KHARTOUM, Sudan – For the first time since 2001, government doctors were judicially ordered to amputate a man’s right hand and left foot as punishment for the crime he was convicted of.

30-year-old Adam Al-Muthna was convicted of armed robbery under article 167 of the 1991 Sudanese Penal Code. Under the same law, the penalty for such an offense is cross amputation. So, on February 14 Muthna was brought to the Sudanese Ministry of Interior’s Al Rebat Hospital and had his limbs cut off.

The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), along with the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), Human Rights Watch, and REDRESS, cried that the amputation was against the credo of the medical profession. “Cross amputation is a form of state-sponsored torture,” said Dr. Vincent Iacopino, senior medical advisor at Physicians for Human Rights. “The complicity of medical personnel in such practices represents a gross contravention of the UN Principles of Medical Ethics for health personnel, particularly medical doctors who engage, actively or passively, in acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

According to the executive director of ACJPS, Osman Hummaida, “amputations violate the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law and have no place in any criminal justice system.”

Thus, hoping to convince the Sudanese government to reform its penal laws, the PHR, ACJPS, Human Rights Watch and Redress came together to demand not only Sudan, but international actors as well, to condemn the practice immediately.

“Authorities should immediately stop imposing such cruel and inhuman punishments, and bring laws in line with Sudan’s human rights obligations,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “They should stop ordering amputations, stoning, flogging and all other forms of corporal punishment that violate basic human rights.”

Dr. Lutz Oette, Counsel at REDRESS added that corporal punishments are “frequently used as an instrument of repression against those who do not conform to the State’s conception of moral order.” She said that this was contrary to the ruling in Doebbler v Sudan, concerning the use of flogging as a punishment in Sudan. In that case, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that: “there is no right for the government of a country to apply physical violence to individuals for offences. Such a right would be tantamount to sanctioning State sponsored torture contrary to article 5 of the African Charter.”

In 1996, Sudan signed, but has yet to ratify, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

 

For further information, please see:

AFP – Sudan man’s foot, hand ‘amputated’ by court order – 28 February 2013

France Diplomatie – Sudan – Court ordered amputation – 28 February 2013

Radio Dabanga – Sudanese Doctors Union condemn reintroduction of cutting hand and foot – 28 February 2013

UPI – Rights groups blast Sudan amputation – 28 February 2013

All Africa – Sudan Doctors Carry Out Court Ordered Amputation Sentence – 27 February 2013

Human Rights Watch – Sudan: Doctors Perform Amputations for Courts – 27 February 2013

Reuters – Sudan cuts off hand, foot of man convicted of robbery: activists – 27 February 2013

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

LUSAKA, Zambia – On Wednesday, Zambian President Michael Sata urged his fellow Zambians to cease the this election season’s violence as he condemned the killing of Patriotic Front (PF) Monze District Vice-chairperson Harrison Chanda.

Chanda, a party youth secretary, was reportedly hacked on the head with an axe after being attacked by a group of people during his by-election campaign in Livingstone on Monday night.

“The person who has died in Livingstone is a human being like all of us. Let us do politics without violence, if you can’t convince people by talking, stones will not convince them, they will just scare away other people,” President Sata said. He also reminded political parties that “political violence would only cost the country the much needed development and scare away voters.”

According to the President, this is the first time he had to speak against political violence since 1968 when former President Kenneth Kaunda and African National Congress (ANC) leader Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula signed the Choma Declaration to introduce a one party State at the height of political unrest in the country.

“Zambia is very precious, we shall all come and go. Why are we killing each other? Stop fighting and stop killing each other. The blood of the person killed in Livingstone, does not show that its Bemba blood, or Tonga blood or Lozi blood. It’s the same blood, like Tongas say ‘bantu bomwe’ (we are one people),” the President stressed out.

Another incident that prompted the President statement was a riot protesting the arrest of Hakainde Hichilema, the leader of Zambia’s second-largest opposition group. Hichilema, head of the United Party for National Development (UPND), was brought to custody on Tuesday as a suspect for the murder of Chanda.

According to UPND spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, “Hakainde was bundled into a police vehicle . . . [He] has been arrested and is currently under detention with all the people that were with him. His security personnel have also been arrested. As a result people are now rioting, calling for his release.”

Meetwa added that 20 people, including 2 parliamentarians, are currently in police custody over the killing of Chanda.

Because of the troubled state of the campaigns, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) decided to postpone the Livingstone parliamentary by-election until order is restored. President Sata commended the ECZ’s decision, saying that it “should demonstrate to all that the ECZ is operating independently and that violence will not be condoned.”

 

For further information, please see:

AFP – Zambia calls for calm, postpones by-election amid bloodshed – 28 February 2013

All Africa – Zambia: Sata Condemns Campaign Violence – 28 February 2013

Arab News – Zambia president urges calm amid by-poll bloodshed – 28 February 2013

Zambia Reports – Damage Control Sata Praises ECZ on Livingstone by Election – 28 February 2013

Zambian Watchdog – Sata accuses UPND of profiting from violence – 28 February 2013

All Africa – Zambia: Maureen Lashes Out At Sata’s Intolerance – 27 February 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Eight South African police officers have been arrested over the death of a Mozambican man who was dragged through the streets behind a police vehicle.

The event took place in the east Johannesburg area of Daveyton.  Moreover, the incident was captured on video, sparking outrage nationwide.

Mido Macia, a 27 year-old taxi driver was found dead in detention with signs of head injuries and internal bleeding.  Police told media they had detained Macia after he parked illegally, creating a traffic jam, and then resisted arrest.

The video shows the man scuffling with police, who subdue him.  He is then bound to the back of a vehicle by his arms before the vehicle drives, dragging him down the road as he struggles, in front of a crowd of witnesses.  Crowds chased after the van as the man kicked and writhed.  He later died in custody.

It is still unclear how many officers were involved in the incident.  The police force stated that it will conduct an internal investigation, and said the Daveyton station commander was removed from his position “so that the investigations can proceed uninhibited.”

It was the latest in a series of scandals to hit South Africa’s police force in recent months.

For example, Hilton Botha, the lead detective in the murder investigation involving Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius was removed from the case last week when it was revealed that he is facing seven charges for attempted murder. Botha is accused of chasing and firing on a minibus full of people while drunk in 2011.

Moreover, the police fatally shot 34 striking workers at a platinum mine in August 2012; this event was the deadliest security incident since apartheid ended in 1994.

This latest video footage of the taxi driver’s treatment has revived concerns about police brutality in a country where more than 1,200 people a year die while in custody.  Furthermore, the scandal serves to undermine confidence in South Africa’s police force, which has expanded from 120,000 to nearly 200,000 over a decade.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – South Africa: Eight Police Arrested Over Drag Death – 1 March 2013

CNN – South Africa Disarms, Suspends Officers Linked to Man’s Dragging Death – 1 March 2013

Reuters – South Africa Suspends Eight Policemen Who Dragged Man Behind Vehicle – 1 March 2013

USA Today – South Africa: Officers in Dragged Man Case Suspended – 1 March 2013

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria—Britain today advised its citizens against traveling to several regions of Northern Nigeria after a recent increase in attacks that have been blamed on Islamist militants and the kidnapping of several foreigners earlier this month.

The country also advised against “all-but-essential travel” to the Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states of Nigeria. These attacks by Islamist groups in this region have become the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil producer.

Most recently gunmen killed a security guard and abducted a Brit, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers after storming and attacking the compound of a Lebanese construction firm in the Bauchi state of Northern Nigeria on February 16. This kidnapping was considered the worst case of foreigners being kidnapped in this region.

Western governments are also concerned that the militants may link up with other groups in the region including al Qaida’s North Africa wing, especially given the conflict in nearby Mali.

The Islamist group Ansaru claimed responsibility for the attack on the Lebanese compound, Setraco. The raid was “based on the transgression and atrocities done to the religion of Allah by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali,” said the group which has also kidnapped other foreigners in Nigeria in the past. The group’s full name is Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which translates roughly to “Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa.” The group is also believed to be a breakaway group from the better-known Islamist sect Boko Haram. The Boko Haram group has killed hundreds in recent months in its own attempt to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria which is a country truly split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

In November, Britain had put the Ansaru group on its official “terrorist group” list, noting that it was aligned with al Qaida and was behind the kidnapping and abduction of two Europeans killed last year during a failed rescue attempt.

This violence is not only affecting travel, but is also stunting economic development in North Nigeria and risks increasing the divide with the wealthier and largely Christian south, which is also the home to the commercial hub Lagos and the oil-producing Niger Delta region.

 

For further information, please see:

Business Day – Britain Warns Citizens Against Visits to Northern Nigeria – 27 February 2013

Reuters – Britain Warns Against Travel to Northern Nigeria After Islamist Raids – 27 February 2013

Channels – France Says Will Not Negotiate With Boko Haram Over Family Hostage – 26 February 2013

Daily Nation – Nigeria Military Claims It Kills 17 Islamists in Raid– 2 February 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria — France will not negotiate with gunmen claiming to be from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram who kidnapped a French family of seven, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.  Moreover, while Le Drian deplored the fact children were among the hostages, he stated: “We do not play this bidding game.”

He went on to say, “we will use all [other] possible means to ensure these and other hostages are freed.”

The three adults and four children were abducted in Cameroon last week.  The father reportedly works for the French company G.D.F. Suez, which is based in Yaounde, Cameroon.  G.D.F. Suez is currently developing a natural gas liquefaction project in Cameroon.  Reports state that the family is being held in Nigeria.

In a video posted on YouTube on Monday, gunmen threatened to kill the family unless authorities in Nigeria and Cameroon release prisoners held there.  The masked man, who identified himself as a Boko Haram agent, states that French President Francois Hollande “started war against Islam, and we must fight him everywhere.”

Boko Haram is believed to have killed at least thousands since 2009 in an attempt to establish an Islamist state in Nigeria.

The kidnapping has illustrated the heightened risk to French citizens in Africa due to France’s involvement in Mali combating Islamic militants.

However, the abduction was the first case of foreigners being seized in the predominantly Muslim north of Cameroon.  This region – with typically porous borders – is considered to be within the operational sphere of Boko Haram and other Nigerian militant groups.

Simultaneous to this abhorrent event, the conflict between Nigerian troops and Boko Haram continued this week in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and main base of Boko Haram.

Nigerian troops reportedly killed a suspected Boko Haram commander and three of his lieutenants during a recent operation.  The operation was conducted in order to apprehend Boko Haram fighters thought to be involved in attacks that killed three civilians and left six soldiers wounded last week.

For more information, please see:

BBC – French Family Kidnapped in Cameroon “Shown in Video” – 26 February 2013

CNN – France Blasts “Cruelty” as Boko Haram Displays Kidnapped Family – 26 February 2013

News.com.au – Nigeria Kills Boko Haram Commander – 26 February 2013

Reuters – France Says Will Not Negotiate with Cameroon Hostage-Takers – 26 February 2013