News

Iraqi Government Frees 335 Prisoners Held Under Anti-Terrorism Law

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq released 335 prisoners held under anti-terrorism laws as a goodwill gesture to Sunni Muslim demonstrators who have been protesting against Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki for the last three weeks.

In an effort to appease Sunni protesters, the government released 335 Iraqi prisoners who were not formally charged but were held under anti-terrorism law. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Shahristani announced their release during a ceremony that was held at a Baghdad prison last Monday.  The ceremony itself was attended by dozens of freed prisoners, both male and female, who then shook hands with Shahristani after his speech.  It was at the ceremony where Shahristani apologized “on behalf of the Iraqi state” to those prisoners who suffered a prolonged detention.  “I, and the committee, will follow up all the cases to accelerate the release of the prisoners who are freed or completed the sentence,” said Shahristani, who heads the committee formed to look into the Sunni protesters’ demands.

Officials declined to provide statistics over how many prisoners had finished their jail terms and how many had been detained without being formally charged.  An AFP journalist who was present for the mass release said that a number of old men and women were among the prisoners freed.  “This is a good step,” said Mehdi Saleh, a prisoner who was held without charges since 2009.  “We were really desperate to be released,” he said.

For three weeks, Sunni demonstrators had assembled in Iraq’s Anbar province and other predominately Sunni regions to protest alleged discrimination.  Sunni leaders claim that the anti-terrorsim law was used to unfairly target and arrest Sunnis.  Aside from the demand to release prisoners held under the anti-terrorism law, protesters had made other demands, some of which are considered extreme.  They range from calls for Maliki to resign, to ending the campaign to track down former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.

Thousands of protesters are still in Anbar, and do not feel that their demands were adequately met.  “This is not enough.  We didn’t ask for a gesture or a gift for the people.  We want to give people their rights,” said Jaber Al-Jaberi, a lawmaker who represents the Sunni-backed Iraqiya block.  The protests began on December 23, when officials arrested 9 members of  Sunni Finance Minister Rafa Al-Essawi’s security team on terrorism charges.  Tensions have been high for both the demonstrators and government officials since the start of the protests, and Maliki has even threatened to direct security forces to forcibly intervene.

Since Hussein’s fall in 2003, many Iraqi Sunnis felt that they have been discriminated since the Shi’ite majority took power.  Since then, Iraq’s government, comprised of Shi’ite, Sunni, and ethnic Kurds, have struggled to cooperate together in rebuilding Iraq.

For further information please see:

Al Arabiya — Iraq Frees Hundreds of Detainees to Appease Protesters — 14 January 2013

Al Jazeera — Iraq Releases Hundreds of Prisoners — 14 January 2013

BBC News — Hundreds of Prisoners Released  in Iraq — 14 January 2013

Kurdish Globe — Iraq Says it Freed Hundreds of Inmates — 14 January 2013

Reuters — Iraq Frees Prisoners in Gesture to Ease Sunni Protests — 14 January 2013

Former Serb Policeman Sentenced for Srebrenica Massacre

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Bosnia’s highest war-crimes court has sentenced 42-year-old Božidar Kuvelja to 20 years in jail for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre in which over 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men were killed.  Although Kuvelja was found guilty of crimes against humanity, the court acquitted him of genocide.

Božidar Kuvelja, the most recent war criminal to be sentenced by Bosnia’s highest war-crimes court, has received 20 years in jail for his role in the July 1995 Srebrenica Massacre. (Photo Curtsey of Srebrenica Genocide Blog)

Towards the end of the Bosnian war, in which about 100,000 people died, the east Bosnian city of Srebrenica, which had been under the protection of the U.N., fell to the forces of Serb General Ratko Mladic.  (Mladic and his wartime political master, Radovan Karadzic, are currently standing trial on charges including genocide before the U.N at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.)

