The British House of Lords has voted down the government’s proposed overseas operation bill which would establish “a presumption against prosecution” for service personnel accused of committing crimes overseas, except for sexual offences, if more than five years had passed since the alleged offence took place.

In leading opposition to the bill, Labour peer George Robertson condemned the “naivety” of the government which had faced “almost universal and expert opposition”. He was able to successfully introduce an amendment that would ensure that the presumption against prosecution does not apply to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide or torture. The bill passed by 308 votes to 249.

Robertson further called on MPs to “look again, reflect and change the government’s mind, before lasting and serious damage is done to the interests of our armed forces and indeed to the reputation of this country”. His amendment was supported by crossbench peer David Alton, Labour peer Alan West and Liberal Democrat peer Menzies Campbell.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has also issued a statement condemning the bill noting that:

“As currently drafted, the Bill would make it substantially less likely that UK service members on overseas operations would be held accountable for serious human rights violations amounting to international crimes”. 

The British Labour party has criticised the bill stating: “Labour has said the bill “creates the risk that the very gravest crimes including torture and other war crimes go unpunished” and “will do nothing to protect veterans”. Robertson further added that “at best, it would prevent only 1% of prosecutions, but it would not prevent seemingly endless investigations”.

‘Vexatious litigation’

A further amendment passed by the Lords called for investigations to be timely and to stop “delays, shoddy investigations and reinvestigations” from casting “a shadow over serving members of the armed forces and veterans”. The measure was put forwards by Democrat Martin Thomas, Labour’s Charlie Falconer, crossbenchers Michael Boyce and Richard Dannatt, former head of the British army who had served in Northern Ireland.

Dannatt has previously campaigned for the government to end further investigations into British war crimes in Northern Ireland and said during an interview that;

"Families of the bereaved have the right to know what happened to their loved ones but not at the expense of stress and worry to 60 and 70-year-old former soldiers”.

This amendment follows the decision by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), the principal prosecution authority in Northern Ireland, to not charge any 15 soldiers accused of unlawful murder of 13 civil rights activists in January 1972, during Bloody Sunday. The court had ruled that there was “insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction

Dannatt has further expressed approval for the ending of the IHAT (Iraq Historical Allegations Team) stating:

"I am delighted that the appalling IHAT (Iraq Historical Allegations Team) is now itself part of history, so too must be the witch hunt of former soldiers who did their duty in Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister has pledged to act – now is the time."

Read more here and here.

A Turkish court has jailed for life 22 former soldiers for their involvement in a coup attempt that sought to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

A mass trial which concluded on Wednesday investigated nearly 500 soldiers and identified the ex-military personnel as guilty.

The putsch attempt in 2016 involved a raid on the chief state media broadcaster in which the newscaster was forced to read out a statement from the military junta leaders.

The failed coup attempt gave rise to a harsh crackdown by Erdogan against opposition and dissent in Turkey. “Critics accuse the government of using the incident as a pretext to silence opposition in the country,” Al Jazeera wrote. 

Turkey jails 22 former soldiers for life over 2016 coup attempt https://t.co/KC3OVxZrAm pic.twitter.com/XPZnHzItdR

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 7, 2021

The latest verdict imposed harsh punishments on those found guilty. Ex-major Fedecar Akca was given what is known as an “aggravated life sentence,” a particularly severe form of sentence that provides no scope for parole. 

Former colonel Muhammet Tanju Poshor was given a sentence for directing the occupation of the media broadcaster TRT’s premises. 

Over 250 people were killed in 2016 following the failed coup attempt. Turkey accuses former Erdogan ally and Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen of being the mastermind of the putsch, a claim he strongly denies. 

Gulen’s residence in the US causes further strain to the relationship between Turkey and the US and NATO, a security alliance led by America. 

Addressing the media today, Former Myanmar ambassador, Kyaw Zwar Minn, said that staff were forced to leave Myanmar’s embassy and he was dismissed as the country’s representative by Myanmar’s military attaché.

This follows the violent coup in Myanmar in which the military junta claimed power on 1 February and has since brutally suppressed peaceful protesters and continued the detention of the elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.  An estimated 600 people, including dozens of children, have been killed so far in pro-democracy protests.

Addressing the media, Zwar Minn stated;

"There was a coup in Myanmar in February. Now there is the same situation in central London". He further detailed that they were threatened with "severe punishment if they don't continue to work for the military general".

Zwar Minn is reported to have been forced out of the embassy and to have spent Wednesday night in his car.

The British Foreign Office has confirmed receiving a notification from Myanmar’s military junta and being ordered to “accept the decision taken by the Myanmar regime".

