Human Rights Today: 3-27-09

by admin on March 27, 2009

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

SRI LANKA: Civilians die in Sri Lanka shelling

Sri Lanka flagAt least 54 Sri Lankan civilians have been killed by shelling in the so-called safe zone in the north of the country, officials say. al Jazeera

IRAQ: Children killed in Baghdad blast

iraqi flagAt least 16 people have been killed and 35 others wounded in a car bomb at a crowded market in Baghdad, police say. al Jazeera

UK: Investigate torture claims

U.K. flagBritish police are to investigate whether the country’s intelligence agency was complicit in the alleged torture of a former Guantanamo detainee. al Jazeera

ISRAEL: The Testimony from Gaza

israeli flagThe soldier had served as a squad commander during the Israeli army’s invasion of the Gaza Strip last winter. His unit was assigned to advance into Gaza City. His initial orders, he recalled, were that after an armored vehicle broke down the door of a building, his men were to enter, spraying fire: “I call it murdering … going up one floor after another, and anyone we spot, shoot him.” The word from his higher-ups was that anyone who hadn’t fled the neighborhood could be assumed to be a terrorist. The orders fit a pattern: In Gaza, “as you know, they used lots and lots of force and killed lots and lots of people on the way so that we wouldn’t be hurt,” he said. American Prospect

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