Bashar Al Assad Meets with French Lawmakers

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met on Wednesday with four members of the French Parliament in the first such meeting since France closed its embassy in Syria in 2012 saying that the Assad regime had lost its legitimacy. The visit was not approved by the French Parlmement and the Foreign Ministry of France said it did not support the trip. The delegation was led by Gerard Bapt of the ruling Socialist Party and included members of the lower and upper houses of parliament. While the west has essentially cut off ties with the meeting seems to counter Paris’ official opinion on the Assad regime, having cut off ties in 2012 the regime has been a supporter of the opposition in Syria. Damascus Many European diplomats are saying privately it is time for direct communication with the Assad regime after four years of the regimes violent assault on the opposition and an ongoing civil war.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad with a French delegation headed by Jean-Pierre Vial, in Damascus on February 25. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Syria’s state run news agency confirmed the meeting took place on Monday saying it focused on “challenges facing Arab and European regions, particularly with regard to terrorism.” State Media paraphrased President Assad as saying Syria “always encourages cooperation between states as the most effective way to stop the expansion of terrorism and eliminate it.” Sate media again quoted Assad saying “Coming here does not mean we back what’s happened,” he told BFM TV. “The objective is to understand Assad’s regime better, because we don’t believe we can fight Islamic State without Syria.” Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 more than 200,000 people have been killed.

The Syrian state news agency reported that the meeting focused on the “developments and challenges facing the Arab and European areas, especially those pertaining to terrorism.” Also Wednesday, Syrian judicial officials reportedly agreed to release Louay Hussein, a leading opposition figure on bail. Hussein’s political movement claimed in a statement posted on its Facebook page. Hussein still faces charges of “weakening national sentiment and weakening the morale of the nation.” Hussein is a prominent Damascus-based writer and dissident. He spent years in jail in the 1980s. He was detained in November at the Syria-Lebanon border as he was attempting to leave the county to visit his family in Europe. It was the second time he was arrested since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011.

Human rights groups say the regime has detained tens of thousands of Syrians, even children, many of whom are likely killed in custody and are never to be seen again. Last year a United Nations Panel accused the Assad Regime of committing a crime against humanity though the systematic disappearing of Syrian civilians.

For more information please see:

Al Arabiya – Our French Lawmakers Meet Assad In Syria – 25 February 2015

ABC News – Syria’s Assad Meets With 4 French Lawmakers In Damascus – 25 February 2015

The Daily Star: Lebanon – French Lawmakers Hold Talks With Assad In Syria – 25 February 2015

Reuters – Syria’s Assad Meets French Lawmakers – 25 February 2015

Syrians Struggle to Access Vital Humanitarian Aid

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – The United Nations Security Council passed a number of resolutions last year intended to broaden the reach of aid access to millions of Syrians in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The most recent Security Council resolution was unanimously approved in December and extended cross-border aid deliveries to Syrians in rebel-held areas without approval from the Assad Regime in Damascus. However, on Wednesday, Norwegian Refugee Council secretary general Jan Egeland said the resolutions “have had no impact” and the international community is “not able to do what we should be able to do” to ensure Syrians in need receive vital assistance. “We’re failing the Syrians — that’s the honest truth here,” Egeland, who served as U.N. humanitarian chief from 2003 to 2006, said adding that the “Security Council has failed in enforcing their own resolution.” According to the United Nations, The U.N. approximately 4.5 million people in Syria are in need of assistance and are in hard-to-reach areas, including approximately 200,000 who live in besieged communities where reaching aid has become nearly impossible.

Norwegian Refugee Council secretary general Jan Egeland criticized the Assad regime for preventing aid from reaching the Syrian people and called on the International Community to improve access to aid. (Photo courtesy of the Daily Star Lebanon)

After almost four years of civil war inside Syria an estimated 12.2 million Syrians inside the country are in need of assistance while another 3.8 million have fled the country and are now living as refugees in neighboring countries Aid is desperately needed by displaced Syrians living both inside the conflict zone in Syria and as refugees in neighboring countries, especially during the winter months when families are most at risk of become victims of natural disasters and bitter cold weather. Recent assessments conducted by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have found that more than half of all Syrian refugees live in sub-standard housing which become particularly challenging for refugee families during the winter months when poor shelters cannot adequately protect them from freezing rain, flooding, snow and bitter cold. This winter is the fourth year that UNHCR and its partners have provided winter assistance to Syrian refugees,

UNHCR launched massive operation in Lebanon to provide assistance to refugees during the winter months. According to the UNHCR, the planning and budgeting for the winter months, which begin in November, began months in advance to ensure that the needs of refugees could be met as best as possible despite funding and logistical changes. Providing assistance to refugees is not only a problem for aid organizations like UNHCR. Receiving states who have allowed refugees to cross their border from Syria since the conflict began in 2011 have seen increasing restrains as the refugee population grows and the protracted civil war continues seemingly indifferently. According to the UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley, “Lebanon today faces an unprecedented challenge to manage both its own population and Syrian refugees. It has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world and more global support, including for long-term development, is urgently needed.”

