Impunity Watch: Middle East

Protests in Iran Re-Ignite at End of Mourning Period

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Forty days have passed since Neda Agha-Soltan was killed during a post-election protest on the streets of Iran, and as the traditional mourning period draws to a close, those who question the validity of the June 12 presidential election are once again taking to the streets.

On July 30, hundreds of protestors gathered at the grave of Neda, a 26-year-old music student whose death was captured by a fellow protestor’s mobile phone camera and was watched by millions worldwide on YouTube. Police reportedly prevented Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading reformist presidential candidate, from staying at the graveside service. Mehdi Karroubi, another reformist candidate, was also at the service.

As the mourning period ends, several people arrested during the protests are preparing to go on trial beginning August 1, under numerous charges such as attacks on government and military offices, vandalism, arson, and “contacts with enemies.” Many international human rights groups question the validity of such trials, especially considering reports that the Iranian government has repeatedly arrested and intimidated human rights lawyers.

Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division reported that on July 15, plainclothes policemen seized human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr while she was walking to Friday prayers. On July 21, security forces reportedly made a threatening phone call to Mohammed Seifzadeh, another leading human rights lawyer, telling him they would “take steps” to prevent him from continuing to represent defendants. At least four other human rights lawyers have been arrested in Iran since June 12, and the head of the Iranian Judiciary has revised the regulations governing the Iranian Bar Association, severely restricting its members’ independence.

International human rights groups have called for Iranian authorities to end the threats against lawyers and to release those arrested. On July 25, several international cities hosted a global day of support for those killed and arrested since the election nearly two months ago.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Iranian Police Clash with Mourners– 30 July 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iran: Stop Arresting, Intimidating Rights Lawyers– 26 July 2009

United for Iran – A Global Day of Action in Solidarity with the People of Iran– 25 July 2009

Amnesty International USA – Global Day of Support for Iran’s Victims of Human Rights Abuse– 24 July 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iran: Halt Moves to Curtail Lawyers– 16 July 2009

Human Rights Watch Calls for Tunisia to End Activist’s Banishment

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

NEW YORK, United States - On July 28 Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Tunisian Minister of Justice Béchir Tekkari and Minister of Interior Rafeek Belhaj encouraging the end of Tunisian activist Abdallah Zouari’s exile.

Zouari was convicted on charges of plotting to overthrow the state in a mass trial of the leaders and members of the Islamist Nahdha movement. He was sentenced to eleven years jail time plus five years "complimentary sentence" of post-release “administrative control.” Such administrative detainments are common in Tunisia and are typically executed by local police while the person lives in their own neighborhood or city.

After Zouari’s release from prison in June 2002, he was exiled to the Zarzis area in the southern governorate of Medenine, about 500 km from where his family lives in the capital of Tunisia. Aside from a thirteen- month stint in prison, Zouari has served the additional five year complementary sentence in Zarzis. In June of 2007, when the complementary sentence should have ended, an extra twenty-six months of banishment were added to his sentence without explanation.

 He served both the regular and the “complementary term” of his sentence and at the end of the complementary sentence the local authorities extended his confinement to the village for 26 months without reason on June 5 2007. This extension will run out in less than a week, Human Rights Watch has preemptively asked that Zouari be allowed to go free unless the Tunisian government can show real cause for continued detainment. When Zouari asked the chief of police who explained Zouari’s extended detainment to him, the officer merely said that the orders, “came from above.”

As the end of the 26 month extension is quickly approaching, Human Rights Watch has written a letter demanding that Tunisia show cause for further detainment. While Human Rights Watch did not agree with the legitimacy of the initial sentence, they are even more opposed to the arbitrary continuation of Zouari’s sentence.

