State terrorism

State terrorism is violence against civilians perpetrated by a national government or proxy state. This violence may be direct as in killing the people, or it may be indirect, as in desolating the land for agricultural purposes, or as in embargoes for the pupose of causing hardship. Whether a particular act is described as "terrorism" may depend on whether the International community considers the action justified or necessary, or whether the described terrorist act is carried out as part of an armed conflict. State terrorism, where applicable, may be directed toward the population of the state in question or towards the population of other states. Although attacks on non-combatant civilians may occur during a time of war, they are usually considered terrorism, especially if these are not attacks on the enemy's war fighting capacity (for example an industrial port). The terrorism may be carried out by the state's own forces, such as an army, police, state supported militias, or other organisations, where it is more usually called state-sponsored terrorism.

Care should be taken to differentiate state terrorism from acts of violence carried out by government agents which are not specified by government policy. A murder carried out by a policeman, for example, is not considered state terrorism unless the government sanctioned the action.

Confines and definition

State terrorism, like terrorism, is controversial and there is no generally accepted definition. Often acts that critics describe as terror, supporters defend as legitimate defense against perceived threats. Generally, the definition of terrorism does not extend to states in direct and open military conflict, if the actions of their armed forces are within the laws of war.

Some terrorist groups assign military titles to their commands and combatants, for just this reason, to "legitimize" their violence.

The distinction between state and nonstate terror has been criticized as being morally relativist and as distracting from or justifying state terrorism perpetrated by "favored" states (Chomsky and Herman, 1979). Some, such as Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, view particular political systems as instances of state terrorism: "State terrorism is a political system whose rule of recognition permits and/or imposes a clandestine, unpredictable, and diffuse application, even regarding clearly innocent people, of coercive means prohibited by the proclaimed judicial ordinance." Some acts of state terrorism also qualify as genocide, crimes against humanity or mass murder.

Methods of state terror

Kangaroo courts, torture, terror bombing, kidnapping, and extrajudicial execution are said to be common practices of state terror, often used to terrorize domestic and foreign populations by sovereign or proxy regimes.

Citizens of Western nations are generally protected from unfair trial by constitutional or legislative safeguards and the requirements of due process, although recently in the United States, Supreme Court intervention was required to uphold such safeguards, as in the 2004 case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. Undeveloped nations may have weaker institutions and unstable political climates that allow governments to have greater influence over the judiciary than in wealthier nations, allowing dissenters to be victimized as criminals.

According to Amnesty International (1997), in 1996, out of 150 countries surveyed, 82 had participated in torture.

Extrajudicial execution

Extrajudicial execution, or political murder, takes place when state agents kill citizens who are viewed as threats, or to intimidate communities. Extrajudicial execution may be carried out by the official military, police forces, or unofficial but sanctioned paramilitaries (often called "death squads" or euphemized as "civilian defence"). In the latter case, there may be strong ties between the paramilitaries and official forces, with an overlapping membership and/or a "blind eye" turned to illegal activities. See also: Janjaweed

Such death squads often unpredictably attack the socially disadvantaged ("undesirables"), religious or ethnic minorities, or citizens deemed to be subversive. Their targets typically include the homeless, street children, union leaders, indigenous peoples, clergy, activists, journalists, and academics. Death squads conveniently shield their sponsors from liability, the illusion of spontaneous criminal violence providing plausible deniability. Often, the bodies of victims are secretly disposed, typically in mass graves, leaving no evidence of a crime and increasing the trauma to families and communities. These cases are known as "forced disappearances", and take place particularly in South America. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was formed in 1980 to investigate the global phenomenon of unexplained disappearances. See also: Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia

Acts labelled as state terrorism, sorted by state

Albania

Enver Hoxha's dictatorship was one of the most oppressive and isolationist in the world. Religious practice was prohibited through imprisonment, and no political dissent was allowed. It has been estimated that up to one third of Albanians were interrogated by his regime's secret police at one time or another.

Argentina

The "Dirty War" in Argentina in the 1970s is a classic example of the use of terror tactics employed by a state against its own people. In 1976, the Argentine military overthrew the government of Isabel Peron and undertook a campaign against all people labeled as subversives, who were thought to form the social base for a violent leftist insurgency. Estimates of the number of people "disappeared" and presumed dead range from 6,000 to over 30,000. A 1984 official report following the return to democracy put the total at near 11,000. The junta used tactics inspired by the French experience fighting in Algeria, receiving some training from French ex-military. The SIDE (Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado) and infamous Batallón 601 were involved in many human-rights violations, participating in operation Condor as well as in training of the Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s. Some allege that the U.S. Government was involved by through training programs at the former School of the Americas, although relations between the two countries were cool during the period due to the Carter administration's criticisms of the regime's human rights record. However, John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to Honduras at the time, is known to have had supported the Argentinian army with training for paramilitaries.

