Poland has reopened investigations into crimes committed in several concentration camps connected to Auschwitz during the Second World War.

It is thought over one million Jews and Poles were killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz alone. Polish authorities hope to track down any surviving members of the Nazis, complicit in the genocide.

The original investigation was closed in the 1980s, due to Poland’s status as a Soviet satellite state, which created difficulties in questioning witnesses and hunting down the perpetrators abroad.

Read AP report here.

“This pushes Turkish policy further towards active intervention in Syria.”

"Prior to the current uprising, Turkey looked at Syria as a cornerstone in its plans to become a political, economic and 'moral' leader in the Middle East."

“We ask the international community to provide us with weapons so that we, as an army, the Free Syrian Army, can protect the people of Syria. We are an army, we are in the opposition, and we are prepared for military operations. If the international community provides weapons, we can topple the regime in a very, very short time.” 

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has reportedly contacted the ICC in order to negotiate his surrender and sought an aircraft to transport him over to the Hague war crimes court in the Netherlands.

An NTC official told reporters that,

"He believes handing himself over is the best option for him."

He also commented that Saif feared for his safety and wanted assurances as he surrenders. he is currently thought to be on the run in the vast desert in Libya, near the border with Algeria and Niger.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters,

"Through intermediaries, we have informal contact with Saif. The office of the prosecutor has made it clear that if he surrenders to the ICC, he has the right to be heard in court, he is innocent until proven guilty. The judges will decide."

He also went on to say,

"Additionally, we have learnt through informal channels that there is a group of mercenaries who are offering to move Saif to an African (country) not party to the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Office of the Prosecutor is also exploring the possibility to intercept any plane within the air space of a state party in order to make an arrest."

The ICC has no police force of its own and relies on state co-operation to apprehend those that it has issued arrest warrants for. Earlier this month, Sudan’s fugitive President Omar al-Bashir travelled to Malawi, where he was not arrested by authorities there, drawing criticism from the ICC, EU and UN.

There have been reports that South Africa may be a possible location for Saif to seek shelter, with claims that some South Africans may have been amongst those killed in Sirte whilst fighting for Gaddafi.

Educated at the London School of Economics, Saif al-Islam was once seen by many governments as the acceptable, Western-friendly face of Libya, and heir apparent to his father.

See our earlier post: ‘Gaddafi's son to surrender to ICC’ (Oct 2011)

Former navy captain Alfredo Astiz, Argentina's infamous ‘Blond Angel of Death,’ and 11 other death squad members from the 1970s were jailed for life on Wednesday in one of the country's biggest human rights cases.

However the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a French request to extradite Astiz, who was also convicted in absentia in Europe for killing two French nuns during the 1976-1983 ‘Dirty War.’

See Reuters reports here and here.

Astiz stood trial with other former officials accused of horrific crimes at the ESMA Naval Mechanics School, where about 5,000 dissidents were held and tortured during the ‘Dirty War’. Few of the captives survived.

Marking the end of a 22-month trial in which 79 survivors gave evidence, 12 defendants were sentenced to life while four others were punished with between 18 and 25 years in jail.

Astiz boasted of his dictatorship-era crimes in a magazine interview in 1998, saying he was "the best-trained man in Argentina to kill journalists and politicians."

"I'm not sorry for anything," Astiz added.

Human rights groups say Argentina's military government killed up to 30,000 people during the six-year dictatorship. Most of them disappeared and their bodies were never found.

The Supreme Court said that Astiz should not be extradited to France since he is currently on trial in Argentina for crimes against the same victims, the two nuns.

Libya’s interim government has agreed to prosecute the killers of Muammar Gaddafi, after previously claiming he was killed by crossfire.

The U-turn is likely to have been caused by increased international pressure after more videos emerged showing Gaddafi being assaulted by Libyan rebel fighters. Gaddafi is thought to have been killed by a gunshot to his head.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chief of the National Transitional Council, said it would seek to those who are responsible for Gaddafi’s death.

"With regards to Gaddafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us," he told the al-Arabiya satellite channel. "We had already launched an investigation. We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army. Whoever is responsible for that [Gaddafi's killing] will be judged and given a fair trial."

Bahrain's security forces are to be deployed to Afghanistan in order to train Afghan forces, as part of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

The move comes amidst on-going human rights concerns regarding the Bahraini government's brutal crackdown on civilian protesters using the military and police. At least 35 protesters are thought to have been killed.

The Asia director of Human Rights Watch, John Fortin, remarked,

"It is an insult to the Afghan people to suggest the military of a regime which crushes democracy in their own country would help build democracy in another."

Afghanistan's forces have themselves been criticised for widespread reports of rape, abuse and torture.

According to The Times (UK), Afghan officials, whilst publicly welcoming the deployment of Islamic soldiers, have privately expressed frustration at not being consulted prior and at having to work with "small countries" within the NATO coalition.

A spokesperson for Nato confirmed that Bahrain was to become a 'non-Nato troop-contirbuting nation'.

See related articles:

US will wait for inquiry before approving Bahrain arms (Oct 2011) 

Bahraini medics imprisoned for treating anti-government protesters (Sept 2011)

UN warns Bahrain on international law (March 2011)

A US federal court has revived a lawsuit against London-based mining giant Rio Tinto Plc.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of around 10,000 residents of Bougainville, a mining town in Papua New-Guinea.

Rio Tinto is accused of encouraging the government of Papua New-Guinea to crush an uprising beginning in 1988 by residents against the pollution and ‘slave-like conditions’ the residents were forced to work under.

Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in a report for the appeals court that the complaint's allegation that Rio Tinto's "worldwide modus operandi" was to treat indigenous non-Caucasians as "expendable" justified restoring the genocide claim to the case.

She also said the allegation that Rio Tinto acted for its own private ends in inducing Papua New Guinea's military to murder civilians justified restoring the war crimes claim.

The case was brought under a 1789 US law, known as the Alien Tort Statute. This law allows non-US citizens to bring cases against non-US companies for crimes committed on foreign soil.

See Reuters report here.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday unanimously ruled that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide cannot be criminalized in Turkey. The verdict stemmed from a case brought to the court by noted scholar Taner Akcam.

In the case Taner Akcam vs. Turkey, the court ruled that Turkey’s ongoing criminal prosecution of scholarship on the Armenian Genocide issue constituted a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

See report by Asberez.com here.

'They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague.'

'They feel that it is not safe for them to stay where they are or to go anywhere.'

‘We continue our resistance. I’m in Libya, alive, free and intend to go to the very end and exact revenge.

‘I say go to hell, you rats and Nato behind you.

‘This is our country, we live in it, and we die in it and we are continuing the struggle.’

Two Egyptian policemen have been jailed for seven years for the manslaughter of Khaled Said, an activist, whose death became a major trigger for the widespread protests that resulted in the overthrow of the Mubarak regime.

The policemen claimed Said had choked on a packet of drugs which he attempted to swallow when the police approached.

However, forensic reports proved that the package was forced into his mouth, leaving Said with broken teeth and a fractured jaw.

The 'lenient' prison sentence drew condemnation by human rights activists and Said’s family members.

Reports indicate that lawyers and members of Khaled Said’s family were attacked by the family of the two police officers after the verdict.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, faced renewed calls to launch an investigation into the former defence secretary, Liam Fox's, best friend and self-proclaimed advisor, Adam Werritty, following further allegations revealed by the Guardian.

A defence lobbyist, Stephen Crouch, paid Werritty a flat fee of £20,000, in the hope that influential meetings would be set up, alleged the Guardian on Wednesday.

According to newspaper, Crouch went onto meet the UK arms sales minister, Gerald Howarth - a meeting that was allegedly encouraged and facilitated by the former defence secretary, Liam Fox.

See report by Guardian here.

Several members of the opposition have called for the parliamentary ombudsman, Sir Philip Mawer, to investigate.

The shadow defence minister, Kevan Jones, urged the prime minister to ensure all unanswered questions are addressed.

"The prime minister has for weeks said all questions would be answered but instead we have only had new allegations,"

"It appears another defence minister may have broken the ministerial code and has links to Adam Werritty. We need a full explanation as to how this meeting was arranged and why no civil servants were present.

"If it was discovered that anyone was profiting from these connections this would be extremely serious."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said,

"Mr Howarth informed his office after the meeting had taken place. No substantive issues were raised, no confidential information was disclosed and there was no follow-up to the meeting,"

Writing in the Times, former commander of British Forces in Afghanistan Colonel Richard Kemp argued that while military intervention in Libyan by NATO is being hailed as a success, it should not form the basis for the same model to be applied in other conflicts.

Examining the Libya campaign and the inital NATO-lead drive in Afghanistan in 2001, Kemp commented that while they were successful, the military option may not always be the best path to follow.

"The best form of intervention in a foreign country is non-intervention. Or, at least, intervention that is so discreet as to be almost invisible to the naked eye — funding of rebel forces, covert supply of weapons, behind-the-scenes “advice” to opposition leaders.

Even this carries risk. But the greatest risk comes from deploying conventional forces in strength. As we saw with such horrific consequences in Iraq and later in Afghanistan, however benign the intention, boots on the ground will inevitably come to be seen as occupying forces and will be attacked from all quarters."

Kemp went on to acknowledge the significance of having broad interntional support, as was in the case of Libya, which importantly gained backing from the Arab League for military intervention. In both Afghanistan and Libya, he argues that the moral justification to intervene was clear, with threats coming from both al-Qaeda and Gaddafi.

"Libyan-style “intervention-lite” provides valuable lessons for future conflict. But warfare is characterised by unpredictability; we will not see the circumstances of Libya repeated. Politicians and generals must resist the temptation to view this strategy as a model that will assure success in every conflict. That would be preparing for the last war, something we are guilty of too often.

As we have seen in Afghanistan over the past six years, decisive military success in the beginning does not guarantee a neat or favourable outcome in the end. For Libya too, perhaps the greatest danger is yet to come.

But even if the future does become messy, or the outcome is not to our liking, we were still right to intervene to prevent a massacre and help to remove a despot." 

Libya's interim leader, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, announced on Monday, an investigation has been ordered, into Muammar Gaddafi death.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has formed a committee in order to conduct the investigation said Abdul-Jalil.

Today's announcement comes amidst rising international pressure to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death and reports of Gaddafi loyalists being executed.

The post mortem suggested Gaddafi died of bullet injuries, however it remains unclear whether the injury was sustained during heavy cross fire or whilst in custody.

Speaking in Benghazi, Abdul-Jalil said,

"We have formed a committee to investigate how Gaddafi was killed during the clashes with his supporters while arresting him,"

"Let us question who has the interest in the fact that Gaddafi will not be tried. Libyans want to try him for what he did to them, with executions, imprisonment and corruption,"

"Free Libyans wanted to keep Gaddafi in prison and humiliate him as long as possible. Those who wanted him killed were those who were loyal to him or had played a role under him, his death was in their benefit."