Rights Group Wants North Korean Leader on Trial

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – A rights group in South Korea is planning to file a petition demanding the arrest of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

This group, the Antihuman Crime Investigation Committee, is acting on behalf of 150 North Korean refugees who have defected to South Korea and wants the ICC to determine whether the systematic and widespread human rights abuses in North Korea constitute crimes against humanity.

Kim, the leader of a nation of 24 million people, rules with brutality.  According to U.S. State Department statistics, North Korea operates numerous political gulags with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates.

Jung Gyoung-il, member of another North Korean human rights activist group, spent three years in one of the gulags, in North Korea’s infamous Yoduk prison.  He said the soldiers beat him so badly that he falsely confessed to being a spy.

Yoduk prisonPrisoners carrying pails of human waste at Yoduk Prison in North Korea.  Courtesy of Fuji TV.

Jung said, “I once asked why veterinarians treat us, and the solders said, ‘You are animals, so medical treatment can’t be offered by doctors.’”

He added that prisoners lost their sense of humanity because the conditions are so cruel.

In addition to the harsh treatments in the gulags, defectors who are caught are also abused.  Lee Kyung-hee said when she was caught and brought back to North Korea from China, she was eight months pregnant.  After she gave birth, she was told by a soldier to kill her own baby. 

When she refused, she was beaten, and the soldier stood beside her prison bed and suffocated her baby. 

The refugees who belong to the activist group acknowledge that their chances of brining the North Korean leader to justice are slim, but they want the world to know about the atrocities that take place inside the isolationist state.

Furthermore, critics say that even if Kim is never brought to trial, the efforts of the activists would be a success.  Heo Man-ho, a political science professor at Kyungpook National University said, “Their actions are meaningful in awakening public opinion in the international community.”

Once the petition is filed, ICC officials said they would consider launching a preliminary examination on the alleged abuses in North Korea.

For more information, please see:

AP – Seoul activists want probe on Nkorean rights abuse – 3 December 2009

Los Angeles Times – North Korean rights groups want Kim put on trial – 4 December 2009

Times of the Internet – Group alleges Jong Il abuses rights – 4 December 2009

Alleged Police Brutality Puts Jordan in Spotlight

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AMMAN, Jordan– The recent death of two Jordanians as a result of alleged police brutality has put the spotlight on human rights in Jordan.  These deaths have resulted in local and international human rights groups calling for excessive use of force cases to be tried in civil rather than closed police courts.

The National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) in Jordan has warned that existing measures are not enough to deter policemen from using excessive force to impose public law and order.  Nisreen Zreiqat, the director of the NCHR’s criminal justice unit, has said that “we have recommended several times in our reports that cases of torture should be referred to a civil court instead of a police court to ensure the independence and transparency of the decisions.”

Maj Mohammad Khatib, the Public Security Directorate’s (PSD) spokesman, dismissed the NCHR’s concerns and noted that police resort to the use of force only when the situation dictates such.  Khatib has said that “the beatings only occur out of necessity, like when police need to take control of suspects.”  He also noted that “the PSD holds accountable those who resort to excessive use of force outside the law.”

Amnesty International said last week that the deaths of the two men at the hands of police within one week are a “very worrying development.”  They further went on to say that the police courts in Jordan are neither sufficiently independent nor transparent in their conduct.  Since the court decisions are not disclosed and the sessions are closed to the public, Amnesty International and other human rights groups fear that the current system in place serves as no deterrent to police brutality.

In response, the PSD defended itself.  They released a statement saying that “the trials take place within a court as a sign of respect to the uniform which we revere.  The police court decisions related to crimes are further reviewed by the court of cessation, which is an independent body.”

Nonetheless, the recent deaths have sparked a wave of anger throughout Jordan.

For more information, please see:

The National Newspaper- Deaths Put Spotlight on Human Rights in Jordan– 6 December 2009

The Seattle Times- Second Police Beating Raises Alarm in Jordan– 16 November 2009

Al Bawaba- Jordan: Second Citizen Dies by Police Beating– 15 November 2009

Suriname Dictator’s Trial Resumes With New Testimony

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOXEL,Suriname-The trial of Desi Bouterse, Suriname’s former dictator, resumed last week with new testimony. Bouterse is charged with ordering the execution of fifteen political opponents in December 1982. Eleven other individuals are also charged for these killings.

Prosecutors claim that Bouterse ordered the killing of four lawyers, four journalists, two university lecturers, two military officers, two businessmen, and a labor leader. The army claimed that it shot at the opponents because they tried to escape from the Fort Zeelandia, where they were being held after Bouterse’s security forces detained them.

Everyone who has testified at the trial so far has dismissed the army’s explanation that they were trying to escape. “Why do they have gunshot wounds on their chests and heads?” said witness Heydi de Miranda, “You would have been shot in the back.” De Miranda’s husband was killed for criticizing Bouterse’s regime.

Sali Blik, a former cameraman for a state-owned television station, testified that he saw Desi Bouterse at Fort Zeelandia sitting beside one of the victims after forcing him to make an on-camera statement. This was just hours before the man was shot.  Onno Flohr, a member of the firing squad, testified that Bouterse was present during the executions, but did not kill anyone.

The trial has been going on for over a year with numerous delays, including witnesses who fail to appear in court. Bouterse denies any direct involvement in the killings, though he has made a public apology and accepted “political responsibility” for the killings.

Bouterse seized control of Suriname in 1980, just five years after it gained independence from the Netherlands. He resigned in 1987, but briefly took power again in 1990. Bouterse is currently the chairman of Suriname’s main opposition party.

For more information, please see:

Caribbean Net News-Witness Describes Suriname’s Former Dictator as a Psychopath-3 December 2009

AP-Witness: Suriname Ex-Dictator at Execution Scene-2 December 2009

Caribbean Net News-Widow Testifies in Suriname Mass Murder Trial-2 December 2009

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