No Elections for Fiji in 2009

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim prime minister has announced he will not make good on his promise to hold democratic elections in 2009, even if the European Union withholds hundreds of millions in funds for Fiji’s ailing sugar industry.

Interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, says that his vision for Fiji will not be compromised, regardless of the consequences.

Bainimarama’s statements are in response to criticism of his decision to re- re-assign management of the sugar industry to the Prime Minister’s Office. Ousted prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, stated on Tuesday, that the re-re-assignment will not save the industry, but restoring democracy might.

In response, Bainimarama has accused Qarase’s government of sitting idly by for six years while the sugar industry faced expiring land leases.

If Bainimarama refuses to restore democracy at the polls before 2009, Fiji may lose out on $200 million in EU funds.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji regime rules out 2009 election, risking loss of massive EU assistance – 07 January 2009

Fiji Daily Post News – Qarase did nothing for sugar – 07 January 2009

Fiji Times – Millions lost – 08 January 2009

Increase In the Arrests on Suspicison Endangering State Security in Xinjiang Province

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – According a Chinese official newspaper, the Procuratorial Daily, authorities in Xinjiang province arrested nearly 1,300 people and indicted 1,154 of them in last year.  These people were indicted of “endangering state security”. The indictment applies to alleged subversion or “splittism”, as well as to offences such as espionage, and it can carry the death penalty.  The newspaper said that is an extraordinary increase in the arrests on the particular charge compared with the number in 2007.  The number is drawing scrutiny from human rights groups.

The government statistics show that in 2007, the number of people arrested across China on suspicion of endangering state security was 742, and 619 of them were indicted.  Of those total numbers, about half were from Xinjiang, said Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, citing statistics from the Xinjiang Yearbook, a government publication of regional statistics.

“If this is confirmed, this is very alarming because it reflects that the threshold of what constitutes a state security crime was considerably lowered last year, in line with the campaign,” Bequelin said.  Last year, the authorities in Xinjiang announced a campaign against political crimes and terrorism before the Beijing Olympics. Bequelin added that the antiseparatist campaign weighed heavy on Uighurs. “It’s not a yellow line that you should not cross … they have to positively demonstrate their opposition to separatism; they have to say so publicly in meetings and study sessions.”

According to Bequelin, the Chinese government maintains strict control over the practice of Islam in Xinjiang. For example, government workers are not allowed to worship at mosques, and the private teaching of the Koran and other religious material is forbidden. According to the law, these practices are not the crime of endangering state security.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Arrests increased in Muslim region of China – 05 January 2009

Market Watch – Arrests rise in China’s Muslim region – 05 January 2009

New York Times – Arrests Increased in Chinese Region – 05 January 2009

UN Buildings Shelled by Israeli Artillery

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

JABALIYA, Gaza – On January 6, the UN reported that several Israeli artillery shells landed outside a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp.  John Ging, the Director of Operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the death toll was 30, including several children, with another 55 people injured.  Medical officials at the scene of the incident report that over 40 were killed.

In a statement, an Israeli military spokesperson said that two of the dead were well known Hamas gunmen, Imad and Hassan Abu Askar.  The Israeli military said that, according to initial checks, its soldiers had come under mortar fire from militants inside the al-Fakhura school.

“The force responded with mortars at the source of fire,” the Israeli military said in its statement. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev accused Hamas as using civilians as human shields and added that Hamas was in violation of international humanitarian law.

“Unfortunately tonight’s incident is just another example of how Hamas operates,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. “This is not the first time they have exploited a UN facility. This is not the first time that they have deliberately used innocent civilians as human shields.”  Israeli media also reports that the limited cabinet is considering whether to file a complaint with the United Nations over the use of UNWRA schools made by Hamas.

Fauzi Barhoun, a Hamas spokesman called the allegations that fighters had used the school to attack Israeli forces “baseless.”  He added, “There was no fire of any kind from the school.” 

Ging told reporters that the school had been sheltering 350 refugees.  When Ging was asked whether Hamas militants were in the area of the school at the time of the strike, he said that there were some clashes in the area, so there was “intense military and militant activity.”  Ging added that the UN staff vetted Palestinians seeking shelter at their facilities to make sure militants were not taking advantage of them and so far there have not been any “violations by militants of our facilities.”

The incident at the al-Fakhura school is among the several bombardments of UN buildings since the ground operations began.  The first incident was an airstrike on the Asma Elementary School in Gaza City and killed three men who were among more than 400 people taking refuge in the building.  Another artillery shell landed inside an empty boys school in Jabaliya.

In addition, ten people were also injured at a UN health center in the Bureij refugee camp; seven were staff and three were patients. Ging called for an independent investigation into this and the other incidents. 

According to the UN, nearly 15,000 refugees are being sheltered in 23 UN operated schools in Gaza.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Israel Shells Near UN School, Killing At Least 30 – 6 January 2009

BBC – Strike at Gaza School “Kills 30” – 6 January 2009

Belfast Telegraph – Fury as Israeli School Attack Kills More Than 30 – 6 January 2009

International Herald Tribune – Israeli Mortars Kill 40 Palestinian Refugees – 6 January 2009

International Herald Tribune – UN Chief Deplores Gaza Shelling Near UN Facilities – 6 January 2009

New York Times – Israeli Shells Kill 40 at Gaza UN School – 6 January 2009

Reuters – UN Official Says Gaza School was Clearly Marked – 6 January 2009

SwissInfo – Israeli Shells Kill 42 at UN School – 6 January 2009

Times – Gaza School Strike Forces Barack Obama to Break His Silence – 6 January 2009

Yedioth – Israel May File Complaint over Hamas’ Use of Schools – 6 January 2009

Harassment Against Yemeni Jews Increases in Retaliation for Israeli Actions in Gaza

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen– The Jewish community of Amran Province is facing renewed threats of violence from their Muslim neighbors since the renewal of hostilities between Israel and Gaza began on December 27, 2008.  Yemen currently has a small Jewish community, comprising approximately 400 people.

