By Kevin Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Five Egyptian and international human rights groups urged President Hosni Mubarak to set up an independent judicial committee to reinvestigate the December 30, 2005 police assault on Sudanese protestors that resulted 27 deaths.

The killings occurred when a force of nearly 4,000 Egyptian police and security officers attacked a makeshift camp erected by Sudanese refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants who had engaged in peaceful sit-in protest for past several months in front of the offices of the UN refugee agency. The protestors were demanding resettlement in a third country because of Egypt’s harsh living conditions and discriminations against them. According to media report at the time, police fired water canons at the crowd and beat them indiscriminately. The assault left 27 dead and dozens injured, including women and children.

Two years had gone by since the incident, yet no police officer has been charged for any crime. Initial investigation into the incident led by Dokki Prosecution Office found no evidence of police or official misconduct. Despite arresting hundreds of Sudanese refugees during the assault, investigators interviewed only one woman. Four eyewitnesses they did interview testified that the protestors themselves initiated the violence. Moreover, forensic experts claimed that serious head injuries from “stampede” led to many of the deaths rather than police “use of excessive force in assaulting them.” As a result, many of the arrested protestors were charged instead with crimes of manslaughter, unintended injury, resisting the authorities, and the deliberate destruction of property.

The five groups – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Hisham Mubarak Law Center, and the Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence – accused the Egyptian government of exercising “concerted effort to absolve the police of any wrongdoing.” Calling the public prosecutor’s total exoneration of the police lacking any semblance of credibility, the rights groups called on President Mubarak to use the second anniversary of the incident to “initiate a complete and transparent investigation of what really took place.”

For more information, please see:

Afriquenligne – Egyptian rights groups seek new probe of Sudanese refugees incident – 31 December 2007

AFP – Rights groups slam Egypt probe into Sudan refugee deaths – 30 December 2007

Human Rights Watch – New investigation needed into assault on Sudanese protestors – 29 December 2007

By Laura Zuber
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

NABLUS, West Bank – Early on January 3, hundreds of Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers entered the West Bank city of Nablus.  Then, the soldiers conducted house-by-house searches and arrested several people, including three high-ranking members of al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades.  Allegedly, the soldiers were following a lead in the deaths of two Israelis in the West Bank a week earlier.

During the arrests, local Palestinian youths demonstrated against the raid and clashed with the IDF soldiers.  The youth threw rocks, while the Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowds, which resulted in nearly 30 injuries, at least one of which is critical.  The demonstrators were expressing their discontent over the IDF raid despite Palestinian police forces already deployed in Nablus.  In addition to the raid, IDF imposed a curfew on the city.

On January 4, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad criticized the operation and claimed that it undermined the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to secure Nablus.  Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank, has been a hot-bed for militant groups.  Fayyad designed a plan to ensure security and rein in militant groups after Fatah lost control of Gaza this past summer.  The Palestinian Authority claims that the plan, which has been implemented in Nablus, Tulkarm, and Bethlehem, is working.  Fayyad stated that Israeli operations in the West Bank could negatively impact the effort to revive the peace process.

In addition, Israel launched several airs strikes against targets in Gaza.  Target included the homes of members of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas.  On January 3, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit the home of Mohammed Dadouh, a rocket-maker and a member of the Islamic Jihad, who was killed by the IDF in December 2007.  The home of Abu al-Murshed, a leader of the Islamic Jihad, was also targeted.  An IDF spokeswoman confirmed the strikes but did not comment whether any causalities occurred.

In an incursion near Khan Yunis, Israeli forces destroyed a house, killing two brothers, Ahmad and Sami Fayyad, and their sister and mother, and injuring their father, Sami’s wife and daughter.  The home was destroyed when Israeli soldiers and the brothers were engaged in a firefight and the brothers were firing from in or near the house.  The house was hit by at least tank shell.  Sami was a member of the Islamic Jihad.

These strikes were in response for what Israel calls “an escalation” in rocket attacks.  On January 3, Gaza residents fired a Katyusha rocket and it landed in northern Ashkelon, about 10 miles into Israel.  This is the deepest rocket attack from Gaza.  While the rocket did not cause any causalities or property damage, Ashkelon has a population of 120,000 people and may now be vulnerable to frequent attacks.  Members of the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the Katyusha rocket.

During a 24 hour period from January 3 to 4, Israeli operations resulted in the deaths of 11 Palestinians; including several civilians.  Israeli officials place the blame of the civilian deaths on the militants and state that militants endanger civilians when they seek refuge or engage Israeli soldiers near civilians.

For more information, please see:
The Daily Star – Israeli Forces Kill Two Hamas Men in Gaza, Wound Dozens in West Bank Raid – 5 January 2007

Al Jazeera – Israel Kills Hamas Fighters in Gaza – 4 January 2008

Associated Press – Broad Israeli Offensive Kills 11 in Gaza – 4 January 2008

BBC – Fayyad Condemns Nablus Incursion – 4 January 2008

BBC – Palestinians Killed in Gaza Raid – 4 January 2008

New York Times – Israeli Forces  Kill 9 in Gaza – 4 January 2008

Reuters – Palestinian PM Assails Israel Over West Bank Raids – 4 January 2008

Al Jazeera – Israel Bombs Gaza Homes – 3 January 2008

CNN – Israel Pounds Gaza in Response to “Escalation” – 3 January 2008

Reuters – Israeli Jets Bomb Islamic Jihad Buildings in Gaza – 3 January 2008

Yedioth – Report: 25 Palestinians Wounded in IDF Operation in Nablus – 3 January 2008

By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria- Survival Sex is the term coined by the UNCHR to describe refugees forced to enter the sex industry to support their families.  Although the idea is repulsive to most refugees many teenage women are forced to enter this type of work to help their family survive, because they are unable to find conventional jobs.

The increase in women forced into Survival Sex is directly linked to the general impoverishment of the refugee population according to UNHCR representative Laurens Jolles.  “We are more and more confronted with examples of young girls or women who have decided on their own or through their families to get involved in night clubs to supplement the family income or just to look after their children,” Jolles continued.  (Yahoo News)  The girls usually make $30 a night and $100 a night whenever they enter the private villas to render private services.  (BBC News)

Some girls are abducted and forced into the sex trade.  However, there are some situations where the Iraqi refugee women willingly join the sex industry.  First, some teenage girls have been abandoned by their families and do not have a way to support themselves.  Sometimes this happens because a girl lost her virginity or has been divorced, even if it was not her choice to engage in sex.  Also, many girls are forced into the sex industry when they are choosing to support their mothers and family, because their fathers were killed in the war.  Sometimes the girls can remain at home while engaging in the sex industry.  However, it is also common for the girls to married off into temporary marriages or sold directly to exploiters who promise to support the family through the services rendered by the girl.

It is difficult for the Syrian government to be able to address the situation because the shame of the women in the sex industry usually stops them from reporting their situation to the authorities.  Also, the women who are discovered to be engaged in the industry are only arrested by the authorities and bailed out by those who are engaged in exploiting the girls.

The dire situation has caused many Iraqi refugees to lose hope and remain in the sex industry.  For example, a girl who was kidnapped raped and forced into prostitution because her father abandoned after her cousin took away her virginity complained about her situation. “Now they will send me back to Iraq, I have no-one there and in any case I am afraid for my life. I have no hope leaving here. I have told the government I don’t want to go back. My family has abandoned me.”  (BBC News)

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Prostitution ordeal of Iraqi girls- 3 December 2007

Yahoo News (Reuters)- Iraqi refugees turn to sex trade in Syria- 30 December 2007