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, responded to the incident stating:

We condemn the bullying actions of the Myanmar military regime in London yesterday, and I pay tribute to Kyaw Zwar Minn for his courage. The UK continues to call for an end to the coup and the appalling violence, and a swift restoration of democracy

— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) April 8, 2021

Read more from the BBC.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced further sanctions on Myanmar, targeting the military-linked conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) following the military coup on the 1 February.

In addition to this Raab announced a further half a million pounds of funding to “collect, investigate and preserve evidence of serious human rights violations” as part of an Independent Investigative Mechanism (IIM). Evidence gathered may be used in criminal proceedings.

Responding to the ongoing suppression of dissent by Myanmar’s military, Raab stated:

“Two months on from the start of the coup, the Myanmar military has sunk to a new low with the wanton killing of innocent people, including children”.

At least 535 people have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces during peaceful demonstrations.

The government’s press statement highlights that asset freezes imposed by these sanctions would prevent anyone from dealing with funds or economic resources which are owned or controlled by the sanctioned individual or organisation. It also prevents others from providing funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of the sanctioned individual or entity – in this case MEC.

This follows statement follows reports from Justice for Myanmar which found that British banks had lent more than $60 million to a company part-owned and used by the Myanmar military, as it carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.

Read more here and here.

The Myanmar junta killed at least 114 people across the country on Saturday, 27 March, in a brutal crackdown against people who are protesting the military coup on 1 February.   

Amongst those killed include a 13-year-old girl. Several other young children have been attacked by the security forces in different parts of the country. A one-year-old girl was reportedly shot with a rubber bullet and has incurred a severe injury in her eye. In another incident, a five-year-old boy was shot in the head.

Live rounds of ammunition were opened at unarmed protesters in major cities including Mandalay and Yangon. Gunshots hit the US Cultural Centre in Yangon. The US embassy later confirmed that these did not cause any injuries.  

The latest crackdown has increased the total death toll of protesters since the coup to over 440 people. 

The violence was unleashed as the Myanmar military marked the country’s Armed Forces Day with a parade in the capital Naypyidaw. The event was attended by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fonin. The chief of the coup Min Aung Hlaing called Russia a “true friend”. 

Myanmar had earlier been sanctioned by the U.S., European Union and the U.K. for the coup. Nonetheless, the junta continues to escalate its crackdown against protesters including in one event opening fire at a funeral gathering of a victim. 

U.S. Secretary of State said in a tweet that he was “horrified by the bloodshed perpetrated by the Burmese security forces.” 

We are horrified by the bloodshed perpetrated by Burmese security forces, showing that the junta will sacrifice the lives of the people to serve the few. I send my deepest condolences to the victims’ families. The courageous people of Burma reject the military’s reign of terror.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 27, 2021

The British Ambassador in Yangon said in a statement that the “security forces have disgraced themselves by shooting unarmed civilians.” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the latest round of violence a “new low” and vowed to work with “our international partners to end this senseless violence.” 

Today’s killing of unarmed civilians, including children, marks a new low. We will work with our international partners to end this senseless violence, hold those responsible to account, and secure a path back to democracy. https://t.co/PfHZ3xipzt

— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) March 27, 2021

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply shocked” by the killings and called for a “unified and resolute international response.” 

I am deeply shocked by the killing of dozens of civilians, including children & young people, by security forces in Myanmar today.

The continuing military crackdown is unacceptable and demands a firm, unified & resolute international response. https://t.co/qtnQaH5jvN

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 27, 2021

The military junta seized power on a coup d'etat on February 1. It questioned the fairness of the results of the general elections of November 2020 which gave Aung San Sui Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) a massive win. The Election Commission has denied that the election was fraudulent. The junta has kept Suu Kyi in detention in an undisclosed location. 
 

The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions and renowned human rights law professor Christof Heyns passed away this weekend.

“It is with great shock, bereavement and sadness that the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria has received the news of the passing today of one of its internationally esteemed and stalwart colleagues and friends,” said a tweet from the university on Sunday.

Heyns served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions from 2010 until 2016.

In that role, he examined mobile phone footage of Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamils who had been stripped naked, blindfolded and shot in the head, describing the footage as “authentic” and “textbook examples of extrajudicial executions”. His report was presented in 2011, just two years after the atrocities had taken place.

"It's very rare that you have actual footage of people being killed," Heyns told The Associated Press. "This is different from CCTV. This is trophy footage."

He added that the video showed "definitive war crimes" and said "there is a prima facie case and it should now go to the next level,” echoing calls for an international investigation.

