The Middle East

Human Rights Group Says 6,000 Women Raped During Syrian Conflict

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A report issued by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network estimates that 6,000 women have been raped since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. The report adds that women are being targeted by snipers and used as human shields.

The report documented 6,000 cases of rape with many more likely unreported. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

The report states the capture, torture, and rape of women is used as strategy to leverage prisoner exchanges and exact revenge on the opposition. Often times women will be abducted in effort to force their male relatives to surrender.

“They are being used as privilege, not in the sense that they are favored, but because sometimes of their relationship to opposition members or government-related members,” EMHRN spokeswoman Hayet Zeghiche told the BBC.

Many of the rape victims are socially stigmatized and forced to leave their families or fear returning to their families because of possible retribution. The social stigma attached to rape victims leaves them alone and isolated.

“Syrian women exposed to sexual abuses subsequently found themselves victimized not only by the crime itself, but also by enduring the silence that surrounds the crime and the social pressure related to it,” the report said.

The findings were backed up by Lauren Wolfe, an award-winning journalist who has focused on rape in conflict for several years. She is currently the director of Women Under Siege, a group that has been mapping reports of sexual violence in Syria over the past year.

“The general rule that I go by, and a lot of public health researchers go by, is for every one woman who speaks out, there are up to 10 more that remain silent,” Wolfe said.

Seventy-percent of the documented rape victims report that they were raped by government or pro-government forces. This is not uncommon in scenarios where, like in Syria, rebel fighters rely heavily on civilian support.

The report said rape was documented in seven provinces, including Damascus, mostly “during governmental raids, at checkpoints and within detention facilities.”

On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that first peace talks during the conflict would begin on January 22. He added that it would be “unforgivable not to seize this opportunity to bring an end to the suffering and destruction.”

For further information, please see:

BBC – Syria conflict: Women ‘targets of abuse and torture’ – 26 November 2013

Global Post – 6,000 cases of women raped during Syrian conflict, human rights group says – 26 November 2013

Gulf News – ‘Rape used as women of war against Syria women’ – 25 November 2013

Reuters – Syrian women suffer inside their country and out – 11 November 2013

Saudi Court Sentences US Jeddah Consulate Attacker to Death

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court has sentenced one man to death and nineteen others to jail in connection with the 2004 US Consulate attack in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The nineteen others received sentences ranging from eighteen months to twenty-five years.

The attack on Jeddah US consulate in 2004 killed nine people in total. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

The lone man sentenced to death was one of the attackers that stormed the building in the December 6 attack. The others were convicted of being part of a “deviant group” (Al-Qaeda) and supporting the Jeddah attack and another attack on a petrol facility that same year.

In the Jeddah attack, five militants attacked the US consulate with bombs and guns, managing to make their way inside while taking hostages at gunpoint. The whole ordeal last three hours and resulted in the death of five locally hired consulate workers. Three of the five attackers were killed by Saudi security forces in the raid and two were captured, but one later died of his injuries.

The attack was one in a series that year, perpetrated by Al-Qaeda in an effort to oust the ruling Al-Saud family. They were aimed at Western targets and left dozens of foreigners and Saudi citizens dead. The Al-Saud family, who previously had not thought much of Al-Qaeda, changed their attitude as the attacks mounted. The campaign to overthrow the Al-Saud family was crushed in 2006 and resulted in the detainment of more than 11,000 people.

The detainment and retaliation against Al-Qaeda resulted in controversy as many of the detained and their family claimed unfair treatment the hands of the regime. Some of the claims in include indefinite detention without charges and torture.

The Saudi Press Agency has reported that after the execution the body of the attacker will be put on public display to demonstrate the folly of such actions. This is the ultimate form of punishment in the Saudi kingdom.

Thirty-five more men will face hearing later this week and are also charged with being part of the same “deviant group.” All those convicted are given thirty days to appeal.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Saudi court sentences man to death – 26 November 2013

BBC – Saudi Arabia sentences US consulate attacked to death – 25 November 2013

Fox News – Saudi Arabia order execution over 2004 attack on US consulate – 25 November 2013

Reuters – Jeddah US consulate attacker sentenced to death, others jailed – 25 November 2013

Egypt Passes Law Restricting Public Protests

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Impunity Watch

CAIRO, Egypt-A new restrictive “protest law” requiring Egyptians to seek approval days in advance before organizing demonstrations has been signed by Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour.

Police monitor protesters in Cairo (photo courtesy of Voice of America)

Rights groups tried to encourage Mansour to reject the law with a joint statement from 19 Egyptian organizations. The statement read, “The draft law seeks to criminalize all forms of peaceful assembly, including demonstrations and public meetings, and gives the state free hand to disperse peaceful gatherings by use of force.”

The law has undergone numerous revisions, but may rights groups are claiming that the latest version requires protesters to obtain approval from police three days in advance of holding a protest.  The interior ministry is also allowed to block rallies that could “pose a serious threat to security or peace.”

The widespread latitude to use force that the police will have could give the government a pretext for a widespread crackdown.  The law will take effect later this week upon the final text being published in the official state register.

The law distinguishes between types of protests requiring that election campaign event have a 24-hour notification period and processions of more than ten people are only allowed for “non-political purposes.  Violators could face fines of up to $4,360.

“They could have stuck to earlier versions, where if the interior ministry wants to ban a protest, the onus is on them to go to court and seek a ban.  Instead they’ve done the opposite.  The end result is that we could see an increase in violent crackdowns on peaceful protests,” said Heba Morayef, the Egypt director for Human Rights Watch.

Other restrictive laws are being brought to the table for discussion and debate.  One such law would criminalize “abusive graffiti” while another less descriptively worded would deal with “anti-terrorist” to further clamp down on peaceful political activism.

The cabinet claims that these restrictive laws are needed to help regulate near-daily protests in Cairo and across the country, especially those protests with the potential to turn violent.

Last week, authorities removed a three-month state of emergency and night-time curfew imposed following a clearing of two Cairo sit-ins which were filled with supporters of overthrown president Mohamed Morsi.  The following two days resulted in the death of more than a thousand people.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Egypt passes law restricting public protests-24 November 2013

Deutsche Welle-Egypt passes new laws restricting protests-24 November 2013

Reuters-Egypt’s interim president signs law restricting protests-24 November 2013

Voice of America-Egypt’s Interim President Signs Law Restricting Protests-24 November 2013

 

Iran to not Back Down on Nuclear Rights

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has declared that his country will not back down from its nuclear rights as nuclear rights talks have again begun in Geneva.  The heated speech was delivered in Tehran, denouncing two of the six countries whose representatives are scheduled to meet with Iran’s foreign minister.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in preparation to deliver his speech concerning Iranian nuclear rights (photo courtesy of The Telegraph)

“France was guilty of kneeling before Israel, while America considered itself superior to mankind.  Israel meanwhile was led by people unworthy of the title human,” stated Khamenei.  “I insist on stabilizing the rights of the Iranian nation, including the nuclear rights.  I insist on not retreating one step from the rights of the Iranian nation,” he further said.

His remarks arrived hours before diplomats from the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany started another new round of talks in Geneva with Iranian negotiators, the third set in little over a month

A French government spokesman called these remarks “unacceptable” and warned that they would only “complicate negotiations.”  However, Khamenei softened the blow by saying that Iran wanted “friendly relations with all nations, even the United States.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, met with Katherine Ashton, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, in Geneva yesterday.  Ms. Ashton chairs the “P5 plus 1,” a committee formed to handle Iran’s nuclear program, consisting of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: U.S., Great Britain, France, Russia, and China.

Iran has signed the non-proliferation treaty affording nations the right to civilian nuclear technology in exchang for not acquiring nuclear weapons.  However, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has ruled Iran in breach by not disclosing its activities and not allowing full inspections.

In response to their breach, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran that have crippled its economy.  Recent talks in Geneva have been aimed at relaxing these sanctions in response to Iran’s compliance in termination of it uranium harvesting which is nearing a “weapons-useable” threshold.

“We will maintain the sanctions as long as we are not certain that Iran has definitely and irreversibly renounced it military program to obtain nuclear weapons,” French President Francois Holland said in Israel on Monday.

The previous meeting in Geneva discussing the sanctions imposed on Iran was attended by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry along with Will Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and their French and German counterparts when agreement seemed near in the future.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Khamenei vows no retreat on nuclear programme-21 November 2013

Hurriyet Daily News-Khamenei vows no retreat in Iran talks-21 November 2013

Sky News-Iran vows no retreat in nuclear talks-21 November 2013

Telegraph-Iran’s Supreme Leader vows ‘no retreat’ as nuclear talks begin-21 November 2013

U.S. Sergeant Charged With Killing Two Iraqi Civilians

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq-A United States army soldier has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder over the deaths of two Iraqi civilians.  Sergeant Michael Barbera will face a hearing dealing with the deaths that occurred on March 6, 2007.

A U.S. soldier is facing charges over the death of two Iraqi civilians in 2007 (photo courtesy of The Guardian)

Barbera was charged last Wednesday while stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.  Accusations of these killings first came to light last December when a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review investigation published its article.

The report claimed that Sergeant Barbera was ordered by his team leader to kill two teenage cattle herders for the belief that they were insurgents operating out of a nearby farm, and a third boy later walking towards.  However, the two boys were brothers, age 15 and 14, were both deaf and unarmed.  None of the three boys had any ties to the insurgency.

According to the Tribune-Review, members of Sergeant Barbera’s squad reported the killings to Army investigators but no actions were taken.  Frustrated at the lack of action, several squad members approached the newspaper with the story.

Of the three deaths, Sergeant Barbera is only being charged with two deaths.  Authorities have yet to release the names of the two people that Sergeant Barbera is accused of killing.

Sergeant Barbera is facing an Article 118 premeditated murder charge with two specifications of murder, and an Article 134 charge of two specifications of conduct prejudicial to order and discipline.

At the time of shooting, Sergeant Barbera was assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.  He is currently assigned to the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

He now awaits an Article 32 investigation hearing to determine whether he will face a court-martial.  The hearing is scheduled to take place at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, the same site of the trial for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales who was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to killing 16 Afghan civilians.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-US soldier charged with murdering Iraqis-16 November 2013

Guardian-US soldier charged with murder over deaths of two Iraqi civilians-16 November 2013

Huffington Post-Michael Barbera, U.S. Soldier, Charged With Murder In Iraq War Killings-16 November 2013

Los Angeles Times-U.S. soldier charged with murder in killing of two Iraqi civilians-16 November 2013