Palestinians Call for Revocation of IDF Military Order

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Palestinian leaders have strongly condemned a new Israeli military order that would classify Palestinians living in the West Bank without “proper identification” as “infiltrators.” Palestinian officials fear the order would allow the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to deport Palestinians from their West Bank homes in the thousands.

Though the military order was passed six months ago, it will go into effect on April 13, and was discovered by HaMoked: the Center for the Defense of the Individual, an Israel-based human rights group, and was published in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on April 11. HaMoked, along with nine other Israeli human rights groups have joined in the calls to repeal the order.

The order would amend the 1969 laws designed to prevent infiltration to include anyone living in the West Bank without an Israeli permit. Such persons could be expelled within three days, or alternatively, sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison. In a statement released after the Ha’aretz story broke, the Israeli military confirmed the order, and said that the IDF “is ready to implement the order, which is not intended to apply to Israelis, but to illegal sojourners,” though the statement did not elaborate on the order’s impact on Palestinians.

Ha’aretz characterized the order, saying, “[t]he order’s language is both general and ambiguous, stipulating that the term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties (such as the United States) and Israeli citizens, whether Arab or Jewish.”

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told Ha’aretz that the order “threatens the emptying of large areas of land from its Palestinian inhabitants.” There is no clear standard of what constitutes a valid permit, so many fear arbitrary, inconsistent, and discriminatory enforcement by Israeli forces.

Saed Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, called on the international community to pressure Israel to revoke the order. Erekat described the order as “racist,” and was a violation of the Geneva Conventions, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits any forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons and civilians from occupied territory.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israeli Order Raises Eviction Risk – 12 April 2010

Christian Science Monitor – Israel Moves to Deport “Illegal” Palestinians from West Bank – 12 April 2010

Ha’aretz – Fayyad: New IDF Orders Threaten to Empty West Bank of Palestinians – 12 April 2010

Ma’an News Agency – Erekat: World Must Compel Israel to Revoke Military Order – 12 April 2010

Palestine News Network – Palestinians Fear Mass Expulsions – 12 April 2010

THE SOUNDTRACK TO GENOCIDE: Using Incitement to Genocide in the Bikindi Trial to Protect Free Speech and Uphold the Promise of Never Again

By Justin La Mort
Courtesy of The Council for American Students in International Negotiations

The promise to “never again” allow the crime of genocide is often made, although promises alone were not enough to protect the victims in Srebrenica and Kigali.  Legal concepts such as universal jurisdiction and the Responsibility to Protect are being used, or at least considered, as ways to uphold this promise, but the Genocide Convention still remains the main means of protection.  One of the Convention’s tools of prevention and punishment is the criminalization of “direct and public incitement to commit genocide.”  The meaning of these seven controversial words will help decide where the international community draws the line between preventing the crime of crimes and protecting the fundamental right of free speech.

The claims of genocide are increasing, while advocates are pushing for expanding the Convention’s boundaries.  No one wants to allow the next genocide.  No one wants to allow perpetrators to escape punishment.  This does not mean that in striving towards “never again” we sacrifice free speech as a casualty of war.  Freedom of speech is “the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom.”  A vague or overly expansive interpretation of incitement will be abused and misused by dictators in silencing artists, journalists, and genuine political opposition.  A limited, well-defined interpretation will still allow for the intended purpose of prevention and punishment of genocide, yet respect the basic tenets of free expression.

The upcoming appeal of Rwandan musician Simon Bikindi, who was charged with incitement to genocide in various contexts, including direct calls to action, implicit appeals, music composition, and failure to prevent radio broadcasts of his songs, will allow the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to clarify the elements of incitement to genocide.  Based upon a review of the genocide jurisprudence and the lessons learned from the American experience, I propose the following test: whether the speaker directly, seriously, and publicly urges the commission of genocide in the near future and that the message is reasonably likely to produce such action.  Explicitly incorporating an imminence standard will permit incitement to genocide to serve its intended purpose of prevention while safeguarding freedom of speech.

