News

Adolf Eichmann’s, Nazi War Criminal, Pardon Plea is Made Public

By Brittani Howell

Impunity News Reporter, The Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – On Wednesday, Israel made public a letter written by Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin presented the letter at a ceremony to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Adolf Eichmann’s letter requesting a pardon in 1962 is made public Wednesday. (Photo Courtesy of the New York Times)

Eichmann who oversaw the lethal logistics during the Holocaust, had escaped from a prisoner of ware camp shortly after WWII and fled to Argentina in 1950. Eichmann lived in Argentina, under a pseudonym, where he was eventually found and captured by Mossad agents in the 1960 and smuggled into Israel.

In a letter dated May 29, 1962, the day his appeal was rejected by Israel’s supreme court, Eichmann pleaded, ” There is a need to draw a line between the leaders responsible and the people like me forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders.”

The letter continued, “It is also incorrect that I never let myself be influenced by human emotions. He added, ” Specifically after having witnessed the outrageous human atrocities, I immediately asked to be transferred. Also, during the police investigation I voluntarily revealed horrors that had been unknown until then, in order to help establish the indisputable truth.”

Eichmann wrote that the judges that convicted him were ” not able to empathize with the time and situation” and that he had only been following orders. “I am not able to recognize the court’s ruling as just, and I ask, Your Honor Mr. President, to exercise your right to grant pardons and order that the death penalty not be carried out,”

Eichmann’s wife and his five brothers also appealed for a pardon for Eichmann. These documents were released with Eichmann’s letter, along with President Ben-Zvi’s response.

President Ben-Zvi’s letter to Dov Yosef, Israel’s justice minister, dated May 31, 1962, stated “After considering the pardon requests made on behalf of Adolf Eichmann and after having reviewed all the material presented to me, I came to the conclusion that there is no justification in giving Adolf Eichmann a pardon or easing the sentence imposed on him.” Eichmann was executed at midnight on June 1, 1962.

President Rivlin stated to the audience in the unveiling of the documents, ” Not a moment of kindness was given to those who suffered Eichmann’s evil,” He continued, ” Eichmann’s application for amnesty revealed here today proves that Eichmann and his family recognized that in the state of Israel, a murderer such as Eichmann would be convicted and that justice would be done.”

The documents had only been discovered within the last few weeks, when researchers were digitizing documents for the president’s archive.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Eichmann Claimed He was ‘A Mere Instrument’ in Holocaust, Appeal Reveals– 27 January 2016

The New York Times – Pardon Plea by Adolf Eichmann, Nazi War Criminal, is Made Public – 27 January 2016

Time – Nazi War Criminal’s Plea for Pardon is Made Public for the First Time – 27 January 2016

The Seattle Times – Israel Makes Public a Pardon Plea by Nazi Adolf Eichmann – 27 January 2016

Five Years after Tahrir Square

By Tyler Campbell

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

 

CAIRO, Egypt – It was January 11th, 2011 and the people of Egypt would no longer take the rule of president Mubarak. A month of protests, some of which turned violent, would end with the president Mubarak resignation and eventual life sentence. Five years later Egypt is faced with the realization that it has traded one repressive regime with multiple others in this short period of time.

Protesters in Tahrir Square the night before Mubarak’s resignation. Photo Courtesy: NY Times

On February 11th 2011, the people of Egypt had their victory and by June 2012 held their first real election in some 30 years. This victory was short lived. The newly elected Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was overthrown with in a year by the Egyptian Military because of massive public outcry. The military would then declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and wage a campaign against them.

 

Fast-forward to 2014, and Egypt has drafted a new constitution and elected the former Armed Forces chief, el-Sisi as their president. El-Sisi has held his presidency into 2016 but with a repressive hand. Many human right’s activists are calling el-Sisi’s regime the most repressive in decades. Egyptian human rights activist and reporter, Hossam Bahgat has said the levels of oppression are worse than the worst periods in ex-president Mubarak’s or Gamal Abdel Nasser’s regimes. Bahgat recently found himself victim of the regime’s oppressive nature, and was detained for a number of days for publishing false news harmful to national security.

 

Since el-Sisi took power, his regime has imprisoned a record amount of journalists according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Support of ex-president Morsi has also been outlawed. Not only has the Muslim Brotherhood been labeled a terrorist organization, but any political party with a religious base was also made unconstitutional by the 2014 constitution.

