News

London Court Rules Ban Against Christian Group Advertisement Lawful

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, United Kingdom – The High Court ruled Transport for London lawfully ban a Christian group’s bus advertisement that suggests gay people could “change their sexuality” because it would “cause grave offense”.

The Core Issues Trust placed an advertising campaign on London buses carrying the slogan, “Not Gay! Ex Gay, Post Gay and Proud. Get over it!” (Photo Courtesy of The Independent)

On Friday, a judge found that Boris Johnson, chairman of Transport for London, did not abuse his position last April when he imposed the ban on the advertisement. Johnson denounced the “gay cure” advertisement as “offensive to gays”.

Transport for London refused to carry the Core Issues Trust advertisement because it would “likely cause widespread or serious offence to members of the public”, and it contained “images or messages which relate to matters of public controversy and sensitivity”.

Conversely, the recent court decision is viewed as a defeat for the Core Issues Trust group, a Christian charity. This Christian group funds “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, which it claims can “develop their heterosexual potential”.

Core Issues Trust posted ads on buses that stated, “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it.” Many believe Johnson was “politically driven” when he blocked their ad.

Mrs. Justice Lang ruled that Transport for London’s process in placing the ban “was procedurally unfair, in breach of its own procedures and demonstrated a failure to consider the relevant issues”.

However, the judge stated that the unjust procedure was substantially outweighed by factors, such as, it would “cause grave offence” to those who were gay. It could, furthermore, be perceived as homophobic, “thus increasing the risk of prejudice and homophobic attacks.”

Although Justice Lang said she did not think an appeal would succeed, she acknowledged there were “compelling reasons” to allow one.

Following Justice Lang’s ruling, a Transport for London spokesperson said, “The advertisement clearly breached our advertising policy as it contained a controversial message and was likely to cause widespread offence to the public. This was borne out by the hugely negative public reaction the advertisement generated, including on social media and newspaper websites. We are taking steps to address the Judge’s comments regarding our internal processes.”

A Core Issues Trust spokesman stated, “We are grateful for the opportunity to make an appeal and the recognition of the issues around freedom of speech and conscience. We are particularly concerned about the fact ex-gay minorities are not recognized in the legislation of the Equality Act 2010.”

Gay rights group, Stonewall chief, Ben Summerskill, said, “Many people will be pleased by today’s decision. In a city where over half of gay young people face bullying at school, and where tens of thousands of gay people are subjected to hate crimes every year just because of the way they were born, it’s perfectly proper for a mayor to object to the use of such advertising in an iconic public setting.”

For further information, please see:

BBC – ‘Ex-Gay’ London Bus Advert Ban Ruled Lawful – 22 March 2013

The Guardian — Boris Johnson Ban on Christian ‘Gay Cure’ Ad Did Not Break Law, Court Rules – 22 March 2013

The Independent – Boris Johnson Wins Ruling Over Ban on Christian Group’s Controversial ‘Post-Gay and Proud’ Bus Advert – 22 March 2013

Christian Today – Court Hears Gay Bus Ad Case – 01 March 2013

Sultan Qaboos Pardons Protesters in Oman

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MUSCAT, Oman – While the Arab spring led to protests throughout the Middle East, those in Oman have felt it necessary to join in over the past year. As a result of expressing their displeasure with the government and the Sultan, numerous individuals have been detained and imprisoned for their roles and statements made in protests and cyber campaigns.

Approximately fifty individuals detained for defaming the Sultan and unlawfully assembling will be released today on a pardon by the Sultan. (Photo Courtesy of the Guardian)

Many of those detained, were jailed specifically for defaming the sultan. The seventy-two year old Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has ruled over Oman for the last forty-two years, does not hold too big of a grudge though. The Oman News Agency announced that, “Sultan Qaboos  has issued a royal pardon for those convicted of defamation, information technology crimes and unauthorised rallies.” At least fifty individuals who were sentenced from six to eighteen month jail terms are expected to be released today.

This decision to free all the activists was not completely unprovoked. The sultans pardon came shortly after the negative publicity that arises when approximately thirty detained individuals partake in a two week long hunger strike. The hunger strike began when eleven to seventeen cyber activists chose to protest the delays and denials of receiving appeals. These cyber activists were charged with “unlawful assembly and violating the cyber law.” Eventually, another thirteen imprisoned activists joined their hunger strike.

After fifteen days of not eating, the initial cyber activist hunger strikers were told by the Supreme Court that their appeals would in fact be heard. Just a week later, Sultan Qaboos bin Said announced his royal pardons.

