News

EU Launches Military Training Mission in Mali

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss the situation in Mali. The group has officially decided to launch a mission to train the military in the African country of Mali. This decision was made today.

French soldiers talk to Malian soldiers outside Bourem in northern Mali. (Photo Courtesy of The Daily Start Lebanon)

This mission is designed to help the government of Mali take back and maintain control of the country. The first people in the mission, about 70 individuals, have already been sent to Mali so that they could begin the training as advisors to the Malian military. Officials of the European Union noted that more military instructors will be deployed before the end of March and official training will begin in April of this year.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton noted that the mission “is going to be of enormous importance in support of the Malian army” which is currently a poorly equipped and trained force without the ability or capacity to maintain the country’s territorial integrity. About half of the troops will be military trainers, while the rest will serve by providing protection and administrative as well as medical backup.

The current 27 European Union nations first approved the idea of a training mission in December 2012 in order to boost the Malian army’s ability to fight Islamist rebels who seized control of the country’s northern region last year. But the actual launch of the training mission was quickly accelerated after France’s surprise intervention in its former colony on January 11, in order to stop the insurgents from continuing south toward the capital.

Approximately 16 countries from the European Union along with Norway have agreed to take part in this mission. The mission currently has a 12.3 million-euro budget, and each contributing nation is providing and financing its own troops.

Specifically, the mission will provide advice and military training to the Malian Armed Forces. This training will include on command control, logistics and human resources as well as training on international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and protection of human rights. The mission, however, will not be directly involved in combat operations. The mission has an initial mandate of 15 months and will involve about 500 staff. The headquarters will be in Mali’s capital city of Bamako while training will take place in Koulikoro.

 

For further information, please see:

Global Post – EU Approves Military Mission to Mali – 18 February 2013

The Miami Herald – EU Launches Military Training Mission in Mali – 18 February 2013

New Europe – EU Send Training Mission to Mali – 18 February 2013

The Washington Post – EU Foreign Ministers Officially Launch Mission to Train the Military in Mali – 18 February 2013

 

Darfuri Activist’s10-year Sentence Modified to Death Penalty Without Hearing

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Human rights group Amnesty International demands the Sudanese government to halt the execution of local activist Bakri Moussa Mohammed.

Bakri Moussa Mohammed was an activist based in the Kalma camp for internally displaced people in Darfur. (Photo courtesy of AI/Evelyn Hockstein/Polaris)

Three years ago, Mohammed, a community activist who hails from Darfur, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for murder. However, his sentence was revised to death penalty last year without any court hearing.

“We believe Bakri Moussa Mohammed is at imminent risk of being hanged and we implore the Sudanese authorities to act immediately to stop the execution, through whatever means available,” urged Amnesty International’s Africa director Netsanet Belay.

Belay also questions the grounds for modifying Mohammed’s sentence. According to him, “the vague circumstances of the change in Bakri’s sentence are a clear violation of fair trial standards.”

On December 31, 2012, almost three years after his imprisonment, Mohammed was informed by a prison officer that his sentence was changed to death penalty. On the same day, he was transferred to death row and brought to the gallows before being told by Sudanese authorities that his execution would be postponed for 35 days.

According to Amnesty International, that deadline has now passed. The human rights organization fears that Mohammed may be hanged any day this week.

Mohammed’s family join Amnesty International in calling on the Sudanese government to stop Mohammed’s execution. His family suspect that his transfer to death row was purely a political decision. They believe that it was the government’s way of punishing Mohammed for his protests against the current administration. They reasoned that the victim’s family already agreed to take blood money, totaling 60,000 Sudanese pounds, in lieu of capital punishment. In fact, the victim’s family already received 17,000 Sudanese pounds from them as a first installment, insisted Mohammed’s father. Thus, they do not see why Mohammed has to be executed.

“The Sudanese authorities have serious questions to answer about the revision of this sentence. Trials for crimes carrying the death penalty must comply with the most rigorous internationally recognized standards for fair trial,” said Netsnanet Belay. In a recent press release by Amnesty International, the group pointed out that international law prohibits any execution after a trial which does not meet international fair trial standards. In addition, any person sentenced to death also has the right to request a pardon or commutation of a death sentence.

“Those rules appear to have been flouted in the case of Bakri Moussa Mohammed, whom we fear is being persecuted solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly,” Belay added.

 

For further information, please see:

Amnesty International – Sudan must save Darfuri activist from imminent execution – 15 February 2013

Sudan Radio – Activist’s Family Calls for Halt to His Execution; Says it Paid Blood Money – 14 February 2013

Sudan Tribune – Darfur activist placed on death row – 14 February 2013

Amnesty International – Sudan: Darfur Activist at Imminent Risk of Execution: Bakri Moussa Mohammed – 13 February 2013

 

New Zealand Representative Criticized for Anti-Muslim Rant

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Political observers in New Zealand say the future of Richard Prosser does not look promising after an anti-Muslim rant has mired him in a national controversy.

New Zealand First MP Richard Prosser caused a controversy with recent anti-Muslim remarks that might jeopardize his political future. (Photo Courtesy of the New Zealand Herald)

Prosser, who is a House of Representatives member for the NZ First party, recently wrote in a magazine column that all young men “who are Muslim, look like Muslims, or come from a Muslim country” should be banned from flying “Western airlines,” according to TV NZ.  The New Zealand Herald also reported that the rant referred to Muslims as “troglodytes” and that Islam was a “stone-age religion.”

“He’s [upset] the party [to] no end,” an anonymous source familiar with the party told the Herald.  “The biggest issue is his total lack of judgment.”

So far, the NZ First party leader Winston Peters has said he does not believe Prosser should resign.  But criticism has been widespread, and the feeling around parliament is that Prosser may serve only one term.

“He’ll be so far down the list next time, you won’t see the top of his head,” the Herald’s source said, discussing Prosser’s future party standing if he survives the next election.

Prosser, who joined Parliament in 2011 fourth on the NZ First party list, has apologized for the comments.  He told the Herald that he believes his willingness to acknowledge he was wrong would go over well with voters.

“I think New Zealanders are essentially fair people,” Prosser said.  “[I]f you make a mistake but admit it, undertake not to do it again, and undertake to correct some of them . . . people will give you a fair go.”

Most people, however, do not appear to share that sentiment.  The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand lodged a formal complaint against Prosser with the Human Rights Commission.  Association leaders called Prosser ignorant and undeserving of being an MP.

“You can maybe excuse it on a street corner on a drunken night, but not from a Member of Parliament,” said the association’s Jamal Green.  “This was not just an outburst.”

Judith Collins, who is New Zealand’s minister for both Ethnic Affairs and Human Rights, called Prosser’s comments “appalling and irresponsible.”  She called on the party to “avoid causing further embarrassment to New Zealand.”

Prosser’s rant was reportedly sparked by a recent incident when he was stopped from carrying his pocketknife on a flight to Christchurch.  This also is not Prosser’s first bought with controversy.  He previously called for a ban on burqas in public, mandatory army training for all citizens, and New Zealand’s South Island to become a separate state.

For further information, please see:

New Zealand Herald — MP Richard Prosser’s Future Looks Shaky — 16 February 2013

MSN NZ — Richard Prosser Faces a Bleak Future — 15 February 2013

TV NZ — Prosser to Be Reported to Human Rights Commission — 14 February 2013

3 News — Collins Slams Richard Prosser’s ‘Anti-Islamic Rant’ — 12 February 2013

Egypt Rallies on Friday

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Yesterday, both liberal anti-Morsi protesters and Islamic pro-Morsi supporters  took to the streets in Egypt to demonstrate. The Morsi opponents were protesting against what they perceived as Morsi’s consolidation of power and implementation of Sharia law. The Morsi supporters were demonstrating against violence caused by protests and the need for Sharia law. Predictably, violence broke out.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets on Friday to demonstrate their feelings about President Morsi. (Photo Courtesy of the Jerusalem Post)

The anti-Morsi faction congregated outside El-Quba, one of the presidential palaces. They called the rally, “Checkmate Friday,” as if they had cornered the king. The protesters view Morsi as a dictator who has failed to actualize the purposes of the revolution which put him in his position.

National Salvation Front, the main opposition group to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, was not involved in this protest. They sought to distance themselves from the protest after coming under criticism that they have been inciting street violence.

