Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for Uncategorized

International Criminal Court (ICC): Israel committed 'War Crimes' but it's not our problem

by

According to lawyers, the court’s decision confirms that Israel has a ‘special status’ in regards to international law.

Israeli naval vessels approach one of the boats in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" in the Mediterranean Sea in 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

Israeli naval vessels approach one of the boats in the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” in the Mediterranean Sea in 2010. (Photo: Reuters)

by Telesur

International Criminal Court (ICC) lawyers believe that Israel is guilty of “war crimes” for the raid on an aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists. However, they have also decided that the case does not meet their criteria for prosecution, according to court papers seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

On May 31, 2010, the Israeli military forcefully boarded six civilian ships from the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” that were traveling from Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid and construction materials to the besieged region. The army boarded the ships in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

The activists on board say they did not put up a fight, however the Israeli army insists that they were met with resistance – which led to several activists being killed, including eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin on the Mavi Marmara boat.

The ICC does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed in either Turkey, where most the boats were registered, or Israel, since neither are members of the ICC. However, the Mavi Marmara was registered to the Comoros Islands, which is a member, making the crimes on board eligible for ICC investigation.

“The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction have been committed in the context of interception and takeover of the Mavi Marmara by IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers on 31 May 2010,” read the papers.

But the papers also added that prosecutors had decided the crimes “were not of sufficient gravity to fall under the court’s jurisdiction,” reported Reuters. Their evidence and criteria for making this decision however, remained vague.

“Not having collected evidence itself, the Office’s analysis in this report must therefore not be considered to be the result of an investigation,” the paper read.

However, according to the ICC website, considering individuals guilty of war crimes does make them eligible to be tried under the ICC.

“The mandate of the Court is to try individuals rather than States, and to hold such persons accountable for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression…”

The Indian Ocean State, another ICC member, referred the raid to court, which obligated the ICC to begin preliminary examinations into the matter, according to their mandate.

“The Prosecutor’s decision marks the first time a State referral by an ICC States Party has ever been rejected by … Prosecutor without even initiating an investigation,” said lawyers Rodney Dixon and Geoffrey Nice in a statement.

“It confirms the view expressed by politicians, civil society organizations, NGOs and commentators from many quarters that Israel has a ‘special status,'” they added.

The report comes the same day that Bulent Yildirim, president of the Turkish NGO Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) – one of the NGOs who organized the flotilla – praised the ICC, expecting that they would announce on Thursday that Israel is guilty of “war crimes.”

The ICC’s final decision is likely to anger other Turkish activists, but also Ankara who accused Israel of mass murder after the IDF attacked the flotilla.

How many Muslim countries has the U.S bombed or occupied since 1980?

by

Barack Obama, Oslo, Norway Photo: Sandy Young/Getty Images

Barack Obama, Oslo, Norway Photo: Sandy Young/Getty Images

by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept

Barack Obama, in his post-election press conference yesterday, announced that he would seek an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from the new Congress, one that would authorize Obama’s bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria—the one he began three months ago. If one were being generous, one could say that seeking congressional authorization for a war that commenced months ago is at least better than fighting a war even after Congress explicitly rejected its authorization, as Obama lawlessly did in the now-collapsed country of Libya.

When Obama began bombing targets inside Syria in September, I noted that it was the seventh predominantly Muslim country that had been bombed by the U.S. during his presidency (that did not count Obama’s bombing of the Muslim minority in the Philippines). I also previously noted that this new bombing campaign meant that Obama had become the fourth consecutive U.S. President to order bombs dropped on Iraq. Standing alone, those are both amazingly revealing facts. American violence is so ongoing and continuous that we barely notice it any more. Just this week, a U.S. drone launched a missile that killed 10 people in Yemen, and the dead were promptly labeled “suspected militants” (which actually just means they are “military-age males”); those killings received almost no discussion.

To get a full scope of American violence in the world, it is worth asking a broader question: how many countries in the Islamic world has the U.S. bombed or occupied since 1980? That answer was provided in a recent Washington Post op-ed by the military historian and former U.S. Army Col. Andrew Bacevich:

As America’s efforts to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants extent into Syria, Iraq War III has seamlessly morphed into Greater Middle East Battlefield XIV. That is, Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, and in which American soldiers have killed or been killed. And that’s just since 1980.

Let’s tick them off: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan (2004-) and now Syria. Whew.

Bacevich’s count excludes the bombing and occupation of still other predominantly Muslim countries by key U.S. allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, carried out with crucial American support. It excludes coups against democratically elected governments, torture, and imprisonment of people with no charges. It also, of course, excludes all the other bombing and invading and occupying that the U.S. has carried out during this time period in other parts of the world, including in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as various proxy wars in Africa.

There is an awful lot to be said about the factions in the west which devote huge amounts of their time and attention to preaching against the supreme primitiveness and violence of Muslims. There are no gay bars in Gaza, the obsessively anti-Islam polemicists proclaim—as though that (rather than levels of violence and aggression unleashed against the world) is the most important metric for judging a society. Reflecting their single-minded obsession with demonizing Muslims (at exactly the same time, coincidentally, their governments wage a never-ending war on Muslim countries and their societies marginalize Muslims), they notably neglect to note thriving gay communities in places like Beirut and Istanbul, or the lack of them in Christian Uganda. Employing the defining tactic of bigotry, they love to highlight the worst behavior of individual Muslims as a means of attributing it to the group as a whole, while ignoring (often expressly) the worst behavior of individual Jews and/or their own groups (they similarly cite the most extreme precepts of Islam while ignoring similarly extreme ones from Judaism). That’s because, as Rula Jebreal told Bill Maher last week, if these oh-so-brave rationality warriors said about Jews what they say about Muslims, they’d be fired.

But of all the various points to make about this group, this is always the most astounding: those same people, who love to denounce the violence of Islam as some sort of ultimate threat, live in countries whose governments unleash far more violence, bombing, invasions, and occupations than anyone else by far. That is just a fact.

Those who sit around in the U.S. or the U.K. endlessly inveighing against the evil of Islam, depicting it as the root of violence and evil (the “mother lode of bad ideas“), while spending very little time on their own societies’ addictions to violence and aggression, or their own religious and nationalistic drives, have reached the peak of self-blinding tribalism. They really are akin to having a neighbor down the street who constantly murders, steals and pillages, and then spends his spare time flamboyantly denouncing people who live thousands of miles away for their bad acts. Such a person would be regarded as pathologically self-deluded, a term that also describes those political and intellectual factions which replicate that behavior.

The sheer casualness with which Obama yesterday called for a new AUMF is reflective of how central, how commonplace, violence and militarism are in the U.S.’s imperial management of the world. That some citizens of that same country devote themselves primarily if not exclusively to denouncing the violence and savagery of others is a testament to how powerful and self-blinding tribalism is as a human drive.

Israeli forces displayed ‘callous indifference’ in deadly attacks on family homes in Gaza

by

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

A Palestinian child sits above the ruins of his ruined home, and looks at thousands of homes destroyed because of the war on Gaza. © 2014 Pacific Press

by Amnesty International

Israeli forces have killed scores of Palestinian civilians in attacks targeting houses full of families which in some cases have amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International has disclosed in a new report on the latest Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip.

Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes details eight cases where residential family homes in Gaza were attacked by Israeli forces without warning during Operation Protective Edge in July and August 2014, causing the deaths of at least 104 civilians including 62 children. The report reveals a pattern of frequent Israeli attacks using large aerial bombs to level civilian homes, sometimes killing entire families.

“Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes, displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“The report exposes a pattern of attacks on civilian homes by Israeli forces which have shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, who were given no warning and had no chance to flee.”

The report contains numerous accounts from survivors who describe the horror of frantically digging through the rubble and dust of their destroyed homes in search of the bodies of children and loved ones.

In several of the cases documented in the report, possible military targets were identified by Amnesty International. However the devastation to civilian lives and property caused in all cases was clearly disproportionate to the military advantages gained by launching the attacks.

“Even if a fighter had been present in one of these residential homes, it would not absolve Israel of its obligation to take every feasible precaution to protect the lives of civilians caught up in the fighting. The repeated, disproportionate attacks on homes indicate that Israel’s current military tactics are deeply flawed and fundamentally at odds with the principles of international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther.

In the single deadliest attack documented in the report, 36 members of four families including 18 children were killed when the three-storey al-Dali building, was struck.  Israel has not announced why the building was targeted, but Amnesty International has identified possible military targets within the building.

The second deadliest attack appears to have targeted a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, who was outside the Abu Jame’ family home. The house was completely levelled killing 25 civilians including 19 children. Regardless of the intended targets, both of these attacks constitute grossly disproportionate attacks and under international law, they should have been cancelled or postponed as soon as it was evident that so many civilians were present in the house.

Israeli officials have failed to give any justification for carrying out these attacks. In some of the cases in this report Amnesty International has not been able to identify any possible military target. In those cases it appears that the attacks directly and deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects, which would constitute war crimes.

In all of the cases researched by Amnesty International no prior warning was given to residents of the homes which were attacked. If it had been given, excessive loss of civilian lives could clearly have been avoided.

“It is tragic to think that these civilian deaths could have been prevented. The onus is on Israeli officials to explain why they chose to deliberately flatten entire homes full of civilians, when they had a clear legal obligation to minimize harm to civilians and the means of doing so,” said Philip Luther.

The report highlights the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s attacks on homes, which have shattered the lives of entire families. Some of the homes attacked were overflowing with relatives who had fled other areas of Gaza in search of safety.

Survivors of an attack on the al-Hallaq family home described horrifying scenes of strewn body parts amid the dust and chaos after three missiles struck the house.

Khalil Abed Hassan Ammar, a doctor with the Palestinian Medical Council and a resident in the building said: “It was terrifying we couldn’t save anyone…. All of the kids were burnt, I couldn’t tell which were mine and which were the neighbours’…We carried whoever we were able to the ambulance… I only recognized Ibrahim my eldest child, when I saw the shoes he was wearing…I had bought them for him two days before.”

Ayman Haniyeh, one of the neighbours, described the trauma of trying to search for survivors:

“All I can remember are the bits and pieces I saw of bodies, teeth, head, arms, insides, everything scattered and spread,” he said. One survivor of the same attack described hugging a bag full of the “shreds” of her son’s body.

Israel has so far failed to even acknowledge any of the attacks detailed in the report and has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for explanations of why each of these attacks took place.

At least 18,000 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable during the conflict. More than 1,500 Palestinian civilians including 519 children were killed in Israeli attacks carried out during the latest Gaza conflict. Palestinian armed groups also committed war crimes, firing thousands of indiscriminate rockets into Israel killing six civilians including one child.

“What is crucial now is that there is accountability for any violations of international humanitarian law that have been committed. The Israeli authorities must provide answers. The international community must take urgent steps to end the perpetual cycle of serious violations and complete impunity,” said Philip Luther.

Given the failure of Israeli and Palestinian authorities to independently and impartially investigate allegations of war crimes, it is imperative that the international community support the involvement of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Amnesty International is renewing its calls on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to accede to the Rome Statute and grant the ICC the authority to investigate crimes committed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Israel and the OPT to the ICC so that the prosecutor can investigate allegations of crimes under international law by all parties.

Israel has continued to deny access to Gaza for international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and the organization has been forced to conduct its research for this report remotely, supported by two fieldworkers based in Gaza. Israel has also announced that it will not co-operate with the Commission of Inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council.

“Failing to allow independent human rights monitors into Gaza smacks of a deliberately orchestrated attempt to cover up violations or hide from international scrutiny. Israel must cooperate fully with the UN Commission of Inquiry and grant international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International immediate access to Gaza to prove its commitment to human rights,” said Philip Luther.

Israel ex-officers urge PM to make peace with Palestinians

by

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) has been asked to actively pursue peace with the Palestinians in a letter from former high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs (POOL/AFP Ronen Zvulun)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) has been asked to
actively pursue peace with the Palestinians in a letter from former
high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs
(POOL/AFP Ronen Zvulun)

Jerusalem: Over 100 former high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue peace with the Palestinians, media reported Monday.

“We, the undersigned, reserve IDF (army) commanders and retired police officers, who have fought in Israel’s military campaigns, know first-hand of the heavy and painful price exacted by wars,” 105 signatories said in a joint letter addressed to Netanyahu.

Excerpts of the letter were published by Ynet news website.

It called on Netanyahu to embark on a “courageous initiative” and make peace with Palestine and other Arab states.

“We fought bravely for the country in the hope that our children would live here in peace, but we got a sharp reality check, and here we are again sending our children out onto the battlefield,” it said.

“This is not a question of left or right. What we have here is an alternative option for resolving the conflict that is not based solely on bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians, which have failed time and again.

“We expect a show of courageous initiative and leadership from you. Lead — and we will stand behind you,” said the letter.

The website said the letter was the brainchild of major general Amnon Reshef, a former armored corps commander.

Ynet said that Reshef was “sick and tired of a reality of rounds of fighting every few years instead of a genuine effort to adopt the Saudi initiative.”

It was referring to the Arab Peace Initiative drawn up in 2002 by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia, which called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a normalization of ties with Arab countries.

Former president Shimon Peres made a similar appeal last week, saying: “It’s a shame that the only peace initiative was an Arab initiative. Where is the Israeli peace initiative?”

US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been frozen since April.

(AFP)

The European Union uses death to deter immigrants

by

European Union immigrants

by Martin Kreickenbaum, WSWS

On November 1, the Italian government officially ended the naval operation Mare Nostrum, which has retrieved more than 100,000 refugees from the Mediterranean Sea in the course of the past year. The termination is a deliberate decision of the European Union to permit thousands of refugees to die at sea in order to deter others from trying to set foot on European shores.

The Italian government commenced Operation Mare Nostrum on October 18, 2013 after nearly 500 refugees drowned in one week off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. The operation was aimed at preventing similar catastrophes by an improved system of maritime surveillance.

In practice, sea rescue was always of secondary importance to Mare Nostrum. Deployment of the Italian Navy was intended as an act of deterrence, to detect refugee boats off the coast of Libya and Tunisia at an early stage and escort them back to Africa.

