News

Snowden Stranded in Moscow As US Congress Refuses to Limit NSA Surveillance.

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – Lawyers for former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said Wednesday that issues with his requests for asylum are expected to leave Snowden stranded in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. Snowden requested temporary asylum in Russia last week after he was stopped from boarding a flight out of the country.

Snowden, 30, sparked a national debate about the legality and morality of secret mass surveillance programs targeted at US citizens. (Photo courtesy of NPR)

Snowden made headlines back in May when he released classified information detailing an NSA program designed to collect phone meta-data from users of Verizon’s phone service.

Snowden arrived in Moscow late last month, expecting only a short layover before traveling to South America. When Snowden arrived in Moscow on a revoked passport, however, bureaucratic measures prevented him from leaving the airport or boarding an outbound flight. Instead, lawyer for Snowden, Anatoly Kucherena, now says that he will remain in the airport until the Russian Federal Migration Services grants temporary asylum.

Back in the United States, Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a measure demanding the State Department coordinate with lawmakers in applying sanctions to Russia and any other country that offered asylum to Snowden. So far Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered Snowden asylum.

The measure passed unanimously through the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday after it was included as an amendment to next year’s foreign operations bill.

This came just one day after the House of Representatives voted on a bill that proposed to curtail the NSA’s ability to conduct mass surveillance programs like the one Snowden exposed. The bill was the first opportunity for members of Congress to take a position on mass surveillance since details of the NSA’s program came to light.

The bill, which fell seven votes short of passing, saw the bi-partisan alliance of libertarian conservatives and liberal Democrats as strong proponents.

For more information, please see:

CBS News – Senate pushes sanctions on nations aiding Edward Snowden – 25 July 2013

Fox News – NSA leaker Edward Snowden stuck in a holding pattern at Moscow airport – 24 July 2013

LA Times – Edward Snowden turned back at Moscow passport control, official says – 24 July 2013

The Guardian – Edward Snowden plans to stay in Russia, says lawyer – 24 July 2013

The New York Times – House Vote 412 – Rejects Limits on N.S.A. Data Collection – 24 July 2013

The Washington Post – Edward Snowden, NSA leaker, could remain in Russia indefinitely – 24 July 2013

 

 

 

Red Cross Denounces Blockage of Humanitarian Aid to Homs

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

HOMS, Syria – Syrian armed forces are blocking the entry of food and medical supplies to civilians trapped in the old city of Homs.  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed last Friday that it has been attempting to negotiate a humanitarian pause to deliver much needed supplies to the city.

The Syrian city of Homs on July 18, 2013 after reported attacks by government forces. (Photo Courtesy of Shaam News Network)

President Assad’s forces have been laying siege to the city in a heavy offensive against rebel forces.  The ICRC has warned that “tragic” consequences are possible should there not be a break in the fighting.

“We have been trying, for close to 20 days now, to bring medical supplies and other aid to the old city of Homs,” Magne Barth, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, said in a statement issued in Geneva.

“Despite lengthy negotiations with both sides, and three trips back and forth between Damascus and Homs, we have still not received the go-ahead from the Syrian authorities,” he said.

Homs was the birthplace of the revolution against the Assad government and has seen some of the fiercest fighting since that war began in 2011.  It is believed that two thousand people are trapped in the city.

The international laws of war require that the parties to a conflict provide for the rapid safe passage of humanitarian aid to civilians.

“They must also allow civilians in areas besieged by fighting to leave for safer areas, should they wish to do so. Regrettably, these obligations are not always fulfilled,” the ICRC said.

Despite the ongoing struggle in Homs, the ICRC has seen success in other parts of the country.

In what has been termed as the “Food for Freedom” deal, eighty rebels were released from the central prison in Aleppo in exchange for the safe passage of food supplies into the city.

Additionally, over the last two weeks aid deliveries have been permitted to feed the five thousand prisoners held there.  The city had reportedly been facing a severe food shortage.

