A Voice for the Voiceless

Syrian Revolution Digest – Wednesday 13 June 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Assad the Warlord!

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.

News

Op-Eds & Special Reports

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 City http://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?

The pounding of Rastan continues http://youtu.be/M71DEESe5Ds Using heavy artillery and helicopters http://youtu.be/eP3qURsstys So does the pounding of Talbissehhttp://youtu.be/V0xpLm2bNxE and the old neighborhoods in Homs Cityhttp://youtu.be/H2UghNtCgIw , http://youtu.be/9ArA_PRPYKQ ,http://youtu.be/ZYleI9JWHEo , http://youtu.be/tJeT2ksIE5o , http://youtu.be/4-2EZGeBByE , http://youtu.be/6_qjMQUzj_M

Nighttime in Homs City http://youtu.be/J8R8QAVS8bw Nighttime in Rastanhttp://youtu.be/ZZTfqdBz6GY

Rastan: children are among the victims of pounding http://youtu.be/GFgBSjA5osk Whole families continue to be victimized http://youtu.be/X0umnLIsEwI

In Bosra Al-Sham, Daraa, helicopter take part in pounding the cityhttp://youtu.be/MkqNs3AYCy0

Chilean Protestors Clash Against Police at Violent Demonstration

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.

 

For further information, please see:

France 24 – Chile Clashes Over Pinochet Tribute Documentary – 11 June 2012

BBC – Chilean Police Clash With Anti-Pinochet Demonstrators – 10 June 2012

The Star – Pinochet Documentary Heats up Chile’s Debate Over Dictator’s Legacy – 10 June 2012

Santiago Times – Chilean Government Will not Stop Screening of Pinochet Documentary – 6 June 2012

Shia Pilgrims Attacked in Iraq

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — On Tuesday, a bomb killed at least two people who were part of a Shia pilgrimage in honor of a revered imam.  The attack in the capital follows an attack earlier in the week which killed pilgrims making the annual trip.

Iraqi security inspect the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad. (Photo Courtesy of Al-Jazeera)
Iraqi security inspects the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad. (Photo Courtesy of Al-Jazeera)

The bomb attack hit pilgrims in the neighborhood of Saydiyah in Baghdad as they marched to a shrine built to commemorate the death of Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim.  With the barrage of attacks leading up to the event’s climax on Saturday, there are fears of increasing tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.  The two groups have been in a deadlock, predominantly along sectarian lines, in Iraq’s coalition government.

Tuesday’s attack occurred after security was increased for devotees after a similar attack on Sunday killed seven pilgrims and wounded thirty-eight others.  On Sunday, two mortar rounds struck a square filled with Shia pilgrims in Baghdad’s northwestern Kadhimiya district, where they were gathering ahead of the religious festival.  In a bid to prevent further violence, security forces have been on high alert, tightening security around the al-Kadhim shrine.  The increased security for the event includes a vehicle ban and a search of anyone entering the area.

The annual pilgrimage marks the eighth century death of al-Kadhim, one of the twelve main Shia saints, who is said to be buried at the shrine.  In recent times, the al-Kadhim procession has been struck by tragedy.  In 2005, some one thousand pilgrims died following a stampede on a bridge caused by rumors of a suicide bomber.  Poor crowd control and the fear of attacks prevalent in Iraq were blamed as no explosives were found on the Bridge of the Imams, which leads to the golden-domed shrine.

U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, who monitors online communication amount insurgents, said an Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) group, claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks on Sunday.  The ISI group has also claimed responsibility for thirty-nine other attacks between March 24 and May 21.  These Sunni Islamist fighters with al-Qaeda links seek to create the kind of sectarian pressure that almost led to a civil war in the country in 2006.

The attacks come a week after a failed attempt to oust Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from office.  Last Monday, the country’s president refused to ratify a petition for a vote of no-confidence in parliament.  This refusal has been seen as further proof of the political impasse present in the power sharing agreement between the majority Shias and minority Sunnis and Kurds.  With the pull-out of U.S. troops in December, this impasse has sparked a fear of unchecked, renewed violence occurring between the groups.

For further information, please see:

Washington Post – Bomb Targeting Shiite Pilgrims in Iraqi Capital Kills 2, Wounds 12, in Second Attack in Days – 12 June 2012

Fox News – Iraq Pilgrimage Security Tight After Mortar Attack – 11 June 2012

Pakistan News Tribune – Mortar Attack Kills 6, Wounds 38 in Iraq – 11 June 2012

Al-Jazeera – Iraq Mortar Attacks Kill Shia Pilgrims – 10 June 2012

Notes From Kampala: Manipulating Laws to Silence Opposition

By Reta Raymond
Associate Special Features Editor

I arrived in Kampala just two weeks after the opposition party ended its “Walk-to-Work” campaign.  They ended the campaign because they determined that the protest had come at a cost of too many lives.  Over roughly a month, people protested high fuel and commodity prices by walking to their respective offices instead of driving.  The military responded with liberal use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.  They killed at least ten civilians, including two children.  The government has yet to investigate these deaths.

President Yoweri Museveni’s proposed constitutional amendment was another response to the protests.  He vowed that if he could not get parliamentary approval, he would seek a public referendum vote to pass the amendment.  The president wished to amend the Constitution so that persons charged with murder, rape, defilement, economic sabotage (a term that is not found in the Penal Code and remains undefined), and rioting could not apply for bail until they served a mandatory 180-day sentence on remand.

What made this proposed amendment so dangerous, I was told, was that charge sheets are often unsubstantiated or have weak evidence to support the charges.  Therefore, those opposition party members who were arrested during the Walk to Work Protests could be easily charged with “rioting” and then, pursuant to the amendment, be put in jail for at least six months.  This would be a quick and easy way for Museveni to slow the opposition party’s momentum.  Then, Museveni could continue doing whatever he pleased without his main opponents inciting protests.

This proposed amendment has drawn sharp criticism from local and international groups, as well as from members of parliament who believe that the proposal would violate fundamental human rights and freedoms.  One National Resistance Movement Member of Parliament (“MP”) stated, “In the last meeting, we told him that the move was unconstitutional and would one day fall back on us.”[1]  Another MP, Barnabas Tinkasimire, said, “The proposal is against people’s human rights and there are so many oppressive laws being forced on our people which we shall not accept.”[2]

Local attorneys suggest that, if enacted, the amendment would cause disharmony within the 1995 Constitution and would allow persons to be detained without trial.  Specifically, it would abrogate several constitutional provisions, including the presumption of innocence, an independent judiciary, the right to be free from detention without trial, the right to bail, the non-derogable right to a fair trial, and the protection of liberty.

I became involved when my boss enlisted me to write a paper that would discuss the constitutional amendment for the purpose of publication by a local group.  At first I was bewildered that the President could revoke the right to bail for such a potentially large group of people.  What became clear was that he was actually trying to rationalize detention without trial for the “Walk to Work” protestors who opposed his politics.  Even though Uganda boasts multiparty elections, such an amendment to the Constitution would effectively silence opposition party members through arbitrary arrest and detention without trial, which may signal that the country is actually a dictatorship.

The President continues to push the amendment to this day.  The proposed amendment may go for a public referendum vote, and, at least for show, the result is uncertain.  The President has won every election since 1986, but the elections are by no means entirely free and fair.  Therefore, the President’s amendment in a public referendum vote would probably be approved.

However, Museveni’s government recently found a new way to silence the opposition group, Activists for Change, who organized the “Walk to Work” campaign.  On April 4, 2012, a new law was imposed which declared Activists for Change to be an unlawful society, and made all of its public activities illegal.  This enactment came the day before the group’s planned celebration of the “International Day of Police Brutality” in Kampala.  Clearly this new law raises a host of constitutional issues, such as the right to assemble under Article 29 of the 1995 Ugandan Constitution.

In the last year, Uganda has seen much unrest in its streets, as the opposition party members were inspired by the change brought about in the Arab Spring.  Unfortunately, the protests have not materialized into a regime change like in Egypt and Tunisia, and Museveni’s response has been more akin to Syria’s.  However, the opposition party members bravely continue to protest for a better Uganda.


[1] Mercy Nalugo, Museveni, MPs to Clash Over Bail Law, Daily Monitor, July 17, 2011, http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1202200/-/bl61ecz/-/index.html.

[2] Id.

Scouts Challenge Boy Scouts’ Ban on Gays

By Stuart Smith
Impunity Watch, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — Although Scouts for Equality isn’t the first group to challenge the Boy Scouts of America 102-year long policy banning gay Scouts and troop leaders, it is the first group composed entirely of Eagle Scouts to do so.

Zach Wahls delivers petitions to the Boy Scouts of America national annual meeting in Orlando, Florida on May 30, 2012. (Image Courtesy of MSNBC)

“Scouts for Equality will lead a respectful, honest dialogue with current and former Scouts and Scout leaders about ending this outdated policy,” says Scouts for Equality. Zach Wahls is the group’s co-founder and an Eagle Scout from Iowa with lesbian mothers. “When I was earning my  Citizenship in the Community merit badge, I learned the importance of standing up for what you believe to be right,” he wrote on the group’s website.

And, recently reported the L.A. Times, he did just that. Wahls helped spearhead a petition aimed at ending the BSA’s ban. The resolution, presented last week at the group’s national annual meeting, proposed to allow each Scouting’s charted group to determine whether or not they will accept gay Scouts and leaders.

The organization, according to Time, in a statement released June 7, 2012, reiterated its support for the ban: “While the BSA does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.”

“While we’ll carefully consider the resolution, there are no plans to change this policy,” said Boy Scouts of America spokesman Devon Smith, remarking that similar resolutions and petitions challenging the ban occurred as early as 2000, when the Supreme Court upheld the discriminatory policy, reported MSNBC. The Scouts also maintain a long-standing tradition of excluding atheists and agnostics from their membership rolls, according to the Associated Press.

“Up to the day they end this policy, they’ll be saying they have no plans to do so,” said Wahls in an interview with the AP, but, he said, the ban is having a negative impact on membership and public support. If the resolution fails to pass, Wahls plans to file a lawsuit.

The petition originated when Jennifer Tyrrell was fired in April from her volunteer position as a Cub Scout leader because she is a lesbian, reported the L.A. Times.  The only discussion of Tyrrell’s sexual orientation happened when some of the children of her Tiger Scout troop asked why her partner was a woman, she answered that her son had two moms.

“This isn’t about my sexuality; this isn’t about anybody’s sexuality,” Tyrrell told CNN. “It’s about teaching children to be better adults, and we aren’t doing that by teaching them to hate or discriminate.”

For further information, please see:

MSNBC – Boy Scouts review controversial anti-gay policy – 12 June 2012

L.A. Times – Boy Scouts’ ban gays is fought from the inside – 8 June 2012

CNN – Boy Scouts to study ban on gay leaders — 7 June 2012

Time – Will the Boy Scouts Reverse Its Anti-Gay Policy? – 7 June 2012

Scouts for Equality Website – Our Message