The Latest from Iran (8 July): The Day Before....?

The Latest from Iran (18 Tir/9 July): Day of Reckoning?
NEW Iran: A Counter-coup against the Supreme Leader's Son Mojtaba?
NEW Iran: Human Rights Watch Statement on Abuse of Detainees
Blackout in Iran
Iran Breaking News: Ahmadinejad v. The Fly
The Latest from Iran (7 July): Sitting Out a Storm

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2120 GMT: And Now for Tomorrow. Plans and rallying calls for the 18 Tir protest are being posted on a Facebook page.

An apology: we reported an hour ago that Mir Hossein Mousavi has issued a short statement welcoming the protest tomorrow. Should have checked the date: the statement is for the protest of 18 June.

2010 GMT: We've now carefully gone through this afternoon's important story in The Guardian to assess not only the significance of the Supreme Leader's son, Moqtaba Khamenei, in recent events but the possibility of a "counter-coup" provoked by anger against Moqtaba's manoeuvres. The analysis is in a separate blog.

1910 GMT: If true, this is a story with political as well as religious significance. There are claims that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is once again declining to lead Friday prayers in Tehran, a sign that he continues to manoeuvre for position against the current regime.

1630 GMT: Detention Ups and Downs. Reports throughout the day that Iran's chief prosecutor has met with Ministry of Interior officials to discuss the fate of detainees. One report says more than 500 files will be sent to the judiciary next week. Meanwhile, the head of Iran's police says another 100 detainees will soon be released.

However, the latest reports are of new detentions. Mohammad Reza Yazdan Panah of the Islamic Iran Participation Front has been arrested, as has Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a lawyer and member of Defenders of Human Rights Center.

One piece of good news: after conflicting reports of his death earlier today, detained politician Saeed Hajjarian is not only alive but also met with his family in Evin Prison.

345 GMT: Reports that 22 of the 25 detained employees of the pro-Mousavi newspaper Kalameh Sabz, arrested soon after the start of the post-election demonstrations, have been released.

0945 GMT: Press TV website headline: "After election, Iran moves to remove subsidies".

It would be far too cynical to suggest that these subsidies could not have been removed pre-election, right?

0940 GMT: A report in Farsi, summarised by an Iranian activist, claims 11 students have been killed in post-election conflict. Four are missing, and 626 have been injured arrested.

0930 GMT: Josh Shahryar's "Green Brief" summary is reporting widespread blackouts during the Ahmadinejad speech.

Shahryar is claiming "partially confirmed reports" of "a village near Kamyaran in the Kordestan Province...set on fire by security forces because of protests there last week". He also writes of the arrest of Faizollah Arab-Sorkhi, a member of the "reformist" Mujahideen-e-Enghelab party and a close supporter of Mohammad Khatami.

And he adds these key details on the aftermath of "the bug incident" during the President's speech: "Reliable sources have now confirmed that the bug has been arrested, moved to Evin Prison, and has confessed to a plot to annoy Ahmadinejad by the Evil United Kingdom. His confession will be broadcasted through [state media] IRIB soon."

0915 GMT: Amnesty International has identified Issa Saharkhiz, detained early this week, as "a prisoner of conscience, held solely on account of the peaceful expression of his views, including regarding the outcome of the election. [He] is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment."

0900 GMT: The political situation continues in suspension, as Tehran is shut down for a second day because of dust pollution. The significance of the demonstration, coming on 18 Tir (the date of a major protest in 1999), is clear. Whether it takes place and in what size is not. There are reports this morning that Internet and phone service is again disrupted, possibly to break up any organisation for tomorrow.

On the other side, President Ahmadinejad's security is far from assured. Last night's nationally televised address is receiving international as well as State media coverage, but its impact is questionable amidst tales of protest, such as overloading the electrical grid, and the strange sideshow of The Fly Who Won (see our separate entry).

Meanwhile, there is concern over the fate of detainee politician Saeed Hajjarian, with conflicting reports over whether he has died in custody from long-standing health problems.

Video and Text: Amnesty International Report on Gaza "War Crimes"

Four months ago, Amnesty International released an initial report into weapons used in Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in December-January.

Now Amnesty has released a fuller report on "war crimes", accompanied by a video (Part 1 is available; Part 2 is still being subtitled). Most of the criticism is of Israeli tactics and operations, although there is also condemnation of Hamas for firing rockets into southern Israel and placing military equipment in civilian areas.

