EU Financial Support Only the First Step to Assisting Greece and Refugees

Πηγή: Amesty International
Aug 14 2015

Today’s move by the European Commission towards increasing support to Greece following a sharp increase in the arrival of refugees on Greece’s Aegean islands is a step towards supporting Greece and the many vulnerable people seeking refuge in Europe, said Amnesty International today.

The organization however also warned of the urgent need for the Commission to call for the European Union (EU) member states to increase safe and legal routes so those in need of protection can reach Europe safely.

“The crisis unfolding on the Greek islands shows how the authorities are incapable of meeting the needs and protecting the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, as the increase in arrivals by sea to the islands have pushed an already struggling reception system beyond breaking point,” said Iverna McGowan Acting Director for Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

"The crisis unfolding on the Greek islands shows how the authorities are incapable of meeting the needs and protecting the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, as the increase in arrivals by sea to the islands have pushed an already struggling reception system beyond breaking point.'

Iverna McGowan Acting Director for Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

“But we can’t forget that migration touches not just Greece but the entire European Union. As such, an EU response is urgently needed. Today’s measures announced by the Commission, if correctly channeled towards those in need, may help support the country and vulnerable people. But overall a broader rethink of EU asylum policies and practices is needed.”

Today the Commission recalled its approval last week of national funding programmes for Greece that amount to EUR474 million. However, with 124,000 refugees and migrants arriving by sea this year, mainly to the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros, financial assistance is not the overall solution. Amnesty International is urgently calling on the Commission and the EU member states to ensure that adequate operational assistance is provided to Greece and other frontline member states for the processing of asylum applications and to support the reception of refugees and asylum seekers. Beyond short term responses to the unfolding crisis on the Greek island, a longer term approach to responding to the world refugee crisis is needed.

“Whilst assistance measures to Greece, if correctly implemented, may take some pressure off the islands in the short term, what is urgently needed is a broader rethink of EU asylum responses to ensure that those in need of protection can access the wider European territory safely and securely. This means more safe and legal routes into Europe for refugees, including more resettlement places, together with the provision of greater freedom of movement for refugees” said Iverna McGowan.

According to UNHCR, as of 31 July, the number of arrivals had increased over of 750%. Lesvos is the island with the highest number of arrivals. Between 1 January and 10 August 2015, 70,374 refugees and migrants have arrived on the island. The majority of them come from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Amnesty International has just concluded a research mission on the island.

The Western Onslaught Against International Law

Πηγή: OpEdNews
By Paul Craig Roberts
August 28 2012

A new film, "Compliance," examines "the human desire to follow and obey authority." Liberal institutions, such as the media, universities, federal courts, and human rights organizations, which have traditionally functioned as checks on the blind obedience to authority, have in our day gone over to power's side. The subversion of these institutions has transformed them from checks on power into servants of power. The result is the transformation of culture from the rule of law to unaccountable authority resting on power maintained by propaganda.

Propaganda is important in the inculcation of trust in authority.The P*ssy Riot case shows the power of Washington's propaganda even inside Russia itself and reveals that Washington's propaganda has suborned important human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Chatham House, and Amnesty International.

P*ssy Riot is described in the western media as a punk rock group, but seems in fact to be a group known as Voina (War) that performs lewd or scandalous unannounced public performances such as the one in the Russian cathedral, a sexual orgy in a museum, and events such as this and also this.

Three of the cathedral performers were apprehended, indicted, tried, convicted of breaking a statutory law, and given two-year prison sentences. The Voice of Russia recently broadcast a discussion of the case from its London studio. Representatives from Human Rights Watch and Chatham House argued that the case was really a free speech case and that the women were political prisoners for criticizing Russian President Putin.

This claim was disingenuous. In the blasphemous performance in the Russian cathedral, Putin was not mentioned. The references to Putin were added to the video posted on the Internet after the event in order to turn a crime into a political protest.

The human rights representatives also argued that the women's conviction could only happen in Putin's Russia. However, the program host pointed out that in fact most European countries have similar laws as Russia's and that a number of European offenders have been arrested and punished even more severely. Indeed, I recently read a news report from Germany that a copycat group of women had staged a similar protest in support of P*ssy Riot and had been arrested. An analysis of these issues is available here.

The human rights representatives seemed to believe that Putin had failed the democratic test by failing to stop the prosecution. But a country either has the rule of law or doesn't have the rule of law. If Putin overrides the law, it means Putin is the law.

Whether Washington had a hand in the P*ssy Riot event via the Russian protest groups it funds, Hitlery Clinton was quick to make propaganda. Free expression was threatened in Russia, she said.

Washington used the P*ssy Riot case to pay Putin back for opposing Washington's destruction of Syria. The overlooked legal issue is Washington's interference in internal Russian affairs. The close alignment of human rights organizations with Washington's propaganda hurts the credibility of human rights advocacy. If human rights groups are seen as auxiliaries of Washington's propaganda, their moral authority evaporates.

The prevalence of the English language, due to the British domination of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries and American domination in the 20th and first decade of the 21st century, makes it easy for Washington to control the explanations. Other languages simply do not have the reach to compete.

Washington also has the advantage of having worn the White Hat in the Cold War. The peoples who were constituent parts of the Soviet empire and even many Russians themselves still see Washington as the wearer of the White Hat. Washington has used this advantage to finance "color revolutions" that have moved countries from the Russian sphere of influence into Washington's sphere of influence.

Tony Cartalucci concludes that "Amnesty International is US State Department Propaganda." Cartalucci notes that Amnesty's executive director is former State Department official Suzanne Nossel, who conflates "human rights advocacy" with US global hegemony.

Amnesty does seem like an amplifier for Washington's propaganda. Amnesty's latest email to members (August 27) is: "As if the recent trial and sentencing of three members of P*ssy Riot wasn't shameful enough, now Russian police are hunting down others in the band. Make no mistake about it: Russian authorities are relentless. Just how far are the Russian authorities willing to go to silence voices of dissent? Tell the Russian government to stop hunting P*ssy Riot!"

Amnesty International's August 23 email to its members, "Wake Up World," is completely one-sided and puts all blame for violence on the Syrian government, not on al Qaeda and other outside groups that Washington has armed and unleashed on the Syrian people. Amnesty is only concerned with getting visual images damning to the Syrian government before the public: "We are working to get this damning footage into the hands of journalists around the world. Support our work and help ensure that our first-hand video is seen by influential members of the media."

At least P*ssy Riot got a trial. That's more than US Marine, Brandon Raub, a veteran of two tours of combat duty, got. Raub posted on Facebook his opinion that he had been misused by Washington in behalf of an illegal agenda. Local police, FBI, and Secret Service descended upon his home, dragged him out, and on the authority of a social worker, committed him to a mental hospital for observation.

I did not see any protests from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, or Chatham House. Instead, a Virginia circuit court judge, W. Allan Sharrett, demanded Raub's immediate release, stating that there was no reason to detain and commit Raub except to punish him for exercising his free speech right.

Americans are increasingly punished for exercising free speech rights. A number of videos of police violence against the occupy movement are available on YouTube. They show the goon thug gestapo cops beating women, pepper spraying protestors sitting with their heads bowed, truncheons flashing as American heads are broken and protestors beat senseless are dragged off in handcuffs for peacefully exercising a constitutionally protected right.

