Saharawi Activist Remains in Spain

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MADRID, Spain – Although Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar was supposed to return home on Friday, she remains on the Spanish Canary island of Lanzarote.

“The Spanish government requested permission [yesterday] for the plane to fly over and land” in Haidar’s hometown of Laayoune in Western Sahara, said Spain’s foreign ministry spokesperson.  “Morocco granted this permission but it withdrew it just before the plane was to take off.  We were on board the plane… when the control tower called to say authorization had just been cancelled.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has called on Spain and Morocco to “consider any measure that could facilitate [the] movement and end the current impasse” of Haidar, whose condition is rapidly deteriorating.

Haidar began her hunger strike on November 16, three days after her passport was confiscated and Moroccan authorities denied her entry into Western Sahara.  She went on strike in order to draw attention to her cause.  Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain left.  She has frequently criticized Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara.  Her critique prompted the Polisario rebel group to rise up for independence.  Although Morocco has pledged widespread autonomy for the country, it refuses independence as demanded by the Polisario Front.

According to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, last week Spain’s government offered her either Spanish nationality or refugee status “as an exceptional measure.”  She declined because she plans on returning home and does not want to become “a foreigner in her own home.”

Recalling landing in Lanzarote without a passport, Haidar said “I never would have thought that the Spanish government would play such a dirty role, to do such a favor for Morocco.”

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said the country is taking “all diplomatic steps with Morocco in order for her to recover her passport.”

Moroccan Ambassador to Spain, Omar Azziman, said that she can have her passport back as long as she recognizes her own Moroccan nationality.

Haidar “disowned her identity and her nationality,” said Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, and she “must accept, on her own, the legal and moral consequences which result from this behavior.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Morocco Refuses to Allow Sahara Activist to Return: Spain – 04 December 2009

UN News Centre – UN Refugee Chief Urges End to Impasse Over Saharawi Activist – 04 December 2009

VOA – Western Sahara Activist in Third Week of Hunger Strike – 03 December 2009

Guardian – Fear Grows for Hunger Strike Nobel Nominee – 29 November 2009

Reuters – Saharan Hunger-Striker Refuses Spanish Passport – 29 November 2009

AFP – Spanish Nationality Offered to W.Sahara Hunger Striker – 28 November 2009

Impunity Watch – Rights Activist Arrested in Western Sahara – 14 November 2009

Lebanese Cabinet Allows Hezbollah to Keep Weapons

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon– On Wednesday, the Lebanese government endorsed Hezbollah’s right to keep its weapons cache to deter Israeli attacks.  This decision comes as the latest sign that Hezbollah has no intention of meeting a U.N. resolution calling for it to disarm.

Hezbollah is believed to have thousands of rockets and missiles hidden in bunkers and basements throughout Shi’ite Muslim areas throughout the country.  However, Hezbollah’s refusal to give up its weapons cache has created a great deal of division in the country as well as in Israel, which says it is in the process of preparing to deploy a defense system to shoot down rockets from Lebanon.

After Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel, a United Nations resolution was passed which called on the armed militant group to disarm.  Despite that resolution, Hezbollah says it must retain its weapons to fight off any future Israeli threat and persistent violations of Lebanon’s airspace.  Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, recently said that his group had replenished its weapons stock since the 2006 war and now has more than 30,000 rockets at its disposal.  These rockets are believed to be capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

All thirty members of the Lebanese cabinet voted Wednesday to approve the policy statement that endorses Hezbollah’s right to keep its weapons.   The adopted policy statement, which lays out the government’s goals for the next four years, illustrates how the government is reluctant to take strong action against Hezbollah for fear of instigating a crisis.  Of course, as many analysts believe, Hezbollah has virtual veto power over the government and so any reservations of instigating a crisis may be unfounded.

