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| Stop Kurd execution in Iran |
“At 1:00 pm, a group of the Pasdars(the Iranian Revolutionary Guard) arrived to the village Qarna. At first look, they found nobody as everybody ran away toward the mountains or tried to be hidden somewhere. Then Guards started to search the houses one after another so they could find the hidden ones. Some of those citizens were killed right in front of their houses. The others were shot or beheaded in the mosque. Then they dragged the dead bodies by their trucks and cars to the Naqadeh and show the bodies to the town of Naqadeh. Most of victims were children, disabled and old people. They were all unarmed and innocent. They beheaded even the only clergy in the village.”
This Happened on Sept 2nd 1980 in a Kurdish village, 12 Kilometer far from Naqadeh in Iran.
Nobody out of Iran ever heard of this massacre. Even inside of Iran rather than the local people, hardly heard of it. Those Pasdars never charged for their crimes or nor got punished for what they did in Qarna. Instead, they got prized and promoted for that genocide.
These kind of crimes kept continue since back then in many ways. Now there are 8 civil rights activists, journalists and teachers are sentenced to death on charge of being Mohareb (fighter against God). Their lives are in danger. According to the recent news, Kurdish political prisoners in Iran, since Monday 25 August 2008, began an indefinite hunger strike to protest those sentences and huge human rights violation in Iranian Kurdistan.
The fallowing eight Kurdish journalists and civil rights activists have been condemned to death in Iran:
1. Adnan Hassanpour, journalist, also the award-winning journalist who has been condemned to death. Adnan was awarded a media award in Italy by the Information, Safety & Freedom Association, death penalty
2. Hiva Botimar, civil rights activist and journalist, death penalty
3. Farzad Kamangar, civil rights and human rights activist, death penalty
4. Anvar Hossein Panahi, teacher and civil rights activist, death penalty
5. Farhad Vakili, civil rights activist, death penalty
6. Ali Hardarian, civil rights activist, death penalty
7. Arsalan Olyaei, civil rights activist, death penalty
8. Habib Latifi, student, civil rights activist, death penalty
While another seven have been sentenced to penalties up to 11 years for their alleged Civil Rights activists. Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand, Human Rights activist- 11 years- Hana Abdi, Women Rights activist- 5 years- Zainab Bayazidi, Women Rights activist- 4 years- Fatemeh Goftari, Women Rights activist- 19 months- Amir Reza Ardalan, Student - 1 year - Ali Shakeri, Student, 2 and half years - Sohrab Jalali, Civil Rights activist, in spending his charge and deportation to Kashmar.
The prisoner’s hunger strike is to "sensitize Iranian and international public opinion" to "protest against the death sentences given to Kurdish representatives and to denounce continuing human rights violations in prison and outside prison. If the world were unaware of what happened to Qarna, now with the tools of media there is no excuse for not being informed of what is going on in Iran. We shouldn’t be silent anymore. We should do anything we can to keep their lives safe. This is our responsibility to notify this to all international communities.
We are asking you to help them to stop these executions.
We will get together at 13:00 h, on Aug 29th in front of international crime court in The Hague in order to protest against the death penalty of these 8 journalists and asking the ICC to prosecute the Iranian crime against Kurds victims.
Day and time:
Friday 29 August 2008
1:00 pm
Place :
International criminal court(ICC) http://www.icc-cpi.int
Maanweg, 174
2516 AB, The Hague
The Netherlands
Organizers KDPI, KOMALA, CHAK, PAK, KMCN, ICHRN, KJB, IVZO, RASTAN
Campaign: Stop Kurd Execution in Iran
Kurds Human Rights Network
info@kurdsnetwork.com
alimahmud2001@yahoo.com |
| Friends in Unfriendly Places |
Illustrated. 366 pp. Walker & Company. $25.95
Sooner or later most foreign correspondents find themselves sent to Kurdistan. This fact has been true for many decades, a testimony to the Kurds' chronic, newsworthy troubles. The journalists assigned there discover that the land and its people get under their skin in a way other places don't.
The reasons for all this are varied. There is the historic injustice at the heart of the Kurdish story: as the world's largest ethnic group without a country of their own, they have suffered everything from cultural and economic oppression to genocide. Then, in a region where Western reporters are not liked very much, Kurds are exceptionally friendly. Finally, there is the raw physical beauty of Kurdistan.
Early in "Invisible Nation," Quil Lawrence, who has spent much of this decade reporting from Iraq for the BBC/PRI radio program "The World," confesses to the power Kurdistan holds on him. The Kurds have clearly worked on his heart, and it shows in the way he tells the story of a people who have made themselves central not just to American plans in Iraq but also in the wider Middle East.
