By Emily Schneider
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – At least three people were killed and over eighty injured by a car bomb in East Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district during Friday afternoon’s rush hour. Wissam al-Hassan, the Internal Security Forces’ (ISF) intelligence chief, was among the dead.

Hassan had long been known for his anti-Syrian sentiment.  He was one of several intelligence officers who proved invaluable to the uncovering of a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of Michel Samah, a Lebanese politician close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Samah was accused of trying to help smuggle explosives into Lebanon.  Hassan was also involved in pursuing those responsible for a series attacks and assassinations in Lebanon between 2005 and 2008, including the murder of Rafik al-Hariri.

Saad Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, was who he thought was responsible for Friday’s bombing. His reply: “Bashar Hafez al-Assad. Who killed Wissam al-Hassan is as clear as day. Certainly the Lebanese people will not be silent over this heinous crime and I, Sadd Hariri, promise that I will not be silent.”

Others were not so quick to give their opinions on who was responsible. Ziad Baroud, another former Lebanese interior minister, said that it was too soon to tell who was behind the car bombing.

“High-ranking officials have not said anything so far, and therefore neither can I,” Baroud told Al Jazeera. “We have no indication whatsoever [of who is behind this]. We know this is a strong and sad message, and we know this could destabilize the whole country.”

The incident gives credence to fears that the civil war in Syria is spilling over into the country, which shares a border. Tensions between Lebanese factions caught on opposite sides of the conflict are heightening. Just two days ago, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab envoy peace to Syria, warned that “you cannot expect the Syrian crisis to remain within Syrian borders.”

The explosion occurred in a predominantly Christian area on a street lined with shops, churches, and office buildings. There is usually a significant number of police in the area. According to Aram Nerguizian, a teacher at a school around the block from the attack site, the area is “among the safest” in Beirut.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Lebanon Intelligence Official Assassinated – 19 October 2012

CNN – Anti-Syrian Official Killed When Car Bomb Rocks Beirut – 19 October 2012

The Daily Star – Top Security Official Killed in Beirut Bombing – 19 October 2012

The Daily Star – Hariri Accuses Assad of Assassinating Lebanese Security Official – 19 October 2012

Washington Post – A Car Bomb in Beirut: Photos of Lebanon in Shock – 19 October 2012

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Eman Abu Bakar, a teacher in the Luxor province of Egypt, recently cut the hair of two schoolgirls as punishment for not covering their heads. Abu Bakar has since been transferred to another school and been docked a month’s payment. The father of one of the girls has filed a complaint against the teacher with the prosecutor’s office in Luxor. Zakaria Abdel Fatah, head of the state’s Education Directorate in Luxor, has also referred the teacher for administrative prosecution.

While Abu Bakar wore a niqab, a garment that covers everything but the woman’s eyes, all she required out of her students was a hijab, or headscarf. According to Berbesh Khairi el-Rawi, father to one of the girls, she made the girls stand in class with their hands above their heads for two hours. During that time, she would repeatedly warn them to cover their heads. Eventually a student would reach into his bag for scissors and would urge Abu Bakar to “implement” her threats. The teacher claims that her cuts “did not exceed two centimeters.”

“Whether in schools or outside schools, the general sentiment is that any abusive action, if it is justified as protection of Islam, is tolerable,” says Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.

In Egyptian public schools, girls are not required to wear some kind of Islamic veil. Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim insists that wearing such a garment is a personal choice. Nevertheless, corporal punishment still occurs quite frequently, and Ghoneim supports it as long as it is not too severe. Such actions were not uncommon under “[f]ormer president Anwar Sadat [who] allowed Islamists to delve freely in the cultural and social arenas in return for confronting leftists and Nasserists,” said Kamal Moghith, an expert at the National Center of Education Research and Development. “Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood have been trying to intervene in education, both in syllabi and administration,” he claimed.

This incident arose during a time of serious debate about the role religion will play in Egypt’s new constitution. The panel tasked with drafting the constitution is largely Islamic, which has scared many liberals and Coptic Christians. At this time, there has also been a great increase in the amount of Christians who have been brought to trial for allegedly showing contempt for religion.

One such Coptic Christian on trial is twenty-seven year old Alber Saber Ayad. He was arrested after his neighbors told the authorities that he posted the “Innocence of Muslims” film to his Facebook page. While he was detained, he was beaten and cut with a razor blade. Despite the accusations against him, investigators were unable to find any trace of the video. Nevertheless, Saber faces a six-year prison sentence and a fine of five hundred Egyptian pounds for the charge of “defamation of religion.”

“Criticism of religions and other beliefs and ideas is a vital component of the right to freedom of expression,” claims Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Egypt Teacher Cuts Hair of Schoolgirls for not Wearing Muslim Headscarf – 17 October 2012

AnsaMed – Egypt: Teacher Cuts off Students’ Hair for not Wearing Hijab – 17 October 2012

Egypt Independent – Update: Teacher Faces Discipline for Cutting Unveiled Pupils’ Hair – 17 October 2012

Guardian – Egyptian Teacher ‘cut Hair of Schoolgirls who Refused to Cover Heads’ – 17 October 2012

Amnesty International – Egypt Must Release man on Trial for Criticizing Religion – 16 October 2012

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen — Lawyers representing victims and family members of those who died in last year’s Friday of Dignity Massacre have requested that the appellate court in Sana’a add the names of thirteen defendants to a list of others who were potentially involved in the tragic event.  The slaughter took place on March 18, 2011, when more than fifty people were killed during a protest for reform near Sana’a University.  Charges were also filed against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.  He lost control of Yemen during last year’s revolution.

Among those charged is Saleh’s nephew, Yehya Abdullah Syed, who still holds a senior position in the country’s central security services.  He is charged with “inciting and participating in the killing of young protesters.”  The list of defendants also includes others affiliated with the former president, such as his top aides, who are also accused of playing a part in attempting to quell last year’s revolution.  Former Interior Minister Motahar Rashad Al-Masri and the former Head of Central Security Services, Abdulmalik Al-Taieb, were also named.

On the day of the massacre, gunmen, who witnesses described as hired “thugs” working for Saleh, shot at protesters from the rooftops around a square at Sana’a University, killing 52 and wounding many others.  Relying on eyewitness accounts, lawyers alleged on Saturday that the gunmen were driven to the site in cars bearing presidential license plates.  The act was scorned and condemned by Western powers and human rights groups.  Hundreds of people were killed during the revolution. It ended when Saleh promised to leave office after he accepted a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal that offered immunity from prosecution for himself and his aides.

Faisal Al-Majid, a member of the prosecuting team that represents the victims and their families, said that even though Saleh bargained for immunity when he left office, it does not mean that an investigation cannot be carried out.  He also claims that Saleh could still be brought to trial.

“U.N. Charters don’t allow human rights-related crimes to be exempt from prosecution,” said Al-Majid.  “We will see in the next days the seriousness of the Yemeni judiciary in dealing with this issue in a fair and effective way.”

Youth groups who want to see Saleh and his former aides stripped of their immunity continue to stage rallies.  Mohammed Saeed Al-Sharabi, a pro-democracy protester who witnessed the carnage, labeled the trial a “farce,” believing that it will not result in jail time for Saleh or anyone else who is immune from prosecution.

“Many revolutionaries are completely unsatisfied with this trial.  How are they conducting a trial while the main defendants are released?”  he asked.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for November 23.

For further information, please see:

The News International — Yemenis Demand Saleh Trial — 14 October 2012

Yemen Times — Lawyers Seek to put Ousted Saleh on Trial — 14 October 2o12

Al Jazeera — Families of Killed Yemenis Demand Saleh Trial — 13 October 2012

Khaleej Times — Yemenis Demand Saleh Trial — 13 October 2012

By Emily Schneider
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Middle East – Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s top leader, allegedly called for more protests against offensive depictions of the prophet Mohammed and praised the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month, according to a recently released audio recording.

