Pakistan Army Strike Kills Many Civilians

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PESHAWAR, Pakistan- When an army jet bombed a remote village in Pakistan’s tribal region of Khyber, at least 73 civilians were killed, local officials said.

The incident took place on Saturday, but because the news was slow in being reported because of the region’s inaccessibility.  Dilla Baz Khan, helping free a woman from the rubble an air raid when the Pakistani jets came back to the valley for another bombing run, killing scores of locals in a village that has been said to be supportive of army offensives against militants on the Afghan border.  On Tuesday Khan, along with other survivors said at least 68 were killed in the weekend airstrikes.  This contradicts initial army accounts that the majority of the dead were Islamists militants.  Officials have reportedly already paid compensation to families of victims.

Officials declined to say how many dead were civilians.  The top official in Khyber, Shafiullah Khan, apologized to local tribesman and admitted the victims were “mostly” innocent villagers.  The facts point to this being one of the most serious incidents of civilian casualties inflicted by Pakistan’s military in the border region in recent years.  These attacks will likely hurt efforts to get the backing of local tribesman tribesman for offensives against insurgents behind bloody bombings in Pakistan, as well as attacks on international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Many people have died in the area in the last year and a half.  Villagers say another strike by a U.S. drone missile killed 13 people on Monday, contesting accounts by Pakistani officials that the dead were four militants. Major General Athar Abbas said those killed in the air strike were attacked because it had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site.

Correspondents say that the army is under pressure from the U.S. to move forcefully against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in the north-west.  The army consistently reports killing militants in air strikes, but rarely admits responsibility for civilian deaths.

Relief agencies say the attacks against militants in Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan have displaced more than one million people.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Pakistan ‘Army Air Strike Kills Dozens of Civilians’– 13 April 2010

Associated Press- Pakistani AirStrike Kills Many Civilians: Official– 13 April 2010

The Washington Post-Ire Grows Deadly Pakistan Airstrike– 13 April 2010

Amnesty Condemns Deportation Policies of Several European Nations

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

In a report released on Monday April 12, London-based Amnesty International has documented and criticized the “no-torture” assurance policies of several European countries, and called for the European Union to prohibit member countries from continuing the practice.

Several European countries, including the United Kingdom, require assurances from countries that they will not torture individuals that are deported.

The assurances are used by the deporting European countries to assuage domestic and international concerns over sending individuals to countries that often have egregious human rights records.

The problem with these well-intentioned deals, according to the Amnesty report, is that they do nothing to guarantee compliance. Amnesty described the assurances as both “unenforceable” and “unreliable”, and characterized the practice used in at least half a dozen European countries as a “failed experiment”.

Moreover, Amnesty claims that governments are merely using the practice “to rid themselves of” alleged terrorists in lieu of prosecuting these individuals in domestic courts or releasing them.

The United Kingdom, in particular, was condemned by Amnesty, since the UK uses this method frequently to deport any individual deemed to be a “substantial threat” to national security.

In addition to the general assurance policy required for individual deportaitons, the UK has more formal “memorandums of understanding” with Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya. These memorandums of understanding preclude individualized assurances for each separate deportee.

The UK responded vociferously to the report. In particular, officials claimed that no deportees were sent to any country where there was a “significant risk of torture”.

Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy also have used and continue to use “no-torture” assurance policies and were implicated in the report.

The report is available online at Amnesty’s website.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Amnesty International criticise government on torture – 12 April 2010

INDEPENDENT – Diplomatic deals expose deportees to torture risk – 12 April 2010

JURIST – Amnesty condemns use of ‘no-torture’ deals in European deportations – 12 April 2010

Palestinian Militants, Israeli Forces Clash at Gaza Border

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

THE NEGEV, Israel/Gaza – “Heavily armed” Islamic Jihad operatives were reportedly killed after a firefight with Israeli military forces near the Al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, early on April 13. Varying reports bring the total of dead to between two and four. Two other Islamic Jihad militants were also reportedly injured, according to Israeli forces and Palestinian medics.

The Israeli military has reported that the militants were planting explosives near the Gaza/Israel border, and that Israeli forces found substantial weaponry on the bodies of two of those killed, including explosive devices, assault rifles, hand grenades, and other weapons.

Islamic Jihad’s militant wing, the Al-Quds Brigade, later issued a statement saying that its fighters had engaged Israeli forces when the Israelis attempted to cross the border into Gaza. Israel has denied that its forces attempted to make any such crossing. Residents of the Al-Bureij camp reported that tanks crossed into the area when patrols found the militants planting explosives, and that the Israelis also used machine guns, artillery, and missiles.