There has been more protest over P*ssy Riot than over the illegal detention and torture of Bradley Manning or the UK government's threat to invade the Embassy of Ecuador and to drag out WikiLeaks' Julian Assange.

When a Chinese dissident sought asylum in the US embassy in China, the Chinese government bowed to international law and permitted the dissident's safe passage to the US. But "freedom and democracy" Great Britain refuses free passage to Assange who has been granted asylum, and there is no protest from Clinton at the State Department.

In "China's Rise, America's Fall," Ron Unz makes a compelling argument that the Chinese government is more respectful of the rule of law and more responsive to the people it governs than is Washington. Today it is Russia and China, not the UK and Europe, that challenge Washington's claim that the US government is above international law and has the right to overthrow governments of which it disapproves.

The lawlessness that now characterizes the US and UK governments is a large threat to humanity's finest achievement -- the rule of law -- for which the British fought from the time of Alfred the Great in the ninth century to the Glorious Revolution of the 17th century.

Where are the protests over the Anglo-American destruction of the rule of law?

Why Aren't Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Chatham House on the case?

Amnesty International is US State Department Propaganda

Image: From Amnesty International USA's website, "Free Pussy Riot." "Help Amnesty International send a truckload of balaclavas to Putin." This childish stunt smacks of US State Department-funded Gene Sharp antics - and meshes directly with the US State Department's goal of undermining the Russian government via its troupe of US-funded "opposition activists" including "Pussy Riot." That Amnesty is supporting the US State Department's agenda should be no surprise, it is run literally by the US State Department'sDeputy Assistant Secretary for International Organizations, Suzanne Nossel. 

Πηγή: BLN
By Tony Cartalucci
August 22 2012

Mistakenly considered by many as the final word on human rights worldwide, it might surprise people to know that Amnesty International is in fact one of the greatest obstacles to real human rights advocacy on Earth. In its most recent 2012 annual report (page 4, .pdf), Amnesty reiterates one of the biggest lies it routinely tells:

"Amnesty International is funded mainly by its membership and public donations. No funds are sought or accepted from governments for investigating and campaigning against human rights abuses. Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion."This is categorically false. Amnesty international is indeed funded and run by not only governments, but also immense corporate-financier interests, and is not only absolutely entwined with political ideology and economic interests, it is an essential tool used for perpetuating just such interests.

Amnesty International's Funding

Finding financial information on Amnesty International's website is made purposefully difficult - specifically to protect the myth that the organization is "independent." Like any organized criminal operation, Amnesty separates compromising financial ties through a series of legal maneuvers and shell organizations. Upon Amnesty's website it states:

"The work carried out through Amnesty International's International Secretariat is organised into two legal entities, in compliance with United Kingdom law. These are Amnesty International Limited ("AIL") and Amnesty International Charity Limited ("AICL"). Amnesty International Limited undertakes charitable activities on behalf of Amnesty International Charity Limited, a registered charity." And it is there, at Amnesty International Limited, where ties to both governments and corporate-financier interests are kept. On page 11 of Amnesty International Limited's 2011 Report and Financial Statement (.pdf) it states (emphasis added):

"The Directors are pleased to acknowledge the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Oak Foundation, Open SocietyGeorgia Foundation, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Programme,Mauro Tunes and American Jewish World Service. The UK Department for International Development (Governance and Transparency Fund) continued to fund a four year human rights education project in Africa. TheEuropean Commission (EuropeAid) generously awarded a multi-year grant towards Amnesty International’s human rights education work in Europe."Clearly then, Amnesty does take money from both governments and corporate-financier interests, one of the most notorious of which, Open Society, is headed by convicted financial criminal George Soros. In March, 2012, it was reported that a Bloomberg's report, "Soros Loses Case Against French Insider-Trading Conviction," indicated that an appeal based on a "human rights" violation against Wall Street speculator George Soros had been rejected by the "European Court of Human Rights."

Soros, whose Open Society also funds Human Rights Watch and a myriad of other "human rights" advocates, literally attempted to use the West's human rights racket to defend himself against charges of financial fraud in perhaps the most transparent illustration of just how this racket operates.

Soros, who was convicted and fined for insider trading in 2002 regarding French bank Société Générale shares he bought in 1988, has built an empire out of obfuscating global criminal activity with the cause of "human rights." His support, as well as that of the British and European governments, of Amnesty International aims solely at expanding this obfuscating.

Amnesty International's Leadership

Amnesty's leadership is also telling of its true agenda. Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, for instance was drawn directly from the US State Department - again, utterly contradicting Amnesty's claims of being "independent" of governments and corporate interests. Nossel continued promoting US foreign policy, but simply behind a podium with a new logo, Amnesty International's logo, attached to it. Amnesty International's website specifically mentions Nossel's role behind US State Department-backed UN resolutions regarding Iran, Syria, Libya, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Image: Same lies, different podium. Suzanne Nossel previously of the US State Department, is now executive director of Amnesty International USA. Her primary function of dressing up aspirations of corporate-financier global hegemony as "human rights advocacy" has not changed. 

It has been documented at great length how these issues revolve around a decades long plan devised by corporate-financier interests to divide, destroy and despoil these nations who are seen as obstacles to US global hegemony. In the case of Syria specifically, it was revealed that the current "human rights" catastrophe stems back to a malicious 2007 conspiracy documented by "New Yorker" journalist Seymour Hersh, between the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia which sought to purposefully fund, arm, and deploy sectarian extremists to undermine and overthrow the Syrian government - thisknowing full well the human tragedy that would unfold.

Nossel's "contributions" then are simply to dress up naked military aggression and the pursuit of global corporate-financier hegemony with the pretense of "human rights" advocacy.

A glance at AmnestyUSA.org reveals that each and every front the US State Department is currently working on and has prioritized is also coincidentally prioritized by Amnesty International. This includes rallies and campaigns to support US State Department-funded Russian opposition groups (currently fixated on "Pussy Riot"), undermining the Syrian government, toppling the government of Belarus, and supporting the Wall Street-London created Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (still called by its British Imperial nomenclature of "Burma" by Suu Kyi herself).

Amnesty International Betrays Real Human Rights Advocacy

Amnesty does indeed cover issues that are critical of US foreign policy, toward the bottom of their websites and at the back of their reports. Likewise, the corporate-media selectively reports issues that coincide with their interests while other issues are either under-reported or not reported at all. And it is precisely because Amnesty covers all issues, but selectively emphasizes those that are conducive to the interests of immense corporate-financiers that makes Amnesty one of the greatest impediments to genuine human rights advocacy on Earth.

Images: Manufacturing Dissent. "Free Pussy Riot" (above). Ironically, FIDH is directly funded by the US State Department via the Neo-Con lined US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as George Soros' Open Society. "Russia: Stop Arms Transfer to Syria!" (below). If the US State Department wants it, be sure that US State Department-run Amnesty International will stage a demonstration for it - and regardless of size or legitimacy of the demonstration, expect the corporate-media to make it headline news. 

Ordinary people are given the false impression that "someone is watching out" for human rights abuses, when in reality, all Amnesty and other organizations like it are doing, is managing public perception selectively of global human rights abuses, fabricating and/or manipulating many cases specifically to suit the agenda of large corporate-financier interests. This can be seen when entire reports out of Amnesty or Human Rights Watch consist solely of "witness reports" compiled from accounts of US-backed opposition groups.

