others thought the towns inhabitants were “scapegoated” in the verdict, and yearned for the military enforced curfew to be removed.

Many in Port Said attacked the Egyptian Football Federation and set it ablaze. Others in Port Said released docked speedboats in an effort to block the Suez canal before the military intervened. There has been only one reported death so far.

The police of Port Said locked themselves in the safety of their station. Since the trial began a month ago, at least fifty people have died. Most of these deaths have come as a result of police gunfire. Police forces in ten of Egypt’s twenty-nine provinces have gone on strike to demonstrate against President Morsi’s use of the police in quashing protesters.

In Cairo, supporters of Al-Ahly rejoiced upon first hearing of the court’s result, but then quickly became angered. While they initially were happy that more Al-Masry supporters were sentenced, they were enraged that only two out of the nine police officers, who were charged, ended up convicted. Many believe that the police’s actions in locking the gates and turning off the lights contributed tremendously to the deaths of those seventy four individuals.

Many Al-Ahly supporters attempted to block Cairo’s important October Bridge. Two other protesters were killed in Cairo by police. One died after inhaling tear gas while the other’s life was taken by bird shot. These deaths are said to have been unrelated to the football trial.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Deadly Egypt Riots Follow Football Verdicts – 9 March 2013

BBC – Unrest in Egypt Over Port Said Football Riot Sentences – 9 March 2013

Guardian – Egyptian Court Confirms Death Sentences for Port Said Football Rioters – 9 March 2013

Daily Star Lebanon – Clashes in Egypt Port Said as Police Move Prisoners – 3 March 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Friday, 8 March 2013

The Paradigm Shaft!

Where can one find a paradigm shift when one really needs one? With no one willing to provide it, is it any wonder that Syrians are turning to God, in the form of his self-appointed representatives on earth?  It seems we’re screwed no matter where we turn, and a paradigm shaft is the only thing we can look forward to.

Today’s Death Toll: 81 martyrs, including 7 children, 3 women and 1 martyr under torture. 29 martyrs reported in Damascus and suburbs, 16 in Idlib, 13 in Aleppo, 10 in Homs, 6 in Daraa, 4 in Hama and 3 in Deir Ezzor (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 346 points: 5 Ballistic missiles were reported; Explosive Barrels were reported in Dar Kabireh in Homs; artillery shelling was reported in 118 point; mortar shelling in 112 point; and shelling using rocket launchers was reported in 105 locations (LCCs).

Clashes: 105. Successful rebel operations include taking control of the Abbassin Sports Compound and defending rebel strongholds in Jobar and Yarmouk neighborhoods in Damascus City (LCCs).

 

News

Chemical weapons ‘are being used on children and babies in Syria by Assad’s army’ Medics believe they have detected a nerve gas called Agent XV. Teenage victims are pictured in a French magazine suffering from horrific burns.

In Parts of Syria, Lack of Aid ‘Is a Catastrophe’ the vast majority of aid is going to territory controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and the small amount reaching opposition-held areas is all but invisible.

Syrian Rebels Agree on Deal to Release Peacekeepers Josephine Guerrero, a spokeswoman for the United Nations departments that oversee its global peacekeeping activities, said “arrangements were made with all parties for the release of the 21 peacekeepers” and that a team had been sent to the location where they were held, but that soldiers remained captive as of Friday night. “Due to the late hour and the darkness it was considered unsafe to continue the operation,” Ms. Guerrero said in a statement. “Efforts will continue tomorrow.”

Syria Refugees Turn To Prostitution Out Of Desperation Scores of the Syrian women who escaped to Jordan are turning to prostitution, some forced or sold into it, even by their families. Some women refugees are highly vulnerable to exploitation by pimps or traffickers, particularly since a significant number fled without their husbands – sometimes with their children – and have little or no source of income… It’s impossible to pin down how many Syrian refugees are now working as prostitutes in Jordan, but their presence is inescapable. Syrian women outnumbered those from any other country in several brothels, and in a couple of cases, virtually all the prostitutes were Syrian. Pimps say they have more women who are Syrian than of other nationalities.

Al-Qaida is not yet at Syria’s gates Claims that al-Qaida has taken control of the border zone between Syria and Israel are a bit exaggerated; meanwhile, Assad and the rebels are locked in a stalemate.

Syria crisis: Russia won’t pressure Assad, says Lavrov Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there is “absolutely” no chance of Moscow telling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stand down. He told the BBC that Russia was not in the “regime-change game”.

Syria’s Assad hails Turkey anti-Erdogan opposition Assad told the Republican People’s Party delegation there was “a need to distinguish between the stance of the Turkish people, who support stability in Syria, and the positions of Erdogan’s government, which supports terrorism, extremism and destabilization in the region,” it said. “The Syrian people appreciates the position adopted by forces and parties in Turkey that reject the Erdogan government’s negative impact on our societies, which are multi-religious and multi-ethnic,” Assad said.

