You Can Have Free Speech in Kuwait, Just Don’t Offend the Emir

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait– Kuwait considers itself to be in the forefront of providing human rights and freedom of speech in the Middle East. Nevertheless, if one happens to say something that would “offend the emir,” then one has committed a violation that could potentially result in a five year prison sentence.

Former member of parliament, Khaled al-Tahus was one of a many individuals and ex-legislators who have recently been convicted for “offending the emir.” (Photo Courtesy of Arabian Business)

This past week, at least four individuals, three of which were former members of parliament, were convicted in court for “offending the emir,” Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The three former parliament members were Islamists Falah al-Sawwagh and Bader al-Dahum and populist Khaled al-Tahus. Each got received a three year prison sentence with their conviction.

The fourth individual to be convicted for “offending the emir” was a youth activist named Mohammad Eid al-Ajmi. Ajmi received the maximum five year sentence for a statement he made on the popular social networking site Twitter.

The three former parliament members were all arrested in October at a protest in opposition of the emir. The protest was in reaction to alterations the emir made in the voting system just six weeks prior to the election.

In Kuwait’s constitution, it is declared that the emir is “immune and inviolable,” hence it is illegal to criticize him. Kuwait’s government has stated on multiple occasions that it is all for free speech, however, it must act against such improper statements about the emir.

Since October, twenty five people have been charged with offending the emir. Of the twenty five, six so far have had to face jail terms.

Numerous groups including the U.S. government, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and domestic groups like the Kuwait Society for Human Rights have criticized the recent behavior of Kuwait’s government with respect to free speech and freedom of association.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland stated that, “we. . .oppose laws that curb the peaceful exercise of free expression.”

Amnesty International highlighted Kuwait’s increase on restrictions and pleaded that the country protect users of social media.

Nadim Houry, the deputy director of the Middle East region for Human Rights Watch went as far as to say that, “sending politicians to prison for criticizing the ruler is at odds with official claims that Kuwait is a beacon of freedom in the Gulf.”

Mohammad al-Humaidi, the director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights called for, “the government to expand freedoms and adhere to the international (human rights) conventions it has signed.”

For further information, please see:

Gulf News – End Jail Terms Over Offences to Rule, Human Rights Watch Says – 8 February 2013

Human Rights Watch – Kuwait: Quash Convictions for ‘Offending Emir’ – 7 February 2013

Arabian Business- Kuwait Jails Former MPs for Criticising Emir – 6 February 2013

Radical Islam – Kuwaiti Youth Gets Five Years for Insulting Emir – 5 February 2013

NHRC Investigates Teacher’s Alleged Torture of His Son

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa 

ABUJA, Nigeria – Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) began investigating a man who allegedly tortured his son.

Established in 1995, the National Human Rights Commission was established to serve as an extra-judicial mechanism for protecting human rights and raising awareness on human rights issues such as child abuse in Nigeria. (Photo courtesy of the National Human Rights Commission)

NHRC Executive Secretary Bem Angwe released a statement condemning the act as “inhuman, barbaric and wicked.”

A month ago, Mr. Christopher Ogbeun, a principal of a local government secondary school in Kogi state, found his son destroying a letter of approval from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) which authorized his school to be a center for regional examinations. Infuriated by what his son had done, he took an electric iron and burnt his 10-year old boy, Stephen.

Meanwhile, the police received a call from other family members asking for help to stop Mr. Ogbeun. When the police arrived at Mr. Ogbeun’s residence, they caught him tying his son’s hands. “If not for the intervention of the Special Ambush Squad, he would have killed the son,” said Mohammed Musa Katsina, the State Commissioner of Police.

During an interview with a local newspaper, Mr. Ogbeun explained, “when I asked him to tell me the truth, he refused, then I used the iron on him. He made me threaten him with the iron which I pressed on him.”

Stephen suffered several high-degree burns and remained in critical condition for weeks.

Since the incident, Mr. Ogbeun has been charged with unlawful detention and attempted murder under Section 325 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C. Vol.2, Laws of Lagos State 2003.

According to Angwe, the NHRC has taken a serious interest in the case hoping to put an end to such acts which he described as “unacceptable in the 21st Century Nigeria.” “The action of the perpetrators of all forms of violence contradicts Section 34 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which prohibits torture, inhuman and degrading treatment,” said Angwe.

He also told the press that the NHRC is about to hold a stakeholders’ meeting that will look into other issues of domestic violence. Stakeholders in this meeting shall include community leaders, civil society organisations, the academia and faith based organisations, who will collaborate with the NHRC in resolving cases similar to Stephen’s.

