Silencing the Voice of Private Media

By Ryan C Kossler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – The fate of Globovision, the last major channel in Venezuela that is critical of President Hugo Chavez, is unknown.

On September 7, Minister of Public Works and Housing Diosdado Cabello announced that an investigation would be initiated into Globovision’s recent alleged unlawful broadcast of a viewer’s text. The message called for a coup and the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.  “If you call for a coup, if you call for assassination, assume your responsibility,” Cabello said.

Earlier in the day, Venezuela’s telecommunications commission issued a statement accusing Globovision of airing messages having the implication of calling for violent acts.  The commission also stated that Globovision’s airing of anti government messages sought to “promote public protests, which could generate a climate of tension and nervousness in the population.”

Globovision’s legal advisor Ana Cristina Nunez responded by saying that “We are very careful in attempting to stop people from using Globovision’s screen to make illegal petitions,” and that the channel “would never intentionally broadcast unlawful text messages.”

Opponents to President Chavez see the potential closure of Globovision as another instance of President Chavez trying to silence the media.  “There is a clear strategy to control the flow of information and restrict criticism,” said Carlos Lauria of the New York Committee to Protect Journalists.

President Chavez has denied any accusations that his government is attempting to control the private media for political reasons and has said that Globovision is being investigated only for violations of unlawful broadcasting regulations.

The latest accusations regarding Globovsion’s alleged actions come in the wake of the recent closure of 32 private media outlets and the announcement by Cabello that “there are 29 [radio stations] that will be off the air shortly.”

This is not the first instance that Globovision has clashed with the government and is one example among many in the growing tension between the government and Venezuela’s private media.  On July 17, 2009, Cabello announced that if Globovision did not comply with the laws, its license would be revoked.  This announcement was made shortly after regulators opened five investigations into Globovision’s activities.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Venezuelan Minister: More radio closures coming – 6 September 2009

Miami Herald – Anti-Chavez TV station faces possible shutdown – 7 September 2009

Miami Herald – Venezuela steps up threats against anti-Chavez TV – 17 July 2009

IHRDC Releases Report: Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists

IHRDC Releases Report: Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists

Press Release – September 14, 2009

CONNECTICUT, United States – The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) today published witness statements by three Iranian bloggers and cyber-journalists who were arrested and detained by the Iranian government in 2004 and 2005.  The witness statements are the results of interviews conducted by IHRDC staff in 2008 and 2009.

Two of the journalists—Roozbeh Mirebrahimi and Omid Memarian—were active cyber-journalists residing in and around Tehran at the time of their arrests. The third witness—Arash Sigarchi—was the Editor-in-Chief of Gilan-e Emrooz in the northern Iranian city of Rasht. They were charged with (and convicted of) moral, press, and national security crimes. The statements, published under the title, Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists, describe, in detail, the journalists’ arrests, detention, torture, forced confessions and eventual convictions.

The experiences of these journalists are not unique. In conjunction with the IHRDC reports Ctrl+Al+Delete: Iran’s Response to the Internet (May 2009) and Covert Terror: Iran’s Parallel Intelligence Apparatus (April 2009), these statements expose a network of Iranian government actors—including members of the security and parallel intelligence forces, the Judiciary, and state-run media outlets such as Kayhan newspaper and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting—responsible for silencing voices of dissent in cyberspace.

Their experiences are also particularly relevant at this time.  In an apparent effort to crush any expression of dissent or even disagreement following the disputed presidential election on June 12, the Islamic Republic continues to shut down newspapers, arrest, detain and torture editors and journalists, and arrest and charge Iranian bloggers with crimes such as using the internet to organize demonstrations.

IHRDC continues to call on the United Nations to investigate these and other human rights violations committed by the Iranian government.

IHRDC is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut that was founded in 2004 by a group of human rights scholars, activists, and historians.  Its staff of human rights lawyers and researchers produce comprehensive and detailed reports on the human rights situation in Iran since the 1979 revolution.  The Center’s goal is to encourage an informed dialogue among scholars and the general public in both Iran and abroad.  The human rights reports and an archive of documents are available to the public for research and educational purposes on the Center’s website.

Case Western Reserve University School of Law War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Case Western Reserve University School of Law War Crimes Prosecution Watch

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is prepared by the International Justice Practice of the Public International Law & Policy Group and the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.


Volume 4, Issue 12 – September 14, 2009


On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law honored the memory of professor and former Nuremberg prosecutor Henry T. King, Jr. (1919-2009).

