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Yemen Rebels Reportedly Kidnap Man, Briefly Hold Saudis

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Shi’ite Muslim rebels have kidnapped a Yemeni man in the country’s north and also briefly held a group of Saudi citizens, the government said, incidents that threaten a fragile truce with Sanaa.

The northern rebels seized the man in the Harf Sufyan district and took him to an unknown location, Yemeni security services said in a statement.

“A number of Houthi rebels led by Mabghout Shatbouny abducted on Thursday two Saudi citizens in Hiasha area of the district of Harf Sufian in Amran province, north of the capital Sanaa,” said the ministry on its website, citing an unidentified security official of the Interior Ministry.

“The rebels held the Saudis several hours in Hiasha area before later setting them free,” said the security official. “While the Yemeni citizen, identified as Hammam Daris, is still held by the rebels in an unknown area of Harf Sufian district,” he added.

A Saudi diplomatic source at the Kingdom’s embassy in Yemen said that he has no information about reports that Saudi citizens were kidnapped and then released by Houthi rebels near Amran Province 30 km north of the Yemeni capital.

The source emphasized that the embassy has been following up these reports with the responsible authorities at the Yemeni Ministry of Interior in an attempt to verify them.

The Defense Ministry considered the kidnap as another confirmed breach by the Shiite Houthi rebels to the cease-fire truce that was struck on Feb. 11.

The new breach came a week after the Yemeni government accused Shiite Houthi rebels of opening fire on a military plane flying above the city of Saada while a number of top army personnel were on board, an accuse the rebels later denied. According to official Saba news agency, “the plane was not damaged.”

Yemen has witnessed sporadic battles since 2004 between government troops and the Shiite Houthi rebels, whom the government accused of seeking to re-establish the clerical rule overthrown by the 1962 Yemeni revolution which yielded the Yemeni republic.
For more information, please see:

The Washington Post – Yemen Says Rebels Kidnap Man, Briefly Hold Saudis – 24 April 2010

Saudi Gazette – ‘Reports Of Saudis Kidnapped In Yemen Lack Verification’ – 24 April 2010

People’s Daily Online – Yemeni Shiite Rebels Kidnap 2 Saudis, A Yemeni In Fresh Breach Of Truce – 25 April 2010

Congressman Wants Yemeni Cleric Stripped of Citizenship

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

WASHINGTON DC, USA – A U.S. lawmaker is seeking to revoke the American citizenship of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is known for his inflammatory anti-American teachings and his communications with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspected shooter in the Fort Hood rampage in November.

Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., introduced a resolution Wednesday urging the Obama administration to strip al-Awlaki of his American citizenship, arguing that the cleric voluntarily renounced his citizenship by recruiting terrorists.

“As recent reports highlight, the U.S. government views al-Awlaki as a proven threat, and will take him dead or alive,” Dent said in a written statement, referring to Obama’s approval of the targeted killing of al-Awlaki. “Being a citizen of the United States of America is more than a right; it’s a responsibility.”

”He’s an inspiration to many of these terrorists,” Dent said. ”This guy is a traitor. This man is a real threat to this country and it’s long since time to deny him his citizenship.”

Legal experts were skeptical of success.

Temple University law professor and international law expert Peter Spiro said the Supreme Court has ruled the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from terminating an individual’s citizenship against his will.

‘There have also been proposals with respect to other Taliban or other al Qaeda-associated Americans that their citizenship be revoked and those proposals have gone nowhere, and I expect the same thing to happen here,” Spiro said.

Similar efforts to strip so-called ”American Taliban” John Walker Lindh and Yaser Hamdi, an American captured in Afghanistan, of their citizenship failed, he said.

”Maybe that Dent some points politically, making him look like he is tough about terrorism, but this is going nowhere,” he said. Hamdi later surrendered his citizenship in exchange for being released to Saudi Arabia.

Rutgers School of Law constitutional law professor and citizenship expert Linda Bosniak said the Supreme Court has set a high bar for the government to withdraw citizenship from native-born Americans.

”It is considered a constitutional right that individuals should be able to maintain their citizenship unless the government can prove they affirmatively desire to renounce it,” Bosniak said.

Certain acts, such as treason or serving in a foreign army in conflict with the United States, are presumed to be ”expatriating acts,” she said. But to strip someone of his citizenship the government has to prove that the acts were committed and that they were done voluntarily and with the intent of relinquishing citizenship.

Dent said he’s heard those arguments but he contends that al-Awlaki is voluntarily a traitor. ”He has declared war on the United States,” Dent said. ”He has voluntarily revoked his citizenship by his own actions.” Al-Awlaki could appeal but would have to return to the United States, where he would face arrest.

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Rep. Introduces Resolution To Strip Radical Cleric Of Us Citizenship – 22 April 2010

Pennsylvania Ave. – Rep. Dent Takes Lead On Revoking Islamic Cleric’s Citizenship – 21 April 2010

The Morning Call – Dent Wants to Revoke U.S. Citizenship Of Radical Cleric – 22 April 2010

ICJ Decision on Uruguay/Argentina River Factory Case

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that a paper mill can remain open despite the fact that Uruguay violated a treaty in constructing the plant. The ICJ decision, available here, found that despite Uruguay’s breach of a 1975 treaty regulating the use of the River Uruguay, Uruguay had met its environmental obligations.

Argentina argues that the mill is polluting the river Uruguay, which forms the border between the two countries. The dispute arose when Uruguay failed to inform Argentina of the construction of the plant. The 1975 treaty rules the management of shared waters and Argentina argued that the mill was severely contaminating the water. The Argentine government then began sponsoring pickets that blocked the international bridge linking Gualeguaychú with Fray Bentos.