The clash comes as Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, attempts to assert its legitimacy and control of Gaza by holding together a shaky ceasefire with Israel. Hamas has controlled Gaza since it won a parliamentary election ousting Fatah, its rival Palestinian party that currently controls both the Palestinian presidency and the West Bank. In recent months, other militant factions, such as Islamic Jihad, have threatened the tenuous ceasefire that has existed between Hamas and Israel since the end of the open fighting in Gaza during the winter of 2008-2009. On April 11, Hamas security officials detained several Islamic Jihadists accused of trying to fire rockets into southern Israel. According to those detained, Hamas police made the militants sign pledges that they would not attack Israel. Many of the more extremist factions in Gaza have accused Hamas of “going soft” on Israel.

Since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect in January 2009, international human rights groups estimate that ninety Palestinians have died in Gaza as a result of fighting with Israeli forces, and one migrant farmworker from Thailand was killed in Israel from a rocket fired from Gaza.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Palestinian Fighter Killed in Gaza – 13 April 2010

BBC News – Palestinian Militants Killed in Clashes in Gaza – 13 April 2010

Ha’aretz – Gaza Militants Fire on Israelis After IDF Foils Attack on Border – 13 April 2010

Ma’an News Agency – Israel Army: 4 Targeted in Gaza Were Heavily Armed – 13 April 2010

New York Times – Israeli Troops Kill 2 Palestinian Militants at Gaza Border – 13 April 2010

British Geologist Killed in Ethiopia

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – A thirty-nine-year old British Geologist was killed on Monday while traveling through the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.

Jason Reid was a geologist working for Petronas, a state-run Malaysian energy firm looking for oil in the region.

Jason Reid was being escorted by two Ethiopian military guards through Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region when gunmen opened fire on the car they were traveling in.  According to Ethiopian authorities, they returned fire and “a gun battle ensued.”

The car was “riddled with bullets.”

“Mr. Jason and his escorts were going to their camps after completing their day’s work.  The bandits ambushed and attacked them, and the law enforcement officials made a hot pursuit and were able to apprehend three of the suspected attackers,” said government spokesman Shimelis Kemal.

The Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels have accused each other of being responsible for the attack.

“We don’t want to speculate at the moment,” said Gavin Cook, spokesman for the British Embassy in Addis Ababa.  “There are a number of groups that operate in the region, but no one has claimed responsibility.  There’s nothing to suggest as yet whether one or any of them was responsible or whether it was a random attack.  But we are working with the government to try and establish more details.”

ONLF has denied responsibility for the attack, saying that the attackers “were simply outlaws, people engaged in robbery and illicit activities.”

“The Ethiopian regime has for some time now sponsored undisciplined armed militias who routinely wreak havoc in Ogaden and are no doubt responsible for this callous act,” said an ONLF statement.  “The Ethiopian regime has clearly lost control of the local armed militias it sponsors, and the ONLF strongly suspects that they have committed this act.”

The ONLF is categorized as a terrorist group in Ethiopia, while the ONLF accuses the Ethiopian government of rights abuses.

For more information, please see:

VOA – Ethiopia, Rebels Trade Charges Over British Geologist’s Killing – 11 April 2010

AFP – Separatists Accuses Ethiopian Militia of Killing British Oil Worker – 09 April 2010

Washington Post – British Geologist Shot Dead in Ethiopia – 09 April 2010

Guatemalan Judges, Cops, Polticians, and Business Bankrolled by Organized Crime

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch reporter – North America desk

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – U.N.-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig) reported that government officials and business people are bankrolled by Guatemala’s powerful criminal organizations.  The corruption of judges, prosecutors, police, lawmakers and business executives puts organized crime above the law

Carlos Castresana, jurist in charged of Cicig, stated, “Let’s not fool ourselves: there are judges who are on the payrolls, there are business owners, there are politicians, there are legislators who work for these groups,” and added “Each has his sectors of interest and his groups to protect.”

The success of Cicig and the newly implemented Attorney General’s Office in identifying organized criminals, including recent arrests of high-ranking police officers and former President Alfonso Portillo, gave organized crime something to be concerned.  Castresana said “The bad guys don’t know what we have, but as we translate that information into evidence and we bring it before the courts, our cards will be revealed as we put them on the table.”

Castresana also points to an attempt to discredit Cicig as a counter reaction by organized crime, such as press reports criticizing Cicig work.  He commented “We knew this was going to happen. We’re not particularly scared or alarmed, naturally the falsehoods we are seeing published bother us,”

“The press was outraged when, a year ago, I said that (the criminal organizations) are also in the media, and they asked for names: well, there they are, there you have them,” Castresana said.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune – Judges, Cops and Politicians on Mob Payrolls in Guatemala – 12 April 2010

La Prensa – Judges, cops and pols on mob payrolls in Guatemala – 12 April 2010