John Legend’s Bahrain Concert Highlights World’s Silence and Indifference towards Bahraini Regime

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

MANAMA, Bahrain – As the world’s attention focuses on the threats associated with the spread of extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant the world has remained silent as human rights abuses continue in the small Gulf State regime of Bahrain. Bahraini rights activists expressed concern on Friday that John Legend, an American singer known for his outspoken advocacy of civil rights and in the United States, plans to perform in Bahrain next week, despite the country’s continued brutal crackdown on dissent and civilian protests. Legend is scheduled to perform at Bahrain’s state sponsored Spring of Culture festival.

Bahraini youths peacefully demonstrate in front of armed police in Manama in 2010. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)

Bahraini human rights activities have labeled John Legend, the Academy award winning recording artist behind Selma’s hit song “glory,” a hypocrite for eloquently writing about the American Civil Rights movement and, to their minds, failing to show empathy for the Bahrain human rights movement by going forward with a big ticket performance for Bahrain’s rich and powerful. Legend responded with a statement saying that he was aware of “documented human rights abuses by the government of Bahrain,” but preferred to “engage with the people of the country” by visiting there.

When accepting the Academy Award for best original song in a motion picture Legend told viewers of the telecast, “We say that ‘Selma is now’ because the struggle for justice is right now.” He added, “Live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want to tell you that we are with you.” Bahraini activists have argued that Legends decision not to cancel the Bahraini show demonstrates a level of hypocrisy and indifference towards the struggle for human rights in Bahrain.

Robert Mackey of the New York Times noted the Irony in the Selma song writer’s actions writing; “three years before the American protesters mentioned in the song “Glory” confronted police officers in Ferguson, Mo., with the chant, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” demonstrators in Bahrain were gunned down by the security forces as they marched with raised hands, repeating the Arabic word for “peaceful” — “selmiya” — again and again.

The Bahraini regime has a long history of human rights abuses and crackdowns on public assent. The fourth anniversary of the Bahraini uprising was marked on 14 February with clashes between protesters and police, as the Bahraini regime resisted reform. Shortly after Hussain Jawad prominent, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist was arrested by plain-clothes police and his home of was raided by 20 masked police officers. His family expressed concerns that he may be tortured while in custody.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – John Legend Rejects Calls to Cancel Bahrain Show over Rights Abuses – 2 March 2015

Press TV – International Silence Emboldens Bahrain Regime: Nabeel Rajab – 1 March 2015

Middle East Eye – Bahraini Human Rights Activist Detained, Family Claim Risk of Torture – 16 February 2015

The Guardian – We Are Human Rights Defenders, But Bahrain Says We’re Terrorists – 9 February 2015

U.S. Immigrants May Be Deported For Bosnian War Crimes

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – United States officials are seeking to deport hundreds of Bosnian immigrants, whom are believed to have been invovled in war crimes during the 1992-95 war. The Bosnian War killed more than 100,000 people and displaced two million others after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Officials have identified an estimated 300 immigrants suspected of having concealed wartime atrocities when they came to the United States. During the wave of Bosnian immigrants to the United States, more than 120,000 Bosnians sought US visas. During this time, little effort was made on behalf of the United Sattes government to check the backgrounds of these immigrants.

US immigrants suspected of war crimes during Bosnian War (Photo Courtesy of BBC).

In 2008, the United States immigration agency set up a war crimes section, which has investigated immigrants from former conflcit zones, including: Ethopia, Rawnda, El Salvador, Guatemala and other global hot spots. However, no conflict has gained as much detention as the Bosnian war.

Now, investigators are giving much attention to those who arrived in the United States following the Bosnian War. Michael McQueen, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement historian, told the New York Times, “the more we dig. The more documents we find,” “the idea that the people who did all this damage in Bosnia should have a free pass and a new shot at life is just obscene to me.” U.S. officials are making an effort to identify suspects, urging witnesses to come forward with any information pertinent to the war crimes. However investigations have proven to be complicated, due to a lack of available expenses necessary for fees such as travel and translation.

