· April, 2007

Stories about Human Rights from April, 2007

Russia: More on Mstislav Rostropovich

Another personal reflection on Mstislav Rostropovich, written by an anonymous contributor to Robert Amsterdam's blog – “who as a young musician had the distinct honor of personally meeting the great...

30 April 2007

France: Expelling Illegal Immigrants

Continuing the debate on expelling illegal immigrants living in France, SEMEtt ou l'étincelle noire (Fr) writes about a political asylee who was shipped back to Liberia, a group of long-term...

30 April 2007

Serbia: Blogosphere Reacts to Protect Press Freedom

Two hand grenades were placed on a window sill of Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevic's apartment on Saturday, April 15. The explosions caused material damage but no injuries. There were numerous comments about who might have stood behind the attack. Bloggers started a petition requesting prompt reaction of the police for the sake of press freedom.

30 April 2007

Iran:Disrespect to the Society

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician, reminds us that these days ladies are inspected in many streets of Tehran. The ladies who are not wearing proper veil (hejab) are arrested… the...

29 April 2007

Turkey is Typing: The Killings in Malatya

"A handful of monsters walked into a Bible publisher in the Turkish city of Malatya the other day," writes one blogger, describing one of the tragedies which stunned Turkey this week. The brutal killings of three Christian missionaries at a Bible publishing house in Malatya has bloggers across the nation mourning the display of violent intolerance and contrasting the established sanctity of nationhood with the dire need for multi-religious acceptance.

28 April 2007

“What Kind of Lebanon Do We Want?”

As Lebanon's political leaders offer up their usual litany of what he says is useless rhetoric, French-Lebanese blogger Frencheagle asks his readers to remember one question: “What kind of Lebanon...

27 April 2007

China: Dog Abuse Triggered Internet Debate

Josie Liu from China in Transition reported on a recent internet debate (17000 comments) about animal right VS human right. The discussion was triggered off by an incident of burning...

27 April 2007

Japan: Thoughts on the Abe “apology”

Japan, Beyond the Tamagawa reminds readers, with respect to recent comments by Prime Minsiter Abe Shinzo about the Comfort Women issue, that Abe “didn't intend [his comments] to raise such...

27 April 2007

Somalia: Mogadishu Tech Massacre

Espresso Royale Commentaries discusses “Mogadishu tech massacre”: The Mogadishu massacre was bigger in number but lesser known to most people because it didn’t make to be a prime media piece....

27 April 2007

Kurdistance: A Week Like Any Other

The news coming out of the Kurdish blogs this week is as varied as the landscape of Kurdistan itself. From predictions on Syrian Kurd alliances with Israel, to censorship in Turkey; from explorations of Northern Iraq, to essays on intolerance, the Kurdish bloggers cover it all. But for this week, I think we will begin with why, to Kurds, April is considered as the "Bride of the Year".

27 April 2007

Syrian Independence Day and Elections

Syria celebrated it's independence and Parliamentary elections with a lot of official fanfare, but very little excitement from bloggers as a reported two per cent of the constituents turned up at the polling stations. Yazan Badran sums up the reactions as bloggers debate the results and updates us about the jailing of a prominent human rights lawyer.

26 April 2007