The agreements were facilitated by the Syrian Red Crescent, an aid organization that works closely with the ICRC.  The two organizations have supplied food to over two-hundred thousand people this month.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Red Cross: Syria regime blocking aid to Homs – 25 July 2013

Arab News –Assad govt blocking access to needy in Homs – Red Cross  – 25 July 2013

Fox News –ICRC condemns Syria blockades – 25 July 2013

Reuters – Syrian authorities blocking access to needy in Homs – 25 July 2013

Myanmar Releases 73 Political Prisoners

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar– In honor of a commitment made to European leaders last week, Myanmar’s President, Thein Sein, ordered the release of 73 political detainees. President Sein’s pledge seeks to have all prisoners released by the end of 2013.

Chit Thura Ko Ko was released from the Insein Prison yesterday. (Photo courtesy of AP)

Shortly after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Sein promised amnesty for the prisoners as part of a larger transition from half a century of military rule and authoritarianism to democracy. Sein, a reformist who took power with military support late in 2011 from the former junta, said that over a thousand political detainees have already been released from the country’s jails, and that a committee had been established to work through cases of those that remained locked up. Human rights groups confirmed these statements, and noted that of those already released, hundreds were persons who had been held for political reasons.

In a radio broadcast last month, Sein announced that any prisoners serving jail time for holding, expressing, or acting in accord with political beliefs would be set free. “I don’t want anyone who is imprisoned with particular political beliefs in any jail,” he said during the broadcast, adding that a government investigation into cases that had been “confused with criminal acts” was ongoing and had “taken some time.” Sein did not reveal the number of prisoners which the government considers “political.”

Human rights activists welcomed the release, and the government’s pledge to continue freeing political prisoners, but still had some concerns. According to Bo Kyi of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), “we welcome this release, [but] we are very concerned because of the new trials, they continue to send new (political prisoners) to jail.”

Aung Min, a minister in Thein Sein’s office who negotiated the tenuous peace deal between the government and the  Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in May after two years of hostilities, said that more than two dozen of the prisoners released were from the Kachin state.

“The president released about 70 prisoners including 26 from Kachin state,” he said from the regional capital Myitkyina.

Aung Min personally escorted well-known Kachin political prisoner Brang Shawng, who was sentenced to two years in prison last week under the Unlawful Association Act for his alleged role in the KIA, back to his home Tuesday from Myitkyina Prison.

Thousands of political prisoners have been released in batches over the past two years. But human rights activists say the government has to do more to recognize other individuals who are in prison-–specifically whistle-blowers who were former government workers-–as political prisoners and grant them similar amnesty.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Burma frees a further 73 political prisoners — 23 July 2013

Reuters — Myanmar frees 73 political prisoners: government committee member — 23 July 2013

Radio Free Asia — Myanmar Releases Scores of Political Prisoners — 23 July 2013

AFP — Myanmar frees dozens of political prisoners: official — 23 July 2013

Wall Street Journal — Myanmar Releases New Batch of Political Prisoners — 23 July 2013

Protest Spawned by Ukrainian Police-Rape Dispersed by Riot Police

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – A protest in Kiev spawned by the rape of a 29 year old woman last month was broken up by riot police last Friday.

Protestors in Kiev were dispersed by riot police on Friday after demonstrating Krashkova’s assault. (Photo courtesy of The West Australian)

Irina Krashkova, a single mother living in Vradiyevka, about 250 miles south of the capital city Kiev, implicated two police officers as her attackers last month, spawning widespread outrage over the perceived impunity of local officials and their friends.

Kiev’s city government had initially authorized the protest to occur on the city’s main square on Thursday, but after protestors erected tents to stay the night, police in riot gear arrived to remove the crowd of roughly 150 individuals. The riot police ultimately detained about ten people.

Krashkova was walking home from a bar in Vradiyevka late in June when she forced into a car by two police officers- 1st Lt. Evhen Dryzhak and Lt. Dmitry Polishchuk, and their friend. They then allegedly drove Krashkova to the woods where they beat her to the point of a fractured skull, and took turns raping her.

Krashkova immediately identified Dryzhak as the leader of the assault, but he wasn’t arrested for a week. Residents of Vradiyevka were enraged due to a history of abuse by Dryzhak and suspected an attempted cover-up, as Dryzhak was closely connected to a top regional police official. These residents then stormed the police station, believing Dryzhak sought refuge inside.

The protestors threw rocks, smashed windows and used firebombs. Dryzhak was soon arrested after the incident, and the other two individuals involved in Krashkova’s assault were detained as well.

