Author Archives: Christoph Koettl

About Christoph Koettl

Christoph Koettl is a Senior Analyst with Amnesty International's global Crisis Response Program, and is based in Washington, DC. He specializes in the use of geospatial technologies and open source resarch, and is the founder and editor of Amnesty International’s Citizen Evidence Lab, the first dedicated resource on social media verfication for human rights researchers. He previously worked and studied in Austria, the Netherlands and Italy, and holds an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).He feels passionate about crisismapping, digital storytelling and photography.
Author RSS Feed
Follow @ckoettl on Twitter

UN Security Council: Stop Bickering And Vote For Human Rights In Syria

September 28, 2011 at 12:53 PM

Will member states of the United Nations Security Council finally stop their bickering and start supporting the human rights of the Syrian people?

We might find out over the next 24 to 48 hours, as European member states circulated a new draft resolution to be voted on shortly. The new resolution was naturally watered down to appease opposition from Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa, who so far have opposed tough actions against the regime in Syria.

Death in custody case shocks the world

The human rights situation in Syria continues to be dire, most recently expemplified by the shocking story of eighteen-year-old Zainab al-Hosni of Homs who was decapitated, apparently while in custody of Syrian security forces. While an extreme case, her story is unfortunately hardly unique.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Syrian Activist Ghayath Mattar Killed In Detention – Show Your Solidarity

September 16, 2011 at 10:08 AM

Eight ambassadors to Syria took a dramatic step this week in condemning the Syrian crackdown by attending a vigil for a well-known Syrian activist. The activist, Ghayath Mattar, was reportedly killed under torture by security forces last week in Daraya, and his death was honored by hundreds of Syrians and the ambassadors from the US, Great Britain, Japan, and other EU countries.

The coordinated attendance of so many foreign leaders was an unprecedented and powerful statement of solidarity with the Syrian people that follows the deaths of an estimated 2,600 Syrians to date and confirmed reports of at least 95 deaths in detention.

The spiraling total of detainee deaths, together with the Syrian authorities’ failure to conduct any independent investigations, points to a pattern of systematic, government-sanctioned abuse in which every detainee must be considered at serious risk. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Testimonies from Bahrain: Jailed Activist's Wife Speaks Out

September 14, 2011 at 3:16 PM

Trials in Bahrain will continue on September 25. Please take action now!

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and his wife Khadija

Khadija al-Mousawi and her jailed husband ‘Abdulhadi al-Khawaja © Private

By Khadija al-Mousawi, wife of imprisoned human rights defender ‘Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

It was on a Friday when we gathered in my daughter Fatima’s flat as a family – eating together, talking about politics and human rights or joking and laughing.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

New Report And Website Track Syria's Surge of Deaths In Custody

August 30, 2011 at 5:45 PM
Hamza Ali al-Khateeb

Hamza Ali al-Khateeb

On April 29, Hamza Ali al-Khateeb joined hundreds of people from al-Jeeza and other villages in peaceful marches towards Dera’a, Syria. The protesters were attacked by Syrian security forces, who reportedly shot at them and arrested several hundred people.

Thirteen year old Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was one of many who went missing. He was later reported to be held by Air Force Intelligence.

On May 24, Hamza’s family received a phone call to say there was a body in the al-Jeeza Hospital morgue which they should see, and one of Hamza’s relatives went to identify his body.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Will UN Finally Act On Syria Atrocities?

August 1, 2011 at 9:27 AM

© Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

The situation in Syria further escalated over the weekend. Yesterday alone, more than 100 people were reportedly killed across the country and the death toll is feared to be increasing.

In a by now familiar pattern, Syrian authorities used tanks and snipers to attack civilians. We believe that the crimes committed in Syria constitute crimes against humanity.

I just learned that the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Syria later today and I urge you to sign our online petition to call on Brazil, India and South Africa to end their opposition to a Security Council resolution condemning the grave human rights violations.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Activists – and State Department – Respond to Bahrain Twitter Action

June 16, 2011 at 8:45 PM

A huge thank you to supporters of our Bahrain actions over the last few days calling on the US State Department to speak out  more forcefully on unfair military trials.

More than 16,000 people have signed our online action. Further, the response to our Twitter action was absolutely fantastic, with people not only from the US but from around the world magnifying our call (go crowd!).

The Twitter action was a first for me and I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of response or outcome. I was positively surprised with both. I decided to use a new, very useful tool called storify to track the action—and the response to it!

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Dear @Statedept, Please Protest Unfair Trial Of #Bahrain Activists

June 14, 2011 at 2:22 PM

Bahrain has turned into a country in which an activist can be thrown into jail for reading a poem that criticizes the country’s King, and in which doctors and nurses are put on trial for doing their job. I can hardly imagine what sentence opposition figures are facing for leading and participating in the demonstrations that took place in February and March. It is outrageous to see Bahraini authorities putting protesters, activists and medics before military courts, which Human Rights Watch appropriately called a Travesty of Justice.

