Black Lives Matter Protests Across Britain

By Sarah Lafen

Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England —  As part of an emerging Black Lives Matter movement in Britain, black rights activists staged several protests across the country on Friday in efforts to demonstrate their opposition to racial injustices.  Black Lives Matter U.K. called for a “nationwide shutdown” to protest these injustices, which include police brutality, racial disparities in arrests, treatment of immigrants who are being held in detention, and a reported increase in hate crimes since the Brexit announcement on June 23, 2016.  Activists also brought attention to deaths that occur during stop-and-searches in Britain.

Onlookers congratulated protestors in Nottingham who lied across on the tram tracks (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

One of the demonstrations took place at Heathrow Airport, where Black Lives Matter campaigners blocked one of the major roads leading in to the airport.  Activists at the Heathrow demonstration unrolled a giant banner reading “This is a crisis” and laid down across an access road leading in to the airport.  Traffic was blocked for several hours, and the police arrested 10 people in connection with this particular demonstration.

Other cities were affected by these protests as well.  Activists in Birmingham linked themselves together to block roads leading to Birmingham airport, and activists in Nottingham laid down across train tracks so as to halt the tram network.  In Altab Ali Park, approximately 300 protestors gathered to support unbiased treatment for people of color.  Police were present at the park, which was named after Bangladeshi man who died in 1978 as a result of a racially-motivated killing.

London-based Black Lives Matter Activist Adam Elliot-Cooper explained that the reasoning behind staging one of these demonstrations at Heathrow was appropriate because many people are being killed at the borders of Britain, or alternatively are being sent back to “certain death” in their countries of origin.  Black Lives Matter protest organizer Joshua Virasami called for “black people all over the world to come together” to achieve justice in Britain and across the world.  Cara Thompson, organizer of the Nottingham protest, brought attention to the global presence of this issue, telling reporters that they “need people to listen…to what is happening to black people – not just in the USA.”

The protests were purposely staged to take place on the fifth anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year old black man shot and killed by police in London.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Black Lives Matter Movement ‘Needed in UK — 5 August 2016

CNN — Black Lives Matter UK Blocks London’s Heathrow Airport — 5 August 2016

NY Times — Black Lives Matter Activists Stage Protests Across Britain — 5 August 2016

USA Today — Black Lives Matter Protestors Block Airport Road in U.K. — 5 August 2016

IS Leader in Sinai Killed by Egyptian Airstrike

by Zachary Lucas
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian military announced that airstrikes had killed a top Islamic State (IS) leader in the Sinai peninsula. Abu Duaa al-Ansari, was the head  of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis movement that operated out of the volatile region.

Egyptian Army Picture Showing IS Targets in Sinai (Photo Courtesy of Haaretz)

The Egyptian military launched a strike against the IS affiliate following “accurate intelligence” that the head of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis was near the town of Al-Arish. The Egyptian air force then struck just south of al-Arish and killed 45 ISIS operatives along with Ansari. Egyptian military officials stated that numerous arms and ammunition were also destroyed in the strike. The IS group in the region provided no confirmation of the death of Ansari.

Egypt has been persistently fighting IS in the region following numerous attacks on its personnel. This attack comes after a promise to hunt down IS operatives following attacks that killed Egyptian security officers. The campaign is party of a larger struggle for the Egyptian government to restore stability to the volatile country.

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which translates to “Champions of the Holy House,” began operating after the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The group has led attacks against Egyptian security officials and Egyptian infrastructure, including a gas pipeline between Egypt and Jordan. There attacks became deadlier after the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. In 2014, the group pledged allegiance to IS and have since been referred to as Wilayat Sinai or Sinai Province. The IS affiliate receive support from the local tribes in Sinai that have felt neglected by past Egyptian governments.

Sinai Province previously claimed responsibility for the crash of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268. In October 2015, Sinai Province claimed to plant a bomb on the plane which blew up in flight killing 224 passengers. The terrorist attack came after Russia began a bombing campaign in Syria against rebel groups, including IS, in supporter of the Syrian regime.