In the rare instance that a report includes references to actual photographic, video, or documented evidence, such as Human Rights Watch's 2011 "Descent into Chaos" (.pdf)report, deceptive language is intentionally included along with throwaway passages to enable selective reporting and spinning by not only the Western corporate media, but by a myriad of faux-NGOs funded and run by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch's sponsors and affiliates. The Descent into Chaos report, regarding Thailand, was promply and amply spun and manipulated by US State Department-funded faux-NGO and "rights advocate" Prachatai.

When people erroneously believe that credible organizations are handling "rights advocacy" they will not only become complacent, they will become negligent of their own responsibilities to objectively examine potential abuses and speak out against them. Wall Street and London's corporate-financier interests have filled a void - that should be occupied by their greatest opponents - instead with a large advocacy racket of their own creation. Not only are they given a free pass to abuse human rights globally, they've actually used their controlled opposition to attack their opponents.

It is clear that Amnesty International is by no means an "advocate" of human rights, but rather an affront to human rights advocacy. It goes without saying that it should be boycotted out of existence and at the very least, identified as illegitimate and fraudulent - from its funding to its compromised leadership.

Additionally, we the people must tackle real violations of each others rights at the grassroots - because it is absolute folly to believe that global spanning organizations, funded by corporate-financiers, echoing the agenda of governments driven by special interests has our best interests and rights in mind.

Greece: New government should address police violence

Numerous allegations point to the use of excessive use of force by Greek police

Πηγή: Amnesty International
June 26 2012

Police in Greece routinely use excessive force including chemical sprays against largely peaceful demonstrators. Despite numerous accounts of people being brutalised during arrest or detention, authorities are refusing to acknowledge the extent of the problem thereby creating a climate of impunity, Amnesty International warned in a new report published today.

“The newly established Greek government has an opportunity to acknowledge the extent of the police violence and take necessary steps to address the frequent failure by police and judicial authorities to conduct prompt impartial and effective investigations. Failure to do this will lead to yet more violations going unpunished” said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Programme.

The Greek authorities have for far too long brushed off such violations as ‘isolated incidents’.

The new report, Police violence in Greece: Not just “isolated incidents”, documents human rights violations committed by law enforcement officials and the inability or unwillingness of police and judicial authorities to bring those responsible to account.

The severe austerity measures introduced in the wake of the deepening economic crisis in Greece provoked many largely peaceful demonstrations.

Numerous allegations point to the use of excessive use of force, including the use of chemical irritants and stun grenades in a manner that violates international standards.

Demonstrators, especially those beaten or gassed by police often are unable to complain as in the haze of pain they cannot note the identification number of the offending officers displayed, if at all, on the back of helmets.

During arrest and detention demonstrators have been beaten and denied access to a doctor or lawyer.

This treatment is also experienced by people accused of membership of domestic armed groups and members of vulnerable groups, such as migrants and asylum seekers detained for migration purposes; and communities living on the margins of society including many Roma.

“Often officers responsible for criminal conduct remain unpunished and victims cannot receive effective remedy and reparation,” said David Diaz-Jogeix.

“This is happening because of systemic problems in the investigation, prosecution and punishment of human right abuses.”
In addition, the definition of torture in the Greek Penal Code is considerably narrower than in international treaties to which Greece is a party. Amnesty International knows of only a very small number of cases where law enforcement personnel have been charged with torture.

The failure of the Greek authorities to address effectively incidents of violations of human rights by law enforcement officials has contributed to victims loosing confidence in the criminal justice system and becoming reluctant to report such incidents. They have also failed to establish a truly effective and independent police complaints mechanism.

“No one is above the law. Least of all the very people empowered to uphold it,” said David Diaz-Jogeix.

“Unless the Greek authorities make violations by law enforcement officials an absolute priority and address the systemic problems which permit them to happen then impunity will prevail.”

Cases
Manolis Kypreos, a journalist, covering protests against the new austerity measures in Athens’s Syntagma Square told Amnesty International how on 15 June 2011, a commander of a police unit ordered a police officer to throw a stun grenade at him. Shortly before the attack, Kypreos had reportedly identified himself as a journalist. Manolis Kypreos suffered total loss of hearing in both ears which put an end to his career as a journalist. At the end of 2011, the Athens Prosecutor’s Officer of the First Instance Courts filed charges against as yet unidentified police officers for intentionally causing the journalist serious bodily harm.

Riot police beat Yiannis Kafkas, an unemployed psychologist and post-graduate photography student, during an anti-austerity demonstration in Athens on 11 May 2011 causing him near fatal head injuries. According to his lawyer and Yiannis himself, he was hit with one of the fire extinguishers that riot police carry with them. Yiannis Kafkas remained in hospital for 20 days, ten of them in intensive care, after having emergency surgery. In February 2012, the police submitted its findings into the beating of Yiannis Kafkas to an Athens prosecutor. However, the prosecutor had reportedly not yet decided whether charges were to be brought against a known or still unidentified police officer.

Christos Chronopoulos, who was suffering from mental health problems, was arrested for causing a disturbance at a café and taken to a police station in Athens after 11pm on 22 May 2007, and detained there. He was later taken to hospital by ambulance. Doctors at the hospital found that Christos Chronopoulos had sustained a grave head injury, subdural haematoma, swelling of the brain and multiple bruises on his sternum and one wrist. He was operated in the early morning of 23 May 2007 and spent two months in intensive care, several weeks in a coma, three months in a neuro-surgical wing, and another six months at a rehabilitation centre. As a result of his head injury, Christos Chronopoulos suffers from incontinence, post-traumatic amnesia, epilepsy, visual disturbance and significant difficulties in walking. He is no longer able to care for himself and is looked after by his relatives. After investigation, an Athens prosecutor recommended that four police officers be referred to trial for jointly causing Christos Chronopoulos serious bodily harm during the exercise of their duties. However, on 26 January 2011, the Athens Judicial Council of Misdemeanors decided not to charge the four officers on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence of guilt. This decision was appealed by the prosecutor of the Appelate Court. Only to be rejected by the Appelate Judicial Council on procedural grounds. Following an appeal, the Supreme Court refer the case back to the Appelate Judicial Council. In April 2012, the Appelate Council decided to refer the four officers to trial.

Libya: legacy or lunacy?

Πηγή: Al-Ahram
By Gamal Nkrumah
Issue No 1093, 12-18 April

Few will take issue with the international human rights organisations' decision to bring to account perpetrators of human rights violations in Libya against black Africans and Libyans of black African descent.

It has been a deceptively mild end to a winter of discontent in Libya. No bountiful showers of sorely needed funds for reconstruction, rehabilitation and development materialised. Libya's infrastructure is in shambles. In short, Libya is fast sliding into chaos.

Amnesty International released a 24-page report entitled "Detention Abuses Staining the New Libya". The report urged the authorities in Libya to halt arbitrary arrests and acknowledge their legal obligation to prevent extra-judicial executions and vicious attacks against black Libyans especially from the city of Tawergha, suspiciously viewed as a city of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi loyalists. The Amnesty International report was highly critical of the legal maze that encourages hate crimes and vengeful killings including the mass murder of innocent children of Gaddafi's supporters in Bani Walid, Sirte and Tawergha.

Racial undertones aside, non-Arab Libyans are going through an especially difficult time. The Amazigh, the original inhabitants of the country, or Berbers as they are sometimes referred to, were not particularly favoured under Gaddafi. He himself was ambiguous about their status, and it is true that in Libya many tribal groups are of mixed Arab and Amazigh stock. Moreover, there are certain tribal groups in the south of the country that are neither Arab nor Amazigh.

One such tribal group is the Tebu, or Toubou people. They were among the first African people to become Muslim soon after the Arab conquest of North Africa, but the proud desert people have remained largely immune to Arabisation campaigns, much like the Tuareg or Imuhagh as they prefer to call themselves of south and western Libya. The tribal clashes between Arab tribesmen and Toubou in the southern city of Sebha last week was an ominous signal of racial and tribal conflict typical of the post-Gaddafi Libya. The control of tribal militias has become of over-riding concern to a majority of the population in the country.

The ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) is equivocal on the subject. The ethnic rioting in Sebha and the southeastern Libyan oasis town of Al-Kufra, inhabited mainly by ethnic Toubou, was resolved peacefully. However, simmering racial tensions prevail and could explode again at any moment.

Hushed café talk about the restlessness of Libya's largest tribal conglomeration, the Warfellah representing two million people, a third of the country's population, is rife. The Warfellah also inhabit a large swathe of territory in central, eastern and western Libya that includes urban centres and, more importantly, key oil installations.

The NTC is a divided gaggle of disparate political and tribal groupings, many with Islamist leanings. A video released on YouTube graphically depicted black Libyans forced to eat Gaddafi's green flag, flogged, and hurled at with racial abuse.

Fighting also broke out at the border crossings of Ras Djedir and Dhiba on the Libyan-Tunisian frontier between rival militias. Libyan Prime Minister Abdel-Rahim Al-Keib chided his compatriots for insubordination, but Al-Keib's admonition fell on deaf ears.

Human rights groups have singled out the militias of Misrata and Zintan for retribution. "A key focus of our work has been conditions in detention facilities, of which there are at least seven in Misrata run by official government bodies and others by armed groups and militias," the Amnesty International report extrapolated.

The report deplored "physical maltreatment, in some cases leading to death. None of the 3,000 detainees in Misrata have had a proper judicial review and therefore appear to be arbitrarily detained."

Amnesty International urged the "provision of prompt judicial reviews". The past months have brought riots and ethnic and tribal clashes. And, above all there is palpable agitation among Libyans against unfulfilled promises and anticipated aspirations. Still, NTC rule looks assured for a while yet. "Human rights violations should be investigated," the report concluded.

How then does one explain the persistent grouchiness among Libyan militias? They waste energy inventing excuses for their excessive criminal activities.

On the economic front Libya is also probing oil contracts. Any such plan by the NTC must include measures that can have an immediate impact on the Libyan people. Widespread corruption leads to further agitation and popular unrest.

This makes sense. The Green Resistance of Gaddafi loyalists is gaining ground politically and is a force to be reckoned with. It is against this backdrop that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, requested that the Libyan authorities hand over Gaddafi's son Seif Al-Islam. The NTC has officially declined the ICC's request maintaining that the former heir apparent of Gaddafi will stand trial for rape, mass murder and other war crimes. Still, the ICC insists that Libya comply with its international obligations to enforce the ICC warrant arrest of Seif Al-Islam.

The ICC notes that UN Security Council obliges Libya to do so. Libyan Justice Minister Ali Ashour, however, bluntly rejected the ICC order adding that Seif Al-Islam is treated reasonably well. "He eats with the people who guard him and he is in a good physical condition," Ashour assured reporters in Tripoli. Seif Al-Islam is under the custody of the Zintan militia that arrested him as he was supposedly trying to flee the country and seek refuge in neighbouring Niger.

"Libya must act on the ICC's decision and surrender Seif Al-Islam without further delay. An unfair trial before a Libyan court where the accused could face the death penalty is no way to guarantee justice," Amnesty International expounded.

The 22 March coup in neighbouring Mali was prompted by ethnic Tuareg militias, namely the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) that was funded largely by Gaddafi. After the Malian authorities foil their bid at statehood, a distinct likelihood, it is highly probable that the disgruntled Tuareg elements will escape to Libya to seek refuge with their kith and kin there.

The Tuareg, like other ethnic groups have their own tribal militias, and will if targeted trounce their persecutors. In apparent reprisal for the Tuareg's siding with Gaddafi during the civil war, the NTC has largely excluded them from the decision-making process in post-Gaddafi Libya. Meanwhile the world looks on impotently.

Amnesty urges EU nations to probe CIA renditions

Πηγή: Mail Star
April 9 2012

European countries, including Malta, must investigate their alleged involvement in CIA renditions, Amnesty International said today, as a hearing into a new report on the EU's complicity got underway.

The term extraordinary rendition refers to the highly controversial US practice of kidnapping terrorism suspects and secretly transporting them on private aircraft, normally owned by Central Intelligence Agency front companies, to secret prisons in countries where torture is used as a routine interrogation technique.

Making use of European airspace and territory has been the subject of parallel probes by the European Parliament as well as the Council of Europe. But the firm’s denials of participation in such flights run contrary to the findings of the European Parliament’s ‘Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners’, which found Malta’s airspace and soil had been used by Blackwater USA subsidiary company Blackwater Aviation for such purposes.

Blackwater had taken exception to an article published by The Malta Independent on Sunday last June, which had reported the EP committee’s findings. The report, the contents of which are being disputed by Blackwater, claimed that Malta had served as a base for company aircraft carrying out renditions.

The EP report underscored that while Malta was found to have been used on at least seven occasions by six different aircraft known to have carried out renditions, the Maltese dynamic in such operations was not extensively investigated due to a shortage of time and the sheer number of countries that had warranted investigation.

As such, the EP committee had only investigated higher profile cases in countries such as Italy, Germany and Poland and stressed its report was “therefore not exhaustive”. It added, however, it was still concerned by stopovers in countries such as Malta.

The report on the illegal transfer, disappearance, and torture of detainees in Europe is being prepared by the European Parliament's (EP) committee on Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs (LIBE). It is the follow-up to the EP's 2007 investigation.

"New data and information which has come to light over the past five years makes it imperative for member states to act," said Julia Hall, Amnesty International's expert on counter-terrorism and human rights, who is testifying at the hearing on Tuesday.

"The EP process is the perfect opportunity to press reluctant governments to make progress on accountability for operations which involved egregious human rights violations, including torture and enforced disappearance."

The 2007 report, led by rapporteur Claudio Fava, faced major opposition in the European Parliament, resulting in virtually no real accountability among EU countries.

The fifth anniversary - and the new report - mark key milestones in the road to unlock the truth about European complicity. The rapporteur’s report lists full details of flights including type of aircraft used.

Governments which allegedly colluded with the CIA have an obligation under international human rights law to ensure an independent, impartial, thorough and effective investigation is carried out.

Since the Fava report, the Lithuanian Government has admitted hosting secret CIA prisons; a building in Romania's capital Bucharest has been identified as being an alleged CIA detention centre, and a Polish investigation into secret sites has repeatedly faltered, despite data released in 2009 adding to evidence of complicity.

According to media reports today, a former head of intelligence in Poland has been charged in relation to CIA detainees held in Poland. Amnesty International said it is monitoring the situation closely.

