By Elizabeth A. Conger,
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel –  On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet recommended the deportation of 400 children of migrant workers within the next month.  The recommendation was approved by thirteen ministers, and voted against by ten, with four ministers abstaining.

Out of 1,200 children considered for deportation this past year, 800 were allowed to stay in Israel.

Of the remaining 400 children, those whose migrant parents have been in Israel for less than five years, and who have not yet entered first grade or a higher grade, will be deported.  Those children allowed to stay in Israel must also speak Hebrew, and if they were not born in Israel, must have arrived in Israel before the age of thirteen.  The parents of children allowed to stay must also have entered Israel legally.  Borderline cases will be decided by a special committee.

Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog abstained from the vote, stating: “I didn’t vote in favor [of the proposal] despite the improvements, which I supported, I could not accept deporting a group of five-year-old children.”

Those families whose children do meet the criteria must submit a request to the Interior Ministry within twenty one days.  If they are found to qualify, they will be given an additional twenty one days to produce required documentation. If approved, their parents and siblings will be entitled to temporary residence permits.

Netanyahu said of the decision: “This is a reasonable and balanced decision . . . It was influenced by two primary considerations – the humanitarian consideration and the Zionist consideration. We’re looking for a way to absorb and adopt to our hearts children who were brought up and raised here as Israelis. On the other hand, we don’t want to create an incentive that will lead to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers flooding the country.”

Israeli Radio has reported that the Kibbutz Movement has made an offer to absorb the 400 children.  Kibbutz  Movement Secretary-General Ze’ev Schor appealed to Defense Minister Ehud Barak to freeze the cabinet’s decision.  Schor stated that the children slated for deportation were Israeli in every aspect beside their citizenship.

UNICEF Israel protested the cabinet’s decision calling it a “blatant violation” of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.  “Israel must formulate a human immigration policy and stop the senseless revolving door policy, that wants to deport migrant workers and their children, on the one hand, and bring in new ones instead, on the other.”

Physicians for Human Rights Israel also protested the cabinet’s decision and said: “The threat of deportation that hangs over the heads of hundreds of children is a dreadful edict, which we refuse to accept. We will continue to act in order to make sure that all the children receive legal status in Israel and to assure that Israel establish a humane and orderly immigration policy. Adhoc solutions like this one are no replacement for such a policy.”

Israel has a population of 7.5 million, 250,000 to 300,000 of which are migrant laborers.  Only half of the migrant laborers in Israel have valid documentation.  Due to security concerns, Israel began to invite foreign workers for limited time periods to replace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to work in construction, agriculture and domestic work.  A significant proportion of those initially invited to work in Israel have outstayed their visas. The migrant population also continues to swell because of an influx of African refugees and economic migrants entering the porous border with Egypt.

For more information, please see:

Haaretz.com – Kitbbutz Movement Offers to Absorb Children of Foreign Workers set for Deportation – 2 August 2010

The Jerusalem Post – 400 foreign workers’ kids out – 2 August 2010

The New York Times – Israelis Divided on Deporting Children – 2 August 2010

Haaretz.com – Cabinet Approves Deportation of 400 Migrant Children from Israel  – 1 August 2010

 

 

By Alyxandra Stanczak
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On Thursday, July 29, 2010, Emadeddin Baghi, acclaimed author and human rights activist, was sentenced to one year in prison for “acting against [Iran’s] national security through the spreading of propaganda against the regime,” “disclosing classified documents about [Iran’s] prisons,” “visiting political prisoners’ families and providing them with financial and legal help,” and “having relations with human rights organizations abroad.”  Along with his jail sentence, Baghi was sentenced to a five-year ban from political and media activities.

Considered to be a highly influential human rights activist in Iran, Baghi won the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for his campaign against the death penalty. Additionally, Baghi is an award-winning author and journalist. Six of Baghi’s twenty five books are banned in Iran. His efforts in Iran have largely focused on founding and heading the Association for the Defense of Detainee Rights.

Baghi was arrested on December 28, 2009 and released on bail June 23, 2010 after 180 days in jail awaiting his trial. Before his release, Baghi spent 150 of his 180 days in solitary confinement. After his first arrest in 2000 which led to a two-year prison sentence, Baghi has spent over four-and-a-half years out of the past ten years in prison.