In 2003, Nigeria passed the Child Rights Law in compliance with the United Nations Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, which over 178 countries including Nigeria ratified. The Child Rights Law criminalizes any form of assault and abuse on children. However, although it was passed at the federal level, the law has not been effective in several states in the country. To this date, only 16 out of Nigeria’s 36 states have implemented the law.

 

For further information, please see:

Vanguard – NHRC probes teacher’s torturing of his 10-year-old son – 7 February 2013

All Africa – Nigeria: Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Leadership – Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Nigerian Tribune – Principal inflicts injury on son over WAEC approval letter – 22 January 2013

 

English Hospital Exhibits Horrific Health Care

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, United Kingdom – On Wednesday, a report, which examined conditions at Stafford Hospital in Staffordshire over a 50-month period between 2005 and 2009, exposed horrific inhumane treatment of patients. The subpar care led to hundreds of unnecessary deaths.

English hospital is under fire for their inhumane treatment of patients. (Photo Courtesy of The Independent)

The report cited various examples of the specific conditions. Some patients were left unbathed and lying in their own urine and excrement. Other patients drank water from vases because of thirst. Overworked staff members denied patients their medication, pain relief, and food. Furthermore, many patients died from contracting infections, and patients were sent home to die after a misdiagnosis of disease.

Approximately between 400 and 1,200 more deaths occurred than expected between 2005 and 2008.

Robert Francis, the government appointed lawyer, stated, “This is the story of the appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people. They were failed by a system which ignored the warning signs and put corporate interests and cost control ahead of patients and their safety.”

He continued, “There was a lack of care, compassion, humanity and leadership. The most basic standards of care were not observed, and fundamental rights to dignity were not respected.”

One widow stepped forward because she believed it was the medical and care management’s faults that led to her husband’s death. She stated, “Whether it’s a hospital or factory, if you have bad management the people below them are not going to care.”

After the Prime Minister questioned why no one was fired after the original release of the Hospital’s indignity, the General Medical Council (GMC) and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) began to take action against the personnel.

At least four doctors and 10 nurses face public professional misconduct hearings over their constant failure to provide adequate health care.

For example, Bonka Kostova, a healthcare assistant at Stafford Hospital, faces charges because she allegedly forced a patient into his wheelchair when he stood up, pushed him into a bathroom and dragged him out. When other nurses intervened, she began to scream, “I hate you” and “You are no longer a human being but an animal.”

Katherine Murphy, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said the report was a “watershed moment” for health service. She states, “It is clear from the report that there is a lot of blame to go around for what happened in Stafford. Unfortunately too many people have escaped genuine accountability.”

For further information, please see:

The Independent – Stafford Hospital Carer Accused of Dragging 73-Year-Old by Collar – 8 February 2013

Mirror – ‘Heartless Bunglers Allow My Husband to Die Alone’: Widow Blasts Crisis Hospital for Appalling Mistakes – 7 February 2013

BBC – Stafford Hospital: Hiding Mistakes ‘Should Be Criminal Offense’ – 6 February 2013

The New York Times – English Hospital Report Cites ‘Appalling’ Suffering – 6 February 2013

Nine Women Administering Polio Vaccines Shot Dead in Nigeria

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KANO, Nigeria — At least nine women who were inoculating children against polio have been shot dead in northern Nigeria by gunmen suspected of belonging to the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram.  The attacks took place in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, where families typically feel more comfortable allowing women inside their homes.

Nigerian women wait for their children to be immunized against polio in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. (Lost Angeles Times via Deji Yake / European Pressphoto Agency)


On Friday morning gunmen arrived by three-wheel taxis and opened fire in the Hotoro Hayi neighborhood, killing at least eight female vaccinators.  Four more people were killed in a second attack in the Unguwa Uku neighborhood.

The final death toll remains unclear; however, a Kano police spokesman, Musa Magaji Majia, said the attacks killed nine women who were administering oral drops to children as part of a polio vaccine drive.

Unfortunately, this is not the first strike against polio vaccinators in Kano.  For example, in October police reported that two officers who were involved in guarding an immunization drive were shot and killed.

While officers said there were no immediate suspects for the shootings, witnesses said the Islamist militant group Boko Haram was responsible.  Boko Haram, whose Hausa name is often translated into “Western education is sacrilege/forbidden,” has been behind a series of violent attacks across northern Nigeria.  Boko Haram continues to fight the country’s weak central government as the death toll climbs.

The sect has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.  This includes an attack in Kano in January 2012 that killed at least 185.

The attack on vaccinators highlights the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of three nations where polio still remains endemic.  Last year, Nigeria registered 121 new polio infections, more than half of all cases reported around the world, according to data from the World Health Organization.  The other two countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there were 58 polio cases in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan in 2012.

Moreover, in the past month, polio workers have also been targeted and killed in Pakistan, where the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts.  The Taliban accused health workers of working as U.S. spies and alleging that the vaccine makes children sterile.  These rumors have only grown since it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor helped the CIA discover Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts by maintaining a pretexual polio vaccination program.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Gunmen Kill Nigeria Women Giving Polio Vaccine– 8 February 2013

BBC News – Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano – 8 February 2013

Reuters – Gunmen Kill Nine Polio Health Workers in Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Washington Post – Suspected Islamic Extremists Kill at Least 9 Women Giving Polio Vaccines in Northern Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Thursday, 7 February 2013

“Yeah!”

The battles in Damascus City represent a serious escalation on part of rebel groups. In time, the regime will lose control of certain outlaying neighborhoods, such as Al-Qaboun, Al-Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Al-Qadam and the Yarmouk Camp, but it will remain entrenched in the center for a while, and will use massive fire power to wreak havoc on rebel-held areas. In short, we are heading towards an Aleppo-style stand-off in Damascus.  

Today’s Death Toll: 161 martyrs (including 13 women, 8 children and 1 martyr under torture). 68 in Hama (most of them were martyred in an explosion in Salamiya Munition Factory), 33 in Damascus and Suburbs, 28 in Homs, 14 in Aleppo, 6 in Daraa and 2 in Raqqa (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 366 points, 8 points were shelled by warplanes, 4 points by barrel bombs, 4 points by Cluster Bombs and 1 points (Eastern Ghouta) by Thermobaric Balloons

Artillery shelling was reported in 149 points, mortar shelling in 117 points and missile shelling in 83 points (LCCs).

Clashes: 169 locations. Successful operations include blocing an attmpt by regime forces to wrest control of Port Said Neighborhood in Damascus City, and asserting full control of Harmala checkpoint in Jobar Suburb. In Raqqa, FSA rebels took control of the Alam checkpoint in Raqqa city (LCCs).

 

News

Fight Expands in Damascus as Diplomatic Hopes Sink The expanded mayhem, described as some of the worst fighting to afflict Damascus in months, offered further indication that any hope for a diplomatic resolution to the nearly two-year-old conflict has all but evaporated.

Syrian jets bomb Damascus ring road to halt rebel push Warplanes fired rockets at southern parts of the route where rebels have spent the past 36 hours overrunning army positions and road blocks encircling the heart of the city, the site of key state security and intelligence installations.

Islamic Summit Backs Syria Dialogue Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose country is Syria’s closest ally in the Middle East, attended the summit and said at a news conference Thursday that he supported dialogue. He added that Egypt, Turkey and Iran were moving toward cooperation on Syria. But he also defended Bashar Assad regime, warning against meddling in the domestic affairs of other countries.

UN Chief Criticized Syria’s President The U.N. chief told a group of journalists Thursday that the Syrian crisis didn’t start because of terrorism — but he said because Assad continued to kill his own people, terrorist elements are now taking advantage of the turmoil. “He could have stopped this violence a long time ago and this political dialogue could have commenced a long time ago,” Ban said. “But he has been continuously killing … That’s why people, out of frustration, out of anger, they have been fighting against their own government.” The secretary-general strongly welcomed opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib’s proposal for political talks and expressed hope that Syrian authorities would accept it.

Aid doesn’t reach camp for displaced Syrians just outside Turkey This is Syria’s biggest camp for the internally displaced, and the flimsy tents shelter more than 20,000 people who have nowhere else to go. In its poverty and dire shortages, its poor hygiene and lack of utilities, Atma’s white wave has become a symbol of the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who’ve fled the fighting in their country… “We know about Atma,” said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a little-known U.N. agency. “In order to get to these parts of northern Syria you have to cross the border,” she told McClatchy on Wednesday. “We have to work with the government of Syria in order to cross the border.”

Syria Says ‘No Truth’ Israel Targeted Convoy Israel has all but confirmed it was behind the Jan. 30 airstrike a few miles (kilometers) from the Syrian capital, Damascus. U.S. officials said the Israelis struck a military research center and a convoy next to it carrying anti-aircraft weapons destined for the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Panetta backs Syria rebels arms plan In testimony to Congress, Leon Panetta said he still supported the supply of weapons to rebels fighting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The plan was proposed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus, then director of the CIA, but reportedly rebuffed by the White House. The US has so far offered only diplomatic backing to Syria’s rebels.

