HRW: No answers for Kurdish victims in Turkey

Relatives of the Kurdish victims killed or forcibly disappeared by Turkish state agents in Cizre in the 1990s protest the court decision to acquit members of the security forces and village guards on murder charges. Eskişehir, November 5, 2015. Photo: Human Rights Watch

Πηγή: Ekurd Daily
6 Nov 2015

ESKISEHIR, Turkey,— The acquittal of all defendants in Turkey’s first prosecution for the killings and disappearances of 21 Kurds in the early 1990s leaves the victims of serious abuses by state actors without justice, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The acquittals come after six years of repeated questionable interruptions in the trial. After the original prosecutor, who reviewed all the evidence, called for the conviction of five of eight defendants in the initial trial, the court trying the case was abolished and the case was twice transferred to different courts. The new prosecutor called for all charges to be dropped without hearing a single witness, raising questions about whether the recommendation was a result of political interferences.

“The essential collapse of the prosecution is a shocking testimony to the utter failure of Turkey’s justice system to deliver justice to the victims of the egregious abuses by the military and state forces against Kurds in the 1990s,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The hopes for justice of the relatives of those who died or disappeared have once again been dashed.”

The multiple irregularities that marred the trial raise serious concerns and discredit the proceedings as an effective remedy for the victims, Human Rights Watch said. Turkey has binding legal obligations to provide the victims their right to an effective remedy under international human rights law.

The case was among the first against a senior member of the security forces for the murder and enforced disappearances of Kurds in the 1990s. The crimes have been well-documented by human rights groups and in the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Eskişehir Heavy Penal Court No. 2 acquitted all eight defendants. The original trial in Diyarbakırhad 48 sessions in which multiple witnesses testified and other evidence was introduced. The defendants had been indicted on multiple counts of killing or disappearing 19 Kurdish men and boys who were identified, and a man and a woman whose identities have not been established, after arresting or abducting them.

The crimes took place in the town of Cizre and surrounding villages in Şırnak province, southeastern Turkey between 1993 and 1995. The trial began 14 years later. The defendants were charged under the previous Turkish Penal Code (law no. 765) with forming a criminal gang (article 313) and each with several counts of murder, or with ordering murder (article 450).

The main defendant was retired Col. Cemal Temizöz, the gendarmerie commander in Cizre during that period, who bore command responsibility for those under his command at the time. The other defendants were a retired sergeant who served under Temizöz’s command, three former members of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) turned informers for the military, and three former members of the village guard state paramilitary.

The trial began in September 2009 in the Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court No. 6. In January 2014, the prosecutor, citing witness testimony and other evidence, asked the court to convict five defendants on various counts of murder and to acquit the three village guards.

However, in February 2014, the specially authorized heavy penal courts were abolished, so the Diyarbakır court lost its jurisdiction over the case and was unable to issue a verdict. The case was transferred to the Şırnak courts and then by a decision of the Court of Cassation, citing security concerns, to the Eskişehir Heavy Penal Court No. 2, in western Turkey.

At the second hearing there, on June 18, 2015, the Eskişehir public prosecutor called for the acquittal of all defendants without hearing a single witness.

On June 26, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported an investigation into five prosecutors responsible for the original investigation of Temizöz, including the prosecutor who prepared the indictment, and the former chief judge of the Diyarbakır court that heard the case.

The news report said they were being investigated for an alleged conspiracy against Temizöz, contending that they were part of the Fethullah Gülen movement and were seeking revenge against Temizöz. The investigation is linked to a wider government clampdown on the movement led by the US-based Muslim cleric, a former ally-turned-critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. There are ongoing prosecutions of supporters of the group and of Gülen himself on the charges of forming a terrorist organization and an attempted coup the government accuses them of, although there is no known evidence of the movement’s involvement in violent activities.

Since May 2015, senior members of the military in Turkey have been acquitted in three other trials. They included the trial of a lieutenant colonel and colonel for the 1995 enforced disappearance of a villager in Hakkari, of a general for the killing or disappearance of 13 villagers in Mardin between 1992 and 1994, and of a retired general for the 1993 disappearance of 6 residents of a Şırnak village.

“In all four cases concluded this year, courts have cleared state actors of any responsibility for killing civilians without explaining why compelling evidence presented in court was dismissed or insufficient,” Sinclair-Webb said. “Claims that this trial is part of a Gülenist conspiracy shouldn’t obscure the fact that all the evidence indicates that members of the security forces and paramilitaries killed the victims, whose families are still awaiting justice.”

Witness Testimony

Human Rights Watch representatives attended many of the trial hearings, during which relatives of the victims repeatedly expressed their desire to see justice in court and to see Turkey acknowledge the grim legacy of past abuses. The testimony indicated there had been a pattern of security forces or their agents arresting people from and around Cizre.

Examples included the following:

Harun Padır told the Diyarbakır court on March 5, 2010, that in 1994 he, his uncle, and his father had been detained in their village and taken to the gendarmerie command in Cizre where Temizöz was the commander. Padır was released, but his father and uncle were never seen again.

