As Egypt begins return to normalcy, Libya descends into chaos

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

A supporter of Qaddafi poses for the camera. Protests in Libya have taken a deadly turn. (Photo Courtesy of CS Monitor.)
A supporter of Libyan President Qaddafi poses for a camera. Protests in Libya have taken a deadly turn. (Photo Courtesy of CS Monitor.)

BENGHAZI, Libya – Human Rights Watch reported on Sunday that at least one hundred and seventy-three people have been killed in Libya since anti-government protests began on Wednesday.

The demonstrations took a turn for the worse on Saturday, when Libyan security forces launched a brutal crackdown on protestors. A deadly cycle emerged over the weekend, as troops, using machine-gun and heavy weapons fire, attacked funeral marches, killing protestors and creating more funerals.

One doctor in Benghazi told the BBC how most of the victims being brought to the city’s hospital received gunshot wounds. “Ninety percent of these gunshot wounds were mainly in the head, the neck, the chest, mainly in the heart,” she said.

The Libyan pro-democracy protests come amidst events in Tunisia, which saw the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January, and in Egypt, where long-time leader Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11. Anti-government protestors in Libya are protesting four decades of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s rule.

Like in Egypt, social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are playing a prominent role in the protests, as people are using the sites to share information and images. Yet, information being transmitted via the Internet has been difficult to verify, as the Libyan authorities have imposed media restrictions. And unlike in Egypt, foreign media are largely absent from the country.

So far, the events in Libya have proven to be the bloodiest of the protests that have occurred in North Africa and the Middle East.

Egypt began to see a return to normal life over the weekend, as banks planned to reopen and the Supreme Military Council said that workers should go back to their jobs.

Egypt is currently acting under emergency law, which allows detentions without charges or trial. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said that lifting the law so soon after a revolution would be premature.

The commission working on drafting new constitutional amendments said a progress report might be produced as early as Sunday.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Libya unrest: Scores killed in Benghazi ‘massacre’ – 20 February 2011

Human Rights Watch – Libya: Governments Should Demand End to Unlawful Killings – 20 February 2011

New York Times – Cycle of Suppression Rises in Libya and Elsewhere – 19 February 2011

Washington Post – Cairo begins to resume everyday business – 19 February 2011

Ecuador Court Frees Indigenous Leaders Jailed On Terrorism Charges

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador – An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the release of  José Acacho, Pedro Mashiant and Fidel Karinas, all of whom are indigenous leaders and who were arrested on February 1, 2011 on charges of terrorism and sabotage. The charges stem from the three indigenous leaders’ actions in instigating a protest in 2009 where one person died. Judge María Cristina Narváez of the Pichincha court accepted a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the three leaders, which forces their immediate release.

Three hundred protestors met the release with jubilation when they heard the decision, chanting “libertad” in front Quito’s Corte Provincial de Justicia of Pichincha. Inside the courtroom, the decision was met with equal joy and tears by major indigenous leaders of Ecuador, who filled the courtroom.

Judge Narváez determined that the imprisonment of three leaders was “illegal and arbitrary.” Following the court’s decision, Acacho, the leader of the Shuar Indians, stressed the importance that justice will be independent and not subject to interference by the Executive.

The International Federation for Human Rights, the Ecumenical Commission for Human Rights, the Regional Human Rights Advisory Foundation, and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights have all expressed concern for growing criminalization against social protest of indigenous communities in Ecuador. These indigenous Ecuadorians are becoming increasingly mobilized in defiance of large scale mining activities on their territories.

The three charged individuals were charged for their roles in a protest, when confrontations between demonstrators protesting against a new water law and the national police ended with the death of Shuar Professor Bosco Wismua. The charges of sabotage and terrorism against the three men still stand.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, along with other indigenous governmental organizations of Ecuador, intend to present a proposal of amnesty for all imprisoned indigenous leaders to the national assembly.

For more information, please see:

Pacific Free Press – Ecuador Using Terrorism Law to Target Indigenous and Environmental Activists – 13 February 2011

IFEX – Authorities Release Former Radio Director Accused of Terrorism and Sabotage – 11 February 2011

Latin American Herald Tribune – Ecuador Court Frees 3 Indigenous Leaders Jailed on Terrorism Charges – 11 February 2011

Protesters Clash with Security Forces in Djibouti

Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Protesters in Djibouti on Friday, February 18. (Photo Courtesy of Somaliland Press).
Protesters in Djibouti on Friday, February 18. (Photo Courtesy of Somaliland Press).

