TEHRAN, Iran – Hundreds of Iranians have signed an open letter calling for women’s rights defender Khadijeh Moghaddam to be released.  Moghaddam was arrested on April 8 on charges of acting against national security.  She is involved in the drive to gather one million signatures opposing laws that discriminate against women.  She is also an environmental activist.  Bail was set at one billion rials (108,000 dollars).  The letter was sent to newspapers and websites across Iran.

The letter was signed by over 600 people and demanded that Khadijeh Moghaddam’s “illegal detention” end as soon as possible.  The letter said, “Moghaddam is a pioneer in environmental protection in Iran,” the letter said, noting her cooperation with city officials over waste management and protests against deforestation.  “She has been active for years in creating jobs for women and forming women’s cooperatives,” it added. “Who would believe Moghaddam has harmed national security or caused public offence?”

Amnesty International said they believed Moghaddam was arrested solely for her work to increase the support for equal rights for Iranian women.  Several women have been jailed for their involvement in the campaign as Iran has stepped up arrests of human rights campaigners and trade unionists over the past year.  One of the campaign’s leaders, Parvin Ardalan, was barred from leaving Iran in March to collect a prestigious Swedish rights award, the Olof Palme Prize.  She won the award for her contributions to the women’s rights movement.

For more information, please see:
Radio Free Europe – Iran: Arrests, Jailings of Political and Rights Activists Continue – 14 April 2008

AFP – Iran Activists Protest Feminist’s Arrest – 12 April 2008

BBC – Iran Pressed to Free Campaigner – 12 April 2008

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

NAHAL OZ, Israel – On April 9, Gazan militants attacked the Nahal Oz Terminal, which provides Gaza with most of its fuel supplies.  Shortly following a delivery, two militants launched mortar shells at the terminal’s fuel depot, while two others climbed over the border fence.  Once in Israel, the militants shot and killed two Israeli contractors.  Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers responded quickly and arrived at the crossing within minutes.  IDF engaged the militants and killed two, while two others were able to escape.

Shortly following the raid, an IDF air strike targeted a vehicle carrying the fleeing militants.  In addition, a subsequent Israeli air strike targeted a militant’s house in Gaza City.  In total, at least eight Palestinians were killed in the strikes.  Some of those killed were four civilians, including a 15 year old boy.

Following the raid at the Nahal Oz Terminal, Israel closed the crossing, effectively stopping all fuel deliveries to Gaza.  The spokesman for the Israeli military liaison office with Gaza, Shady Yassim stated that “Its opening will depend on the security evaluation.”  Israel did not ship fuel on April 10, and at least two Israeli ministers said that Israel should cut if off completely following the attack.

Three Palestinian groups, including the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the attack.  “The target was a Zionist army base and the aim was to abduct soldiers to swap them for Palestinian prisoners,” said Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the PRC.

While the attack was claimed by the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, Israel placed sole responsibility on Hamas.  “Hamas clearly controls the Gaza Strip. They are directly responsible for this attack and we will hold them accountable,” said Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

A Foreign Ministry statement said “Israel considers the ruling Hamas in the Gaza Strip the sole party responsible for today’s terror attack at the Nahal Oz Terminal. Hamas bears responsibility and will also bear the consequences.”

The attack follows several weeks of uneasy peace between Israel and Gaza, where Palestinian rocket attacks and IDF operations have decreased amid Egypt’s efforts to broker a ceasefire.  However, the Associated Press states that Hamas has expressed impatience with Egypt’s failure to forge a cease-fire and repeatedly accused the world of ignoring the plight of Gazans.

Instead of, or in addition to, violence, many Gazans are peacefully demonstrating to attract international attention to their plight.  On April 10, hundreds of Gazans gathered at major junctions in Gaza City to protest against the Israeli blockade and accompanying economic sanctions.  In addition, a mass demonstration has been called for on April 11.

In related news, prior to the Nahal Oz Terminal attack, one IDF soldier and one Hamas militant were killed during an IDF raid in southern Gaza near Khan Younis.  An Israeli army spokeswoman stated that ten Palestinians were arrested during the raid and brought to Israel.  IDF stated that the raid was in response to shooting near the border and to prevent future attacks.

For more information, please see:
AFP – Israel Threatens Retaliation After Gaza Violence – 10 April 2008

Associated Press – Gaza Gunmen Kill 2 in Southern Israel – 10 April 2008

The Independent – Hamas Blamed After Two Israelis Killed at Fuel Depot – 10 April 2008

International Herald Tribune – Gaza Fuel Depot Closed After Militants from Gaza Kill Two Israelis in Border Attack – 10 April 2008

Jerusalem Post – Israel Closes Nahal Oz Crossing Following Terror Attack – 10 April 2008

Middle East Online – Israel Says to ‘Settle the Score’ with Hamas – 10 April 2008

The Telegraph – Two Israelis Die in Battle at Fuel Depot – 10 April 2008

Al Jazeera – Palestinians in Cross-Border Raid – 9 April 2008

BBC – Gaza Gunmen Attack Border Depot – 9 April 2008

MAHALLA AL-KUBRA, Egypt- In the Northern Delta town, Egyptian police arrested nine journalists and activists.  The people in the city were roused because of the escalating food prices.  The rising prices combined with the low wages has made it more difficult for the people to survive.  According to Yahoo news, the bread price in Egypt has risen by 48% in the past year.  The journalists were covering the events related to the Egyptian opposition movement Kefaya.

