By Erica Laster                                                                                                                                    Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – Nearly 400,000 classified military documents have been leaked via the whistleblower website Wikileaks on Friday, the largest security breach in U.S. military history.  Despite the Geneva conventions protocols, the reports indicate that  unwarranted attacks on unarmed Iraqi civilians have taken place over the last several years and that Iraqi military and police forces abuse of power is the main contributor to the mass killing of civilians, torture and prison abuse. 

An additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions on the protection of victims of international armed conflicts states that a person who ‘clearly expresses an intention to surrender’ is ‘hors de combat’ and therefore ‘shall not be made the object of attack,” notes German paper Der Spiegel.

Many of the documents also implicate Iran, detailing their role in supporting the war by supplying Iraqi militia with deadly roadside bombs and other lethal weapons.  According to the Times, Iran voluntarily trained Iraqi militia as snipers and the use of explosives.  The Times further reported that the Quds Forces of Iran urged extremists to kill Iraqi officials.

The International community is considering the imposition of war crimes against the perpetrators with the surfacing of the reports.  Soldiers and marines who have testified over the past several years regarding atrocities and war crimes in Iraq have largely been ignored. By the media which refuses to tell their stories and politicians who use “troops” to gain support from voters and to cynically promote their ‘patriotism’ despite ignoring veterans upon their return.  Despite the fact that the public remains largely ignorant and misinformed, soldiers, civilians and those courageous enough to speak now have 400,000 leaked, classified military documents to support their stories.

Disturbing recounts from veterans, current serviceman and the leaked report confirm that Iraqi citizens have been killed at an alarming rate.  One event involved an older couple speeding past a poorly marked checkpoint.  One soldier notes that “the guys got spooked and decided it was a possible threat, so they shot up the car. And they literally sat in the car for the next three days while we drove by them day after day.”  The couple was eventually buried by the townspeople and troops admitted to journalist Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian that these were common events.   

In December of 2006 alone, over 3,800 civilians were reported killed by Iraqis and sometimes, by U.S. forces at various checkpoints, from helicopters and during operations in the country.  One instance in which a U.S. Apache helicopter sustained fire from Iraqi forces is most revealing.  Upon their surrender, the U.S. pilots made a phone call to an attorney who informed them that enemies could not surrender to air units and the pilots opened fire, killing the Iraqis despite their surrender.  

The Pentagon denied all charges of abuse.  “We vetted every single one of the documents, word by word, page by page,’ U.S. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told CNN, indicating that if there were any indication of war crimes “we would have investigated it a long time ago.’

The reports go onto indicate that orders were given to U.S. soldiers prohibiting the investigations of the torture of Iraqis.   The publication of the reports is the largest security breach in U.S. military history and the Pentagon widely criticized their release.  The release comes at a time when the Iraqi government is at its most vulnerable.  Under a 2009 bilateral contract, the U.S. lost the right to detain Iraqis in 2009, leaving Iraqi forces in charge. 

Iraq Body Count, a group based in Britain tracking civilian deaths found 15,000 previously unreported deaths, raising the count to over 122,000 civilian deaths since the start of the war. 

Photo Courtesy of the Huffington Post – For More Information Please Visit:

Raw Story – Spiegel: WikiLeaks Logs May Reveal War Crimes – 22 October 2010

Huffington Post – Before Wikileaks, Iraq War Vets Revealed War Crimes – 22 October 2010

India Talkies – Compelling Evidence of War Crimes In Leaked Iraq Documents – 23 October 2010

PushPi Live News – Compelling Evidence of War Crimes In Iraq: Wikileaks  – 23 October 2010

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Amid criticism from human rights groups and pressure from the International Community, Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently sent a proposal to the country’s Senate requesting a change in jurisdiction of civilian courts which would require that military troops be subject to prosecution in civilian courts for cases involving rape, torture and forced disappearances.

Rights groups argue that the proposal is not sufficient to combat human rights abuses prevalent in the country.  The proposal seeks to not only address abuses, but the lack of transparency in military tribunal proceedings.

An April 2009 report by the Human Rights Watch organization entitled “Uniform Impunity: Mexico’s Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations,” claimed that “Not one of the military investigations into these crimes has led to a conviction for even a single soldier on human rights violations,” further noting that “the only civilian investigation into any of these cases led to the conviction of four soldiers.”

Calderon’s proposed measure would make military officials liable for convictions resulting from prosecutions of alleged rape, torture and forced disappearances in civilian court. With at least 45,000 troops deployed to combat drug trafficking and the growing violence, International Human Rights Groups have expressed concern over Mexico’s failure to prosecute abuses and rights violations alleged by families of innocent bystanders killed during shootouts in the drug war.

In December of 2009, Amnesty International outlined military abuse cases, citing one case in which military officials detained 25 Tijuana police officers suspected of corruption.  The military troops allegedly placed the officer’s feet in water, applying shocks of electricity to their bodies and genitals.

Other civilians such as those in Ciudad Juarez have also complained that they have been the victims of warrantless searches in which troops dispatched to combat the drug trade steal goods and commit extrajudicial killings. Others indicate that the presence of military troops is comforting given the lack of public confidence in police as corruption is found throughout their forces.  Over 29,000 people have lost their lives in drug-related violence since President Calderon took office in December of 2006.

For More Information Please Visit:

LA Times – Mexico Seeks to Require Civilian Trials for Troops 19 October 2010

CNN – Mexican President wants Civilian Trials for Some Military Cases – 19 October 2010

CBS News – Rights Groups Rap Mexico Plan on Military Trials – 20 October 2010

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                       Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ATLANTA, United States– The family of Mark Lyttle, a United States citizen of Puerto Rican descent born in North Carolina, brought suit in federal court alleging violations of his Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.  In December of 2008, an immigration judge entered an order for Lyttle’s deportation after denying him the opportunity to present evidence or deny that he was Mexican.  Lyttle, who speaks no Spanish, was flown to Texas and set off on foot into Mexico where he was quickly picked up and arrested.

While a patient at a mental facility, Lyttle inappropriately touched a halfway house staffer’s rear and was convicted of a misdemeanor for which he was serving prison time in Atlanta.   State prison officials involved immigration officials after questioning his citizenship status.  The suit claims that “Mr. Lyttle did not understand what he was signing or that he knowingly consented to being deported.”  Officials failed to assign Lyttle an advocate or attorney to represent him despite the fact that his illness and mental disabilities were well known and apparent to those coming in contact with him.

The Legal Director of the North Carolina division of the American Civil Liberties Union, Katy Parker, recently indicated that the lawsuit seeks damages and policy changes to prevent unfounded deportations of other American citizens.  Lyttle statements regarding his Social Security number and his birth place of Rowan County were ignored by officials.  After deportation, Lyttle was forced to wander in the streets for four months, spending his time in shelters or prisons in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.  

Lyttle’s family was not informed that he was in immigration proceedings when they called regarding his release from state prison.  “It’s really scary how you can get on the slippery slope and there are not proper checks and balances, even if you are a U.S. citizen,” Parker was quoted as saying. “In this case, there’s just not adequate protection.”

Lyttle was able to reach the U.S. embassy in Guatemala where officials contacted his family and issued a passport after receiving his citizenship information.

For More Information Please Visit:

Washington Post – Lawsuit: Mentally ill US citizen wrongly deported 13 October 2010

Progressive Pulse – ACLU: Mentally ill man wrongly deported  14 October 2010

Star Tribune – Lawsuit: Mentally ill US Citizen Forced to Wander Central America After Wrongful Deportation 13 October 2010

By Erica Laster: Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

NEW YORK, United States – “It is tragic to see what hate can do,” says President of the Human Rights Campaign for gay rights, Joe Solmonese.  Solmonese is among the many activists who believe that the perpetrators of crimes against gay victims should be prosecuted.  His statement comes on the heels of the arrest of 8 members of a New York gang for the battery and sodomy or four victims.  The attacks began after the Latin King Goonies, as the gang is known, learned of the sexual orientation of an aspiring member. 

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced that one suspect is still believed to be at large.   Kelly indicated that the gang forced the 17-year-old pledge into an unoccupied apartment around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.  After being questioned about his relationship with a 30-year-old man, the gang stripped him of his clothes, hit him with a beer can and used a box cutter on him before sodomizing him with the handle of a wooden plunger.

