Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Gains More Ground in Iraq; US to Deploy Troops to Secure American Embassy

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) attacked the Kurdish town of Basheer on Tuesday in an attempt by the jihadist group to gain ground in the oil-rich area just south of Kirkuk. Officials from the Kurdish militia, the Peshmerga, said at least three of their soldiers were killed during the fighting. “Basheer is mostly all Shia. So ISIS just came to kill all of them,” a Peshmerga official said of the Sunni group. The attack on the town of Basheer comes just one day after three car bombs exploded in the city of Kirkuk. These events indicate that ISIS has not given up efforts to gain ground in North Iraq despite its simultaneous success in capturing ground to the south as it makes its way towards Baghdad.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant has expanded its operational presence from Syria into the heart of Iraq with major after the group successfully took control in Mosul, the largest city in Northern Iraq.

Since launching their attack on Iraq by seizing Mosul, Iraq’s second most populous city, last week ISIS fighters have advanced into the heart of Iraq through the Tigris river valley, reportedly killing hundreds of Iraqi troops in mass executions. United Nation’s staff and other sources on the ground in Iraq reported the executions of hundreds of Iraqis following the ISIS takeover of Mosul. The victims included disarmed soldiers swell as religious leaders and other civilians. “Based on corroborated reports from a number of sources, it appears that hundreds of non-combatant men were summarily executed over the past five days, including surrendered or captured soldiers, military conscripts, police and others associated with the Government,” Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.  Pillay stressed that “although the numbers cannot be verified yet, this apparently systematic series of cold-blooded executions, mostly conducted in various locations in the Tikrit area, almost certainly amounts to war crimes.”

ISIS fighters have been joined by other Sunni factions, including former members of the ousted Baath Party and tribal figures, who share widespread anger felt among Iraq’s Sunni minority at perceived oppression by the Shi’ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki which has failed to allow appropriate Sunni representation in Iraq’s new government.  Several western countries, including the United States, have urged Prime Minister al-Maliki to reach out to the Sunni population to rebuild national unity as the only way of preventing the disintegration of the country.

According to the Kurdish regional Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzan, Kurdish Peshmerga forces will not help Iraq’s army retake the city of Mosul from jihadist militants, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government says. Barzani has said that his “top priority” is to protect KRG-administered areas in the north-east. Over the past week Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have taken control of several towns and cities that were deserted by deserted Iraqi government soldiers when ISIS began to advance into the region. These communities include the city of Kirkuk, which is at the center of a political dispute between the KRG and al- Maliki’s central government in Baghdad.

Barzani also argued that Iraq’s Sunni Arabs should be given their own autonomous zone by the Iraqi government. The Iraqi constitution, which entered into effect after the U.S. led occupation of Iraq, allows for the establishment of semi-autonomous regional governments. However the Iraqi government has made no moves to establish a new regional government since the Constitution entered into effect and the Kurdish region of Iraq remains the only semi-autonomous regional authority in the country.

United States President Barack Obama announced plans to send up to 275 military personnel to bolster the protection of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The President is also reportedly considering the opinion of airstrikes against ISIS. President Ob President Obama is also reportedly weighing air strikes. President Obama oversaw the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially ended in December 2011 with the final withdraw of combat forces.

For more information please see:

BBC News – Iraq Conflict: Kurds ‘Will Not Help Retake Mosul’ – 17 June 2014

CNN International – Iraq Crisis: ISIS Advances on Baquba as U.S. Moves Firepower to Region – 17 June 2014

International Business Times – ISIS Attacks Near Kirkuk Oil Fields; Kurdish Fighters Vow To Crush Jihadist Group – 17 June 2014

NBC News – Life Under ISIS: Iraqis Return to Mosul, Seeing Militants As Safer Bet – 17 June 2014

United Nations News Centre – UN Condemns Mass Executions in Iraq, Urges Leaders to Prevent Sectarian Reprisal – 16 June 2014

U.S. Prison and Jail Conditions Under Scrutiny

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch, Desk Reporter

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – On Wednesday, 4 June 2014, a lawsuit that alleges unconstitutional practices used by California’s Department of Corrections moved forward and was scheduled for trial. Originally filed in 2012, the suit alleges the solitary confinement of inmates in California violates the eighth amendment of the U.S constitution.

Justice Department calls Los Angeles County Jail conditions “deplorable” in a recent report (photo curtesy of BBC)

The suit is the latest in a series of actions taken by human rights activists to end the use of near-isolation in California. The practice of near-isolation keeps inmates with suspected ties to prison gangs in small concrete cells for a minimum of 22 ½ hours per day. There are nearly 120,000 inmates in the California prison system and 4,054 are held in solitary confinement for almost 24 hours a day. The rooms in which these inmates are housed are no larger than 100 square feet.

The focus of the lawsuit is the security-housing unit at the state’s notorious Pelican Bay prison. There, 539 inmates are currently being housed and 227 of them for more than ten years.

Federal Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the inmates who have been housed in the Pelican Bay units for more than ten years can be part of the suit as a class action. The Judge divided the inmates into two groups, those who have the right to sue under the eighth amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and those who may sue under the 14th amendment, which protects a persons due process rights.

The U.S Justice Department has also paid particularly close attention to the poor conditions in Los Angeles County jails. A recent report by the U.S. Justice Department has said that the nation’s largest jail system has “serious systematic deficiencies” and “deplorable environmental conditions”, despite a 2002 court order that required the state to address the appalling conditions.

In a separate lawsuit, the Supreme Court declined on Monday, 9 June 2014 to hear an appeal of a court order that requires California to ensure that disabled inmates who are housed in country jails receive appropriate accommodations.

In her 2012 order, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken required the state to track 2,000 disabled inmates in its custody and report to county jails when an inmate who was entitled to accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act was transferred  to country jurisdiction.

A report issued by the Justice Department noted that jail officials have failed to address a dramatic increase in suicides over the past two years stating, “fifteen suicides in 25 months produces almost no discernible changes in the jails’ custodial practices.”

The recent reforms in California have sparked other States to follow suit. On Thursday, 5 June 2014, Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court ruling that Arizona inmates can press a class- action claim against the state. The case echoes the prisoner civil rights cases that have kept California’s prison system under federal control.

 

For more information please see the following:

BBC – LA Jail conditions ‘ Unconstitutional’– 16 June 2014.

L.A. TIMES – Arizona Prison Litigation Echoes California Cases – 16 June 2014.

REUTERS –  Lawsuit Calling Isolation in California Prisons Torture Moves Forward – 16 June 2014.

REUTERS – Supreme Court Refuses to Hear California Prison Overcrowding Case – 16 June 2014.

 

Afghan Presidential Runoff Peppered with Over 150 Terror Attacks

By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

KABUL, Afhanistan – Voting in the Afghan presidential runoff ended Saturday. The runoff is to elect a successor to Hamid Karzai, who has been in office since 2001. In the first round of the election on April 5, former Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Abdullah received 45% of the vote, while former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani received 31.6%. The next president will be determined by a runoff because no candidate received more than 50% of the initial votes.

Ink on the finger indicates that a person has voted in Afghanistan’s presidential runoff election. According to election officials, Nearly 40% of voters were women (CNN)

Abdullah joined the 2009 Presidential Election and lost to Karzai. He dropped out after the first round as a means of protest, alleging large-scale voting fraud. He served as Foreign Affairs Minister under the Karzai regime, but recently positioned himself as a political opponent to Karzai. A week before the runoff, Abdullah narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Ghani, another lead candidate, was a senior World Bank Economist. He gave up his U.S. citizenship to run for the 2009 Presidential Election. He also served as Finance Minister in Karzai’s administration and worked as an advisor to Karzai. Abdullah’s camp criticized him for lacking Afghan street credibility.

The runoff went on amid violence and Taliban attacks. During the election period, the Taliban abducted and executed a candidate for provincial council and nine of his supporters. They went on to attack an election commission office in Kabul causing the death of a provincial council candidate, several workers, and police officers. The Ministry of Interior was attacked by a suicide bomber, and 6 police officers died.

The Taliban’s attacks continued even after the voting ended. The Afghan authority said a roadside bomb killed 11 people, including three election workers Saturday night after the polls closed. The victims were going home from the polling center and riding a mini bus when the bomb detonated. Afghan Deputy Interior Minister said there were nearly 150 attacks throughout the country on the Election Day, and at least 46 people were killed, including civilians and security forces.

The purpose of attacks seems to be obvious as the Taliban officially announced that they would target voting. The continuous attacks have caused widespread public fear, and possibly resulted in lower voter turnout. On the day of runoff, the Taliban insurgents cut the index fingers of 11 voting participants. Most of them were the elderly returning home after their voting, and their inked fingers were the sign of their participation in the election.

The Taliban insurgents attacked and cut the index fingers of 11 voters (AP)

Nevertheless, voter turnout remained around that of the first round, approximately 6 to 7 million, even though exact numbers were not immediately made available. The election could mark the first democratic transfer of government power in Afghanistan. Some critics suggested that the Taliban’s attacks were motivated by desperation and a fear of losing its power as a shadow state.

According to the Election Commission, official results of the runoff election will be announced July 22.

 

For more information please see:

CNN – Voting ends in Afghan presidential runoff – 14 June 2014

CNN – Roadside bomb kills 11 in Afghanistan, including election workers – 15 June 2014

Washington Post – This Afghan election could be historic. Or fraud and rivalries could cause chaos – 13 June 2014

BBC – Afghan election: Run-off vote held amid violence – 14 June 2014

BBC – Afghan election: Taliban ‘removed voters’ fingers’ – 15 June 2014