crimes against humanity

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UN Panel: Syria Has Committed War Crimes

Rebels have too, but on a smaller scale, panel concludes

(Newser) - As violence continues to pummel Syria, a UN panel has concluded that President Bashar Assad's forces have carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that the highest levels of government have likely been involved in the murders, torture, sexual violence, and other atrocities. Specifically, it blames the...

As Trial Begins, Mladic Taunts Survivors

Sarcastically claps, draws finger across throat

(Newser) - The war crimes trial for Ratko Mladic opened today in the Hague, and the Bosnian Serb general once again made no attempt to appear sympathetic. He gave a thumbs-up and slowly clapped his hands sarcastically as the trial began, waving and smirking at the rows of survivors and relatives of...

Charles Taylor Guilty of War Crimes

International court rules against former Liberian president

(Newser) - In a historic ruling, an international court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Thursday of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity for supporting notoriously brutal rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in return for blood diamonds. Taylor is the first head of state convicted by an international...

Syria Launches Ground Assault to 'Clean' Baba Amr

Western journalists trapped inside city

(Newser) - Syrian ground troops advanced on Homs today, indicating that the regime was about to launch a ground assault to take the restive city. One Syrian official told the AP that the rebel-held Baba Amr neighborhood would be "cleaned" in a matter of hours. Three western journalists are still trapped...

UN: Syrian Snipers Targeting Children

Regime leaders accused of crimes against humanity

(Newser) - Syrian army snipers are deliberately targeting women and small children, and its security forces are dragging wounded people out of hospitals to be tortured, according to a United Nations report accusing the regime of crimes against humanity. Fragmentation mortar bombs have been fired into densely populated neighborhoods, and the orders...

Cops May Seek New Charge, Longer Sentence for Breivik

A conviction of crimes against humanity could mean 30 years

(Newser) - You were likely shocked to read that Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted to killing 76 people in two Norway terror attacks, faces a maximum of 21 years in prison —but Norwegian police are considering a new charge that could increase that amount. The current terror-related charges Breivik faces come...

Court Issues Warrant for Gadhafi on War Crimes

Libya does not recognize Hague's ICC: spokesperson

(Newser) - The International Criminal Court has accused Moammar Gadhafi of crimes against humanity and has issued arrest warrants for him and two of his top aides. The ICC presiding judge says there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that Gadhafi and son Saif al-Islam are "criminally responsible as indirect co-perpetrators"...

UN: Libyan Rebels Committed War Crimes, Too

But rebel offenses not as systematic, widespread as those of Gadhafi's forces

(Newser) - A UN investigation has found evidence that both sides of the Libyan conflict have committed war crimes—though the rebels had committed fewer than Moammar Gadhafi’s forces. The rebels were accused of torture and cruel treatment against migrant workers, “which would constitute war crimes,” the report said,...

Congo Leader's War Crimes Trial Starts in Hague

Ex-VP Bemba accused of leading murderous militia in 2002

(Newser) - Congolese politician Jean-Pierre Bemba went on trial in The Hague today for war crimes, becoming the highest-ranking official to face the International Criminal Court. He's accused of leading a militia that raped, murdered, and tortured victims in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003, the New York Times reports....

'Chemical Ali' Gets a Fourth Death Sentence

Saddam's notorious cousin sentenced for Halabja attack that killed 5600

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" was convicted today of crimes against humanity, receiving a fourth death sentence for his involvement in one of the worst poison gas attacks ever against civilians. Families of victims cheered when the judge handed down the guilty verdict against Ali Hassan al-Majid in...

Israel Committed War Crimes in Gaza: UN Report

Fact-finding mission recommends world court prosecutor take action

(Newser) - Israel committed "actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during the three-week Gaza war, according to a UN special report that will be released today. The fact-finding mission, headed by the Jewish South African judge Richard Goldstone, also determined that Palestinian militants committed war crimes, but reserved...

Serb Cousins Convicted of Burning 132 People Alive

Torched houses after locking Muslims inside

(Newser) - Two Serb cousins were convicted yesterday by the UN tribunal in the Hague of burning scores of Bosnian men, women, and children to death during the early 1990s. Milan Lukic was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of "at least 132 Muslim people," whom he locked...

Shell Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

Family of Saro-Wiwa sues oil company in American court

(Newser) - Next week Royal Dutch Shell will finally appear in court to answer charges that it was complicit in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the author and oil company critic executed by Nigeria's former military regime in 1995. Saro-Wiwa's family accuses the oil company of "a systemic campaign of human...

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin
Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin

Head of Cambodian prison charged with war crimes, torture, premeditated murder

(Newser) - One of the most feared figures of Pol Pot's fanatical regime in Cambodia has begun to tell his story on the witness stand as hearings begin in his trial, reports the Los Angeles Times. The former head of a Khmer Rough prison, Kaing Khev Iev—known as Duch—is charged...

International Court Charges Sudan Prez on Darfur Crimes

(Newser) - The International Criminal Court today issued a warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, charging him with murder, extermination, and rape, among other war crimes and crimes against humanity, the New York Times reports. Prosecutors say orders to kill or displace tribal people in Sudan’s Darfur region, which resulted in...

30 Years Later, Khmer Rouge Goes on Trial

Prison warden accused of torture, murder of 20,000 in court

(Newser) - Thirty years after the end of its reign of terror, the Khmer Rouge went on trial in Cambodia for the first time today. In the dock in Phnom Penh is the commander of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, which became a symbol of the brutality of Pol Pot's murderous regime....

Mugabe Liable for Cholera Deaths: Report

(Newser) - Pressure from nonprofits and watchdogs is mounting on the UN to intercede in Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis, GlobalPost reports. Physicians for Human Rights asserts that Robert Mugabe intentionally dismantled the country’s health and sanitation infrastructure, and is directly responsible for the cholera outbreak that has claimed 1,800 lives....

Spain Drops Probe Into Franco Crimes

But plan to dig up mass graves may still go ahead

(Newser) - One of Spain's leading judges terminated an inquiry into atrocities committed during the 1936-1939 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship, ending the country's first criminal investigation into Francisco Franco's regime. The judge dropped the case after government prosecutors questioned his jurisdiction over what the suit called crimes against humanity. But...

Spanish Judge Begins Probe of Franco Crimes

Magistrate also orders poet Federico García Lorca's body exhumed

(Newser) - A Spanish judge today ordered the grave of poet and playwright Federico García Lorca dug up, and declared 114,000 political killings in the 1930s and later under former dictator General Francisco Franco crimes against humanity, the Guardian reports. The move—part of the first official inquiry into Franco-era...

Sudan President Accused of War Crimes

Court could arrest al-Bashir over Darfur genocide

(Newser) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was officially accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity today in International Criminal Court, the BBC reports. The court must now decide whether to issue a warrant for Bashir’s arrest. If it does, Sudan’s government says it will disrupt the peace process...

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