By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Last month, United States Major General Anthony Cucolo issued a statement saying that troops under his command in Iraq would be subject to court martial if they were found to be pregnant or that they have impregnated a women. This week, Cucolo issued a statement that he would never actually subject a violator of the the regulation to a trial but wanted to echo the seriousness of the situation.

General Cucolo commands more than 22,000 troops in Iraq. The troops under his command are stationed throughout the northern provinces in Iraq. This includes cities such as Tikrit, Kirkuk, and Mosul. Of the 22,0000 troops under Cucolo’s command, 1,682 are female.

The military has a policy of sending women home within fourteen days after finding out they are pregnant. The levels of troops within the ranks are lessened by sending these women home in the time of war. This diminishing of the troops within units places strain and stress on the unit to compensate for those who are are sent home to the United States because of the pregnancy.

According to army regulations, each commander of a unit has the option to create supplemental rules that govern the unit troops. Each general is not allowed to lessen the rules of the General Order but can add rules to the General Order. Cucolo stated that his order of court martialing pregnant women and the men who are also involved was implemented after great consultation. He stated that he consulted with his commanders, lawyers, and two female soldiers before implementing the regulation. The two female officers supported the measure fully.

Since coming out with the order, General Cucolo has faced a great deal of criticism. National Organization of Women’s president, Terry O’Neil stated that she is going to lobby Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama to change the order. She likened the order to the discrimination perpetuated against women in the 1800’s. Also, four U.S. Senators have written letters to General Cucolo asking him to rescind the order. The letters state “We can think of no greater deterrent to women contemplating a military career than the image of a pregnant women being severely punished simply for conceiving a child.” The letter was signed by Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Four Senators Demand General Rescind Order on Pregnant Soldiers – 22 December 2009

CNN – Pregnant Soldiers Won’t be Court-Martialed, Commander Says – 22 December 2009

MSNBC – General: No Trials of Pregnant Soldiers in Iraq – 22 December 2009

By William Miller

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Charmaine Archer filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission after she was forced to submit to a strip search at an Ottawa Airport (PHOTO: Montreal Gazette)

OTTAWA, Canada – A woman has filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission claiming she was racially profiled when authorities selected her for a strip search at an Ottawa Airport. Charmaine Archer, a duel citizen of both Canada and Jamaica, and her four-year-old son were pulled aside by authorities upon returning from Jamaica.

Archer went to Jamaica for four days to attend her grandmother’s funeral. She was stopped after exiting a plane coming from Philadelphia to the Ottawa airport.

Authorities claim that they selected her for screening because of her short stay in Jamaica and because she purchased her ticket at the last minute. She however claims that her selection was racially motivated. As archer points out, “I was the only black person on that flight and I was the only one in there being searched. I have all reason to assume it was racial profiling.”

Authorities unpacked her suitcase and tested her belongings for the presence of drugs. They claimed that her tooth brush tested positive for Marijuana and heroin during the search. Archer maintains that this was a lie: “I don’t do drugs, I don’t know anybody that does drugs and I wasn’t around drugs when I was in Jamaica. … I come from an upstanding family and nobody touched that toothbrush but me.”

Archer complied with the guards when they first pulled her aside and continued to cooperate as they searched her belongings. It was not until they told her she would have to be strip searched that she protested saying she would rather be arrested. She was handcuffed and forced to comply with a full cavity search despite her protest. She has now decided to file a complaint. No drugs were found during the strip search.

Archer says that her goal is to show that authorities faked the presence of drugs on her toothbrush and to make sure the video tape goes public so people will know she was compliant up until she was strip searched. She has contacted the Human Rights Commission and expects to hear back from them next week.

For more information, please see:

Winnipeg Free Press – Strip Search Criticized – 21 December 2009

Montreal Gazette – Woman to File Human Rights Complaint after Airport Strip Search – 20 December 2009

Montreal Gazette – Woman Claims Profiling Following Strip Search – 19 December 2009

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
Washington, D.C. – Six months after an all-white jury in Schuylkill County acquitted two young men of aggravated assault and one of murder of Luis Ramirez, the federal government indicted five people related to Mr. Ramirez’s case.

Mr. Ramirez was beaten into a coma that led to his death that was found to be racially motivated in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in July 2008. The federal government brought charges for hate crimes, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. The crime has caused racial tension in the small town. According to the Department of Justice, the two young men that committed the beating while shouting racial epithets at him, Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky, then seventeen and nineteen, are accused of hate crimes.

Donchak also faces three counts of conspiring to obstruct justice because he is accused of attempting to organize a cover-up with the Shenandoah Police Department. Three police officers were also indicted. Police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lieutenant William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer faces additional charges of witness and evidence tampering and making false statements to the FBI. Officer Hayes was dating Piekarsky’s mother at the time.

(PHOTO: Courtesy of CNN – Mr Ramirez while still in a coma)

Piekarsky had delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez’s head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground. The state medical examiner found that Ramirez died from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the state prosecution.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell denounced the attack as racially motivated and asked the Justice Department to intervene. After the verdict, Rendell, in his letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending the Justice Department pursue civil rights charges stated “the evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican … Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack, but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance.”

The indictment read that Nestor, Moyer and Hayes purposefully failed to “memorialize or record” statements made by Piekarsky and “wrote false and misleading official reports” to “intentionally omitted information about the true nature of the assault and the investigation.”