Federal officials have built cases against immigrants from New York to Oregon. Suspects include: a metal worker in Ohio, four casino staff in Las Vegas, and a woman located in Kentucky who had been a guard at a military detention center in Bosnia. The woman, Azra Basic, has been jailed and faces extradition on charges that she tortured detainees, allegedly forcing them to drink gasoline and human blood.

Kathleen O’Conner, a human rights prosecutor at the Department of Justice, has stated, “justice can be served in the United States despite the fact that many yeas have gone by and that the conduct occurred overseas, far away.”

 

For more information, please see the following:

BBC – US Moves to Deport 150 Bosnians Over War Crimes – 1 Mar. 2015.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES –US Immigrants Suspected of Bosnian War Crimes Could Be Deported – 28 Feb 2015.

NEW YORK TIMES – U.S. Seeks to Deport Bosnians Over War Crimes – 28 Feb. 2015.

REUTERS – U.S. Moving to Deport Bosnians Over War Crimes: NYT – 28 Feb. 2015

Fragile Truce Tested in Ukraine

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

KIEV, Ukraine – The ceasefire between pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian military, brokered by France and Germany, is broadly holding at the front line in eastern Ukraine, but the events of the last several days have put new strained on the fragile truce. Pro-Russian fighters in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk are reportedly training for another round of clashes against Ukraine’s government troops. Under the watch of rebel commanders, fighters have fired automatic assault rifles, grenade launchers and even an anti-tank missile at targets propped against refuse discarded by a local mine on Sunday. The training operations came just a day after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a Putin critic and opponent of the war in Ukraine, who was gunned down in Moscow on Saturday night. Nemtsov was reportedly planning to publish evidence of Russia’s presence in eastern Ukraine.

Volunteers of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People”s Republican guard fire their weapons during training in Donetsk on Sunday March 1, 2015.

“We don’t want this war”, said Yegor, a commander of the rebels, who claim to be serving the new Republican Guard created by the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zacharchenko. “But when we see what’s happening on the other (Ukrainian) side we’re preparing for the worst.”

On Monday the Ukrainian military reported that one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and four more wounded in separatist eastern territories in the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian government reported a sharp drop in attacks from pro-Russian separatists over weekend but warned that rebels may be using the ceasefire as a means of repositioning for future combat. Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko also claimed that pro-Russian rebels continue to receive a “significant” amount of military equipment from neighboring Russia, a claim continually denied by the Putin regime.  “The enemy is moving heavy weapons and military equipment, primarily in the area of Mariupol,” Lysenko said in a televised briefing. “If the situation doesn’t worsen, then the Ukrainian side will continue to pull back weapons. For now the process of withdrawal is ongoing,” Lysenko said.

The United Nations announced on Monday that a sharp escalation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine from mid­-January to mid-February led to the death of at least 842 people and left more than 3,400 people wounded, with hundreds missing and many buried without their deaths being recorded. Ivan Simonovic, the United Nations assistant secretary general, reported that in total more than 6,000 people had been killed since the conflict began last April. “Credible reports indicate a continuing influx of heavy and sophisticated weaponry to armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as foreign fighters, including from the Russian Federation,” the United Nations Said.

For More Information Please See:

The New York Times – Fighting In Ukraine Has Killed Over 840 since Mid-January, U.N. Says – 2 March 2015

Reuters UK – Pro-Russian Rebels Train For More Fighting Despite Ukraine Truce – 2 March 2015

Reuters – Ukraine’s Military Says One Ukrainian Serviceman Killed In Past 24 Hours – 2 March 2015

Forbes – Nemtsov and the Crisis in Ukraine – 1 March 2015

Assassination of Putin Critic Draws World’s Attention

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – As multiple theories continue to float up about the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin wrote a letter to Nemtsov’s Mother promising to find and bring to justice the murderer. Theories currently range anywhere from Putin ordering the assassination of Nemtsov, a strong opponent of Putin’s, to rumors that perhaps an ally of Nemtsov killed him to make him a martyr. Internationally, reactions have been skeptical that Putin is entirely clean from involvement.