Tactics included Death squads, Forced disappearance, Torture, Child stealing, and Ideological persecution.

Brazil

See Military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985)

Bulgaria

Implicated in the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II

Burma

The ruling junta of Burma has repeatedly engaged in activities to suppress democratic movements within the country. Many of the junta's opponents, such as Aung San Suu Kyi, believe the goal of some of these is to terrorize the population into compliance. See also: August 8, 1998 Burma protest

Cambodia

During the rule of the Khmer Rouge, about 1.7 million people were killed, or one-fifth of the country's population of the time. The Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, shocked the entire world as the government committed brutal autogenocide. In addition to death from work, starvation and exhaustion, the regime killed anyone suspected with connections with either the defeated Khmer Republic government or the previous Sihanouk government, as well as intellectuals (Pol Pot defined anyone who wore glasses as automatically an intellectual), professionals, and also ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, Laotians, and Thai. If this wasn't enough, Cambodia broke into Vietnamese, Lao, and Thai territories and massacred entire villages of noncombatants in border provinces.

Chile

Chile, under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, pursued an extensive policy regarded by many as state terrorism against both civilians at home and perceived enemies abroad. On the international stage, the Chilean state's actions included the assassination of former ambassador Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., by means of a car bomb, the killing of General Carlos Prats in Argentina in similar circumstances, and the attempted assassination of Bernardo Leighton in Italy: all exiles were stalked by DINA agents cooperating with SIDE Argentinian intelligence agency, other South American services, and far-right terrorists such as Stefano Delle Chiaie, in Operation Condor. In 1990 the Chilean president Patricio Aylwin created a commission to investigate the illegal killings carried out under the Pinochet dictatorship, 2,920 cases were reported to the commission. His report was delivered in 1991 and it is known as the Rettig Report, after his chairman, Mr. Raul Rettig. In 2003 President Ricardo Lagos established the National Commission Over Political Prison and Torture presided by Bishop Sergio Valech, oriented to develop a rigorous survey of persons that have suffered political prison or torture under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Known as the "Valech Report", it was delivered to the President on November 10, 2004 and includes the declarations of 35,868 victims.

China

Under the leadership of Mao Zedong (1893-1976), his rule was considered by many as state terrorism. The exact number of victims under the rule of Mao Zedong is uncertain, but estimates vary from 40 to 80 million, mostly from the Chinese Civil War and the Cultural Revolution. Also Chiang Kai-shek (1928-49) can be noted for his dictatorial rule and state terrorism.

The government of the People's Republic of China has repeatedly engaged in behavior considered to violate international standards of human rights. Some of these are also considered by many as acts of state terrorism, such as the suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Among groups currently actively suppressed by China are the Uyghur and Tibetan independence movements and followers of Falun Gong, a controversial spiritual movement defined by government authorities as a "cult". Some of these actions, such as mass imprisonment, detention without a trial, police violence against nonviolent demonstrators, and torture, would be classified by some as state terrorism.

Colombia

Colombian paramilitary groups, such as the AUC, have usually been considered responsible for as many as 70 to 80% of identifiable yearly political killings in the South American country's internal conflict. It has been argued on many occasions that some of these groups have maintained well documented relationships with several elements of the official state and police forces. The paramilitaries have often been accused of making and executing death threats against suspected guerrilla collaborators among the civilian population. They are blamed for many of the murders of a number of the poor and the homeless, as well as street children and others allegedly considered social undesirables, has also been assigned to them, though most of these crimes remain unresolved.

In recent years, some civilian critics, in addition to the Marxist FARC and ELN (blamed for an estimated 15 to 25% of yearly political killings), have criticized the Colombian government's policies, including, but not limited to, those of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, considering that some measures, such as the use of temporary mass roundups (where many of the detainees are later released) and the attempted implementation of an anti-terror statute, can be seen as signs of alleged state repression. (The anti-terror statute was shot down in late August 2004 by the Colombian Constitutional Court due to a procedure error. The Court has also previously struck down other security measures it considered as unconstitutional.)

The state itself is usually directly blamed by critics for about 5% of the annual political killings in Colombia's civil war. The rebel groups themselves (and/or those that may sympathize with their goals and/or methods) may label the Colombian state as "terrorist", and vice versa, while international organizations, such as the United Nations or Human Rights Watch, for the most part, do not apply the term to either party as a whole, though specific acts and individuals might qualify as such.

Cuba

Under the leadership of Fidel Castro, Cuba has been accused by human rights organizations in the world of various abuses of human rights. These allegations include extrajudicial killings, political imprisonment, and coercion of its population through control of basic resources. Cuba, through its intelligence agency the DGI, has also directly and indirectly supported violent revolutionary groups in Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.