Denmark and Finland have been linked to Lithuania in recent releases of rendition flight data. Finland has declined to investigate further and Denmark's current enquiry is too narrow to comply with human rights standards.

A proposed British enquiry was abruptly halted in 2011 pending the outcome of a criminal investigation into British complicity in CIA renditions to Libya.

"There is no dearth of information’, said Hall. "But there’s an appalling lack of political will to secure the truth. How can the EU, which portrays itself as a human rights standard-bearer, presume to tell other governments, notably those involved in the Arab Spring, how important human rights are when it steadfastly refuses to investigate its own alleged complicity in torture and disappearance?"

Amnesty International has urged EU countries to cooperate fully with the EP process, which includes sharing information and permitting site visits.

It believes the LIBE committee should produce an authoritative and comprehensive report highlighting gaps in accountability processes at national and EU level.

The report should recommend an EP resolution which requires member states to conduct a human rights-compliant investigations into complicity in the CIA operations, afford effective redress to victims of these practices, and reform any agency or system which led to the abuses in the first place.

Iraq: This Year’s Official Executions Already Surpass 2011′s

Πηγή: Antiwar
By by Margaret Griffis
Feb 21 2012

According to a justice ministry official, the Iraqi government has officially executed 69 people during 2012. Last year, only 68 people suffered the death penalty during the entire year. Four of the recently condemned were put to death yesterday. Two of them were found guilty on terrorism charges, while the other two were common criminals.

Groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights, have recently criticized the increasing number of executions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Iraq to suspend the death penalty until there is more transparency in the courts.

The numbers only reflect official executions. What has gone on in Iraq’s secret prisonsis not completely known. As recently as November, the Interior Ministry has beenaccused of killing prisoners, and the ministry once harbored Shi’ite death squads.

At least five Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in other violence.

In Mosul, a policeman and a civilian were killed in separate attacks.

A roadside bomb in Qaim killed a petrol station manager and wounded two other people.

A blast killed two people in Yathrib.

In Baiji, two people were wounded in a roadside bombing.

A policeman was wounded during a blast in Baquba.

Amnesty criticises Libya militias

A boy looks at pictures of the Libyan Revolution ahead of an event to celebrate it tomorrow in Benghazi.

Πηγή: Irish Times
By Reuters
Feb 16 2012

Libya's aspirations to replace Muammar Gadafy's repressive rule with a just, democratic state are being undermined by armed militias who trample on human rights and are outside the government's control, Amnesty International said today.

The militias spearheaded the rebellion that ended Gadafy's 42-year rule but they have so far refused to disband. With their heavily armed units patrolling the streets, they have more power on the ground than Libya's official rulers.

Amnesty said in a report that its researchers had documented dozens of cases of militias committing war crimes, torturing detainees and forcing whole communities to flee their homes.

It said Libya's interim leadership, the National Transitional Council (NTC), had to date failed to assert its authority over the militias by investigating the abuses.

"Militias in Libya are largely out of control and the blanket impunity they enjoy only encourages further abuses and perpetuates instability and insecurity," said Amnesty's Donatella Rovera.

"A year ago Libyans risked their lives to demand justice. Today their hopes are being jeopardized by lawless armed militias who trample human rights with impunity."

"It is imperative that the Libyan authorities firmly demonstrate their commitment to turning the page on decades of systematic violations by reining in the militias," Ms Rovera said in a statement.

The NTC's ability to deal with the militias is limited because, as an unelected caretaker administration still trying to build a national police force and army, it is too weak to try to crack down.

The militia leaders profess loyalty to the NTC, but analysts say that they are using their military might as a bargaining chip to ensure they get the influence they believe they deserve in the new Libya.

In an interview with Reuters at the weekend, NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said a programme to integrate the militias into national security forces was making progress, though it was taking longer than planned.

Abdel Jalil also said that a committee had been set up to investigate reports that militias were torturing detainees, and that communities forced from their homes by the militias would be allowed to return home eventually.

In its report, Amnesty said it had collected evidence of widespread torture in militia-run detention centres. It said in one case its researcher witnessed armed militia members kicking an older detainee as he crouched against a wall.

The report said at least 12 detainees died from the abuse since September last year. Their bodies were covered in bruises and some had their fingernails pulled out, it said.

Amnesty said dark-skinned Libyans and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa were targeted by militia men because they were suspected of having fought for Gadafy during the conflict.

The mostly dark-skinned residents of Tawerhga, east of Tripoli, had to flee their homes when militias from the nearby city of Misrata swept in. They were seeking revenge for what they perceived as Tawerhga's support for Gadafy.

Libya: Fresh reports of deaths of detainees amid widespread torture

According to Doctorts Without Borders report Libya detainees were tortured and denied medical care

Πηγή: Amnesty International UK
Jan 26 2012

"It is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture" - Donatella Rovera

Several detainees have died after being subjected to torture in Libya in recent weeks and months amid widespread torture and ill-treatment of suspected pro-al-Gaddafi fighters and loyalists, Amnesty International said today.

Amnesty delegates in Libya have met detainees being held in and around Tripoli, Misrarah and Gheryan, who showed visible marks indicating torture inflicted in recent days and weeks. Their injuries included open wounds on the head, limbs, back and other parts of the body.

The torture is being carried out by officially recognised military and security entities as well by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework.

Detainees, both Libyan and foreign nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, told Amnesty they had been suspended in contorted positions, beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars and wooden sticks, and given electric shocks with live wires and Taser-like electro-shock weapons. The patterns of injury observed by the organisation were consistent with their testimonies. Medical reports seen by Amnesty also confirmed the use of torture on several detainees, a number of whom died in custody.

The majority of detainees being targeted are Libyans believed to have stayed loyal to Colonel al-Gaddafi during the recent conflict. Foreign nationals, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, also continue to be randomly detained, including in connection with their irregular legal status, and some are tortured.

The organisation found that detainees were usually tortured immediately after being held by local armed militias and subsequently under interrogations, including in officially recognised detention centres. To date detainees have not been allowed access to lawyers. Several told Amnesty they had confessed to crimes they had not committed just to end the torture.

Speaking from Libya, Amnesty International Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said: “After all the promises to get detention centres under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture.

“We are not aware of any proper investigations into cases of torture, and neither the survivors nor relatives of those who have died in detention have had any recourse to justice or redress for what they have suffered.

“While many detainees have described their experiences of torture to us, some have proved too scared to speak - fearing harsher torture if they speak out - and just showed us their wounds.”

In Misratah, detainees continue to be tortured in an interrogation centre run by the National Military Security (Amn al-Jaysh al-Watani) and in the headquarters of armed militias. On 23 January, Amnesty delegates interviewed detainees in Misratah who had been tortured only hours earlier. One man, still in detention, told Amnesty:

“This morning they took me for interrogation upstairs. Five men in plain clothes took turns beating and whipping me… They suspended me from the top of the door by my wrists for about an hour and kept beating me. They also kicked me."

Another detainee told Amnesty he was beaten on wounds which he had sustained the month before at the hands of the militia. He said:

“Yesterday they beat me with electric cable while my hands were cuffed behind my back and my feet were bound together. They threatened to send me back to the militia who captured me, who would kill me."

Deaths in custody

Several detainees have died in the custody of armed militias in and around Tripoli and Misratah in circumstances that suggest torture.

