Today’s update of human rights events around the world.

ZIMBABWE: Bennett is granted bail, but has to stay in Mutare Prison

Roy Bennett was granted bail today but the State immediately appealed against the ruling. This means Bennett will have to spend another seven days in jail while the court lodges their appeal. This is Zimbabwe

U.S.: Report Contradicts Govt Claims of “Humane” Detention

A leading human rights organisation charges that contrary to recent U.S. government reports that found prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba being treated humanely, they are in fact “deteriorating at a rapid rate” due to “harsh conditions that continue to this day, despite a few cosmetic changes to their routines.” IPS

CHILE: Gov’t Unleashes Anti-Terror Law on Mapuche Activist

“They burst in aiming machine guns at us. They found him in the hallway, they grabbed him by the hair, they threw him on the floor and they beat him up,” Ida Huenulef told IPS, describing the arrest of her son Miguel, the first indigenous Mapuche activist to be charged under the Anti-Terrorist Law by the government of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. IPS

BANGLADESH: BDR (Border Guards) Mutiny

Worrying news is coming from Dhaka. There is a mutiny going inside Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters. Apparently clashes broke out between senior and junior officers as troops have taken control and locked officers. Gun fires and mortar attacks were heard. Police sealed of the surrounding area of BDR headquarters in Dhanmondi. Journalists were seen with bullet vests and they were not given access to the scene. Five people, injured by stray bullets in Jigatala area during gunfight inside BDR Headquarters at Peelkhana this (Wednesday) morning. 3rd World View

I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage.

President Obama, addressing a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

As the financial stimulus plan plays out in Washington, we hear voices in Congress rage about the financial services industry lobbying to influence the bailout using taxpayer dollars. While I find this outrage to be rather duplicitous, I thought it would be informative to take a look at the numbers. They are staggering.

Financial sector lobbying in Washington has achieved impressive results. Though the return on the political investment made by the companies and their surrogates are dramatic, the risks associated with this political largesse are only now becoming apparent.

The Investment in Political Activity

For 2008, the last full year of disclosure, lobbying expenditures by banks, insurance companies and the real estate sector were phenomenal. The Securities and Investment sector spent more than $92 million on lobbying. Commercial banks spent more than $55 million and the insurance industry spent a whopping $152 million on lobbying that year. If that weren’t enough, their political giving went through the roof.

In 2008, the three industries combined made more than $296 million in contributions to members of the House and Senate and affiliated campaigns. The vast majority of this money, approximately $244 million was given to incumbents in both parties.

As the Center for Responsive Politics notes in a report on their OpenSecrets.org site, “the financial sector is far and away the biggest source of campaign contributions to federal candidates and parties, with insurance companies, securities and investment firms, real estate interests and commercial banks providing the bulk of that money. ”

The CRP goes on to note that several industries within the sector supported bankruptcy reform legislation, privatization of social security and data security regulation, which would have limited the liability of banks in the event of on-line security breaches.

However, as we have witnessed in recent months, the acts of omission in Washington contributed to the variety of factors that brought about the collapse of the global economy thereby showing us the flip side of this return, namely, political risk.

Political Risk Factors Exceed the Investment Returns

Unless you have been living in a remote cave these last few months, it would be next to impossible to ignore the fact that the financial services sector bears the brunt of the global economic crisis.

The risk equation in this situation is not just the risk associated with the political giving act but the outcomes achieved by both lobbying and political giving. Regulators failed to regulate, legislators failed to legislate and as the world changed nothing happened in Washington to ensure that what could and did happen in the industry to the detriment of the world was not prevented.

Thus, in looking at the political risk equation, it is apparent that, along with other risk factors that these companies ignored, political risk was completely overlooked as the returns achieved from the political spending flowed.

Today’s update of human rights events around the world.

COLOMBIA: Radio show reveals identity killed FARC hostages

Caracol Radio show ‘Voces del Secuestro’ (voices of abduction) revealed 34 names of FARC hostages who were killed in captivity. The names were given by demobilized guerrillas. Colombia Reports

U.S.: Probe Finds Army Charity is Hoarding Millions

As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows. Common Dreams

U.S.: Freed Guantanamo detainee says U.S. behind his torture

Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years, was released and put on a plane to Britain on Monday and accused the U.S. government of orchestrating his torture. Reuters

ZIMBABWE: 80,250 cases of cholera recorded in Zimbabwe (as of 19 Feb 2009)

These are the latest figure for the cholera crisis, as of (19 February), released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 80,250 cholera cases have been recorded to date, and 3,759 Zimbabweans have died from the disease. Click on the graph to enlarge. This is Zimbabwe

CHINA: Trapped China miners found alive

Dozens of trapped miners have been rescued after a blast at the mine they were working in killed at least 74 people. Al Jazeera

PALESTINE: Amnesty urges Israel arms embargo

Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called for a global arms embargo on Israel over its conduct during the war on Gaza. Al Jazeera