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

Illness Postpones Nazi War Crimes Trial

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MUNICH, Germany – The trial of a former Nazi prison guard who has been charged with the murders of thousands of Jews at a Polish camp was postponed on Wednesday because of a medical infection.

The judge of the Munich Court determined that the 89-year old John Demjanjuk was not medically capable to attend the court proceedings.  Demjanjuk had attended the first few days of hearings, albeit in a hospital bed.  Because of a worsening infection, however, prison doctors advised against transporting him to the courtroom.  The trial has been scheduled to resume Dec. 21.

During the first few days of the trial, Demjanjuk did not say anything.  While there he was either in a hospital bed or wheelchair.  He has maintained his denial in playing any role in the killings at the Sobibordeath camp in Poland in 1943.  Demjanjuk claims that during that time he was a Soviet prisoner of war in a German camp.

Originally born in Ukraine, Demjanjuk was a soldier in the Russian army before being captured by Nazis.  He then worked as a prison camp guard.  After the war, he was able to emigrate to the United States.  In 1986 the United States deported him to Israel and subsequently sentenced to death in 1988.  His conviction was overturned, however, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

In 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice revoked his citizenship for lying when he first arrived in the country about his past as a Nazi.  Until he was extradited in May from the United States he had been living in Ohio.  Following his extradition to Germany, he was formally charged with 27,900 counts of being accessory to murder.

For more information, please see:

AP – Demjanuk trial day canceled due to illness – 2 December 2009

JTA – Illness forces Demjanjuk trial postponement – 2 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Germany: Demjanjuk Trial Delayed – 2 December 2009

REUTERS – German court cancels third day of Demjanjuk trial – 2 December 2009

RTT NEWS – Demjanjuk’s War Crimes Trial Postponed Due To Illness – 2 December 2009