By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TUNIS, Tunisia–Nine months after a popular uprising that successfully ended decades of authoritarian rule, the pioneers of the region-wide protests are getting a true taste of freedom. Tunisians have begun to vote for new leaders who will create and implement the new rules for the country’s new political system.

The actions of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young vegetable seller who set himself on fire in December 2010, served as the catalyst for Tunisian revolt as well as the region-wide revolution.

Tunisia is the nation that started what became known as the “Arab Spring,” after a month-long uprising forced then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Saudia Arabia. The uprising quickly permeated neighboring countries Egypt and Libya, along with countries in the Middle East, such as Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen. All of these countries have seen their citizens come together and protest for immediate and substantive change. Many lives, ranging from adults to children, have been lost in the process.

The polls in Tunis opened at approximately 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday 23 October with some 7.2 million registered voters set to cast ballots to select a 217-member constituent assembly. In addition with being tasked to write a new constitution, the assembly will also bear the responsibility of appointing an interim president and a “transitional” government for the duration of the drafting process.

The real success of the Arab Spring could be measured by the success or failure of the Tunisian election. The result will send a strong signal to the people of other Arab countries who drew inspiration from Tunisia’s revolution as an example to begin their own uprisings. The latest prong of success comes from Libya, with the death of ruler Moammar Gaddafi.

At 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT), the polls closed and the results are set for announcement on Monday 24 October.

For the 217 representative seats, some 11,686 candidates are running in the election. Some 80 political parties will be represented in the election, while several thousands candidates are choosing to run as independents. Islamist party Ennahda is projected to secure the most votes, although it is unclear at this point if it will gain a majority.

Voters will choose from 11,686 candidates on 1,517 lists. There are 828 for political parties, 655 for independents, and 34 for party coalitions. Campaigning ended at midnight on Saturday 22 October and the ISIE independent polling commission reminded candidates and journalists that Saturday would be an “election silence day.”

Any breach was punishable by law, the ISIE independent polling commission warned.

Open elections for Tunisia come at the end of a long road. But nothing would stop the country’s citizens from coming out to have their voices heard in a substantive manner. On the ground, Al-Jazeera correspondents reported that high temperatures in and round the capital did not discourage hundreds of voters coming out and waited for hours in lines to cast their votes.

The government deployed some 40,000 police and soldiers to ensure that no possible protests could escalate into more violence. Many shopkeepers in Tunis claimed that many citizens had been stockpiling milk and bottled water, just in case any more occurrences of unrest disrupted the supply of necessities.

The country’s election chief, Kamel Jendoubi, claimed that his independent ISIE polling commission was “ready and confident” before the voting began. The European Union’s observer mission reported that the elections were promulgated as legitimately as possible and that there was “almost no chance of cheating or falsifying results.”

The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi shared these sentiments about the election.

“Now I am happy that my son’s death has given the chance to get beyond fear and injustice. I’m an optimist, I wish success for my country.”

Ahram news organization spoke with Mohamed Ben Salah, a 30 year-old man, who said that voting was a privilege, months afer he joined other Tunisians in protests over corruption, poverty, and unemployment that forced former President Ben Ali to flee to Saudia Arabia.

“I am 30 years old, but I have no work, no wife, no car, no house. I will be voting for freedom and for jobs.”

CNN correspondents interviewed housewife Maha Haubi just as she took her position at the end of a long line of more than 1,000 voters anxiously awaiting a chance to cast their ballots outside an elementary school in Menzah.

“It’s a holiday. Before we never even had the right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Polls Open in Historic Tunisia Election – 23 October 2011

BBC – Tunisia Voters Go To Polls in Historic Free Election – 23 October 2011

CNN – Tunisians Vote in First Election of Arab Spring – 23 October 2011

Reuters – Large Turnout in Tunisia’s Arab Spring Election – 23 October 2011

Ahram – Tunisians Gear Up  For Historic Vote – 22 October 2011

The Guardian – Tunisians Go To Polls Haunted By Ghosts of Old Regime – 22 October 2011

NYT – Financing Questions Shadow Tunisian Vote, First of Arab Spring – 22 October 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya rejoiced after reports of former dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi’s death were confirmed Thursday, marking the end of an unpredictable 42-year reign of terror.  Shouts praising God, celebratory gunfire, and other noisemakers pervaded the streets of Tripoli, the capital.  Saturday will confirm the beginning of a new era in Libya when the National Transitional Council (NTC) will declare the country free and start the process of transitioning into a democracy, but many challenges remain as it begins.

NTC forces captured Gaddafi near his hometown of Sirte after a U.S. Predator drone and a French fighter jet fired on a convoy leaving the city in order to stop its progress.  From then, the Libyan fighters made their attack and found the onetime despot.  The nature of his death is unclear.  Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who has promised to resign after liberation, said that Gaddafi died in crossfire between his supporters and the NTC and died en route to a hospital.  But others, including Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, are uncertain as to whether this is true.  Recently available video footage suggests that he was alive when he was captured, but was later executed.  Pillay wants an investigation into the matter.

For Libyans, it was a chance to celebrate.

“It is a historic moment,” said NTC spokesman Abdel Hafez Ghoga. “It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate.”

Omar Abulqasim Alkikli, a writer and a former political prisoner, saw the celebration first hand as he traveled the streets of Tripoli.

“Cars passed us, carrying passengers who themselves were carried on the waves of a powerful joy,” he wrote for the New York Times.

Those passengers waved the independence flag outside their windows, while heavy traffic, with almost all of the cars running their blinkers, blocked the roads.  Others on the street sprayed the passing vehicles with orange blossom water, which Alkikli said was “a custom traditionally reserved for weddings,” adding that “[o]ne of the young men shouted as he showered us: ‘A new life! A new life!’”

Twitter also blazed with comments.  Many of them suggested that similar fates awaited President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who had also tried to crush protests against their regime.  One notable tweet, also referring to the former Tunisian and Egyptian leaders, read: “Ben Ali escaped, Mubarak is in jail, Gaddafi was killed. Which fate do you prefer, Ali Abdullah Saleh? You can consult with Bashar.” Another simply said: “Bashar al-Assad, how do you feel today?”

The international community generally stated its approval of the liberation.

“We can definitely say that the Gaddafi regime has come to an end,” said U.S. President Barack Obama. “The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted, and with this enormous promise the Libyan people now have a great responsibility to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Gaddafi’s dictatorship.”

The Sun, Great Britain’s most popular newspaper, bore the headline: “That’s for Lockerbie!”,a reference to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.  An agent of Gaddafi’s was convicted for conducting the attack.

NATO, which had run a bombing campaign in Libya since March, will be terminated.  Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that “the people of Libya can truly decide their own future.”

That future is still uncertain.  Libya now faces the challenges of building a new government almost from scratch and finding a common goal to keep its people united.  Lisa Anderson, president of American University in Cairo and a political scientist who studies the country, feared the worst.

“Libya is going to have a terrible time.  For a long time, what knit them together was a kind of morbid fascination with Qaddafi, and until now everybody felt that until they saw his body that he almost might come back, like a vampire,” she said.  But “they don’t have a credible institution in the entire country.  They don’t have anything that knits them together.”

Arguably, the first step the new nation must take is one of reconciliation, as the country seeks to turn itself into a democracy.  The disparate groups that formed the provisional government were locked in a power struggle for positions within it before Gaddafi’s death, but agreed to put that off until his capture.  Those issues will need to be resolved, and a new constitution will have to be written.  The NTC has scheduled elections for 2013, which will prove difficult because Libya, even before Gaddafi, has never used an electoral system before.

Providing security and developing a national army is also a top priority.  During the revolution towns relied on small brigades, some of which became rivals, to maintain order.  But more than anything, reducing the stockpiles of guns will be critical.

While forming the government will be a major issue going forward, Libyans are able to celebrate right now.  Younis Fenadi, a climate researcher at the Libyan National Meteorological Center, was happy to learn of the news, saying that Gaddafi’s death brings a degree of closure to the country.  Over time, he believes, they will receive answers to questions about Gaddafi’s behavior during his regime.  But more than anything, he is enjoying the potential for a brighter day.

“I am glad that I get a chance, I am 52 years old now, to speak freely in my country,” Fenadi said.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Libyans Celebrate Gaddafi’s Death — 21 October 2011

Al Jazeera — Muammar Gaddafi Killed as Sirte Falls — 21 October 2011

BBC — After Gaddafi: Libyan Revolution ‘Still Has Far to Go’ — 21 October 2011

BBC — Libya: The Challenges Ahead — 21 October 2011

Libya TV — Gaddafi Killed in Hometown Sirte as Libyans Look Toward Future — 21 October 2011

Tripoli Post — NATO Chief Calls on Libyans to Work Together to Build a Brighter Future — 21 October 2011

Tripoli Post — NTC to Proclaim Libya Free Saturday — 21 October 2011

New York Times — In Tripoli, Blaring Horns and Shouts of Joy — 20 October 2011

New York Times — Qaddafi’s Death Places Focus on Arab Spring’s ‘Hard Times’ — 20 October 2011

New York Times — Violent End to an Era as Qaddafi Dies in Libya — 20 October 2011

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

NEW YORK, New York — On September 23 the Secretary-General of the United Nations presented a report to the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.  This report is the result of a mandate pursuant to the Human Rights Council, which assigned Ahmed Shaheed as the Special Rapporteur to the region.