Nonetheless, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri largely dismissed the policy statement, arguing that its lasting effect is to tackle economic woes, financial instability and public debt.  The statement, to be presented to Parliament next week for a vote of confidence, is seen as a key to tacking the deep divisions between Hariri’s coalition and Syrian and Iranian backed Hezbollah and its allies.

For more information, please see:

Kuwait Times- Lebanon Government Backs Hezbollah Arms Right– 3 December 2009

The Associated Press- Lebanese Cabinet Lets Hezbollah Keep Its Weapons– 2 December 2009

BBC News- Hezbollah Weapons Right Endorsed– 2 December 2009

Suicide Bombing in Somalia Strikes Blurs Promise for a Better Future

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least 19 people have been killed including three government ministers after an explosion tore through the Shamo Hotel in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

A suicide bomber disguised as a woman carried out Thursday’s attack at the hotel during a crowded graduation ceremony for medical students from a local university, Dahir Mohamud Gelle, the Somali information minister, said.

The attack on Thursday was a severe blow to a country long battered by war and underscored the government’s tenuous hold on even a small area of Mogadishu. African Union peacekeeping troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia and act so brazenly in the capital that they carry out public executions.

A Reuter’s reporter at the Shamo Hotel said it was packed with graduates from Benadir University, their parents and officials when a powerful blast tore through the ceremony. “Human flesh was everywhere,” he said.

“What happened today is a national disaster,” said Somali Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle, who confirmed that the ministers for education, higher education and health were killed in the blast. The ministers for sports and tourism also were wounded in the attack inside the Shamo Hotel, he said.

Ali Yasin Gedi, vice-chairman of Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization, said more than 40 people were wounded, including the dean of Benadir’s medical college, who Gedi said had been evacuated by plane to neighboring Kenya.

This was not the first time that an attack has taken place in Mogadishu, “but it is the worst suicide attack ever”, said Ali Sheikh Yassin of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization. “This time the target was the most important people in Mogadishu; the educators and those who would take their place in the future.” Yassin said the attack had wiped out the best and brightest of the health sector. “We have reached a new low.” He said that whoever was behind this attack “deliberately targeted graduating doctors and their professors”, adding, “It is as if they want to kill any hopes of a better future”.

“A lot of my friends were killed,” another witness, medical student Mohamed Abdulqadir, told Reuters. “I was sitting next to a lecturer who also died. He had been speaking to the gathering just a few minutes before the explosion.”

The assailants hit one of Somalia’s most important efforts to extricate itself from anarchy and violence. The former medical students among the graduates came from only the second class to receive diplomas from the medical school. Before then, almost two decades has passed since anyone earned a medical degree in Somalia.

The bombing showed once again the insurgents’ ability to strike the government at will, and it will heighten frustration in the country’s fragile administration over delayed pledges of military and financial support from Western donors.

“Such an inhumane and cowardly act aimed at stalling the peace process will not deter the resolve and determination of the African Union to support the people of Somalia in their quest for peace and reconciliation,” The African Union peacekeeping force said in Thursday’s statement.

It was the worst attack in the lawless Horn of Africa nation since June when hardline al Shabaab rebels killed the security minister and at least 30 other people in a suicide bombing at a hotel in the central town of Baladwayne.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell upon the militant group al-Shabaab, which has ties to al-Qaeda, controls much of the country and has carried out past suicide attacks.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Up to 19 Dead After Attack in Somalia – 4 December 2009

IRIN – ‘It is As If They Want to Kill Any Hopes of a Better Future’ – 3 December 2009

Al Jazeera – Ministers Killed in Somalia Attack – 3 December 2009

Reuters – Suicide Bomber Kills Three Somali Government Ministers – 3 December 2009

UN Special Rapporteur Questions Health Policies in Australia

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia – An UN Special Rapporteur on health expressed concern over the health of asylum seekers detained at Australia’s Christmas Island facility and recommended that it be closed.

According to Anand Grover, Christmas Island should be shut down because its remote location prevents the detention center from receiving health services that are equal to the rest of the community.

Despite the fact that the health situation has improved, the UN official believes that mandatory detention with no maximum limits on duration of stay as well as the non-existence of binding legal standards for services tend to have a negative effect on the health of the asylum seekers.

Mr. Grover believes that mandatory detention should be abolished.  By keeping the asylum seekers in mandatory detention, the government is wasting money because ultimately most of them will be granted visas.

Further, in regard to infectious diseases and detention of all asylum seekers, the Special Rapporteur stated that “you have to look at the individualized risk of a person” rather than detaining everyone.

He believes that Australia has continued to use Christmas Island because it’s a “historic thing”.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans responded by rejecting the UN’s recommendation to close the facility.

His office further stated that “Asylum seekers on Christmas Island receive legal advice and assistance, access to independent review of unfavourable decisions, and external scrutiny by the Immigration Ombudsman . . . The government’s key immigration detention values . . . were intended to maintain strong border security but also treat people with human dignity.”

The UN Special Rapporteur also expressed concern over the health of Australia’s indigenous population and that their right to health is being violated.

Australia has failed to incorporate international human rights standards into domestic law.

He stated that health conditions amongst aboriginal communities are in some respects worse than in third world countries.  In particular, Mr. Grover noted the “extent of preventable disease, a lack of basic services and poor access to primary health care.”

Due to many years of neglect, racism, and discrimination, the Australian Aboriginals have been disempowered and lack access to basic services, such as safe drinking water, sanitation, and access to education.

For more information please see:
ABC News – UN envoy wants detention centre closed – 04 December 2009

ABC Radio Australia – UN rapporteur urges Australia to close detention facility – 04 December 2009

China view – Aboriginals on the margins of the Australian society: UN Rapporteur – 04 December 2009

Radio Australia News – UN health expert critical of Australian policies – 04 December 2009

U.S. Immigration Agency Denies Basic Rights

04 December 2009

U.S. Immigration Agency Denies Basic Rights

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Human Rights Watch report reviewed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency practices and determined that the detention and transfer of non-citizens in the immigration detention system denied basic rights to non-citizens. It also concluded that both legal and unauthorized non-citizens are held unnecessarily. The report illustrated that some detainees from Philadelphia and Los Angeles are being transferred to Texas or Louisiana.

The information in the report was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University. Alison Parker, director for the U.S. Human Rights Watch chapter, said “ICE is increasingly subjecting detainees to a chaotic game of musical chairs, and it’s a game with dire consequences.” The transfers seem to have at least some purpose as data indicate that the Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) is receiving the most transfers and it is also the jurisdiction that is most adverse to the non-citizen rights, has the lowest numbers of immigration lawyers, and has the most conservative judges.

In a separate investigation, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security found that the transfers of detainees are haphazard, detainees are not offered notice of their charges, and are not being released even when they was been granted bond. The Inspector reported that these inappropriate transfers result in lack of access to legal counsel and evidence, add time to the detention, and cause “errors, delays and confusion for detainees, their families, legal representatives,” and the immigration courts. Moreover, the Inspector found that since 2003, detentions have more than doubled to over 442,000 people a year.

Immdetain2(PHOTO: Courtesy of the Washington Independent – Detention Center in Texas)

The Constitution Project, a bipartisan group, also called for broad changes in the immigration law to include access to appointed counsel particularly for unaccompanied minors. This move would add more constitutional safeguards similar to the criminal justice system, significantly reducing the burden of proof, and allow permanent legal residents to file a waiver of mandatory detention. Mr. Asa Hutchinson, Chair of the Constitution Project, defended the recommendation, because none “made should in any way compromise national security … It simply allows for a more humane and more efficient system.”

For more information, please see:

The Chronicle – Agency, advocates assail ICE on detainee transfers – 3 December 2009

The New York Times – Immigration Detention System Lapses Detailed – 3 December 2009

The Washington Independent – Immigrant Detention Doubles Since 1999 – 2 December 2009