Who supplied arms to Israel?

Boa parte do mundo asiste con horror á brutalidade da ofensiva israelí en Gaza… pero os mass media falan pouco da procedencia das armas, que saíron, entre outros países, de España. Human Rights Watch publicou hoxe unha nota de prensa que leva por título “Israel: Stop Shelling Crowded Gaza City”. Copio un extracto a continuación:

Israel’s use of heavy artillery in residential areas of Gaza City violates the prohibition under the laws of war against indiscriminate attacks and should be stopped immediately, Human Rights Watch said today. A Human Rights Watch researcher on the Israel-Gaza border on January 15, 2009, observed Israel’s repeated use in the center of Gaza City of 155mm artillery shells, which inflict blast and fragmentation damage up to 300 meters away.

“Firing 155mm shells into the center of Gaza City, whatever the target, will likely cause horrific civilian casualties,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. “By using this weapon in such circumstances, Israel is committing indiscriminate attacks in violation of the laws of war.”

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Israel yesterday shelled the relief organization’s main compound in Gaza City, wounding three people. UNRWA believes that white phosphorus used in the attack set part of the compound on fire. Up to 700 city residents had fled there in the morning to seek refuge after intense fighting in the area. The Human Rights Watch researcher also witnessed ground-burst 155mm white phosphorus strikes in Gaza City.

“We warned the Israelis hour by hour through the night of the vulnerabilities here as the shells came closer and closer, and shrapnel was coming into the compound on a regular occasion,” John Ging, UNRWA’s Gaza director of operations, told the media. “Nonetheless, we have now been subjected to these direct hits.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the attack, but said Israeli forces had come under fire from the UN compound. [...]

Amnistía Internacional pon énfase na urxencia de aplicar a Israel, entre outras medidas, un embargo de armas. Onte publicou unha nota de prensa titulada “Arms embargo vital as Gaza civilian toll mounts”:

As the civilian casualty mounts amid continuing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, Amnesty International is calling for an immediate arms embargo to prevent more foreign weaponry and other military equipment being used to fuel the fighting.

At least 900 Palestinians have so far been killed, more than a third of them civilians, including some 200 Palestinian children – as more US munitions are en route to the region.

“We know that the Wehr Elbe, a German-owned cargo ship left the USA on 20 December 2008 with a large consignment – 989 containers – of high explosives and other munitions destined for Israel,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“Hired and now legally controlled by the US Military Sealift Command, it was heading for the Israeli port of Ashdod and was due to transit via Greece, though its latest reported position indicates that the shipment’s route may have changed.”

Tenders for two other arms shipments totalling 325 containers of US munitions were approved by the Pentagon on 31 December, four days after the start of Israel’s current attacks on targets in Gaza.

These two consignments were due to be shipped to Ashdod from Askatos in Greece, but they have now been cancelled, according to information provided to Amnesty International by the US Military Sealift Command.

Tender documents show that these shipments contain white phosphorus, known for its potential to cause severe burns and an indiscriminate weapon when used as an airburst in densely-populated civilian areas as now alleged in Gaza.

The US Department of Defence says it is now looking at other means to deliver the munitions to a US stockpile in Israel. A US-Israel agreement has allowed US munitions stockpiled in Israel to be transferred to the Israeli Defence Force in “an emergency”.

“The US government should not proceed with these or any other arms shipments to Israel, and the Greek and other governments should not allow their ports or other facilities to be used to ferry arms to Israel or the other parties to this conflict,” said Malcolm Smart.

In the light of its research, Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to impose an immediate, comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict in Gaza. The call comes amid news of mounting civilian casualties and evidence of war crimes.

The organization says that an embargo could help ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed by the parties to the conflict.

It could also send a powerful signal to Israel and Hamas about the Council’s determination to ensure peace and security and to uphold international law.

“The plight of civilians in Gaza has become increasingly desperate in the six days since the Security Council’s near unanimous, but unheeded, call for a ceasefire,” said Malcolm Smart.

“Israeli forces continue to carry out unlawful attacks, including attacks which are disproportionate, and stand accused of using weapons such as white phosphorous which pose an unacceptable risk to civilians when deployed in densely-populated areas.

“Meanwhile, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups persist in firing indiscriminate rockets into civilian areas in Israel.”

Amnesty International has been gathering information from people living in Gaza. They report that nowhere is safe for civilians. Most people have fled their homes and are staying with relatives who live in areas considered less at risk or are sheltering in schools run by the UN relief agency, UNRWA.

Many have had no electricity and little or no access to clean water since the beginning of the crisis. There is little food available and people are living mostly on bread. Going out looking for food can be dangerous.

Said is a university lecturer with a PhD from a US university. He lives in Shaja’ya with his wife, six young children and elderly parents. He told Amnesty International, “We have not had any electricity for 17 days and we only have water from time to time. I have a small generator but we have no fuel so cannot use it.

“The children are terrified from the continuous bombing and there is little we can do to comfort them. So many children have been killed. There is so much destruction everywhere. I don’t know how long we can go on like this.”

Apart from the US, at least 17 states have supplied arms and related materials to Israel since 2001 – the US is by far the largest supplier but significant supplies have also been sent from Germany, France, the UK, Spain, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Canada, Slovenia, Australia, Romania, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Serbia-Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Netherlands and Greece have both been major transit countries to Israel, especially for US arms.

“Nothing less than an immediate, full arms embargo is now needed to help bring an end to the civilian suffering caused by this conflict, and the flagrantly abusive attacks mounted from each side,” said Malcolm Smart.

“The Security Council must declare and maintain an embargo, until effective mechanisms are in place to ensure that weapons, munitions and other military equipment are not used to attack civilians or commit other serious violations of international law.”

Iran: new executions by stoning

Amnistía Internacional publicou onte unha nota de prensa sobre dúas penas de morte recentemente executadas en Irán. O método empregado foi a lapidación. Copio o contido da nota de prensa:

Iran: New executions demonstrate need for unequivocal legal ban of stoning

15 January 2009

Amnesty International deplores the execution by stoning of two men – Houshang Khodadadeh and another unidentified man – in Mashhad, north-east Iran, probably on 26 December 2008 and urges the authorities to declare an immediate and effective moratorium on executions by stoning, including in the cases of the ten people currently known to be at risk of stoning to death. The stonings were confirmed on 13 January 2009 by Judiciary Spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi.

These new cases of stoning yet again demonstrate that statements – such as one made by Ali Reza Jamshidi in August 2008 in which he declared that stonings in Iran had been halted – or even directives by the Head of Iran’s Judiciary are not enough to halt this horrific practice. The speedy enactment of legislation that unequivocally brings an end to this grotesque punishment is necessary and long overdue.

A third man, an Afghan national identified only as “Mahmoud Gh.” managed to free himself from the pit he was to be stoned in, and is currently believed to be in custody. None of the three men were previously known to be at risk of stoning by anti-stoning campaigners in Iran. Amnesty International and campaigners in Iran are aware of ten other people at risk of stoning to death, but fear there may be others.

According to the “Stop Stoning Forever” Campaign, which is working for an end to this punishment, at least eight women and two men are at risk of stoning to death in Iran. The women are Kobra N., held in Reja’i Shahr prison, Karaj; Iran A, held in Sepidar Prison, Ahvaz; Khayrieh V., also held in Sepidar Prison, Ahvaz; Ashraf Kalhori, held in Evin Prison, Tehran; Gilan Mohammadi, held in the Central Prison in Esfahan; Afsaneh R, held in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz;, M.J, held Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad; and H, also held in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad. The men are Abdollah Farivar, held in Sari Prison in Mazandaran province and Gholamali Eskandari, held in the Central Prison, Esfahan.

Two other women – sisters Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat – are currently being retried before Branch 77 of Tehran’s General Court. Their previous conviction and sentence to stoning was overturned in 2008 by the Head of the Judiciary. If convicted again after the retrial, they risk being sentenced once again to death by stoning.

In Iran, stoning to death is a penalty prescribed specifically for “adultery while being married”. The offence should be proved either by confession four times in front of the judge, the testimony of four male eyewitnesses or of three men and two women; or by the “knowledge” of the judge, which can include video footage or forensic evidence.

Amnesty International urges the Iranian authorities to enact a law unequivocally banning stoning as a legal punishment. Pending the adoption of such a law, an immediate and effective moratorium on executions by stoning should be implemented. As some judges, especially outside Tehran continue to sentence individuals to stoning, it should be made clear to officials of the law enforcement, custodial and other relevant ministries and agencies, that this moratorium must not be breached and that any officials who defy that instruction will themselves be held accountable.

The Iranian authorities should also ensure that any legislation enacted, including the new Penal Code, conforms to their international obligations under human rights law, and that consensual sexual relations are unambiguously decriminalized.

Background

In 2002, the Head of the Judiciary issued a directive ordering a moratorium on stonings. This has not been adhered to, as at least five people have been stoned to death since then, including the two in December. However, Ali Reza Jamshidi’s recent statement clarified that, as a directive which has not been passed into law, the call for a moratorium has no legal weight and judges are free to ignore it.

In 2007, a revised Penal Code was submitted to the Iran’s parliament) for approval and is still under consideration. The draft continues to provide for the penalty of stoning to death, but also states that should the implementation of the penalty cause “harm to the system”, it can, on the proposal of the prosecutor in the case and with the approval of the Head of the Judiciary, be changed to execution by other methods or to 100 lashes, depending on the type of proof.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances but considers execution by stoning to be a particularly grotesque and horrific practice. It is specifically designed to increase the suffering of victims as stones are chosen that are large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the victim immediately. It is a punishment meted out specifically for adultery by married men and women, an act that is not even a crime in most countries of the world. The UN Commission on Human Rights (in Resolution 2005/29) has clarified that the death penalty, permitted only for “the most serious crimes” should not be imposed for non-violent acts such as sexual relations between consenting adults, nor should it be a mandatory sentence.

For further information, see AI report released a year ago: Iran: End executions by stoning.