The Middle East

Yemeni Protesters Demand Trial of Saleh

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen — Protesters demonstrating outside of the Yemeni capital of Sana’a are demanding that outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as many of his compatriots, face trial for the killings of hundreds of protesters in what has so far been a 10-month uprising.

Yemeni protesters with a sign that reads "You will stand trial!" (Photo courtesy of al-Jazeera).

Similar protests are being held across Yemen in at least 18 other cities. Saleh supporters held a counter-rally near the presidential palace on Monday.

Saleh still holds the position of president, but he transferred his powers to his vice-President last month.  In turn for stepping down, Saleh signed a deal granting him immunity from prosecution once polls are held in February.

Yemeni protesters have objected to this deal, which was brokered by Gulf Arab nations with the support of the United States.  They feel that the deal does not allow for any true broad political changes, or provide any retribution against the crimes committed by Saleh and his loyalists.

“Our message to Ali Abdullah Saleh is there’s no guarantee or immunity for him,” said activist Mohammad Asal.

The government has issued a statement to the Yemeni people asking them to be patient as there will be some turnover time before the people’s demands can be considered by the newly appointed cabinet members.

Part of the deal with Saleh divides up ministerial positions in the government equally between members of Saleh’s government and the opposition.  The presence of any members of the old government is what has many protesters again taking to the streets.

Some members of the opposition still suspect that Saleh is going to sabotage his political transition.  Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a defected general, who has quickly become one of Saleh’s arch-rivals, notes the “continued bolstering of military units loyal to Saleh,” and the “refusal” by pro-Saleh troops to withdraw from the streets of Sana’a despite orders from the government as evidence of this.

In a statement published by Yemen’s official news agency, Saleh said he would “not allow the collapse of state institutions,” in response to the increased number of protests aimed at unseating his loyalists.

Saleh currently is attempting to travel to the United States for medical treatment on wounds suffered during an assassination attempt in June.  This comes after a request to visit the United States to discuss the upcoming Yemeni election was denied

The United States is evaluating Saleh’s request for a visa.  Washington is trying to ensure that Saleh is just coming to the country for medical aid and has no plans to stay.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Yemen since February.

For more information, please see:

Courier Mail — Yemen leader “plans to keep power” — 03 Jan. 2012

USA Today — Yemenis rally, demand president face trial — 01 Jan. 2012

Al Jazeera — Yemeni protesters demand trial of president — 31 Dec. 2011

AFP — Yemenis rally for Saleh trial despite shootings — 25 Dec. 2011

 

Eight-Year-Old Sparks Rally Against Religious Extremism

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel – After ultra-Orthodox extremists harassed eight-year-old Naama Margolese, rallies erupted against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism.  On her way to school, these extremists spat on Naama and called a prostitute for her immodest school uniform of long-sleeved shirts and a long skirt.

Naama and her mother in their home in Beit Shemesh. (Photo Courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald)

Beit Shemesh borders an ultra-Orthodox area and a modern Orthodox Jewish community with many American immigrants, including Naama’s parents.  Tensions have increased over the years between secular Jews and ultra-Orthodox Jews who want a strict interpretation of religious law.  Naama’s religious school moved to this location in September, and the ultra-Orthodox view the school as a territorial infringement.

Almost daily for months, dozens of ultra-Orthodox men physically confront and verbally harass the 400 school girls asserting the girls’ presence is a provocation.

Naama said, “When I walk to school in the morning I used to get a tummy ache because I was so scared…that they were going to stand and start yelling and spitting…They were scary.  They don’t want us to go to school.”

Israel became enraged when they saw Naama crying on her walk to school during a local news report.  The Israeli leadership issued statement of outrage, nearly 10,000 people joined a Facebook page to protect Naama, and thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Tuesday in her honor.

President Shimon Peres supported the rally.  He stated, “The entire nation must be recruited in order to save the majority from the hands of a small minority.”

Protestor Kinneret Havern added the rally combats “all the extremist elements that are rearing their heads and are trying to impose their worldview on us”.  People held signs staying “Stop Israel from becoming Iran” and “Free Israel from religious coercion”.

As journalists came to Beit Shemesh to report on Naama, extremists jeered and threw eggs at them.  Furthermore, “modesty patrols” required chaste appearance of female by throwing stones at outsiders and violators and calling women whores.  The ultra-Orthodox population has also posted signs for sidewalk segregation of sexes and for a woman’s dress code of closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.

300 ultra-Orthodox men and boys threw eggs and stones at police for requiring the sidewalk segregation sign removed on Monday.  Officers detained several people and one officer sustained injuries.  Although the ultra-Orthodox activists stated they condemned the violence, they claimed the media initiated the violence to make the obedient residents look bad.

On Thursday, Naama returned to school welcomed by Education Minister Gideon Saar and members of the Knesset’s Committee on the Status of Women.  Mr. Saar said Israel will not “back down in the face of bullying and threats.”

For further information, please see:

Haaretz – Israeli 8-Year-Old Returns To School For First Time Since Accosted By Haredi Men – 29 Dec 2011

The Sydney Morning Herald – Fury At Ultra-Orthodox Jews After Girl Abused – 29 Dec 2011

BBC – Israelis Rally Against Ultra-Orthodox Extremism – 27 Dec 2011

USA Today – Israeli Girl’s Plight Highlights Jewish Extremism – 27 Dec 2011

As Arab League Monitors Arrive in Syria, Mass Protests Continue

By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria–Arab League monitors have arrived in Syria to observe three key protest sites as the international community urges al-Assad’s regime to allow full access to the country. The observers must be able to adequately determine if the country is implementing a plan to end crackdowns on demonstrations and protests.

 

A Syrian protester in the city of Homs. (Photo Courtesy of Al-Jazeera)

The UN has stated that more than 14,000 people are in detention and estimated that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the government crackdown since anti-government demonstrations and protests began earlier this year in mid-March.

All of the detained demonstrators and protesters should be freed under a peace plan created by the Arab League.

Anti-government protests festered violence that continued on Wednesday 28 December 2011. Video shared by activists depicted the central city of Hama with gunshots being fired and black smoke rising above the city.

Dozens of men were seen marching through the streets, chanting and shouting, “Where are the Arab monitors?”

More violence was reported in the southern province of Deraa, where the Britian-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that army defectors killed at least four Syrian soldiers. The organization also reported that at least one person was killed in the city of Homs.

On Tuesday 27 December 2011, activists stated that Syrian police used tear gas to disperse an estimated 70,000 people who took to the streets of Homs as the monitors arrived. Some demonstrators were fired upon with live ammunition as they made their way to Sa’a square, and four were wounded, one of them critically.

Before joining the march on Al-Sa’a square, some tens of thousands of protesters staged a sit-in in the al-Khalidiyeh neighborhood, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There were also demonstrations that took place in the Bab Dreib and Jub al-Jandalia districts of the country. On Monday 26 December 2011, at least 34 civilians were reportedly killed in Homs’ Baba Amro district. T

Mustafa al-Dabi, the head of the Arab League’s mission, stated on Wednesday 28 December 2011, that monitors would head to Hama and to Iblib, on Syria’s nortern border with Turkey. These two areas have endured intense fighting between security forces and fighters who support the protesters. al-Dabi shared these words with Al-Jazeera about the monitors’ arrival.

“Yesterday was quiet and there were no clashes. We did not see tanks but we did see some armored vehicles. There were some places where the situation was not good. But there wasn’t anything frightening, at least while we were there. But remember, this was only the first day and it will need investigation. We have 20 people who will be there for a long time.”

The Arab League plan endorsed by Syria on 2 November calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt in violence against civilians, and the release of detainees. A Syrian security officer in Homs told Human Rights Watch (HRW), a US-based rights organization, that after the government signed the Arab League protocol authorizing the observer mission, between 400 and 500 prisoners were moved out of his facility to other places of detention, including a nearby missile factory in Zaidal. The official shared these words with HRW.

“The transfers happened in installments. Some detainees were moved to civilian jeeps and some in cargo trucks. My role was inside the prison, gathering the detainees and putting them in the cars. My orders from the prison director were to move the important detainees out.”

Other witnesses corroborated the official’s account. HRW spoke with a detainee who claimed that a transfer of other detainees took place from the Military Security detention facility in Homs on the night of 19 December.

“There were about 150 detainees. They took them out around 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning. These guys were in detention the longest. Not criminals, but people who worked with journalists, or were defectors, or involved in protests.”

HRW has accused al-Assad’s regime of hiding from the monitors hundreds of detainees held in its crackdown on dissent. HRW’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson released a statement about the hiding of detainees.

“Syria’s subterfuge makes it essential for the Arab League to draw clear line regarding access to detainees, and be willing to speak out when those lines are crossed. Syrian authorities have transferred perhaps hundreds of detainees to off-limits military sites to hide them from Arab League monitors now in the country.”

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has urged Syria to give the monitors the maximum amount of freedom as they move throughout the country to complete their mission.

“We constantly work with the Syrian leadership calling on it to fully cooperate with observers from the Arab League and to create work conditions that are as comfortable and free as possible.”

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria stated that seven people had been killed so far on Wednesday 28 December 2011, four in Homs, two in Hama, and one in Aleppo.

The ban on international journalists in Syria continues to be in effect, making it increasingly difficult to independently verify casualty figures and other information.

 

 

For more information, please see:

Ahram – Observers to Deploy in More Syria Protest Hubs – 28 December 2011

Al-Jazeera – Arab Monitors in Syria Flashpoint Towns – 28 December 2011

BBC – Syria ‘Release 755 Detained During Unrest – 28 December 2011

Reuters – ‘Nothing Frightening’ Seen in Syria Protest Hotbed – 28 December 2011

The Guardian – Arab League Monitors Visit Homs – 27 December 2011

Human Rights Watch – Syria: Detainees Hidden From International Monitors – 27 December 2011

 

Egyptian Government Targets Female Protesters

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian security forces and military are targeting female protesters, subjecting them to torture, sexual assault, and threats of rape.  The practices are very similar to those employed pre-revolution say various international and Egyptian human rights organizations.

