News

Exiled Yemeni President Backs out of Peace Talks

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen – On Sunday, Yemen’s exiled President, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, announced that he will not participate in United Nation’s peace talks with the Houthi rebels. President Hadi stated that there will only be peace talks with the rebels in the event that the Houthis withdraw from the areas they seized and surrender any weapons.

Nader Mohammed, a doctor in Sana’a, in his apartment after an airstrike. (Photo Courtesy of New York Times)

The self-exiled government is making plans to return to the city of Aden by the end of this month. Over 200 soldiers from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, have travelled to Aden in order to secure the city so that the exiled government can return. Currently, part of Aden is under the control of al-Qaeda.

Previous attempts to end the conflict and to enter into peace-talks have all failed. Over 4,500 people have been killed since the conflict began. According to the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, from the start of the Saudi-led offense and through June 30, 1,527 civilians have been killed. Of the 1,527 killed, 941 deaths were caused by airstrikes.

The Saudi-led coalition’s strikes have strayed from military targets and have struck civilian areas, causing many to accuse the coalition of punishing all who reside in areas under Houthi rebel control. Residents in northern Yemen, largely Shi’ite Muslims, have claimed the Saudi-led coalition attacks are a sectarian purge, as the coalition is largely Sunni Muslim.

“They kill innocents and claim to be killing Houthis. They are targeting the whole population.” Stated Adam Mujahid Abdullah, a survivor of an airstrike that targeted residential homes overlooking a university that had been used as a base for Houthi rebels.

Many people have been forced to take shelter in the mountains, as a result of the frequent airstrikes. Dr. Natalie Roberts, from Doctors Without Borders, stated “It’s no kind of life. Waiting in a cave to see if you’re going to get bombed.” Others have been forced South, most forced to walk on foot.

In the province of Marib, 25 fighters from both the rebels and the coalition were killed when the Saudi-led coalition advanced and cut off the Houthi rebels supply lines.

On Saturday, it was alleged that a United States drone attack killed 4 people in the province of Hadramawt. Security officials stated that masked gunmen prevented access to the site of the attack as the victims had been buried near by.

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday mourned the loss of 52 soldiers, who were killed in a Houthi rebels’ missile attack on September 5, 2015. This was the heaviest loss the country has seen since 1971.

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – Yemen’s Exiled President Backs Out of Talks With Rebels – 13 September 2015

Reuters – Exiled Yemeni Government Pulls out of Planned Peace Talks – 13 September 2015

The Associated Press – Yemen’s Exiled President Backs out of Talks With Rebels – 13 September 2015

The New York Times – Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians in Yemen War – 12 September 2015

UN Authorizes Investigation of Alleged Chemical Attacks

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch News Desk Reporter

DAMASCUS, Syria –   On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council announced it will authorize an international body to investigate who is behind the chemical warfare in Syria and Iraq. Prior to this announcement, the United Nations has only been able to investigate without assessing blame for the attacks.

Russia’s United Nations Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, at a Security Council Session in July. (Photo Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times)

Russia decided to not use its veto power and had its U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, deliver a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in support of the joint investigative unit. The investigative unit will be able to go anywhere in Syria to conduct its investigation.

U.N. disarmament chief Kim Won-soo stated that “access will be a very challenging issue” particularly because of the Islamic State’s involvement in Syria.

The Iraqi government, on Monday, stated they were sending a team of experts to investigate the allegations that chemical weapons had been used on the Kurdish Forces. It is suspected that the Islamic State has access to chemical weapons, which have not been used in fighting conflicts in Iraq since 2003.

Kurdistan Regional Government officials stated that lab tests showed positive for the chemical agent chlorine. The use of Chlorine as a weapon is forbidden under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Chlorine is lethal if inhaled, as it turns into hydrochloric acid and causes an individual’s lungs to burn which causes a build up of fluids and results in the drowning of the individual.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has destroyed known stockpiles of chemical weapons in both Syria and Iraq.

According to a United States official, the Islamic State has been using mustard agents in both Iraq and Syria.

