Middle East: US-trained Iraqi army unit 'linked to Mosul war crimes'

A US-trained Iraqi army division allegedly executed dozens of men in the final phase of the battle against ISIL fighters in Mosul's Old City, Human Rights Watch has claimed.

The rights group on Thursday urged the US government to suspend all support for the 16th Division of the Iraqi army pending an investigation into what it called war crimes, evidence of which was seen by two international observers whom the group did not name.

Videos have emerged of Iraqi forces beating unarmed men. Footage also showed one man being pushed off a cliff to his death.

"Given the widespread abuses by Iraqi forces and the government’s abysmal record on accountability, the US should take a hard look at its involvement with Iraqi forces," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Read more: US-trained Iraqi army unit 'linked to Mosul war crimes' | Iraq News | Al Jazeera

Middle East: Opinion: Unbearable helplessness in Syria - by Alexander Kudascheff

As the saying goes, hope dies last. Given the clearly conflicting interests of the forces taking part in the Syria war, no solution is on the horizon at the moment, writes DW's editor-in-chief, Alexander Kudascheff.

The war, the killing and the dying goes on relentlessly in Syria. It is a war that has still not bled out, even in its fifth year. This is war being waged with inconceivable cruelty, primarily at the expense of the population, which is already being held hostage by all sides. And now, the last hope of containing the war - and perhaps even ending it - through negotiations between the Americans and Russians has died. The communication lines between Moscow and Washington have broken down and the last glimmer of hope has thus been extinguished.

The failure of the talks - as one is not certain whether they can be called negotiations - was foreseeable. Negotiations are based on the capability of perceiving the interests of the other party and comparing them with one's own to see whether a deal can be struck. How were the Syria talks conducted? The Russians have one overwhelming interest: They want to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power and come into play as a global force that is once again a weighty influencer in the Middle East. To Russia, any means, especially military means, justifies the end. Assad obviously wants to stay in power and is not at all interested in compromise because any compromise would herald the end of his political career. Turkey does not want a Kurdish state to be established. Iran would like to expand Shiite domination; Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, wants to prevent it. They are all against "Islamic State" (IS) whenever it suits their political or military aims.

The international power struggle will continue after the new American president has been elected. In the meantime, one cannot ignore the fact that Putin is taking swift action in Syria. However, Moscow will recall that it its military and political involvement in Afghanistan was initially successful before the Soviets were weakened and had to leave the country as losers. What will happen to Syria if Russia's and Assad's military forces are successful? Will it become a deathly silent Middle Eastern Chechnya? Or will it become a Middle Eastern Afghanistan that will descend into the chaos of everyday terror? The West must immediately decide on a containment policy but no one seems to be anywhere near such a decision. Right now, it looks like the West will have to resort to standing by helplessly and watching people get killed in Syria. Then the war will really become morally unbearable.

Read more: Opinion: Unbearable helplessness in Syria | Opinion | DW.COM | 05.10.2016

Iraq - ISIS Horror of life under ISIL exposed in recaptured Syrian town of al-Shadadi

The horror of life in Syria under the so-called Islamic State was opened up to the world this week when western journalists visited the northern town of al-Shadadi, recaptured recently by Kurdish-led forces.
One resident pointed out makeshift gallows.

Elsewhere amid the destruction, bombs and explosives are found in the street and in buildings.
Many of the abandoned houses contained bunkers and escape tunnels.

The team from Britain’s Sky News was also shown a hotel said to have been used by the extremists to assault women.

One witness said they risked torture with electric prods for showing too much skin.

Ahead of indirect peace talks due to resume on Monday, the Syrian government has ruled out discussions on a change at the top.

It said it drew a “red line” around President al-Assad’s position.

The Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said the Geneva talks would depend on the opposition’s attitude – but they were deluded if they thought they could take power.

“Our understanding of the transitional period is a move from the existing constitution to another constitution.

And from the existing government into another government that might include other parties,” he said in Damascus.

But among the rebels’ demands are that Assad have no role in any new government.

Read more: Horror of life under ISIL exposed in recaptured Syrian town of al-Shadadi | euronews, world news

Saudi Arabia: With the Saudis, the West Should Take No Prisoners - by Adam Coogle

"The good old days" are over

At last, Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record is getting media scrutiny, thanks in part to news that Saudi authorities plan to lash 74-year-old Karl Andree, a British cancer survivor, 350 times for possessing homemade alcohol. Flogging in the kingdom entails a series of strikes with a wooden cane, with blows distributed across the back and legs, normally not breaking the skin but leaving bruises.

This ruling comes after a year of bizarre and cruel punishments meted out by the Saudi judiciary, including the public flogging of liberal blogger Raif Badawi in January and a death sentence for Ali al-Nimr, a Saudi man accused of protest-related activities allegedly committed before he was 18 years old.

These incidents came to light even though Saudi Arabia bans independent human rights monitors. Saudi Arabia rarely grants United Nations experts or human rights organizations access, and because it has no law allowing non-governmental associations, domestic human rights groups are de facto forbidden.