In the worst mass execution in Europe since World War II, Muslim civilian families living in the Srebrenica ghetto were rounded up, and the men, boys, and elderly were separated from the women and children, killed, and their bodies dumped into mass graves.  Many of the women were brutally raped.

The court found that Kuvelja, an officer in a special Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry police brigade, took part in the rounding up of Bosnian Muslim civilians, searching houses for Muslims to take to collection points where men and women were separated.

He further transported detainees to dozens of execution sites, which included a warehouse in Kravica, said the court.  “Members of Kuvelja’s brigade fired from automatic weapons and threw hand grenades into the packed warehouse” the court concluded.  Those who survived the initial onslaught were lured out of the warehouse for medical treatment, where instead they were forced to sing nationalist Serbian songs while Kuvelja’s brigade fired upon them, presiding judge Jasmina Kosovic said.  The court even found that Kuvelja finished off with a pistol those on the pile still showing signs of life.

Kuvelja, who had only joined the brigade shortly before the Srebrenica massacre, pleaded “not guilty.”

“Kuvelja is convicted of taking part in the persecution and forced removal of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) from Srebrenica on religious and ethnic grounds and the killing of several dozen detainees at a warehouse in nearby Kravica between July 11 and July 14,” said Kosovic.

However, she explained that, while the court concurred with the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide, the court could not find Kuvelja guilty of such because it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Kuvelja knew of the genocidal intent of the massacre.

Prosecutors plan to appeal the sentence, claiming that 20 years is insufficient.  More than 20 former Bosnian Serb soldiers and police officers have been jailed for their actions in the Srebrenica massacres.  Some top officials have received 30 and 35-year jail sentences.

For further information, please see:

On Islam – Serb Policeman Jailed for Muslim Genocide – 12 January 2013

Returns – Bosnian Serb ex-policeman jailed for 20 years over Srebrenica – 11 January 2013

RFE/RL – Bosnian Court Sentences Serb Ex-Cop to 20 Years for Role in Srebrenica Massacre – 11 January 2013

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Srebrenica: Bozidar Kuvelja Sentenced to 20 Years – 11 January 2013

Washington Post – Bosnian Court Sends Man to Jail for 20 Years for Killing Hundreds of Srebrenica Muslims – 11 January 2013

Canada Agrees to Spend Millions on First Nations Groups, Talks Continue

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

OTTAWA, Canada — The Canadian government pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in addressing at least some of the demands by First Nations communities, which have protested for better treatment.

Canadian leaders promise more talks with First Nations leaders after ongoing aboriginal protests demanding protection of rights and better living conditions on native reserves. (Photo Courtesy of CBC News)

Talks between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a group of native chiefs ended Friday, leading to a promise to spend C$330.8 million during the next two years to improve water systems on aboriginal lands.  The government also promised further “high-level dialogue.”

“Our Government is committed to addressing water and wastewater issues on reserves to ensure that First Nations communities have access to safe drinking water,” said Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan in a statement.

The government’s pledge will improve water systems in more than 50 First Nations communities on reservations where complaints target poor infrastructure and housing.

Since November 2012, natives have held protests in a movement called “Idle No More,” which quickly spread.  The demonstrations are aimed at attacking a proposed legislative budget bill called “Bill C-45,” which would change the Navigable Protection Act and the Indian Act, leading many to believe it would breach aboriginal treaty rights.

Native leaders have demanded more federal money, a greater say over what happens to resources on their land, and more respect from the federal government.  Protestors have held demonstrations in a movement called “Idle No More” since November.  At times, the protests have blocked roads and included hunger strikes, including the liquid-only diet of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence since December 11.

Prior to Friday’s talks, native groups warned that the protest was large enough to hurt Canada’s national economy unless the government addressed natives’ deplorable living conditions and high jobless rates.

“We have the warriors that are standing up now, that are willing to go that far,” Grand Chief Derek Nepinak from Manitoba said on Thursday before the talks.  “We’re not here to make requests; we’re here to demand attention.

