Syrian Lawmaker Reportedly assassinated as more Barrel Bombs dropped over Hama

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

Damascus, Syria – Syrian State-run media outlet, the Syrian Arab News Agency, (SANA) reported that gunmen allegedly opened fire on a Syrian Member of Parlmement while he was in his car outside of the city of  Hama in the west of the country on Wednesday. SANA reported that the attack killed the lawmaker and another civilian. The Lawmaker was named as Waris al-Younes was a Member of the People’s Assembly representing the central province of Hama. According to SANA a sources within the Hama Police Command told the agency that that terrorists opened fire on al-Younes’ car near Um al-Twaikiye crossroads on Tuesday midnight while he was heading from Hama city to al-Salamiya city.

SANA Reports that Member of the People’s Assembly Waris al-Younes was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car on the road between Hama and al-Salamiya.

There have been several attacks targeting Syrian lawmakers and other government officials since the start of the Syrian Civil war in 2011. In 2012, a suicide bomber killed three of top military officials in Damascus and last April the prime minister survived an attack on his convoy in Damascus, which killed six. An estimated 200,000 people of a population of nearly 25 million have been killed over the course of the ongoing civil war in Syria.

The People’s Assembly condemned the attack, SANA said. Following the attack the Assembly put out a statement saying calling for those who carried out the attack to be punished. The statement said, “We tell those who were behind this crime that your terrorism will not intimidate us, but it will increase our commitment to confront takfiri mentality along with the Syrian Arab Army,” the Syrian Arab News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The Assad Regime has been accused of carrying out collective punishment of civilian populations living in areas seen as loyal to anti-regime forces. One method of collective punishment used by the Assad Regime has been the use of Barrel Bombs, which are highly indiscriminate weapons made of explosives and shrapnel packed into large barrels, and heavy bombardments of civilian neighborhoods in many of Syria’s major cities including the city of Hama, the regime allegedly ramped up barrel bomb attacks in Hama over the past several weeks.

On Wednesday Syrian warplanes carried out raids on the countryside in area east of Hama province. Destructive and indiscriminate barrel bombs were dropped in the north, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which tracks the conflict. On the ground, pro-regime forces fought with Nusra Front and Islamist battalions in the north, the Observatory reported.

For more information please see:

Detroit Free Press – Syrian Lawmaker Killed As Kurds Fight Islamic State – 15 October 2014

Reuters – Gunmen Kill Syrian MP in Western Province: Agency– 15 October 2014

Syrian Arab News Agency (State-Run Media) – MP Waris Al-Younes and another Civilian Killed In Terrorist Attack in Hama… People’s Assembly Condemns Crime – 15 October 2014

Reuters – Assad Steps Up Bombing As West Strikes Militants in Syria – 26 September 2014

Protests Continue in Ferguson, Missouri After Another Fatal Police Shooting

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – Last weekend thousands of citizens staged protests, consisting of marches, vigils, and other demonstrations in St. Louis, Missouri. The demonstrations were sparked by a national campaign being called, Ferguson October. The campaign consists of four days of events, which started Friday afternoon outside the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office in Clayton.

Protests continue in Ferguson, Missouri (Photo Courtesy of Reuters).

The St. Louis area has seen an increasing number of protests since the fatal shooting of an African American teenager in August. A grand jury is currently reviewing the case, and the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation. Since August, three other fatal police shootings of black males have occurred in the St. Louis area of Missouri. The most recent fatality occurred on Wednesday when an off-duty officer working for security patrol shot and killed 18-year-old Vonderrrit D. Myers. The officer has alleged that the teen opened fire and only then did the officer respond by firing 17 rounds.

This months protest campaign started with a ½ mile march through downtown St. Louis. Organizations such as Hands Up Unite led the demonstration. The crowd started by gathering around a memorial where Michael Brown was fatally shot in August. The protests continued onto Saturday night when more than 30 demonstrators gathered outside the Bush Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the San Francisco Giants in the fist game of the National League Championship Series.

It was not until Sunday, 12 October 2014, that the protests turned violent. A video transmitted by a witness showed a small protest in Shaw, Missouri. The video depicted dozens of individuals sitting on the ground outside a convenience store. Police dressed in riot-gear then arrested at least 17 demonstrators after they refused to disperse from the sit-in. Some witnesses stated that the protestors were hit with pepper spray and tear gas, but these allegations have not been confirmed.

 

For more information, please see:

 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Thousands March In St. Louis To Protest Police Violence – 11 Oct. 2014.

FOX NEWS –  Thousands in St. Louis To Protest Fatal Police Shooting – 11 Oct. 2014

REUTERS – Thousands March In St. Louis To Protest Police Violence – 11 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – St. Louis Area Police Arrest At Least 17 During Weekend Of Protests – 11 Oct. 2014.

Experts Believe Hannibal Directive may have led to War Crimes in Gaza

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

JERUSALEM, Israel/Palestine – Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza during, which approximately 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis lost their lives over the course 50-days, drew commendation from members of the international community. Among the most highly criticized operations that took place during the conflict was an Israeli air and artillery bombardment carried out on August 1st that killed 150 people in a matter of hours, the events of which unfolded just as a three-day ceasefire was supposed to enter into effect. Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel inside the Gaza Strip and ambushed three Israeli solders, killing two and taking the third hostage. Hamas representatives claimed the ambush was carried out before the ceasefire was scheduled to take effect while the Israeli military claims it was carried out after. Israeli reacted to the ambush and kidnapping of an Israel solder by invoking the controversial Hannibal Directive.

Palestinians stand on what witnesses say was a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike carried out in Rafah, a city of 200,000 in southern Gaza, in this August 2, 2014 file photo. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

The Hannibal Directive is a protocol that calls on Israeli Defense Forces to rescue a captured solider, dead or alive, to ensure that Hamas cannot use the soldier as a hostage. The Israeli Army allegedly invoked the Hannibal directive as an order compelling units to do everything they can to recover an abducted comrade.

The order led to a furious assault on a confined area on the eastern edge of Rafah, the largest city in southern Gaza. The city is home to around 200,000 people. Israeli artillery and tanks bombarded four neighborhoods for several hours – at times firing a shell a minute. Fighter jets also carried out air strikes in the area. Medics in Gaza say around 200 people were wounded, the majority of whom were civilians. 150 people were killed during the bombardments making August 1st the deadliest day of the seven week conflict. Some legal experts say the use of the Hannibal Directive in this matter, which called on the Israeli military to use any means necessary, including the targeting of areas heavily inhabited by civilians, may have constituted a war crime.

The Israel Defense Forces have not clearly defined the Hannibal Directive. The Hannibal directive was first drafted in 1986 after three soldiers from the Givati Brigade were captured in Lebanon. Their saw the vehicle getting away and did not open fire on the captors. Israel has in the past paid a heavy political price for kidnapped soldiers. In 2006, Gilad Shalit was seized near Gaza and spent five years in Hamas captivity. He was released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Critics say the Hannibal directive throws international humanitarian law out of the window in the interests of preventing a hostage situation, not only are civilians in the conflict thrown in the crossfire but the directive itself also suggests that the goal of the Israeli military should be to prevent hostage situations at all costs, even concluding that it is better to have a dead soldier than a captured one.

In the weeks since August 1st, civil rights activists, international legal experts and even some Israeli military officers have raised concerns about the legality and morality of the assault. One specific reservation is whether the attack was proportionate and discriminate, specifically whether the abduction of a single soldier could have justified a heavy and relentless use of force in a heavily populated area.

A panel set up by the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission is due to start investigating potential abuses in the war by both sides in the near future, with the August 1st incident in Rafah set as one of several incidents investigators have indicated they will examine. The head of the U.N. Human Rights Commission panel investigating the Gaza war has said any evidence it gathers could be used by the International Criminal Court in a potential war crimes case against Israel. The panel’s final report is due by March next year.

For more information please see:

Al Arabiya – Egyptian foreign policy stages comeback after Gaza summit – 13 October 2014
Reuters – Did Israel’s ‘Hannibal directive’ lead to a war crime in Gaza? – 13 October 2014
BBC News – Palestinian leader accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ at UN – 26 September 2014
The Times of Israel – IDF disputes death toll after Rafah kidnap attempt – 22 September 2014

Appeals Court To Hear Claim for Secrecy Demands for Telecom Records

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – On 8 October 2014, the United States Court of Appeals addressed a lawsuit challenging the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s ability to force Internet and telecommunications firms to produce customer records without revealing the reasoning behind the governments demand.

At the hearing, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit considered the First Amendment as it relates to national security matters. A lower court in San Francisco, previously reviewed the question of whether recipients of national security letters can discuss their nature under the First Amendment. The lower court held that such gag orders by the government were unconstitutional.

The government contends that secrecy is vital to the national security of the United States, because cases dealing with such could have the potential effect of endangering an individual’s physical safety. Additionally, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Douglas Letter, stated that the FBI does not have the appropriate resources to review every case, which may have a national security interest to determine whether or not secrecy is warranted. Requiring such strict review would render the agency unable to function.

The plaintiff in the case before the 9th Circuit, claimed that the FBI’s gag order surrounding national security letters represents an “unprecedented grant of authority” and violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. Other tech companies have also filed suit against the government regarding how much information the companies can disclose about government surveillance. The companies include: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc., and Twitter Inc.

Judge Sandra Ikuta, who sat on the 9th circuit panel, states that the law may not violate the Frist Amendment right to free speech because the government only sought secrecy for information that impacts national security, it does not prohibit speech about information someone received independently.

 

 

For more information, please see the following:

BUSINESS INSIDER – U.S. Court To Hear Appeal Over Keeping U.S. Demands For Telecom Records Secret – 8 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – Update 1 – Appeals Court Wrestles With Secret U.S. Demands For Telecom Records – 8 Oct. 2014.

REUTERS – U.S. Court To Hear Appeal Over Keeping U.S. Demands For Telecom Records Secret – 8 Oct. 2014.

YAHOO NEWS – Appeals Court Wrestles With Secret U.S. Demands For Telecom Records – 8 Oct. 2014.