Judge Adjourns Bennett’s Trial for Torture Determination

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HARARE, Zimbabwe – The trial of a Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s senior aide was adjourned in the Harare High Court on today so the judge could deliberate the admissibility of evidence that was allegedly gathered through torture.

The state’s key witness, Peter Michael Hitschmann, who was convicted of the illegal possession of weapons in 2007, alleges that he was tortured into implicating Bennett in the coup plot.  Bennett’s lawyers claim the state is insistent upon using the statements made by Hitschmann in order to show that Bennett planned to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.

Hitschmann was arrested in 2006 and initially accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe.  Bennett had not been linked to the case until his arrest this past February.

The charges Bennett faces are for “possessing weapons for the purpose of terrorism.”  They carry a possible death sentence or life imprisonment if convicted.

Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party leaders deny any accusations of torture, saying it should be left to the judge to determine the merits of Bennett’s case.  Sources also say that Bennett has been a thorn in the side of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party for some time.

Beatrice Mtetwa, Bennett’s defense attorney, said that Bennett “cannot have a fair trial if false, inadmissible and no[n] existent evidence is smuggled into the court.”

He [Hitschmann] has disowned that statement and does not want to testify for the state,” she added.

This trial comes at a critical time for the country because the Southern African Development Community has instructed Mugabe and Tsvangirai to resolve their differences with in the next 30 days.

Lovemore Matombo, the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, and another Mugabe critic, was also arrested Sunday night while addressing local union members.  Other local union leaders and national staff members were also arrested.

Tsvangirai’s party, The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has called the prosecution of Bennett a “malicious prosecution” which caused the party to temporarily withdraw from the unity government with Mugabe last month.

The judge is expected to make his ruling on the admissibility of the evidence on Wednesday.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera – Tsvangirai Aide’s Trial Adjourned – 9 November 2009

AFP – Zimbabwe Lawyer: Witness Tortured in Weapons Trial – 9 November 2009

AP – Trial for Top Zimbabwean PM’s Aide Gets Under Way – 9 November 2009

CNN – Mugabe Opponent Bennett’s Trial Adjourned – 9 November 2009

Daily Nation – Zimbabwe Minister’s Trial Begins – 9 November 2009

Palestinians Breach Barrier on Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

QALANDIYA, West Bank – Palestinian and foreign activists broke through the wall separating Israel and the West Bank, harkening back to the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago.

The group used a large truck to pull down a two-meter by six-meter section of the wall near the West Bank town of Qalandiya, near Ramallah. The crowd of fifty cheered as the section toppled, waived a Palestinian flag and burning tires on the Israeli side. Israeli police responded by firing tear gas into the crowd, and some Palestinians threw rocks at the police.

The separation barrier has been a hotly contested issue between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Israelis claim the wall is necessary for national security, arguing it has effectively halted suicide bombers from coming into Israel. Palestinians, however, view the wall as a land grab; claiming that Israeli is effectively undermining any future of a functioning Palestinian state.

Israel began construction of the wall in 2000. The wall’s path does not hold to pre-1967 borders, but rather cuts into areas traditionally within the West Bank. Throughout the newly-formed border, the wall cuts through Palestinian towns and carves through Palestinian farmland to bring vital water resources under Israeli control. In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the wall was illegal, and that it should be taken down because it crossed into occupied territory.

Aside from the breach in Qalandiya, there were other protests throughout the West Bank leading up to the Berlin Wall anniversary. Protestors in Bethlehem marked four years of their weekly march against the wall, as six villages in the metropolitan area are cut off from reasonable access to the city. The West Bank city of Na’alin also hosts a weekly march, and on November 6, masked protestors used a hydraulic car-jack to hoist another section of the wall out of place. The wall is constructed in the same inverted T-shape as was the Berlin Wall.

“Today we commemorate twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” said Abdullah Abu Rahma, the leader of the People’s Campaign to Fight the Wall. “This is the first step in a series of activities we will be holding in the coming days to express our firm attachment to our land and our rejection of this wall.”

For more information, please see:

 

Al Jazeera – Palestinians Break Israel’s Wall – 9 November 2009

 

Ha’aretz – Palestinians Breach Separation Fence for Second Time in a Week – 9 November 2009

 

Huffington Post – Mr. Netanyahu, Tear Down This Wall – 9 November 2009

 

VOA News – W. Bank Palestinians Tear Down Segment of Barrier Wall – 9 November 2009

 

Palestinian News Network – Four Years of Demonstrating Against the Wall in Southern Bethlehem – 24 October 2009

DR Congo Army Attacks Civilians at Measles Vaccination Site

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DR Congo – The Congolese army attacked villages where civilians gathered to receive measles vaccinations.

The aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) denounced the attacks in North Kivu as “an abuse of humanitarian action.”  Thousands of civilians were attacked when they visited sites set up specifically to combat a measles epidemic.  The clinics were set up in order to provide the vaccine to workers otherwise unable to access regions controlled by the Hutu Rebels.

The aid agency said the clinics were targeted despite the security guarantees surrounding the aid camps.  Now MSF fears the ramifications of this attack will affect future attempts to immunize the public.  The targeting of civilians has been a major concern for charities operating in the region.  United Nations (UN) support for the government has been dependent on it respecting the neutrality of civilians.

“We feel we were used as bait . . . . How will MSF be perceived by the population now?  Will our patients still feel safe enough to come for medical care?” Said Luis Encinas, head of MSF programs in Central Africa.

The UN army has been helping the Congolese government in the offensive against Rwandan rebels since January 2009.  Now, the Congolese government says the military operations have been suspended to allow for a UN inquiry into the allegations that Congolese soldiers were responsible for killing civilians.

A military spokesman for the Congo’s UN mission said the government was unaware of the incident.

The leaders of the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), fled to the area in 1994 after being accused of taking part in Rwanda’s genocide and have since been fighting with the local Tutsi population.  There have also been reports that more than 7,000 women and girls have been raped and more than 900,000 people forced to flee their homes.

For more information, please see:

BBC – DR Congo Army “Used Aid as Bait” – 6 Friday 2009

Reuters – Congo Army Attacked Measle Vaccine Sites-Aid Agency – 6 November 2009

VOA – Thousand Flee Ethnic Violence in Northern DRC – 6 November 2009

Saudi’s Engage Yemeni Rebels

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Saudi Arabian forces have seized a strategic mountain straddling the border with Yemen and cleared it of Shi’ite rebels after five days of fighting that have left three Saudi soldiers dead, a Saudi defense official said Sunday.

In a dramatic escalation of the five-year conflict, Saudi forces began shelling and bombing rebel positions last week. Saudi Arabia entered the conflict after fears that extremism and instability in Yemen could spill into its country. Assistant Saudi Minister Khaled Bin Sultan said Sunday’s advance was a step toward sealing the Saudi border against the rebels. Saudi officials say their military has fought only in its own territory, focusing on rebel infiltrators, but Yemeni rebels, military officials and Arab diplomats say Saudi airstrikes have hit deep inside northern Yemen.

Rebel spokesman Mohammad Abdel-Salam denied that rebels had crossed the Saudi border, saying those detained were Yemeni migrants hoping to work in the much richer country. He continued saying, that “lies” about rebel infiltrators “reveal the failure of Yemeni government in confronting our forces, and that has pushed Yemeni regime to seek help from the Saudis.” Abdel-Salam also said rebel fighters shot down a Yemeni fighter jet on Sunday, and Yemeni and Saudi jets have carried out continuous strikes in the region, “damaging many villages and killing civilians.”

Yemeni officials claim that the jet crashed due to a technical error. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said that the military would not cease the offensive against the Huthis “until we bring this tyrannical, traitorous and mercenary group to an end.”

For more information please see:

AP – Saudis Take Mountain from Yemen Rebels – 8 November 2009

BBC – Saudis ‘Push Back Yemen Rebels’ – 8 November 2009

Al-Jazeera – Saudis ‘Retake Captured Territory’ – 8 November 2009

Japan Promises Aid to Mekong Region

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – Japan and five Southeast Asian nations in the Mekong region ended a successful summit meeting on Saturday with Japan promising more than $5.5 billion in loans and grants in the next three years.

Japan’s prime minster said that the Mekong region comprising Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand is a “priority area” for Japan’s official development assistance.  The Mekong region is one of the poorest areas of Southeast Asia, isolated and marred by war and political turmoil.

The prime minister released a statement saying, “We strongly recogni[z]ed the need for further strengthening of Mekong-Japan relationship and cooperation to maximi[z]e the potential of the Mekong region.” 

A Japanese official from the foreign ministry added, “Japan plans to expand our humanitarian aid and assistance for human resources development….”

Accordingly, Japan’s prime minister plans to increase aid to Myanmar, a country criticized by the international community for its human rights abuses, including the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Japan has given about $31 million worth of aid to Myanmar in the past.  The aid came mostly as disaster relief and humanitarian assistance since Japan has been reluctant to provide loans and grants to countries criticized for human rights violations.

The goal of the leaders at the Summit was to boost development through cooperation, and they agreed on a plan that would promote development, protect the environment and combat climate change.

The participants at the meeting also stated that they “expect” the Myanmar government to take “more positive steps in its democrati[z]ation process” and called for transparent elections next year.

The Japanese prime minister has been advocating for an EU-style Asian community and has been committed to strengthening economic development in Asia.  The Summit also came at a time when tensions between Thailand and Cambodia are increasing because of Cambodia naming Thailand’s fugitive ex-premier as Cambodian government adviser.
For more information, please see:

Asia One – Japan to increase aid to Myanmar: PM – 8 November 2009

Channel News Asia – Japan steps up aid to Mekong nations – 7 November 2009

Straight Times – Japan-Mekong talks wrap up – 7 November 2009