**WARNING: THE VIDEOS BELOW MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES**
Al-Houla | Homs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_CI6hdLZD8
A clip showing the body of a man who was tortured to death by regime forces.
Homs | Al-Rasten
After regime forces besiege a village for four days with shelling, a make-shift hospital is full of the victims and wounded, most of them women and children.
Lattakia | Hama
Pro-government Shabeeha militias stop a UN international observer’s car to prevent the workers inside from reaching Al-Hiffeh and documenting the crimes and abuses being perpetrated for the fourth day in a row.
CASUALTY REPORT
78 confirmed casualties killed by the regime on Thursday, 14 June 2012.
By Mark O’Brien Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
HAVANA, Cuba — A Cuban human rights organization reported Thursday that the Cuban government arrested more than 400 people for political reasons during the month of May.
Cuban police released opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez after U.S. leaders denounced his arrest and beating. (Image Courtesy of The Miami Herald)
The opposition Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation said there were at least 423 arbitrary arrests last month, part of what it calls a “disturbing” trend.
“The Cuban government has among the highest number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in the world,” said activist-leader Elizardo Sanchez in the commission’s monthly report, according to Fox News Latino.
The report came less than a day after police released Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez amid U.S. demands for his release.
Many dissidents believe Cuban authorities arrested García Pérez because of his testimony to a U.S. Senate subcommittee about recent harassment of oppositionists in Cuba. Police arrested García Pérez within 48 hours of his testimony, which happened via teleconference from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
Reports quickly surfaced that García Pérez was beaten by Cuban authorities. According to the Wall Street Journal, “An activist who was with (García Pérez) at the jail said that police pumped pepper spray into his mouth until he lost consciousness. He was later taken away to a detention center, and his wife was not allowed to see him for more than three days.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was among those denouncing the beating of García Pérez and accusing Cuba of retaliation.
“I want to be crystal clear that I strongly condemn any efforts to intimidate Mr. Perez or any other Cuban citizen into silence,” Kerry was quoted as saying in the Charlotte Observer. “I echo the calls of my Senate colleagues, demanding an end to repression in Cuba and urging international observers to conduct and investigation into his detention.”
The Miami Herald reports criticism has grown in recent days because President Raúl Castro has increased efforts to block opposition plans to honor political prisoners on Father’s Day this Sunday. The government has reportedly blocked cell phones of several dissidents so they cannot communicate with supporters or journalists.
“These actions highlight once again the repressive nature of the Cuban government,” said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, “particularly with regard to citizens who peacefully express opposite points of view.”
For the opposition Commission on Human Rights, however, they continue to speak out. The group also said Thursday that the government released data on Cuba’s prison population for the first time in 50 years. The official number of inmates stands at 57,337, but the commission estimates the total may reach 70,000.
Sanchez and his organization are calling on Cuba to open its jails to inspection by international organizations, including the Red Cross.
PRETORIA, South Africa — A recent report by two civil society organizations on South Africa’s immigration policies brought to light the discrepancies between the legal requirements for the deportation of migrants and its anomalous application.
Migrants waiting outside the Home Affairs offices in Johannesburg. (Photo Courtesy of Tshepo Lesole/Eyewitness News)
The findings of this report reveal that the deportation process involves an array of inconsistencies, violations and abuses consistent with other reports that have been carried out in the area over the last decade. This is despite the fact that South African law regulates the arrest, detention and deportation of illegal foreigners.
For instance, some of the undocumented immigrants were not informed of their illegal status and of their rights to contest their deportation at the time of their arrest.
The manner by which detention is conducted was found to be abusive. Detainees held in Lindela reported not going through any medical screening before detention. Data also shows a lack of access to medical services.
The report was also concerned with length of detention. According to law, detention must not last for more than 120 days. Contrary to this rule, however, it has been common practice to hold detainees for a much longer period. Several reports from legal experts described a release and re-arrest cycle of immigrants used to circumvent the 120 day maximum.
Another anomaly unearthed by the report is that the law leaves the detention of illegal foreigners on the discretion of immigration officers. The report shows that Immigration officers tend to favor detention such that suspected illegal immigrants are automatically detained as soon as they fail to provide the officers proof of their legitimate status.
South Africa receives more asylum seekers than any other country in the world with people mainly coming from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Somalia to escape poverty, insecurity, and political turmoil.
The report noted that South Africa’s focus on deportation practice stretches the resources of the government to combat real criminals and creates a climate that encourages xenophobia.
“Deportations are an ineffective and an expensive policy as those deported almost always return within days,” the report said. “In a survey carried out by the civil groups, over 200 respondents out of 227 said they would return if they were deported, while 144 of them had already been deported before and returned,” it added.
A dismal failure as president, Assad is emerging as an accomplished warlord. After all, all it takes is a willingness to kill and destroy with an air of nonchalant.
Wednesday June 13, 2012
Death tolls:Tuesday 65. Wednesday 77 (23 in Homs, 12 in Hama, 12 in Daraa, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 9 in Idlib, 7 in Aleppo, 2 in Lattakia, 1 in Raqqah, 1 in Daamscus Suburbs).
On Tuesday, most local resistance fighters withdrew from the besieged town of Haffeh, Lattakia Province, having run out of ammunition. But the situation was still tense on Wednesday despite reports that loyalist troops and militias have retaken villages surrounding the town.
In Deir Ezzor City, war conditions continue to prevail. Clashes between the local resistance and pro-Assad militias continue http://youtu.be/sWbKDHJSiA0 But reports from local activists indicate that defections are increasing, so are and casualties among loyalists. The massacre caused by the shelling of a rally on Monday leaving over 50 dead, was “avenged” on Wednesday, when attacks by local fighters left over 60 loyalist troops dead and 17 tanks destroyed http://youtu.be/hILRWjE5fJM Loyalists, however, continue to pound the city with heavy artillery and helicopters http://youtu.be/KclXHk1TBds ,http://youtu.be/pm_bVUi3p5Y .
Pounding of Rural Aleppo, Old Homs neighborhoods, Rastan, Qusayr, Talbisseh on Rural Homs, and Daraa communities, and Damascene suburbs continues. Helicopters are now taking over from tanks as the main weapons for attacking specific targets in restive communities.
Though rebels have also been found to have kidnapped, tortured and killed Syrians fighting for the government or backing it, the vast majority of abuses were carried out by Syrian government forces and allied militias, Amnesty International said, in a widespread and systematic campaign against civilians.
Accurate reporting in Syria is difficult, and has been made more so by the widespread violence. And despite the existence of legitimate data furnished by Syrian citizens, there is a cottage industry of nonsensical reports presented specifically to alter the perceptions of observers. Autocratic regimes retain their own propagandists and have a cordon of “useful idiots” disseminating the former’s data for their own reasons; Syria is no different. Damascus has its “Baghdad Bobs”; they’ve just been taken more seriously. As the West sits on its hands to see what may become of Syria, analysts must be circumspect in assessing the situation.
The cannons taking part in the pounding of Homs Cityhttp://youtu.be/0gYWKJXB5_M ,http://youtu.be/AoYSyXVmLuE I have asked before and I ask again, why can’t such position be struck from the air? Why can’t this crime in action that we are all watching be stopped?
By Heba Girgis Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
SANTIAGO, Chile — On June 10, 2012, Chilean police clashed with anti-Pinochet protesters in the streets of Chile’s capital city of Santiago. The demonstration took place outside of a theater that had released a documentary of the former dictator’s life and rule. The mayor of Santiago said that hundreds of anti-Pinochet demonstrators organized in the city and continued to launch what he called “coordinated attacks” in the city’s center hours after the screening at the Caupolican Theater.
Hundreds of Chileans Protest Screening of Documentary of Chile's Former Dictator. (Photo Courtesy of The New York Times).
In September 1973, Pinochet, a general at the time, led a coup against the current democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. Pinochet remained in power until 1990.
During his reign, the Chilean government estimated that more than 3,000 people were killed, including those whose bodies were never found. Also during his rule, many Chilean citizens were arrested, tortured or exiled from the country. Researches have also documented about 37,000 cases of torture and illegal detention under Pinochet’s regime.
Pinochet, who died in 2006, at the age of 91, was never sentenced for human rights abuses during his rule.
The film, honoring the former dictator, triggered a violent response. Five hundred police officers responded to the demonstrations dressed in full riot gear and equipped with tear gas and water cannons that were used against the civilians. The clash between police and anti-Pinochet protestors lasted about two hours, injuring twenty-two people and resulting in sixty-four arrests.
Regarding the law enforcement response, Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Association of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared (AFDD) said “the police are limiting our activity in order to allow activities in honor of the dictator. This is paying tribute to a criminal.” While, on the other side, supporters of Pinochet’s regime held posters with Pinochet’s photograph and the word “thanks” written underneath.
This controversial event, which brought out both supporters and protestors alike, caused one of the most violent demonstrations in Chile in recent years. Some find that this is a ceremony to honor history, while others bore signs that read “we cannot pay tribute to a murderer.”
Despite the controversial topic of the event and the documentary, the film named after the former ruler and directed by Ignacio Zegers received the prize “Hispana de Oro,” meaning “Hispanic Gold,” at the International Festival of Great Hispanoamerican Film last March.