It is the job of the Special Rapporteur to submit reports to both the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council on the current human rights situation in Iran.

The mandate calls upon Iran to cooperate fully with Shaheed by permitting access to visit the country, and providing all necessary information to enable the fulfillment of the mandate.

Shaheed was assigned as Special Rapporteur in June so the report was only a preliminary list of findings based on interviews with NGOs and persons who claimed to suffer abuses at the hands of the Iranian government.  A more substantive report will be released in the future.

Shaheed’s report begins by noting that Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 24 June 1975.  This covenant committed Iran to recognizing the freedoms of expression, assembly, association, and religion.  It also provided for the right to due process, legal assistance, humane treatment of detainees.  It prohibited the arbitrary arrest and detention of individuals.  Further protections included the “equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights,” and the protection of the rights of minorities.

Shaheed’s report examines Iran’s human rights abuses on the backdrop of this covenant as well as the guarantees contained in Iran’s constitution. His report, while only preliminary, highlights incidents of particular importance.

Using first-hand testimonies from various NGOs and concerned parties, Shaheed presents a pattern of systematic violations of the previously mentioned rights.  The testimonies reveal allegations of physical and psychological mistreatment and torture for inducing self-incrimination, the use of solitary confinement for long periods during case investigation, excessive bail requirements, predetermined sentences, and the use of threats, violence, and intimidation of family members to encourage admission of guilt.

The treatment of detained political activists, including political leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, also draws a lot of ire in the report.  Both men and their wives have been under house arrest since February.  Sources reveal that they have been allowed little contact with the outside world, and their families.  They also have been deprived of control over their health care, access to publications, privacy, and their ability to live a normal life.

Detained journalists fare little better.  Sources give numerous accounts of detained journalists facing long bouts of solitary confinement, difficult interrogations, torture, and coercion to incriminate themselves.

Iranian journalist Reza Hoda Saber takes concerns about such arbitrary detentions to another level after having suffered a heart attack while in prison following a hunger strike protesting his incarceration.  There are worries that prison authorities may have denied proper medical attention to Saber, who reportedly complained of chest pains for hours before the heart attack.

Other civil actors, including students, artists, lawyers, and environmentalists, faced similar fates for anti-government activism.  Many individuals also faced bans on practicing their respective jobs, some for periods up to 20 years.  Some students faced permanent bans on their access to higher education.

There are several accounts of the Iranian government denying permits and using intimidation methods to prevent demonstrations in a clear violation of the right to assembly. Shaheed specifically mentions one incident in which the government allegedly denied mourners the right to attend the funeral of a political activist.  Accounts suggest that security forces disrupted the funeral services by removing the activist’s body and beating mourners, including the deceased’s daughter who suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after.

Shaheed’s report finds that the application of certain laws “erect[s] barriers to gender equality” undermining Iran’s commitments stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  Men have an absolute right to divorce.  Women can only initiate divorce if they meet certain conditions.  Mothers can never be awarded guardianship rights of their children, even when their husbands die.  Women do not have equal inheritance rights.  Even if a woman were the sole survivor upon her husband’s death she would at most only receive a quarter of the estate.

An issue of grave importance in the report is the targeted violence and discrimination against minority groups.  This includes an encroachment on their rights including the freedoms of assembly, association, expression, movement, and liberty.  The Baha’i community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority, is not recognized by the government, and has been the victim of historical discrimination. Recognized religious minorities face serious constraints on their ability to worship freely, and often subjected to severe limitations on their respective practices.

Shaheed also expresses concern over the increase in the number of executions in Iran.  Noting, that while the frequency is a definite concern, this issue is compounded further by worries that the death penalty is often used in cases where due process has been denied to the defendant.  There is also reason to believe that the death penalty is being used in cases that do not meet the international standard for serious crimes.  This includes usage of the death penalty for cases involving drugs, immoral acts, and kidnapping.   Four percent of the crimes announced by the Iranian government stipulated no charges.  There have also been reports of secret executions that go well beyond those officially reported.

