ICTJ World Report: Thursday, 4 December 2013
[scribd id=189456821 key=key-2hgz52vmyvmp22fipuyw mode=scroll]
Christian Militia Suspected to Killing 12 People
By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa
BANGUI, Central African Republic – A Christian militia is suspected to have killed 12 people, including children, and wounded 30 others in an attack in the Central African Republic (CAR), officials say.
The attacks appeared to have targeted a mainly Muslim community north of capital, Bangui, the officials said.
Those killed include a pregnant woman and 10 children.
The gang of Christians disemboweled the pregnant woman and slashed the children with machetes in the attack against Peuhl Muslims.
The attack comes with the UN Security Council set to vote on creating a large peacekeeping force for the impoverished country, where the transitional government has lost control since rebels forced the president flee in March.
The Council is to vote on Thursday on dispatching French reinforcement to restore order in CAR, which has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence.
The UN office did not give details on who was responsible but it warned of tensions between communities leading to a “climate of increasing violence” in the impoverished landlocked country, which is majority Christian.
Amy Martin, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangui, said the attack occurred on Monday and that Christian militias known as “anti-balaka” appeared to have targeted Peul herders, who are mostly Muslim.
“It looks much more organized just than community defense groups,” she said, referring to the mainly Christian militia that have formed to counter abuses by the former rebels, who are known as Seleka.
Religious and ethnic attacks have led to warnings of genocide.
Hundreds of villages have been abandoned, with civilians hiding in the bush and pleading for outside intervention.
“At this stage, it is difficult to know whether the African force, with the support of French forces, will be able to do the work,” Mr Araud, France’s UN ambassador told reporters.
“If the African forces do the work there will be no need for a peacekeeping mission.”
One man whose child and wife were killed in the attack said his other child was being treated in the hospital. He said the Christians had fired shots but had mostly used machetes to attack the group.
Clashes are increasingly about religion and the UN Security Council is preparing to vote on developing a peacekeeping force for the country.
For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Central African Republic militia ‘killed’ children – 4 December 2013
International Business Times – Central African Republic: Christian Vigilantes Disembowel Pregnant Muslim and Kill 10 Children – 4 December 2013
Perth now news – Christians disembowel pregnant woman in attack in Central African Republic that killed 12 – 4 December 2013
iol news – Dozen killed in DRC attack – UN – 4 December 2013
Reuters – Twelve killed in Central African Republic attack – U.N – 3 December 2013
UN: Syrian President Assad Linked to Crimes Against Humanity
By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
DAMASCUS, Syria – An inquiry conducted by United Nations inspectors implicates Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other high level officials in war crimes committed during the Syrian conflict.
On Monday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated that President Assad and other officials were also responsible for crimes against humanity. The U.N. Human Rights Chief later clarified her remarks stating that the report she received pointed to responsibility at the highest level and that she was not directly accusing President Assad.
However, Pillay said that the U.N.’s inquiry into Syria has produced “massive evidence… [of] very serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity. The scale of viciousness of the abuses being perpetrated by elements on both sides almost defies belief.”
Pillay urged world powers to make accountability for these crimes a priority ahead of the Syria peace talks scheduled for January 22. She has pushed the U.N. Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, yet the Security Council has neglected to do so.
The inquiry and previous reports from U.N. investigators have stated that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been perpetrated by both sides. However, investigators have maintained that the Assad regime is responsible for the majority of reported offenses. Further, the inquiry points to a policy of abuse implemented by the government.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad disregarded the U.N. Human Rights Chief’s remarks. “She has been talking nonsense for a long time and we don’t listen to her,” he said.
Mekdad was in Geneva to lobby for more supplies and money to aid with Syria’s chemical weapons removal. He said that more trucks and armored vehicles were necessary to safely transport the chemicals to Latakia, where they will be loaded onto a U.S. naval vessel for destruction. He said that part of the risk was from terrorists that might attempt to steal the weapons.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is in charge of the chemical weapons removal. A spokesman for the organization stated that strict guidelines will be applied to any equipment and donations for the disarmament to ensure they are not abused by the Syrian government.
For further information, please see:
Al Jazeera – UN: Evidence links Assad to Syria war crimes – 2 December 2013
BBC – UN implicates Bashar al-Assad in Syria war crimes – 2 December 2013
New York Times – Top U.N. Rights Official Links Assad to Crimes in Syria – 2 December 2013
Washington Post – UN: Syria crimes evidence ‘indicates’ Assad role – 2 December 2013
Guantanamo Bay Detainees Sue Poland over Alleged CIA-Affiliated Torture
by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
STRASBOURG, France – Two terror suspects currently held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba brought a case to the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday, alleging that Poland was contributing to human rights abuses against them by the United States.
Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri claim that they were tortured at a secret prison in Poland affiliated with the CIA from 2002 to 2003. The two suspects allege that they were subjected to torture and isolated detention while in Poland. They claim that they were interrogated with waterboarding, and had mock executions performed on them while being told their family was going to be sexually abused.
