Amnesty International accused Syrian diplomats of launching a 'systematic' campaign of harassment and threats against expatriate dissidents protesting outside their embassies in eight countries - Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the United States.

Protesters state that they were initially filmed or photographed by officials, before receiving phone calls, e-mails and Facebook messages warning them to stop the protests.

Amnesty has expressed concern at reports that the relatives of protesters, currently in Syria, have been subject to targetted harassment, detention, torture and outright disappearance.

Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International's Syria researcher, said,

"Expatriate Syrians have been trying, through peaceful protest, to highlight abuses that we consider amount to crimes against humanity - and that presents a threat to the Syrian regime."

"In response the regime appears to have waged a systematic - sometimes violent - campaign to intimidate Syrians overseas into silence.

This is yet more evidence that the Syrian government will not tolerate legitimate dissent and is prepared to go to great lengths to muzzle those who challenge it publicly."

See 'Diaspora must continue to defy' (June 2010)

Syria’s opposition forces have formally established a united front for the first time at a meeting in Turkey on Sunday.

The formation of the Syrian National Council (SNC) represents a serious challenge to President Assad’s regime as it continues to crackdown on pro-democracy protests across the country.

A spokesman told AFP,

"The Syrian National Council reunites the forces of the opposition and the peaceful revolution...  it represents the Syrian revolution both inside and outside the country”.

Stating that the SNC was open to all Syrians, they went on to call on

"international organisations to assume their responsibility toward the Syrian people and to work to protect them from the war declared against them, to halt ... the dangerous human rights violations."

Meanwhile, pro-Assad forces have captured the town of Rastan after prolonged fighting between armed insurgents and the Syrian army.  The insurgents are thought to be led mainly by army defectors who refused to fire on pro-democracy protestors.

Activists claim that the Syrian army sent in 250 tanks in their offensive on Rastan as they claimed to capture the town from “armed terrorist gangs”.

A statement released by the insurgents said,

"Because of major reinforcements and the weapons used in Rastan by Assad's gangs... we have decided to withdraw in order to better wage the struggle for liberty."

See our earlier post: ‘Syrian armed resistance emerges as crackdown continues’ (Sep 2011)

Laurent Gbagbo was captured by Ouattara loyalists backed by French special forces (Photo: ZimDaily)

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has granted prosecutors permission to investigate alleged war crimes in the Ivory Coast.

A spokesperson for the ICC said an investigation into the atrocities will begin soon.

“Next is the investigation to be conducted by the ICC prosecutor in the events that occurred since 28th November 2010, up to now and potentially, if there is more violent action that takes place in the future in Ivory Coast,” said Fadio El Abdallah.

“The prosecutor will gather the evidence and decide who he suspects to be responsible for potential war crimes or crimes against humanity.”

“The prosecutor will have to conduct the investigation [into] these allegations concerning both parties in a total independent and impartial manner.”

Both parties have been accused of committing war crimes during violence which flared in November last year, after former leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept the results of the presidential elections, which the UN ruled were won by rival Alassane Ouattara.

In the ensuing power struggle more than 3,000 people were killed and over 500,000 civilians were displaced, until the capture of Gbagbo by Ouattara loyalists, with the support of French commandos.

A war crimes tribunal set up to investigate war crimes committed during the independence struggle in Bangladesh has charged its first suspect.

Delawar Hossain Sayedee, a senior leader of the Jamat-e-Islami party, has been charged with war crimes including mass murder, rape, looting and forcibly converting Hindus.

"The court has framed charges on 20 counts including crimes against humanity and genocide against Mr Sayedee," Mohammad Shahinur Islam, registrar of the International Crimes Tribunal, told the BBC.
"He pleaded not guilty. He claimed all those allegations were false.”

Mr Sayedee’s party has slammed the tribunal and alleged that the charges are politically motivated.

Human rights organizations have called on the Bangladeshi government to ensure the trials are fair and impartial.

According to Human Rights Watch, the proceedings fall short of international standards, even after amendments were made earlier this year to address the shortcomings.

"We want these trials to succeed in bringing the people responsible for the horrific crimes of 1971 to justice," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "While the amendments are a significant improvement, key problems still need to be fixed to ensure fair trials and avoid unnecessarily lengthy appeals."

Pakistani troops, aided by sympathetic locals, are accused of unleashing widespread violence, killing over 3 million people and raping more than 200,000 women during the 9-month Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague met pro-democracy Syrian activists in London on Thursday, describing them as exiles from a "brutal regime that has lost all legitimacy."

See AFP’s report here.

It was not the first time Hague had met such activists but the meeting took place amid growing Western condemnation of the crackdown on protesters against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"President Assad must step aside so that credible reform can begin," Hague also said.

"Syrians from all walks of life and all religious communities have been united in their opposition to the regime's attempts to violently suppress their legitimate aspirations for a better future.

"It is now vital for the many groups that form the Syrian opposition to unite and work together to define a shared vision for the future of Syria."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said British officials had met several members of the Syrian opposition at various levels and passed on messages "about the need for this to be an inclusive and peaceful process."

She said Britain was "facilitating" opposition groups to engage with each other, adding:

"We believe the transition should be a Syrian-led process and we will respond as appropriate to specific requests for our support."

Comment by Dr Andrew Wallis, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, as published in The Guardian:

A French court has ruled it will block the extradition of a leading genocide suspect to face trial in Rwanda .

