By Nykoel Dinardo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

NEW YORK, New York – On December 14, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report titled “The Quality of Justice:  Failings of Iraq’s Central Criminal Court.”  The report claims that the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI), the flagship court under the new Iraqi government, fails to meet international standards of due process and fair trials.

According to the report, HRW monitored court proceedings and met with judges, defense attorneys, and the defendants themselves.  The report explains that many of the problems in the justice system are due to structural problems in Iraq, including problems with political factions and inefficiency in the institutions.

The report states that defendants are often held for long periods before being tried.  HRW states that defendants are often held for months, or even years, before their cases are referred to a judge.   It explains that the delays are due, in part, to a dramatic increase in the number of detainees, many resulting from the implementation of the Baghdad Security Plan in 2007.  However, it also states that these delays are partly due to procedural failures in detainee handling prior to their arrival at the CCCI.  HRW says that judges sometimes deal with failures – such as lack of proper investigation – by dismissing cases.

Moreover, the report claims that those detained are often abused while in custody, mostly with the intent of garnering a confession.  HRW stated that it documented numerous cases where defendants showed signs of torture, or other forms abuse.  It stated that it documented at least 10 investigative hearings involving defendants recanting confessions that had been taken while in custody.  HRW has expressed concern about impunity for those responsible.

Finally, the report states that defense attorneys are often assigned to cases in the last few days before trial, failing to give them time to prepare an adequate defense.  It further claims that defense attorneys, though assigned, fail to properly perform their duties as an attorney.  The report describes a case where a court appointed lawyer in a capital case refused to speak during an investigative hearing after the judge denied his request to leave so that he could attend to another case.

The report also made several other allegations of failures in the court system. 

HRW requests that Iraq take action to prevent torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and disallow confessions and other evidence obtained through torture or abuse.   They further recommend that Iraq ensure that all arrests and detentions are in compliance with Iraqi domestic law.  They ask Iraq to release all detainees who cannot be charged or who have not been charged with a cognizable offense. 

HRW also recommends that the US continue to physically hold Iraqi detainees, though their cases will be transferred to Iraqi officials.  They ask that the US refrain from actually transferring persons until there is no risk of torture or ill-treatment while in Iraqi custody. 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Iraqi Justice System is Faulted – 15 December 2008

Voice of America – HRW Says Iraqi Criminal Court Trials Unfair – 15 December 2008

Human Rights Watch – Iraq:  Unfair Trails Mar Main Criminal Court – 14 December 2008

Human Rights Watch – The Quality of Justice: Failings of Iraq’s Central Criminal Court – 14 December 2008

Reuters – Iraqi Justice System Falls Short – Report – 14 December 2008

By Yasmine S. Hakimian
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEL AVIV, Israel – Richard Falk, professor at Princeton University and the United Nations Human Rights Council´s Special Repporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territory was  deported from Israel. Falk was barred from entry into Israel when he arrived in Tel Aviv on the evening of December 14. He spent the night at Ben Gurion airport before he was deported the next morning.

Falk is currently working on a report about the human rights conditions in the occupied Palestinian Territories to raise it at the UN Human Rights Council session in March 2009. He went to Israel to examine violations of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian Territories. During his trip, Falk had been scheduled to hold meetings in Ramallah with representatives of many human rights organizations.

After Falk was appointed as the UN’s special Repporteur on the Palestinian territories earlier this year, Israel stated that it would deny his entry because in 2007 he said Israel’s blockade on Gaza was a “Holocaust in the making.” Israel allowed Falk to enter in June in order to attend a conference in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israel is defending their decision to deport Falk, saying he had used his personal visit in June to write an official UN report and because of his comparison of Israel’s practices to the Holocaust.

Yigal Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Minister, stated that “Falk came as a reporter for the UN Human Rights Council and we find the mandate of the reporter is completely distorted. It has been instrumentalized for Israel-bashing.”

Palmor claims Falk has made unprofessional extreme comments about Israel, with no factual basis. Palmor did not cite any examples but stated that the fact that Falk believes in conspiracy theories is enough reason to discredit him.

The Adalah rights organization has sent an urgent letter to Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, demanding that they lift the ban on Falk. The organization has noted that the ban is a severe blow to the rights of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The letter states that it is Israel’s obligation, as a member of the UN and a signatory to various international human rights conventions, to respect the work of UN representatives and enable human rights missions without fear of repercussions.

