News

Iran Begins Nuclear Talks With World Powers

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – World powers and Iran engaged in preliminary talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sides described the talks as “substantive” and “forward-looking,” and will reconvene in early November.

Negotiating teams met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva to discuss the controversial Iranian nuclear program. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, who is the lead negotiator with Iran issued a joint statement detailing the negotiations. The statement recognized Iran’s presentation of a plan designed to promote productive negotiations as an “important contribution.”

“The participants also agreed that E3+3 and Iranian nuclear, scientific and sanctions experts will convene before the next meeting to address differences and to develop practical steps,” the statement added.

“I’ve been doing this now for about two years, and I have never had such intense, detailed, straightforward, candid conversations with the Iranian delegation before,” said a senior Obama administration official.

“There is more work, much more work to do,” added the official, who declined to be identified under the diplomatic protocol for briefing reporters. “This is a beginning. Beginnings are rarely groundbreaking because you are putting pieces on the table.”

The meeting was the first between the six powers (United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) since Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, took office in August. President Rouhani, seen as a moderate, has emphasized the importance of resolving international concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran has reiterated for years that it has no intention of creating a nuclear weapon, but it has not eased concerns of the international community. In fact, sanctions have made more severe over the last several years and as a result the Iranian rial lost an estimated 80 percent of its value against the US dollar between March 2012 and March 2013.

Despite positive responses to the negotiations, some difficult and challenging issues remain. Iran maintains that it has a right to enrich uranium and conversely, the U.N. Security Council wants the enrichment program to stop completely.  Meanwhile, Iran would like to see Western powers take a “balanced” approach to easing sanctions, suggesting that each side make concessions throughout the process. Western officials have balked at this proposal and want to maintain sanctions until their demands are met.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Iran nuclear checks most detailed ever – Ashton – 16 October 2013

EU – Joint Statement –  16 October 2013

New York Times – After Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program, Officials Highlight the Positive –  16 October 2013

Reuters – U.S. says talks intense, serious after Iran hints at atomic concessions – 16 October 2013

Al Jazeera – Iran and world powers begin nuclear talks – 15 October 2013

Senate Reaches Last Minute Deal Over Debt Limit

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – A bipartisan compromise proved successful Wednesday when the Democratically-controlled Senate passed a bill to raise the federal debt limit and reopen the federal government. The bill, which passed 81-18, must now pass through the Republican-controlled House, where Republican leaders have reluctantly agreed to see the bill pass.

 

President Obama warned Republican leaders in Congress that he would not allow a “ransom” of the federal budget to prevent passage of routine legislation. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

If the bill passes in the House, it would arrive on President Obama’s desk for signing by Thursday, which is the deadline for the current debt limit.  “I will sign it immediately,” the President said, adding “we’ll begin reopening our government immediately.”

The proposed legislation would fund the federal government through January 15 and allow the Treasury Department to increase the debt limit through February 7.

Speaker John Boehner said he would bring the bill to the House floor for a vote but made no indication that he was giving up on the fight to bring down US debt.

“Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president’s health care law will continue,” Boehner said.

Amid news of the Senate compromise just hours shy of the debt limit deadline, Wall Street saw stock prices soar.

Wall Street experts have taken the political posturing in the past two weeks in stride, never honestly considering that Congress would allow the government to default on its loan obligations.

Tom Franks, a managing director at TIAA-CREF, a retirement fund management group, said of the potential default: “We knew it was going to be dramatic, but the consequences of a U.S. default are just so severe that the base case was always that a compromise was going to be reached.”

While default was averted, financial experts worry that the shutdown and partisan arguments have damaged faith in US reserve currency. Simon Derrick, a senior analyst at Bank of New York Mellon said foreign exchange investors like China will look for ways to diversify investments beyond an over-reliance on the dollar.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – US Debt Deal Hope Triggers Stock Market Rally – 16 October 2013

Al Jazeera – US Senate announces last-minute debt deal – 16 October 2013

BBC News – US debt ceiling: Senate passes US budget deal – 16 October 2013

CNN – Senate approves bill to end shutdown, avert possible default – 16 October 2013

Time – Stocks Surge After Senate Reaches Deal on U.S. Debt – 16 October 2013

Two Toddlers Found Dead in Toilet

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

PRETORIA, South Africa – The bodies of two toddlers, aged two and three, were found dumped in community toilets on Tuesday morning after they went missing on Saturday.

