Conflicting Reports Arise After Yemeni Fighter Plane Crash

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’DA, YEMEN – Conflicting reports come out of the Sa’da region of Yemen after a government MIG 21 aircraft crashed into a mountain peak. Al-Huthi rebels issued a statement claiming they had shot down the aircraft “while it was bombing civilians in villages and markets.” Yemeni government officials dispute this claim, stating that “the MIG 21 fell because of a technical problem an in an area where there is no combat.” The pilot was identified as Mohammad Abdo Mufleh.  Reports did not verify whether he survived the crash.

The Sunni dominated Yemeni government launched Operation Scorched Earth on August 11 to finally put down Shi’ite rebels in the North. The conflict has seen thousands killed and many more displaced. The United Nations has issued a conservative estimate that fifty-five thousand people have fled their homes because of the conflict. Journalists are not allowed to enter the region and aid workers have trouble reaching those in need as a result of the heavy fighting.  As such, there have been no reliable counts of casualties.

Government forces continue the intense offensive against the Shi’ite al-Huthi rebels. A military source claimed that another fifty-two rebels had been killed in clashes with government forces between September 31 and October 1.  The government accuses the rebels of seeking to restore the Zaidi imamate that was overthrown in a 1962 coup. They further claim that the rebels are backed by Shi’ite Iran. The rebels deny both claims and accuse the government of aggression, marginalization and bringing in Saudi warplanes to support the ground operation.

For more information please see:

AFP – Yemeni Rebels Claim Government Warplane Shot Down – October 3 2009

Forexhound – Shiite Rebels: Military Jet Shot Down in Northern Yemen – October 2 2009

Reuters – Fighter Plane Crashes in Yemen Fighting – Govt – October 2 2009

Two Mass Graves Found in Colombia

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Two mass graves were discovered last week containing over thirty peasants and rebel fighters.  Seventeen peasants were found in a grave on a ranch owned by the now dead, far-right militia leader Carlos Castano in Northwestern Colombia. Meanwhile, sixteen FARC rebels, thought to have been killed in combat, were found in La Uribe, in the southern jungles.

The peasants found in the ranch grave were dismembered and showed signs of torture.  Colombian prosecutors reported that the peasants were killed ten to twelve years ago by men commanded by Jesus Ignacio Roldan, known as “Monoleche.”

Castano, the owner of the ranch, was reportedly killed because he disagreed with the anti-guerrilla movement’s use of drug-trafficking mafias and because the paramilitaries were frightened that Castano would report them to U.S. drug agents.

The FARC fighters were killed in July and the bodies include the nephew of senior FARC Commander Jorge Bricero.  La Uribe, where the grave was found, has traditionally been a stronghold for the FARC.

Over 2,570 victims of right-wing paramilitaries have been unearthed in Colombia since the militias began demobilizing in 2005 pursuant to a peace agreement with the Colombian government.  The AUC was formed in 1997 as an umbrella group for the numerous paramilitary organizations created to protect drug lords’ territory and operations from attacks by leftists groups, such as the FARC.  The AUC is reportedly responsible for most of the drug related deaths in Colombia.

Both the FARC and the AUC have been designated terrorist groups.  While the AUC is no longer a formal organization, most of its past members have joined other criminal organizations.

Militias such as those that formally comprised the AUC often worked with members of the Colombian military in a “dirty war” killing and torturing people suspected to be leftist rebels or sympathizers. Prosecutors report that demobilized paramilitaries have confessed to over 25,000 murders.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Colombian Mass Graves Discovered – 26 September 2009

RTT News – Thirty-three Bodies Unearthed in Two Colombian Mass Graves – 26 September 2009

South America Policy Examiner – COLOMBIA: Two Mass Graves Discovered, Bodies Include Nephew of FARC Leader – 26 September 2009

AP – Colombia Finds 2 Mass Graves of Peasants, Rebels

Somali Militants Release Three Aid Workers

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Three aid workers from Action Against Hunger (ACF), a french aid group, were released Saturday.  The three men were from Pakistan, the United States, and Zimbabwe.

They were being held in Somalia since July, according to humanitarian agents and Somali sources.  The men will be reunited with friends and family once they have received medical checks, although they are said to be in good health.

The three men who were captured were headed to Nairobi via the southern town of Luq.  They were kidnapped on July 17 boarding a plane in Mandera, Kenya and taken into nearby Somalia.  It is reported that ten gunmen facilitated the kidnapping.

Rebel Islamist movement Hezb al-Islam official Sheikh Ali Hussein said that the organization facilitated the aid workers’ return but had nothing to do with their kidnapping.

“A small plane flew the hostages out of the airport at Luq after they were freed by their kidnappers,” he said.

Somalia’s radical Shebab movement also denies having a hand in the kidnappings.

According to Hussein, a ransom was paid for the workers.  A local elder has reported that the aid workers were returned for a sum of 2.5 million dollars.

