Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami Jailed for Life in Qatar

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DOHA, Qatar –  A week ago, the poet Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami was handed a life sentence after a five-minute hearing in which no law was allegedly broken, Ajami was not present, and his lawyer was kept from entering any defense. Najib al-Nuaimi, Ajami’s attorney claims that the judge made the whole trial secret.

The poet Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami has received a life sentence for offending the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. (Photo Courtesy of the Guardian)

Ajami was arrested in November 2011 and ultimately convicted for “insulting” Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and “inciting to overthrow the ruling system.” These claims came after a video was posted on the internet of Ajami reciting his poem, Tunisian Jasmine.

The poem extols Tunisia’s uprising which kicked off the Arab Spring. One line of the poem stated that, “we are all Tunisia in the face of repressive coteries.”The poem further criticizes governments who restrict its people’s freedoms.

Qatar’s authorities interpreted the poem as criticizing the emir for not doing his job properly and encouraging attempts at a coup. Ajami contested this claim to the police whom arrested him, stating that if they had continued to read the poem they would see that he was thanking the emir.

Nevertheless, the police had Ajami arrested, and he’s been detained in solitary confinement since November 17, 2011.

Qatar holds itself out as a defender of human rights. It is a member of the Arab Charter on Human Rights and in Article 47 of Qatar’s constitution it guarantees freedom of expression. Furthermore, Qatar made efforts to establish a center for media freedom.

Despite the facade that Qatar is a safe haven for freedom of expression, Article 134 of Qatar’s penal code carries a five-year sentence for “anyone who challenged by any public means the exercise by the Emir of his rights or authorities or criticizes him.”Based on the sentence Ajami was given, it seems much more likely that he was convicted under Article 130 for trying “to overthrow the regime of the country.”

Deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Joe Stork, has said that “Qatar, after all its posturing as a supporter of freedom, turns out to be determined to keep its citizens quiet.”

He adds, “Ibn al-Dheeb’s alleged mockery of Qatar’s rulers can hardly compare to the mockery this judgment makes of the country’s posture as a regional center for media freedom.”

Al-Nuaimi has already filed an appeal, and Ajami’s case will be heard on December 30th. In the meantime, there will be pressure on the emir to pardon Ajami.

For further information, please see:

Democracy Now – Qatari Human Rights Official Defends Life Sentence for Poet who Praised Arab Spring Uprisings – 7 December 2012

Crescent – Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami and Sattar Beheshti: Agenda Driven Reporting – 4 December 2012

Human Rights Watch – Qatar: Poet’s Conviction Violates Free Expression – 4 December 2012

Guardian – Qatari Poet Jailed for Life After Writing Verse Inspired by Arab Spring – 29 November 2012

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Same-Sex Marriage Cases

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider, during its current term, two challenges to federal and state laws that only permit marriage between a man and a woman.

For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review two cases regarding same-sex marriage. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

The high court announced on Friday that it would hear a case challenging a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as well as a case challenging California’s Proposition 8, or Prop 8, a gay marriage ban that voters approved in 2008.

These cases mark the first time the Supreme Court will consider the issue of same-sex marriage.  The hearings are expected to take place in March, with the justices delivering their opinions by the end of June.

The issue has become a politically charged debate in recent years.  Just last month, three states joined a small number of states where gay marriage is legal.  Voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington passed laws legalizing gay marriage, bringing the total to nine states plus the District of Columbia.  Of the other 41 states, 31 have passed constitutional amendments banning it.

And even where it is legal, married same-sex couples do not qualify for many federal benefits because the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman.

Edith Windsor was “delirious with joy” upon hearing the Supreme Court would hear her DOMA case, reports The Guardian.   Windsor, 83, was forced to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes after her the death of her spouse, Thea Spyer, in 2009 because federal law did not recognize their marriage.

“I think DOMA is wrong for all of the various ways in which it discriminates against same-sex married couples and against gays altogether,” Windsor said.  “It’s enormously satisfying and fulfilling and exciting to be where we are now.”