For any author, writing a history of the Kurds presents a challenge, because the Kurdish story has more switchbacks than a shepherd's trail into the mountains. It is filled with alliances, betrayals, unlikely political marriages of convenience, bloody shotgun divorces. This book pretty much tells the reader all of them. But it is structured around the Kurds' relationship with the United States — a relationship with as many twists and turns as the rest, and with the same bloody consequences. |
| Urgent Action Appeal |
Stop the execution of teacher unionist Farzad Kamangar
Dear colleagues,
Farzad Kamangar, a 33-year old teacher and former trade unionist from the Kurdistan Province of Iran, is at risk of execution following the ruling issued at an unfair trial.
In recent weeks, EI has written to the Iranian Government to request a fair trial for Farzad Kamangar and other union activists who are under arrest. In spite of joint efforts from various national and international organisations to have death sentence of Farzad Kamangar communted, it was upheld by the Supreme Court on 11 July 2008. In addition, Iranian trade union colleagues and human rights activists who show solidarity with Farzad are being subjected to pervasive intimidation by the Iranian authorities.
The arrest, detention and condemnation of trade unionists because of their human and trade union activities are not only serious violations of trade union rights, but also create an atmosphere of fear prejudicial to trade union development in Iran.
Background Information
Kamangar, who worked as a teacher in rural areas and was a human rights activist, is accused of being a terrorist through his alleged affiliation to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK. According to his lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, there is no evidence to justify the judgement that Kamangar has "endangered national security". His lawyer, who was not permitted to defend him, says Farzad's trial was not in accordance with article 168 of the Iranian Constitution: "Political and press offences will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice." In this case, only one judge reviewed the case within five minutes and the defendant was not allowed to speak. |
| ROJ TV |
HC Andersens Boulevard 39 - DK- 1553 Copenhagen V - Tel: +45 7026 0788 - Fax: +45 7026 0788
INDEX
• Open Letter the Roj TV
• Roj TV
• Masters of literature and art meet in these programmes
• Categories
• Report: Programming according to language
• ROJ TV and Freedom of the Press
Attachment 1 : BREAKDOWN OF DAILY NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN TURKEY
Attachment 2: DICLE NEWS AGENCY (DIHA)
Mr President,
Dear colleagues,
Our television station ROJ TV, which has been broadcasting since March 2004 with a Danish License, has been banned from all activity within German borders by the Federal German Home Secretary on the 19th of June, 2008. This ban has not only been limited to ROJ TV but has also stretched to other media organisations which we work with including Denmark based Mesopotamia Broadcasting Company and Germany based VIKO Fersehprodoktion GmbH. |
| Ahmad Qasaban (m) ] |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/125/2008
21 August 2008
Further Information on UA 113/07 (MDE 13/054/2007, 15 May 2007) and follow-up (MDE 13/077/2007, 22 June 2007; MDE 13/098/2007, 1 August 2007; MDE 13/114/2007, 26 September 2007 and MDE 13/055/2008, 18 April 2008) - Fear for safety/ Fear of torture and ill-treatment/ Medical concern
IRAN Ahmad Qasaban (m) ]
Majid Tavakkoli (m) ] Students at Amir Kabir University, Tehran
Ehsan Mansouri (m) ]
The three students of Amir Kabir University in Tehran, Ahmad Qasaban, Majid Tavakkoli and Ehsan Mansouri were released on 13 August 2008. It is not clear whether Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei had pardoned them or whether they were conditionally released on 13 August 2008. |
| Iran: DI Campaign In Support of DI Member Ms. Z. Bayazidi |
Human rights activist Ms. Bayazidi is sentenced to 4 years in prison. Her family and lawyer have not been allowed to meet her. Ms. Bayazidi embarks on hunger strike to protest the revolutionary court charges.
DI calls on Iranian government to drop all judicial proceedings against her, and to release her immediately and unconditionally. DI member Ms. Bayazidi must not be punished for human rights activities.
Name: Zaynab Bayazidi
Sex: Female
Age: 26
Authorities: Iranian
|
| LES ARMEES DES ETATS COLONIALISTES HORS DU KURDISTAN |
Dr Ali KILIC
Paris le 13-06-2007
LES ARMEES DES ETATS COLONIALISTES HORS DU KURDISTAN
NON A L’INGERENCE
DE TURQUIE ET DE L’IRAN, DE LA SYRIE
AU KURDISTAN
Les forces armées de Turquie et de l’Iran ont commencé à bombarder les montagnes du Kurdistan Sud depuis la semaine dernière. L’attaque militaire massive turco iranienne, impliquant plus 250.000 militaires, représente une agression barbare contre les acquis de notre révolution du Kurdistan et viole les principes du Droit International. Les actes des deux états colonialistes justifient qu’ils n’ont pas pris de conscience du fait que les violations des droits de l'homme à grande échelle constituent une atteinte à l'humanité, qui concerne tous. Les crimes contre l'humanité ont désormais des instances qui les jugent, comme le tribunal pénal de La Haye. Les procès de Nuremberg ont fait précédent à cet égard. La souveraineté des Etats ne tient plus contre ces crimes. Avec la création de l'ONU, les Etats ont accepté formellement que l'organisation représente un garant de la paix et la sécurité internationales. Les opérations de maintien de la paix menées par l'ONU, ou ses interventions humanitaires écarter les menaces que les violations des droits de l'homme peuvent engendrer, sont une application de l'obligation prise par les Etats de coopérer à la quête pour la paix.
