By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch, Middle East Desk

WASHINGTON D.C., USA – The Obama administration has authorized the CIA to capture or kill the New Mexico-born Muslim cleric believed to be in Yemen. He is thought to have taken on an operational role in terrorist plots.

Anwar Awlaki, 38, who was born in New Mexico, recently was added to the CIA target list after a special government review of his activities, prompted by his status as a U.S. citizen, one of the officials said.

Last month, in an audio message, Awlaki called on American Muslims to revolt against the U.S. government because of its actions against other Muslims around the world.

Awlaki is now considered a legitimate target for military strikes and lethal CIA operations.  He has ties to the Nigerian man accused of attempting to detonate an explosive device in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, according to the Post. Officials said Awlaki also corresponded by e-mail with Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, last year.

Over the past year, the US has increased the number of militants it has killed or captured, with those killed seeing the most pointed rise, says Thomas Sanderson, deputy director of the transnational threats program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. That rise is due to a “confluence of factors,” including better intelligence, more targeting, and increased cooperation between the US and Pakistan, he says.

Yemen has intensified its campaign against al-Qaida militants after the group’s local branch claimed responsibility for the failed bombing of the plane in December.

For More Information, Please See:

The Christian Science Monitor – Anwar Al-Awlaki: Is It Legal To Kill An American In War On Terror? – 7 April 2010

LA Times – U.S. Citizen Anwar Awlaki Added To CIA Target List – 7 April 2010

Politics Daily – American Cleric In Yemen Targeted By CIA – 7 April 2010

VOA News – Reports CIA Authorized To Kill US-Born Cleric – 7 April 2010

By Bobby Rajabi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On April 6, a number of bombings took place all throughout the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The bombings killed at least thirty five individuals. Additionally, over one hundred and forty people were injured in the attacks. The attack comes just two days after suicide near the foreign embassies in Baghdad killed over forty people. The bombings come at a time of political instability as the March 7 parliamentary elections left no single political group with enough votes to form a government.

There were at least seven bombings that struck residential areas throughout the Iraqi capital. According to Iraqi military spokesman, Major General Qassam al-Moussawi, the types of bombs were inconsistent, varying from homemade bombs to a vehicle packed full with explosives. The blasts targeted residential buildings that were in a mix of both Sunni and Shi’ite areas.

In the Shula district, an area located in western Baghdad, a car bomb exploded. The explosion caused an number of buildings to collapse. The collapse of the buildings, according to Iraqi security sources, killed a number of people. Zeina Kohr, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, explained that Shula “is a mostly Shi’ite neighborhood. It used to be a former stronghold of the Mahdi Army.” The Mahdi Army refers to the army of the supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shi’ite leader.

In addition to the car bomb in the Shula district, there were two car bombs that exploded in Chkook, Kahdamiya district. These bombings killed five people. Additionally, three blasts in northern Baghdad targeted apartment buildings filled with people. Another black targeted a building located in the south western part of the Iraqi capital. According to the BBC’s Jim Muir, some of the buildings targeted by bombs collapsed under the force of the blast, burying resident under the rubble.

The Iraqi elections resulted in former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi having a slim lead, but the country lacking certainty in who will form the next government. Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the Iraqi parliament spoke of the effect of the uncertainty on Iraq’s security. Araji said that the security forces lack direction as “they don’t know what will become of them.” Araji explained that the forces are “scared they will their position if government changes.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Multiple Explosions Rock Baghdad – 6 April 2010

BBC – Baghdad Shia Areas Hit By Blasts Killing At Least 35 – 6 April 2010

New York Times – Iraq Bombing Raise Fears of Resurgent Violence – 6 April 2010

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch, Middle East Desk

 

SHARJAH, UAE – Seventeen Indians were sentenced to death on March 29 by a Sharjah shariah court for allegedly killing a Pakistani and injuring three others in an attack last year. There is a deadline of two weeks after the pronouncement of judgment within which an appeal has be filed, officials said.

 

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Indian consulate officials had visited the 17 Indian men sentenced to death by a court in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, and offered to help them with legal formalities involved in appealing against their sentences.

In a communication to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the prime minister said he had also instructed the external affairs minister and the overseas Indian affairs minister to take all possible steps in the matter to ensure a positive outcome.

An appeal is likely to be filed tomorrow in UAE on behalf of 17 Indians facing death sentence there for killing a Pakistani. “We have engaged Mhd Salman as the lawyer for these Indians. And an appeal is likely to be filed tomorrow in the case,” officials said.

The UAE government has already made it clear that its legal system guarantees a fair trial and the death sentence is subject to appeal and annulment by the rule of law without any interference from the parties concerned.

“We fully trust our legal system and its procedures and we are sure that it will provide and guarantee a fair trial to the convicted,” the UAE embassy in New Delhi had said in a statement yesterday. There is deep concern over the fate of these Indians, mostly from lower middle class farming families in Punjab and Haryana.

A UAE website claims, “The UAE’s tolerant, cosmopolitan atmosphere – which is most notable in the emirate of Dubai – gives resident non-Emiris opportunities to enjoy their own cultural and religious organizations.”

For more information, please see:

 

Hindustan Times – Death Row Indians In UAE Offered Legal Help: PM – 6 April 2010

The Times of India – Appeal Likely Tomorrow In UAE Against Death Of 17 Indians – 6 April 2010

SIKH Times – UAE Death Sentence Hanging Over 17 Indians – 6 April 2010

Indian Express – Govt Set To Appeal UAE Court Verdict – 6 April 2010

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon– A man from Lebanon, condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi Arabian court, will not be beheaded on Friday as originally planned.

Ali Sabat’s execution was scheduled for Friday after noon prayers, but a Lebanese minister has assured that the execution will not take place after a frenzy of media coverage and appeals by international human rights groups.  Sabat’s lawyer, May al-Khansa, said she is still unsure whether the execution by way of beheading had been waived or simply postponed.  Said Ms. Khansa, “The minister of justice for Lebanon called me and told me that nothing would happen on Friday.  But after that I don’t have an answer as to if he will be alive or not.”

Sabat, who is a Shiite Muslim, was the host of a popular television show in which he made predictions about the future.  In 2008, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to perform a religious pilgrimage when Saudi police who accused him of practicing sorcery arrested him.

Saudi Arabia does not have a legal definition of witchcraft although horoscopes and fortune telling are condemned and considered un-Islamic.

The human rights group Amnesty International has been trying to get Saudi Arabia to cease all instances of capital punishment.  Amnesty said that Mr. Sabat seemed to have been convicted for “exercising his right to freedom of expression.”  And Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program said it was “high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions.”

Ms. Khansa had contacted Lebanese leaders to appeal on behalf of her client.  No leaders would speak publicly, but Ms. Khansa said she was told the Lebanese government did lobby for the release of Mr. Sabat.

Like in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon has a law against witchcraft.  In Lebanon, however, witchcraft is only considered to be a misdemeanor, punishable by at most a few months in jail.  The death penalty is also still legal in Lebanon, but used sparingly.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Saudi ‘Reprieve’ in Sorcery Case– 2 April 2010

Los Angeles Times- Saudi Arabia: Factional Politics May be at Heart of Legal Dispute Over Psychic’s Fate– 2 April 2010

Voice of America- Beheading of Man in Saudi Arabia for Witchcraft Averted– 2 April 2010

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni ship with 11 surviving sailors of a 12 men crew, which was hijacked on 24 March in Somali waters, Yemen’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday.
FV AZ ZABANIYAH had left al-Shiher port in Hadramout in late February, was captured off Somalia’s northern coast, while one of its 12 crew members was killed during the attack.

Security authorities in the Yemen New Agency reported that $5 million payment was paid as ransom. Piracy has becomes a profitable trade in the east African lawless country, a lucrative venture that has attracted many young Somali men.

Yemen’s south-east province of Hadramout confirmed that the capture took place while the Yemeni fishing vessel was in the Somali territorial waters. Among the 12 crew members were eight Yemeni fishermen, two Somalis and two Tanzanian nationals, while Othman Mohamed of Tanzania was killed during the operation.

Analysts wonder what the vessel carried in order to achieve such a high ransom. “Though the larger fishing vessels easily can rip from the seas a tuna catch valued such much, we feel that there was something else carried on that fishy boat,” a regional analyst stated. A United Nations imposed sanctions regime for Somalia and Eritrea, including an arms embargo,  provides rich opportunities for blockade breaking vessels.

The analyst also reported that a South Korean chemical Tanker MT DL COSMOS, which was missing after an unsuccessful piracy attack off Tanzania, arrived now safely in Mombasa, Kenya. “They just maintained a communications black-out,” he said.

For more information, please see:

Bernama – Somali Pirates Fee Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

Saba Net – Somali Pirates Free Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

APA – Somali Pirates Release Yemen Owned Ship – 5 March 2010

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor – Somali Sea-Shifta Free Yemeni Vessel For Ransom – 5 April 2010