The United Nations investigative body will begin in the next few weeks and will have its first report within 90 days of being operational. The investigative body is authorized for one year with the possibility for extensions.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – US Official: ‘IS Making and Using Chemical Weapons in Iraq and Syria’ – 10 September 2015

The Associated Press – UN Security Council OKS Syria Chemical Probe – 10 September 2015

The Los Angeles Times – New U.N. Probe of Syrian Chemical Weapons use to Name Perpetrators – 10 September 2015

Reuters – Iraqi team to Probe Alleged IS Chemical Attacks on Kurds – Diplomats – 7 September 2015

The Atrocities of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces

By Tyler Campbell

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – This Friday Human Rights Watch reported that the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) significantly violated international human rights and humanitarian law. This report was based on two counterinsurgency campaigns that took place in 2014 and 2015. The first campaign was called Operation Decisive Summer and took place in February to May of 2014. The second campaign was called Operation Decisive Summer II and took place from January till June 2015.

A picture of RSF Forces (Photo Curtsey of the Human Rights Watch)

The report form Human Right Watch contained quotes from 212 victims and RSF defectors who could no longer continue what they were being ordered to do. Here is the alarming quote that opened the report:

     [The government soldiers] confiscated our belongings. They took our livestock.  They beat the men. And then they raped us. They raped us in a group. Some women were raped by 8 or 10 men.  Seventeen women were raped together. All of us were raped. Even the underage girls were raped.

– “Men With No Mercy” Human Rights Watch

Even more worrying is that these men actually had orders to go about their occupations this way. Four of the defected soldiers said that their commanding officers had ordered them to carry out their operations this way.

The list of human rights violations is as long as it is startling. There have been instances of forced displacement of communities from their homes. There are also reports of the destruction of certain necessities needed to live, including wells, food supplies, and the plunder of wealth. Finally, Human Rights Watch has reported “systematic attacks on civilian populations,” which including torture, killings and mass rapes.

The RSF was first created in 2013 by Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir. It is part of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services and is usually sent to rebel controlled areas, such as Darfur. These horrors are sadly not a new occurrence in Darfur. The fight between Sudan’s government and multiple rebel groups has been an ongoing story for 12 years. Even though the International Criminal Court indicted president Al Bashir in 2009. Little seems likely to change without heavy influence from the outside world.

Documentation of these atrocities is certainly a necessary step. However, it is slowly becoming a record of terrible events while the rest of the world is content to let it continue. Sadly, groups set up by the U.N. like UNAMID, the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, has been relatively ineffective at providing any aid or curtailing the RSF’s practices. The U.N. has continued to blame the Sudanese government for these less than optimal results. Claiming that the group’s access has been all but denied since they tried to gain access to Thabit in 2014.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Men With No Mercy – 9 September 2015

NewWeek –Sudanese Government Special Forces Accused of Rape and Murder Sprees: HRW – 9 September 2015

allAfrica – Sudan: Background – Who Are the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan? – 9 September 2015 

The Guardian – Sudan’s security forces killed, raped and burned civilians alive, says rights group – 9 September 2015

Chinese Journalist Arrested and Forced to Give Televised Confession

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

BEIJING, China —                 

Chinese journalist Wang Xiaolu was arrested in late August for his article about the recent China stock market crisis, which affected the global economy. Mr. Wang was forced to confess on China Central Television, China’s state television network, that he had gathered information for his article using private sources and abnormal means. Mr. Wang also confessed that he had added his own subjective views to the information that he had found and that his article was “sensational” and “irresponsible”. Mr. Wang stated that he hoped for leniency from judicial authorities.

Mr. Wang during his televised confession. (Photo courtesy of the Independent)

Mr. Wang, a reporter for business magazine Caijing, was arrested at his home and taken into police custody last Tuesday. His televised confession occurred before any formal court proceedings.

Mr. Wang’s article in Caijing about the stock market crisis indicated that China’s Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) planned to withdraw money from the already struggling stock market. The CSRC denied the story, but Chinese authorities believe that Mr. Wang’s article contributed to the stock market plunge in July 2015. According to Xinhua, China’s official press agency, Mr. Wangs’s article caused “abnormal fluctuations” in the stock market.