In addition to Baghi’s one-year sentence, he now faces charges for an interview he participated in with the late Cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was extremely influential in the reformist movement and spoke out publically against the controversial reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Baghi is one of many human rights activists in Iran targeted by Teheran. Other human rights activists have been arrested, detained, and charged in Iran, including seven members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Saeed Kalanaki, Saeed Jalalifar, Shiva Nazar Ahari, Koohyar Goodarzi, Saeed Haeri, Parisa Kakayi and Mehrdad Rahimi.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Europe – Iranian Journalist, Rights Activist Given Prison Term – 29 July 2010

Eurasia Review – Award-Winning Iranian Journalist Receives Jail Term – 26 July 2010

RTT News – Acclaimed Human Rights Activist Sentenced in Iran to One Year – 26 July 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Iran jails award-winning journalist – 26 July 2010

Amnesty International – Prisoner of Conscience – 7 January 2010

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHERAN, Iran – Mohammad Mostafaei the human rights attorney who represented Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the mother of two whose death by stoning sentence was stayed after international outcry over her case, has gone missing.  Amnesty International reported that Mostafaei was called in on Saturday for questioning at Teheran’s Evin prison and appears to have gone missing after his release.

Mostafaei’s collegues have said that they believe he is currently in hiding.

Iranian authorities have detained Mostafaei’s wife, Fereshteh Halimi, and brother-in-law, Farhad Halimi, in order to pressure Mostafaei to turn himself in. The two currently remain in detention and have not been allowed access to their lawyer, according to Amnesty International.

Mostafaei, an open critic of the Iranian judicial system, has defended many political prisoners, juvenile offenders, and individuals sentenced to death by stoning. His blog helped to generate much of the international outrage over Ashtiani’s stoning sentence. 

The last message posted on Mostafaei’s blog was on Friday July 23 when he said: “Today I was again contacted after being interrogated, I was summoned through a telephone call. I don’t know what the problem is this time. At any rate, tomorrow I have to go to the Evin prosecutor’s office. Maybe they will arrest me, I don’t know.”

Earlier this month Iranian officials said that Ashtiani would not be executed by stoning, but said that she could still face execution by hanging for her conviction of adultery.

Shadi Sadr, a well-known women’s rights advocate forced to leave Iran several months ago, worked with Mostafaei in the past on behalf of women sentenced to death by stoning.  She says that she believes the regime is reacting to the “international sensitivity” by placing pressure on Mostafaei.

Sadr added that the Iranian government’s reaction embodies the plight of human rights advocates in Iran in general.

She says that Mostafaei “worked within the framework of the laws of the Islamic republic, he never crossed the red lines set by the Islamic republic. This case just shows the increasing pressure on human rights activists and how red lines and limitations are becoming every day tighter and tighter.”

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, said: “Mohammad Mostafaei is a thorn in the side of the Iranian authorities and we fear that he is being persecuted in an attempt to stop him carrying out his professional activities.”

According to the BBC, the Iranian government has also put pressure on another attorney involved in Ashtiani’s case, as well as Ashtiani’s son, who has fervently campaigned for her release.

For more information, please see:

AP – Amnesty: Lawyer in Iranian stoning case missing – 28 July 2010

BBC – Lawyer in Iran stoning case ‘missing’ – 28 July 2010

Radio Free Europe – Iranian Authorities Pressure Prominent Lawyer By Holding Family Members ‘Hostage’ – 27 July 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – Two policemen accused of beating twenty-eight year old Khalid Said to death outside a café in Alexandria in June attended the first court hearing in their trial, which was postponed until September 25.

Mahmoud Salah and Awad Ismail Suleiman have been accused of use of excessive force and unlawful arrest. They stood in cages during yesterday’s hearing in an Alexandria criminal court.

The case that has sparked international outrage began when the two plainclothes officers dragged Said out of an Internet café and brutally beat him to death in front of witnesses. Autopsies showed that Said died from asphyxiation after swallowing a packet of drugs. Yet, skepticism of the autopsy results surfaced after gruesome images of Said’s badly beaten and bruised face circulated over the Internet.

Said was allegedly targeted by the officers after he posted a video of them splitting the spoils of a drug bust.

If convicted, Salah and Suleiman could face between three and fifteen years in prison.

In addition to inciting protests and demonstrations throughout Egypt, the killing has highlighted the problem of Egyptian police brutality, which has been blamed on Egypt’s emergency law. The law, which has been in place for three decades, permits officers to arrest people without charge and detain them indefinitely. Though prosecution of public officers is rare, as Al Jazeera reports, activists say that this case could prove to be a turning point in this aspect of Egypt’s history.

A major concern as the case resumes is witness protection. Amnesty International reported that a friend of Said who was collecting information on the case was attacked and threatened by attackers armed with knives.