This analysis is divided into six parts.  Part I reviews the background of Simon Bikindi whose case has the potential to elucidate the incitement to genocide standards.  Part II tracks the development of international law in response to the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide, while Part III examines nearly a century of U.S. experience in balancing speech and security.  Part IV canvasses the proposed tests leading to Part V, which explains why the proposed imminence test should become the accepted standard.  Lastly, Part VI details the test’s application in Bikindi’s appeal.

To read the complete article, please see:

Justin La Mort, THE SOUNDTRACK TO GENOCIDE: Using Incitement to Genocide in the Bikindi Trial to Protect Free Speech and Uphold the Promise of Never Again.

The Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law (IJHRL) is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal designed to address international human rights issues more broadly. The first volume of the IJHRL was ranked #8 among top international law reviews on ExpressO rankings. The journal explores political, philosophical, and legal questions related to international human rights from diverse perspectives. It strives to create a more thoughtful polity better able to make informed choices about ethical foreign policymaking.

Russian Judge Who Imprisoned Neo-Nazis Killed

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian judge who had earlier this year sentenced a number of ultra-nationalist leaders for murder and hate crimes was fatally shot today in Moscow.

Eduard Chuvashov, a Moscow City Circuit judge, was killed in what is believed to be a contracted killing in a stairway in the apartment building.  According to initial police reports, the assailant used a gun equipped with a silencer and collected the spent bullet shells.  Chuvashov was shot once both in his chest and head.

It is believed that the growing neo-Nazi and ultra-nationalist movement is responsible for this killing.  In recent weeks, many of these nationalist groups called for Chuvashov’s death on their websites.

Just last week Chuvashov had sentenced two members of the Ryno Gang to significant prison terms for their role in killing twenty migrant workers.  This past February, Chuvashov oversaw the trial of nine members of a organized gang known as the White Wolves, who had also attacked and killed eleven similar victims from central Asian countries.

In response to the killing, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev declared that “everything will be done so that the organizers and perpetrators of this cynical murder be found and punished.”

In recent years Russia has experienced a significant rise in violent acts perpetrated by neo-Nazi and far-right ultra-nationalist groups.  Approximately 60 people were killed and 306 injured in hate crimes last year, according to a Russian hate-crimes watchdog group.  Last year one of the lawyers who helped bring the White Wolves defendants to trial was killed in Moscow.

Chuvashov’s killing has raised questions about whether Russia’s ultra-nationalist groups are targeting political and legal leaders who attempt to punish them for their attacks on migrants. “[Cheuvashov’s death] could be retribution from far-right groups” stated Allison Gill of Human Rights Watch.

For more information, please see:

AP – Moscow judge who sentenced neo-Nazis shot to death – 12 April, 2010

DEUTSCHE WELLE – Russian judge murdered in Moscow – 12 April, 2010

TELEGRAPH – Russian judge gunned down in ‘neo-Nazi’ revenge killing – 12 April, 2010

REUTERS – Moscow judge who sentenced neo-fascists shot dead – 12 April, 2010

RT – Russian judge killed in Moscow, police cite race hate motives – 12 April, 2010

Yemeni Cleric’s Family Offers Deal

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – The father of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni religious scholar who has reportedly been added to a US hit list, says his son will halt his anti-US messages if Washington removes him from the list.

Al-Awlaki, accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda’s Yemeni offshoot, was added to the CIA’s list of targets to be killed or captured for directly plotting against the US, a US intelligence official said last week

U.S. officials said on Tuesday that the administration of President Barack Obama had authorized operations to capture or kill U.S.-born  al-Awlaki – a leading figure linked to al Qaeda’s Yemen-based regional wing which claimed responsibility for a failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in December.

But Yemeni authorities said on Saturday that they had not received any evidence from the US to support allegations that the US-born al-Awlaki is recruiting for an al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen. “Anwar al-Awlaki has always been looked at as a preacher rather than a terrorist and shouldn’t be considered as a terrorist unless the Americans have evidence that he has been involved in terrorism,” Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, the Yemeni foreign minister, said.

Awlaki’s tribe has denounced U.S. plans to target him, vowing it “will not stand by idly and watch.”

Heavily armed tribes in Yemen, the poorest Arab country, often try to protect their kin by seeking to gain their release or favorable treatment. At times, they have kidnapped foreign tourists to pressure the government.

Yemen is beset by serious political and administrative problems. In addition to the conflict with the regional branch of al-Qaeda, Yemen’s weak central government has struggled to contain separatists in the south and Houthi fighters in the north.

The government and the Houthis reached a ceasefire agreement in February. But the separatist problems in the south show no sign of a resolution.

For more information, please see;

Al-Jazeera – Yemen’s Awlaki Family Offers Deal – 12 April 2010

Washington Post – Yemen Says Seeks Cleric, Yet To Get U.S. Intelligence – 12 April 2010

Saba Net – Al-Awlaki is Required To Surrender To The Yemeni Authorities; Top Yemen Official – 12 April 2010

Anti-Roma, Anti-Semitic Party Gains Significant Ground in Hungarian Elections

  

The Magyar Garda
At a Jobbik rally, members of the paramilitary Magyar Garda watch over party supporters. / Source: The Telegraph, Aaron Taylor

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Jobbik, a far-right party which has openly expressed anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric, achieved a breakthrough in Hungarian elections, entering Parliament for the first time and finishing third in national polls. The center-right party, Fidesz, won fifty-two-percent of the vote, and the incumbent Socialist party only received nineteen percent of votes. Jobbik, with seventeen percent of the vote, acquired twenty six seats in the Hungarian Parliament

Hungary’s largest Jewish organization, the Association of Hungarian Jewish Religious Communities, warned that the political gains by Jobbik mark “the first occasion that a movement pursuing openly anti-Semitic policies” has taken steps to power since the Nazi era.

A recent copy of the Jobbik party’s weekly newspaper shows a statue of the Hungarian saint, Saint Gellert, holding a menorah instead of a cross. The picture’s caption reads: “Is this what you want?”

The rise of Jobbik, which is allied with the right-wing British National Party, coincides with a surge of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Hungary, and parallels the rise of far-right parties across Europe.

Jobbik has close links with a banned  paramilitary wing organization, Magyar Garda. Magyar Garda, which has an insignia modelled on the Arrow Cross used by Hungarian Nazis during the Second World War, have staged a series of marches against “gypsy crime” in towns and villages throughout Hungary where the largest Roma communities are located. The rise of the Magyar Garda has coincided with a series of attacks on Roma villages in 2008 and 2009 which claimed six lives.

Laszlo Molnar, a member of the Magyar Garda, said: “Actually, I am a racist . . . So what? Why do I have to like those who are in fact my enemies?”

Gabor Vona, the thirty-one year old leader of Jobbik, has vowed to be sworn in as an MP while wearing the banned uniform of the Magyar Garda. He said: “I will keep my promise to go into parliament on the first day in a Garda vest.”

According to analysts, the Socialist Party, which has dominated Hungarian politics for the past eight years, allowed large parts of eastern Hungary to become an economic wasteland, and allowed the situation of the Roma to further deteriorate, which has inflamed social tensions. Hungary was only able to avoid financial meltdown at the end of 2008 through a twenty billion euro bailout from the IMF, the World Bank, and other institutions.

Gergely Böszörményi NagyGergely Borszomeny-Nagy of the the Perspective Institute, a think tank, said: “This is a supposedly leftist Government but over the past eight years the gap between rich and poor has drastically widened.”

Unemployment in Hungary is currently at eleven percent and  inflation is at six percent. 

As the economic crisis in Hungary deepens, the Roma people have increasingly been targeted as scapegoats. George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist said:  “There is no question that the crisis that hits people unexpectedly . . . gets them angry and they want to take it out on someone.”

Jobbik has drawn much of its support from young Hungarians, and is especially strong in the nation’s universities. Many young people who have been unable to find work have taken refuge in nationalist politics, which blame outsiders for the nation’s economic problems. 

Tamas Vardai, a university student in Budapest said: “Jobbik is the only party that can put this country in order.”

For more information, please see:

euronews – Hungary’s far right secures seats in parliament – 12 April 2010

Times Online – Far-right party Jobbik makes breakthrough in Hungarian elections – 12 April 2010

Telegraph – Hungary elections: first step to power for far-Right since Nazi era – 11 April 2010