Chemical Weapons Inspectors Escape Attack in Syria

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – A group of chemical weapons inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons came under attack Tuesday while traveling to the site of a suspected chlorine gas attack in Syria. On Tuesday the Syrian Foreign Ministry said six inspectors and five Syrian drivers had been kidnapped in Hama Providence. The OPCW said “a convoy of OPCW inspectors and United Nations staff that was traveling to a site of an alleged chlorine gas attack” when the team came under attack.

A poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad adorns a wall in Damascus as a United Nations vehicle carrying inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons leaves a hotel on October 9, 2013. (Photo courtesy of CBS News)

A statement published by the State-Run media in Syria said that the Foreign Ministry “confirms that terrorist groups are attempting to undermine the work of the fact-finding mission and are committing terrorist crimes against employees of the United Nations and OPCW.” While it did not provide details about the incidents, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the team escaped the attack and that “All team members are safe and well and are traveling back to the operating base.”

The Foreign Ministry said the attack occurred when chemical weapons inspectors were attempting to reach the village of Kfar Zeita where a ceasefire had been agreed between 8 am and 6 pm to allow the team of international chemical weapons inspectors to work in the area.  While en-route one of the two cars carrion the team of 11 people was hit by a bomb, forcing the convoy to turn back. Intimately the Foreign Ministry reported that only one of the cars returned successfully.

Abdullah Darwish, A doctor in Kfar Zeita, said the team had been expected to arrive in the village on Tuesday and medical officials had prepared documents pertaining to the alleged chemical weapons attack and had arranged for them to meet with a number of people who suffered during the alleged chlorine attack.

The Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in October as part of an agreement to give up its chemical weapons program, does not ban states from owning chlorine, but prohibits its use as a weapon. The Syrian government still has roughly 8 percent of 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons it declared to the OPCW, raising concerns that the regime will miss the June 30 deadline to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile.

The OPCW Director-General Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu expressed concern about the attack, calling all parties to pledgee cooperation with the mission. He said, “Our inspectors are in Syria to establish the facts in relation to persistent allegations of chlorine gas attacks,” Uzumcu said. “Their safety is our primary concern, and it is imperative that all parties to the conflict grant them safe and secure access”

The pro-opposition Hama Media Centre claimed the attack on the team’s convoy was carried out by Assad’s forces.

For more information please see:

CBS News – Chemical Weapons Inspectors Attacked in Syria – 27 May 2014

CNN International – 6 Chemical Weapons Inspectors Reported Kidnapped in Syria Now Safe – 27 May 2014

Reuters – Chemical Weapons Team in Syria Attacked but Safe: OPCW – 27 May 2014

The New York Times – Chemical Weapons Inspectors Escape Attack in Syria – 27 May 2014

Human Rights Activist Released from Prison After Two Years

MANAMA, Bahrain- Human rights activist and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, was released from prison on Saturday after serving two years for organizing and taking part in illegal protests that were considered “anti-government.”

_75084315_71478833
Nabeel Rajab is a fierce supporter of human rights in Bahrain. (photo courtesy of BBC News).

In addition to holding the presidency of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Rajab is Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights.

Rajab is a key Shiite activist for the protest movement against the Gulf Arab monarchy’s Sunni rulers. Since 2011, the Shiites have been protesting, demanding greater rights and political freedoms for their people

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protestors have held numerous peaceful demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the government to relinquish power. Hundreds of citizens have been killed and even more injured and arrested in the government’s ongoing crackdown of these peaceful demonstrations.

Before his imprisonment, Rajab was repeatedly detained in connection with “pro-democracy” demonstrations that erupted in the Gulf. Rajab claimed he was punched in the face several times by riot police after leading these demonstrations. He also stated he was held in dire conditions and subjected to cruel treatment, including being placed in solitary confinement with dead animals and being held almost naked.

