Swedish Police Have Removed the Russian Arrest Warrant Against Mr Browder from their Databases

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Distribution

1 November 2013 – The Swedish police have informed William Browder, the leader of the global justice campaign for Sergei Magnitsky, that they have removed the Russian arrest warrant in relation to him from Swedish police databases.

Following Mr Browder’s successful campaign to impose financial and visa sanctions on the Russian officials who killed Sergei Magnitsky in the United States, the Russian government retaliated by launching politically motivated criminal proceedings against him in Russia, which ended in the conviction of Mr Browder in absentia for nine years along with Mr Browder’s murdered lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, posthumously in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history.

Mr Browder was planning to travel to Sweden in September to make a presentation to the Swedish Parliament at the invitation of Mats Johansson MP on the progress of implementing Magnitsky sanctions in Europe. Prior to his visit, Mr Browder applied to the Swedish authorities for a letter of safe passage to gain assurances that he would not be arrested on a Russian arrest warrant when he arrived in Sweden. The Swedish government refused to provide him with that letter and his trip was cancelled.

Sweden’s decision was contrary to the decisions of Germany, France, the UK and Interpol not to act of Russian requests against Mr Browder.

Following a loud domestic and international uproar over the Swedish government’s reluctance to guarantee the freedom for Mr Browder to campaign on this case in Sweden, the Rikskriminalpolisen, the Swedish police authority, has written to Mr Browder’s lawyers providing him with assurances that he would indeed be safe to travel to Sweden.

“We can therefore assure you that your client would not have been detained on the grounds of the request for extradition from Russia based on the diffusions which Interpol considered contrary to Interpol’s Constitution,” said the Swedish police authority in their letter.

The letter went on further to say that it has deleted all data on Mr Browder from the Swedish police data systems.

“The information in relation to Mr Browder will be erased…This decision is due to a message from Interpol General Secretariat…where a diffusion from the Russian Federation received in Stockholm…this year, concerning the above mentioned person, is considered a notice of political character and thus not authorised according to the Interpol’s Constitution,” said Swedish police authority in their notification.

“I look forward to coming to Sweden to carry on my campaign to get the Swedish government to stop Sergei Magnitsky’s torturers and killers from coming to Stockholm and from keeping their blood money in Swedish banks. I’m pleased that the Swedish law enforcement agencies will allow me to travel safely to Sweden,” said William Browder.

For further information, please see:

Law and Order in Russia

Fuel Shortages Lead to Power Outages in Gaza

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A shortage of fuel has led to blackouts across the Gaza Strip after Palestinian Enclave’s only power plant halted production. The plant supplies one third of Electricity to the Gaza Strip. The plant’s operators claimed that they no longer have enough fuel to keep the plant producing electricity for residents of the Gaza Strip after tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt were shut down.

Palestinian children study by candlelight in their family home during a power cut in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on September 18, 2013. Daily blackouts will become more common after the power plant in Nusairat Gaza was shutdown last week due to fuel shortages. (Photo courtesy of the Times of Israel)

Gaza residents have suffered around eight hours of daily blackouts in recent years as a result of fuel shortages. The Gaza Energy Authority said the plant’s closure could mean Palestinians in Gaza will suffer 12 hours of daily blackouts.

Energy Authority deputy chairman, Fathi el-Sheikh Khalil Said “we have completely stopped the operation of [the] power plant this morning at 6:00 a.m. because we don’t have a single liter of fuel.” He said that the plant was shut down because of the fuel shortage and that the “all parts of life in Gaza will be affected.”

Electricity had been cut off across most of the territory on Friday morning. Khalil blamed the power outage on Israel’s destruction of tunnels used for bringing fuel and other supplies into to Gaza. He also argued that the Western-backed government of the Palestinian Authority has been charging Hamas unreasonable prices for fuel. He said “less than 50 percent of the needs of the Gaza Strip are currently covered by electricity from Israel” he said Gaza “can no longer get Egyptian fuel due to the destruction of tunnels from Egypt.”

While many residents of the Gaza Strip depend on the state of Israel for electricity services Khalil said; “less than 50 percent of the needs of the Gaza Strip are currently covered by electricity from Israel [and] we can no longer get Egyptian fuel due to the destruction of tunnels from Egypt. We tried to get fuel from Israel via the Palestinian Authority, but it has imposed prohibitive taxes.”