See more from the BBC here, Reuters here and the UN here.

Earlier this year, Heyns was one of a number of former UN officials and international experts who called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court; for UN member states to “to pursue justice through universal or extraterritorial jurisdiction”; and for “targeted sanctions against credibly alleged perpetrators of international crimes”.

Tributes have flooded in around the world for Nawal El Saadawi, an Egyptian doctor, feminist and writer, who was a panel member in the 2010 Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka which acknowledged the “importance of continuing investigation into the possibility of genocide”.

Nawal El Saadawi passed away aged 89-years-old, having been a prolific writer and campaigner throughout her life, speaking out against practices such as Female Genital Mutilation and gender-based oppression.

See more from the BBC, Guardian and Al-Jazeera.                        

She also took part in the 2010 tribunal on Sri Lanka. A 2013 ruling from the Permanent People’s Tribunal subsequently found Sri Lanka “guilty of the crime of genocide and ongoing genocide.”

Journalists for Democracy Sri Lanka were amongst the many groups who paid tribute to El Saadawi, sending out a tweet earlier this week.

We are deeply saddened by the death of pioneering Egyptian feminist, legendary writer & activist Nawal El Saadawi, who served as a judge in the first international Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka (Dublin Tribunal) in January 2010. Rest in power!  pic.twitter.com/LgUTXCQn3o

— JDS (@JDSLanka) March 21, 2021

Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres stressed the key role that the United Nationals plays in combating deteriorating human rights violations around the globe in his opening remarks at the 46^th session of the UNHRC session in Geneva.

“Every corner of the globe is suffering from the sickness of violations of human rights,” he said, highlighting the ways in which democracies and fundamental rights of certain groups of people continue to be undermined since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Of course there are a number of extremely concerning country situations — some of them very prolonged – and this is where the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms are so vital in raising awareness, protecting people, maintaining dialogue and finding solutions,” Guterres mentioned. “People around the world are relying on us to secure and protect their rights.” 

He also focussed part of his remarks on minority rights and minority populations’ significance to the “richness of our cultural and social fabric”. Gueterres warned saying that “when a minority community’s culture, language or faith are under attack, all of us are diminished” and that “when authorities cast suspicion on entire groups under the guise of security, all of us are threatened”. “These measures are doomed to backfire,” the Secretary-General added.

See full speech here.

The United Kingdom and Canada announced that they are imposing sanctions on individuals responsible for serious human rights violations against the people of Myanmar during the coup. 

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that three Myanmar military generals will face travel bans and their assets will be frozen under the UK's sanctions regime. 

Today the UK has sanctioned further individuals responsible for serious human rights violations against the people of Myanmar during the coup. We are clear we will act to hold those who violate human rights accountable. We stand with the #Myanmar peoplehttps://t.co/EG27nYGbOE

— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) February 18, 2021

"Myanmar’s military and police have committed serious human rights violations, including violating the right to life, the right to freedom of assembly, the right not to be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention, and the right to freedom of expression," the UK said in a statement. 

Raab also announced that further safeguards are being implemented to prevent UK aid from indirectly supporting the military led government as well as "enhanced due diligence process to mitigate the risk of military businesses operating in the UK and associated illicit money flows," the statement added. 

In coordination with the UK, Canada also announced that they will be sanctioning nine Myanmar military officials, under the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations. 

In coordination with UK, Canada announces sanctions on military officials in response to the coup d’état in #Myanmar. Along with our international partners, we stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their aspirations for a democratic future. pic.twitter.com/8eXwrxd3Wr

— Marc Garneau (@MarcGarneau) February 18, 2021

Last week, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order to sanction ten individuals, including Myanmar's acting president, after a young protester was shot in the head by Myanmar police. 20 year old, Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing died yesterday after being on life support. 

"This is the devastating consequence of the security forces' reckless use of lethal weapons against peaceful protesters," Amnesty International's Director of Crisis Response, Joanne Mariner, said in response to the protester's death. 

"Instead of issuing blanket denials, the Myanmar military authorities should launch a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into her killing and other reports of unnecessary and excessive use of force by the security forces," she added. 

The military seized control on February 1 over claims of a fraudulent November 2020 election where Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a majority.  Since the military takeover, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Myanmar to denounce the coup and call for the immediate release of Ms Suu Kyi. 

Myanmar's security forces have fired rubber bullets and live ammunition as well as deploying water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters.  

Ms Suu Kyi who is under house arrest is currently facing two charges; the possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies and for breaking Covid-19 regulations. 

Read more from The Guardian here and the BBC here. 

