Last tuesday, August 26th, 8 VITW activists disrupted one of General
Sanchez' regular press briefings on occupation force activities and
casualties, intitally asking difficult questions of the General before
escalating into a protest:

Ramzy Kysia asked why the forces did not investigate civillian killings
with any semblance of the same effort as they do when soldiers are
killed. 'Is this because Iraqi lives are not deemed as valuable as
American lives?' he asked. The reply was that investigations are always
held into any civillian death at the hands of 'coalition forces' and
that
any civilian death is taken very seriously.

After a volley of various, fobbed off questions, Ewa Jasiewicz got on
the
mike and read out the names of six civillians killed in the Sulleikh,
North baghdad, on August 7.

Troops from the first armoured brigade from the first armoured division
opened fire on three cars driving down Rabbia street at approx 9.30pm
on
a power-cut darkened summer night.

The first car, carrying Saif Raed Azawi (20) and his two friends was
fired upon over 20 times (we counted the bullet holes), Saif was shot
to
death, his friends managed to exit the car, suffering from bullet
wounds
themselves (confirmed by Captain John Mostellar, head of the First
Brigade of the First Armoured Division) and were beaten, blindfolded,
arrested and taken away. Up to five witnesses were also shot and two US
soldiers suffered injuries too, sustained from their own crossfire.

The second car, also shot at over 20 times, contained Adel Abdul Kareem
(42, father), Hadir Al-Kawas (19, son), Ola Al Kawas (16, daughter),
Mervit al Kawas (8, daughter) and Hadeel (14, daughter) and his wife
Anwar (40). Anwar and her daughter Hadeel were the only members of the
Kawas family to survive, the rest were shot to death. The cause of
their
deaths in their death certificates, issued at the Medical Legal
Institute
at Medical City Hospital in Baghdad, was left unwritten, the space for
a
reason being left starkly empty, something the director of Medical City
said he'd never come across in his lifetime and was 'impossible'.

The third car was inhabited by Ali Hekmat (31) alone who fled the scene
at the sight of the carngae unfolding infront of him, was fired upon,
and
lost control of his car, swerving into a palm-log road block,
overturning
and dying in the impact.

Ewa held up a beautiful portrait picture of the Abu Kawas family, taken
two years ago, and read out the names of the dead, in honour of their
lives, following on to say '..All killed by US troops from the first
brigade first armoured division in Sulleikh. And there has been NO
response, NO comment, NO apology (at this point her mike was cut and
she
stood up and continued loudly) and NO accountability from occupation
troops. (At this point Caoimhe Butterly stood up, holding a copy of the
portrait family picture and unfurled a black and white 'mourning'
banner
with 'THE KILLING CONTINUES' written upon it in Arabic and English. Ewa
went on to say, 'You say there was an investigation but what is the
criteria for this investigation when none of the survivors have been
interviewed, none of the witnesses have been interviewed (at this point
she was grabbed by the waist by a soldier who attempted to steer her
out)under the Geneva conventions crimes against humanity must be tried
in
an international court (at this point three soldiers have Ewa and are
dragging her away) The Geneva conventions have been broken! Under
convention 146, those responsible for war crimes must be brought to
justice. Your soldiers have no respect for human life! This family
needs
justice! You killed this family',(holding the picture of the family
aloft
all the while. Two soldiers have Caoimhe at this point and are steering
her out, she shouts: 'The family are calling for an independent and
transparent international investigation into the killings. Why is there
no accountability? (she resists and is forcibly dragged further) Your
soldiers are in breach of the Fourth Geneva Conventions if they are not
brought to justice how will you prevent this from happening again? The
families have no access to this place. It is your responsibility to
meet
with them, why will you not speak with them, what are you hiding? you
owe
them at least that'.

Both activists were then shoved outside with the picture of the Al
Kawas
family snatched off both Ewa and Caoimhe crumpled into a ball and
thrown
on the ground.

Outside the conference hall, the two were threatened with being taken
to
a detention centre and had their pictures taken without their consent.
These pictures have now been published in the Occupation Forces weekly
newspaper 'The Liberator' so that quote (from the same soldier who
threatened Ewa and Caoimhe with detention): 'Wherever they go, any
checkpoint or patrol, they can be recognised'. They both refused to
give
their names.

The first person to be pointed to by General Sanchez to continue asking
questions following the discruption and ejction of Ewa and Caoimhe was
Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices. Sanchez groaned and appeared drawn
and
harrangued as she introduced herself, and laughter and disbelief
errupted
in the hall. She asked a challenging question about the treatment of
detainees and prisoners and why all human rights had been suspended
with
regards to them.

Following the conference, all the Voices activists were detained and
had
their passports confiscated, photocopied and filed by Occupation
troops.

Ewa and Caoimhe have been banned from the Convention Centre and
journalists now have to sign their names, write their emails and phone
numbers and hand over their (photo) press ID to get into press
conferences. When journalists complained at the tediousness of the 1
and
a half hour process, they were told, collectively, on the mike by one
of
Sanchez's representatives: 'Well, dont blame us! If you want to blame
someone, blame those two young ladies which disrupted the conference
last
week'. Journalists were also told that the reason they had been moved
into a smaller room was because if anyone had any plans to bring out
banners or disrupt the conference, they would be ejected far more
swiftly
and unceremoniously than in the larger room.

Many Iraqi people expressed their gratitude and applauded (literally,
in
the street)the action taken by Voices in the Wildreness and other
journalists said they wished they had the leeway to take the same
stand.

The protest was broadcast live on CNN and was carried five times on the
popular Arabic channels Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera (headline news) and Abu
Dhabi. BBC Middle East Radio also covered the action and broadcast
interviews with Ewa and Caoimhe in Arabic, and many newspapers, both
local and international, wrote it up.

Irish legal firm Magden and Finucane, currently representing victims of
the Bloody Sunday massacre have been advising the Al Kawas, Hekmat, and
Azawi families with regards to bringing about a major lawsuit against
the
Occupation Forces and the US government for the killing of their loved
ones. New York law human rights firms have expressed an interst in
taking
on the case Pro Bono.

Under Occupation Administration Regulations, no Iraqi is allowed to
raise
legal proceedings against any Coalition Force body. Article 146 of the
Fourth Geneva Conventions states that it is the responsibilty of an
occupying power to ensure that if a criminal incident is committed by
their forces, an criminal investigation must be conducted into the
circumstances and perpetration of the crime.

Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time
of
War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.



Part IV : Execution of the convention #Section I : General provisions

ARTICLE 146

The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation
necessary
to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or
ordering
to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention
defined in the following Article.
Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for
persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed,
such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their
nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in
accordance with the provisions of its own legislation, hand such
persons
over for trial to another High Contracting Party concerned, provided
such
High Contracting Party has made out a ' prima facie ' case.
Each High Contracting Party shall take measures necessary for the
suppression of all acts contrary to the provisions of the present
Convention other than the grave breaches defined in the following
Article.
In all circumstances, the accused persons shall benefit by safeguards
of
proper trial and defence, which shall not be less favourable than those
provided by Article 105 and those following of the Geneva Convention
relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.

see

 http://www.occupationwatch.org

and

 http://www.electroniciraq.net

for more details