Human Rights

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It’s now more than 20 years later and that American offshore symbol of mistreatment and injustice, the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is still open. In fact, as 2021 ended, New York Times reporter Carol Rosenberg, who has covered that notorious prison complex since its first day, reported on the Pentagon’s […]

Bill of Rights

Gitmo’s Shameful Twentieth Anniversary

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Farrah Hassen | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The U.S. prison at the Guantánamo Bay naval base reached its shameful 20th anniversary of operations on January 11 — with a legacy marked by the detention of nearly 800 Muslim men and boys, the majority of them held without charge or trial for […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syrian survivors of Torture rejoice over German Court indicting Regime Officer of Crimes Against Humanity

Global Voices

By Okba Mohammed | – ( Globalvoices.org) – Survivors of torture in Syrian prisons celebrated a verdict made at 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 13 by Koblenz Court in Germany, convicting former officer in the Syrian regime Anwar Raslan of crimes against humanity. Many also demanded the end of torture for their loved ones still […]

Climate Crisis

Millions are on the Run from Global Heating – International Law must recognize Climate Refugees

The Conversation

By Daniel L. Huizenga | – When hurricanes Eta and Iota barrelled into Central America in November 2020, they flooded towns and cities, caused catastrophic losses in the agricultural sector and contributed to food insecurity. In all, 4.7 million Hondurans were affected, and tens of thousands decided to leave, forming migrant caravans in a desperate […]

Displaced and Refugees

America’s Bombing Wars Haven’t Ended, with 1,178 dropped under Biden

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

The Pentagon has finally published its first Airpower Summary since President Biden took office nearly a year ago. These monthly reports have been published since 2007 to document the number of bombs and missiles dropped by U.S.-led air forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria since 2004. But President Trump stopped publishing them after February 2020, […]

Authoritarianism

Kazakhstan must Cancel Order for Troops to Shoot Protesters ‘Without Warning’ (Human Rights Watch)

Human Rights Watch

Ensure National and Foreign Forces Respect Rights; Investigate Killings

Authoritarianism

2021: a grim year for Free Speech as hundreds of Journalists are arrested in an increasingly authoritarian World

The Conversation

By Dina Matar | – Hundreds of journalists killed or arrested, rising numbers of female media workers targeted, floods of misinformation and hate speech and ineffectual or hostile governments unable or unwilling to protect the public’s right to know. The 2021 press freedom index released recently by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) makes for grim reading. […]

Dissent

US-Backed Al-Sisi’s Gov’t in Egypt Unjustly Sentences Dissidents to Years in Prison for “Spreading False News”

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch – An emergency court sentenced Alaa Abd al Fattah to five years in prison, and Mohamed al-Baqer and Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim to four years each on charges of “spreading false news.” “The egregious miscarriage of justice handed down by this exceptional court to punish peaceful expression reveals how Egypt’s justice system […]