El Salvador

During the civil war (1980-1992), security forces and death squads frequently collaborated, most notably in the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980.

France

Main article: Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

In 1985, the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, had travelled to New Zealand to lead a flotilla of yachts protesting against French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. The ship was sunk just before midnight on July 10 1985 by two explosive devices attached to the hull by operatives of French intelligence (DGSE). Of the twelve people on board, one, Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira, was killed by the second device when he attempted to retrieve his equipment. Two of the French agents were caught and jailed, but were returned to France soon after. It is the only terrorist act committed in New Zealand's modern history.

Numerous actions of the French government and military forces during the Algerian War of Independence in the late 1950s, when Algeria fought France, of which it was then a dependency, for independence, have been alleged as human rights violations. The Algerian war is considered by many to be a significant "black eye" in French history. Some hold that the Indochina War (1949-1954) has similar implications. French former militaries have been known to train Argentine military forces during the "Dirty War" and Operation Condor.

The Reign of Terror (June 1793 – July 1794), a period in the French Revolution characterized by brutal repression, was an early example of state terrorism in France. The Terror originated with a centralized political regime that suspended most of the democratic achievements of the Revolution, and intended to pursue the Revolution on social matters. Its stated aim was to destroy internal enemies and conspirators and to chase the external enemies from French territory. As one of the earliest instances of terrorism sponsored by the State's legal and administrative apparatus, many following instances of mass-execution were referred to by a similar name, e.g. the Red Terror, and because of its scale remained the most notable instance of violent government repression until it was overshadowed by the events of the twentieth century.

Germany

Main article: Holocaust

During Adolf Hitler's rule of Germany (1933-1945) the SS played a key role in building a system of state terror. It controlled the Gestapo, and was responsible for the persecution of the Jews and other races, brutalities and killings in concentration camps, excesses in the administration of occupied territories, the administration of the slave labor program and the maltreatment and murder of prisoners of war. Terror bombings and missile strikes in London targeting noncombatants during WWII are other examples of Nazi terrorism.

During the 1950s in East Germany, labor revolts and labor strikes were often put down with what most would consider hugely disproportionate force, the goal likely being to terrorize workers into conforming behavior. Also, East Germany provided assistance to the Red Army Faction, a West German militant organization. Also East Germany built the Berlin wall and openly killed many who tried to escape.

Greece

Main article: Greek military junta of 1967-1974

Guatemala

During the dictatorship of Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-83), several massacres of indigenous people and guerrilla fighters took place. A particularly notorious example was the Plan de Sánchez massacre. Evidence of these kinds of abuses can be found in the works of people such as Nobel winner Rigoberta Menchú.

India

Main article: Terrorism in India

The actions by Indian security forces against members of some secessionist movements are labeled as state terrorism by certain human rights organizations. These alleged actions include extrajudicial executions and the killing of innocent civilians during military operations in parts of India like Kashmir, Punjab and Assam.

On December 21, 2005, a video surfaced showing police officers, male and female, beating and dragging men and women in Meerut city in the province of Uttar Pradesh. The brutality is part of Operation Romeo, which specifically targets citizens suspected of dating. The police who were shown in the video claim they were "preventing sexual harassment of women." Students in Meerut have taken to the streets in protest, chanting "Down with police dictatorship" and burning effigies of police officers. Two police officers have been suspended. Police often force daters to bribe them or face incarceration.

Indonesia

The massacres of members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) from 1965 - 1969 are estimated to have claimed the lives of up to a million people and have been described as "anti-communist programs". The official minimum number of deaths is 500,000.

The Indonesian government has repeatedly used state sponsored terrorism as a method of controlling and opressing several minority groups under its rule. They are Aceh (Sumatra), East Timor and West Papua (Irian Jaya).

Iran

Iran under the last Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was notorious for state terrorism, principally through its secret police, the SAVAK, which had practically unlimited powers of torture and arbitrary arrest. After the toppling of the Shah in 1979, revolutionary Iran sponsored several terrorist organizations through aid and training. The revolutionary government also "tolerated" a student militia taking over the U.S. Embassy and holding the diplomatic staff hostage for over a year. Iran continues to fund organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and PFLP-GC; as well as providing "financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid" to Hizbullah and the Kurdistan Workers Party.

In 1992, the Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Berlin were carried out on the orders and with the knowledge of the highest layer of the Iranian leadership.

Iraq

Iraq under Saddam Hussein is widely believed to have been responsible for numerous chemical weapons attacks on its own civilian population to stem revolutionary activity during the Gulf War and pacify ethnic groups. One of the more famous incidents is the controversial Halabja poison gas attack. Iraq also attempted to terrorize the population of Israel (a noncombatant), during the Gulf War, with Scud missiles.