“The Egyptian authorities must ensure that the witnesses to the assault on Khaled Mohammed Said are provided with all possible protection both to ensure their own safety and as a means of encouraging other witnesses to come forward,” said Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty’s International’s Middle East and North Africa Program.

Said’s lawyers and family have said that they are seeking to upgrade the charges against Salah and Suleiman to murder.

“If we succeed in that, I think this will be the turning point. If not, I think [torture and brutality] will be the normal and systematic practice and they will consider all the pressure of the public nothing,” said Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and one of the family’s attorneys. “This will be a message to the police officers: You are protected from any punishment, you are free to do what you want to do.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Egypt police trial adjourned – 27 July 2010

BBC – Egypt police in brutality trial over Khaled Said death – 27 July 2010

Christian Science Monitor – Khalid Said case: Is Egypt cracking down on police brutality? – 27 July 2010

CNN – Egyptian police brutality case postponed two months – 27 July 2010

Guardian – Egyptian policemen go on trial over death of activist Khaled Said – 27 July 2010

Los Angeles Times – EGYPT: Police accused of beating Khaled Saied to death appear in court – 27 July 2010

By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GENEVA, Switzerland – On the twenty-third of July, the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow, announced the appointment of three independent experts to an international fact-finding mission to “investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.” The May thirty-first raid on the flotilla resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens, including one with joint American citizenship, the injury of dozens of other activists, and the injury of several Israeli commandos.

The “independent international fact-finding mission” was established to implement a Human Rights Council Resolution, which was passed during an urgent debate on the Israeli raid on the second of June 2010. The Council deplored “the loss of life of innocent civilians” during the debate.

The Mission is expected to travel to Israel, Turkey, and Gaza in August to conduct their investigation, and will report their findings to the Council  during their next session, which is scheduled to begin on the twelfth of September.

In announcing the appointment of the experts to the panel, Ambassador Phuangketkeow said: “The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality. We call upon all parties to fully cooperate with the mission and hope that this mission will contribute to peace in the region and justice for the victims.”

While Israel has not officially responded to the Council’s request for cooperation with the mission, as expected, Israel did not respond favourably to the announcement of the mission’s formation. A senior Israeli official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, “This panel of experts is not intending to look for the truth but to satisfy the non-democratic countries which control the Human Rights Council, who have an automatic anti-Israeli majority.” This is a common criticism of the Council voiced by observers and non-governmental organizations.

The Jerusalem Post quotes the IDF Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi as saying, “My personal opinion is that more probes into the flotilla are out of line.”

The Israeli military recently completed its own internal investigation into the probe, finding that the killings of activists were justified, but admitting that the Israel Defence Force (IDF) made some mistakes in their preparation for the raid. In addition to the military investigation, Israel has set up a panel, the Tirkel Committee, to investigate the incident, and to decide whether the raid was in compliance with international law.

It has also been reported that Israel is seriously considering cooperating with the work of an international panel proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which will include both Turkish and Israeli participation. Israel has reportedly been in consultations with the Secretary-General over the panel’s composition, and has stipulated that, in return for its cooperation, the panel should begin its work only after the Tirkel Committee completes its work, and that the panel’s findings should take precedence over all other international probes into the raid.

The Christian Science Monitor claims, “Beyond the flotilla affair, Israel wants to court the UN chief as a way of limiting the influence of the international body’s Human Rights council.” The Monitor quotes an Israeli government official as saying, “You have to distinguish between the two.” “The human rights council makes no pretense to be objective. It has a persistent and consistent anti-Israel obsession…. The same cannot be said of the secretary general. In Israel we hold him in the highest esteem.”
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The three independent experts on the newly appointed Human Rights Council fact-minding mission are, Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Queen’s Counsel (Trinidad and Tobago), who served as a Judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2007; Sir Desmond de Silva, Queen’s Counsel (United Kingdom), who served as Chief Prosecutor of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2005 at the level of an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia), who was a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women from 2005 to 2008, and has been serving on the Gender Equality Task Force of the United Nations Development Programme since 2007.

For more information, please see:

The Christian Science Monitor – Israel Signals New Cooperation with UN Over Gaza Flotilla – 26 July 2010

AFP – Israel Slams UN Council’s Gaza Flotilla Probe – 25 July 2010

Jerusalem Post – Gaza Flotilla Probes are Out of Line – 25 July 2010

Al Arabiya News – UN Forum Names Team to Probe Israel Ship Raid – 23 July 2010

Arab News – UN Names Team to Probe Israel’s Ship Raid – 23 July 2010

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Press Release: United Nations Human Rights Council Panel to Investigate Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla Established – 23 July 2010