Rockets Launched from Gaza into Southern Israel

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

THE NEGEV, Israel – Multiple Qassam rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip and into Southern Israel during the past week. On March 19, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed a foreign migrant worker, reportedly a man from Thailand working on a farm, and the first casualty in Israel by rocket fire since the massive fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008-2009. Eighty-eight Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the same period because of Israeli military operations and border clashes, according to the United Nations.

The rocket attacks are not, however, from Hamas, the ruling political party in Gaza. Since the end of the fighting in January 2009, Hamas has observed a de facto cease-fire with Israel. Rather, the rockets have been launched by some of the many disparate extremist militant groups in the Gaza Strip who have criticized Hamas for what they believe is its increasingly moderate stance toward Israel.

“These types of attacks from other groups in Gaza…anger Hamas, because Hamas wants to show the entire world they are in control here,” said Haidar Eid, a Gaza-based political analyst. “Hamas wants to govern and rebuild, but it’s not giving an alternative to the other groups who want to continue to fight Israel.”

Israel responded to the rocket attacks with airstrikes, attacking what Israel has characterized as a militant smuggling tunnel used to bring weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The airstrikes also targeted a workshop in Gaza City and an open field, according to Palestinian security officials and eyewitnesses.

Since Israel began its blockade on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in Gaza have built a network of tunnels, used to bring in weapons as well as much-needed humanitarian supplies. During a recent trip to the Gaza Strip, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the blockade, saying it has caused “unnecessary suffering.”

As Israel ramped up military operations on the Gaza border, an Israeli soldier was killed on March 22, reportedly as a result of friendly fire.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel Raid Strikes Gaza Tunnel – 22 March 2010

Ma’an News Agency – Israeli Soldier Killed on Gaza Border – 22 March 2010

Ha’aretz – Gaza Rocket Fired at South Israel, Days After Deadly Strike – 21 March 2010

Christian Science Monitor – Hamas Fails to Rein in Rocket Attacks, Prompting Israel Strike – 19 March 2010

BBC News – Rocket Fire From Gaza Kills Man in Southern Israel – 18 March 2010

U.S. Warns Ships of Possible Al Qaeda Attack

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANAA, Yemen– The United States is warning ships sailing off the coast of Yemen that al Qaeda is planning attacks similar to that of the USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

The Office of Naval Intelligence posted the warning in order to promote security for shipping companies and other vessels.  According to the warning, the exact method of a planned attack is not known but it “may be similar in nature to the attacks against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the M/V Limburg in October 2002, where a small to mid-size boat laden with explosives was detonated.”

The warning further noted that “Although the time and location of such an attack are unknown, ships in the Red Sea, Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden along the coast of Yemen are at the greatest risk of becoming targets of such an attack.”

The Naval Intelligence posting comes in an area that has been one of the most active for Somali based pirate attacks in recent months.  According to a number of government anti-piracy reports, there have been 23 pirate attacks or suspected pirate incidents against ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, and western Indian Ocean over the past two months.

Furthermore, an increased al Qaeda presence in Yemen and Somalia as of late has contributed to the growing piracy problem.  Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen based affiliate of Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist network, announced in late December that it was calling on Muslims to wage a “mast media campaign of gathering information on U.S. Navy ships, their crews, how they are serviced by other nations, and data on possible nuclear weapons on board.”

The Yemen based statement said that al Qaeda had targeted the Navy in the past by bombing the Cole and that “every American naval vessel in the seas and oceans: aircraft carriers, submarines, and all of its war machines within range of al Qaeda will be destroyed.”

As one counterterrorism official explained “Extremists on the Arabian Peninsula continue to look to maritime interests as possible terrorist targets.”

For more information, please see:

CNN- U.S. Intelligence: Al Qaeda May Target Ships off Yemen– 22 March 2010

Reuters- U.S. Warns Ships off Yemen of Possible Al Qaeda Attack– 22 March 2010

The Washington Times- Navy Warns Ships About Al Qaeda Risk Near Yemen– 22 March 2010

First Trial in China for Illegal Organ Transplants

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Four men in China were charged with the criminal offense of paying living people for their organs with the intent to resell them to citizens in need of organ transplants. For the first time, a Chinese trial is scheduled to take place in April to hear the suspects on the laws governing organ transplants.

The four charged awaiting trial are believed to be part of a criminal ring that sells organs on the black market.  The group is led by a former organ donor surnamed Liu. The named suspects suspects allegedly organized four liver and kidney donations. China Daily reported that their new business foundered, however, when the suspects were taken to court in December by a “donor” claiming back pay, according to the Haidian District Procuratorate in Beijing, which is handling the case. 

If the four men are found guilty, they would be sentenced to at least five years in prison according to current laws regulating organ transplants.  Present regulations on human organ transplants ban organ trade. This was set forth by law in May 2007, and restricted living organ donations to spouses, blood relatives or people sharing family bonds through mutual support.

Despite these legal limitations to organ donations, there has been a recent increase in the illegal businesses of organ trade has become a rampant enterprise. Over the last few years, the number of illicit sales of organs in China has skyrocketed. This is especially true with the rise in living organ transplants, which are transplants which use organs that are donated by living individuals, predominantly by those in dire need of money immediately. Li Ning, president of Beijing Youan Hospital and a liver transplant surgeon, added, “Driven by a huge demand for the life-saving procedure, the lack of a proper and sustainable organ donation system and poor law enforcement, the black market became huge.”