DJIBOUTI, Djibouti -On Friday, the feelings of outrage and violence that have swept through parts of Africa and the Middle East came to the small African nation of Djibouti. Thousands of Djiboutians took to the streets calling for the ouster of the country’s President Ismael Omar Guelleh. Responding to the protests, security forces loyal to President Guelleh clashed with demonstrators, the ensuing violence left several people dead. Along with those killed, dozens of protesters were injured and at least three key opposition leaders were arrested. The small east African nation is a critical ally to both France and the United States.

As of Saturday evening, resident of the capital reported a heavy police presence patrolling the streets trying to restore calm. Although demonstrations continued on Saturday, the protests were less intense that what occurred on Friday. Protesters claim that on both Friday and Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets to protest President Guelleh rule and his attempt to run for a third presidential term. President Guelleh has been in power since 1999. In 2010, he oversaw a change to the country’s constitution allowing him to run for a third term in April 2011.

According to the Interior Minister Yacin Elmi Bouh, one police officer was killed in the fighting and a single protester was killed when he was hit by a speeding police vehicle during Friday’s protest. In contrast to the official government report, protesters claim at least four people were killed and more than 50 were injured during Friday’s march.

According to Djibouti’s chief prosecutor three main opposition leaders have been detained following a protest march. Djama Souleiman, the chief prosecutor claims that Mohamed Daoud Chehem, head of the Djibouti Party for Development; Ismael Guedi Hared, president of the Union for a Democratic Alternative; and Aden Robleh Awaleh, leader of the National Democratic Party, are a threat to democracy in Djibouti and have been taken into police custody.

Djibouti, a former French colony, contains a large French military base housing over 3,000 soldiers as well as a strategically important American Army base. The Army base is the only American military base located in Sub-Saharan Africa. This base is critical infrastructure that the United States military uses for launching attacks throughout Africa and continues to be an important piece of the U.S. strategy to combat terrorism.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Djibouti: Ismael Omar Guelleh faces huge protest march—18 February 2011

Reuters – Protests hit Djibouti, opposition leaders held – 19 February 2011

Voice of America — Djibouti Opposition Leaders Detained – 19 February 2011

Bahrain Protest Threatens Key Oil Producing Patch

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

MANAMA, Bahrain – At least 50 people were wounded when soldiers opened fire on an apparently peaceful protest Friday.

Anti-government protesters streamed back into their former stronghold of Pearl Square in Bahrain’s capital Manama, witnesses said, after the army and riot police withdrew.

Protesters pray as they enter Pearl Square in the Bahraini capital of Manama February 19, 2011
Protesters pray as they enter Pearl Square in the Bahraini capital of Manama February 19, 2011

Pearl Square, which has become for Bahrain what Cairo’s Tahrir Square, was for Egypt.

The protesters were kissing the ground in joy and taking pictures of about 60 police vehicles leaving the area.

“We are victorious,” the protesters chanted.

“Down with the king, down with the Khalifas,” they cried, referring to the kingdom’s ruling family. Anger among the overwhelmingly Shia Muslim demonstrators towards the Sunni dynasty that has ruled Bahrain for more than 200 years is now virulent.

The protest has called for the dissolution of the 2002 constitution and the formation of a new panel to draw up another new constitution.

They have called for the release of political prisoners and an end to torture and prosecution of journalists and human rights activists.

“They have done nothing for us in the past except discriminate against us,” said one nurse, sobbing against a hospital gurney. “Now their new trick is to kill us.”

Later reports show that 60 to 80 people were taken to Salmaniya hospital after being hit by rubber bullets or inhaling teargas. A doctor said the hospital was full and did not have enough oxygen to deal with the casualties.

The crown prince was asked by the king to start a national dialogue “with all parties” to resolve the crisis in the island kingdom, where six have died and hundreds have been wounded since protests by the Shiite majority began five days ago.

Bahrain’s Shiite opposition on Saturday responded by rejecting any dialogue with the Sunni royal family until “tanks are off the streets” and the army stops “shooting at peaceful protesters.”