Four lower federal courts and two federal appellate courts have ruled against DOMA.  Last October, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in Windsor’s case that a portion of DOMA was unconstitutional.  The provision in question, Section 3, denies gays and lesbians married under state laws benefits such as Social Security survivor payments and the right to file joint federal tax returns.

The Prop 8 case involves a review of California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban.  It passed in November 2008, months after a state supreme court ruled that same-sex marriages were legal.

Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.  The reasoning was that California could not take away the right to same-sex marriage after previously allowing it.  But the judges’ ruling was narrow; it only affected California and not any other states.

Supreme Court observers said it is unlikely that the justices will recognize a federal right to marriage equality.  Instead, many expect the high court’s ruling will be in the same narrow fashion—applying it only to California, regardless of the outcome.

For further information, please see:

The Guardian — US Supreme Court Agrees to Take up Two Gay Marriage Cases — 7 December 2012

Reuters — Supreme Court Takes up Same-Sex Marriage for First Time — 7 December 2012

SCOTUSblog.com — On Same-Sex Marriage, Options Open — 7 December 2012

The Washington Times — High Court Sets up Showdown over Gay Marriage — 7 December 2012

Russia Plans Retaliation After US Passes Magnitsky Bill

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe 

MOSCOW, Russia – On Thursday, the United States Congress passed a bill to stabilize trade with Russia. However, the bill will also simultaneously penalize Russian officials who are linked to human rights violations.

Sergei Magnitsky’s tombstone in a cemetery in Moscow. (Photo Courtesy of The Washington Post)

In August, Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), and as a result, opened its market and reduced tariffs under the terms of its membership.

The new United States trade legislation, which passed by large majorities in the House and Senate, replaces a 1974 provision, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, that connected trade relations with the former Soviet Union to the emigration of Jews and other Soviet minorities. Before the new trade provision was passed, the US was the only WTO member that could not take advantage of Russia’s newly modified market.

Under the Magnitsky bill, named after Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison three years ago after allegedly being tortured, the United States will release a list of Russian officials suspected to be involved with human rights violations and withhold their visas and freeze their financial assets.

The bill currently awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. President Obama, expressing his desire to sign the law, stated, “The legislation will ensure that American businesses and workers are able to take full advantage of the WTO rules and market access commitments that the United States worked so hard to negotiate.

He continued, “My administration will continue to work with Congress and our partners to support those seeking a free and democratic future for Russia and promote the rule of law and respect for human rights around the world.”

Furthermore, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, a supporter of the Magnitsky bill, said, “Today, we close a chapter in U.S. history. It served its purpose. Today, we open a new chapter in U.S. leadership for human rights.”

However, despite the optimism in the United States, Moscow does not favor the human rights portion of the trade bill. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the bill “a performance in the theatre of the absurd”.

The Ministry also said, “It’s strange and wild to hear such claims about human rights addressed to us by politicians of the very state where in the 21st Century torture and the kidnapping of people all over the world were officially legalized.”

Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that the Magnitsky provision will provoke a “symmetrical and asymmetrical reaction” from Russia. He continued, “It’s inadmissible when one country tries to dictate its will to another.”

As a response, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, announced Moscow’s plan to retaliate by barring “entry to Americans who are in fact guilty of human rights violations.”

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Russia to retaliate over US Magnitsky rights act – 7 December 2012

Reuters – US trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties – 7 December 2012

BBC News – US Congress passes ‘Magnitsky’ rule on Russia trade law – 6 December 2012

The Washington Post – Russia fumes as U.S. Senate passes Magnitsky law aimed at human rights – 6 December 2012

Report Alleges Abuse by Indian Officials in Kashmir

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – On Thursday, a 354 page report  published by human rights groups, International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), alleged that more than 500 members of India’s armed forces are in violation of human rights in India-administered Kashmir.

Soldiers in Kashmir Valley. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

Specifically, the report entitled “Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir” names nine colonels, three brigadiers of Indian Army, three lieutenant colonels, seventy eight majors, twenty five captains, and thirty seven senior officials of the federal Paramilitary forces as agents of countless human rights violations: rape, torture, custody deaths, and abduction.

