By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A recent wave of car bombs left at least 51 people dead and more than 200 wounded in mostly-Shia neighborhoods in cities across Iraq after 18 car bombs were detonated on Monday.

The majority of the attacks were carried out in Baghdad, the nation’s capital. Explosives were also detonated in the cities of Kut, Basra, Tikrit, Smawa and Muthanna Providence. The attacks targeted Shia communities and populated centers including a hospital, a bus station, a restaurant and several markets.

Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki has tightened security in the nation’s capital in response to fears that more bombs have yet to be detonated. There were long lines at checkpoints in Baghdad as the security services searched vehicles for explosives.

While there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s attacks, they have largely been seen as an attempt to widen the gap between Iraq’s Shia and Sunni communities. The Iraq Interior Ministry has placed blame on Al-Qaida and accused the terror organization of trying to widen the rift between Sunnis and Shiites. Following the attacks, the United Nations envoy to Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin called for an end to the senseless bloodshed because the violence could push Iraq back into a sectarian war, saying, “Iraq is bleeding from random violence, which sadly reached record heights during the holy month of Ramadan.”

According to the United Nations, more than 2,500 Iraqis have been killed in attacks since April of this year, the surge in violence marks the highest level of violence since U.S. military forces pulled out of Iraq in 2011.

The surge in violence since April followed a violent crackdown by Iraqi security forces on a Sunni protest camp which left more than 40 civilians dead. Sunnis across the country have protested the Shia led government of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, claiming an unfair distribution of power and discrimination against the Sunni minority. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the country was under the control of the Sunni minority until the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003. While the violence level in Iraq remains below the peak levels it reached during the height of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007 violence remains at its highest levels since 2008, bombings remain common and at least 700 people are believed to have been killed in July.

The recent surge in violence has largely been under-covered by American media outlets, likely as a result of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region. However, The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad condemned the attacks, saying that United States “stands firmly with Iraq in its fight against terrorism.”

For further information please see:

Al-Jazeera – Deadly Wave of Car Bombs Strikes Iraq – 29 July 2013

Associated Press – Wave of Car Bombings in Iraq Kills at Least 58 – 29 July 2013

BBC News – Iraq Violence: Wave of Beadly Car Bombs Targets Shias – 29 July 2013

The Guardian – Baghdad Car Bombs Kill Dozens – 29 July 2013

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

HOMS, Syria – Syrian armed forces are blocking the entry of food and medical supplies to civilians trapped in the old city of Homs.  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed last Friday that it has been attempting to negotiate a humanitarian pause to deliver much needed supplies to the city.

President Assad’s forces have been laying siege to the city in a heavy offensive against rebel forces.  The ICRC has warned that “tragic” consequences are possible should there not be a break in the fighting.

“We have been trying, for close to 20 days now, to bring medical supplies and other aid to the old city of Homs,” Magne Barth, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, said in a statement issued in Geneva.

“Despite lengthy negotiations with both sides, and three trips back and forth between Damascus and Homs, we have still not received the go-ahead from the Syrian authorities,” he said.

Homs was the birthplace of the revolution against the Assad government and has seen some of the fiercest fighting since that war began in 2011.  It is believed that two thousand people are trapped in the city.

The international laws of war require that the parties to a conflict provide for the rapid safe passage of humanitarian aid to civilians.

“They must also allow civilians in areas besieged by fighting to leave for safer areas, should they wish to do so. Regrettably, these obligations are not always fulfilled,” the ICRC said.

Despite the ongoing struggle in Homs, the ICRC has seen success in other parts of the country.

In what has been termed as the “Food for Freedom” deal, eighty rebels were released from the central prison in Aleppo in exchange for the safe passage of food supplies into the city.

Additionally, over the last two weeks aid deliveries have been permitted to feed the five thousand prisoners held there.  The city had reportedly been facing a severe food shortage.

The agreements were facilitated by the Syrian Red Crescent, an aid organization that works closely with the ICRC.  The two organizations have supplied food to over two-hundred thousand people this month.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Red Cross: Syria regime blocking aid to Homs – 25 July 2013

Arab News –Assad govt blocking access to needy in Homs – Red Cross  – 25 July 2013

Fox News –ICRC condemns Syria blockades – 25 July 2013

Reuters – Syrian authorities blocking access to needy in Homs – 25 July 2013

Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Marte Deborah Dalelv, an interior designer from Norway who was given a 16 months in prison sentence after she reported to Dubai police that she was raped while in Dubai on business last March was granted a pardon by the United Arab Emirates’ prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The 24-year-old had been charged with the crimes of having extramarital sex, drinking alcohol, and perjury after she reported the attack. Her alleged attacker, who received a 13 months sentence, was also pardoned.

The pardon follows cries of outrage from the international community for the charges to be dropped. Her sentence has been condemned by the Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide who said that the court’s ruling “flies in the face of our notion of justice” and was “highly problematic from a human rights perspective.”  He also criticized Dubai’s legal system, which allows the victims of rapes and other violent assaults to be punished for being victimized, saying, “[i]t seems very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world is not even a crime.”

The 24-year old reported the incident to police, believing she would find help. Immediately following the alleged incident, Dalelv fled the scene and asked the hotel staff at the lobby desk to contact the police. Before contacting the police, the staff asked her if she was sure she wanted to involve the police in the situation. Dalelv reportedly said, “[o]f course I want to call the police,” in dealing with the incident because that was “the natural reaction” where she is from.

While the UAI attracts large numbers of western expatriates and tourists each year because of its modern cities and lifestyle, the state maintains little-publicised conservative laws regarding sexual activity and alcohol consumption. As a result, western women, like Dalelv, encounter legal trouble when reporting their rapes to police, believing they will be treated victims instead of being treated as criminals.

In January 2010, a British woman reported that she had been raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel was charged with public intoxication and having extramarital sexual intercourse. In December 2012, a British woman who reported being gang raped by three men in Dubai was found guilty of unlicensed alcohol consumption and received a fine. And in 2008, an Australian woman was convicted of having sex outside of marriage and of drinking alcohol, receiving an 11 month sentence, after she reported to police that she had been drugged and gang-raped. Emirati women fear going to police to report sexual violence for the same reasons. Three years ago, an 18-year-old Emirati woman who reported that she had been gang-raped by six men including a police officer was sentenced to a year in prison.

Human rights groups have criticized the Gulf State’s history for criminalizing the victims of rape; Human Rights Watch has called Dubai’s record on handling rape cases, which has led to a fear of reporting rape, “shameful.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Dubai Ruler Pardons Norwegian Woman Convicted after She Reported Rape – July 22, 2013

Los Angeles Times – Norwegian Who Reported Rape in Dubai ‘Pardoned’ But Laws Still Target Victims – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – UAE Pardons and Frees Norwegian Rape Victim – July 22, 2013

Al Jazeera – Expat Appeals UAE Sentence after Rape Charge – July 19, 2013

BBC – Dubai Sentences Norwegian Woman Who Reported Rape – July 19, 2013

Huffington Post – Marte Deborah Dalelv, Alleged Norwegian Rape Victim, Sentenced To 16 Months Jail In Dubai For Sex Outside Of Marriage – July 19, 2013

USA Today – Norwegian Convicted over Rape Report Issues Gulf Caution – July 19, 2013