Khalil al-Marzook, a senior member of Al Wefaq opposition bloc, said the “atmosphere for dialogue,” led by the crown prince “is not right.”

Some doctors and medics on emergency medical teams were in tears as they tended to the wounded. X-rays showed bullets still lodged inside victims.

This is a war,” said Dr. Bassem Deif, an orthopedic surgeon examining people with bullet-shattered bones.

“Police attacking protesters here at hospital in Bahrain. Tear gas inside. Panic,” tweeted New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof.

“…They were shot to kill; they were not shot to break down their gathering.”

“We don’t care if they kill 5,000 of us,” a protester screamed inside the forecourt of the Salmaniya hospital, which has become a staging point for Bahrain’s raging youth. “The regime must fall and we will make sure it does.”

“No to Sunni; no to Shia,” they cried at one point. “We are all Bahraini.”

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, and again urged his government to show restraint against “peaceful protesters,” the White House said.

“If the US walks away from us, this regime will continue to come for us,” said Ismail in the shadow of the graveyard. “There is no option but to press ahead. This is our moment.”

For more information, please see:

MSNBC News – Bahrain protesters reclaim central square – 19 February 2010

The Guardian – Bahrain protest: ‘The regime must fall, and we will make sure it does’ – 18 February 2010

International Business Times – More protest in Bahrain as religious fault line widen – 18 February 2010

North Korea wary of revolt in Egypt but change is unlikely

Kim unlikely to be affected by Egyptian Revolution due to information control (Photo courtesy of AP)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – As Hosni Mubarak stepped down last week after 30-year rule of Egypt, following the same fate of his Tunisian counterpart the previous month, the leaders of China and North Korea are wary of domestic upheaval.

Of course, some critics find it naive to hope that the fallout from dramatic events in the Middle East and North Africa can spill beyond the region to stir distant, repressed populations with no cultural or historical affinity.

This is especially so for countries like North Korea, where information is so tightly controlled that it will not likely be affected immediately by the evolving social network service that has played a pivotal role in Egypt’s popular revolution.

One of more effective way of disseminating information to North Korean people is rather old-fashioned. This week, South Korean activists hoisted helium balloons into the air and watched them drift into North Korea with a message attached: discard your leaders, just as the Egyptians did.

“The Egyptian people rose up in a revolution to topple a 30-year dictatorship,” said one of the leaflets. “The North Koreans too must revolt against a 60-year-old dictatorship.”

North Korea is known to have one of the worst human rights records. The strain of poverty and inefficient government in North Korea matches or exceeds that of Arab autocracies currently marred by street protests.

There is no sign of an organized opposition in North Korea, where most people do not have access to outside TV and radio, or the Internet. “They are just completely cut off from the outside world. They have their local system which is in no way physically connected to the Internet” said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul.

According to the scholar, possession of a short-wave radio to listen to news from abroad carries a 5 to 10 year prison term. “Any publications, including publications from other communist countries, are off-limits for people,” he said.

This is a stark contrast to Egypt, where protesters used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to organize the uprisings. It is reported that North Korean state media have not reported events in Egypt, and it is doubtful that the leaflets of the South Korean activists, who also send short-wave radio broadcasts to the north, will reach or convince many people.

Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute research center near Seoul, speculated that top heads in North Korean government were “definitely aware” of what is happening in Egypt. But a similar uprising is unlikely, he said.

“There are so many differences in terms of ideology, in terms of power structure, in terms of domestic and external relationships,” Paik said. “North Korea is basically an isolated, socialist regime, protected by a most reliable and most supportive big power, China.”

Estimated up to 2 million North Koreans are believed to have starved to death in the 1990s due to years of flooding, poor harvest and economic mismanagement.

Despite a lack of Internet access, a growing number of North Koreans are being exposed to modern information technology and South Korean pop culture through USB devices, according to Lankov.

“In the long run, it will make a tremendous change,” he said.

For more information, please see:

The Korea Times – Pyongyang, Beijing wary of change in Egypt – 16 February 2011

The Associated Press – Egypt revolt becomes global case study – 19 February 2011

Yonhap News – N. Korea not likely to be affected by Egyptian revolution due to information control: expert – 16 February 2011