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11 Jan 2012 NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice
Articles
Thailand compensation for protest victims approved
BBC, 11 Jan 2012
The Thai government has approved a compensation fund for victims of political unrest in the country.
A total of 2 billion baht ($63m, £40.8m) will be paid, said government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng.
The fund will cover families of the deceased, as well as those who were hurt or ''unfairly detained''.
Thailand has seen several periods of protest since 2005, with a military coup in 2006 and violent clashes in 2010.
The fund was recommended by the official Truth for Reconciliation Commission, formed after the unrest in 2010.
Arab monitor quits Syria mission in disgust
Reuters, 11 Jan 2012
An Arab League observer has left Syria, accusing the authorities of committing war crimes and turning the Arab monitoring mission sent to check its compliance with a peace plan into a "farce."
"They didn't withdraw their tanks from the streets, they just hid them and redeployed them after we left," Anwar Malek told Al Jazeera English television at its headquarters in Qatar, still wearing one of the orange vests used by the monitors.
"The snipers are everywhere shooting at civilians. People are being kidnapped. Prisoners are being tortured and no one has been released," the Algerian former observer said. "Those who are supposedly freed and shown on TV are actually people who had been randomly grabbed off the streets."
Security Council presses for ethnic reconciliation in troubled area of South Sudan
UN News Center, 10 Jan 2012
Security Council members have called on warring ethnic communities in South Sudan's Jonglei state to engage in reconciliation and end the “cycle of conflict” that has claimed an unknown number of casualties in recent weeks.
In a press statement, issued yesterday by Ambassador Baso Sangqu of South Africa, which holds the Council presidency this month, the 15-member panel voiced deep concern at the situation in Jonglei.
Rwanda: French Report Clears RPF of Habyarimana's Plane Crash, Says Lawyer
AllAfrica, 10 Jan 2012
A team of two French judges and six experts - including two missiles specialists and a sound expert - presented on Tuesday a 400-page report reconstructing the trajectory of the missile which shot down Juvénal Habyarimana's plane on April 6, 1994, triggering Rwandan genocide.
Led by anti-terrorists judges Marc Trévidic and Nathalie Poux, the six experts delivered a three and a half hour briefing to representatives of the victims and suspects.The meeting was held in camera at the Palais de Justice of Paris and the report was not publicly released.
Guantánamo Bay: 10 years of controversy
International Justice Tribune, 10 Jan 2012
Torturous, painful, hopeless, oppressive, unrelenting: these are the words used by Moazzam Begg to describe his three years of detention in the United States prison camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. One of the world’s most infamous prisons is 10 years old this week. A decade of controversy.
Guantánamo Bay was set up after the 9/11 attacks on the United States to imprison suspected terrorists. It opened on 11 January 2002, and hundreds of suspects were sent there without being charged.
Libya asks ICC for more time on Gaddafi's son
The Nation, 10 Jan 2012
Libya has asked for three more weeks to mull the possible handing over of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, after a deadline to inform the International Criminal Court expired on Tuesday.
The ICC Registry said it received a letter Monday in which Libyan authorities asked "for an extension of the time limit to submit their observations regarding the arrest of Seif al-Islam".
"Due to the security situation on Libya, the Libyan authorities are not able to meet the deadline and respectfully request the chambers to grant an extension for an additional period of three weeks," the letter said.
Karadzic trial continues with Srebrenica evidence
Sense Tribunal, 08 Jan 2012
In the first working week after the Tribunal’s winter recess, the prosecution will continue its case at the trial of Radovan Karadzic with the evidence about the crimes in Srebrenica in July 1995. The prosecution will call additional witnesses at the trial of Stanisic and Zupljanin. The defense case will continue at the Stanisic and Simatovic trial. There will be a hearing at the trial of General Zdravko Tolimir.
On Tuesday, 10 January 2012, after the Tribunal’s winter break, former Republika Srpska president Radovan Karadzic, former chiefs of Serbian State Security Service Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic and the two former chiefs of the Bosnian Serb police Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin will all return to court. A one-day hearing in the case of Mladic’s former assistant for security and intelligence Zdravko Tolimir has been slated for Wednesday, 11 January 2012.
Yemen cabinet approves President Saleh amnesty law
BBC, 08 Jan 2012
Yemen's cabinet has approved a draft law which grants President Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution as part of a Gulf-brokered transition deal.
The law would give amnesty to Mr Saleh and his aides in "all government, civil and military departments" during his 33-year rule, state media said.
It is still to be approved by the country's parliament.
Rights group criticises Bashir's Libya trip
Aljazeera, 07 Jan 2012
Human Rights Watch says Libya's acceptance of a visit by the Sudanese president "raises questions" about new government.
Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, has arrived in Libya, drawing criticism from a human rights group.
Bashir, wanted by The Hague-based court on charges of orchestrating genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, was met by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, at the Tripoli airport on Saturday, a Libyan official, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency.