News

Malian Media Strikes Following Editor’s Arrest

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali — Mali’s private media launched a news strike after an editor was arrested for publishing a letter about the substandard conditions of Malian soldiers fighting Islamist militants in the north.

Man selects one of the 40 newspaper titles typically published each week in Bamako. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

Agents from Mali’s intelligence service arrested Boukary Daou, editor-in-chief of Le Republican newspaper, and took him from his home on March 6.  This followed soon after his newspaper published a letter from an army officer denouncing Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo’s recently-decreed salary of $8,000 per month.

Sanogo’s salary is incredibly high salary for anyone in the impoverished country.  The letter contends that the salary — as much as 26 times what Sanogo earned before last year’s coup — serves as an incentive for future coups.

The letter further threatened that if Sanogo’s salary is not reduced, soldiers deployed in northern Mali’s will refuse to fight.  Currently, the average salary of an enlisted soldier is just $100 a month, which is 80 times less than what Sanogo’s salary.

Sanogo seized power a year ago last March.  Just weeks later, he was forced to relinquish control due to international sanctions.  Sanogo managed to negotiate a “golden parachute” before resigning, including the salary of an ex-head of state.  Despite officially stepping down, many observers contend that Sanogo continues to pull the strings in government, as Daou’s arrest evidences.

President Dioncounda Traore spoke to reporters at a stop in Dakar, Senegal, and defended his administration’s decision to arrest Daou.  President Traore assured reporters that if Daou is innocent that he will be freed.  Moreover, President Traore condemned the letter published in Le Republican as subversive and aimed to demoralize the nation’s troops during wartime.

Sources in the capital of Bamako, say that approximately 40 periodicals are published weekly; however, none appeared on newsstands on Tuesday morning.  Furthermore, the 16 local private FM radio stations are either silent or only playing music.

According to a statement from the country’s press association, the media strike “will continue until Boukary Daou is freed.”

“Mali is in a state of emergency.  We all need to remember this.  We are in a state of war, and we cannot allow this kind of thing,” President Traore said.  “If he is guilty, he will need to answer to the courts.  If he is not, there’s no reason he’ll be kept in prison.”

Following Sanogo’s coup last year, various rebel groups allied with al-Qaeda forces in northern Mali have sent the the country and the region careening into crisis.  Since January, French troops have joined with Malian and regional soldiers to push back against the northern rebels.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Mali Media Strike Over Editor Boukary Daou’s Arrest – 12 March 2013

Bloomberg – Media in Mali Protest Journalist’s Arrest with National Strike – 12 March 2013

Financial Times – Mali Media Strike Against Editor’s Arrest – 12 March 2013

NPR – Mali Media Outlets Go Silent Over Editor’s Arrest – 12 March 2013

Saudi Arabia to Consider an end to Beheadings

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Recently, Saudi Arabia has been under a lot of heat for the amount of people it has been executing under capital punishment. The most common method used in Saudi Arabia for executions has been that of beheading by swordsmen. Saudi Arabian authorities finally seem ready to retire the traditional Sharia technique.

The beheading of Rizana Nafeek, seen above, took place this past January. (Photo Courtesy of the Global Dispatch)

Those beheaded last year were convicted for the capital crimes of armed robbery, drug smuggling, murder, rape, sorcery, and witchcraft. International human rights group, Amnesty International, opposes the administration of death sentences for the commission of any crime.

Those still contemplating committing witchcraft anytime soon should know that they will still be executed for a capital crime. Instead of being killed by a beheading, a sorcerer will be executed by firing squad.

The switch has nothing to do with the Saudis seeing beheadings as antiquated. The real reason why the ministerial committee of the interior has decided to potentially cease beheadings is because there is a shortage of swordsmen. Swordsmen are largely unavailable in a number of areas in Saudi Arabia. This shortage leads to swordsmen needing to often travel great distances in order to perform executions. When such travels are necessary, executions are often delayed. They are simply impractical.

Saudi Arabia is currently the only country which still beheads criminals in public by sword. Executions by beheading has always been seen as the proper technique under the Koran to punish a person who committed a capital offense since medieval times. Death by the gunfire of a firing squad has also been deemed to be consistent with Sharia law. Though they have been more uncommon, such executions have occurred before and are not considered to be a religious violation.