As nightfall covered the protest, violence eventually ensued. “Troublemakers” threw rocks and petrol bombs, and security forces answered back with tear gas and water cannons.

Away from the main rally, in the industrial town of al-Mahalla al-Kubra, protesters set fire to a local government building. Additionally, in Alexandria, protesters who tried to force their way into a police station were met by security force violence.

Thousands of pro-Morsi demonstrators also met in Cairo to show  their support for President Morsi and to denounce the violence that has occurred as a result of anti-Morsi protests. This demonstration was dubbed the “Together Against Violence” rally and was organized by the ultraconservative Salafi Islamist group Al-Gama’a al-Islamiya. Ironically, Al-Gama’a al-Islamiya led an armed revolt against the state in the 1990s, but has since denounced violence.

Since the anniversary of the ousting of Mubarak in January, at least sixty people have died as a result of demonstration violence. The pro-Morsi group is calling for an end to this unrest so that Egypt can gain some semblance of stability, such that tourists will not fear the Egyptian political climate and jumpstart its economy. Instead, the protesters just want the whole country to embrace Sharia law.

Mohammed al-Sagheer, a Muslim cleric in the crowd declared that, “the person who came [to power] through ballot boxes will not leave by firebombs.”

Others held banners which read, “No to Violence. Yes to Sharia.”

The demonstrators chanted, “Islam is coming, the Koran is our constitution,” as they marched to the central rally point of Cairo University.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Pro-Morsi Protesters Rally in Cairo – 15 February 2013

Examiner – Morsi Supporters Hold Rally in Cairo – 15 February 2013

Jerusalem Post – Egypt Islamists Rally Against Violence, for Sharia – 15 February 2013

Reuters – Islamists Rally for Egypt’s Mursi in Cairo – 15 February 2013

Chechen “Assassin” Alleges Tortured False Confession, Goes on Trial

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ODESSA, Ukraine – Last January, an alleged plot to assassinate then prime minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin was exposed when an apartment in Odessa Ukraine exploded.  Chechen native and British-educated Adam Osmayev, 31, was arrested and charged with plotting to blow up Putin’s motorcade.  At the time of his arrest, Osmayev confessed.  However, analysts and opposition figures long dismissed the plot was a mere ploy to boost Putin’s ratings before the critical presidential election.  With his case now before a Ukrainian court, Osmayev has retracted his confession and testimony, alleging that he was tortured and harm to his family threatened if he failed to cooperate.

Adam Osmayev still bears the chemical burns from the Odessa apartment explosion, in which he was either framed, or participating in a terrorist plot. (Photo Courtesy of the Telegraph)

Osmayev related his version of events to the British newspaper, The Independent, and to the Ukrainian court.  Osmayev says that he was at the apartment of two acquaintances when he smelled gas before an explosion ripped through the house.  He denies knowing the other two men another Chechen called Ruslan Madayev, and a Kazakh citizen called Ilya Pyanzin very well, and assets that there was never any assassination plot.

Nevertheless, Osmayev, having entered Ukraine on a false passport, fled the scene of the explosion and was forcefully arrested later.  Madayev was killed in the explosion and Pyanzin was arrested on site.

Describing his arrest, Osmayev recalled, “When they broke into the flat to arrest me, they put me face down on the floor.  I wasn’t resisting, but they put handcuffs on me with my hands behind my back, and started beating me, on the back of the head, and with guns.”  He said that experience was nothing compared to what he would have experienced had he failed to cooperate.

During his interrogation, Osmayev alleges that authorities continued to beat and torture him.  He claims during the interrogation his ribs were cracked, he was injected him with a narcotic substances, and he was threatened with physical mutilation.  At one point, Osmayev claims, “[T]hey covered my head with a plastic bag. They told me they had my father and stepmother as hostages, and they would be arrested if I didn’t confess.”

Osmayev further claims that his interrogators threatened to hand him over to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s ruthless Kremlin-backed leader, if he did not confess to the plot against Putin.  By then, Osmayev says “I was ready to admit to anything, even plotting to kill the Pope. Because what Kadyrov does is well known to the world. More than anything I was worried about my father. He had a heart attack a few years ago and I was more worried for him that I was for myself.”

Osmayev’s father, Aslanbek Osmayev has expressed a belief that his son was targeted because of Aslanbek’s former involvement in the Chechen oil industry and a dispute with Ramzan Kadyrov.  Aslanbek claims, “They couldn’t get to me so they went for Adam.  There wasn’t an ounce of truth in [earlier allegations against Aslanbek], and there is no truth in these latest ones, either. . . I think it is partly personal revenge against me, and partly it was an attempt to please superiors with a ‘convenient’ terrorist plot just before the elections.”

Osmayev’s wife, Anina Okuyeva, who also claims she has received anonymous threats that she would be put in a mental asylum if she publicly criticized the case against her husband, read a statement on his behalf Thursday before a court session: “The testimony was given as a consequence of physical and psychological pressure, placed on me by security services from the moment of my detention: During the examination of the case, I took back, in written form, all of the testimony given earlier and demanded an examination of the fact of torture. Considering all these given facts, in accordance with Article 63 of the Constitution of Ukraine, I am forced to refuse to give an explanation in the court session. I ask you to enter this statement into the case file.”

Moscow attempted but failed to have Osmayev extradited to Russia.  He appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and a Ukraine court suspended the extradition.  However, alleged co-conspirator Ilya Pyanzin was extradited to Russia in August.  Osmayev has since renounced his Russian citizenship and applied for refugee status in Georgia and Finland.

Even so, if the Ukraine court convicts him of the charge: “To carry out a terrorist act with the aim of the elimination of the head of the government of the Russian Federation, V. V. Putin,” Osmayev will face up to a 15-year prison sentence.  After Thursday’s hearing, the judge adjourned the case until mid-March.

Osmayev’s lawyer, Olga Chertok, who works independently out of a small office in a shabby Odessa courtyard, has denounced the prosecutor’s case as full of inconsistencies.  Known for usually taking on corporate raiding cases Chertok says authorities tried to keep her away from the Osmayev case because, “They wanted a pliant lawyer, and they knew that wasn’t me.”  Since taking on the case, Chertok has noticed she has been followed and suspects that her telephone has been bugged.

Nevertheless, she remains undeterred.  “There’s not a single piece of evidence that implicates [Osmayev] in any way.”  She explains that she believes the home-made explosive devices were planted in order to give Putin a PR edge before elections.

In Russia, the events of the alleged assassination attempt were not released until February, a week before the Russian presidential election.  News outlets claimed the three men had been caught making bombs from saltpetre, aluminum powder and other substances when one of them accidentally went off.  A computer found in the apartment, alleged to belong to Osmayev, contained internet history of bomb-making websites, and also of video footage of Putin’s motorcade route.  Named as the main organizer, film of Osmayev, his face covered with cuts and bruise, was shown admitting that “the plan was to go to Moscow and carry out an attack on Putin”.

Andrei Soldatov, a security analyst pointed out, “Putin is perhaps the best protected leader in the world.  Attacking his motorcade is unrealistic, he travels much faster than any Western leader would be able to as the streets are always cleared of all other cars before his motorcade arrives.” Some analysts have also noted that assassination attempts have long been a favorite ploy of leaders attempting to demonstrate their own importance.

Osmayev says that although he is a devout Muslim, he has never been interested in radical Islam or terrorism. “I was educated in Britain, I feel like a very European person,” he says. “I don’t believe in terrorism, I believe in freedom of speech and human rights. That’s why I’m against Kadyrov in Chechnya. I have never been involved in any kind of terrorism.”

For further information, please see:

RIA Novosti – Putin Murder Plot Suspect Testifies, Alleges Torture – 14 February 2013

The Independent – Chechen Links Vladimir Putin Plot Trial to Row with Ramzan Kadyrov – 13 February 2013

The Telegraph – Chechen Man Educated in Cotswolds to go on Trial over Putin Plot – 13 February 2013

The Independent – Adam Osmayev: the Public Schoolboy and a Plot to Kill Vladimir Putin – 8 February 2013

RIA Novosti – Putin Death Plot Suspect Retracts Testimony, Claims Torture – 17 January 2013

The Moscow Times – Putin Assassination Plot Suspect Retracts Testimony, Alleges Torture – 18 January 2013