For more information please see;

Human Rights Watch - Tunisia: End Activist’s Banishment - 28 July 2009

Media Line - Rights Group Calls for End to Tunisian’s Exile - 28 July 2009

Reuter’s - Alert Net: Tunisia: End Activist’s Banishment - 28 July 2009

Arabic News - Journalist Abdahlla Zouari’s Internal Exile Extended by 26 Months - 12 June 2007

Libya Asks for Return of Terminally Ill Lockerbie Bomber

by Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi's wife takes part in a silent march at the Scottish Parliament
 Photo Courtesy of AFP

LONDON, United Kingdom- Libyan authorities have formally asked Scotland for the compassionate release of Abdel Basset al Megrahi. Megrahi is the former Libyan agent that was sentenced to life in 2001 for the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

A Scottish government spokeswoman confirmed the application for compassionate release on July 25. Libya has been bringing up al Megrahi often in official conversations with Great Britain. Earlier in July Megrahi’s fate was brought up by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The British government has deferred the issue to Scotland, which has a separate legal system from Britain. Now Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will consider whether or not to grant the application.

Al Megrahi is currently appealing his conviction for the second time, but the hearing is not expected to conclude until next year. Fifty- seven year old al Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal testicular cancer last year. His doctors do not believe that he would live to the end of the appeal.

The Lockerbie bombing resulted in the deaths of all 259 people on board the London to New York flight, as well as eleven people on the ground. Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing in 2005, and agreed to pay 2.7 billion dollars in compensation to the victim’s families. This gesture helped to restore relations between Libya and the west. This announcement shifted public perspective on al Megrahi. Originally al Megrahi was perceived as being solely responsible for the bombing and after Libya claimed reponsibility, al Megrahi  was viewed more as an agent of Libya following his orders. Even some relatives of victims of the bombings support sending al Megrahi home, doubting both his guilt and the conviction.

Ultimately the decision to release al Megrahi lies with the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, who has ninety days to make his decision. It is expected MacAskill will make his decision in the first week of August. Last year he released three prisoners on compassionate requests, although typically only people with three months to live or less are released.

For more information please see,

The Guardian - Sick Lockerbie Bomber Pleads for Release - 26 July 2009

AFP - Lockerbie Bomber asks for Compassionate Release - 25 July 2009

BBC - Ill Megrahi Seeks Prison Release - 25 July 2009

The Herald - Megrahi Requests Release from Jail on Compassionate Grounds - 25 July 2009

Reuters - Libya asks for Lockerbie Bomber to be Freed - 25 July 2009

UN Official Says Tensions Easing on the Israeli-Lebanese Border

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East  

Photo: Khirbet Silim and Southern Lebanon. Courtesy BBC News.

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The tensions that have recently flared up in southern Lebanon have been to ease, according to a senior UN official.

On July 22, Michael Williams, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, met with the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Fawzi Salloukh. After the meeting, Williams said that the situation is calming down. Williams has also met with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and leaders from Hezbollah, in an effort to assuage concerns regarding UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 36-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

“All… have assured me strongly that active efforts are under way to reduce the tension and restore stability to the area,” said Williams.

Since July 13, the town of Khirbet Silim in Southern Lebanon has been the center of unrest in the past week, when there was an explosion from an alleged Hezbollah arms cache in an abandoned building, reportedly injuring thirty people. As the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) investigated the blast on July 17, fourteen UN peacekeepers were injured as civilians threw rocks and damaged vehicles in protest of the investigation, alleging that UNIFIL had overstepped its operational mandate. On July 22, UNIFIL refused to respond to such allegations, but a spokesperson said UNIFIL was awaiting the official report on the incidents.

Special Coordinator Williams said that the July 17 incident was being investigated thoroughly by both UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces, “to avoid anything like this happening again.”

Southern Lebanon has been the hub of political instability in the country, with Syrian nationals, al-Qaeda agents, and Hezbollah militants all accused of stirring up hostility and attacking UN peacekeepers.

For more information, please see:

The Daily Star – UNIFIL Silent Over Reports of Breaching Mandate – 23 July 2009

UN News Center – Tensions in Southern Lebanon ‘Calming Down’ After Incidents– 22 July 2009

Al-Jazeera – Lebanon Army Arrests ‘Terror Cell’– 21 July 2009

Plan to Evacuate Outposts Approved Amid Increasing International Pressure

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East Desk

JERUSALEM, Israel- The news agency Ha’aretz broke the news on July 21 that Israeli leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had created a plan to swiftly evacuate twenty-three illegal outposts on the west bank.