 

Most of the laws are focused on quieting any political dissidence. The country now has a protest law that criminalizes any unsanctioned march or rally. There have been reports that the regime is going so far to control the message that they are instructing preachers to declare any anti-government action a sin. Along with message control has also come increased surveillance around Cairo. Authorities have installed new surveillance equipment around Cairo especially in Tahrir Square. Authorities have also raided thousands of homes, taken political prisoners, and allegedly forced disappearances.

 

The joy and promise that was felt five years ago seems to be gone. The whole period of Arab Spring is merely a distant memory for the people of Egypt. Citizens and human rights activists must wonder how many more oppressive regimes must be toppled and replaced in Egypt until the that feeling of promise is not misplaced.

 

 

For more information, please see:

 

 

Bustle – It’s Been Five Years Since The Egyptian Revolution. Here’s What’s Changed – 25 Jan. 2016

Global Research – Five Years After Tahrir Square, Egypt’s Police State Worse Than Ever – 25 Jan. 2016

The Guardian – State repression in Egypt worst in decades, says activist – 24 Jan. 2016

The Atlantic – A Revolution Devours Its Children – 23 Jan. 2016

The New York Times – Hossam Bahgat, Journalist and Advocate, Is Released by Egypt’s Military – 10 Nov. 2015

Eli Rosenbaum Seeks To Have Former Nazi Deported

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America — For over 35 years, director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy Eli Rosenbaum has dedicated his career to prosecuting former Nazis. The human rights office got its start after congressional and public pressure prompted the Justice Department to try to track down former Nazis who had moved to the United States.

Rosenbaum has become the Justice Department’s best-known ‘Nazi Hunter’, assisting the Justice Department pursue 137 cases against suspected Nazis, of which 107 were successful in stripping citizenship or deporting these individuals.

After 35 years of service, Mr. Rosenbaum finds himself with just one active case: Jakiw Palij. Even more peculiar is that the 92 year-old suspected former guard at a Nazi concentration camp will most likely die in the United States, without answering for his alleged crimes against humanity.

Perhaps the most frustrating element for lawyers and researchers such as Rosenbaum working on the cases similar to the case of Jakiw Palij is that under U.S. law, the most that the court allows them to do is to deport former Nazis. Trying them for the actual crimes against humanity is something that has been left for authorities in other countries.

A federal judge ordered Palij deported in 2004, but none of three European countries to which he could be sent would take him. In court filings, Palij denied wrongdoing, claiming that he and other young men in his Polish hometown were coerced into working for the Nazi occupiers.

In the case of Palij, Rosenbaum said to CNN: “What Mr. Palij did prevented other people from reaching old age. He served at the Trawniki SS training and base camp — really a school for mass murder — and he trained on live Jews at the adjacent Trawniki Jewish Labor Camp. And, in the end, everyone who was held there was massacred.”

The atrocities of the Trawniki camp, where Palij worked, aren’t well known in part because the killing was thorough, and kept off official documents. The Trawniki training camp was dismantled in July 1944, due to the advances of the Soviet Red Army.

Though it remains unlikely that Mr. Palij will be deported from the United States, Mr. Rosenbaum remains undeterred to see justice served to those responsible for such a tragic and unforgettable act, stating he believes that he owes it to the victims of the Holocaust to bring every person responsible to justice.

For more information, please see:

CNN — U.S. Nazi hunter has one active case — 27 January 2016

Iran Releases Americans in Exchange for the Release of Iranians

TEHRAN, Iran – On Saturday, Iran released four Iranian-Americans from prison in exchange for the release of seven Iranians from the United States prisons. The exchange has eased tensions between the two countries. Three of the four Americans left Tehran to Switzerland, via plane. Once they landed in Switzerland, the Americans left for a United States base in Germany for medical treatment.

The plane that carried the three Iranian-American former detainees landed in Geneva, Switzerland on the 17th of January 2016. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

President Obama attributed the end to the prisoner dispute to a cultivation of diplomacy. He stated, ” This is a good day because once again we are seeing what’s possible through strong American diplomacy.” A senior United States administration official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the exchange stated that Iran, “understood this was a priority for us, and that we’d never give it up.” He continued, “we consistently said it was independent from  the nuclear negotiations but of great importance.”

Jason Rezaian, one of the released Americans, had been imprisoned since July 2014 on charges of espionage. Rezaian prior to imprisonment, was the Washington Post bureau chief in Tehran since 2012. Rezaian had been convicted in September, but had never heard anything regarding his punishment.

Washington Post’s publisher, Frederick J. Ryan Jr. stated, ” We couldn’t be happier to hear the news that Jason Rezaian has been released from Evin Prison.”

