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Letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown: Don't Shackle UK Courts on War Crimes and Torture, 27 January 2010
“Human Rights Watch opposes any such change to the law and believes that placing restrictions on, or eliminating, private arrest warrants for international crimes could have serious implications not only for the United Kingdom's commitment not to be a safe haven for suspects of the most serious crimes, but also for the very credibility of the values and principles of international justice which the UK strongly supports. . . . Some contend that the arrest warrant route is being "abused" by groups with a political agenda. To date, however, there is no evidence that the procedure allows for such abuses. Indeed, there is no information suggesting that senior judges have issued arrest warrants lightly. Of course, it is impossible to entirely avoid individuals' efforts to "instrumentalize" judicial mechanisms to make political statements or for other private interests. As a matter of fact, this also happens regularly in national judicial systems in relation to ordinary crimes, and civil cases. But, the arrest warrant is not issued by these individuals but by senior judges acting impartially on the evidence in front of them. The Crown Prosecution Service can discontinue the proceedings initiated by a private applicant based on its standard two tests of determining whether a prosecution is to continue: that there must be evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, and that the prosecution is needed in the public interest. In the meantime, the suspect subject to an arrest warrant enjoys all fair trial guarantees provided by British criminal law.”
Read the full letter and find additional information on this topic here:
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Israel: the only democracy in the Middle East? This is a cooperative blog hosted by Jewish Voice for Peace. It features reports on the struggle for civil and human rights in Israel and Palestine and questions the very notion of Israel as “the only democracy” in the Middle East. In fact, there is no true democracy within the Occupied Palestinian Territories and only limited and diminishing democracy within Israel. 3.5 million Palestinians live under a 42-year long Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Territories. Inside Israel, migrants, refugees, and Israelis of all backgrounds– including Jews–are increasingly suffering the ongoing erosion of human rights. This blog chronicles the struggles waged by people on the ground, everyday, as they seek to maintain and expand full civil and human rights for all people in the region. Visit http://theonlydemocracy.org/.
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CASMII Press Release:
Iran is a country that hasn’t attacked a neighbor in more than 200 years. Even when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran after the 1979 Revolution and, with support from the West, used chemical weapons against both civilians and combatants, the Islamic Republic did not retaliate in kind. And yet the U.S. government claims that Iran represents a serious threat to the Middle East region and the entire world. Without a shred of evidence, the U.S. charges that Iran's program to develop nuclear power for peaceful energy purposes is just a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Never mentioned is the fact that, as a signatory to the U.N.'s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran's right to develop nuclear energy is enshrined in international law. Just a few months ago, the U.N's International Atomic Energy Chief, Mohammed ElBardai, the person responsible for monitoring compliance with that treaty, stated that “Nobody is sitting in Iran today developing nuclear weapons. Tehran doesn’t have an ongoing nuclear weapons program. But somehow, everyone in the West is talking about how Iran’s nuclear program is the greatest threat to the world.” (Interview with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Sept. 2009) Instead, warning of world disaster if Iran should succeed in its imaginary goal of obtaining nuclear arms, Washington argues that Iran must be forcefully brought to its knees, through a combination of increasingly crippling sanctions, taking advantage of Iran's internal divisions and preparing for a possible military attack.
Read the full report, which includes recent developments, here.
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Coffee with Hezbollah: a biting and humorous political travelogue by Belén Fernández, with photography by Amelia Opalinska. "On September 17, 2006, Amelia and I found ourselves on the border between Syria and Lebanon, drinking orange soda with the Syrian border guards. It was 34 days after the end of the 34-day war between Lebanon and Israel, and the sun was shining. . ." Lebanon's political geography proves as diverse as its physical, and each kilometer traveled adds another dimension to the complex web of national identity. With her uniquely satirical voice, Fernández uses the hitchhiking journey as a vehicle for often hilarious commentary on domestic, regional, and global politics, with great emphasis placed on US and Israeli contributions at various levels. Spanning two and a half months and incorporating bits of Turkey, Syria, and Jordan, Coffee with Hezbollah is a new take on the age-old quest for knowledge and adventure.
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“It's hard to pull off a book that's simultaneously silly and serious but Fernandez managed to do it. A delightful read.” –Norman Finkelstein
"Just beneath [Fernández’] charming facade, her sense of humor is wickedly involuted. She takes you for a ride--in more than one sense--and before you know it the absurdity she has shown you cracks open the banality of what we see and live." –Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University; Founder of Dreams of a Nation: A Palestinian Film Project
Find Coffee on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and Barnes and Noble. Meet Belen and read book excerpts here. |
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Don’t say it doesn’t happen: video proof of “Collateral Murder”
WikiLeaks has released [on 5th April 2010] a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying on 12 July 2007 of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement". Full information, video, transcripts, sources and more here.
“A senior American military official confirmed that the video was authentic.” |
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Turning Point Books publishing house based in Beirut, is dedicated to publishing high-quality and innovative books on a Lebanese and Middle Eastern theme. Turning Point currently specializes in guides, lifestyle, wellness and humour titles as well as Arabic-language children’s books. Turning Point provides useful information, humour and support to the Lebanese community, but most of all it provides a sense of pride and unity.
Watch for the upcoming online events designed to create a space where readers can interact with one another and form a unified Lebanese community regardless of where they live. To learn more about Turning Point: Website: www.tpbooksonline.com Email: clh@sodetel.net.lb Twitter page: www.twitter.com/turningpointbks Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=184184951728 Out Now: The Abou Abed Joke Book 2
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