Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Torture, murder at Iraqi juvenile prison

    6:30 AM   No comments

'Worse than the adult prisons'
U.S.: Torture, murder at Iraqi juvenile prison
Utahn involved in probe that uncovered abuses by detention guards
By Matthew D. LaPlante The Salt Lake TribuneSalt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:07/13/2008 08:12:06 AM MDT
American investigators probing allegations of torture at an Iraqi-run juvenile prison in Baghdad found clear evidence earlier this year that Sunni children had been murdered by their Shiite captors, according to a lead officer on the investigative team. "The security detail came in literally as they were cleaning the blood from the floor - they had just killed two Sunni kids," said Lt. Col. Craig J. Simper, a Judge Advocate General Corps officer from the Utah-based 419th Fighter Wing, who helped arrange the inspection. "The explanation was that these guys were trying to escape, but our investigation concluded that they were actually scheduled for release." As part of an ongoing effort to transfer control of traditional government functions, the U.S. military is seeking to put more prisons and prisoners under regional leadership. But Iraq security experts say that, in some cases, the result of decentralization has been inadequate funding, training and oversight over detention operations in several Iraqi ministries, including the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which has responsibility for Iraq's juvenile detention facilities. And that can create an environment ripe for abuse. That's what Simper, a Brigham City resident, says the U.S. Department of Justice's Law and Order Task Force found during its unannounced inspection of the Tobchi Juvenile Detention Facility shortly after Easter. The next month, the U.S. halted the transfer of 130 juvenile detainees to the facility. Under the social affairs ministry, juvenile detention centers are supposed to offer academic and vocational training, but Simper described "a prison in the very worst sense . . . it was worse than the adult prisons." "We found lots of evidence of torture, of physical and sexual abuse, just deplorable conditions," he said. "The rats were the size of Chihuahuas and the juveniles were being housed 50 to a cell." Simper said the boys being held in the prison were as young as 6 years old. The two boys who were killed were in their midteens, he said. But speaking on background, a senior official of the task force still in Bagdad gave a different account. The official said that there were "unsubstantiated allegations that two Sunni juveniles were executed on the street outside the facility after they were released" and that the task force "found no records of the incident and no documentary evidence." Further, the official said other allegations of torture and abuse were from Iraqi Army or Police units prior to the placement of the juveniles in the facility. "Over the past six months, there have been significant improvements to the conditions," at the facility, the official said. * * * 'Torture dungeons' U. N. inspectors have reported on problems with overcrowding and hygiene at the west Baghdad detention center in the past, but officials who run the facility have always been given notice of upcoming inspections. And although rumors of abuse and torture abound, there have been few, if any, confirmed cases. Although officially a government facility, the Tobchi center was almost wholly run by members of the Mahdi Army, a militia under the command of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Simper said. Simper, whose tour of duty ended in May, said the American investigation has been turned over to Iraqi officials, but it is unclear what actions have been taken in response. The task force's conclusions are not the first findings of gross human rights abuses within Iraq's central government. U.S. forces staged several high-profile raids on adult detention centers run by Iraq's Ministry of the Interior in 2005 and 2006, uncovering several "torture dungeons" where, in some cases, prisoners - most often Sunni men accused of insurgent activity - had been mutilated with chains, knives and power drills. There have been fewer public disclosures of such "liberations" of abused detainees in the wake of the Sunni-Shiite civil war, which reached a violent apex in 2007. * * * Overwhelmed system But Kevin Lanigan, a former Army officer who served as an adviser to the Ministry of the Interior in 2006 and 2007 and now directs the U.S. Law and Security Program at the New York City nonprofit Human Rights First, said he cannot say whether that is the result of improvements in the way those working for the ministry - which by law isn't allowed to detain anyone for more than 72 hours - treat their prisoners. "Nobody has good oversight or supervision," Lanigan said, noting that in many cases local militias have taken control of government operations. "There's just not a lot that's transparent about it." Lanigan said Iraq's criminal detainees are supposed to be held in facilities run by Iraq's Ministry of Justice, though in practice the responsibility for prisoners is spread out over several other ministries, including the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, which does not get funding, training or oversight for that task. Already, Lanigan said, the prisoners being held by the Iraqi government are straining resources. Transferring tens of thousands of additional detainees, currently under U.S. control, would create "lots of problems," he said. "There are already, at the very least, serious problems of confinement and neglect," Lanigan said. "If you overwhelm a guard force . . . a very predictable outcome is going to be mistreatment of detainees." As of the end of 2007, Tobchi was operating at twice its normal capacity of 200 detainees, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. mlaplante@sltrib.com