It is the third time this year that Israel has barred a high-profile critic from entering. In May, Israel deported Norman Finkelstein, a controversial Jewish American academic who has accused Israel of using the Holocaust to justify its actions against the Palestinians. In the same month, Israel also refused Archbishop Desmond Tutu entry while he was on a UN fact-finding mission in Gaza.

For more information, please see:

New York Times – U.N. Rights Investigator Expelled By Israel – 16 December 2008

American Chronicle – U.S. Professor Richard Falk Denied Entry Into Israel And Deported From Ben Gurion Airport – 15 December 2008

Electronic Intifada – Israel Denies Entry to UN Rights Reporter – 15 December 2008

Ha’aertz – Israel Expels UN Rights Envoy Who Compared Israelis to Nazis – 15 December 2008

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

RIDA, Yemen – On December 12, Moshe Yaish-Nahari, was shot to death in Rida, Yemen.  Shortly following the incident, police apprehended the alleged attacker, Abed el-Aziz el-Abadi.  According to eyewitnesses, Abadi confronted Nahari in a market; called out “Jew, accept the message of Islam,” and then opened fire with an assault rifle.

According to the deputy head of security of the Amran province, Ahmed el-Sarihi, the suspect has confessed to killing Nahari and has shown no remorse.  During investigations, Abadi said that he warned the Jews in the area through a message telling them they must either embrace Islam, leave the country or be killed. 

According to Abadi, he warned the Jews in writing one month ago. In his alleged letter he said, “You either convert to Islam, or leave the country, or face the sword.”  However, Nahiri’s family reports that they never received a letter from the suspect or any one else before the murder incident.

Nahari is the brother of Rabbi Yehiya Yaish, one of the leaders of Yemen’s Jewish community.  According to Rabbi Yaish, “Over the past months we have been suffering from repeated assaults and threats, and although we have been reporting to the official concerned bodies and tribal chiefs but without success.” 

The Jewish minority called on the government to protect them or deport them from the country.  Rabbi Yaish stated, “As long as the State is unable to protect us and secure us in our homeland, then, you buy our houses and properties and pay us the money and deport us from the country.”  He accused “some local people headed by bodyguards of some influential officials” of committing such repeated “assaults, abuses, harassments” against the Jewish minority community.

Sarihi says that Abadi is “an extremist who suffers from mental problems.”  According to the police, Abadi, a former pilot in the Yemeni Air Force, was dismissed for bad manners and extremist thoughts.  In addition, he killed his wife two years ago, but avoided jail time by offering her family compensation.

On December 13, the Ministry of Interior said it had arrested eight more suspects on suspicion of involvement in Nahari’s murder.  Sarihi confirmed that investigations are complete and the case will be referred to the prosecution during the upcoming days.

For more information, please see:

Ha’aretz – 8 Arrested in Murder of Jewish Man in Yemen – 15 December 2008

Yemen Observer – Yemeni Jews Want to Leave Yemen if Not Protected – 13 December 2008

International Herald Tribune – Police: Muslim Extremist Kills Yemeni Jew – 12 December 2008

Reuters – Yemeni Jew Shot Dead by Gunman – 12 December 2008

Yedoith – Jew Shot to Death in Yemen by “Disturbed Extremist – 12 December 2008

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KIRKUK, Iraq – On December 11, a suicide bomber killed 50 people and wounded more than 100 in a crowded Kurdish restaurant in the city of Kirkuk. 

Iraqi authorities have stated that the bombing was deliberately designed to maximize casualties, coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, when many people were celebrating with their families.  In addition, a “meeting of understanding” between Kirkuk’s Arab and Kurdish leaders was happening in the restaurant at the time of the attack.  Authorities believe this meeting was the primary target of the attack.

Iraqi government officials maintain that this latest bombing is an attempt to provoke extremists in  mixed ethnic areas of Iraq as the US plans for withdrawal, challenging the Maliki government’s ability to maintain control over the country without US backing.

According to Joost Hilterman, an expert on Kurdish politics with the International Crisis Group, “The real objective is to sow division between the various communities and inflame passions among the extremists among them – of whom there are plenty in all the communities – and set them up against one another.  If it happened in a Kurdish restaurant, where there were Arabs earing, the Kurds will blame the Arabs and the Arabs will blame the Kurds for not protecting them.”

