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Maduro Enraged by Negative Television Portrayal

By Delisa N. Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – While there hasn’t been much uproar in North America concerning the new TNT spy drama “Legends”, Venezuelan officials are enraged.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photo courtesy of Telegraph Co. UK.

Venezuelan officials are denouncing the show for portraying the socialist government stockpiling chemical weapons such as nerve gas to dispel protesters.  

The show has caused such a rift in the South American country that the telecommunications commission opened an investigation on Tuesday into the series.  The episode in dispute details a character that fingers President Maduro and the socialist party as purchasers of chemical weapons.  On Monday, the script was called hostile and ‘imperialist’ by the Minister of Information, Delcy Rodriguez.

The shows producer, Fox 21, has publicly apologized and detailed that the show was just fictional.

“The producers did not intend to imply that the show was reporting any actual events when it mentioned President Maduro’s name.  We sincerely apologize to President Maduro,”  stated the company.  

The episode in question is titled “Lords of War”, during which the main character intensely questions a terrorist about who was purchasing his chemical weapons.  After a drawn out bout the terrorist leaks the name of President Maduro and the PSUV (the made up socialist party acronym).  The terrorist goes on to say that the President and his socialist group are worried about civil unrest in Venezuela.

This past spring Venezuela was often in the news due to many of the country’s peaceful protests turned violent.  While President Maduro has been cited for violating several human rights in his harsh tactics to quell protestors, chemical weapons were never used.

On her personal twitter page, Rodriguez denounced the script, stating the brief scene had  “lies and manipulation” that were a part of a “Hollywood-type script typical in its imperialist actions against legitimate governments.”

The show, “Legends”, debuted in August only scoring a 58% on “Rotten Tomatoes.”  The show stars Sean Bean, who was famously killed off in the first season of “Game of Thrones”, as an undercover FBI agent.

The investigation currently holds no clear path, and it is unclear what the governments investigation will consist of.  On Tuesday, critics of the socialist government released 20-second versions of the clip with the heading, “the scene Maduro doesn’t want you to see.”

Venezuela has been in the eye of the US entertainment industry a few times before.  Other quells with the entertainment sector include a video game claimed to seek overthrowing former President Hugo Chavez, and portrayals of the country as a lawless place for escaped criminals on other network dramas.

So far no official repercussions have followed these incidents.

For more information please see,

ABC News – Venezuela Rails Against Portrayal in US Spy Drama – 2 September 2014

the guardian – Venezuela Outcry as US Drama Maligns Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – 2 September 2014

The Washington Times – Venezuela Rails Against Portrayal in US Spy Drama – 2 September 2014

Reuters – Venezuela Blasts U.S. TV Show Over Maduro Nerve Gas Plot – 2 September 2014

Call for Papers

Impunity Watch Law Journal at Syracuse University College of Law serves as both a law review and news outlet, with our interactive website serving as our primary publication platform. The goal of our web-based presence is to immediately alert the world to impunity issues as they arise and to provide open access to thoughtful, cutting-edge academic debate about impunity issues. In addition to our online presence, we publish a print copy of our journal every spring in our annual review.

Impunity Watch was created in 2007 by Professor David Crane, the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Our website is read in over 212 different countries and territories, and some of our reports have been cited by BBC, CNN, and notable international blogs. Impunity Watch is also included in the U.S. Library of Congress database.

For our 2015 publication, we are seeking original scholarly works that provide insight or commentary on contemporary human rights and impunity issues. Preference will be given to pieces of reasonable length (no longer than 25,000 words) that utilize footnotes that are formatted in accordance with The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010).

 

Submissions should be e-mailed to Bridget Kehm, Managing Editor:          bkehm@syr.edu

Our 2014 publication can be found at:

https://impunitywatch.com/journal/

 

Hamas Executes 18 Palestinians Suspected of Collaborating with Israel

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GAZA CITY, GAZA – Hamas has executed 18 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel.  The executions come one day after Israel killed three of Hamas’ top military commanders in an airstrike on a house in southern Gaza Strip.  The killings suggest an attempt to by Hamas to deter any future collaboration with Israel.

Palestinians watch outside of a mosque in Gaza as seven alleged Israel collaborators are executed by masked gunmen. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Early Friday 11 people were killed, but whereabouts of the execution is uncertain.  Reports vary, claiming that the executions took place in the Gaza City police headquarters, an abandoned police station outside of Gaza, or in a public park in Gaza City.  These 11 were allegedly already sentenced to death for collaborating with Israel.

Seven more alleged collaborators were executed publicly in a central Gaza square later on Friday.  Masked gunmen dressed in black shot the victims outside a mosque after prayers had ended.  The victims had their heads covered and their hands tied.  Video footage showed blood running down the streets as children watched.

“The spies had their heads covered and were sitting by the wall outside the mosque,” said a witness at the mosque, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “There were about 20 masked gunmen in the area. One of them said loudly that the death sentence is going to be carried out against seven collaborators.”

“They did not mention their names,” he added. “They shot them after that and then the militants left. People were shouting, God is great.”

Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland, reporting from West Jerusalem, said Israel’s intelligence services rely, in part, on informers to pinpoint the whereabouts of Hamas leaders.

“Israel has a long and successful history of recruiting collaborators and informers both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, and they do so through a variety of different means: sometimes it is financial inducements; other times it is blackmail, bullying, threats, promises [and] maybe intimidating family members,” Rowland said.

The killings are reminiscent of executions that took place during Israel last Gaza offensive in 2012.  During that period at least seven vigilante executions took place, including one of a handcuffed man identified as Ashraf Ouaida.  Quaida’s bloody body was left beneath a billboard with a sign indicating that he aided in the killing of 15 Palestinian leaders.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Hamas executes 18 suspected informers – 22 August 2014

BBC –  Gaza: Hamas says 18 suspected informants executed – 22 August 2014

Haaretz – Hamas executes 18 ‘collaborators’ in Gaza – 22 August 2014

NY Times – Gazans Suspected of Collaborating With Israel Are Executed – 22 August 2014

Reuters – Gaza gunmen execute ‘collaborators’; mortar kills Israeli boy – 22 August 2014

United Nations Announces Panel to Probe War Crimes Allegations in Gaza

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor

Gaza City, Gaza – The United Nations Human Right Council has named three experts to an international commission of inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed by both the Israeli government and Hamas during Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. statement announcing the formation of the panel said the independent team will investigate “all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law” in the context of the military operations that have been conducted since 13 June 2014.

The Untied Nations has appointed a panel of experts to report on alleged war crimes committed in Gaza during Israel’s military offence against Hamas. the panel is to report to the Untied Nations Human Rights council by March 2015. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law was appointed to lead the panel. Critics have called Schabas anti-Israel and have complained that his leadership may lead to a bias investigation. Schabas has reportedly made several statements criticizing Israel leadership in the past and once declared, “My favorite would be Netanyahu within the dock of the International Criminal Court.” However, Schabas has written off critics saying that any suggestion that he is somehow anti-Israel is absurd. He said, “I have opinions like everybody else about the situation in Israel,” he said. “They may not be the same as Hillel Neurer’s [head of the Geneva based group U.N. Watch] or Benjamin Netanyahu’s, that’s all.”

The other members of the panel included Doudou Diene, a Senegalese veteran U.N. human rights expert and Amal Alamuddin, a British-Lebanese lawyer engaged to actor George Clooney. However, Alamuddin has denied that she would participate in the inquiry and it is not yet known who will replace her.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on July 31 that she believed that the Israel government was deliberately defying international law in its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza. She also said that she believes world powers should hold Israel accountable for these violations.

So far the Israeli military has attacked schools, hospitals and homes as well as Gaza’s only power plan, which provides critical energy to the regions civilian population. Hamas militants in Gaza have also violated human rights by firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel territory, Pillay said.

The Israel government has dismissed the inquiry led by the Human Rights Council as a “kangaroo court.” In a statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor issued a statement dismissing the UN inquiry. He stated that in the view of the Israeli government the “the Human Rights Council had long ago turned into the ‘terrorist rights council’ and a kangaroo court, whose ‘investigations’ are pre-determined.”

Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in Gaza said that “Hamas welcomes the decision to form an investigation committee into the war crimes committed by the occupation against Gaza and it urges that it begin work as soon as possible.”

The armed-conflict in Gaza has killed 1,938A Palestinians and 67 Israelis and has devastated large tracks in the densely populated Gaza Strip, damaging civilian property and leaving thousands of Palestinian Civilians displaced.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – Israel Braces For War Crimes Inquiries on Gaza – 14 August 2014

Al Jazeera – UN Names Gaza War Crimes Probe Panel – 12 August 2014

Israel National News – UN Gaza Probe Head: Me? Anti-Israel? – 12 August 2014

Reuters – U.N. Names Panel To Probe War Crimes in Gaza; Israel Slams It – 12 August 2014

IHRDC Releases Report on Apostasy in the Islamic Republic of Iran

July 30, 2014

Apostasy_Cover_Thumb_801567951(New Haven) — Today, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) released a detailed report, Apostasy in the Islamic Republic of Iran, explaining the jurisprudential as well as the legal context in which apostasy cases are prosecuted in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report takes an in-depth look at a number of apostasy cases involving a diverse range of defendants, and provides an account of the legal and religious issues raised in each case. A full version of the report is accessible here.

Although apostasy is punishable by death in Iran, the Islamic Republic has never codified the crime of apostasy. Instead, relying on the Iranian Constitution, the Islamic Penal Code authorizes the enforcement of certain Islamic laws known as hodud crimes even when the crime is not specifically mentioned in the criminal code. The fact that apostasy is not explicitly proscribed by the Iranian legal framework, and the differences in interpretations of Islamic law regarding apostasy, contribute to a lack of legal certainty for those living under Iranian laws.

Apostasy in the Islamic Republic of Iran relies on witness interviews, media reports and court documents to demonstrate how Iranian authorities have handled apostasy cases. This report also describes how the Iranian government violates its international obligations with respect to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the right to life.

“Religious freedom has been a pressing human rights issue in Iran since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979. The Iranian government has systematically discriminated against Christian converts, Bahá’ís, Sunni Muslims and others,” said Gissou Nia, the Executive Director of IHRDC. “Apostasy in the Islamic Republic of Iran looks at religious persecution from a different angle and contributes to a better understanding of this topic.”

The Persian translation of the report and full testimonies of witnesses interviewed for the report will be published in upcoming weeks.

For further information, please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: GNia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: +1 203 654 9342