Que faire ? Est -il légitime le silence de l’ONU depuis la destruction des notre République de Mahabad de 1946 date à laquelle nos dirigeants sont pendus et notre peuple est massacré en présence des soviétiques et les britanniques par la collaboration des armées turco iraniennes ? Autrement dit ; le Kurdistan sera-t-il de nouveau l’objet du génocide pour la réalisation du plan du Grand Moyen Orient avancé par le Président W.G. Bush ? Si oui ; quelle est la différence entre le Traité de Sykes-Picot et le plan du Grand Projet du Moyen Orient ? Si non ; comment pouvons nous agir avec quelle analyse scientifique stratégique des rapports de forces afin de mettre en application la déclaration de l’ONU pour sauvegarder les acquis de notre révolution dans le but de la réalisation de notre projet concernant l’unification politique de notre pays d’une part et d’autre part pour mettre fin la domination coloniale des Etats occupants ; Turquie,l’Iran et la Syrie, dans la mesure où les USA et l’Angleterre ; en tant que Etats membres du Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU peuvent saisir le Conseil afin de mettre en application la déclaration de l’ONU relative l’octroi à l’indépendance aux peuples coloniaux sans être dominé par une autre force étrangère dont le peuple du Kurdistan fait partie ?
Je pense que c’est ici qui réside le point du départ de la démocratisation des rapports des forces au Moyen Orient sans la fondation d’une République démocratique indépendant libre unifiée il n’y aura plus la réalisation du plan du Grand Moyen Orient. |
| Execute of the sentences of the Anfal perpetrators |
Dear:
The Iraqi president
The Iraqi prime minister
The President of the Iraqi parliament
The Prime minister of Kurdistan Regional Government
The American ambassador in Iraq
The Supporters of victim families
The trial against the perpetrators of the Anfal genocide on august 21, 2006 was a positive step forward to achieve justice, despite of our reservations on the Iraqi High Criminal Court “IHCC” and the procedures of the trials.
Victim families and anti-genocide organization waited for the findings of the Anfal trial impatiently. But the execution of the main perpetrator of the Anfal genocide Saddam Hussein for Dujail crime was the first major disappointment of the Kurdish victims of genocide. Saddam escaped the trial of the crime of Anfal genocide.
Now more than one year pass the deadline of the execution of the sentences released against the three main perpetrators of the genocide crime: Ali Hassan al-Majid “Chimical Ali”, Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tai and Hussein Rashid al-Tikrity, but the executions of the sentences do not take place yet. This is a clear disapprove of the interests of the victim families. |
| Turkey uses forbidden Boody-traps weapon against Kurdish people |
Press release
August 21. 2008
Turkey uses forbidden Boody-traps weapon against Kurdish people
Dear:
The United Nation
European Parliament
Amnesty International
Human rights organizations
Anti genocide organizations
According to several sources and according to the City chief of Sidekan Muslih Mohamad Zrar Turkish warplanes had used forbidden Booby-traps weapons in arias of Khwakurk and Shakiw. Many of pieces look like children toys and pens. A Kurdish citizen “Shawkat Sadr Hamad” has picked up one of these explosive toy objects and had been killed as a result.
We ask you to press Turkey against the use of international forbidden weapons and persecute the perpetrators for the crime.
The Center of Halabja against Anfalization and Genocide of the Kurds (CHAK)
www.chak.be
www.chaknews.com |
| URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A VICTIM OF THE HALABJA CHEMICAL ATTACK |
URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A VICTIM OF THE HALABJA CHEMICAL ATTACK
HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS & INDIVUALS IN THE WORLD
This is an urgent appeal to help a sick person by the name of Muhammad Aziz in Nashville, Tennessee with a unique situation, and a serious respiratory problem.
Muhammad Aziz, a Kurdish from Northern Iraq (now a US Citizen), is a victim of 1988 Gas attack of the city of Halabja, Northern Iraq (1), he is married and has two children age 2 and 4. He has 100% disability due to his severe chronic lung disease, and his wife is unable to work since she has to take care of him and tier two children |
| Human Rights Activists Trumpet ICC Actions on Darfur |
Human rights activists say Sudan's allies and trading partners, such as China, are obligated to re-evaluate and adjust their dealings with Khartoum, now that the International Criminal Court has given notice of possible genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. VOA's Michael Bowman has details from Washington.