Women protesters face the double pressure of being activists and female in a conservative male-dominated society (Photo courtesy of Jezebel).

“Nothing has changed overall. Law enforcement officers still feel that they are above the law and that they don’t have to fear prosecution, it’s a green light that legitimizes an excessive use of force, sexual assault and torture,” said Heba Morayef, Egypt Researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Since January, it has appeared that the military was protecting protesters, both male and female, during a revolutionary process that ended in the overthrow of long-time president Hosni Mubarak.  With the power of the government now in the hands of the military critics say that they have resorted to the same sorts of brutality used by the former regime, most notably during protests in 2005 and 2007.

A viral video, filmed recently, shows Egyptian soldiers beating and disrobing a female protester.  At least three men expose the woman’s midriff and bra as they stomp on her stomach and batter her head with batons.  The video has drawn international scorn, including a condemnation of the “systematic degradation” of Egyptian Women by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

“Women protesters have been rounded up and subjected to horrific abuse. Journalists have been sexually assaulted. And now, women are being attacked, stripped, and beaten in the streets,” she added.

“This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonors the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people.”

In response to this beating thousands of Egyptian women took to the streets in protest.  It was the largest all-female protest since Egypt’s independence, demanding the end of military rule.

The Egyptian government released an apology via Facebook for the beating and expressed “its great regret to the great women of Egypt for the violations that took place” and promising that “all legal measures have been taken to hold accountable all those responsible for these violations.”

There is skepticism about seeing real change come from the government’s response.  There was not explicit order banning or condemnation of violence and sexual assault on female protesters given anywhere in the apology.

The usage of violence against female protesters does have a purpose.  Egypt is a conservative, male-dominated society.  Women are not supposed to express themselves openly in the public sphere.  The violence is likely meant not only to punish those who violate this norm, but also to deter those who might consider speaking out in the future.

For more information, please see:

Afrique en ligne — Egypt urged to prosecute sexual assaults on protesters — 22 Dec. 2011

ABC — Female Protesters Targeted By Egyptian Government, Say Activists — 21 Dec. 2011

Al Jazeera — Egyptians protest against beating of women — 21 Dec. 2011

Huffington Post — Sexual Violence Has No Place in Egypt’s Public Forum — 20 Dec. 2011

Turkish-French Relationship Jeopardized Over Proposed Legislation

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ANKARA, Turkey – On Tuesday, 20 December, Turkish President Abdullah Gul asked France to drop a proposed parliamentary bill that criminalizes Turkey’s denial that the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was genocide.  Turkey warned France would jeopardize the countries’ friendship for “small political calculations” if the French National Assembly passed the bill on Thursday.  French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe stated the countries’ ties “are sufficiently strong to overcome challenges.”

 

Presidents Sarkozy and Gul talking after a press conference on February 25, 2011, in Turkey. (Photo Courtesy of Today's Zaman)

The bill presented by the French lower house of parliament includes a one-year prison term and a $59,000 fine for Ottoman Turks who deny the Armenian killings.  If the bill passes as expected, France would criminalize any genocide, war crime, or crime against humanity recognized by French law.  This proposed legislation parallels how the French treated the denial of the Holocaust, which the French banned in 1990.

French spokesperson Valerie Pecresse stated the bill is “very broad in a way that it can apply to all genocide recognized by France in the future.”  She added the bill includes slavery and does not target the Armenian genocide.

In October, President Sarkozy asked Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide as part of its history as a “gesture of memory” similar to France’s participation in the Nazi deportation of Jews during the Holocaust.

President Gul stated, “It is not possible for us to accept this bill which denies us the freedom to reject unfair and groundless accusations targeting our country and our nation.”  Last week, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the French government the hostile bill targeted Turkey and Turks living in France.  Turkey said it would pull its ambassador to France if the bill passes.

Turkish Members of Parliament (“MP”) and business representatives lobbied Juppe and Jean-David Levitte, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s diplomatic adviser, in France this week.  The Turkish delegation desires to remove the bill from the National Assembly’s agenda.  If the bill remains, they urge the upper house of parliaments not to pass it.

Armenia reports Turkey killed 1.5 million people during mass deportations, but Turkey claims only 300,000 people died.  Turkey also asserts Turks died when Armenians fought against the Ottoman Empire and Russian troops invaded Turkey during World War I.  Turkey refuses to call the deaths genocide.  Rather, it asserts the people died during civil unrest when the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

During his visit to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, in October, President Sarkozy commented, “Turkey, which is a great country, would honor itself by revisiting its history like other countries in the world have done.”

For further information, please see:

BBC – French Genocide Bill Angers Turkey – 20 Dec 2011

Hurriyet Daily News – Turkish President Urges France To Drop Genocide Bill – 20 Dec 2011

The Jerusalem Post – Turkey Calls On France To Halt ‘Genocide’ Bill – 20 Dec 2011

Today’s Zaman – Turkey Urges France To Immediately Drop Genocide Bill – 20 Dec 2011