Libyan Gunmen Kill 15 Soldiers

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

TRIPOLI, Libya – Gunmen have attacked a military checkpoint south-east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, killing 15 soldiers and wounding five.

The central government has struggled to control militia groups (photo courtesy of AFP)

Two years after Gaddafi was overthrown and killed, the north African country’s fragile central government is struggling to control rival militias competing for influence in the aftermath of the conflict.

A military official said the attack was near Bani Walid, a stronghold in 2011 of supporters of Gadaffi.

“The ambush happened on the road between Bani Walid and the town of Tarhouna, where the army had a checkpoint. They came under heavy gunfire. Between 12 and 15 soldiers were killed,” said Ali Sheikhi, a spokesman for the army joint chief of staff.

It is not clear who carried out the attack, but the government has struggled to control armed groups.

Clan and tribal rivalries, as well as Islamist groups, have flourished in the absence of strong central government and Libya’s armed forces cannot fully maintain order.

Four of the wounded soldiers are in serious condition and the bodies of the 15 soldiers killed were being kept in the hospital in Tarhouna, where the five wounded were also taken, according to Lana, the state-run news agency.

The main road to Bani Walid was closed while the incident was being investigated. It was the single largest known killing of military personnel since the 2011 civil war.

The new Libyan authorities have sought to impose law and order in the country, but violence has been rampant, particularly in Benghazi, which has been the center of opposition to Gaddafi’s rule.

In June, six soldiers from an elite special forces unit were shot dead in the eastern city of Benghazi by masked gunmen. At this same time, another six soldiers were killed at a checkpoint south of Sirte.

The lack of security in Libya has also been highlighted this year by clashes in Benghazi as protestors demanded the disbandment of militias.

The army is seen as out-manned and out-gunned by a mix of armed groups seemingly pursuing different agendas, says the BBC’s Rana Jawad in Tripoli.

For further information, please visit:

BBC News – Libyan gunmen kill 15 soldiers – 5 October 2013
The Frontier Post – Libyan gunmen kill 15 troops – 6 October 2013
Fox News Latino – 15 Soldiers killed in attack on military checkpoint in Libya – 5 October 2013
iol News – Gunmen kill 12 Libyan soldiers – 5 October 2013
Reuters – Libyan checkpoint ambush kills at least 12 soldiers – 5 October 2013
The Jerusalem Post – Gunmen ambush soldiers at Libyan checkpoint, kill at least 12 – 5 October 2013

Dutch Take Action to Force Release of Detained in Russia

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian officials shrugged at legal action taken by the Dutch to have 30 Greenpeace-affiliated persons released from a Murmansk detention facility. Around the world, protests drew attention to the matter.

Continued detention of Greenpeace activists sparked worldwide protests for their release. (Photo courtesy of Reuters).

In September 2013, Russian authorities arrested 30 participants in a Greenpeace protest against the Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform. Two activists scaled the structure before their arrest. Three others barricaded themselves in the radio room and tweeted live updates.

Currently, the participants are detained in the northern Russian city of Murmansk, and face piracy charges, which may result in a 15-year sentence.

Among those arrested aboard Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise were two Dutch citizens. On 4 October 2013, the Netherlands began legal proceedings against Russia for unlawful detention of activists and crew of the Arctic Sunrise, which was a Dutch-registered ship.

“With regard to its detention of the ship, Russia invokes its authority to ensure safety at sea in the vicinity of the oil platform,” Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans wrote. “The Netherlands agrees on the importance of safety at sea, but in this case we contest the lawfulness of detaining the ship and its crew.”

Other activists aboard the ship were from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the U.K., Ukraine, and the U.S.

Protesters have called for the activists’ release on an international scale. As a “global day of solidarity”, Greenpeace stated that it would hold up to 100 protests in approximately 48 countries. In support of 6 arrested British nationals, about 700 people protested at the Russian Embassy in London.

London protestors included Jude Law, Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, and Vivienne Westwood.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said that Russia asked the Netherlands several times to halt the ship’s “illegal activity.”

“Unfortunately, this was not done,” Meshkov said. “Therefore, we have far more questions for the Dutch side than they can have for us. Everything that happened with the Arctic Sunrise was pure provocation.”

Greenpeace claimed the activists held a peaceful protest in international waters, adding that Russian authorities boarded their ship and arrested the activists at gunpoint when they saw the group drive motorboats near an oil vessel owned by Russia and ExxonMobil.

Greenpeace International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo said, “The activists were taking a brave stand to protect all of us from climate change and the dangers of reckless oil drilling in the Arctic. Now it’s imperative that millions of us stand up with them to defend the Arctic and demand their immediate release.”