For more information, please see:

CNN — ISIS leader killed in Sinai, Egypt says — 5 August 2016

Fox News — Leader of ISIS in Egypt’s Sinai killed by air force, sources confirm — 4 August 2016

Haaretz — ISIS Leader in Sinai Killed in Airstrikes, Egyptian Military Says — 4 August 2016

Huffington Post — Egypt Claims To Have Killed The Leader Of ISIS’ Sinai Affiliate — 4 August 2016

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Smokescreens in Aleppo, Talks of Possible Partitioning

WEEKLY UPDATE
August 6, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:Monday marked the passing of the deadline to resume peace talks for a political transition in Syria. The Geneva-based talks did not resume this week, nor was a cease-fire agreed to. Instead, two major players in the Syrian conflict did speak about the possibility that Syria could be partitioned before the end of the war.Just before the weekend, the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, expressed his doubts that Syria would remain one country in the future. Less than a week later, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, voiced a similar opinion, saying that sectarian fighting in the region could lead to the partitioning of Syria and Iraq.

The battle for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, continued this week. Residents of the now-besieged eastern part of Aleppo city have been burning tires in a desperate effort to prevent warplanes from targeting civilians and opposition fighters on the front lines.

But fighting in Aleppo showed no signs of stopping by the week’s end. On Friday, the leader of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, issued two audio statements announcing that they had entered the third stage of their operation to break the siege in eastern Aleppo and promising “victory” for his “people in Aleppo.”

Nearly 300,000 people have been stuck in the eastern part of the city since Syrian and Russian forces cut off the last rebel supply route out of the city, Castello Road. Airstrikes have been near-constant, and Syrian government forces and their Russian allies used aircraft to target six medical facilities in opposition-held areas of Aleppo within one week, according to the global nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

Weekly Highlights:

Aleppo’s Healthcare in Critical Condition

Amid the blame game of warring parties in Aleppo, the healthcare system in Syria’s largest city is dying a slow and excruciating death. The week ending July 23-24 was the worst for medical facilities in opposition-controlled Aleppo in the history of the conflict. In government-controlled western Aleppo, physicians are fleeing and only three hospitals remain to serve 1.5 million residents.
A Free Syrian Army fighter walks through a street in the Amariya district in Aleppo. On the wall, someone has written “We will fight until the end [God willing]. AP/ Manu Brabo

Governing the Most Dangerous City in Syria

Aleppo has long been one of Syria’s most violent battlefields, but despite the ongoing fighting and clashes for control between various warring factions, local councils in opposition-held areas of the city continue to govern.
A Syrian man rides a motorcycle passing by a damaged building that was destroyed by airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo Media Center via AP

Attack in Jordan Leaves 70,000 Syrians Trapped in Desert Without Aid

Oxfam’s Camilla Jelbart Mosse spoke to Syria Deeply on the difficulties faced by aid organizations trying to reach 70,000 Syrians trapped in the desert after a suicide attack in June led Jordan to close its border and suspend aid deliveries.
Stranded Syrians carry water bottles at the Rukban border camp near northeast Jordan, on June 25, 2016. International aid organizations say little water and no food has reached the nearly 70,000 displaced Syrian stranded in the desert after Jordan sealed its border in response to a suicide attack on June 21. AP

Additional Reading:

For new reporting and analysis every weekday, visit www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Children in eastern Aleppo burn tires as residents of the besieged city attempt to create a smokescreen to confuse government and Russian airstrikes. Khaled Khaled, Syria Civil Defense/Aleppo Media Center photographer

Executions by the Peruvian National Police

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, PERU–The newly appointed president, Pablo Kuczynski, the Attorney General and Office of the Inspector General will open an investigation following accusations that the national police force carried out extrajudicial killings of 27 people from 2011-2015. All 27 victims were Peruvian civilians from Lima, Ica, and Chiclayo. The police considered those they killed a nuisance or a common criminal. Innocent victims are alleged to be among the dead.

The National Police Force is under fire after accusations emerge of death squad. (Photo Courtesy of RPP Noticias)

Ninety-Six members of the police force, including sixteen highly ranked officials, are among those being investigated. The units within the force being investigated are: Robbery, Intelligence, anti-terrorism, and a unit similar to SWAT. They were all under the command of Enrique Prado Ravines, a highly ranked police commander. The inspector general’s office will head the commission and investigation. The minister of interior affairs, Carlos Basombrio made it clear to the nation that “the authorities are treating the case with utmost seriousness and will have zero tolerance for the police abuses.” He continued to state that it is important to protect the institution from the bad elements. The goal of the investigation is to release a report to the nation within 10 days detailing the situation.

The allegations were brought forth by members of the police force. After receiving the complaints, the inspector general’s office immediately conducted a month long investigation that confirmed the irregularities within the force. The allegations stated that commander Enrique Prado Ravines would pay lower ranked officials to carry out the killings—which his attorney denies. The claims accuse him of creating a plan to lure the victims by using local gang and criminal organizations. These organizations would kidnap the victims and the lower ranked police officers would kill the captive’s execution style. Forensic reports have revealed that all the victims were shot in a downward trajectory most common among death squads. It was stated that Enrique Prado Ravines killed the individuals because he sought personal career advancements and monetary gains.

Such death squads have not existed in Peru since the dictatorship of Fujimori—a president that carried various human rights violations and is currently serving time in prison.

For more information please see:

RPP Noticias—Un Grupo de Policías es Acusado de Ejecuciones—31 Julio 2016

El Comercio—Presunta Ejecución de Delincuentes: en 10 días Emitirán Informe—01 August 2016

El Economista—Peru investiga a un Centenary de Agentes de la Policia por Presuntas Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales—01 August 2016

Telesurtv—Peru Investigates suspected Death Squad in the Police Force—2 August 2016

German Music Festival Targeted by Suicide Bomber

By Sarah Lafen

Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany —  A 27-year old Syrian detonated an explosive backpack near the entrance to a music festival in the German town Ansbach on July 25, killing himself and injuring 15 people with injuries ranging from serious to non-life threatening.  Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann stated that the backpack explosive device contained nails and screws, a measure indicative of an attempt to inflict widespread damage onto others. The bomber was rejected entry to the festival because he did not have a ticket to the event, and was seen lingering around the outside seating area of a wine restaurant around 10pm right before the bomb was detonated.

Police inspect the area near the wine bar in Ansbach where the bomb was detonated (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The suicide bomber left behind a video on his cell phone pledging his allegiance to ISIS, and stated that the attack was revenge against Germans because they “obstruct Islam”.  Upon searching the bomber’s room after the attack, police also found bomb-making materials, as well as computer images and film clips linked to ISIS.  The bomber arrived in Germany in 2014 and applied for asylum, however found out two weeks ago that his application as denied, and he would have been deported to Bulgaria within 30 days of the denial.  Within the past two years, he had been in trouble with local authorities for drug-related offenses, and was under psychiatric observation following two previous suicide attempts.

This attack occurs in the midst of widespread criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s lenient immigration policy.  This past week alone, Germany has been the target of several violent attacks linked to ISIS, including a shooting rampage at a shopping mall in Munich and an ax attack on a train in Wurzburg.

Despite its loose immigration policy, Germany has been taking steps over the past couple of months to tighten security regarding asylum seekers in hopes of limiting the number of refugees who enter the country.  A newly proposed law would help speed up the application process for refugees, quickening the deportation process for those who are denied asylum.  Berlin has been in the process of negotiating a deal with Turkey to take back their citizens who are denied asylum in Germany.  These efforts seem to be successful, as the number of refugees arriving in Germany has fallen dramatically over the past year.

 

For more information, please see:

CNN — Ansbach Bomber in Germany Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Leader — 26 July 2016

DW — As Attacks Rattle Germany, Chancellor Merkel Finds Herself in the Spotlight — 25 July 2016

NBC — 12 Injured, Bomber Killed Outside German Music Festival — 25 July 2016

New York Times — Suicide Bomber in Ansbach, Germany, Pledged Loyalty to ISIS, Officials Say — 25 July 2016

Reuters — Bavarian Bomber Pledged Allegiance to Islamic State: Minister — 25 July 2016