Nigeria School Massacre

By Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria – 29 students and 1 teacher were killed during an attack on a boarding school in Nigeria at 3 A.M. on Saturday.  The attackers doused a dormitory with fuel as the students slept and many were burned alive, while others were shot. Reports claim this as the deadliest attack on schools in northeast Nigeria.

Soldiers walk through Hausari village during a military patrol near Maiduguri (courtesy of Sky News)

Witnesses state that many of the 1,200 students at this boarding school escaped into the bush; however, they have yet to be found.  Parents rushed to the school in hopes of finding their children, screaming in anguish as they tried to identify the charred bodies.

One father, a farmer named Malam Abdullahi, located the bodies of his 10 and 12 year-old sons who had been shot in the back and in the chest.

“That’s it, I’m taking my other boys out of school,” Malam Abdullahi stated, indicating he will be taking his three younger children out of school who study nearby.

“It’s not safe.  The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers,” Abdullahi also stated.

A student, Musa Hassan, 15, told The Associated Press that “[w]e were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me.”  Hassan then put his arm up in defense and was then shot in the hand, blowing off all four of his fingers in his right hand, the hand he uses to write.  The militants then moved on after shooting him, sparing Hassan his life.

Authorities believe the attack was from Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means “Western education is sacrilege.”  This radical group has been behind a series of recent attacks on schools in the region, including one in which gunmen opened fire on children taking exams in a classroom.

The militants from Boko Haram, and other groups that have broken off from this radical group, have collectively killed more than 1,600 civilians in suicide bombings and other attacks since 2010, according to The Associated Press.

Soldiers state that they have killed and arrested hundreds of Boko Haram militants.  However, even with the fighter jets and helicopter gunships on these military camps, this has only driven the militants into rocky mountains with caves, in which they only emerge when they attack.

The militants have targeted civilians in these attacks, including health workers on vaccination campaigns, traders, teachers, and government workers.

Many believe that these attacks could have been prevented if their access to their mobile devices were not blocked.

“Lack of [Global System for Mobile Communications] service has prevented patriotic citizens who have hitherto been collaborating with security agents from reporting suspicious movements in their neighbourhoods,” said Mr. Gaidam in a statement to BBC news.

 

For further information, please see:

Today’s Zaman — 30 killed in school attack in northeast Nigeria — 7 July 2013

BBC News — Nigeria school massacre: Yobe secondary schools closed — 7 July 2013

Fox News — Nigerian state orders schools to close after massacre — 7 July 2013

The Independent — Nigerian terror group attack kills 29 children — 7 July 2013

Sky News — Islamic Militants Kill 30 In Nigeria School Attack — 6 July 2013

Russia Today — Nigeria school massacre: 41 children killed, some burned alive — 6 July 2013

SNHR: Government Forces shell the Neighborhood of the Old City of Homs, Chemical Weapons Could not be Determined, led to Many Injuries

Following videos shows injuries inside field hospitals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQvSG1HovUg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_uY3tF6Ro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVq3qcN9Ed8&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ulRr9RolyA&feature=player_detailpage

SNHR condemns the inhumane and immoral Russian attitude regarding its refusal to let the humanitarian aides enter the neighborhoods of Old City, and consider this attitude to be typical of bloody dictatorship totalitarian regimes, and we refuse to be among the five permanent members, which is supposed to protect security and civil peace around the world.

The international system should exceed the inhumane and immoral Russian attitude towards Syria, and find urgent face – saving solution to human rights agreements and treaties and international humanitarian law that have been developed over hundreds of years an and dissolved by Syrian and Russian regimes, and silence and inability rest of international parties, except for the Arab people in general and Syrian people in particular will not believe any more in humanitarian rule or treaty.  This is what we warned about many times, the horrible international silence towards all those crimes against humanity that have been admitted by human rights council and Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.  All of that is the main reason behind prevalence extremism thoughts and exploit their rights with their own hands.

Colombia Deports Cocaine Trafficker Roberto Pannunzi

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Italian drug lord Roberto Pannunzi, one of Europe’s most wanted drug traffickers and the world’s biggest cocaine importer, was arrested in Colombia on July 5th.

Roberto Pannunzi
Roberto Pannunzi is escorted by police officers upon his arrival in Rome. (Photo Courtesy of AP/Angelo Carconi)

Roberto Pannunzi, 65, was caught in a Bogota shopping center and identified himself with a fake Venezuelan identification card bearing the name Silvano Martino, the Colombian Defense Ministry announced on Twitter. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worked with Colombian police to find and arrest Pannunzi.