Omar Hassan al-Bashir (file)
Last month, the ICC took steps to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes. The court's chief prosecutor accused Mr. Bashir of masterminding a campaign of rape and murder targeting people in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region, and requested a warrant for the Sudanese leader's arrest. |
| Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women's rights activist |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/116/2008
15 August 2008
Further Information on UA 214/08 (MDE 13/107/2008, 1 August 2008) Fear of torture or other ill-treatment and new concern: Prisoner of conscience
IRAN Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women's rights activist
Kurdish women's rights activist Zeynab Bayzeydi has been sentenced to four years' imprisonment, and internal exile to the Turkish-speaking city of Zanjan, 246 km from her home, by Mahabad Revolutionary Court. Her family learned of this on 10 August, when they went to the court to find out how her trial had gone. Amnesty International considers her a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association.
She was convicted of a number of offences, all of which she has denied, except the one arising from her work on the One Million Signatures Campaign, which was working against laws that discriminate against women.
|
| Amir Amrollahi (m), aged 17 or 18 |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/114/2008
15 August 2008
Further Information on UA 15/08 (MDE 13/009/2008, 18 January 2008) Death Penalty/imminent execution/unfair trial
IRAN Amir Amrollahi (m), aged 17 or 18
Juvenile offender Amir Amrollahi's death sentence received final approval from the Head of the Judiciary earlier this month, and judicial officials in Shiraz province have been asked to prepare to carry out his execution. He was sentenced to death for a murder committed when he was 16 years old.
The murder took place in November 2006 during a fight with another boy, who was fatally stabbed. According to his lawyer, who took up his case this year, Amir Amrollahi ran off in a panic after stabbing the boy, who he thought was about to attack him. Medical help did not arrive for half an hour, by which time it was too late. Amir Amrollahi told his father what had happened, the same day, and later presented himself to the police. |
| Shamemeh Ghorbani (f), aged 34 |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/113/2008
12 August 2008
UA 224/08 Fear of flogging
IRAN Shamemeh Ghorbani (f), aged 34
Shamemeh Ghorbani has been sentenced to 100 lashes, after being found guilty of adultery at a retrial. Her sentence could be carried out at any time.
Shamemeh Ghorbani was sentenced to execution by stoning for adultery at her first trial in June 2006 (see UA 257/06, MDE 13/113/2006, 28 September 2006, and follow-ups). Her brothers and husband murdered a man they found in her house, and she too was nearly killed when they stabbed her. The men were convicted of deserved or ‘legitimate’ murder and received a sentence of six years’ imprisonment. |
| Arbitrary arrests/fear of torture and ill treatment/prisoners of conscience |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/112/2008
13 August 2008
Further Information on UA 212/08 (MDE 13/104/2008, 31 July 2008) Arbitrary arrests/fear of torture and ill treatment/prisoners of conscience
IRAN Mehdi Khoda’i (m) ] students at Azad University, Shahr-e Rey
Salman Sima (m) ]
Farzad Hassanzadeh (m) ] students at Mashad University
Mohamad Zerati (m) ]
Bahareh Hedayat (f) ] students at Tehran University
Mohammad Hashemi (m) ]
Majid Asadi (m) ] student at ‘Allameh University, Tehran
Arash Rayji (m) ] students at Zanjan University
Hassan Joneydi (m) ]
Payam Shakiba (m) ]
Only known as ‘Anbaraki’ ] students at Bushehr University
Only known as ‘Khoeyni’ ]
According to the Iran-based Advar News website, on 9 August, after respectively 37 and 34 days of detention, Mehdi Khoda’i and Salman Sima were released. They have not, as yet, been charged. Salman Sima was detained at Evin prison, in Tehran and was released on bail said to exceed an amount equivalent to US$ 60,000. It is not known whether Mehdi Khoda’i was required to post bail. |
| “Soran is not the only journalist who has been assassinated in Kirkuk” |
Niyaz Kikuki was born in Kirkuk in 1976. He was a close associate of the late Soran Mama Hama. He is an independent observer and leads the US chapter of the CHAK (The Center of Halabja against Anfalization and Genocide of the Kurds). He also volunteers for other humanitarian organizations.
Kurdish conducted the following interview with him regarding the assassination of Soran Mam Hama.
Kurdishmedia.com: How did you know the late Soran Mama Hama?
