Despite Attacks, Over Sixty Percent Vote in Iraqi Election

By Bobby Rajabi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On March 8, officials from the Independent High Electoral Commission announced that the turnout for the March 7 Iraqi election was sixty two percent. The level of turnout was over sixty percent despite attacks throughout the country that killed over thirty five individuals. It is widely expected that Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition will win the most seats of another other Iraqi political party. The final officials results for the election will not be declared until the end of March

Maliki’s coalition reportedly did quite well in areas such as Baghdad and the Shi’ite south of Iraq. Anonymous Iraqi Officials told the Associated Foreign Press (AFP) that the Iraqi President was leading in nine of Iraq’s eighteen provinces. He was facing competition from the Iraq National Alliance, a Shi’ite dominated group, and the secular coalition led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Allawi’s group reportedly did well in Iraq’s northern and western provinces.

Despite the strong showing by Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, it is highly unlikely that an party received the number of votes needed to form a government alone. It is possible that months of negotiations will precede any coalition forming a governing on its own.

Voter turnout varied throughout Iraq. In Anbar, the province composed mainly of Sunnis, reported a voter turnout of sixty one percent. Over five hundred candidates, mostly Sunni, were banned from running because of alleged connections to the Ba’ath party, the party of former President Saddam Hussein

The reported voter turnout number was even higher in Duhok. The AFP reported that Duhok, the northern Kurdish controlled autonomous area reported a voter turnout of eighty percent.

Attacks on election day took place in Baghdad, Mosul, Fallujah, and Baquba. Despite insurgents threatening to disrupt the election, there were no large suicide bombings as feared by many Iraqi officials. The worst attack took place on an apartment block in Baghdad which collapsed and killed twenty five people.

President Obama commented on the election, saying that it showed that “the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Iraq Elections Head Says Turnout at 55-60 percent – 8 March 2010

Al Jazeera – Iraq Awaits Election Results – 9 March 2010

BBC – Iraq Elections Turnout 62%, Officials Say – 9 March 2010

OAS Concerned with Killings in Honduras

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed concern that three political activists have been murdered in the last month.  Since Zelaya was deposed there has also been kidnappings, arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violations and illegal raids against the political resistance to the military.

In January there was a new President Porfirio Lobo Sosa elected, who must now handle the civil society and liberties issues in the country.  The commission indicated “Honduras must adopt urgent measures to guarantee the rights to life, humane treatment and personal liberty … All persons, without distinction, must be equally protected in the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and political participation.”

Minister of Security Oscar Arturo Alvarez Guerrero reported that “[w]e will strengthen our investigations aimed at clearing up these events, appointing a special squad that will produce the arrests of those responsible and the unrestricted application of justice.”

The recently murdered activists were 29-year-old Vanessa Zepeda Alonzo, union member Julio Funez Benitez, and Claudia Maritza Brizuela, daughter of union and community leader Pedro Brizuela; all participated against the coup.

The Commission wrote “with dismay that it appears that sons and daughters of leaders of the Resistance Front are being killed, kidnapped, attacked and threatened as a strategy to silence the activists.”  OAS has not faulted the new government but rather the previous political unrest.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Report condemns Honduras violence – 08 March 2010

Yemeni President Offers Talks to Separatists

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Yemen, under international pressure to quiet domestic unrest and focus its sights on al Qaeda, has offered to hold talks with southern separatists and hear their grievances, state media said on March 9.

The move by President Ali Abdullah Saleh follows an escalation in violence on both sides in south Yemen that has left a trail of dead and wounded in recent weeks even as insurgent violence elsewhere in the country fades.

North and South Yemen united in 1990, but many in the south – home to most of Yemen’s oil facilities – complain northerners have seized resources and discriminate against them.

“We say to them: Come talk with your brothers in the authority, and we will talk with you. We extend the hand of dialogue without having to resort to violence or blocking roads or raising the flag of separation,” Saleh said in an address at a military academy.

“I am certain the flags of separation will burn in the days and weeks ahead. We have one flag we voted on with our free will. We welcome any political demands. Come to dialogue,” he said, according to the Defense Ministry’s online newspaper.

Civil war between southern and northern forces shook Yemeni unity in 1994. A crackdown on separatists in recent weeks left several dead on both sides, though Sa’na claimed it arrested dozens of high-profile figures in recent weeks. Secessionist leaders in February called for an uprising against the government in Sa’na.