Relatives of a former police officer and father of two from Tajura, east of Tripoli, told Amnesty that he was detained by a local armed militia in October 2011 and they had been unable to obtain any information about his fate for about three weeks, until he was allowed to call his wife. A few days later his family was informed by a hospital in Tripoli that his body had been brought in. Images of the body seen by Amnesty show extensive deep bruising all over the body and limbs, as well as open wounds on the soles of the feet apparently caused by falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), a torture method frequently reported in Libya.

The most recent death in custody as a result of torture known to Amnesty was ‘Ezzeddine al-Ghool, a 43-year-old army colonel and father of seven, who was detained by an armed militia based in Gheryan, 100 km south of Tripoli, on 14 January. His body was returned to the family the following day covered in bruises and wounds. Doctors confirmed he had died as a result of the injuries he sustained. Several other men who were detained at the same time were also reportedly tortured. Eight sustained serious injuries which required hospital treatment.

Amnesty has also received reports of other similar cases which it is investigating.

Lack of investigation

Despite repeated requests by Amnesty since May 2011, the organisation believes at the Libyan transitional authorities - both at the national and local level - have failed to conduct effective investigations into cases of torture and suspicious deaths in custody.

The police and the judiciary remain dysfunctional across the country. While in some areas courts are reportedly processing civil cases, so-called “sensitive” cases related to security and political issues are not being addressed. Instead a range of mostly unofficial bodies, with no status in law, including so-called “judicial committees”, have been carrying out interrogations in various detention centres, outside the control of the judiciary.

Donatella Rovera said: “So far there has been a complete failure on the part of those in power to take concrete steps to end torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and to hold accountable those responsible for such crimes.

“We don’t underestimate the challenges faced by the Libyan transitional authorities in establishing control over the multitude of armed militias operating throughout the country, but we must see them taking decisive action on torture. In the interests of building a new Libya based on respect for human rights, this issue cannot be left at the bottom of the pile.”

Amnesty called on the Libyan authorities to urgently:

• Order the closure of all unofficial places of detention and establish mechanisms to bring all places of detention under the control of the authorities and to ensure effective oversight over detention procedures and practices;
• Ensure that prompt investigations are carried out into all known or reported cases of torture and other ill-treatment, immediately remove suspected perpetrators from any functions dealing with detentions pending the outcome of the investigations; where there is sufficient admissible evidence, bring suspects to justice in fair trials and without the possibility of the death penalty;
• Ensure that all detainees are allowed access to lawyers;
• Ensure that detainees undergo regular medical examinations and that medical certificates describing any injuries possibly resulting from torture are provided to the detainees and to the judicial authorities.

In October 2011 Amnesty published “Detention Abuses Staining the New Libya”, a report revealing a pattern of beatings and ill-treatment of captured Gaddafi soldiers, suspected loyalists and alleged mercenaries in Libya.

Rights groups urge Tunisia not to extradite former Libya PM

Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, Libya ex PM was jailed for 6 months in Tunisia on Sept 23, for illegally entering the Tunisian territory,.

Πηγή: Jurist
Jan 7 2012

The Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Amnesty International,Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy websites] and 12 other human rights groups issued a statement on Friday urging the government of Tunisia not to extradite former Libyan prime minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], warning that he would be "at a real risk for torture" if he is returned to Libya. The statement [AP report] urges Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki [official website, in Arabic] to seek guarantees from the Libyan government that al-Mahmoudi will be kept safe and will receive a fair trial, and not to sign the extradition order in the absence of those guarantees. Reports indicate that al-Mahmoudi fears for his safety and claims to be the sole possessor of Libyan state secrets following thedeath [JURIST reports] of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive] in October. Some commentators have argued that African tyrants should be tried in their home countries[JURIST op-ed].

In November a Tunisian court ordered al-Mahmoudi's extradition, and HRW issued a statement [JURIST reports] urging Tunisia not to carry out the extradition. Al-Mahmoudi's extradition is the latest legal episode in an ongoing effort by Libyan and international courts to investigate officials in Gaddafi's government[JURIST report]. In June, the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] issued arrest warrants[decision, PDF; JURIST report] for Gaddafi, as well as two high-ranking officials in his regime, for crimes against humanity. In June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] decided to extend its investigation [JURIST report] of human rights abuses in Libya. In a 92-page report [text, PDF], the UNHRC declared that Gaddafi's regime committed murder, rape, torture and forced disappearance "as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack."

Syria: Arab League chief says Assad's regime pulled out tanks from cities

Syrian security forces walk towards anti-regime protesters in Homs

Πηγή: The Telegraph
Jan 2 2012

Syria's government has withdrawn heavy weapons from inside cities and freed about 3,500 prisoners but security forces continue to kill protesters even with foreign monitors in the country, the Arab League chief said on Monday.

Nabil Elaraby said pro-regime snipers also continue to operate in Syria and he demanded a complete ceasefire. But despite the regime's ongoing crackdown, he listed the achievements of the Arab League monitors since they began work.

The monitors are supposed to verify Syria's compliance with an Arab League plan to stop the 9-month-old crackdown on dissent. President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the plan on Dec 19.

But since the Arab League monitors began work last Tuesday, activists say government forces have killed more than 150 people, the vast majority of them unarmed, peaceful protesters.

"Yes, there is still shooting and yes there are still snipers," Mr Elaraby told a news conference in Cairo, where the Arab League is based. "Yes, killings continue. The objective is for us to wake up in the morning and hear that no one is killed. The mission's philosophy is to protect civilians, so if one is killed, then our mission is incomplete."

"There must be a complete ceasefire," Elaraby said.

But he also said tanks and artillery have been pulled out from cities and residential neighbourhood, food supplies reached residents and bodies of dead protesters recovered.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed that tanks had withdrawn from Syrian cities. But he said residents reported that the weapons were still a threat.

"They can bring the tanks back and use them to fight," Mr Abdul-Rahman told The Associated Press.

Mr Elaraby did not say when the heavy weapons pulled out of cities, but Abdul-Rahman said it was on Thursday.

The Arab League plan requires Assad's regime to remove security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders, free political prisoners and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country.

Already, Syrian opposition groups and a pan-Arab group, the Arab Parliament, have been deeply critical of the mission, saying it is simply giving Assad cover for his crackdown.

Suggesting that the League did not have a figure for the number of Syrians detained since the uprising began, Mr Elaraby called on the opposition and ordinary Syrians to aid the observers by sending them names of relatives or friends they think are detained by Mr Assad's regime.

He did not say whether the League was able to verify the release of 3,484 prisoners or when they left prison.

"We call for the release of all of them," he said.

Mr Elaraby defended the Sudanese general heading the Arab League mission in Syria, saying he was doing his job perfectly.

"He is a capable" military man with a clean reputation."

Controversy has swirled around Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi because he served in key security positions under Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Amnesty International said Gen Dabi led Mr Bashir's military intelligence service until August 1995, when he was appointed head of external security.

"During the early 1990s, the military intelligence in Sudan was responsible for the arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearance, and torture or other ill-treatment of numerous people in Sudan," it said in a statement.

"The Arab League's decision to appoint as the head of the observer mission a Sudanese general on whose watch severe human rights violations were committed in Sudan risks undermining the League's efforts so far and seriously calls into question the mission's credibility," Amnesty said.

Arms Transfers To The Middle East and North Africa

LESSONS FOR AN EFFECTIVE ARMS TRADE TREATY

Amnesty International report

The numerous unlawful killings and other gross human rights abuses committed in response to the mass protests and demands for change that have gripped the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region since late 2010 underscore, both vividly and tragically, the urgent need for the establishment and implementation of an effective global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). 

All across the region, government authorities responded to protests seen as heralding an “Arab Spring” by using excessive, often lethal force even against peaceful demonstrators while deploying a wide range of weaponry, munitions, armaments and related material much of it imported from abroad.

In Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen, riot police and internal security forces used firearms, shotguns and shotgun cartridges, live ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and armoured vehicles to suppress and disperse protesters. In Libya, as the country slid into armed conflict, Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s forces launched Grad rockets, mortars and fired artillery into densely-populated civilian residential areas. In Syria
too, government forces have used heavy weaponry, artillery and tanks to fire at civilian areas in their efforts to crush the protests. Incredibly, however, thousands upon thousands of ordinary people have maintained their protests and refused to be cowed by high levels of state violence.

Arms to MENA, AI Report

Report: US, Euro arms used against Arab protesters

Πηγή: thedailynewsegypt
By Cara Anna /Associated Press

Oct 19 2011

NEW YORK: The United States, Russia and many European countries that have supported the swell of protests across the Middle East and North Africa this year also supplied some of the weapons used against demonstrators, Amnesty International said in a new report Tuesday.

The report comes as the human rights group urges the US Congress to block a $53 million proposed US arms sale to Bahrain, where more than 30 people have been killed as the ruling Sunni Muslim monarchy has waged sweeping crackdowns against mostly Shia Muslim protesters who have demanded greater rights.

The London-based group says its findings show the dangers involved in selling arms to repressive countries under a system that makes it difficult to tell who ends up with the weapons and how they are used.

"To the extent that arms transfers are knowingly engaged in and result in the perpetration of crimes against humanity, the transferring state also becomes responsible under international law," Sanjeev Bery, the group's Washington-based advocacy director for Middle East and North Africa, told The Associated Press.

Amnesty looked at arms transfers since 2005 to key countries rocked by protests this year: Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. It found that the main suppliers of arms since 2005 were the US, Britain, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Amnesty said countries must tighten and increase transparency in arms export controls to avoid the risk that weapons will be used to violate human rights.

"It's precisely the wrong signal to send for the Obama administration to be on the verge of sending $53 million in weapons to a Bahrani king whose security forces have already been opening fire on peaceful protesters this year," Bery said.

In response, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday that several procedural steps still remained before the US could deliver the weapons to Bahrain. He noted the sale pertained to equipment for Bahrain's "external defense purposes" but conceded that several members of Congress were expressing concerns about the deal.

"We're going to continue to look at all the elements on the ground, including the human rights situation," Toner told reporters.

Toner declined to say if the deal could be ended by the Bahraini government's failure to implement reforms. But he said the US would study an independent Bahraini report on alleged human rights violations expected to be released soon.

Britain's government last week announced plans to change arms export rules to include a mechanism allowing the immediate suspension of licenses to countries experiencing a sharp deterioration in security or stability.

"The Government is determined to learn the wider lessons of events in the Middle East and North Africa," Foreign Secretary William Hague told lawmakers in a written statement. The UK has said it reviewed and revoked dozens of licenses approving weapons sales to Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia and Egypt following protests in those countries.

Officials also defended current practice. "We do not export equipment where there is a clear risk it could be used for internal repression," a spokesperson for Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said on customary condition of anonymity.

The so-called Arab Spring protests across the region came largely as a surprise after, in many cases, decades of stagnant and repressive rule. After sometimes deadly crackdowns on protesters, some countries who have long supplied weapons suspended arms transfers to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and other states. The Amnesty report points out that the UN Security Council put an arms embargo on Libya and the European Union did the same against Syria.

Amnesty argues that the US and others supplying weapons have long ignored the human rights violations under many of the regimes and shouldn't have sold them in the first place.

"The international community needs to know exactly what's being given to whom and exactly how it's being used," Bery said. "If not, the US government should not be in the business of providing those specific weapons to begin with."

The Wanton Destruction Of Sirte: Extraordinary Pictures Show Libyan City Shelled to Smithereens

Πηγή: Daily Mail
Oct 14 2011

Buildings are crumbling, heavily armed fighters stand on every street corner and snipers lurk on rooftops - welcome to Sirte.

The home city of Libya's fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi is one of the last area's not to have succumbed to the militia army of the National Transitional Council.

These astonishing photographs show how the rebel fighters, as the NTC was previously dubbed, are slowly tightening their strangle-hold around the city - with pro-Gaddafi fighters now only occupying a tiny section.




Waterlogged: Libyan rebel fighters fire at pro-Gaddafi forces as the battle for Sirte enters its final stages





Candid: These photographs show the rebel fighters taking some time out from battle, some carrying a guitar while others ride their bicycles




Deserted: The denuded buildings of Sirte will have to be demolished after they were pounded with heavy artillery for weeks

The council today brought more tanks into the city to try to smash the last pocket of resistance in a bid to end the chaos which has now lasted several weeks.

It sees the capture of the city as key to building a democractic government - as it says the process cannot begin until Sirte has fallen. NTC commanders said Gaddafi's die-hard loyalists now only control a residential area which measures around one mile squared.

They also said that the biggest obstacle to taking the town had been Gaddafi's snipers hiding in the buildings. To counter this they were using tanks to hit the buildings from close range, which often dislodged them. Gaddafi himself is believed to be hiding somewhere in the vast Libyan desert.

More...
Visit Libya! Ambitious travel firm offers bargain tour... as battle for Gaddafi's home town STILL rages

A senior NTC official also denied reports by other officials in the new government that Gaddafi's son Motassim had been captured in Sirte.

Surrounded now on all sides, Gaddafi's remaining forces in his home city seem to have no hope of winning the battle but are still fighting on, inflicting dozens of casualties with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.



Shattered skyline: Smoke billows over Sirte as the rebels assault continued to pound the centre of the city




Battle of Sirte: Buildings lie in ruins (left) as war rages on in the flooded streets (right)




Taking cover: Anti-Gaddafi fighters crouch low behind one of their vehicles as heavy gunfire rains over their heads during the battle

One field hospital received two NTC dead and 23 wounded yesterday. One of the dead men had been hit while taking food up to the fighters on the front line, doctors said.

Another NTC commander said Gaddafi's besieged forces were no longer using heavier weapons and appeared to have lost their cohesion as a fighting force.

'We've noticed now they are fighting every man for himself,' said Baloun Al Sharie, a field commander. 'We tried to tell them it's enough and to give themselves up, but they would not.'

NTC officers said Gaddafi loyalists feared reprisals if they give themselves up.



Time out: Rebel fighters make the most of some down time by having a little nap




Action men: Battle is still raging in Gaddafi's home city of Sirte, with rebels taking to the streets with powerful weapons



Attack: A tank of Libyan rebels fire at pro-Gaddafi fighters during the battle of Sirte

Some captured fighters said they have been roughed up by NTC forces.

Amnesty International issued a report on Wednesday saying Libya's new rulers were in danger of repeating human rights abuses commonplace during Gaddafi's rule.

The NTC said it would look into the report.

Close to the centre of the fighting in Sirte, government forces found 25 corpses wrapped in plastic sheets. They accused Gaddafi militias of carrying out execution-style killings.