The summary introduction of the full report follows the video:



INTRODUCTION

At 11.30am on 27 December 2008, without warning, Israeli forces began a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip codenamed Operation “Cast Lead”. Its stated aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel by armed groups affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. By 18 January 2009, when unilateral ceasefires were announced by both Israel and Hamas, some 1,400 Palestinians had been killed, including some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, and large areas of Gaza had been razed to the ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in ruins.

Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects. Such attacks violated fundamental provisions of international humanitarian law, notably the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the principle of distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.

Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons – airdelivered bombs and missiles, and tank shells. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers. Aerial bombardments launched from Israeli F-16 combat aircraft targeted and destroyed civilian homes without warning, killing and injuring scores of their inhabitants, often while they slept. Children playing on the roofs of their homes or in the street and other civilians going about their daily business, as well as medical staff attending the wounded were killed in broad daylight by Hellfire and other highly accurate missiles launched from helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and by precision projectiles fired from tanks.

Disturbing questions remain unanswered as to why such high-precision weapons, whose operators can see even small details of their targets and which can accurately strike even fast moving vehicles,1 killed so many children and other civilians.

Scores of civilians were also killed and injured by less precise weapons, such as artillery shells and mortars, and flechette tank shells, which can be accurately aimed but which disperse thousands of deadly metal darts at great velocity over a large area.

White phosphorus, a highly incendiary substance, was repeatedly fired indiscriminately over densely populated residential areas, killing and wounding civilians and destroying civilian property. It was often launched from artillery shells in air-burst mode, which aggravated the already devastating consequences of the attacks. Each shell ejected over a hundred felt wedges impregnated with highly incendiary white phosphorus, which rained down over houses and streets, igniting on exposure to oxygen and setting fire to people and property. Once their incendiary content had been discharged, the artillery shells often crashed into buildings causing further deaths and injuries. Repeated denials of the use of white phosphorus by Israeli officials during the conflict delayed or prevented appropriate treatment for people suffering agonizing burns. Some who died might otherwise have been saved.

Artillery in general and white phosphorus shells in particular should never be used in populated areas. Yet in Gaza Israeli forces repeatedly fired them into densely populated residential areas, knowing that such imprecise weapons would kill and injure civilians. Such attacks were indiscriminate and as such unlawful under international law.

The scale and intensity of the attacks were unprecedented, even in the context of the increasingly lethal Israeli military campaigns in Gaza in previous years. More Palestinians were killed and more properties were destroyed in the 22-day military campaign than in any previous Israeli offensive.

Israeli forces could not conceivably have been unaware of the presence of civilians in locations which were repeatedly attacked, including with white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons, given that these areas were under close surveillance by Israeli drones. Even though Israeli officials knew from the first days of Operation “Cast Lead” that civilians were killed and wounded in significant numbers, Israeli forces continued to employ the same tactics for the entire duration of the 22-day offensive, resulting in growing numbers of civilian casualties. The pattern of attacks and the resulting high number of civilian fatalities and casualties showed elements of reckless conduct, disregard for civilian lives and property and a consistent failure to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects.

Thousands of civilian homes, businesses and public buildings were destroyed. In some areas entire neighbourhoods were flattened and livestock killed. Much of the destruction was wanton and deliberate, and was carried out in a manner and circumstances which indicated that it could not be justified on grounds of military necessity. Rather, it was often the result of reckless and indiscriminate attacks, which were seemingly tolerated or even directly sanctioned up the chain of command, and which at times appeared intended to collectively punish local residents for the actions of armed groups.

Throughout Operation “Cast Lead” Israeli forces frequently obstructed access to medical care and humanitarian aid for those wounded and trapped. They prevented ambulances and medical staff from attending to the wounded and transporting them to hospital and in several cases targeted ambulance and rescue crews and others who were trying to evacuate the wounded. As a result people who could have been saved died and others endured needless suffering and a worsening of their injuries. Children, women and elderly people were among those trapped and refused access to medical care and/or passage out of areas which had been taken over by Israeli forces. Medical and humanitarian vehicles and facilities were also destroyed or damaged as a result of both targeted and indiscriminate Israeli attacks.

In several cases Israeli soldiers also used civilians, including children, as “human shields”, endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses which they took over and used as military positions. Some were forced to carry out dangerous tasks such as inspecting properties or objects suspected of being booby-trapped. Soldiers also took position and launched attacks from and around inhabited houses, exposing local residents to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire.