A policeman walks onto a crime scene in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, where the bodies of little Yonelisa and Zandile Mali were found. Police also sealed off a shack where bloody evidence was found. The community is furious at yet another child killing (photo courtesy of Daniel Born)

South African police are questioning three people over the deaths of the two toddlers who were cousins. The deaths have sparked violent protests and looting.

Residents accused police of failing to protect the girls who were discovered by local resident in Diepsloot township, north of Johannesburg.

The toddlers had disappeared Saturday night with an unknown man when their mothers went to a nearby spaza shop.

“It is not clear how the children were killed,” said police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini. Unverified local media reports said they were strangled.

President Jacob Zuma has urged the violent protestors to not take the law into their own hands.

“We condemn these murders in the strongest possible terms. Whilst we appeal to the communities not to take the matters into their hands, we also want to urge them to work with law enforcement authorities to find the perpetrators and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” Zuma stated.

“These gruesome incidents of extreme torture and murder of our children do not belong to the society that we are continuously striving to build together,” South Africa’s Sowetan newspaper quoted Zuma as saying.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said three people had been taken in for questioning and that police were also searching for a fourth person, the South African Press Association reports.

Dlamini also stated that they were investigating a possible link between the murders and that of a five-year-old girl found dead in the same area in September.

“It is suspected that she was sexually violated and strangled. A suspect who was taken in for questioning relating to the murder was later released,” Lt-Col Dlamini said.

Diepsloot, which borders one of the country’s wealthiest gated estates, Dainfern, is among the most impoverished areas of Johannesburg.

Some parts of the township have no running water and residents share pit latrines or mobile toilets.

In a separate case, the bodies of two other children were found in a field in Katlehong township in East Rand, Guateng province.

The children, aged one and two, were found next to their mother, who had been critically injured, according to iAfrica.com.

Police Colonel Katlego Mogale said: “It appears as if they were dropped by the husband in an open place and then the husband drove away. They are all Mozambican nationals.”

The death of a young boy whose body, bearing marks of torture, was found in a field east of Johannesburg is also being investigated by police.

The murders have sparked paranoia and fury in the community.

One Diepsloot mother, Olorato Mokoena, says she no longer trusts men around her three-year-old daughter.

Community leader Lizzie Chauke said police had sealed a shack in which investigators had found evidence of what is believed to have been the girls’ murder.

“It was terrible. There was blood and flies everywhere. Police found their clothes, four blankets covered in blood, feces, and a ‘fake penis’ and crowbar. They had blood on them,” she said.

Childline director Joan van Niekerk said though the government had sufficient laws and policies to protect children with, the challenge was in implementing them.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – South Africa suspects questioned after toddler murders – 16 October 2013
Yahoo! News – South Africa Toddlers Found Dead In Toilet – 16 October 2013
The Independent – Murder of two toddlers whose bodies were found in toilet sparks riots in South Africa – 16 October 2013
Times Live – ‘What would you do if it was your baby?’ – 16 October 2013
msn news – Toddler deaths shock South Africa – 16 October 2013
iAfrica.com – JZ ‘shocked’ by toddler murders – 16 October 2013

Hundreds of Migrants Detained in Russia After Protests Over Murder of Citizen Allegedly by Migrant

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian authorities have detained over 1,600 immigrants in Moscow, apparently in response to a protest lobbying for increase policing of ethnic immigrants all throughout Russia.

Hundreds of migrants were detained in Moscow on Monday. (Photo courtesy of NY Times)

Roughly 200 Russians in the Biryulyovo district organized a protest to call for stricter policing of minority immigrants. This was the second day of protests in Russia after the fatal stabbing of a Russian citizen that many believe was conducted by an immigrant.

Yegor Shcherbakov, 25 years old, was stabbed in front of his fiancé last Thursday while they were on their way home in the Biryulyovo district of Moscow, according to police. Surveillance cameras in the area have been examined and suggest the suspect could either be from Central Asia or from the Caucasus region.

Sunday’s demonstration broke out with nationalist chants of “white power” and “Russia for Russians.” The protest quickly escalated into an attack on migrant workers at a vegetable stand in the Biryulyovo district. About 380 people were eventually arrested after demonstrators smashed windows and set fire to shops, and had beaten many migrant workers.

“We are scared to walk the streets at night. [The immigrants] are always attacking, stealing from and killing people. They don’t even abide by basic rules like stopping at a red light,” stated one protestor, Alexei Zhuravlyov.

