Pakistani Police Brutally Beat a Suspect in Custody

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -In response to the beating by police of a suspected thief, the Supreme Court directed that all provincial administrations form committees and create a report by March 11 to indicate the degree and extent of police torture of citizens in all regions. Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, ordered the Punjab police chief to take stern action against the cops involved in the torture of people at the police stations.

The Supreme Court’s mandate is the result of five police officials in the Pakistani province of Punjabm, who whipped and beat a citizen who was suspected of stealing rice. The man was one of four suspected in the incident. The officials were arrested after footage was released and then aired on a widely broadcasted network of national TV channels, and showed the officers severely whipping the man accused of stealing rice. The footage shows one policeman holding the legs of a victim, while another stands on his hands.

Infuriated human rights activists claim that the incident highlights a common practice by Pakistani police, who have a long-standing reputation for brutality and torture. Those who have spoken out condemning the incident worry that despite government efforts, the acts will continue to occur. Asma Jahangir, head of the influential Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called the actions of this event “barbaric,” and advocated for harsh punishments for those involved.

Inspector General of Police, Punjab Tariq Saleem Dogar, said in a press release that every police officer would be taken across the board and not a minor act of the accused officer would be tolerated. Dogar commended the response of the media, he stated that “[I] come to know many incidents through media,” and in this incident, the media was a critical role in creating awareness about criminal acts directed toward the general public. 

In discussing the event, Dogar said that the acts of barbarity and inhuman torture by police were the result of absence of a proper system of accountability in the Police Department, lack of supervision by senior officers and weaknesses at police station level.

Punjab’s law minister, Rana Sanaullah, assured Pakistanis in an interview with Dunya television, that appropriate legal action was being taken, and that the officers “will not remain in the police force.”

For more information, please see:

BBC World News – Police filmed beating robbery suspects – 5 March, 2010

Daily Times – ‘Law of the jungle’ prevalent in country, says CJP – 5 March 2010

Pakistan Times –SC directs for submission of report in Chiniot police torture case – 5 March 2010

 

Students Protest the High Cost of College Education

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CALIFORNIA, United States – Students in the public higher educational system in California protested across the state yesterday to voice their frustration over tuition increases and funding cuts.  The organizers of the protest named March 4 “a strike and day of action to defend public education.”  Students and faculty from across the state protested at their various institutions.

The California organizers were joined by other students across the United States to protest the high cost of college education and the cuts in funding public higher educational institutions.  From Maryland to Washington, organizers conducted blockades of class buildings and entrances to schools as well as walk outs of classes.  For example, protesters at the University of California at Santa Cruz sat in the entrance to the school, effectively canceling classes.  In Washington, protestors rallied at the state capitol around a fake coffin which stated “R.I.P. Education.”

In response to budget shortfalls and a lack of tax revenue, many states have lessened their contribution to higher educational systems.  This contributed to a budget shortfall for many schools of higher education.  To make up for their budget deficits, schools have raised tuition, furloughed teachers, and canceled classes.

The California State public education system has been hit hardest by the lack of funding. In order to make up for its budget deficit, the system increased student tuition by thirty-two percent and the employees took a ten percent pay decrease through furloughs.

The student protestors believe the state governments are harming the future of the United States by cutting educational funds. Reid Milburn, president of the Student Senate of California Community Colleges, stated; “How are we going to save our future if we can’t even get into our classrooms.” Organizer of the Maryland protests, Bob Hayes, was concerned with the high salaries of administrators and the spending of universities on capital improvement projects.  He felt that students “were being run by a Fortune 500 company instead of by a university.”

Arrests were made at some of the protests. Many of the violations were of a nonviolent nature despite the students’ passionate protest against tuition increases and funding cuts. The organizers of the protests stated that they will continue to hold rallies to raise awareness of the issue.

For more information, please see:

AP – Angry US students protest cuts to higher education – 5 March 2010

NY Times – In California, a Day of Protests Over Education Budget Cuts – 4 March 2010

Washington Post – Students protest cuts to higher-education funds – 4 March 2010

Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur Worsening Due to Recent Clashes

By Jared Kleinman

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Weeks of fighting in parts of Darfur have raised concern over the plight of civilians, as insecurity has prompted humanitarian agencies to suspend activities in some areas.

More than 10,000 are thought to be displaced as a result of the recent clashes, but the United Nations says the ongoing insecurity is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching much of the affected civilian populations.

OCHA spokesman Sam Hendricks commenting on the recent fighting said, “It’s been confirmed in our reports that there were clashes between government forces and rebel groups. And where we don’t have reliable information, there is really nothing that we can say at this stage,” Hendricks said.

In these recent clashes, the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Abdel Wahid Nour faction (SLA-Nour), which refuses to join peace talks with the Sudanese government until a full cessation of hostilities is implemented, has accused government forces of attacking its positions east of Jebel Marra.

“There were random air attacks on villages,” Al-Sadeq Al-Zein Rokero, an official with SLM-Nour faction, said. “The situation is very tragic. This may be the most violent attack by the Sudanese armed forces.”

However, Sudan’s army spokesman, Al Sawarmi Khaled, denied there had been any government military action. “The armed forces are present in the area to preserve order. They did not clash with Abdel Wahid’s forces.”

The US State Department cast doubt on this denial in a statement expressing extreme concern “about reports that Government of Sudan forces are conducting offensive operations against … [SLA-Nour] positions in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur that have reportedly caused significant civilian casualties, displacement, and the evacuation of humanitarian organizations”.