The plant is located at a location used for fishing, tourism, and recreational use. The plant is owned by a Finish pulp producer Metsa-Botnia and was sold to UPM Kymmene in December. The plant pulps eucalyptus trees for paper.

Scientists have lamented that Argentina and Uruguay have not done more to reduce river pollution from other sources, despite their long political battle over the paper mill. Uruguay relied on studies paid for by the paper company and accepted by the national environmental agency, which found the plant had no measurable impact on the River Uruguay.

The River Uruguay drains about 210,000 square miles of farmland and the agricultural runoff is known to include chemicals from fertilizers, which combine with heavy metals from factories. The polluting factories are known to be on the Argentine side of the river.   Greenpeace officials are urging both Uruguay and Argentina to develop shared rules for factories along the river. A Greenpeace official told the Associated Press that the disagreement between Argentina and Uruguay “involves a lot of hypocrisy” because “there hasn’t been a serious and ongoing evaluation of pollution in the river, neither in Uruguay nor in Argentina.”

For more information, please see:

Buenos Aires Herald-ICJ Rules Uruguay Breached River Treaty; Botnia to Continue Operating for “No Pollution Detected”-21 April 2010

Reuters-World Court Rules Uruguay Can Use Paper Mill-April 20 2010

UN News Center-Uruguayan Mill Can Operate Despite, UN World Court Rules -20 April 2010

Withdrawal of U.N. Soldiers May Escalate Prevalent Rape Problem

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DRC – Congolese laws against sexual violence are not being implemented and a withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the country would make the struggle against rape “a lot more difficult,” the U.N. said.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force. Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual violence but Wallstrom said the country’s capacity to implement it was “near zero.”

Acts of civilian sexual violence have become increasingly pervasive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a recent study released on April 15 by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization.

The study’s analysis of violence trends over time revealed that although the total number of sexual assaults reported steadily decreased between 2004 and 2008, the number of civilian rapes increased seventeen-fold.

Aid agencies and rights groups accustomed to the violence and suffering during and since Congo’s 1998-2003 war, which left millions dead, have been shocked by reports of the scale and brutality of the rapes by rebel and government forces alike.

“These findings imply a normalization of rape among the civilian population, suggesting the erosion of all constructive social mechanism that ought to protect civilians from sexual violence,” according to the study. The study also demonstrates how sexual violence can be used as a tool to ignite terror.

Accurate figures for sexual violence are hard to come by as many rapes are unreported but the U.N. said at least 5,400 women had reported being raped in neighboring South Kivu in the first nine months of 2009 alone.

“Some of the results were shocking, mostly that the women are really attacked everywhere and that everyone is at risk” said Susan A. Bartels, a researcher at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, emergency room physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and primary author of the report. “I was shocked by the number of women who were attacked in their own home, specifically at night when they were sleeping with their families.”

Government forces as well as a plethora of rebel forces are accused of the abuse. Last year, the U.N. Security Council gave the government a list of officers known to have raped women and girls.

With celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections next, Congo would like for the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing within months and wants the last blue helmet out in 2011.

Wallstrom claims however that the peacekeepers, who are often criticized for not doing enough, were making a difference. “Women used to be scared to go to the market … Now a lot of people go, and peacekeepers go with them. It has brought economic development to the region,” she said, referring to North Kivu province. The withdrawal of peacekeepers in this region, no matter how controversial, may lead to dangerous results.

For more information, please see:

The Harvard Crimson – Sexual Violence on the Rise in Congo – 19 April 2010

Reuters – U.N. Fears Congo Pullout Will Hurt Fight Against Rape – 19 April 2010

Eurasia Review – New Report Shows Shocking Pattern Of Rape In Eastern Congo – Sunday, April 18, 2010

Egypt Seeks To Pressure Israel Over Nuclear Arms

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Israel may come under new pressure next month at a UN meeting on atomic weapons as the United States, Britain and France consider backing Egypt’s call for a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear arms, envoys said.

The 189 signatories to the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will meet at United Nations headquarters in New York for a May 3-28 conference on the troubled pact whose credibility, analysts say, has been harmed by the atomic programs of Iran and North Korea and the failure of the big nuclear powers to disarm.

Egypt is to open an international front to push Israel into signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty as pressure mounts on Tel Aviv to account for its atomic plans.

Cairo advocates holding a regional conference on an “internationally and effectively verifiable treaty for the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East,” a draft paper addressed to the NPT said Tuesday. It added that Egypt will invite all Mideast states to the planned meeting.

Israel, like India and Pakistan, never signed the treaty and is not officially attending the conference. The Jewish state is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal, although it has never confirmed or denied having atomic weapons.

Diplomats said backing from the five permanent Security Council members — the NPT’s five official nuclear powers — would help ensure broad support for Egypt’s plan next month.

One Western envoy said Egypt’s insistence on a conference with a negotiating mandate was the main “sticking point,” while another expressed the hope that Egypt would compromise during intensive negotiations on the issue in the coming weeks.

Israel’s U.N. mission had no official comment on the Egyptian proposal. But an Israeli diplomat told Reuters the Jewish state would be ready to discuss issues like establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone once there is peace in the Middle East.

For More Information, Please;

The Daily Star – Egypt Seeks UN Pressure On Israel Over Nuclear Arms – 21 April 2010

The Washington Post – Egypt Seeks U.N. Pressure On Israel Over Nuclear Arms – 21 April 2010

Press TV – Egypt Summit To Pressure Nuclear Israel – 20 April 2010