UPDATE: Israel Supposedly to Open Settlement Freeze

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 
JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli officials have signaled they would be open to a three- to six-month halt to settlement expansion as part of a U.S.-backed peace deal with the Palestinians.

While such a sentiment has widely been hailed as progress, it falls short of what the U.S. Obama Administration had called for. Such a freeze would not include any construction already underway, nor expansion in East Jerusalem, according to Israeli officials speaking in advance of the meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. envoy George Mitchell at the end of June. Ehud Barak refused to publically address the possibility of a temporary freeze ahead of his meeting, but said that the issue of settlements is merely one among many to be addressed in the peace process.

Members of the international community continue to call for a complete halt to settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On July 6, the executive arm of the European Union (EU) renewed its condemnation of Israeli settlements, saying that continued Israeli expansion is strangling the fledgling Palestinian economy, stunting Palestinian independence and forcing the Palestinian Authority to rely on foreign aid. In addition to the cost to Palestinians, the EU said that European taxpayers had paid approximately 280 million U.S. dollars so far this year in aid to the Palestinian Authority.

For more information, please see:

Ma’an News Agency – European Commission: Settlements Strangling Palestinian Economy– 6 July 2009

Ha’aretz – Barak: Progress in Talks with U.S. Over Settlements, But Still a Way to Go– 30 June 2009

New York Times – Israel Said to be Open to Settlement Freeze– 28 June 2009

Six Killed in Central Jakarta Hotel Blasts

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Six people were killed in nearly simultaneous explosions at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the Marriott Hotel in central Jakarta on Friday, Indonesian police said.

The explosions rocked the Indonesian capital around 8 a.m., blowing out windows, and scattering debris on to surrounding streets.

According to witnesses, Marriott blast was the first followed by one directly across the road at the Ritz-Carlton.

Police are yet to confirm if the blasts were caused by bombs and there were no immediate claims of responsibility, but the sequence of the explosions bears the hallmarks of similar al-Qaeda attacks.

Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Islamic organization, has been blamed for a series of attacks between 2002 and 2005 that killed more than 240 people, most of them foreign tourists on the island of Bali. The group was blamed for a previous blast at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003 that killed 13 people.

There have not been any major bomb blasts in Indonesia for several years, and this month the country’s presidential election passed off peacefully. Despite allegations of electoral fraud by Yudhoyono’s opponents, independent observers declared the election largely free and fair.

After the explosions, the Indonesian rupiah fell 0.7 percent to 10,200 per dollar, prompting state banks to sell dollars to support the currency, traders said. The stock market has not opened yet.

For more information, please see:
The Associated Press – AP News Alert – 17 July 2009

Bloomberg –  Indonesia Says Explosions Hit Jakarta Ritz, Marriott – 17 July 2009

Fox News – 6 Dead, 29 Injured in Bomb Explosions at Hotels in Indonesia – 17 July 2009

Reuters – Six killed in central Jakarta hotel blasts: police – 17 July 2009

Poet Appeals Three Year Jail Term for His Poetry

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Mounir Hanna Said Marzouk was a civil servant in Egypt, and wrote satyrical verses for his friends and colleagues. He had only been writing for two years. None of his writing had ever been published, and it was only after a colleague found his work offensive to the President that Marzouk was reported to the authorities.

Marzouk insists that his poems are not meant to be offensive to the president, they are meant only to reflect daily life in Egypt.  In spite of his intentions Marzouk was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and fined 100,000 Egyptian pounds for his poems on June 27. This is the maximum penalty that exists for the crime of publicly insulting the president, which carries a penalty from 24 hours imprisonment to three years imprisonment.

The Arab Network for Human Rights is appealing his verdict, based on Marzouk’s lack of access to representation at his first trial. Marzouk and his family did not hire a lawyer, because none of his poems mention Mubarek by name. There are also many satirical poems available in Egypt and on the Internet by much more well-established poets than Marzouk.

Much of the attention came to Marzouk’s case after his brother wrote a clemency plea to the local newspapers for his brother. Although none of his brother’s verses were published in the paper, it brought his brother’s case international attention, and representation. The final verdict is expected to come down this Saturday, July 18.

For more information, please see:

Afrik – Egypt’s Dangerous Poetry: Civil Servant Imprisoned for Writing a Poem – 15 July 2009

AFP – Ode to Egypt President Lands Clerk in Jail – 14 July 2009

BBC – Egyptian Jailed for Insult Poem – 14 July 2009  

LA Times – Egypt: Poet Accused of Mubarek Awaits Final Verdict – 14 July 2009

Another UN Worker Killed in Pakistan

 By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan– A relief worker who works for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been shot dead in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday in a failed kidnapping attempt.  The victim, Zil-e-Usman, was a 59-year-old Pakistani and a 30-year veteran of the UN.  This was the third killing of UNHCR employee in Pakistan in the past six months.

The slain senior UN official was attacked as he left a field office in the Kacha Gari Refugee Camp and was shot several times.

 Pakistan refugee camp Refugee Camp in Pakistan (Source: AFP)

UNHCR Chief Antonio Guterres said targeting aid workers must be stopped, adding, “There is no justification for attacks on humanitarian workers dedicated to the protection and care of the most vulnerable people.”  

The attack took place at a refugee camp in Pakistan’s Frontier Province where the government forces have launched a military offensive against the Taliban militants.  About 2 million Pakistanis have been driven from their homes in this region and have been placed in refugee camps.  Consequently, many international organizations have dispatched aid workers to this area of Pakistan although there was a risk that the aid workers could be targeted by the militants.

A Pakistani security official told reporters that he suspected the Taliban to be behind this attack.  The shooting came only days after senior Pakistani officials warned that the Taliban militants who had fought in the northern Swat Valley over the past few months were expected to retaliate against the Pakistani government and aid workers.  The Taliban fighters have targeted foreign diplomats and humanitarian workers in the past.

UN had lost its workers just last month in the devastating suicide bombing attack in a hotel in Peshawar.  Guterres said, “It is unacceptable that humanitarian workers doing such vital and selfless work are attacked in this way.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – UN workers killed in Pakistan attack – 16 July 2009

CBS – UN Worker Killed in Pakistan Refugee Camp – 16 July 2009

CNN – U.N. worker killed in Pakistan kidnap bid – 16 July 2009

Youth Activists Arrested in Azerbaijan

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Two student activists were arrested and beaten in Azerbaijan after they posted a video critical of the nation’s government.

Authorities arrested Adnan Hajizada, a University of Richmond graduate and fellow activist Emin Milli, in the capital city of Baku last week. A friend of the pair said government officials questioned them while they were out at dinner and struck Milli without warning, and then attacked Hajizada. The two were then arrested and accused of attacking the officials.

Hajizada and Milli are now awaiting trial, where they could be punished with up to five years in prison. They are being held in pretrial detention for the time being, reported The New York Times. Mehriban Efendiyeva, friend of the pair, as well as an activist, said “We note with great regret that in some parts of the world today, severe injustices against the driving force for the progress – the socially active youth – take places in the most brutal manner.”

U.S. Embassy and German officials have voiced concern about the detention and the arrests, which have prompted the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry and Prosecutor General’s office to respond by saying the two countries were “meddling in its affairs.” There are reports circulating that Milli and Hajizada were beaten, and are currently being denied access to lawyers or medical treatment.

A statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan read, “We call on the Government of Azerbaijan to ensure that Mr. Milli and Mr. Hajizada are granted proper access to legal assistance and medical care. We ask that the Government of Azerbaijan exercise due process in this case and respect the rights of these individuals.”

The video posted by the two activists satirized the Azerbaijani government paying exorbitant prices to import donkeys. The video ended with the statement, roughly translated, “There will be someone to protect donkey civil rights, but who will protect human civil rights?”

For more information, please see:

AP – Azerbaijani Blogger Arrests Prompts Backlash – July 14, 2  009 

 

The Collegian – 05′ Richmond Graduate Arrested – July 14, 2009  

The New York Times – In Azerbaijan a Donkey Suit Provokes Arrests – July 14, 2009