Syria Soldiers Dance To Usher In Online Video (VIDEO) A video posted online purportedly shows Syrian soldiers taking a break from the country’s civil war by bopping around to American R&B star Usher’s hit song “Yeah!”… Near the end of the video, they stop dancing and break into their version of an oft-heard battle chant in the Middle East: “With our souls, our blood, we sacrifice for you Bashar!” as black smoke billows from a building in the background. In a jarring finale, they shoot bursts of automatic gunfire in the air.

 

Special Reports

‘Syria could be a second Somalia’
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon warns of increasing Islamist forces in Syria, in an interview with DW: On the one hand, it seems as if there is no consensus in the Security Council. On the other, it has become a zero-sum game inside Syria between the opposition and Assad. There is no in-between; both sides are going to fight to the bitter end. This is very bad. Once Assad is gone, and nobody can say when, I’m afraid Syria will fall further into a chaotic situation of sectarian warfare. The danger is that the Islamists – the jihadists who have the weapons on the ground and the financial backing of certain Arab countries – will turn Syria into an extremist Islamist state, or a failed state like Somalia or Mali. In the absence of any international consensus, things could get very bad, especially for the Syrian people, and the situation will also destabilize the region, because what happens in Syria won’t stay in Syria. It will spill over into Lebanon and Iraq.

A film that foretold the downfall of the Baathist conceits
“Thirty-three years ago, I was a staunch advocate of modernising my homeland, Syria, to the degree that my first film was about building a dam: the Euphrates Dam, the source of pride and joy for the Baath Party.” That introduction to the film A Flood in Baath Country leads to a very different story. Life under the Baath Party in Syria was not about modernity, but about a facade that led to these past two years of bloodshed… “Today I regret that mistake I had committed in my youth. The collapse of a dam [Zeyzoun Dam in 2002] and the release of a report that foresees the same fate for the rest of dams that were built during the reign of the Baath Party pushed me back to the location of my first film.”

A staggering map of the 54 countries that reportedly participated in the CIA’s rendition program
The section on Syria is disturbing. That government’s record of horrific abuses has spilled out into the open since the uprising of 2011 became a civil war, with more Syrians subjected to – and speaking out about – a torture regime that sounds as if it were from another century. According to a 2005 article by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, quoted in the report, Syria was one of the “most common destinations for rendered suspects.” Government forces, according to the report, held some U.S.-provided detainees in a prison known as “The Grave” for its coffin-sized cells and subjected them to “torture involving a chair frame used to stretch the spine (the ‘German chair’) and beatings.”

In Syria, blood flows while money runs dry
From oil shortages to commodities inflation and climbing unemployment, the Syrian economy is essentially bankrupt. Will it change the course of fighting? Not any time soon.

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.”

Ground War: Syria’s Rebels Prepare to Take a Province from Assad
It was pomegranate season when the battle for Wadi Deif began in mid-October. Like so many rebel offensives, the fight for the Syrian military base, just east of the devastated city of Maaret Numan and one of the last major loyalist outposts in the vast northern province of Idlib, soon sputtered for the usual reasons — the rebels’ lack of coordination, lack of ammunition and heavy weapons and the strength of regime reinforcements backed by airpower and artillery…

On Wednesday, the push to take it was forcefully renewed, but unlike previous offensives here and elsewhere that tend to be disorganized, poorly-coordinated actions by a few brigades, this phase of the battle has been carefully planned over many weeks. It is not an isolated fight but part of a wider strategy, codenamed Marakit il Bina il Marsoos, or The Battle of Reinforced Structures, to open all of the remaining fronts in Idlib province at around the same time — Wadi Deif, the Karmid Checkpoint, the Mastoomeh Checkpoint, the Abu Duhoor military airport, and the smaller checkpoints associated with these outposts — before rebels turn their full attention to the regime forces concentrated in Idlib city, the provincial capital, and the city of Jisr al-Shughour, the two key urban areas still in the regime’s firm grip. If the rebels succeed, they will have created the first “liberated” province in Syria, an area completely free of regime forces and a de-facto “safe zone” — without direct international help.

The offensive is overseen by a council of religious clerics, a Sharia court led by Jabhat al-Nusra, the militant group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S but widely respected by rebels for its disciplined fighting prowess. The court has knitted together dozens of groups from across Idlib province, extracting a sworn pledge from each brigade leader that he will work with the other groups under the direction of the court and will not compete with his counterparts for any ghanaim, or spoils of war, from the outposts if they fall.

