By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has begun enriching uranium at a purity level of twenty percent. The state-run media in Iran reported on February 9 that the increase in purity allows for the production of a higher grade of nuclear fuel. This action was defiance of many Western countries who remain concerned that Iran’s ultimate goal with their nuclear program is the ability to manufacture  weapons of mass destruction.

An unnamed Iranian official told Iran’s Arabic-language Al Alam channel that “Today (Iran) started to make twenty percent enriched nuclear fuel…in the presence of IAEA inspectors at Natanz.” Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, announced that the government informed the UN’s atomic watchdog that would begin enrich the fuel at the higher level.

This announcement from Iran was met with calls from the United States and its allies for the imposition of stronger UN sanctions against Iran over it’s nuclear program. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained that “the only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track but it will require all of the international community to work together.” A spokesman for the US State Department, PJ Crowley, did make it clear that the US government had “no interest in creating additional hardships on the Iranian people.”

The enriching of uranium to twenty percent does not by itself produce nuclear fuel that could be easily used in a bomb. The level of uranium enrichment that is required for a nuclear weapon is ninety percent. The concern from Western countries lies with the fact that the technological jump to get from twenty percent to ninety percent is fairly straightforward.

Iran’s top nuclear official, Ali Akba Salehi, also said that the Iranian government would build ten new enrichment plants next year. This is despite the fact that there are still problems with its first one. The United States and its allies, in response to this news, said that the time had come “fore the adoption of strong sanctions.” The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran in response to it’s uranium enrichment activities.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Iran ‘Begins Advanced Enrichment’ – 9 February 2010

BBC – Iran ‘Starts Enriching Nuclear Fuel to 20%’ at Natanz – 9 February 2010

New York Times – Small Step in Iran’s Nuclear Effort Suggests Ambitions for a Weapon, Experts Say – 9 February 2010

Voice of America – Iran Defies West, Begins Boosting Uranium – 9 February 2010

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Ten Yemeni soldiers have been killed, most of them by snipers, and 18 wounded in a fresh outbreak of fighting with Shiite rebels in north Yemen, a military official said on Monday. The latest clashes come days after the government announced a timetable for a ceasefire, to which the rebels have yet to respond. The fighting took place around the northern city of Sa’ada, in Harf Sufyan, which lies to the south of the city, and in the Malahidh border area, the official told the AFP on condition of anonymity.

The rebels, meanwhile, reported the deaths of two children in what they said was Saudi shelling near the border in northern Yemen. The children, aged five and 10, were killed when one of almost 150 shells fired by the Saudi army towards positions near the border crashed into their farm, the rebels said in a statement on their website.

Yemen’s defence ministry said this week that the government would stop its war with rebel Houthi fighters if they were to begin complying with its six conditions. Ceasefire terms, presented in August, included removing checkpoints, ending banditry, handing over all military equipment and weapons, and releasing civilians and military personnel. But a government official said on Sunday that the ceasefire deal should have included a pledge by the group not to attack neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Government officials have said Houthi leaders twice rejected the terms, while Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis’ leader, said last week that his fighters had twice declared they wanted to end the conflict.

The latest round of clashes erupted on August 11, when government forces launched “Operation Scorched Earth” — an all-out offensive to stamp out the uprising. Saudi Arabia entered the conflict on November 4th , a day after Houthi forces killed a Saudi border guard and occupied two villages within Saudi territory. The rebels accused the kingdom of aiding Yemeni forces, a charge it denied.

The rebels announced their withdrawal from Saudi territory on January 25.
The UN refugee agency says that about 250,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Yemen’s Houthi Truce Under Scrutiny – 10 February 2010

Tehran Times – Saudi Forces Raid Yemen’s Northern Villages – 10 February 10

AFP – Ten Soldiers Killed in North Yemen Clashes – 9 February 2010

CNN – Fighting Erupts in Yemen During Peace Talks, Journalist Says – 6 February 2010

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Egyptian police forces have detained at least thirteen prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition political party, ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.

Those arrested on February 8 include Mahmoud Ezzat, the Muslim Brotherhood’s deputy leader, and two members of the party’s Guidance Council, Dr. Essam el-Erian and Abdul Rahman el-Bir. A spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior confirmed the arrests, only saying the men had been detained for “illegal activities.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954, though government officials have allowed it to operate somewhat openly, yet members have been frequent target of government arrests. The party is part of the wider Muslim Brotherhood, which operates throughout the Middle East and advocates establishing Islamic states under the rule of Islamic law. The group’s aim has often been seen as a threat to Egypt’s secular, often authoritarian government. Arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members became more frequent in 2009 as they publically opposed the Egyptian government’s decision to keep its border with the Gaza Strip sealed, even as the Israeli blockade on Gaza tighetened.

Since parliamentary elections in 2005, Muslim Brotherhood representatives have held twenty percent of the Egyptian Parliament, under an “independent” party classification, making the group the largest opposition block in the Parliament. A statement on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website called for the leaders’ release, saying, “[s]uch arrests will not deter them from the way they have chosen for attaining the country’s welfare.”

On January16, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt appointed a new leader, Mohammed al-Badie, a 66-year-old veterinary professor. Prof. al-Badie has since expressed his wish for a peaceful relationship with the current Egyptian government, headed by President Hosni Mubarak: “We affirm that the Brotherhood is not for one day an adversary to the regime.”

After Prof. al-Badie was appointed, he emphasized the Muslim Brotherhood’s well-known public rejection of violence, saying his goal was to “show the world the true Islam, the Islam of moderation and forgiveness that respects pluralism in the whole world.”

After news of the February 8 arrests became known, Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities “to stop their crackdown on peaceful political dissent and uphold the rights to freedoms of expression, association and assembly.”

For more information, please see:

Wall Street Journal – Egypt Arrests Opposition Leaders – 9 February 2010

Al Jazeera – Egypt Arrests Brotherhood Members – 8 February 2010

BBC News – Egypt Detains Muslim Brotherhood Leaders – 8 February 2010

Voice of America – Egyptian Police Arrest Top Muslim Brotherhood Figures – 8 February 2010

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A double car bombing on February 5 in the southern city of Karbala killed at least thirty two individuals. The attacks also left over one hundred people wounded. The dead and injured were among the hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims who commemorated a major Shi’ite Muslim holy day in Karbala.

This bombing followed two other attacks against the pilgrims in the past week. The other attacks caused the deaths of over seventy pilgrims who were on their way to Karbala. The attack took place on the last and most important day of the Arbaeen. The holy day marks the fortieth day of mourning for the prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein. Imam Hussein was killed in a seventh century battle in Karbala.

The attack took place at the eastern entrance to the city, one of the three main entrances to Karbala. During this time pilgrims from around Iraq were leaving the commemorations that were taking place in the city center. The first explosion was caused by a car bomb that exploded near a hospitality tent. The tent had been erected to offer refreshments. Moments later a second explosion went off as a suicide bomber drove a vehicle through the carnage created by the first bombing. There were some reports that the car bomb attacks were followed up by mortar rounds.

Attacks on the Shi’ite pilgrims during Abaeen were not a surprise to the Iraqi government’ Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s security spokesman, said in a statement that “the terrorist groups are gathering together all their capabilities to launch attacks during Arbaeen and after it.” Moussawi continue, saying that “the coming days will see these terrorist groups carrying out other attempts whenever they get a chance.”

Close to thirty thousand troops and police have been deployed to protect the Shi’ite pilgrims. Mohammed al-Moussawi, head of the provincial council, estimated that seven million pilgrims visited Karbala in the past ten days.

Overall there have been eight suicide bombings in Iraq in the last eleven days, targeting hotels and government buildings as well as pilgrims. Officials view this as a sign that the Sunni extremist insurgency appears to be regrouping in an attempt to destabilize Iraq ahead of the March 7 election.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Deadly Blast in Iraq’s Karbala City – 5 February 2010

BBC – Bombings Hit Iraq Shia Pilgrims in Karbala – 5 February 2010

Los Angeles Times – Double Bombing Kills 32 in Iraq – 5 February 2010

Washington Post – Iraqi police: Attacks Kill 28 Shiite Pilgrims – 5 February 2010