Nurettin Elçi told the Diyarbakır court on July 9, 2010, that he saw men with walkie-talkies enter his brother Ramazan Elçi’s shop in 1994 and take him away in a white Renault. Days later Nurettin Elçi heard that Ramazan’s body had been found and identified it as it was about to be buried in an unmarked grave in the Cizre cemetery. He identified one of the defendants as among those who detained his brother.

Arafat Aydın told the Diyarbakır court on July 9, 2010, that he was detained and then tortured along with his cousin Mustafa Aydın and Mehmet İlbasan, and that he had been released but that they were killed. Aydın identified the unit under Temizöz’s command as the one that detained and tortured them and that it included some of the defendants and village guards.

Mehmet Selim Uykur, on September 16, 2011, and İsmet Uykur, on October 9, 2009, told the Diyarbakir court that they had witnessed two of the defendants shoot dead İsmet Uykur’s father, Ramazan Uykur, in broad daylight in the street in Cizre in February 1994.

Şevkiye Arslan told the Diyarbakır court on December 4, 2009, that she saw her husband, İhsan Arslan, abducted in the street by two of the defendants in 1993. She described repeated efforts she and other members of her family made to get Arslan released and alleged that the defendants repeatedly threatened her to stop seeking information about her husband, whom she never saw again.

In 2012, Human Rights Watch released a report on the trial and on the importance of ending impunity for the killings and disappearances of Kurds in the 1990s.

Kosovo ex-PM Ramush Haradinaj cleared of war crimes

Πηγή: BBC
Nov 29 2012

A UN tribunal has cleared Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes from the 1998-99 conflict, after a retrial in The Hague.

Mr Haradinaj, a rebel commander during the war, was accused of overseeing a campaign of torture and murder against Serbs and suspected collaborators.

But four years after the last acquittal the UN court ruled again that the prosecution had not proved the case.

Serbian officials reacted angrily, denouncing the UN tribunal.

President Tomislav Nikolic said in a statement that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was formed "to try the Serbian people".

He said the verdict would increase Euroscepticism in Serbia.

Mr Haradinaj's 2008 acquittal was overturned and a retrial ordered after appeal judges ruled that there had been witness intimidation.

But the ICTY's trial chamber once again cleared Mr Haradinaj and co-defendants Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj of all charges.

The indictment alleged the three men had been involved in a joint criminal enterprise to establish Kosovo Liberation Army control in western Kosovo through detention camps.

Ethnic Serbs, Roma and Albanians who were deemed to have collaborated with Serbs were allegedly tortured and killed.

Judge Bakone Moloto said the evidence established that Serbs and their suspected supporters were beaten at a KLA compound in Kosovo, and at least one of them had died of his injuries.

However, he said there was no evidence Mr Haradinaj or his co-defendants were involved in the attacks or a conspiracy to mistreat civilians.Political ambitions

Mr Haradinaj, who is the most senior ethnic Albanian indicted by the ICTY, has many supporters among the Kosovo Albanian community.

He served as prime minister for 100 days before he stepped down in early 2005 to deal with his first trial.

Many in Kosovo regard Ramush Haradinaj as a hero and celebrated his acquittal

Crowds in the capital Pristina watched the latest verdict on a giant screen, and celebrated his acquittal by letting off fireworks and cheering.

Mr Haradinaj's lawyer, Ben Emmerson, said his client now wants to restart his political career.

"With the consent of the people, he will soon be resuming his rightful position as the political leader of the country," Mr Emmerson told reporters at the court.

His face is splashed across vast billboards in Kosovo, accompanied by slogans like "the leader who keeps his word" and "forward with a clean slate".

However, he is still considered a war criminal in Belgrade, and an arrest warrant has been issued against him by Serbia's war crimes prosecutor.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has enlisted the support of ally Russia to block any move for international recognition.

Many Serbs feel there has been little accountability for crimes committed against them during the wars of the 1990s.

ICC could try Misrata leaders for Libya crimes: HRW

People make their way to the courthouse as they call for the National Transitional Council (NTC) to activate the judiciary, in Benghazi April 6, 2012. The march was made up of traffic police, police officers and members of the National Army. The words on the flag read, "Glory to the Martyrs, Libyan army". 

Πηγή: The Daily Star
April 8 2012

TRIPOLI: Libyan leaders in Misrata could be held legally accountable by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed by militias under their command, Human Rights Watch warned on Sunday.

"The leaders of the Libyan city of Misrata could be held criminally responsible for ongoing serious crimes by forces under their command," the watchdog said in an open letter to the city's military and civilian leaders.

The International Criminal Court could bring local leaders into account for ongoing torture and abuse in jails and around Misrata as well as the forced displacement of people from the nearby town of Tawargha it said.

"The city's leaders can be held legally responsible for those acts by the ICC," the rights group said, adding that the ongoing abuse is so widespread and systematic that it could amount to crimes against humanity.

Misrata in February became the first city to elect a local council after the 2011 conflict that toppled the regime of slain leader Moamer Kadhafi. Its military council, forged last year, wields influence beyond the coastal city.

