Supreme Court Approves Maduro’s State of Emergency

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of economic emergency on January 14th. The declaration would give him oversight of the national budget, public and private production and the distribution of essential goods. The Opposition controlled National Assembly attempted to block the move on January 22nd, rejecting the declaration and arguing in favor of structural reform.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice (Photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

The Supreme Court of Justice, the highest court in Venezuela voted in affirmation of Maduro’s declaration, as many had expected it would. The court is known to “blindly” support the government.

The court was able to overrule the National Assembly because the Assembly did not call a special session to review the decree within 48 or make a declaration within eight days. Waiting, according to the court, “violated the legal process, juridic security and due process consecrated in article 49 of the Constitution.”   The court’s ruling called the measures outlined by the decree “proportional, pertinent, useful and necessary.”

The move has prompted reiteration of calls by members of the National Assembly for Maduro’s ouster. National Assembly president Henry Ramos Allup described the Maduro-led government as “terminal.” Allup has called for “peaceful and constitutional” change.

Dropping oil prices has contributed to Venezuela’s recession, increasing inflation (the highest triple digit inflation in the world, according to Bloomberg) and the shortage of basic goods. Reportedly over 70 percent of grocery stores lack basic staples, like cooking oil and toilet paper. Most store shelves are empty.

Maduro’s emergency decree will allow him to assign more resources to public services, create a streamlined process for imports and “oblige individuals” to contribute to the transportation, storage and distribution needs related to increasing production.

 

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg Business – Venezuela Supreme Court Upholds Maduro’s Emergency Decree – 11 February 2016 

Agence France-Presse – Venezuela opposition calls talks on ousting president – 13 February 2016 

Buenos Aires Herald – Top court Oks Maduro emergency decree – 13 February 2016

Global Research – Coup Threatened in Venezuela Amidst Deepening Economic Crisis – 15 Feb. 2016

PanAm Post – Open Letter to Venezuelan President Maduro: Please Resign – 15 February 2016 

Venezuela Analysis – Economic Emergency in Effect in Venezuela, as Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Executive – 15 February 2016

Human Rights Watch: Iranian Women Still Banned from Watching Volleyball

Yesterday marked the beginning of the first ever beach volleyball tournament hosted in Iran. Despite repeated promises from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) that the ban on women attending matches would not be upheld – women were DENIED entry at the gates and intimidated by local officials.

 

A group of Iranian women traveled far, at great personal expense, all on the assurance from the FIVB that they would finally put an end to this blatant discrimination. However, when they tried to enter the stadium they were turned away by security.
  
The FIVB made a statement, saying that there was a “slight misunderstanding” with security personnel but that this has been “resolved”.

 

Excuse our pessimism, but we’re growing tired of these empty promises.  Unless this discriminatory ban is overturned, Iranian women who want to attend matches will continue to face great risks.  
 
We have TWO more days left in the tournament, TWO more days to pressure the FIVB to let the women of Iran watch volleyball.
 
Help us achieve this by sharing our call to #Watch4Women on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Tweet the FIVB now!

 

Paste the message below on the FIVB’s Facebook page
Shame on you FIVB for failing the women of Iran, yet again. Let women attend the Kish Open in Iran. #Watch4Women bit.ly/1O3Mh6B

 

Stand with Human Rights Watch and the women of Iran. Visit http://www.hrw.org/watch4women to find out how you can pressure the FIVB to ban Iran from hosting until they stop banning women.

 

With much gratitude,

 

Minky Worden,
Director, Global Initiatives, Communications
Human Rights Watch

Apple Opposes Court Order to Unlock San Bernardino Shooter’s Phone

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

SAN FRANCISCO, California, United States of America — Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said his company will resist a federal judge’s order to obtain encrypted data hidden on a cellphone that belonged to Syed Rizwan Farook, who killed 14 people in San Bernardino last year. A California judge ordered on Tuesday that Apple help the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) crack the security code to the phone, so that law enforcement officials can continue their investigation into that horrific attack.

Student Identification for Syed Rizwan Farook, Found at his Home on December 4th, 2015. (Photo Courtesy of US News & World Report)

In a statement released Wednesday, Cook said that an act such as this would undermine encryption by creating a backdoor that could potentially be used on other future devices.

The act sets up a legal showdown between Apple, which said it was eager to protect the privacy of its customers, and the FBI, who say that new encryption technologies hamper their ability to prevent and solve crime. In his statement, Cook called the court order a dangerous and unprecedented step by the federal government.

Cook said the FBI is essentially asking Apple to build a new operating system that could be installed on an iPhone recovered from an investigation. Such software does not exist today, but Cook said that if it did, there would not be a way to guarantee that the software would only be used for investigations.

“The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by ‘brute force’ trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer,” Cook wrote in his statement Wednesday.

The federal government’s request was made under the All Writs Act, a law which dates back to 1789, which allows the government to use its authority to issue orders that are not covered by a statute.

The tech industry and the government have long been at odds over how much access law enforcement and national security agencies should be given to private phone data. Although the tech industry says it wants to help, it’s reluctant to give away private information and data to government agencies, arguing that doing so fosters user distrust and raises the risk of hacker attacks.

Since September 2014, data on the latest Apple devices – such as text messages and photographs – have been encrypted by default. If a device is locked, the user’s passcode is required to access the data.

According to information obtained through the investigation by law enforcement officials, the phone stopped sending backup information to the iCloud server on Oct. 19, 2015. Furthermore, in its brief before the courts, the FBI stated it believed that Farook may have disabled the backup information function in order to hide evidence.

Any communications or data linked to the shooting after Oct. 19 would be accessible only through the device, according to the motion.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Encryption Backdoor for San Bernardino Attacker iPhone Would Create Slippery Slope, Apple Argues – 17 February 2016

BBC News – Apple rejects order to unlock gunman’s phone – 17 February 2016

LA Times – Apple opposes order to help FBI unlock phone belonging to San Bernardino shooter – 17 February 2016

NY Times – Apple Fights Order to Unlock San Bernardino Gunman’s iPhone – 17 February 2016

TIME – Apple Leans on 227-Year-Old Law in Encryption Fight – 17 February 2016

US News and World Report – Apple to FBI: We Won’t Hack Encrypted iPhone of San Bernardino Shooter – 17 February 2016

Wired – Tim Cook Says Apple Will Fight Court Order to Unlock iPhone – 17 February 2016