 

Special Reports

Frederic C. Hoff: Can Syria Be Saved?
A policy paradigm shift is needed if the United States is truly committed to changing Assad’s calculation. It will also be needed to counter the growing impression that the United States, burned in Iraq and stretched in Afghanistan, will bear no burden and fight no foe when it comes to Syria. Boots on the ground and even manned aircraft in the airspace are not on the table, but the United States can and should help foster an alternate Syrian government on the ground in liberated parts of Syria. That government should be recognized by the United States and all of the Friends of the Syrian People Group. It should be given the resources it will need to govern. NATO and regional powers should assist in its defense. Would a no fly zone really require an extended bombing campaign to neutralize air defenses when stand-off systems can kill, on the ground, much that flies? Might Assad’s calculation be affected if key regime command facilities begin to disappear? Ideally these steps will not be necessary. Ideally Assad’s calculation will change without them. Yet the West may, in the end, have to be as bloody-minded in trying to end the Assad-Iranian terror spree as the regime and its supporters have been in facilitating it.

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.”

 

Video Highlights

The people of Kafrenbel have a message for Secretary Kerry http://youtu.be/39ZMPM5bfRE

The pro-regime soldiers in this video were killed less than a day after making it. This was their last celebration. They were cadets at the police academy in Aleppo. The video was found on a cell phones of one of them http://youtu.be/MTSxRzLn93s

Pro-Assad militias plucking the beard of two Sunni Sheikhs from Aleppo http://youtu.be/YATP9igYW1Y This one in Deir Ezzor City is taunting rebels http://youtu.be/4xPMy2uSG8U

For over 30 years the Yellow Man was an Aleppo phenomenon that no one really understood. The man insisted on dressing in yellow down to his socks and underwear, and hang around certain spots in Aleppo City where he became part of the scenery. For some reason, some rebels thought he was an informant to the regime, they arrested him and humiliated him, in a development that earned them more popular criticism. The man was eventually released, and people who met him report that he refused to talk about the event http://youtu.be/HQj5AxqV4GY

The repatriation of the remain of pro-Assad soldiers who were killed in Iraq http://youtu.be/HXOeUcihn34

The pounding of cities continues: Zamalka, Damascus http://youtu.be/L_iIKIVRSak Douma, Damascus http://youtu.be/84iogHW4ScQ Homs City http://youtu.be/p9cfsFDKAwI , http://youtu.be/_rjDYIpBxCI , http://youtu.be/kFnwelTVNqg Houleh, Homs http://youtu.be/X3fLdMGFzxA Kafar Sijneh, Idlib http://youtu.be/5gl4cluhYNg Heesh, Idlib http://youtu.be/nFtM9wXRWoA

Intense clashes take place in Sahel Al-Ghab, Hama http://youtu.be/9qMLTDB79aU , http://youtu.be/tS45khx_X1E

Unjust Central Government Land Takings in China Leads to Violent Eruption by Local Villagers

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Unjust central government usurpation of villager farmland led to a violent clash between hired government thugs and local villagers in the Chinese village of Shangpu.

Villagers next to the overturned vehicles of the intruding hired thugs. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Residents of Shangpu village protested the government taking of a 33 hectare parcel of land used by the villagers to grow rice for their personal consumption and livelihoods.  The parcel had been sold without the consent of the villagers to a third party to be used as an electric cable factory as part of the central government’s plan to urbanize and industrialize much of the once rural countryside.

The central government hired thugs to disperse and intimidate the thousands of residents into agreeing with the unfair land grab, however, the protesters turned violent when the hired thugs threatened violence with steel pipes and metal spades.

The villagers fought back, expelling the thugs from their land, destroying their vehicles, and recently set up barricades and outposts to guard their village against further intrusion and intimidation.  The countryside near their village is now littered with the overturned, smashed vehicles the intruders rode in on.

China’s push to urbanize and industrialize the rural outskirts of major metropolitan areas has generated mass land seizures by the central government.  Parcels of land destined for commercial development have also caused soaring land prices.

This push to urbanize and industrialize has left local farmers and villagers who depend on these parcels of farmland for their livelihoods with inadequate compensation from these land grabs and no legal options to fight these unjust usurpations of their land.

The Landesa Rural Development Institute, a group calling for fairer laws on land ownership and rights, estimates out of the 90,000 social unrest incidents that occur in China each year, roughly two thirds of these incidents is related to land disputes like the one in Shangpu.

With the incoming wave of new politicians currently being installed, Chinese lawmakers are attempting to increase protections allotted to farmers, however, the process is slow and arduous.  The current rule of law specifies that farmers who have their land taken only need to be compensated with 30 times the annual agricultural output of the parcel of land that is taken.

The current system allows for cheap takings of farmland and selling the cheaply acquired land to commercial developers at a huge mark up.  The proposed system currently being debated in China’s parliament allows for the payment of fair market value on farmers’ land that is taken by the government for commercial development.

For further information, please see:

Global Times – China stresses farmers’ property rights in land transfers  – 7 March 2013

Reuters – China village seethes over land grabs as Beijing mulls new laws – 7 March 2013

Cuyoo.com – Stand-off in Chinese village over land grab – 6 March 2013

NPR – Chinese Farmers Revolt Against Government Land Grab – 5 March 2013