Human Rights

By Thalif Deen | (IPS) UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 2015 (IPS) – The United Nations, which is the legal guardian of scores of human rights treaties banning torture, unlawful imprisonment, degrading treatment of prisoners of war and enforced disappearances, is troubled that an increasing number of countries are justifying violations of U.N. conventions on grounds […]

Christianity

Why Obama is Right to avoid double standard about Modern Christian Atrocities

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – President Obama, speaking on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, condemned religious extremism in the Muslim world, noting that it is the work of twisted individuals rather than being intrinsic to the religion. He then added, “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is […]

Iraq

ISIL Militants Burn Three Iraqis Alive

contributors

By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq | – Officials and eyewitnesses say Islamic State (IS) militants have burned at least three people alive in Iraq’s western Anbar Province. The victims, residents of an area near the town of Hit, some 200 kilometers west of Baghdad, were suspected of informing Iraqi security forces about the militants’ movements. […]

Apartheid

Report: 151 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 151 Palestinian children are currently being held as “security prisoners” in Israeli jails, Palestinian legal monitor Military Court Watch said in a statement on Tuesday. The group said that 47 percent of those are being held inside Israel in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which prevents the transfer of detainees […]

Bush

Is ISIL’s ‘Shock and Awe’ more Awe-ful because One Victim?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) burning of a captured Jordanian pilot alive produced justified revulsion globally, resulting in the terrorist organization being termed “barbarous” and similar epithets. Why did it behave this way? Because it wants to terrify its opponents into submission and underline that it is too […]

Apartheid

Palestinian Family must visit graves via tunnel under Apartheid Wall near Bethlehem

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinians have suffered in many ways as a result of the Israeli separation wall, and in the case of one family in al-Walajah west of Bethlehem, the wall separates them from the graves of their relatives. Ahmad Barghouth, 66, told Ma’an he buried his parents and grandparents years ago in his field […]

censorship

Journalist Greste Freed by Egyptian Junta, but Press Freedom still Hostage

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Peter Greste, an Australian journalist working for Aljazeera English, has been released from an Egyptian prison after a 400-day ordeal in which he was jailed merely for reporting the news. Greste was preemptively released by a presidential pardon from Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military dictator. Nothing is more […]

censorship

As Americans are shot At: Saudi Death Sentence on Shiite Cleric inflames Sectarian Tensions

contributors

By Giorgio Cafiero | (Foreign Policy in Focus) – The fate of one Shi’ite cleric hangs over the Gulf like a sword of Damocles. [Updated: Two Americans were fired on in the Shiite Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia on Friday, and one injured; this incident is likely related to the radicalization of Shiites via oppressive […]

Apartheid

As Gaza Refugee Babies die of Cold, Underfunded UN Agency Halts Rebuilding Aid to 400,000

contributors

By Charlie Hoyle | – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A massive shortfall in the $5.4 billion pledged for Gaza’s reconstruction by the international community last October is exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians displaced by Israel’s summer offensive. On Tuesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest service provider in the Gaza Strip, […]