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Five women beaten and buried alive in Pakistan 'honour killing'
Pakistan ordered an inquiry yesterday into how five women were buried alive in an "honour killing". Three suspects were arrested as condemnation of the outrage spread across the country.
The atrocity took place six weeks ago in a remote region of the vast and restive province of Baluchistan. Three teenage girls named as Hameeda, Raheema and Fauzia, attempted to marry men of their own choosing, and were then reportedly kidnapped by armed local tribesmen along with two older women.
According to human rights groups and local reports, the five women were driven away to a desert area by men belonging to the Umrani tribe. The three teenage girls were hauled out, beaten and shot. Injured, but still alive, they were thrown into a ditch. When the two older women, aged 45 and 38, protested at what was happening, they were subjected to the same treatment. "All five women were connected," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.
The killings have been defended by politicians from Baluchistan. Reacting to a female colleague's attempt to raise the issue in parliament, Israrullah Zehri said such acts were part of a "centuries-old tradition" and he would "continue to defend them".
Questions have been raised about the involvement of local politicians in the incident. The Asian Human Rights Commission said that the brother of a provincial minister was "allegedly" among the tribesmen. "There is a political connection, but it is not certain what," added Mr Hasan of Human Rights Watch.
Iqbal Haider of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission said the two senators should be removed from parliament. "They are as obscurantist as the Taliban ... these men have violated the constitution," he said.
Mr Haider added that the government had been slow to react. "I referred this matter to the federal government on 16 August. They have only reacted now. Why did it take so long for there to be an arrest? Where was the condemnation for so long? Why has there been no post-mortem yet?"
Details of the incident have only emerged over recent days after the local media began to draw attention to human rights groups' reports.
Yesterday, as women's rights protesters gathered outside parliament and government buildings in the major cities of Lahore and Karachi, the Sindh provincial assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the killings as "a heinous crime against humanity". Pakistan ordered an inquiry yesterday into how five women were buried alive in an "honour killing". Three suspects were arre... more -
US plane delivers aid to Georgia
The first planeload of US aid has been delivered to Georgia as Washington steps up its support for the shaky ceasefire with Russia.
A C-17 military aircraft brought supplies into the capital Tbilisi and a second flight is planned for later today.
George Bush has promised to support Georgia with humanitarian supplies and said he expects Russia to allow aid into the country, ensuring all lines of communication and transport remain open.
Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili said Mr Bush's pledge meant Georgian ports and airports would be taken under US military control but this claim was swiftly denied by the Pentagon.
The US president also criticized Moscow for apparently breaking the ceasefire.
"The United States of America stands with the democratically-elected government of Georgia," Mr Bush said.
"We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is due to arrive in Tbilisi later after talks in Paris.
Russia has denied violating the ceasefire and rejected claims its troops had advanced on Tbilisi or looted the town of Gori.
Human Rights Watch, a US-based organization with staff in Georgia, said its on site researchers had witnessed looting of ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia, the separatist province at the heart of the current conflict.
Sky News' Andrew Wilson was held at gunpoint in Gori and said there were "vicious looters on the way into town". The first planeload of US aid has been delivered to Georgia as Washington steps up its support for the shaky ceasefire with Russia. ... more -
Rights group: UK trained Kenya 'torture troops'
A human rights group called on Monday for suspension of international military cooperation with Kenya, saying Britain helped train Kenyan troops who are accused of torture and murder.
Human Rights Watch says such aid should be halted until there is an independent investigation and action is taken against those responsible for atrocities.
Britain and the U.S. provide assistance and training to security forces in Kenya, which is considered a regional hub for controlling extremist Islamist groups in the Horn of Africa.
``The British people should be concerned that their money is being spent on training forces implicated in torture, murder and disappearances,'' said researcher Ben Rawlence, who wrote Monday's report.
Human Rights Watch and other local human rights groups documented hundreds of cases of torture and dozens of disappearances during a Kenyan military operation against a brutal militia in the country's western Mount Elgon district.
The militia, the feared Sabaot Land Defense Force, had mutilated and murdered hundreds of people during a land dispute before the military operation began in March. Blanket detentions by Kenyan security forces swept up thousands of people, including children as young as 11.
The military denies allegations of torture.