Zubaydah, a 42-year-old Palestinian, was accused of coordinating travel arrangements for jihadis loyal to Osama Bin Laden, including those who carried out the September 2001 attacks in the U.S. al-Nashiri, 48, a Saudi, was accused of organizing the 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen, in which 17 sailors died.
The U.S.’s war on terror allegedly included CIA operated detention centers in several European countries, according to reports by a Council of Europe investigator. The detention center at issue in Poland is known as Stare Kiejkuty, an intelligence training base near Szczytno in northern Poland.
The suspects were allegedly flown to Poland on the same rendition plane in December 2002. Former U.S. President George W. Bush authorized the rendition policy shortly after the 9/11 attacks to allow the CIA to interrogate terror suspects secretly outside the US.
Zubaydah and al-Nashiri’s lawyers are representing them in Strasbourg and a court statement said their submissions are based mainly on publicly available sources, because of the restrictions imposed on them at Guantanamo Bay.
An investigator at the human rights group Reprieve, stated, “European support for the CIA’s torture program is one of the darkest chapters of our recent history – it is encouraging that the court now looks set to bring it to light, where the [Polish] government has sought to sweep it under the carpet. We have now heard overwhelming and uncontested evidence that the CIA was running a secret torture prison on Polish soil, with the Polish government’s knowledge.”
“The Polish government has failed to contest that it knew prisoners were being held beyond the rule of law and tortured by the CIA inside their own country. It has also become clear that the Polish government’s investigation into the issue was in reality nothing more than a smoke-screen, which was neither designed nor intended to get to the truth,” the investigator stated.
No judgment was issued on Tuesday, however one will be issued at an undisclosed future date.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Two Terror Suspects Sue Poland Over “CIA Torture” – 3 December 2013
The Guardian – Guantanamo Bay Detainees Claim Poland Allowed CIA Torture – 3 December 2013
Polskie Radio – Human Rights Court Examines CIA Prison in Poland Allegations – 3 December 2013
The Voice of Russia – Terror Suspects Sue Poland For Conniving in CIA Torture – 3 December 2013
North Korea Ousts Another Top Official
By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
PYONGYANG, North Korea–In another sign of an escalating power struggle amongst North Korea’s elite, South Korea’s intelligence agency reported Tuesday the “No. 2 man” in the isolated North appeared to have been disposed from power.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers that Jang Song Thaek, uncle of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, was “recently ousted from his position” as Vice Chairman of North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission, and that “two of his closest confidantes — Ri Yong Ha and Jang Soo-Kil — were publicly executed in mid-November,” according to opposition lawmaker Jung Cheong Rae.
Still unverified, Jang’s ousting could represent the most serious political shakeup in North Korea since former leader Kim Jong-Il’s death in December 2011.
Jang was widely regarded as second in command in the North Korean leadership, owing to his blood-link to the ruling family, and his visible presence abroad. He married the daughter of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung in the early 1970s and was a close confidant of late leader Kim Jong-il.
“The NIS has assessed the cause of Jang’s fallout to be an internal power struggle,” Cho Won-jin, a conservative lawmaker who was briefed by the NIS, told reporters. “It was a power struggle to consolidate Kim Jong-un’s one man rule.”
Jang was known to have played a critical role in ensuring the smooth succession of his nephew into his role as the head of North Korea’s intelligence and police agencies. Jang was also known as one of the more pro-market reformers among North Korea’s powerful elite.
His influence was on display during a state visit to China in August 2012, on which he brought along fifty North Korean representatives to discuss the two countries’ cooperation in special economic zones near the border. He was received by the then-Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabo.
Some South Korean experts suggest the instability created by this alleged power struggle could lead the isolated nuclear-armed state to take even greater provocative actions on the world stage, in an effort to quell discord and reinforce unity, and reinvigorate the North’s international perception.
“In looking at past cases, when the North Korean regime becomes unstable, there could be more frequent provocations directed against the South,” Yang Moo-jin, a North Korean expert at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul, told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “If so, then the South-North Korean relations could worsen and the tension on the Korean peninsula will heighten.”
Other experts were not surprised by the reports of Jang’s ouster.
“The signs have been there for some time that Jang was fading. He has been appearing less and less frequently in Kim Jong Un’s presence, or indeed, at all. If that change in his previously high-profile visibility was not caused by health problems, it suggested a political problem,” said one expert, who spoke to CBS News.
The expert also suggested that Jang’s appearance as a “top leader” was hyperbolic, and indicated that the regime is, and always has been, top-centric.
“There is no power in North Korea except that at the top. From the moment Kim Jong Il died almost two years ago, Jang was vulnerable. He probably had a lot of enemies, but he no longer had any top cover,” said the expert. “It wouldn’t be surprising if Kim Jong Il had told his son to watch Jang carefully, and to cut him down when the time came.”
For more information, please see:
BBC News–North Korea powerbroker ‘dismissed’— 3 December 2013
Washington Post–Kim Jong Un’s uncle ‘very likely’ removed from power— 3 December 2013
Bangkok Post–N. Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ousted, says South Korea— 3 December 2013
CBS News–North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly sacks his uncle Jang Seong-thaek, No. 2 man in regime— 3 December 2013
Al Jazeera–N Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ‘sacked’— 3 December 2013