Teacher Cuts Female Students’ Hair for Not Wearing Headscarves

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Eman Abu Bakar, a teacher in the Luxor province of Egypt, recently cut the hair of two schoolgirls as punishment for not covering their heads. Abu Bakar has since been transferred to another school and been docked a month’s payment. The father of one of the girls has filed a complaint against the teacher with the prosecutor’s office in Luxor. Zakaria Abdel Fatah, head of the state’s Education Directorate in Luxor, has also referred the teacher for administrative prosecution.

In Egyptian public schools, some girls wear traditional Muslim hijabs while others choose not to. (Photo Courtesy of Al Arabiya)

While Abu Bakar wore a niqab, a garment that covers everything but the woman’s eyes, all she required out of her students was a hijab, or headscarf. According to Berbesh Khairi el-Rawi, father to one of the girls, she made the girls stand in class with their hands above their heads for two hours. During that time, she would repeatedly warn them to cover their heads. Eventually a student would reach into his bag for scissors and would urge Abu Bakar to “implement” her threats. The teacher claims that her cuts “did not exceed two centimeters.”

“Whether in schools or outside schools, the general sentiment is that any abusive action, if it is justified as protection of Islam, is tolerable,” says Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights.

In Egyptian public schools, girls are not required to wear some kind of Islamic veil. Education Minister Ibrahim Ghoneim insists that wearing such a garment is a personal choice. Nevertheless, corporal punishment still occurs quite frequently, and Ghoneim supports it as long as it is not too severe. Such actions were not uncommon under “[f]ormer president Anwar Sadat [who] allowed Islamists to delve freely in the cultural and social arenas in return for confronting leftists and Nasserists,” said Kamal Moghith, an expert at the National Center of Education Research and Development. “Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood have been trying to intervene in education, both in syllabi and administration,” he claimed.

This incident arose during a time of serious debate about the role religion will play in Egypt’s new constitution. The panel tasked with drafting the constitution is largely Islamic, which has scared many liberals and Coptic Christians. At this time, there has also been a great increase in the amount of Christians who have been brought to trial for allegedly showing contempt for religion.

One such Coptic Christian on trial is twenty-seven year old Alber Saber Ayad. He was arrested after his neighbors told the authorities that he posted the “Innocence of Muslims” film to his Facebook page. While he was detained, he was beaten and cut with a razor blade. Despite the accusations against him, investigators were unable to find any trace of the video. Nevertheless, Saber faces a six-year prison sentence and a fine of five hundred Egyptian pounds for the charge of “defamation of religion.”

“Criticism of religions and other beliefs and ideas is a vital component of the right to freedom of expression,” claims Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Egypt Teacher Cuts Hair of Schoolgirls for not Wearing Muslim Headscarf – 17 October 2012

AnsaMed – Egypt: Teacher Cuts off Students’ Hair for not Wearing Hijab – 17 October 2012

Egypt Independent – Update: Teacher Faces Discipline for Cutting Unveiled Pupils’ Hair – 17 October 2012

Guardian – Egyptian Teacher ‘cut Hair of Schoolgirls who Refused to Cover Heads’ – 17 October 2012

Amnesty International – Egypt Must Release man on Trial for Criticizing Religion – 16 October 2012

UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Calls on Government to Disclose Names on Visa Bans Lists as a Result of Magnitsky Case

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

18 October 2012 – Yesterday, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that the British Government should publicly disclose the names of human rights abusers who have been denied entry into the UK.

Dmitry Klyuyev, black suit on right, attends meeting in Monaco in early July in Europe where delegates voted for a resolution calling on parliaments to draw up visa bans on suspects in the Magnitsky case. (Photo Courtesy of Voice of America)

The new policy recommendation was announced as part of the British Parliament’s review of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s approach to Human Rights, which was published in the Foreign Affairs Committee Third Report of Session 2012-13.  (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmfaff/116/116.pdf )

The Foreign Affairs Committee report and their recommendations followed the submission of evidence from Amnesty International, Fair Trials International, Hermitage Capital, Human Rights Watch, REDRESS and others.

“The Russian officials who tortured and killed Magnitsky are hiding behind a cloak of impunity and secrecy. Making the visa ban list public is the first step towards accountability for their actions and we are pleased to see the recommendations of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee calling on the British Government to do this,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

The Foreign Affairs Committee made this recommendation in the context of the high profile torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky by Russian officials.

