News Clips – October 11, 2011 – International Justice Resource Center

In the wake of the killing of Al-Qaida militant and U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in late September by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, many have questioned the Obama Administration’s legal justification for killing U.S. citizens and others outside combat zones, as discussed by IJRC Board member Jamil Dakwar in “State Sanctioned Killings”, published in the ezine Jadaliyya last Friday.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three champions of women’s rights: Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Yemeni journalist Tawakkul Karman, and Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee. [Reuters, VOA] Last year’s recipient, Liu Xiaobo remains incarcerated in China, while his wife is under house arrest. [NYT]

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights calls on European States to ensure protection of journalists and to bring to justice the authors and perpetrators of killings targeting journalists, in order to preserve freedom of expression.

Malaysia has repealed its Internal Security Act 1960, which had allowed for the administrative detention for up to two years of terrorism suspects and others charged with serious offenses; the government also plans to introduce anti-terrorism legislation allowing for briefer, court-monitored preventive detention, modeled on U.S. and U.K. laws. [International Commission of Jurists]

On October 28, the Special Working Group to Reflect on the Workings of the IACHR with a View to Strengthening the Inter-American Human Rights System will hold a meeting with civil society organizations at the OAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to hear their recommendations on the challenges and objectives of the IACHR, precautionary measures, case and petition processing, friendly settlements, Chapter IV of the annual report, promotion of human rights, and financially strengthening the Inter-American system. [IACHR]

Protesters in Pakistan clashed with police last week in efforts to push the Pakistani government to end electricity shortages that have caused 20- and 16-hour blackouts which are reportedly part of a chronic energy crisis created by state’s insufficient capacity to meet the country’s power needs and its insolvency. [Impunity Watch, The Economist] Also in Pakistan, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the country’s Supreme Court have urged the dismantling of private militias and gangs to curb violence in Karachi. [AFP]

In Yemen, a political crisis, civil unrest, and poverty combine to force the country to the brink of humanitarian disaster. [Impunity Watch] The UN Human Rights Council’s adoption of a resolution last month has been criticized as a “weak” and inadequate response to the situation. [HRW] The Office of the High Commission for Human Rights released a report calling for immediate action to protect civilians and address the humanitarian situation. [OHCHR]

In Argentina, the criminal trials of the military leadership in power during the country’s ‘Dirty War’ are shedding light on the plan and practice among members of the military of abducting and raising as their own the children of imprisoned or disappeared opposition members. [NYT]

At the Universal Periodic Review, Syria blamed civil unrest on terrorists and criminal attacks committed with weapons provided by neighboring countries [Washington Post]

Two Tibetan teens set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule, in a possible resurgence of self-immolation as a form of protest. [BBC]

Agathe Habyarimana, former first lady of Rwanda, may not be extradicted from France to Rwanda to be tried for crimes against humanity during the Rwandan genocide, according to a ruling by a Paris appellate court last week; Habyarimana faces similar charges in France. [Impunity Watch]

As Internet use increases in China, authorities have reiterated their intention to crack down on Internet users who ‘spread false information’. [Impunity Watch]

This week, Burma has promised to release over 6,000 prisoners who are elderly, sick, disabled or have demonstrated good conduct in prison – while not stating whether any political prisoners are among those included in this group. Other States have conditioned the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar’s release of approximately 2,100 political prisoners, and the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission called on the president to release prisoners who do not pose a risk to society. [Chicago Tribune]

The trial of five United Arab Emirates activists jailed earlier this year for insulting public officials is criticized as procedurally flawed and fundamentally unfair. [HRW]

In the United States Senate, proposed spending legislation would authorize long-term, indefinite detention without charge in terrorism cases and “militarize” law enforcement, according to Human Rights Watch. On a similar topic, the UN expert group on arbitrary detention has warned Germany to revise its preventive detention regime, which authorizes the continued incarceration of individuals who have served their sentences but are deemed a ‘danger to society’. [OHCHR]

Human rights organizations have launched a campaign to urge the UN to establish a Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity committed in North Korea , and to advocate government cooperation with international monitors. [HRW]

The UN Human Rights Council’s recommendation to the General Assembly that it reinstate Libya’s membership in the human rights body, applauding the transitional government’s commitment to human rights as rebels battle the remnants of the Gaddafi regime, whose crackdown on protesters and rebel forces preceded Libya’s suspension in March of this year.

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue, called on Thailand to revise its royal defamation laws to comply with international standards. The current laws allow anyone who defames, insults or threatens the country’s royal family to be imprisoned for three-to-fifteen years. The special rapporteur criticized the law as vague and as overly punitive, particularly because trials may be closed to the public and charges can be brought by private parties.

Before the ICTR, two former Rwandan government ministers received 30-year prison sentences for their roles in the Rwandan genocide, following convictions by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The former ministers of commerce and of civil service, Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit genocide and to incite genocide (directly and of the public). Two other former ministers, Casimir Bizimungu and Jérôme-Clément Bicamumpaka, were acquitted and ordered released. [UN News Centre] The 25-year sentences imposed last year on two other individuals – a former military officer and a landowner – were upheld on appeal last month. [UN News Centre] The defendants, Lieutenant Colonel Ephrem Setako and Yussuf Munyakazi, were convicted of genocide for their roles in multiple, separate killings of Tutsis in April and May of 1994.