Pakistan Court Order Over Anti-Drone Activist

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –The Lahore High Court (LHC) in Pakistan has ordered the government to produce an anti-drone activist, Kareem Khan, whose lawyers say was detained by the country’s intelligence agencies.

Kareem Khan has not been heard from for a week. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Kahn, whose teenage son and brother were killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan Agency in 2009, went missing days before he was due to testify to the impacts of the CIA-operative unmanned strikes in Pakistan’s troubled northwest border.

Since the death of his son and brother, Kahn has waged a legal battle against the United States.

His lawyers say he was picked up from his residence in Rawalpindi last week and has not been heard from since. Police deny any involvement.

Britain-based rights group Amnesty International, citing the eyewitnesses, has claimed that the Kareem Khan was picked up by a dozen men, some of whom were wearing police uniforms while others were in civilian clothes, on February 5.

“The Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court has sought reply from the intelligence agencies through the government, ordering the intelligence agencies to produce Kareem Khan on 20 February or give the reason behind his arrest in writing to the court,” his lawyer Shahzad Akbar told AFP news agency.

A decade after they first took to the skies over Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, U.S. drone aircraft’s are causing fierce controversy in both the United States and Pakistan.

U.S. officials argue the drone attacks are vital in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants based in the border area of Pakistan and that they take “extraordinary care” to ensure the strikes comply with international law.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for an end to drone attacks in his country, saying the attacks violate Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Several thousand people have been killed in the attacks, many of them militants – but precise numbers and the identities of victims are in dispute because local claims of the numbers of civilian deaths are almost impossible to prove.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Pakistan court order over missing activist Kareem Khan – 12 February 2014

The Frontier Post – Pakistan court order over missing activist Kareem Khan – 12 February 2014

Al Jazeera – Pakistan pressed over missing drone activist – 12 February 2014

Pakistan Tribune – LHC Orders to Produce Missing Anti-Drone Activist on February 20 – 12 February 2014

Body of Slain Mexican Journalist Discovered

By Brandon R. Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – The body of Gregorio Jimenez, a Mexican journalist who was kidnapped from his home several weeks ago, has been found in the town of Las Choapas, along side two other unidentified bodies.

Several Mexican journalists protesting, in response to their colleague, Gregorio Jimenez’s kidnapping and murder (Photo Courtesy BBC).

Jimenez, who worked for the El Liberal del Sur newspaper, had recently been reporting on the wave of kidnappings in his hometown of Coatzacoalcos.  In particular, he wrote about the disappearance of Ernesto Ruiz Guillen and how there was little being done in that investigation.

Gina Dominguez, a Veracruz state spokeswoman, said authorities believe Teresa Hernandez threatened Jimenez three months ago after a falling out between her son and his daughter.  The four men arrested earlier this week claim that Hernandez paid them to kidnap and kill him.

Several people have been arrested as a result of the investigation, including one of Jimenez’s neighbors.  However, some government officials have said that the murder was in response to a personal vendetta and had nothing to do with his work as a reporter.

Whether that is believable is, however, questionable as in at least three cases involving murdered journalists, the state attributed the murder to personal disputes.  Additionally, Jimenez’s coworker doesn’t “believe in what the government says because Gregorio was not one to get into fights, he was a kind, humble person.”

In response to the kidnapping, Jimenez’s colleagues had organized a social media campaign in hopes that Jimenez would be found.  Now that Jimenez has been found dead, many are outraged and are calling for the resignation of Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the governor of Veracruz.

In addition, Articulo 19, a press rights group, has called for a thorough investigation and said that it is  “unacceptable to rule out the journalistic work of . . . Jimenez as a possible motive for his murder” and that authorities should do more to “guarantee the safety of the victim’s family and the media outlets at which he worked.”

Since 2010, at least a dozen Veracruz journalists have been killed.  Veracruz is plagued by drug related violence and the Zetas cartel has a strong presence in the area.  Consequently, there are numerous accounts of abductions, extortions, and robberies.

Collectively, there have been eighty-seven journalists murdered in Mexico since 2000, which makes Mexico one of the most dangerous countries for members of the media to work in.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC – Missing Mexican Journalist Gregorio Jimenez Found Dead – 12 Feb. 14

Business Week – Few Believe Account Of Mexican Reporter’s Slaying – 13 Feb. 14

Global Post – Mexican Journalists Demand Full Investigation Of Reporter’s Murder – 12 Feb. 14

Global Post – Kidnapped Mexican Journalist Found Dead – 11 Feb. 14

Al-Qaeda Inmates Escape from Yemeni Jail

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen-Fourteen Al-Qaeda inmates escaped from the central prison in Yemen’s capital Thursday while gunmen launched a deadly assault on the facility, reported officials.

Police have sealed off the road to the airport which runs through the neighborhood where the prison is located (photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Seven policemen and three gunmen were killed.  Another two policemen and two gunmen were wounded, and one of the attackers was captured, the foreign ministry said.

The attack began when an explosives-laden vehicle exploded at the facility’s eastern entrance, breeching a hole in the prison fence, security.  Gunmen also attacked guards at the main entrance to create a diversion that allowed the prisoners to escape through the hole in the fence.

Residents reported that an explosion and heavy gunfire rang out near the jail where officials say around 5,000 prisoners are held, before security reinforcements were dispatched to the area.

Nasser al-Wuhayshi, chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who is seen by the United States as the network’s deadliest franchise, vowed in August to free imprisoned members of his network.

Wuhayshi escaped from the same Sana’a prison with 22 other members of AQAP in February 2006 and was named as the group’s leader a year later.

The AQAP detainees escaped through a 44-metre (145-foot) tunnel they dug between their cell and a nearby mosque.

Saudi and Yemeni Al-Qaeda branches combined in January 2009 to form AQAP, posing a serious threat to Western interests across the region.

Thursday’s assault was the second major one in the capital in a little over two months.  In early December, a suicide bomber and several gunmen attacked the defense ministry in a brazen operation in broad daylight, killing at least 52 people and wounding another 167.

Former prisoners at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who had been returned to Saudi Arabia in December 2006 later escaped to Yemen, two years ago after completing a reform program.

After a wave of deadly Al-Qaeda attacks between 2003 and 2006, Saudi authorities launched a crackdown on the local branch of the group founded by the late Osama bin Laden.

AQAP has taken advantage of the weakening of the central government in Sana’a since a popular uprising that toppled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011.

For more information, please the following: 

Al Bawaba-14 ‘mostly Qaeda’ inmates flee Yemen jail after attack-13 February 2014

Al Jazeera-Al-Qaeda inmates freed in Yemen jail attack-13 February 2014

Global Post-14 ‘mostly Qaeda’ inmates flee Yemen jail after attack-13 February 2014

Reuters-Attack on prison in Yemeni capital kills 11-13 February 2014

ICC Opens War Crime Probe in Central African Republic

By Erica Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic — The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened up an investigation into alleged war crimes taking place in the struggling Central African Republic (CAR).

ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The preliminary investigation is going to look into recent account of violence in the country, including lynchings and beheading. Fatou Bensouda, the ICC chief prosecutor, has reviewed many reports of “extreme brutality” and her offices feels  that allegations of crimes committed “possibly fall within the ambit of the jurisdiction of the ICC”.

“The allegations include hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement and recruitment and use of children in hostilities….In many incidents, victims appear to have been deliberately targeted on religious grounds.”” Bensouda said in a statement.

The CAR has been plagued by violence since Seleka Rebels, who are Muslim, overthrew the government in March of 2013. The conflict has recently started to show religious undertones with the Seleka fighting mainly Christin groups known as as anti-balaka (machete), the favorite weapon of the Seleka.

The efforts of the ICC will be in carried out in conjunction with the African Union and the UN. “In conformity with the complementarity principle, my Office will also be engaging with the CAR authorities with a view to discussing ways and means to bring perpetrators to account, including at the national level,” Bensouda said

The African Union and France have sent troops to the CAR to try to restore order, but so far they have been unsuccessful.

On Wednesday soldiers publicly lynched a suspected ex-Seleka member after a military ceremony. The UN refugee agency said 9,000 people, mostly Muslims, have fled to neighboring Cameroon over the past 10 days alone. The violence has see a marked increase in recent weeks  and has “reached intolerable and unprecedented levels,” the Doctors Without Borders group said in a statement Friday.

“Civilians remain in constant fear for their lives, and have been largely left to fend for themselves,” the charity’s emergency coordinator Martine Flokstra said.

CAR is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which led to the formation of ICC. The court has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

 

For further information please see:

Aljazeera — ICC to open war crimes probe in CAR– 8 February 2014

BBC News — ICC opens CAR ‘war crimes’ preliminary investigation — 7 February 2014

Detroit Free Press — Muslims flee sectarian violence in Central African Republic amid war crimes probe — 7 February 2014

Global Post — ICC launches C.Africa war crimes probe — 7 February 2014

 

Spanish Universal Jurisdiction May Soon Become Undone

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MADRID, Spain – Faced with political and economic pressure from China, Spanish legislatures continued support changes to Spanish universal jurisdiction law. Human rights groups chastised the move as a step backward in international law.

 

China has rebuked Spanish courts for a decision to issue arrest warrants for Chinese officials in Europe, on grounds of universal jurisdiction. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Almost two decades ago, Spain enacted legislation to support universal jurisdiction. The doctrine allowed Spanish judges to reach beyond their borders to investigate serious human rights abuses. In 1998, Spain made headlines by using the doctrine to arrest Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet in London.

When faced with pressure from the US regarding cases relating to Guantanamo Bay prisoners around 2009, Spain limited universal jurisdiction to cases that had a relevant connection to Spain, as long as no other national court would take the case.

In January 2014, the People’s Party (PP) tabled legislation that would curb the use of universal jurisdiction. The new law would essentially erase Spanish universal jurisdiction, applying the doctrine only for defendants who were Spanish citizens or residents, and only victims and public prosecutors could bring a case.

On 11 February 2014, Spanish Members of Parliament voted to continue support for a bill that limits the Spanish judicial power to try extra-territorial criminal cases. According to human rights organizations, the move would end Spain’s role as a leader in enforcing international justice.

PP Spokesman Alfonso Alonso defended the change, calling universal jurisdiction “inefficient” and something that “promises a lot but leads to nothing more than diplomatic conflicts.”

The vote came after a Spanish court ordered Interpol to issue arrest warrants for Chinese officials, including former President Jiang Zemin, for decades-old human rights abuses. While Spain sought to deepen trade relations with China to boost the European country’s economy, the court order caused China to issue a sharp rebuke.

“China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to the erroneous acts taken by the Spanish agencies in disregard of China’s position,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying. “But I believe this incident concerns the sound development of bilateral relations, so we hope that the Spanish government can properly deal with this matter and tell right from wrong.”

“This reform makes it even harder to probe into severe human rights abuses,” said Ignacio Jovtis, of Amnesty International Spain. AIS is among nearly two dozen human rights groups urging the government to abandon the change. “It’s a step backwards for human rights and justice.”

Reed Brody, of Human Rights Watch, expressed concerns over the double standards in international justice. “It’s OK to use international justice for El Salvador, Chile and Chad, but when it comes to US or China or Russia, there’s no justice. That really threatens to undermine the entire architecture of international justice.”

To ensure accountability for atrocities committed in the world, the world must deeply consider whether those with great power should run in the face of great responsibility.

For further information, please see:

Euronews – Spain Bows to Chinese Pressure and Backs Law to Curb Pioneering Judges – February 12, 2014

Guardian – Spain Moves to Curb Legal Convention Allowing Trials of Foreign Rights Abuses – February 11, 2014

Reuters – China Bristling, Spain Seeks to Limit Its Judges’ International Rights Powers – February 11, 2014

CNN International – Spanish Judge Issues Arrest Warrants for China’s Former President, Prime Minister – February 10, 2014