Please visit http://law.case.edu/lectures/index.asp?lec_id=214 to learn about Professor King and to view the webcast of the memorial honoring his legacy and achievements.

AFRICA

International Criminal Court

  • Central African Republic & Uganda
  • Darfur, Sudan
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Uganda (Truth & Reconciliation & Domestic Prosecutions / Non-ICC)

EUROPE

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Iraqi High Tribunal

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

United States

REPORTS

UN Reports

—
War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world.  If you do not want to receive future issues of War Crimes Prosecution Watch, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Israel Prime Minister Rejects Settlement Freeze

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government has no plans to completely freeze Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

On September 14, Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset that settlement construction in East Jerusalem will “go on as planned.” Netanyahu added that Israel had several different interests to balance in implementing its settlement policies.

 

“There has to be a balance between the desire to make progress in political negotiations and the need to allow inhabitants of Judea and Samaria to continue to lead normal lives,” said Netanyahu, referring to the Israeli names for region also known as the occupied West Bank.

 

Netanyahu’s statements came while U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell was in the region to move both the Israelis and the Palestinians toward restarting peace negotiations. For weeks, the U.S. and the Palestinians have urged the Israeli government to agree to a freeze on settlement development as a precondition to any peace talks.

 

Mitchell arrived in Israel on September 12 ahead of the United Nations General Assembly taking place during the week of September 21. Many observers speculate Mitchell is in the region to prepare Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

 

President Obama has requested that Israelis completely halt any new construction on existing settlements, following the requirements of the Roadmap, the agreement created during the Bush Administration’s peace efforts in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

 

The areas in dispute came under Israeli control after the 1967 Mideast War. Since 1967, both Israelis and Palestinians have claimed the area, which stretches from the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. Palestinians argue that Israeli settlements defeat the Palestinian goal of establishing a viable, independent state. Palestinian officials maintain their goal has remained unchanged, even in light of Netanyahu’s statements.

 

“Israel has to stop stalling and focus on creating the atmosphere for a resumption of the peace process. Its sole track should lead to the establishment of the Palestinian state,” said Sabri Seidam, an aide to President Abbas.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Al-Jazeera – Funeral Delays Netanyahu-US Talks – 14 September 2009

 

Associated Press – Netanyahu: No Complete West Bank Building Freeze – 14 September 2009

 

Christian Science Monitor – Netanyahu Defiant on Israeli Settlements Ahead of Mitchell Meeting – 14 September 2009

 

Ma’an News Agency – Netanyahu: East Jerusalem Settlements Not Up For Discussion – 14 September 2009

 

Voice of America – Israeli PM Rejects Halting Settlement Construction – 14 September 2009

 

12-Year-Old Yemeni Bride Dies Giving Birth

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AL-ZAHRA, Yemen – Twelve-year-old Yemeni girl, Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died after struggling for three days in labor. Youssef died of severe bleeding while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital in the Hodeida province 140 miles west of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

Youssef was 11-years-old when her father married her to a 24-year-old man working in Saudi Arabia as a farmer. According to Ahmed Al-Quraishi, the chairman of Siyaj human rights organization, “this is one of many cases that exist in Yemen, the reason behind it is the lack of education and awareness, forcing many girls into marriage in this very young age.”

Despite its proximity to oil rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Tribal customs dominate and more than a quarter of the country’s females marry before the age of 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry. This issue vaulted into the international spotlight after the case of Nujood[VAC1] Mohammad Ali, an 8-year old girl whose unemployed father arranged a marriage with a man 20-years her senior. Ali was granted a divorce by a Yemeni court, in explaining his actions the father cited fears that she may have been kidnapped by her would be spouse had he not arranged the marriage.

Ali’s lawyer Shada Nasser [VAC2] has been a vocal advocate for the child brides. She places the blame on the government for not adopting laws which would enact a minimum age for marriage. Nasser has said the government “should launch awareness campaigns in rural areas and prevent clerics from concluding marriage contracts for girls under the age of 17.”

For more information, please see:

UN News Centre – Yemen: Unicef Chief Deplores Death of 12 -Year-Old Bride – 15 – September 2009

Arab News – 12-Year-old Yemen Bride Dies in Labor – 14 – September – 2009

Chronicle – Yemeni 12-year-old dies in labor – 12 – September – 2009

Middle East Online – Tragedy In Yemen: 12-year-old bride dies giving birth – 13 – September – 2009