The statement called on both parties “to refrain from further violence and to allow the Joint African Union-UN Mission in Darfur access to Jebel Marra to assess the humanitarian situation and restore stability”.

French aid group, Médecins du Monde (MdM), the only medical NGO in the Deribat area in eastern Jebel Marra, was forced to suspend operations after attacks last week. In the towns affected by the fighting – Marra, Kidingeer, Leiba and Fugoli, Feina and Deribat – three other NGOs suspended operations because of insecurity and fighting, Hendricks said.

“The situation is very bad. We are really concerned,” said Jerome Larche, head of MdM’s Sudan programme. The population no longer had access to any medical facility, Larche said.

Malnutrition, which the French aid group was addressing, and access to clean water were among the main problems for the population in the area, Larche said.

“After the fighting started, we had reports that six children died from malnutrition complications. The rate of acute malnutrition is going to increase if we cannot go back to the area soon,” Larche said.

In anticipation of urgent needs, the World Health Organization and NGO partners have pre-positioned emergency health supplies for transfer to Kulbus hospital.

To date, more than 300,000 are thought to have died in the Darfur conflict, although Khartoum rejects these figures.

For more information, please see:

Voice of America – Darfur Peace Talks Threatened; Clashes Continue – 3 March 2010

News 24 – UN: No Darfur disaster – 3 March 2010

All Africa – No Access After Darfur Clashes – 3 March 2010

ECHR Rules Poland Discriminates Against Homosexuals

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Wednesday March 3 that Poland discriminated against a homosexual man for denying him a right to succeed to an apartment in which he lived with his now deceased partner.

In accordance, the ECHR further prohibited Poland from discriminating against homosexual couples, despite a constitutional prohibition on homosexual marriage.

Piotr Kozak lived with a male partner from 1989 to 1998 in an apartment in Szczecin, Poland. The lease agreement was in the partner’s name.

When the partner died, Mr. Kozak applied to continuing living in the apartment, but his landlord refused to allow him to conclude a new lease agreement. The landlord denied the succession to the apartment despite Polish statutory law, which allows any “person who has lived in de facto cohabitation with the tenant” to succeed to the tenancy.

Mr. Kozak first brought suit in the Polish courts. However, Polish authorities courts and authorities consistently rejected the rights of homosexual couples.

Poland rejected Mr. Kozak’s claim on its understanding of Polish law on Article 18 of the Polish Constitution, which provides a definition of marriage as a “union of a man and a woman”. By analogy, the courts said that any cohabitation rights held in Poland apply only to heterosexual couples.

The European Court of Human Rights, however, rejected Poland’s arguments. The ECHR ruled instead that Poland violated Article 8 and Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which give European citizens the right to private and family life and prohibits discrimination, respectively.

The Court ruled that “de facto marital cohabitation” rights must be applied to persons in same-sex relationship the same way it is applied to heterosexual cohabitants. In so ruling, the ECHR stressed that the Convention was a “living instrument”.

Polish human rights groups praised the decision. Yga Kostrzewa, a spokeswoman for Lambda Warsaw, predicted that “[t]here will certainly be many more cases like this because there are a lot of laws and regulations that do not treat people equally.”

For more information, please see:

FINANCIAL TIMES – Homosexuals win legal victory against Poland – 3 March 2010

PINK PAPER – European Court of Human Rights: Polish legislation discriminates – 3 March 2010

RIA NOVOSTI – Strasbourg rules Polish gays can inherit property from partners – 3 March 2010

Russia Considers Fingerprinting Entire Northern Caucasus Population

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – As part of a new anti-terrorism campaign, a Russian official has proposed that the entire population of the northern Caucasus region be fingerprinted.

Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office Investigation Committee, declared that the program would aid the federal government in investigating continuing acts of violence that originate in the Caucasus region.  According to Bastrykin, approximately five Russian hundred police officers and military personal have been killed in that region in recent years.  The program would be a “mandatory fingerprint registration for all citizens living in the North Caucasus region.”

Bastrykin’s proposal also called for the issuing of new registration licenses for all automobiles in the north Caucusus.

Outcry in response to the fingerprinting proposition was immediate.  Some critics believe that such a program would only inflame the mistrust that the population of that region already holds towards the Russian central government.  “This is going to antagonize people further in an already volatile region,” said Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch.  She also suggested that the program could violate the European Convention of Human Rights, to which Russia is a signatory nation.

Lyudmila Alekseyeva, a Russian human rights advocate, declared the proposal as ‘discriminatory.’  The population for whom fingerprinting would be required are almost entirely ethnicity Chechen.

A lawmaker in Chechnya was also quick to condemn the fingerprinting program.  Ziyad Sabsabi noted that, in addition to it possibly violating the presumed innocence of those Russian citizens who are fingerprinted, the program would also be ineffective.  Criminals, Sabsabi argued, could easily leave the region to avoid the fingerprinting process.  Additionally, if the purposes of the proposed program is to combat crime, then “[logically] all Russian nationals living in the Russian Federation should be subjected to fingerprinting.”

If successful in implementing this program in the northern Caucasus region, Bastrykin alluded to the possibility of expanding the program throughout Russia.

For more information, please see:

ITAR-TASS – Investigation Committee suggests total fingerprint/DNA registration in Russia – 5 March 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Russian Official Suggests Fingerprinting entire North Caucasus – 5 March 2010

REUTERS – Russia proposes fingerprinting for volatile N.Caucasus – 5 March 2010

RIANOVISTI – Chechen MP decries fingerprinting plan as human rights violation – 4 March 2010