British Mercenary Pardoned by Equatorial Guinea President

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

DAKAR, Senegal-Today the government of Equatorial Guinea announced it had pardoned Simon Mann and four other South Africans who had been imprisoned for a failed attempt to overthrow the country’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. In March 2004, a plane from South Africa was impounded by Zimbabwean police. Simon Mann, along with over seventy other mercenaries, was aboard the plane with the intent to pick up weapons and proceed to Equatorial Guinea in order to carry out a coup.

Upon the plane landing the police suspected the mercenaries intentions and instead arrested everyone on board the plane. Mann served four years in a Zimbabwean jail before his extradition to Equatorial Guinea where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 34 years in prison for being the author of a plot to carry out a coup.  Simon strongly contended that he was only an accomplice and not the leader of the plot.

On Tuesday, an advisor to Equatorial Guinea President Obiang, Miguel Mifuno said Mann was released on humanitarian grounds. He also said, “Simon Mann conducted himself in an exemplary fashion during his trial and his incarceration in Equatorial Guinea. He has had some health problems. And was operated on. He is now in good health but the President thinks he should now be allowed to live in peace with his family.”

Simon Mann is an alumnus of Britain’s prominent educational institution, Eton College, and comes from a wealthy family of brewers. His involvement in the conspiracy included other Britons including Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Sir Mark Thatcher had been fined and given a suspended sentence in South Africa in 2005 for unknowingly helping to finance the plot.

Upon Mann’s release, he said he was “delighted” that he would be reunited with his family and that was thrilled at the news.

For more information please see:

All Africa – Government Frees Mercenaries – 3 November 2009
BBC – Pardoned Briton Due For UK Return – 3 November 2009
NY Times – Equatorial Guinea Frees British Mercenary – 3 November 2009
VOA – British Coup Leader Pardoned In West Africa – 3 November 2009

Iran Delivers Response to UN Nuclear Draft Deal

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On October 29 Iran responded to a draft deal proposed the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the nuclear arm of the United Nations. Iran reportedly is insisting that significant changes be made to the original agreed upon document. However, reports indicate that Iranian leaders have agreed to the basic framework of the deal.

The deal was agreed upon on October 21 in Vienna, Austria at a meeting organized by the United Nations.  It was agreed to by representatives of the Untied States, Russia, France. The Iranian negotiators did not have the ultimate authority to agree to the deal at the time.

The draft deal was forwarded to the Iranian leaders in order to get an official response. The initial deadline for Iran to respond to the deal was October 23. The deadline passed without response allegedly because of conflicting views from senior Iranian officials.

The goal is that the deal would reduce the amount of nuclear material that Iran would have to make a nuclear weapon. The United States has long feared that Iran’s goal with its nuclear program is a bomb, but Iranian leaders deny this. The original draft deal would have Iran sending its low enriched uranium abroad. It would then be sent back to Iran as material for use in medical research and treatment at a reactor located in Tehran.

Sources close to Iranian officials suggest that the country is looking to have two changes made to the draft deal. They first want to give up their stock of low enriched uranium gradually in several batches as opposed to seventy five percent at once. Iran currently has fifteen hundred kilograms of low enriched uranium, developed in defiance of three UN resolutions.

Secondly, Iran wants to receive highly enriched uranium fuel at the same time as they give up low enriched uranium. The amount would be determined by a formula calculated by the IAEA based on the needs of their reactor. A senior European official characterized the Iranian response as “basically a refusal.”

Despite the requested changes, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad insists that Iran is ready for nuclear cooperation. Ahmedinejad reiterated that Iran welcomes “the exchange of fuel, technical cooperation and construction of power plants and reactors and we are prepared to cooperate (in those areas).”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran to Propose Two Amendments to IAEA Deal: Report – 29 October 2009

Al Jazeera – Iran ‘Seeks Change to Nuclear Deal’ – 29 October 2009

BBC – UN Hopes For Iran Nuclear Accord – 29 October 2009

CNN – Iran Responds to Nuclear Proposal – 29 October 2009

New York Times – Iran Said to Reject Key Element of Nuclear Deal – 29 October 2009

Prison Sentence for People-Smuggling Is Criticized as Being Excessive

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

DARWIN, Australia – Judge Dean Mildren for the Northern Territory criticizes the laws that forced him to sentence two Indonesians to five years in jail for smuggling asylum-seekers. Judge Mildren stated that he would have preferred to give the two Indonesians a lesser penalty.

Australia has struggled over the increasing number of boat arrivals with people from war-ravaged countries seeking asylum. Boat crews usually comprise of poor fishermen who are approached by trafficking organizers and given lucrative fees for smuggling people. The organizers are rarely caught themselves, and the fishermen suffer the consequences.

On October 23, 2009, Mohamad Tahir and Beny pled guilty to smuggling asylum-seekers on a boat. The two Indonesians are only 19 years of age. They were both charged with illegally bringing five or more people into Australia.

Tahir and Beny were crew members aboard the boat SIEV 36. The boat was apprehended by the Australian Navy on April 15. The boat was heading towards Christmas Island, but exploded and caught fire near Ashmore Island, killing the five asylum seekers and injuring more than 40 people.

At the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, Tahir and Benny both admitted their guilt. Tahir appeared on the dock, and stated: “Yes I am guilty of bringing people who have no lawful right to come to Australia.”

The Court also heard testimony that the two Indonesians were from “poor fishing families and had acted out of financial hardship when they were approached to carry asylum-seekers to Australia. Both had been approached by older men and offered $560 to smuggle the five asylum-seekers. Both are also illiterate.

Judge Mildren sentenced Tahir and Beny to five years in prison. However, he stated that he was “forced to sentence the pair to five years in prison with a non-parole period of three years, because of the mandatory minimum sentencing policy introduced by the Howard government” and that the time the two Indonesians would spend behind bars was “greater than the justice of the case.”

Judge Mildren emphasized that he would have imposed a lower sentence if there was not a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, specifically because the two men were poor and had little education. He further commented that “[i]n cases such as this, the ordinary sentencing principles play no function.”

According to the law, the men must serve at least three years of their term before they are eligible for parole.

Judge Mildren recommended to the federal Attorney-General to consider releasing the men after 12 months because of their young age, poor financial status, and if they assisted the authorities to track down the traffickers they were approached by.

For more information, please see:
The Australian – Jail term “excessive” for people-smugglers – 29 October 2009

ABC News – People smuggling: judge irked by sentencing laws – 28 October 2009

The Jakarta Post – 2 Indonesians sentenced to 5 years for people smuggling – 28 October 2009

PerthNow – SIEV 36 crew jailed after fatal people smuggling trip – 28 October 2009

Townsville Bulletin – Two from fatal people smuggling trip jailed – 28 October 2009

Words News Australia – Two Indonesians plead guilty to people smuggling – 23 October 2009

Hamas Seeks to Ban Elections in Gaza

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Hamas Interior Ministry released a statement on October 28, saying that it would not open polling stations for the national elections announced by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The statement said that Abbas did not have the authority to call such elections without a national agreement, and characterized the move as “illegal and unconstitutional.”

 

President Abbas had announced that Palestinian elections would be held on January 24, 2010, after Hamas party leadership refused to sign an Egyptian-mediated reconciliation agreement between Hamas and its rival party, Fatah, which governs the West Bank. Ehab Al-Ghsain, the Hamas interior ministry spokesperson, said that Gazan officials have been instructed not to cooperate with any Fatah efforts to stage the election.

 

“Any preparations, any committees, any collecting of names will be regarded as an illegal action that we will pursue,” said Al-Ghsain.

 

Ghsain also said that the Palestinian Central Election Commission, which currently has five offices in Gaza, is no longer authorized to operate in the Gaza Strip, since Hamas and Fatah had agreed during the Egyptian negotiations that a new election oversight body should be formed.

 

The relationship between Hamas and Fatah erupted into a feud after Hamas took a large share of the Gaza parliamentary seats after the January 2006 elections. The two parties formed a tense power-sharing government for approximately a year, but after fighting between the two parties in June 2007, Hamas took over Fatah-run buildings and military posts in Gaza to prevent what it perceived as “a coup by some elements inside Fatah security forces.” Hamas subsequently banned Fatah from Gaza.

 

Despite the tumultuous history, Salih Rafat, a senior official with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) expressed hope that Hamas would eventually decide to participate in the elections.

 

“The leadership [of the PLO] is now making calls to all the Arab countries to assume their role with Hamas to facilitate the holding of these elections,” Rafat told the AFP news agency.

 

For more information, please see:

 

International Middle East Media Center – This Week in Palestine – 30 October 2009

 

Al Jazeera – Hamas “Bans” January Polls in Gaza – 28 October 2009

 

BBC News – Hamas in Gaza Elections Warning – 28 October 2009

 

Press TV – Hamas Rejects Elections in Gaza – 28 October 2009

 

Radio France Internationale – Hamas to Ban Elections in Gaza – 28 October 2009

South Korea Grapples with ‘Race’

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea –   A report issued on October 21 by Amnesty International reveals the country’s social concern over racism and discrimination.

The report showed that there is a widespread racist sentiment against migrant workers, who mostly are from poor Asian countries. In compiling its research, the human rights organization cited sexual abuse, racial slurs, inadequate safety training and the mandatory disclosure of H.I.V. status, a requirement not imposed on South Koreans in the same jobs. The report also found in citing local news media and rights advocates, that following last year’s financial downturn, “incidents of xenophobia are on the rise.”

South Korea is noted as a country that has been repeatedly invaded by neighboring countries, and as a result, the people of South Korea have grown to adopt racial outlooks that have been colored by “pure-blood” nationalism as well as traditional patriarchal mores, according to Seol Dong-hoon, a sociologist at Chonbuk National University. There are even reports that North Korean authorities force women to have abortions who return home pregnant after going to China to find food, as stated by defectors and human rights groups.

The report goes on to assess how globalization for many South Koreans, has largely meant increasing exports or going abroad to study, and that now that it is also bringing an influx of foreigners into a society where 42 percent of respondents (in a 2008 survey) said they had never once spoken with a foreigner.

There is evidence though, that action is being taken to remedy this perverse level of racism. On July 10, Bonogit Hussain, a 29-year-old Indian man, and Hahn Ji-seon, a female Korean friend, were riding a bus near Seoul when another passenger made racial and sexist comments toward them. Customarily, this interaction was not unfamiliar, however, this time the media in the South Korean media broadcasted the incident, and subsequently, prosecutors sprang into action. The passenger was found, identified, arrested, and charged with contempt. This is noteworthy, because for the first time, such charges had been applied to an alleged racist offense.

As a result of this case, which is pending in court, rival South Korean political parties have begun drafting legislation that for the first time would provide a detailed definition of discrimination by race and ethnicity and impose criminal penalties.

 

For more information, please see:

EIN World News Report – South Korea Racism & Xenophobia News – November 2, 2009

New York Times – South Koreans Struggle With Race  – November 2, 2009  

The Hankyoreh – Foreigners cite nationalism, discrimination as barriers to life in Korea – April 23, 2009