U.S.

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

GAZA: US Gaza Aid Tied to Recognition of Israel

Some $900 million pledged by the United States to the Palestinians will be withdrawn if the expected Palestinian Authority coalition government between Fatah and Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, Western and Israeli diplomats said Wednesday.  Common Dreams

CANADA: Ban Bush From Canada for War Crimes

A lawyers’ group has asked the RCMP to bar former U.S. president George W. Bush from entering Canada, citing torture and war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Common Dreams

TUNISIA: Revolving Door Shows Intolerance for Dissent

The Tunisian government released a long-serving political prisoner only to re-arrest him a few weeks later solely for expressing his political views to the media, Human Rights Watch said today.  Human Rights Watch

US: Cluster Bomb Exports Banned

Legislation signed into law on March 11, 2009 by President Obama will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports by the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should review its stance on joining the international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions in light of this action, Human Rights Watch said.  Human Rights Watch

CHINA: Putting a Face to Internet Censorship

I wasn’t going to post again today, but I was just reading Erica’s post, and I went to Daily Kos to check out the comments. One commenter was of the opinion that free speech is just an American construct, and others responded that freedom of expression and information are acutally guaranteed in Article 19 of the UDHR and also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which China is a signatory. That’s good to know, but that level of discussion can make it easy to forget about the actual human cost of governments respecting those human rights, and corporations not standing up for them.  Amnesty USA

PERU: Spying on Social Movements

Business Track, a private security firm, was engaged in spying on non-governmental organisations, environmental activists, social movements and opposition groups in Peru, sources in the police, prosecutor’s office and courts investigating the case told IPS.  IPS

ZIMBABWE: Roy Bennett walks out of prison after spending a month in jail

MDC National Treasurer and Deputy Agriculture Minister – designate, Hon. Roy Bennett who was yesterday granted a US$5 000 bail was this morning released from Mutare Prison.  This is Zimbabwe

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

ZIMBABWE: Roy Bennett expected to be released tomorrow

Following the earlier news that Roy Bennett has been granted bail, we’ve received more information that he is expected to be released from Mutare Prison tomorrow.  This is Zimbabwe

U.S.: International Bankers and Corruption: How Citigroup does business abroad

London-based Global Witness has just put out a good report on how some major international banks, including Citibank, “have been dealing with some of the world’s most corrupt regimes.” Gavin Hayman, the group’s Campaigns Director, said, “The same lax regulation that created the credit crunch has let some of the world’s biggest banks facilitate the looting of natural resource wealth from poor countries.”  Harpers

SOMALIA: Americans recruited as “cannon fodder”: U.S.

The FBI is investigating how young Somali-Americans were drawn to fight with an al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, but there is no sign they are being trained as domestic U.S. terrorists, authorities told Congress on Wednesday.  Reuters

AFGHANISTAN: Court Backs Prison Term for Blasphemy

The Supreme Court in Afghanistan has upheld a 20-year prison sentence for an Afghan university student journalist accused of blasphemy. The case has alarmed news media and rights organizations in the country and abroad.  NY Times

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

U.S.: Obama pick quits over Israel lobby

The candidate for a leading US intelligence post has withdrawn his nomination after accusing the country’s Israel lobby of plumbing “the depths of dishonor and indecency” to assassinate his character.  Al Jazeera

DRC: Militia Leader Guilty in Landmark Trial

The conviction of the Mai Mai commander Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga and 20 other Mai Mai combatants for crimes on major charges, including crimes against humanity, by a military court on March 5, 2009, was a crucial step toward creating accountability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch

GAZA: Family sues Israel over deaths

A Palestinian family is suing Ehud Olmert, Israel’s outgoing prime minister, and other government officials over the deaths of their relatives during the recent assault on Gaza.  Al Jazeera

U.S.: UN to investigate secret prisons

The UN has launched an investigation into secret detention centres around the world, including those run by America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  Al Jazeera

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

U.S.: Lawsuits Challenge Charity Blacklisting

In two court cases that could test the limits of the Barack Obama administration’s executive authority as well as its commitment to transparency, human rights lawyers are challenging the government’s right to use information obtained through warrantless wiretapping as evidence and to shut down charitable organizations without allowing them to defend themselves.  IPS

ZIMBABWE: High Court dismisses State application to deny bail to Hon Bennett

The High Court today dismissed a State application to deny bail to MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Agriculture Minister designate, who is facing trumped up charges of banditry, terrorism and treason.  This is Zimbabwe

U.S.: Senate mulls Bush-era abuse probe

The US Senate Judicial Committee is to discuss the possibility of creating a commission to investigate alleged abuses of power during the administration of George Bush, the former US president.  Al Jazeera

CHINA: Congress Should End Migrant Discrimination

China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) should abolish the discriminatory hukou, or household registration system, which determines where citizens can live and whether they can have access to the most basic human services, Human Rights Watch said today. The restrictions are especially harmful to the country’s estimated 150 million migrant workers. The congress, which meets annually for about two weeks and is attended by more than 3,000 delegates, will begin on March 5, 2009.  Human Rights Watch

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

CIA admits ‘terror tapes’ destroyed

The US Central Intelligence Agency has destroyed 92 tapes of interrogations of
“terror” suspects, far more than previously acknowledged, the agency has said.  Al Jazeera

Forced labor in Florida

Workers chained to poles. Locked in trucks. Physically beaten. Robbed of pay. It sounds too extreme to be true. But it’s happening today. For decades, Florida’s farmworkers have faced terrible abuses, brutal exploitation, and in the most extreme cases, forced labor. But almost as disturbing is the silence of Florida’s governors – who have refused to condemn these abuses. That’s why we’re calling on Florida Governor Charlie Crist to commit the full power of his office to addressing the plague of forced labor in Florida’s fields.  American Rights at Work

DOJ Memos Reveal Legal Thinking Behind Controversial Bush Terrorism Policy

The Justice Department today released nine national security legal opinions written by the Bush administration, and revealed that in the weeks before President George W. Bush left office, an administration attorney had disavowed all of them.  Common Dreams

Jestina Mukoko and a few others released on bail

The BBC is reporting that Jestina Mukoko has been released on bail, but she remains in hospital where she still needs ongoing medical treatment. Mukoko was in detention for 89 days before being released on bail. When she was first abducted she was missing for 20 days, when no one knew whether she was dead or alive. The world later learned that she had been severely tortured while in police custody.  BBC

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

ZIMBABWE: Mugabe says White farmers must leave

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, has urged the country’s last remaining white farmers to leave the country, in a speech delivered during his 85th birthday party.  Al Jazeera

PALESTINE: Strike paralyses West Bank

A general strike to protest against Israel’s plans to evict 1,500 Palestinians from their homes in the Silwan district of Jerusalem has paralyzed much of the occupied West Bank.  Al Jazeera

KYRGYZSTAN:  Expulsion draws protests

International human rights groups have suggested Kyrgyzstan is seeking to cover up human rights abuses after it deported a Russian campaigner.  BBC

US: Allies Overlook Dutch Foe of Islam’s Far Right Ties

The fiercely anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been traveling through the U.S. this week on a highly-publicized trip to meet with politicians, promote his controversial film ‘Fitna’, and raise money for his legal defense back home.  IPS

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

COLOMBIA: Spurious Cases Against Human Rights Defenders

Six months after human rights defender Julio Avella was put behind bars, a prosecutor reviewing the case threw out the charges against him, which were based on the testimony of former guerrillas and police and army reports, on the grounds that they were “contradictory, incoherent, inconsistent and illogical.”  IPS

U.S.: Jobless Angry at Possibility of No Benefits

As governors in nine states, mostly in the South, consider rejecting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money for increased unemployment insurance, there is growing anger among the ranks of the jobless in those states that they could be left out of a significant government benefit.  NY Times

BANGLADESH: Dozens missing in revolt

Authorities in Bangladesh continue their search for the bodies of people killed in a two-day revolt by border guards inside the capital, Dhaka.  Al Jazeera

SERBIA: UN court acquits ex-leader

Milan Milutinovic, the former Serbian president, has been acquitted of the murders of hundreds of Kosovan Albanians in 1999 by a United Nations war crimes tribunal.  Al Jazeera

CHINA: Government rejects US rights criticism

China has rejected US criticism of its human rights record, with state media describing the charges as “groundless, irresponsible and an interference in Chinese affairs”.  Al Jazeera

GERMANY: Headscarf Bans Violate Rights

German state bans on religious symbols and clothing for teachers and other civil servants discriminate against Muslim women who wear the headscarf, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.  Human Rights Watch

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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

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