Samoa In Need of Shelters for Victims of Sexual Crimes

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

APIA, Samoa – A Samoan Supreme Court judge, Vui Clarence Nelson, has called for the Samoan authorities to consider building a facility to shelter victims of sexual crimes.

Judge Nelson recently sentenced two men for raping an eight-year old girl. He made his statement to the Samoan authorities after deciding the case.

One of the men was sentenced to ten years in prison, while the other was sentenced to three years in prison. Both men pleaded guilty to raping the child.

Concern for victims of sexual crimes in the Pacific region has been raised even more after the recent event in Auckland, New Zealand. A serial rapist was convicted for brutally raping numerous women and young girls.

Justice John Priestley, who sentenced the New Zealand man to prison for 19 1/2 years, said that the “damage caused to the victims was aggravated by their cultural factors, which caused law self esteem, financial loss, lack of trust and safety, and depression.”

Many of the victims, who were young girls, attempted suicide.

The victims in this “cultural context” that Justice Priestley mentioned regard themselves as being “irretrievably damaged.” According to the statements made by the victims, the damage is enormous and in some cases permanent.

Because of the severe damage caused to women and young girls who have been victims of sexual crimes, many judges, such as Justice Priestley and Judge Nelson, and community development leaders, such as the Samoa Victim Support Group, have urged more shelters and facilities for victims of sexual crimes.

Judge Nelson stated that given the increasing number of sex crimes involving young girls, the “time has come for the appropriate authorities to consider setting up a refuge for the victims.”

The Samoa Victim Support Group reaches out to young victims and helps care for them in the aftermath of the sexual crimes. Judge Nelson commended the Samoa Victim Support Group for its efforts to care for the victims of sexual crimes.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Samoa judge calls for facility for sex crime victims – 05 April 2010

Voxy New Zealand – Rape Victims Brave to Come Forward, Says Judge – 24 March 2010

Yahoo News – Rape victims brave to come forward, says judge – 24 March 2010

Lebanese Man’s Life Spared

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon– A man from Lebanon, condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi Arabian court, will not be beheaded on Friday as originally planned.

Ali Sabat’s execution was scheduled for Friday after noon prayers, but a Lebanese minister has assured that the execution will not take place after a frenzy of media coverage and appeals by international human rights groups.  Sabat’s lawyer, May al-Khansa, said she is still unsure whether the execution by way of beheading had been waived or simply postponed.  Said Ms. Khansa, “The minister of justice for Lebanon called me and told me that nothing would happen on Friday.  But after that I don’t have an answer as to if he will be alive or not.”

Sabat, who is a Shiite Muslim, was the host of a popular television show in which he made predictions about the future.  In 2008, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to perform a religious pilgrimage when Saudi police who accused him of practicing sorcery arrested him.

Saudi Arabia does not have a legal definition of witchcraft although horoscopes and fortune telling are condemned and considered un-Islamic.

The human rights group Amnesty International has been trying to get Saudi Arabia to cease all instances of capital punishment.  Amnesty said that Mr. Sabat seemed to have been convicted for “exercising his right to freedom of expression.”  And Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program said it was “high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions.”

Ms. Khansa had contacted Lebanese leaders to appeal on behalf of her client.  No leaders would speak publicly, but Ms. Khansa said she was told the Lebanese government did lobby for the release of Mr. Sabat.

Like in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon has a law against witchcraft.  In Lebanon, however, witchcraft is only considered to be a misdemeanor, punishable by at most a few months in jail.  The death penalty is also still legal in Lebanon, but used sparingly.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Saudi ‘Reprieve’ in Sorcery Case– 2 April 2010

Los Angeles Times- Saudi Arabia: Factional Politics May be at Heart of Legal Dispute Over Psychic’s Fate– 2 April 2010

Voice of America- Beheading of Man in Saudi Arabia for Witchcraft Averted– 2 April 2010

Somali Pirates Free Yemeni Ship

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni ship with 11 surviving sailors of a 12 men crew, which was hijacked on 24 March in Somali waters, Yemen’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday.
FV AZ ZABANIYAH had left al-Shiher port in Hadramout in late February, was captured off Somalia’s northern coast, while one of its 12 crew members was killed during the attack.

Security authorities in the Yemen New Agency reported that $5 million payment was paid as ransom. Piracy has becomes a profitable trade in the east African lawless country, a lucrative venture that has attracted many young Somali men.

Yemen’s south-east province of Hadramout confirmed that the capture took place while the Yemeni fishing vessel was in the Somali territorial waters. Among the 12 crew members were eight Yemeni fishermen, two Somalis and two Tanzanian nationals, while Othman Mohamed of Tanzania was killed during the operation.