Apparently in response to Sunday’s protest and attack, Russian police rounded up 1,200 immigrants on Monday at a wholesale vegetable market employing immigrants in Biryulyovo. An additional 450 immigrants were detained in northeastern Moscow, also near a vegetable market employing immigrant workers. Police said all the immigrants were detained in order to check whether they were involved in any wrongdoing, but they have not been accused of any specific crime.

Human Rights and Advocacy groups have warned immigrants from those Russian regions of an increased risk of attacks in the worst ethnic disturbance in Moscow in years.

“The nationalists are pursuing their political goals. This is clearly very dangerous. We are warning migrants to be careful for now in crowded areas and on public transportation,” said Mukhamad Amin, head of the Federation of Migrants of Russia.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Russia Detains Scores of Migrants After Riots – 15 October 2013

BBC News – Migrants Arrested in Moscow Raids – 14 October 2013

NY Times – Moscow Police Round Up Targets of Riot at Market – 14 October 2013

Russia Tomorrow – Over 380 Detained After Anti-Migrant Riot in Southern Moscow – 13 October 2013

The Voice of Russia – Police Detain 380 People After Anti-Migrant Riot in Southern Moscow – 13 October 2013

 

 

Conviction of Wheelchair-bound Airport Bomber Generates Controversy

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Ji Zhongxing, a paralyzed Chinese man who detonated a home-made bomb in Beijing’s airport after trying to draw attention to a nearly decade-long legal battle, was sentenced to six years in jail. The verdict has sparked widespread sympathy and anger.

Ji Zhongxing, partially paralyzed, awaits sentencing for allegedly detonating a bomb in Beijing Airport. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

A Beijing court found Ji Zhongxing, 34, guilty of intentionally causing an explosion, Ji’s lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, told Reuters by telephone. State media confirmed the sentence.

Ji detonated the bomb at Beijing airport in July after he was prohibited from handing out leaflets that drew attention to his complaints. His case resonated with many Chinese citizens seeking justice in an inflexible political system.

Ji, from eastern Shandong province, had been seeking redress for an alleged beating by police in southern Guangdong province in 2005 that left him wheelchair-bound. He had been petitioning for justice ever since.

Detonating the bomb at Beijing’s main airport ensured widespread exposure for Ji. Fortunately, the only people hurt were Ji and a policeman who sustained mild wounds.

Ji faced a maximum sentence of 10 years.

“We believe that this verdict is questionable,” Liu said, adding that Ji did not intend to blow up the airport or commit suicide.

“During the trial, (authorities) did not seek to find out the facts,” Liu said. “Although it was mentioned in the verdict statement, they never fully considered or discovered the cause of the bombing at the airport.”

Liu said Ji, who was brought into court on a stretcher, would consider appealing the conviction. He has 10 days to file a timely appeal. Ji’s father, Ji Darong, suggested to reporters that there would be an appeal against what he described as “this injustice”.

“We refuse to accept this,” said Ji Zhongji, Ji Zhongxing’s brother. “In Guangdong he was beaten and nobody did anything for eight years. Shouldn’t they investigate that?”

Ji’s sentence comes weeks after the execution of a Chinese kebab vendor, convicted of killing two city officials, sparked public criticism of a justice system. Critics claim the system operates to punish the poor harshly while letting the rich and powerful off more lightly.

Dozens of police officers stood guard outside the courthouse and cordoned off a large area, preventing his supporters from massing outside as they had done during Ji’s trial in September.

Zhao Min, a petitioner from northern Hebei province, said she supports Ji “because he’s a disabled person who tried to push forward fairness in the legal system”.

“He only did it because he had no alternative,” Zhao told reporters. “Because he couldn’t get any resolution through legally petitioning many times.”

According to state media, authorities in Guangdong have promised to look again into Ji’s original complaint. Chinese unable to win redress for grievances have in the past resorted to extreme measures, including bombings, but such incidents remain rare because of tight state security.

For more information, please see:

BBC News– Beijing airport explosion man jailed — 14 October 2013

Indian Express– Beijing airport bomber receives 6-year sentence — 15 October 2013

The Independent– Beijing wheelchair-bound airport bomber jailed for six years — 15 October 2013

Washington Post– Beijing airport bomber whose plight drew public sympathy receives 6-year sentence for blast — 15 October 2013

Swiss Info– Jailing of wheelchair-bound Beijing airport bomber sparks anger — 15 October 2013