Niyaz: I met Soran during the beginning months of the current year when I visited Kurdistan. I met the late Soran in Kirkuk a few times, and we had long discussions about the situation in Kirkuk after the removal of Saddam’s regime. Kirkuk has turned to a center of the conflict among the Kurdish parties. The late Soran said, “There was only one Saddam previously, but now, there are hundreds who belong to the two leading parties. There is no government or law, and militias rule. The political parties have turned to embezzlement organizations though the reconstruction projects which they control.”
|
| Announcement for the position of Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center |
Announcement for the position of Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Application deadline: August 18, 2008
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) was established in November 2004 by a group of human rights advocates, scholars and lawyers. It seeks to remedy a deficit in the systematic, objective, and analytical documentation of human rights violations committed in the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 revolution. It is based on the premise that creating an authoritative and accessible record of human rights abuses in Iran since 1979 will help raise public awareness of the situation inside and outside Iran, and thus, will help foster a culture of human rights and the rule of law. |
| Terror Was His Means to Our End: U.S.-Western Support of Saddam Hussein’s Genocide of the Kurds-By Nicholas Patler |
Terror Was His Means to Our End: U.S.-Western Support of Saddam Hussein’s Genocide of the Kurds-By Nicholas Patler
In the United States of America we are taught from a very young age that human freedom and liberty are to be cherished above all else. Indeed, our country owes its existence to Thomas Jefferson’s immortal declaration that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” So important are these rights that Jefferson called them “self-evident,” and he even placed them over established authority in the American Declaration of Independence when he affirmed the absolute power of the “[p]eople to alter or abolish” their government when it infringed on their unalienable rights. In short, the American people were to find their highest expression and God given right in self-determination—a self-determination which left them unfettered to pursue their individual lives and to collectively guide the affairs of their government in the direction of human liberty. Since Jefferson’s time, the U.S. has both miraculously succeeded and miserably failed in living out its precepts. We have moved towards a broader notion of freedom and ethnic inclusion, and also have tragically engaged in slavery, racial, gender and ideological discrimination, and xenophobia. Today, I am at pains to say, we are once again failing miserably. For the past half-century—indeed, |
| > KURDISH LITERATURE IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA |
> KURDISH LITERATURE IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
> Ferhad Pirbal
>
> Kurdish Globe
> Aug 7 2008
> Iraq
>
> Although Kurdish literature and culture in the former Soviet Union
> and especially in Armenia do not have a long history, they do have a
> distinct identity in the first quarter of the last century, and they
> did play a role in the development of Kurdish literature in general.
>
> The Kurdish population in the former Soviet Union republics of
> Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and others numbers about
> one million. |
| Iran: Kurdish activists condemned to death |
Tehran, 7 August (AKI) - Two Kurdish activists have been condemned to death in a closed court hearing in the Iranian city of Sanandaj.
The activists, Anwar Hossein Panahi and Arsalan Oliaii, both teachers, were found guilty of collaborating with organisations considered illegal by Iranian authorities.
A total of seven Kurdish activists have been sentenced to death for the same reason, including the two journalists, Hiwa Boutimar and Adnan Hassanpour.
In a report released last week the human rights organisation, Amnesty International expressed concern about the increased repression of Kurdish Iranians, particularly human rights defenders.
The report cited examples of religious and cultural discrimination against the estimated 12 million Kurds who live in Iran.
“We urge the Iranian authorities to take concrete measures to end any discrimination and associated human rights violations that Kurds, indeed all minorities in Iran, face,” Amnesty said in its report.
“Kurds and all other members of minority communities in Iran, men, women and children, are entitled to enjoy their full range of human rights.” |
| NOAM CHOMSKY ON THE KURDS |
BY NAMO ABDULLA - THE WINDOW (EXCLUSIVE) 8.8.2008
It is very difficult where to begin writing a summary about a great thinker like Noam Chomsky who is the most quoted-person in the World and arguably the biggest alive thinker.
In brief, he is an American linguistic and philosopher. He has written 200 books translated into over 50 languages. He has been a critic of US policy since the Vietnam War. Chomsky was also against the US-led war on Iraq and believes that the war has been for oil and the creation of a reliable client regime in the region. |
| Ya'qoub Mehrnehad (m) aged 28, member of Iran’s Baluchi |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/110/2008
08 August 2008
Further Information on 38/08 (MDE 13/038/2008, 12 February 2008) and follow-up (13/048/2008, 12 February 2008) - Death Sentence/Unfair Trial/Torture
IRAN Ya'qoub Mehrnehad (m) aged 28, member of Iran’s Baluchi minority
Ya’qoub Mehrnehad, a Baluchi cultural and civil rights activist, was executed on 4 August after his death sentence was approved by Iran’s prosecutor-general.
Ya’qoub Mehrnehad was sentenced to death in February 2008 after an unfair trial. Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi, confirmed the sentence at a press conference on 19 February and stated that Ya'qoub Mehrnehad had been sentenced to death for "contacts with the Jondallah group", and that the sentence was open to appeal before the Supreme Court.