Rajab was sentenced, in early 2012, to three years in prison, but an appeals court later reduced his term by one year.

In mid-2012, Rajab was given an additional three months in prison for his comments on Twitter about Bahrain’s prime minister. This conviction was later overturned in an appeals court.

While in prison human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights First, campaigned for his release, calling on authorities for an early release.

After his release, Rajab told the Associated Press that he is “happy to be out [of prison} after more than 600 days.” Rajab called for the release of all political prisoners and said that stability can only be achieved “through respect for human rights.”

“After two years in prison, I see Bahrain’s political environment as more difficult than ever and still without a roadmap for real reforms,” Rajab said. “I am happy to be with my friends and back with the human rights community, but still saddened that there are thousands of others who are still behind bars or outside the country.”

Maryam al-Khawaja, the acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights while Rajab was in prison, said that “even though Rajab was released from prison, citizens should note that this is not a show of goodwill on the government’s part as Rajab was not pardoned or released early, but completed his full term.”

After his release from prison, Rajab was greeted by dozens of people outside the prison and hundreds of people gathered near Rajab’s house to welcome his release.

Rajab said that Bahrain’s situation today is worse compared to when he went to prison because of an upsurge in violence. Bahrain said that although he was imprisoned he will not stop participating in peaceful demonstrations, but denounces violence.

For more information see:

PressTV- Nabeel Rajab urges “serious dialogue” in Bahrain– 25 May 2014

BBC News- Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab released from prison– 24 May 2014

Watertown Public Opinion- Top Bahrain activist released from prison– 24 May 2014

Al Jazeera- Bahrain frees leading human rights activist– 25 May 2014

The Cost of World Cup Preparations in Brazil Leads to Labor Strikes

by Mridula Tirumalasetti

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASÍLIA, Brazil– With the World Cup just a few weeks away, bus drivers, teachers, police officers, and other public employees continue to protest in the streets of Brazil. Pre-tournament protests have been going on since mid-April in order to protest the amount of money the federal government has spent on preparations for the World Cup.

A member of the Homeless Workers’ Movement is pictured carrying the Brazilian flag during a protest in Sao Paulo (photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

Although labor protests are fairly common in Brazil, the World Cup has presented a host of problems. The government promised the World Cup would improve the lives of Brazilians, but corruption and excessive spending have triggered waves of unrest. President Dilma Rouseff’s popularity has since decreased due to these broken promises, which could threaten Rouseff’s chance for re-election in October.

“The government has paid all its attention to building soccer stadiums up to First world FIFA standards, while our schools continue at the lowest standards,” said President of the Sao Paulo municipal teachers union, Claudio Fonesca. Fonesca added, “We have nothing against the World Cup…If the government had money left over to pay for everything, there would be no problem.”

Bus drivers in cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have also gone on strike. Sao Paulo will host the opening match of the World Cup on June 12, but 15 of the 28 bus terminals in Sao Paulo have closed. Not only are soccer fans expected to rely on buses for public transportation, but Brazilians rely heavily on buses as a method of transportation, especially in cities like Sao Paulo where there is limited metro service. The bus drivers, who have been rebelling against their union, want more than the 10%  salary raise they were offered. Vehicles have been abandoned, passengers have been stranded, and over 300 buses have been vandalized as a result.

Also, new projects for public transportation, which were promised by the government for the World Cup, have either not started or remain unfinished. This has led to anger over the cost of the stadiums, because they have become symbols of waste.

Even police officers in Recife stopped working and left the town unprotected for a period of three days. In those three days, there were reports of looting, homicides, and other acts of violence. At least 17 people died as a result. The federal government sent in military officials in order to provide emergency security. Other police groups have since promised a day of national “paralysis”. Bosco Gandra, President of the Brazilian Confederation of Civil Police Workers, said “We want to send the message that the government has had no strategy to improve its security forces, which has left Brazil vulnerable to violence and corruption.”

For more information, please see the following:

Los Angeles Times– In Brazil, labor protests ramp up as World Cup nears—17 May 2014

Reuters—Bus strike paralyzes Brazil’s biggest city as World Cup looms—21 May 2014

Buenos Aires Herald—Waves of pre-Cup strikes sparks chaos in Brazil—22 May 2014

Al Jazeera—Brazil bus strike sparks Sao Paulo chaos—22 May 2014

This Week in Syria: Syria Deeply

Syria Deeply

 

Dear Deeply Readers,  

The diplomatic drama that unfolded over Syria this week will be just a footnote in history. But in these days of disintegrating conditions on the ground, it serves as a snapshot of global paralysis and geopolitical dysfunction that prevents any degree of accountability and containment in Syria’s conflict.

This round of debate began when France, backed by dozens of countries, made a push to refer Syrian war crimes to the International Criminal Court. But as the resolution moved to a vote in the Security Council on Thursday, Russia and China swiftly blocked it. By the BBC’s count, it was the fourth time those two states have vetoed action by the U.N. Security Council, protecting their strategic allies in the government of President Bashar al-Assad. That leaves Assad’s opponents to look for strenuous alternatives. As the New York Times explains, they can now look to set up a special tribunal, outside the remit of the ICC, or pursue a relatively rare “Uniting for Peace” resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, which would bypass a deadlocked Security Council.

It’s not the only case study in the need to work around international rules. This week the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made the case that it’s time to sideline Syrian state sovereignty in order to deliver aid to rebel-held areas without regime consent. The government is “failing in its responsibility to look after its own people,” Ban wrote in a confidential report, cited by the New York Times. Government blockades have reportedly left 241,000 people without access to food, with millions more lacking health care and basic services.

The accelerated debate over how to bend the norms to benefit Syria’s people comes alongside an escalating battle on the ground – a surge in fighting and bombings that lifted Syria’s death toll to at least 162,000 people, a spike of roughly 10,000 casualties over the past two months. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which keeps the count, estimated that pro-regime troops have lost more fighters than rebel forces – part of the high cost of maintaining a relative upper hand, in what has devolved into a turf war in each Syrian province.

On Sunday al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra launched four suicide bomb attacks on army positions, while announcing it would create “an arms factory” to supply its fighters in Syria. Last week Assad troops lost their chief of air defense forces when Lt. Gen. Hussein Ayoub Ishaq was killed in battle. Elsewhere, a mortar shell hit an Assad election rally in Deraa,  killing an estimated 21 people. The bombing of Aleppo’s Carlton Citadel Hotelearlier this month is still providing rebels with a palpable morale boost, says one of the opposition’s most wanted commanders. He revealed himself to the Guardian as the architect of the Carlton attack, describing the ongoing campaign to tunnel under the city of Aleppo and strike government targets with underground explosives.

All this at a time when Syria’s military is, generally speaking, on the up in the fight. The Syrian army launched a counteroffensive against rebels in Deraa, who have been fighting each other in a spate of rivalrous infighting. Back in Aleppo, government troops repelled rebel forces who have been fighting to take control of a landmark prison – an offensive that has lasted for roughly a year (we’ve covered how prison inmates have languished in the shadows of the fight).

Outside prison, civilians are languishing in broad daylight. Areas of Aleppo have been without power and water for weeks; some Damascus suburbs have also gone dark. Deir Ezzor is feeling a heavier hand of Sharia law,  as we documented in one case of a woman’s wedding celebrations, interrupted. And according to a new report, Syria is now the world’s biggest crisis of internally displaced people, or IDPs. More than three years into the conflict, roughly 9,500 Syrians are being displaced each day – approximately one family per minute becoming refugees on their own home soil. It’s proven to be a scale of disaster that the world is either unwilling or unable to handle.

Highlights from Syria Deeply:
As Rebels Fight Each Other, Government Heightens Offensive on Southern Front
In Deir Ezzor, Rebels Battle for More Than Just Oil
In Deir Ezzor, Sharia Law Interrupts a Woman’s Wedding
Surge in Fighting and Bombings Lead to Sharp Increase in Death Toll
Weeks of Power Cuts Hit Damascus Suburbs
One on One: Kareem Shaheen, Reporter, the Daily Star
Syria Is Now the World’s Biggest IDP Crisis

Headlines from the Week:
Washington Post: U.S. Inaction on Syria Helped Make it Hell on Earth
Frontline: For Syrians Fleeing Violence, Scant Refuge or Relief
New York Times: Syrian Fighting Gives Hezbollah New but Diffuse Purpose
Reuters: No Sign Syria Is Handing Over Chemical Weapons
Reuters: U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of American Fighters in Syria
Reuters: Syrian al-Qaida at Foothills of Israeli-held Golan
BBC News: Anthony Loyd: Kidnapped and Beaten in Syria

Pope Francis Extends Invitation to Israeli and Palestinian Leaders to visit the Vatican for Peace Initiative

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

JERUSALEM, Israel/Palestine – During his first visit to the Holy Land as the leader of the Catholic Church Pope Francis called for peace in the region and endorsed the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After delivering an open-air mass in Bethlehem’s Manger Square in the West Bank on the second day of his three-day trip to the Middle East the Pope extended an invitation to the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to visit Vatican City for a “peace initiative.”

Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop to pray at the the Separation Wall that divides Israel from the West Bank, sometimes referred to at an apartheid wall. (Photo courteous of The Guardian)

The Pope expressed disappointment with the breakdown of talks between the two states earlier this year saying, “for decades the Middle East has known the tragic consequences of a protracted conflict which has inflicted many wounds so difficult to heal,” the pontiff declared. The situation, he said, had become “increasingly unacceptable.” Booth President Shimon Peres or Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted on Sunday Pope Francis Invitation.

Pope Frances said, “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer” and called on the two leaders to agree to meet with him; saying, “in this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with Israeli President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace.” He added, building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes for peace.” “Even in the absence of violence,” he said, “the climate of instability and a lack of mutual understanding have produced insecurity, the violation of rights, isolation and the flight of entire communities, conflicts, shortages and sufferings of every sort.”

Pope Frances also made an unscheduled stop at the Separation Wall that divides Bethlehem and Jerusalem near an Israel military watchtower. At the wall be prayed for five minutes near graffiti on that wall that read, “”Pope, we need someone to speak about justice”, “Free Palestine” and contained a reference to the Warsaw ghetto. Mustafa al-Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian legislative council, said the pope’s decision to stop and pray at the separation wall “will remain in the world’s mind forever as a rejection of the apartheid wall.”

During his visit the Pope also addressed the need for a solution to the Syrian Civil War. The Pope said that it was “necessary and Urgent” that a peaceful solution to the Syrian Conflict be reached.

On the first day of his visit to the region Pope Frances gave a message of unity during a Mass at a stadium in Amman, Jordan – a majority Muslim state with a large Christian population. Christian refugees from Syria and Iraq where among those present at the Mass. During t In televised remarks after that meeting,  During his visit the Pope paid tribute to Jordan’s efforts to promote interfaith tolerance as well as its efforts to welcome refugees fleeing violence in Palestine and war-torn Syria. During his visit the pope visited some of the more than 600,000 refugees who have fled the conflict since its start in 2011.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Pope prays for peace at separation wall – 25 May 2014

CNN International – Pope Francis Invites Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Vatican Peace Talks – 25 May 2014

The Guardian – Pope Francis offers prayers at Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem – 25 May 2014

The Jerusalem Post – Peres, Abbas accept papal invitation to pray for peace at Vatican – 25 May 2014

Vatican Radio – Pope Francis makes unscheduled stop to pray at Israel’s security barrier – 25 May 2014