Today’s update of human rights events around the world.
ZIMBABWE: Released abductees tell their story
The three are part of over 40 MDC and civil society activists who were abducted on trumped up charges of banditry and recruiting MDC youths for terrorism training in neighbouring Botswana in an effort to topple the Zanu PF government. According to Tembo, Tarumbwa and Musona they were severely tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment by State security agents during their illegal detention in a bid to force them to confess to the false charges. This is Zimbabwe
NEW YORK: Stop Sending Prison Drug Users to ‘the Box’
New York State’s practice of sentencing inmates to months, even years, in disciplinary segregation for drug use and possession and denying them effective drug dependence treatment constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch
U.K.: Detainee Offered Freedom for Silence on Torture
A British court ruled Monday that U.S. authorities had asked a Guantanamo Bay detainee to drop allegations of torture in exchange for his freedom. A ruling by two British High Court judges said the U.S. offered Binyam Mohamed a plea bargain deal in October. Mohamed refused the deal and the U.S. dropped all charges against him later last year. Common Dreams
WORLD: State executions ‘almost double’
The number of state executions almost doubled last year worldwide, with China accounting for nearly three-quarters of the total, Amnesty International says. In its annual survey, the group says 2,390 people were put to death in 2008, up from 1,252 in 2007. Of those, 1,718 people (72%) were executed in China. BBC
GAZA: Israel accused of ‘new Gaza crime’
A senior UN official has suggested that Israel should be held accountable for a “new crime against humanity” during its January assault on the Gaza strip. Richard Falk, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said Israel had confined Palestinian civilians to the combat zone in Gaza, a unique move which should be outlawed. al Jazeera
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