Human Rights Court: Italy Violated Ban On Torture

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France — The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently ruled that Italy violated the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in deporting a man to Tunisia in 2009. The deportation took place despite the ECHR’s repeated requests at the time to stop the transfer due to the risk of torture the man faced once in Tunisia.

Ali Ben Sassi Toumi, a Tunisian man married to an Italian, was sentenced in Milan, Italy in 2007 to six years on charges related to international terrorism. His sentence was remitted and he was released in May 2009. Toumi was then detained in Italy while awaiting deportation. During that time, the ECHR communicated on three separate occasions the request to stay the transfer based on the opinion that Toumi was at a significant risk of being tortured once returned to Tunisia and deportation would seriously hinder the Court’s ability to rule on the protection of Toumi’s asserted rights.

Toumi applied for asylum in Italy, but was denied because he had been convicted of a serious crime. He was forcibly returned to Tunisia in August 2009, where he claims he was held and tortured for 10 days by the Tunisian authorities before being released under threat to keep his silence regarding his detention. Toumi’s Italian lawyer was denied access to him during that time.

The Italian government maintained that Toumi had only been held for three days while he was legitimately questioned in connection with an international terrorism case, and that he had not been subjected to ill-treatment, a version of events the Court found unlikely. In asserting this claim, the Italian authorities relied only on information provided by Tunisian authorities.

The Italian authorities claimed they had relied on diplomatic assurances by Tunisian authorities before deportation that Toumi would not face ill-treatment and he would receive a fair trial once returned to Tunisia. The ECHR reprimanded Italy in the judgement opinion for relying on such assurances given that “reliable international sources” indicated that claims of torture and ill-treatment were not properly investigated by Tunisian authorities, who were “reluctant to cooperate” with human rights organizations.

Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counter-terrorism and human rights in Europe, said in response to the Court’s ruling that the “Italian government completely disregarded the European Court’s authority and used dubious promises from the Tunisian authorities to justify its actions. People cannot be sent to countries where they risk being tortured or otherwise ill-treated, under any circumstances, and assurances from a government known to torture cannot serve as a guarantee of safety on return.”

For more information, please see:

AFP — EU rights court censures Italy for Tunisian’s deportation — 5 April 2011

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Italy violated torture ban during Tunisia deportation — 5 April 2011

ECHR PRESS RELEASE — Another removal of a terrorist from Italy to Tunisia notwithstanding the Court’s indications and the risk of ill-treatment — 5 April 2011

Mexican Authorities Discover 72 Bodies In Mass Graves

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                     Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – 11 suspects have been arrested in connection with the discovery of 72 bodies in eight mass graves located in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas on Friday.  This is the second time in eight months that authorities have uncovered mass graves believed to be the work of drug cartels in the area.  While the bodies have not yet been identified, they are believed to be the passengers of a migrant worker bus which went missing in early March.  

Mexicans march in protest against the governments inability to protect its citizens in the drug war.
Mexicans march in protest against the government's inability to protect its citizens in the drug war.

Amnesty International has called on the Mexican authorities to investigate.

In late March, a bus transporting migrant workers was reportedly hijacked and all of the passengers kidnapped by an unknown group.   After investigating the incident, authorities were led to the town of San Fernando in Tamaulipas where 11 suspects were arrested.  Along with the suspects, the state attorney general’s office confirmed the rescue of 5 hostages at the scene. 

According to transportation companies and surviving passengers, armed gunmen regularly stop vehicles heading towards the United States border.  After pointing out specific male passengers on the buses, they are then taken away. Criminal gangs have been thought to target transit companies and vehicles carrying migrant workers to force them to carry drugs. Kidnapping and ransom have been identified as other possible motives.

The victims’ nationalities have not yet been identified.

President Felipe Calderon’s office issued a statement regarding the discovery of the gravesites.

“These reprehensible acts underline the cowardice and the total lack of scruples of the criminal organizations, which generate violence in our country, and especially in the state of Tamaulipas.”

Despite the Administration’s condemnation of the mass murders, Amnesty International criticized Mexico’s inability to protect not only its citizens, but people passing through the country.  Amnesty International Researcher Rupert Knox stated that “The mass graves found yesterday once again show the Mexican government’s failure to deal with the country’s public security crisis and reduce criminal violence which has left many populations vulnerable to attacks, abductions and killings.” 

Knox further pointed out that, “All too often such human rights crimes have gone unpunished, leaving criminal gangs and officials acting in collusion with them free to target vulnerable communities, such as irregular migrants.”

The U.S. State Department issued a human rights report on Mexico based on cases from Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission.  The report noted Mexico’s military and police participation in and inability to control “unlawful killings by security forces; kidnappings; physical abuse; poor and overcrowded prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; corruption, inefficiency, and lack of transparency that engendered impunity within the judicial system; confessions coerced through torture.”

Photo Courtesy of the Washington Post.  For More Information Please Visit:

CNN – More Bodies Discovered IN Mass Graves In Mexico – 8 April 2011

CNN – 59 Bodies Found In Mexico Mass Graves – 7 April 2011

Washington Post – More Missing Found In Mexico’s Mass Graves – 8 April 2011

Ex-Argentine General Jailed For Torture

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Former Argentine general Eduardo Cabanillas has been sentenced to life in prison for running a detention center in the 1970’s linked to  “Operation Condor.” “Operation Condor” was a 1970’s plot by right-wing South American dictatorships to coordinate repression of leftists in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay. According to reports, an estimated 30,000 people were killed or disappeared under the Argentine dictatorship.

Cabanillas operated Automotores Orletti, a secret prison that was disguised as a car repair shop. Prosecutors estimate that 300 people passed through this secret detention center. Cabanillas was found guilty of five counts of murder, 29 counts of “illegal detentions” and 29 counts of torture. In addition to Cabanillas, the court sentenced former military intelligence agent Raul Guglielminetti to 20 years in prison and ex-intelligence officers Honorio Martinez Ruiz and Eduardo Ruffo to 25 years in prison.

According to one family member of a victim, “justice has been done. But we are still looking for the baby of my militant friend and colleague Alicia Chuburu, kidnapped when she was seven months pregnant.” Uruguayan human rights activist Sara Mendez praised the sentences. According to Mendez, “this ruling is the product of 30 years of struggle to sentence the culprits.”

Those who survived time in the detention center say that prisoners were bound and blindfolded, then  were given electric shocks and hoisted up by pulleys and submerged head-first in water in what was known as “the submarine.” It is said that running car engines in the garage covered the detainees’ screams.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – Ex-General Gets Life for Junta Prison Atrocities – 2 April 2011

Inquirer – Ex-General gets Life Sentence for Operation Condor Role – 1 April 2011

Press TV – Ex-Argentine Torture Officials Face Jail – 1 April 2011

RTT News – Former Argentine General Jailed for ‘Dirty War’ Crimes – 1 April 2011

London’s High Court Denies Liability for 1950’s Human Rights Violations in Kenya

by Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

The four Kenyans suing the British Government; Photo courtesy of Getty Images
The four Kenyans suing the British Government; Photo courtesy of Getty Images

LONDON, England– Four Kenyans appeared in London’s High Court this week to demand an apology and damages from the British government for human rights abuses they suffered during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950’s and 60’s.  The four, Ndiku Mutua, Paulo Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara, are now in their 70’s and 80’s but claim that they were victimized by British colonial officials in detention camps between 1952-1961.  The High Court has dismissed the case citing that since an independent Kenyan government was formed in 1963, all power and liability shifted from the British colonial government to the new government at that time.  The judge also stated that the claim had expired and that the British government could not be held liable for the actions of the colonial forces in the camps since it had not authorized their methods.

Some are claiming High Court’s ruling is merely a manipulation of the law to avoid responsibility.  Others claim the British government has engaged in a cover-up to hide the actions of British officials during Kenya’s revolt.  The Foreign Office at Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre (HGCC) at first denied any documents relating to the Kenyan detention camps existed.  In January, an internal investigation revealed thousands of documents detailing the abuses and torture perpetrated at the camps.  The claimant’s expert witness, David Anderson, Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford, testified to the High Court that the documents reveal not only the extent of the abuses at the camps but also the efforts of British officials to hide these human rights violations.

Professor Anderson said the documents show letters from Kenyan officials admitting violations of international law and conventions against the use of forced labor.  In one such letter uncovered by Professor Anderson, Kenyan Attorney General Eric Griffiths-Jones wrote of the violations, “If, therefore, we are going to sin, we must sin quietly.”  The files also show legislative efforts to hide and minimize legal liability for the colonial officials involved.  Said Professor Anderson, “They reveal that changes to legislation. . .were commonly made retrospectively in order to ‘cover’ practices that were already ‘normal’ within camps and detention [centers].”

Despite the High Court’s ruling, the Kenyans, who flew 4,000 miles to appear in court this week, said they will not give up their fight for recognition.  They plan to continue in their suit against the British government for the “unspeakable” acts of torture and abuse they suffered in the camps.  Of the four, Mutua and Nzili were castrated, Nyingi was severely beaten during an event at one of the prisons where 11 other men were clubbed to death and Mara, who was 15 at the time she was taken, was subjected to beatings and multiple rapes.  Mutua, now 78, says that castration that left him unable to have children, continues to negatively affect his life.  “Being a man without a family, without a wife, is so shameful and I live under shame even with my peers.”

Kenya’s Human Rights Watch, which is supporting the suit, says of the 110,000 Kenyans who were in the camps, 90,000 were subject to execution, torture or permanent disfigurement.  The group hopes this case will lead to the exposure of other human rights abuses committed by the British government in as many as 37 other former colonies.  The Foreign Office has admitted that in its search for the Kenya documents, 2,000 more boxes from the 1950’s and 60’s have been uncovered relating to colonial actions in countries such as Palestine, Cyprus, Malaya, Nigeria and Northern Rhodesia.  Caroline Elkins, author of The Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya and Harvard professor, said of the case, “The government is fighting this Kenyan case hard because [it’s] the tip of an iceberg. . . .I can’t imagine the Foreign Office wants more cases like this to go to trial.”

For more information, please see;

BBC– Mau Mau Case: UK Government Cannot be Held Liable– 7 April, 2011

Daily Nation– Mau Mau 11 Clubbed to Death, Court Told– 8 April, 2011

The Australian– Britain Reveals its “Quiet Sins” in Kenya– 8 April, 2011

The Canadian Press– Britain Admits Torture in Kenya in 1950’s  but Says  Has No Responsibility for Survivors– 8 April, 2011

Guardian UK– Torture and Killing in Kenya- Britain’s Double Standards– 8 April, 2011

Northern Ireland Constable killed in Terrorist Attack, Suspects Detained

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Security forces protect the scene of a car bomb attack that killed a 25-year old policeman. (Photo courtesy of SkyNews).
Security forces protect the scene of a car bomb attack that killed a 25-year old policeman. (Photo courtesy of SkyNews).

OMAGH, Northern Ireland -On Saturday, April 2, Constable Ronan Kerr, 25, was killed when a bomb that had been placed under his vehicle exploded. Kerr, a Catholic officer, had completed his police training only three weeks before the attack.  Three individuals have been detained and authorities believe a weapons cache recently discovered is related to the bombing.  Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, it is widely believed the bombing was carried out by radical elements of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) seeking to disrupt the Catholic-Protestant peace process.

During the afternoon of April 2, an explosive device detonated in the Highfield Close area of Omagh. The bomb, attached to Mr. Kerr’s car, exploded as he was backing out of his driveway heading into work. Neighbors heard the explosion and tried rescue Mr. Kerr but were unable to save him. Police believe the bomb had been planted the night before.

On Wednesday, April 7, Scottish police arrested a 26 year-old suspect after a weapons cache was uncovered in Coalisland, Northern Ireland. The PSNI claim the weapons were found in a stolen vehicle and included: four rifles, ammunition, timer power units, detonators, incendiary bombs, components for rocket launchers and other explosive devices, and a quantity of explosives, possibly Semtex. The suspect is believed to have been working in Scotland when he was arrested but authorities have not given any details on the link between the weapons found and the suspect who was detained.

More recently two other suspects, a 33 year-old and a 40 year-old, both from Omagh have been detained by police. The 40 year-old was picked up on Thursday, and the 33 year-old suspect was taken into custody on early Friday.  Police plan on questioning them for the next five days. The names of all three suspects have not been released to the public.

Mr. Kerr is the second member of the of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to be killed since PSNI was created from the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 2001 as part of the peace process between Catholics and Protestants. The other murder occurred in 2009.

Sectarian tensions are especially pronounced in the formerly Protestant-dominated PSNI due to an influx of Catholic officers. Since 2001, the percentage of Catholic officers has increased from 9 to 30 percent. This has led radical elements of the IRA to target these officers because their participation in the police force shows complicity with both Protestants and the United Kingdom, both sworn enemies of this group.

In 2005, most members of the IRA laid down their arms and denounced violence but a small fraction continue to fight. Since 2005 dozens of bombs have been set under police officers’ cars but few have detonated with such tragic consequences. Strikingly, most of the bombs planted did not detonate, while those that have exploded mostly wounded but did not kill their intended target.

Both the location and target of this attack are symbolic. In August 1998, Omagh was the site of the worst bombing in Northern Ireland. That attack killed 29 people and left hundreds injured when a car bomb exploded in a shopping district.  The 1998 attack was carried out by a group called the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), an off shoot of the IRA.

The August 1998 attack was the deadliest incident of the Troubles, the name given to the three decades of violence between Protestants and Catholics. During the three decades, more than 3,500 people were killed. One of the major points of contention was Catholics wanted Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland while Protestants wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. The sectarian violence was halted by an April 1998 peace agreement.

For more information, please see:

AFP — Third arrest in N.Ireland police murder probe– 07 April 2011

AFP — N. Ireland policeman killed in car bomb attack – 02 April 2011

BBC —Policeman killed in Omagh car bomb attack – 02 April 2011

CBC News — Car bomb kills N. Ireland policeman –02 April 2011

SKY NEWS — Second Arrest In Omagh PC Murder Probe – 07 April 2011

The Daily Mail —‘He had only just joined’: Catholic police recruit, 25, killed after being targeted by booby trap car bombers at his home in Omagh – 02 April 2011

Time —Tragic But Not Troubled: The Murder of a Northern Irish Policeman—02 April 2011