By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – The Israeli blockade on Gaza is having a disastrous effect on the health of pregnant women in the seaside region, according to a recently released study by the World Health Organization (WHO) office based in Jerusalem.

 

According to the WHO’s July 2009 assessment, inadequate infrastructure, a lack of proper equipment, and a shortage in trained medical personnel have all led to a decline in the quality of hospital care provided to new mothers and their babies. The WHO attributes these conditions to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which began in July 2007, when Hamas took control of the government in Gaza.

 

“The Israeli blockade affects the supply of medical equipment and conditions in the maternity wards, and perpetuates the isolation of healthcare professionals, making it difficult to maintain international standards of practice,” said Tony Laurence, head of the WHO West Bank and Gaza Office in Jerusalem.

 

Munir al-Bursh, head of Gaza’s Department of Pharmaceuticals, reported that ten types of medications essential for proper maternal care, such as Prostin gel, which induces labor, are completely out of stock in the territory. One pregnant woman reported sending her husband to search for a needed medication while she was in the delivery room.

 

Pre- and post-natal care also suffers in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that seventy percent of the nearly 1.5 million Gazans suffer from anemia, including forty-four percent of pregnant women. Additionally, women are typically discharged within two hours after giving birth, due to a lack of beds. In its report, the WHO advocated increasing the in-patient time to six hours. Compounding the problem is a lack of adequately trained midwives. The blockade has isolated midwives working in the Gaza Strip, leading to outdated medical knowledge and stifling the flow of information about medical advances.

 

Israel’s Ministry of Defense has said that medical supplies have priority as imports into Gaza, but that Israel is not obliged to allow anything into the territory aside from basic humanitarian supplies needed for survival.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Ma’an News Agency – Gaza Mothers, Newborns Affected by Israeli Blockade (IRIN) – 20 August 2009

 

Association of International Development Agencies – The Gaza Blockade: Children and Education Fact Sheet – July 2009

 

The Guardian – No Gourmets in Gaza – 16 June 2009

 

VOA News – Conditions for Palestinian Refugees in Gaza Deteriorating – 22 May 2009

 

IslamOnline.net – Blockade Worsens Gaza Malnutrition – 2 June 2008

 

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– On August 17, thirty- eight members of the opposition Muslim brotherhood were arrested in Egypt. According to a security official, the total number of Brotherhood members in detention is four-hundred fifty.

Of those arrested on August 17, thirty members of the Muslim Brotherhood were detained in Suez when they had a meeting at a group member’s home. Another eight members were apprehended in the Nile River Delta the same day.  

The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood controls almost one fifth of the seats in Egyptian Parliament, even though the party is technically banned under the Egyptian Constitution, which bans political parties based on religious or class affiliation. The Brotherhood won these seats by fielding independent candidates in the 2005 election. Many Egyptians like the party because of the social services that the group provides.  

In 2007 Human Rights Watch accused Egyptian President Mubarak, and the governing National Democratic Party of using the law that bans parties based upon religious or class affiliation to maintain control of the government, holding a virtual monopoly

Also on August 17, the Islam-affiliated party Al-Wasat al-Jadid (the New Center) was rejected for a fourth time in their application to become a legally recognized political party in Egypt. Al-Wasat al-Jadid has also had their application for party status denied in 1996, 1998, and 2006.  The government considers Al-Wasat al-Jadid a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Although the party would ban Coptic Christians or women from heading the country, their platform of peaceful rule through Islamic law is popular among many Egyptians who see the ruling National Democratic Party as corrupt.

Egypt has been cracking down on the Brotherhood, and subsequently, Al-Wasat al-Jadid.  In an interview with CBS news, President Mubarak claimed that the Brotherhood has connections with Lebanese and Palestinian groups Hezbollah and Hamas .

For more information, please see:

AFP- Egypt Police Arrest 38 Islamists – 18 August 2009

Afrique en Lingue- Egypt Rejects Islamist Party – 18 August 2009

AP – Egypt Rejects Request for Moderate Islamic Party – 17 August 2009

Money Biz – Egypt Refuses to Recognize Moderate Muslim Party – 17 August 2009

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On August 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report titled “They Want Us Exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation, and Gender in Iraq” which details the attacks that gay men in Iraq have suffered in recent months.

According to the report, militias in Iraq are persecuting gay men, torturing and killing them.  Although there have been reports about attacks by several small militias, HRW believes that most of the attacks are being perpetrated by the Mahdi Army, a militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr.  To support this claim, HRW cites the facts that the attacks seem centered around Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad that is named after al-Sadr’s martyred father.  

Moreover, Sadrist Mosques and officials of the Mahdi Army have been spreading warnings about the “third sex,” a derogatory term for homosexuals in Iraq.  According to the report, men have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered for something small, such as wearing a tight shirt, tight jeans, or a certain hairstyle – fashions claimed to be worn by the “third sex.”  HRW describes the situation as “social cleansing.”

According to HRW, hundreds of men have been killed in the last few months.  A hospital employee interviewed by HRW after he fled Iraq described the stories he was receiving from colleagues, “a fellow doctor-a colleague, a classmate of mine, who works at al-Kindi hospital-told me over the phone that more were killed yesterday. Four were brought in with their genitals cut off. And some were brought in, not dead, with glue in their anuses.”  The report explains that injecting glue into the anuses of suspected gay men has become a common form of torture, and men who suffer its effects are brought into hospitals almost daily.

HRW explains that the most astounding aspect of the situation is the lack of action to stop the killings.  According to the report, government officials actually participate in the persecution.  The report details the story of a man in Baghdad who ran safe-houses for gay men who had been disowned by their families.  He told HRW that officials for the Ministry of the Interior has arrested him, tortured and raped him, and finally he was freed when he bribed one of the guards.  According to HRW, ministry members take these actions claiming that they are within the law, punishing those who have participated in “indecent acts.”

The report concludes by calling on the Iraqi government to take action s to stop the persecution of gay men.  HRW reminds Iraq of their international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require states to provide for the rights to Life and Security (Article 9), to Protection against Torture, and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (Articles 7 & 11), and to Non-Discrimination and Fundamental Rights (Articles 26, 17, 19, and 21).   They ask the government to publicly condemn such action and to prosecute those responsible.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Gay Men Attacked, Executed in Iraq, Rights Group Says – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iraq: Stop Killings for Homosexual Conduct – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq – 17 August 2009

USA Today – Rights Group Reports Anti-Gay Death Squads at Work in Iraq – 17 August 2009

The Washington Post – Gay Men Targeted In Iraq, Report Says – 17 August 2009

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GENEVA, Switzerland– United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has called for an in depth, transparent investigation of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. Pillay stated that “there is significant prima facie evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian law having been committed by the Israeli forces and Palestinian militants,” during the operation which took place between December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that at least 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and at least thirteen Israelis, three of which were civilians during Israel’s 22-day offensive on Gaza.

The allegations which warrant further investigation include Israeli attacks on Gaza civilians, civilian hospitals, schools, administrative facilities and 27,000 private homes. Of particular concern for the UN is the “targeting of the civilian population and wanton destruction of property and religious and cultural objects” according to a separate report by a UN investigative team, released on August 14. “While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence,” Pillay said.

Pillay’s report to the UN Human Rights Council also calls for the immediate easing of Israeli restrictions in the Palestinian territories. She hopes that this easing will lead to a lifting of the blockade on Gaza, which has been economically devastating to the people living there. Pillay claims that the blockade and restrictions on movement of people and goods in the West Bank “amount to collective punishment.”  The alleged torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and collective punishment both contravene the Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a party.

Moreover, the report specifically calls for Israel to cease its settlement expansion immediately. It also asks Israel to cease evictions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, and address the persistent impunity for settler violence. Pillay remains concerned over Israel’s disregard for the International Court of Justice’s recommendation regarding the barrier wall that Israel is constructing to keep assailants out. The wall would enclose 9.5 per cent of the West Bank area.

Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar rejected the findings of Pillay. Leshno-Yaar felt that the report failed to note recent moves by Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians, and reflected an anti-Israel bias by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Arab News Network al Jazeera reports that Israel is now running an ad campaign to discredit human rights agencies that have reported negatively on Israel, including Human Rights Watch.

For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – UN: Israel Had ‘Impunity’ in Gaza – 15August 2009

Al Jazeera – Israel Questions Gaza War Reports – 14 August 2009

Christian Science Monitor – Israel Killed Palestinians Waving White Flags, Report Says – 14 August 2009

Fox News- U.N. Human Rights Chief: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza Strip Is Illegal– 14 August 2009

United Nations – Significant Prima Facie Evidence of Serious Rights Abuses in Gaza, UN reports – 14 August 2009

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AMMAN, Jordan – A 23-year-old pregnant woman was reportedly killed by her brother for marrying without her family’s permission.  On August 13, the 30-year-old man was charged with premeditated murder and illegal possession of weapons.

Jihad al-Diridi, the prosecutor who filed the charges, said the unnamed woman got married two years ago and had a baby boy.  The woman had reportedly reconciled with her parents, who invited her to another brother’s wedding on August 12, where the woman was killed.  Al-Diridi said the charged brother shot his sister in the head and abdomen after the wedding reception.  The woman’s husband was beaten by two other brothers, who were later charged with assisting in the crime.

After the killing, the brother who shot the woman walked to the nearest police station, turned himself in, and handed over his gun.  Sources said the man told police he had killed his sister “to cleanse his family’s honor.”

This “honor killing” was the second in two days in Amman.  The first such killing happened on August 11, when a 39-year-old man killed his 16-year-old niece.  The girl had been raped eleven months ago by two relatives and had become pregnant.  The uncle reportedly learned of the rape on August 8 and “decided to kill her in the name of family honor,” according to a source.  The girl was shot nine times in the head in her family home.  The uncle was charged with premeditated murder.

Fifteen honor killings have been reported in Jordan so far this year.  An average of twenty Jordanian women are killed each year by relatives who claim to be protecting the family honor, despite government attempts to curb the murders.  The Jordanian Parliament has refused to strengthen the penal code to create harsher sentences for the crimes.

For more information, please see:

Richmond Times-Dispatch – Jordanian Man Charged with Killing Pregnant Sister – 13 August 2009

Straits Times – Man Charged for Killing Sister – 13 August 2009

Vancouver Sun – Jordan Woman Killed for Marrying Without Permission – 13 August 2009

Jordan Times – Man Charged with Premeditated Murder of his 16-Year-Old Niece – 12 August 2009

Huffington Post – Jordanian Man Accused of Stabbing Pregnant Sister – 12 April 2009