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For Immediate Release
January, 20 2011, 02:43pm EDT
Contact:
Tel: +1-212-216-1832,Email:,hrwpress@hrw.org
Iraq: Use of Ambulances in Attacks a War Crime
Insurgents Undermine Protections for Civilians and Combatants Alike
WASHINGTON
According to media reports, Iraqi security forces came under attack by a suicide bomber when an ambulance packed with explosives blew up outside a police headquarters on January 19, 2011 in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad. This follows a similar incident involving the use of an ambulance in an attack earlier the same week.
The use of ambulances or other medical transport equipment bearing medical insignia for military attacks is a serious violation of the laws of war that amounts to a war crime, Human Rights Watch said. Such attacks are war crimes under the Additional Protocols of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and customary laws of war. In addition to endangering medical personnel by casting suspicion on their neutrality, it undermines their ability to deliver urgent medical assistance to civilians and combatants on all sides of a conflict.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
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United Auto Workers Leader Shawn Fain Vows to 'Fight Back Hard' Against Trump DOJ Probe
"This is what happens when you go against corporate America and their allies," said the United Auto Workers president.
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United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain issued a fiery statement on Sunday vowing to "fight back hard" as President Donald Trump's Justice Department launched a probe into allegations that the union leader abused his authority to seek benefits for his fiancée and her sister.
Fain rejected the claims as "false" and accused UAW vice president Rich Boyer, who is vying for the union presidency, of "trying to weaponize these bogus allegations to steal the upcoming UAW election." Fain also hit out at court-appointed federal monitor Neil Barofsky, whom the union president accused of harboring "a political grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza."
"Rich Boyer has fed the monitor false allegations about me," said Fain. "We're going to fight back hard."
In 2023, Fain emerged as one of the most prominent union leaders in the nation during the UAW's weeks-long "Stand Up Strike" against the Big Three automakers, which yielded historic contracts for UAW members. On Sunday, Fain suggested that the union's successes under his leadership are fueling his opponents' attacks.
"This is what happens when you go against corporate America and their allies," said Fain, "and I'm not going to be intimidated or harassed out of serving our membership."
Bloomberg reported Sunday that the US Justice Department has launched a grand jury probe into allegations that Fain "sought a financial bonus for his fiancée and pushed for a worker’s compensation claim for her sister."
"He allegedly retaliated against Boyer for refusing to approve the benefits by stripping the official of his duties as chief negotiator with Stellantis NV, the maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles," Bloomberg noted. "The allegations became public last month in a report by the court-appointed monitor."
Fain on Sunday denied retaliating against Boyer. "The truth when it comes to Boyer," Fain said, "is that I didn't want him running the Stellantis Department because he wasn't doing a good job for our members."
The UAW president went on to accuse Boyer of trying to "hire family members into UAW positions" and failing to enforce the union's contract with Stellantis.
"Boyer is bad for our union and I'm not going to let him use the monitor's bogus investigation so he can try to fail upwards into a bigger title," said Fain. "Our election is in six weeks. Neil Barofsky will not run our union, no matter how hard he tries. And no company sellout like Boyer is going to dictate our elections."
Barofsky was appointed as UAW monitor in 2021—around two years before Fain was sworn in as union president—as part of a consent decree with the Justice Department in the wake of a corruption investigation.
Relations between Fain and Barofsky have reportedly been strained since late 2023, when the UAW became the largest union in the US to call for a ceasefire in Gaza as the Palestinian enclave faced a massive Israeli assault.
Shortly after the UAW's demand, according to The Detroit News, Barofsky "called Fain for a personal conversation related to the ceasefire statement and other issues around the war—a call Fain would later indicate made him uncomfortable, and that a union lawyer told Barofsky was out of line."
In February 2024, weeks after the UAW's ceasefire call, Fain and Barofsky had an "expletive-laden discussion" that Fain says "led to the monitor launching an investigation into him," The Detroit News reported last week. Fain reportedly said at one point during the February phone meeting that Barofsky accused the union leader of being antisemitic, which Fain furiously denied.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for possible updates.
The speaker of Maine's state House of Representatives said the FBI was expected to investigate Monday morning after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were reportedly "involved" in a fatal shooting in Biddeford—the second shooting involving ICE on the streets of an American city in less than a week.
"This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford," said Speaker Ryan Doughty Fecteau, a Democrat. "A person was killed. ICE was involved. State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on scene to gather details and would expect the FBI to investigate as well."
Few details were known about the shooting initially. Some streets in the town, located about 18 miles south of Portland, were closed due to an "active crime scene," according to News Center Maine.
Former state Senate President Troy Jackson, a progressive who is running to be the state's Democratic candidate for US Senate, expressed solidarity with the town "and with all Mainers"—who include about 56,000 immigrants, many of whom have lived in fear of President Donald Trump's mass deportation and detention operation in recent months.
Trump's deployment of ICE in Maine briefly received national attention in January. Federal agents have continued to arrest members of immigrant communities in the state after Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) claimed she had received assurances from the Department of Homeland Security that the "surge" in ICE agents had ended.
Jordan Wood, an organizer who is also running for US Senate following former Democratic candidate Graham Platner's withdrawal from the race to unseat Collins, said Monday that "ICE is dangerously out of control and an embarrassment to our country."
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Iran's Foreign Ministry accused the Trump administration of "rendering futile all efforts made over the past several months to reduce tensions and restore stability."
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The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the United States' latest round of airstrikes as a "flagrant violation" of international law that threatens to permanently derail efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war, which US President Donald Trump launched earlier this year in coordination with the Israeli government.
This past weekend, said Iran's Foreign Ministry, the US carried out "brutal attacks" and "acts of aggression" that pose "a serious threat to international peace and security, rendering futile all efforts made over the past several months to reduce tensions and restore stability in the West Asia region."
On Saturday and Sunday, the US military bombed dozens of targets across Iran, which retaliated with strikes on American military installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Middle East nations. Iran's Foreign Ministry accused those nations of illegally serving as launch pads for US strikes.
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Earlier Sunday, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, voiced concern over the "serious escalation and renewed military confrontations in the Gulf, including the Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the attacks by the United States on Iran, and the attacks by Iran on targets in the neighboring countries."
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