Report on the Al-Qubeir Massacre and Survivor Testimony

Al-Qubeir Massacre | 7 June 2012
The Syrian regime’s security forces and Shabeehas, pro-regime militias affiliated to security forces, have perpetrated a horrific massacre in Mazra’at Al-Qubeir.  Al-Qubeir is 20 km to the west of Hama city, and 2 km to the south of Ma’arzaf.  Seventy-eight victims are documented, including women and children.  Tanks leveled half of the houses, almost to complete destruction, and it is visible from afar by any visitor.

Some of SHNR & DCHRS members have met activists in the area, victims’ relatives and survivors from the massacre.  The UN and international investigations committees are in contact with them.  They all affirmed that the Syrian regime’s army raided many villages in western Rural Hama on Wednesday 06-06-2012.  The Syrian regime cut off all means of communications, internet, power, and water in the area so that they could perpetrate the massacre in silence.

The area was completely besieged by tanks and checkpoints, which explains the delay in reporting and documentation of the massacre and the victims.  The regime’s army forces raided the village of Jreijis and burned down many houses there. Then they raided the village of Ma’arzaf and assaulted the locals.  Around 01:00 pm, the regime’s army tanks started shelling the village of al-Qubeir. Then they raided it with buses full of Shabeehas, militias who come from the village of Aseelah and other villages loyal to the regime.

The regime forces and Shabeehas opened fire randomly on the residents of the village of Mazra’at al-Qubeir, including men, women and children.  They led men outside the houses and slaughtered many of them with knives.  They also burned more than 21 bodies to obscure evidence of the crime. They abducted 37 bodies so that the international observers cannot see them and draw attention.

It is worth mentioning that the village of al-Qubeir is administratively affiliated to the town of Ma’arzaf with is affiliated to Mhardeh region. The village consists of about 20 houses, and most of the residents are relatives from the same family.  Relatives of the victims confirmed 60 names. Most of the victims are from one family, including 10 women and 9 children. Search for survivors, and attempts to confirm the names of the rest of the victims, is still ongoing, but the area is still fully besieged amid communications blackout and power cut.

**WARNING: THE VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES**

The video shows some of the victims of the massacre, including young children and women.  

 

 

Survivor Story

The video below is an interview conducted by an activist with a mother who lost her children and relatives to the Al-Qubeir massacre in Hama.  She survived the massacre and is now telling her story; international observers and Arab investigation committees are in contact with her.   In the video she affirms that the Syrian regime’s army, in cooperation with security forces Shabeehas, have perpetrated this massacre which is a crime against humanity.

Syrian Network for Human Rights calls on the international community to take urgent and immediate measures to place pressure on the Syrian regime to grant international investigations committees access to examine the circumstances of the massacre.  The Syrian regime is obscuring evidence of the massacre by burning some bodies and abducting others.  This explains why the country has not given access to international observers to see the site of the massacre until now.

Summary of the testimony given by this mother:
There were about 25 families in this village.  When the regime’s forces and shabeehas came, we were inside our houses.  They opened machinegun fire, blew up and shelled houses with residents inside.  Moreover, they stabbed and slaughtered children by knives and choppers.  Then they burned them.  People say that shabeehas came from the neighbouring villages of Aseeleh, Twaini and Tal Skeen. They came by 3 buses and a tank.  Only 5 or 6 people, including 3 men and 2 women, have survived the massacre.  They slaughtered my children by knives.  The message I want to send to the world is that the regime’s army and militias have slaughtered our men and children, and may God help us.

 

Videos and Story Courtesy of:

Syrian Network for Human Rights – Report on the Massacre of Mazra’at Al-Qubeir – 11 June 2012

Talwars’ Review Plea Dismissed Despite Lack of Evidence in Double-Murder

By Jenna Furman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India —The trial of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for the murders of their fourteen-year-old daughter, Aarushi Talwar, and their domestic helper, Hemraj, began Friday in the Ghaziabad Court after the Supreme Court dismissed the Talwar’s review plea to escape the standing trial.

Aarushi Talwar, age 14. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

The Talwars are charged with the May 16, 2008 murders of Aarushi and Hemraj. The couple is also charged with destruction of evidence. Rajesh Talwar is charged with misleading investigators in the double-homicide case.

The Court began hearing testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses on Friday. The couple continues to claim their innocence as to all charges against them.

The Talwars live in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, outside New Delhi, where Rajesh Talwar works as a dentist. Their daughter’s body was found in her bedroom at their home on May 16, 2008, and the battered body of Hemraj was found the next day on the terrace of the home. Both were found with their throats slit and other similar injuries.

However, there is no hard evidence linking the Talwars to the murders. The Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s federal police service, states that the circumstantial evidence suggests that Aarushi’s parents were involved in the murders. The murder weapon has yet to be recovered but the CBI believes the fatal injuries to the neck were made with surgical precision and thus, implicate the Talwars in the crimes. A golf stick recovered at the crime scene also inflicted identical injuries on the two victims.

The Talwars have called for re-investigation of the case because there were lapses present in the initial investigation of the case. They have stated that they believe they are being blamed for the murders because the CBI could not find evidence to link the real perpetrators to the murders.

