procedo alla traduzione nel minor tempo possibile.
ciao
giovanna caviglione
Il giorno 6-09-2003 23:23, Elisabetta Filippi,
elisabettafilippi1@??? ha scritto:
> Inoltro questo importante documento sulle violenze in Iraq. Chi pu=F2 tradu=
ca
> e lo divulghi il pi=F9 possibile.
> Grazie.
> Ciao.
> Elisabetta
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> Subject: Activists Disrupt General Sanchez Press Conference
> Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 02:48:26 -0800
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> Last tuesday, August 26th, 8 VITW activists disrupted one of General
> Sanchez' regular press briefings on occupation force activities and
> casualties, intitally asking difficult questions of the General before
> escalating into a protest:
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> Ramzy Kysia asked why the forces did not investigate civillian killings
> with any semblance of the same effort as they do when soldiers are
> killed. 'Is this because Iraqi lives are not deemed as valuable as
> American lives?' he asked. The reply was that investigations are always
> held into any civillian death at the hands of 'coalition forces' and that
> any civilian death is taken very seriously.
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> After a volley of various, fobbed off questions, Ewa Jasiewicz got on the
> mike and read out the names of six civillians killed in the Sulleikh,
> North baghdad, on August 7.
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> Troops from the first armoured brigade from the first armoured division
> opened fire on three cars driving down Rabbia street at approx 9.30pm on
> a power-cut darkened summer night.
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> The first car, carrying Saif Raed Azawi (20) and his two friends was
> fired upon over 20 times (we counted the bullet holes), Saif was shot to
> death, his friends managed to exit the car, suffering from bullet wounds
> themselves (confirmed by Captain John Mostellar, head of the First
> Brigade of the First Armoured Division) and were beaten, blindfolded,
> arrested and taken away. Up to five witnesses were also shot and two US
> soldiers suffered injuries too, sustained from their own crossfire.
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> The second car, also shot at over 20 times, contained Adel Abdul Kareem
> (42, father), Hadir Al-Kawas (19, son), Ola Al Kawas (16, daughter),
> Mervit al Kawas (8, daughter) and Hadeel (14, daughter) and his wife
> Anwar (40). Anwar and her daughter Hadeel were the only members of the
> Kawas family to survive, the rest were shot to death. The cause of their
> deaths in their death certificates, issued at the Medical Legal Institute
> at Medical City Hospital in Baghdad, was left unwritten, the space for a
> reason being left starkly empty, something the director of Medical City
> said he'd never come across in his lifetime and was 'impossible'.
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> The third car was inhabited by Ali Hekmat (31) alone who fled the scene
> at the sight of the carngae unfolding infront of him, was fired upon, and
> lost control of his car, swerving into a palm-log road block, overturning
> and dying in the impact.
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> Ewa held up a beautiful portrait picture of the Abu Kawas family, taken
> two years ago, and read out the names of the dead, in honour of their
> lives, following on to say '..All killed by US troops from the first
> brigade first armoured division in Sulleikh. And there has been NO
> response, NO comment, NO apology (at this point her mike was cut and she
> stood up and continued loudly) and NO accountability from occupation
> troops. (At this point Caoimhe Butterly stood up, holding a copy of the
> portrait family picture and unfurled a black and white 'mourning' banner
> with 'THE KILLING CONTINUES' written upon it in Arabic and English. Ewa
> went on to say, 'You say there was an investigation but what is the
> criteria for this investigation when none of the survivors have been
> interviewed, none of the witnesses have been interviewed (at this point
> she was grabbed by the waist by a soldier who attempted to steer her
> out)under the Geneva conventions crimes against humanity must be tried in
> an international court (at this point three soldiers have Ewa and are
> dragging her away) The Geneva conventions have been broken! Under
> convention 146, those responsible for war crimes must be brought to
> justice. Your soldiers have no respect for human life! This family needs
> justice! You killed this family',(holding the picture of the family aloft
> all the while. Two soldiers have Caoimhe at this point and are steering
> her out, she shouts: 'The family are calling for an independent and
> transparent international investigation into the killings. Why is there
> no accountability? (she resists and is forcibly dragged further) Your
> soldiers are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Conventions if they are not
> brought to justice how will you prevent this from happening again? The
> families have no access to this place. It is your responsibility to meet
> with them, why will you not speak with them, what are you hiding? you owe
> them at least that'.
