Ousted President Morsi To Face Trial For Espionage

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt-Deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi is facing charges of espionage and carrying out “terror attacks” in Egypt, as a third trial against him is due to commence.  The latest court case is part of a relentless government crackdown targeting Morsi and his Islamist supporters since he was ousted by the military on July 3.

Deposed President Morsi behind bars (photo courtesy of Deutsche Welle)

Morsi, along with 35 others former aides and leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, are accused “of spying for the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, its military wing and the (Palestinian) Hamas movement.”

They are also charged with “carrying out terror attacks inside the country against state property, institutions and their employees to spread chaos.”

Morsi, who was ousted by the military after a single year of turbulent rule, is already on trial for his alleged involvement in the killing of opposition protesters in December 2012.

Morsi is separately being tried on charges linked to a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.  Morsi, along with 130 others, including dozens of members of Hamas and Lebanon’s Shiite militant movement Hizbollah, led the charge during the 2011 military coup.

Further charges are set against the ousted leader as he is also to be tried separately for “insulting the judiciary”.  A date for this trial has yet to be set.

In his most recent public appearance, at the start of his second trial in late January, a defiant Morsi questioned the trial judge’s authority, asking Judge Shabaan el-Shami to identify himself. The trial was adjourned to give lawyers more time to examine files, and is due to begin again on Saturday.

In his previous appearance, Morsi insisted that he remained the country’s legitimate president and challenged the legitimacy of the court, regularly interrupting the judges and prosecutors.

Since Morsi’s ouster, his supporters have faced a relentless crackdown by Egypt’s government that has left more than 1,400 people dead according to Amnesty International, and seen thousands more arrested.

During Morsi’s short-lived presidency, ties between Cairo and Hamas, a Palestinian affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood which rules the neighboring Gaza strip, had flourished.

But since July, Egypt’s military-installed government has accused Hamas of backing Morsi and his Brotherhood and carrying out terrorist attacks inside Egypt.

The army has destroyed several hundred tunnels used to ferry crucial supplies, including fuel, into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Morsi in court for espionage trial-16 February 2014

BBC-Lawyers for Egypt’s Morsi walk out of latest trial-16 February 2014

Deutsche Welle-Morsi faces fresh trial in Egypt on spying charges-16 February 2014

Telegraph-Mohamed Morsi in court on Egypt spying and ‘terror attacks’ charges-16 February 2014

Pakistan Court Order Over Anti-Drone Activist

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –The Lahore High Court (LHC) in Pakistan has ordered the government to produce an anti-drone activist, Kareem Khan, whose lawyers say was detained by the country’s intelligence agencies.

Kareem Khan has not been heard from for a week. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Kahn, whose teenage son and brother were killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan Agency in 2009, went missing days before he was due to testify to the impacts of the CIA-operative unmanned strikes in Pakistan’s troubled northwest border.

Since the death of his son and brother, Kahn has waged a legal battle against the United States.

His lawyers say he was picked up from his residence in Rawalpindi last week and has not been heard from since. Police deny any involvement.

Britain-based rights group Amnesty International, citing the eyewitnesses, has claimed that the Kareem Khan was picked up by a dozen men, some of whom were wearing police uniforms while others were in civilian clothes, on February 5.

“The Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court has sought reply from the intelligence agencies through the government, ordering the intelligence agencies to produce Kareem Khan on 20 February or give the reason behind his arrest in writing to the court,” his lawyer Shahzad Akbar told AFP news agency.

A decade after they first took to the skies over Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, U.S. drone aircraft’s are causing fierce controversy in both the United States and Pakistan.

U.S. officials argue the drone attacks are vital in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants based in the border area of Pakistan and that they take “extraordinary care” to ensure the strikes comply with international law.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for an end to drone attacks in his country, saying the attacks violate Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Several thousand people have been killed in the attacks, many of them militants – but precise numbers and the identities of victims are in dispute because local claims of the numbers of civilian deaths are almost impossible to prove.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Pakistan court order over missing activist Kareem Khan – 12 February 2014

The Frontier Post – Pakistan court order over missing activist Kareem Khan – 12 February 2014

Al Jazeera – Pakistan pressed over missing drone activist – 12 February 2014

Pakistan Tribune – LHC Orders to Produce Missing Anti-Drone Activist on February 20 – 12 February 2014

Body of Slain Mexican Journalist Discovered

By Brandon R. Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – The body of Gregorio Jimenez, a Mexican journalist who was kidnapped from his home several weeks ago, has been found in the town of Las Choapas, along side two other unidentified bodies.

Several Mexican journalists protesting, in response to their colleague, Gregorio Jimenez’s kidnapping and murder (Photo Courtesy BBC).

Jimenez, who worked for the El Liberal del Sur newspaper, had recently been reporting on the wave of kidnappings in his hometown of Coatzacoalcos.  In particular, he wrote about the disappearance of Ernesto Ruiz Guillen and how there was little being done in that investigation.

Gina Dominguez, a Veracruz state spokeswoman, said authorities believe Teresa Hernandez threatened Jimenez three months ago after a falling out between her son and his daughter.  The four men arrested earlier this week claim that Hernandez paid them to kidnap and kill him.

Several people have been arrested as a result of the investigation, including one of Jimenez’s neighbors.  However, some government officials have said that the murder was in response to a personal vendetta and had nothing to do with his work as a reporter.

Whether that is believable is, however, questionable as in at least three cases involving murdered journalists, the state attributed the murder to personal disputes.  Additionally, Jimenez’s coworker doesn’t “believe in what the government says because Gregorio was not one to get into fights, he was a kind, humble person.”

In response to the kidnapping, Jimenez’s colleagues had organized a social media campaign in hopes that Jimenez would be found.  Now that Jimenez has been found dead, many are outraged and are calling for the resignation of Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the governor of Veracruz.

In addition, Articulo 19, a press rights group, has called for a thorough investigation and said that it is  “unacceptable to rule out the journalistic work of . . . Jimenez as a possible motive for his murder” and that authorities should do more to “guarantee the safety of the victim’s family and the media outlets at which he worked.”

Since 2010, at least a dozen Veracruz journalists have been killed.  Veracruz is plagued by drug related violence and the Zetas cartel has a strong presence in the area.  Consequently, there are numerous accounts of abductions, extortions, and robberies.

Collectively, there have been eighty-seven journalists murdered in Mexico since 2000, which makes Mexico one of the most dangerous countries for members of the media to work in.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC – Missing Mexican Journalist Gregorio Jimenez Found Dead – 12 Feb. 14

Business Week – Few Believe Account Of Mexican Reporter’s Slaying – 13 Feb. 14

Global Post – Mexican Journalists Demand Full Investigation Of Reporter’s Murder – 12 Feb. 14

Global Post – Kidnapped Mexican Journalist Found Dead – 11 Feb. 14