The police and government investigators are accused of making successive failed inquiries into the double-murder four years ago and then pursuing the Talwars as the culprits to cover their failed investigative attempts.

Much of the forensic evidence in the home was either destroyed by the police themselves or by the media who were allowed full access to the crime scene. Postmortem evaluations were also deemed inconclusive. Additionally, police inquiries have contradicted each other in regards to key elements of the murders. The case has brought to the fore Indian concerns over the efficiency of their police and the criminal justice system.

While Rajesh is on bail for the crimes, on Thursday, June 7, the Supreme Court rejected Nupur Talwar’s petition for bail. She is held in Dasna jail, Ghaziabad. The Court stated that they were not “inclined to interfere in the trial court’s order.”

The couple stated that despite the Supreme Court’s denial of their review petition they continue to believe that “justice will one day prevail.”

For further information, please see:

Hindu – Talwars’ Plea Rejected, but Couple Unbowed – 8 June 2012

International Business Times – Aarushi-Hemraj Double Murder Case: Talwars’ Trial Begins  – 8 June 2012

BBC News – India Aarushi Talwar Murder Trial Begins – 4 June 2012

The Guardian – India’s Middle-Class Murder Trial Stokes Concerns About Changing Values – 11 May 2012

U.N. Workers Are Relocating in Myanmar during Religious Turmoil

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar – The United Nations today declared its intent to initiate a reallocation of its staff in western Myanmar.  After yesterday’s clashes between Muslims and Buddhists left at least 8 people dead and 17 wounded, the Myanmar Government declared a state of emergency in its western Rhakin State, which borders Bangladesh.  After taking office and implementing democratic reforms last year, President Thein Sein pled for this “endless anarchic vengeance” to cease.

Myanmar policemen carrying an unidentified body into a truck. (Photo Courtesy of NPR)

On June 3 a group of Buddhists, in an alleged vigilante effort, attacked a bus near Taunggoke killing nine Muslims.  Tuganggoke is in the western state of Rakhine, home to Myanmar’s largest concentration of Muslims.  The Myanmar police reassured the public that “[a]n investigation [was] underway[,]” but were not able to provide “any further details.”

A Taunggoke resident, Kyaw Min, believes the rape and death of a Buddhist woman by several men sparked the Buddhists’ anger.  However, there has been no confirmation on whether a connection existed between the men on the bus and the Buddhist woman’s death several weeks prior.

Reports from U.N. workers suggest that the continuing unrest has made it difficult for United Nations personnel to operate in the region. Ashok Nigam, a Yangon-based U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator, stated that the U.N. was temporarily relocating 44 of its 150 personnel in the Rakhine state on a voluntary basis for safety reasons.

The conflict among the villages in Rakhine has left many wounded and 500 homes burned.  “We have not had any sleep for the last five days,” said Ma Ohn May, a shop owner in the nearby town of Sittwe.

In a televised address, President Sein urged, “If we put racial and religious issues at the forefront, if we put the never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions at the forefront, and if we continue to retaliate and terrorise and kill each other, there’s a danger that [the troubles] could multiply and move beyond Arakan (former Rakhine).”

 

For further information, please see:

CNN News – U.N. withdrawing staff from scene of unrest in western Myanmar – 11 June 2012

NPR News – Sectarian Strife Rips Through Myanmar Town – 11 June 2012

New York Times – Crisis in Myanmar Over Buddhist-Muslim Clash – 10 June 2012

The Guardian – Burma clashes could put transition to democracy at risk, president says – 10 June 2012

Greece’s Alleged “Neo-Nazi” Party Attacks Political Rivals

By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ATHENS, Greece — Dubbed as the “neo-Nazi” party of Greece, Golden Dawn’s image worsened after the party’s spokesperson, Ilias Kasidiaris, physically attacked political rivals on live television last Thursday.

Golden Dawn's Ilias Kasidiaris strikes political rival Liania Kanelli. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

Kasidiaris was invited to appear on the political talk show along with members of six other parties that won parliamentary seats on May 6.  Tensions increased as the topic of discussion turned from the country’s natural resources to its political history.  Kasidiaris traded insults with two female left-wing politicians before throwing a glass of water at one and hitting the face of the other three times.

After the incident, the Greek government spokesperson, Dimitris Tsiodras, condemned the assault while an arrest warrant was issued for Kasidiaris.  Neither Kasidiaris nor his party, however, accepted blame for his actions.  Golden Dawn referred to the assault as a “truly unfortunate moment” and maintained that it was provoked.  Kasidiaris has taken a step further and threatened to sue both the victims.

“What is a man if he can hit a 58-year-old elected woman in this country? He has damaged this country more than any old commie,” said one of the two women attacked by Kasidiaris, Liana Kanelli, using a term that the Golden Dawn spokesperson had insulted her with.

Rena Dourou, the other woman assaulted by Kasidiaris, said that the attack revealed the true nature of Greece’s Golden Dawn movement.

“What we saw [on television] is something that happens almost every night in some dark places here in the centre of Athens against women or immigrants but they don’t have the rights, the privileges, to condemn all this in front of cameras,” Dourou said in an interview with the Guardian.  Dourou added that on the same day as the assault, members of Golden Dawn injured 15 students and 3 immigrants at a Greek university campus.

The language and strategy that Golden Dawn employs have been criticized as paralleling the methods of Nazism.  The party’s campaign slogan reads boldly as “Let’s rid this country of the stench,” conveying its strong desire of expelling Greece’s immigrants.  Another criticism is directed at the party’s emblem, which eerily resembles the swastika.

Although the party denied all allegations of violence, it has a notorious reputation of terrorizing immigrants, leftists, journalists, and women.  Several reports of violence against immigrants have emerged over the past few weeks, with the latest on the arrest of two Golden Dawn members in connection to an attack of a 31-year-old Pakistani man.

Dourou has expressed concern over Golden Dawn’s recent political success as it managed to capture 7% of the votes during Greece’s general election last month.  The party has also alarmed Europe by garnering 21 of the 300 seats in Parliament.  According to political analysts, many votes came from policemen and officers in a time when police brutality against immigrants are on the rise.

Athenians, like Maria Misaridaki, attributes the party’s success to voter ignorance, “The people voted for them because they didn’t know what Golden Dawn was. They didn’t know they’re a new form of neo-Nazis.”  The issue of voter ignorance might worsen in the near future, as the party issued a statement threatening to boycott the media if it continued with coverage unfavorable to the party.

 

For further information, please see:

The Guardian — Greek MP: TV assaults reveals true nature of far-right Golden Dawn party — 10 June 2012

Digital Journal — Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris threatens to sue victims — 9 June 2012

Bloomberg — Greek Government Condemns Golden Dawn Assault On Politicians — 7 June 2012

Huffington Post — Ilias Kasidiaris, Greek Golden Dawn Politician, Assaults Two Female MPs On Live TV (VIDEO) — 7 June 2012

International Business Times — Golden Dawn: Greece’s Neo-Nazi Party is Europe’s ‘Dark Stain’ — 7 June 2012

Searchlight — MPs from Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn arrested over racist attack — 2 June 2012

News + Rescue — Greece: Police Brutality and Violence Against Immigrants on the Rise; African Woman Kicked — 26 May 2012

Fighting Spreads With the use of Child Soldiers

By Vicki Turakhia
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MONROVIA, Liberia – Liberian boys are being trained to fight and kill for the loyalist fighters of the former Ivory Coast President, Laurent Gbagbo. Mr. Gbagbo is currently being tried for crimes against humanity.

At least 40 people have been killed in cross-border attacks, HRW says. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

A group known as the “small boys unit,” are child soldiers fighting in the war zones on the Ivory Coast. The Liberian government has been heavily questioned for the lack of involvement in prosecuting the loyalist fighters responsible for their use of child soldiers.

Children as young as 14 are being recruited as child soldiers for the Ivory Coast. One 17-year old Liberian boy was quoted as saying, “I don’t know the total that we have killed….In this mission, we have our bosses who train us and follow us to the field.”

These 14-17 year old boys are being trained to fight in the war zones of the Ivory Coast, while there the boys receive arms and ammunition, food, and medicine. If the boys get sick money is provided to them for a government hospital stay.

The United Nations has asked the Liberian government to hold the soldiers and mercenaries residing there to be held accountable for the war crimes in the Ivory Coast. Since July of 2011 at least 40 people have been killed during the attacks ,with the increased attacks, the fears are now that the fighting will expand.

Liberian and Ivorian militants have crossed into Liberia for protection or to avoid prosecution after former President Laurent Gbagbo’s government fell. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized the Liberian government for failing to take actions in locating and prosecuting those responsible for the fighting in the Ivory Coast.

The Liberian government has affirmed that they are doing everything they can to prevent the use of child soldiers and fighting by Liberians on the Ivory Coast.

However, current actions taken by the Liberian government has proven differently. For example, Issac Chego and A. Vleyee, both mercenaries that have partaken in gruesome attacks, have been released. Chego has been accused of participating in massacres which led to the deaths of over 120 people.

There have been allegations that AK-47 ammunition and camouflage uniforms are being sent to the Ivory Coast to Gbagbo’s loyalists. However, the Ivory Coast Deputy Defense Minister, Paula Koffi Koffi, has stated that Ivorian and Liberian authorities are working together to prevent further attacks by Gbagbo’s loyalists.

These conflicting accounts of the events taking place in Liberia and the Ivory Coast are creating further turmoil instead of providing a real solution.

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Liberia: Fighters Set for Côte d’Ivoire – 7 June 2012

All Africa – Liberia: Gbagbo Loyalists Terrorize Border Towns – Enlist Country’s Child Soldiers – 7 June 2012

Liberian Observer – As Deadly Cross-Border Raids in Ivory Coast Persists Gov’t Fails to Curb Child Soldiers’ Recruitment, says Human Rights Watch – 7 June 2012

BBC – Liberia Minors Used in Ivory Coast Raids – HRW – 6 June 2012