Egypt Police Officers Jailed in Abuse Case

By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – An Egyptian court has convicted and jailed three police officers for beating a prisoner and forcing him to parade up and down a busy street wearing women’s underclothes.

Amid increasing high-profile accusations of brutality and torture by the nation’s police officers, the court in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria convicted three officers. It convicted senior officer Maj Yosri Ahmed Issa of torture and of degradation of prisoner, and sentenced him to five years in prison. Two other lower ranking officers who followed his orders were also given one-year sentences for degrading the prisoner.

The ordeal for the victim began on April 2007. Ibrahim Abbas was working at a car park when he asked officer Issa to move his car so other cars can enter the lot. Issa considered the request as an insult and arrested Abbas. At the police station, Issa attempted to force Abbas to confess to a robbery and beat him with batons. Later, he ordered the other two officers to force Abbas to wear women’s clothing and walk on a major street.

Many rights groups say that torture is widespread and systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. They say torture can include beatings, electric shocks, and sexual assault. And because most torture cases never make it to court, rights violators often times enjoy impunity. Moreover, those who are accused of torture so far have been either acquitted or received light sentences and subsequent pardons.

In recent months, however, the ministry of Interior has increasingly investigated torture allegations. In November, three police officers were sentenced to seven years in prison for torturing a man to death. Three weeks earlier, a Cairo court sentenced two officers to three years in prison after a recorded video in which a man was sodomized with a stick was widely circulated on the Internet, including on the popular video-sharing site YouTube.

The Egyptian government denies torture is systematic. The authorities insist that they prosecute all cases where evidence of torture is provided against policemen.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Egypt nightie stunt police jailed – 7 January 2008

Associated Press – Police officer jailed 5 years – 7 January 2008

Reuters – Egypt court jails three police in abuse case – 6 January 2008

Independent Online – Egypt policemen jailed in latest abuse case – 6 January 2008

Impunity Watch – Egypt police jailed 7 years for torture death – 1 December 2007

Impunity Watch – Torture endemic in Egypt – 8 November 2007

BRIEF: Georgia Election results disputed

Mikheil Saakashvili was elected to his second term as president of the Republic of Georgia.  However, his main opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze claimed that the election was rigged and disputed the results of the vote.

Levan Gachechiladze has promised to challenge the election results through the court system.  He has threatened that he and his supporters would stage hunger strikes and massive protests.  Gachechiladze’s ally, Salome Zurabishvili stated that “the whole of Georgia will be out on the streets” by Sunday,  if the results stood with Saakashavil receiving more than 50% of the vote, which would make Saakashavil the president without having a second round vote.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Georgia confirms Saakashvili win- 9 January 2008

Guardian Unlimited- Thousands Protest Georgia Election- 6 January 2008

International Herald Tribune (AP)- President Saakashvili says Georgia is on way to democracy- 7 January 2008

The Independent- Hunger strike vow as Saakashvili is declared victor in Georgian poll- 10 January 2008

Iraq: Christians Targeted in Mosul

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MOSUL, Iraq- On Sunday, three bombs simultaneously went off targeting two Christian churches and a convent.  The three bombs went off between 11 and 11:30 am injuring four people.  The bombs were possibly coordinated to instill greater fear in Iraqi Christians and to remind them that they are not immune to the violence occurring between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki met with Monsignor Francis Assisi Chullikatt, the Vatican’s Ambassador, to reassure him that the Iraqi government is taking every step possible to ensure the safety of Christians.  “The Iraqi government is anxious to ensure the safety of Iraqi Christians,” Maliki assured the ambassador.  (AFP)

Since 2004, Iraqi Christians believed report that they have been targeted solely because of their religious affiliation.  Father Rayan Atto, a Chaldean pastor of an Erbil church, discussed the fate of his fellow Christians. “We have many, many young people — they were killed for any excuse. They were just killed because they were Christians.” (Pittsburgh Tribune- Review)

Some Christians have been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam.   Faris Mansour Hanna discussed his experience when he was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda operatives.  “They said, ‘We will release you, but we have one condition. You have to convert to Islam.’” However, since Hanna refused to convert “they beat my face and burned me with cigarettes.”  He went on to show the reporter conducting the interview his scars on his arm, hand, left cheek and forehead and significant scarring on his shoulders “from being dragged in the street, whipped and beaten with a metal pipe.”  However, his fellow kidnapped Christians were not released but were beheaded because the Christians had reportedly worked as translators for the Americans.  (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

For more information, please see:

AFP- Iraq working to ensure safety of Christians: Maliki- 8 January 2008

AP- Bomber Kills 11 at Iraqi Army Festival- 7 January 2008

BBC News- Christian sites targeted in Mosul- 7 January 2008

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review- No peace for Iraqi Christians- 23 December 2007

Peace Talks Commence in DRC

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

NORTH KIVU, Democratic Republic of Congo –  In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rebel delegates under the leadership of General Nkunda have arrived to attend peace talks between government and rebel actors. General Nkunda will not attend the nine day conference.

The fighting between rebel forces and the Congolese army has lead to the displacement of more than 800,000 civilians in the North Kivu province. More than 10,000 people live in the Buhimba refugee camp alone. People are suffering from sanitation, hygiene and health problems because they are living so close together. 

General Nkunda claims that his forces protect ethnic Tutsie in the Northern Kivu province from Hutus who drove them out of Rwanda in the 1994 genocide.

Presently, the rebels want the government to deal with Rwandan Hutu rebels, who have not been invited to attend the peace conference. All Africa.com has stated that the “Tutsi led rebels’ demands are not clearly defined.”

During the opening ceremony, more than 600 delegates from opposing parties were in attendance. Moreover, in the next few days, twenty government ministers will attend the conference. Congo’s Interior Minister Denis Kalume urged all rebels to disarm. Nevertheless, some members of President Joseph Kabila’s government in Kinshasa were reluctant to end the conflict, rejecting General Nkunda’s call for peace talks.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Rebels Attend Congo Peace Talks – 7 January 2008

VOA- Fleeing Civilians Swell Displacement Camps in Eastern DRC –   7 January 2008

All Africa – Congo-Kinshasa: Peace Conference Opens in Violence-Torn East  – 7 January 2008

Zuma Charged with Corruption

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Eastern and Southern Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – South Africa starts the New Year off to a rough patch as newly elected African National Congress (ANC) leader, Jacob Zuma, is charged with corruption. Zuma has maintained his innocence since talks began that the prosecution had enough evidence to reinstate the corruption charges, in connection with an arms deal dating about a decade ago. Zuma faces charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering, and will stand trial in August.

The fight for the ANC leadership was fierce and bitter as Zuma, who served as Deputy President under Thabo Mbeki, went head to head with his former boss, a veteran of the fight against apartheid. In the end, Zuma came out victorious beating Mbeki with more than 800 votes.

Taking into consideration Kenya’s reaction to the 27 December presidential election that has left more than 300 dead, Zuma has urged his supporters, angered by the corruption charges, to refrain from any violence. Zuma was quoted as saying, there should not be “any violence or burning of property, or anything like that… there are other ways, legal ways, with which to deal with such matters.”

The announcement that Zuma would be charged for corruption has withered the already fragile truce, between himself and Mbeki. Zuma insisted that he will only relinquish his post if he is found guilty in court. Given the ANC’s massive electoral majority and the end of Mbeki’s term in 2009, Zuma is expected to sail into the South African President seat.

However, if Zuma is ultimately convicted, Kgalema Motlanthe will take the position as the ANC’s new deputy leader, thus making him the frontrunner to succeed Thabo Mbeki as South African president in 2009. Zuma’s supporters, which include the Congress of South African Trade Unions, believe that the charges are politically motivated in a ruthless campaign by opponents designed to ruin him.

For more information please see:

BBC – South Africa Faces Turbulent 2008 – 7 January 2008

Yahoo News – South Africa’s ruling party begins meeting on Zuma’s graft charge -7 January 2008

Yahoo News – South Africa’s ANC to discuss Zuma graft case – 6 January 2008