Taylor Admits to “Covert” Account

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-Last week saw more developments in the trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor.  The Sierra Leone Special Court Judges allowed the use of new documents by prosecutors to use in their cross examination of Taylor. The judge however said that any documents used to try and show Taylor’s guilt would need to be handed over to Taylor’s defense team in advance. The prosecution agreed to the court order to disclose all documents they intend to use to avoid further “misunderstandings”.

During the course of the prosecution’s cross-examination of Taylor, it has sought to use new evidence to impeach his credibility as a witness in his own defense. Taylor’s defense attorney has called the prosecution’s strategy a “trial by ambush”.  The presiding judge Justice Richard Lussic made the following orders in response to the dispute over the prosecution’s cross-examination of Taylor. The judge ordered that all documents be disclosed to the defense 24 hours prior to its use in court for cross-examination.

Last week also saw Taylor admit to having a “covert” account operated on behalf of the Liberian government, holding millions of dollars.  Prosecutors allege that this account was a personal accunt used to hide away money for Taylor from activities including trading of arms in exchange for Sierra Leone’s diamonds.

Upon Taylor’s admission to having the covert account, the prosecutor read portions of taylor’s pat statements in which he challenged anyone to bring evidence of any secret account that he was alleged to have operated.  The statement read, “I challenge any human being on this planet to bring one bank account that I have money there. If anyone on this planet knows of any asset or bank account anywhere, I authorize you to come forward. There are no bank accounts in the world that I have. If anone can bring any evidence that Charles Taylor has money in a bank account, then Charles Taylor is a liar.”

The prosecutor followed the statement with a reading of a document that indicated the opening of a new bank account signed by Charles Taylor. Taylor’s acknowledgement of this account strengthened the prosecutions efforts to discredit Taylor.

For more information please see:

Charles Taylor Trial – Personal Bank Account In Charles Taylor’s Name was A “Covert Account Operated on Behalf of The Government of Liberia, He Says – 7 December 2009

Charles Taylor Trial – As Judges Order Prosecution To Disclose To Defense All New Documents They Intend to Use In The Cross-Examination – 5 December 2009

Impunity Watch – Taylors Cross-Examination Continues – 8 December 2009

Egypt, Israel Accused of Violating Asylum-Seekers’ Rights

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

RAFAH, Egypt – Human Rights Watch has called for Israel and Egypt to halt their practice of deporting African refugees without giving the refugees an opportunity to claim asylum. In a statement dated December 12, Human Rights Watch said that Egypt routinely imprisons and then deports such refugees back to their country of origin, against United Nations refugee policy and the International Convention Against Torture. Human Rights Watch said that Israel’s practice of sending refugees back across the border into Egypt makes Israel complicit with Egypt’s serious human rights violations. Once sent back to their countries, the refugees are certain to face the violence and political situations they originally sought to escape.

 

Human Rights Watch called on the Israeli High Court to put an end to the “hot returns” policy, which authorizes Israeli soldiers along the Israel-Egypt border to return migrants to Egypt within twenty-four hours of crossing the border. The Israeli Defense Forces said that its soldiers fire flares when they see migrants attempting to cross the border, to alert their Egyptian counterparts, even though Egyptian border forces have been known to fire live ammunition at the crossing migrants. As of November 2009, Egyptian forces had killed sixteen African migrants as they attempted to cross into Israel.

 

One of those killed was Iskander Byen, the nineteen-year-old son of Ugalan Byen, who left her home country of Sudan to seek refuge in Israel. When the family got close to the border, Ms. Byen held on to her nine- and five-year-olds, and Iskander held his three-year-old sister, Rosa. As they approached the border, the shooting began. Iskander was shot several times, and a bullet went through Rosa’s leg. The family managed to duck underneath the wire that marks the Egypt-Israel border, but Iskander died en route to the hospital. Even after such a loss, Ms. Byen has no official papers and is in danger of being deported back to Sudan.

 

Hanass Jihahn, a researcher with the Israeli NGO African Relief Development Center, said the issue of refugees is a complicated one in Israel, as it is intrinsically tied up with the Palestinians and the Palestinian right of return.

 

“[T]here is a fear that if we allow them [the African refugees] to come here then perhaps the Palestinians later would say and what about us,” said Jihahn.

