Four Prisoners Hanged in Nigeria

By Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria – Four prisoners have been hanged in Southern Nigeria; the first known execution in the past seven years.  The justice commissioner of the state of Edo told reports that the prisoners have been convicted of armed robbery or murder.  Local media says that President Goodluck Jonathan recently asked state governors to sign death warrants in an effort to reduce crime.

Prisoners sit on a Nigerian Prison bus. (Courtesy of AFP/FILE)

Today, more than 1,000 prisoners in Nigeria are believed to be on death row.

“If confirmed, these executions mark a sudden, brutal return to the use of the death penalty in Nigeria, a truly dark day for human rights in the country,” stated Nigeria’s deputy director of Africa, Lucy Freeman.

Although these executions are the first known since 2006, Nigerian security forces have been repeatedly accused of extra-judicial killings during that time period.  The human rights organization urged Nigerian authorities to stop all executions immediately and “return to a moratorium on executions in the country.”  Further, this organization stated that “[w]e oppose the death penalty in all cases without exception, as it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”

This execution was initially delayed because of technical issues with the gallows; however, on Monday the executions went ahead.

There also is a fifth man that is intended to be executed.  However, he will not be hanged because his sentence dates back to before 1999 in the military era and his sentence called for him to be killed by a firing squad, which prison authorities were not prepared to do on Monday.

The state’s justice minister told Reuters that the four men “have been on death row for a long time and they were executed yesterday.”  However, he did not state why authorities decided to use the death penalty after a seven year gap.

The four men had made appeals, exhausted their administrative remedies, but their death warrants were signed.

The state’s justice minister states that “[i]f the international community deems it wrong they should approach the national assembly for review of the law.”

For further information, please see:

FBC News — Nigeria executes prisoners for first time since 2006 — 25 June 2013

Africa Eagle — Nigeria Executes Prisoners In Southern State For The First Time Since 2006 — 25 June 2013

Reuters — Nigeria hangs four prisoners in first executions since 2006 — 25 June 2013

BBC News — Nigeria executes prisoners for first time since 2006 — 24 June 2013

Fox News — Nigeria hangs 4 prisoners in first executions since 2006 — 24 June 2013

Prison Populations Explode as North Korea Cracks Down on Defectors

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea– North Korea’s prison population continues to swell as the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un,  has implemented an extensive crackdown on persons caught fleeing the country. Suspected defectors are being sentenced to a minimum of five years in brutal prison work camps, and prison populations at each facility now number in the thousands.

Nine teen defectors who were returned from Laos last month. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

North Korea has long been considered a restrictive country when it comes to human rights, however researchers in South Korea believe that since Kim Jong Un succeeded his father, the country’s boarder security has reached new heights. According to Insung Kim, a researcher with the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (DCNKHR), the nation’s crackdown can be imagined as “tightening the noose.” Kim, who works extensively with North Koreans who have managed to escape the country to safety in South Korea, believes that “this is to set an example to the North Korean people.”

Following his rise to power, Kim Jong Un sought an agreement with North Korea’s main ally, China, through which any North Korean citizen found in China would be forcibly repatriated in Pyongyang, where they would face legal recourse for defection. Under North Korean law defection is the equivalent of treason, and those attempts which are considered “serious”, according to the penal code, are punishable by life imprisonment. While the penal code does not explicitly define a “serious” act of defection, researchers from institutions such as the DCNKHR believe that a “serious” defection involves recieving aid from American or South Korean missionary groups. In certain circumstances, the penal code provides for a death sentence.

Defectors are typically sentenced to labor in one of the nation’s five, sprawling work camp facilities. The facilities, modeled after the Soviet Gulag system, are isolated from the rest of the country, often surrounded by natural barriers such as mountains or rivers. At least one of these camps, Yodok, has been specially reserved for those prisoners repatriated from China. Kang Cheol-hwan, a former inmate in Yodok, wrote extensively about the experience in his book, “The Aquariums of Pyongyang.” 

