News

Thailand Plans to Proceed with Sunday Election Despite Growing Violence

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand–Thailand’s government announced Tuesday that it will move forward with an election set to take place this weekend despite a violent opposition boycott, street protests, and the prospect of even greater violence in the country’s political crisis.

A man is carried away after being nearly beaten to death by anti-government protesters Tuesday afternoon. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

The announced its plan after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with the Election Commission, which had plans to delay the election.

The decision to hold Sunday’s parliamentary balloting is expected to further inflame tensions and produce violence. One protest leader was killed and at least a dozen others were injured in a clash last Sunday as protesters swarmed polling stations in an effort to stop advance balloting. Since November 30, 10 people have died and at least 577 have sustained serious injuries.

Anti-government protesters occupying parts of Bangkok have demanded that Yingluck step down before the election. Protesters argue that she should be replaced by a non-elected interim government that would institute reforms to remove her family’s weighty influence from the political structures. The opposition Democrat Party, which backs the protests, is boycotting the election.

The crisis places followers and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra against one another. Thaksin, a billionaire and Yingluck’s older brother, was deposed by a military coup in 2006 after accusations of corruption and abuse of power. Since then the two sides have been engaged in a sometimes violent struggle for power.

Yingluck’s supporters, including many people in the countryside who benefited from Thaksin’s populist policies, are demanding that they be allowed to vote.

‘‘The longer this crisis goes on, the more dangerous it becomes,’’ said Chris Baker, a Bangkok-based political analyst and writer. ‘‘The economy is clearly suffering already. It will suffer more the longer it goes on. The chances of violence keep increasing because emotions are getting stoked up.’’

Several hundred protesters laid siege to Tuesday’s meeting between Yingluck and the Election Commission.

Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said more violence was expected during the polls and would further damage the country.

‘‘I think Thailand has suffered enough and no one should be hurt or die from this election,’’ Somchai told reporters.

Somchai earlier said he would tell Yingluck about the problems enveloping Sunday’s election, including the lack of workers and meager equipment, which has yet to reach many provinces. The disruptions have been caused largely by the protesters, and some senior government officials have accused the Commission of supporting the anti-government side.

Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said the Commission and the government had different views and the election would therefore move forward as scheduled. A court ruled last week that the election could only be postponed by mutual agreement between the prime minister and the Election Commission.

‘‘If we postpone the election, will the problems go away? The people who are causing trouble didn’t say they would stop if it’s postponed,’’ Pongthep said. ‘‘The longer it is postponed, the more damage it will cause the people and the country.’’

For more information, please see:

The Hindu–200,000 police to be deployed for Feb 2 snap polls in Thailand— 29 January 2014

Times of Oman–Thailand to deploy 10,000 police in capital to secure voting— 29 January 2014

Channel News Asia–“No” option valid political choice in upcoming Thai election— 29 January 2014

The Boston Globe–Thai government says no delay in Sunday election— 29 January 2014

UN Backs More Troops to Central African Republic

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – The UN believes at least 10,000 troops will eventually be required to end unrest in Central African Republic (CAR), the French UN envoy said.

A French peacekeeping soldier searches a man for weapons (photo courtesy of Yahoo!)

Yesterday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution allowing European troops to use force and threatening sanctions against those blamed for the country’s strife.

The European Union is to send up to 600 troops to help African and French forces in the country to try and end clashes between rival Christian and Muslim militias.

Almost one million people (a quarter of the population) have been displaced by fighting since the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in March last year in the majority Christian country. At least 2,000 people have been killed.

The African Union force is eventually intended to reach 6,000 troops while France now has 1,600 soldiers in place.

The UN resolution also allows for asset freeze and travel ban sanctions against the ringleaders of groups blamed for massacres and human rights abuses. It did not name initial targets.

Ambassador Gerard Araud described the situation in CAR as “very, very dire.”

Araud said the African Union force in the country, intending to reach 6,000 troops, “is considered now too low because frankly the situation is very, very dire and the country is huge.”

He said the resolution was a “new stage” in efforts to help CAR out of the strife in which thousands are feared killed and more than 900,000 people have fled their homes.

Security council members have been alarmed by the vicious cycle of vengeance between Muslim and Christian militias in CAR, said the BBC’s Nada Tawfik in New York.

The United Nations had warned that the conflict in the landlocked former French colony could spiral into genocide.

CAR’s interim President Catherine Samba-Panza said on Tuesday that she had written to the UN to call for the African peacekeeping force to be transformed into a larger UN operation. She said the violence had continued despite the presence of African and French forces.

“It means that the number of troops is insufficient to restore and ensure security for the population,” she said.

On Monday, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said the situation was getting even worse despite the inauguration of a new leader last week.

A day after reports, at least 13 people were killed. Eleven people were killed in the violence on Tuesday and 26 others were wounded.

“It’s really quite a challenge because there is an incredible amount of resentment and hatred between the two communities,” Aurad said.

He also said that transforming the African force into a UN operation would bring guaranteed funding and an experienced civilian component to help rebuild CAR’s state institutions, which have basically disintegrated.

CAR is rich in gold and diamonds but years of unrest and poor governance have left most of its 4.6 million people in poverty.

For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Central African Republic: UN ‘may need 10,000 troops’ – 28 January 2014
The Peninsula – UN backs EU force, sanctions in Central Africa – 29 January 2014
Yahoo! News – Central African Republic wants U.N. force as EU troops OKed – 28 January 2014
AFP – UN backs EU force in Central Africa amid troops push – 28 January 2014
Japan Today – U.N. backs EU force in Central African Republic – 29 January 2014
The Guardian – UN backs force, sanctions in Central Africa Republic – 28 January 2014

 

Morsi Faces Trial for 2011 Prison Break

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt’s overthrown President, Mohamed Morsi, appeared in court in Cairo on Tuesday to face charges stemming from a 2011 prison break. Morsi is accused of organizing a large-scale breakout from the Wadi al-Natrun prison and the subsequent murders of police officers during the jailbreak.

Morsi and the other defendants appeared in a glass cage in order to keep them from interrupting the proceedings. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Morsi is also accused of colluding with foreign forces, Hamas and Hezbollah, to plan and execute the prison break. Members of both organizations are on trial with Morsi for charges relating to the event. In total another 130 individuals are on trial for the prison break events, but many of them remain on the run.

The prison break was one of a number that occurred during the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. During the 2011 revolution more than 20,000 inmates escaped from Egyptian prisons.

Morsi and the other defendants are appearing in a sound-proof glass box surrounded by a cage for the duration of the trial. At one point, journalists were given the chance to hear what was going on in the glass cage.

The defendants were heard chanting “Down with military rule” and the judge quickly cut off the sound. The defendants also made the four-finger “Rabaa” protest sign, which is linked to the pro-Morsi Rabaa al-Adawiya square protest camp that was cleared in August.

At one point Morsi demanded to know the identity of the court’s judge to which the judge replied, “I’m the head of the criminal court.” Additionally, Morsi shouted a handful of statements at the court that maintained he was still the President and that the conditions of his imprisonment were unsuitable.

There were pro-government crowds outside the courthouse, but no pro-Morsi supporters. The Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organization and it is now illegal to show any public support for the Brotherhood or Morsi.

The trial was adjourned until February 22. Morsi currently facing four different criminal trials on separate charges some of which are punishable by death.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Morsi faces court over Egypt prison break – 28 January 2013

BBC – Egypt ex-President Morsi defiant at jailbreak trial – 28 January 2013

New York Times – Egypt Locks Morsi in Soundproof Cage During Trial – 28 January 2013

USA Today – Ousted Egypt leader shouts at judge during trial – 28 January 2013

Mexican Government Legalizes Vigilantes

By Brandon R. Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – After months of implicit cooperation with rural vigilantes, the Mexican government formally signed an agreement today, which will allow the vigilantes to gain legal status.

In today’s agreement, Mexican vigilantes will legally join forces with the Mexican Military (Photo Courtesy: The Guardian).

Under the agreement, the vigilantes, or so called “self-defense groups” will be temporarily incorporated into the Rural Defense Corps and will be subject to regulation by the Organic Law of the Mexican Army and Air Force.  In incorporating with the Corps, the vigilantes will “cooperate with the troops activities being carried when they are asked to.”

Additionally, this agreement allows the vigilantes to join municipal police forces, which will allow them to protect their communities.  Prior to joining such forces, however, the vigilantes must be approved by the applicable city council.

The vigilantes must submit a list of their members to the Defense Department.  The vigilantes, who are heavily armed, may keep their weapons, provided that they register their weapons with the Defense Secretary prior to their individual incorporation.  The military will, however, give the groups “all the means necessary for communications, operations and movement.”

Though the government has admirable goals in solving the nation’s security problems, the legalization of the vigilantes comes with plenty of risks.  For example, consider that the government must enforce military discipline and instill respect for human rights and due process among more than 20,000 heavily armed civilians, then eventually disband them and send them back home.”  Instilling such respect is likely to prove difficult, as the Mexican Army itself has been accused of human right abuses during the current “war against organized crime.”

Furthermore, in other Latin American countries were vigilantes were legalized, the vigilantes morphed into state-backed militias, which carried out “widespread human rights abuses [such as] mass killings.”  For example in Guatemala, thousands of deaths were attributed to the army-backed Peasant Self Defense Patrols during the country’s civil war.  Claudia Samayoa, a human rights activist in Guatemala, said that this “cure is going to be worse than the disease” and that “it would be better not to go down that road, and instead strengthen law enforcement and the justice and public safety systems.”

However, there is optimism in such an arrangement, as the vigilantes, prior to legalization, “have seized a dozen towns terrorized by extortion, killings and rapes at the hands of the cartel’s gunmen.”  Additionally, the vigilantes are mostly pro-government and are dedicated to “ fighting against kidnapping, violence, and extortion by the cartels.”

 

For more information, please see the following:

AP News – Mexican Vigilante Legalization Plan Carries Risks – 28 Jan. 2014

Fox News Latino – Mexican Gov’t Signs Agreement With Vigilante Groups – 28 Jan. 2014 

Guardian Liberty Voice – Mexico – Three Sided Vigilante Standoff – 28 Jan. 2014 

Al Jazeera –Mexico Legalizes Vigilantes – 27 Jan. 2014 

 

German Newspaper Publishes Heinrich Himmler’s Letters and Photos

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany –  Excerpts from a collection of photographs and approximately 700 letters and notes penned by Heinrich Himmler were published for the first time on Sunday.

A documentary on the collection will be premiered next month at the Berlin International Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

The German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, published parts of the collection in seven pages of its Sunday edition. The letters and notes are thought to be written by Himmler himself. Some of the pictures depict the Holocaust-era Nazi officer gently: posing with his family, and feeding a baby fawn.

The excerpts, which include Himmler’s love letters to his wife, will be a part of an eight-part series that the newspaper is planning to publish. According to the newspaper, two American soldiers found the collection at the end of the war in May 1945 inside of a safe in Himmler’s Bavarian home. Fast forwarding to the 1980’s, the collection surfaced again in Israel, in the possession of Chaim Rosenthal, a holocaust survivor. Rosenthal sold the collection in 2007 to Israeli film director Vanessa Lapa’s father, who gave them to Lapa.

Lapa then approached the German newspaper three years ago about the collection. The newspaper has since verified the authenticity of the collection by historians. Lapa will unveil a documentary that she directed on the Himmler collection at the Berlin International Film Festival next month.

Himmler’s wife, Marga, shared Himmler’s hatred of Jewish people, as they both regularly referred to Jews in derogatory terms in their letters to each other. In a letter dated June 21, 1928, Himmler wrote to Marga: “Don’t be upset about those Jews, good, good wife, if only I could help you.” Ten years later, Marga wrote in a diary entry dated Nov. 14, 1938, “Those Jews, when will that pack finally leave us so that we can enjoy our lives again.”

The collections document the progression of Himmler’s career from the beginning in the 1920’s, to the Holocaust of the 1940’s. Himmler does not explicitly write about the happenings of World War II. However, small quotes in the collection reveal his involvement, as when he writes to his wife “I’m going to Auschwitz, kisses, yours Heini.” Himmler committed suicide on May 23, 1945, in Lueneburg, Germany, after he was captured by British forces.

For more information, please see:

New York Daily News – German Newspaper Publishes Top Nazi Himmler’s Letters and Photos – 27 January 2014

AP News – German Newspaper Publishes Top Nazi’s Letters – 26 January 2014

Fox News – German Newspaper Publishes Top Nazi’s Letters – 26 January 2014

The Local – Caviar, Auschwitz, Love- Himmler’s Letters to Wife – 26 January 2014