Israel and Egypt kept Gaza’s borders sealed throughout Operation “Cast Lead” and its 1.5 million inhabitants could neither leave nor find a place in Gaza where their safety could be guaranteed. Unlike in southern Israel, where the Israeli authorities have built bomb shelters to protect local residents from rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups, in Gaza there are no bomb shelters and none can be built because Israel has long forbidden the entry of construction material into Gaza.

Randomly placed telephone calls with recorded warning messages, radio broadcasts and leaflets dropped by the Israeli army all over Gaza telling people to leave their homes and neighbourhoods caused widespread panic but offered little protection. In some areas residents were trapped in their homes, hearing the Israeli army broadcasts warning people to leave but unable to do so because Israeli forces in the area were not allowing any movement and therefore anyone who went out risked coming under fire. Others who fled their home were killed or injured when UN schools and other places where they had sought shelter came under Israeli attack.

In southern Israel civilians also continued to come under attack from rockets fired daily by Palestinian armed groups throughout the 22-day conflict. The armed wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched several hundred rockets and mortars into southern Israel, killing three civilians and injuring dozens of others. Several civilian homes and other structures were damaged, some extensively. Six Israeli soldiers were also killed in Palestinian attacks.

Mortars and so-called Qassam rockets, which are locally made in Gaza, and longer range Grad-type rockets smuggled into Gaza via the tunnels from Egypt, are unguided projectiles which cannot be directed at specific targets. Attacks using such rockets are indiscriminate and hence unlawful under international law. Though in most cases these rockets explode in empty areas, without causing casualties, each rocket is potentially lethal and the intensified barrage of such rockets throughout the 22 days of Operation “Cast Lead” caused panic among the civilian population of southern Israel. Thousands of families fled to other parts of the country and those who remained in their homes in the south had to run for cover every time the alarm sounded, warning of an incoming rocket.

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also violated international humanitarian law in their conduct within Gaza. They launched rockets and located military equipment and positions near civilian homes, endangering the lives of the inhabitants by exposing them to the risk of Israeli attacks. They also used empty homes and properties as combat positions during armed confrontations with Israeli forces, exposing the inhabitants of nearby houses to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire. However, contrary to repeated allegations by Israeli officials of the use of “human shields”, Amnesty International found no evidence that Hamas or other Palestinian fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks. It found no evidence that Hamas or other armed groups forced residents to stay in or around buildings used by fighters, nor that fighters prevented residents from leaving buildings or areas which had been commandeered by militants.

Throughout Operation “Cast Lead”, and for several weeks prior to start of the Operation, the Israeli army refused to allow into Gaza independent observers, journalists, international human rights monitors and humanitarian workers – effectively cutting off Gaza from the outside world and hindering independent monitoring and reporting of the conduct of its forces there. Even after the ceasefire was declared on 18 January, the Israeli army continued to deny access to Gaza to many human rights and humanitarian workers and journalists. Some continued to be refused entry into Gaza four months later. To date, five months after the end of Operation “Cast Lead”, the Israeli authorities have failed to establish any independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of their forces and actively oppose any such investigations being established. They have refused to co-operate with and to grant access to the country to an international independent factfinding mission set up by the UN Human Rights Council and headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, undermining its ability to fulfil its mission. They have also rejected the findings of a UN Board of Inquiry, which investigated nine attacks on UN facilities and personnel during Operation “Cast Lead.

The Israeli authorities have rejected allegations of war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed by Israeli forces during Operation “Cast Lead” published by Amnesty International and numerous other human rights organizations and media – international, Israeli and Palestinian – claiming that Hamas prevents any independent investigations and forces people to make untrue allegations. However, such claims do not stand up to scrutiny. Amnesty International’s delegates who visited Gaza during and after Operation “Cast Lead”, as on many other occasions in recent years, were able to carry out their investigations unhindered and people often voiced criticisms of Hamas’ conduct, including rocket attacks. While in Gaza Amnesty International delegates also investigated crimes and human rights abuses committed by Hamas forces and militias against fellow Palestinians, including deliberate killings, torture, abductions and arbitrary detention. The findings were published on 10 February 2009 in a report entitled: Hamas’ deadly campaign in the shadow of the war in Gaza.

As of 18 June 2009 the Israeli authorities had not responded to Amnesty International’s repeated requests, first made in early February, for meetings to discuss its findings and concerns, nor to the requests for information concerning many of the cases mentioned in this report.