US Extends Rights of Afghan Detainees at Bagram

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 BAGRAM, Afghanistan – Afghan inmates held in the US’s Bagram military custody center will soon have their first opportunity to exercise expanded rights to challenge indefinite detention.  The Obama administration has prepared a new set of guidelines regarding the legal rights of over 600 Afghan inmates detained at Bagram air-base.  The administration hopes to implement the new system during this week.  The new system will also grant extended rights to an unknown number of captive nationals from numerous other Middle Eastern states.  The Obama administration aims to utilize the new system to separate extremist militants from civilians and moderate detractors, all of whom are currently imprisoned together.  An anonymous official of the US Defense Department made a statement that “We don’t want to hold anyone [we should not] have to.” 

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Photo: Prisoners at the Bagram detention center (Source: Associated Press).

 Bagram air-base, located 40 miles north of Kabul, has been the US’s makeshift prison since 2002.  Though it faces less mainstream controversy than the infamous Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, human rights organizations have long been voicing distress over the plight of Bagram prisoners.  US torture techniques caused the death of two Afghan detainees hung from isolation cells in 2002.  Investigative reports have also noted sleep deprivation and abusive interrogations as other torments inflicted upon inmates.  

Many Bagram detainees have been imprisoned for up to six years, subject to conditions even more derisory than those at Guantanamo.  Unlike the detainees in Cuba, Bagram prisoners had no access to lawyers, were mostly unaware of the allegations against them, and were afforded only meager review of their designation as enemy combatants.

However, after passing Congressional review, the new detention program will assign a non-lawyer official to each detainee in Bagram.  With the aid of these officials, inmates will have an opportunity to challenge their detention before a military review board and have access to evidence to support their case.  

The local Afghan government seems receptive towards the new prison system.  Deputy mayor of Kabul, Wahaad Sadaat, regards the help of US military officials as a “helpful step” in securing inmates’ rights, and believes the US’s “legal assistance is of crucial importance.”  However, the Obama administration’s newly proposed system has not eluded domestic skepticism.  Ramzi Kassem, professor at the Central University of New York and attorney for a Bagram detainee, berates the new system as a ruse “meant to pull wool over the eyes of the judicial system.” Additionally, many human rights organizations have refrained from comment until they can judge the concrete results of the new system.

The world must wait to see the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s new detention system for the Bagram air base.  However, this proposal of new guidelines may signify a shift in the US perspective towards foreign detainees’ rights and the pursuit of more humane practices. 

For More information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – US expands Afghan prison rights – 12 September 2009

AlterNet – Very Bad News: Aghanistan’s Bagram Air Base Will Be Obama’s Guantanamo – 22 February 2009

The New York Times – Bagram Detention Center – 20 July 2009

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – New U.S. Plan Reportedly To Let Afghan Prisoners Challenge Incarceration – 14 September 2009

Prosecuting Israel for War Crimes

Prosecuting Israel for War Crimes

16 September 2009

Deputy Prosecutor of Int’l Criminal Court discusses the Palestinian Authority appeal to join the court.

Lia Tarachansky speaks to Fatou Bensouda, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the Palestinian Authority’s appeal to join the group of nations over which the court has jurisdiction. Bensouda says that before the ICC can investigate the perpetration of war crimes during Israel’s recent attack on Gaza, the court would have to rule on whether it has jurisdiction in the Palestinian Territories. For that, there would have to be clear borders identified, a task the UN would have to take on. Once the court rules on jurisdiction it would be able to prosecute anyone who committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide within the territory, even if (such as in the case of Israel) the perpetrator is not part of the International Court.

Fatou Bensouda was elected in 2004 to the post of Deputy Prosecutor by the Assembly of State Parties of the International Criminal Court. She is in charge of the Prosecution Division of the Office of the Prosecutor. Prior to joining the International Criminal Court, Bensouda served as the Senior Legal Advisor and Head of The Legal Advisory Unit at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Before that, she was the Minister of Justice of The Gambia.

Israel Rejects U.N. Report’s Recommendations for Gaza Inquiry

By Meredith Lee-Clark

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli officials have rejected the call to begin an independent investigation into possible war crimes and other “serious violations” of international human rights laws related to the three-week armed conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The establishment of such an investigation was one of the primary recommendations in the U.N. report that was released on September 15.

 

The report, produced by the U.N. Human Rights Council, found that both Israelis and Palestinians violated international law during the Gaza conflict. The report said that Israel targeted civilian facilities, including government buildings, hospitals, a mosque, and farms in the Gaza Strip. The report also said that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that leads the territorial government in Gaza, was at fault for launching rocket attacks against civilian targets in southern Israel.

 

The report recommends that Israel conduct an independent investigation into the charges of war crimes, or alternatively, the matter should be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

 

Mark Regev, the spokesperson for the Israeli government, said that Israel is conducting its own investigation, whose results will be open to review by civilian courts.

 

“Our own internal investigations are much more serious than what is being produced by this report,” said Regev.

 

Richard Goldstone, the respected South African judge who headed the U.N. report, dismissed the efficacy of the Israeli investigations.

 

“The Israeli investigations have been done behind closed doors in secret by the military,” said Goldstone. “That’s hardly an investigation by any acceptable standard.”

 

Goldstone also said that while Israel has dismissed the recommendations of the report, it has not yet disputed any of the findings of fact. The report rejected Israel’s argument that the war was an act of self-defense, but rather that the war was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.”

 

Goldstone also rejected allegations that the report’s committee was biased.

