Stories about Human Rights from June, 2006
UN Human Rights Council & Presidential Election
Several bloggers wrote about the presence of Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran chief prosecutor, in the Iranian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. A few bloggers tried to find out why Iranian government sent such a representative with a very poor human rights record. Some other bloggers try to...
Poland: Hungary In 1956 Vs Iraq Now
The beatroot writes about “the major difference between Hungary back then and Iraq today”: “Hungarians led the uprising, which was later crushed by a Superpower. In Iraq today, a Superpower has ‘liberated’ Iraq and is now experiencing an insurgency by some Iraqis (and a few cross- border terrorist weirdos).” He...
Serbia: Football and the EU
Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Serbia's poor performance at World Cup and the country's slim chances of getting into the EU anytime soon.
Russia: Ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Union
J. Otto Pohl writes about the fate of the ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Far East.
Barbados: New drivers’ licences
Barbados Free Press is concerned that the integration of of fingerprinting technology into the new drivers’ licences the Barbados government has commissioned from a US company may have “far-reaching implications for human rights and freedoms.”
Ethiopia: Make tryanny history
Weichegud!ET Politics publishes an open letter to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on the eve of his visit to Ethiopia. The message “To make poverty history you need to make tyranny history“
Syrian Blogsphere in a Week
To start off with a rather hot topic, it's politics, with Ammar Abdulhamid asking THE question… How Secure Is the Assads Regime, Really? To many observers of Syrian affairs, especially in the aftermath of the vaguely-worded report by Brammertz and in view of the growing alliance with Iran, the Assads...
China: Four months later
Beijing or Bust blogger and documentary maker Hao Wu has now been in prison for four months for a crime that has Chinese authorities have yet to announce. More than a month ago, Hao's sister Nina was informed that her younger brother would be denied legal representation.
Indonesia Growing Good Blogs, Hatemails and Asia Blog Awards
Indonesia blogosphere this last two years has witnessed the growing and heartening development of good blogging and quality bloggers to cheer about. This, for most reason, due to the emergence of some Indonesian intellectuals, writers and journalists who start showing their interests to blog. I have some of good bloggers...
Uzbekistan: Longer Andijon Video
Nick of neweurasia discusses the release of a longer video showing the events of the Andijon uprising and what it means for interpretations of the day's events.
Uzbekistan: German Prosecution
Registan.net questions the usefulness of calls to prosecute Uzbek officials for human rights violations using Germany's courts’ universal jurisdiction over such matters.
Hungary: George W. Bush Visit
Pestiside.hu reports on George W. Bush's visit to Budapest: unprecedented security measures, a phone bomb scare at the U.S. embassy, an anti-Bush rally and the gay festival.
Hungary: New Foreign Minister and Human Rights
Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Kinga Goncz, Hungary's new foreign minister, and her disappointing new views: “Yet in the corrupt world of realpolitik that she now operates in, all previous principles and beliefs have been thrown out the window in the interest of political and...
The Balkans: Comment on Srebrenica
Srebrenica Genocide Blog responds to an anonymous commenter's “attempt to justify Srebrenica massacre.”
China: Revolution’s victims’ stories blogged, not forgotten (2/4)
Chinese blogger-journalist Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) has spent a large part of his life researching the stories of those painted, purged and persecuted as right wing elements during China's Cultural Revolution; unable to have the stories published in any official media, he's turned to his own well-known blog. Early last month...
Alaa Is Free
Award-winning Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Seif al-Islam Abd al-Fattah walked out of Omraniya police station late this afternoon after spending 46 days in detention for attending a May 7 protest. I spoke with him soon after his release and he sounded fine—exhausted after a terrible night in the police...
Peace March from Seoul to Daechuri
Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Military Base in South Korea, will soon begin the expansion project to build new houses, gyms. This project will “destroy the farming communities of Daechuri, Doduri, and others”. Days in Daechuri blog about local protest activities and is organizing a Peace March on Early July.
Egypt: Rights lawyer remembered
As activists in Egypt continue to demand an independent judiciary Baheyya celebrates the life of the recently deceased campaigning lawyer Ahmed Nbil al Hilali. In his lifetime, he was christened “the saint of the national movement,” the “liberties lawyer,” and “the Egyptian people’s advocate,” since he spent nearly all of...
Russia: Comparing the Chechen War to Iraq
Sean Guillory analyzes whether the war in Iraq can be compared to the war in Chechnya: “And I’m sure American politicians and policy makers would be delighted to have the problems Putin has in Chechnya. But as the current moment shows both Iraq and Chechnya are worlds apart. Still, a...
Belarus: Two Activists Awarded in Sweden
Vilhelm Konnander reports on two Belarusian human rights activists who have been awarded Swedish prizes for their work.
Iran: UN Human Rights Council
Azadeh 7 says that Mr. Saeed Mortazavi, General Prosecutor of Tehran, will be present in UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The blogger adds more than 100 newspapers & magazines were shut down in Iran because of Mortazavi's order (Persian)!
