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German Intelligence Delegates Will Visit White House to Discuss Spying

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States –  The National Security Agency (NSA) has been listening in on calls made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the past ten years according to German Language news service Der Spiegel. Chancellor Merkel, outraged by the news, summoned the US ambassador for the first time in decades.

In response to news of NSA spying, officials from Germany and France have asked the United States to sign a no spying deal by the end of the year. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

German government spokesman Georg Streiter announced that officials from Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies will be traveling to the United States to talk with White House and NSA officials sometime in the near future.

“We are seeking a basis for cooperation between our [intelligence] services, which we all need and from which we have all received a great deal of information … that is transparent, that is clear and is in keeping with the character of being partners,” Merkel said.

European Union leaders, angry over allegations of widespread NSA spying, have reluctantly agreed to maintain their partnership with the United States.  Analysts suspect France and Germany may be seeking an arrangement similar to the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing agreement the United States has had with the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada since just after World War II.

News of Chancellor Merkel’s phone calls being bugged is just one of several reports that surfaced last week detailing widespread NSA spying.  Headlines in European newspapers this past week have included allegations that the NSA has been spying on millions of French citizens. Additionally, a British newspaper says it has obtained a confidential memo detailing NSA spying on 35 foreign leaders back in 2006.

A statement released by EU leaders Friday warned that “[a] lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence-gathering.”

President Obama ordered a review of U.S. surveillance programs after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents detailing widespread spying operations that outraged US citizens.

For more information, please see:

NBC News – US spied on German leader Merkel’s phone since 2002: report – 26 October 2013

Times of India – German spy chiefs to head to US for talks – 26 October 2013

ABC News – Germany, France Want US to Agree to Curb Spying – 25 October 2013

BBC News – Top German spy chiefs to go to Washington for talks – 25 October 2013

TIME – Germans Coming to U.S. On Heels of Snooping Reports – 25 October 2013

Yemen: Father Burns 15-year-old Daughter to Death for Contacting Fiancé

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen – A fifteen-year-old Yemeni girl was burned to death by her father after he caught her contacting her fiance before their wedding. Prosecutors intend to press charges against her thirty-five-year-old father, who was arrested in the remote village of Shabaa, in Taiz province.

Child brides are popular in Yemen and have attracted widespread criticism from international human rights groups. (Photo Courtesy of Corbis)

“The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext that his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance,” the police website said on Tuesday, giving no further details.

Local news websites have reported that the father had caught the pair talking on the phone.

In some parts of Yemen it is traditional tribal custom to prevent men and women from contacting each other before marriage. Tribal loyalties run deep in the impoverished Arabian peninsula nation and often take precedence over the writ of the central government.

Yemeni women are generally accorded a low status in the family and community. Women often find themselves subject to of various forms of violence, deprivation of education, early and forced marriages, sexual abuse, restrictions over freedom of movement, forced pregnancy, and female genital mutilation. Killings of daughters, wives or sisters to punish perceived breaches of family honor are not uncommon.

Last year, the UN Human Rights council raised concerns about so-called “honor killings” in the country. Perpetrators were not charged with murder, and faced only a six-month to one-year prison sentence, it found.

In 2010, the Yemen Social Affairs Ministry released a report that stated more than 25 percent of the country’s females marry before the age of fifteen. It is a traditional tribal belief that younger brides are more easily molded in desirable and obedient wives.

The country previously required individuals to be at least fifteen-years-old before they could be married, but in the 1990s the law was annulled. The current policy is that parents should decided when their daughters are to be married. This scenario allows impoverished families to marry away their daughters at young ages for compensation sometimes reaching into the hundreds of dollars.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Yemeni 15-year-old girl burned to death for ‘meeting fiance’ – 23 October 2013

BBC – Yemeni ‘burns daughter to death for contacting fiance’ –  23 October 2013

Daily Mail – Yemeni father burns his daughter, 15, to death for keeping in touch with her fiance –  23 October 2013

Reuters – Yemeni burns daughter to death for contacting fiance: police – 23 October 2013

‘No Need’ to Hang Iranian Criminal for a Second Time

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi ruled that there is “no need” for a man who survived a hanging to be hanged a second time. Lawyers and human rights activists lobbied the head of the judiciary to prevent a repeat hanging after the man was found alive in a morgue.

Human rights groups believe that Iran is behind only China in the number of people it executes each year. (Photo Courtesy of AFP)

Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi reasoned that executing the man would have negative repercussions against Iran’s image, the ISNA news agency reported. Iran’s government had no direct control over the decision as the power fell directly with the judiciary.

One senior judge, Nourollah Aziz-Mohammadi, argued that the law required that the convict must die.

“When a convict is sentenced to death, he must die after the sentence is carried out,” Aziz-Mohammadi said. “Now that he is alive, we can say the sentence was not carried out and must be repeated.”

The 37-year-old convicted drug smuggler, named as Alireza M, was hanged at a jail in the north-eastern city of Bojnord last week. He had been left to hang for 12 minutes and was declared dead by a doctor. It was not until the next day that he was discovered alive in the morgue when his family came to retrieve his body. Alireza was taken to a Bojnord hospital, where he is reportedly in a coma and under armed guard.

Last week, Amnesty International and other human rights activists urged Iran to spare Alireza based upon international laws against cruel and unusual punishment. Amnesty International estimates that Iran has executed at least 508 people this year alone and has called for a moratorium on all executions in Iran.

“The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program.

For further information, please see:

ABC – Iran Minister Says No Need to Re-Hang Convict – 22 October 2013

BBC – Iran minister says ‘no need’ to hang criminal again –  22 October 2013

Washington Post – Iran says ‘no need’ to finish off convict who survived his hanging –  22 October 2013

Reuters – Hope for Iranian who survived botched hanging as sharia expert doubts ruling – 19 October 2013

Chinese Police Open Fire on Peaceful Protesters in Tibet

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Chinese police opened fire on a crowd of Tibetan residents gathered in protest of the detention of a fellow villager who refused to comply with orders to display the national flag. Reports indicate that at least 60 people were injured.

An activist holds up a “Free Tibet” banner in protest. (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

Although the use of force by police to disperse unwanted crowds of protesters is common in China, shooting into crowds and causing mass injury has garnered global attention. According to the London-based Free Tibet organization, police aggressively fired at the crowd with tear gas and bullets. Local government officials have yet to comment on the incident.

Security forces had been deployed in mass beginning October 1 in response to reports that local authorities were struggling contain unrest surrounding a government order that all houses must display the national flag in commemoration of National Day. Government teams reported to the Biru region of Tibet in order to compel villagers to follow the order.

China has claimed Tibet as its own territory for centuries, but Tibetans claim that the region was an independent nation until Chinese communist soldiers began to occupy the territory in the 1950s.

The protests began after government officials detained local resident Dorje Draktsel, who was arrested last week for protesting the flag order.

The self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile, based in India, said it has received reports of the firing in Biru, but had little information surrounding the incident. Spokesman Tashi Phuntsok said that the exiled Tibetans had heard protesters were injured, but did not know how many.

Many Tibetans, who resent the Chinese government’s crackdown on Tibetan and Buddhist culture, believe that Beijing’s economic policies in the Himalayan region have largely benefited Chinese migrants, at the expense of Tibetan natives. China, in return, says it has made vast investments to boost the region’s economy and improve Tibetans’ quality of life.

Tensions in the region have increased since protests were organized in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March of 2008. Then, approximately 20 people were killed, followed by another 100 people, mostly Buddhist monks, who committed suicide in protest against Chinese colonization.

For more information, please see:

Global Post– 60 Wounded by police during Tibet protest — 8 October 2013

Radio Free Asia– Chinese Police Fire on Unarmed Tibetan Protesters in Driru — 8 October 2013

Al Jazeera– Chinese police fire at Tibetan protesters — 8 October 2013

ABC News– Reports: Chinese Police Fire at Tibetan Protesters — 8 October 2013

Voice of America– Activists: Chinese Police Fire on Protesters in Tibet, Wounding Dozens — 8 October 2013

Boko Haram Gunmen Kill College Students in Early Morning Attack

By Erica Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

LAGOS, Nigeria — At least 40 students were killed today when Boko Haram gunmen opened fired on their dormitory. All of the dead are believed to have been students in the College of Agriculture in Gujba, some 30 kilometres from Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state. Northeastern Nigeria has been under a state of emergency for several months following multiple attacks by the extremist group.

Boko Haram Fighters (Photo Courtesy of ABC News)

Initial reports indicate that most of the students were asleep when the dormitory was attacked and many died in their sleep. A local politician has told the BBC that two van loads of bodies were taken away from the scene. College provost Molima Idi Mato, speaking to Associated Press, said the number of dead could be as high as 50 and that about 1,000 students had fled the campus. The gunmen also set fire to classrooms.

Surviving students are looking for family and many people have shown up at the hospital looking for loved ones.

Academic activities only resumed last week in schools in Yobe state following 10 weeks of closure after an attack by members of Boko Haram on two secondary schools, which led to the death of 29 students and three teachers . Boko Haram, which roughly translates to “western education is forbidden”, has a penchant for attacking schools and students because they believe that schools are a symbol of Western culture and ought to be destroyed.

The military believes that  the recent school attacks are a sign of desperation by the Islamists because the group only has the capacity to hit soft targets, like schools.  The defence ministry has said that an offensive launched against Boko Haram in May has greatly weakened the group and scattered their fighters across the northeast. The fact that the group is still launching attacks, even if they are in remote places, casts some doubt on the military’s claims of success.

For further information, please see:

ABC News — At least 40 dead after Boko Haram militants open fire in college dorm in Nigeria — 29 September 2013

All Africa — Nigeria: Breaking – Boko Haram Gunmen Kill Many Yobe Agric College Students in Early Morning Attack — 29 September 2013

BBC News — Nigeria attack: Students shot dead as they slept — 29 September 2013

Daily Post — Several Students killed as Boko Haram attacks College of Agriculture in Yobe — 29 September 2013