Britain helped train one of several army units deployed to the area in counterinsurgency techniques. Several victims identified their torturers as members of the 20 Paratrooper unit by their insignia of green berets with a white paratrooper ensign on the front.
``Given the Kenyan government's lack of transparency about the abuses in Mount Elgon, the U.K. and U.S. governments cannot say with certainty that U.S. or U.K.-trained units were not involved in torture,'' the Human Rights Watch report said.
Human Rights Watch said it documented dozens of cases of torture by police, paramilitary and military units
``The British government has a duty to make sure the forces it trains are abiding by the law and if they don't, they should stop supporting them,'' said Rawlence. ``The Kenyans claim this is how counterinsurgency is done. If that is true, Britain should have no part of it.''
British officials, asked to comment, had no immediate response. But a Kenyan defense spokesman said the allegations were nonsense.
``Our personnel are not trained to torture people they are supposed to protect,'' said Bogita Ongeri. He said the military had not been involved in torture because they had received no complaints, and said he would welcome independent investigations, as long as the investigators sought permission from the military first.
Ongeri refused to discuss the involvement of the paratrooper unit, citing operational security.
The Mount Elgon conflict has its roots in a long-running land dispute that has been manipulated by local politicians. The militia group first emerged in 2006, predating the deadly clashes sparked by disputed national elections in December. But activists say the causes of grievances over land, corruption and local officials who encourage violence to seize power is common to both conflicts. A human rights group called on Monday for suspension of international military cooperation with Kenya, saying Britain helped train Ken... more -
US is 'the world's leading jailer'
"The United States has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world and more than ever before in its history, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The number represents an incarceration rate of 762 per 100,000 residents, compared to 152 per 100,000 in Britain, 108 in Canada, and 91 in France, HRW said in a statement commenting on Justice Department figures also released Friday.
"The new incarceration figures confirm the United States as the world's leading jailer," said David Fahti, HRW's US program director.
"Americans should ask why the US locks up so many more people than do Canada, Britain, and other democracies," he added.
The newly released figures show a sharp racial imbalance in the US prison population, with blacks outnumbering whites by six to one.
Nearly 11 percent of black men aged 30-34 are in prison, according to Justice Department figures.
HRW said blacks in the United States are 12 times more likely to be sent to jail for drug-related crimes than whites, even though drug use among the two races is about the same.
"Although whites, being more numerous, constitute the large majority of drug users, blacks constitute 54 percent of all persons entering state prisons with a new drug offense conviction," the rights group said." "The United States has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world and more than ever before in its ... more -
Racism in Russia
Following the promise of a better life, African immigrants to Russia are finding something else: hate crimes.
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Violence against Iraqi Kurdish women on the rise
"Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called "honour" killings and female suicides on the increase.
"At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone," a doctor told AFP in the region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.
"Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances" - apparently the victims of "honour" killings.
"Over the same period, we recorded 11 attempted self-immolations. These women were so desperate they set fire to themselves," the doctor added, asking not to be identified.
According to Kurdish regional government figures, in Sulaimaniyah province alone more than 50 women attempted suicide by burning in the first four months of the year and another eight tried to hang themselves.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has regularly highlighted "honour" killings of Kurdish women as being among the country's most severe human rights abuses.
Most such crimes are reported as deaths caused by accidental fires in the home".
AFP "Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called ... more -
Saudi women 'kept in childhood'
It's time the world turned their eyes to this injustice. In the only country in the world in which women are not allowed to drive cars, Saudi Arabia institutionalizes sexism on a massive scale, denying rights to women across the board.
Aren't you glad you didn't grow up in Saudi?
I sure am! It's time the world turned their eyes to this injustice. In the only country in the world in which women are not allowed to drive... more -
Center Examines LGBT Military Deaths
A University of California think-tank estimates that since the war in Iraq began 64 of the servicemembers who died were gay.
The total number of US troops who have died since the war began in 2003 has surpassed 4000. According to the Pentagon, 98 of these were women.
Because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, it is impossible to accurately determine the number of LGBT casualties.
"The sexual orientation of service members is a private matter. But the nation must recognize that gays and lesbians are among those giving their lives for their country, a fact that can be obscured by the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars service members from being truthful about who they are," the Williams Institute said in a statement.
Since the ban on gays serving openly was implemented a decade ago more than 11,000 men and women have been dismissed under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" according to the Government Accountability Office.
The number of gays and lesbians who have attempted to enlist and rejected because they said they were gay is not known.
The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and allow gays to serve openly has been reintroduced in Congress and has bipartisan support.
The numbers of American war dead do not take into account what is believed to be hundreds of Iraqi gays and lesbians rounded up and executed by death squads imposing strict Islamic law.
Last year the leader of an exiled Iraqi LGBT rights group told a London conference on homophobia that that militias blamed for the murders of hundreds of gay men and women are sanctioned by the government and the US-led coalition is doing little to stop the killings.
Ali Hili said that the Badr and Sadr militias - the armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq - are routinely rounding up men and women, primarily in Baghdad, suspected of being gay. The men and women are never heard from again.
Five members of Hili's own group were taken away in November of 2006. About a dozen members of Rainbow For Life, another Iraqi LGBT group also have been seized and are presumed dead.
In 2006 the Iraq government strongly criticized a U.N. report on human rights that put its civilian death toll in 2006 at 34,452, saying it is "superficial" because it included people such as homosexuals. A University of California think-tank estimates that since the war in Iraq began 64 of the servicemembers who died were gay. ... more -
CIA rendered 14 Prisoners to Jordan for torture
According to a recently released Human Rights Watch report, the CIA sent 14 "war on terror" suspects to Jordan between 2001 and 2004, "making it the top rendition destination at that time," Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The prisoners endured regular torture according to the report. One prisoner described the torture in a hand written note: "Ali al-Hajj al-Sharqawi wrote that GID interrogators beat him “in a way that does not know any limits.”
“They threatened me with electricity, with snakes and dogs …. [They said] we’ll make you see death …. They threatened to rape me."
You can view the full report here: http://hrw.org/reports/2008/jordan0408/ According to a recently released Human Rights Watch report, the CIA sent 14 "war on terror" suspects to Jordan between 2001 ... more -
CIA rendered 14 suspects to Jordan
At least 14 people have been secretly handed over by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to Jordan for interrogation and torture since the September 11 attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday. At least 14 people have been secretly handed over by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to Jordan for interrogation and torture sinc... more
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Police beat Tibetans storming Chinese embassy in Katmandu
A group of 200 Tibetan exiles and monks tried to storm the Chinese Embassy visa office in Nepal's capital on Sunday but police beat them back with bamboo batons.
At least 130 protesters were arrested and some of the demonstrators and policemen were injured in the scuffle.
The protesters reached the metal gate of the fortified compound and were kicking and trying to push it open when police armed with bamboo batons raced to the scene and began beating them.
''Stop the killing, stop the killing,'' the protesters chanted as they charged toward the office gate.
Nepal has said it would not allow protests against any ''friendly nation,'' including China.
International rights groups, like New York-based Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations have repeatedly criticized Nepal's handling of the Tibetan protests and beating of the protesters. A group of 200 Tibetan exiles and monks tried to storm the Chinese Embassy visa office in Nepal's capital on Sunday but police be... more -
SF: Human Rights Watch Film Fest at YBCA Screening Room 3/13, 3/16, 3/20, 3/27, 3/...