“We have had enough,” Nepinak added.  “Our young people have had enough.  Our women have had enough.  We have nothing else to lose.”

Aboriginal leaders claimed that the federal government has ignored treaties signed with British settlers and explorers that granted their people rights over their territory.

Canada has 1.2 million natives and more than 600 indigenous reserves dating back to 1763.  The Canadian government spends roughly C$11 billion every year on its aboriginal population, but many reserves are plagued by poverty.  Living conditions on the reservations are low, and some communities have high rates of addiction, unemployment, and suicide.

For further information, please see:

Reuters — Canada Pledges Better Water for Aboriginals Amid Blockade Threat — 13 January 2013

CBC News — Idle No More Protests Go on After PM Meets AFN Leaders — 12 January 2013

BBC News — Canada Native Meeting Ends with Pledge of Further Talks — 11 January 2013

PressTV — Canada Chief Warns of Native Retaliation — 11 January 2013

Forced Sterilization of Transgender People Ends in Sweden

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Known for extremely gay-friendly attitudes, Sweden has hidden a dark secret: a 1972 law required transgender people who desired to legally update their gender to first be divorced and sterilized through sex reassignment surgery.

(Photo Courtesy of The Local)

However, in December, the Stockholm Administrative Court of Appeal found the 1972 law to be discriminatory against transgender people, to have failed to respect civil liberties as guaranteed by the constitution, and to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case was brought before the court by the Swedish Board of Health on behalf of an unidentified plaintiff who wanted to change his sex, but refused sterilization.

Under the 1972 law, a person who wants to change sex legally must be infertile.  This resulted in the practice of requiring transgender applicants to undergo surgery and sterilization.  Because of the law, some transgender people in Sweden chose to wait to legally change their sex on official documents, despite the difficulty and public embarrassment this may cause, in order to have their own biological children.

“I know at least one man in Sweden who lives fully as a man but has kept his womb because he wanted children and it’s very problematic for him to still legally be defined as a woman,” said Ulrika Westerlund, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL).  “It is a violation of human rights to force a person to have surgery that they do not need or want in order to have your gender legally recognized,” she said.

Swedish actress Aleksa Lundberg, who made the transition when she was 18 and has stared in a one one-woman show called “Infestus” chronicling her experiences, said “I believed I had to give up every vestige of being male to complete the process.  I cried and shouted for joy when that final piece of paper dropped in the mailbox telling me that I was now legally a woman.”  It was only several years later that Lundberg began to realize she had also lost her right to reproduce.  “We are not even allowed to freeze sperm. I am today fully incapable of having my own children,” says Lundberg.

Nova Colliander, a transgender woman who underwent the surgery described her experience as “an assault, a rape.  The state gave an ultimatum I had to accept.  The alternative was to die, so strongly I felt this. I do not know how many wills I wrote as a child.” [Translated with Google]

The court’s ruling preempts legislative action which would have ended the sterilization requirement in July 2013.  Early last year, the Swedish parliament began to move towards repealing the law, and adopted the July 2013 ban in autumn.  The move followed international outrage, including the hand-delivered a petition with nearly 80,000 signatures from LGBT organization All Out to the Swedish prime minister in January, after the Christian Democrat Party initially blocked initial moves to strike down the law.

Praising the ruling, Ulrika Westerlund and RFSL also note that many sterilized under the 1972 law have hopes of compensation from the government.  It is possible lawmakers will adopt a law granting reparations, of which Westerlund says 200,000 kronor ($31,000) per person would be a “fair sum.”  If not, RFSL will file a lawsuit.  Between 80 and 90 sterilized sex change patients have already approached RFSL to discuss seeking damages.

It is estimated that about 50 sex changes take place each year in Sweden (population 9 million).  The surgeries are covered under state-funded health care.  In the forty years between 1972 and 2011, 865 people made an official request for a sex change operation, with roughly 500 undergoing the surgery.