At 8:30pm that night, another 17- year-old was lured to the same apartment and questioned before being robbed and beaten.

At 9:30 pm, the gang found the 30-year-old man and lured him to the same location.  The man was stripped naked and tied opposite the 17- year-old before the teenager hit and burned the man with cigarettes under duress by the gang.  The 30-year-old was assaulted and sodomized with a baseball bat before being dumped outside of his home, according to Police Commissioner Kelly. 

The suspects then raided an apartment the 17-year-old shared with his brother, holding the teenager for ransom to force his brother to give the gang money.  After hearing his  younger brother’s voice on a cell phone telling him to give the gang the money, the brother complied before being tied up and left in the apartment.

A search of the apartment Wednesday revealed little information, which Commissioner Kelly believe resulted from the suspects bleach cleaning and repainting the walls.  All of the suspects are residents of the Bronx and despite 5 of the 8 being 16 and 17-year-olds, all of them will be tried as adults. 

Gay rights groups continue to address the upsurge in violence in their community.  Since July, at least 4 teenagers have committed suicide as a result of anti-gay targeted bullying, including one Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi, whose suicide shook the nation after his roommate live streamed his sexual encounter with another male student online.

The law has been slow to catch up with punishment for the deaths of the victims.   The Human Rights Campaign however continues to fight and will this week descend upon Salt Lake City, Utah to force a senior Church leader to rescind anti-gay comments. 

For More Information, Please Visit:

Washington Post – U.S. Gay Rights Leaders Headed to Utah – 8 October 2010

Washington Post – Suicide Surge – U.S. Schools Confront Anti-Gay Bullying – 9 October 2010

CNN – 8 arrested in String of Anti-Gay Hate Crime in New York – 10 October 2010

By Erica Laster

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

WASHINGTON, United States – In the past 20 years, the United States has killed over 1,000 people in its execution chambers under the death penalty.  Georgia’s execution of a man with inadequate representation as well as Virginia’s execution of a woman with borderline mental retardation have cast a spotlight on the enduring practice of capital punishment.  The implications of human rights violations have left many in the legal field, legislature and human rights coalitions in doubt over its practicality, effectiveness and Constitutionality.

Brandon Rhodes, a former Georgia inmate, was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and organic brain damage.  Rhodes became the 40^th execution this year in the state of Georgia for a crime committed at the age of 18, despite a suicide which left him wholly incompetent.  One medical expert declared that Rhodes was “actively disassociating, losing his grip on reality.”  Six days after the attempt, Rhodes was put to death by lethal injection on September 27, 2010. 

Similarly, a Virginia woman was sentenced to death after being convicted of being the “mastermind” behind the murders of her husband and stepson in 2002.  Assessed as having “borderline mental retardation,” Lewis became the first woman executed in nearly 100 years in Virginia on September 23, 2010.   Lewis confessed to planning both murders for money, for which she hired her lover and a second gunmen who carried out her wishes. 

Despite their convictions for these crimes, Amnesty International and various Human Rights groups have condemned the United States for their practice of utilizing capital punishment.  Both the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church and the ARC of Virginia, advocates for the mentally disabled, petitioned for a reduction in Lewis’ sentence to life in prison without success.

In its report to the United Nations, the United States defended its stance on the death penalty indicating that subject to procedural safeguards, the death penalty may be imposed on those who commit heinous crimes.  This echoes the United States Supreme Court’s indication that “capital punishment must be limited to those offenders who commit a narrow category of the most serious crimes and whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution.”

Amnesty International argues that despite the abolition of the death penalty in 139 countries, selection of individuals for capital punishment in the United States is little more than a lottery where race, politics, lack of representation and jury composition affect the outcome.

For More Information Please Visit:  

CNN – Georgia Death Row Inmate Denied High Court Review – 4 October 2010

Washington Post – Virginia Executes Teresa Lewis for Role in Slayings of Husband, Stepson in 2002 – 23 September 2010

Amnesty International – USA: Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading: 40^th Execution of the Year Approaches – 24 September 2010

Amnesty Internatinoal – USA: Death Penalty Still A Part of the “American Experiment,” Still Wrong – 22 September 2010