Mr. Wang has been accused of “ colluding with others and fabricating and spreading false information concerning securities and futures trading”, according to Xinhua. He has been placed under “criminal compulsory measures”, which could lead to jail, house arrest, residential surveillance, or other punishments.

It has been a surprise to many that the Chinese government has targeted Caijing. While the financial magazine has a reputation for pushing the boundaries of what the Chinese government deems admissible, Caijing has avoided covering topics prohibited by the government.

Mr. Wang’s arrest occurred in the midst of a government crackdown on the spread of rumors online. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has charged nearly 200 people for “spreading rumors online”.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, major news sources in China have been instructed to delete articles about Beijing’s response to the stock market crisis.

Human rights groups and the Committee to Protect Journalists have called for the release of Mr. Wang. The Committee has stated that Chinese authorities’ sensitivity to changes in the financial markets is no reason to intimidate and jail a journalist.

Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, believes that the punishment of Mr. Wang signifies a tightening of government control in China. In recent years, Chinese authorities have increased their use of televised confessions to use detainees’ cases as warnings to others. Authorities have employed the tactic with journalists, human rights activists, and lawyers.

 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Caijing Journalist’s Shaming Signals China’s Growing Control Over News Media – 6 September 2015

Committee to Protect Journalists– Chinese State TV Airs Footage of Journalist Saying He Regrets Writing Stock Market Story – 31 August 2015

The Guardian – Chinese Reporter Makes On-Air ‘Confession’ After Market Chaos – 31 August 2015

The Independent – A Chinese Journalist Has Appeared on State Television ‘Confessing’ to Causing the Stock Market Chaos – 31 August 2015

New York Times – China Punishes Nearly 200 Over ‘Rumors’ About Stocks, Blasts and Parade – 31 August 2015

Al Jazeera – Chinese Journalist Jailed After Stock Market Crash Coverage – 27 August 2015

 

 

 

 

Druze Cleric Killed and Riots Erupt in Southern Syria

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

 DAMASCUS, Syria – Violence erupted on Saturday in a Southern Syrian province, in response to a double-car bombing that occurred Friday. The car-bombing killed 28 people, including Druze cleric Sheikh Wahid al-Balous.

Lebanon Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, stands with other cleric leaders in Beirut on June 12, 2015. (Photo courtesy The World Post)

Druze cleric Sheikh Wahid al-Balous led the group Sheikhs of Dignity. The Sheikhs of Dignity called the re-election of President Bashar al-Assad a “void election”. Two weak and relatively unknown candidates ran against the President during the elections held in July 2014. In addition, rebel-held territories were not allowed to vote.

The group also protested the lack of adequate water and electricity. Sheikh Wahid al-Balous was a critic of President Bashar al-Assad and urged the youth of Sweida to refuse military service. A movement in the Druze community urges the youth to serve in the local National Defense forces, a pro-government military to defend Sweida.

The two explosions occurred in and around the city of Sweida. One bomb hit Sheikh Wahid al-Balous’s convoy. The second bomb struck the hospital where the victims of the first explosion were taken. As a result, 28 people were killed.

Nine more individuals were killed during the riots outside government building of Swedia. Six security personnel were killed by Druze gunman.

The statute of former President Hafez al-Assad was destroyed by protestors. Walid Jumblatt, Druze political leader in Lebanon, told Syrian Orient TV, “It is time for the honorable citizens [of Sweida] to rise up in the face of the Syrian regime that wants repression and to spread sedition”.

The Syrian Government blamed “terrorists” for the explosions. Syria’s state new media neglected to report the cleric’s death as well as the deaths of the security forces.

The Druze sect is an off shoot of Shi’ite Islam and is related to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The Druze faith is practiced by 1.5 million people, mostly residing in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Druze Gunman Kill Six Syrian Security Personnel After Bomb Blasts Kill Dozens – 5 September 2015

The New York Times – Unrests Mounts in Southern Syria After Druse Cleric Dies in Blast – 5 September 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Violence Erupts in Syrian City After Druse Cleric Killed – 5 September 2015

The World Post – Syrian Druze City Turns on Assad After Top Cleric Killed by Car Bomb – 5 September 2015