Sourse: http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=9866059&siteId=297

نص مذكرة اتهام البشير بالإبادة وجرائم حرب بدارفور

    6:20 AM   No comments


لاهاي، في 14 تموز/ يوليو 2008ICC-OTP-20080714-PR341-ARAالحالة: دارفور، السودان

قام السيد لويس مورينو أوكامبو المدعي العام للمحكمة الجنائية الدولية اليوم بتقديم الأدلة التي تبرهن على أن الرئيس السوداني عمر حسن أحمد البشير قد ارتكب جرائم الإبادة الجماعية، والجرائم ضد الإنسانية، وجرائم الحرب في دارفور.

فبعد مرور ثلاث سنوات على طلب مجلس الأمن بالتحقيق في دارفور، واستنادا إلى الأدلة الدامغة يرى المدعي العام أن هناك مبررات معقولة للاعتقاد بأن عمر حسن أحمد البشير يتحمل المسؤولية الجنائية فيما يخص التهم الموجهة بارتكاب جرائم الإبادة الجماعية، والجرائم ضد الإنسانية، وجرائم الحرب. وتبين الأدلة التي قدمها المدعي العام أن البشير قد دبر ونفذ خطة لتدمير جزء كبير من مجموعات الفور، والمساليت والزغاوة، لأسباب إثنية.

احتج بعض أعضاء هذه المجموعات الثلاث، وهم من ذوي النفوذ في دارفور منذ زمان، على تهميش الولاية، وشرعوا في التمرد. لم يتمكن البشير من هزم الحركات المسلحة. فصار يهاجم الشعب. ويقول المدعي العام إن دوافعه سياسية في معظمها. وهو يتذرع بحجة "مكافحة التمرد". أما نيته فهي "الإبادة الجماعية".

بأمر من البشير، ولأكثر من خمس سنوات، هاجمت مليشيا الجنجويد القرى ودمرتها وتابعت الأشخاص الذين نجوا إلى الصحاري. وأخضع من تمكن من الوصول إلى مخيمات المشردين داخليا للعيش في ظروف مدروسة ليكون مصيره هو التدمير. إن البشير يعرقل تقديم المعونة الدولية. والقوات التابعة له تحيط بالمخيمات.

فقد قال أحد الشهود "عندما نراهم، نفر جريا. فينجو بعضنا، ويقبض على البعض الآخر، فيقاد ويغتصب– يغتصب جماعيا. فقد يغتصب حوالي عشرين رجلا امرأة واحدة وهذا أمر عادي بالنسبة لنا نحن هنا في دارفور. إنه أمر يحدث باستمرار. لقد شهدت أنا أيضا عمليات اغتصاب. ليس مهما من يراهم وهم يغتصبون إحدى النساء. فهم يغتصبون الفتيات بحضور أمهاتهن وآبائهن".

لأزيد من خمس سنوات، شرد الملايين من المدنيين من أراضيهم التي شغلوها لقرون، ودمرت جميع وسائل عيشهم، واغتصبت أراضيهم وسكنها مستوطنون جدد. "في المخيمات، يجبر البشير على قتل الرجال واغتصاب النساء. إنه يريد إلغاء تاريخ شعوب الفور، والمساليت والزغاوة"، يقول المدعي العام، ثم يسترسل قائلا "فأنا لا أحتمل غض الطرف، لدي أدلة".

