Human Rights
When Kendra Castaneda’s beloved faced torture in solitary confinement, his beloved, a regular, Californian suburban, young woman would have never guessed that only nine months later, she would be an Examiner.com “Inspiring Americans Award” nominee for courageously sparking human rights hope for 100,000 secretly tortured people in the United States prison industrial complex, up to 6,000 in California alone, all horribly abused in solitary confinement, indefinitely, as the National Defence Authorization Act 2012 codifies.
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Copyright Deborah Dupré 2011. All Rights Reserved.
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Copyright Deborah Dupré 2011. All Rights Reserved.
Mustafa Tamimi was a 28-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. His meticulously trimmed beard served as the centerpiece of his handsome face.
In December 2009, when an Israeli soldier shot him from a short distance with a tear gas canister, half of Mustafa's face went missing. More soldiers laughed as his horrified family tried to accompany him to a nearby hospital, according to activists present at the scene. Only the mother was finally able to obtain a special permit from the Israeli military, which allowed her to be with her son.
Mustafa's crime? He, along with Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, protested the besiegement of Nabi Saleh by the illegal Jewish settlement of Halamish. Halamish has existed since 1977 and drastically grown in size and population ever since, taking over privately-owned Palestinian land. As of late, Nabi Saleh has been struggling for mere survival as its fresh water spring has also been seized by settlers under the watchful eye of the Israeli army.
Mustafa died so that the village of Nabi Saleh could live. The struggle will continue for years.
In December 2009, when an Israeli soldier shot him from a short distance with a tear gas canister, half of Mustafa's face went missing. More soldiers laughed as his horrified family tried to accompany him to a nearby hospital, according to activists present at the scene. Only the mother was finally able to obtain a special permit from the Israeli military, which allowed her to be with her son.
Mustafa's crime? He, along with Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, protested the besiegement of Nabi Saleh by the illegal Jewish settlement of Halamish. Halamish has existed since 1977 and drastically grown in size and population ever since, taking over privately-owned Palestinian land. As of late, Nabi Saleh has been struggling for mere survival as its fresh water spring has also been seized by settlers under the watchful eye of the Israeli army.
Mustafa died so that the village of Nabi Saleh could live. The struggle will continue for years.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma's most famous dissident comedian, who survived "electronic shock" torture during eight years in prison, has been allowed out of his Southeast Asian country for the first time and is traveling to the Clinton Foundation in America while requesting U.S. economic sanctions to be lifted.
The satirical Maung Thura is popularly known by his stage name Zarganar -- "Tweezers" in Burmese -- and met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her Nov. 30-Dec. 2 visit to Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"This is the dawning era of our country, this is the start of change," Zarganar said, describing Burma's new tentative shift from harsh military rule towards some civilian administration and fragile political freedom.
"You should support us. Now improvement starts," the bald Zarganar, 50, said at a Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand news conference on Monday (December 19) shortly after arriving from Burma.
"This afternoon, I already met with the World Bank. They want to give some aid, or some help, some humanitarian aid. So if they lift up the sanctions, we can get many aid for our people, not for our military."
The satirical Maung Thura is popularly known by his stage name Zarganar -- "Tweezers" in Burmese -- and met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her Nov. 30-Dec. 2 visit to Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"This is the dawning era of our country, this is the start of change," Zarganar said, describing Burma's new tentative shift from harsh military rule towards some civilian administration and fragile political freedom.
"You should support us. Now improvement starts," the bald Zarganar, 50, said at a Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand news conference on Monday (December 19) shortly after arriving from Burma.
"This afternoon, I already met with the World Bank. They want to give some aid, or some help, some humanitarian aid. So if they lift up the sanctions, we can get many aid for our people, not for our military."
Essam Al-Batsh and his nephew, Sobhi Al-Batsh, are the latest in a long line of reported Palestinian 'militants' killed by Israel. They were both targeted while driving in a car in downtown Gaza on December 8. According to an Israeli army statement, "(They) were affiliated with a terrorist squad that intended to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers via the western border" (Reuters, December 8).
Another 'militant' had been killed two days earlier. Israeli military aircraft "had targeted two militant squads that were preparing to fire rockets into southern Israel," according to the Associated Press. AP quoted Israeli official saying the army would "continue to take action against those (who) use terror against the state of Israel."
It really doesn't take much to kill a 'militant' in Gaza. Israeli military intelligence officers simply select a weapon and zoom in on their chosen person on any given day. This is not a difficult task really since the entire population of the Strip are besieged in Gaza's open air prison. The same statement issued regarding the assassinated 'militant' can then be easily rewritten, using the same predictable justifications.
Another 'militant' had been killed two days earlier. Israeli military aircraft "had targeted two militant squads that were preparing to fire rockets into southern Israel," according to the Associated Press. AP quoted Israeli official saying the army would "continue to take action against those (who) use terror against the state of Israel."
It really doesn't take much to kill a 'militant' in Gaza. Israeli military intelligence officers simply select a weapon and zoom in on their chosen person on any given day. This is not a difficult task really since the entire population of the Strip are besieged in Gaza's open air prison. The same statement issued regarding the assassinated 'militant' can then be easily rewritten, using the same predictable justifications.
Ambiguous but alarming new wording, which is tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was just passed by the Senate, is reminiscent of the “extraordinary measures” introduced by the Nazis after they took power in 1933.
And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own Constitution. As one German writer observed, “With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater.”
The writer was Sebastian Haffner (real name Raimond Pretzel), a young German lawyer worried at what he saw in 1933 in Berlin, but helpless to stop it since, as he put it, the German people “collectively and limply collapsed, yielded and capitulated.”
“The result of this millionfold nervous breakdown,” wrote Haffner at the time, “is the unified nation, ready for anything, that is today the nightmare of the rest of the world.” Not a happy analogy.
And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own Constitution. As one German writer observed, “With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater.”
The writer was Sebastian Haffner (real name Raimond Pretzel), a young German lawyer worried at what he saw in 1933 in Berlin, but helpless to stop it since, as he put it, the German people “collectively and limply collapsed, yielded and capitulated.”
“The result of this millionfold nervous breakdown,” wrote Haffner at the time, “is the unified nation, ready for anything, that is today the nightmare of the rest of the world.” Not a happy analogy.
Ambiguous but alarming new wording, which is tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was just passed by the Senate, is reminiscent of the “extraordinary measures” introduced by the Nazis after they took power in 1933.
And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own Constitution. As one German writer observed, “With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater.”
The writer was Sebastian Haffner (real name Raimond Pretzel), a young German lawyer worried at what he saw in 1933 in Berlin, but helpless to stop it since, as he put it, the German people “collectively and limply collapsed, yielded and capitulated.”
“The result of this millionfold nervous breakdown,” wrote Haffner at the time, “is the unified nation, ready for anything, that is today the nightmare of the rest of the world.” Not a happy analogy.
And the relative lack of reaction so far calls to mind the oddly calm indifference with which most Germans watched the erosion of the rights that had been guaranteed by their own Constitution. As one German writer observed, “With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater.”
The writer was Sebastian Haffner (real name Raimond Pretzel), a young German lawyer worried at what he saw in 1933 in Berlin, but helpless to stop it since, as he put it, the German people “collectively and limply collapsed, yielded and capitulated.”
“The result of this millionfold nervous breakdown,” wrote Haffner at the time, “is the unified nation, ready for anything, that is today the nightmare of the rest of the world.” Not a happy analogy.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The government's first apparent attempt to win an amnesty for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is a convicted international fugitive, failed after it was condemned as inappropriate to include him among 26,000 criminals eligible for a possible royal pardon.
Mr. Thaksin's sister is Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her government reportedly included his name last week among a list to be presented to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for him to consider endorsing to mark his 84th birthday on Dec. 5.
The Justice Ministry's royal group pardon list is an annual tradition, but usually does not include fugitives.
Convicted individuals can also apply on their own through the ministry.
"Thaksin will not receive any benefit from the [royal] decree, and his name will not be included on the list of convicts eligible for a royal pardon," Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said on Sunday (Nov. 21), indicating the list would be rewritten by the government to delete Mr. Thaksin's name.
"Convicts on the run will not be eligible," Mr. Pracha said, according to the Nation newspaper.
Mr. Thaksin's sister is Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her government reportedly included his name last week among a list to be presented to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for him to consider endorsing to mark his 84th birthday on Dec. 5.
The Justice Ministry's royal group pardon list is an annual tradition, but usually does not include fugitives.
Convicted individuals can also apply on their own through the ministry.
"Thaksin will not receive any benefit from the [royal] decree, and his name will not be included on the list of convicts eligible for a royal pardon," Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said on Sunday (Nov. 21), indicating the list would be rewritten by the government to delete Mr. Thaksin's name.
"Convicts on the run will not be eligible," Mr. Pracha said, according to the Nation newspaper.
The Peruvian government is sending a team of officials to a remote region of the Amazon jungle to investigate the deaths of 14 shamans who were killed in a string of brutal murders.
The traditional healers, all from the Shawi ethnic group, were murdered in separate incidents over the last 20 months, allegedly at the behest of a local mayor.
No arrests have been made over the deaths, which took place in and around Balsapuerto, a small river port in Peru's vast Amazon region on its northern border with Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil.
The prime suspects, however, in the disappearance of one victim and the murder of another are the mayor of Balsapuerto, Alfredo Torres and his brother Augusto.
The two men were named in a report from the public prosecutor's office in the nearest town of Yurimaguas, which said seven of the victims had been shot, stabbed or hacked to death with machetes. Local people identified all of them as curanderos or native healers, said the vice-minister of intercultural affairs, Vicente Otta.
The traditional healers, all from the Shawi ethnic group, were murdered in separate incidents over the last 20 months, allegedly at the behest of a local mayor.
No arrests have been made over the deaths, which took place in and around Balsapuerto, a small river port in Peru's vast Amazon region on its northern border with Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil.
The prime suspects, however, in the disappearance of one victim and the murder of another are the mayor of Balsapuerto, Alfredo Torres and his brother Augusto.
The two men were named in a report from the public prosecutor's office in the nearest town of Yurimaguas, which said seven of the victims had been shot, stabbed or hacked to death with machetes. Local people identified all of them as curanderos or native healers, said the vice-minister of intercultural affairs, Vicente Otta.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests today with the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Park Service (NPS) requesting that the agencies release information that they possess related to the involvement of federal agencies in the planning of a coordinated law enforcement crackdown that has taken places in multiple cities against the Occupy Movement in recent days and weeks.
The FOIA to the various federal law enforcement agencies states: “This request specifically encompasses disclosure of any documents or information pertaining to federal coordination of, or advice or consultation regarding, the police response to the Occupy movement, protests or encampments.”
The FOIA to the various federal law enforcement agencies states: “This request specifically encompasses disclosure of any documents or information pertaining to federal coordination of, or advice or consultation regarding, the police response to the Occupy movement, protests or encampments.”
A lawsuit brought by Rep. Dennis Kucinich and 9 other members of Congress against the Obama Administration - which alleged that the US involvement in the war on Libya was in violation of the US Constitution and the War Powers Resolution - was dismissed by a Federal court judge for the District of Columbia late last month.
In its 23-page Decision, dated October 20th, granting the Administration's motion for summary dismissal, US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001, held that "...the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they have standing — either in their capacity as Members of the House of Representatives or because of their status as taxpayers — to maintain this action."
Given that the Court found that the Plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case, it didn't address the merits of the case - i.e., it never addressed the question of whether or not the President had the authority to conduct the war or, indeed, even the question of whether or not the intensive bombing of Libya represented the conduct of "hostilities."
In its 23-page Decision, dated October 20th, granting the Administration's motion for summary dismissal, US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001, held that "...the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they have standing — either in their capacity as Members of the House of Representatives or because of their status as taxpayers — to maintain this action."
Given that the Court found that the Plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case, it didn't address the merits of the case - i.e., it never addressed the question of whether or not the President had the authority to conduct the war or, indeed, even the question of whether or not the intensive bombing of Libya represented the conduct of "hostilities."