Yemen is dealing with looming presence of al Qaeda as well as threats from secessionist supporters. A truce with the Houthi rebel group in the north appears to be holding. However, Saleh said he would form a committee to have a dialogue with those who were interested in talks but stressed sustainable development required a strong stance.

“I don’t want the chair of presidency or Cabinet, I want to be a soldier to serve the nation and its unity,” he said.

For more information, please see:

 

Al-Jazeera – Yemeni Leader In Dialogue Call – 9 March 2010

AFP – Yemen President Warns Separatists But Offers Talks – 9 March 2010

Reuters – Yemen Offers Talks With Separatists As Unrest Flares – 9 March 2010

UPI – Yemen’s Saleh Open To National Dialogue – 9 March 2010

Russian Official Suggests Finger Printing for North Caucasus

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian official has suggested compiling fingerprints of the entire population of the North Caucasus as a measure to prevent and restrain crime in the region.

The North Caucasus an excessively problematic and violent region of the Russian Federation. The North Caucasus is also home to a large Muslim population, and ethnic tension has certainly contributed to the violence.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Alexksandr Bastrykin, proposed on March 4 that the Kremlin compile a database of the fingerprints of all North Caucasus residents. DNA samples would also be submitted for inclusion in the database.

Mr. Bastrykin also suggested that Russia re-register all motor vehicles and issue new license plates for North Caucasus residents as part of a solution to “stabilize” the region.

Human rights groups criticized the suggestion, which appears to have some support at the federal level. For example, Lyudmila Alexkseyeva, a Russian human rights advocate, said that the fingerprinting plan is entirely “discriminatory”, calling such a practice “unacceptable in [any] civilized country.”

Tanya Lokshina, a human rights advocate for Human Rights Watch in Moscow, agreed, arguing that the proposed plan violated the European Convention of Human Rights. Ms. Lokshina also predicted that the progam would “antagonize people further in an already volatile region.”

Mr. Bastrykin suggested that the fingerprint and license plate programs would merely be pilots in the North Caucasus, and could later be extended to other parts of Russia where crime is prevalent. He suggested that the programs would not be used in a discriminatory matter, but instead would only be used “to centralize records and investigate crime”.

Chechen Republic spokesman, Alvi Kerimov, agreed with human rights groups and advocates. Mr. Kerimov stressed that if fingerprinting were to be introduced, it should not be used exclusively in the North Caucasus, but instead throughout the Russian Federation.

For more information, please see:

MOSCOW TIMES – Investigators Propose Fingerprinting in Caucasus – 9 March 2010

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

ICC Postpones Bemba’s Trial

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo’s war crimes trial has been postponed.

Bemba faces charges for murder, rape, and pillaging that occurred from October 2002 to March 2003 in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced Monday that the trial, scheduled to start April 27, has been pushed back to July 5.  Last month, Bemba’s lawyers challenged the admissibility of his case in the ICC based on the complementarity principle.  The ICC only has authority to try cases when it does not interfere with any national proceedings.

Bemba’s defense team also called the ICC proceedings “an abuse of process in the case against Mr. Bemba,” and questioned the ICC’s “lack of the requisite level gravity,” believing that the case is not serious enough to be heard in the ICC.

The Office of the Prosecutor and victims’ legal representatives have until March 29 to make submissions to the Court and the CAR and DRC authorities have until April 19 to respond.  A status conference is scheduled for April 27 where the trial chamber will consider all submissions alongside oral submissions made at the conference.  The trial chamber will then issue a decision.

Last summer, the ICC pre-trial chamber found that Bemba had the “necessary criminal intent” when he ordered the Movemenr de Liberation du Congo (MLC) into CAR.  It also determined that the MLC armed group committed war crimes and crimes against humanity under Bemba “acting as military commander” during that mission.

Bemba was arrested in Belgium and transferred to the ICC in July 2008.  Last September, the Court reversed a decision granting Bemba a temporary conditional release, deciding that he would remain in the custody of the Court until the trial’s commencement.

This is one of four cases being investigated by the Prosecutor of the ICC.  Bemba is the most senior political figure in the Court’s custody.

For more information, please see:

AP – Bemba War Crimes Trial Delayed – 08 March 2010

Relief Web – Commencement of the Trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba Postponed Until 5 July 2010 – 08 March 2010

UN News Centre – ICC Postpones Trial of Former Congolese Leader Charged with War Crimes – 08 March 2010