Nevertheless, when those picked up by merchant vessels off the coast of Italy are included, a total of approximately 150,000 refugees were rescued under the Mare Nostrum programme. Thousands more lost their lives attempting the dangerous passage across the sea. In just the first ten months of this year, more than 3,000 refugees drowned in the Mediterranean. Since 2000, the total stands at about 25,000.

Although the other European governments and the European Union claimed they wished to prevent any repeat of Lampedusa, they refused to provide a single euro for rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström castigated Mare Nostrum, “because the probability that refugees will be rescued has increased” and they would therefore be induced to attempt the crossing in even smaller and more unseaworthy boats.

Baroness Joyce Anelay, minister of state in the British foreign ministry, went so far as to claim that the rescue measures: “create an unintended ‘pull factor’ thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths.”

When the Italian government then declared it was no longer able to finance the monthly €9 million for military vessels engaged in the operation, its European partners refused to share the costs. The operation was terminated.

By comparison, in just the first 43 days of the 2003 Iraq war the US expended ammunition worth $2.7 billion. This sum would be sufficient to finance Mare Nostrum for 20 years. The US and its European allies spent similar sums in the succession of wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Gaza (in military aid to Israel) and now Syria— the regions where most of the refugees crossing the Mediterranean come from.

Since 2007, the European Union has provided €4 billion for a fund bearing the name “Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows.” Most of this money, however, has been allocated to the military enhancement of border protection, i.e., construction of fences and border guard posts, deployment of infrared and thermal imaging cameras, and drone and satellite-based surveillance of external borders.

Mare Nostrum will be succeeded by Operation Triton under the overall control of the European border agency Frontex. However, Triton’s mandate is not the rescuing of refugees, but the securing of borders against “illegal” immigration and the entry of refugees. “Frontex is responsible for the surveillance of borders and has not been tasked to rescue refugees,” said the agency’s director Gil Arias Fernandez in a recent interview with the Tagesspiegel daily, adding: “Unlike crews of the Mare Nostrum ships, we will not deliberately go out to search for refugee boats.”

Frontex’s draft paper on Operation Triton, which differs from Mare Nostrum in only covering the Mediterranean within 30 nautical miles of the Italian coast, makes no secret of the fact “that the withdrawal of naval forces from the sea area near the Libyan coast … will probably lead to a higher number of deaths.”

The paper actually asserts that this result is preferable, since “significantly fewer migrants will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in bad weather and prices for the crossings will rise.” The number of refugees would thus decline to “the level of previous years.”

Francois Crepeau, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, fiercely condemned the EU’s approach to refugee policy, declaring: “It is appalling to claim that an increase in the number of fatalities will have the effect of deterring future migrants and asylum seekers. It is as though one were to say: Let them die, because that is a good deterrent for others.”

The deliberate decision to stop the rescue measures in the Mediterranean and allow refugees to drown as a deterrent, shows the real face of the European Union. It does not embody the “unity of Europe,” but rather the dictatorship of the most ruthless capitalist interests over Europe.

The EU is employing the same ruthlessness against the continent’s working population and its international rivals as it does against refugees at its borders. Following the financial crisis of 2008 the EU has dictated one austerity package after another in order to recoup the trillions handed over to bailout the banks, all at the expense of working people again. In Ukraine it has provoked a confrontation with Russia and it is preparing a new war in the Middle East that will have even more disastrous consequences than the current military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The working class can only effectively oppose the EU and European governments by joining forces internationally and fighting for a socialist Europe, for the United Socialist States of Europe. The unconditional defense of refugees is a precondition for the defense of the democratic and social rights of all working people.

Murdered journalists: 90% of killers get away with it but who are the victims?

by

by The Guardian

With 370 dead over 10 years, governments need to do more to catch the killers, says the Committee to Protect Journalist

A grim toll of 370 journalists have been murdered over the past 10 years in direct retaliation for doing their job. An even more alarming statistic is that 90% of their killers have not been brought to justice, according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The 683 journalists murdered since 1992 Photograph: CPJ data

In its report, The road to justice: breaking the cycle of impunity in the killing of journalists, the CPJ argues that governments need to do much more to catch the killers.

Journalists murdered between 2004 and 2013 with full justice:

Brazil
Samuel Romã, Radio Conquista FM, April 20, 2004
Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho, Jornal do Porto, JC Regional, and Rádio Porto FM, May 5, 2007

Dominican Republic
Juan Emilio Andújar Matos, Radio Azua and Listín Diario, September 14, 2004

El Salvador
Christian Gregorio Poveda Ruiz, freelance, September 2, 2009

Indonesia
Anak Agung Prabangsa, Radar Bali, February 11, 2009

Nicaragua
María José Bravo, La Prensa, November 9, 2004

Peru
Miguel Pérez Julca, Radio Éxitos, March 17, 2007

USA
Chauncey Bailey, Oakland Post, August 2, 2007

Venezuela
Jorge Aguirre, Cadena Capriles (El Mundo), April 5, 2006

Some of the journalists murdered since 1992. For an interactive graphic, see the CPJ website Photograph: CPJ

Some of the journalists murdered since 1992. For an interactive graphic, see the CPJ website Photograph: CPJ

Journalists murdered between 2004 and 2013 with partial impunity:

Bangladesh
Manik Saha, New Age, January 15, 2004
Humayun Kabir, Janmabhumi, June 27, 2004
Gautam Das, Samakal, November 17, 2005

Brazil
Francisco Gomes de Medeiros, Radio Caicó, October 18, 2010
Edinaldo Filgueira, Jornal o Serrano, June 15, 2011
Décio Sá, O Estado do Maranhão and Blog do Décio, April 23, 2012

Colombia
Atilano Segundo Pérez Barrios, Radio Vigía de Todelar, August 22, 2006

Croatia
Ivo Pukanic, Nacional, October 23, 2008

El Salvador
Alfredo Antonio Hurtado Núñez, Canal 33, April 25, 2011

Kazakhstan
Gennady Pavlyuk (Ibragim Rustambek), Bely Parokhod, December 22, 2009

Mexico
Gregorio Rodríguez Hernández, El Debate, November 28, 2004
Amado Ramírez Dillanes, Televisa and Radiorama, April 6, 2007

Nepal
Birendra Shah, Nepal FM, Dristi Weekly, and Avenues TV, October 4, 2007
Uma Singh, Janakpur Today, Radio Today, January 11, 2009

Pakistan
Wali Khan Babar, Geo TV, January 13, 2011

Peru
Alberto Rivera Fernández, Frecuencia Oriental, April 12, 2004

Philippines
Gene Boyd Lumawag, MindaNews, November 12, 2004
Marlene Garcia-Esperat, Midland News and DXKR, March 24, 2005
Klein Cantoneros, DXAA-FM, May 4, 2005
Armando Pace, DXDS, July 18, 2006
Gerardo Ortega, DWAR, January 24, 2011
Fernando Solijon, DxLS Love Radio, August 29, 2013

Russia
Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, October 7, 2006
Anastasiya Baburova, Novaya Gazeta, January 19, 2009

Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya was killed in the lift of her Moscow apartment building. Photograph: Stan Honda/AFP