Zahedan's Public and Revolution Prosecutor Office had announced that Ya'qoub Mehrnehad was considered to be a member of Jondallah, also known as the Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement, and aiding Abdolmalek Rigi, the head of a Baluchi armed group. They were then charged with mohareb (enmity with God), and mofsed fi’l arz (corruption on earth |
| Texas execution damages international law Philip Smet* |
According to professor of international law Geert-Jan Knoops, the execution of a 31-year-old Mexican in the US state of Texas has damaged the credibility of international law. Texas ignored calls by US President George W. Bush, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to review the case against José Ernesto Medellín. The review was necessary, as it has been alleged that there were procedural errors in the original case.
Medellín died at 21:57 local time after being given a lethal injection. His death marked the conclusion of the sentence handed down to Medellín for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl from Houston in 1993. |
| Sudan to revive Darfur Court |
Sudan to revive Darfur Court
International experts invited to monitor the judiciaryThijs Bouwknegt
Sudan has launched a diplomatic effort to counteract the ICC prosecutor's bid to have President Omar al-Bashir arrested for genocide. Justice Minister Abdel Basit Sabderat said Sudan would revitalize its 'special criminal court on the events in Darfur'. Sudan has invited international experts to inspect the system, to see if it is suitable for holding war crimes trials.
President Bashir has unexpectedly reacted to the prosecutor's move with a diplomatic good-will campaign. He is currently wrapping up a three-day 'tour' visiting all three Darfur states.
"We want to send this message to the world: we are the people of peace, we want peace, we are the only ones who can achieve peace in Darfur", he said in a speech broadcast live on state television. He also said the prosecutor's request was a foreign conspiracy: "They are trying to confuse us. They want to send us right back to square one." |
| The Liberian TRC - immunity versus prosecutionsThijs Bouwknegt |
Her entire body was covered with blood, as she watched soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia kill hundreds of fellow refugees. A weeping survivor of the July 29, 1990 massacre at the Saint Peter's Lutheran Church has finally told her story before the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). As the commission wraps up its work, Amnesty International has voiced concerns about the TRC's recommendations.
The St. Peter's church slaughter is just one of many cruel stories the commission in Monrovia has heard about Liberia's brutal past. The TRC was set up in 2005 to investigate the wrongdoings that occurred from the start of civil war in 1979 until peace was achieved in October 2003. It is due to close its doors for good this year. |
| UN names pioneer as High Commissioner for human rights By Sebastiaan Gottlieb* |
The United Nations has named South Africa's Navanethem Pillay as the world body's new human rights chief. The 67-year-old lawyer and judge has worked for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Rwanda Tribunal, as well as sitting on the bench of South Africa's High Court. She succeeds Canada's Louise Arbour.
In many regards, Navanethem Pillay is a pioneer. In 1967, she became the first non-white to open a legal practice in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province. Some 30 years later, she became the first non-white woman appointed as a judge to sit on the South African High Court. In 2003, she was one of the first 18 judges named to sit on the ICC. |
| Bosnian court convicts 7 Serbs of genocide over SrebrenicaThijs Bouwknegt |
"They consciously killed hundreds of Bosnian Muslims with the aim of permanently removing Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica." Bosnia's war crimes chamber in Sarajevo Tuesday sentenced seven Serbs to up to 42 years imprisonment over the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, in the first ruling by the local court. Six of them participated in the massacre of more than 1,000 Muslims on 13 July in the eastern Bosnian town Kravice.
"The accused did not only deprive the killed men of their basic human rights, the right to life, they also caused lasting pain to their families as some of them are still searching for the bones of their loved ones," said Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina judge Hilmo Vucinic. During the Srebrenica massacre at least one thousand Muslim men, who were captured by the Serbs, were forced into a warehouse in Kravica on 13 July. In the early evening the prisoners were executed by small arms fire, machine gun fire and the use of hand grenades. |
| judicial reforms fall short Thijs Bouwknegt |
Rwanda's judicial system still lacks the reforms needed to allow the extradition of suspects of the 1994 genocide, according to Human Rights Watch. In a new report, the organisation says the courts are neither independent nor able to guarantee fair trials. The laws have changed considerably, the underlying political dynamics far less.
In its 113-page report, Human Rights Watch examines recent reforms in the Rwandan judicial system, mentioning encouraging reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty. But it also identifies problems. "We identified serious problems in such areas as judicial independence, the right to present a defence, and the right to equal access to justice for all," said Alison Des Forges, Africa advisor at HRW. "It's still the case that defendants in Rwanda may be denied their right to a fair trial."
|
| Iran: Announcement of suspension of stoning a welcome step if carried out |
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: 6 August 2008
Iran: Announcement of suspension of stoning a welcome step if carried out
Amnesty International welcomed the announcement by the spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary that execution by stoning has been suspended, as a result of which several women have had their sentences commuted.
“Stoning is a horrific practice, designed to increase the suffering of those facing execution, and it has no place in the modern world,” Amnesty International said. “We look to the Iranian authorities to ensure that this dreadful punishment is never again used.”
The organization cautioned that the authorities must ensure that this is not a ‘hollow promise.’ They failed to stop the practice after Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, announced a moratorium on stoning in December 2002. At least one stoning execution was carried out in 2007 in Qazvin province. |
| IRAN : Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women's rights activist |
Women's rights activist Zeynab Bayzeydi was arrested on 9 July, after the police ordered her to present herself for interrogation at a police station in the city of Mahabad , in the western province of Kordestan . She is in danger of torture or other ill-treatment.
Zeynab Bayzeydi is a member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK) and the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to collect a million signatures of Iranians on a petition demanding changes to laws that discriminate against women.
Her family only learned that she had been arrested some days later, when she was allowed to telephone them. She told them she had been summoned for several hours of interrogation on 5 July, after which she was told to return on 9 July. This time she was questioned for three hours and then arrested. She was held at a detention centre in Mahabad run by the Ministry of Information and Security. She was brought before a revolutionary court in Mahabad on 31 July, and charged with membership of unauthorised human rights associations, and on account of her activities in support of women's rights. She has denied all the charges. She is a prisoner of conscience who is being detained solely because of her peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association. |
| His Excellency Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq |
Office of Kurdistan Regional Government
1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 210
Washington , D.C. 20006
Via facsimile: (202) 637-2723
Dear President Barzani,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the wave of threats against journalists in northern Iraq in the last few weeks. CPJ has documented an alarming number of cases recently, ranging from the murder of a journalist to an attack on another by a mob to at least three death threats directed at journalists in less than a month.
The Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, which has begun issuing periodic reports on threats against the press, noted that in the first six months of 2008 there were around 60 cases of killings, attacks, threats, and lawsuits against journalists in the region. In addition, at least one journalist has disappeared since March 2008, they said.
CPJ conducted a two-week fact-finding mission to Arbil and Sulaymania in October and November 2007 and found that the increasing assertiveness of the independent press has triggered a spike in repression over the last three years.
On July 22, Soran Mama Hama, 23, a reporter with the Sulaymania-based Livin magazine, was shot by unidentified gunmen in front of his home in Kirkuk , according to news reports and CPJ interviews. Mama Hama had received threatening messages before the slaying, local journalists told CPJ today. He had written articles critical of local authorities, they said. |
| Committee to Protect Journalists |
Ali al-Mashhadani, 39, was detained in Baghdad by U.S. military forces while he was in the Green Zone to renew his press card, Reuters said in a statement. Al-Mashhadani, based in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq , also works as a freelancer for the BBC. Both Reuters and the BBC have expressed concern about the detention and have urged the military to disclose the basis on which he is being held.
A spokeswoman for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq told CPJ that al-Mashhadani was detained because he posed a security risk and that his case would be reviewed within a seven-day period that began on July 29. |
| The International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) |
The International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses events in the Middle East and the Balkans. Prof. Mirko Pejanović, PhD, member of the war-time Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1996), dean at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Sarajevo University, President of the Serb Civic Council - Movement for Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and member of the Council of the IFIMES International Institute, in his article entitled "KARADŽIĆ FLIES TO THE HAGUE WHILE BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA GOES TO THE EU" presents his views of the apprehension of Radovan Karadžić and the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His article is published in full.
|
| Soran Solidarity Freedom Campaign |
Appeal to fight back against terror and repression
The struggle between freedom and power, between people and those who are monopolizing everything in society is not something new and specific to one era, society or corner of the world. Today in Kurdistan the struggle between the pen and the gun has reached a point that we cannot keep quiet. We are obliged to offer our blood to write with it the unfolding history of this struggle. This is the continuation of the same struggle that in the entire world has taken place and only with the blood and sacrifice of thousands the humanity has succeeded to assert the relative freedom of individuals in many parts of the world.
|
| Appeal for the release of Kurdish leader Mohamed Moussa |
Washington DC - July 24, 2008/Yekiti Party/ -- Mr. Mohamed Moussa, the Secretary of the Kurdish Leftist Party in Syria, was interrogated and threatened by the branch of military security in the city of Qamishli, and was then taken to the Division of Military Intelligence base 'Palestine' in Damascus, where investigations were ongoing with him for seven consecutive days. He was then arrested on 19 July 2008 and he remains there until now.
It should be noted that the Kurdish Leftist Party is a member of the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change coalition. The arrest of Secretary Mr. Mohamed Moussa comes against the background of his opposition in respect of human rights, to the regime's policy and approach to the Kurdish issue, the abolition of the State of Emergency, and the need for the country to transform into a democratic system to ensure full equality for all Kurds, and true participation with all the nationalities in Syria.