A crowd gathers at the site of Nemtsov’s death to create a memorial. (Photo courtesy of The New York Times)

Vladimir Milov, a former deputy minister of energy and co-author of pamphlets created by Nemtsov, believes that Putin was behind the murder “to revive a culture of fear in Moscow.” The Kremlin disagrees, however, stating that they have “half a dozen” leads, and that perhaps Islamic extremists are responsible for the killing.

French president Francois Hollande, British prime minister David Cameron, and European Union foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini all spoke out today to voice disapproval of the killing and demanding a transparent investigation into the murder. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the killing “cowardly,” and Obama asked the Russian government to be “prompt, impartial and transparent” in investigating the murder. Finally, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko commented on the impact Nemtsov had, calling him a “bridge between Ukraine and Russia.”

Other Russian opposition has been fairly outspoken, stating that the killing is clearly a politically motivated move by an increasingly militaristic state, particularly in regards to how Russia has handled the situation in Ukraine. Given that Nemtsov blogged two weeks ago in an interview that he was worried Putin would kill him, and that Putin has subsequently ordered the investigation into Nemtsov’s murder be taken over by Putin’s men rather than the police, many are skeptical that the Kremlin has had no part in the what is being called a “contract killing”.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Fear Envelops Russia After Killing of Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov – 28 February 2015

ABC (Australia) – Boris Nemtsov assassination: Russian president Vladimir Putin vows to bring those responsible for ‘vile’ murder to justice – 28 February 2015

BBC – Reaction to death of Boris Nemtsov – 28 February 2015

USA Today – Anti-Putin leader Boris Nemtsov fatally shot in Moscow – 27 February 2015

Report States Chicago Police Detain American Citizens Illegally

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – A recent report has found that the Chicago police department has been operating an off-the-books interrogation compound. The facility was described as a warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square. The facility has been described as the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

The Homon Square Warehouse is allegedly used by the Chicago Police to illegally detain American Citizens. (Photo Courtesy of NY Daily News)

The warehouse is said to contain interrogation cells, and a cage. Police at the site reportedly carry heavy military gear and according to the Guardian, police practices at Homan Square include: keeping detainees out of the official booking databases, beatings by police, shackling for prolonged periods, and denying attorney’s access. Additionally, it has been reported that armored tanks are parked outside the facility.

Individuals taken to Homan Square are not booked, and thus do not have a searchable record indicating where they are located. Therefore, lawyers and relatives are unable to gain access to the detainee. Additionally, lawyers who have attempted to gain access to the warehouse have been turned away. Many local attorneys have states that the operations taking place at the Homon Square location deny the detainees basic constitutional rights. Two attorneys who were admitted access inside Homon Square told the Guardian that the police working at the Homon Square location purposefully withheld information to the individuals housed there regarding there whereabouts.

Brian Jacob Church, who was arrested at a protest in 2012, was detained at the Homan Square location for 17 hours in handcuffs and ankle restrains. He told the Guardian that he was not sure if he would ever be released, stating “Essentially, I wasn’t allowed to make any contact with anybody.” Church also states that while he was being interrogated, he was not read his Miranda rights and was not permitted to call his lawyer for hours after his original arrest.

Homon Square is concerned with more than just terrorism. It is said to focus on poor black American citizens. There is also alleged to be several special units, which operate exclusively to investigate drugs and gangs.

 

For more information, please see the following:

ALJAZEERA – Chicago Police Slammed For Hidden Interrogations – 25 Feb. 2015.

BUSINESS INSIDER – Chicago Police Are Detaining Americans At An Abuse-Laden ‘Black Site’ – 24 Fe. 2015.

THE GUARDIAN – The Disappeared: Chicago Police Detain Americans At Abuse-Laden ‘Black Site’ – 24 Fe. 2015.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS – Chicago Police Detain Americans in ‘Black Site’ – 25 Feb. 2015.