The term “outpost” was initially defined in a report by lawyer Talia Sasson as a piece of land “lying a significant distance from an existing settlement and established with disregard to the law.” The government commissioned her study in 2005, in which 105 communities were identified as outposts. An estimated 8,000 settlers live at the outposts set to be evacuated.

No official date for the evacuation has been released, although the leaked information says that the evacuations will be very quick. Although the source of the information is anonymous, the report comes from the same reporter to whom former prime minister Ariel Sharon released plans to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza strip in 2005. Netanyahu’s officials have declined to comment on the plans, but soldiers executed a military exercise in preparation for riots and protests that are expected to occur with the evacuation. Moreover, the security administration designed the plan with Netanyahu’s knowledge and approval. This plan would comply with an agreement that was made with President George W. Bush to remove the outposts built after March 2001.

The last such evacuation attempt happened in 2006 with an outpost known as Amona. However, ultranationalist protesters flooded Amona, and violent protests broke out. More than 300 were injured in the struggle and Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, cited excessive violence and police brutality in the action. Furthermore, when three illegal structures at outposts in the West Bank were evacuated on July 21, and settlers torched Palestinian olive groves, threw stones at Palestinian Cars, and blocked roads. The displaced settlers have threatened a larger “price tag” for further evacuations.

The proposed evacuations will happen very quickly and simultaneously to minimize the chance of failure. It is hoped that violence will be significantly decreased if there is no time for protesters to travel to the evacuation. Additionally, with all of the evacuations occurring simultaneously and at an unannounced time, there will be no time for planning, so it will be difficult for protesters to gather in significant numbers at all of the locations.

There has been increasing pressure from the international community for the peace process to restart in Israel. Earlier in 2009, US President Barack Obama told Israel that the settlement expansion needed to stop in order for peace to occur, and other leaders are now supporting this message. Most recently Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have issued statements encouraging Israel to halt further settlement expansion.

For more information, please see:

Sydney Morning Herald - Plan to Evacuate Settler Outposts - 22 July 2009

Y-Net -UN Secretary General: Israel Must Halt Settlement Building - 22 July 2009

Christian Science Monitor - Is Israel Serious About Closing 23 Fringe Settlements? - 21 July 2009

Haaretz - Ex-envoy to US: Israel ‘totally committed’ to Razing Outposts - 21 July 2009

Jerusalem Post - Russia Calls on Israel to Halt Construction in East Jerusalem - 21 July 2009

The Washington Post - Israel to Evacuate all Outposts in a Day: Report - 21 July 2009

Explosion in Lebanon May Indicate “Severe Violations” of UN Resolution by Hezbollah

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

United Nations – On July 14, an explosion in Southern Lebanon triggered a slew of accusations that Hezbollah has been and is still violating UN Resolution 1701 by gathering and storing arms.  Resolution 1701, which was signed in 2006, led to a halt in firing between Hezbollah and Israel following a 34 day armed conflict.  It imposed a strict embargo on weapons to Lebanese or foreign militias in Lebanon. 

According to Israeli military officials, the explosion in Lebanon was composed of “a new stock of short range missiles” and that those weapons were the property of Hezbollah.  Israeli Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi explained to journalists on July 15 that he believed the building also contained mortars, shells, rockets and other ammunition as well.  The explosion collapsed a two-story building on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Silim, twelve miles from the Israeli border.  The cause of the explosion is still unclear.  No one was injured in the blast.  However, many residents in the area were panicked as the explosion took place on the third anniversary of the 2006 war. 

