News

New Documents Detail Charles Taylor’s Life in Prison

By Erica L Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MONROVIA, Liberia — Charles Taylor, former dictator of Liberia, was transferred to British custody Tuesday. The transfer comes just a day after the release of documents detailing his life behind bars in The Hague and his desire to serve out his prison term in Rwanda.

Charles Taylor (Photo courtesy of The Telegraph)

“Charles Ghankay Taylor… was transferred today (Tuesday)  from the Netherlands and the custody of the Special Court to the United Kingdom, where he will serve the remainder of his 50-year sentence,” the UN’s Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)’s Freetown office said in a statement.

Taylor is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after his conviction and 50 year sentence for arming rebel groups during the Liberian Civil War was upheld by the SCSL last week. Taylor supported the Revolutionary United Front rebels in exchange for “blood diamonds.”  The rebel group became well know for widespread killings and amputations during the 11 year conflict.

Taylor wished to serve his sentence out in Rwanda because he fears for his safety in British custody. Taylor and his defense team argue that there are numerous individuals of Sierra Leonean background in British detention and Taylor fears they may attack him because of his association with “horrendous atrocities.” The defense team points to the case of Radislav Krstic, a Bosnian Serb war criminal, who was attacked three times while in British custody in 2010.

Taylor also wanted to be imprisoned in Rwanda so that his family would be able to visit him. Taylor believes that the higher costs and visa complications facing Liberians traveling to the U.K. will make it impossible for him to see his family.

“The consequence of these factors is that if I am incarcerated in the United Kingdom some family members will see me much less than if I were to serve my sentence in Rwanda. Many of my children would not be able to see me at all,” Taylor said.

Taylor is reported to have 15 children, five of whom are under the age of 10.

The documents further reveal that Taylor remained on good terms with his guards and is outspoken when he believes his living conditions are not satisfactory.

“Mr. Taylor does not take part in creative lessons, but takes the opportunity to regularly enjoy fresh air and tries to keep himself as fit as the regime will allow,” a May 2012 profile prepared by Paddy Craig, the chief custody officer at the International Criminal Court detention center reads.

Taylor also enjoyed playing tennis while incarcerated in The Hague.

For more information, please see:

Nigerian Tribune — War crimes: Charles Taylor secretly sent to UK jail — 16 October 2013

BBC News — Liberia’s Charles Taylor transferred to UK — 15 October 2013

IOL News — Taylor wants to serve time in Rwanda — 15 October 2013

ABC News — Documents Detail Charles Taylor’s Life Behind Bars — 14 October 2013

 

 

Global Slavery Index Ranks Haiti Second

By Brandon Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – According to the Global Slavery Index, released Thursday by the Walk Free Foundation, an anti-slavery charity, Haiti ranks among the countries with the highest prevalence of slavery.  Of the 162 countries ranked by the Index, Haiti had the second highest proportion of slaves, behind Mauritania, a western African nation.

This map shows the percentage of the population of countries based on the Global Slavery Index; 2.1% of Haiti’s population is enslaved (Photo Courtesy Washington Post)

In addition, the top ten countries on the Global Slavery Index account for three quarters of the 29.8 million people currently living in slavery.  India, which has a slave population of over 14 million people, has the greatest slave population.

The United States came in 134th, with an estimated slave population of 60 thousand.

Kevin Bales, one of the authors of the Index, when asked why slavery continues to persist, said that, “the reasons varied from country to country, but one constant was that it remained a hidden problem.”  He hopes that that the Index will provide “a bit of a wake up call” to the world’s governments.

The Index used reports from governments and non-profit organizations, as well as statistical estimates in making its determinations and considered a range of practices including forced labor, bonded labor, human trafficking, forced marriages, and the use of children in the military.  It draws on over ten years of research and claims to contain the most authoritative data on slavery conditions.

In Haiti 2.1% of the population, or 1 of every 48 people, are enslaved.  Most of the slaves, however, are children.  One in ten children are “trapped” in a system of child labor and are referred to as “restavecs.”  They serve families that they are sent to and are generally responsible for preparing meals, fetching water from wells, cleaning, doing laundry and emptying bedpans.  Generally, they sleep on the floor, are up at dawn and are often subject to physical and sexual abuse.  Many run away but according to the report they are often “trafficked into forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation.”

The Walk Free Foundation represents Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s commitment to preventing global slavery.  Other global leaders such as former U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates are involved in the Foundation.

Clinton acknowledged that the study was not perfect but she hopes that it “urge[s] leaders around the world to view this index as a call to action, and to stay focused on the work of responding to this crimes.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 16 October 2013

CNN – India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria On Slavery’s List Of Shame, Says Report – 17 October 2013

USA Today – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 17 October 2013

Washington Post – Worldviews – 17 October 2013

Egypt Unlawfully Detaining and Deporting Hundreds Of Syrian Refugees: Amnesty International Says

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt–Amnesty International has accused the Egypt government of unlawfully detaining and deporting hundreds of Syrian refugees, including women and children, who had fled their homes to escape the violence in Syria. .

