UN Report Denounces “Extensive” Human Rights Abuses By Venezuelan Government As Opposition Leader’s Wife Is Barred From Leaving Country

September 10, 2017

By: Max Cohen
Impunity Watch News Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – The United Nations has released a report chastising the Venezuelan government over extensive human rights violations committed in the wake of anti-government protests. Additionally, Venezuelan authorities have opened an investigation into Lilian Tintori, the wife of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, after allegedly discovering a large amount of cash in her car. She has since been barred from traveling outside the country to attend meetings with European leaders scheduled for the week of September 3rd-9th.

Lilian Tintori demonstrates a picture of jailed anti-government protestors in a meeting with foreign journalists. Photo courtesy of AP.

The UN report documents the systematic use of excessive force during demonstrations and the arbitrary detention of protesters, noting that all evidence indicates that these were not the actions of a few isolated officials. It calls on the UN Human Rights Council, of which Venezuela is a member, to take measures to prevent the human rights situation from worsening. Venezuela’s government has slammed the report as shoddy and biased, though the report says that victims’ accounts were consistent and corroborated by medical reports and NGO reports.

The report also indicates that of the 124 deaths linked to the protests, security forces are allegedly responsible for 46, while pro-government armed groups are responsible for 27. More than 5,000 people have been detained since the protests began in April, with 1,000 still being held.

On Thursday, August 31^st, Venezuelan authorities discovered around 200 million bolivars, equal to about $60,000, on the nation’s weakest official exchange rate or $10,000 on the more commonly used black market rate, in the car of Lilian Tintori. It’s unclear what crimes she has being investigated for, since possession of cash in Venezuela is not a crime. However, Tintori is convinced that the actions are government sanctioned persecution targeted towards her.

She also claims that the money was to pay for emergencies, including the hospitalization of her grandmother. Tintori claims that cash was necessary since inflation has decimated the value of Venezuela’s currency, and because no bank would give a credit card or open an account for the wife of an opposition leader. She has also since been banned from leaving the country, a move that came a day after she was ordered to appear before a judge on September 5th. Tintori was expected to travel to Europe to convince leaders there to institute sanctions against Venezuela.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg – Venezuelan Opposition Activist Says She Was Barred From Traveling to Europe – 2 Sept, 2017

Fox News – UN rips Venezuelan human rights abuses, as government orders opposition leader’s wife to court – 2 Sept, 2017

ABC – Venezuela probes wife of opposition’s Lopez for cash in car – 1 Sept, 2017

United Nations News Centre – Human rights violations indicate repressive policy of Venezuelan authorities – 30 Aug, 2017

British soldiers, civilian arrested for involvement in Neo-nazi terror group

September 9, 2017

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

National Action gives Nazi salutes at a rally in the UK. *Image courtesy of Joel Goodman, LNP.*

LONDON, United Kingdom – Members of neo-Nazi group National Action were arrested on September 5th under charges stemming from the Terror Act of 2000.

The four men arrested are all serving members of the British Royal Army. A fifth person, a civilian, has been arrested on the same charge.

National Action was labeled a terror organization in December 2016 by the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. Subsequently, an order was released by Parliament to make it a criminal offense to be affiliated in any way with National Action.

The group is the first of its kind to be banned outright in the United Kingdom. The majority of the groups banned under the Terror Act of 2000 are extreme Islamists.

When the decision was made, Ms. Rudd released a statement openly condemning National Action, saying that it is a “racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic organization.”

“It stirs up hatred, glorifies violence, and promotes a vile ideology,” she stated. “I will not stand for it. It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone.”

White nationalist groups, often coined “alternative-right”, are on the rise around the world.

In August this year, neo-Nazis in the United States descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the taking down of confederate statutes. One counter-protester died when a car driven by a self-proclaimed Neo-Nazi rammed into her.

But the United States is not the only country that has faced violence from groups affiliated with white supremacy.

Jo Cox, British Member of Parliament for the Labor party, was shot, stabbed, and killed in June 2016. The evidence at trial sought to show that the shooter, Thomas Mair, was involved in alternative-right politics, including affiliation with Neo-Nazis.

At the trial, Mair identified himself to the judge saying “My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”

“Death to traitors” is the same slogan that is on the former National Action website.

National Action was quick to praise the death of Jo Cox. After the news, one tweet by the group’s Twitter page read “Only 649 MPs to go.”

The Terror Act of 2000 permits arresting those suspected of being members in proscribed terror groups. While there was no imminent threat of danger to the public, the police said that the arrests were “pre-planned” and “intelligence-led.”

Four of the detainees are being held at West Midlands police station. The other is being held in Cyprus at the British army base.

The Army could only confirm that the arrests were made under the Terror Act. Any further comment was denied, stating that this is “now the subject of a civilian police investigation.”

The results of the investigation remain to be seen.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Five army men held over alleged membership of banned UK neo-Nazi group – 5 September 2017

CBS News – 4 alleged neo-Nazi soldiers accused of plotting terror – 5 September 2017

BBC News – Neo-Nazi arrests: National Action suspects are in the Army – 5 September 2017

CNN – Jo Cox’s husband remembers her death, one year on – 16 June 2017

BBC News – Far-right group National Action to be banned under terror laws – 12 December 2016

The Guardian – Jo Cox killed in ‘brutal, cowardly’ and politically motivated murder, trial hears – 14 November 2016

Syria Deeply: Breach in the siege of Deir Ezzor, battle updates from Raqqa, and Israeli strikes in Syria

September 8, 2017

Sep. 8th, 2017

Welcome to our weekly summary of Syria Deeply’s top coverage of the crisis in Syria.

