News

Men Accused of Rape and Murder Plead Not Guilty

 By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – Today, five men pleaded not guilty to the rape and murder of a trainee physiotherapist in Delhi last December.

Angry protesters demand harsher sex crime laws. (Photo Courtesy of Aljazeera)

With a sixth suspect tried in juvenile court, the of age men, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Kumar, Ram, and Mukesh Singh, signed statements proclaiming their innocence after being formally charged in a fast-track court.

The accused men allegedly attacked the 23-year-old woman after boarding a bus with a male friend. According to AlJazeera, the men beat both of them, raped the woman, and tried to run her over with the vehicle after the attack.

As a result of the attack, the woman suffered excessive internal injuries and died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital. Prior to being transported to Singapore, the woman underwent three intensive surgeries and cardiac arrest.

The defense’s lawyers, in response to these allegations, claimed that the New Delhi police tortured the men into erroneous confessions.

Nonetheless, the violent attack sparked a national debate over India’s sex crime laws and the treatment of women in India.

Because there is substantial evidence, including DNA and phone records, prosecutors anticipate seeking the death penalty for the accused men.  Moreover, they expect calling three witnesses at the beginning of trial.

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched in New Delhi demanding more rights and security for women.  According to AlJazeera, the “Women Dignity March” concluded at Rajghat, the tallest memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.  On the same day, Junior Education Minister Shashi Tharoor advocated that the proposed new anti-rape law be named after the dead student.

Moreover, on Friday, India’s cabinet approved a majority of the commission’s recommendations on sex crime laws.  Appointed to review India’s sex crime laws, the commission is led by ex-chief justice JS Vermam, who issued a report on January 23, 2013.

The court will begin administering evidential hearings this upcoming Tuesday.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera – India rapists ‘tried to run over victim’ – 02 February 2013

BBC News – Delhi rape case: Five accused plead not guilty – 02 February 2013

The Guardian – India gang rape accused plead not guilty in fast-track court – 02 February 2013

The Voice – 5 Men Plead Not Guilty in India Rape Case – 02 February 2013

French National Assembly Approves Same-Sex Marriage Bill

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – On Saturday, France’s National Assembly approved legislation that will allow gay couples to get married and adopt children. The Assembly approved the bill despite enormous protests that lured hundreds of thousands of people in Paris to oppose the new proposal.

Parisians show their support for the legalisation of gay marriage and LGBT parenting. (Photo Courtesy of RT)

President Françoise Hollande’s socialist party and their left-wing supporters supported the same-sex marriage provisions. Conversely, the UMP – the party of former President Nicholas Sarkozy – and many centrists MP opposed the bill.

However, despite opposition, deputies voted 249-97 in favor of redefining marriage as a contract between two people, rather than just between a man and a woman.

The same-sex bill celebrates one of France’s biggest social reforms since the abolition of the death penalty in 1981.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira stated, “We are happy and proud to have taken this first step. We are going to establish the freedom for everyone to choose his or her partner for a future together.”

Christophe Barbier, editor of the influential L’Express weekly news magazine and a supporter of the law, said, “Marriage should be a simple contract between two individuals. Let’s make it available to all couples eager to make this contract to each other.”

However, those who opposed the legislation maintain that their movement is not homophobic. Rather, the legalization of gay adoption breaks down the traditional family, and the legislation that gives gay couples the right to adopt will remove the fundamental right of a child to have a mother and a father.

Spokesman for the anti camp called “manif pour tous,” Tugdual Derville, stated, “We must think of future generations. Not only of the desires of adults today.”

Protestors chant, “Une mère, un mari, un mariage” (One mother, one husband, one marriage).

UMP MP, Philippe Gosselin, believes the legislation is opening a gate of trends of which the French people do not approve. He states, “Today it is marriage and adoption. Tomorrow it will be medically assisted conception and surrogate mothers.”

Furthermore, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Lyon, argued that redefining marriage would “open the door to incest and polygamy.”

Other countries in Western Europe, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, already legalized same-sex marriage. However, France demonstrated the largest disapproval.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – France’s Parliament Approves Gay Marriage Article – 2 February 2013

Expatica – Gay Pride As France Lays Foundation For Same Sex Marriage – 2 February 2013

NBC News – Why Some In Supposedly Liberal France Are Up In Arms About Gay Marriage – 2 February 2013

RT – French National Assemble Approves Gay Marriage Law – 2 February 2013

Human Rights Watch Releases Annual World Report

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

A couple of days ago, Human Rights Watch issued its twenty-third annual world report for 2013. A large portion of the six-hundred and sixty-five page report centered around the Arab Spring and its effects on the Middle East.