According to China Daily, about a third of 10,000 organ transplants in China involved living donors last year – a figure almost six times the number in 2008. Vice health minister Huang Jiefu, who is also a leading liver transplant expert, stated, “A considerable number of them were done with fake identities from hired donors.”  Jiefu also expressed the concern that, “Without intervention, China will become the biggest black market for living human organs, which will seriously affect the country’s reputation and threaten patients’ health.”

 

For more information, please see:

New York Times – China: 4 Face Trial on Organ Trafficking Charges – 22 March 2010

China Daily – Four face a minimum of five years in jail if convicted – 22 March 2010

People’s Daily – Organ trafficking ring to go on trial – 22 March 2010

Media Rights Group Files Court Action Challenging Italian Prime Minister’s Control of Nation’s Press

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – A media watchdog organization, headed by wealthy financier George Soros, filed to begin a legal action with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a Italian television station challenging the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s control over the Italian media .

The Open Society Justice Initiative’s action claims that the Berlusconi government violated standards established by the European Union’s Parliament when it withdrew television frequency rights from Centro Europa 7 and give control over that frequency to Rete 4.  Rete 4 is a media outlet owned by Mediaset, a parent media company controlled by Berlusconi.  The Initiative claims that one of the purposes of Berlusconi’s actions against Europea 7 has been to limit the public’s ability to gain access to information on important policy matters.

A spokesman for Europea 7 is also claiming that the transfer of the frequency, which had been controlled by Europea since 1999, was unlawful.

Prior to rising to the position of Prime Minister, Berlusconi headed a media company that now controls the three largest private television stations in the nation.  In addition to this significant segment of the private market, the Prime Minister’s supporters also have control over the state television outlets.  In all, approximately ninety percent of Italy’s television market is controlled by Berlusconi.

The Italian government’s transfer of the frequency to one of Berlusconi’s television station has once again raised concerns of the possible conflicts of interest between a head of state and that individual’s overwhelming control of that state’s media.

James A. Goldston, of the Open Society Justice Initiative, has noted that “this case highlights the failure of successive Italian governments to deal with the twin problems of concentrated control and conflict of interest in broadcasting.”  Goldston went on to comment that “the Italian situation is unacceptable for a democracy.”

European Union courts have condemned Berlusconi’s media control in the past.  In 2004 the European Parliament criticized the growing conflicting interests between the Italian government and the country’s supposedly independent media.

For more information, please see:

C21Media – Berlusconi TV influence ‘undemocratic’ – 12 March 2010

BUSINESSWEEK – Berlusconi’s Control of Italian TV Is Criticizes by Soros Group – 11 March 2010

ITNEWS – Legality of Berlusconi’s Television Monopoly Challenged – 11 March 2010

REUTERS – Group takes Berlusconi to rights court on TV control – 11 March 2010

Amid Violent Protests, South Africa Commemorates Sharpeville Massacre

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Sunday, as South Africa marked the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest days of the Apartheid era, its current Deputy President called for an end to recent violent protests that have engulfed the country.    Rather than use violence, Deputy President Kagame Motlanthe charged South Africans to learn from the lessons of the past and use the democratic institutions available . . . to voice our grievances and demands.”  Mr. Molanthe called upon his citizens to protect everyone’s human rights and to learn from the lessons of the past, especially in light of the current situation in many South African townships.

Street protests have become commonplace in the townships of South Africa over the last two months, with residents speaking out against poor living conditions.  Protesters have also risen up, arming themselves with rocks and stones against housing conditions, lack of basic services and jobs.  In response, police have used everything from water cannons to rubber bullets in order to try and get the protesters to disperse.

Deputy President Motlanthe’s remarks came during the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Sharpeville Massacre, one of the turning points in the struggle against apartheid.  At Sharpeville fifty years ago three hundred plus citizens, protesting the pass laws, were fired upon by apartheid police.  The pass laws required black citizens to carry identification documents at all times. Sixty-nine protesting South Africans died as a result, many of whom were shot in the back by the apartheid-era police.

The Deputy President called upon his constituents to remember the lessons of the past by upholding the South African constitution and ensuring “the progressive realization of the socio-economic rights as envisaged in the Bill of Rights.”  He went on to say that “as government working with our social partners, we must strive to improve the quality of life of all our people by providing shelter, basic amenities, education, and security.”

His statements were refuted, however, by opposition party members, many of which claim that Motlanthe’s African National Congress (ANC)is the country’s greatest threat to human rights, and not the solution, as they claim.  Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, for one, accused the ANC of greed, cronyism and power abuse.  And Jan Bosman, representative for the civil rights group, Afrikanerbond, noted that “[i]t is becoming more and more a government that blindly approves or condones abuses against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by not acting against any abuse or breach.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News  – South African Commemorates Sharpeville Massacre – 21 March 2010

News24.com –Hounor Sharpeville, Defend Rights – 21 March 2010

Reuters – End Violent South African Protests – 21 March 2010

BBC News – South Africa Commemorates Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 – 21 March 2010