Thursday, Oct 30th
Last update12:44:22 AM GMT
Human Rights Glance
An American soldier charged with killing Afghan civilians and mutilating their corpses has been sentenced to 60 days hard labor.
A US military judge has found Specialist Corey Moore, 22, guilty of serious misconduct -- including mutilating the corpse of a dead Afghan civilian, AFP reported.
He was also found guilty of smoking hashish and assaulting another soldier, Adam Winfield, who blew the whistle on the activities of the so-called “kill team.”
Sometimes disgrace can actually lead to honor. Don't say this in Los Angeles, but between us, in Tel Aviv, we can tell the truth: If the fate of Mohammed and Johannes and Esther had depended on the government and the interior minister, they wouldn't be here anymore. Their little school experience would have ended a long time ago.
They are still here, but only because various aid organizations refused to hold their peace for the children's sake. Because the Tel Aviv municipality accepted them with open arms. Because some cabinet ministers managed to wake up in time and object. And above all, because the Bialik-Rogozin school itself took the children into its embrace and refused to let them be taken away.
A case filed before an African judicial body could open a new front in efforts by human rights groups to hold the CIA and its partners accountable for what they allege was the torture of innocent victims in secret "black site" prisons around the world.
The case involves Mohammed al-Asad, who said he was arrested in late 2003 at his home in Tanzania, blindfolded and flown to a secret prison in Djibouti. He said he was subjected to two weeks of torture and inhuman treatment in a clandestine CIA rendition and detentions program designed to nab suspected terrorists.
African mercenaries hired by the Gaddafi regime to kill Libyan protesters would be immune from prosecution for war crimes due to a clause in this weekend's UN resolution that was demanded by the United States.
This means that mercenaries from countries such as Algeria, Ethiopia and Tunisia – which have all been named by rebel Libyan diplomats to the UN as being among the countries involved – would escape prosecution even if they were captured, because their nations are not members of the court.
In response to news that the full panel of Judges of the Audencia Nacional (Spain’s High Court) rejected a Spanish prosecutor’s effort to stop an investigation into the role of US officials for torture on Guantanamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has submitted many papers in this and a related case in Spain, released the following statement:
This is a monumental decision that will enable a Spanish judge to continue a case on the “authorized and systematic plan of torture and ill treatment” by U.S. officials at Guantanamo. Geoffrey Miller, the former commanding officer at Guantánamo, has already been implicated, and the case will surely move up the chain of command.
Some Tennessee legislators want to make it a felony, punishable by 15 years in prison, to follow Muslim religious law.
Republicans in both chambers introduced a bill last week that declares Shariah law a threat to the nation and authorizes the state attorney general to investigate complaints of people practicing it, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported.
Lyglenson Lemorin, acquitted in a major terrorism trial of conspiring with other Miami men to support al Qaeda, may never be able to return to the country where he grew up – the United States.
Lemorin, 35, a lawful U.S. resident with no criminal record, has lost a crucial legal appeal to reverse his deportation to Haiti a month ago. Although he was found not guilty in the first federal trial of the so-called Liberty City Seven in 2007, Lemorin immediately faced a deportation order issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Page 79 of 195