The manner in which an individual, sentenced by a judge to death, will be killed will ultimately come down to the discretion of a local governor or prince. So far seventeen individuals have been executed this year. At least fifteen of those seventeen were beheaded. The seventeen people already killed this year represent a great increase in the rate of individuals executed, after just eighty individuals were killed a year for the past two years.

For further information, please see:

Arabian Business – Saudi Could Replace Beheading with Firing Squad – 11 March 2013

Guardian – Saudi Shortage of Swordsmen Prompts Approval of Executions by Firing Squad – 11 March 2013

New York Times – Saudis Consider Firing Squads for Executions – 10 March 2013

Global Dispatch – Amnesty International Calls for Saudi Arabia to Stop Beheading ‘Nearly two People a Week’ – 12 February 2013

Jordans Parliament Elects PM for the First Time

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East 

AMMAN, Jordan — For the first time in Jordan’s history, its Prime Minister was appointed under a recommendation by Parliament.  Previously, the position was decided by King Abdullah II.

 

Abullah Ensour was selected by Jordan’s Parliament, a first for the country, to continue serving its Prime Minister. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Under the new process, Ensour was selected by the king after Parliament put forward two names to him last Saturday.  King Abdullah II then selected Ensour, who collected the most votes in Parliament.  King Abdullah II heralded the elections, the Parliament, its new found involvement in selecting a prime minister, and the significant step Jordan took in creating a more participatory political system.

Prime Minister-designate, Abdullah Ensour retains the position after having been selected by King Abdullah II earlier as a “caretaker Prime Minister.”  Ensour was originally selected by the king because of he believed that Ensour would reform for the government and quell the tensions of the Jordanian people that were sparked by the Arab Spring, rigged elections and a government that was said to be corrupt.

However, since October, Ensour saw his popularity drop significantly.  Originally expecting to retire from politics and receive a hefty pay-out, he will now have the opportunity to continue making reforms to a government that he criticized when he was a member of the opposition.  In November, Ensour’s government raised gas prices as part of an economic plan necessary to instill so Jordan could receive a loan from the International Monetary Fund.  The move set off street riots and demonstrations throughout Jordan.  Critics believe that Ensour’s government will continue to raise prices in an effort to revive the Jordan’s economy, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East.  Critics believe that these actions will lead to more street protests.  “There was an opportunity to restore some trust in government. We missed that chance,” said Hassan Barari, an independent economist and commentator, of the election. “We were a divided society before the elections.”

Ensour is expected to name his new cabinet in the coming days.  The king will then swear the new cabinet in and Parliament will install it with its vote of confidence.  In a letter to Ensour, written by King Abdullah II, he requested Ensour and his incoming cabinet to “pursue further liberalization and decentralization,” without mentioning specific issues.  In his letter, the king mentioned that the cabinet should focus on targeting government bureaucracy, which has been marred with nepotism, corruption, and inefficiency. “We also want a white revolution in the public sector to improve its performance and skills, ensure transparency and better service to citizens…”

For further information, please see:

Al Bawaba — Same old PM Marks Radical Change for Jordan — 10 March 2013

Jordan Times — PM-Desigante Enters Talks with MPs over Cabinet Make-Up — 10 March 2013

Wall Street Journal — Jordan Appoints New Prime Minister — 10 March 2013

Al Jazeera — Jordan’s Parliament Chooses PM for First Time — 9 March 2013

In an Unprecendented Event ICC Drops Charges Against Kenyan Official

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court (ICC) dropped charges against Francis Muthaura, who had been accused alongside Kenya’s presidential election winner Uhuru Kenyatta for his involvement in the 2007 post-election violence that resulted in the death of more than 1,000 individuals.

Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura appears at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on April 8, 2011. (Photo Courtesy of CNN)

Muthaura, along with Kenyatta, faced charges for allegedly orchestrating post-election violence five years ago.  He was charged with crimes against humanity, murder, rape, illegal deportation, and for his alleged involvement in deadly violence that erupted after his country’s presidential election.

His defense attorney called the ICC prosecution “utterly flawed” after prosecutors dropped their case due to a dearth of evidence.