Less than 24 hours after his arrest in Colombia, he was deported and put on a plane from Bogota to Italy. An extradition order would have taken several months. Pannunzi was arrested by Italian police upon his arrival at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

He was known as the “Pablo Escobar of Italy,” Colombian Defense Ministry said in a twitter post. Pannunzi is accused of importing between two and three tons of cocaine into Europe each month from South America, according to the defense ministry.

Pannunzi, known as Bebè (baby), is linked to the ‘Ndrangheta crime network which is based in the southern Italian region of Calabria. He is credited with soldering the link between the ‘Ndrangheta and Colombia’s Medellin cartels that has turned the ‘Ndrangheta into Italy’s richest and most feared organized crime syndicate according to Italian authorities.

Though often described as a mobster, Pannunzi is not known to have taken part in crimes of violence. Evidence pieced together from various investigations suggested his role was to collect guarantees of payment from various ‘Ndrangheta clans to pay for a shipment of cocaine from South America. Pannunzi would then broker the deal with the Colombians.

“He is the biggest cocaine importer in the world,” said Nicola Gratteri, deputy chief prosecutor in the Reggio Calabria province. “I hope there will be no more concessions, as in the past. And I say it because it is exhausting to have to go and search the world for Pannunzi every time he escapes,” said Gratteri.

Roberto Pannunzi was first detained in Colombia in 1994 and extradited to Italy but was released when his detention order expired. He was re-captured in 2004 in Madrid and handed over again to Italian authorities. He was tried and given a sentence of more than 16 years. In 2010, he staged a dramatic escape from a private hospital in Rome after being transferred there from jail on health grounds.

For more information please see:

The Guardian – Cocaine ‘broker’ Roberto Pannunzi back in jail in Italy after arrest in Colombia – 7 July 2013

El Tiempo – Así cayó el narco más buscado del mundo – 6 July 2013

BBC – Colombia deports Calabrian mafia boss Pannunzi to Italy– 6 July 2013

Reuters – Italy’s most wanted drug trafficker arrested in Colombia – 6 July 2013

Univision Noticias – Era el narcotraficante más buscado en Europa, pero cayó en Colombia – 5 July 2013

Chinese Officials Detained as a Result of Deadly Fire

By Kevin M. Mathewson

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DEHUI, China –Eleven local Chinese officials have been detained as a result of a June 3rd fire at a poultry plant in China’s Jilin province that left 121 people dead and dozens of others injured. Investigators said an electrical short circuit ignited materials at the plant, causing the blaze which spread rapidly.

Fire crews searching for survivors at the poultry slaughterhouse

Those detained include the head of Dehui’s Mishazi township and the former head of the local construction bureau. Several fire department officials were also among those apprehended.

“Some of the suspects… falsified information to hide the facts that no serious fire safety inspections had been conducted and that proper fire safety equipment was not in place.” said the Xinhua news agency, citing the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

The poultry plant fire is China’s deadliest fire since 2000, when 309 people died in a blaze in a dance hall in Luoyang, in Henan province.

The deadly blaze has raised safety concerns after it has been suspected that local authorities are focusing on boosting economic development and ignoring workplace safety regulations.

Workers who escaped the fire at the Jilin plant said that the building’s narrow hallways made it difficult to reach the exits. It was also reported by local media that people struggled to escape because some exits were blocked.

The poultry plant is far away from chief regulators in China’s capital, making the plant’s operations difficult to oversee. “It is harder to regulate smaller companies in smaller cities and towns.” said Zhao Zhengbring, a lawyer working on health and safety issues with Beijing’s Haowei law firm.

In an effort to address these problems, China’s Communist leaders have created several competing industrial safety organizations. These efforts have had some positive results. Workplace accidents have dropped more than 33% in the past five years and the death toll from those accidents have dropped more than 29%, according to comments made by China’s then Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang.

Yet, fire accidents at construction sites and agricultural production factories are on the rise. Critics argue that factory managers are rarely punished for workplace accidents.

“Safety, unfortunately, still comes second to productivity and profits. There are, unfortunately, deaths at coal mines and factories pretty much every day, but no-one pays attention when it is one or two people.” Says Geoggrey Crothall, a spokesman for the Hong Kong based China Labour Bulletin.

Without public pressure, it is unlikely that significant changes will be implemented anytime soon.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Officials held over deadly China poultry fire – 5 July 2013

BBC News – China poultry plant fire raises safety standards concerns – 3 June 2013

BBC News – Dehui poultry plant fire: Locked exits ‘blocked escape’ – 3 June 2013

BBC News – In pictures: China factory fire – 3 June 2013