Crystal Dillman, Ramirez’s fiancée, welcomes the indictments, but is afraid for her safety and had to moved to an undisclosed location outside Shenandoah because her truck was vandalized and people have yelled racial epithets at her on the streets, according to her attorney.

The Department of Justice said “the FBI wants to hear from anyone who may have information regarding alleged civil rights violations or public corruption in Schuylkill County,” and those with information can contact the Allentown, Pennsylvania, FBI office.

For more information, please see:

CNN – 3 Police Officers Among 5 People Indicted in Race-Related Beating – 15 December 2009

NY Daily News – 4 Cops, 2 Teens Indicted in Hate Crime Probe of Fatal Attack on Latino Man – 15 December 2009

WNEP News Station – Death of Immigrant Leads to Federal Charges – 15 December 2009

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – Washington, D.C. has become the latest city that will recognize same sex marriage. The Washington D.C. City Council passed a same sex marriage bill that would allow gay couples to marry within the city’s jurisdiction today. Before the passage of the legislation, the city recognized those same sex couples that were married in states or cities that allowed gay marriage.

The City Council passed the legislation by an eleven to two vote. The bill will now go to Mayor Adrian Fenty for approval. Mayor Fenty has promised to sign the same sex marriage legislation before Christmas. After the Mayor signs the legislation, it must survive a thirty day legislative review period before it becomes law.  The legislation also must be reviewed and passed by Congress, who controls the budget for Washington, D.C.

Opponents of the bill are seeking two avenues in which the same sex legislation could be defeated. The first strategy that they are employing is lobbying Congress. Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church said that he and his group, Stand4MarriageDC, will ask Congress not to approve the legislation.  Already, Republicans and conservative Democrats are trying to find ways for blocking the legislation. One of the ways is to attach a rider to future Washington, D.C. appropriations bills. However, many Congressional leaders are worried about usurping local autonomy. To defeat the legislation, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as President Obama, would have to disapprove of the legislation.  The second strategy that opponents are going to use to try and prevent the same sex marriage bill from becoming law is through a referendum.

The Roman Catholic Church also opposing the passage of the bill. It stated that if the same sex marriage bill was passed, it might limit some of their social service programs. These programs help Washington, D.C. residents with adoption, homelessness, and health care. Also, the Church said that they would not extend spousal benefits in health care and retirement to same sex couples.

Supporters of the bill as well as many of the City Council members were happy with the passage. They saw the approval of same sex marriage as a step in the right direction after New York did not approve of same marriage. One couple even became engaged shortly after the passage of the bill in the same meeting hall in which it passed.

For more information, please see:

MSNBC – D.C. City Council Votes to Legalize Gay Marriage – 15 December 2009

NY Times – D.C. Council Approves Gay Marriage – 15 December 2009

Washington Post – D.C. Council Approves Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage – 15 December 2009

By William Miller

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Asadullah Khalid Former governor of Kandahar is notorious for his human rights abuses. New evidence suggests Canada defended him and may have secured his tenure as governor (PHOTO: Canadian Press)

OTTAWA, Canada – An uncensored version of a memo which was confidentially shown to the Canadian Press suggests Asadullah Khalid,  the former governor of Kandahar, Afghanistan who was notorious human rights abuses, might have been removed from office two years earlier had Canada not intervened on his behalf. The memo is the latest revelation in the ongoing inquiry into allegations that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghani detainees.The accusations of Canada’s complicity in torture began last month when former Ambassador Richard Colvin accused the Canadian government of ignoring his reports that Afghani Detainees where likely being tortured after transfer to the Afghanistan National Police. On December 9, General Walter J. Natynczyk confirmed that Canada was not only aware that at least one prisoner was tortured as early as 2006, but was also suspicious that prisoners were being tortured prior to this confirmation.

The memo, which was uncovered by the Canadian Press yesterday, now suggests that Canada was not only complicit in torture of afghan detainees, but actively defended Khalid on at least one occasion. The memo which was authored by former Ambassador Colvin reads “[a]s far as I know, Canada has never suggested to (President Hamid) Karzai that Asadullah be replaced…In the one meeting where the subject was discussed, in July 2006, it was the president who raised the issue; Canada defended the governor, thereby ensuring his continued tenure.”

Colvin also claims that the government not only largely ignored his concerns but asked him to stop putting them in writing.

This memo had been publicly released before but was heavily censored. In the original version every reference to Khalid was blacked out.

Khalid has a bleak record on human rights. According to the memo, it was well known in Kandahar that Khalid ran a private torture facility where he kept detainees handed over by the Canadian Military. In 2007, he displayed the battered remains of Taliban Leader Mullan Dedullah for the press and later refused to return the remains to Dedullah’s family for burial.

Khalid was transferred to Kabul and assigned to be the official in charge of tribal affairs in 2008. The Canadian government withdrew its support of Khalid in that same year, almost a year after Colvin’s memo. Defense Minister Peter Makay is denying the accusations and insisting that Canada did raise concerns about Khalid.

For more information, please see:

Canadian Press – Canada Did Raise Concerns About Afghan Governor Accused of Torture, Mackay Says – 14 December 2009

Canadian press – Canada Kept Feared Afghan Governor in Power Despite Rep as ‘Human-Rights Abuser’ – 14 December 2009

New York Times – Canadian General Now Acknowleges Risk to Afghan Detainees – 9 December 2009