Inhumane Treatment – US & International

Inhumane Treatment – US & International

 

 

 

Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Waterboarding – Nov 5, 2007

 

Video Playlist:

• Waterboarding 101
• The CIA’s “enhanced” interrogation techniques = TORTURE
• Mukasey: Waterboarding is Torture if It’s Torture
• DoJ Official Declared Waterboarding Torture
• Abu Ghraib in the USA — Naked Torture and Death
• Abu Ghraib Torture
• Pakistani police torture
• Police Torture in Egypt
• North Korea torture
• Bosnian muslims torture and kill an old Serbian man!!

News Wire & Blogs – US:

1. Gitmo trial lawyers in row over motions from UPI – Top News Prosecutors and defense lawyers for a Canadian terror detainee at Guantanamo clashed Friday over classified documents and an undetermined future trial date.
2. Why was a couple stoned to death? from UPI Asia Online – Human Rights by BASEER NAVEED While Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf was administering the oath to a newly formed Cabinet on March 31, a hair-raising message was being sent to the elected government from an area of the country that borders Afghanistan — a couple was being stoned to death by the Taliban.
3. Bush Aware of Advisors’ Interrogation Talks from ABC News: Politics ABC News exclusive: Bush says he knew advisors discussed interrogation methods.
4. Top officials knew of interrogation tactics from MSNBC.com: Politics Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists.
5. Cheney Signed Off on Using Harsh Interrogation Tactics The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.FOXNews.com
6. No ‘Lord of the Rings’ for Man at Gitmo from ABC News: Intl US seizes ‘Lord of the Rings’ script from Canadian held at Guantanamo.
7. Louisiana Lawmakers Consider Castration for Sex Offenders from FOXNews.com by foxnewsonline@foxnews.com Louisiana lawmakers consider castration as a sentencing option for some sex offenders.
8. Chat About Bush’s Civil Liberties Transgressions from ACLU Blog – Government Spying by blog@aclu.org (Suzanne Ito, ACLU) Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Irvine’s law school, will be on FireDogLake this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the Bush administration’s innumerable violations of Americans’ civil liberties. Chermerinsky discusses the Yoo torture memo, FISA and the human rights violations at Guantanamo in today’s FireDogLake piece.
9. Memo Sheds New Light on Torture Issue from NYT > Washington A recently disclosed Justice Department memorandum could suggest that abuses in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere involved higher officials, not just low-level personnel.
10. Justice Department Declassifies 2003 ‘Torture Memo’ from FOXNews.com by foxnewsonline@foxnews.com The Department of Justice has declassified a long-sought “torture memo” from 2003, which provided some guidelines to the CIA and Defense Department regarding enemy interrogation.
11. Former Terror Detainee Recalls Captivity from CBS News.com In his first U.S. television interview, a former terror detainee tells 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley Americans held him in Guantanamo for years despite evidence of his innocence.
12. Close Gitmo, five secretaries of state say from UPI – Top News Closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would improve the United States’ reputation worldwide, five former secretaries of state said.
13. Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases from NYT > Washington The C.I.A.’s destruction of interrogation videotapes, a move intended to avoid legal trouble, may instead be adding to it.
14. Bill would pay wrongly convicted man from UPI – Top News A bill that would provide $1.25 million to a man wrongfully convicted of rape has advanced in the Florida Legislature.
15. National Briefing Washington: Ex-Prosecutor at Guantánamo to Leave Military
    from NYT > Washington The Air Force lawyer who quit as chief prosecutor for the war court at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, five months ago because of what he called political interference has asked to leave the military, he said Tuesday. The lawyer, Col. Morris D. Davis, said he submitted retirement papers last week, partly over fallout from his public criticism of the Guantánamo court and partly because of family concerns. Colonel Davis was a fierce advocate for the court created by the Bush administration to try terror suspects, but he resigned in October, alleging Pentagon officials had exerted political influence in an effort to rush through high-profile charges and approved the use of torture-tainted evidence.
16. Court Hears Arguments on Americans Held in Iraq from NYT > Washington