Saeed Abedini, another one of the released Americans, is a Christian pastor who had been imprisoned since July 2012 for organizing churches in the homes of Iranians. His wife, Naghmeh Abedini, had heard that Mr. Abedini had been moved from prison by Iranian intelligence police and told her children that their dad was coming home.

Amir Hekmati, a former United States Marine, had been imprisoned since his arrest in August 2011 when he was visiting his grandmother. Mr. Hekmati was alleged to be a spy and was imprisoned. Earlier this month, Mr. Hekmati had been permitted to leave prison for treatment of swollen lymph nodes. This had been the indication that Mr. Hekmati was likely to be released.

A fourth prisoner who was released, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, was not on the plane that left for Switzerland. A United States senior administration official to CNN that, “we can confirm that our detained U.S. citizens have been released and those that wished to depart Iran have left. We have no further information to share at this time and would ask everyone respect the privacy of these individuals and their families.”

The seven Iranian prisoners who were released had been indicted or imprisoned for sanction violations. In addition to the release of the seven Iranian prisoners, the United States rescinded international arrest warrants on 14 Iranians, also suspected of sanction violations.

The exchange also requires Iran to continue to cooperate with the United States’s search for a retired FBI agent, Robert A. Levinson, who has been missing in Iran since 2007. “We are happy for the other families,” stated Levinson’s family, “but once again, Bob Levinson has been left behind. We are devastated.”

A fifth American was also released on Saturday, but was not part of the prisoner exchange. Matthew Trevithick, had been detained for 40 days at Evin Prison, according to his family, after he had gone to Iran for language study in September. Mr. Trevithick’s family says he was a co-founder of a Turkey-based research center, SREO, which focuses on humanitarian issues,

American officials are continuing to work on freeing Siamak Namazi, a business consultant who worked for an oil-company based under the United Arab Emirates who had been detained in mid-October.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – The Latest: Americans freed by Iran Arrive in Germany – 17 January 2016

BBC News – Jason Rezaian and Three Other US Prisoners Freed in Iran – 17 January 2016

CNN – Americans in Iran Prisons Swap Arrive in Germany – 17 January 2016

Reuters – U.S. Prisoners Leave Iran for U.S Base as Obama Hails Win for Diplomacy – 17 January 2016

The New York Times – Iran frees Americans, Including Jason Rezaian, in Prison Swap – 16 January 2016

Turkey Detained and Released Academics who Declared an End to Operations Against Kurds

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

ANKARA, Turkey –  On Friday, Turkish authorities briefly detained 27 scholars who were among more than 1,100 academics to sign a petition urging for an end to the military campaign against the Kurdish militants. The scholars were reported to be released Friday evening, according to Turkish news reports.

President Erdogan denouncing the petitioners on Tuesday. (Photo Courtesy of The New York Times)

The scholars were accused of “making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization “and of insulting the state, the Turkish people, and authorities. The petition, “We Won’t Be a Party to This Crime,” was signed by more than 1,100 academics from 90 different Turkish universities.

The petition, which was published on Monday, urged “the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift to curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and psychological damage.”

The petition also stated that, ” the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Friday, “Just because they have titles such as professor, doctor in front of their name does not make them enlightened. These are dark people.” He continued, ” They are villain[s] and vile because those who side with the villain are villain[s] themselves.”

President Edorgan’s statement was made shortly after he visited a nearby site of suicide bomb attack’s on Tuesday. Tuesday’s attack which killed 10 German terrorists has been blamed on the Islamic State.

While no details are available regarding the investigation, the scholars could face one to five years in jail if convicted at a trial. The detention of the scholars has caused concern over freedom of expression, especially academic expression and intellectual debate.

Senior Turkey Researcher at Human Rights Watch, Emma Sinclair-Webb, stated, “The campaign against academics this week certainly targets a new group and has very serious consequences for academic freedom in Turkey, as well as free speech.” She continued, “There are concerns for the physical safety of some academics in provincial universities after being targeted in such a way.”

The Turkish military operations against Kurdish militants have displaced thousands and have caused more than 100 civilian casualties, according to human rights groups.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera America – Turkey Detains Academics Who Denounced Military Operations Against Kurds – 15 January 2016

CNN – Turkey Detains at Least 18 Signers of Petition Opposing Kurdish Operation – 15 January 2016

Reuters – Turkey Detains 27 Academics Accused of Signing ‘Peace Declaration’ – 15 January 2016

The New York Times – Turkey Releases Detained Academics Who Signed Petition Defending Kurds – 15 January 2016