 

For more information, please see:

 

NPR – Egyptian Forces Accused of Shooting Asylum Seekers – 14 December 2009

 

Human Rights Watch – Israel: Court Should Halt Forced Returns of Migrants to Egypt – 12 December 2009

 

The National – Refugees Set Their Sights on Israel – 11 December 2009

 

Time – For African Seeking Asylum in Israel, dangers Abound – 11 December 2009

 

Christian Science Monitor – Crossing Into Israel, African Migrants Dodge Egyptian Bullets, Israeli Jail Threat – 14 November 2009

New Evidence Suggests Canada Complicit in Afghani Torture

14 December 2009

New Evidence Suggests Canada Complicit in Afghani Torture

By William Miller

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Asadullah Kalid
Asadullah Khalid Former governor of Kandahar is notorious for his human rights abuses. New evidence suggests Canada defended him and may have secured his tenure as governor (PHOTO: Canadian Press)

OTTAWA, Canada – An uncensored version of a memo which was confidentially shown to the Canadian Press suggests Asadullah Khalid,  the former governor of Kandahar, Afghanistan who was notorious human rights abuses, might have been removed from office two years earlier had Canada not intervened on his behalf. The memo is the latest revelation in the ongoing inquiry into allegations that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghani detainees.The accusations of Canada’s complicity in torture began last month when former Ambassador Richard Colvin accused the Canadian government of ignoring his reports that Afghani Detainees where likely being tortured after transfer to the Afghanistan National Police. On December 9, General Walter J. Natynczyk confirmed that Canada was not only aware that at least one prisoner was tortured as early as 2006, but was also suspicious that prisoners were being tortured prior to this confirmation.

The memo, which was uncovered by the Canadian Press yesterday, now suggests that Canada was not only complicit in torture of afghan detainees, but actively defended Khalid on at least one occasion. The memo which was authored by former Ambassador Colvin reads “[a]s far as I know, Canada has never suggested to (President Hamid) Karzai that Asadullah be replaced…In the one meeting where the subject was discussed, in July 2006, it was the president who raised the issue; Canada defended the governor, thereby ensuring his continued tenure.”

Colvin also claims that the government not only largely ignored his concerns but asked him to stop putting them in writing.

This memo had been publicly released before but was heavily censored. In the original version every reference to Khalid was blacked out.

Khalid has a bleak record on human rights. According to the memo, it was well known in Kandahar that Khalid ran a private torture facility where he kept detainees handed over by the Canadian Military. In 2007, he displayed the battered remains of Taliban Leader Mullan Dedullah for the press and later refused to return the remains to Dedullah’s family for burial.

Khalid was transferred to Kabul and assigned to be the official in charge of tribal affairs in 2008. The Canadian government withdrew its support of Khalid in that same year, almost a year after Colvin’s memo. Defense Minister Peter Makay is denying the accusations and insisting that Canada did raise concerns about Khalid.

For more information, please see:

Canadian Press – Canada Did Raise Concerns About Afghan Governor Accused of Torture, Mackay Says – 14 December 2009

Canadian press – Canada Kept Feared Afghan Governor in Power Despite Rep as ‘Human-Rights Abuser’ – 14 December 2009

New York Times – Canadian General Now Acknowleges Risk to Afghan Detainees – 9 December 2009

Leading Russian Prison Officials Fired In Aftermath of Lawyer’s Death

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Following a investigation into the death of lawyer Sergi L. Magnitsky last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired 20 leading national prison officials.

After being arrested last year on alleged tax-evasion charges and his relationship to British investor William Browder, who was considered a security threat by the Russian government, Magnitsky had been held in a jail in Moscow.  He was awaiting trial for allegedly participating in tax evasion.

Magnitsky had worked as a lawyer for HSBC and Hermitage Capital Management, Browder’s company, prior to his arrest.  Those companies had been under investigation for tax fraud by the Russian government.  According to his supporters, Magnitsky was being pressured by the government to testify against Browder and Hermitage.  In recent years Browder had become a well-known critic of what his saw corruption in the Russian private sector.

According to his lawyers, Magnitsky had been denied medical attention during his time in prison, and this led to his death as a result of heart failure and toxic shock.  The investigation that resulted in the prison officials firing indicated that standard procedures were violated during the handling of Magnitsky.

Pretrail detention, a practice which is commonplace in so-called ‘white-collar cases’, have garnered heightened scrutiny by some in the Russian business community following his death.  The threat of long-term pretrail detention has been used as a form of coercion against others in the past who have been charged with crimes.

The director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Alexander Reimer, has commented that it has not been verified whether Magnitsky’s death was a result of the violations of procedure.  Among those fired included the head of the Moscow prisons and the individuals responsible for the medical care of prisoners and pretrial detention.

Regarding his arrest, Magnitsky’s former boss Jamison Firestone has stated that “Sergei was falsely imprisoned by law enforcement officers who he accused of aiding a theft of $230 million from the Russian Treasury.”  Firestone also noted that the government’s investigation into the prison officials has taken the spotlight off the larger question that still needs answering, why “Sergei was put in prison in the first place and why his conditions were made so bad.”

For more information, please see:

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Russia Fires Jailers After Lawyer Death – 12 December 2009

AP – Russia: Officials fired in lawyer jail death probe – 11 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Top Russian Prison Officials Are Dismissed by Medvedev – 11 December 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Following a investigation into the death of lawyer Sergi L. Magnitsky last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has fired 20 leading national prison officials.

After being arrested last year on alleged tax-evasion charges and his relationship to British investor William Browder, who was considered a security threat by the Russian government, Magnitsky had been held in a jail in Moscow.  He was awaiting trial for allegedly participating in tax evasion.

Magnitsky had worked as a lawyer for HSBC and Hermitage Capital Management, Browder’s company, prior to his arrest.  Those companies had been under investigation for tax fraud by the Russian government.  According to his supporters, Magnitsky was being pressured by the government to testify against Browder and Hermitage.  In recent years Browder had become a well-known critic of what his saw corruption in the Russian private sector.

According to his lawyers, Magnitsky had been denied medical attention during his time in prison, and this led to his death as a result of heart failure and toxic shock.  The investigation that resulted in the prison officials firing indicated that standard procedures were violated during the handling of Magnitsky.

Pretrail detention, a practice which is commonplace in so-called ‘white-collar cases’, have garnered heightened scrutiny by some in the Russian business community following his death.  The threat of long-term pretrail detention has been used as a form of coercion against others in the past who have been charged with crimes.

The director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Alexander Reimer, has commented that it has not been verified whether Magnitsky’s death was a result of the violations of procedure.  Among those fired included the head of the Moscow prisons and the individuals responsible for the medical care of prisoners and pretrial detention.

Regarding his arrest, Magnitsky’s former boss Jamison Firestone has stated that “Sergei was falsely imprisoned by law enforcement officers who he accused of aiding a theft of $230 million from the Russian Treasury.”  Firestone also noted that the government’s investigation into the prison officials has taken the spotlight off the larger question that still needs answering, why “Sergei was put in prison in the first place and why his conditions were made so bad.”

For more information, please see:

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Russia Fires Jailers After Lawyer Death – 12 December 2009

AP – Russia: Officials fired in lawyer jail death probe – 11 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Top Russian Prison Officials Are Dismissed by Medvedev – 11 December 2009

Iran’s New Nuclear Offer Rejected

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On December 12 Iran announced a new offer for the swapping of uranium for fuel. Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to Iran’s state-run broadcasting, that the Islamic Republic was “ready to exchange some four hundred kilograms of three point five percent enriched uranium in Iran’s Kish Island and received twenty percent enriched fuel.”

The United States and other country have been negotiating with Iran to have the Islamic Republic send low-enriched uranium abroad. It would then be turned into material that could be used in a reactor.

The US rejected the new proposal by Iran. A senior State Department official commented on the new plan, saying that “Iran’s proposal does not appear to be consistent with the fair balanced draft agreement proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

The original draft agreement, which was formulated in consultation with the US, Russia and France, called for Iran to exchange it’s uranium all at once. The IAEA reportedly fears that carrying out the nuclear excahnge in slow stages could lead to Iran being in control of enough uranium to make a bomb. The specific terms of the original draft agreement called for Iran to send twelve hundred kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Russia in one batch. It would then be sent to France for fabrication into fuel assemblies before being sent back to Iran. The goal would be to power a research reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes.

While Iran continues to insist that its nuclear plans are for peaceful purposes such as producing fuel for power plants, the majority of the international community remains skeptical. The senior State Department official commented that the US remains committed to the original terms of the draft agreement, but “Iran has been unwilling to engage in further talks on its nuclear program.”

In November Iran was formerly chastised for its action with its nuclear program. The IAEA’s thirty five-nation board endorsed a resolution proposed by the US, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain that criticized Iran for defying a UN security council ban on uranium enrichment. Iran was also criticized for continuing to expand its nuclear operations.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – US Rejects Iran Nuclear Offer – 13 December 2009

CNN – Iran ‘Ready to Swap Uranium For Fuel’ – 13 December 2009

Press TV – Washington ‘Rejects Iran Uranium Swap Offer’ – 13 December 2009

UPI – U.S.: Iran Nuke Offer Doesn’t Comply – 13 December 2009