For more information please see:

ABC News – Aid Group Chief: UN Efforts Haven’t Boosted Syria Aid Access – 25 February 2015

The Daily Star, Lebanon – Aid Group Chief: UN Efforts Haven’t Boosted Syria Aid Access – 25 February 2015

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – Humanity, Hope and Thoughts of Home: Syrian Refugees in Southern Lebanon – 25 February 2015

United Nations News Centre – Security Council Renews Cross-Border Aid Delivery to Syria – 17 December 2014

US Jury Finds Palestinian Authority Liable for Terror Attacks in Israel that Killed U.S Citizens

By Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

 

New York, United States of America

10 American families were awarded $218.5 million by a jury in federal court in Manhattan. The 10 American families brought suit against the Palestinian Authority who, with the cooperation of the Palestinian Liberation Front, was alleged to have backed a series of terror attacks in Israel in the early 2000s that killed 33 U.S citizens and injured others.

Israeli police search the scene of a Jerusalem suicide bombing in 2002. (Photo curtesy of Reuters)

The verdict is a severe blow to the cause of the Palestinian Authority, which is seeking legitimacy for their cause as well as international support. The lawyer for the American families believes that the damages will be tripled under the U.S Anti-Terrorism Act totaling at $655.5 million. The act allows for victims of U.S – designated foreign terror groups to seek compensation for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and other hardships.

The trial involved the testimony of relatives of victims who were killed as well as survivors of the attacks. In addition to graphic testimony the plaintiffs relied on records showing that the Palestinian Authority continued to pay the salaries of employees who were arrested and jailed in terror cases as well as paid benefits to suicide bombers and gunman who died while committing the attacks in question.

The defense argued that there was no proof that the Palestinian Authority sanctioned the attacks, saying that what the attacks did, they did for their own reasons and not on the behalf of the Palestinian Authority. In defense of the records showing benefit payments, the defense argued that it is illogical for payments after the attacks to be looked at as motivating the attacks in the first place.

Last year a jury in a federal court in Brooklyn found Arab Bank liable for Hamas suicide bombings that killed American citizens, based solely on the claim that the bank knowingly did business with the terror organization. The damages portions of the Brooklyn case are set to begin in May.

The Palestinian Authority claims it will appeal the verdict, calling it a disservice to Palestine and the international community who are working toward a solution to the conflict with Israel. Questions have also been raised about whether the judgment will be paid, in at least two previous cases for more then $100 the parties settled out of court confidentially. The plaintiffs lawyers claim that if they refuse to pay then their assets can be seized in both the U.S and abroad.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press News — US Jury Finds Palestinian Groups Liable for Terror Attacks — 23 February 2015

The New York Times — Palestinian Groups Are Found Liable at Manhattan Terror Trial — 24 February 2015

Newsweek — U.S. Jury Finds Palestinian Organizations Liable in Terrorism Case — 23 February 2015

Reuters — U.S Jury Orders Palestinian Groups to Pay Attack Victims $218.5 Million — 23 February 2015

São Paulo Runs Dry as Country’s Worst Drought Continues

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — How does the world’s biggest water supply in the seventh biggest economy run out of water?  When that country has its worst dry stretch since the 1930s.

The Atibainha reservoir / Photo courtesy of The Seattle Times

Brazil is sometimes called the “Saudi Arabia of water,” water is so abundant in the area that it’s likened to living above a sea of oil.  However, the taps are starting to run dry.  The problem has been worsened by polluted rivers, deforestation and population growth, the largest reservoir system serving São Paulo is near depletion.

Currently, many residents are enduring sporadic water cutoffs, some going days without it.  Officials have said that water service provided two days a week, drastic rationing, may be needed.

Though the views are grimmer behind closed doors.  In a meeting recorded secretly and leaked to the local news media, Paulo Massato, a senior official at São Paulo’s water utility, said that residents might have to be warned to flee because “there’s not enough water, there won’t be water to bathe, to clean the home.”

Marússia Whately, a water specialist at Instituto Socioambiental, a Brazilian environmental group, said, “We’re witnessing an unprecedented water crisis in one of the world’s great industrial cities.”  She added, “Because of environmental degradation and political cowardice, millions of people in São Paulo are now wondering when the water will run out.”

Some have already had no running water for days.

“Imagine going three days without any water and trying to run a business in a basic sanitary way,” said Maria da Fátima Ribeiro, 51, who owns a bar in Parque Alexandra, a gritty neighborhood on the edge of São Paulo’s metropolitan area. “This is Brazil, where human beings are treated worse than dogs by our own politicians.”

