Human Rights

(By Sarah Lazare) Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for perpetrating torture in domestic prisons and CIA black sites and embroiling foreign states in inhumane acts. So finds a report on global torture […]

Economy

Under World Cup Pressure, Qatar reforms Guest Worker Laws, abolishes Sponsorship System

Juan Cole

Qatar to end sponsorship system for foreign workers (via AFP) Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup, said Wednesday it will abolish its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers, whose treatment in the energy-rich state has stirred mounting international criticism. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter described… ——- AFP: “Qatar to end sponsorship system for […]

Africa

Sudan judge orders Christian woman to hang for apostasy

Juan Cole

A Sudanese judge on Thursday sentenced a heavily pregnant Christian woman to hang for apostasy, a ruling which Britain denounced as “barbaric” and left the United States “deeply disturbed”. Born to a Muslim father, the woman was convicted under the…

Dissent

Rising Numbers of Palestinian Children Subjected to Solitary Confinement

Juan Cole

Rising Numbers of Palestinian Children Subjected to Solitary Confinement (via PRWeb) A new report from Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI-Palestine) finds that in 21.4 percent of cases documented in 2013, children detained in the Israeli military detention system reported undergoing solitary confinement as part of the… ——- Related video: The Guardian: “Cell 36: […]

Domestic Surveillance

When Greenwald met Snowden: “Spark a … movement against the dangers of state surveillance”

Juan Cole

(By Glenn Greenwald via Tomdispatch) [This essay is a shortened and adapted version of Chapter 1 of Glenn Greenwald’s new book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Security State, and appears at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of Metropolitan Books.] On December 1, 2012, I received my first communication from […]

Human Rights

Calif. Republican Smears Arab-American Libertarian Congressman as ‘al Qaeda’s best friend’

Juan Cole

Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash found himself the target of intra-party criticism again, as a California colleague accused him of not being serious about his position and lying about the country’s surveillance policies in an interview published…

Africa

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds as Nigeria offers reward for girls

Juan Cole

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds as Nigeria offers reward for girls (via AFP) A new Boko Haram massacre has killed hundreds in Nigeria’s northeast, a senator said Wednesday, as police offered $300,000 dollars for information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the Islamists. The latest insurgent… —– Channel […]

Egypt

In Egypt, Industrial Scale Death Decrees

Juan Cole

(By Amy Austin Holmes) A single judge in a single court in Egypt has sentenced more people to death this year than the total number of people who were executed last year in the rest of the world combined, with the exception of China. In 2013, at least 778 people were killed as a result […]