Because we haven’t forgotten about the Islamic Republic’s barbarism: Bahareh Hedayat belongs to another group of Iranians that has been among the most active in the protests, most brave in its defiance, and most repressed by the state’s basij militia and other official thugs: she is a student leader, arrested (as she had been in…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
So AIPAC isn’t reporting to a foreign entity?
Laugh or cry story of the day. From the pro-settler news service: Two of Israel’s largest extreme-left organizations, B’Tselem and Peace Now, have been accused of potentially violating United States law by acting illegally as foreign agents. The U.S. Department of Justice has been informed of the accusations, and is looking into the matter. The…
Our oil addiction is funding this
Life for a Saudi woman who writes poetry. A close US ally that practices gender apartheid: …Even successful businesswomen arriving at an airport today must still wait, like small children, until an authorized man comes to pick them up, because women are prohibited from driving.
We are truly sorry, say US troops from Iraq
Following the recent Wikileaks revelation of a video that showed the cold-blooded murder by American forces of Iraq civilians, now this: Two former soldiers from the Army unit responsible for the Wikileaks “Collateral Murder” incident have written an open-letter of “Reconciliation and Responsibility” to those injured in the July 2007 attack, in which U.S. forces…
Australia is violating its moral and legal code over asylum seekers
Human Rights Watch slams the Australian government over its latest refugee stance in a letter to Immigration Minister Chris Evans: Dear Mr. Evans, We write to you to express our deep concerns that changes to Australia’s asylum processing system announced on April 8, 2010 violate Australia’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967…
International law should apply to despots and Israelis
George Monbiot, in a typically concise column, asks when the most powerful in society – from the Pope to the Israelis and oil companies – will be treated equally before international law and tried in a court of law: There’s a promise implicit in international law: the end of the age of exceptions.
Sri Lanka kills and tortures journalists
A strong article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald by Matt Wade outlines the reasons Sri Lanka remains a brutal country with little interest in addressing human rights concerns: The treatment of journalists is one bellwether of the human rights climate in Sri Lanka. But the Australian Government doesn’t seem to be paying attention. It’s decision…
What Australia owes each and every asylum seeker
One of Australia’s leading human rights lawyers, Julian Burnside, skewers anybody who willfully misrepresents the flow of refugees into the country: Hazaras from Afghanistan are fleeing because the Taliban are increasing their control in Afghanistan. Tamils from Sri Lanka are fleeing because they face genocide in Sri Lanka, after the collapse of their long-running attempt…
Murdoch publishes pro-Colombo propaganda
What kind of newspaper publishes an article by an “expert on defence policy in the Indian Ocean” that argues post-war Sri Lanka is a place of harmony and peace, treating all its minorities with compassion and equality? Murdoch’s Australian. And the writer is Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe. The article is about as credible as Zionists claiming that…
Britain welcomes war criminals with open arms
Back in February I wrote about the long list of war criminals who have found a home in Australia. Shamefully, it’s little different in Britain: Record numbers of alleged mass murderers and torturers have found safe haven in the UK, making this country one of the war criminal capitals of the world, it is claimed…