See also: Human rights situation in Saddam's Iraq and Human rights in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. See also M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Religion and Politics in Iraq. Shiite Clerics between Quietism and Resistance, with a foreword by Professor Hamid Algar of the University of California at Berkeley. Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2004 (ISBN 9971775131)

Israel

During the al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel engaged in tactics and controversial military operations that resulted in criticism of its policies and actions. According to Dr. Lev Grinberg, a political sociologist at Ben Gurion University, Israel's actions constituted state terrorism. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CNN founder Ted Turner have also referred to some of the acts as examples of state terrorism.

In a July 29, 2005 interview in the Nazareth-based Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab, former Israeli Minister of Education Shulamit Aloni stated that "terror utilized by Israel in the territories is worse than Palestinian terrorism". Military operations into Palestinian territory, the alleged harassment of Palestinian civilians by both military personnel and Israeli citizens, and the deaths of civilians during the assassination of Arab militant leaders have also resulted in human-rights criticism. For example, in 1982, an assassination attempt on Yasser Arafat killed 200 people when a Beirut apartment block was destroyed by an Israeli bomb, and in 1985, 73 people were killed in another assassination attempt on Arafat in Tunis. .

Italy

Main article: [[:strategy of tension and Gladio]]

The relationship between the Italian state security forces and neo-fascist paramilitary groups could be regarded as crossing over into state terrorism. The strategy of tension begun in the late 1960s to counter the perceived threat of communist groups involved collusion and provocation culminating in the 1980 bombing of Bologna railway station. The 85 deaths were immediately blamed by the government on left-wing terrorists but the bombing appears to have been the work of neo-fascists. The exact level of collusion remains unknown but in 1995, two intelligence agents were among people sentenced for investigation diversion.

Japan

Main article: [[:Nanking Massacre]]

During World War II, Unit 100, Unit 516 and Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army, tested biological weapons on Chinese civilians in Manchuria. This resulted in the death of thousands of noncombatants. Also, 300,000 civilians were mass murdered in the Nanking Massacre.

Libya

The Libyan intelligence service was exposed as responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; UN sanctions were imposed in 1992. UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) passed in 1992 and 1993 obliged Libya to fulfill requirements related to the Pan Am 103 bombing before sanctions could be lifted, leading to Libya's political and economic isolation for most of the 1990s. The UN sanctions cut airline connections with the outer world, reduced diplomatic representation and prohibited the sale of military equipment. Oil-related sanctions were assessed by some as equally significant for their exceptions: thus sanctions froze Libya's foreign assets (but excluded revenue from oil and natural gas and agricultural commodities) and banned the sale to Libya of refinery or pipeline equipment (but excluded oil production equipment).

Under the sanctions Libya's refining capacity eroded. Libya's role on the international stage grew less provokative after UN sanctions were imposed. In 1999, Libya fulfilled one of the UNSCR requirements by surrendering two Libyans suspected in connection with the bombing for trial before a Scottish court in the Netherlands. One of these suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, was found guilty; the other was acquitted. UN sanctions against Libya were subsequently suspended. The full lifting of the sanctions, contingent on Libya's compliance with the remaining UNSCRs, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of appropriate compensation, was passed 12 September 2003, explicitly linked to the release of up to $2.7 billion in Libyan funds to the families of the 1988 attack's 270 victims.

The 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing was carried out on orders of Libyan Intelligence services.

Mexico

It is claimed that during the 1970s Mexican security authorities employed torture and assassination against guerrilla members, student protesters and their sympathizers. Since the mid to late 1990s illegal paramilitary groups have clashed with the EZLN in the Chiapas region, and acted against their supporters, leading to several massacres and forced displacements of civilians. Critics claim that some of these violent actions occurred with local military and police tolerance or cooperation.

Morocco

Main article: Years of Lead

Myanmar

Further information: August 8, 1998 Burma protest

The ruling junta of Myanmar has repeatedly engaged in activities to suppress democratic movements within the country. Many of the junta's opponents, such as Aung San Suu Kyi, believe the goal of some of these is to terrorize the population into compliance.

Nigeria

Sani Abacha's dictatorship in the early 1990s was notorious for its high levels of repression, most notably in the kangaroo court that led to the execution of activist Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995.

North Korea

North Korea has sponsored numerous acts of terror against South Korea since its founding [1].

In the 1980s North Korea was linked to two international terrorist attacks. In the Rangoon bombing of October 1983, North Korean agents were responsible for an attempt on the life of South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan at Burma's National Cemetery in Rangoon, Burma which killed 17 South Korean officials including the South Korean foreign minister and ambassador to Burma as well as four Burmese. President Chun arrived at the cemetery behind schedule and was unharmed. The Burmese government later apprehended the North Korean agents responsible, who confessed. North Korea is also believed to be responsible for the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 on November 29, 1987 over the Andaman Sea in which all 115 passengers and crew were killed. That attack is thought to have been devised to scare tourists away from visiting the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul after North Korea was not asked to co-host the events [2].