It’s not the first time Jabhat al-Nusra has taken the organizational lead in a fight in Idlib. In coordination with the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham brigades, it shepherded the final two-week phase in the months-long battle for the strategically important Taftanaz military airport that fell to the rebels in mid-January. The participation of other groups in those final stages of the fight was only at Jabhat’s invitation. Jabhat al-Nusra also established a committee that first itemized and then distributed the war spoils. Still, the sheer scale of Marakit il Bina il Marsoos, its multiple fronts, and the pledges to the Sharia court mark it as a new battlefield experiment the rebels hope will be emulated by others if it is successful.

Settling Syria: Why a Negotiated Peace is Possible — And Likely
In Syria, if the rebels were going to achieve a decisive military victory, they would have done so by now. The real options left there are quite narrow. The Alawites, the religious minority loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, are also not likely to achieve a military victory. Even if they were able to defeat the rebels, it would be a temporary lull. Instead, leaders in Damascus could offer amnesty to the rebels to initiate negotiations for a formal cease-fire, which would include international monitoring and peacekeeping troops. That would create the space to begin a slow, deliberate process of formal mediation that addresses all of the major conflict issues. Mediation ought to involve third parties and all the major factions of the opposition. Of peace agreements that have met those conditions, less than five have failed in the last 25 years.

The goal of prolonged mediation should be a final agreement, built upon previous ones, in which inclusiveness and broad institutional reforms are the goal. Civil war data and current conflict trends predict that the Syrian conflict will end in a negotiated settlement. The only choice is whether it will be soon, leaving Syria largely intact, or later, when even more of the country is in ruins.

Putting the foolishness of the first sentence aside (for no one provided the rebels with the kind of support that could help them achieve military victory), from an academic standpoint, the above assertions make excellent sense, but getting us from here to where such a plan could be implemented, requires much work, including empowering certain rebel groups and neutralizing Assad’s airpower. For so long as Jabhat Al-Nusra and its affiliates are currently in charge of leading offensives in Aleppo, Al-Raqqah, Deir Ezzor and Idlib, among other areas, and so long as Assad remains capable of wreaking havoc on rebel strongholds, no international monitors, no peacekeeping troops, no dialogue and no process are possible. Si vis pacem para bellum. Mr. Panetta seems to have understood this, while President Obama continues to mull things over.

 

Video Highlights

A leaked video shows pro-Assad soldiers dancing to Usher’s “Yeah!” during a lull in ongoing clashes in the town ofBasr Al-Harir in Daraa Province http://youtu.be/bRfTnWhgBW8 The lull was short-lived, clashes soon resumed

The pounding of the Daraa City continues http://youtu.be/ZsF_xoQxy-s , http://youtu.be/nu9NTuHXPz0 ,http://youtu.be/GRLDXQBbBcU

Clashes in Damascus City continue: The pounding begins at dawn http://youtu.be/-VPL6DJ9Eg4  Rebels pound a checkpoint in Jobar http://youtu.be/a1V6cR6FDOg Loyalists respond with mortars, tanks and MiGs http://youtu.be/nstKhrepEgE , http://youtu.be/NSEAI4kd83o Loyalists are trying to regain control of the Harmaleh checkpoint along the southern ring highway http://youtu.be/2MbLYVGeH44 But rebels push back and manage to destroy some of the attacking tanks http://youtu.be/DiifnWXp9UI Scenes from yesterday’s battle that allowed rebels to take control of the Harmala Checkpoint http://youtu.be/NPv7wTiQt9k

Pro-Assad militias in action in Qaboun http://youtu.be/sZgXSYms6nw , http://youtu.be/2LS_0QKRXd8 Al-Qadamneighborhood was also pounded http://youtu.be/uMp6FvMz7t0 With more rebels coming to take part in defending ithttp://youtu.be/NHeHKfTQ3ig Clashes in Al-Qadam train station continue http://youtu.be/fqKpdIcWI0Y The pounding of Eastern Ghoutah with MiGs continues http://youtu.be/_6s8zfaJ-Vo

In the Northeast, the pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/WaJ1BiT1aME , http://youtu.be/8O-jUsYp2UM , http://youtu.be/2perpWEJvE8 But rebels try to fight back using improvised missiles http://youtu.be/LlhXYkS16Tc

In Raqqa, major clashes took place in the town of Tabaqa, with helicopter taking part in pounding rebel positions http://youtu.be/7wdJnS55K3w Rebels try to take down the helicopter http://youtu.be/CXjGKcDeiOo Rebels take control of an attacking tank http://youtu.be/ssfa0HCMgIM Sounds of clashes http://youtu.be/Bo3HSJTxf30 Rebels mange to take control of the Alam Checkpoint http://youtu.be/rPYKET9zzmw , http://youtu.be/Dh0A3WlDO6g