Serbia
Dusko Jovanovic, Dan, May 28, 2004

Somalia
Hassan Yusuf Absuge, Radio Maanta, September 21, 2012

Turkey
Hrant Dink, Agos, January 19, 2007

Venezuela
Orel Sambrano, ABC de la Semana and Radio América, January 16, 2009

Journalists murdered between 2004 and 2013 with complete impunity:

Afghanistan
Christian Struwe, freelance, October 7, 2006
Karen Fischer, freelance, October 7, 2006
Ajmal Naqshbandi, freelance, April 8, 2007
Zakia Zaki, Sada-i-Sulh, June 4, 2007
Abdul Samad Rohani, BBC and Pajhwok Afghan News, June 7 or 8, 2008

BBC reporter Abdul Samad Rohani was killed by Taliban militants in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. Photograph: AP

Angola
Alberto Graves Chakussanga, Radio Despertar, September 5, 2010

Azerbaijan
Elmar Huseynov, Monitor, March 2, 2005
Rafiq Tagi, freelance, November 23, 2011

Bangladesh
Kamal Hossain, Ajker Kagoj, August 22, 2004
Sheikh Belaluddin, Sangram, February 11, 2005
Jamal Uddin, Gramer Kagoj, June 15, 2012
Ahmed Rajib Haider, freelance, February 15, 2013

Belarus
Aleh Byabenin, Charter 97, September 3, 2010

Bolivia
Carlos Quispe Quispe, Radio Municipal, March 29, 2008

Brazil
José Carlos Araújo, Rádio Timbaúba FM, April 24, 2004
Luciano Leitão Pedrosa, TV Vitória and Radio Metropolitana FM, April 9, 2011
Mario Randolfo Marques Lopes, Vassouras na Net, February 9, 2012
Valério Luiz de Oliveira, Radio Jornal, July 5, 2012
Eduardo Carvalho, Última Hora News, November 21, 2012
Mafaldo Bezerra Goes, FM Rio Jaguaribe, February 22, 2013
Rodrigo Neto, Rádio Vanguarda and Vale do Aço, March 8, 2013
Walgney Assis Carvalho, freelance, April 14, 2013

Cambodia
Khem Sambo, Moneaseka Khmer, July 11, 2008
Hang Serei Odom, Virakchun Khmer Daily, September 11, 2012

China
Wu Xianghu, Taizhou Wanbao, February 2, 2006

Colombia
Martín La Rotta, La Palma Estéreo, February 7, 2004
Julio Hernando Palacios Sánchez, Radio Lemas, January 11, 2005
Gustavo Rojas Gabalo, Radio Panzenú, March 20, 2006
José Everardo Aguilar, Radio Súper and Bolívar Estéreo, April 29, 2009
Clodomiro Castilla Ospino, El Pulso del Tiempo, March 19, 2010
Édison Alberto Molina, Puerto Berrío Stereo, September 11, 2013

Dominican Republic
Serge Maheshe, Radio Okapi, June 13, 2007
José Agustín Silvestre de los Santos, La Voz de la Verdad, Caña TV, August 2, 2011

Ecuador
Byron Baldeón, freelance, July 1, 2012

Egypt
Al-Hosseiny Abou Deif, El-Fagr, December 12, 2012

Gambia
Deyda Hydara, The Point, December 16, 2004

Greece
Sokratis Giolias, Thema 98.9, Troktiko, July 19, 2010

Haiti
Jean-Rémy Badio, freelance, January 19, 2007

Honduras
Carlos Salgado, Radio Cadena Voces, October 18, 2007
Joseph Hernández Ochoa, TV Channel 51, March 1, 2010
David Meza Montesinos, Radio El Patio, Radio America, Channel 45, March 11, 2010
Nahúm Palacios Arteaga, TV Channel 5, March 14, 2010

India
Veeraboina Yadagiri, Andhra Prabha, February 21, 2004
Prahlad Goala, Asomiya Khabar, January 6, 2006
Mohammed Muslimuddin, Asomiya Pratidin, April 1, 2008
Vikas Ranjan, Hindustan, November 25, 2008
Rajesh Mishra, Media Raj, March 1, 2012
Narendra Dabholkar, Sadhana, August 20, 2013
Sai Reddy, Deshbandhu, December 6, 2013

Indonesia
Herliyanto, Radar Surabaya and Jimber News Visioner, April 29, 2006
Ardiansyah Matra’is, Merauke TV, July 30, 2010
Ridwan Salamun, Sun TV, August 21, 2010
Alfrets Mirulewan, Pelangi Weekly, December 17, 2010

Iraq
Nadia Nasrat, Iraq Media Network/Diyala TV, March 18, 2004
Enzo Baldoni, freelance, August 26, 2004
Dina Mohammed Hassan, Al-Hurriya, October 14, 2004
Karam Hussein, European Pressphoto Agency, October 14, 2004
Wadallah Sarhan, Akhbar al-Mosul, November 2004
Raeda Wazzan, Al-Iraqiya, February 25, 2005
Hussam Sarsam, Kurdistan TV, March 14, 2005
Ahmed Jabbar Hashim, Al-Sabah, April 1, 2005
Ahmed al-Rubai’i, Al-Sabah, mid-April 2005
Saman Abdullah Izzedine, Kirkuk TV, April 15, 2005
Ahmed Adam, Al-Mada, May 15, 2005
Najem Abed Khudair, Al-Mada, May 15, 2005
Jerges Mahmood Mohamad Suleiman, Nineveh TV, May 31, 2005
Khaled al-Attar, Al-Iraqiya, July 1, 2005
Adnan al-Bayati, TG3, July 23, 2005
Steven Vincent, freelance, August 3, 2005
Rafed Mahmoud Said al-Anbagy, Diyala TV and Radio, August 27, 2005
Hind Ismail, As-Saffir, September 17, 2005
Fakher Haider, The New York Times, September 19, 2005
Firas Maadidi, As-Saffir and Al-Masar, September 20, 2005
Mohammed Haroon, Al-Kadiya, October 19, 2005
Ahmed Hussein al-Maliki, Talafar Al-Yawm, November 7, 2005
Atwar Bahjat, Al-Arabiya, February 23, 2006
Adnan Khairallah, Wasan Productions and Al-Arabiya, February 23, 2006
Khaled Mahmoud al-Falahi, Wasan Productions and Al-Arabiya, February 23, 2006
Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, Baghdad TV, March 7, 2006
Amjad Hameed, Al-Iraqiya, March 11, 2006
Muhsin Khudhair, Alef Ba, March 13, 2006
So’oud Muzahim al-Shoumari, Al-Baghdadia, April 4, 2006
Laith al-Dulaimi, Al-Nahrain, May 8, 2006
Ali Jaafar, Al-Iraqiya, May 31, 2006
Ibrahim Seneid, Al-Bashara, June 13, 2006
Adel Naji al-Mansouri, Al-Alam, July 29, 2006
Riyad Muhammad Ali, Talafar al-Yawm, July 30, 2006

Hrant Dink was killed by an unidentified gunman at the entrance to his newspaper’s offices in Istanbul, Turkey. Photograph: Burak Kara/Getty

