Stories about Human Rights from November, 2012
Iran's Power Shakedown Before the Presidential Election
Iran’s judiciary recently denied President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad access to one of the country’s most notorious prisons. Does this decision suggest that the outgoing President’s power and influence is on the wane ahead of next year’s elections?
Canadian Awaits Death Penalty in Iran Since 2008
Canadian citizen Hamid Ghassemi was jailed in Iran and sentenced to death on espionage charges in 2008. His family, friends and neighbors in Toronto are still campaigning for his return.
Outrage as Facebook Post Leads to Arrests in India
Police detained a 21-year-old woman after she posted a Facebook a status update protesting the total shutdown of Mumbai city following the death of the founder of the Shiv Shena party. Her friend, who ‘liked’ the update was also arrested. Both were later released on bail.
Nicaraguan Blog Contest Focuses on Human Rights
Hagamos Democracia (“Let's make democracy”) invites netizens to participate in the “Let's make a blog” contest, which aims [es] to, encourage in Nicaragua the creation of communication spaces that inform and express citizens’ views about human rights.
On World Toilet Day, Introducing the Crap Map Project
With both big technology players and local partners in Ghana, we’ll be hacking together our “crap map” using existing open source tools and software paired with meaningful offline facilitation around behavior change in sanitation. Molly Norris of Ideo.org explains the objective of the Crap Map project: “to stimulate collective action...
Coming out of the Water Closet: Haiti on World Toilet Day
Today is World Toilet Day. Of a global population of 7 billion, a staggering 2.5 billion people have no access to clean toilet facilities - that's about 1 in 3 people. Some of them live in the Caribbean; many of these live in Haiti - and the lack of this fundamental human right to sanitation continues to cause unnecessary disease and death.
Palestine: Social Media in Conflict, Four Years On
Back in 2008, during Israel's attack on Gaza that left more than 1,400 (more than 700 of whom were civilians) dead, individuals the world over took to social media to comment on the attacks and the politics behind them. Four years later, the world — and the Internet — has changed. Now, as Israel once again unleashes a barrage of air strikes against Gaza's population, social media has become a secondary battlefield.
Mauritanians Protest in Solidarity with Gaza
After Friday Prayers, hundreds of Mauritanians took to the streets of the capital Nouakchott on November 16, 2012, in a solidarity rally with Gaza residents after the city became the target of heavy Israeli bombing.
Misreading Magnitsky & Congress From Russia
Russian opposition bloggers were ecstatic on Saturday, after the United States House of Representatives passed the so-called Magnitsky Act with bipartisan support. Unfortunately for supporters of the Act, it is still far from becoming law.
Is Öcalan Key to Kurdish Negotiations with Turkey?
Hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners have been on hunger strike in Turkey for 67 days. They demanded an end to a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan's isolation, and to allow the use of the Kurdish language in public spaces without discrimination. None of these demands have been met, but surprisingly a statement from Öcalan has been made, where he calls for an end to hunger strikes according to his brother Mehmet Öcalan.
Saudi Arabia: Peaceful Protesters to Be Flogged, Judge Rules
Last September, we wrote about an unprecedented 24-hour sit-in for families of uncharged prisoners. The protesters were finally tricked and arrested. Last night, Saudi journalist Iman al-Qahtani published the court ruling on 19 of those protesters on Twitter. Suspended 50-90 lashes and varying jail sentences were handed to 14 of them, including the person who brought food for the protesters. The sentences are to be executed if they participate again in any protest. The other five are to be tried later.
Chad: A Petition to Fight Impunity
Makaila ‘s blog published [fr] a petition cosigned by several human right organizations in Chad that bemoans the absence of investigation regarding war crimes. In addition, the petition notes [fr] that : We would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the fact that the executive power mingling into the judicial power facilitates the use of...
Is Ethiopia Fit to be a Member of the United Nations Human Rights Council?
Ethiopia was among four African countries that were elected as members of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 12 November, 2012. Considering Ethiopia's poor human rights record, many Ethiopians online feel that their country is not fit to be a member of the council. One netizen uses a local proverb to describe Ethiopia's membership at the council, "A fool makes a donkey carry red meat and send her along with a hyena! So the hyena will chomp through the red meat and later turn on the donkey!"
Chinese Intellectuals’ Silence Amid Tibetan Self-Immolations
Last week New York Time ran an article about the silence of Chinese intellectuals amid waves of Tibetan self-immolations. Gao Yu, a Chinese human rights activist commented [zh] on Twitter: Chinese people are so good at being indifferent. That's why there is the so-called phenomena of Xiang Lin Sao [a...
Iranian Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh on Hunger Strike in Prison
Iranian human rights activist, lawyer and Sakharov Prize winner Nasrin Sotoudeh has been on hunger strike for more than four weeks in reaction to the restrictions imposed on her family and the mistreatment of political prisoners by the Iranian authorities.
Czech Kids’ Anti-Roma Attitudes Not Discouraged
Jeremy Druker of TOL's East of Center writes about anti-Roma attitudes among school students in the Czech city of Jihlava: […] These kids obviously get their opinions from their parents, teachers, and fellow students; they can freely read as much racist propaganda online as they want […]; they hear about...
Spotlight on Cambodia’s Human Rights Record
Various civil society groups are urging global leaders who will attend the 21st summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh to raise the agenda of human rights protection with the Cambodian government.
Human Rights and Impunity in Cambodia
The list of political killings over the past 20 years is bone-chilling. While there is a public uproar after each case, officials do nothing and there are no consequences for the perpetrators or the government that protects them. Human Rights Watch documents the rise of political killings and other human...
Chinese Dissident Hu Jia Complained about 18th Party Congress
Environmental and AIDS activist Hu Jia who had been sentenced to 3.5 years imprisonment and now under house arrest complained about the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Twitter on November 13. Tweet translated here[zh]: I have been forced to leave Beijing for 20 days because of...
Police Raid Video Blogger's Home in Japan
Japan's police raided the house of a video blogger who films anti-nuclear protests, for evidence of charges against a violent protester. Every Friday, anti-nuclear activists gather in front of the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo and various places in Japan to carry out protests. While mainstream media rarely covers these anti-nuclear protests, videos from citizen media are crucial to tell the story.