"Our letter to Misrata authorities is a wake-up call," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

UN chief urges Libya to investigate human rights issues from last year’s uprising

Πηγή: Washington Post
By AP
March 14 2012

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Libyan authorities to address human rights violations related to last year’s uprising and ouster of Moammar Gadhafi after a U.N. report said forces both supporting and opposing the former leader committed war crimes.

The U.N.-appointed International Commission of Inquiry on Libya issued its report Friday and handed diplomats a confidential list of names of alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said “the secretary-general believes the report and recommendations ... provide a strong basis for the Libyan authorities to address human rights issues in Libya.”

The commission, appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, concluded that “international crimes, specifically crimes against humanity and war crimes, were committed by Gadhafi forces.”

It said “acts of murder, enforced disappearance, and torture were perpetrated within the context of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.”

The commission said anti-Gadhafi forces also committed serious violations, “including war crimes and breaches of international human rights law.”

Nesirky said Ban noted the report’s overall finding that NATO did not deliberately target civilians in its bombing campaign in Libya. NATO warplanes flew 18,000 sorties during the 7-month campaign, which ended in October.

Panel chairman and Canadian judge Philippe Kirsch told reporters on Friday that the panel recommended more investigation of NATO’s air campaign, which unintentionally killed at least 60 civilians and wounded 55 more.

“We are quite sure that NATO did not deliberately attack any civilians,” he said.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday reiterated his call for a U.N. investigation of the NATO campaign, a call backed by China. Both countries accuse NATO of going beyond the Security Council’s mandate to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone.

Nesirky said Ban is aware of the positions of some Security Council members on the NATO bombings.

Pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces committed war crimes in Libya: UN

Πηγή: NewKerala
March 3 2012

The United Nations-mandated commission of inquiry that probed human rights abuses in Libya reported on Friday that crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed by both the troops loyal to the former ruler, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and the forces that fought to oust him.

“Acts of murder, enforced disappearance and torture were perpetrated within the context of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population,” according to the summary of the findings of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, which comprised Philippe Kirsch, Cherif M. Bassiouni and Asma Khader.

“The Commission found additional violations including unlawful killing, individual acts of torture and ill-treatment, attacks on civilians, and rape.

“The Commission further concluded that the thuwar (anti-Gaddafi forces) committed serious violations, including war crimes and breaches of international human rights law, the latter continuing at the time of the present report.”

Violations included unlawful killing, arbitrary arrest, torture, enforced disappearance, indiscriminate attacks, and pillage. Anti-Gaddafi fighters particularly targeted members of the Tawergha community and other groups for attack.

The panel was established by an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council on Feb 25 last year and mandated to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya, establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes perpetrated.

It was also asked, where possible, to identify those responsible, make recommendations on accountability measures to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are held accountable.

The commission also concluded that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conducted a highly precise campaign with a demonstrable determination to avoid civilian casualties. On limited occasions, it confirmed civilian casualties and found targets that showed no evidence of military utility.

“The Commission was unable to draw conclusions in such instances on the basis of the information provided by NATO and recommends further investigations,” it says in the report.

The report states that Libya’s interim Government faces many challenges in overcoming a legacy of more than 40 years of serious human rights violations and deterioration of the legislative framework, judicial and national institutions.

It took note of the transitional Government’s expressed commitment to human rights, saying authorities have taken positive steps to establish mechanisms for accountability.

The panel said the Libyan Government is gradually restoring the judiciary by reopening courts and recalling judges, and there has been some progress in the transfer of detainees to central Government control.

Nevertheless, it voiced concern over the failure to hold accountable members of the thuwar who committed serious human rights violations.

“Libyan authorities can break with the Gaddafi legacy by enforcing the law equally, investigating all abuses – irrespective of the perpetrator – and ensuring that amnesty processes comport with Libya’s obligations under international law,” the commission says.

“To give effect to its commitment to improve the human rights situation in Libya, the interim Government will need considerable support from the United Nations and the international community.”

The Commission is scheduled to present its report to the current session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Mar 9.

Nato accused of war crimes in Libya

New report criticises Western forces for bombing civilian targets in Sirte during conflict 

Πηγή: The Independent
By RACHEL SHABI

Jan 19 2012

An independent report published by Middle Eastern human rights groups says there is evidence that war crimes and human rights violations were committed by all the participants – Nato, rebel forces and those loyal to Colonel Gaddafi – in last year's Libyan uprising.

The report, published today by the Arab Organisation for Human Rights together and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights with the International Legal Assistance Consortium, follows extensive fact-finding work carried out by law and war crimes experts. While the document stresses that findings are not conclusive, it adds weight to growing concerns about violations committed by all sides in the conflict.

After interviews with eye-witnesses and victims of attacks, and after visiting areas targeted by Nato, the Independent Civil Society Mission to Libya report highlights the issue of Nato classifying some civilian sites as military targets during its operations.

Nato was authorised by the UN Security Council to protect civilians in Libya from attacks by the Gaddafi regime during the uprising of last year, but drew criticism for what many described as going further than the terms of the mandate.

Raji Sourani, the head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights who took part in the Libya mission, said: "We are not making judgements – that is not the mission mandate. But we have reason to think that there were some war crimes perpetrated.

