Plus: #StopArmingSaudi campaign gains momentum; targeting of Shia clerics in Bahrain; impunity in Sri Lanka; getting away with rape in South Sudan; respite for Somali refugees in Kenya; and US$40,000 raised for Ethiopian marathon runner...

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Iraq is making gains in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), but undermining its own justice system should not be part of the strategy. Earlier this week, 36 men were executed after being convicted of participating in the ISIS massacres of Shia army recruits in 2014. But flawed trials, lacking even adequate defense for the accused, raise serious questions surrounding their convictions and subsequent executions.
From earlier today: “Fire falling like rain”, this is how survivors described an incendiary bomb attack that hit a school in Syria’s Aleppo governorate, killing 10 students on the spot, leaving their bodies charred beyond recognition. That was three years ago. Since then, the unlawful use of incendiary weapons, which burn their victims and cause fierce fires that are hard to extinguish, has increased – with precious little outrage from the international community.
As US Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Saudi Arabia the #StopArmingSaudi campaign is gaining momentum. The Guardian and the New York Times have endorsed the campaign, while Oxfam has accused the UK of being “one of the most significant violators” of the Arms Trade Treaty.
In a systematic campaign to nullify dissent and protest in the country, Bahraini authorities are prosecuting Shia clerics and stripping many of their citizenship. The targeting of religious leaders at a time when the region is facing sectarian violence is a dangerous tactic, HRW has warned.
The “war on drugs” in the Philippines has resulted in an unprecedented killing spree since President Rodrigo Duterte took office seven weeks ago. An estimated 712 suspected “drug pushers and users" were killed between July 1 and August 19 – 10 times more than in the preceding five months. The UN's Special Rapporteur on summary executions says police immunity in the country amounts to “a license to kill”.
Following the example of South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Sri Lanka seems to be considering amnesty for war criminals, provided the perpetrators admit their crimes to a non-judicial body. But the approach, Human Rights Watch said today, is outdated and will only lead to impunity not justice.
There seems to be little hope that the South Sudanese government will ever hold its soldiers to account for rapes committed during and after the latest round of fighting. While the UN has documented at least 217 rape cases between July 8 and 25, not a single soldier has so far been charged for sexual violence.
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