War: Libyan rebels fire rockets at pro-Gaddafi fighters in the fugitive leader's home city of Sirte






Is victory close? Rebel fighters flash the 'Victory' sign at photographers during the Battle of Sirte




Combat: A Libyan rebel carries the body of a dead comrade as the war between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces rumbles on

As the battle for Libya draws towards what the NTC and NATO hope will be a close, both the new government and the Western alliance which helped topple Gaddafi are looking towards a return to normality.

The provisional Libyan government and NATO signed an agreement yesterday to immediately open air corridors for international civilian flights from Benghazi, and domestic flights between the second city and Tripoli and Misrata.

This is one of the first step toward NATO lifting its no-fly zone over Libya imposed after Gaddafi began a military assault on civilians protesting his one-man rule.



Confident: Rebel fighters flash the 'Victory' sign amidst the battle



Taking cover: A Libyan rebel runs to protect himself from incoming sniper fire during the Battle of Sirte

Up to 7,000 held in detention centers in Libya, U.N. says

Prisoners include people arrested at checkpoints without identity papers

Πηγή: Al Arabiya
By Reuters
Oct 15 2011

Up to 7,000 prisoners are held in dozens of makeshift detention centers in Libya more than two months after rebel forces toppled Muammar Qaddafi, amid serious allegations and some evidence of torture, the United Nations said on Friday.

Transitional authorities lack a clear system for screening and registering detainees, thus opening the door to ill-treatment, Mona Rishmawi, a senior official of the U.N. human rights office, told a briefing after a weeklong visit to Libya.

Prisoners include people arrested at checkpoints without identity papers, suspected mercenaries from several regions, pro-Qaddafi fighters captured on the battlefield or people whose names appeared on lists of people to be rounded up, she said.

“There are thousands of people who are being held, we are talking about a large number. It could be up to 7,000,” said Rishmawi, who is in charge of the office’s rule of law branch.

“The majority of these people have not gone through a (judicial) process. This of course is a recipe for abuse. There are indications of very serious issues going on.”

In all, there are believed to be 67 makeshift detention centers across Libya, compared with a few central prisons during the 42-year-rule of Qaddafi, she added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited at least 40 Libyan prison facilities, ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson told Reuters on Friday. Its confidential findings about conditions are shared only with detaining authorities.

Amnesty International issued a report on Wednesday saying Libya's new rulers were in danger of repeating human rights abuses commonplace under Gaddafi. The NTC said it would look into the report.

Hanny Megally, head of the U.N. human rights office’s Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa branch, led the mission to Libya. They met ministers of the National Transitional Council, as well as activists and lawyers, and visited some prisons but did not speak with inmates.

“...We actually believe that the situation in the prisons is that there is ill-treatment, there are allegations and evidence of torture. Yes, I can say that,” Rishmawi said.

Libyan government forces pushed tanks deep into the city of Sirte on Friday to try to smash the last pocket of resistance by Gaddafi loyalists in his home town.

Rishmawi said that Libya lacked a coherent, centralized judicial system protecting prisoner rights, although judges in Benghazi and Misrata were starting to look at the cases.

“It’s a key challenge. And it will be even more challenging when the two big cities, Sirte and Bani Walid, fall. This will be a real issue for them,” she said.

It would be wrong to assume all people still in Bani Walid are pro-Qaddafi fighters, they may include civilians who lack money or vehicles to leave or are too ill to travel, she added.

“Right now we can say that the system that is currently in place is not adequate. There is a lot of room for abuse although I think that the policy at the higher level is that 'we will not tolerate torture, we will investigate.”

Qaddafi’s whereabouts are unknown, but most Libyans are keen to see him and his family face trial, Rishmawi said.

“They really want to see that day,” she said.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), indicted Gaddafi for war crimes last May.

An international commission of inquiry on Libya, led by U.S.-based expert Cherif Bassiouni, has previously accused his forces of murder, torture and abduction.

It will make its third visit later this month to further investigate abuses including alleged mass rapes, Rishmawi said.

Amnesty International: Detainee abuse must stop in Libya

Πηγή: CNN
By Moni Basu

Oct 13 2011

(CNN) -- In late August, Libyan rebels sifted through the remnants of the life Moammar Gadhafi's fleeing supporters left behind, reveling in their capture of Tripoli. But at the same time, more sinister acts were taking place.

In a house in Abu Salim, rebels tied the hands of two brothers from the southern city of Sabha and beat them while taking them into custody.

"They beat us several times using their rifles," the elder brother told human rights group Amnesty International. "They also whipped us. When they transferred us to Mitiga (the airport detention facility), they forced us to walk on our knees to the vehicles while they insulted and beat us. They accused us of being mercenaries."

Such abuses of suspected Gadhafi loyalists were widespread, an Amnesty International delegation discovered. A report issued Thursday said armed militia detained as many as 2,500 people in the Tripoli area and that almost always, people were arrested without warrants and far from the oversight of the Ministry of Justice.

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's North Africa researcher, told CNN Thursday that the arrests were more like abductions -- people taken from their homes by unidentified captors carrying out raids on suspected Gadhafi loyalists.

"We spoke to several guards," said Eltahawy, who heard the screams of detainees being whipped as she waited in one of the facilities. "They didn't see a problem to beat detainees to extract information. To them it was normal."

It was the way things had been done for four decades of Gadhafi's ironfisted rule. After visiting 11 facilities and interviewing 300 detainees, some of them women and children, the Amnesty team found that culture very much in place as Tripoli was falling.

A 17-year-old boy from Chad accused of rape and being a mercenary told Amnesty that he was taken from his home in August by armed men who held him in a school where they punched him and beat him with stick, belts, rifles and rubber cables:

"The beatings were so severe that I ended up telling them what they wanted to hear," he said. "I told them I raped women and killed Libyans."

In issuing the report Thursday, Amnesty International called on Libya's National Transitional Council to put an immediate end to such human rights violations.

The reality is that many of the armed militias are working outside the law, Eltahawy said. Libya's new leadership needs to do all it can to start off on the right foot.

"What the national council needs to do from the very beginning is to send a strong signal that this behavior will not be tolerated," she said.

Otherwise, there is a real risk that patterns of the past will be repeated in post-Gadhafi Libya. CNN reached out to the interim council but did not receive an immediate response.

Human Rights Watch has also documented detainee abuse that amounts to torture.

The global monitor issued a report earlier this month that urged Libya to ensure rule of law as it forges ahead in building a new nation.

Those interviewed told Human Rights Watch that they were beaten and given electric shocks. Some showed their scars as proof of their claims. One man wept openly in telling his story of abuse.

A detainee identified as Ahmed said this:

"They took an electric cable and started hitting me with it. They didn't use electricity, but they said that if I didn't talk, they would...They hit me with a butt of the Kalashnikov. They kicked me in the face and in the chest. One scratched me with the knife (bayonet) of the Kalashnikov."

Human Rights Watch said none of the detainees have ever faced a judge.

"After all that Libyans suffered in Moammar Gadhafi's jails, it's disheartening that some of the new authorities are subjecting detainees to arbitrary arrest and beatings today," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Libya has an obligation to prevent torture and abuse, Amnesty International said.

Libyan authorities, the group said, cannot allow such abuses to go on simply because the nation is in a transitional phase. If they do, said the human rights activists, Libya's new leadership will be no better than the old.