"We are asking questions, especially about what happened in Sirte," referring to Nato strikes in that city last September, when 47 civilians were killed. Eye-witnesses in the city told report investigators that civilians converged at the site of Nato strikes on two trucks, and were subsequently killed by a third missile.

Whether or not this amounts to a war crime, the revelation, if proved, will serve as an embarrassment to the Alliance, which stressed its efforts to avoid civilian deaths. Separately, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said last November that Nato forces would be investigated along with the two Libyan sides of the conflict for breaches of the laws of war.

Late last year, Nato's Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said: "We have carried out this operation very carefully, without confirmed civilian casualties."

A Nato official said yesterday that, despite the Alliance's best efforts – including the cancellation of two-thirds of intended strikes because of the risk of casualties – its "goal of zero civilian casualties is highly unlikely".

The official added: "Nato is working closely with the UN and with Libyan counterparts – they are the best place to have these concerns looked at and we have already started to provide information to help with that. If anyone else presents these concerns to us, we will do the same. We would like the opportunity to work with them and go through our data, to see if that can help allay concerns and determine what actually did happen."

Today's report observes that establishing what happened in Nato strikes in Libya was potentially hindered by the "apparent desire" among those interviewed on the ground "to protect Nato, or avoid any direct or indirect criticism".

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, last year rejected claims that Nato had exceeded its mandate in Libya: "Security Council resolution 1973, I believe, was strictly enforced within the limit, within the mandate," he said.

The investigation also set out to probe alleged violations committed by former opposition forces allied to the National Transitional Council. As well as evidence of killing, torturing, detention and ill-treatment of individuals who may have been loyal to the former regime, the mission examines the forced displacement of suspected "enemies of the revolution" – especially in Tawergha.

Reports described Tawergha, near Misrata, as a "ghost town" – 30,000 residents had been driven out of their homes in what looked like an act of revenge and collective punishment carried out by anti-Gaddafi fighters.

Addressing such violations, the report quotes a senior military commander in Tripoli, who says: "What I fear most now are the revolutionaries themselves." The group's plan to follow up today's report with similar investigations in Syria and Yemen.

Gaddafi's death may be war crime: ICC prosecutor

Muslims attend the Eid al-Adha prayers, the first after former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed, near the court house in Benghazi November 6, 2011.

Πηγή: Reuters
Dec 15 2011

The death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October, may have been a war crime, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday.

"I think the way in which Mr Gaddafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.

"I think that's a very important issue," he said. "We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."

Under pressure from Western allies, Libya's National Transitional Council has promised to investigate how Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were killed.

Mobile phone footage showed both alive after their capture. The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials said was crossfire.

The U.N. Security Council referred Gaddafi's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators to the ICC in February and authorized military intervention to protect civilians in March. The ICC indicted Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the former intelligence chief for war crimes.

Saif al-Islam is now in the custody of the Libyan authorities who have said they plan to try in him in Libya instead of handing him over to The Hague-based ICC. Moreno-Ocampo has said this was possible.

Moreno-Ocampo has also said he was investigating allegations that the anti-Gaddafi forces and NATO were also guilty of war crimes during the civil war.

NATO's Crimes in Libya via Sweden

Πηγή: War is a Crime
Nov 9 2011

The International Prosecution Chamber in Stockholm

Box 70296
107 22 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Report on serious offences subject to public prosecution

The offences include violations of international law,1 genocide,2 terrorism,3 and financing of terrorism.4

Background

Until March 2011 Libya was a sovereign secular state, ranked by the United Nations as a “High Human Development” country in a global context5 (HDI ranking 53 out 194, ahead of countries like Russia and Brazil) and the most advanced country on the continent of Africa.6 As late as Jan 4, 2011 – just weeks before the war started – several UN members applauded Libya’s continued commitment to upholding human rights.7

Today, seven months later, Libya has – as a result of decisions and actions by individuals i.a. within the Swedish government and Sweden’s military forces – been turned into a bombed out war zone with up to a million refugees8under the control of a “National Transitional Council” (NTC) which is in the process of turning Libya into a theocracy regulated by Islamic Sharia law.9






The leadership and cadre of the NTC rebels are dominated by past and present members10 of designated terrorist organizations11 such as Al-Qaeda (AQ, AQI, AQIM)12 and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).13

The council is presently headed by a de facto triumvirate – holding executive/financial/military power:
Mahmoud Jibril – a university lecturer educated, and for several years resident, in the US and whose studies was mentored by a renowned CIA case officer working for CIA in Iran during the CIA/staged coup there in 1953.14
An American economics professor by the name of Ali Tarhouni.15
A senior Al-Qaeda asset/educator/leader previously operating in Afghanistan and Iraq but who currently acts under the name of Bel Hadj as the Commander in Chief for the NTC as well as military dictator of Tripoli.16

On March 19, 2011, two days after the adoption of UN resolution 1973, this NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebel council announced the creation of a new central bank and a new oil company.17 Starting a “revolution” with the creation of new central bank may be a possible “first” in world history and casts the long shadow of as yet unidentified international financial actors over the war against Libya.18

The war

The pretext and framework for the attack on Libya by Sweden and other countries was United Nations resolution 1973. This resolution i.a. authorized a ban on flights and measures “to protect civilians and civilian populated areas” whilst excluding “a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory”.19

The reality is that participants in the NATO-led war already at the outset was in violation of resolution 1973 and that the motive was not to protect civilians – but regime-change.

