News

U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan Kill at least Two Suspected Militants

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan– At least two militants were killed Saturday morning in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan, after U.S. drones targeted the largely tribal area near Mir Ali. Pakistani intelligence sources said that the missile attacks were launched directly at a pair of militants travelling on a motorbike through the village of Mosaki.

Pakastani tribesmen protest the use of drones by the U.S. military in Pakastani territory as a violation of the nation’s sovereignty. (Photo Courtesy of Global Post)

The two men killed have suspected connections to the Taliban in the region, though official reports have yet to confirm these suspicions. Security officials have stated that the two deceased were of Turkmen origin.

A Pakastani intelligence official stated that “two men, probably Arab nationals, were passing through Mosaki village when the drone fired two missiles and hit them. Both of the militants on the motorbike were killed on the spot.” The official further reported that “the drone fired two missiles that also damaged a nearby house, but no casualty has so far been reported inside it.”

In a separate military operation by the Pakistan Air Force, jets targeted several militant hideouts in the same area, killing seven known insurgents. The targeted area is a known hot spot for Afghani and Taliban militants seeking refuge across the border in Pakistan. According to an unnamed official who spoke with Reuters, “These areas are known as strongholds of the militants from where they stage deadly attacks in Kohat and Peshawar.” Pakistani military officials believe that these mountainous regions provide a base of operation for the Taliban in Pakistan.

Senior Pakistani officials have stated that there was no connection between the U.S. drone strikes and the Air Force operations that occurred the same day.

This most recent strike is the third drone attack by the U.S. since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office in June. Sharif has vocalized his distaste for the use of drone strikes by the United States in Pakistan and has publicly called for an end to U.S. action against Taliban and other insurgents that reside in the Pakastani tribal region. The Prime Minister has gone so far as to condemn the U.S. action as a direct violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. Despite these public remarks by the Prime Minister, other Pakastani officials have characterized the drone strikes as a useful tool and effective means of inhibiting the activities of militants seeking a safe haven in Pakistan.

For more information, please see:

Reuters — Nine militants killed in U.S. drone, Pakistan air force strikes — 14 July 2013

Global Post — Drone strike in Pakistan kills 2 suspected militants — 14 July 2013

CNN — U.S. drone kills 2, Pakistan sources say — 13 July 2013

New York Times — 2 Killed by U.S. Drone Strike in Pakistan — 13 July 2013

The Guardian — Two killed in U.S. drone strike on Pakistani militants — 14 July 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Dozens Killed and More Wounded in Series of Attacks Across Iraq

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants attacked in multiple locations across the country on Thursday, killing a number of people with reports as high as sixty-two dead.  The militants included bombers and gunmen appearing to target law enforcement personnel.  Most of the attacks occurred in the Anbar province, a stronghold of the anti-government Sunni population.

The remnants of a car bomb that injured a number of people in Kirkuk. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

Gunmen shot and killed three soldiers at an army checkpoint near Barwana, a small Anbar town 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.  The gunmen then continued down the road and opened fire on a nearby trailer used by Iraqi security forces protecting oil facilities.  After killing the eleven officers inside, the gunmen proceeded to set the trailer ablaze.  The men inside the trailer were likely sitting down to break Ramadan fast at sunset when they were attacked.

A suicide car bomb in Fallujah, also in Anbar, killed two people and wounded five, according to local security officials. Additionally, the police headquarters there were reportedly attacked by gunmen killing seven officers.  Similarly, in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, provincial officials stated that two officers were killed during an assault on a police station.

In the Anbar towns of Kirkuk, Tikrit, and Khaldia there were additional reports of attacks that employed car and roadside bombs to injure and kill a number of people including some soldiers.

Iraqi security forces were not the only target of the day as at least two attacks occurred in civilian settings.

In the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded at a funeral and a suicide bomber detonated himself as people began evacuating the wounded.  The attacks killed at least eleven people, police said.

“I was sitting inside the tent…when I heard a huge explosion. I rushed out (and) saw a car burning. While we were busy evacuating the injured, a suicide bomber took us by surprise,” said 47-year-old teacher Kadhim Hassan, who was taken to hospital with injuries to his leg.

Also, 85 km north of Baghadad, in Yathrib at least ten people were killed and eighteen others wounded when two car bombs occurred near a coffee shop.

The killings are only the continuation of violent turmoil that has seen more than 2,600 people killed since the beginning of April.  As a result, fear is spreading across the country that a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites is becoming more and more likely.  Thus far, there has been no sign of a political comprise between the two sides.

For further information, please see:

People’s Daily – At least 62 killed, 139 wounded in wave of attacks across Iraq – 12 July 2013

Al Jazeera – Series of deadly attacks strike Iraq – 11 July 2013

BBC –Iraq violence: Dozens killed and wounded in new attacks  – 11 July 2013

Reuters –Bomb, gun attacks across Iraq kill at least 44 – 11 July 2013

Washington Post –Iraq attacks leave 31 dead, mostly security forces  – 11 July 2013

Former FISA Court Judge Criticizes 2008 Reform

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – A former FISA Court judge voiced concerns on Tuesday about the lack of an adversarial system for the government to obtain wiretap and data collection warrants. James Robertson, a former federal district court judge said that the FISA Court has essentially become “something like an administrative agency” because only the government is represented in warrant requests.

Former FISA Judge James Robertson testified before a federal oversight board on intelligence gathering led by President Obama. (Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal)

Robertson spoke Tuesday before a federal oversight board directed by President Obama aimed at scrutinizing government spying. “Anyone who has been a judge will tell you a judge needs to hear both sides of a case,” Robertson explained. Robertson, however, defended the FISA Court as a whole, saying that it remained independent in its proceedings. He further praised the court system for requiring “scrupulous and fastidious” work from the Department of Justice in obtaining warrants during his tenure.

Robertson placed blame on a 2008 piece of reform legislation that expanded the government’s authority over the FISA Court. Under the 2008 reform, the government may compel the FISA court to approve entire surveillance systems instead of surveillance warrants targeted as individual suspects.

The 2008 reform attracted little public attention until former NSA contractor Edward Snowden released classified information detailing an NSA program to collect cellphone metadata from American citizens. Robertson said that he was “stunned” by the news that the FISA court created law that allowed the NSA to gather information not only to find terrorist suspects, but also espionage and cyber-attack suspects.

Royce Lamberth, who was the chief judge on the FISA Court from 1995 to 2002, defended the Court in its entirety. Lamberth took offense to the notion that the Court gave “rubber stamp” approval for warrant requests, telling NPR, “We’re approving it because it should be approved, because it’s valid, because what the government’s doing here is the kinds of things we should be doing.”

Lamberth recalled “bloodcurdling” briefs in the wake of 9/11 that predicted a follow-up attack as evidence of why the government cannot back down on national security.

Lamberth has made many controversial decisions in his career and recently made the news for approving a search warrant for the email and phone records of a Fox News reporter.

For more information, please see:

UPI – NSA tapped fiber cables to collect data – 10 July 2013

ABC News – Former Judge Admits Flaws in Secret Court – 9 July 2013

Boston.com – Former FISA judge says secret court is flawed – 9 July 2013

CBS News – Former judge admits flaws with secret FISA court – 9 July 2013

NPR – Ex-FISA Court Judge Reflects: After 9/11, ‘Bloodcurdling’ Briefings – 3 July 2013

Sergei Magnitsky Is Expected to Be Found Guilty in the First Ever Posthumous Trial in Russian History

PRESS RELEASE

10 July 2013 – Today, at the Tverskoi district court in Moscow, judge Igor Alisov, is expected to find Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history. It is also expected that judge Alisov will find William Browder guilty of the same crimes in absentia. The proceedings against Magnitsky and Browder have been condemned around the world as illegitimate, politically motivated andincompatible with international and Russian law.

“This show trial confirms that Vladimir Putin is ready to sacrifice hisinternational credibility to protect corrupt officials who murdered an innocent lawyer and stole $230 million from the Russian state,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The motivation for the posthumous trial has been to cover-up the complicity of Russian tax officials, police officers and judges in the largest tax theft in the history of Russia.

In June 2007, police officers raided the offices of Hermitage and its law firm and seized corporate documents that were then used by corrupt officials and criminals to steal $230 million from the Russian state. Hermitage complained to the Russian authorities in December 2007 about the involvement of Interior Ministry officers in the crime. Two months later, some of the same officers opened a retaliatory criminal case againstMr Browder. In June and October 2008, Sergei Magnitsky testified to the Russian authorities about the involvement of the same Interior Ministry officers in the theft. Shortly thereafter, he was added to the same criminal case as Browder and arrested. In pre-trial detention, Sergei Magnitsky was held for 358 days, denied medical care, family visits, access to clean and hot water, and sleep, in order to force him to retract his testimony. He refused and was subsequently beaten by riot guards with rubber batons, until he was found dead on the cell floor on November 16th 2009.

