The Middle East

Kuwait To Hold Parliamentary Snap Elections on July 25

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Kuwait is preparing for its sixth round of parliamentary elections in seven years after the Constitutional Court ruled that the parliament’s election in December was unconstitutional based on procedural grounds. The cabinet held an emergency meeting after the country’s top court announced its decision.

Protesters filled the streets after the Constitutional Court upheld changes to the parliamentary voting process. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

“At an extraordinary meeting . . . the cabinet approved a draft decree setting July 25th as the date for parliamentary elections,” Cabinet Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak al-Sabah told Kuwait’s state-run Kuna news agency on Thursday.

Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah is expected to officially announce the decree as he has final say in all state matters. The emir also appoints the prime minister, who in turn has the authority to appoint cabinet members, many of whom are members of Al-Sabah family.

The decree will pit the emir and the Western-backed government against the opposition which includes the Popular Action Bloc, and other liberal and Islamist parties. Although political parties are illegal in Kuwait, the constitution does not prohibit them.

The court ruled the December parliamentary results invalid after a total boycott of the elections by the opposition parties. The opposition parties opposed a controversial new law, which forced voters to choose only one candidate. Voters were previously allowed choose four candidates.

The court upheld the controversial new law, which resulted in protesters flooding the streets of Kuwait City. The opposition parties believe that the new law makes it easier for the government to interfere with elections results and promotes the interests of the ruling party.

Kuwait provides its people more political freedom than most gulf states despite the emir’s ultimate authority. The people have the power to elect the parliament which creates laws and can hold government officials accountable.

The snap election will continue a line of political turmoil that has lasted since 2006. The turn over and lack of consistency in government has resulted in the delay of important economic reform and infrastructure  development in the oil-rich gulf state.

For further information, please see:

ABC – Kuwait Schedules July 25 Parliamentary Election – 20 June 2013

Al Jazeera – Kuwait sets date for elections – 20 June 2013

BBC  – Kuwait cabinet calls snap election on July 25 – 20 June 2013

Kuwait News Agency – Cabinet calls for new elections July 25, 2013 – 20 June 2013

Reuters – Kuwait to hold snap parliamentary election on July 25 – 20 June 2013

 

Iraqi Car Bombs Heighten Fears of Sectarian War

by Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – May 2013, the most violent time period in Iraq since 2008, has activists fearing a pending sectarian war.  The country has recently been plagued with car bombings and shootings causing injury, death, and destruction with nearly two thousand people killed since April.

Deadly car bombs cause death, destruction, and fear in Iraq (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)

In the city of Kut, a parked car bomb exploded causing the death of three people and injuring fourteen.  Another car bomb targeting construction workers outside of the city killed two and injured twelve.

The city of Basra experienced a car bomb explosion to which another one followed shortly resulting in the death of at least five people.  In nearby Aziziyah a car bomb exploding near a Shia mosque killed five and wounded ten. Twelve miles south-east of Baghdad, a roadside bomb followed by a car bomb exploded near the city of Madain.  The explosion wounded fourteen people and killed three.

One witness recalled the chaos following the explosion aftermath, “I saw cars on fire, dead bodies covered with blood, and wounded people lying on the ground screaming for help.  When police arrived, a second blast struck which was more powerful, leaving the street in a state of total destruction.”

Shootings have also caused fear and death amongst the Iraqi people.  In Mosel, gunmen began shooting police officers who were guarding a stretch of oil pipeline, injuring five and killing four. Since 2003, Iraqi Sunnis have rebelled against the Shiite dominated government by crossing into Syria to fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  This tension and distrust eventually caused the “intercommunal strife of 2006-07,” and looks to give rise to another war.

Sectarian tensions between Shiites and Sunnis have been escalating over the last six months.  Martin Kobler, Iraq’s outgoing U.N. envoy has vocalized his concern warning that the violence is “ready to explode.” The Iraqi government continually denies the claim by Sunni activists who accuse Prime Minister Nouri Maliki of discriminating against them.  Sunni protests across Iraq and the lack of control by the Shiite authorities have fueled the fire, claim experts on Iraqi domestic politics.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the devastation, many believe Al Qaeda is involved.  The attacks began just one day after the Iraqi Al Qaeda leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, refused to obey an order from the Al Qaeda head of command to stop claiming control of over the group’s Syrian branch.