This latest suicide bombing underscores the tensions in the city.  Although the insurgent attacks have not targeted Kirkuk as frequently as other large cities, Kirkuk continues to suffer from sectarian divisions between Iraq’s majority Arab population and the minority Kurdish population.  Both sides are seeking control of the city, which sits on top of a massive oil reserve.

Oil is at the center of the dispute over control of Kirkuk.  While the Arabs and  Turkmen minority maintain that the oil should be controlled by the central government, the Iraqi Kurds maintain that having been victims of Saddam Husseins “Arabisation” plan, which brought an influx of Arabs into the city and expelled many Kurds and other minority ethnic groups from the city, Kirkuk should become part of an autonomous Kurdistan.

According to Major General Torhan Abdul-Rahman, the Deputy Police Chief in Kirkuk, the attack is one of the deadliest suicide bombings since the Iraq War began.  While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Major General Yurhan Yusef, the Kirkuk Police Chief, the attack was likely carried out by a Sunni insurgent group.

Tensions are so high in the city that January’s provincial elections will not be held there, for fear that the elections will spark an increase in violence.

For more information, please see:

Asharq Alawsat – Suicide Bombing Kills 46 in Iraqi Restaurant – 11 December 2008

BBC – Analysis: Kirkuk Faultline – 11 December 2008

BBC – Iraqi Restaurant Blast Kills 50 – 11 December 2008

New York Times – Iraq Bomb Kills 48 in Volatile North – 11 December 2008

By Nykoel Dinardo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

LONDON, United Kingdom – On December 11, Amnesty International released a report that discussed the arrests of human rights activists trying to travel abroad on December 10.

In Tehran, Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was prevented from boarding a flight to Italy, where she was going to receive an award.  Sotoudeh has worked on several women’s rights cases, and she defended a 16-year-old boy who was sentenced to death.   Sotoudeh said that she was preparing to board the flight when her named was announced over the public announcement system and three plain clothes men approached her.    She said that her passport was taken with no explanation, and she was informed that she had 72 hours to present herself at an address in Tehran. According to Sotoudeh, “There was no legal written order. What they did was illegal.”  Sotoudeh’s husband and children were allowed to board the flight and her husband will be receiving the award on her behalf. 

According to Amnesty International, Iran’s actions are part of a continuing policy.  In March, women’s rights activist and journalist, Parvin Ardalan was stopped an the airport in Tehran while boarding a flight to Sweden where she was to receive an award.  In October, women’s rights activist Sussan Tahmasebi was stopped trying to board a plane to South Africa, where she was to attend a conference.

In Tunis, journalist, Lotfi Hidouri was detained by Tunisian authorities when he tried to board a flight to Beirut.  Hidouri writes for the independent online news magazine Kalima. His wife told media sources that she received a call informing her that Hidouri had been taken to the Bouchacha detention center outside Tunis.  He was taken before the prosecutor on December 11. Moments before Hidouri was detained, authorities arrested Mohammad Abbou, a human rights lawyer and writer, who was also boarding the plane to Beirut. 

Both Hidouri and Abbou were going to Beirut for the Third Arab Free Press Forum.  They were to take part in a special forum about the increasing censorship and harassment that Tunisian journalists face.  According to Abbou, Hidouri was detained for failure to pay a fine dating back to 2002.  As for Abbou, he was conditionally released from prison in July 2007 and was prevented from boarding the plane on grounds that he lacked sufficient documentation stating that he was not subject to parole restrictions.  Abbou has been stopped five times in the last year, while attempting to travel. 

In its report, Amnesty International (AI) calls on Iran and Tunisia to lift the travel bans.  AI urged the governments of these states to remember their obligations and dedication to Human Rights, especially in light of the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10.

For more information, please see:

ANSA – Teheran, Impedito Viaggio in Italia Avvocatessa Iraniana [Tehran, Prevents Iranian Lawyer from Traveling to Italy – 12 December 2008 [In Italian]

Menassat – Tunisia: Two Participants to Beirut Free Press Forum Stopped at Airport – 12 December 2008

The Post (Pakistan) – Iran Bars Woman Rights Activist from Leaving – 12 December 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Journalist and Human Rights Lawyer Prevented from Attending Arab Media Forum in Beirut – 12 December 2008

Amnesty International – Human Rights Defenders Barred from Leaving Iran, Tunisia – 11 December 2008

Reuters – Rights Activists Says Barred from Leaving Iran – 11 December 2008