Residents are taking matters into their own hands by drilling wells around homes and apartment buildings.  Others have implemented water conservation methods of hoarding water in buckets to wash clothes or flush toilets.  Public schools are prohibiting students from using water to brush their teeth, and serving sandwiches instead of meals on plates that need to be washed.

The worse forecasts say that São Paulo’s main reservoir system could run dry in 2015.

For more information, please see:

The Telegraph – Taps run dry in Brazil’s biggest city as drought bites – 23 Feb. 2015

The Seattle Times – Severe drought pushes Brazil’s largest city toward water crisis – 21 Feb. 2015

The Independent – Brazil water shortage: Sao Paulo devastated by its worst drought on record – 23 Feb. 2015

Independent.IE – Has Brazil’s largest city just run out of water? – 23 Feb. 2015

Magnitsky Amendment to Serious Crime Bill Introduced in the British Parliament

23 February 2015 – Dominic Raab MP and a group of 22 members of the British parliament from across all parties have submitted an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill, entitled the ‘Magnitsky Amendment’. Co-sponsors of the Magnitsky amendment include no less than seven current Committee Chairs including Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP (Home Affairs Committee), Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP (Public Accounts Committee) and Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP (Intelligence & Security Committee).

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/20142015/0160/amend/seriouscrimeaddednames.pdf

The Magnitsky Amendment will require the government to publish the names of foreign citizens who are not allowed to enter the UK due to their involvement in money laundering, serious organized crime, torture and gross human rights abuses.

The Magnitsky Amendment aims to ensure greater transparency concerning individuals who have been denied entry to the United Kingdom. It builds on the recommendation adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament in its report reviewing the government’s human rights policies, which urged the publication of names of individuals banned from entering the UK due to their involvement in the Magnitsky case.

(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmfaff/116/116.pdf ).

The Magnitsky Amendment is also aimed to harmonize British legislation with the U.S. Magnitsky Act of 2012, which requires the US Government to publish a list of persons banned from entry to the United States because of involvement in corruption, including the corrupt criminal conspiracy uncovered by late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, responsible for Magnitsky’s torture and death in Russian custody, and other gross human rights abuses. At the moment, the US government has named 32 individuals banned from entering the United States under the U.S. Magnitsky Act.

Explaining the Magnitsky Amendment, Esher & Walton MP Dominic Raab said:

“The British public doesn’t want the henchmen of murderers and torturers, or their bagmen, slipping through UK border controls, buying up luxury apartments in Kensington, sending their kids to public school here and generally enjoying the high life. Parliament has a chance to make sure people know who is being banned from entering Britain, ensure basic moral principle trumps expediency, and send a message that we’re an open and tolerant country – but not for those with blood on their hands or dirty money in their pockets.”

Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP, said: “This amendment would put paid to those whose serious criminal acts abroad do not prevent them from visiting the United Kingdom. It is intolerable that people whose behaviour falls so far short of a proper respect for the sanctity of life and democratic principles should be able to visit Great Britain without hindrance.”

William Browder, leader of the Magnitsky justice campaign and author of the best-selling book, ‘Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s Number One Enemy’ said, “At the moment we can’t prosecute the people who killed Sergei Magnitsky and commit other abuses in Russia because Putin protects them, but Britain shouldn’t let these people into the UK and the government should make it publicly known that they are not welcome here.”

The full list of co-sponsors of the amendment:

Dominic Raab MP
Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chairman, Home Affairs Committee

Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, Chair, Intelligence & Security Committee
Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair, Public Accounts Committee
John Wittingdale MP, Chair, Culture, Media & Sport
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP, Chair, Health Committee
Charles Walker MP, Chair, Procedure Committee
David Davies MP, Chair, Welsh Affairs Committee

Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP
Sir Edward Garnier QC MP
RT Hon Norman Baker MP
Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP
Tessa Munt MP
Steve Barclay MP
Sir Peter Bottomley MP
Andrew Rosindell MP
Tim Loughton MP
Nick de Bois MP
Zac Goldsmith MP
Dr Julian Lewis MP
Dr Phillip Lee MP
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP

Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer for the Hermitage Fund, the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. In 2008, he uncovered how a group of Russian officials and criminals stole three investment companies from his client and $230 million they had paid in taxes to the Russian government. Russian officials exposed by Sergei Magnitsky had him arrested on false charges. He was kept in detention for 358 days and killed on 16 November 2009. Russian officials involved in his case were promoted and given state honours in Russia. In the United States, they have been sanctioned under the United States Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which denies them U.S. visa and blocks their assets in U.S. financial institutions.

The struggle for justice in Magnitsky case is described in the thriller by Bill Browder, Red Notice, which has reached No 8 on New York Times best-seller list in the first two weeks since its launch and No 9 on the Sunday Times best seller list in the UK.