Individuals around the Muslim world protested against “Innocence of Muslims,” an anti-Islam movie produced in the United States in the weeks after September 11. The video, which had been available online since July, went viral following the anniversary of the September 11 tragedy and sparked violent reactions throughout the Middle East.

Although many protests were peaceful demonstrations against the offensive depiction of the prophet Mohammed, quite a few protestors blamed the United States government for the film. The low-budget film was privately produced. U.S. officials have condemned the video, stating that it in no way reflects the views or opinions of the government and it was not sanctioned by Washington.

In Egypt, 224 people were injured in protests, according to the Health Ministry. In Yemen, demonstrators were able to breach embassy security and storm the grounds, where they burnt the American flag before being repelled by security forces. In Pakistan, mobs ransacked banks, cinemas, and government offices. Demonstrations also took place in Lebanon, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.

But the most troubling attack occurred in Benghazi, Libya, where four members of the U.S. Embassy were killed, including Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya. U.S. officials initially believed the attack on the U.S. mission compound was part of the demonstrations taking place immediately outside the compound. The protest was sparked by the “Innocence of Muslims” video and modeled after similar protests that took place in Cairo earlier that day.

But as more information has become available, U.S. officials have reevaluated their original assumption. It seems now, that the incident was not a spontaneous overflow of the protests, but instead an organized and deliberate, albeit opportunistic, attack. Officials now believe that “extremists” used the protests in Benghazi as a diversion to launch their attack on the compound.

“In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo,” Shawn Turner, spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said. “As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists.”

Now, over a month since the first protests, demonstrations outside U.S. embassies are declining. Al-Zawahiri’s address to “free and distinguished zealots for Islam,” lauding those who have taken part in the demonstrations thus far, was posted on Islamic websites early Saturday and calls for a renewal of the protests.

Although the authenticity of the recording cannot be completely confirmed, al-Zawahiri offered a similar message in his last video in September, when he condoned violence in Syria. That video, entitled “The Lion of Knowledge and Jihad: martyrdom of al-Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi,” was released on September 11, 2012 and marked his thirteenth statement of the year. In that video, he confirmed the death of Abu Yahya, who was killed by a U.S. drone in Pakistan.

In the latest recording, al-Zawahari stopped just short of claiming responsibility for the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. He did, however, offer support and praise to those who orchestrated the attack.

“May God salute the free honest believers who stood up and stormed the American Consulate in Benghazi and those who demonstrated in front of the American Embassy in Cairo and brought down the American flag and raised the banner of Islam and Jihad instead,” Ayman al-Zawahiri said in the recording.

“In the pretext of personal freedom and freedom of expression, America allowed the production of a movie that was aimed to defame the beloved prophet Mohammed, even though this alleged personal freedom that they boast about didn’t stop the Americans from torturing the Muslim prisoners” at U.S. facilities, the audio recording says.

“I call upon [protestors] to continue their confrontation against the American Zionist crusader transgression and I call upon all Muslims to follow their leads,” he said.

For further information, please see:

CNN- In Message, al Qaeda Leader Purportedly Calls for More Protests – 13 October 2012

The Guardian – Al-Qaida Leader Calls for Holy War on US and Israel over Anti-Islamic Film – 13 October 2012

RT.com – Al-Qaeda Leader Calls for More Anti-US Protests – 13 October 2012

CNN – What We Know About the Libya Attack – 14 October 2012

CNN – Death, Destruction in Pakistan Amid Protests Tied to Anti-Islam Film – 21 September 2012

Al Jazeera – Hate Video, Muslim Protests and Dignified Responses – 20 September 2012

BBC News – Anti-Islam Film Protests Spread Across Middle East – 13 September 2012