By Michael Yoakum Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
WASHINGTON D.C., United States – Former CIA employee Edward Snowden exploded into news headlines Sunday after the Guardian revealed him to be the party responsible for declassifying the NSA program code-named PRISM. Snowden, who more recently worked as a contractor for the NSA, revealed that the NSA obtained phone meta data from Verizon customers and has “direct access” to the server contents of service providers like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook.
Snowden, 29, worked as a contractor for the NSA for three months before leaking classified materials. (Photo Courtesy of the South China Morning Post and EPA)
Snowden worked at Booz Allen Hamilton where he contracted with the NSA as a system administrator. After three months, Snowden left his position, and, on May 20, traveled to Hong Kong to seek asylum. It was there that, on June 6, Snowden contacted the Washington Post and the UK-based Guardian to provide details about PRISM as well as general information about US espionage operations.
Since releasing the classified materials, Snowden has remained in Hong Kong to give interviews to a select group of media outlets. Fox News reported that Snowden chose to travel to Hong Kong because of its “strong tradition of free speech.” While Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the US, it makes exceptions for political asylum seekers.
If Snowden is returned the US, however, he may not face the long prison sentence one might expect. According to a Reuters article, only nine people have been tried for crimes similar to those of which Snowden is accused (six of which were prosecuted under the Obama administration). Of the six who have been sentenced, the maximum jail sentence was approximately two years, with two receiving no jail sentences at all. The remaining three still have legal action pending.
In an interview given Wednesday to The South China Morning Post (“SCMP”), Snowden said he would not flee Hong Kong, opting instead to leave his fate to the semi-autonomous city’s justice system. Snowden went on to state that he believed the NSA to be responsible for 61,000 hacking operations worldwide, including many in China and Hong Kong.
Snowden went on to explain that by using “network backbones – [which are] like huge internet routers,” the NSA was able to access communications between hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack them individually. According to the SCMP, Snowden said, “‘Last week the American government happily operated in the shadows with no respect for the consent of the governed, but no longer.'”
Since Snowden leaked classified NSA materials, members of Congress have been split into two camps: those angry at Snowden for leaking information, and those angry at the Obama administration for allowing the NSA to conduct such a sweeping surveillance program.
by Darrin Simmons Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait-Twitter is a social media network which has become popular in recent years for allowing people to post what they think online. However, the ability to voice one’s opinion via the internet is not always met without repercussions.
Kuwaiti court convicts Twitters users for criticisms against the emir, Sheikh Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah (Photo courtesy of Aljazeera)
Huda al-Ajmi, a 37-year-old Kuwaiti teacher, was sentenced to eleven years in jail after posting on twitter comments that were reasoned to be insulting to the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah.
Along with insulting Sheikh Sabah, Huda al-Ajmi was convicted of inciting the overthrow of the regime and misuses of her mobile phone. She was sentenced to two consecutive five year terms for insulting the emir and one year for insulting an unspecified religious group.
Despite the rarity for woman to serve jail time for political crimes, several Kuwaiti courts have sentenced two female activists to shorter periods in jail for their criticism of the emir. However, the implementation of the terms was suspended.
Sheikh Sabah, who is “immune and inviolable” under Kuwait’s constitution, has received criticisms from others as well. Mussallam al-Barrak, a prominent opposition figure, was convicted in April of “undermining” the emir. He was arrested for remarks he made regarding the emir’s “autocratic” rule. In May, an appeals court overturned his five-year sentence.
Although Kuwait has not yet experienced the same degree of pro-democracy as has been seen in other Arab states, tensions have been escalating between the ruling Sabah family and the members of parliament.
Kuwait, which allows more freedom of speech than most other Gulf Arab states, has tightened control over its citizens’ use of social media. Convictions of several other Twitter uses over the past few months have caused anger and protests between police and activists.
U.S. based Human Rights Watch issued a statement in February saying that at least twenty five people have been charged with offending Sheikh Sabah by Kuwaiti prosecutors since October. Of those twenty five people, at least six were sentenced to time in jail.