Besides for calling for the release of these protesters, the Sultan is also attempting to respond to many of their concerns. One move the government has taken was to announce a plan to restrict the number of foreign workers in the country in order to decrease domestic employment. Additionally, plans are in the works to greatly increase the minimum wage.

While these improvements sound good on paper, the protesters will not be truly happy until they see they see actual actions taken. There has long been a pledge to increase public specter jobs which has never really come to fruition as the country focuses on its oil export role on the Strait of Hormuz. Until actual change comes, expect more to be detained for defamation against sultan, and eventually more pardons as well.

For further information, please see:

Guardian – Oman’s Sultan Pardons Dissidents who Were Jailed for Defaming him – 22 March 2013

Gulf News – Oman’s Qaboos Pardons Activists – 21 March 2013

Middle East Online – Top Court in Oman Orders Retrial for Jailed Activists – 4 March 2013

Daily News Egypt – 30 Jailed Omani Activists end Hunger Strike: Lawyer – 25 February 2013

New Pope, Same Old LGBT Opinion

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – With the unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the quick inauguration of Argentinian bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio South America rejoices and celebrates the first non-European pope in 700 years. However the ascension of Pope Francis has not been the boon that many activists hoped it would be, with the new pope’s past casting a shadow on the future of the Vatican’s stance on LGBT unions and adoption rights.

The  new Popes ascension leaves many worrying about the Vatican’s new stance on LGBT rights. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Fresh on many people’s minds will be how Pope Francis handles the clergy’s sexual abuse scandals that plagued Pope Benedict and the Vatican administration. With the resignation and litigation of many top cardinals, notably Britain’s Keith O’Brien and Los Angeles’s Roger Mahoy, many speculate whether the new pope will take a harsher stance. The question will become whether Pope Francis will continue to shield many complicit with the child abuse cover-ups or remove them from positions of power.

While Argentinians are naturally ecstatic about the selection, many voicing their opinions in support; many gay and lesbian South Americans are naturally skeptical. While many media outlets have noted statements made during 2010 coming out in favor of same-sex civil unions, this may have been us as a political smokescreen for private statements that may represent his, and the churches true views. During Argentina’s 2010 decision to legalize gay marriage with the Marriage Equality Bill he took a hard stance against it, declaring that all children have the fundamental right to be raised by a father and a mother, and not any “sinful” combination of the two.  However realizing that fighting gay marriage may have been a losing battle he insisting on supporting civil unions, as a way to undercut and prevent the passage of the bill.

Despite his attempt to derail the bill, it passed and allowed gays to adopt children without the three-year waiting period. His response? “Gay parenting is a rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”

While not quite as adversarial as Cardinal Peter Turkson who supported homophobic legislation in Ghana that could make homosexuality punishable by death, Pope Francis does not represent a much more liberal and progressive stance on the issue. Only time will tell if his support of same sex civil unions was legitimate and whether he will shape the Vatican’s opinions of LGBT rights and marriage in a positive way, or whether it will be more and the same from the Golden City.

For more information, please see:

Mommyish – The New Pope Believes He Is The Authority On How Children Should Be Raised And Educated – 15 March 2013

Al Jazeera – Gay Argentine React To Pope Francis – 14 March 2013

News Vatican – Biography: Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio – 13 March 2013

NPR – As Pope Resigns, Clergy Abuse Survivors Remember 2008 Meeting – 27 February 2013

Mommyish – The Hypothetical New Pope Might Actually Be More Gay-Hatey Than The Old Pope – 17 February 2013

 

Argentina Begins the Trial of Participants of Operation Condor

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The former government officials responsible for tens of thousands of disappearances of dissidents in the southern region of South America during the 1970s and 1980s are standing trial for the first time. Twenty-five defendants, all former military officers, are accused of human rights abuses during Operation Condor, which was a decade-long campaign led by six allied military officials who conspired to find activists living in exile in neighboring countries.

Former dictator Reynaldo Bignone on the first day of Operation Condor trials. (Photo Courtesy of Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

Operation Condor coordinated the military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Opponents of the regimes were tracked down and often tortured or killed, these included guerrilla fighters, activists, students, priest and journalist.

The defendants include Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, who were former de factor presidents during the country’s 1976-83 military rule. Both are already serving life sentences for their role in the country’s Dirty War. The sole non-Argentine defendant is Uruguayan Manuel Cordero, a former colon charged with human rights violations from a Buenos Aires torture center. Videla and Bignone were accused of “illicit association” and “deprivation of personal liberty”.