 

“I deny that completely,” said Goldstone, appearing on Israeli television. “I was independent, nobody dictated any outcome…the outcome of the report which was the result [of our independent investigation.]”

 

Goldstone stressed that Israel was not the only faulted party, but that the Hamas rockets into Gaza “constitute war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity,” and that the Gazan security forces, under the control of Hamas, carried out extrajudicial executions and arbitrary arrests. The report called for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been in Gazan prisons for three years.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Guardian – Israel Rejects War Crimes Findings of UN Gaza Inquiry – 16 September 2009

 

Jerusalem Post – ‘My Wish and Hope is for an Open Israeli Probe’ – 16 September 2009

 

Ma’an News Agency – UN’s Goldstone Tells Ma’an: Israel Has Yet to Deny Our Findings – 16 September 2009

 

NPR News – Israel Rejects U.N. Report on Gaza Conflict – 16 September 2009

 

New York Times – Israel Rejects Call for Gaza Inquiry – 16 September 2009

 

 

Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army Expands to Become a Multinational Threat

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

YAMBIO, Sudan – The Ugandan organization, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continues to ransack, pillage and destroy villages in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan.  The LRA’s latest attack occurred August 29th resulting in 42 deaths, more than 60 wounded and over 24,000 displaced civilians mainly in Panyangor and Kongor.  Last month the UN humanitarian coordinator in Southern Sudan reported that the LRA’s attacks have resulted in over 2,000 people dead and more than 250,000 displaced people since January.

The LRA has increasingly moved from its new base in the DRC into adjacent Southern Sudan and the CAR displacing more and more people from their homes in what is now a multinational conflict.  The Lord’s Resistance Army, led by international fugitive Joseph Kony is notorious for abducting girls and boys to use as sex slaves and soldiers respectively. The attacks also include ransacking homes, churches and health facilities; stealing food, and killing innocent civilians.  These successive and constant attacks have caused widespread panic and fear as thousands remain stranded and even more vulnerable to future attacks.

David Gressley, Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan at the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) explained that these inter-tribal conflicts are mainly over land boundaries and control over resources within those boundaries.  Though the conflict is over resources, there has been a “major increase in the number of civilians killed, particularly women and children. And it seems that the women and children are not just killed in crossfire but have been targeted,” said Gressley.

The erratic movements by Kony’s men are somewhat inexplicable and leave many questioning what his latest moves could be designed to reach.  David Matsanga, Kony’s former chief negotiator cannot understand the motives behind these expanding attacks.  “That’s why I’ve quit,” said Matsanga.  “Where Kony is fighting from is different from where I went to negotiate this agreement. I negotiated this agreement for the people of Uganda. If he is fighting, he is fighting for something that I don’t understand.”

Kony reportedly wants the International Criminal Court to drop his outstanding arrest warrant before he signs any treaty.  It has been speculated that his new rampage has been forged to create international pressures for new negotiations.  According to that theory he is killing more people so he can get his name cleared off the international crime docket.  The exact motives behind the LRA’s recent rampage remain unknown. What is clear is that the LRA has increased its areas of attack continuing to cause thousands to be displaced, scared and vulnerable in the Southern Sudan, Eastern DRC and Eastern CAR.

For more information, please see:

United Nations News Service – Senior UN Official Warns Of Deadly Dangers Facing South – 11 September 2009

Newstime Africa – Ugandan Rebel Group, LRA, Expands Its Terror Campaign – 28 August 2009

United Nations News Service – Ugandan Rebels Drive Thousands From Their Homes In Southern Sudan – 21 August 2009

New Trials Begin for Protesters of Iranian Election

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – On September 14, trials began for six more individuals involved in protests that followed the June 12 presidential election

The six individuals are being brought before the court on charges of rioting and plotting to topple the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic. State media in Iran has reported that indictment against the defendants is focused on the defendants’ use of the internet to spread false reports in order to provoke turmoil. The indictment claims that country was under the constant threat from both “psychological welfare” and “destructive propaganda.” Among those accused is Abdollah Momeni, a well known student activist. The official news agency of Iran has said that Momeni has pleaded guilty to the charges against him and has pleaded for “Islamic mercy from the court.”

This is the fifth trial brought against protesters of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s reelection. Over 140 individuals have been put on trial for opposing the election, which opponents claim was rigged in favor of the incumbent. Opponents of the current regime have questioned the validity of the trials. Among those against the trials is former President Mohammad Khatami. Last month, the former president claimed that the confessions made by individuals on trial came as a result of “extraordinary conditions.”

The June presidential election between President Ahmedinejad and former Primer Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi sparked protests throughout the country in the days that followed. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in the streets. The opposition claimed that the outcome to the election was predetermined. Hardliners have portrayed their opponents as individuals who are backed by foreigners whose goal is the undermining of the Islamic government system. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has insisted that no election fraud occurred.

Those protesting denounced the official results that gave President Ahmedinejad another four year term. Thousands of individuals were arrested by Iranian security forces, who were working with the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guard. The official estimate from the Iranian government is that thirty-six people died in the clashes between protesters and security forces. The opposition claims that more than seventy election protesters were killed during the conflict.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iran Mass Trial Resumes as Reformists Clerics Speak Out – 14 September 2009

BBC News – Six Accused in Iran Protest Trial – 14 September 2009

CBC News – Iran Protest Trials Resume Monday – 14 September 2009

Guardian.co.uk – Six Iran Activists in Dock as Mass Trial Continues – 14 September 2009

New York Times – Iran Starts Fifth Trial Over Post – Election – 14 September 2009