We call on all democratic Governments and active Humanitarian Organizations, especially in Europe to work practically to defend the activists who are fighting for freedom and democracy, and to prevent the Syrian regime from further repression and the confiscation of liberties, by condemning this arbitrary arrest of a leading Kurdish politician, Mohamed Moussa. We are calling for the Syrian government to respect the Constitution, Treaties and International Conventions which it has signed and for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Mohammed Moussa and all political detainees in its prisons. We call on the Syrian Government to desist from the practise of arbitrary detention of political opponents, and civil society and human rights activists.
Signed by the Organisations in Europe of the following parties:
Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria
Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria
Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria - al-Party
Kurdish Democratic Union in Syria
Kurdish Future Movement Party |
| Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women's rights activist |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/107/2008
01 August 2008
UA 207/08 Fear of torture or other ill-treatment
IRAN Zeynab Bayzeydi (f), women's rights activist
Women's rights activist Zeynab Bayzeydi was arrested on 9 July, after the police ordered her to present herself for interrogation at a police station in the city of Mahabad, in the western province of Kordestan. She is in danger of torture or other ill-treatment.
Zeynab Bayzeydi is a member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK) and the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to collect a million signatures of Iranians on a petition demanding changes to laws that discriminate against women.
|
| Saman Rasoulpour (m), Kurdish human rights activist, aged 23 |
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/106/2008
01 August 2008
UA 213/08 Fear of torture or other ill-treatment
IRAN Saman Rasoulpour (m), Kurdish human rights activist, aged 23
Kurdish human rights activist Saman Rasoulpour was arrested on 25 July at his home in the city of Mahabad, in West Azerbaijan province, and is in danger of torture. He is a senior member of an organisation that campaigns for better treatment of Iran's Kurdish minority, the Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan (HROK), based in the city of Sanandaj, in the western province of Kordestan.
The police confiscated a number of his possessions when they arrested him. He is now held at a detention centre in the city of Oroumiye, in the north-western province of West Azerbaijan. He has been able to telephone his family once since he was arrested. |
| Hundreds of Kurdistan journalists demonstrate in front of UNAMI in Arbil for justice to Soran and protection of free media in Kurdistan |
By Soran Solidarity Freedom Campaign
'Free media is the mirror in which the society reflects. If we allow this mirror to be broken, we will all look ugly- the demonstration's banner.'
At this moment hundreds of writers and journalists are demonstrating in front of the UNAMI office in Arbil asking the UN to put pressure on Kurdistan Regional Government to find the murderers of the young journalist Soran Mama Hama.
In the memorandum they have submitted to UNAMI they state: 'We the independent media channels and newspapers in Kurdistan region would like to make you aware that after the murder of Soran Mama Hama in front of his own home in Kirkuk, the journalists of Kurdistan are facing a great threat'.
The memorandum says that the freedom of media and press in Kurdistan is undergoing a sensitive phase that entails the intervention of international organisations to prevent the repetition of the tragedy of Soran's murder and ensuring justice for him.
They ask UNAMI to closely follow up the process of the investigation until the criminals are brought to justice.
Hawlati website - report by Ara Ibrahim, Arbil, 30 July 2008, 1200
300 people from Halabja ask UNAMI to investigate the crime
Halabja writers and journalists participate in the mourning ceremony of Soran Mama Hama |
| Arbitrary arrests/Fear of Torture or ill-treatment/prisoners of conscience |
The 12 university students named above were arrested at various locations across Iran in July and remain in detention. They were arrested around the eighth anniversary of student demonstrations held in Iran on 9 July 1999 that were violently suppressed by the security forces. The 12 are facing various charges, such as "acting against national security", "propaganda against the regime", “propagating lies", "promoting anti-religious attitudes", and “disturbing public opinion”. They are prisoners of conscience, held on account of their conscientiously held beliefs and should be released immediately and unconditionally.
Mohamad Zerati and Farzad Hassanzadeh, were both arrested on 3 or 4 July, have had their bail set at 30 million rial ($3,229.9742 USD). Their place of detention remains unknown.
Mohammad Hashemi and Bahareh Hedayat were arrested by the security forces at their homes on 13 July; they are accused of having links with "illegal and anti-revolutionary groups abroad". Both are members of the Office for Consolidating Unity, the central council of a pro-reform student group. They are being detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. |
| Amnesty International: End discrimination against the Kurdish minority |
Iran’s government is failing in its duty to prevent discrimination and human rights abuses against its Kurdish citizens, particularly women, said Amnesty International in a new report published today. The organization expressed fears that the repression of Kurdish Iranians, particularly human rights defenders, is intensifying.
The report cites examples of religious and cultural discrimination against the estimated 12 million Kurds who live in Iran and form around 15 per cent of the population |
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