Israeli officials asked for an official UN investigation.  Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev asked the UN to take action and at least begin an investigation citing this incident, and two others, that she claims are “severe violations” of Resolution 1701.  The UN sent an envoy of soldiers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.  However, demonstrations at the site of the explosion turned violent when UN soldiers arrived.  Fourteen soldiers were injured and several UN vehicles were damages.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams has spoken out since this incident calling for restraint.  Williams said that the UN needs to “lower the temperature, to try and address the issues and not see any escalation” of the situation.  In a statement to the press on July 20 explained that “clearly there were violations of 1701” and he has been meeting with several Lebanese officials to address the problem.  He called on both Lebanon and Israel to renew their commitment to the Resolution and exercise restraint during this period.

For more information, please see:

United Nations – Top UN Envoy Urges Restraint After Recent Incident in Southern Lebanon – 21 July 2009

Associated Press – Israel to Lebanon: Stop Border Violations – 20 July 2009

CNN – Lebanon: Crowd Attack U.N. Peacekeepers – 20 July 2009

AFP – Israel Demands Tougher UN Action Against Hezbollah Arms – 16 July 2009

New York Times – Israel Sees Evidence of Hezbollah’s Rearming in Explosion – 15 July 2009

Ynet – Explosion in Hezbollah Arms Cache Stirs Panic in South Lebanon – 14 July 2009

Watered Down Version of the Nakba Law Leaves Committee

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel- A bill that would deny government funding to state-supported groups that give monetary support to activity that is deemed “detrimental to the state” was passed through a ministerial committee on July 19. The bill was introduced by Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.

Many Palestinians fear that this bill will effectively limit their speech, because supporting "armed struggle or terrorist acts" against Israel or "rejecting Israel's existence as the state of the Jewish people" are examples of activities that would qualify as “detrimental to the state.”

This bill is a diluted version of a bill that was abandoned in June, after it was deemed to stringent. The original bill was also introduced by Lieberman and the Yisrael Beitenu party. The first bill would have made it a crime to observe “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” on Israel’s Independence Day. Nakba is the Palestinian recognition of the creation of Israel. The holiday is designed to recognizethe “catastrophe” that Israel’s creation was for many Palestinian citizens.

The original bill would have also forced sixteen year-old Israelis and new citizens to take a loyalty oath in order to receive an ID card. The Loyalty oath required each citizen to pledge loyalty to the "State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state."

The loyalty oath provision was removed from the newer version, and instead of an explicit banning of the celebration of Nakba, funding restrictions have been imposed. While much less harsh, many Arab citizens of Israel are still very offended by the withholding of government funds for what they see as free speech.

For more information please see,

AFP - Israel Committee Passes Softened Naqba Bill - 19 July 2009

Haaretz - Revised Bill Would Ban Funding Nakba Events - 19 July 2009

Jerusalem Post - 'Softer' Version of Nakba Bill to be Approved - 19 July 2009

Reuters- Bill Outlawing anti-Israel Protest Nears Approval- 19 July 2009

Impunity Watch – Israel ‘Loyalty Oath’ Bill Voted Down in Committee – 1 June 200

Water Use by Turkey, Syria, Iraq Drying Up Euphrates

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Photo:  A boy resting on the mud in a dried-up section of the Euphrates River near Jubaish, Iraq, in June.  Courtesy:  New York Times.

JUBAISH, Iraq - Oil may be the most notoriously fought over commodity in the Middle East, but there is one resource that can surpass "black gold" in its necessity and ability to provoke conflict:  water.

As the Middle East is in the grip of a drought that has lasted over two years, Iraq's Euphrates River, one of the boundaries of region known as the Cradle of Civilization, has begun to shrink.  But the drought is only one cause; water policies by Iraq's neighboring countries have exasperated the crisis.  There are at least seven dams in the Euphrates' headwaters in Turkey and Syria, and there are no water treaties between the three nations.  Turkey has recently agreed to increase water flow by 60 percent during July and August, which will cover about half of what is needed for Iraq's famed Anbar rice crop.  This allotment, however, is not a permanent agreement; Turkey has also consistently refused to sign international agreements on water use, such as the 1997 UN Convention on the Law on Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.

While Iraq's government often blames Turkey and Syria, Turkish officials say that Iraq's almost nonexistent water management policies are the real culprit, and that the current finger-pointing is election-year posturing.  Iraq's canal and irrigation systems have been notoriously leaky for centuries, and poor drainage leaves fields so salty, local farmers scrape off white mounds of salt at the edges of drainage piles.

Iraq's marsh Arabs are perhaps most at risk from the effects of a dwindling Euphrates.  The marshes at the meeting point of the Tigris and Euphrates was intentionally flooded in 2003 in an attempt to revive the dying culture, but many marsh Arabs believe that if their crops and livestock do not survive this year's season, the few marsh Arabs who remain will be forced to leave their ancestral homes in search of more viable economic opportunities.

For more information, please see:

Today's Zaman - Ankara Deflects Criticism From Iraq Over Water Usage - 17 July 2009

Foreign Policy - What Iraq Needs More Than Oil - 16 July 2009

New York Times - Iraq Suffers as the Euphrates Dwindles - 13 July 2009

Israeli Soldiers Tell How Israel Used Human Shields in Gaza

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
 
GAZA CITY, Gaza - A human rights group founded by Israeli veterans has published testimonies from former soldiers, all of whom report that they were ordered to protect Israeli military lives at any cost.

The veterans are part of Breaking the Silence, a group funded by the EU and several European countries. The soldiers describe that they were given orders to use Palestinian civilians as human shields, as well as deliberate targeting of civilian structures.

One soldier related that in pre-invasion briefings, his officers told him to shoot first, ask questions later. The soldier said the officer told the soldiers that “[i]f you’re not sure, kill. Fire power was insane.”

Another soldier said he felt like “a child playing around with a magnifying glass, burning up ants… A 20-year-old kid should not be doing such things to people.”

Several soldiers also described how the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) used white phosphorus, a substance banned by international law. One soldier described walking on the beach in Gaza and finding an area covered in glazed sand, melted by white phosphorus.

A military spokesman has questioned the credibility of Breaking the Silence, calling the veterans’ testimony “defaming and slandering the IDF commanders,” but also said the military would investigate the allegations.

For more information, please see:

The Times – Breaking the Silence: Israeli Soldiers ‘Used Human Shields’ in Gaza– 16 July 2009

BBC News – Breaking Silence on Gaza Abuses– 15 July 2009

Huffington Post – Breaking the Silence: Former Israeli Soldiers Call Gaza War Reckless– 15 July 2009

UPDATE: Israel Supposedly to Open Settlement Freeze

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Photo: A boy sits outside a structure at Maoz Esther, a settler outpost on the West Bank. Courtesy the New York Times.

JERUSALEM, Israel/West Bank – Israeli officials have signaled they would be open to a three- to six-month halt to settlement expansion as part of a U.S.-backed peace deal with the Palestinians.

While such a sentiment has widely been hailed as progress, it falls short of what the U.S. Obama Administration had called for. Such a freeze would not include any construction already underway, nor expansion in East Jerusalem, according to Israeli officials speaking in advance of the meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. envoy George Mitchell at the end of June. Ehud Barak refused to publically address the possibility of a temporary freeze ahead of his meeting, but said that the issue of settlements is merely one among many to be addressed in the peace process.

Members of the international community continue to call for a complete halt to settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On July 6, the executive arm of the European Union (EU) renewed its condemnation of Israeli settlements, saying that continued Israeli expansion is strangling the fledgling Palestinian economy, stunting Palestinian independence and forcing the Palestinian Authority to rely on foreign aid. In addition to the cost to Palestinians, the EU said that European taxpayers had paid approximately 280 million U.S. dollars so far this year in aid to the Palestinian Authority.

For more information, please see:

Ma’an News Agency – European Commission: Settlements Strangling Palestinian Economy– 6 July 2009

Ha’aretz – Barak: Progress in Talks with U.S. Over Settlements, But Still a Way to Go– 30 June 2009

New York Times – Israel Said to be Open to Settlement Freeze– 28 June 2009