The daily update of human rights events around the world.
Blackwater Banned From Iraq
Blackwater, a US private security firm, has been barred from providing security for US diplomats in Iraq for its alleged involvement in the deaths of at least 17 civilians in 2007. Al Jazeera
Guantanamo judge rejects delay plea
A military judge at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has rejected a request by Barack Obama, the US president, to suspend the trial of a Saudi man accused of planning a 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. Al Jazeera
Families Demand Justice for Abuse and Deaths of Wrongfully Detained Sons at Guantanamo
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law filed the final brief in a civil action naming Donald Rumsfeld and 23 other military and medical officials for their role in the illegal detention, torture, inhumane conditions, and ultimate deaths of Yasser Al-Zahrani and Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al-Salami while in the custody of the United States at Guantánamo Bay. The case was filed by the families of the two men, who also seek to hold U.S. officials responsible for the government’s callous response following the deaths. Common Dreams
Will the FDA Finally Get Out of Bed With Big Pharma?
A test case for the new government will be how it deals with the pharmaceutical industry, which rivals the gun manufacturers and tobacco companies for the position of most amoral industry in America. Mother Jones
Women Are Not “Pork”
Responding to President Obama’s request, House Democrats cut a provision from the stimulus package that would expand contraceptive family planning for Medicaid patients-usually poor women and girls. Religion Dispatches
Zimbabwe Abandons its Currency
Zimbabweans will be allowed to conduct business in other currencies, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar, in an effort to stem the country’s runaway inflation. BBC
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