The kidnapping of foreigners in Somalia is rampant and cross-border raids are common in the area.  Because the Kenyan security forces are so poorly funded there is little that they can do to police the vast area.

Kidnappings for ransom have risen in the past few years.  Journalists and aid workers are most often targeted as they are the most vulnerable.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Three Foreign Aid Workers Held in Somalia Since July Freed – 03 October 2009

AP – Militant: 3 Aid Workers Freed in Somalia – 03 October 2009

BBC – Aid Workers Released in Somalia – 03 October 2009

Reuters – Somali Gunmen Release 3 Foreign Aid Workers – 03 October 2009

Xinhua – Aid Workers Released in Somalia: Islamist Faction – 03 October 2009

Iran Allows Swiss Diplomats To Visit Detained U.S. Hikers

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GENEVA, Switzerland – Iranian officials allowed Swiss diplomats access to the three American hikers that are currently being detained in Iran. The meeting between the captive Americans and Swiss envoys took place on September 29. The goal of the meeting was for the Swiss to see the exact condition under which the American hikers are being held. The Swiss government represents the United States’ interests in Iran as the U.S. and the Islamic Republic do not have formal diplomatic relations.

The three hikers currently being held are Joshua Fattal, 27, Shane Bauer, 27 and Sarah Shourd, 31. The three Americans went missing on July 31 after setting out on a hike in Northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The group came to Iraq from Northern Turkey, planning on a five day hike. The three were supposed to be joined by a fourth individual, Shon Meckfessel, who did not go on the hike. Meckfessel claims that his friends were not aware that they were near the Iranian border and that they had made “a simple and regrettable mistake.”

Iranian authorities have charged the three Americans with illegally entering the country. The mothers of the hikers wrote a letter the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. In their letters, they asked the country’s leader to bring the Americans with him when he came to New York for his address to the United Nation’s General Assembly.

President Ahmedinejad addressed the issue and said the actions of the hikers constituted an “illegal entry” that was clearly a crime. He also emphasized his lack of control over the Iranian judicial process. President Ahmedinejad did say that he would possibly be willing to ask to the judiciary to expedite their process and ask that they rule with leniency. However, an Iranian lawmaker indicated that hikers’ entry into the country could have been related to the contested June 12 election and that the country will look for the “real reason” why the hikers entered.

The U.S. State Department indicated that they were looking forward to hearing from the Swiss as to how the hikers were being treated. The White House has declared that they will not let the hikers’ detainment conflate with discussion regarding Iran’s nuclear program. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained that, “there isn’t any connection and there shouldn’t be. The hikers should be released.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Swiss Granted Access to Americans in Iran – 29 September 2009

AP – Iran Will Allow Swiss Access to Detained Americans – 29 September 2009

BBC – Iran Allows Visit To U.S. Detainees – 29 September 2009

CNN – Iran to Let Swiss Officials Visit 3 Detained U.S. Hikers – 29 September 2009

Reuters – Swiss Confirm Visit to U.S. Hikers Held in Iran – 29 September 2009

EU Court Sentences Three Kosovo Albanians For War Crimes

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Three former Kosovo guerrilla fighters were sentenced by a European Union court on Friday in connection with war crimes during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.  Each of the fighters had fought in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the separatist conflict against Serbian forces.

The EU Rule-of-Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which is in charge of certain war crimes prosecutions, concluded that the three men had participated in the torturing and detention of civilian victims, notably ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.  According to a EU court spokesman, the three were guilty of “war crimes through inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and…beating and torture of civilian detainees.”

Latif Gasgi, Nazif Mehmetim, and Rrustem Mustafa had originally been sentenced in 2003, but two years later a retrial was ordered by the Kosovo Supreme Court.  Gasgi and Mehmeti were sentenced to six and three years respectively, while Mustafa was sentenced to four years in prison.

One incident on which the charges were founded occurred on in July of 1998.  Gasgi, while stationed at a checkpoint in central Kosovo, opened fire on a civilian Kosovo Albanian family after they failed to stop at the checkpoint.  These acts fell within the definition of the war crimes.  “Gasgi committed the criminal offence of war crime against the civilian population, punishable by Kosovo and international law.”

These convictions come on the heels of the EU arresting four Serbians who allegedly committed war crimes during the Kosovo war.

Mustafa is currently a official in the Kosovo parliament and has been a leading political figure in the Democratic Party of Kosovo.  He was also the commander of the KLA during the Kosovo War.

For more information, please read:

AP – Court in Kosovo convicts 3 ex-rebels of war crimes – 2 October 2009

RADIO NEDERLAND – Kosovo jails 3 ex-fighters for war crimes – 2 October 2009

REUTERS – Kosovo jails 3 ex-fighters for 1998-99 war crimes – 2 October 2009

TAIWAN NEWS – Court in Kosovo convicts 3 ex-rebels of war crimes – 2 October 2009