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> Both activists were then shoved outside with the picture of the Al Kawas
> family snatched off both Ewa and Caoimhe crumpled into a ball and thrown
> on the ground.
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> Outside the conference hall, the two were threatened with being taken to
> a detention centre and had their pictures taken without their consent.
> These pictures have now been published in the Occupation Forces weekly
> newspaper 'The Liberator' so that quote (from the same soldier who
> threatened Ewa and Caoimhe with detention): 'Wherever they go, any
> checkpoint or patrol, they can be recognised'. They both refused to give
> their names.
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> The first person to be pointed to by General Sanchez to continue asking
> questions following the discruption and ejction of Ewa and Caoimhe was
> Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices. Sanchez groaned and appeared drawn and
> harrangued as she introduced herself, and laughter and disbelief errupted
> in the hall. She asked a challenging question about the treatment of
> detainees and prisoners and why all human rights had been suspended with
> regards to them.
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> Following the conference, all the Voices activists were detained and had
> their passports confiscated, photocopied and filed by Occupation troops.
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> Ewa and Caoimhe have been banned from the Convention Centre and
> journalists now have to sign their names, write their emails and phone
> numbers and hand over their (photo) press ID to get into press
> conferences. When journalists complained at the tediousness of the 1 and
> a half hour process, they were told, collectively, on the mike by one of
> Sanchez's representatives: 'Well, dont blame us! If you want to blame
> someone, blame those two young ladies which disrupted the conference last
> week'. Journalists were also told that the reason they had been moved
> into a smaller room was because if anyone had any plans to bring out
> banners or disrupt the conference, they would be ejected far more swiftly
> and unceremoniously than in the larger room.
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> Many Iraqi people expressed their gratitude and applauded (literally, in
> the street)the action taken by Voices in the Wildreness and other
> journalists said they wished they had the leeway to take the same stand.
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> The protest was broadcast live on CNN and was carried five times on the
> popular Arabic channels Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera (headline news) and Abu
> Dhabi. BBC Middle East Radio also covered the action and broadcast
> interviews with Ewa and Caoimhe in Arabic, and many newspapers, both
> local and international, wrote it up.
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> Irish legal firm Magden and Finucane, currently representing victims of
> the Bloody Sunday massacre have been advising the Al Kawas, Hekmat, and
> Azawi families with regards to bringing about a major lawsuit against the
> Occupation Forces and the US government for the killing of their loved
> ones. New York law human rights firms have expressed an interst in taking
> on the case Pro Bono.
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> Under Occupation Administration Regulations, no Iraqi is allowed to raise
> legal proceedings against any Coalition Force body. Article 146 of the
> Fourth Geneva Conventions=A0 states that it is the responsibilty of an
> occupying power to ensure that if a criminal incident is committed by
> their forces, an criminal investigation must be conducted into the
> circumstances and perpetration of the crime.
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> Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
> War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
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> Part IV : Execution of the convention #Section I : General provisions
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> ARTICLE 146
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> The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary
> to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering
> to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention
> defined in the following Article.
> Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for
> persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed,
> such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their
> nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in
> accordance with the provisions of its own legislation, hand such persons
> over for trial to another High Contracting Party concerned, provided such
> High Contracting Party has made out a ' prima facie ' case.
> Each High Contracting Party shall take measures necessary for the
> suppression of all acts contrary to the provisions of the present
> Convention other than the grave breaches defined in the following
> Article.
> In all circumstances, the accused persons shall benefit by safeguards of
> proper trial and defence, which shall not be less favourable than those
> provided by Article 105 and those following of the Geneva Convention
> relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.
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> see
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> www.occupationwatch.org
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> and
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> www.electroniciraq.net
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> for more details
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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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