“While we believe in fixing the responsibility on the individuals, we have highlighted the culpability of the Indian state in shielding the perpetrators,” stated APDP’s chief Parvez Imroz.

According to BBC News, human rights lawyer Kartik Murukutla and an author of the report relayed that India’s urgency in Kashmir was to “control the territory, not pursue justice.”

“For the victims, the wait for proper justice seems perpetual. In its approach to justice, the Indian state has not moved beyond cash relief or the promise of re-investigation.  The state has willfully lowered the standard of justice as well as the crimes perpetrated,” shared Mr. Murukutla.

IPTK and APDP had gathered information through India’s new freedom of information laws from the police and interviews with families and others.

“This report prepared over two years using information gleaned mostly from official State documents, portrays the state of impunity prevalent in J&K where identities of the individual perpetrators of crime are known,” read an executive summary released four days in advance of World Human Rights Day.

According to BBC News, an army spokesman relayed that he was unaware of such a report.  “If they have sent it to the defense ministry we have not received it so far.  We can respond after proper perusal of the document,” said Lt-Col HS Brar.

Since 1989, thousands have died in a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – Top Army, police officials involved in human rights abuse in Kashmir – 7 December 2012

BBC – India Officials accused of Kashmir rights abuses – 6 December 2012

Kafila – Full report: Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu & Kashmir – 6 December – 2012

 

 

 

Policemen Arrested For Disappering Youths During Chile’s Dictatorship

By Brendan Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile –  The fight against the human rights abuses committed under General Augusto Pinochet’s reign as President of Chile continues as a Chilean judge ordered the arrest and imprisonment of seven police officers for their alleged involvement in the disappearance and murder of 3 men and a child in 1973.

Judge Solis, continuing the fight against the active participants who aided General Pinochet’s reign as Chile’s President. (Photo Courtesy of La Nacion)

This is just the latest in Minister Alejandro Solis’ fight against impunity. In his final days as a judge, [he will be 75 before the end of the year] Solis has decided to prosecute seven police officers for their disappearance of Perez Godoy, 15, Jose Ramirez Diaz, 20, Catalan Pena, 20, and Vergara Gonzalez, 22.

According to judge Solis it is a crime against humanity to be affiliated with a “criminal organization which had, as its sole objective, to crack down on opponents of the military dictatorship, considered political enemies of president Augusto Pinochet.” While the victims in the particular set of offenses can hardly be considered political, their arrests and disappearance were made with such indifference and malice as to be considered a violation of human rights.

While details are sketchy it has been established that two of the victims, Vergara Gonzalez and Catalan Pena were eventually killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the month after the fall of President Salvador Allende and establishment of the military dictatorship of Pinochet, Gonzalez and Pena were travelling by van with Miriam Conteras Bell, the personal secretary of Allende. Their van was stopped by two of the now-detained officers – dressed as civilians – before being brought to a local Police station. In the days following the arrest the police denied they had been arrested, then changed their story claiming they had been released. After that all traces were lost, until their remains were identified 30 years later.

These arrests are just the latest in Chile’s fight against the remnants of Pinochet’s reign. The alleged officers who all worked at a Santiago neighborhood police station in Ñuñoa, were brought out of retirement to face charges; they were immediately detained by the PDI and brought to a detention center. This level of security was initiated as Judge Solis declared them a “danger to the security of society.”

The victims were discovered in 1991 in a mass grave in the General Cemetery of Santiago. Buried along with them were hundreds of other unidentified bodies, their bodies only having been identified in 2003 via DNA testing.

For further information, please see:

Cooperativa – Seven Former Policemen Were Remanded In Custody By Cases DD.DD. – 7 December, 2012

La Nacion – 7 Ex Police Processed By Kidnappings And Executions Of People – 7 December, 2012

La Republica – Chile: Detention Of 7 Excarabineros Ordered Death Of Four Youths in 1973 – 7 December, 2012

Terra Noticias – Court Orders Arrest Of 7 Excarabinerous Chilean Death Of 4 Young People In 1973 – 7 December, 2012

I Love Chile – Former DINA Agents Prosecuted For Crimes Against Humanity – 6 December, 2012