Shaheed concludes the report by expressing his wish to open a “constructive dialogue” with Iran as he completes his mandate, and encourages Iran’s government to make strides in correcting the elements discussed in the preliminary report.

Since the report’s release Iran has actively denied the allegations contained within it, describing Shaheed as having “hostile views” towards Iran.  A special envoy from Iran did meet with Shaheed on Tuesday, which he described as frank and friendly.

The UN is expected to act on an annual human rights resolution on Iran by the end of the year.  Shaheed’s final report is due at the spring 2012 session of the Human Rights Council.

For more information, please see:

National Iranian American Council– UN Human Rights Report on Iran Spotlights ‘Increasing Trend’ of Violations — 20 Oct. 2011

UN News Centre — Iran: UN human rights expert stresses need for dialogue — 20 Oct. 2011

Voice of America — Iran Slams UN Human Rights Report — 20 Oct. 2011

Voice of America — UN Cites ‘Systematic Violations’ of Human Rights in Iran — 19 Oct. 2011

United Nations — The situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran — 23 Sept. 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen – Gunfire and explosions threw Yemen into a state of flux over the weekend.  On Saturday, fighting broke out in Sana’a, the capital, between forces loyal to controversial President Ali Abdullah Saleh and pro-democracy activists who have received backing from army defectors led by Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, and it has continued since then.  At least 30 people were killed by security forces during peaceful protests on Saturday and Sunday alone.

Protesters were trying to increase pressure on Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, to step down from his position.  In response, the longtime leader has returned fire with live ammunition.  Saturday’s peaceful protest was met with gunfire and rounds form rocket-propelled grenades.  A Yemeni journalist in Sana’a told Al Jazeera that many of the at least 17 who died Saturday were shot in either the head or the chest.  The news organization’s own special correspondent described the shooting as “another day of bloodshed in Yemen where unarmed protesters are caught in the middle of Pro-Saleh forces and defected soldiers.”

At least 13 people were killed during Sunday’s protest, a march into portions of the capital, which has been split between territory held by General Ahmar and government territory, constituted hostile grounds.  Accompanied by a division of Ahmar’s troops, unarmed dissidents made their way toward government offices.  As they approached a checkpoint near the Foreign Ministry, loyalist forces again opened fire, focusing on the protesters.  A video on YouTube shows footage of young men carrying a woman who had been shot off the street.

Unlike prior rallies, the activists made their intentions known to the government in an effort to avoid what happened over the weekend, which were attributed to fear of attacks on government offices or the presidential palace.

“We [the protesters] used to fear announcing the marches’ plans or places, scared of thugs’ attacks,” said independent protester Ameen Dabwan. “This time, the protesters thought that announcing the marches path would be a good way to avoid the security attacks.  Although this time we made it clear to the regime that the protesters would only march peacefully away from the palace, they attacked and killed the protesters.”

Saleh disagreed with that assessment.

“O.K., how is it a peaceful march then, when behind them is the power of a rebel military, which is now an integral part of what are called demonstrators?” he said. “The outside world treats this as if it is a peaceful revolution against a political regime and does not see” the government’s supporters.

On Sunday, SABA, Yemen’s official news agency, issued a press release regarding a meeting Saleh had with his Ministries of Defense and Interior.  According to the release, the protesters are part of a military coup operated by the Muslim Brotherhood, with backing from Al Qaeda.  He described them as “insane people, who can’t sleep and only want to take power.”

These recent skirmishes come against a backdrop of international pressure for the longtime president to relinquish power.  The Gulf Cooperation Council has been trying to create an initiative that would lead to this happening, in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself and his family.  So far he has not abided by this initiative, but says that he will step down “in the coming days,” which could mean anything.

Later this week, the United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution based on the GCC initiative that would call for him to immediately resign. The United Nations has support from Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkul Karman, who wrote a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon encouraging him “to take immediate and decisive action to stop the massacres and hold the perpetrators accountable…”

Saleh issued a statement accusing the Western powers of ignorance, saying that they “just take their information from shows and from the opposition who considers itself oppressed and is vying for its own victory.”

For more information, please see:

Yemen Post — Karman Speaks Up — 18 October 2011

Al Jazeera — Fighting Erupts in Yemeni Capital — 17 October 2011

BBC — Fighting Shakes Yemen Capital Sanaa — 17 October 2011

New York Times — Violence in Yemen’s Capital Escalates as Clashes Enter Third Day — 17 October 2011

Yemen Times — Violence Resumes in Sana’a — 17 October 2011

SABA — President Heads Meeting of Security and Military Leaders — 16 October 2011