Pakistan

Main article: Terrorism in Pakistan

The East Pakistan crisis of the early 1970s and West Pakistan's military involvement in killings (Operation Searchlight) of East Pakistanis during the Bangladesh Liberation War have given it the label of an act of state terrorism in certain cases. Pakistan is also believed to have provided direct support to other terrorist groups in the past.

Romania

Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu (1965-1989) was highly repressed, and the regime's mistreatment of gays, the mentally ill and orphaned children was especially notable.

Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 by the Hutu army against Tutsis was an egregious example of state terrorism.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is accused by many human rights groups of serious violations - principally through its strict version of Sharia law, its executions of gays and its intolerance of religious or political dissent. The Mutaween (Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) are frequently cited as being principal violators. A notorious incident attributed to the Saudi mutaween occurred on March 11, 2002 when they prevented schoolgirls from escaping a burning school in Mecca, because the girls were not wearing headscarves and abayas (black robes). Fifteen girls died and 50 were injured as a result. There was widespread public criticism afterwards, both internationally and within Saudi Arabia itself.

Serbia

Serbia provided the financial backing for the Black Hand in the early 1900's. The Black Hand was responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. The assassination triggered the aggression that started The First World War.

In the 1990s, Serbia directly or indirectly supported military operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, which led to thousands of people being displaced and killed. In the case of the former, the Srebenica and Zepa massacres were especially notorious. NATO bombing of Belgrade largely halted Serb actions in the case of the latter.

South Africa

During the apartheid era, South Africa was suspected of involvement in a series of terrorist incidents. According to information revealed in 1998 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), South African agents were implicated in the 1961 aircrash in Zambia which killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. The State Security Council, the Directorate of Military Intelligence and other organs of state terrorism such as the Civil Co-operation Bureau, Operation Longreach and Koevoet were variously alleged to have been involved in:

• the 1982 burglary of the PAC office in London
• the 1982 bombing of the ANC office in London
• the 1982 assassination of anti-apartheid activist Ruth First in Mozambique
• the 1984 assassination of the wife and daughter of anti-apartheid activist Marius Schoon in Angola
• the 1986 assassination of Sweden's prime minister Olof Palme in Stockholm
• the 1986 bombing of the ANC office in Stockholm
• the 1986 aircrash in which President Samora Machel of Mozambique was killed
• the 1987 thwarted plan to kidnap the ANC leadership in London
• the 1988 assassination of the ANC's Paris representative Dulcie September
• the 1988 aircrash of Pan Am Flight 103 in which 270 people were killed, including UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson
• de-stabilization of neighboring states

South African "superspy" Craig Williamson admitted responsibility for three of the above incidents and was given immunity from prosecution by being granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Soviet Union

Under the reign of Josef Stalin (and, to a lesser extent, under several other Soviet leaders), political opponents of the Soviet regime, as well as perceived "enemies of the people", were subject to incarceration under life-threatening circumstances and execution. Stalin was able to cement his hold on power by intimidating and executing his political opponents, real and imagined.

The assassination of dissidents in exile (such as the 1940 murder of Leon Trotsky in Mexico by agents of Stalin) might also be considered an example of state terrorism.

After the Korean War, the Soviets supported allied and friendly regimes – notably Libya, South Yemen, and Palestinian groups, which in turn supported the terrorist activities of a broad spectrum of violent revolutionaries, including nihilistic groups. [3]

The Soviet suppression of Czechoslovakian reforms and the Hungarian revolts with massive shows of force, terrorized not only those populations, but others countries in the eastern block.

Spain

During the 1970s and the 1980s, several groups, Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey, Batallón Vasco Español, Antiterrorismo ETA (ATE), and Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL), attacked suspected members of Basque terrorist organization ETA. These groups have been suspected and in some cases proved to include Spanish policemen and to be funded with state secret funds.

Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón's investigations led to the conviction of a Spanish PSOE minister and several subordinates for organizing the GAL.

Garzón has also provided the following definition for "state terrorism": A political system whose rule of recognition permits and/or imposes a clandestine, unpredictable, and diffuse application, even regarding clearly innocent people, of coercive means prohibited by the proclaimed judicial ordinance. Some acts of state terrorism also qualify as genocide, crimes against humanity or mass murder.

The human rights abuses by Falangist militias against defeated Republicans, Anarchists, and Communists in the aftermath of Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War could be regarded as an example of state terrorism.