“We’re delighted that after years of struggle this has finally come to trial,” says Alcira Ríos, the lawyer of a Paraguayan victim.

In 1980, a left-wing militant named Horacio Campligia was abducted in Rio de Janeiro and taken to a military base in Buenos Aires, which was his last known whereabouts. “The trial is historic as it’s the first to deal with the repression coordinated between Latin American dictatorships,” says Carolina Varsky, the lawyer representing Campiglia.

“This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally…” said Atilio Borón, an Argentine political scientist.

The trial is expected to last two years and call 500 witnesses to testify. Judges are expected to rule on 106 victims’ cases directly from Operation Condor and on 56 cases stemming from a related operation. Most of these victims are Uruguayans who disappeared in Argentina, but citizens from neighboring countries were also affected.

“This is the first time in Latin America that a trial is being held over Operation Condor, to prosecute those responsible, above and beyond trials held in some countries for specific cases,” lawyer Luz Palmas of the Fundación Liga Argentina por los Derechos Humanos (FUNLADDHH), a human rights organization.

Operation Condor was backed by the United States. The investigation into the operation began in the late 1990s when impunity laws were still in place. Human rights have been a focal point in Argentina since Néstor Kirchner overturned impunity laws.

 

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor — Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses – 05 March 2013

Global Post — Argentine rights trial spotlights military abuses – 05 March 2013

Inter Press Service — Operation Condor on trial in Argentina – 05 March 2013

Yahoo! News — Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses – 05 March 2013

War Criminal Bosco Ntaganda Surrenders at US Embassy

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KIGALI, Rwanda — Fugitive Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda on Monday and surrendered.  He asked to be transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.  There, Ntaganda faces a litany of war crime charges.

Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, seen in 2009. (Photo Courtesy of Lionel Healing/AFP)

Ntaganda’s surrender came as a surprise, as he effectively ended a career that saw him fight as a rebel and government soldier on both sides of the Rwanda-Congo border during two decades of conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes region.

Born in Rwanda, Ntaganda grew up in Congo; however, he fought alongside Rwandan Tutsi rebels who seized control of the small central Africa country and ended the 1994 genocide.  Estimates for the death toll range from 700,000 to 1,000,000 people.

Ntaganda then returned to Congo, where he took part in a series of rebellions, but also served temporarily as a senior general.  He made a name for himself by smuggling minerals.

During the 2002 and 2003 conflict in Congo’s Ituri province, it is said that Ntaganda kidnapped, enlisted and conscripted children under the age of fifteen as soldiers and used them in the hostilities.  Moreover, it is said that troops under his command massacred hundreds of civilians on ethnic grounds and used rape as a weapon of war.

In 2009, Ntaganda was integrated into the Congolese army with insurgents and has acted a leader of the M23 rebellion.  The M23 rebels have pursued an insurgency in a mineral-rich region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  M23 forces embarrassed Kinshasa and UN peacekeepers in fall 2012 by briefly seizing control of the North Kivu province.

The UN has repeatedly denounced this group’s activities and has sanctioned its leaders, accusing M23 rebels of war crimes.

Known as “The Terminator,” Ntaganda was first indicted in 2006 by the ICC for conscripting and using child soldiers during a 2002-2003 Congo conflict.  A second arrest warrant, issued July 2012, accused him of a range of crimes including murder, ethnic persecution and rape.

Neither Rwanda nor the United States has an obligation to hand Ntaganda over to ICC since they are not parties to the Rome Statute that established the court; however, the countries are working towards his transfer.

US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington that, “We are currently consulting with a number of governments, including the Rwandan government, in order to facilitate his request.”  Likewise, ICC spokesman Fadi el-Abdullah said the Court would put in place all necessary measures to ensure a swift surrender.

It remains to be seen why this infamous war criminal suddenly surrendered himself to the authorities now.

To learn more about Ntaganda’s crimes in interviews with his victims, please watch this short video uploaded by the Washington Post: “A Powerful Video on War Criminal Ntaganda”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Suspected War Criminal Surrenders in Rwanda – 19 March 2013

NBC News (blog) – War Crimes Suspect “The Terminator” Surrenders at U.S. Embassy in Rwanda – 19 March 2013

Reuters – Rwanda Says War Crimes Suspect Surrenders at U.S. Embassy – 19 March 2013

The Washington Post – Congo Warlord Bosco Ntaganda, Wanted by the ICC Since 2006, Remains Ensconced at US Embassy – 19 March 2013