In response to the impunity of all the Russian officials involved in SergeiMagnitsky’s false arrest, torture and death, the US Congress passed thethe Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which imposes visa and financial sanctions on all the Russian officials involved in the ill-treatment and death of Mr Magnitsky and in other gross human rightsabuses in Russia. In July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assemblypassed the Magnitsky Resolution calling on all OSCE countries to impose similar sanctions as the US. In June 2013, the Rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a report on the Magnitsky case in which he found the allegations by the Russian government to be legally and factually unfounded.

Specifically the Rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe found that:

“The detailed and well-documented replies received have gone a long way to convince us that Hermitage did not violate the law. This was also confirmed by an audit carried out by the competent tax authorities…“

He went on to say that the case couldn’t be tried because the statute of limitations had already elapsed:

 

“Legal pursuits for any tax underpayments concerning 2001 would also appear to be time-barred…Consequently, the formal indictments dated 22 March 2013 and the posthumous trial against Sergei Magnitsky and the trial in absentia against Bill Browder appear to violate Russian law.”

Lawyers for Mr Browder have identified numerous violations of the law and falsifications in the criminal case file. After they filed a series of complaints against the Russian authorities detailing the falsifications, the Russian court denied them any further access to case files, thereby preventing them from fulfilling their professional duties. Subsequentlystate-funded lawyers were appointed for the posthumous trial to create an impression of a legal representation.

For further information, please see:

Law and Order in Russia

Prominent Russian Journalist Gunned Down in Perilous Region for Media

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian journalist was shot dead outside of Mackhachkala, the capital of the violent Russian Republic of Dagestan, on Tuesday.

Akhmednabiev was hit in the head after several shots were fired into his car Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of RIA Novosti)

Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, deputy editor for the local newspaper Novoe Delo and a contributor to Kavkazky Uzel, an online news publisher, was fired on while in his car just outside of his house at about 7:00AM local time.

While no particular motive or any specific articles authored by Akhmednabiyev are currently tied to the murder, the Investigative Committee has stated the “most likely version is that Akhmednabiyev’s murder is linked to his professional activities.”

Akhmednabiyev was notorious for accusing local authorities of persecuting and kidnapping Muslims in an extrajudicial manner. He also regularly reported on human rights violations during counterterrorism operations. According to Khadzhimurad Sagitov, editor in chief of Novoe Delo, Akhmednabiyev regularly received threatening phone calls and text messages from anonymous sources.

“We expected this… We knew that if not today, then it would happen tomorrow, or the next day,” Sagitov stated.

Russia is widely considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as 55 assassinations of individuals in the media have been confirmed since 1992. Just last month, a preliminary hearing was held in Moscow for the trial of five men charged with the murder of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was similarly gunned down near her apartment back in 2006.

The North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan is viewed as a particularly perilous region for journalists, as Akhmednabiyev is the 17th journalist to be killed in the region since 1993. The region has reportedly seen continuing low-level Islamist insurgency, high levels of organized crime, and regional corruption.

In 2009, Akhmednabiyev’s name was included on a “hit-list” of individuals that were being targeted allegedly as revenge for the deaths of security forces and civilians. The list was distributed on leaflets in Mackhachkala.

Another journalist included on the list, Khadzhimurad Kamalov, the founder of the Chernovik newspaper, was shot to death outside the newspaper’s office in Mackhachkala in 2011.

Akhmednabiyev survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, when his car had been shot at in a similar fashion to the incident Tuesday, but the police only investigated property damage in that case.

“He said that he will remain here, no matter what. I think he understood something like this could happen to him,” Sagitov stated.

Hundreds of mourners carried Akhmednabiyev’s body in a procession from a mosque to a local cemetery in Mackhachkala on Tuesday.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Journalist Shot Dead in Russia’s Dagestan – 9 July 2013

The Independent – Russia: Journalist Murdered in Dagestan – 9 July 2013

New York Times – Journalist Assassinated in Violent Russian Republic – 9 July 2013

Reuters – Journalist Shot Dead in Russia’s Dagestan Province – 9 July 2013

RIA Novosti – Journalist Gunned Down in Dagestan – 9 July 2013

Impunity Watch – Five Defendants in Russian Journalist’s Murder Are Granted Jury Trial – 4 June 2013

Impunity Watch – Human Rights Watch Researcher’s Life Threatened – 8 October 2012