· December, 2012

Stories about Human Rights from December, 2012

Two US Drone Strikes in Yemen for Christmas

  25 December 2012

Merry Christmas from Yemen! Christmas day was a day of double drone strikes in Yemen, killing five 'suspected' militants. The first drone strike killed two people travelling in a vehicle in a southern town, al-Bayda province on Monday. In the second attack, which also occurred on Monday, the unmanned aircraft fired missiles at three people riding on two motorcycles travelling in Hadramout province, killing all three men.

Rohingya Refugees Rejected by Singapore

  23 December 2012

Singapore turned away 40 Rohingya shipwreck survivors who were rescued by a Vietnamese ship. Singapore netizens and human rights groups reacted strongly to the decision of authorities to send away the refugees.

Massive Police Presence on “Friday for Detainees” in Saudi Arabia

  21 December 2012

Shortly after the arrest of Suleiman al-Rashoudi, the head of independent human rights organization Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), anonymous activist group @e3teqal [which translates to detain] announced that today, December 21, will be a “Friday for Detainees” and called for country-wide sit-ins. Despite heavy police presence, many were able to protest in the country where demonstrations and sit-ins are banned.

Guinean Journalist Mysteriously Disappears in Angola

  21 December 2012

Where is Milocas Pereira? The question echoes through social networks on the disappearance, six months ago, of the journalist and university professor in the Angolan capital city Luanda, where she has lived since 2004. On the Internet a petition directed to the UN High Commission of Human Rights has been launched.

Video Plea for Public Toilet Facilities in Jharkhand, India

  20 December 2012

Amit Topno, a ‘Video Volunteers’ community correspondent reports that the residents of Nichitpur village in the Indian State of Jharkhand do not have any working public toilet. The villagers plea to the local authorities via this video to ensure that proper toilets are installed.

Tempers Flare As Court Frees Dagestani Boxer Who Killed Russian Teenager

RuNet Echo  20 December 2012

Rasul Mirzaev, a 26-year-old mixed martial arts world champion from Dagestan, is a convicted killer. His victim was a 19-year-old Russian man, Ivan Agafonov, whom he murdered in a scuffle outside a nightclub in August 2011. On November 27, 2012, a Moscow court let him walk free, after a little more than a year in custody. The RuNet has responded with often vehement emotion.

Caribbean: What Happened in 2012 (Part 2)

  20 December 2012

The first part of this post observed that in the Caribbean blogosphere, the year was punctuated by hunger strikes - the first in Cuba and the second in Trinidad and Tobago. Part 2 of the regional blogosphere's 2012 summary recalls other issues that got Caribbean netizens talking - from the Olympics to the need for greater political transparency…

Reflections on the Croatian Generals’ Acquittal

  20 December 2012

Alan Jaksic of Balkan Anarchist posts a follow-up to his initial comments on the Nov. 16 reversal of the convictions of the Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač: […] So do I still consider last month’s acquittal at the Hague a “disgraceful acquittal”, an “outrage” and an “insult to...

Caribbean: What Happened in 2012 (Part 1)

  19 December 2012

This year, events in the regional blogosphere were curiously bookended by hunger strikes. Part 1 of this 2012 recap takes a look at the topics that most shaped online discussion in the Bahamian, Cuban and French-speaking Caribbean blogospheres.

Independent Turkmen Website Hacked

  18 December 2012

Chronicles of Turkmenistan (www.chrono-tm.org), the website run by Turkmen human rights activists in exile, has been hacked [ru] for the third time this year and remains down. Catherine Fitzpatrick on Different Stans blog suggests that the “way too important” website was hacked by “Turkmen Secret Police”. She also lists alternative social media where the...

Delhi Gang Rape Case Evokes Rage Across India

  18 December 2012

A recent gang-rape of a 23 year-old woman on a Delhi bus has stirred shock and outrage in India. This incident has raised a lot of questions regarding public safety in the Indian capital and criticized the approach of the society towards taboo subjects such as sex and rape.

Japan: Signature Campaign Calling for the Release of Anti-Nuclear Scholar

  18 December 2012

An online signature campaign has been launched to call for the release of Masaki Shimoji, Associate Professor of Economy at Hannan University, who has been arrested by Osaka police on December 9 for his campaign to oppose city plans to incinerate imported earthquake debris contaminated by nuclear leak in Fukishima.

Censorship Lift for “V for Vendetta” Shocks China

  18 December 2012

V for Vendetta, a film produced in 2005 about a near-future dystopian society, previously censored in China, was aired on China Central Television Station (CCTV) Channel Six on December 14, 2012. The screening has caught many people by surprise.

China's Media Mute on Local School Tragedy

  17 December 2012

On Dec 14, 2012, 20 children were killed in a gun shooting in Connecticut, US. The sad news was immediately all over China’s CCTV and made the headlines of major newspapers in China. On the same day, another school tragedy took place in central China: a man stabbed and injured 22 children. However, there was not a single mention of the domestic tragedy in Chinese mainstream media. The only news was through Weibo, China’s twitter.

Chinese Youth Association of France Sues Magazine for Racial Defamation

  17 December 2012

We are flabbergasted that the (French magazine) Le Point would stigmatize in such manner a category of the French population in the article “The intriguing success of Chinese people in France” [..] No, not all Chinese Frenchmen are criminals. No, not all Chinese Frenchwomen are prostitutes. They are french citizens like any other citizens. The Chinese Youth...