    As in the cases from Guantánamo Bay, a question of federal court jurisdiction arose: whether the courts can hear challenges brought by United States citizens detained in Iraq.
17. USA: Slippery slopes and the politics of torture from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports It is a disturbing spectacle to witness US officialdom tying itself in knots over torture. On the one hand the President claims that his country is leading the global struggle against torture. On the other -
18. USA: Supreme Court should call government to account over Guantánamo detentionsfrom Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports Tomorrow the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in relation to the Guantánamo detentions on whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 has unlawfully stripped the US courts of jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus petitions from alien “enemy combatants” held in US custody.
19. USA: Destruction of CIA interrogation tapes may conceal government crimes from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports The destruction by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of videotapes of the interrogation of two high value detainees in 2002 amounts to obstruction of justice and concealment of evidence.
20. USA: President Bush’s Veto of Intelligence Authorization Bill Continues from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports (Washington, DC) — Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director, issued the following statement in response to President Bush’s veto of H.R. 2082, the Intelligence Authorization bill, which prevents the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. agents from using waterboarding, sexual humiliation, dogs and other techniques that amount to torture and ill-treatment.
21. United States of America: No Substitute for habeas corpus: Six years without judicial review in Guantánamo from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports We, the States Members of the United Nations, resolve…to recognize that international cooperation and any measures that we undertake to prevent and combat terrorism must comply with our obligations under international law, including
22. USA: Habeas corpus — protecting human rights, promoting accountable government
    from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports The US Supreme Court’s upcoming review relating to the Guantánamo detention regime goes beyond crucial questions of the rights of the detainees to the very concepts of accountable government -
23. USA: Amnesty International Urges Congress to End Extraordinary Rendition from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports Amnesty International welcomes today’s U.S. House of Representatives Joint Oversight Hearing on Rendition to Torture: The Case of Maher Arar by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations
24. USA: One year with the Military Commissions Act; four years without a lawyer; six years without justice from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports On 16 October 2007, the Pentagon announced that it was granting access for a lawyer to meet with Majid Khan, a Pakistani national held in the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
25. USA: Amnesty International Activists Nationwide to Rally on 1st Anniversary of Military Commissions Act from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports (Washington, DC)–Amnesty International activists nationwide will hold a series of events marking October 17, the first anniversary of the Military Commissions Act. The participants will raise awareness about human rights violations codified by the act and call on Congress to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
26. USA: Amnesty International Says President Bush’s Message on Human Rights Would Carry Greater Authority If “War on Terror” Violations Were Halted at Home
    from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports Amnesty International issued the following statement in response to President Bush’s speech to the United Nations today on human rights around the globe.
27. USA: Law and executive disorder from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports Our critics sometimes paint the United States as a country willing to duck or shrug off international obligations when they prove constraining or inconvenient.
28. USA: Amnesty International Responds to Padilla Verdict from Amnesty International USA: War on Terror News Releases and Reports The trial, part of which an Amnesty International observer attended, failed to address a key issue which poses a great threat to all Americans — detention of a U.S. citizen without charge, as well as alleged torture and ill-treatment during detention.

News Wire & Blogs – International:

1. 54 Myanmar Migrants Die in Thailand from ABC News: Intl 54 Myanmar Workers Suffocate in Back of Truck in Thailand
2. Personal tragedy ignored in Sri Lanka from UPI Asia Online – Human Rights by BASIL FERNANDO The Sinhala and Tamil New Year used to be a time of relaxation and recreation for all Sri Lankans. This year the New Year holidays from April 11 to 13 will be accompanied by sad memories for more than 1 million Sri Lankans who have faced personal tragedies including the brutal death of loved ones.
3. Niger government sued for allowing slavery from UPI – Top News The government of Niger is being sued by an alleged former slave on charges of failing to implement a 2003 law making slavery a criminal offense.
4. Condemned heroin smuggler gets reprieve from UPI – Top News A mentally ill British man condemned in Vietnam to the firing squad for smuggling heroin has had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
5. Torture perpetrators encouraged from UPI Asia Online – Human Rights by BASIL FERNANDO A Sri Lankan High Court judgment made on April 2, acquitting six police officers charged with torture that causing renal failure to the victim, raises several questions of law, important matters regarding security and also questions of morality.
6. Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court rulings ignored from UPI Asia Online – Human Rights by BASIL FERNANDO In the last few months the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has made three decisions against police officers for abusing their powers of arrest and torturing people purely to obtain bribes. But these directives have not altered the police practice of using the national security law for personal benefit.
7. Argentines remember ‘Dity War’ from UPI – Top News Thousands of demonstrators in Buenos Aires and throughout Argentina Monday marked the 32nd anniversary of the coup that introduced military rule.
8. Afghanistan: Women human rights defenders continue to struggle for women’s rights from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Women human rights defenders continue to struggle for women’s rights.
9. Afghanistan: Prisoner of Conscience sentenced to death for downloading and distributing materials from the internet from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Amnesty International condemns the decision to sentence to death journalist Perwiz Kambakhsh for downloading and distributing written materials that examined the role of women in the Islamic faith
10. India: Reports of torture and threat to fair trial of three journalists arrested for alleged links to banned Maoist organization from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Amnesty International is concerned that three journalists arrested in three Indian states and charged with working for or having links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) are at risk of being denied their right to a fair trial.
11. Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka: Amnesty International calls for urgent protection of civilians amidst return to hostilities from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases
    Amnesty International is gravely concerned that the end to the Ceasefire Agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) today will lead to an increase in hostilities that will result in a dramatic rise in indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population.
12. Myanmar: Arrests of Political Activists Increase in Myanmar from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Political activists continue to be imprisoned in Myanmar, according to new research by Amnesty International. There have been 96 arrests since 1 November 2007.
13. Malaysia: Government obstructing right to Freedom of Assembly from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Amnesty International condemns the arrests of human rights lawyers, activists and members of the public in the past few days as they exercised their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
14. Sri Lanka: Amnesty International condemns mass arrests from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Amnesty International condemns the mass arrests of more than 1000 Tamils by the Sri Lankan police, allegedly in response to the suicide bombings carried out in Colombo on 28 November 2007, for which the government has blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
15. Cambodia: Forced evictions must end from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Two people dead, many injured and thousands homeless: two recent forced evictions demonstrate the urgent need for the Cambodian authorities to immediately end this practice.
16. Afganistan: NATO Countries at Risk of Complicity in Torture in Afghanistan, Warns Amnesty International from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases In a new report, Afghanistan: Detainees transferred to torture: ISAF complicity?, released today, Amnesty International charged that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is exposing detainees to risks of torture or other ill-treatment by Afghan authorities.
17. Myanmar: New evidence of mass detentions, hostage taking, deaths in custody and disappearances from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases
    Amnesty International has today written to Myanmar’s authorities with a briefing paper outlining grave and ongoing human rights violations committed since the start of September’s crackdown.
18. Myanmar: 12 years under house arrest — Amnesty demands release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases On the day the United Nations celebrates its 62nd birthday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League of Democracy, will mark her 12th year under house arrest in Myanmar.
19. Myanmar: New video and audio testimony of ‘witch hunt’ and brutal repression from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Amnesty International today released new video and audio testimony of ongoing night raids, arbitrary arrests and appalling detention conditions in Myanmar as well as audio statements from two prominent activists shortly before their arrest last weekend.
20. China: Tibetan child detainees at risk of torture and ill-treatment from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Four Tibetan children aged 15 years, detained since 7 September in Gansu province, are at grave risk of torture and mistreatment on suspicion of writing pro-Tibetan independence slogans.
21. Open letter to ASEAN member states on the situation in Myanmar from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Ong Keng Yong Secretary General Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN Secretariat 70A Jalan Sisingamangaraja Jakarta 12110 Indonesia 27 September 2007 OPEN LETTER Dear Secretary General,Amnesty International urgently requests the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to call on the authorities in Myanmar to resolve the current crisis without resort to violence and address the outstanding human rights issues in the country.
22. Viet Nam: Silenced critics must be released from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Vietnamese lawyers, trade unionists, religious leaders and Internet dissidents have been detained or imprisoned in increasing numbers in recent months.
23. Laos: Destitute jungle-dwellers living on run from military from Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases Thousands of men, women and children from the Hmong ethnic minority are living on the run from the military in Laos’ mountainous jungle, according to a new report from Amnesty International.