Mohammad Abbas Mohammad, Al-Bayinnah al-Jadida, August 7, 2006
Ismail Amin Ali, freelance, August 7, 2006
Abdel Karim al-Rubai, Al-Sabah, September 9, 2006
Safa Isma’il Enad, freelance, September 13, 2006
Ahmed Riyadh al-Karbouli, Baghdad TV, September 18, 2006
Hussein Ali, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006
Ahmad Sha’ban, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006
Thaker al-Shouwili, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006
Noufel al-Shimari, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006
Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah al-Shimari, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006
Saed Mahdi Shlash, Rayat al-Arab, October 26, 2006
Naqshin Hamma Rashid, Atyaf, October 29, 2006
Muhammad al-Ban, Al-Sharqiya, November 13, 2006
Luma al-Karkhi, Al-Dustour, November 15, 2006
Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, Radio Dijla, December 4, 2006
Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah, APTN, December 12, 2006
Ahmed Hadi Naji, Associated Press Television News, January 5, 2007
Falah Khalaf al-Diyali, Al-Sa’a, January 15, 2007
Hussein al-Zubaidi, Al-Ahali, January 28, 2007
Abdulrazak Hashim Ayal al-Khakani, Jumhuriyat al-Iraq, February 5, 2007
Jamal al-Zubaidi, As-Saffir and Al-Dustour, February 24, 2007
Mohan Hussein al-Dhahir, Al-Mashreq, March 4, 2007
Hamid al-Duleimi, Nahrain, March 17, 2007
Khamail Khalaf, Radio Free Iraq, April 5, 2007
Thaer Ahmad Jaber, Baghdad TV, April 5, 2007
Othman al-Mashhadani, Al-Watan, April 6, 2007
Raad Mutashar, Al-Raad, May 9, 2007
Saif Laith Yousuf, ABC News, May 17, 2007
Alaa Uldeen Aziz, ABC News, May 17, 2007
Nazar Abdulwahid al-Radhi, Aswat al-Iraq and Radio Free Iraq, May 30, 2007
Mohammad Hilal Karji, Baghdad TV, June 6, 2007
Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari, National Iraqi News Agency and Aswat al-Iraq, June 7, 2007
Filaih Wuday Mijthab, Al-Sabah, June 17, 2007
Hamid Abed Sarhan, freelance, June 26, 2007
Sarmad Hamdi Shaker, Baghdad TV, June 27, 2007
Khalid W. Hassan, The New York Times, July 13, 2007
Majeed Mohammed, Kirkuk al-Yawm and Hawal, July 16, 2007
Mustafa Gaimayani, Kirkuk al-Yawm and Hawal, July 16, 2007
Adnan al-Safi, Al-Anwar, July 27, 2007
Amer Malallah al-Rashidi, Al-Mosuliya, September 3, 2007
Muhannad Ghanem Ahmad al-Obaidi, Dar al-Salam, September 20, 2007
Salih Saif Aldin, The Washington Post, October 14, 2007
Shehab Mohammad al-Hiti, Baghdad al-Youm, October 28, 2007
Shihab al-Tamimi, Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, February 27, 2008
Jassim al-Batat, Al-Nakhil TV and Radio, April 25, 2008
Sarwa Abdul-Wahab, freelance, May 4, 2008
Haidar al-Hussein, Al-Sharq, May 22, 2008
Mohieldin Al Naqeeb, Al-Iraqiya, June 17, 2008
Soran Mama Hama, Livin, July 21, 2008
Musab Mahmood al-Ezawi, Al-Sharqiya, September 13, 2008
Ahmed Salim, Al-Sharqiya, September 13, 2008
Ihab Mu’d, Al-Sharqiya, September 13, 2008
Sardasht Osman, freelance, May 5, 2010
Riad al-Saray, Al-Iraqiya, September 7, 2010
Safa al-Din Abdel Hamid, Al-Mosuliya, September 8, 2010
Tahrir Kadhim Jawad, freelance, October 4, 2010
Hadi al-Mahdi, freelance, September 8, 2011
Mohammed Ghanem, Al-Sharqiyah, October 5, 2013
Mohammed Karim al-Badrani, Al-Sharqiyah, October 5, 2013
Bashar al-Nuaimi, Al-Mosuliya TV, October 24, 2013
Alaa Edward Butros, freelance, November 24, 2013
Kawa Garmyane, Rayel, Awene, December 5, 2013
Nawras al-Nuaimi, Al-Mosuliya TV, December 15, 2013
Jamal Abdul-Nasser Sami, Salaheddin TV, December 23, 2013
Raad Yassin Al-Baddi, Salaheddin TV, December 23, 2013
Wassan Al-Azzawi, Salaheddin TV, December 23, 2013

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Suleiman Abdul-Rahim al-Ashi, Palestine, May 13, 2007

Ivory Coast
Sylvain Gagnetau Lago, Radio Yopougon, May 8, 2011

Kenya
Francis Nyaruri, Weekly Citizen, January 2009

Kyrgyzstan
Alisher Saipov, Siyosat, October 24, 2007

Lebanon
Samir Kassir, Al-Nahar, June 2, 2005
Gebran Tueni, Al-Nahar, December 12, 2005

Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir was killed in his car following an explosion in Beirut. Photograph: Al Nahar News Paper/EPA

Libya
Daif al-Gahzal al-Shuhaibi, freelance, June 2, 2005

Mali
Claude Verlon, Radio France Internationale, November 1, 2013
Ghislaine Dupont, Radio France Internationale, November 1, 2013

Mexico
Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, Zeta, June 22, 2004
Francisco Arratia Saldierna, freelance, August 31, 2004
Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, Stereo 91, April 16, 2005
Roberto Marcos García, Testimonio and Alarma, November 21, 2006
Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, Tabasco Hoy, January 20, 2007
Alejandro Zenón Fonseca Estrada, EXA FM, September 24, 2008
Armando Rodríguez Carreón, El Diario de Ciudad Juárez, November 13, 2008
Eliseo Barrón Hernández, La Opinión, May 25, 2009
Norberto Miranda Madrid, Radio Visión, September 23, 2009
Bladimir Antuna García, El Tiempo de Durango, November 2, 2009
Valentín Valdés Espinosa, Zócalo de Saltillo, January 8, 2010
Luis Carlos Santiago, El Diario, September 16, 2010
Noel López Olguín, freelance, March 2011
Luis Emanuel Ruiz Carrillo, La Prensa, March 25, 2011
Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro, freelance, September 24, 2011
Regina Martínez Pérez, Proceso, April 28, 2012

Nepal
Dekendra Raj Thapa, Radio Nepal, August 11, 2004
Prakash Singh Thakuri, freelance, July 2007

Nicaragua
Carlos José Guadamuz, Canal 23, February 10, 2004

Nigeria
Bayo Ohu, The Guardian, September 20, 2009
Sunday Gyang Bwede, The Light Bearer, April 24, 2010
Nathan S. Dabak, The Light Bearer, April 24, 2010
Zakariya Isa, Nigeria Television Authority, October 22, 2011
Enenche Akogwu, Channels TV, January 20, 2012

