N.S.A. Bulk Data Collection Ruled Illegal

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – A US Federal Court of Appeals has ruled bulk collection of telecommunication records by the National Security Agency to be illegal. A three-judge panel in New York held Thursday the scope of the program goes beyond the authority granted by the Patriot Act, which expanded government surveillance and data collection following the September 11th Terrorist Attacks.

Photo Courtesy of BBC News
N.S.A. Headquarters in Maryland (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

Judges did not, however, address whether the bulk collection program violated the Constitution.

The 97-page ruling held that Section 215, a provision of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, cannot be legitimately interpreted to allow bulk collection of domestic calling records. The court didn’t rule on arguments raised by the American Civil Liberties Union that the program violates constitutional free-speech guarantees and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The judges also declined to issue a court order blocking the program as Congress weighs changes to surveillance laws.

Judge Gerard Lynch, writing for a unanimous panel, said allowing the government to gather data in a blanket fashion was not consistent with the statute used to carry out the program.

“The interpretation urged by the government would require a drastic expansion of the term ‘relevance,’ not only with respect to § 215,” said Lynch, “but also as that term is construed for purposes of subpoenas, and of a number of national security-related statutes, to sweep further than those statutes have ever been thought to reach.”

The House appears ready to pass a bill which would end the government’s bulk collection of phone records. The bill, known as the U.S.A. Freedom Act, would replace the authority under Section 215 with a new program that would preserve the N.S.A.’s ability to analyze links between callers to hunt for terrorists, but keep bulk records in the hands of phone companies, rather than with the N.S.A., as is currently the situation.

Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, took to the Senate floor Thursday to fiercely defend the program and criticize the USA Freedom Act.

“According to the CIA, had these authorities been in place more than a decade ago, they would have likely prevented 9/11,” McConnell said. McConnell also criticized the USA Freedom Act as a measure that will “neither keep us safe, nor protect our privacy.”

Following the leaks by former N.S.A. intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden, the N.S.A. has come under heightened scrutiny for its surveillance methods.

After the September 11th attacks, President George W. Bush authorized the N.S.A. to begin a group of surveillance and data-collection programs, without obeying statutory limits on government spying. In 2006, the administration persuaded a court judge to issue an order approving the bulk phone records component, based on the idea that Section 215 could be interpreted as authorizing bulk collection.

Section 215 is set to expire June 1st.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC US & Canada — NSA phone data collection ‘illegal’, US court rules — 7 May 2015

Bloomberg — NSA’s Bulk Collection of Telephone Data Is Ruled Illegal — 7 May 2015

New York Times — N.S.A. Collection of Bulk Call Data Is Ruled Illegal — 7 May 2015

POLITICO — Appeals court rules that NSA phone surveillance program is illegal — 7 May 2015

Washington Post — 2d Circuit holds NSA bulk data seizures unauthorized by USA Patriot Act — 7 May 2015

Brazil Pressures Venezuela’s Maduro

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

BRASILIA, Brazil

Brazil’s government is increasing the pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro has come under fire following the imprisonment of his government’s opposition because the Venezuelan government has continued to delay setting the date for Venezuela’s Parliamentary election, which should be held sometime this year.

Brazil’s President Maduro under fire for jailing political opponents. (Photo courtesy of Reuters).

President Maduro and his government’s popularity has decreased significantly since taking office two years ago, and current polls put Venezuelan opposition candidates ahead of Maduro. The opposition sees the election as a chance to capitalize on Maduro’s diminishing popularity.

Members of the opposition have expressed concern that the delay in scheduling the election is a sign that the election will not happen at all.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met with Venezuelan officials this week, urging Venezuela to call the elections “as soon as possible and [to hold them] within the legal time frame.”

In a May 5th vote, the Brazilian Senate passed a “no-confidence” vote against President Maduro and his government. Some Brazilian officials have publicly spoken out against President Maduro, especially what they have referred to as the “arbitrary detention” of Venezuelan opposition members.

The vote was passed despite opposition from the Workers’ Party, the ruling party in the Brazilian Parliament. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a member of the Workers’ Party has called on Venezuela to set the date for the Parliamentary election.

President Rousseff has faced criticism for not taking a stronger stance against Maduro, with whom her Workers’ Party keeps close ties with. Brazilian centrist PSDB opposition party leader Aecio Neves has said: “A nation that has a president who was once a political prisoner cannot keep silent when it sees a neighboring country almost 90 political prisoners.” According to the New York Times, Rousseff was held prisoner for three years starting in 1970 by the Brazilian military dictatorship.

Rousseff refused to meet with the wives of two prominent imprisoned opposition members, Mitzy Capriles and Lilian Tintori, during their visit to Brazil on the 7th. She did send a letter to the two, promising that Brazil was working “tirelessly” to find a solution. The two women met with members of the Brazilian Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee during their visit. Capriles’ and Tintori’s husbands have been imprisoned as dissidents for over 14 months.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – Leader’s Torture in the 70’s Stirs Ghosts in Brazil – 4 August 2012

PanAm Post – Brazil’s Senate Tells Maduro to Defend Human Rights – 6 May 2015

Folha De S.Paulo – Wife of Venezuelan Opposition Leader Expects Tough Stance from President Rousseff – 7 May 2015

Reuters – Brazil increases pressure on Venezuela to set election date – 7 May 2015

The Sydney Morning Herald – Brazil increases pressure on Venezuela to set election date, free political prisoners – 8 May 2015

Latin American Herald Tribune – Rousseff: Brazil is “Tirelessly” Seeking Solution to Venezuelan Crisis – 9 May 2015

 

 

 

 

VDC: The Weekly Statistical Report

Four Suspected Terrorists Arrested for Planning Attacks Against Mosques and Muslim Refugees

by Shelby Vcelka

Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe

 

BERLIN, Germany–

Four members of a right-wing extremist group have been arrested in Germany for terrorism charges and procuring explosives. The extremist group, the “Oldschool Society,” was planning to attack asylum-seeker housing, mosques, and members of Salafi, an ultra-fundamentalist branch of Islam. The German authorities conduced raids following intelligence from domestic agencies, the federal prosecutor’s office stated.