Testimony by former NATO military commander General Wesley Clarke confirms that as early as 2001, Pentagon was instructed to prepare for war against Libya20 – i.e. long before Libya was reported as a “problem” somehow in need of a “solution”.

Thus, the backdrop carries distinct echoes of colonialism,21 spiced with the general geostrategical redrawing of the entire Middle-East set in motion by the attacks in the US on September 11, 200122 and envisaged by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC).23

The event that is said to have triggered NATO’s attack on Libya was the Libyan government’s own attempts to restore order and protect civilians in the Benghazi area, where an estimated one thousand jihadists24 (Al-Qaeda/LIFG) had stormed military storage facilities, and armed themselves and started to shoot up the neighbourhood.

Given the miniscule size and poor to non-existent training of this “rebel” contingent,25 the successful containment and disarmament of these rebels by the Libyan government should have been a foregone conclusion – had it not been for the intervention of French and subsequently US airpower on the side of these Al-Qaeda jihadists.26

Since March 31, 2011, NATO has conducted 9658 air strike sorties,27 averaging 46-47 strike missions per day for 207 days. When assessing the gravity of the war crimes reported here this massive air campaign needs to be contrasted against the realities on the ground.

What are these realities?

Even before UN resolution 1973 Libya was reported to have no effective air force.28 Moreover, and in regional terms, Libya did not have much of a military to speak of in the first place.

For example, indicated by the chart below is that whereas neighbouring countries in the first decade of the 21st century escalated their military expenditures – Libya did the opposite.29






In fact, Libya under Qaddafi, was a remarkably constructive factor in the region – being the founding father of the African Union.30

Reported war casualties vary widely.31 What is clear is that the involvement of the armed forces of Sweden and other countries not only changed the outcome of what would have been the orderly neutralization of a local fringe Al-Qaeda/LIFG flurry into a full-scale regime-change (for the worse) with a death toll, injured and refugees at a very different order of magnitude.

Some key-points:
The attack on Tripoli: There are reports that the NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG ground assault on Tripoli July 20, 2011, was amphibious (supported by NATO ships) and planned , directed and led by NATO-officers, also on the ground.32 The way in which the reportedly NATO-led rebels were at all able to progress through Tripoli was by NATO Apache attack helicopters strafing the streets to clear it of civilians.33
The attack on Sirte:34 Coordinated with NATO’s massive bombing campaign against the city were the rebels cordoning off, of it – preventing civilians attempting to escape the carnage from leaving.
Why would the Swedish government, or any other government, for that matter, wish to prevent civilians from escaping an event that by observers have been likened with the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War?35
The level of popular support enjoyed by the Qaddafi government, as reflected by the resistance of the inhabitants of i.a. Tripoli and Sirte, indicates that the Libyan people in vast numbers view the Qaddafi government as the only legitimate government.36
Genocide on black Libyans:37 Numerous reports exists on the apparent rascist agenda of the NTC/Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebel as they seek out and kill black people.38 Substantiated, as these reports are, the instigators of this as a generic policy in the war may not necessarily have been Al-Qaeda or the LIFG.
The role of NATO’s so-called Special Forces (SF) units: There also exists high-profile testimonies of how Danish and French SF-units engaged in and set up a policy of publicly decapitating black libyans in order to terrorize the civilian population of Tripoli into submission39 under the capital’s newly installed military dictator Bel Hadj.
The destruction of the Great Man-Made River project:40 NATO’s wholesale destruction of Lybia’s world-renowned Great Man-Made River project is a text-book example of crimes against international law. Not only did NATO destroy the world’s most advanced water project – it also destroyed the factories capable of repairing this vital civilian infrastructure.
Use of inhumane weapons such as depleted uranium41 and cluster bombs:42 Evidence points to the possibility of both cluster bombs and depleted uranium being used by NATO in Libya.
The foreign occupation force prohibited by UN resolution 1973 is in fact what the NATO-led war is all about, both tactically – with military ground force elements – and strategically – with the installation of a puppet terrorist-designated regime controlled by Anglo-American interests.

The offences

As a result of initiatives taken by members in the Swedish government, made possible by individuals in the Swedish parliament, and carried out by individuals in the Swedish military, the state of Sweden today shares responsibility for the transformation of the most humanitarian and successful state on the African continent into a third-world war zone run by a conglomerate of terrorist-designated rebels over which the agendas of Anglo-American intelligence and banking oligarchs cast their long shadow.

For more details on casualties, the destruction of civilian life, and civilian infrastructure brought by the military forces of Sweden and other countries, consider the Libya reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.43

Given existing international agreements and the clear violations committed by the participants of NATO’s Unified Protector campaign, of the intent and boundaries set by UN Resolution 1973, it is evident that crimes falling i.a. under the following categories have been and are being committed:
War of aggression
Crimes against humanity
Genocide

These crimes were not the result of mission-drift or mission-swings – but were pre-mediated for the purpose of imposing regime-change in Libya in violation of international law.

Given the international consensus of the designation of i.a. Al-Qaeda and LIFG as “terrorists” it is also evident that the following crimes have been and are being committed by the individuals reported here:
Terrorism
Failure to report on Terrorism
Support of Terrorism
Financing of Terrorism

Dates and Periods:
March 29, 2011 Cabinet Meeting44
March 30, 2011 Start of Sweden’s military operation FL0145
April 1, 2011 Parliament vote46
June 9, 2011 Cabinet Meeting47
June 17, 2011 Parliament vote48
July 1, 2011 Start of Sweden’s military operation FL0249
September 15, 2011 Cabinet Meeting50
September 21, 2011 Parliament vote51

Suspects:





These MPs listed below voted in favor of the war at event 3 and later abstained:

Björlund, Torbjörn
Brink, Josefin *
Dinamarca, Rossana *
Johnson, Jacob
Linde, Hans *
Olofsson, Eva
Olsson, Lena
Persson, Kent
Sjöstedt, Jonas *
Lillemets, Annika *

Interviews with Brink, Dinamarca, Linde, Sjöstedt, and Lillemets (marked with * above) confirm that the reason for abstaining was the realization that the Swedish government was in violation of UN resolution 1973 in its participation of the NATO-led war.52

Key suspects in the Swedish military:






Reported individuals from Sweden’s military establishment include the chain of command from Commander-in-chief Sverker Göransson down to all personnel part of the FL01/FL02/infoop operations . This also includes any staff-members in Sweden involved in the planning, directing and execution of these operations, as well as possibly members of units such as Special Operations Group (SOG) and the parachute regiment at K3 and which may have been involved in the clandestine parts of the war against Libya in 2011 – including the atrocities reportedly committed by French and Danish SF units.

Attached:
United Nations resolution 1973
United Nation’s Human Development Report 2010
Background paper: “How Al Qaeda men came to power in Libya”, Thierry Meyssan, Sep 7, 2011
West Point study: “Al-Qaida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq” Dec 19, 2007
Government Proposal: 2010/11:117 March 29, 2011
Government Proposal: 2010/11:127 June 9, 2011
Government Proposal: 2011/12:5 September 15, 2011
Video depicting use of cluster bombs by aircrafts
NTC Draft Constitutional Charter
“Libya’s Lessons”, Ben Barry, Survival, vol. 53, issue 5. Summary of the war from a western perspective.
Testimony former NATO Chief General Wesley Clarke March 2, 2007
Testimony Lizzie Phelan, Oct 4, 2011
Walter Fauntroy article, Sep 7, 2011
The Sirte Declaration 1999.
Rebuilding Americas Defenses, Project for a New American Century, 2000.