Estimates of the prison population range from 100,000 to 200,000, of which approximately five (5) percent are defectors. According to DCNKHR, this approximation reflects a “five-fold” increase in the number of detained defectors over the last ten years. According to researchers within South Korea, the number of refugees received has steadily decreased since Kim Jong Un took power. In 2009, 2,929 refugees crossed the boarder into South Korea. Last year, only 1,509 were reported.

This crackdown was recently brought to light after nine North Koreans, mostly teenagers, were captured in Laos and repatriated through China. Human rights groups fear that these young people will fall victim to indefinite detention and torture at the hands of the North Korean government. Despite these fears, the international community can do little to assuage the impact of this heavy-handed crackdown. The government continues to deny outsiders access to the detention facilities, and largely denies the existence of the labor camps.

In the mean time, North Korea has taken advantage of these nine defectors, parading them on stage at the Koryo Hall of Compatriots last Thursday. An official government statement announced that the nine were “abducted” by South Korean “flesh traffickers.” According to the Korean Central News Agency the young defectors chose to “return to the arms of their fatherland” after being tricked into leaving North Korea in a “sordid plot” by the “puppet regime of South Korea.”

 For more information, please see:

AP News — Crackdown filling North Korean prisons with defectors — 12 June 2013

Huffington Post — North Korea Defectors Swelling Prison Population As Thousands Caught — 12 June 2013

NBC News — ‘Tightening the noose’: Crackdown on defectors fills North Korea prison camps — 12 June 2013

The Telegraph — North Korea Parades Defectors — 21 June 2013

Chosun Ilbo — N.Korea Parades Young Refugees Before Media — 21 June 2013

Jerusalem Post — N.Korean survivor: Don’t repeat Holocaust-era inaction — 22 June 2013

 

 

Lebanon Troops Attacked at Security Checkpoint

by Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Police arrested a follower of Sunni Musslim Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir at a security checkpoint twenty-eight miles south of Beirut on Sunday June 23rd.  The arrest sparked attacks on the police by other followers of the Sheikh.

Blocked roads and violent attacks plagued the city of Tripoli on Sunday June 23rd (photo courtesy of Reuters)

Reports say that at least ten Shi’ite soldiers were killed and forty wounded along with two Sunni gunmen being killed and thirteen wounded during the attack.  Violence has erupted due to Syrian conflict pitting Sunni rebels against Shi’ite supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, straining sectarian relations in Lebanon.

Sunni Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir has been surrounded by controversy after rising to power due to his strong opposition to Hezbollah and its ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Sheikh Ahmed recently has called on his supporters to fire on apartments near his home mosque that he believes to be used for surveillance on him by Hezbollah.

During Sunday’s fight, the Sheikh released a video message saying, “[w]e are being attacked by the Lebanese army,” and accusing the Shi’ite military of being “sectarian” in support of Hezbollah.  “I call on everyone. . .to cut off roads and to all honorable soldiers, Sunni and non-Sunni, to quit the army immediately,” continued the video message.

Following the security checkpoint clash and the Sheikh’s video message, Lebanon experienced severe outbursts of fighting throughout the regent.  Blocked roads and small protests in support of the Shi’ite army popped up in the province of Metn, north of Beirut.

“They are heightened in other cities, most notably Tripoli, and roads are said to be blocked.  There are also attempts to block certain roads in Beirut as well in support of Sheikh Assir,” said one reporter.

Bekaa Valley, home to a large Shi’ite population and Sunni supporters of the Syrian opposition experienced blocked roads and streets guarded by gunmen.  Ain al-Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, suffered gunfire between Sunni radical groups and the Shi’ite army.

Shi’ite troops have been funneled to the various outbursts and the interior minister and other political leaders have been called on to take a stand.  The army issued a statement claiming that they would not tolerate Sunni uprisings and that it will “strike back with an iron fist anyone who. . .spills the bold of the army.”

“In cold blood” became the unofficial motto of the Shi’ite army who continued to fight against the Sunni rebels.  This tumultuous time in Lebanon has been equated to a fifteen year civil war in 1975, causing many to fear a repeat of history.