The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has become the leading showcase for distinguished documentary and fiction films with distinctive human rights themes. The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has become the leading showcase for distinguished documentary and fiction films wit... more
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Top 50 WAR Profiteers
Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004–2006
* Unidentified Foreign Entities $20,435,870,190
1 KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) $16,059,282,020
2 DynCorp International (Veritas Capital) $1,838,156,100
3 Washington Group International Inc $1,044,686,850
4 IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) $901,973,910
5 Environmental Chemical Corp $899,701,070
6 L-3 Communications Holdings Inc $853,535,680
7 Fluor Corp $736,853,200
8 Perini Corp $720,859,110
9 Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) $617,089,510
10 Parsons Corp $579,265,450
11 First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll $495,404,500
12 Blackwater USA $485,149,590
13 Tetra Tech Inc $362,107,010
14 AMEC PLC $317,171,280
15 Laguna Pueblo (Laguna Construction Company Inc) $312,677,530
16 AECOM Technology Corp $293,731,050
17 Toltest Inc $266,595,130
18 Lockheed Martin Corp $244,376,120
19 Weston Solutions Inc $230,982,240
20 Red Star Enterprises Ltd $193,374,320
21 U.S.-Afghanistan Reconstruction Council $182,700,310
22 Triple Canopy Inc $179,308,590
23 The Shaw Group Inc $172,620,540
24 General Dynamics Corp $172,543,070
25 Innovative Technical Solutions Inc $170,377,130
26 USA Environmental Inc $170,050,840
27 Ellis Environmental Group LC $155,806,930
28 Petrol Ofisi A S $147,515,700
29 EOD Technology Inc $133,417,380
30 I and S Acquisition Corporation $118,490,070
31 Refinery Associates of Texas Inc $109,533,680
32 Mac International FZE $102,442,020
33 CH2M HILL Companies Ltd $102,158,710
34 Zafer Taahhut Insaat Ve Ticaret A S $100,443,870
35 Cape Environmental Management Inc $99,128,870
36 Odebrecht-Austin Joint Venture $92,778,820
37 Aegis Defence Services Ltd $92,310,680
38 CACI International Inc $87,760,610
39 Verizon Communications Inc $86,800,120
40 Framaco International Inc $83,301,810
41 Ronco Consulting Corp $82,408,030
42 Emta Insaat Taahhut Ve Ticaret A S $78,674,140
43 Technologists Inc $74,867,950
44 URS Corporation $68,229,300
45 Tyco International Ltd $67,451,230
46 Turcas Petrol A S $59,265,080
47 Prime Projects International General Trading LLC $56,971,380
48 Rizzani de Eccher SpA $56,705,000
49 Trigeant Ltd $48,556,690
50 The Boeing Co $48,359,910 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004–2006 * Unidentified Foreign Entities $20,435,870,190 ... more -
Bush administration admits waterboarding terror suspects
Democrats in the US Senate have demanded a criminal investigation into waterboarding by government interrogators after the Bush administration admitted for the first time that the tactic was used on three terror suspects.
In a testimony to Congress, CIA director Michael Hayden became the first US official to publicly acknowledge the agency carried out waterboarding interrogation on detainees following 9/11.
Waterboarding has been traced back to the Spanish Inquisition and has been condemned by Amnesty International and nations around the world.
"We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," Mr Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al Qaida and its workings. Those two realities have changed."
The Pentagon has banned its employees from using waterboarding and Human Rights Watch, which has been calling on the US government to outlaw waterboarding as a form of illegal torture, called Mr Hayden's testimony "an explicit admission of criminal activity". The above picture depicts a protest against waterboarding. Democrats in the US Senate have demanded a criminal investigation into waterboarding by government interrogators after the Bush admini... more -
Getting Rid of Beijing's Unwanted People
The Chinese are cleansing Beijing of "unwanted people" prior to the Olympics. They require all Chinese workers to register their political affiliation with the police. Random ID screening is occurring in subway stations. Any time a Chinese citizen moves from their home town to a new location, they must register with the police. The Chinese are concerned about protests during the Olympics. I am concerned about the United State supporting the Beijing Olympics. The Chinese are cleansing Beijing of "unwanted people" prior to the Olympics. They require all Chinese workers to register ... more
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Human Rights Watch: Innocent man may have been executed
A 20-year old Iranian man was executed earlier this month despite claims that he may have been innocent.
Makwan Mouloudzadeh, was 13 when he was accused of raping three boys. Under international human rights laws to which, Iran is co-signer, Mouloudzadeh should have been spared the death penalty because the crime took place when he was a child.
Furthermore the alleged victims retracted their statements before Mouloudzadeh was sentence to death last May.
The US-based group, Human Rights Watch believe that two other juvenile offenders were executed in Iran this year. A 20-year old Iranian man was executed earlier this month despite claims that he may have been innocent. ... more -
Burma: Protesting monks are beaten by security forces
The military starts showing its face and in fact it force, beating up at least 10 monks---part of thousands who have been marching through various cities in force of freedom in Burma/Myanamar.
The last freedom protest there was squelched by the army in 1988... this time the world is watching... lets see what the world might do... The military starts showing its face and in fact it force, beating up at least 10 monks---part of thousands who have been marching thr... more
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