Bahrain is also an important strategic partner to the United States, and home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. It’s therefore legitimate to ask if that’s the reason why there is so much silence from the US administration on the crackdown of the pro-reform movement. As a Washington Post Editorial last month formulated it: “The administration clearly is trying to protect the strategic relationship with Bahrain.”

We are now mobilizing the public to call on the US government to speak out more strongly about unfair trials in Bahrain, one week before the trial of opposition figures continues. It is especially crucial that the Unites States administration guarantees that a high level representative from the US embassy in Bahrain will attend the trial.

Join The Global Bahrain Twitter Action on June 15

Taking a cue from Arab Spring activists using social media, we will conduct a Twitter action tomorrow, June 15. We are calling on all social media activists to urge the US Department of State to end their double standard and protest more forcefully against unfair trials in Bahrain. Messages to the State Department will include:

Dear @statedept, pls ensure you observe trial of #bahrain opposition http://bit.ly/lXEzpH #feb14
Dear @statedept, pls protest unfair trial of #bahrain activists http://bit.ly/lXEzpH #feb14

The @statedept should observes trial of #bahrain opposition http://bit.ly/lXEzpH #feb14
The @statedept should protest unfair trial of #bahrain activists http://bit.ly/lXEzpH #feb14

You can just re-tweet our messages coming from @amnesty tomorrow. Feel free to adapt the tweets, but please stay on message and be polite. I will be collecting the most compelling tweets and plan to publish some of them on this blog (which we will also share with our contacts in the State Department), together with an update on our recent Bahrain actions.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Blood in the Street, Injustice in the Courts, Silence from the US

June 8, 2011 at 4:42 PM

While Bahraini authorities are silencing activists, opposition leaders and even medical personnel in military courts, the United States Government remains silent. We have seen the US respond to the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, yet government officials so far have remained relatively silent on the crackdown in Bahrain – imposed on the streets and in the courts.

The most recent indications for this silent acceptance of human rights violations include the (rather secret) meetings of high level US government officials with the Bahraini Crown Prince yesterday, and the recent refusal by the State Department to testify before the Congressional Human Rights Commission.

The United States’ failure to act in Bahrain represents a tragic double standard in US Middle East policies. In Obama’s May 19th speech on the Middle East and North Africa, the President won applause for rhetoric admonishing the Bahraini Monarchy’s repression of dissent, stating that “you can’t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail.”

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

What Will Obama Say To Muslim World?

May 18, 2011 at 7:04 PM

After months of relative silence, President Obama will formally address the tumultuous events of the Arab Spring in a speech on Thursday May 19 at 11:30 am[ET].  His speech will stream live on CNN and C-Span, both in the US and internationally. Following the announcement of Syrian sanctions Wednesday, Obama is slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

At his speech tomorrow, Obama will articulate the US position on recent democratic movements throughout the Middle East, focusing on Libya and Egypt sources say, but will likely avoid details. He is also likely to mention the tumult in Syria, following US sanctions placed upon Syrian President Bashar Assad on May 18th.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would not give details on whether the president will address the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Sources like the Guardian speculate that this speech will be similar in tone to Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009. At that point early in his presidency, Obama strove to make amends for past aggressive US foreign policies in the Middle East. This time around, he’s expected to explain his administration’s restrained involvement in the MENA region’s affairs.

What will President Obama say to the Muslim World tomorrow?  Will he address the ongoing human rights violations in the region?  See our site for full coverage on human rights in the Middle East.  And follow us on Twitter @amnesty for our comments during the speech.

Crimes Against Humanity: ICC Prosecutor Requests Arrest Warrant For Gaddafi

May 16, 2011 at 9:25 AM

10-year-old Maryam Mahmoud al-Hassouni was killed by shrapnel on 5 April 2011 from a mortar which landed in the courtyard of her home in Zawia al-Mahjoub neighbourood of Misrata while she played there. © Amnesty International

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo today requested arrest warrants for Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the country’s spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi,  for Crimes Against Humanity.

In the world of international justice, this request comes at lightning speed: After the UN Security Council (unanimously!) referred the situation to the ICC only days after violence and armed hostilities broke out in Libya in mid-February, the request for arrest warrants comes only three months later.

In a press conference held today, Moreno-Ocampo stated that al-Gaddafi personally ordered attacks against unarmed civilians. His office collected evidence that security forces shot peaceful protesters, that heavy weaponry was used against participants in funerals, and that snipers shot at civilians. According to the ICC prosecutor, these crimes were committed in a systematic and widespread manner and are still ongoing in areas under al-Gaddafi’s control. While the ICC judges will consider the request for arrest warrants, the Office of the Prosecutor will continue to collect evidence, including on potential war crimes committed since armed conflict broke out in Libya.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST