Human Rights Glance
A US judge has "reluctantly" agreed to a US government request to delay appeals brought by some 250 Guantanamo detainees challenging the legality of their detention.
Judge Thomas Hogan, who is coordinating some 200 to 250 appeals in front of the federal courts, said in an order that he was granting the Government's motion.
"The court is satisfied that the Government is not dragging its feet in an attempts to delay these matters beyond what is necessary to protect the national security concerns associated with releasing classified information," Judge Hogan said in his order.
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Psychologists pass ban on aiding in torture
Members of the nation's premier psychologists' association will be banned from participating in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and other military sites where international laws against torture are being violated.
The vote by the American Psychological Association means its members can work at such sites only for humanitarian purposes or with non-governmental groups.
US soldier sentenced to 7 months in prison over Iraq killings
A U.S. military judge says a soldier who pleaded guilty to involvement in the slaying of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis will be jailed for seven months and dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Spc. Belmor Ramos, 23, had faced a possible sentence of life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder but worked out a plea agreement.
Intelligence officer claims CIA was complicit in torture in Uzbekistan
Ikrom Yakubov, a former major in the National Security Service (SNB), accused the CIA of involvement in torture sessions in the central Asian republic in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald, during which he made a series of startling claims. These include claims that:
Andover law school convenes Bush War Crimes Conference
Saturday morning, the dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover will convene a two day planning session with a single focus: To arrest, put to trial and carry out sentence on criminals in the Bush Administration.
The conference, arranged by Lawrence Vevel, cofounder of the Andover school, will focus on which of Bush's officials and members of Congress could be charged with war crimes. The plan also calls for "necessary organizational structures" to be established, with the purpose of pursuing the guilty "to the ends of the Earth."
"For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders," Velvel said in a media advisory.
In a published document entitled "The Long Term View" (PDF link), Vevel argues, at the very least, "there is no question" George W. Bush is guilty of conspiracy to commit torture, a war crime.
Torture Supporter Dershowitz Says Not to Prosecute Bush, Cheney, et alia
It's not the results of an election that could determine who is prosecuted. It's the reslts of an election that could -- in a dreamy optimistic fantasy anyway -- determine whether laws are enforced. The Justice Department is right now a branch of a political party, hiring and firing on that basis, and - yes - prosecuting on that basis. Any future president must undo that, and must prosecute openly criminal predecessors, regardless of party. But rather than asking McCain to make that commitment, you choose to ask Obama NOT to. Which side of the law are you on? I repeat: Bush is not a candidate this year. He cannot win or lose. Your acceptance of the idea that party loyalty must supercede all else, including both the rule of law and the significance of elections, that it must go completely unquestioned, just like your fantasies about the utility of torture, is the root of the difficulty here.
In the occupied territories, there's a new weapon: the video camera, detailing the violence meted out to Palestinians
"It's very easy for the Israeli public to believe that Palestinians are lying when it's just their word against the word of a soldier or settler", explained B'Tselem's spokesperson, Sarit Michaeli. The Israeli human rights group has brought several high-profile cases to the public's attention this summer, providing vital video evidence of the scale of the violence meted out by settlers and soldiers alike. In the process the footage has seriously dented efforts to smear Palestinians complaining of assault. According to Michaeli, "[The video evidence] makes it much easier for us to demonstrate the reality on the ground, and to show Israelis what is being done in their names in the occupied territories."
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