Rights Disregarded: Prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran

March 18, 2015

Rights Disregarded: Prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran

(March 18, 2015) – Today the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) has released its newest report, “Rights Disregarded: Prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The imprisonment of successive generations of activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, and other citizens by governments both before and after the Revolution of 1978-79 have turned the country’s prisons into a central stage in Iranian political and cultural life. This report examines that stage by taking a tour of fifteen detention facilities across Iran through the eyes of inmates past and present.

In exploring previously-unreleased testimony and other accounts including letters and memoirs from current and former political prisoners, the report presents a broad-ranging investigation of prison conditions and the treatment of political prisoners in Iran’s penal system. Iran’s prisons are shown to suffer from extreme overcrowding, poor hygiene and water quality, inadequate medical facilities, violence targeting political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, and chronic abuse of prisoners by the authorities.

Rod Sanjabi, IHRDC’s Executive Director, stated, “For years, all evidence coming from inside Iran’s prison system has readily demonstrated that the reality of prison life in Iran is extremely grave,” adding, “It is apparent that the Islamic Republic has not endeavored to uphold either international instruments like the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners or its own domestic prisons regulations, both of which are habitually and indeed systematically ignored by the Prisons Organization and the Judiciary that oversees it.”

The report can be accessed here.

Mexico’s Guerrero State Continues To Be Plagued By Violence: Politicians Targeted

March 18, 2015

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Aide Nava, a 42-year-old woman running for mayor, has been kidnapped and decapitated in Northern Guerrero, a Southwestern Mexican state. This same state has been the location of numerous violent crimes and most notably the recent murders of approximately 43 student teachers, which sparked the biggest crisis of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration.

Relatives of missing students gather in Mexico City to protest violence occurring in Guerrero State. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian).

Guerrero, along with eight other Mexican states, is set to hold gubernational elections in June. Nava, a candidate from the leftist Part of the Democratic Revolution was kidnapped in the town of Ahuacuotzingo, the municipality she hoped to become mayor of in the June elections. A threatening note was left next to Nava’s body, stating that the same treatment would be given to any politician who does not “fall in line.” The note was signed by “Los Rojos,” one of the main criminal groups in Gurrero. Gurrero’s chief prosecutor Miguel Angel Godinez did not confirm local media reports that Nava has been beheaded, but said “it is a very unfortunate and important case that we have to treat with a great deal of care.”

Violence throughout the state is prevalent. Nava’s husband, Francisco Quiñónez, who served as mayor of the same town Nava sought to run for mayor in, was shot dead in June 2014, two years after the couple’s son disappeared after being kidnapped. Additionally, two weeks prior to Nava’s death Leticia Salazar, the mayor of Matamoros, suffered an armed attack on a convoy she was travelling in. Further, Juan Acosta, the mayor of the town of Choix in the state of Sinaloa, is currently hospitalized after suffering bullet wounds sustained in an attack on a vehicle he was traveling.

More than 100,000 people have died in violence linked to drug cartels in Mexico during the past eights years. There have been no significant improvements in the security of citizens. Unfortunately, it seems as though now, the people who can make a difference in controlling the violence through the enactment of reforms, are the targets of the violence.

For more information, please see the following:

THE GUARDIAN – Mexican Mayoral Candidate Reportedly Decapitated – Body Found on Dirt Road – 11 Mar. 2015.

HUFFINGTON POST – Mayoral Candidate Aide Nava Decapitated in Mexico’s Guerrero State – 11 Mar. 2015.

LATIN POST – Mexico Drug Cartel News: Mayoral Candidate Aide Nava Found Decapitated in Guerrero Along With Threatening Note Written By Gang – 12 Mar. 2015

REUTERS – Mexico Mayoral Candidate Decapitated in Northern Guerrero State – 11 Mar. 2015.

7 Days For Syria: Starting March 15th

March 17, 2015

7 Days For Syria:
Starting March 15th

Photo Credit: Shaam News Network

The wave of Arab unrest that began with the Tunisian revolution reached Syria on March 15, 2011, when residents of a small southern city took to the streets to protest the torture of students who had put up anti-government graffiti. The government responded with heavy-handed force, and demonstrations quickly spread across much of the country. As we reach the fourth anniversary of the start of the uprising, it is still not too late to push our leaders to take action to help end the conflict, to assist the millions of those displaced from their homes—and to remind the Syrian people that they are not alone.

With that in mind, starting March 15th, I am Syria will be providing “Seven Days for Syria”—a set of small but significant things you can do to help, all easy to do and only a couple of clicks away. We will end our campaign with an exclusive free viewing of the Syria Documentary, Syria: A Fire Within. A film out own Ammar Abdulhamid had a hand in making. We thank you for your support and look forward to making a difference together. The I Am Syria Team

Day 1:

Seven Days for Syria Day One: Play and Share the I Am Syria Video
with your Facebook and Social Media Networks. Doing so might hopefully engage others in the cause, encouraging them to do the same with their networks as well.

Day 2:

Sign the petition encouraging them to support the Syrian Humanitarian effort More than 200,000 people have been killed and another 11 million have been forced from their homes.

The bottom line in Syria should be a political solution. But immediate action is needed to stop attacks on civilians and address the massive humanitarian crisis.

Day 3:

Show your solidarity with the Syrian people by holding the attached “I Am Syria” image—then taking a picture of yourself with a webcam. Better yet, include your co-workers or family doing the same near a landmark inyour community. You can also paint your hand green; or, make a short video saying “I Am Syria”—uploading any or all of the above to the I Am Syria Facebook page, encouraging your friends to do the same! We are Syria!

Day 5:

Sign up for Charity Birthday and instead of receiving gifts for your birthday, donate your birthday to charity and have people donate in your name to the charities of your choice. USA for UNHCR, UNHCR, UNICEF, etc. Sign up Here

Day 4:

Make a $20.00 donation to the International Recue Committee’s (IRC’s) Fund for Syrian Refugee Relief. The suffering of Syrian civilians is alarming and overwhelming: Nine million Syrians–approaching half of the country’s pre-war population—have fled their homes, with over six and a half million people internally displaced. Of this number, three million are trapped in hard-to-reach or besieged areas, with an estimated 250,000 people cut off from assistance for over a year. Now is our time to help

Day 6:

Know a teacher who might be interested in making a difference? Tell them about Teach Syria, a 40 minute Common Core-friendly lesson that provides the background knowledge and materials to engage their students in the issue—and empowers them to take action with a Day of Silence or Walkathon for Syrian refugees.

Day 7:

We will end our campaign with an exclusive free viewing of the Syria Documentary, Syria: A Fire Within. A film I Am Syria’s President Ammar Abdulhamid had a hand in making. You can watch this powerful film which explores the Syria’s revolution from the vantage point of the seasoned activist and dissident, Ammar Abdulhamid. See the Syrian conflict from a new perspective. Please enter the Passcode: IAmSyria. We Are Syria!

Instructions;
1. Find documentary at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/20586

2) Proceed as if you are renting the film, and on the purchase page enter the IAMSYRIA passcode in order to get the discount (which makes it free).

3) Tell us what you think on Twitter and Facebook!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SyriaFireWithin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/syriafirewithin
View his art here: http://www.syriafirewithin.com/

Almost a Million Demonstrators Marched Against President Rousseff in Brazil

March 17, 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — Almost a million demonstrators marched in towns and cities across Brazil Sunday to protest the slumping economy, rising prices and corruption – and to call for the impeachment of left-wing President Dilma Rousseff.

Almost a million Brazilians protested and called for impeachment of President Rousseff on Sunday / image courtesy of CNN.com

The protests in the country come as Brazil struggles to overcome economic and political troubles and recovers from an economic boom that crumbled about the time Rousseff took office in 2011.

Rousseff, who began her second four-year term earlier this year, is unlikely to face the impeachment proceedings called for by her many opponents. However, a fifth year of economic stagnation and a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at state-run energy company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, has fueled their anger.

