Navy Medical Officer Refuses to Force-Feed Guantánamo Bay Detainees

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – A Navy medical officer at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba has refused an order from the Pentagon to continue force-feeding hunger-striking prisoners. This is the first known instance of a U.S. service member defying the Pentagon’s force-feeding policy.

A Military Doctor at Guantánamo Bay holds a feeding tube used to force-feed detainees on a hunger strike (Photo Courtesy of CNN).

The Pentagon calls its Guantánamo Bay tube feeding policy humane and designed to prevent prisoners from starving to death. The military refers to the controversial process as “eternal feeding.” The force-feeding practice is designed to provide prisoners with liquid nutrition and medicine via a tube inserted in the nose and directly into the stomach. Defense attorneys say that their clients consider the practices torture.

An unknown number of the 149 total detainees at Guantánamo Bay’s Camp Delta have been on a hunger strike for the past year and a half. The purpose of the strike is to protest their indefinite detention.

News of the Navy medical officer’s refusal comes to the public by way of an attorney for one of the prisoners. Abu Wa’el Dhiab, whom is part of a group of detainees participating in the hunger strike, has been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay since August 2002. Dhiab has been cleared for release since 2009, but U.S officials said that they were reluctant to send him back to Syria because of the ongoing civil war in the country.

A Pentagon official confirmed the statements made by the defense attorney, stating, “There was a recent instance of a medical provider not willing to carry-out the eternal feeding of a detainee. The matter is in the hands of the individual’s leadership. The service member has been temporarily assigned to alternate duties with no impact to medical support operations.”

The identity of the Navy medical officer is currently unknown, but the defense attorney for Dhiab has said that his client described the nurse as a “40-year-old Latino who turned up on the cellblocks in April or May, with the rank of a ‘captain’.”

The medical officer’s refusal came one year after civilian doctors writing for the New England Journal of Medicine declared that medical professionals taking part in force-feeding was unethical. The civilian doctors urged the Guantánamo medical staff to refuse to participate in the pentagon’s designed practices.

Medical staff is allowed to refuse to participate in the eternal feeding of prisoners by invoking medical ethics. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Zenakis, a psychiatrist who visits the Guantánamo Bay facilities frequently, says that based on his talks with Pentagon policymakers, the medical officer should suffer no consequence for having refused.

 

For more information, please see the following:

CNN – U.S. Navy Nurse Won’t Force-Feed Guantanamo Detainees – 19 July 2014.

FOX NEWS –  Navy Nurse Reportedly Refuses to Force-Feed Guantanamo Prisoners– 19 July 2014.

MIAMI HERALD – Navy Nurse Refuses to Force-Feed Guantánamo Captive – 19 July 2014.

TIME – Navy Nurse Refuses Gitmo Force Feed Order – 19 July 2014.

Terror in the Skies Above the Ukraine

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor 

KIEV, Ukraine – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, a civilian airliner, was shot out of the skies above the Ukraine on Thursday as the plane was flying over the disputed regions of eastern Ukraine. The airliner, a Boeing 777, is believed to have been shot down by a surface-to-air Missile, U.S. officials say. 298 lives were lost in the attack. World leaders have called on the Ukraine and Russia to allow an international investigation into the attack. The United Nations Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member, was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Friday to discuss attack. The United Nations Security Council called for “full, thorough and independent international investigation” into downing of Malaysian plane above Ukraine.

Pro-Russia rebels stand guard at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. the Airliner was shot out of the sky above in Eastern Ukraine on Friday killing the plane’s 298 passengers. (Photo courtesy of CNN International)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addressed the nation early Friday, placing blame for the horrific attack on pro-Russian separatists whom he suggested are acting as the puppets of Russian leaders. Charges that the Russian federation and pro-Russian separatists both denied. “War has gone beyond the territory of Ukraine,” Poroshenko said. “Consequences of this war have already reached the whole world.”

Pro-Russian separatists fighting have agreed to allow access to the crash site to investigators international monitors in the region said. However, the Ukrainian government said the rebels were still keeping all but local emergency workers away from the site.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called for swift, international justice. “This is a crime against humanity. All red lines have been already crossed. This is the deadline,” he said. “We ask our international partners to call an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting and to [do] everything we can to stop this war: a war against Ukraine, a war against Europe, and after these terrorists shot down a Malaysian aircraft, this is the war against the world.”

A pro-Russian rebel leader had reportedly briefly claimed restorability via Twitter for shooting down a jet he claimed was a Ukrainian military aircraft. However, soon after it was established that the downed plane was a civilian airliner the Tweet was reportedly removed.

European Union leaders agreed this earlier week to expand sanctions against individuals and entities in response to Russia role in contributing to conflict in the Ukraine. The details of the sanctions will be decided by the end of the month. The Obama Administration also announced plans to expand U.S. Sanctions against Russia before the attack. The sanctioned would target Russian interests including Energy companies.

The majority of people on board the Malaysian airliner were Dutch citizens. Preliminary reports of the crash. The Dutch prime minister on Thursday ordered that flags fly at half-mast at government buildings across the Netherlands to mourn the 154 Dutch citizens lost in the attack which he says may be the worst air disaster in Dutch history.

The attack also dealt a devastating blow to the International AIDS community. As many as 108 Aides experts, researchers, activists and health workers who were traveling to an International Aids Conference in Australia may have been on board the plane. The Australian reported that up to 108 delegates to the 20th international AIDS congruence in Melbourne Australia, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, are believed to have been killed on board flight MH17.

“There’s been confirmed a number of senior people who were coming out here who were researchers, who were medical scientists, doctors, people who’ve been to the forefront of dealing with AIDS across the world,” Victoria Premier Denis Napthine told reporters in Melbourne on Friday. “The exact number is not yet known, but there is no doubt it’s a substantial number.”

The International AIDS Society issued a brief statement Thursday night following the attack saying that “a number of colleagues and friends” were on the flight. “At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy,” the statement said.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that among the dead are international renowned AIDS researcher Joep Lange, of the University of Amsterdam, and World Health Organization spokesman Glenn Thomas. Lange played a critical role in leading local trials of antiretroviral therapies and led research into the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. He served as president of the International AIDS society from 2002-2004, and is a founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Antiviral Therapy. Lange’s work played a critical role in bringing treatment for HIV/AIDS to the developing world, saving countless lives. Former United States President and AIDS advocate Bill Clinton who is scheduled to speak at the conference referred to the AIDS workers lost on the flight as “Martyrs for the Cause.”

For more information please see:

BBC News – Accusations Fly As Investigators Seek Answers over MH17 Crash in Ukraine – 18 July 2014

CNN International – Accusations Fly As Investigators Seek Answers over MH17 Crash in Ukraine – 18 July 2014

The Washington Post – Rebels in Eastern Ukraine Pledge Access to Plane Crash Site, but Kiev Cites Restrictions – 18 July 2014

Reuters – Netherlands in Mourning After at Least 154 Dutch Die in Ukraine Crash –17 July 2014

 

Israel Launches Ground Offensive a Day after Four Palestinian Children Killed by Israeli Strikes

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

GAZA CITY, Gaza – Israeli tanks entered Gaza after the Israeli military launched a massive ground operation into Gaza late Thursday, calling an extra 18,000 reservists into the conflict with Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon reportedly ordered the assault to destroy tunnels moving from the Gaza strip into Israel Proper. Tunnels connecting Israel and Gaza as well as Egypt have served as critical supply chains, not only for Hamas militants but also for critical civilian supplies including fuel. The ground assault represents as a major escalation in the ten-day offensive that has already killed more than 230 Palestinians, including the shocking killing of four civilian boys on a Gaza beach on Wednesday.

Israeli tanks entered Gaza on Thursday night after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a ground invasion, The escalation comes after Israeli strikes have killed more than 230 Palestinians during the first ten days of the conflict. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The offensive began after a group of gunmen reportedly attempted to enter Israel through a tunnel originating in Gaza. The Israeli army said eight of the 13 attackers were killed, and Hamas claimed responsibility for the operation. The Israeli military said the operation “will deal significant damage to the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.” “We have hit Hamas hard, and we will continue to hit Hamas hard,” the Israel Defense Forces tweeted.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that “the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza is a dangerous step with unknown consequences. Israel will pay a heavy price for it. “Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said of the offensive; “It does not scare the Hamas leaders or the Palestinian people. We warn Netanyahu of the dreadful consequences of such a foolish act.”

The escalation came shortly after a five-hour “humanitarian ceasefire” requested by the United Nations, aimed at giving residents of Gaza a chance to leave their homes for necessities after days of Israli bombardments. Both sides of the conflict largely stopped firing, and people were able to venture out to markets, grocers and banks, which opened for the first time in more than a week.

The ground operation comes just a day after Four young boys were killed during an Israeli strike while playing at Gaza beach on Wednesday, witnesses say, a fifth boy was injured in the attack and is in critical condition. The blasts that killed the boys struck near a hotel where several members of the foreign media are staying; several journalist witnessed the incident. The boys, two brothers and two cousins, were between the ages of 9 and 11.

Israli spokesmen Mark Regev said the results of a preliminary investigation suggests the deaths were the result of a “a tragic misidentification of the target.” However, A Hamas official called the killings a “war crime.” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri said “those children were not firing rockets, they were just playing.”

According to a report by Human Rights watch several Israeli airstrikes have targeted civilian structures and other non-military targets.  Israeli attacks in Gaza since July 7, 2014 have destroyed 1,255 homes and displaced at least 7,500 people.

“Israel’s rhetoric is all about precision attacks but attacks with no military target and many civilian deaths can hardly be considered precise,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Recent documented cases in Gaza sadly fit Israel’s long record of unlawful airstrikes with high civilian casualties.” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Israeli bombs hit Wafa Hospital in Gaza while four patients were inside. Human Rights Watch has called on Israeli to stop targeting Civilian populations and infrastructure; weather the targeting of these areas in intentional or reckless.

For more information:

Al Jazeera – Israel Launches Gaza Ground Invasion – 17 July 2014

CNN International – Israel Launches Ground Operation in Gaza; Hamas Says Israel to ‘Pay a Heavy Price’ – 17 July 2014

CNN International – ‘They Went to the Beach to Play’: Deaths of 4 Children Add to Growing Toll in Gaza Conflict – 17 July 2014

Time Magazine – Israel, Hamas Agree on Short Cease-Fire After Israeli Strike Kills 4 Palestinian Boys – 16 July 2014

Assad Sworn in for another Seven Year term Amidst Deadly Violence

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – On Wednesday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad placed his right hand on the Holy Quran and took his oath of office at the “People’s Palace” overlooking Damascus and was sworn into a third seven-year term as President of Syria. SANA, Syria’s state-run television station aired what it said was a live broadcast of the ceremony showing Assad arriving in a black BMW sedan as members of the Syrian military band played the national anthem.

Bashar al-Assad was sworn in for a third seven-year term as Syria’s president in a ceremony in Damascus celebrating Assad’s victory in an election that was widely condemned as a farce by the Syrian opposition as well as other Arab and Western leaders.

In an address Assad claimed that the Arab spring uprising against established Arab leaders had brought nothing but ciaos to the region, arguing that “What we are seeing today in Iraq and Lebanon, and all countries struck by this ‘fake spring’ disease … proves our warnings were right: Soon we will see Arab, regional and Western countries paying a high price for supporting terrorism.”

“Syrians, three years and four months… have passed since some cried ‘freedom’,” Assad said in his address referring to the peaceful protests that turned violent in March 2011 when Assad’s forces attempted to silence protesters. Assad continued “They wanted a revolution, but you have been the real revolutionaries. I congratulate you for your revolution and for your victory.”

Even as Assad prepared to begin his next term in office, claiming victory over the Syrian rebels, State media reported that four people had been killed when rebel shells struck near Umayyad Square in Damascus. The Assad regime continues target rebel-held and rebel-sympathetic areas including the embattled city of Aleppo. On Friday video was posted to YouTube of an indiscriminate barrel bomb attack by the Syrian Air force that reportedly killed 20 people in Aleppo. The video shows rescues franticly trying to save a young baby who was stuck in the rubble.

Assad won re-election on June 3rd in an election that only allowed voting in regime-controlled territories. Assad claimed victory with a reported 88.7 percent of the vote, defeating two other candidates who were seen as figureheads, rather than true political rivals. Syrian opposition groups and members of the international community have condemned the election as illegitimate.  The opposition National Coalition branded the election a “farce” even before it was staged, in a statement later echoed by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of NATO.

The Syrian Civil war has become a massive humanitarian crises, in the 3½ years since the conflict began more than 1 million refugees have fled the country, mostly entering Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The sudden displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from Syria has created growing tensions in the region, in Lebanon alone the Syrian refugee population is approaching one third of the overall population of the country placing strain on state infrastructure.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Syria’s Assad Sworn in For Third Term – 16 July 2014

National Public Radio – Syria’s Assad Sworn in For Third 7-Year Presidential Term  – 16 July 2014

The New York Times – Assad Is Sworn in For Third 7-Year Term in Syria – 16 July 2014

The Washington Post – Baby Rescued From Rubble after Syria Bomb Attack – 11 July 2014

The Washington Post – Syrian Crisis: Barrel Bomb Attacks in Aleppo – 11 July 2014

Ahram Online – Syria Refugees Set to Exceed A Third of Lebanon’s Population – 3 July 2014