The key recommendation of the Foreign Affairs Committee states: “The Government does not routinely publicise the identity of individuals denied a visa to enter the UK, and it has resisted calls to make public any denial of visas to enter the UK for those who held responsibility in the chain of events which led to the death of Mr Sergei Magnitsky in pre-trial detention in Russia in 2009. However, we believe that, when used sparingly, publicising the names of those denied entry on human rights grounds could be a valuable tool in drawing attention to the UK’s determination to uphold high standards of human rights, and we recommend that the Government make use of it.”

The report follows the House of Commons Backbench Committee motion in March 2012 entitled, “Human Rights and the Death of Sergei Magnitsky”, where MPs from all British political parties unanimously voted for the British Government to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on the Russian government officials who tortured and killed Sergei Magnitsky.  (http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/news/debate-on-human-rights-and-death-of-sergei-magnitsky/)

“It’s high time Britain named and shamed those responsible for the brutal murder of Sergei Magnitsky and similar atrocities in Russia and elsewhere, so the perpetrators can’t waltz into the UK as if nothing had happened,” said Dominic Raab MP, author of the Backbench Committee motion on Sergei Magnitsky.

Sergei Magnitsky (8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009), an outside lawyer for the Hermitage Fund, discovered that Russian police and government officials were involved in the theft of $230 million of state taxes through the largest tax refund fraud in Russian history. Magnitsky testified against the state officials involved, and in retribution was arrested and tortured to withdraw his testimony. Despite the systematic physical and psychological torture, Magnitsky refused to change his testimony. He died on 16 November 2009 at the age of 37 after being beaten to death by police with rubber batons while still in custody, leaving a wife and two children. In 2010, Transparency International, a leading civil society organisation fighting corruption, awarded its annual ‘Integrity Award’ posthumously to Sergei Magnitsky.

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Protesters Riot Over an Alleged Police Beating of a Truck Driver in Luzhou

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Local protests erupted in the Chinese city of Luzhou after a truck driver was allegedly beaten to death by police officers over an unknown dispute.

Locals riot in the streets of Luzhou. (Photo courtesy of China Digital Times)

Luzhou, a major city situated in the southwestern Sichuan province, experienced violent riots that lasted well into Wednesday night.  Bystanders took pictures and video footage of unruly mobs throwing rocks, bottles, and other objects at police forces.  Several police patrol vehicles had also been overturned and set on fire.

Amateur photographs and videos of the scene where the truck driver had died went viral on the Chinese “microblogging” site, “Sina Weibo.”  The photos and videos allegedly show the dead truck driver sprawled out on the ground as police tried to keep the smoldering crowd back and under control.  Local bloggers conveyed that the crowd around the scene swarmed the body of the dead truck driver and attempted to protect the corpse from being removed by the local authorities.

A Sichuan province official issued a statement saying the truck driver had died of a disease when traffic police asked the truck driver to stop blocking traffic and move his vehicle away from the middle of the road.  The official attempted to disperse the crowd by telling the protestors that the truck driver died of an illness and had, in fact, not been beaten to death by the traffic police.

Police reinforcements were brought in to contain the violent outburst by the protesting crowd.  Reports of arrests and police reinforcements using tear gas on protestors exploded on the internet.  Onlookers posted photographs, videos and blog post regarding the police brutality and retaliation against the protestors.

The violent riots over the dead truck driver in Luzhou, Sichuan province, comes during a period of political uncertainty in China.  The Communist Party meets next month in Beijing to install a new generation of central government leaders.

There were roughly 80,000 incidents of riots, protests, and other eruptions of unrest in the general population in 2007.  Experts estimate that in 2009, the number of violent eruptions of unrest had risen to 90,000 incidents.  Others estimate that the number may be even higher.

The Chinese Communist Party is in disarray and worries that the thousands of protests may soon transform into a national movement that may threaten the party’s iron grip over the country and the people.  The number of demonstrations and protests have risen in opposition of the Communist Party’s corruption, land grabs, abuse of power, and economic transgressions.

For further information, please see:

People’s Daily Online – Cops blamed for death as crowds riot – 18 October 2012

China Digital Times – Residents Take to Streets After Man Reported Killed – 17 October 2012

Offbeat China – Violent unrest in Luzhou, Sichuan, after traffic police beat driver to death. Censors already at work. – 17 October 2012

Reuters – Chinese residents take to streets after man reported killed – 17 October 2012

Envoy to Syria Calls for Temporary Ceasefire; Fears of Crisis Spillover Loom

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — On Wednesday, Joint UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called on pro-Assad forces and rebel fighters to arrange for a ceasefire next week, in recognition of the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, the day that marks the climax of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.  Brahimi believes that doing so would constitute a “microscopic step that would alleviate Syrian sorrow temporarily and provide the basis for a longer truce.”

While in Beirut on Wednesday, UN-Arab League Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said that the crisis in Syria might spill over into the rest of the region. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

After admitting that solving the Syrian crisis is “a very, very difficult” process, Brahimi stated his belief that a ceasefire would have a small possibility of leading to permanent peace.  Rebel representatives assured him that they will recognize one if the government takes the first step.

“The Syrian people, on both sides, are burying some 100 people a day,”  he told assembled press after he finished speaking with Lebanese officials in Beirut.  “Can we not ask that this toll falls for this holiday? This will not be a happy holiday for the Syrians, but we should at least strive to make it less sad.”

Recent history shows that complications usually arise between the Syrian army and rebels in negotiating a short-term ceasefire.  Both sides have blatantly disregarded past truces to which they had verbally committed.  Syria has dismissed the current plan, saying that rebel forces lack the unified leadership necessary to sign the armistice.

Brahimi also mentioned that the Syrian conflict has the potential of spilling into the rest of Middle East, potentially setting off a massive powder keg of chaos.

“This crisis cannot remain confined within Syrian territory,” he said on Wednesday.  “Either it is solved, or it gets worse…and sets [the region] ablaze.”

Fears of a broader conflict stem from the fact that the Syrian conflict is a sectarian one, pitting Sunnis against Shi’ites.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who was in Istanbul on Sunday for talks with Turkish leaders, warned that “the danger of a massive spillover is on the rise.  And that it is in nobody’s interest, including Russia’s.”

On Tuesday, Nabil El-Arabi, chief of the Arab League, gave his support to Brahimi’s truce proposal and asked for international support.  Turkey and Iran also voiced their support for the proposal.  Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said that while Turkey supports a ceasefire, his country is skeptical about whether it would last without an international force in place to maintain it.

In a comment to a Turkish news agency, Davutolgu said “A ceasefire can be declared, but the international community would need to take certain measures for its sustainability.”

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera — UN Envoy Warns of Syria Crisis Spillover — 17 October 2012

CBS News — UN Syria Envoy Calls on Assad to Start Truce — 17 October 2012

Reuters — Syria Envoy says Bloodshed Could Engulf Middle East — 17 October 2012

Khaleej Times — UN Envoy Urges Syria Truce as Conflict Enters 20th Month — 15 October 2012

Foxconn Admits to Employing 14 year-old Student Interns in China

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Yesterday, the world’s largest contract electronic maker, Foxconn Technology Group, admitted to using student interns in its Chinese factory.  The Taiwanese company has been employing students as young as fourteen years old.

Foxconn workers following the series of suicides in 2010. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

According to The Guardian, Chinese labor rights activists have accused many big companies, including Foxconn, of using student internship programs as a veil for cheap labor.

On Tuesday, Foxconn shared that it found interns under the legal working age of sixteen at its factory in Yantai, located in the northeastern Shandong province.  Foxconn, however, did not reveal how many of underage interns there were.

“Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks,” stated the company.

In defending its internship program, Foxconn stated that workers make up only 2.7% of its staff in China.  Moreover, internships can be long- or short- term, with the average lasting three and a half months.

Foxconn stated that the company would work with the local government to forbid schools involved in the Yantai factory from the internship program.  However, if these schools demonstrated compliance with company policy and, most importantly, labor law then they would not be barred from the program.

“This is not only a violation of China’s labour law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions,” Foxconn shared.  “However, we recognize that full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologized to each of the students for our role in this action.”

According to The Telegraph, in order to differentiate student interns from others, Foxconn gave them special worker ID numbers. Nonetheless, they worked alongside adults including night shifts and overtime.

“I did transport work, helping them move goods,” said one fourteen years old using the alias Xiao Wang.  “Right now, the night shift is 7:40pm until the morning. Whenever the work is done is when you get off your shift.”

Moreover, when asked how many days these student interns do not work a month, the response was “[n]ot even one.”

In September of this year, a riot took place at Foxconn’s plant in Taiyuan over living conditions inside the plant’s on-site dormitories for commuting workers.

Foxconn is Apple’s largest manufacturing partner and creates products for, among other companies, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.  However, the company stated that none of the under age interns were working on Apple products.

After a series of suicides in 2010 and reports of employment abuses, Foxconn and Apple were mandated to improve working conditions in the Chinese factories.

For further information, please see:

The Guardian – Foxconn used 14-year-old interns at its factory in China – 17 Oct. 2012

Los Angeles Times – Underage Foxconn interns working in China plant return to school – 17 Oct. 2012

The Telegraph – 14-year-olds employed on Foxconn factory production line – 17 Oct. 2012