More than a dozen Saudi human rights advocates are languishing in prison today for “crimes” related to their “illegal” human rights work; most are convicted for “setting up an unlicensed organization.” These include activists such as Waleed Abu al-Khair, currently serving an outlandish 15-year sentence solely for his work exposing the government’s human rights abuses.

While Saudi Arabia receives some public scorn for discrimination against women, there is less public knowledge about its systematic intolerance of religious minorities. The country bans the public practice of any religion other than Islam: there are no Christian churches or Hindu temples to address the religious needs of millions of foreign workers.

Saudi Arabia doesn’t just abuse human rights at home. Since March, a Saudi-led coalition has carried out a bombing campaign against rebel forces in Yemen that has included indiscriminate attacks killing civilians (some of which may be war crimes), and used banned cluster munitions in civilian-populated areas. It has imposed a naval and air blockade on Yemen’s 23 million people that has contributed to alarming malnutrition levels, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.

And Saudi Arabia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council has not led to improvements in its rights record. Instead, it has used its position to prevent an international inquiry into laws-of-war violations committed in Yemen. Somehow, bizarrely, Saudi Arabia serves as a partner in the U.S. government’s campaign to “combat violent extremism”—despite its longtime failure to address these issues at home in accordance with basic human rights and the rule of law.

Allies such as the United States and the United Kingdom rarely criticize Saudi abuses; one U.S. official even recently “welcomed” Saudi Arabia’s participation at the Human Rights Council. British Prime Minister David Cameron responded to the possible flogging of Mr. Andree by meekly asking Saudi officials not to carry out the punishment.

However, the unprecedented attention on Saudi Arabia’s abuses in 2015 may be altering these dynamics, creating incentives for U.S. and European politicians to support human rights in Saudi Arabia. The U.K. government’s decision to scrap a £5.9 million bid to provide a “training-needs analysis” to the Saudi prison system is one example, as it appears the opponents of the deal were motivated by human
rights concerns. In March, Saudi Arabia blocked the Swedish foreign minister from addressing the Arab League and temporarily halted visas for Swedish businessmen after she criticized Mr. Badawi’s flogging as “medieval.”

Saudi Arabia will employ all of its significant economic and diplomatic clout to intimidate and silence anyone who dares to challenge it on human rights grounds. According to The Intercept, the news site co-founded by Glenn Greenwald, Riyadh has recently hired several PR firms and lobbyists in Washington, including The Podesta Group, Edelman and DLA Piper to try to burnish its image.

But no PR campaign can whitewash the lashing of an elderly man, the public beheading of an alleged child offender, or the senseless bombing of Yemeni civilians. People are starting to take notice—and perhaps if the U.S. government raised its voice for human rights the Saudi government would rein in its abuses.

"According to British author John R. Bradley, public beheadings are the “only form of public entertainment” in Saudi Arabia, aside from football matches. Saudi Arabia has reportedly taken its number of executions for the year to 100, far exceeding last year’s tally and putting it on course for a new record.

According to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency, two more convicted "criminals" were killed by the government on Monday – including a foreign national guilty only of a non-violent drug smuggling offense.

Read more: With the Saudis, the West Should Take No Prisoners | Human Rights Watch

10 Of The World's Most Ruthless Dictators

A dictator is defined as a person who rules a country with absolute authority and often rules in a brutal manner.

All throughout history, several dictators had stayed in their position for very long to hold supreme power. Often they used their power to force what they want even at the expense of human lives and properties.

May the people today acknowledge the sacrifices of the people who were subjected to the tyranny of these dictators. Likewise, may the world learn from the painful history of the past to avoid the rise of dictatorship.

Read more: 10 Of The World's Most Ruthless Dictators

Excecutions: Outrage Across Ideological Spectrum in Europe Over Flawed Lethal Injection in U.S. - by Steven Erlanger

Europeans largely consider the death penalty a particularly brutal American anachronism, but the prolonged death of Clayton D. Lockett in Oklahoma, after a botched execution by lethal injection, produced more than the usual horror on Wednesday.

The death penalty is banned in the European Union, which has also moved to ban the export of sedatives like sodium thiopental for use in lethal injections. The drug’s producer has stopped making it, and other European companies have sought to prevent their drugs from being used for executions, fearing European Union sanctions. As a result, the authorities in Oklahoma, and officials in other states, have been improvising new mixtures of drugs.

According to the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, based in Switzerland, Belarus is the only European country that still carries out legal executions, usually by a gunshot to the head.

But for some Europeans on Wednesday, even that method of killing seemed humane compared with what Mr. Lockett suffered until his heart stopped, about 43 minutes after the process began. Many here agreed with Madeline Cohen, a lawyer who witnessed the execution, who said that Mr. Lockett had been “tortured to death.”

Read more: Outrage Across Ideological Spectrum in Europe Over Flawed Lethal Injection in U.S. - NYTimes.com