In the wake of the Arab Spring, Human Rights Watch hopes that the newly implemented governments will not fail their human rights obligations. (Photo Courtesy of the Daily Star Lebanon)

When the Arab Spring started, the initial hope was that the uprisings would lead to the beginning of legitimate democracies. Presently, in many states there is a fear that the ousting of the old authoritarian regimes will only lead to authoritarian regimes of different forms.

It is far too early to judge exactly what the spring has given birth to yet. The world must wait to see how these new governments will respect their citizens human rights. Appropriate efforts would include the installation of a professional police force, creation of independent courts, and the prudence of the majority not to abuse the rights of minority factions.

The report highlights the difficulty for these new governments to develop the necessary institutions for a successful democracy. The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, stated that, “[t]he path ahead may be treacherous, but the alternative is to consign entire countries to a grim future of oppression.”

The report specifically looks at several countries in its exposé on human rights. A few of such countries include Egypt, Syria, and Libya.

Human Rights Watch analyzed the effect that Egypt’s new constitution has on the countries future. It praised its efforts to clearly terminate the practices of arbitrary detention and torture, but feared that far too many of its provisions pertaining to family, religion, and speech were vague. Such undisciplined drafting may allow for abuses against women and minority religious groups who should be protected under international law.

Over the past year, Syria has provided the perfect example for what may happen when sectarian factions cannot co-exist. Syria has been a hot bed for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, and summary executions. The United Nations Security Council has referred the situation to the International Criminal Court but Russia and China have vetoed the referral.

Libya is a prime example of a government unprepared to govern itself after its abusive regime was ousted. Gaddafi intentionally insured that government institutions were weak so that no one could challenge his law. As a result, much of the country is ruled by militias and government who has no problem to detain dissidents and without any likelihood of a future trial.

A further common theme exists amongst most of these Middle Eastern countries. The overwhelming majority of these countries are ruled by Islamic powers. In such situations, it is not uncommon under conservative rule for women to be viewed as second class citizens. Many of these ruling powers consider expanding the rights of women as a western imposition opposed to a natural right codified through international law. Additionally, in these religious states, it is not uncommon for those who offend the religion to be treated improperly. Such countries claim to allow free speech, but do not practice what they preach. Countries that the report criticize for acting in the aforementioned ways include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Arab Spring uprisings took place because citizens were fed up with their governments’ treatment of its people. As Kenneth Roth declared, “[i]t turns out, in fact, the toppling of a dictator may have been the easy part. The difficult part is replacing that repressive regime with a rights-respecting democracy.” Hopefully a year from now the 24th annual Human Rights Watch World Report will show a stable Middle East that is routed in democracy and a concern for human rights.

For further information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – World Report 2013: Challenges for Rights After Arab Spring – 1 February 2013

Radio France International – Human Rights Watch Focuses on Arab Spring Fallout – 1 February 2013

Daily Star Lebanon – Arab Spring States Must Respect Rights: Human Rights Watch – 31 January 2013

United Press International – Human Rights Watch Issues Annual Report – 31 January 2013

DRC: The UN Denounces M23’s Human Rights Violations

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — The Movement of March 23 (M23) rebels have been fighting the DRC army since May in the country’s fertile but highly unstable North Kivu province.  The UN published a report late last year that accused the rebels of serious atrocities: rape, murder, human rights violations, and forced recruitment.  M23 has dismissed the allegations at “cruelly biased.”

M23 Rebel Leader Jean-Marie Runiga. (Photo Courtesy of In2EastAfrica)

In April 2012, the M23 rebels launched an offensive against the army after accusing President Joseph Kabila of reneging on the terms of a March 2009 peace agreement.  Now the M23 rebels state they wish to remove Kabila from office and liberate the entire Congo.  The M23 rebels engagement in the in the eastern province has the region back into war and displaced an estimated 500,000 people.

M23 released its response via a report on Wednesday.  The political leader of M23, Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, charged that the UN experts of harboring a “visceral hatred of M23.”  Runiga said the UN document “seems to us cruelly biased and hardly professional because it contains incompatible and incoherent elements.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported that M23 receives significant support from Rwanda.  Moreover, HRW reported that “Rwandan military officials have planned and commanded M23 military operations; supplied weapons, ammunition, uniforms and other equipment; and recruited at least 600 young men and boys in Rwanda to join the rebellion.”

Likewise, according to research by HRW and the UN Group of Experts on Congo several hundred Rwandan army troops were sent to Congo to support the M23 in its military offensives.  In September, HRW accused the rebels of “war crimes committed on a large scale.”

In its Wednesday report, M23 rejected all the foregoing allegations.  The rebel leader, Runiga, calling the UN and the HRW reports “politicized” and “erroneous,” and the production of biased rapporteurs.

However, independent UN experts say the M23 insurgency receives cross-border support from Rwanda and Uganda.  Both governments strongly deny these allegations.

In December the UN sanctions committee blacklisted two key M23 leaders, Eric Badege and Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero on grounds the rebel group has been complicit in “killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction, and forced displacement” of people in eastern Congo. They now face international travel bans and asset freezes.

M23 said they expect to sign a peace deal with the government by the end of February to end their ten-month revolt; however, Kinshasa said “capricious” demands from the rebels could cause delays.

For more information, please see:

All Africa – Congo-Kinshasa: How M23 Peace Deal was Missed – 1 February 2013

Global Post – DR Congo Rebels Dismiss “Biased” UN Rights Report – 31 January 2013

IOL News – DRC Rebels Dismiss UN Rights Report – 31 January 2013

Reuters – Congo’s M23 Rebels say Peace Deal Possible by end-February – 1 February 2013

Somali Rape Victim Charged Over Rape Report

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – On Tuesday, the Somali government prosecuted a woman who accused members of the army of raping her.

Somali journalists protest as they demand for the release of a colleague who wrote about women who were allegedly raped by Somali soldiers. (Photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch/Badri Media)

Since then, the United Nations and various international human rights groups have demanded that the charges against her be dropped.

Earlier this month, Al-Jazeera English published a story about government soldiers raping internally displaced women in Mogadishu camps. Several days after the publication, the Somali police’s Central Investigation Department (CID) in Mogadishu arrested the reporters involved in writing the story.

2 weeks later, a Mogadishu court charged one of the women interviewed for the Al-Jazeera report. She was charged of insulting the government on the basis of false evidence. According to the court’s decision, she fabricated the rape allegations against the Somali soldiers making her guilty of spreading false accusations. Doing so, she effectively “insulted and lowered the dignity of a National Institution,” said the court.

The woman’s husband was also charged and arrested. He was accused of helping his wife evade investigation and secure a profit for the rape allegation. The government claimed that he and his wife agreed to the Al-Jazeera interview, not only with the intention of discrediting the administration, but also of profiting from it.

After the couple’s arrest, the alleged rape victim recanted her story. She later admitted that all the accusations she made against the Somali security forces were “bogus”.

Her conviction sparked outrage among human rights advocacy groups. They believe that it will deter rape victims from coming forward in spite of recent efforts of trying to empower them.

“Allegations of rape should be met with objective investigations by the proper authorities, not detention for victims who come forward or arrest for journalists who report on such crimes,” insisted Zainab Hawa Bangura, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Fartuun Adan, a volunteer who runs a shelter for abused women in the country, expressed her concern and fear about the consequences of the woman’s prosecution. “Women are now asking me, ‘Who’s going to protect us?’ ” she told local newspapers. “They’re saying, ‘What are we supposed to do?’ ”

According to Daniel Bekele, the Africa director at Human Rights Watch, the case is “politically motivated”. “The police ‘investigation’ in this case was a politically motivated attempt to blame and silence those who report on the pervasive problem of sexual violence by Somali security forces,” he said. “Bringing charges against a woman who alleges rape makes a mockery of the new Somali government’s priorities,” Bekele added.

 

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Somali journalist charged over rape report – 31 January 2013

Huffington Post – Somalia: Government Charges Woman Who Says She Was Raped By Security Forces – 31 January 2013

All Africa – Somalia: Somali Authorities Lay Charges Against Alleged Rape Victim and Journalist – 30 January 2013

The New York Times – Somalia Moves to Prosecute Woman Who Accused Soldiers of Rape – 30 January 2013