By Kevin M. Mathewson Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Militants have killed at least 11 Afghan policemen at a checkpoint on the Pakistani border. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack took place on the border of Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)
The Taliban, a hard line Islamic group, has proved to be a major threat to the Afghan government.
The attack took place against a series of border check posts in the Shorabak District of Kandahar Province.
Insurgents attacked the border post in the early hours of Sunday morning, said a spokesman for the Kandahar police. In the overnight attack the Taliban insurgents used heavy weapons, including mortars. The insurgents then escaped back across the border to Pakistan, where they are believed to be based.
Also on Sunday, in an unrelated attack, two coalition soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in eastern Afghanistan.
Then early Monday morning, a district intelligent chief was assassinated on his way to work. Abdul Hussein was sprayed with bullets as he was riding a motorcycle Monday morning near the city of Kunduz.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for these attacks.
The attack on the border police on Sunday comes less than a week after insurgents ambushed a police convoy in the Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan, killing 10 and taking 16 prisoners.
The Taliban have ramped up their violence on security officials as foreign forces prepare to withdraw before the end of next year. Afghan police are in the forefront of the fight against Taliban militants. In 2012, more than 2,000 Afghan policemen were killed.
NEW DELHI, India– India’s cabinet moved to shield politicians found guilty of crimes by passing an executive order on Tuesday that could allow convicted lawmakers to continue to hold office and stand in elections, ahead of national polls due by next May.
People gather outside the Indian Parliament building during its session. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)
About thirty percent of Indian lawmakers across federal and state assemblies have pending criminal charges against them, and following a Supreme Court order in July, many faced being expelled from their seats. In response, the ruling congressional party had already moved a parliamentary bill to partially reverse the decision of the court, which held that any lawmaker found guilty of a crime could no longer hold or run for elected office.
The current ordinance is believed to resemble the content of the parliamentary bill, which would allow lawmakers facing criminal charges to continue taking part in parliamentary proceedings such as debates, but would not permit them to vote or receive a government salary.
The bill has not yet passed through India’s historically slow-moving parliament. Some commentators believe the government sprung to action in light of the possible corruption conviction of a key electoral ally of the majority, in a case set to conclude next week.
“When it comes to saving their convicted brethren, they act with lightning speed,” said Amulya Ganguli, a political analyst.
Following India’s 2009 general election, some thirty percent of the lawmakers sworn into the federal and state assemblies had criminal charges against them, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group.
In the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the national assembly, 162 of the 543 MPs indicated that there were pending criminal cases against them in sworn affidavits filed prior to elections. In the state assemblies, 1,258 of the 4,032 lawmakers declared criminal charges. The amount of subsequent convictions remains unknown.
Before July’s Supreme Court order, Indian lawmakers had been able to capitalize on a loophole whereby those who filed appeals within three months of a guilty verdict could stay in office.
The ordinance must be signed by Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in order to become law. The law must be ratified by parliament within six weeks of the next parliament session. Analysts suspect it will pass with ease.
“There is widespread support for this among the political class,” said Neerja Chowdhury, a political commentator and former political editor of The Indian Express newspaper.
The case due to conclude next week involves Lalu Prasad, a former chief minister for the eastern state of Bihar, and a frequent ally of the ruling congressional party. Prasad is accused of participating in a scam where money was allegedly taken from state treasuries to provide fodder for herds of livestock that later turned out to be non-existent.
“Lalu Prasad’s possible conviction could have prompted the cabinet to pass this ordinance,” Chowdhury said. “There are some who feel that…if they get Lalu Prasad on board they can win Bihar.”
Bihar is one of India’s most important electoral states.
Another influential figure, Rasheed Masood, a majority party member of India’s upper house and a former health minister, was found guilty last week in a corruption case. He was to be the first lawmaker to be affected by the Supreme Court order, according to local reports.
Numerous politicians have been charged with serious crimes such as rape and/or murder. Elected office is lucrative in a country where black markets often thrive under political protection. Political parties are often open to criminal syndicates who bring with them campaign financing.
NAIROBI, Kenya – The four-day siege at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall is finally over, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Tuesday.
Kenyan soldiers move into position outside of the mall. (Courtesy: Reuters)
In an address to the nation, Kenyatta said that five terrorists were killed, while 11 others believed to have been connected to the attack have been taken into custody. 61 civilians and six soldiers are also among the dead, according to Kenyatta, but more bodies, including possibly those of additional terrorists, may be buried in rubble, after three stories of the mall collapsed during the attack. The Red Cross put the death total at 62, and said that 65 people are still unaccounted for.
Kenyatta praised the people of his nation for their united stance and support during the siege.
“Fellow Kenyans, we have been badly hurt and feel great pain and loss, but we have been brave, united and strong. Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed,” he said.
Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was payback for Kenya’s military operations in Southern Somalia.
According to witnesses, the attackers questioned many of the civilians about their religious beliefs, and allowed Muslims to go free.
Remarkably, reports have circulated that a four-year old British boy was spared after he confronted a gunman and told him that he was a ‘very bad man’ as he protected his six-year old sister and mother, who had been shot in the leg.
The gunman then reportedly handed the children candy bars, and said “Please forgive me. We are not monsters.”
While most of the gunmen reportedly spoke English, Kenyatta would not confirm reports that some of the attackers were from outside the region, and possibly Westerners.
“Intelligence reports had suggested that a British woman and two or three American citizens may have been involved in the attack,” he said. “We cannot confirm the details at present, but forensic experts are working to ascertain the nationalities of the terrorists.”
Reports of the potential involvement of a British woman have caused many to wonder it could be Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of one of the bombers responsible for the London subway attacks in 2005. She has been dubbed “white widow” by the British press.
Lewthwaite is wanted for planning other attacks in Kenya, and has been linked to terrorist groups in the country.
Kenyatta declared that the attackers will be held fully accountable for the “mindless destruction, deaths, pain, loss and suffering we have all undergone as a national family.”
“These cowards will meet justice as will their accomplices and patrons wherever they are,” he vowed, pledging to work with allies in fighting terrorism.
Kenya will officially have a three-day mourning period.
CAIRO, Egypt –An Egyptian court issued a verdict Monday effectively banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist political party that was nation’s most powerful political group under the regime of the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. The Muslim brotherhood, its supporters and other Islamist groups in Egypt have been involved in protest against the July 3 coup that took President Morsi out of power.
Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting in Cairo, Egypt, this month. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)
The Presiding Judge, Mohammed al-Sayed, said “The court bans the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organization and its non-governmental organization and all the activities that it participates in and any organization derived from it.” According to MENA, the Egyptian state media, The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters decision to issue a ruling “to ban all activities by the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, the group emanating from it and its non-governmental organisation,” effectively amounts to a ban on the political party and any organization with ties to it. The ruling is a temporary action, it amounts to a preliminary injunction banning the activities of the organization. The ruling will stand until a higher court issues a permanent verdict.
The court was unclear about its reasons for deciding to ban the Muslim Brotherhood but the decision was issued after the leftist party, Tagammu, had sought the immediate action. The Tagammu party accused the Muslim Brotherhood of inciting “terrorism” and of exploiting religion for political gain.
The move has essentially returned the Muslim Brotherhood to its status as an illegal political organization it held under former President Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed for most of its 85 year history.
Ibrahim Moneir, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, called the court’s ruling a “totalitarian decision.” He said that despite the ruling the organization “will remain with God’s help, not by the orders by the judiciary of el-Sisi.” The “judiciary of el-Sisi” refers to General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who led the military coup that resulted in the overthrow of President Morsi on July 3.
The Muslim Brotherhood stated its belief that it will not be destroyed by the courts ruining on its official twitter feed. The tweet read; “The Muslim Brotherhood is part and parcel of Egyptian society. Corrupt and politically motivated judicial decisions cannot change that,” the Brotherhood said via its Twitter feed, in response to the verdict.
More than 2,000 Egyptian Islamists have been arrested over the past two months, the majority of those arrested have were Brotherhood supporters. Protests organized Pro-Morsi protesters, including Brotherhood supporters, have been violently cracked-down by the military government and many of the organizations leaders and supporters, including Morsi, have been arrested for “inciting terrorism.”
KHIRBET AL-MAKHUL, West Bank – Diplomats from various European countries, representing the United Nations, have spoken out to hold Israel accountable after soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces prevented them from delivering aid and supplies to citizens in Khirbet al-Makhul in the West Bank.
French Diplomat Marion Fesneau-Castaing being dragged out of her vehicle. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)
The diplomats have reported that as they arrived to the village of Bedouin in Khirbet al-Makhul, they were ordered out of their trucks and instructed not to unload the contents.
Supplies and aid were being delivered by the European diplomats after many homes in the area were demolished pursuant to an order of a High Court. Last Monday, the homes of these villagers were destroyed as Israeli’s High Court ruled that they were built without permits in the first place. Many of the Bedouin villagers have refused to leave the land, however, as their ancestors have lived on the land and grazed sheep there for generations.
The European diplomats reported that a dozen Israeli army jeeps bombarded them when they arrived in the area. A French diplomat, Marion Fesneau-Castaing, said she was forced to the ground from her vehicle.
“They dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard for my diplomatic immunity. This is how international law is being respected here,” Fesneau-Castaing has stated.
A spokesman for the British Consulate General in Jerusalem stated it was “concerned at reports that the Israeli military authorities have prevented the affected community from receiving humanitarian assistance. We have repeatedly made clear to the Israeli authorities our concerns over such demolitions, which we view as causing unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians; as harmful to the peace process; and as contrary to international humanitarian law.
The Israeli Defense Forces have contended that the diplomats may have abused their privileges, and reported that that dozens of Palestinians, foreign activists and diplomats had tried to set up tents, which it called a “provocation.”
UN Humanitarian Coordinator James Rawley stated that the Israeli authorities should “live up to their obligations as occupying power to protect those communities under their responsibility.”
In 2010, the discussions disintegrated amid disagreement on the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war, and the talks are aimed at reaching a permanent peace settlement with the Palestinians.