Pakistan
Sajid Tanoli, Shumal, January 29, 2004
Allah Noor, Khyber TV, February 7, 2005
Amir Nowab, Associated Press Television News and Frontier Post, February 7, 2005
Hayatullah Khan, freelance, June 16, 2006
Zubair Ahmed Mujahid, Jang, November 23, 2007
Chishti Mujahid, Akbar-e-Jehan, February 9, 2008
Mohammed Ibrahim, Express TV and Daily Express, May 22, 2008
Abdul Razzak Johra, Royal TV, November 3, 2008
Musa Khankhel, Geo TV and The News, February 18, 2009
Janullah Hashimzada, freelance, August 24, 2009
Ghulam Rasool Birhamani, Daily Sindhu Hyderabad, May 9 or 10, 2010
Misri Khan, Ausaf and Mashriq, September 14, 2010
Nasrullah Khan Afridi, Pakistan Television and Mashriq, May 10, 2011
Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online, May 29 or 30, 2011
Faisal Qureshi, The London Post, October 7, 2011
Javed Naseer Rind, Daily Tawar, November 2011
Mukarram Khan Aatif, freelance, January 17, 2012
Razzaq Gul, Express News TV, May 19, 2012
Abdul Qadir Hajizai, WASH TV, May 28, 2012
Abdul Haq Baloch, ARY Television, September 29, 2012
Rehmatullah Abid, Dunya News TV, Intikhaab, November 18, 2012
Ayub Khattak, Karak Times, October 11, 2013

Panama
Darío Fernández Jaén, Radio Mi Favorita, November 6, 2011

Journalist Sokratis Giolias was gunned down by three assailants in Athens, Greece. Photograph: Icon/Reuters

Paraguay
Tito Alberto Palma, Radio Mayor Otaño and Radio Chaco Boreal, August 22, 2007

Peru
Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, Radio Órbita, February 14, 2004
Pedro Alfonso Flores Silva, Channel 6, September 8, 2011

Philippines
Rowell Endrinal, DZRC, February 11, 2004
Elpidio Binoya, Radyo Natin, June 17, 2004
Rogelio “Roger” Mariano, Radyo Natin-Aksyon Radyo, July 31, 2004
Arnnel Manalo, Bulgar and DZRH Radio, August 5, 2004
Romeo (or Romy) Binungcal, Remate and Bulgar, September 29, 2004
Eldy Sablas (aka Eldy Gabinales), Radio DXJR-FM, October 19, 2004
Herson Hinolan, Bombo Radiyo, November 13, 2004
Philip Agustin, Starline Times Recorder, May 10, 2005
Rolando “Dodong” Morales, DXMD, July 3, 2005
Fernando Batul, DZRH and DYPR, May 22, 2006
Maricel Vigo, DXND, June 19, 2006
George Vigo, Union of Catholic Asian News, June 19, 2006
Martin Roxas, DYVR, August 7, 2008
Dennis Cuesta, DXMD, August 9, 2008
Ernie Rollin, DXSY Radio, February 23, 2009
Crispin Perez, DWDO Radio, June 9, 2009
Henry Araneta, DZRH, November 23, 2009
Mark Gilbert Arriola, UNTV, November 23, 2009
Rubello Bataluna, Gold Star Daily, November 23, 2009
Arturo Betia, Periodico Ini, November 23, 2009
Romeo Jimmy Cabillo, Midland Review, November 23, 2009
Marites Cablitas, News Focus and DXDX, November 23, 2009
Hannibal Cachuela, Punto News, November 23, 2009
Jepon Cadagdagon, Saksi News, November 23, 2009
John Caniban, Periodico Ini, November 23, 2009
Lea Dalmacio, Socsargen News, November 23, 2009
Noel Decina, Periodico Ini, November 23, 2009
Gina Dela Cruz, Saksi News, November 23, 2009
Jhoy Duhay, Gold Star Daily, November 23, 2009
Jolito Evardo, UNTV, November 23, 2009
Santos Gatchalian, DXGO, November 23, 2009
Bienvenido Legarte Jr., Prontiera News, November 23, 2009
Lindo Lupogan, Mindanao Daily Gazette, November 23, 2009
Ernesto Maravilla, Bombo Radyo, November 23, 2009
Rey Merisco, Periodico Ini, November 23, 2009
Reynaldo Momay, Midland Review, November 23, 2009
Marife “Neneng” Montaño, Saksi News and DXCI, November 23, 2009
Rosell Morales, News Focus, November 23, 2009
Victor Nuñez, UNTV, November 23, 2009
Ronnie Perante, Gold Star Daily, November 23, 2009
Joel Parcon, Prontiera News, November 23, 2009
Fernando Razon, Periodico Ini, November 23, 2009
Alejandro Reblando, Manila Bulletin, November 23, 2009
Napoleon Salaysay, Mindanao Gazette, November 23, 2009
Ian Subang, Socsargen Today, November 23, 2009
Andres Teodoro, Central Mindanao Inquirer, November 23, 2009
Desidario Camangyan, Sunrise FM, June 14, 2010
Joselito Agustin, DZJC, June 16, 2010
Romeo Olea, DWEB, June 13, 2011
Christopher Guarin, Radyo Mo Nationwide and Tatak News, January 5, 2012
Mario Sy, freelance, August 1, 2013
Joas Dignos, DXGT Radio, November 29, 2013

Russia
Paul Klebnikov, Forbes Russia, July 9, 2004
Pavel Makeev, Puls, May 21, 2005
Magomedzagid Varisov, Novoye Delo, June 28, 2005
Vagif Kochetkov, Trud and Tulsky Molodoi Kommunar, January 8, 2006
Maksim Maksimov, Gorod, November 30, 2006
Ivan Safronov, Kommersant, March 2, 2007
Magomed Yevloyev, Ingushetiya, August 31, 2008
Telman (Abdulla) Alishayev, TV-Chirkei, September 2, 2008
Natalya Estemirova, Novaya Gazeta, Kavkazsky Uzel, July 15, 2009
Abdulmalik Akhmedilov, Hakikat and Sogratl, August 11, 2009
Gadzhimurad Kamalov, Chernovik, December 15, 2011
Kazbek Gekkiyev, VGTRK, December 5, 2012
Mikhail Beketov, Khimkinskaya Pravda, April 8, 2013
Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, Novoye Delo, July 9, 2013

Rwanda
Jean-Léonard Rugambage, Umuvugizi, June 26, 2010

Saudi Arabia
Simon Cumbers, BBC, June 6, 2004

Serbia
Bardhyl Ajeti, Bota Sot, June 25, 2005

Sierra Leone
Harry Yansaneh, For Di People, July 28, 2005

Somalia
Kate Peyton, BBC, February 9, 2005
Martin Adler, freelance, June 23, 2006
Mahad Ahmed Elmi, Capital Voice, August 11, 2007
Ali Sharmarke, HornAfrik, August 11, 2007
Bashiir Noor Gedi, Radio Shabelle, October 19, 2007
Nasteh Dahir Farah, freelance, June 7, 2008
Hassan Mayow Hassan, Radio Shabelle, January 1, 2009
Said Tahlil Ahmed, HornAfrik, February 2, 2009
Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, Radio Shabelle, June 8, 2009
Sheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey, Radio Mogadishu, May 4, 2010
Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan, freelance, December 18, 2011
Hassan Osman Abdi, Shabelle Media Network, January 28, 2012
Abukar Hassan Mohamoud, Somaliweyn Radio, February 28, 2012
Ali Ahmed Abdi, freelance, March 4, 2012
Mahad Salad Adan, Shabelle Media Network, April 5, 2012
Farhan Jeemis Abdulle, Radio Daljir and Simba Radio, May 2, 2012
Ahmed Addow Anshur, Shabelle Media Network, May 24, 2012
Liban Ali Nur, Somali National TV, September 20, 2012
Abdisatar Daher Sabriye, Radio Mogadishu, September 20, 2012
Abdirahman Yasin Ali, Radio Hamar, September 20, 2012
Ahmed Farah Ilyas, Universal TV, October 23, 2012
Mohamed Mohamud Turyare, Shabelle Media Network, October 28, 2012
Abdihared Osman Aden, Shabelle Media Network, January 18, 2013
Mohamed Ibrahim Raage, Radio Mogadishu, Somali National Television, April 21, 2013
Liban Abdullahi Farah, Kalsan TV, July 7, 2013
Mohamed Mohamud, Universal TV, October 26, 2013

Somali journalist Mohamed Mohamud holds his camera in the Medina hospital compound in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photograph: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

Sri Lanka
Aiyathurai Nadesan, Virakesari, May 31, 2004
Bala Nadarajah Iyer, Thinamurasu and Thinakaran, August 16, 2004
Dharmeratnam Sivaram, TamilNet and Daily Mirror, April 29, 2005
Relangi Selvarajah, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp., August 12, 2005
Subramaniyam Sugitharajah, Sudar Oli, January 24, 2006
Subash Chandraboas, Nilam, April 16, 2007
Selvarajah Rajeewarnam, Uthayan, April 29, 2007
Paranirupasingham Devakumar, News 1st, May 28, 2008
Lasantha Wickramatunga, The Sunday Leader, January 8, 2009

Sudan
Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, Al-Wifaq, September 6, 2006

Syria
Ihsan al-Buni, Al-Thawra, July 12, 2012
Ali Abbas, SANA, August 11, 2012
Mosaab al-Obdaallah, Tishreen, August 22, 2012
Abdel Karim al-Oqda, Shaam News Network, September 19, 2012
Suhail Mahmoud al-Ali, Dunya TV, January 4, 2013
Mohammad Saeed, Al-Arabiya, October 29, 2013
Yasser Faisal al-Jumaili, freelance, December 4, 2013

Thailand
Athiwat Chaiyanurat, Matichon, Channel 7, August 1, 2008
Jaruek Rangcharoen, Matichon, September 27, 2008 ­
Wisut “Ae” Tangwittayaporn, Inside Phuket, January 12, 2012

Turkey
Cihan Hayırsevener, Güney Marmara’da Yaşam, December 19, 2009

Turkmenistan
Ogulsapar Muradova, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, September 2006

Uganda
Paul Kiggundu, TOP Radio and TV, September 11, 2010

Yemen
Muhammad al-Rabou’e, Al-Qahira, February 13, 2010

Zimbabwe
Edward Chikomba, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (former), March 31, 2007

Report to UN condemns US government’s “international criminal program of torture”

by

by Thomas Gaist, WSWS

Music-tortureA recent report to the UN Committee Against Torture concludes that the US presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama are responsible for far-reaching violations of international law for directing and covering up a global torture program developed by the US Central Intelligence Agency in the years following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The report, prepared by the “Advocates for US Torture Prosecutions,” Dr. Trudy Bond, Prof. Benjamin Davis, Dr. Curtis F. J. Doebbler, and The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, states unequivocally that entire sections of the state apparatus are responsible for “breathtaking” crimes against international law.

“Civilian and military officials at the highest level created, designed, authorized and implemented a sophisticated, international criminal program of torture,” the report states.

The report details the vast scale of the torture system, noting that detainees were tortured not just at the US Guantanamo Bay Military Base in Cuba, but in numerous secret black sites worldwide, including in “Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Syria, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom (Diego Garcia), and Yemen.”

Having been “conceived and authorized at the highest levels” of the US government, responsibility for the crimes committed is shared by numerous top officials, the report concludes, including “President George W. Bush, then Vice President Dick Cheney, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) George Tenet, then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then Secretary of State Colin Powell, and then Attorney General John Ashcroft.”

The torture techniques were devised by the CIA in collaboration with intelligence officers from the Egyptian and Saudi regimes, according to the report.

“The techniques in question, sometimes styled as interrogation techniques and sometimes as detention procedures, included near-drowning (‘waterboarding’), sleep deprivation for days, and forced nudity,” the report notes.

“They have caused many people intense suffering, including severe mental harm and, in some cases, death,” the report notes.

“Retroactive legal approval” was then contrived by US government lawyers at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

In order to justify the new methods of “enhanced interrogation,” the torture lawyers of the Bush administration drew up an “absurdly narrow” definition of torture to justify the administration’s policies.

As a CIA lawyer commented to personnel at Guantanamo Bay when summarizing the content of the Bush administration torture memos, “…it is basically subject to perception. If the detainee dies you’re doing it wrong.”

“The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees,” notes a report by the US Senate Armed Services Committee, cited in the new report to the UN.

Using the definition advanced under Bush, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein himself “would be exculpated” for the systematic torture carried out by his regime, Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh told the rapporteurs.

Far from being limited to the Bush administration, the report makes clear that the Obama administration, the Justice Department and multiple federal courts have upheld the conception that those involved in “waterboarding, dietary manipulation, walling, long-time standing, sleep deprivation and water dousing” should receive immunity, and that these techniques do not constitute torture.

The Obama administration has sought to safeguard all the senior Bush administration officials most directly responsible for torture from prosecution or any form of legal or punitive action for their involvement in torture.

As the report notes, all senior US government officials have received blanket immunity for their involvement in orchestrating a worldwide torture network, and “courts-martial and administrative proceedings for acts of torture have been almost exclusively limited to low-level private contractors or soldiers.”

The authors conclude that the “enhanced interrogation” methods violated the UN Convention Against Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, which builds on the ban on torture contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The report maintains that “the prohibition against torture is absolute,” rejecting the legal concepts of the Bush administration and calling for the prosecution of top Bush administration lawyers, including the drafter of the three main “Torture Memos,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo.

The failure of the US government to hold accountable any of the leadership elements that organized the torture is undermining the “preemptory norm against torture,” according to the report. Torture is becoming more widespread and viewed as more acceptable by states everywhere in response to the unabashed repudiation of international law by the US.

In its concluding recommendation to the UN Committee Against Torture, the legal scholars demand that the US government adopt a legal and policy course that is 180 degrees opposed to that followed by the Obama administration since taking office.

“The United States should promptly and impartially prosecute senior military and civilian officials responsible for authorizing, acquiescing or consenting in any way to acts of torture committed by their subordinates,” the rapporteurs write.

Were the demands of the report to be implemented, the result would be the prosecution of command elements and numerous individuals within the upper layers of the most powerful agencies of the American government, including the CIA, the military and the Department of Justice, together with numerous high-ranking members of the Bush and Obama administrations.

Countless figures, many now ensconced in academia and the corporate establishment, would face long jail sentences.

No such accountability will be forthcoming from any section of the political establishment, however, given that the torturers and their defenders are the preeminent political servants and military-intelligence specialists of the capitalist class.

The torture program was developed and implemented as part of an explosion of American militarism, as the ruling class has sought to maintain its global position through war and violence in every corner of the globe. It is also part of a wholesale assault on democratic rights, directed fundamentally against any opposition to the policies of the corporate and financial elite.

Far from prosecuting those responsible, the Obama administration is currently seeking to prevent the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee summary on CIA torture, working closely with the spy agency itself to cover up its crimes.

Hamas: Closure of Gaza crossings 'collective punishment'

by

Palestinians walk past trucks loaded with gravel at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip (Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Palestinians walk past trucks loaded with gravel at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip. (Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Gaza City/Ma’an: Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouq early Sunday condemned an Israeli decision to close crossings into Gaza, calling it “collective punishment.”

“The justifications given by the (Israeli) occupation to shut down crossings are unacceptable,” Abu Marzouq said in a statement.

He also criticized the Palestinian Authority for what he called a failure to arrange the entry of goods into Gaza.

“Where does the PA come in regarding this Israeli closure? And where does it come in regarding its responsibilities, especially after PA employees have resumed work at Gaza crossings?”

He said Israel’s decision to close the crossings violated international laws and conventions.

Instead of closing the crossings, he said Israel should establish more crossings in order to allow for greater freedom of movement for people and goods in and out of Gaza.

Israeli authorities on Saturday announced that the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings would be closed until further notice, following reports that a projectile fired from Gaza landed in Israel overnight Friday without causing damage or injuries.

They said exceptions would be made for humanitarian emergencies.

Israel and Palestinian factions signed a ceasefire agreement on Aug. 26 after a deadly 50-day war in Gaza. Over 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in Israeli attacks.

The ceasefire deal stipulated an end to hostilities, and Israel agreed to ease its devastating blockade on the Strip and expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast.

However, Palestinians accuse Israeli forces of regular ceasefire violations, with near-daily reports that navy soldiers have fired at fishermen off the coast of the enclave, and occasional reports of Israeli troops shooting and injuring Palestinians near the border.

Continued Cairo ceasefire talks to iron out further details of the truce were postponed to November following a deadly attack on Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.

Gaza has been under a severe economic blockade since 2007, set into place by Israel after Hamas won democratic elections and later took power in the Strip.

Lifting the blockade has been the main grievance of Gaza militant groups in the bloody conflicts with Israel in 2008-2009, 2012, and 2014.

British-Iranian woman jailed for a year for trying to watch volleyball game

by

Law graduate from London found guilty of spreading ‘propaganda against regime’ following secret hearing in Iran

Ghoncheh Ghavami has already been detained for four months after being arrested at Azadi stadium in Tehran.

Ghoncheh Ghavami has already been detained for four months after being arrested at Azadi stadium in Tehran.

by Josh Halliday, The Guardian

A British-Iranian woman detained in Iran for trying to watch a volleyball game has been sentenced to one year in a notorious prison, according to her family and lawyer.

Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, a law graduate from London, was found guilty of spreading “propaganda against the regime” following a secret hearing at Tehran’s revolutionary court.

Ghavami has been detained for 127 days in prison since being arrested on 20 June at Azadi (“Freedom” in Farsi) stadium in Tehran where Iran’s national volleyball team was scheduled to play Italy. Although she had been released within a few hours after the initial arrest she was rearrested days later.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ghavami’s brother Iman, 28, said the family felt “shattered” by the court verdict.

“We are really disappointed because we felt she would get out on bail immediately. She’s been through a lot and now it’s a full-year sentence and she’s already served four months,” he said.

No reason was given for the conviction, although Ghavami had been accused of spreading propaganda against the regime, an unspecific charge often used by Iran’s judiciary.

Ghavami’s parents, who have been based in Tehran throughout their daughter’s ordeal, were too distressed to talk after Saturday’s court hearing – which they were not allowed to attend.

“I found out the verdict from the lawyer. My parents were with him but were too emotional to talk. As we speak my parents are scrambling from one office to another to see if we can get leniency or bail,” said Iman.

Ghavami’s lawyer, Alizadeh Tabatabaie, was quoted in Iranian media as saying: “According to the verdict she was sentenced to one year.”

Asked if the sentence could be reduced, Tabatabaie, who has not been allowed to visit his client, said: “Considering that Ghoncheh Ghavami has no criminal record, the court can alleviate the verdict.

“In a meeting Ghoncheh had with her mother on Wednesday, she said no new charges have been filed against her.”

In early October Ghavami spent 14 days on hunger strike in protest at her detention. Her arrest has drawn condemnation from the highest political level. David Cameron underlined his concerns in a meeting with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in September at the UN general assembly in New York.

Iman, from London, said he hoped his sister would be moved to another wing of the notorious Evin prison, where she has been held since June in relative solitary confinement in a jail known for housing high-profile political prisoners and activists.

He said: “She will be in the same prison but we hope she’s going to be transferred to a general section of it where she can interact with other people because now she’s being held in solitary confinement. It’s hell for everyone who is kept there.”

A petition on the site Change.org started by Iman has amassed more than 700,000 signatories calling for Ghavami’s release.

Mass protests push Hungary to cancel controversial Internet Tax

by

Prime Minister Viktor Orban scraps proposed tax after large-scale anti-government protests rock Budapest

Tens of thousands of Hungarians marched over the Danube River this week, protesting a proposed tax on Internet usage. (Photo: Janos Marjai/European Pressphoto Agency)

Tens of thousands of Hungarians marched over the Danube River this week, protesting a proposed tax on Internet usage. (Photo: Janos Marjai/European Pressphoto Agency)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Mass protests in Budapest this week against a proposed Internet usage tax apparently worked: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that his government would scrap the tax, at least for now.

“We are not Communists, we don’t govern against the people,” Mr. Orban said in his regular weekly interview on Hungarian radio. “We govern together with the people. So this tax, in this form, cannot be introduced.”

Protest organizers, who said the levy not only imposed a financial burden but threatened to restrict free speech, silence dissent, and access to information, celebrated the U-turn. “Mr. Orban admitted his defeat,” they said in a statement. “We are the people! And we the people have the right to rule the country.” A victory rally is planned for Friday evening.

The BBC‘s Nick Thorpe, writing from Budapest, noted that “Orban does not often back down, but he has done so on this occasion for several reasons.”

For one thing, the proposed tax of about 61 cents per gigabyte of data managed to unify those who are opposed to Orban and his ruling Fidesz party, which has been accused of authoritarian impulses. The reasons for the tax were poorly communicated, while opposition was well-organized. And Orban’s line about Communists, Thorpe said, is “a sign that growing comparisons between Fidesz and the old Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party are hitting the mark.”

“What happens next?” Thorpe wondered. “Mr. Orban’s decision to cancel the tax deprives his opponents of a valuable rallying cry. The big question for them will be whether they can use the momentum of two big rallies to create new forms of opposition to Fidesz. They have proven that he can be defeated. Mr. Orban has proven that he is more flexible than many analysts give him credit for.”

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives