by Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On the fourth of July, Iranian authorities delivered a notice to the parents of Mohammad Reza Haddadi, informing them that they should plan their final visit to see their son because he is scheduled to be executed by hanging just three days later, on the seventh of July.

Haddadi was given a death sentence in January 2004 for the 2003 murder of a man who purportedly offered Haddadi and his co-defendants (all above the age of majority) a ride in his car. He reportedly confessed to the commission of the murder, but then retracted his confession during trial, claiming that he had confessed to the killing because his two co-defendants had offered his family money.

His co-defendants later withdrew their testimony, which had initially implicated him in the murder. In spite of these developments, a branch of the Iranian Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. The head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, then reaffirmed this decision.

Haddadi was first scheduled to be executed in October 2008, but the execution was stayed by the Head of the Judiciary. His execution was stayed two more times, but only after his family, on each occasion, received notice that they should visit him one final time. The organization, Stop Child Executions, claims that Haddadi’s father  told reporters that Haddadi’s sister set herself on fire due to the anguish of knowing that her brother might be executed, and she is now crippled for life and in the hospital. His mother has also been seriously ill.

Haddadi is scheduled to die by hanging tomorrow for a crime he allegedly committed when he was only fifteen years old. His father claims he was even younger at the time—three months shy of his fifteenth birthday. Human Rights Watch says that Iran’s interpretation and use of Sharia law in its Civil Code defines the age of majority as puberty, which is defined as fifteen lunar years (fourteen and five months) for boys and nine lunar years (eight years and eight months) for girls. Judges are thus allowed to sentence children as adults beginning at these ages. While Haddadi’s execution may be legal under Iranian law, Iran is a party to two major international treaties that prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders when the crimes were committed when the alleged offenders were under eighteen years of age: These treaties are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Other recent executions of minors include the tenth of June hanging of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, age seventeen, who was convicted of an alleged murder when he was only fourteen to fifteen-years-old, and the highly publicized execution last May of a twenty-three-year-old woman, Delara Darabi, who had allegedly committed a murder while she was seventeen years old. While Darabi had confessed to the murder, she retracted her confession, claiming that she made it after her nineteen year-old boyfriend told her that she could not be executed because she was a minor.

Tehran continues to maintain that the death penalty is an effective deterrent, which is carried out only after the completion of an exhaustive judicial process.

According to Human Rights Watch, Iran continues to be the World’s leader in the number of executions of juvenile offenders. Human Rights Watch claims that Iran executed at least four juvenile offenders in 2009, eight in 2008, and that human rights lawyers in Iran believe that more than a hundred juvenile offenders are currently on death row. Moreover, Iran is now only one of four other countries, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen, that are known to have executed juvenile offenders since 2005.

“Regardless of guilt or innocence, no one should be executed for a crime committed as a child,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iranian judiciary should show Haddadi mercy and abide by Iran’s international obligations banning executions for crimes committed by children.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Iran: Rescind Execution Order of Juvenile Offender – 6 July 2010

Stop Child Executions – URGENT: Mohammad Reza Haddadi Scheduled for Execution in Over 24 Hours – 6 July 2010

Amnesty International – Document – Iran: Further Information: Juvenile Offender’s Execution Scheduled: Mohammad Reza Haddadi – 5 July 2010

Iran Human Rights – Another Minor “Offender” in Imminent Risk of Execution at the Sanandaj Prison – 18 June 2010

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Iran Executes Woman Convicted Of Crime as a Minor – 1 May 2009

by Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – Last week, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee approved an initiative by the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, to create an Israeli archaeological park in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The plan has come under both national and international scrutiny because it calls for the demolition of approximately twenty-two Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. Another sixty-six buildings constructed in the neighborhood without Israeli permission will be legalized under the plan.

In this and past cases where Palestinian homes have been demolished, Israel has maintained that it is simply enforcing the law by destroying illegally built homes and other buildings. However, many of the buildings have gone up without a permit because it is reportedly very difficult for Palestinians to acquire permits, and very few building permits have ever been issued to Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

When Barkat formally submitted the latest version of the development plan, his spokesman said: “Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of approval.” However, Jerusalem city hall had reportedly refused to hold talks with the neighborhood’s Palestinian residents over alternative proposals.

The announcement by the Committee came just a day after Israel announced that it will be loosening restriction of aid into Gaza, likely as part of an effort to repair its international standing after the international criticism in response to the Israeli raid of a boat convoy heading to the Gaza strip on 31 May, which resulted in the deaths of nine activists and the injury of dozens more. The latest announcement by the Committee was criticized by Defense Minister Ehud Barak as “bad timing” and poor “common sense.” It was also criticized by the Israeli President, Shimon Peres.

The same development plan had been considered earlier in the year, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from both the United States—who was attempting to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks—and from increased international pressure regarding its settlement plans in East Jerusalem in general, persuaded Barkat to put the project on hold in March.

While the plan has been approved by the Committee, Israeli officials are stressing that the final process requires the approval of the Interior Ministry, a process that is likely to take several months, and that the plan could still be blocked by the government.

Barkat has defended the development plan, along with other claims of broader housing discrimination against Arabs—especially Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post quotes his spokesman as stating, “Mayor Barkat is moving forward with a master plan for Jerusalem that calls for an additional 50,000 new housing units over the next 20 years to fit the needs of the growing population. Arab residents are approximately one-third of the population of Jerusalem, and as such, we expect a third of those new housing units to be for Arab residents in their neighborhoods.” The spokesman further stated, “In addition, this week’s Municipal Planning and Construction Committee has 41 items on the agenda for approval, 18 of which are plans by Arab residents of Jerusalem for new apartments and construction in Arab neighborhoods.” The Jerusalem Post also reports that the municipality claims it does not keep records of how many local Arab building permits his office has approved since taking office in December 2008.

UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon, publicly stated that the housing development plan is illegal under international law, and the European Union also recently stated its belief that the development plan is illegal. Richard Falk, the Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 (working in an unpaid and independent capacity), believes, “These actions, if carried out, would violate international law, with certain actions potentially amounting to war crimes under international humanitarian law.”

The United States State Department of State criticized the development plan, stating that it undermined trust between parties, and also increased the risk of violence. With Israeli police and Palestinian youth clashing last Sunday in response to the development plan, it appears that the US concerns were not unfounded. The rising tensions between the parties since the Committee’s announcement resulted in the Palestinian youth throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police in the same neighborhood where the homes would be demolished, causing minor injuries to six police officers who were hit with stones.

The recent arrest by Israeli police of a Hamas member of parliament for refusing orders that expelled him from Jerusalem also threatens to further escalate tensions in East Jerusalem. Richard Falk cited the four men’s case as part of “a larger, extremely worrying pattern of Israeli efforts to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem – [which is] illegal under international law”.

For more information, please see:

Jerusalem Post – An Open City? – 2 July, 2010

Al Jazeera – Israel Arrests Hamas MP – 30 June 2010

Voice of America News – EU Says Israel East Jerusalem Housing Plan Illegal – 30 June 2010

UN News Centre – Demolitions, New Settlements in East Jerusalem Could Amount to War Crimes – UN Expert – 29 June 2010

N.Y. Times – Palestinians and Police Collide in East Jerusalem – 27 June 2010

Haaretz – Reining in Barkat – 25 June, 2010

BBC – UN Chief Says East Jerusalem Demolition Plan ‘illegal’ – 24 June 2010

Sydney Morning Herald – Jerusalem Housing Plans Jeopardise Peace Talks – 24 June 2010

Al Arabiya News Channel – Israel Revives East Jerusalem Housing Plan – 21 June 2010

By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

For the second time this summer, masked gunmen have set fire to a United Nations-run summer camp in the Gaza Strip. The site of the second vandalized camp is in the vicinity of the camp which was vandalized this past May.

The UN estimates that roughly twenty-five armed men attacked the camp between late Sunday night and early Monday morning, when children were not present. Security guards at the camp were tied up before the armed militants set about slashing plastic sheds and toys, vandalizing a swimming pool, and burning down chairs, tables, easels, and other equipment. Fortunately, no one was harmed during the attack.

As with the incident in May, no group has come forth to claim the attack. Following the attack from last month, however, it was later discovered that a previously unheard of Islamic extremist group was behind the razing of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) summer camp.  The unknown Islamist group claimed the summer camp was a corrupting influence on local children because it introduced activities considered at odds with conservative Islamic customs. It is also believed that the group objected to boys and girls going to camp together.

John Ging, the director of the agency’s operations, responded to the second attack saying: “The overwhelming success of UNRWA’s Summer Games has once again obviously frustrated those that are intolerant of children’s happiness. This is another example of the growing levels of extremism in Gaza and further evidence of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground.”

Ging again pledged to continue to run the 1,200 UN-sponsored summer camps, which have allowed about 250,000 Gazan children to take part in such activities as sports, swimming, arts, and theater.

Hamas, Gaza’s militant Islamist ruler, condemned last month’s attack and has said it will apprehend and jail whoever carried out the current attack. BBC Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison, however, has reported that there are those that think Hamas may be connected to the most recent attack.  They argue that an attack involving around twenty-five masked men could not be conducted without at least the implicit support of Hamas.  Hamas also runs summer camps which compete with the UN sponsored camps for the enrollment of Gazan youth. The Hamas summer camp offers such activities as horseback riding, swimming, as well as classes on Islam, but also teach children military-style marching and anti-Israel doctrine.

There are roughly 700,000 children under the age of 15 living in Gaza.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Gaza gunmen ‘set fire to UN summer camp for children’ – 28 June 2010

CNN – Militants attack UN-sponsored summer camp in Gaza – 28 June 2010

The New York Times – Vandals Set Fire to UN Children’s Camp in Gaza – 28 June 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – The parents of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for the past four years, began a twelve-day march on Sunday from their home to Jerusalem, where they plan to camp out in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence until the Israeli government wins Shalit’s release.

“We won’t wait any longer in our home,” said Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, at the start of the march, which drew approximately two thousand supporters, including dozens of local celebrities. Hundreds of the supporters waved Israeli flags and carried signs, many of which read, “Gilad Shalit, we’re waiting at home for you.”

Shalit was captured in a cross-border dispute in June 2006 by Palestinian militants, and has been held in Gaza by Hamas militants who are demanding the release of as many as one thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit’s release. Several prisoner swap deals between Israel and Hamas have failed in the past.

An Israeli poll indicated that seventy-five percent of Israelis would support the release of Palestinian prisoners, some of them convicted killers, in exchange for Shalit’s release.

Shalit has not been allowed any contact with the outside world nor with the International Red Cross. Apart from one audio tape and a video tape released by Hamas in October 2009 as a proof of life, the details of Shalit’s physical condition remain unknown. He was nineteen years old when he was captured.

Palestinians and Israelis alike are vested in the prospect of a prisoner exchange. Many Palestinians have relatives who are currently jailed in Israeli prisons. And in Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jews and where most people have a family member or relative who serves in the military, the fate of Shalit resonates deeply.

Israel’s restriction of goods into and out of Gaza began shortly after Shalit’s capture in 2006 in an effort to pressure Hamas to release him. Later, a full blockade was imposed, but was eased after the recent deadly Israeli raid on the aid flotilla. The Shalits fear that the easing of the blockade has shown that the government is abandoning their son.

Negotiations for Shalit’s release have occurred through German and Egyptian mediators, since Israel does not deal directly with Hamas, considered by Israel to be a terrorist organization.

For now, Noam and Aviva Shalit will wait. “We don’t see any alternative after four years of government failure to obtain the release of my son,” Noam told England’s Observer, adding, “there have been many, many failures, but it’s time to put public pressure on the government.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israeli soldier’s family urges swap – 27 June 2010

BBC – Captive Israeli soldier Shalit’s parents begin march – 27 June 2010

CNN – Captured Israeli soldier’s family marches to bring about release – 27 June 2010

Los Angeles Times – Family of captured Israeli soldier launches march to Jerusalem to press for his release – 27 June 2010

Observer – Israeli protesters press Binyamin Netanyahu to help free abducted soldier Gilad Shalit – 27 June 2010

New York Times – Family of Captured Israeli Soldier Press for Deal – 27 June 2010