The Palestinian Authority to deliver fuel to Gaza without the usual taxes last week in order to help address the electricity crisis. It would have allowed the Hamas government to purchase 400,000 liters of fuel a day. However the Palestinian Authority backed away from its offer.

 According to Khalil; “the plant will remain shut until fuel supplies resume from Egypt through the tunnels or the Rafah border crossing, or from Israel if the Palestinian Authority agrees not to impose the heavy taxes.”

While in the past Gaza has depended on Egypt for fuel, relations between Gaza and the Egyptian state have deteriorated significantly since President Morsi was removed from power in Egypt in July. The military regime in Cairo has begun to destroy tunnels connecting Egypt’s Sinai region to the Gaza Strip. The military regime has cited security concerns related to its counterterrorism efforts in the Sinai Peninsula as a justification for the destruction of the tunnels. Government Officials in Gaza claim that at least 80 percent of the tunnels have been destroyed since the military regime in Egypt took power in July.

For more information please see:

Agence France-Presse – Power Outage across Gaza as Fuel Runs Out: Hamas – 1 November 2013

Al Jazeera – Gaza Power Plant Shuts Down as Fuel Runs Out – 1 November 2013

The Jerusalem Post – Gaza’s Sole Power Plant Shuts Down Due to Fuel Shortage – 1 November 2013

The Jerusalem Post – Power Stops in Gaza Strip as Fuel Runs Out – 1 November 2013

Times of Israel – Power Outage in Gaza as Sole Plant Halts Electricity Production – 1 November 2013

U.S. Drone Strike Kills Leader of Pakistani Taliban

By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A U.S. drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban.  Several other militants, including two of Mehsud’s bodyguards, were killed in the strike.  Mehsud is believed to have been behind the failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square in 2010, as well as numerous attacks in Pakistan that have killed thousands.

Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a U.S. drone strike (Photo Courtesy BBC).

Mehsud, who is “the self-proclaimed emir of the Pakistani Taliban,” is on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list.  He is also on the CIA’s most wanted list for his role in the December 2009 suicide bombing that killed seven Americans in Afghanistan.  He had been indicted on several charges, including conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens abroad and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. citizens abroad.

The drone strike, which took place in the tribal areas of Northern Pakistan, is a dangerous area to be and has been subject to numerous other U.S. drone strikes.  As a result, it makes it difficult for journalists to independently confirm information.  Such difficulty is reflected in several reports over the past few years that claimed Mehsud had been killed.

However, a senior Pakistani government official said that he “ think[s] it’s quite clear Hakimullah Mehsud has died . . . two of his bodyguards died and reports from the ground suggest he was killed too.”  Additionally, a U.S. intelligence official confirmed the drone strike took place and that Mehsud had been killed.

The Taliban also confirmed Mehsud’s death in a statement that said, “We confirm with great sorrow that our esteemed leader was martyred in a drone attack.”

The strike and death, however, comes at a sensitive time as the Pakistani government has been trying to come to a peaceful agreement with the Taliban.  To date, the fighting has killed thousands of Pakistani civilians.  Mehsud had said he was open to peace talks with Pakistan, as his only targets are “America and its friends,” but that no one had approached him about it.

Drone strikes themselves are controversial in Pakistan, where many view the use of drones as an infringement on sovereignty.  Additionally, the strikes often kill innocent civilians, though the number killed is disputed.

Earlier this week the Pakistani government reported that since 2008, only 3% of the causalities from U.S. drone strikes were civilians.  The government also reported that 2,227 people had been killed by U.S. drone strikes since 2008.  Other independent organizations claim, however, that as many as 13% of the causalities were civilians.

Though Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the U.S. to stop the strikes, it has been reported that the Pakistani government has secretly supported many of the U.S. strikes against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  The U.S., meanwhile, has given no indication that it will abandon its use of drone strikes, despite reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that argue some of the attacks may have violated international law.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Pakistan Says Drone Strikes Killed 67 Civilians Since 2008 – 31 October 2013

BBC – Pakistan Taliban Say Chief Mehsud Killed In Drone Strike – 1 November 2013

CBS News – Pakistani Taliban Leader Among Dead In Suspected U.S. Drone Strike, Officials Say – 1 November 2013

CNN – 3 Dead In First U.S. Drone Strike In Pakistan Since Leaders Met – 31 October 2013