For a president narrowly re-elected about five months ago, the protests are a sign of a deeply polarized country whose people are increasingly unhappy with the leadership. Recently, the hard won gains of an economic boom have begun to succumb to an economic slowdown, in addition to recent water shortages.

The unexpectedly large demonstrations also promise to fuel opposition parties and restive allies, including the leaders of both houses of Congress, who are nominally part of Rousseff’s ruling coalition, but are hindering efforts to pass reforms intended to jump-start the economy.

During a press conference Sunday night, two members of Rousseff’s cabinet recognized the rights of protesters, but minimized the importance of the demonstrations, suggesting that they were expressions of discontent by those defeated at the polls.

The press conference also attempted to discredit those who suggested impeachment. Miguel Rossetto, one of Rousseff’s top aides, criticized what he called the “intolerance” of those opponents and likened their demands to coup efforts.

In a statement posted online Sunday, Aecio Neves, a centrist who was defeated by Rosseff in October, said the demonstrations marked a day when Brazilians “went to the streets to reunite with their virtues, their values and also with their dreams.”

“People feel betrayed”, said Diogo Ortiz, a 32-year-old advertising worker, who called the Petrobras scandal “a national and international disgrace.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Why are protesters furious with Brazil’s President? – 16 March 2015

Huffington Post – Massive Rallies Across Brazil In Protest Of The President – 16 March 2015

The New York Times – Brazil Leader Facing Turbulence, but Ouster Unlikely – 16 March 2015

Barron’s – Brazil: Rousseff Impeachment Unlikely, Despite Weekend Protests? – 16 March 2015

U.N. Rights Chief Warns Nations Not to Lose Focus on Guarding Human Rights

March 15, 2015

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – U.N. Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein recently spoke out against not only terrorism, but also against nations who lowered themselves to the level of the terrorists by employing tactics that violate human rights. “The fight against terror is a struggle to uphold the values of democracy and human rights, not undermine them,” Hussein said. He believes nations fighting terrorism are also restricting and violating the rights of people in the name of ‘national security.’

Hussein criticized terrorism, but also criticized the way that some nations have handled fighting it. (Photo courtesy of Mail & Guardian)

Hussein worries that employing questionable tactics in the fight against terrorism may actually be assisting terrorists. For example, ISIS has already successfully used human rights violations by the US at Guantanamo Bay as a propaganda tool to recruit more members. “Counter-terrorist operations that are non-specific, disproportionate, brutal and inadequately supervised violate the very norms that we seek to defend,” Hussein claimed. Hussein also criticized the US for its use of torture in the name of ‘national security,’ including torture sites throughout Europe.

Hussein was also quick to criticize the terrorists employing brutal tactics to begin with. While world powers may be acting in ways that fuel terrorism, “experiences of humiliation, inequality and discrimination … may drive, though they do not excuse, the urge to destroy.” Many of these violations have occurred over the past year at the hands of ISIS or affiliates of, including at least two terrorist attacks on European targets (Charlie Hebdo in Paris and a Jewish Museum in Brussels).

Also targeted by Hussein was the silencing of opposition to the Kremlin, Boris Nemtsov. First, Nemtsov was killed in Moscow, sparking international demand for an international investigation to ensure Putin is not involved and to bring the right people to jusitce. Since then, detained suspects claimed to be responsible for the killing have been showing signs of torture after being detained, with one, Rustam Yusupov, reportedly missing since detention.

It is precisely the injustices around the world in some leading nations that Hussein believes is fueling terrorism and allowing extreme human rights violations to occur. By eliminating torture, racial insensitivity and inequality, and wrongful silencing of the opposition, Hussein believes leading nations can better preserve human rights while also properly combatting terrorism.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Suspects in Nemtsov killing probably tortured – Russian rights activist – 11 March 2015

The New York Times – U.N. Rights Chief Criticizes World Powers – 5 March 2015

Mail & Guardian – UN calls on countries to ‘root out’ injustices that fuel extremism – 5 March 2015

UN News Centre – Member States must enforce human rights amid rising tide of extremism – UN rights chief – 5 March 2015