لأزيد من خمس سنوات، أنكر البشير وقوع هذه الجرائم. فهو يقول لا وجود للاغتصاب في السودان. إن كل هذا مجرد ادعاءات. "إن البشير قد جعل ارتكاب المزيد من الجرائم ممكنا بمنعه الكشف عن الحقيقة بشأن الجرائم، وإخفاء جرائمه تحت قناع "إستراتيجية مكافحة التمرد"، أو "الاصطدامات بين القبائل"، أو "أفعال مليشيات غير قانونية ومستقّلة. لقد شجع مرؤوسيه، ومكنهم من الإفلات من العقاب من أجل ضمان رغبتهم في ارتكاب جرائم الإبادة الجماعية"، يقول المدعي العام.

إن نية البشير في ارتكاب جرائم الإبادة الجماعية أصبحت واضحة إبان الهجمات المنسقة تنسيقا جيدا. "إن البشير قد نظم إفقار الأشخاص الناجين، إنه لم يكن في حاجة إلى الرصاص. فقد استخدم غير ذلك من الأسلحة. لقد استخدم الاغتصاب، والتجويع والخوف. وهي وسائل كلها في نفس الفعالية. لكنها أسلحة صامتة"، يقول المدعي العام.

تبين الأدلة اليوم أن البشير، بدلا من مساعدة أهل دارفور قد عبأ جهاز الدولة بأكمله، بما في ذلك القوات المسلحة، وجهاز الاستخبارات، والدوائر الدبلوماسية والإعلامية، والجهاز القضائي من أجل إجبار الأشخاص الذين يعيشون في مخيمات المشردين داخليا، ومعظمهم من المجموعة المستهدفة، على العيش في ظروف مدروسة لتدميرهم جسديا.

وأضاف السيد لويس مورينو أوكامبو قائلا "إن البشير هو الرئيس. وهو القائد الأعلى. لقد استعمل جهاز الدولة بأكمله. واستخدم الجيش، وجند مليشيا الجنجويد. إن هذه الأجهزة جميعا تحت مسؤوليته، وهي كلها تطيعه. إنه يتمتع بسلطة مطلقة".

ستنظر الدائرة التمهيدية الأولى الآن في الأدلة. وإذا رأى القضاة أن هناك مبررات معقولة تدعو إلى الاعتقاد بأن الشخص المسمى قد ارتكب الجرائم المزعومة، فستقرر ما هي أنجع السبل لامتثاله أمام المحكمة، فقد طلب المدعي العام إصدار أمر بإلقاء القبض.

Monday, June 23, 2008

In Algeria, a Tug of War for Young Minds

    7:50 AM   No comments
June 23, 2008
Generation Faithful

In Algeria, a Tug of War for Young Minds

ALGIERS — First, Abdel Malek Outas’s teachers taught him to write math equations in Arabic, and embrace Islam and the Arab world. Then they told him to write in Latin letters that are no longer branded unpatriotic, and open his mind to the West.

Malek is 19, and he is confused.

“When we were in middle school we studied only in Arabic,” he said. “When we went to high school, they changed the program, and a lot is in French. Sometimes, we don’t even understand what we are writing.”

The confusion has bled off the pages of his math book and deep into his life. One moment, he is rapping; another, he recounts how he flirted with terrorism, agreeing two years ago to go with a recruiter to kill apostates in the name of jihad.

At a time of religious revival across the Muslim world, Algeria’s youth are in play. The focus of this contest is the schools, where for decades Islamists controlled what children learned, and how they learned, officials and education experts here said.

Now the government is urgently trying to re-engineer Algerian identity, changing the curriculum to wrest momentum from the Islamists, provide its youth with more employable skills, and combat the terrorism it fears schools have inadvertently encouraged.

It appears to be the most ambitious attempt in the region to change a school system to make its students less vulnerable to religious extremism.

Read on...


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