News

UN Report Confirms ‘Large Scale’ Sarin Attack in Syria

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A team of United Nations chemical experts, led by Dr. Åke Sellström, has reported that there is “clear and convincing” evidence that sarin gas was used on a “large scale” during a 21 August incident outside of Damascus. The attack, which employed rockets equipped with sarin gas, killed many civilians including children.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses the media, on Monday, after briefing the Security Council on the confirmed use of chemical weapons in Syria. (Photo Courtesy of the UN)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke to the media after briefing the Security Council on the team’s findings. Ban referred to the report as “chilling read” and stressed the significance of attack, the first of its kind “since Saddam Hussein used [chemical weapons] in Halabja in 1988.”

“This is a war crime,” the Secretary-General said, “The international community has a responsibility to hold the perpetrators accountable and to ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare.”

The purpose of the report was strictly to determine whether a chemical weapons attack occurred, not to assign blame for the attack. Ban told reporters that whether responsibility for the attack is determined is “for others to decide”, but stressed that whoever was responsible should be brought to justice.

The inspectors interviewed more than fifty survivors, many of whom reported suffering from telltale signs of exposure to sarin gas. Symptoms of the survivors often included difficulty breathing, eye irritation, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, and loss of consciousness. First-responders reported suffering from similar symptoms and observed that a large number of people were either unconscious or deceased upon arrival.

In addition to personal accounts of the incident, the chemical weapons team discovered a great deal of physical evidence that supported the existence of a chemical weapons attack. Eighty-five percent of blood samples taken from survivors tested positive for sarin or sarin indicators. The majority of rocket fragments and environmental samples tested positive for sarin or sarin indicators as well.

The report concluded that the attack occurred during the “early morning hours of 21 August.” Based on weather reports during this time, the conditions were favorable for maximizing the effect of sarin gas. The temperature on the ground was falling and would have created a downward draft of air, effectively preventing the gas from dispersing upwards, and therefore increasing exposure.

“The downward movement of air would have allowed the gas to easily penetrate the basements and lower levels of buildings and other structures where many people were seeking shelter,” Ban said, referring to the report.

The opposition and the Assad regime continue to blame each other for the attack. Certain details, including the high quality of sarin gas and the advanced rockets used, point to the Assad regime. However, Assad maintains the rebels are responsible in an effort to encourage Western military involvement.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – UN: Evidence of Syrian chemical attack ‘indisputable’  – 16 September 2013

BBC – Syria Crisis: UN report confirms sarin ‘war crime’ – 16 September 2013

NBC – UN report confirms chemical weapons use in Syria – 16 September 2013

UN News Service – ‘Clear and convincing’ evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria, UN team reports –  16 September 2013

UN – United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic – 13 September 2013

Philippine Security Forces Secure the Release of More Than 80 Hostages

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine security forces rescued scores of hostages held by Muslim rebels in the southern city Zamboanga. Rebels struck back, taking the local police chief captive early Tuesday morning. He was released several hours later.

A young hostage is reunited with his family at the Philippine National Police Camp in Zamboanga city. At least 80 other hostages were rescued as well. (Photo courtesy of AP)

Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo was engaged in negotiations with the rebels for the release of more civilians Tuesday morning when he was abducted at gunpoint and held hostage by the rebel group.

He was captured in a coastal mangrove area near Zamboanga city, a major trading center that has been paralyzed for the past nine days by the chaotic hostage crisis. “Pursuit operations” were undertaken to rescue him according to a spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, but he was released a few hours later, accompanied by 23 other hostages.

The setback coincided with a pronouncement by Philippine authorities that significant progress was being made against the rebels. Military officials said more than 120 hostages had been freed in the past 24 hours.

It is unclear how many people remain captives.

The Philippine armed forces have been carrying out operations to try to “constrict” the rebels, who came ashore early last week and took some 180 hostages in several coastal districts. Military attack helicopters fired rockets at rebel positions Monday in an effort to curb the rebel offensive.

The recent violence has substantially disrupted life in Zamboanga, a largely Christian city in the southwestern region of Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.

The crisis has led to increased fears of instability in a region where the Philippine central government has been attempting to pursue a new peace plan after decades of unrest.

President Benigno Aquino III and other top Philippine officials are overseeing authorities’ response. Authorities estimate the violence has left more than 100 people dead, most of them rebels, and displaced more than 80,000 residents. Military officials say they have captured scores of rebels and handed them over to police.

