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

NATO Troops Kill Civilians in Kandahar

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan- On Monday four civilians were killed and 18 others were wounded  when US troops fired on a bus in a Afghanistan, sparking protests and an expression of regret from the military alliance.

The bus was traveling from Kandahar to western Herat province, provincal officials said.  Later around 200 men took to the streets of Kandahar to demonstrate over the killings on a highway outside the Afghan city, burning tyres and shouting “death to America, death to Karzai, death to this government”.  Later, three Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and carrying guns tried to storm the office of Afghanistan’s premier spy agency in Kandahar, causing a shoot-out.

Speaking by telephone, the bus driver, who gave his name as Esmate, said he was about 70 to 100 meters from a military convoy when the shooting started.  “They opened fire at us and I fell unconscious.  The people who were killed were sitting in the seats just behind me,” he said.  Gul Mohammad, another witness, heard the firing and saw the bus skid on the road, alleging that the soldiers “opened fire for no reason”.

This incident reflects the chronic insecurity in the province, where US-led military forces are preparing a major push to dislodge the Taliban from their spiritual base.

NATO expressed it’s regret over the incident and said forces treated the injured at the scene.   Civilian deaths as a result of NATO has been the cause of increasing friction between NATO and the Afghan government.  NATO admitted its forces were responsible for the deaths of three women during a botched night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in February.

NATO is continuing to investigate the incident.  Patrols warned off the approaching vehicle with a flashlight and flares.  “Perceiving  a threat when the vehicle approached once more at an increased rate of speed, the patrol attempted to warn off the vehicle with hand signals prior to firing upon it,” the statement says.

Currently Afghan and NATO forces are engaged in an anti-Taliban operation to rid parts of southern Helmand province of militants. Officials have stated that the offensive will switch focus to Kandahar in the next few months.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Nato Firing Kills Afghan Civilians In Kandahar – 12 April 2010

AFP- Afghan Fury After US Troops Kill Four Civilians– 12 April 2010

VOANews.com- NATO Troops Kill 4 Civilians On Bus in Southern Afghanistan– 12 April 2010