Attacks such as car bombs bear a striking resemblance to the methods used by Al Qaeda in Iraq.  Suicide bombers, car bombs, and coordinated attacks on security forces are all staples of the terrorist group.

For more information, please see the following:

National – Iraq violence rises to levels not seen since 2008 – 17 June 2013

Al Bawaba – 20 killed in wave of car bombs across Iraq -16 June 2013

Aljazeera – Deadly blasts rock southern Iraqi cities – 16 June 2013

BBC – Iraq car bombings: Attacks hit mainly Shia cities-16 June 2013

Reuters – Car bombs, shootings kill 30 across Iraq – 16 June 2013

Kurdish Protesters Hope the Occupy Gezi Movement Will Raise Awareness about the Turkish Government History of Violence towards the Nation’s Largest Ethnic Minority

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East Desk

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A small but vocal minority of Kurds participating in the Occupy Gezi movement in Turkey since late May have been taking the opportunity to use the world’s attention on Turkey to raise awareness about the Turkish Government’s history of abuses against the Kurdish population.

Kurdish protesters demonstrate at Gezi Park, Istanbul. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Kurds make up roughly twenty percent of the Turkish population and are a large minority in many of the country’s major cities including Istanbul. The Kurdish population of Turkey is indigenous to the eastern and southeastern regions of the country, near the borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. However, a large percentage of Kurds have fled their indigenous homeland into major Turkish cities in search of employment after Kurdish villages have been destroyed as a result of warfare and large scale infrastructure projects.

The Kurdish population in Turkey has faced decades of persecution from the government, which has launched systematic campaigns to suppress the Kurdish language and cultural expression. Most recently, thousands of Kurdish villagers have been displaced from their homeland as a result of infrastructure projects connected to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (The GAP Project) which is one of the largest hydroelectric infrastructure projects in the world.

The goal of the GAP project is to capitalize on Tigris and Euphrates headwaters which run though the highlands of Eastern Turkey in order to produce hydroelectric power for industrial development. The project involved the construction of 22 major dams which led to the displacement of several predominately Kurdish villages in the region; this inflamed the tensions between the Kurdish people and the government of Turkey.

Emre Elmekci, a Kurdish protester in his mid-twenties hopes that the Occupy Gezi movement will help the Turkish majority and the world understand the persecution and violence that the Kurdish population has faced at the hands of the Turkish population.  According the Elmekci, the violence that has been occurring in the streets of majorly Turkish cities over the past few weeks is “like the state violence that the Kurds have been facing for decades.”

The Turkish government’s violent reaction to the Occupy Gezi movement, a movement that was a reaction to the Turkish government’s design to destroy Istanbul’s last public green space in order to serve economic interests by constructing a commercial shopping center, is similar to the government suppression and displacement of the Kurdish minority in order to support industrial interests in Turkey.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Protesters #OccupyGezi to Save Istanbul Park – 14 June 2013

Al Jazeera – Protesting Kurds Finding Solidarity in Gezi – 12 June 2013

Kurd Net – Turkey’s GAP Project is an Ethnic & Cultural Genocide against Kurds – 31 March 2010

Kurdish Herald – Turkey’s GAP and Its Impact in the Region – September 2009

 

U.S. Concludes Assad Used Chemical Weapons Against Rebels

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Obama administration has confirmed that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against the rebel opposition. The administration also acknowledged that Syria has crossed the “red line”, commonly referred to by President Obama, that would trigger more significant U.S. involvement in the conflict.

U.S. intelligence analysts have determined that chemical weapons have been used against Syrian rebels on a small scale several times. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

American intelligence analysts used physical evidence to conclusively determine that the Assad regime attacked Syrian rebels with the nerve agent sarin. According to a C.I.A. report, hair, blood, and urine samples of two Syrian rebels, one dead and one wounded, tested positive for the toxin after being involved in firefight northeast of Damascus in mid-March.

Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes addressed the media regarding the conclusion.

“Following a deliberative review, our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year,” Rhodes, said in a statement released by the White House on Thursday afternoon. “Our intelligence community has high confidence in that assessment given multiple, independent streams of information.”

“The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition that will involve providing direct support to the Supreme Military Council. That includes military support,” said Rhodes.

