By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANAA, Yemen – A Yemeni court sentenced 13 Zaydi Shiite rebels to up to 10 years in jail on Monday and another to death after convicting them of forming an armed group to attack the state and civilians.  Fighting between the rebels and government forces have continued in Saada since 2004. Last month 15 people were killed by a bombing outside a mosque.

Jafar al-Murhabi was sentenced to death, but no reason has been given for the much tougher sentence he received compared to the other 13 men.  The defendants were convicted of charges relating to plots to attack Yemeni troop transporters and government buildings, and contaminate water supplies to military bases.

Among those sentenced was journalist Abdel Karim al-Khaywani, editor of the opposition newspaper al-Shura.  Khaywani was sentenced to six years but is appealing the conviction.  Yemen’s union of journalists protested the sentence.

“The court sentence against Khaywani is harsh. We reject and condemn it, and it should be revoked,” said the head of the union, Nasr Taha Mostapha.

The sentence comes just days before an event in London at which Khaywani is in line to win a human rights media award.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Death Sentence for Yemen ‘Rebel’ – 9 June 2008

Reuters – Yemen Court Sentences 13 Rebels to Jail, 1 to Death – 9 June 2008

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CAMP PEDELTON, California – A US military jury acquitted Lt. Andrew Grayson of the charges that he helped cover up the killings of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.  Originally four officers and four enlisted Marines were charged with the murders.  Three of the Marines and two of the officers have had their charges thrown out.  Grayson was the first defendant to go to trial.

Only defendants Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani remain, without a single guilty verdicts or pleas handed down.  The military judge at Wuterich’s preliminary hearing has written that he doubts a conviction is possible because of lack of forensic evidence and unreliable statements by witnesses.  Chessani’s lawyers feel that if their client goes to trial, he too will be found not guilty.

With only two remaining defendants, not a single person has been found responsible for the deaths of the 24 Iraqi civilians.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Marine Cleared over Iraq Killings – 5 June 2008

LA Times – Haditha Case Dwindles with Innocent Verdict – 5 June 2008

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BAGHDAD, Iraq – A suicide car bomb exploded near an American patrol base on June 8, killing one US solider and wounding 20 other people.  18 of the wounded were American soldiers and two were Iraqi contractors.

Iraqi police said the car bomb targeted a U.S. patrol base in a mostly Sunni Arab residential area in Rashad, about 25 miles southwest of Kirkuk.  The suicide attacker rammed his vehicle into blast walls outside the gates of the U.S. base, Qadir said.

According to an Associated Press tally, at least 4,094 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Iraq Suicide Blast Kills US Soldier, Wounds 18 – 8 June 2008

Reuters – Iraq Suicide Bomber Kills U.S. Soldier, Wounds 18 – 8 June 2008

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – On May 5, Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner told Congress that he was reopening his investigation into whether the US Justie Department improperly deported Canadian Maher Arar.  Arar was detained in New York in 2002, during a stopover from Tunisia to Canada.  Arar was deported to his native Syria, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured.

A Justice Department spokesman, Peter A. Carr, said that its inquiry began in March 2007.  The inquiry examined the role of department lawyers in expelling Arar to Syria.  He was transferred to Syria despite requests to for him to be deported to Canada and fears that he would be subjected to torture if he returned to Syria.

In a report, which was heavily redacted, Skinner said that “the assurances upon which INS based Arar’s removal were ambiguous regarding the source or authority purporting to bind the Syrian government to protect Arar.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – US Officials Reopen Case of Wrongly Detained Terror Suspect – 6 June 2008

New York Times- Justice Dept Investigating Deportation to Syria – 6 June 2008

Reuters – U.S. Probes Deporting of Canadian to Syria – 6 June 2008

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INSTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has accused the country’s highest court of violating the constitution by overturning a government move to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves in universities.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party campaigned for re-election last year on a promise to lift a ban on head scarves, claiming the prohibition violated religious and personal freedoms. Upon victory, the government passed constitutional amendments to lift the ban.

On May 5, the court threw out the amendments Thursday, saying they violated Turkey’s secular principles. The decision, which is final, threw up a heavy legal barrier to any further attempts to lift the ban and has deepened the divide between the Islamic-leaning government and secular institutions.