Sri Lanka

• 1948 - Supposed Discrimination Against Tamils by Sri Lanka

State Sponsored Settlement of Sinhalese in disputed Tamil Areas Begins.

Thousands of Sinhalese settlers were moved into recent Tamil homelands. Tamils were not opposed to individual migration but only to large scale government colonization schemes which change the ethnic composition of an area. This resettlement was due to the growing population of the nation. There were also many Sinhalese who had lost their lands to British imperialists. Since 40% of Sri Lanka's Tamil community lived among the Sinhalese in the south, and since the North-East had been a traditional abode of the Sinhalese before constant Tamil invasions had pushed them to the south, this was seen as an affirmative action by the Sinhalese people.

• 1950 - Over One Million Tamils Lost Their Sri Lankan Citizenship.

Generations of estate Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka for more than a 115 years. In 1948, at independence, the Tamils had 33% of the voting power in the legislature. Upon the disenfranchisement of the estate Tamils (in 1950), however, this proportion dropped to 20%. The Sinhalese obtained more than a 2/3 majority in the Parliament, making it impossible for Tamils to exercise an effective opposition to Sinhalese policies affecting them.

• 1956 - 'Sinhala Only' Act Was Introduced.

English was removed from its status as the official language and Sinhala was made the official language of Sri Lanka. This was due to the majority Sinhalese being educated in Sinhalese schools, and not finding jobs during the British Imperialistic era. All government employees were required to be fluent in Sinhala. Most Tamils who worked for the government lost their jobs. Government administration was offered only in Sinhala, even in areas where 99% of the population was literate in Tamil. The Tamil Federal Party led a group Tamil volunteers and staged a sit down Satyagraha, (peaceful protest) of the kind popularized by Mahatma Gandhi in the days of the Indian freedom struggle, in Colombo. This protest was broken up by armed Sinhalese gangs, while Sinhalese policemen stood by and watched. Some protestors were through into nearby Beira Lake. Riots then broke out through out Sri Lanka where Tamils were assaulted, homes, shops and property burned. Sinhalese settlers in the Northern and Eastern province were attacked by neighboring Tamil villages. In 1956, 150 Sinhalese were murdered. The violence continued for two more years. In 1958 another 150-200 Tamils were murdered, thousands more were assaulted and Tamil property looted. Over 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated to the North. As peaceful protests against discrimination continued in 1961 the Sri Lankan Army attacked hundreds of men and women in Jaffna.

• 1972 - Sri Lanka introduces an affirmative action policy for sinhalese students for University Education. Though this was claimed to be a discrimnatory act by the Tamils, who had been a favored minority during the British colonial era, many disadvantaged Sinhalese were satisfied.

In 1970 Sri Lanka banned the importing of Tamil films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from Tamil Nadu, India. Sri Lanka also proscribe the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, the Tamil people were cut off from Tamil Nadu. Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of Londonwere abolished. Having thus cut off Tamil students from their traditional educational opportunities, Sri Lanka government introduced various restriction on Tamil education. The Tamil students faced the brunt of affirmative action bye having to gain higher marks on their entrance exam as their Sinhalese counterparts. The government then brought in district quotas. This effectively based university entrance on ethnicity. Less than 15% of university seats were available for Tamils.

• 1981 - Destruction of the Jaffna Public Library

A large group of 200 Sinhalese Policewent on rampage on the nights of May 31 to June 2 burning the market area of Jaffna, the office of the Tamil Newspaper, the home of the member of Parliament for Jaffna, the Jaffna Public Library and murder four people. The destruction of the Jaffna Public Library was the incident which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna. The 95,000 volumes of the Public Library destroyed by the fire included numerous culturally important and irreplaceable manuscripts.

• 1983 - Black July

The fourth week of July 1983 (23 29) witnessed the worst violence and blood shed in Sri Lanka. This was following the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan soldiers bt the LTTE, a terrorist organization. During the week, Sri Lankan state orchestrated violence that claimed the lives of more than 3,00 Tamils; over a million dollars worth of Tamils' property were destroyed. Most of the instigators were criminals who worked for the UNP, who relied heavily on underworld elements to carry out political activities. More than a hundred thousand Tamils were made destitute. The government of Sri Lanka itself systematically planned and executed the atrocities against the Tamils. The government provided the rioters with voters' list to identify the homes of the Tamils. Once the Tamil homes were identified the occupants were either hacked or burnt to death by the state sponsered criminals, and the properties were plundered. In Colombo, 53 political prisoners were massacred inside a high security prison. None of the perpetrators of these barbaric atrocities were ever brought to Justice.

Sudan

The Sudanese government has been accused of major violations of human rights and state terrorism, principally through supporting the Janjaweed militias in Darfur, and its controversial behaviour in Southern Sudan. It has been alleged that the current Islamist regime has performed forced conversions to Islam of Christians and Animists through starvation.