Break in Siege of Deir Ezzor: Syrian troops and allied fighters breached the perimeter of a government-controlled enclave on the western edge of Deir Ezzor city, breaking the so-called Islamic State’s three-year siege.

ISIS controls most of Deir Ezzor province, including its strongholds of Mayadin and Boukamal, along the Euphrates River. Despite recent advances, roughly half of Deir Ezzor city remains under siege, with some 93,000 civilians hemmed in, according to the United Nations.

Syrian state media said a 40-truck aid convoy arrived in Deir Ezzor at a military garrison known as Brigade 137 on Thursday, carrying roughly 1,000 tons of aid, including food, medicine, school supplies and fuel for soldiers and civilians, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier, in the hours after Syrian and allied forces breached the siege, ISIS fighters carried out four suicide bombings near Brigade 137, killing a number of pro-government fighters.

Pro-Syrian government forces have been pushing toward the capital of the eastern province for months, with Russian air support. Over the past two weeks, Russian warplanes launched at least 2,600 airstrikes on ISIS positions in eastern Syria, Russian military commander Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin told media.

Battle for Raqqa: The Syrian Democratic Forces said they had taken complete control of Raqqa’s Old City and its Great Mosque in advances against ISIS last week. United States-led coalition aircraft provided support to the Arab-Kurdish alliance fighting ISIS on the ground. The SDF’s recent gains put them in control of roughly 65 percent of the embattled city, but ISIS militants still hold districts in the west and have most of their bases in central Raqqa.

Israel Strikes Syria: An Israeli airstrike hit a Syrian military position in the government-held town of Masyaf in Hama province on Thursday. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacks targeted an army base and the Scientific Studies and Research Center, which the U.S. has previously claimed is a production facility for chemical weapons.

The Syrian army said the missiles were fired from Lebanese airspace and killed two Syrian soldiers. In a statement, the army warned of the “dangerous repercussions of such hostile acts on the security and stability of the region.”

In late June, Israeli jets hit Syrian government positions in the southern province of Quneitra four times in less than a week, after mortar fire from Syria landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

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Middle East Monitor: Qatar renews call for prosecution of Syria war crimes

September 8, 2017

Qatar renews call for prosecution of Syria war crimes

September 7, 2017 at 12:00 am | Published in: International Organisations, Middle East, News, Qatar, Syria, UN

A huge explosion sends dark clouds into the air after Assad Regime forces carried out air and ground strikes over the agreed de-conflict zone, Cobar district in the Eastern Ghouta region of Damascus, Syria on August 20, 2017. ( Ammar Al-Bushy - Anadolu Agency )

A huge explosion sends clouds into the air after the Assad Regime carried out air and ground strikes over the de-conflict zone, in Damascus, Syria on 20 August 2017 [Ammar Al-Bushy/Anadolu Agency]

September 7, 2017 at 12:00 am

The State of Qatar renewed today its call for the international community to bring war criminals in Syria to an international justice after an independent United Nations (UN) investigation has showed that the Syrian army used Sarin gas during its air strikes on Khan Sheikhun town last April.

The Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement that the impunity of the Syrian war criminals has contributed to the escalation of violence against the Syrian people in “a systematic way.”

The statement stressed on the importance of reaching a political resolution for the Syrian crisis based on the Geneva-1 statement on Syria as well as the UN Security Council resolutions to meet what it described as “the Syrian people’s legitimate aspirations.”

I am Syria: 772 Civilians Killed in August 2017

September 8, 2017

772 Civilians Killed in August 2017

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) recently published a report detailing the death tolls in Syria throughout August 2017, with a total of 7,203 deaths in 2017 thus far. The total deaths included 772 civilian victims, the majority of which were at the hands of International Coalition Forces and Syrian Regime Forces.

The largest civilian causalities were at the hands of International Coalition Forces and Syrian Regime Forces, with Russian forces distributing significantly less deaths than normal again this month, keeping to the de-escalation agreement of May 2017.

International Coalition Forces were the largest perpetrator with a total of 285 civilians, including 97 children and 58 women throughout the month of August. The second largest portion of civilian casualties were at the hands of Syrian Regime Forces, with a total of 229 civilians, including 24 women and 17 children.

The death tolls perpetrated by ISIS is also noteworthy. The report shows that ISIS killed at least 102 civilians this month, including 22 children and 13 women.

The de-escalation agreement of May 2017 is still in effect in the four established zones of the Idlib governate, nothern Homs, Eastern Ghouta and parts of Daraa and al Quneitra. In May 2017, Russia, USA and Jordan also announced a ceasefire agreement for southwestern Syria including the Daraa, Quneitra and Suwayda governates.

A surprising 69% decrease in killing at the hands of the Syrian-Russian alliance was recorded compared to last April. However, in recent months, there has been a significant increase of deaths at the hands of international coalition forces. This month, they were responsible for a total of 37% of all civilian casualties, 55% of which were women and children.

Death Tolls:
– Government forces: 229
– Russian forces: 11
– ISIS: 107
– Armed opposition factions: 13
– International Coalition forces: 285
– Other Parties: 73
– Kurdish Forces: 54