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Greenpeace Vigil for ‘Arctic 30’ Held in Russia, as Dutch File Legal Case – October 5, 2013

Guardian – Worldwide Vigils for Greenpeace Activists Held by Russian Authorities – October 5, 2013

Reuters – Russia Dismisses Dutch Legal Action over Greenpeace Activists – October 5, 2013

Sydney Morning Herald – Shattering Conclusion to a Voyage of Peaceful Protest – October 5, 2013

Impunity Watch – President Putin States Activists Who Protested on Russian Oil Rig Are Not Pirates – September 25, 2013

Court Allows Palestine Farmers to Return to Former Israeli Settlement

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East

RAMALLAH, Palestine – Palestinian farmers can now cultivate land that was the former site of the Homesh settlement in Samaria, after a ruling issued by the Attorney General’s office last week.

Palestinians remove Hebrew written by Israeli settlers on a water tank in a reclaimed area (photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The ruling followed a June decision by the state to cancel the 1978 military land seizure order, which took land from residents of the Palestinian village of Burka for the creation of a Nahal Brigade, soon after the settlement of Homesh on the Samaria hilltop in the West Bank was created.

Since the disengagement, Homesh – and the former Samaria settlements of Sanur, Ganim and Kadim – have been closed military zones. Access had been blocked to Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Now, as a result of the court ruling, Palestinians can enter Homesh, but Israeli citizens are still barred from entering the site.

Settlers and right-wing Israeli activists and politicians have pressed to resettle the Homesh settlement over the past eight years. Over the past several years, Israeli settlers have received temporary permission from the IDF to hold certain events at the former Homesh settlement. For example, last Passover, settlers held a holiday festival. Politicians have also visited the site, including Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who visited in 2009 as vice premier, where he called for Homesh to be resettled.

The Israel government dismantled Homesh and three other West Bank settlements in 2005. The settlements were dismantled in connection with a wider withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. However, until the court ruling, the government refused to allow the original Palestinian landowners from the local farming community to reclaim their land.

The Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a petition by the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din requesting the closed military zone be ended and the land returned to the Palestinians. On Thursday, farmers from the village of Burka were allowed to return to their land for the first time. Some Palestinians were reluctant to attempt to return. “I’m afraid to go there because the settlers are armed,” said Hassan Ashqer, a middle aged man who owns land in the former settlement area.

Palestinian rights lawyers are optimistic that the ruling will set a precedent that shows that Israel’s settlement policy can be reversed and Palestinian landowners can reclaim their land. “Once the owners are able to take back possession of their lands…it will be the first precedent ever [in the West Bank] in which an area used for settlement activity is being cultivated again by the Palestinians.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Palestinians Win Settlement Land from Israel – 3 October 2013

Fox News – After long legal battle, Palestinian farmers reclaim land they lost to a settlement – 3 October 2013

The Daily-Beast – Court Rules Settlement Land Belongs to Palestinians, But Victory is Hollow – 25 September 2013

Jerusalem Post – A-G: Palestinian farmers can return to Homesh – 16 September 2013

Suicide Attack on Militant Chief in Pakistan

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomb attack on a militant commander’s compound in the Balandkhel village of Pakistan has killed at least 15 people and injuring several others.

An injured man is carried into a hospital in Kohat following the attack on the home of militant commander Nabi Hanafi. (Photo courtesy of: Basit Shah/AFP/Getty Images)

The commander, Mullah Hanafi, has been fighting a branch of Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Some reports say Hanafi was injured in the attack and taken to the hospital, but others say it is still not clear if he was even in the compound.

Reports say early Thursday morning a Taliban suicide bomber fired shots into the compound before driving a car packed with explosive into the compound’s gates. There were also two other suicide bombers who attempted to launch a second attack but were killed by Hanafi’s men.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying five militants had targeted Hanfi because he had formed a militant group to fight them.

“Mullah Nabi had been our target and he will remain on our target list,” Shahid told Associated Press.

Most of the dead and injured are members of Mullah Hanafi’s group, however civilians were also among the causalities.

Mullah Hanafi, a veteran Taliban operative, was once associated with TTP but switched sides in early 2008 to fight them with his own militia. A local tribal leader, Malik Nek Marjaan, said the Pakistani government had been supporting Hanfi’s group in its battle against the Taliban.

The Taliban have been waging a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people in an attempt to impose Islamic law in Pakistan what U.S. forces leave the country.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has pushed for peace talks with the militants in an attempt to end the insurgency. But the Taliban have demanded the government release militant prisoners and begin withdrawing troops from the tribal region before they will participate in negotiations.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Pakistan attack on ‘militant chief’ Nabi Hanafi kills many – 3 October 2013

The Guardian – Pakistan suicide bomb attack on militant chief kills 15 people – 3 October 2013

Yahoo! News – Suicide car bombing kills 15 people in Pakistan – 3 October 2013

ABC News – Suicide Car Bombing Kills 15 People in Pakistan – 3 October 2013

Times of India – Suicide car bombing kills 15 people in Pakistan – 3 October 2013