Today’s update of human rights events around the world.
BANGLADESH: Investigate Torture Allegations
The government of Bangladesh should take urgent steps to ensure that those detained in connection with the massacre of 74 people at the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the country’s paramilitary border guards, on February 25, 2009, are not subjected to retribution, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and other mistreatment, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch
U.S.: Tens of Thousands Languish in Immigration Detention Without Hearings or Bond
Tens of thousands of people languish in U.S. immigration detention facilities every year – including a number of U.S. citizens – without receiving a hearing to determine whether their detention is warranted, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) said in a report released today. The report, Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA, shows that, in just over a decade, the number of immigrants in detention each day has tripled from 10,000 in 1996 to more than 30,000 in 2008. Numbers are likely to increase in 2009. A majority of the detainees have extreme difficulty retaining a lawyer or help navigating the complex legal process. In some cases, individuals become so desperate that they agree to deportation even if their circumstances don’t warrant it. Common Dreams
ZIMBABWE: Mugabe refuses to swear in Roy Bennett
There have been many occasions through the long negotiating process where Zimbabweans, watching a particularly outrageous demand crop up, have wondered ‘will they, or won’t they’? Will the MDC compromise/capitulate/cave in – or will they stand their ground? This is Zimbabwe
GAZA: Witness accounts and additional analysis of IDF use of white phosphorus
Human Rights Watch found that in Gaza the IDF used white phosphorus in at least three ways. First, on at least three occasions, Israeli forces air-burst white phosphorus in densely populated areas. On January 15, for example, the IDF air-burst white phosphorus over homes and apartment buildings in the crowded Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, where civilians were living or taking shelter, killing at least four members of one family. White phosphorous shells hit a hospital the same day. Human Rights Watch
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