Impunity Watch: North America

Britain's High Court Orders Prisoner's Documents Turned Over; New Report Finds Paddlings Widespread in United States Schools

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

LONDON, England – On August 21, 2008, Britain’s High Court held that Britain’s Foreign Office must turn over information to Binyam Mohamed, a British resident detained in Pakistan in 2002 and now held at Guantanamo Bay.  The court ordered that information regarding Mohamed’s time in detention be turned over for Mohamed’s defense. 

Lawyers for Mohamed say that the information will support Mohamed’s claims that he was tortured and forced into a confession on terrorism charges. 

If this evidence supports Mohamed’s claims, evidence obtained from the alleged torture will not be admissible in the military tribunal Mohamed faces. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Court rules against government in key Guantanamo case – 21 August 2008

AP – Court says Guantanamo documents should be released – 21 August 2008

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WASHINGTON, United States – Human Rights Watch and The American Civil Liberties Union released a report which found 223,190 incidents of corporal punishment in United States schools. 

While the number of incidents is down nearly 50,000 from 2005-2006, the practice of corporal punishment is still alarmingly high, most notably in the poor, rural south.  Currently, 106 countries ban corporal punishment in schools as well as 21 states in the United States. 

Corporal punishment, also called paddling, licks or pops, involves hitting the student on their bottom or upper thigh with a wooden board.

Critics of corporal punishment say while it may cure bad behavior in the short-term, it fails, in the long-term, to teach students that the action is wrong. 

For more information, please see:

The Globe and Mail – Rights group want corporal punishment banned in U.S. schools – 20 August 2008

U.S. News and World Report – Paddlings Widespread in South, Study Says – 21 August 2008

Brief: Guantanamo Bay Detainee Convicted By Military Court

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Today, a six panel jury made up of military officers convicted Salim Ahmed Hamdan of providing material support for terrorism.  However, the panel acquitted Hamdan of a separate conspiracy charge, “arguably the more serious of the two charges.” 

Pursuant to the 2006 congressional law passed for the trials, Hamdan’s trial included “secret evidence and testimony in a closed courtroom.” 

Hamdan’s lawyers have said that the conviction will be appealed.  There is a possibility that the Supreme Court will hear Hamdan’s claim that the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay “do not meet the American standards of fundamental fairness.”

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Detainee Convicted By Military Panel – 6 August 2008

Impunity Watch – Brief: Jury Selected For Guantanamo Trial – 21 July 2008

Request For International AIDS Conference To Focus On Human Rights; Executions In Texas May Proceed Despite ICJ Order

By Andrew Benfield
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – A coalition of AIDS and human rights organizations are requesting that the biannual International AIDS Conference make human rights a central theme of the conference. 

Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch, said that a government’s “best-planned policies to treat HIV and stop the spread of AIDS will fail” unless they act to end HIV-related rights abuses.  While many governments have enacted legislation to end HIV-related human rights abuses, they have failed to properly implement these policies. 

Richard Elliott, director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, says that it is a “tragic irony that those at the highest risk of HIV often receive less attention.”  For example, in many countries, drug users make up a majority of the population living with HIV.  However, they are the smallest group to receive antiretroviral treatment.  Furthermore, in some countries, police confiscate condoms passed out by AIDS outreach programs and use them as evidence of sex work. 

The International AIDS Conference is to begin August 3 in Mexico City. 

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Rights Abuses Fueling Global HIV Epidemic – 15 July 2008

International AIDS Conference – 2008

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WASHINGTON, United States – Currently, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is considering a case brought by Mexico that challenges the death sentence of 51 Mexican nationals in the United States.  These Mexican nationals were denied the right to contact Mexican consular officials after their arrest. 

On July 16, the ICJ ordered the United States to “take all necessary measures” to ensure that several of the Mexican nationals are not executed before the court renders a judgment on the case. 

Despite the ICJ order, Texas plans to go ahead with the executions.  A spokesman for Texas Governor Rick Perry stated, “The world court has no standing in Texas and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court.”  This Texas position is in direct contradiction to the United States’ recognition that it is responsible, under international law, for the actions of its states. 
Five of the Mexican nationals are scheduled to be executed on August 5.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – US: Respect World Court Order to Halt Texas Executions – 21 July 2008

The Wall Street Journal – Looming Texas Execution Gets Spotlight – 31 July 2008