Photo of ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday determined that it has jurisdiction over the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, opening the way for the chief prosecutor to inquire into allegations of Israeli war crimes.

The decision comes more than a year after the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, was asked to confirm its jurisdictions in the area. It has been widely approved by the Palestinians who have pushed for an investigation since 2014, following a brutal campaign in the Gaza strip and the continued construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “This is good news, and the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israeli crimes against our people.”

Israel, however, has opposed the decision, claiming the court does not have jurisdiction because Palestinians do not have statehood and the borders of any future state must be decided in peace talks. The court has ruled for its purposes, Palestine qualifies as a state.

“Today the court proved once again that it is a political body and not a judicial institution,” stated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “The court ignores real war crimes and instead persecutes the state of Israel, a state with a firm democratic regime, which sanctifies the rule of law and is not a member of the court.”

He later accused the ICC of “pure anti-Semitism” for its refusal to investigate “brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily.”

Ms. Bensounda, however, has cited a “reasonable basis to believe” war crimes were committed after Israel used disproportionate force in the 2014 war and in consideration of its settlement activity.

While Israel is not a signatory to the international tribunal, the ICC’s mandate is to prosecute people not countries.

It has been reported that the case could also include the alleged killings of more than 200 Palestinians at demonstrations along the Gaza frontier by Israeli soldiers two years ago. 

Read more in AP News, The New York Times, and The Guardian

Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained by the country’s military following a military coup in which the top army commander, Min Aung Hlaing, seized total control.

The coup follows the contested election victory of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which the military (Tatmadaw) alleges was fraudulent. The Tatmadaw has made the unsubstantiated claim that there were almost 10 million unlisted voters were on the list. Human rights groups had noted during the election that polls were “fundamentally flawed” not due to mass voter fraud but rather the disenfranchisement of over 2.5 million minority ethnic people, including Rohingya.

Following the coup internet lines have been shut down, mobile phones communications suspended, and official state media has been locked down. The Tatmadaw has denied that this is a coup and has instead insisted that they are simply abiding by the constitution.

Read more here:  Reaffirming Génocidaires – Myanmar’s elections

‘An assault on democracy’

World leaders have decried the coup maintaining that Suu Kyi must be released.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated that the US “stands with the people of Burma in their aspirations for democracy, freedom, peace, and development. The military must reverse these actions immediately".

Similarly, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated:

I condemn the coup and unlawful imprisonment of civilians, including Aung San Suu Kyi, in Myanmar. The vote of the people must be respected and civilian leaders released.

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) February 1, 2021

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne urged the Tatmadaw "to respect the rule of law" and "release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully".

UN special rapporteur for Myanmar Tom Andrews also decried the coup as an “assault on democracy” and a violation of the constitution which the military had agreed to.

Business as usual

Responding to these events, Mabrur Ahmed, Director of Restless Beings, has described the coup as “business as usual” noting Burma historic democratic failures and Suu Kyi’s willingness to defend the military against accusations of genocide at the International Criminal Court.

Noting the democratic failures of Burma he highlights that not only are 25% of the vote was reserved for military seats but that under the 2008 constitution, in a State of Emergency, “the Commander in Chief, in this case, Min Aung Hlaing, is judge, jury and executioner”.

He further criticises international responses noting their silence on the Rohingya genocide and the crimes against humanity inflicted against the Karen.

“The same Governments have been champions of the ‘fledgeling democracy’ or the ‘democratic transition’ seem to not have desk advisors capable enough to understand that the constitution of this so-called democracy prove that it is anything but that”.

Read more from the BBC and Restless Beings

Indian riot police attempted to clear farmers from one of the farmer protest sites in Ghazipur by cutting off water and electricity supplies. 

The protesters defiantly refused to leave the site and were joined by thousands of protesters, forcing the police to back down. 

Ghazipur is one of the protest sites on the outskirts of Delhi, where Indian farmers have been demanding for the Indian government to repeal three agricultural laws. The laws are said to benefit private buyers over farmers, hurting the farmer's livelihoods. Tens of thousands of farmers have been protesting peacefully since November 2020 against the laws which were pushed through parliament with little debate by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. 

This comes just days after farmers organised a tractor rally in the Indian capital as the country marked Republic Day. Some protesters deviated from the pre-approved routes and stormed the Red Fort, a Mughal-era citadel, and hoisted the Nishan Sahib flag. 

Delhi police responded to the protests by opening teargas and hitting the protesters with batons. In the ensuing violence, one protester is confirmed to have died. 