Being allies with Kuwait, the United States has considerable interest in these matters. Due to the rising tension, the United States has urged Kuwait to consider its actions and respect their peoples’ right to freedom of expression.
Huda al-Ajmi’s has become the first woman convicted for criticizing Kuwait’s ruler, and her sentence is the longest sentence of jail time for political crimes issued in Kuwait. She has yet to be taken into custody and will have the opportunity to appeal the Kuwaiti court’s decision.
For decades, the Totalitarian Dictatorial Syrian regime prevented public gatherings and peaceful sit-ins, and tortured and arrested anyone who did or tried to participate in such acts.
When the Syrian Revolution began under the context of the Arab Spring, mosques were the only place available for demonstrations. Most of the demonstrations launched from mosques with participants from other sects and religions because they were the gathering points.
In this regard, Syrian government’s Armed Forces deliberately targeted to shatter the prestigious emotion that the Syrian People have for these mosques, so it shelled, destroyed, vandalized, and stormed mosques in unprecedented and barbaric ways. This is unprecedented, even when considering the days of French colonialism, in which the French government recognized the sanctity of the mosques and didn’t pursue anyone who entered a mosque.
SNHR already prepared a report on the percentage of destruction in Syria, in which more than 3 million buildings were affected, and more than 700,000 buildings were totally destroyed including houses, schools, mosques, and hospitals.
SNHR also conducted a report on destroyed or damaged schools, a report about destroyed or damaged churches, and a detailed report over hospitals. In this context, we reviewed in a survey conducted in all of the Syrian provinces regarding damaged and destroyed mosques. This survey took a while to compile, because of the high number of destroyed mosques.
First : Mosques Targeted by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
SNHR documented at least 1,451 mosques. At least 348 were completely destroyed due to shelling by Scud missiles, surface to surface missiles, TNT, artillery, and other weapons.
Targeted mosques were systematic and widespread in all Syrian governorates, in very large numbers where the ratio was distributed as follows:
Damascus countryside topped the statistic with almost 400 mosques, then Idlib, Daraa, Homs, and Aleppo:
Damascus countryside: 387
Idlib: 308
Daraa: 237
Homs: 217
Aleppo: 158
Homs: 135
Damascus: 92
Dier Alzoor: 67
Lattakia: 37
Raqqa: 25
Qunaitra: 5
Mosques in Hasaka, Tartous, and Swidaa were not targeted.
SNHR shot videos and photos of most of the destroyed mosques with their names and locations, and can provide them in any form asked for.
SNHR also documented in addition to destroyed mosques the murder of at least 48 orators and Imams of mosques in different Syrian Governorates by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces from shelling and raiding, and some in ethnical cleansing operations (Baniyas massacre and Jdidt Alfadl massacre) 6 field executions, 1 slaughtered with knives, and 2 who were arrested and cruelly tortured to death.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Bj18tlYYKBQUxKdDVKZFBHZU0/edit
Syrian Opposition converted many mosques into shelters because of the destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, that were shelled by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces.
About 100 mosques were converted into field hospitals to aide the injured.
Few mosques were converted into schools and educational places.
Appendix and attachments:
Examples for damaged and destroyed mosques in various different governorates
– Damascus Countryside: Doma, 1/1/2013, the effects of destruction on Taha mosque after being shelled by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Damascus Countryside: Doma, 2/11/2012, the effects of destruction on the big mosque by MIG
– Damascus Countryside: Mdira, 16/12/2012, the effects of destruction on the town mosque in which a rocket launcher was used by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
– Idlib: Binch, 13/2/2013, the effects of destruction on the town mosque for the second time by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
the first time
– Idlib: Maarat Alnoaman, 24/10/2012, huge destruction in Bilal mosque cause shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Idlib: Maarshmarin, 12/10/2012, effects of destruction on a mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Idlib: Taftanaz, 5/8/2012, effects of destruction on the town mosques from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Idlib: Maarat Alnoman, 20/11/2012, destroyed minaret of Thei Alnorin mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Idlib: Maarat Alnoman, 3/11/2012, effects of destruction of the Big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
Lattakia:
– Lattkia countryside: 31/7/2012, effects of destruction on mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Lattkia: Marwniate,24/9/2012, effects of destruction of the Khaled mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
Homs:
– Homs Talebesa – Awion Husain, 30/1/2013, shelled Alwahid mosque by Artillery by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs, Buwaydah Al Sharqiyah
3/1/2013, shelling the village mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
effects of destruction
– Homs – Alkhaldiah, 28/11/2012, shelling Iman mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – Sultaneah, 23/9/2012, shelling the town mosque with artillery by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – Alhwla, 10/9/2013, effects of destruction on the Taldao Archeological Mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – Alhwla, 10/9/2013, effects of destruction on Shuhadaa mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
eyewitnesses on the shelling incident
– Homs – Aldaba, 16/7/2012, effects of destruction on town mosque for the second time by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – Alhwla, 26/12/2012, effects of destruction on the town mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces centered near Hamiri checkpoint
– Homs – Alrastan, 21/9/2012, effects of destructions on Hidayah mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – Old City, 9/12/2012, destroyed mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Homs – 27/7/2012, targeting Khaled Bin Alwalid Archeologicalmosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces shelling
————————————–
Daraa:
– Daraa – Yadowda, 12/1/2013, shelled Yadowda village mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Daraa – Noaemeah, 3/9/2013, shelled Abo Bakr Alsdik mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Daraa – Shiekh Miskin, 10/11/2012, shelled Ali Bn Abi Taleb mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
Dier Alzoor:
– Dier Alzoor – Miadine, 15/10/2012, effects of destructions on the main mosque in the town from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Dier Alzoor – Albokamal, 8/9/2012, effects of destruction of the big mosque in the city of shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Dier Alzoor – Alaardi, 2/11/2012, effects of destruction of the Bilal mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
Hama:
– Hama – Kafar Nabodah, 13/2/2013, effects of shelling on the town mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Hama – Kafar Nabodah, 28/1/2013, shelling on city mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Hama – Karnaz, 1/2/2013, shelled big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Hama – Kafar Zita, 22/1/2013, shelled mosque in the town by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
————————————–
Aleppo:
– Aleppo – Tarek Albab, 14/9/2012, the effect of destruction caused by the shelling of Alaqsa martyrs mosque
– Aleppo – Andan, 25/9/2012, the effect of destruction caused by the shelling of the big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces
– Almahmandar ( Alkadi ) mosque, 26/8/2012
– Ismailiah Archeological mosque, 25/9/2012
– Othmaniah Archeological mosque, 21/9/2012
– Omayyad mosque
– Mosque in Alsalhine neighborhood, 22/8/2012
– Alkhair Archeological mosque, 12/11/2012
– Mosque in Jainagh area, 1/7/2012
– Almshatiah, 13/12/2012
– Fatima Alzahraa Mosque, 20/8/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA9DZo2sUW0 –
– Albotool Mosque, 20/8/2012
– Alrashid Mosque, 5/9/2012
Targeting Mosques by Armed Rebels
Some armed factions supporting the opposition targeted at least 4 minarets of mosques, and justified their action by claiming that Syrian Government’s Armed Forces had placed snipers in these minarets and targeted civilians. For example, a sniper who killed more than 27 civilians from the neighborhood was killed in an explosion in the Abo Bakr Mosque minaret in Daraa, which was located on a high hill overlooking the entire city.
Al Nusra troops stormed Hosseiniyeh, which belongs to a Shiite sect and is considered to be an enemy target. Most of them support Alassad’s regime. This incident occured in Jisr Ash-Shughur area.