Analysts wonder what the vessel carried in order to achieve such a high ransom. “Though the larger fishing vessels easily can rip from the seas a tuna catch valued such much, we feel that there was something else carried on that fishy boat,” a regional analyst stated. A United Nations imposed sanctions regime for Somalia and Eritrea, including an arms embargo,  provides rich opportunities for blockade breaking vessels.

The analyst also reported that a South Korean chemical Tanker MT DL COSMOS, which was missing after an unsuccessful piracy attack off Tanzania, arrived now safely in Mombasa, Kenya. “They just maintained a communications black-out,” he said.

For more information, please see:

Bernama – Somali Pirates Fee Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

Saba Net – Somali Pirates Free Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

APA – Somali Pirates Release Yemen Owned Ship – 5 March 2010

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor – Somali Sea-Shifta Free Yemeni Vessel For Ransom – 5 April 2010

Generals on Trial in Peru for Murders of 37 Students

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

HUANCAYO, Peru-Three generals and other army officers are on trial for the murders of thirty-seven university students from 1989 to 1993.  Generals Manuel Delgado, Luis Pérez, and David Jaime Sobrevilla commanded an army brigade during those years in Huancayo where the Universidad Nacional del Centro is located. Formal charges were filed on March 4th.

The murdered students were allegedly targeted because they were suspected of being connected to or sympathising with the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) or Tupác Amaru Revolutionary Movement guerrillas. The three Generals allegedly ordered former intelligence Commander Col. Elías Espinoza of seizing and killing the students. Ordering deaths are the same charges that led to the conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for two army massacres.

The National Human Rights Coordinator for Peru told IPS that evidence against the former military officials includes “testimony of relatives who witnessed the kidnappings of their children . . . and who later found their bodies dumped on the outskirts of the city.” The prosecutors also have army operation manuals that describe how to kidnap and kill detainees and “accounts of students who after being hauled in and tortured by the military, managed to regain their freedom.”

Prosecutors allege that the thirty-seven murders took place as a part of a “systemic and generalized practice of kidnappings and homicides.” The Maoist movement Sendero Luminoso was reported to have a strong presence at the University in Huancayo, where it targeted any person opposed to its efforts.

During the government’s struggle against Sendero Luminoso, it entered the University fifteen times and over one hundred people were murdered and kidnapped. After the military’s first incursion on the campus, it set up a “civil action base,” after which student and staff disappearances began.  The occupation was legalized in 1990 through a law authorizing the military to stay on campuses if “terrorist elements or groups disturb the peace and internal order.”

Protection has been ordered for the five individuals testifying against the generals who are former kidnapping victims.

For more information, please see:

Rebelión-Generales Enjuciados por asesinatos a 37 estudiantes-5 April 2010

IPS-Generals on Trial for Murders of 37 Students-2 April 2010

Correo-Caso UNCP:Justicia Tras Diesisiete Años-25 March 2010

Afghan Leader Under Fire from Kandahar Elders

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, under criticism for remarks made against the West, joined the commander of U.S. forces in a meeting with tribal leaders Sunday in the volatile south.  This meeting occurs amid the tension which arose after Karzai’s accusations of foreign interference in last year’s elections.

President Karzai and General Stanley McChrystal flew together to the southern city of Kandahar, a city deep within the heart of the Taliban insurgency, to meet with tribal elders.  This meeting was an effort to build political support ahead of an expected U.S. and NATO push into the area. While visiting Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, he was told few would join the army for fear of being killed by the militants.

Unlike the previous offensive in neighboring Helmand which began with a military push, the Kandahar campaign has contained a major emphasis on politics.

The tribal gathering, which is known as a shura, was held under tight security at the governor’s compound.  During the gathering, one tribal elder after another stood up, speaking loudly and angrily shouting at the president, complaining of police corruption, official bribes and insecurity.  At one point in the meeting, the president urged “Tell me what is in your heart.”  However, one of the tribal elders retorted ” I can’t, I will be killed by the terrorists,”- a reference to the growing power of the Taliban in the area.

The overall message that was taken away from this gathering of 1,500 tribesman is they are not ready for any major military operation by Afghan and NATO led forces any time soon.

The president’s younger brother, a key source of support in the south was also in attendance.  He has been publicly accused of being a major drug lord — part of the corruption and cronyism that undermines support for the government and drives Afghans to the Taliban. He denies any involvement in drugs.

The Kandahar visit is at risk of being overshadowed by the fallout from Karzai’s Thursday remarks.

Karzai lashed out against the U.N. and the international community, accusing them of perpetrating a “vast fraud” in last year’s presidential polls as part of a conspiracy to deny him re-election or tarnish his victory.

For more information, please see:
Associated Press- Afghan Leader Meets US Commander Amid Tensions-04 April 2010
The New York Times-Karzai Rallies Tribes, Distances Self From West– 04 April 2010