Swaziland PM Makes Comments Advocating Torture
By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
MANZINI, Swaziland- Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini stated yesterday he thinks dissidents and foreign protestors should be punished with the torture method sipakatane. This comes just a week after 50 pro-democracy protestors were arrested in Swaziland’s main commercial center Manzini, some of whom are from neighboring South Africa. The punishment, sipakatane, involves beating a person’s bare feet with a pedal that has wooden or metal spikes attached, often causing paralysis. A statement from the government owned paper, Times of Swaziland, tried to put Dlamini’s comments in context stating, “Dlamini said every country or community had its own dissidents and it was up to government to deal with the noisy minorities, whom he said he wished would behave in a grown-up manner and stop behaving like children.”
Those in the trade unions say the prime minister’s statements are a “declaration of war” on all who oppose the government of Swaziland, both Swazis and foreigners. The trade unions mobilizing their protests for democracy state several South Africans brought in to help have already been deported. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) deputy international secretary, Zanele Matebula, was driven to the border after police came in his hotel room and arrested him and other South Africans. Protestors are advocating for democracy in Swaziland which is currently under the rule of Africa’s last absolute monarchy led by King Mswati III.
For more information, please see;
Guardian.co.uk- Swaziland Pro-democracy Protesters Threatened With Torture– 10 September, 2010
BBC- Swaziland Democracy Protests: ’50 Arrested’– 7 September, 2010
BBC- Swaziland Unions Condemn ‘Foot Torture’ Threat– 10 September, 2010
Ninth Circuit: State Secrets Trump Torture Victims’ Right to Sue
By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
SAN FRANCISCO, United States—In what has been called a “sad day” for “torture victims” and “all Americans”, the Ninth Circuit ruled that possible exposure of state secrets outweighs victims’ right to seek damages.
The Ninth Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 6-5 on Wednesday to block a lawsuit by individuals who claim they were tortured in CIA interrogations. The alleged torture took place under the post-9/11 “extraordinary rendition” program which transported terrorist suspects to secret prisons. The lawsuit was brought against Jeppesen, a Boeing subsidiary, for allegedly flying the suspects to locations where they were tortured.
The lawsuit was filed in 2007 by five such suspects who believed the program was illegally operated by the CIA and Jeppesen, leading to “forced disappearances.”
One of the plaintiffs, Binyam Mohamed, was captured in Pakistan and flown to a Morocco CIA “black site” where he says he was tortured. He claims his penis was cut multiple times with a scalpel in efforts to make him confess involvement with al-Qaeda.
The court’s decision supports the president’s power to invoke the “state secrets privilege” and dismantle lawsuits that concern national security. The majority agreed with the Obama administration that if the lawsuit proceeded, state secrets could be exposed.
In his decision for the majority, Judge Raymond Fisher explained the case as “a painful conflict between human rights and national security.”
Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, writing for five dissenting judges, expressed concern that the lawsuit was dismissed too hastily. “[The alleged victims] are not even allowed to attempt to prove their case by the use of nonsecret evidence in their own hands or in the hands of third parties,” he wrote.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ben Wizner of the ACLU, has promised to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. “If this decision stands,” he said, “the United States will have closed its courts to torture victims while extending complete immunity to its torturers.”
Wizner categorized the decision as “a sad day not only for the torture victims whose attempt to seek justice has been extinguished, but for all Americans who care about the rule of law and our nation’s reputation in the world.”
Reprieve, a human rights group, stated that the court had “derailed another precious chance at a legal reckoning with the excesses of the war on terror. Yet again, those responsible for torture and rendition have used ‘state secrecy’ to avoid facing up to their crimes in court.”
Opponents of extraordinary rendition worry that the practice outsources torture to countries where it is deemed acceptable.
For more information, please see:
Independent-Victims of extraordinary rendition cannot sue, US court rules-10 September 2010
San Francisco Chronicle-Court dismisses suit alleging ‘torture flights’-9 September 2010
Guardian-US courts must lift lid on torture-9 September 2010
AP-Appeals court lets government halt torture lawsuit-9 September 2010
Wall Street Journal-Ninth Circuit Rules 6-5 to Toss Rendition Case Against Boeing-8 September 2010
Update: Charles Taylor Trial
By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands- On Monday, a witness (identified in the transcript as DCT-008) answered questions regarding the Small Boys Unit (SBU) of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) during Taylor’s trial. The prosecution claims the children in the SBU were forced into action for the NPFL on the front lines of conflict, made to man checkpoints and assigned as body guards to officers, including Taylor. The witness denied using children in any military capacity and that the only SBU he knew of consisted of the younger brothers and sisters of adult members of NPFL who would perform household chores for their siblings. This witness also testified that the NPFL turned over all their weapons to the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) peacekeepers managing the disarmament in Liberia during the mid-90’s. This witness, who was a radio operator for Taylor’s Special Security Services (SSS), also testified about his duties as a radio operator and the activities he saw at the Executive Mansion when Taylor resided there. The following day, witness DCT-008 was again questioned by the defense and testified that unbeknownst to Taylor, SSS Director Benjamin Yeaten was friends with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Sam Bockarie, giving him and the RUF aid from Liberia. Taylor’s defense team has indicated that witness DCT-008 may be the last person they call to testify.
For more information please see;
Charles Taylor Trial- DCT-008 Concludes His Evidence– 8 September, 2010
Charles Taylor Trial- Prosecutors Conclude the Cross-Examination of DCT-008– 7 September, 2010
Charles Taylor Trial- Witness Disagrees that Charles Taylor’s NPFL Had a Small Boys Unit– 6 September, 2010