The farmer-protesters had obtained permission from the police to organise a rally by driving tractors through the streets of the capital as a mark of protest. Reports revealed that they had been allowed to undertake the rally on the condition that they start it only after the Republic Day demonstrations have ended and drive only through certain avenues that steered clear of national institutions. 

Following the clashes, the government cut off internet services in parts of Delhi and also closed down metrorail services near the focal point of the protest. 

Despite repeated rounds of negotiations between farmer representatives and the government a consensus has not yet been reached. The farmers have repeatedly vowed to continue their protests until the agricultural laws are repealed. 

Read more from The Guardian here and Al Jazeera here. 

Three British Sikh men of Indian origin have been arrested by the UK police in connection with the murder of Rulda Singh, a member of the Hindu-supremacist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in India in 2009. 

In a series of dawn raids, Gursharanvir Singh Wahiwala and his brother Amritivir Singh aged 37 and 40 respectively were arrested in Coventry and Piara Singh Gill, 38, was arrested in Wolverhampton. 

Extradition warrants have been issued by the Westminster magistrates’ court against the three men on suspicions of conspiracy to murder. 

All three arrested have lived their whole lives in the UK and Sikh organizations in the UK have raised grave concerns regarding the arrests. 

In 2010, the UK police arrested four British Sikhs on suspicions of conspiring to murder Rulda Singh and acquitted all four in early 2011.

Bhair Amrik Singh, a representative of the Sikh Federation (UK), impugned the validity of the latest arrests asking why were “their (the detainees’) doors smashed down for a crime committed eleven years ago in India and for which they were questioned and released 10 years earlier”.  

The Sikh Press Association said the arrests would leave the whole Sikh community vulnerable to extradition and suppress activism against the human rights abuses and quell Sikh dissent against the Indian government. 

"If the three are extradited they would almost certainly be tortured and have no chance of a fair trial," Bhai Amrik Singh said. 

The Sikh community also alleges that the arrests have to do with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s visit to India in 2020. The Secretary met with Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, a noted anti-terrorism hawk. 

The arrests coincide with the widespread protests Sikh farmers have been mounting against the passing of three controversial laws by the Indian government that supposedly deprives the farmers of support from the government. Amidst an extremely inclement cold wave sweeping North India, the Sikh farmers have camped in the capital, New Delhi, to demonstrate against the laws. 

The murdered Rulda Singh was a leader of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, the Sikh wing of the RSS. The Hindu-nationalist organization is deeply connected to the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is currently in power in India. 

Read more from the Times of India
 

^{Blackwater troops (courtesy Heath Powell)}

A group of United Nations human rights experts have accused US president Donald Trump of violating international law after he pardoned four Blackwater private security contractors who were serving prison sentences for killing 14 innocent Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad in 2007.

According to the US Justice Department, at around noon on 16 September 2007, several contractors opened fire indiscriminately in Nisour Square. When the shooting stopped, Iraqi authorities ruled 17 Iraqi civilians had been killed. An FBI investigation concluded there were 14 deaths, including that of two children aged 9 and 11, and said the deaths were considered unjustified under the rules of the use of deadly force.

“Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families,” said Jelena Aparac, chair of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries, said in a statement.

“These pardons violate US obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level.”

The contractors argued that they mistakenly believed they were under attack and were backed by defence attorneys who contended that eye-witnesses who testified that the contractors opened fire without provocation were fabricating their stories. The defence was presented despite a 2007 congressional report based on internal documents from Blackwater and the U.S. State Department noting that in over 80% of the cases examined Blackwater reported that its forces fired first.

The US federal jury in 2014 found Blackwater contractors — Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard — guilty on account of multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter and were sentenced to 30 years in prison each.

At the sentencing, the US attorney’s office said in a statement, “The sheer amount of unnecessary human loss and suffering attributable to the defendant’s criminal conduct on 16 September 2007 is staggering.”

Six years later, the Blackwater contractors are one of several who have been pardoned by the Trump administration. In recent months, Trump has granted pardons to many American service personnel and contractors accused or convicted of crimes against civilians.

Trump pardoning the four men involved has reignited the tensions caused by the incident. A White House statement mentioned Slatten, Slough, Liberty, and Heard’s “long history of service to the nation” as veterans of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, and described their pardons as “broadly supported by the public…and elected officials.”

Jasim Mohammed Al-Nasrawi, a police officer who was injured in the attack told CNN,

“I am still not a hundred percent recovered from my head wound, which [was] sustained in the gunfire by Blackwater guards in 2007, and have not been completely compensated for the attack. I will not waive my right to this case, I am not giving up.”

Read more The Guardian here, Reuters here, Al Jazeera here and BBC here.