The group is calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down from power.  President Mubarak has ruled Egypt since former President Anwar Sadat’s assassination.  President Mubarak has received much criticism because his expansion of presidential powers because of the state of emergency that has existed since Sadat’s assassination in 1981.  In his desire to quell possible threats to the national peace he has arrested many members of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Coptic Christians.  His tactics have disenfranchised him from many Egyptians.

The Kefaya have incited riots in the area.  There have been over 300 people arrested and one person killed during the two days of protests in the city.  One of the people arrested was the former chief of the Kefaya movement, Ishaq.  The Kefaya group believes that the government sought to employ “agents” that were used “to create chaos and justify the massacre.”  (AFP) They believe that the police have responded with disproportional force.

Unlike the protesters, the journalists were freed.

For more information, please see:

Afriquenligne-  Egyptian govt arrests 9 Journalists as media workers groan- 13 April 2008

AFP- Egypt opposition movement protests wave of arrests- 10 April 2008

The Media Line- Egypt Releases “Riot Journalists”- 13 April 2008

Yahoo News!-  Egypt bread price up nearly 50 percent in 12 months- 12 April 2008

By Ben Turner
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AMMAN, Jordan – On April 8, Humans Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that said the CIA transferred at least 14 terror suspects to Jordan for interrogation after the September 11, attacks.

The 36-page report documents how Jordan’s General Intelligence Department (GID) served as a proxy jailer and interrogator for the US from 2001 until at least 2004.  The report alleges that the GID systematically tortured the prisoners, commonly using a torture method falaqa, a method by which the prisoners are given extended beatings on the bottoms of their feet.

“The Bush administration claims that it has not transferred people to foreign custody for abusive interrogation,” said Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. “But we’ve documented more than a dozen cases in which prisoners were sent to Jordan for torture.”

The report was based largely on firsthand information from Jordanian former prisoners who were detained with the non-Jordanian terrorism suspects and details eight previously unknown cases of rendition.  None are known to have been charged with a criminal offense.

One of the rendered prisoners, Ali al-Hajj al-Sharqawi, provided a handwritten note which he wrote while in Jordanian custody in 2002.  In the note, al-Sharqawi says that GID interrogators beat him “in a way that does not know any limits.”  The note continues, “They threatened me with electricity, with snakes and dogs …. [They said] we’ll make you see death . . . They threatened to rape me.”

The Jordanian government denied HRW’s allegations.  The Jordanian Minister of State for Information and Communications Nasser Joudeh said the report “was wrong, untrue and was based on individual allegations and conclusions based on non-objective grounds” Jordanian newspapers reported on April 9.

“Jordan is undergoing an intentional slander campaign by members of terrorism groups who were trained to provide rights groups with false information to undermine anti-terrorism efforts,” Joudeh said.

The CIA declined to comment on the report.  “The agency does not, as a rule, comment publicly on allegations of specific rendition activities,” spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.  Gimigliano did, however, defend renditions as a “lawful, valuable tool.”

“They have been used for years to take terrorists off the streets,” he said. “The United States does not transport individuals for the purpose of torture, and has no interest in any process that would produce bad intelligence.”

U.S. officials have acknowledged flying up to 150 of the most serious suspected terrorists secretly from one country to another, but have said they received diplomatic assurances from foreign authorities that they would not be tortured.

The HRW report said that at least five Yemenis, three Algerians, two Saudis, a Mauritanian, a Syrian, a Tunisian, and one or more Chechens from Russia were rendered to Jordan.  According to the report, five of them are now in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

For more information, please see:
Associated Press – HRW: CIA Sent 14 Suspects to Jordan – 9 April 2008

Reuters – Jordan Denies Report on CIA Renditions – 9 April 2008

Human Rights Watch – US/Jordan: Stop Renditions to Torture – 8 April 2008

UPI – Report Alleges U.S. ‘Renditions’ to Jordan – 8 April 2008

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A new study, conducted by Istanbul Bilgi University and the Open Society Justice Initiative, concluded that less than 10 percent of criminal defendants in Turkey are represented by a lawyer.  The report is based on empirical data collected from over 600 case files opened in 2000-2001 and closed before 2005.  In addition, the researchers observed 173 court proceedings in Istanbul courts and interviewed over 75 criminal justice actors.

The report, Alone in the Courtroom: Accessibility and Impact of Criminal Legal Aid before Istanbul Courts, found that approximately 75 percent of criminal defendants sentenced to prison were never represented by a lawyer and that in less than 8 percent of the cases were lawyers present at the police interrogations.

Turkey’s Code of Criminal Procedure requires that free legal aid be provided to all criminal defendants, regardless of financial standing.  However, the report finds that only less than 2 percent of defendants exercise this right.  One of the likely causes is that there is a lack of awareness among defendant’s about their right to free legal aid.

For more information, please see:
Open Society Justice Initiative – New Report from Turkey Finds Accused Lack Legal Representation – 6 April 2008

Open Society Justice Initiative – Alone in the Courtroom: Accessibility and Impact of Criminal Legal Aid before Istanbul Courts – June 2007