“I am 100 percent sure that had the people not risen up, this Dryzhak guy would have come out clean, he would be investigating this very case. They would have scared [Krashkova] into keeping her mouth shut,” a local opposition activist stated.

Reports of police abuse involving both bribery as well as violence have been prevalent in Ukraine since 2010, when President Viktor Yankovych took office. Opposition politicians believe that the police impunity is a result of protection from corrupt politicians in President Yankovych’s ruling party.

“The police force is rotting. The police have become dangerous to society…The most terrible thing is that an institution that should be entirely apolitical is now political,” stated an opposition lawmaker.

President Yankovych, however, ordered a top-level inquiry into the Krashkova case last month, and the regional prosecutor and heads of the regional and town police have all since been fired.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo News – Ukraine Rape Draws Outrage Over Official Impunity – 21 July 2013

The West Australian – Ukraine Police Disperse Protest Over Rape Case – 19 July 2013

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty – Ukrainian Police-Abuse Protests Come to the Capital – 17 July 2013

Impunity Watch – Protest to Punish Police Leads Ukrainian President to Support a New Investigation – 7 July 2013

The West Australian – Outrage in Ukraine Over Police Accused of Raping Woman – 3 July 2013

 

 

 

UAE Ruler Pardons Norwegian Rape Victim Sentenced to 16 Months in Prison in Dubai

Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Marte Deborah Dalelv, an interior designer from Norway who was given a 16 months in prison sentence after she reported to Dubai police that she was raped while in Dubai on business last March was granted a pardon by the United Arab Emirates’ prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The 24-year-old had been charged with the crimes of having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury after she reported the attack. Her alleged attacker, who received a 13 months sentence, was also pardoned.

After receiving a longer sentence than her rapist, 24-year old rape victim is ‘pardoned’ in Dubai. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The pardon follows cries of outrage from the international community for the charges to be dropped. Her sentence has been condemned by the Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who said that the court’s ruling “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and was “highly problematic from a human rights perspective.”  He also criticized Dubai’s legal system, which allows the victims of rapes and other violent assaults to be punished for being victimized, saying, “[i]t seems very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world is not even a crime.”

The 24-year old reported the incident to police, believing she would find help. Immediately following the alleged incident, Dalelv fled the scene and asked the hotel staff at the lobby desk to contact the police. Before contacting the police, the staff asked her if she was sure she wanted to involve the police in the situation. Dalelv reportedly said, “[o]f course I want to call the police,” in dealing with the incident because that was “the natural reaction” where she is from.

While the UAI attracts large numbers of western expatriates and tourists each year because of its modern cities and lifestyle, the state maintains little-publicised conservative laws regarding sexual activity and alcohol consumption. As a result, western women, like Dalelv, encounter legal trouble when reporting their rapes to police, believing they will be treated victims instead of being treated as criminals.

In January 2010, a British woman reported that she had been raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel was charged with public intoxication and having extramarital sexual intercourse. In December 2012, a British woman who reported being gang raped by three men in Dubai was found guilty of unlicensed alcohol consumption and received a fine. And in 2008, an Australian woman was convicted of having sex outside of marriage and of drinking alcohol, receiving an 11 month sentence, after she reported to police that she had been drugged and gang-raped. Emirati women fear going to police to report sexual violence for the same reasons. Three years ago, an 18-year-old Emirati woman who reported that she had been gang-raped by six men including a police officer was sentenced to a year in prison.

Human rights groups have criticized the Gulf State’s history for criminalizing the victims of rape; Human Rights Watch has called Dubai’s record on handling rape cases, which has led to a fear of reporting rape, “shameful.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Dubai Ruler Pardons Norwegian Woman Convicted after She Reported Rape – July 22, 2013

Los Angeles Times – Norwegian Who Reported Rape in Dubai ‘Pardoned’ But Laws Still Target Victims – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – UAE Pardons and Frees Norwegian Rape Victim – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – Expat Appeals UAE Sentence after Rape Charge – July 19, 2013

BBC – Dubai Sentences Norwegian Woman Who Reported Rape – July 19, 2013

Huffington Post – Marte Deborah Dalelv, Alleged Norwegian Rape Victim, Sentenced To 16 Months Jail In Dubai For Sex Outside Of Marriage – July 19, 2013

USA Today – Norwegian Convicted over Rape Report Issues Gulf Caution – July 19, 2013