Syria

The United States Department of State accuses Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism for providing "political and limited material support" to a number of Palestinian rejectionist groups, deemed to be terrorist groups by the United States, Canada, European Union, and Israel. These groups include the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Hezbollah.

The leaders of many of these groups live in Damascus, including Ramadan Shalah, the Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad; his deputy Ziad Nehaleh; Imad al-Alami, a senior Hamas operative; other leading Palestinians such as Ahmed Jibril, George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh live in Syria. Syria also facilitated the presence of these groups in Lebanon, particularly in the Beka'a Valley, where Hezbollah engages in narcotics production and large-scale currency forgery.

The Syrian government itself has been accused of engaging in state terrorism by President George W. Bush and by the American public broadcaster PBS. The European Community met on November 10, 1986 to discuss the Hindawi Affair, an attempt to bomb an El Al flight out of London, and the subsequent arrest and trial in the UK of Nizar Hindawi, who allegedly received Syrian government support after the bombing, and possibly beforehand . The European response was to impose sanctions against Syria and state that these measures were intended "to send Syria the clearest possible message that what has happened is absolutely unacceptable."

However, Syria has assisted the United States and other governments in their opposition to al-Qaeda (Country Reports on Terrorism, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, April 27, 2005).

The following acts of violence or assassinations were carried out against those who opposed Syria, and Syrian involvement or support has been cited to various degrees:

• (February 2005) Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb which killed ten others. Hariri was a known opponent of the pro-Syrian policies of Emile Lahoud. The opposition parties in Lebanon accuse Syria of orchestrating the assassination.
• (October 2004) Failed assassination attempt against anti-Syrian politician Marwan Hmade. He had demanded Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
• (May 2002) Assassination of anti-Syrian-occupation activist Ramzi Irani whose body was found in the boot of his car, nearly two weeks after his kidnapping.
• (October 1990) Assassination of Lebanese leader, Dany Chamoun and his wife and two children immediately following Syrian occupation.
• (August 1987) Assassination of Dr. Mohammad Choucair, an advisor to Lebanese President Amine Gemayel was killed inside his home in the Syrian-controlled part of West Beirut on August 2, 1987.
• (October 1986) Assassination of Sheikh Soubhi Saleh, the head of the Islamic Shiite Higher Council.
• (September 1982) Assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel (1947-1982) who was killed along with many others in the bombing of his party's Beirut headquarters.
• (July 1980) Assassination of Riad Taha, a prominent journalist. (Also read recent article "Journalists and politicians pay tribute to legacy of Riad Taha" dated July 23 2005: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=17019
• (February 1980) Assassination of Selim Lowzi, a prominent journalist who opposed the Syrian regime.
• (March 1977) Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, a Lebanese Druze leader near a Syrian checkpoint after he publicly criticized the Syrian invasion of Lebanon.

These are all assassinations that have never been proven to be Syria.

Turkey

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Turkish government's behaviour in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country had frequently resulted in controversy, ostensibly while it was fighting against the separatist PKK. It should be noted that, until 2001, the Kurdish language was illegal and many people were arrested for speaking it.

Uganda

When an Air France Airbus was hijacked from Athens on June 27 1976, the terrorists were invited by Ugandan leader Idi Amin to stop at Entebbe International Airport in the city of Entebbe, 32 km from Kampala. The hijackers demanded the release of 53 PLO and Red Army Faction prisoners in return for the 256 hostages, and were assisted by Amin's troops. Amin visited the hostages at least twice to humiliate them. At midnight on July 3, 1976, Israeli commandos attacked the airport and freed all but two of the hostages. (One was killed by friendly fire from the Israeli forces, while another, 75-year-old Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a hospital before the rescue, was murdered by two Ugandan army officers on Amin's orders after the hostage rescue.) Amin was also rumoured to practice cannibalism as a form of state terrorism to intimidate his political opponents.

United Kingdom

Former Colonies

Human rights abuses against independence movements (many of which were themselves violent) and British collusion in them has been reported in a number of former colonies of the British Empire.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British army, have been involved in the deaths of Irish republicans and Catholic civilians at the hands of different loyalist paramilitary groups. The victims included members of the PIRA, Sinn Féin and civilians, including solicitors (eg. Pat Finucane) . There have been a number of investigations and reports into alleged collusion between Security Forces and Paramilitaries, of which the Stevens Report is the most comprehensive to date, although no concrete evidence has been presented that the collusion was authorised by the British government. Without such evidence these actions cannot be considered state terrorism.

