At UN, At Second Syria Photo Event, Syrian National Coalition Says 85% of ISIS Kills Are Military

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 -- Two months after the Syrian government sponsored a photo exhibition in the UN that the opposition Syrian National Coalition unsuccessfully asked the UN to cancel, on March 10 a counter-exhibition of photos depicting torture in Syrian prisons had its opening.

  US Deputy Permanent Representative Michele Sison, previously US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, moderated the proceedings, noting that US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Charles Rapp had come up from Washington. 

 One wondered what the two of them, and other of the sponsors, thought of the UN giving an at least six month deferral to Sri Lanka for war crimes in 2009.

  Turkey's Ambassador called the Syrian National Coalition the real representatives of the Syrian people; theSNC's Najib Ghadbian said that Assad forces killed some 32,000 in 2014, 75% civilians, while ISIS or Da'esh in 2014 in Syria killed some 3000, 85% of whom were military, he said.

  Did US Ambassador Sison wince at the statement? It seemed that way. By the time the microphone portion of the event was over, no one had disagreed. Rapp took up a position for the camera of Saudi television; others wondered at the distinction between co-hosts and co-sponsors. 

  Inner City Press learned that the organizers wanted the exhibit in a "better" location further down the hall but were given the same spot the Syrian government got. The idea of a Warning was theirs.

  On the evening before the opening, Inner City Press visited the site to find a Warning: The Following Images Are Disturbing.

  Another sign said "The content of this exhibition is solely the responsibility of the sponsoring and supporting member states, any queries should be directed to them."

  An invitation to the Press said that "The Permanent Missions of France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States and the co-sponsors the Permanent Missions of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates cordially invite you to attend the opening of the exhibit “Caesar Photos: Inside Syrian Authorities’ Prisons” on Tuesday, 10 March 2015, 6-7pm, at the South Wall of the United Nations Conference Building."

 A separate invitation came from the Syrian National Coalition, which had tried to get the previous exhibition canceled: 

Co-Hosts: Permanent Missions of France, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States

Co-Sponsored by: Co-Hosts and the Permanent Missions of the Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the State of Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, United Arab Emirates

In Coordination with: Coalition for a Democratic Syria (CDS) and Syrian National Coalition

“Caesar Photos: Inside Syrian Authorities’ Prisons" exhibit displays photos of detainees from the prisons run by Syrian authorities that were taken by a defector from the Syrian army who is known by the pseudonym Caesar. 

  Back on January 7, a day when officials around the world and at the UN after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris spoke about the right to freedom of expression and to display unpopular views, the UN received a protest to a photo exhibit about Syria set to begin the next day, January 8.

 The Syrian National Coalition -- the moderate opposition, in Washingtonese -- wrote to UN Management official Yukio Takasu:

"It has come to my attention that on 8 – 16 January 2015 the United Nations Secretariat Building will host an exhibit for the Syrian Arab Republic Mission featuring the photographs of Syrian regime propagandist Hagop Vanesian, in an event entitled 'My Homeland.' The UN cannot in good conscience host an exhibit that callously promotes a regime that is responsible for immense death and unprecedented destruction. By doing so, the UN condones the atrocities committed by Syrian forces, and serves as a mouthpiece for Assad’s heinous war crimes."

  As set forth below, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a contradictory way, in a private event in the clubhouse of a group that has itself engaged in censorship, spoke on January 7 about the need for freedom of expression. 

  (Whether he's raised this in his native South Korea, where a newspaper editor faces criminal charges for insulting the president, is not known; the issue was not included in Ban's long read-out of his New Years call to South Korean president Park.)

  Perhaps Ban's Secretariat won't act on the SNC complaint, which we're linking to here, because it came one day before the exhibition. Will its response be about "freedom of expression"?

  There are certainly distinctions to be made between Charlie Hebdo, the Syrian government and this photographer, and we're open to hearing all. But what does freedom of expression mean?

   

As Charles Taylor Case Winds Down, Africa-Only Focus Clouds ICC's Future

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1justrapp020209.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 -- The prosecutor of Charles Taylor came Monday to New York to brag about this case, a full year before he expects a verdict. Charles Rapp, previously with the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, said he expects a motion to dismiss but predicted it will be rejected by the judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Inner City Press asked about defense arguments that prospective defense witnesses are afraid of being put on the UN's travel ban and asset freeze lists. Rapp was dismissive of this as well, saying that those already on the lists can, upon notice, travel to testify. But what about those not on the list, who think that any open testimony in support of Taylor's defense would land them on the list? Rapp did not answer this. Video here, from Minute 10:57.

Inner City Press asked about the impact of the conviction, in Federal court in Miami, of Taylor's son for torture. Rapp said this helps give assurance that Liberia will remain "Taylor-free," as he put it. He noted that there were two witnesses in the U.S. torture trial who brought "Sierra Leone" facts to the case otherwise about torture in Liberia itself, including a Sierra Leonean rebel who had fled to Liberia.

Broader, Inner City Press asked Rapp to respond to the criticism, most recently by the African Union's Jean Ping, that international criminal justice is disproportionately targeted at Africa, and excludes, in the four examples Ping gave, Gaza, Georgia, Colombia and Iraq. Rapp first defended his court, pointing out that other than Taylor, the other defendants were tried in Africa. Then he went broader, arguing both that since more African nations than others joined the International Criminal Court, the result was to be expected, and that the ICC's first three cases were "on invitation" by the Congo, Uganda and the Central African Republic. Video here, from Minute 20:25.

But ICC prosecutor Jose Moreno Ocampo has bragged that he invited the African leaders to refer these cases to him. To respond to an African critique by saying, African nations joined, brings up the possibility of countries deciding to unjoin. Moreno Ocampo has said he is looking at Colombia, but he's also said he's impressed with Colombian justice. Now ICC indictee Bosco Ntaganda has appeared at a press confernce with Congolese officials, and appears on the verge of being integrated into the Congolese Army. Where is Moreno Ocampo? As he reportedly bungles the Congo's Lubanga case, his eyes are on Sudan.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1justrapp020209.html

Buyers of Blood Diamonds from Charles Taylor Won't Face Justice from UN's Sierra Leone Court

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2diamonds012208.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 22 -- Charles Taylor directed slave labor to mine diamonds in Sierra Leone and kept and sold more than one thousand diamonds, his prosecutor Charles Rapp told reporters on Tuesday. Inner City Press asked, what about holding those who bought the diamonds accountable? It has been reported that throughout the 1990s, the volume of diamonds purchased from Liberia was twenty-four times that nation's known output. Just where did the purchasers think the carats were coming from?

Rapp said such prosecutions are difficult, requiring a showing of "actual knowledge and affirmative acts." He pointed to the conviction for economic but not war crimes of Guus Kouwenhoven, who was Taylor's timber-man, controlling half of the hardwood in Liberia. Rapp said that on appeal, the Dutch prosecutors can put in more evidence and will. But apparently, the Special Court for Sierra Leone will not be indicting any corporations or corporate interests. For them, impunity continues.

Rapp says he will prove that in 1998, Taylor gave an order to "take and hold" diamond fields in Sierra Leone. He said it was unimportant whether the motive to start the war was diamonds, or if their importance only because known later. He said there are documents of a transfer of 1700 diamonds to Taylor, two to three hundred of which went into buying war materiel, the rest that Taylor kept for himself. For this, he said, Taylor can be charged with pillage. It would be a "challenge," Rapp said, to "locate his resources." In fact, Taylor's legal costs are being paid.

Rapp announced that Canada had earlier in the day pledged five million dollars to the Special Court. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2diamonds012208.html