Tensions between the Jewish and Muslim communities in Yemen initially increased in December 2008, following the murder of Jewish citizen Masha Al-Nahari.  At the trial of the accused murderer, Abdul Aziz Al-Abdi, journalists and attorneys present in the courtroom described the proceedings as, “full of chaos and quarrels.”  According to witnesses, one Yemeni soldier was attacked by a family member of the accused, while Al-Nahari’s family has received death threats.  The violence and threats follows after the government agreed to transfer the trial to the capitol due to a lack of security at the court in Amran, where the Al-Nahari family resides.

Currently, Yemeni Jews in Amran are living in a state of fear, after receiving numerous threats from the relatives of Al-Abdi and his supporters.  Hostility towards the Jewish community in Yemen, which began in the aftermath of Al-Nahari’s murder is increasing throughout the country in response to the ongoing situation in Gaza.  According to Hayeem Yaish, a Jewish activist in Yemen, harassment against Jews has rapidly increased since the start of the crisis in Gaza.  According to Yaish, “protesters told us the state [Yemen] won’t protect us and that they would attack us secretly if not openly.  We are intimidated every day and out pain grows constantly.  We even receive threats on our mobile phones.”

As the Al-Nahari trial continues and the violence in Gaza escalates, the Jewish community in Yemen has grown increasingly concerned with their safety, as they continue to face threats and intimidation in their neighborhoods.  According to the Jewish community, conservative Muslims are entering synagogues and Jewish community centers attempting to provoke a response from the Jews.  Jewish women are threatened with forced conversion in the streets, and anonymous groups have stoned Jewish homes and threatened to kill them.  Many Jews are now afraid to leave their homes.

On January 3, Jewish children in Raidi were attacked with stones by Muslim students who were protesting Israeli actions in Gaza.  One individual, Zaher Salem, was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a stone.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has promised to provide a piece of land and compensation to every family of the Jewish community, relocating them to larger cities.  The government has increased its efforts to protect the Jewish community, announcing a new plan to relocate the Jewish community of the Raida district of Amran province to Sana’a in light of the recent surge of violence and threats of violence against Jews.  However, the relocation, initially scheduled to occur on January 4 has not yet been implemented.  Yaish maintains that the longer the Jewish community remains in the Raida district, “the more the threats against us.  We really fear for our lives and the lives of our children.”  The Jewish community claims that the government has not taken adequate measures to protect them.  They maintain that while other citizens carry guns or knives in order to protect themselves, the members of the Jewish community do not, and therefore they are dependent on the state for protection.  While the government has delayed the relocation, no one in the Jewish community has been told when the transfer will in fact occur. 

For more information, please see:

IRIN –Yemen: Jews in North Increasingly Being Harassed – 5 January 2009

Yemen News Agency – Children Attack Yemeni Jew in Amran Governorate – 5 January 2009

Yemen Times –While Gaza Crisis Cause More Hostility Against Yemeni Jews, Murdered Jew Family Demands Transferring Trail to Sana’a – 4 January 2008

News Yemen – Yemeni Jews Abused Over Israeli Offensive in Gaza – 4 January 2009

Police Detained Parents of Milk Scandal Victims

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Police detained a group of parents whose children fell ill from drinking tainted milk in China.  They apparently were trying to block the parents from holding a news conference, according to one of the fathers.  The parents’ news conference was called off after police picked up one of the organizers, Zhao Lianhai, said Li Fangping, a lawyer for some of the parents. “The purpose was to prevent the parents from holding a news conference,” Li Fangping said, adding that 10 parents had planned to participate. The parents were unhappy about a compensation plan made public this week, saying the amounts were too low and the plan was formulated without any input from families.  Under the plan, families whose children died would receive $29,000, while others would receive $4,380 for serious cases of kidney stones and $290 for less severe cases.

Mr. Zhao has a 3-year-old child who fell ill after drinking tainted milk but has since recovered.  He organized other parents and created a website about the contamination.  The website was also blocked on Friday.  It was not immediately clear why.  Mr. Zhao has been released, according to Xu Zhiyong, who is part of a legal team representing 63 families with sickened children.  Mr. Zhao said police held him at Tuanhe Farm conference centre, a compound outside of Beijing where police formerly held people who were to be sent to labor camps. “There are more than 20 police watching me here, and they are not letting me go,” Mr Zhao said.  “I protest this illegal treatment,” he added.

One of the fathers says that some parents, including himself, were also taken to a labor camp on the outskirts of Beijing.  “We are under house arrest now, and the government did not give us any reasons why they kept us here,” the father told Reuters by phone.  “The government said all the medical care is free, but when it comes to the local level, things change. I have already paid more than 50,000 yuan ($7,300) for the operation and cure,” said the father, a migrant worker from Sichuan province.

Last year, at least six children have died from kidney stones and more than 290,000 been made ill from the melamine-contaminated milk produced by Sanlu, a Chinese dairy company. The incident caused massive recalls around the world.

For more information, please see:

AP – Parents of kids in China milk scandal released – 02 January 2009

Financial Times – China cracks down on milk scandal victims – 02 January 2009

New York Times – China: Father in Milk Case Is Detained – 02 January 2009

Reuters – Parents of China milk scandal victims detained – 02 January 2009