Torture

Iran: 1988 Mass Executions Evident Crimes Against Humanity: Senior Officials Implicated Should Be Investigated, Fairly Prosecuted (HRW)

Human Rights Watch — (Beirut) – Overwhelming evidence shows that the Iranian authorities’ mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in an in-depth question-and-answer document released today. In 1988, Iranian authorities, acting on the orders of then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, summarily and extrajudicially […]

National Security State

Supreme Court Expands Government Secrecy Powers in Torture-Related Case

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Robert Pallitto | – (Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The U.S. government doesn’t want to acknowledge a Polish torture site that everyone knows about. By Robert Pallitto | May 31, 2022 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently on the government’s use of the state secrets doctrine in an opinion that will make it […]

Russia

Manifesto published in Russian media reflects Putin regime’s ruthless plans in Ukraine

The Conversation

By Susanne Sternthal, Texas State University | – Shortly after footage emerged of the carnage Russian troops left behind in the town of Bucha, Ukraine, an article was published April 4, 2022, in one of the largest Russian state-run media companies. The article called for even more bloodshed in Ukraine. Written by journalist and Kremlin-aligned […]

Bashar al-Assad

Yes, Bucha is a War Crime: Putin Told us who He was in East Aleppo

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Russian withdrawal from the small town of Bucha near the capital of Kyiv left behind a raft of murdered civilians in the streets and bombed buildings the way an ebbing tide leaves behind flotsam and driftwood after a violent tsunami. The Russian government is attempting to escape blame for […]

Human Rights

Syrian Government, the World’s Great Torturer, outlaws Torture: If it is a Joke, it isn’t Funny

Human Rights Watch

By Sara Kayyali | Syria Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division | ( Human Rights Watch ) – This is not an April Fools’ joke. Syria, where torture is routine and pervasive, has passed a law criminalizing the practice. In an announcement that might have appeared as satire, the Syrian State News Agency (SANA) […]

Pentagon

Guantánamo’s Forever Elusive Endgame: Will We “Celebrate” Its 30th Anniversary?

Karen J. Greenberg

( 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 […]

censorship

Justice: French arrest Man they believe to be Top Saudi Assassin of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Juan Cole

Update: French authorities have released the individual they apprehended on Tuesday. Read on for the significance of this attempted arrest of al-Otaibi. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rick Noack and Sarah Dadouch at The Washington Post report that French authorities arrested a Saudi man they believe to be Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, a member of the […]