There are also allegations that a "shoot-to-kill" policy existed in the 1980s, usually concerning incidents involving members of the Special Air Service, Ulster Defence Regiment or the RUC. The most famous allegations regard the Death on the Rock case on Gibraltar. Many groups, including Sinn Féin, demand that further enquires be made to find out how high up the collusion went, and while members of the British government deny that any further investigations will find any evidence of government involvement in the collusion, they stated they were in favour of further investigations into specific incidents such as the one by Canadian Judge Peter Cory. On publication of Cory's reports on 7 October 2004 the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy said "I firmly believe that the only way we can put the past behind us in Northern Ireland is by seeking to establish the truth." However, the British government quickly passed the Inquiries Act 2005, limiting the scope of the inquiries proposed by Cory, which the judge has strongly criticised. The Irish government has recently threatened to take the British government to the European Court of Justice, over the latter's refusal to hand over files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings.

United States

See also: American terrorism (term)

A number of people cite actions of the United States of America as terrorism. For instance, the U.S. has been accused of working with and supporting political organizations and juntas with questionable human rights practices and intentions, such as Augusto Pinochet, operation Condor and in Italy, operation Gladio. Also, the United States armed and funded the Contras over a period of several years, whose activities included some actions the U.S. State Department called "terrorist activities" (Sandinista; Iran-Contra affair). (Notably, the same claims were made about their Sandinista opponents.) An alleged example of a terrorist action conducted directly by the United States government is the CIA's disruption of shipping by planting underwater mines in Nicaragua's Corinto harbour, which resulted in the sinking of at least one civilian ship. The International Court of Justice ruled that the United States had violated international law by supporting military and paramilitary activities in Nicaragua. The United States refused to pay restitution even after the United Nations General Assembly passed a near unanimous resolution. (cf. Nicaragua vs. United States).

According to the final report of the Historical Clarification Commission, an independent human rights body that documented the mass killings by the Honduran government in the 1980s, the U.S. government, through various agencies including the CIA, provided direct and indirect support for Honduran death-squad operations that killed tens of thousands of civilians and raped and tortured many tens of thousands more. The report concluded that the U.S. also funded and trained a Guatemalan military unit that committed "acts of genocide" against the Mayans. (Consortium News, May 26, 1999, http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/052699a1.html)

Further, the United States continues to harbor and refuses to put on trial or extradite known terrorists, such as Luis Posada Carriles, Guillermo Novo Sampol, Pedro Remon and Gaspar Jimenezand, and the CIA had trained some of these terrorists (Washington Post, Sept. 3, 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57838-2004Sep2.html).

The 19th-Century Indian Wars, and Sherman's March to the Sea; each accompanied with the rape and murder of civilian noncombatants, and the associated destruction of agriculture and livestock, are also examples of state terrorism. The forced relocation of native tribes, also known as the Trail of Tears, has also been referred to as state terrorism.

Uzbekistan

The Government of Uzbekistan, led by Islam Karamov, has been responsible for a number of human rights violations. The most recent well-known example was its suppression of the demonstrations in the border town of Andizhan in May 2005.

Zaire

Joseph Mobutu's regime was characterised by high levels of repression and corruption, and was finally brought down by Rwandan and Ugandan backed forces in 1997.

Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe's regime has been accused frequently of state terrorism, for example the massacres of the Ndebele ethnic group in the 1980s, its destruction of houses where opposition supporters live and its illegal takeover of white-owned farms.

References

• Sluka, Jeffrey A. (Ed.) (2000). Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1711-X.
• Chomsky, Noam and Herman, Edward S. (1979). The Political Economy of Human Rights - Volume I. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-090-0
• Alexander George (1991). Western State Terrorism. Polity Press. ISBN 0745609317.
• Mark Curtis (2004). Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses. Vintage. ISBN 0099469723.

External links

Syria

• "Terrorism: The Syrian Connection", by Daniel Pipes
• U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism List (5B)
• Syrian terrorist incidents
• "Terrorism as a Preferred Instrument of Syrian Policy" by Dr. Reuven Ehrlich (Avi-Ran), ICT
• "Sponsoring terrorism: Syrian and Hamas by Gary C. Gambill, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, October 2002
• Video about State Terror

Others

• Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka
• Sinhala State terrorism
• The Brazilian and the Leviathan: London Calling Article on the latent terrorist tendencies of the British state, by James Horrox
• Pat Finucane Centre

See also

• terrorism
• State-sponsored terrorism
• terror bombing
• War crime
• Crime against humanity
• false flag operation
• Operation Condor
• Operation Gladio
• Operation Northwoods

Further reading

• Chomsky, Noam. The Culture of Terrorism ISBN 0896083349
• Chomsky, Noam. 9/11 ISBN 1583224890
• George, Alexander. Western State Terrorism, Polity Press. ISBN 0745609317