Refugees housed in an overcrowd cell demonstrating unlawful detention of Syrian refugees in Egypt. (Photo Courtesy of Amnesty International)

The Syrian civil war has uprooted approximately 7 million people since the uprising began in March 2011. More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed since the start of the conflict and more than 2 million Syrians have fled their homes and sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Quoting UNHCR, the United Nations agency for refugees, Amnesty said 946 people had been arrested by Egypt while attempting the crossing, and that 724 remained in detention. According to Amnesty the Egyptian navy has intercepted around 13 boats in the Mediterranean carrying refugees from Syria. The refugees were attempting to reach and seek refuge in Europe. According to Amnesty International 12 people drowned after a boat carrying Syrian refugees capsized off the cost of Alexandria.

Sherif Elsayed Ali, Amnesty’s head of refugee and migrants’ rights, said in a statement on Thursday that; “Instead of offering vital help and support to refugees from Syria, the Egyptian authorities are arresting and deporting them, flouting human rights standards.” He said the Egyptian state had failed to “meet its international obligations to protect even the most vulnerable refugees.”

Refugees detained by Egyptian forces must decide between accepting deportation or accepting prolonged, indefinite and unlawful detention in Egypt. Lawyers told Amnesty International that in at least two instances refugees were collectively deported back to Damascus, Syria, which would constitute a violation of international law, Non-refoulement prohibits the deportation of persecuted persons back to the state that is violating their human rights. “Sending refugees back to a bloody conflict zone is a serious violation of international law. Refugees who have fled are at an obvious risk of human rights abuses,” said Sherif Elsayed Ali.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Amnesty International’s report was “inaccurate and does not reflect the reality of [Syrians’] situation in the country” and said “There is no policy of deportation of our Syrian brothers and the vast majority of them live in peace.” However Egypt has recently began to require Syrians and other foreign nationals to acquire visas from Egyptian consulates aboard before entering the country.

The Egyptian media has accused Syrian refugees of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and has even accused refuges of being involved in the violence that occurred after President Mohamed Morsi was removed from power in Egypt. Popular media outlasts have accused Syrian refugees of attacking Egyptian civilians and security forces and of participating in the Rabaa El Adawiya and Al-Nahda sit-ins, which began in June and were brutally broken up by Egyptian authorities on August 14.

The anti-Syrian refugee propaganda heard over Egyptian airwaves is being felt by Egyptian refugees in the streets of Egypt’s cities; one Syrian refugee, whose family is living in a neighbourhood of 6 October City, outside Cairo, said her children cannot play outside anymore because “they are cursed by the other kids, told really bad words.”

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Egypt Accused of Unlawfully Detaining Syrians – 17 October 2013

Amnesty International – Egypt: End Deplorable Detention And Deportation Of Refugees From Syria – 17 October 2013

Amnesty International – We Cannot Live Here Anymore’: Refugees From Syria In Egypt – 17 October 2013

Huffington Post – Egypt Unlawfully Detains Syrian Refugees, Including Children, Amnesty International Says – 17 October 2013

European Nations Punish War Criminals across Time and Afterlife

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – Across Europe, war criminals were promised punishment regardless of the era in which their crimes were committed. The rest of the West has begun responding in kind.

 

Recently, charges and punishments were dealt to both suspected and convicted war criminals from World War II, the Cold War, and the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. (Photo courtesy of the Budapest Business Journal)

In Bosnia, war crimes charges are sought against many from the Serb minority that armed themselves to expel and kill non-Serbs during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

In September 2013, the United States announced that it would extradite Almaz Nezirovic to face war crimes charges for his involvement in beating, humiliating, and traumatizing unarmed prisoners.

On 17 October 2013, prosecutors stated that eight men were arrested in Rogatica, where the alleged crimes occurred in September 1992. The men were suspected of participation in looting, expelling, and killing civilians. One suspect allegedly gunned down 20 Muslim civilians who attempted to hide in a barn from Serbian soldiers.

Based on a July 2013 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, on 9 October 2013, Bosnia’s war crimes court ordered retrials for three men convicted of war crimes related to the Bosnian War.

Their appeal successfully claimed that Bosnian courts improperly tried them under a criminal code that took force when the war crimes court was set up, about a decade after the crimes were committed. The retrials will be based on the 1976 criminal code, which was in effect during the Bosnian War.

In Hungary, for the first time, authorities charged former Interior Minister Bela Biszku with war crimes connected to the suppression of a 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, which threatened Moscow’s control of Eastern Europe for the first time since World War II.

The suppression of that rebellion caused the mass deaths and arrests of civilians, and impacted the world’s perception of communist rule in Eastern Europe. In their statement, prosecutors claimed 46 civilians were killed in Salgotarjan alone.

Prosecutors charged Biszku with abetting a Communist Party committee involved in ordering civilian deaths in December 1956, during Salgotarjan and Budapest protests. Further, in September 2012, prosecutors found cause for additional charges when investigators searched Biszku’s home and seized 11 pieces of ammunition that he kept without permission.

Biszku’s prosecution became possible through a 2011 law that stipulates war crimes and crimes against humanity do not lapse.

In Italy, authorities refused to allow convicted Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke to be buried in their country. Protesters at his funeral suggested a landfill. Since 1998, Priebke spent a life sentence on house arrest for his role in one of Italy’s worst wartime massacres, which involved the killings of 335 civilians.

Similarly, the Vatican issued an unprecedented ban on holding the funeral in any Catholic church—although a Catholic splinter group previously accused of anti-Semitism offered to hold the ceremony.

Although Priebke fled to Argentina after the war, that country refused to allow Priebke’s body burial beside his wife. The German embassy in Rome contacted the family’s attorney, but no details have been provided.

With further support from the world, Hungary’s law that strips war crimes and crimes against humanity of any lapse may become custom.

For further information, please see:

Associated Press – Bosnian Police Arrest 8 War Crimes Suspects – October 17, 2013

The Guardian – Nazi War Criminal Erich Priebke’s Family Demand Return of His Corpse – October 17, 2013

Budapest Business Journal – War Crimes Charges Levied against Former Communist Official – October 16, 2013

Reuters – Hungary Charges Former Top Communist Official with War Crimes – October 16, 2013

BBC News – Nazi War Criminal Priebke’s Funeral Halted Amid Protests – October 15, 2013

Reuters – Bosnia to Retry Three War Crimes Convicts after European Court Ruling – October 9, 2013

United Press International – Virginia Man to Be Extradited to Bosnia to Face War Crimes Charges – September 20, 2013

China Continues Expanding Crackdown on “Rumors”, 2 More Bloggers Arrested

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Police in China have arrested yet another influential blogger and are detaining a cartoonist in the government’s ever-expanding crackdown on online “rumor-mongering”, said friends and a lawyer for one of them on Thursday.

Chinese are pictured above at public computer access facilities. Blogging has become exceptionally popular among the younger generations, despite the intensive government crackdown on content posted. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Hundreds have been detained since August, according to Chinese media and rights groups, as the government has stepped up its efforts to wipeout rumors. Most have been released, but some are still being held pending criminal charges.

This latest example, targeting bloggers, appears to suggest the new government, led by President Xi Jinping, is expanding its crackdown on dissent, although some critics have warned the move could backfire on Communist Party leaders.

“The use of these dictatorship tools to combat the criticism and grievances within civil society could be counterproductive,” said Zhang Lifan, a historian, adding that it could fuel mistrust. “It may not be beneficial for maintaining the regime.”

Dong Rubin, 51, who runs an Internet consulting company, has been arrested in southwestern Kunming on “suspicion of falsely declaring the capital in his company’s registration”, state news agency Xinhua said late on Wednesday.

Dong was suspected of illegal business operations and the crime of “creating disturbances,” Xinhua added.

Dong, who was previously asked by officials in southern Nanjing to speak about being an “online opinion leader”, is well known for participating in a 2009 online probe into the sudden death of a man in a detention house in Yunnan province.

State broadcaster CCTV showed images of Dong admitting to “exaggeration and selectively publishing information” to benefit clients. In September, state media also aired a confession by Chinese-American venture capitalist, Charles Xue, one of China’s best known online commentators.

In Beijing, cartoonist Wang Liming was taken into custody at midnight on Wednesday and has not yet been released.

Wu Gan, a close friend of Wang, spoke with Reuters. Wu said police told Wang’s girlfriend they summoned him for forwarding a microblog post about a stranded mother holding a baby who had starved to death in the flooded eastern city of Yuyao.

“Suppression of this kind by the Chinese government is of no use,” Wu said. “Rumors arise because there’s no freedom to communicate on the Internet. Arresting people will not solve the problem because the problem does not lie with the people, but with the government.”

The detentions come just over a month after China unveiled tough measures to stop the spread of what it called “irresponsible rumors,” threatening jail terms of up to three years if false online posts are widely disseminated.

China’s top court and prosecutor have said people will be charged with defamation if online rumors they create are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times.

Liu Hu, a Chinese investigative journalist accused of corruption was arrested on a defamation charge late in September.

The internet censorship reveals the insecurity of the leaders of the ruling Communist Party, said Bo Zhiyue, a professor of Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.

“They are trying to send China back all the way to the Stone Age,” Bo said. “Where is the hope for political reform? Zero.”

For more information, please see:

Voice of America– 2 Chinese Bloggers Arrested in Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013

Epoch Times– Fight ‘Hostile Western Forces’ on Internet Says Chinese General — 16 October 2013

Jakarta Globe– China Holds Two Bloggers as it Expands Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013

Reuters– China holds two bloggers as it expands crackdown on rumors — 17 October 2013

New York Times– In China’s Campaign Against Bloggers, a Burst of Rumor-Mongering — 16 October 2013