German Muslims listen to Imam during Friday prayer. Four right-wing extremists were suspected of planning attacks on mosques and immigrants in Germany. Photo from Wall Street Journal.

The four group members arrested, identified only as Andreas H., 56, Markus W., 39, Denise Vanessa G., 22, and Olaf O., 47, are said to have formed the OSS, which is a relatively new organization. The group started on Facebook, and appears to be an offshoot of the far-right National Democratic Party. Postings on the OSS’s Facebook page feature neo-Nazi symbolism, racial epithets, and references to previous attacks on refugee centers. While not much is known about the OSS’s politics besides the Facebook posts, the NDP’s ideology is similar to neo-Nazism, despite the group’s evasion of any blatant reference to Nazism.

The raids uncovered “pyrotechnic materials with large explosive force” with additional evidence of future attacks against Muslims. Lutz Bucklitsch, a journalist who specializes in right-wing extremist activities in Germany, stated his belief that the group began to plan for an attack within the last four to eight weeks. The OSS had planned to meet within the next week to plan the specifics of the attacks. Police are currently investigating whether or not those attacks were planned to target against any particular groups or individuals.

In recent years, conflicts between radical right-wing groups and Salafists and other Muslim groups have broken out into violent street fights. In 2013, German authorities said they foiled a Salafist plot to assassinate a high-ranking member of a right-wing radical group.

The xenophobic, anti-Semitic and racist shift Germany has taken is a direct result of the rising number of refugees the country has taken in. Because the country is engaged in a larger discussion about immigration, these right-wing groups have seized the opportunity for recruitment and to agitate immigrants and refugees. German authorities have been increasingly watchful of these groups, as the amount of violence against immigrants and refugees have grown profoundly in the past couple of years. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizier noted that the number of attacks against immigrants has gone up from 58 attacks in 2013, to 175 attacks in 2014. No data is available yet for 2015, but the trends demonstrate a significant rise in extremist violence, which will likely continue for this year.

 

For more information, please see:

CNN– 4 suspected right-wing extremists arrested in Germany— 06 May, 2015

WSJ– German Police Arrest Four Suspected of Planning Mosque Attacks— 06 May, 2015

The Independent– Four people arrested in Germany over planned terror attack on Muslims and asylum seekers— 06 May, 2015

ABC– Germany: 4 Arrests in Alleged Plot to Attack Islamic Targets— 06 May, 2015

Daily Beast– In Germany, the Rise of Anti-Islam Terrorism— 08 May, 2015

 

Indonesian President Frees Prisoners and Lifts Ban on Journalists

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia–

Five political prisoners in the Papua province of Indonesia were released on Saturday by Indonesian President Joko Widodo as part of an effort to improve human rights conditions in Papua. The five prisoners were convicted after a raid on an Indonesian military arms base in 2003 and were facing sentences ranging from 19 years to life.

 

President Widodo pardons the five political prisoners. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

 

President Widodo has stated that the release is meant to alleviate conflict in Papua. There has been political unrest and violence in Papua since it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963. Since then, a group of separatist insurgents, called the Free Papua Movement, has fought against the Indonesian government. There are also activist groups who have petitioned for a vote on Papuan independence.

Thousands of Papuan citizens have been killed during clashes with Indonesian police and military forces throughout the last several decades. Last December, five people were killed for protesting a young boy’s beating by Indonesian soldiers.

The prisoners’ release comes just weeks after seven foreigners and an Indonesian national convicted of drug-related offenses were executed by a firing squad in Indonesia. President Widodo ignored international calls for their release and has expressed his support of the use of the death penalty in Indonesia.

Humans Rights Watch, an international organization that researches and advocates for human rights, has pushed President Widodo to release other political prisoners. Overall, there are at least 100 political prisoners being held in Indonesia. Prison sentences are often lengthy and many political prisoners have complained of torture and other abuses at the hands of prison guards.

According to the advocacy group “Papuans Behind Bars”, there are dozens of political prisoners being held for political demonstrations and for acts such as waving the separatist flag. Such acts are viewed as treason in Papua. 26 prisoners held for treason in Papua have rejected the option of being freed under a governmental amnesty program because being released in such a way means admitting guilt for crimes that they did not commit.

President Widodo also recently lifted a ban on foreign journalists traveling to Papua in a further effort to improve human rights conditions in the region. He has stated that journalists are now free to travel to Papua. Previously, foreign journalists needed government clearance before traveling to Papua. Last year, two French journalists were imprisoned for 11 weeks for illegally using their tourist visas to work as journalists in Papua.

The restrictions on journalists were established because of the tensions created by the insurgency movement. The Papuan people saw the travel restrictions on foreign journalists as allowing the Indonesian police and military forces to continue to operate unrestrained in their abuses against Papuan citizens.

For the Papuan people, the freeing of the political prisoners and the lifted ban on foreign journalists are positive steps toward addressing human rights violations in their region.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News — Indonesia Lifts Travel Ban for Foreign Journalists to Papua — 10 May 2015

Reuters — Indonesian President Lifts Foreign Media Restrictions in Papua — 10 May 2015

BBC — Indonesia Frees Prisoners and Lifts Media Curbs in Papua — 9 May 2015

The New York Times — Indonesia President, Joko Widodo, Pardons Prisoners in Papua Province — 9 May 2015