This marks the first time in its 10-year history that charges brought before the ICC have been withdrawn so close to trial.  As such, lawyers for president-elect Kenyatta, who won last week’s elections, said the corresponding charges against him should now be dropped.

It remains unforeseen what effect this event will have on president-elect Kenyatta’s impending trial, scheduled for July.  Some speculate that dropping of charges against top a top Kenyan civil servant like Muthaura could impact Kenyatta’s trial.

The decision to drop the case against Muthaura was an unprecedented admission of failure by ICC prosecutors.  However, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda stressed that the case against Kenyatta would continue. “This decision affects Mr. Muthaura’s case alone,” she said.

Bensouda said her hand was forced after witnesses died, were killed or bribed and Kenyan authorities failed to live up to their pledges to cooperate.  She said some witnesses were too scared to testify, while another had recanted his statement.

Furthermore, she accused Kenyan authorities of failing to fulfill their public pledges to fully cooperate with ICC during its investigation of the post-election violence.

Muthaura, a former civil service chief, was on the same side as president-elect Kenyatta during the disputed 2007 election, after which more than 1,000 people were killed and about 600,000 were left homeless.

In a written statement, Bensouda pledged her “unwavering commitment” to justice for victims of the post-election violence.

“The real victims of the terrible violence in Kenya five years ago are the men, the women, and the children, who were killed, injured, raped, or forcibly displaced from their homes — and whose voices must not be forgotten,” she said. “I will not forget them.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Francis Muthaura: ICC Drops Case Against Kenyan Accused – 11 March 2013

CNN – ICC Drops Charges Against Former Kenya Official – 11 March 2013

The Guardian – ICC Prosecutors Drop Case Against Kenyan Politician Francis Muthaura – 11 March 2013

The Washington Post – ICC Prosecutors to Drop Charges Against Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura – 11 March 2013

 

Reform Needed for Detainees in UAE

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Human Rights Watch has just released a report criticizing the United Arab Emirates for their treatment of ninety-four detainees. The poor treatment has impacted the detainees health and may have a further detriment to the administration of their justice.

Ninety-four individuals have pleaded not guilty to attempting to overthrow the government in the United Arab Emirates. (Photo Courtesy of Your Middle East)

The defendant detainees reported serious mistreatment. They had reported being held in solitary confinement for extended periods of time. Additionally, they faced constant exposure to fluorescent lights, which served to deprive them asleep. Furthermore, they were subjected to inadequate heating, and “hooding and blindfolding” whenever they were transported. Other detainees even reported being punched repeatedly and denied medical care.

The ninety-four detainees are all being held on state security charges of attempting to overthrow the government. The group of defendants included academics, doctors, lawyers, and judges who were believed to have developed a covert network to raise money in order to stage a coup. The ninety-four detainees are allegedly members of the Islamist group al-Islah and have supposed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood who were allegedly providing knowledge and money for the coup.

Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish has said that, “they launched, established and ran an organisation seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power.”

Eighty-four of which were marshaled into court to make their pleas. All eighty-four pleaded not guilty. Twelve of these eighty-four individuals were women. The charges were largely based on two confessions that were allegedly extorted under duress of two of the detainees.

Ahmed al-Suweidi, one of the two men who had previously confessed, proclaimed his innocence and begged to the court that, “I know that what I’m going say may cost my life, but I deny the charges and I ask the court to protect my life and the life of my family.” There is a serious fear amongst human rights groups that these detainees are not given the opportunity to receive a fair trial. Evidence cannot be utilized that was manufactured under duress.

The UAE authorities kept a bunch of journalists and other international spectators from entering the courtroom. Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson astutely observed that “The UAE authorities seem intent on keeping this trial as much under wraps as they can.”

The prosecutors are due to introduce their first witnesses when the trial continues on March 18th.

For further information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – UAE: Ensure Safety of 94 on Trial – 11 March 2013

NPR – Rights Group: UAE Must Investigate Torture Claims – 11 March 2013

CNN – Trials of 94 Detainees Accused of Plotting to Overthrow Government Start in UAE – 5 March 2013

Al Akhbar – 94 Defendants Plead ‘not Guilty’ of Attempted Coup in UAE Trial – 4 March 2013