Despite acknowledging the U.S. will provide the rebels increased support, the level of support remains unclear. However, President Obama has recently come under fire for approaching the conflict cautiously and this news will undoubtedly lead to more calls for action.

Sen. John McCain, who has been highly critical of the president’s Syria policy, urged the president to implement a no-fly zone and provide the rebels with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. However, McCain was pleased that the administration’s acknowledged the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons, but still he pushed for further action.

“I thank the president for acknowledging that Syrians are using chemical weapons,” McCain said. “Just to provide additional weapons to the Syrian National Army is not enough. We have got to change the equation on the battleground.”

Earlier this week former President Bill Clinton agreed with Senator McCain. Clinton said, “Sometimes it’s best to get caught trying, as long as you don’t overcommit.”

“Some people say, ‘O.K., see what a big mess this is? Stay out!’” Mr. Clinton said. “I think that’s a big mistake.”

President Obama will attend a G-8 meeting next week in Northern Ireland, where the conflict in Syria is expected to be one of the main talking points. Russia, also a G-8 member country, has supported the Syrian government throughout the conflict.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Obama decides to arm Syrian rebels after chemical weapons proof – 13 June 2013

CBS – U.S.: Syria used chemical weapons, crossing “red line” – 13 June 2013

CNN – White House: Syria crosses ‘red line’ with use of chemical weapons on its people – 13 June 2013

New York Times – Syria Has Used Chemical Arms on Rebels, U.S. and Allies Find – 13 June 2013

USA Today – U.S. has determined Syria used chemical weapons – 13 June 2013

Kuwaiti Twitter user convicted to eleven years for criticizing emir

by Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait-Twitter is a social media network which has become popular in recent years for allowing people to post what they think online.  However, the ability to voice one’s opinion via the internet is not always met without repercussions.

Kuwaiti court convicts Twitters users for criticisms against the emir, Sheikh Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)

Huda al-Ajmi, a 37-year-old Kuwaiti teacher, was sentenced to eleven years in jail after posting on twitter comments that were reasoned to be insulting to the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah.

Along with insulting Sheikh Sabah, Huda al-Ajmi was convicted of inciting the overthrow of the regime and misuses of her mobile phone.  She was sentenced to two consecutive five year terms for insulting the emir and one year for insulting an unspecified religious group.

Despite the rarity for woman to serve jail time for political crimes, several Kuwaiti courts have sentenced two female activists to shorter periods in jail for their criticism of the emir.  However, the implementation of the terms was suspended.

Sheikh Sabah, who is “immune and inviolable” under Kuwait’s constitution, has received criticisms from others as well.  Mussallam al-Barrak, a prominent opposition figure, was convicted in April of “undermining” the emir.  He was arrested for remarks he made regarding the emir’s “autocratic” rule.  In May, an appeals court overturned his five-year sentence.

Although Kuwait has not yet experienced the same degree of pro-democracy as has been seen in other Arab states, tensions have been escalating between the ruling Sabah family and the members of parliament.

Kuwait, which allows more freedom of speech than most other Gulf Arab states, has tightened control over its citizens’ use of social media.  Convictions of several other Twitter uses over the past few months have caused anger and protests between police and activists.

U.S. based Human Rights Watch issued a statement in February saying that at least twenty five people have been charged with offending Sheikh Sabah by Kuwaiti prosecutors since October.  Of those twenty five people, at least six were sentenced to time in jail.

Being allies with Kuwait, the United States has considerable interest in these matters.  Due to the rising tension, the United States has urged Kuwait to consider its actions and respect their peoples’ right to freedom of expression.

Huda al-Ajmi’s has become the first woman convicted for criticizing Kuwait’s ruler, and her sentence is the longest sentence of jail time for political crimes issued in Kuwait.  She has yet to be taken into custody and will have the opportunity to appeal the Kuwaiti court’s decision.

For further information, please see: 

Aljazeera – Kuwait to jail woman for tweets against emir – 10 June 2013

BBC – Kuwaiti woman jailed for ‘insulting’ emir tweets – 10 June 2013

Gulf News – Woman gets 11 years in jail for insulting Kuwait emir – 10 June 2013

Reuters – Kuwaiti court gives woman 11 years in jail for insulting emir – 10 June 2013