Latest news with #impunity
South China Morning Post
21 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
In Malaysia, Zara's death stirs outrage at impunity culture
Public outrage has erupted in Malaysia over what many see as a culture of impunity after the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir prompted mass protests and raised uncomfortable questions about unresolved allegations of abuse. The 13-year-old schoolgirl died in hospital on July 17, a day after she was discovered unconscious outside the dormitory of her Islamic boarding school in Papar, Sabah state. Police initially suggested she had fallen from the third floor – an assumption her family has refused to accept. In the weeks since her death, Zara's mother, Noraidah Lamat, has spearheaded a campaign for justice that has captured the nation's interest. Through her lawyer, she previously revealed she had found suspicious bruises on her daughter's back before burial and questioned why no postmortem had been performed. As rumours of foul play spread – fuelled by speculation over connections between other pupils and powerful families in Sabah – Malaysia's attorney general took the unusual step of ordering police to reopen the investigation and exhume Zara's body for a postmortem. The results, completed on Sunday, have yet to be made public. Still, thousands rallied on Sunday afternoon in Zara's quiet hometown of Sipitang, where most of the district's 66,000 residents work in paper plantations, farming or fishing to demand justice.
Arab News
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Israel closes majority of military abuse cases without charges, report finds
LONDON: Israel has closed 88 percent of investigations into alleged war crimes and abuses by its forces in Gaza and the West Bank without any charges or findings of wrongdoing, according to a report by conflict monitor Action on Armed Violence (AOAV). The UK-based group reviewed 52 cases reported in English-language media between October 2023 and June 2025, involving the deaths of 1,303 Palestinians and injuries to 1,880 others, The Guardian reported on Saturday. AOAV said only one case had resulted in a prison sentence, with just five others concluding with violations found. The remaining 46 cases, seven of which were closed with no fault found, and 39 still unresolved, amounted to what AOAV described as a 'pattern of impunity.' Iain Overton and Lucas Tsantzouris of AOAV said: 'The statistics suggest Israel was seeking to create a 'pattern of impunity' by failing to conclude or find no fault in the vast majority of cases involving the most severe or public accusations of wrongdoing by their forces.' Among the unresolved cases is the February 2024 killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City, an airstrike that killed 45 people at a Rafah tent camp in May, and the June 1 killing of 31 civilians heading to a food distribution point in Rafah. While the Israel Defense Forces initially called reports of the latter 'false', it later told The Guardian that the incident was 'still under review.' The IDF said it investigates 'exceptional incidents that occurred during operational activity, in which there is a suspicion of a violation of the law,' using internal fact-finding assessments (FFA) and military police inquiries in line with domestic and international law. According to the IDF: 'Any report … complaint or allegation that suggests misconduct by IDF forces undergoes an initial examination process, irrespective of its source.' Cases may then be passed to the FFA team to determine 'whether there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct'. Critics say the process is opaque and slow. Human rights group Yesh Din told The Guardian that of 664 IDF inquiries linked to previous Gaza operations between 2014 and 2021, only one led to a prosecution. In August 2024, the IDF reported the FFA had reviewed 'hundreds of incidents' related to the current Gaza war, with the military advocate general opening 74 criminal investigations. Of those, 52 involved detainee mistreatment or death, 13 focused on looting, and others related to civilian property destruction or excessive force. The only prison sentence to date came in February 2025, when a reservist received seven months for the aggravated abuse of bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman detention centre. One of the highest-profile cases involved the April 2024 airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers. While the IDF called it a 'grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification', the charity said the rapid investigation lacked credibility. Despite public commitments, AOAV said the IDF's response has become 'more opaque and slow-moving' as civilian casualties mount. The organization said unresolved cases still include four incidents in the past month alone in which Palestinians were killed at or near food distribution points.
Al Jazeera
27-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
The Mom Who Fought a Cartel
A mother's determination to bring her daughter's killers to justice. Karen Rodríguez was kidnapped and murdered by one of Mexico's most feared cartels in 2014. Most families would have been forced into silence, but not hers. Refusing to give up, her mum, Miriam Rodríguez, launched her own relentless quest for justice. In a country where cartels operate with impunity, kidnappings are commonplace, and speaking out can get you killed, Miriam's fearless pursuit turned her into an unlikely hero—and a target. This is an extraordinary story of a mother's determination to bring her daughter's killers to justice and the high price she paid for defying the power of the cartels. In this episode: Ricardo Ravelo, journalist María Jaramillo Alanís, journalist
Arab News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Radio journalist killed in southern Philippines
REUTERS: A local radio broadcaster was gunned down in the southern Philippines on Monday, a presidential task force said, adding to the growing list of media workers killed in a country ranked among the most dangerous in the world for Labitad Segovia, 63, a broadcaster for Radio WOW FM and host of a program that focused on social issues and local governance, was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman while on his way home shortly after completing his morning to the police, Segovia was followed by two suspects on a Philippines ranked ninth on the 2024 Committee to Protect Journalists' Global Impunity Index, which tracks countries where journalist murders remain have launched an investigation and have activated a Special Investigation Task Group to handle the case, Jose Torres Jr., executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said in a statement.'The safety of journalists remains a priority for the government, and justice for victims of media-related violence continues to be a national concern,' Torres murder highlights the continuing risks faced by journalists in the Philippines, especially in provinces where local power dynamics often go than 200 journalists have been killed in the country since democracy was restored in 1986, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, including 32 in a single incident in 2009 in the south of the country.
France 24
18-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Argentines commemorate Jewish center bombing, demand justice
In the worst such attack in Argentina's history, a car bomb on July 18, 1994, killed 85 people and injured more than 300 at the seven-story Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires. Two years earlier, an explosion at the Israeli embassy killed 29 and wounded 200. "Impunity persists, terrorism too" was the slogan for Friday's 31st commemoration of the AMIA attack -- the second such event attended by President Javier Milei, a staunch defender of Israel. Survivors and victims' relatives hope there will be movement under Catholic-born Milei, who has already visited Israel twice since taking office in December 2023, and has professed a deep interest in Judaism. In April 2024, an Argentine court found Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for what it called a crime against humanity. It ruled the likely motive for the attacks was the cancellation by the Argentine government under then-president Carlos Menem of three contracts with Iran for the supply of nuclear equipment and technology. In June, a judge authorized a trial in absentia against ten Iranian and Lebanese defendants -- former ministers and diplomats. No date has been set. Iran has always denied any involvement and has refused to hand over any suspects. Cover-up? The Memoria Activa organization, which represents victims' families, rejects a trial in absentia as it believes it "essential for the accused to participate" for the whole truth to come out. The AMIA itself is in favor, but has cautioned that "holding a trial only for it to end... in some sort of nullity or a declaration of unconstitutionality would once again be very painful for everyone." Both organizations have been highly critical of the Argentine state's handling of the case. Last year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, found the state responsible for not preventing, or properly investigating, the AMIA attack. It also blamed the state for efforts to "cover up and obstruct the investigation." Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, investigating accusations of a cover-up against former president Cristina Kirchner, was later found murdered. No one was ever charged over his death. © 2025 AFP
