human rights abuse

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Egyptian Protesters Leak Govt. Secrets on Facebook

After storming State Security, WikiLeaks-like page set up

(Newser) - Hundreds of Egyptians stormed the State Security headquarters this weekend, and now they’re posting the damning documents they found WikiLeaks-style on a Facebook page, Fast Company reports. Amn Dawla Leaks , or State Security Leaks, already has more than 13,000 fans. Egyptians have posted files there, and to other...

Cambodians Raped, Killed at UN-Backed Camp

So-called 'social affairs center' really internment facility: human rights groups

(Newser) - Cambodians being held at a UN-funded internment camp are frequently beaten and raped, treatment that has resulted in at least three deaths. Guards at the “social affairs center” say its residents are free to leave when they choose—but human rights watchdogs and ex-inmates say Prey Speu is an...

Child Brides Flogged for Fleeing Illegal Marriages

Afghan girls expecting help beaten instead

(Newser) - When Khadija, 13, and Basgol, 14, escaped from the much older men they'd been forced to marry, they thought the police would help. Instead, the police officers who found the girls fleeing on a bus sent them back to their home village to be brutally flogged for running away from...

Wife to US: Stand Up to China and Free My Husband

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng held incommunicado for a year

(Newser) - Geng He can’t do anything for her human rights lawyer husband, who she says was "kidnapped" by the Chinese government a year ago today and is being held somewhere incommunicado. But the United States can, and must. “China will listen to the United States,” she writes....

Clinton-Led Recovery Is the Last Thing Haiti Needs

Unofficial aid czar has a record of corrupt dealings

(Newser) - Bill Clinton's high-profile, perpetually teary-eyed presence on the ground in Haiti has snagged him the unofficial role of aid czar in the rebuilding effort, Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in the Wall Street Journal , and that's very bad news for Haitians. As president, O'Grady writes, Clinton did plenty to show he...

CIA's Key Shadow Ally: Jordan
 CIA's Key Shadow Ally: Jordan 

CIA's Key Shadow Ally: Jordan

Afghan bombing spotlights Amman's pivotal counterterrorism role

(Newser) - The death of a Jordanian intelligence operative alongside seven CIA agents in last week's bombing of a CIA facility in Afghanistan offered an unusually visible sign of Jordan's emerging role as a low-profile but crucial US counterterrorism ally. Since 9/11, the Middle Eastern nation's role in the fight against Islamic...

Watchdog: Raúl Just as Bad as Fidel

He shares his brother's disregard for human rights

(Newser) - The perception that Cuba is less repressive under Raúl Castro than Fidel is false, Human Rights Watch says. Dissidents are still harassed by the state, subject to arbitrary detention—532 such cases in the first half of 2009 alone—fired. or denied work. The government also continues to pressure...

CIA Kept Prisoners Alive So It Could Torture More

Abuse 'sickening': human-rights lawyer

(Newser) - Detainees tortured to the brink of death were sometimes given medical treatment to keep them alive so CIA operatives could torture them further, a human-rights lawyer alleges. “The CIA engaged in some horrendous abuses, but they appear to have taken precautions to have actually prevented people from dying—which...

Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder
Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder
OPINION

Lay Off Israel, Human Rights Watch: Founder

Group founded to light closed societies has gone astray

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch has lost its way, writes founder and chairman emeritus Robert L. Bernstein. The once even-handed organization has launched a jeremiad against Israel—a liberal democracy with a “vibrant free press”—while effectively ignoring abuses in closed, autocratic societies in the region it was created to...

Yemeni Child Bride, 12, Dies in Childbirth

Girl forced to marry 24-year-old dies after three days in labor

(Newser) - A pregnant 12-year-old Yemeni girl has died after three days of excruciating labor that also claimed her baby, a human rights group tells CNN. Fawziya Ammodi's poverty-stricken family forced her to drop out of school last year to marry a 24-year-old man. More than half of Yemeni girls are married...

Mexican Army Slammed for Drug War Torture

US holds up aid until Mexico can 'pass' human rights investigation

(Newser) - A growing body of evidence points to widespread human rights abuses by the Mexican military in its battle against drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. Human rights groups say the army has responded to the traffickers' brutal tactics with equal brutality, carrying out deadly campaigns of "disappearances," forced...

Spain's Human Rights Probes Spark Backlash

(Newser) - Judges in Spain are pressing human rights cases against top officials around the world, prompting threats abroad and criticisms at home, the Washington Post reports. Invoking so-called universal jurisdiction, judges are probing 16 cases, including US approval of torture and Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. But nervous Spanish lawmakers...

Pelosi Won't Slap China on Human Rights

Long critical of Beijing, speaker will focus on environment in visit

(Newser) - Like Hillary Clinton before her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will sidestep Beijing's human rights record on her weeklong trip to China that began today, reports the Washington Post. Pelosi, who has been a vocal critic of the Tiananmen Square massacre and Chinese policies on Tibet, says the focus of her...

Brit Families Can Sue Over Soldier Deaths

Court: Troops protected by human rights law, even on battlefield

(Newser) - A British court has ruled that defense heads can be sued for neglecting soldiers’ human rights—meaning decisions made on the battlefield could be subject to litigation, the Times of London reports. The ruling stemmed from an inquest into the heatstroke death of a soldier due to what the coroner...

Brits Condoned Torture, Aided Extraordinary Renditions: UN

UK a full partner in US terror effort, report says

(Newser) - Binyam Mohamed, a recently released Gitmo detainee, alleges that he was tortured in Morocco while asked questions on behalf of Britian’s MI5. His story so far has amounted to his word against MI5’s, but a new report supports the former detainee’s claim, the Economist reports. A UN...

Take That Bjork: China Bans Performers Deemed a Threat

Protests, incendiary artists will not be allowed in the country, the new rules say

(Newser) - Entertainers deemed a threat to China’s sovereignty will not be allowed to perform in the country, the New York Times reports. The Ministry of Culture warned it will conduct background checks and ban those who “advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition” or "take part in activities that...

US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won'
 US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won' 

US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won'

Diplomat condemns Zimbabwe violence, but hints at 'political solution'

(Newser) - After more than three weeks in which Robert Mugabe has failed to hand over results from Zimbabwe’s presidential election, a top US diplomat for Africa came out in support of his challenger today, the AP reports. “Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright,” Jendayi Frazer said in South...

4 Months to Go: Is China Ready for Spotlight?

Country is proud to host Games but worries abound

(Newser) - The last-minute drama brewing in the runup to this summer's Olympic Games is of a more global and more personal nature than the infrastructure issues of Olympics past—and Chinese leaders are bristling under the scrutiny, the Chicago Tribune reports. But pride in the country's hosting gig remains strong, even...

Olympic Boycott Is a 'Cop-Out': Bush Adviser

Says skipping opening ceremony isn't effective protest against China

(Newser) - The foreign dignitaries opting to skip the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony are engaging in a "cop-out," said President Bush's national security adviser today. What's more, claimed Stephen Hadley, they're missing an opportunity to meaningfully pressure China via behind-the-scenes diplomacy—as the US is doing. Bush has said he...

Clinton to Bush: Skip Olympics
 Clinton to Bush: Skip Olympics 

Clinton to Bush: Skip Olympics

Candidate cites Darfur and Tibet as reasons not to go

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton urged President Bush today to skip the Beijing Olympics over China's role in the Darfur genocide and violence in Tibet, Politico reports. She joined ranks with Nancy Pelosi in calling for Bush to protest Beijing's human rights record "absent major changes by the Chinese government," Clinton...

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