Yet a separate French court ruled three times that Agathe Habyarimana, the wife of the former Rwandan president, cannot be granted asylum because "she was at the heart of the genocidal regime".

This refusal now by France to hand her over, despite the appalling crimes its own independent asylum commission finds her responsible for, is for purely political reasons.

She knows too much about the complicity of France and its military in the lead-up to and during the Rwandan tragedy, when François Mitterrand's government fully supported the genocidal government of her husband.

Nicolas Sarkozy may preach about overturning tyrants and murderous regimes in Libya and Ivory Coast, but it seems he is happy to welcome those leaders who worked with France, whatever their crimes, to a comfortable Parisian retirement – in Agathe's case a €3m house in an affluent suburb.

The dozens of other alleged genocidaires also currently enjoying French liberty from prosecution will be celebrating another victory for realpolitik over justice.

The letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon said,

"We call on the UN to refer Saleh, his sons and his gang to the International Criminal Court for their crimes against peaceful protesters."

It also called on the international community to place sanctions on Saleh’s regime, asking them to freeze the assets of "Saleh, his family, and their supporters in the regime".

The US has called on President Saleh to begin his “transfer of power” immediately, with White House spokesman Jay Carney saying,

"We call on him and his government to cease any violent actions against the Yemeni people."

This is despite Yemen’s deputy information minister Abdu al-Janadi, claiming that Yemen intelligence was key in the assassination of Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awaki earlier this week.

Janadi told reporters,

“After this big victory in catching Awlaki, the White House calls on the president to leave power immediately? The Americans don’t even respect those who co-operate with them.”

One Western diplomat commented on Saleh’s apparent use of intelligence on Al-Qaeda as leverage to stay in power.

Talking to the Financial Times he said,

“I think he’s trying his luck. But I don’t think the Americans are going to change their overall policy.”

See our earlier post: 'US urges restraint in Yemen' (Sep 2011)

Western countries are in talks to draft a UN resolution aimed at pressuring president Saleh to step down, Reuters reported.

"The international community has decided we need to up the pressure now, No decision has been taken yet over what type of resolution we might try ... But we do need to move beyond statements now." said a senior western diplomat in Sanaa.

The resolution is not thought to have the support of Russia and China yet, with talks still ongoing about a ‘softer’ resolution against Syria, which would be acceptable to both countries.

"We don’t want to take on Yemen until the Council has approved something on Syria," another diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

See our previous posts:

Yemeni youth urge UN to take Saleh to the ICC (Oct 2011)

Syria looks East as renewed UN proposal submitted (Sep 2011)

Ethnic Serbs have constructed a new roadblock in northern Kosovo, after NATO peacekeepers removed a previous barricade.

Helicopters and heavily armed NATO troops removed the roadblock, amidst protest by Serb residents.

But a few hours after the peacekeepers cleared the roads, Serbs constructed a new barricade further down the road.

The roadblock in Jarinje, near the border to Serbia, is designed to keep Kosovo Albanian authorities from erecting a border post.

On Tuesday Serb protesters clashed with NATO troops, who retaliated with live ammunition.
The clash left seven Serbs and four peacekeepers injured.

Ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo claim the area has always been Serb land and as such should not be part of Albanian-dominated Kosovo, but be a region Serbia.
Locals say they are ready to fight any attempt by Kosovo’s authorities to gain control.

The trouble first flared in July this year when Kosovan police tried to gain control of border posts along the Serbian border, resulting in clashes which left one policeman dead and scores wounded.

The police force soon withdrew from the area, leaving NATO troops in control of the region.

“There was no obvious, or even readily apparent, basis on which the view might be that the primary judge erred”.

Two former Rwandan ministers have been jailed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for conspiracy to commit genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

Former foreign affairs minister Jerome-Clement Bicamumpaka and former health minister Casimir Bizimungu were both sentenced to 30 years in prison.

However, two other former ministers were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

All four ministers were accused of making speeches at rallies inciting massacres of Tutsis, during the genocide in Rwanda.

The ICTR was set up by the United Nations in 1994 to hold the perpetrators of the genocide accountable and to contribute to national reconciliation by challenging the impunity with which the officials involved acted.

"The great majority of the opposition members have shown extraordinary restraint in the face of the regime's brutality and are demanding their rights through peaceful, unarmed demonstrations.

The longer the regime continues to use repression, killing and jailing peaceful marchers and activists both, the more likely that the peaceful protest movement will become more violent."

"The regime is killing the people and some residents are thinking that peaceful demonstrations will take them nowhere, even in 10 years from now."

"The brutality of the regime has become enormous and there is increasing pressure on people to defend their families and their villages.

They clearly have won a moral argument against the government, but physically it doesn't protect them."

US senator John McCain, currently leading a Republican delegation to Tripoli, asserted that the Libyan revolutionaries were 'an inspiration to the world', particularly to aspiring activists in Syria, Iran, China and Russia.

McCain said,

"The people of Libya today are inspiring the people in Tehran, in Damascus and even in Beijing and Moscow," 

"They continue to inspire the world and let people know that even the worst dictators can be overthrown and be replaced by freedom and democracy."

"I've dreamed of returning to a liberated capital of a free Libya ever since I visited Benghazi in April and our visit to Tripoli today has been exhilarating and hopeful,"

"It's also important to bring this war to a dignified and irreversible conclusion, to bring Gadhafi and his family and his fighters to justice, while ensuring that past wrongs do not become a license for future crimes, especially against minorities."