The unrest has also caused schools and businesses to close. Hundreds of houses have been burned during the fighting. Philippine authorities accused the rebels of deliberately setting the fires.

The rebels are believed to be a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a separatist movement which was founded in 1971 by Nur Misuari. Their goal appears to be establishing an autonomous region for Muslims in the mainly Catholic Philippines. The MNLF signed a peace deal with the central government in Manila in 1996, but some of its members have diverged and continue a violent campaign.

Misuari issued a “declaration of independence” for the Moro nation — referring to Mindanao’s indigenous Muslim population — last month after complaining that the MNLF had been left out of a recent wealth-sharing agreement with another insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Offensive frees hostages in Philippine city — 17 September 2013

Gulf News — Dozens of hostages freed in Philippine city — 17 September 2013

Philippine Star — Captured Zambo police chief released by MNLF — 18 September 2013

CNN — Hostages freed in Philippines; Muslim rebels capture police chief — 17 September 2013

First Witness Testifies in Trial of Kenyan Deputy President Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

By: Dan Krupinsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The prosecution in the trial of Kenyan deputy president William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC) called its first witness on Tuesday, a woman known only as Witness 536.

Witness 536 broke down during her testimony, describing an attack in January 2008 by a mob on a church in Kenya’s Rift Valley region. According to her, thousands of youths armed with machetes and sticks surrounded the church, which had become a place of refuge from attacks that were occurring in the area, and set the building on fire with people trapped inside. At least 28 people were killed in the incident, with some estimates putting the fatality count at 35.

William Ruto waits for the beginning of his trail in the ICC courtroom. (Courtesy: Reuters)

The church was completely full of women and children from the Kikuyu ethnic group, she said. Members of the rival Kalenjin tribe approached from two sides, singing.

“They were painted with white clay…some had matches, axes and sticks…they were singing,” said the witness, describing the mob. “We were all trying to find a way to escape. I was carrying my small child with me. The church was set alight.”

The mob used bicycles to block a main exit, while other members of the mob guarded other exits to prevent escape.

“When somebody tried to leave the church, they would grab the person and push them back inside,” said the witness. “I went mad.”

In court documents, the prosecution also claims that others who tried to flee were hacked to death.

The court rules that Witness 536’s identity will be kept secret, for her own protection. She is testifying from behind a curtain, and her image is pixilated and voice distorted on the court video. Ruto, present in the courtroom, cannot see her.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has voiced complaints of interference and threats against witnesses. In addition to four witnesses who withdrew just before the trail, several more have withdrawn in recent days.

Bensouda announced that accusations of witnesses being bribed to withdraw their testimony are being investigated, warning of tough penalties.

Some witnesses say they were under family and community pressure, according to Kenyan media reports, as the trial is severely embarrassing for Kenya’s government.

Ruto and his co-defendant, radio executive Joshua Arap Sang, face charges of crimes against humanity in connection with their alleged in a swarm of ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 election, where more than 1,100 people were killed. For more on the charges and accusation, please read earlier reports from Impunity Watch.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – Kenya’s William Ruto trial: ‘Baying mob trapped hundreds’ in Kiambaa church fire massacre – 17 September 2013

BBC – Kenya’s William Ruto trial: ‘Church victim’ testifies at ICC – 17 September 2013

Los Angeles Times – First witness testifies in Hague trial of Kenya’s deputy president – 17 September 2013

Voice of America – First Witness Called in Ruto ICC Trial – 17 September 2013

Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights Calls for an End to Child Marriages

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan

Impunity Watch, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen – Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights, Huriya Mashhoor has called for child marriages to be outlawed in the country. She is attempting to revive a 2009 bill that would have set the minimum marriage age at 17; she is aiming to raise this age to 18. The 2009 bill was passed by Yemen’s parliament. However, conservative parliamentarians argued the bill violated Islamic law, which does not specify a minimum age of marriage. As a result of their protests, the bill was signed, but never entered into law. Yemini law still maintains an ambiguous definition of a “child”, which makes it difficult to set a minimum age requirement for marriages.

Hooria Mashhour, Yemeni minister of Human Rights, has called for Yemen to set minimum age for marriage at 18. (Photo courtesy of CNN International)

Mashhoor’s call for marriage reform was a direct response to the reported death of eight-year-old Rawan, who died last week on her wedding night of internal bleeding caused by sexual intercourse. The eight-year-old girl had been married-off to a man in his 40s.

“This isn’t the first time a child marriage has happened in Yemen, so we should not focus only on this case,” Mashhoor said of the incident. “Many child marriages take place every year in Yemen. It’s time to end this practice.” Mashhoor said that she personally spoke to the human rights coordinator for the ministry in Haradh, where the incident took place, and he informed her that nearly everyone he spoke to is denying that Rawan’s death was caused by intercourse. According to one resident of the area, “No one is talking about this story because it’s an embarrassment, but this is what poverty can do to people.”

According to the United Nations, about half of Yemen’s 24 million people lack sufficient food and access to safe water. Child marriages are common amongst poor families in Yemen. Impoverished families often marry-off under-aged girls in order to bring in extra income from the dowry of the under-aged girl. Marriage is often seen as a way to save on the cost of raising their daughters.

The international community has called for marriage reform in Yemen in response to Rawan’s death as well as other reported cases of child marriages in the country, including allegations made by an 11-year-old Yemeni girl named Nada Al-Ahdal in a video posted to YouTube, accusing her parents of attempting to marry her off for money. The video was viewed by millions of people around the world and has raised awareness about the ongoing problem of child marriages in Yemen.

Catherine Ashton, Foreign Policy Chief for the European Union urged Yemini authorities to investigate Rawan’s death “without delay, and to prosecute all those responsible for this crime.”

According to Human Rights Watch, “the current political transition and drafting process for a new constitution offer a unique opportunity for the Yemeni government to enact laws protecting the rights of girls.” Mashhoor’s calls for change may demonstrate the potential for reform offered by the transition process.

For more information please see:

BBC News – Yemeni Minister Seeks Law to End Child Marriage – 13 September 2013

Al Jazeera – Yemeni Minister to Seek Child-Marriage Ban – 14 September 2013

Associated Free Press – Yemen Rights Minister Wants Child Bride Ban – 14 September 2013

CNN International – Yemen Minister on Child Marriage: Enough Is Enough – 16 September 2013

Dutch Government Issues Apology for Mass Killings in 1940s Colonial Indonesia

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch government formally apologized last Thursday for the mass killing of thousands of Indonesians during colonial occupation which ended in 1949.

Ambassador Tjeerd de Zwaan issued the formal apology at a ceremony in Jakarta last Thursday. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The Dutch ambassador for Indonesia, Tjeerd de Zwaan, officially presented the state’s apology at a ceremony in Jakarta.

Dutch Special forces carried out thousands of “summary executions” between 1945 and 1949 in Indonesia, which it colonized during this time.

In total, roughly 40,000 people were executed during this colonial era, as the Indonesian government reports; however, the Dutch government has only acknowledged a few thousand of these deaths, to date.

One of the most notorious incidents occurred in South Sulawesi on January 28, 1947. There, Dutch special forces executed 208 men on a field outside of a local government office.

“On behalf of the Dutch government I apologize for these excesses,” De Zwaan said at the ceremony on Thursday.

“The Dutch government is aware that it bears a special responsibility in respect of Indonesian widows of victims of summary executions comparable to those carried out by Dutch troops in what was then Celebes [Sulawesi] and Rawa Gede [now West Java],” De Zwaan added.

The Dutch government had already apologized for some specific murders, and paid compensation to victims’ families in those cases, but this was the first general apology for all of the murders during the colonial era.

Friends and family of the victims who were present at the ceremony welcomed the apology.

“We feel grateful and very happy to be here. Before that we never imagined that it would be like this,” said one family member, Nurhaeni.

Notorious Dutch captain Raymond Westerling carried out many of these executions back in the colonial era. Westerling and his troops held executions in dozens of villages for a period of three months in a bid to wipe out resistance against Dutch colonization. No one has been prosecuted for these murders, to date.

Most of present-day Indonesia was ruled by the Netherlands from the 19th Century until World War II, when the Japanese army forced out the Dutch.

When the Dutch attempted to reassert control of the country after the defeat of the Japanese, they met great resistance. The Netherlands recognized Indonesia’s independence in 1949.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Dutch Apologize for Indonesian Executions – 12 September 2013

BBC News – Netherlands Apology for Indonesia 1940s Killings – 12 September 2013

Daiji World – Dutch Envoy Apologises for Utions in Colonial Indonesia – 12 September 2013

Dutch News – The Netherlands Apologizes for Indonesia Executions – 12 September 2013