Star

Kerry Declares ISIS Committing
Genocide Against Christians, Others
22 Monday, March 21, 2016 The San Juan Daily Star
Secretary of State John Kerry declared late last week that
the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians
and other minorities in the Middle East, after facing
heavy pressure from lawmakers and rights groups to make the
rare designation.
“In my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide
against groups in territory under its control, including Yazidis,
Christians and Shia Muslims,” Kerry said Thursday at the
State Department, referring to the terror group by an adapted
acronym of its Arabic name.
He accused ISIS of “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic
cleansing.”
The announcement was a surprise, at least in terms of
the timing. A day earlier, a State Department spokesman said
they would miss a congressionally mandated March 17 deadline
to make a decision. Yet as the department took heat from
lawmakers for the expected delay, the department confirmed
Thursday morning that Kerry had reached the decision that
Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide.
It comes after the House this week passed a nonbinding
resolution by a 393-0 vote condemning ISIS atrocities as genocide.
Kerry’s finding will not obligate the United States to take
additional action against ISIS militants and does not prejudge
any prosecution against its members, said U.S. officials.
Kerry, though, urged others to join in holding the group
“accountable”; he called for an “independent investigation” as
well as a court or tribunal to take action to that end.
Saying the terror network is “genocidal” in what it says,
believes and does, Kerry recited a litany of documented atrocities
including the execution of Christians in Iraq “solely because
of their faith” and of Yazidis.
Lawmakers and others who have advocated for the finding
had sharply criticized the department’s disclosure Wednesday
that the deadline would be missed. The officials said Kerry
concluded his review just hours after that announcement and
that the criticism had not affected his decision.
“Secretary Kerry is finally making the right call,” House
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said
in a statement after the announcement Thursday. He added
that “President Obama should step up and lay out the broad,
overarching plan that’s needed to actually defeat and destroy
ISIS. This administration’s long pattern of paralysis and ineffectiveness
in combating these radical Islamist terrorists is unacceptable.”
The determination marks only the second time a U.S. administration
has declared that a genocide was being committed
during an ongoing conflict.
The first was in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Colin
Powell determined that atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region
constituted genocide. Powell reached that determination amid
much lobbying from human rights groups, but only after State
Department lawyers advised him that it would not -- contrary
to legal advice offered to previous administrations -- obligate
the United States to act to stop it.
In that case, the lawyers decided that the 1948 U.N. Convention
against genocide did not require countries to prevent
genocide from taking place outside their territory. Powell instead
called for the U.N. Security Council to appoint a commission
to investigate and take appropriate legal action if it agreed
with the genocide determination.
The officials said Kerry’s determination followed a similar
finding by department lawyers.
Although the United States is involved in military strikes
against ISIS and has helped prevent some incidents of ethnic
cleansing, notably of Yazidis, some advocates argue that a
genocide determination would require additional U.S. action.
In making his decision, Kerry weighed whether the militants’
targeting of Christians and other minorities meets the
definition of genocide, according to the U.N. Convention: “acts
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State
Department in Washington, Thursday.
committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic, racial or religious group.”
His determination, however, does not carry the legal implication
of a verdict of guilt or conviction on genocide charges,
the officials said. Such decisions will be left to international or
other tribunals.
In a bid to push the review process, several groups released
reports last week documenting what they said is clear
evidence that the legal standard has been met.
The Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians,
which had applauded Monday’s House resolution, said they
hoped the delay would ensure that Kerry makes the determination.
“There is only one legal term for this, and that is genocide,”
said Knights of Columbus chief Carl Anderson.
The groups’ 280-page report identified by name more than
1,100 Christians who they said had been killed by ISIS. It detailed
numerous instances of people kidnapped, raped, sold
into slavery and driven from their homes, along with the destruction
of churches.
Egypt Finds New Clues That Queen Nefertiti May Lie Buried Behind Tut’s Tomb
Egypt has unearthed further evidence that a secret
chamber, believed by some to be the lost burial site
of Queen Nefertiti, may lie behind King Tutankhamun’s
tomb, Egypt’s antiquities minister said late last
week.
There is huge international interest in Nefertiti, who
died in the 14th century B.C. and is thought to be Tutankhamun’s
stepmother, and confirmation of her final
resting place would be the most remarkable Egyptian archaeological
find this century.
An analysis of radar scans done on the site last November
has revealed the presence of two empty spaces
behind two walls in King Tut’s chamber, Damaty told a
news conference.
“(The scans point to) different things behind the walls,
different material that could be metal, could be organic,”
he said.
Damaty said in November there was a 90 percent
chance that “something” was behind the walls of King
Tut’s chamber following an initial radar scan that had
been sent to Japan for analysis.
A more advanced scan will be conducted at the end
of this month with an international research team to confirm
whether the empty spaces are in fact chambers. Only
then, Damaty said, can he discuss the possibility of how
and when a team could enter the rooms.
“We can say more than 90 percent that the chambers
are there. But I never start the next step until I’m 100 percent.”
The find could be a boon for Egypt’s ailing tourism
industry, which has suffered endless setbacks since an
uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but
remains a vital source of foreign currency.
British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, who is leading
the investigation, believes that Tutankhamun’s mausoleum
was originally occupied by Nefertiti and that she lies
undisturbed behind what he believes is a partition wall.
The discovery of Nefertiti, whose chiselled cheekbones
and regal beauty were immortalised in a 3,300-year
old bust now on display in a Berlin museum, would shed
fresh light on what remains a mysterious period of Egyptian
history.
“It can be the discovery of the century. It’s very important
for Egyptian history and the history of the world,”
said Damaty.