Stories about Human Rights from April, 2006
Rep. of Congo: Activists Free At Last
Le Pangolin celebrates (FR) the liberation of human rights activists Mounzeo Christian and Brice Massoko. But the blogger cautions vigilance because “they are not yet completely free to go about .” He adds: “dictators are afraid of publicity regarding their ugly ways. Since they like to act as saints, we...
Iran: Refugee Seekers in Church!
Panhajoyan (Persian) writes that a small group of Iranian refugee seekers, since 24 April, have occupied a church in Belgium to stay in country. Many Iranian refugee seekers are under threat by Belgian government to be sent back to Iran.
Iran: Blogger Remains in Jail!
Webgardian writes according to ILNA (Iran Labour National Agency) Arash Sigarchi's, jailed blogger & journalist, appeal was rejected by Supreme Court. He must stay in jail for three years.
Belarus: Support for Jailed Opposition Leaders
Minsk, March 2006 – by anonymous: “One young woman was arrested while standing outside an internet cafe near October Square on Monday, as the tent camp was formed. She was released after three days, and returned on Friday to the prison walls to hand out letters from other detainees she...
China: Blogger still held
With help from her father and friends, Nina Wu—older sister of illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Hao Wu—has become a one-woman lobbying force as seen in today's post ‘contact‘.
Russia: Protes in Ufa Ignored by Media
As a discussion of media ownership and censorship in Russia is taking place at Russia Blog, Daut of Ufa Blog writes about a recent protest rally in Bashkortostan's capital that no local media have covered and no one seems to be aware of: “A demonstration in America will probably also...
Saudi Arabia: No chance for woman's rights
Woman's rights in the Arab/Islamic world is hitting the Middle East news again. Justice and marriage are the last two compromised systems in favor of men, Sabbah said. In fact, he sees that the new Fatwa, which allows marriage after the woman forfeit her rights, is sort of legalization of...
Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere
Football and ice hockey, hijab and fatwas, bloggers meetups, and much much more from the Saudi blogosphere this week. Let's go… Starting with Swalfy, who did not seem so surprised that Riyadh Gitex, which supposed to be the biggest IT exhibition in Saudi Arabia does not has a website. He...
Trinidad & Tobago: Press statement on aluminum smelter
The Rights Action Group T&T blog pulls no punches in the press statement outlining the group's views on the aluminium smelter project proposed for south Trinidad: “What is at stake for Trinidad and Tobago is not only the giving away of our natural gas, which accounts for 20% of our...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Iraqi bloggers pose something of puzzle for the mainstream media. The quality of the writing is good and bloggers sometimes have better news than their own reporters. But how do you use it? Some have the right idea and report what the bloggers are saying. This Associated Press article was...
Nicaragua, Costa Rica: Immigrant Rights
Immigrants are demanding respect of human rights. That would be Nicaraguan immigrants, living in Costa Rica.
48 Missing Detainees Wrongly Identified
“Courtyard 29” is a communal grave place, located in the General Cemetery (ES) of the capital, Santiago. In 1991, 124 missing detainees from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, were found and 96 were identified. After 20 years, 96 families had the chance to properly bury their relatives. Last week, 10 years...
Belarus: Milinkevich Arrested and Sentenced
Belarus bloggers react to the news of Aleksandr Milinkevich's arrest: Andrei Khrapavitski points out that “today practically all the key names of the Belarusian oppositions have appeared on prison rolls;” TOL's Belarus Blog sees this as “the biggest test for Belarusian people after the falsified presidential election;” and br23 blog...
Cuba: Female dissident beaten
Pondblog links to an Aljazeera news piece reporting that Cuba's most prominent female dissident, 60 year-old Marta Beatríz Roque, was beaten at her home by a pro-government mob this past Tuesday. The article states that Roque, who leads the Assembly for Promoting Civil Society, was about to leave her home...
Belarus: Photos From Charnobylski Shlyakh
LJ users andrews_kovas and eugene_grabkin post their photo reports from Charnobylski Shlyakh, a protest rally that took place in Minsk yesterday.
Belarus: Charnobylski Shlyakh Arrests
Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about more arrests and detentions in Belarus, following yesterday's protest rally “Charnobylski Shlyakh.” She also quotes Syarhei Kaliakin, an opposition activist: “20 years ago Chernobyl disaster has taken place. 10 years ago a political Chernobyl has happened, when the legally elected parliament was disbanded...
Russia: Kateryna Chumachenko's 1983 Letter
Michael Averko, a Diaspora Russian contributing to Russia Blog, writes about the letter that Kateryna Chumachenko, a (formerly) Diaspora Ukrainian wife of president Yushchenko, wrote to the Washington Times 23 years ago. In it, Chumachenko wrongly suggested “that Russian-Americans didn't petition to have Russia listed as a captive nation.” A...
Nepal: Treading cautiously on democratic grounds
After almost three weeks of protest, King Gyanendra of Nepal has agreed to restore parliament. The King had dissolved the lower house of the Parliament in 2002 because the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's government had apparently failed in the peacetalks with the Maoists . Events unfold in Nepal...
Nepal Revolution: Victory
The king has accepted the seven party alliance's roadmap.
Russia: Svetlana Bakhmina's Sentence A “Replay” of the 1930s
Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog writes that the case of the former Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina might be a “replay” of the 1930s and deserves “international interference or protests.” “The convicted mother of two, who has been in detention since 2005, is not only legally innocent — her standing...
Belarus: Alternative Student Resource
Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a Belarusian-language alternative online student resource – www.studenty.by: “More than 10,000 people visited the web-site when the first cartoon about Vasilek, a freshmen university student who came to Miensk from a small village, was posted a couple of months ago (you can see...
