By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq- Sergeant Evan Vela was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian by court martial in Baghdad.  Sgt. Vela was charged and convicted with murder without premeditation.  He was also charged with planting evidence and making a false statement regarding the incident to his officers.

The action occurred south of Baghdad on May 11, 2006.  The Iraqi civilian stumbled upon a team of six sleeping Army snipers.  Discovering the civilian in their hideout spot, the team feared that the civilian would alert insurgents in the area and jeopardize their safety.  Thus, Vela carried out the team’s plan to kill the Iraqi.  After the killing, the team planted evidence on the civilian, including an AK-47, to make the killing look necessary.

Two other team members, Sergeant Michael Hensley and Special Jorge Sandoval, were also charged with murder, but were cleared during the trial.  However, they were convicted of planting evidence on the dead Iraqi.

Sergeant Vela’s defense team blamed the death on Vela’s lack of rest.  Vela had slept only five hours in the previous three days to the incident, because the snipers had engaged in a a treacherous hike on difficult terrain.

However, the jury found the defendant guilty.  “Vela was sentenced to 10 years confinement. He was also sentenced to a reduction in rank … forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge from the army,” reported media officer Lieutenant Patrick Evans. (AFP)

This is an important step for the U.S. military to ensure that the death of Iraqi civilians will not be tolerated.  The military took the correct action of holding the soldier accountable for his individual actions.  Unless the soldiers are held accountable for their actions of killing innocent Iraqis, the peacekeeping force in Iraq will be regarded as enemies who are given absolute immunity for their actions.  This view would further escalate the deaths in Iraq.  Therefore, it was imperative that Sgt. Vela was not given immunity.  This precedent of reduced immunity should also be used to regulate the private actions of hired security forces, such as Blackwater USA.

For more information, please see:

AP- Army Sniper Convicted of Killing Iraqi- 10 February 2008

AFP- 10 years for US sniper who killed unarmed Iraqi– 10 February 2008

BBC- US sniper jailed for Iraqi murder- 10 February 2008

Guardian- US sniper shot unarmed man- 11 February 2008

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – HIV-positive Egyptian men are arrested, tortured and chained to hospital beds while awaiting unfair homosexuality trials, Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday. The rights group said the arrests and trials of eight men suspected of being homosexual in Egypt threaten both public health and human rights.

In October 2007, Police arrested two men having an altercation on a street in central Cairo. When one of them said he was HIV-positive, the police immediately took them to Morality Police office and began investigating them for homosexual activity. While in detention, officers handcuffed both men to metal desks and both slept on the floor for four days. The officers also slapped and beat the two men for refusing to sign statements the police wrote for them, and later subjected the two to forensic anal examinations designed to “prove” that they had engaged in homosexual conduct. The two men are currently handcuffed to their hospital beds 23 hours a day.

Police then arrested six more men suspected of being homosexuals. Two were arrested after their photographs or telephone numbers were found on the first two detainees. Another four were arrested in November when police raided the flat of one of those being held. According to the arrest report, the four were arrested solely on the basis that they were found in a dwelling formerly occupied by one of the earlier detainees. Even though the prosecution offered no evidence against the defendants, the four men were jailed for a year in January for “habitual debauchery,” which is a term used to penalize consensual homosexual acts in Egypt law.

Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program, said the arrests “embody both ignorance and injustice.” “Egypt threatens not just its international reputation but its own population if it responds to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with prison terms instead of prevention and care,” he said. Human Rights Watch urged Egypt to end arbitrary arrests based on HIV status and take steps to ensure that “the men receive highest available standard of medical care for any serious health conditions.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Egypt ‘torturing HIV sufferers’ – 6 February 2008

AFP – Egypt chaining HIV men to hospital beds: rights group – 6 February 2008

Voice of America – Rights group condemns Egyptian HIV arrests – 6 February 2008

Human Rights Watch – Stop criminalizing HIV – 5 February 2008