November 4, 2011


1 Cf. Sweden’s Criminal Code and International Agreements (BrB and folkrättstraktat).
2 Cf.Sweden’s International Agreements (Sveriges överenskommelser med främmande makter 1952:68. FN resolution 260, 1948-12-09).
3 Cf. Law (2003:148) "om straff för terroristbrott". Cf. EU framework decision 2002/475/JHA 2002-06-13.
4 Cf. Law (2002:444) "om straff för finansiering av särskilt allvarlig brottslighet i vissa fall."
5 Cf. Human Development Report 2010: The Real Wealth of Nations – Paths to Human Developmenthttp://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_reprint.pdf, 2011-09-26 andhttp://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/LBY.html 2011-09-26.
6 Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_Human_Development_Index, 2011-10-22.
7 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review –Libyan Arab Jamahiriya "United Nations, A/HRC/16/15,2011-01-04.
8 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/index.aspx?nid=410&dok_id=GZ02U1, 2011-09-30. http://www.unocha.org/top-stories/stories-by-country/results/taxonomy%3A107, 2011-10-27.
9 Article 1, draft constitutional charter: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/libya/Libya-Draft-Constitutional-Charter-for-the-Transitional-Stage.pdf, 2011-10-20.
10 Cf.http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-24;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-libyan-detainee-now-us-ally-of-sorts.html, 2011-09-24;
11 AL-QA’IDA’S FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN IRAQ – A FIRST LOOK AT THE SINJAR RECORDS, West Point, 2007 sikd 12 et al. The coastal area around and between the cities of Darna and Benghazi is the home base of the Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebels and have by West Point been labelled as a sort of global capital for Al-Qaeda, particularly in it’s recruitment for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-26.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/libyan-islamists-power-share-warning,2011-09-27.
12 Cf. https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/tesat2009_0.pdf, 2011-09-26;http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm, 2011-09-26. Cf. http://www.voltairenet.org/How-Al-Qaeda-men-came-to-power-in,2011-10-19; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html,2011-10-20.
13 Ibid. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576237042432212406.html, 2011-09-26.http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE1101E.shtml, 2011-10-25.
14 http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/1953/, 2011/10/24. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11265/1176650-298-0.stm?cmpid=nationworld.xml, 2011/12/24. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/oppo-a02.shtml, 2011-10-20.http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/03/the-next-libyan-dictator-mahmoud-jibril/, 2011-10-20.http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cottam-richard-1, 2011-10-20.
15 The second most important post that of Finance and Oil is held by a Ali Tarhouni a Libyan national resident in Washington for the last 35 years: http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/uw-faculty-member-ali-tarhouni-named-finance-minister-by-libyan-opposition-1, 2011-10-20.
16 http://www.voltairenet.org/How-Al-Qaeda-men-came-to-power-in, 2011-10-27. Cf.http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/03/jihadis-who-killed-americans-get-us-support-libya, 2011-09-24;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-libyan-detainee-now-us-ally-of-sorts.html, 2011-09-24;
17 http://www.ntclibya.org/english/meeting-on-19-march-2011/, 2011-10-20.
18 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
19 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. sections 4 & 6
20 Testimony of General Wesley Clark, 2007-03-02 on Democracy Now!
21 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
22 9/11 – Synthetic Terror – Made in the USA, Webster Tarpley: Cf. http://www.bokus.com/bok/9780930852375/911-synthetic-terror/.
23 http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf, 2011-11-01.
24 Estimates reported ten days after the US launched Operation Odyssey Dawn suggested a thousand fighters, virtually all of which were other Jihadists. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/29/1000-freelance-jihadists-join-libyan-rebels/print/, 2011-10-21. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1103/30/ita.01.html, 2011-10-21.http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/libyas-rebel-forces-need-more-than-just-weapons/, 2011-10-21.
25 Estimates reported ten days after the US launched Operation Odyssey Dawn suggested a thousand fighters, virtually all of which were other Jihadists. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/29/1000-freelance-jihadists-join-libyan-rebels/print/, 2011-10-21. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1103/30/ita.01.html, 2011-10-21.http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/libyas-rebel-forces-need-more-than-just-weapons/, 2011-10-21.
26 "Libya’s Lessons", Survival, 53:5, Ben Barry 2011.
27 http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_10/20111024_111024-oup-update.pdf, 2011-10-27.
28 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201132316258646677.html#, 2011-10-20.
29 THE NORTH-AFRICAN MILITARY BALANCE, Anthony H. Cordesman, Aram Nerguizian CSIS, 2010.
30 http://www.africa-union.org/Docs_AUGovernment/decisions/Sirte_Declaration_1999.pdf, 2011-11-01.
31 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_2011_Libyan_civil_war, 2011-10-27.
32 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8716758/Libya-secret-role-played-by-Britain-creating-path-to-the-fall-of-Tripoli.html, 2011-09-26. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/30/western-troops-on-ground-libya?CMP=twt_iph, 2011-09-26. Cf. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/04/nato-uses-attack-helicopters-for-first-time-in-libya/ 2011-09-26. Attack helicopters are not weapons systems traditionally attached to the Air Force, but the army (or navy when used as force projection on-shore).
33 http://www.voltairenet.org/NATO-carnage-in-Tripoli, 2011-09-26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J3SU9qUAkSg#t=1006s, 2011-10-30.
34 http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_71994.htm, 2011-09-22. Details found under the heading "Key Hits 22 September" confirms that NATO air missions are in direct support of the Al-Qaeda/LIFG rebels in their attempts to capture Sirte. Cf. http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/Aktuellt/centralanyheter/Libyeninsatsens-slutdatum-narmar-sig/ : even the media reporting by the Swedish military establishment confirms that Swedish units are acting in violation of UN resolution 1973: Generalmajor Mats Brindsjö: "Now we will fully start to focus on the mission of protecting civlians" ["Nu fokuserar vi helt på uppgiften att skydda civila"].
35 http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/17/nato-bombing-sirte-guernica/, 2011-10-19
36 http://www.voltairenet.org/Sirte-martyred-by-NATO, 2011-10-19.
37 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25622, 2011-10-27.
38 http://rt.com/news/libya-subordinate-role-africa-597/, 2011-10-27.
39 http://www.afro.com/sections/news/national/story.htm?storyid=72369, 2011-09-26.
40 http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/07/27/great-man-made-river-nato-bombs/, 2011-10-27.
41 http://rt.com/usa/news/nato-depleted-uranium-libya/, 2011-20-27; http://www.voltairenet.org/NATO-War-Crimes-Depleted-Uranium, 2011-10-27.
42 AFP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJefXVG37Eo&feature=player_detailpage, 2011-10-27.
43 http://www.unocha.org/top-stories/stories-by-country/results/taxonomy%3A107, 2011-10-27.
44 http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/16/49/75/8b46bcd2.pdf, 2011-09-25.
45 http://blogg.forsvarsmakten.se/flygvapenbloggen/2011/09/06/medaljering-av-fl-01/, 2011-09-24. According to this official Air Force blog entry, the Swedish war effort started just 23 hours after the Cabinet Meeting on March 29, 2011 – i.e. two days before the Parliament voted for it.
46 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3154&rm=2010/11&bet=UF%C3%B6U3, 2011-09-25.
47 http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/17/04/12/d4408741.pdf, 2011-09-25.
48 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3154&rm=2010/11&bet=UF%C3%B6U4, 2011-09-25.
49 http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/Internationella-insatser/Libyen-UP/Nyheter-fran-Libyen/FL-02-flyger-vidare/, 2011-09-24.
50 2011/12:5, 2011-09-15.
51 http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=3120&doktyp=betankande&bet=2011/12:UF%C3%B6U1, 2011-09-30.
52 tel conversations 2011-09-28 to 2011-09-30.