Sweden has a history of eugenic sterilization.  Between 1934 and 1976, an estimated 63,000 people, mostly women, were sterilized due to mental disability, epilepsy, or alleged social problems.  In 2000, the government granted reparations of 175,000 kronor to identified victims.

The policy of requiring sex reassignment surgery before recognizing a legally changed gender is not unique to Sweden.  Sixteen other countries in the European Union, including France, the Netherlands, and Australia have a similar requirement.  So too do many U.S. states.  Only recently have Italy and Germany overturned their forced sterilization laws.

Nova Colliander has tried to make sense of why it has taken so long for the sterilization requirement to be overturned.  “Being transgender is considered embarrassing and unimportant in society. They would rather hide us, it’s hard to even talk about us. Therefore, it has taken time”

For further information, please see:

The Local – Sweden to Stop Sex Change Sterilization – 11 January 2013

Think Progress – Sweden Ends Forced Sterilization of Transgender People – 11 January 2013

SvD – Könsbytare Stämmer Staten – 10 January 2013

Mother Jones – Sweden Moves to End Forced Sterilization of Transgender People – 24 February 2012

Mother Jones – Forced Sterilization for Transgender People in Sweden – 25 January 2012

Huffinton Post – Aleksa Lundberg, Swedish Transgender Actress, Mourns Forced Sterilization – 3 November 2011

The Local – Sweden to Reflect on Eugenics Past – 21 December 2005

Brazil To Force Drug Treatment On Users In Cracklands

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Please See:

BRASILIA, Brazil – In the mid-morning air they emerge, staggering and glassy eyed, no real sense of direction as they shamble in dirty clothes. This is a “crackland” in Brazil, a gathering of hundreds of users of the narcotic ‘crack’ the cocaine derivative that plunged the United States in the 1990’s into a crisis that fueled today’s modern drug war. Now in Brazil something similar is happening, but wider and less hidden. Daily, hundreds of users gather in these ‘cracklands’ to openly use and sell drugs, either oblivious to the police watching or uninterested, another black eye on the South American country still reeling from the escalation in violence and murders in Sao Paulo.

Crack use has become painfully public in many Brazilian slums. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Considered to be the world’s top consumer of crack cocaine with over a million users, Brazil says it’s ready to crack down on the crack epidemic. Before the World Cup arrives in 2014, officials have pledged to clean up the streets, and that means violent sweeps by Brazilian police officers.

The sometimes violent sweeps reignited debate as to whether or not there are better ways to clean up the Brazilian streets. Early January 10 a ten-year old addict was living in a ‘crackland’ when police arrived and scattered the mass of addicts. The boy was already a casualty of the cruel drug, his father dead and his mother an addict he left home days before to consume crack in the makeshift shanty towns. His older brother found him, but was unable to convince him to return home. During the raid he was trampled by the fleeing addicts, with his name added to the list of casualties claimed by the drug.

But sweeps and dismantling of these makeshift areas are not a permanent solution, and to continue in its fight against the addicts of the city Sao Paulo, officials and police will begin rounding up addicts and forcing them into treatment centers, with their consent or without. Rio de Janeiro and a few other cities have already been doing this with minors, a program heavily criticized by Human Rights Organizations. The plan set to be enforced is not said to be widespread however. Justice Secretary of Sao Paulo, Elois de Sousa stated that “These are extreme cases, and we cannot just let people die,” explaining that the forced treatment program will only be used for the worst cases, and for individuals whose requested they be brought in and cleaned up.

For further information, please see:

France 24 – Sao Paluo To Force Treatment On Crack Addicts – 11 January 2013

Reuters – Boy’s Death Highlights Brazil’s Raids On “Cracklands” – 10 January 2013

NPR – Brazil’s Drug Epidemic: Welcome To ‘Crackland’ – 1 January 2013

Huffington Post – Crack In Brazil: Authorities Debate Treatment Options For Crack Epidemic – 30 December 2012