Recommendations
Human Rights Council:
1- Consider the sanctity of mosques affected by the attacks that occurred in Syria as a violation of basic human rights;
2- Denounce violations committed against houses of worship and mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces, and document those attacks;
3- Pressure the Syrian Government’s Armed Troops and formally request it to stop its violations on mosques;
4- Persuade allies and supporters of the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces (who supply weapons and gear) to take clear positions against those violations and apply diplomatic and political pressure in an effort to stop and end these violations.
Arab League:
1- Denounce violations against houses of worship and mosques, and document those attacks;
2- Pressure regionally and internationally to make effective decisions in this regard;
3- Pressure the Syrian regime to stop those violations that affect Muslims all around the world;
4- Demand the states that can pressure the Al-Assad regime to stop its deliberate and widespread violations against mosques.
Security Council:
1- Denounce violations against houses of worship and mosques, and criminalize those attacks;
2- Issue a binding decision against the Syrian regime to stop all violations, specifically against all houses of worship and mosques;
3- Warn the Syrian government of the consequences for such violations against social peace and its leadership for sectarian and religious wars, and hold it fully responsible for their actions;
4- Demand the protection of mosques and other archeological places, and warn of their endangerment.
12 June 2013 – Roman Anin, Russian journalist for an independentNovaya Gazeta, has won the prestigious international journalism award for his investigative reporting oа the high-level Russian corruption uncovered by Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who was in retribution arrested andkilled in Russian police custody.
“The award to Roman Anin is a testament to his bravery and integrity in the fact of massive corruption in Russia and a tribute to the legacy of Sergei Magnitsky who gave his life for exposing the same crimes and standing up to the same principles and belief for the rule of law and accountability of government officials,” said Hermitage Capital representative.
The 2013 Knight International Journalism Award recognizes excellent reporting that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world, said the International Center for Journalists, making the announcement.
In 2007-2008, Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky uncovered how Russian officials and organised criminals stole $230 million from the Russian budget of the tax revenue paid by his client, Russian companies of the Hermitage Fund. After he reported and gave evidence of the crime, he himself was arrested on trumped-up charges, tortured to retract his testimony, and killed in the Russian Interior Ministry custody at the age of 37. Since his death, Russian authorities have exonerated all officials he named from any wrong-doing.
In 2011, Russian journalist for Novaya Gazeta, Roman Anin, began a series of explosive reports describing how the criminal conspiracy protected by government officials stole budget funds both before the $230 million theft uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky and after, and that these thefts continued even after Sergei Magnitsky’s death and their public exposure, using the same modus operandi. In an article called “Makhaon, Parfenion and He,” published on 28 September 2011, Roman Anin described links from the thefts to senior tax officials subsequently moved to senior positions with the Russian Defence Ministry (http://www.novayagazeta.ru/inquests/48714.html).
In an article published on 1 April 2012, called “VAT”, Roman Anin described how the same officials were involved in even more fraudulent VAT rebates, with the total amount of stolen funds reaching $800 million, and the role of Interior Ministry in abetting them(http://www.novayagazeta.ru/inquests/51924.html).
Roman Anin further uncovered how millions of dollars stolen by the corrupt criminal conspiracy exposed by Sergei Magnitsky were laundered via Russian banks and numerous European jurisdictions, including Austria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and others (http://www.novayagazeta.ru/inquests/53950.html).
In the article called “Beneficiaries” published on 13 August 2012, RomanAnin wrote:
“ThiscrimestoppedtobeaninternalaffairsforRussiaatthemomentwhenthefirststolendollarcrossedtheRussianborderandappearedonaccountsofWesternbanks for legalisation.”(http://www.novayagazeta.ru/inquests/53950.html)
Roman Anin majored in journalism at Moscow State University (MSU) and graduated in 2010. After graduating, he studied at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Science as a Ph.D. candidate in global economics. In 2012, he received three of the most prestigious awards in Russian investigative journalism: the Artem Borovik award, the Youlian Semenov award and the Andrey Sakharov award (http://www.icfj.org/roman-anin).
The 2013 Knight International Journalism Award award is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation which advances transformational ideas that promote quality journalism following the belief that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.