For more information, please see the following:

Al Bawaba – Lebanese army ramps up fight against radicals after Sidon deaths – 24 June 2013

Aljazeera – Violence spreads as troops killed in Lebanon – 24 June 2013

Sky News – Three Lebanese troops killed in clash– 24 June 2013

Reuters – Syria-linked clashes kill at least eight in Lebanon – 23 June 2013

Arrest of Syrian Network for Human Rights’ member in Aleppo

Name: Abeer Wanas

Father’s name: Adel

Mother’s name: Rahima Maesa Modares

Date of incident: 18/6/2013

Sex: Female

Date of birth: 1977

On Tuesday, 18 June 2013, Syrian Security Forces’ patrol broke into human rights defender, and member of the  Syrian Network for Human Right activist Abeer Wanas, without any formal charge and absent of prior-notifications.

Syrian Network for Human Rights has almost certain information that she is in political security branch in Aleppo.

SNHR daily documents more than 5 cases of civilians being tortured to death, including activists, where Syrian Security Forces do not distinguish between human rights activists, media activists, and fighters.  Also, security forces do not take gender into account.

SNHR documented 26 cases where women were tortured to death.  The last one was the media activist Marwa Hamdo Khalil, 21 years old – student in Sharia college – Aleppo governorate.

From this standpoint we are so afraid on the fate of human rights defender Abeer Wanas, where she might have been subjected to torture in order to reveal the SNHR members that she was dealing with.  The other goal is to send threatening letters to SNHR through the arrest of its members or their relatives to stop not just their work, but collectively ours also.

The detainee of Syrian nationality hasn’t been mentioned by any Arab or International human rights hand, or made any action for his arrest.

The SNHR confirms the call for the immediate release of Abeer, and request that the necessary means to protect her life and ensure her physical and psychological safety while she is under arrest, and to increase pressure on the Syrian Government to stop daily ongoing human rights violation, and escalating attacks on human rights defenders.

We request the Syrian government to pay attention to fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organizations of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as recognized internationally, in particular:

Article 5

For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels:

(b) To form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups;

Article 12

2. The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.

SYRIA RELIEF NETWORK CALLS FOR CROSS-BORDER AID DELIVERIES

SRN Urges International Support for 5.2 Billion Dollar UN Aid Appeal

Washington, DC – The Syria Relief Network (SRN) urged the international community to support the record-setting 5.2 billion dollar aid appeal issued by the United Nations last week and to continue to contribute to providing for the basic and urgent needs of the Syrian people affected by the Syrian crisis. The Syria Relief Network also urged the United Nations and Security Council to work with all stakeholders to reach as hasty an end to the conflict as possible.

SRN noted that the Syrian regime monopolizes the distribution of international humanitarian aid inside Syria by being the only legal entity interacting with international organizations. The result is that a huge percentage of assistance does not reach Syrians who are in desperate need for it, especially those who reside in areas outside of Syrian regime control. The United Nations should allow the transfer of assistance across international borders in order to distribute humanitarian aid to the millions of Syrians currently not receiving support. The Syria Relief Network assures its readiness to help in coordination and cooperation to deliver this aid through its member organizations which cover most of the affected areas in Syria and provide all kinds of humanitarian aid.

The Syrian crisis is expanding and every day the numbers of wounded, disabled, orphans, and refugees are increasing. According to the UN, more than 93,000 Syrians lost their lives in the conflict; around 7.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 4.25 million who are internally displaced. A further 1.6 million have fled the country and sought refuge in neighboring countries. More than half of all Syrians will need life-saving assistance by the end of 2013, the United Nations warned in its historic appeal to cope with Syria’s “unraveling” chaos.

Under these circumstances, the Syria Relief Network was initiated during a humanitarian aid organizations conference held in Turkey in January 2013. The Syria Relief Network consists of Syrian non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian aid to Syrian people inside and outside Syria. The network is working on building a platform for coordination and cooperation between Syrian and international humanitarian aid organizations and aims at building a needs map for all affected areas and refugee camps inside and outside Syria.

For further information, please see:

http://www.scpss.org/index.php?pid=589&lng=en