Bulent Arinc, a top member of the AK Party described the decision as grave.  “It gives me goose pimples… The Constitutional Court has indirectly seized the power of parliament,” said Arinc, a former parliament speaker.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Turkey Headscarf Ruling Condemned – 6 May 2008

Associated Press – Turkish Gov’t Scolds High Court on Head Scarf Ban – 6 May 2008

New York Times – Turkey’s High Court Overturns Headscarf Rule – 6 May 2008

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TEL AVIV, Israel – On June 2, the Israeli Supreme Court heard a petition from Gisha, an Israeli human rights group, representing two Gazan students who had their exit permits denied.  The students were granted Fulbright Fellowships to study abroad in Great Britain and Germany but had their requests to leave Gaza denied by Israel.

In its holding, the court criticized the Israeli government for its almost total ban on student travel.  A member of the court stated that Israel’s policy was harming “any chance of coexistence” between the Jewish state and its neighbors in Gaza.  Also, the court stated that the government should review its policy within the next two weeks.  According to Gisha, if Israel does not relax its travel restrictions against Gazans soon, hundreds of students will miss deadlines to pursue studies abroad.

This decision follows the reinstatement of seven students’ Fulbright Fellowships after they were withdrawn on May 30.  These students’ fellowships were briefly deferred as a result of Israel denying them exit visas.  According to officials in the US State Department, the students’ fellowships were reinstated following US intercession.

Sari Bashi, Gisha director, said, “We hope that Israel will listen to the clear message of Secretary of State Rice’s comments regarding the importance of the right to access education and let all Gaza students leave and study abroad.”

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Israel to loosen Limits on Gaza Scholar – 6 May 2008

Associated Press – 4 Fulbright Students Leave Gaza – 5 June 2008

Reuters – Court Tells Israel to Review Gaza Student Travel – 2 June 2008

NEW YORK CITY, United States – Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Egypt to investigate the forced deportation of 30 Sudanese men and boys; 11 were granted refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.  One of the deportees is a 17 year old boy who was provisionally approved for resettlement in Canada.  Forced return to a country where an individual has a well-founded fear of persecution constitutes a breach under international refugee law.

Relatives of the deportees state that on April 19, Egyptian authorities deported 30 Sudanese men and boys to southern Sudan.  According to Egyptian authorities, these individuals were deported because it was suspected that they were a part of a Sudanese gang involved in a fight in early February.  However, family members of some of the deported told HRW that they were neither members of a gang nor present during the fighting.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said “Egyptian authorities need to conduct a credible and transparent investigation to determine whether their forced return amounts to serious abuse and ensure such violations never happen again.”

For more information, please see:

Sudan Tribune – Egypt Deports Southern Sudanese Refugees to Juba – 1 June 2008

AHN – Egypt Deports Sudanese Refugees, HWR Condemns Actions – 31 May 2008

HRW – Egypt: Investigate Forcible Return of Refugees to Sudan – 30 May 2008

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – A young activist and lawyer in Iran became the first man sentenced for participating in a campaign to change laws that discriminate against women.  Amir Yaghoub Ali, 21, was convicted of acting against national security and sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the “Change for Equality” campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.

Ali was detained last July while collecting signatures for the campaign in a park in northern Tehran and spent 29 days in Evin prison before being freed on $20,000 bail.

“Changing discriminatory laws will benefit Iranians and will create a fairer social environment,” Ali said. “Our call for change is considered by the ruling Islamic establishment as crossing the red lines. Authorities don’t want to allow any changes in laws in support of women rights. That’s why they seek to suppress such demands.”

Iran has refused to ratify the UN convention on women’s rights and the country’s senior clerics in Qom, Iran’s main center of Islamic learning, have rejected the convention, calling it un-Islamic.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Iranian Women’s Rights Activists Sentenced – 2 June 2008

Reuters – Iran Jails Man Campaigning for Women’s Rights-Lawyer – 2 June 2008

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BAGHDAD, Iraq – US military deaths in Iraq have fallen to the lowest monthly total since the invasion five years ago.  19 American service members died in Iraq in May, compared to 52 from April.  14 were killed in action and one solider died of wounds inflicted in combat.  Four of the deaths were non-combat related, the US military said.

Accounts for how many Iraqi civilians were killed in May vary, but most estimates put the number at approximately 530, about half of the number as were killed in March and April.

The US military claims that the troop surge was a key factor in limiting the amount of casualties in May.  The ceasefire in early May that stopped the fighting in Sadr City also explains the death reduction.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg News – U.S. Deaths in Iraq in May Were Lowest Since 2003 – 2 June 2008

San Jose Mercury News – U.S. Deaths Hit 5-Year Low in Iraq – 2 June 2008

BBC – US Iraq Deaths ‘At Four Year Low’ – 1 June 2008

L.A. Times – In Iraq, Month Ends With Lowest U.S. Death Toll Yet – 1 June 2008

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ANBAR, Iraq – A suicide bomber killed 10 people at a police checkpoint in western Iraq on May 28 including Iraqi police Lieutenant Colonel Khaleel Abarhim.  The attacker approached the checkpoint in the town of Hit in the Anbar province and detonated an explosives belt he was wearing.  Hit’s administrator, Hikmat Jubeir, said that twelve other people were also wounded.

Iraqi security forces arrested 49 suspects in a sweep following the attacks and detained them on suspicions of links to the bombing.

The suicide bombing came as the Iraqi authorities reported a near 50 percent drop in violence across the embattled nation last month. The US military too said it recorded the lowest monthly toll in May with 19 soldiers killed.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iraqi Troops Arrest 49 After Deadly Bombing – 2 June 2008

Associated Press – Suicide Bomber Kills 10 In Iraq – 31 May 2008

BBC – Iraqi Checkpoint ‘Hit By Bomber’ – 31 May 2008

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

ANKARA, Turkey – On May 29, a Turkish court ordered Lambda Istanbul, a gay association, to close, ruling that it violated public morality and family norms.  The government prosecutor said that Lambda Istanbul violated a constitutional provision on the protection of the family and an article banning bodies “with objectives that violate law and morality.”

The full name of the group is Lambda Istanbul Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestites Solidarity Association.  The alleged breach of morality and family norms occurred when Lambda refused to remove the words describing the sexual orientation or identities of the group’s members.

A member of the association, Baran Ergenc, said “If we take out the words of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transvestites then it is not an association for them.” “The court found the association’s name in violation of public morality.”

Lambda’s lawyer, Firat Soyle stated, “This is a mistake and we hope that the Appeals Court will correct it.”  According to Ergenc, the group is determined to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if Turkey’s Appeals Court upholds the decision by the local court in Istanbul.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Turkish Court Slaps Ban on Homosexual Group – 30 May 2008

BBC – Turkish Gay Group Will Fight Ban – 30 May 2008

FOXNews – Turkish Court Rules Gay Group Violates Public Morality – 30 May 2008

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GAZA CITY, Gaza – Desmond Tutu, ending a three day fact-finding mission in Gaza, called the Israeli blockade an “abomination.”  Tutu traveled to Gaza on a UN fact-finding mission into the 2006 killing of 19 Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun by an Israeli artillery attack.

Tutu denounced international inaction to stop the Israeli blockade of Gaza.  “My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all… Gaza needs the engagement of the outside world, especially its peacemakers.”

British professor Christine Chinkin, traveling with Tutu, stated, “I think what we’ve seen shows plenty of evidence of at least the possibility of war crimes that needs much further independent investigation… I would certainly say the concept of collective punishment in a situation of occupation constitutes the notion of war crimes and possibly of a crime against humanity.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Tutu Blasts International ‘Complicity’ Over Gaza – 29 May 2008

BBC – Tutu: Gaza Blockade Abomination – 29 May 2008

Reuters – UN Envoy Tutu Calls Gaza Blockade Illegal – 29 May 2008

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BEIRUT, Lebanon – On May 25, General Michel Suleiman was elected to be the next president of Lebanon.  He won the votes of 118 MPs in the 128-seat parliament.  In an address to the parliament following his election, Suleiman stated, “I call on you all, political forces and citizens, to build a Lebanon we all agree upon, setting the interests of Lebanon above our individual interests.”

Even though the parliament agreed to elect Suleiman as the next President of Lebanon, the parliament still delayed 19 times.  The delays resulted from disagreements between the March 14 majority and the Shia minority faction led by Hezbollah.  The May 25 election occurred as part of the Doha agreement.

Following the election, the March 14 majority unanimously nominated Fouad Siniora to return as the Lebanese Prime Minister.  On May 29, President Suleiman appointed Siniora  as Prime Minister and asked him to form a government.

For more information, please see:

The Daily Star – Some analysts see Doha as Stopgap solution to Lebanon’s Crisis– 28 May 2008

International Herald Tribune – Lebanon’s Sinora Set to Lead New Government – 27 May 2008

Ya Lebanon – Hollow Victory to Lebanon – 27 May 2008

(London) Times – Gunfire Welcomes Lebanon’s New Leader, General Michel Suleiman – 26 May 2008