Libyan Rebels Must Stop Reprisal Attacks

Πηγή: Amnesty International
13 Sept. 2011


The National Transitional Council (NTC) must stop reprisal attacks against suspected al-Gaddafi loyalists, Amnesty International warned today as it released a major report into human rights violations during the Libyan conflict.

The 107-page report The Battle for Libya: Killings, Disappearances and Torture reveals that while al-Gaddafi forces committed numerous atrocities during the conflict, forces loyal to the NTC also committed abuses that in some cases amounted to war crimes.

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: “Dozens of suspected al-Gaddafi loyalists have been killed. Hundreds, especially foreign migrants accused of being mercenaries, are being held prisoner by forces loyal to the NTC.

“Those responsible for the dreadful repression of the past under Colonel al-Gaddafi must face justice. But the NTC has to be held to the same standards and must do more to avoid a vicious cycle of revenge attacks.

“The new authorities must make a complete break with the abuses of the past four decades and set new standards of accountability by putting human rights at the centre of their agenda.”


War crimes

Amnesty International found evidence that during the conflict al-Gaddafi forces committed war crimes and abuses which may amount to crimes against humanity. These included indiscriminate attacks, mass killing of prisoners, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests. In most cases it was civilians who bore the brunt of these violations.

But the organisation also documented a brutal "settling of scores" by some NTC forces when al-Gaddafi forces were ejected from eastern Libya, including lynchings of al-Gaddafi soldiers after capture.

Dozens of people suspected to be former security agents, al-Gaddafi loyalists or mercenaries have been killed after capture since February in Eastern Libya.

When Al-Bayda, Benghazi, Derna, Misratah and other cities first fell under the control of the NTC in February, anti-Gaddafi forces carried out house raids, killings and other violent attacks against suspected mercenaries, either sub-Saharan Africans or black Libyans.

Sub-Saharans targeted

Foreigners from African countries continue to be particularly at risk. Between a third and a half of all those in detention centres in Tripoli and al-Zawiya are foreign nationals – most of these are migrant workers and not fighters.

Amnesty International, which has taken testimonies from more than 200 detainees since the fall of al-Zawiya and Tripoli, believes that hundreds of people have been taken from their homes, at work, at check-points, or simply from the streets.

Many have been ill-treated upon arrest, being beaten with sticks, backs of rifles, kicked, punched and insulted, at times while blindfolded and handcuffed. In some cases, detainees claimed they were shot after being detained.

Amnesty International found that rumours that al-Gaddafi forces used large numbers of sub-Saharan African mercenaries in February were significantly exaggerated. But NTC officials have done little to correct false assumptions that sub-Saharan Africans were mercenaries.

The organisation welcomed the fact that in May, the NTC issued guidelines for its forces to act in accordance with international law and standards and in August the NTC Chair called on anti-Gaddafi forces to refrain from reprisal attacks. The NTC also sent text messages to Libyan mobile users telling them to avoid revenge attacks and treat detainees with dignity.

The Inetrnational Criminal Court and "the wall of silence".

In a recent post Mr. George Friedman writing for the Startfor Global Intelligence illustrates the dilemma between bringing Justice to the international arena utilizing the ICC and avoiding human casualties. The present arrest warrant for Qaddafi officially issued by the ICC "for crimes against humanity" as like Slobotan Milosevic' in the past renders any kind of peaceful resolution rather highly impossible living little room for negotiated settlements. "Having seen an older dictator at The Hague earlier negotiate his own exit, and see that negotiation fall through, why would a new dictator negotiate a deal? How can Gadhafi contemplate a negotiation that would leave him without power in Libya, when the Milosevic case clearly illuminates his potential fate at the hands of a rebel-led Libya? Judicial absolutism assumes that the moral absolute is the due process of law. A more humane moral absolute is to remove the tyrant and give power to the nation with the fewest deaths possible in the process" asserts Mr. Friedman.
I will ask then how far  is the ICC independent?

Carla Ponte the first celebrity prosecutor of the ad hoc created ICCY wrote her memoir along with New York Times journalist Chuck Sudetic who subsequently worked for the Soros' Open Society Institute where Ponte became a senior writer after taking a prise  from the Soros' founded Central European University (as did Kofi Annan) during the University's graduation ceremonies where last year the price were awarded for the thirteen subsequent year by the hand of the president of the International Crises Group which is also being supported by Soros. But ICC itself is also a Soros beneficiary as stated in this 2006 newletter: "The Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Carla Del Ponte, co-hosted the Third Prosecutors' Colloquium on the sixth and seventh of October 2006 in The Hague. The organizers are grateful to the Open Society Institute (OSI) for financial support in making the Colloquium possible." But as Carla is not the only person from the ICCY associated with the OSI since Patricia Wald a former judge of the tribune is listed in the Board of