Free Republic

On July 7, Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr is scheduled to die. He was convicted in a Texas court in 1994 of rape and murder–a capital offense for which he was sentenced to death. But this case is different from other Texas death penalty cases for the fact that Leal is a Mexican citizen. When he was arrested, he was denied the right under international law to contact the Mexican consulate. In 2004, Mexico sued the United States at the International Court of Justice for denying one of its citizens the his right under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The...

Smuggled letters allege authorities are using mass rape as a weapon inside Iran's most notorious prisons. Prison guards in Iran are giving condoms to criminals and encouraging them to systematically rape young opposition activists locked up with them...authorities are intentionally facilitating mass rape and using it as a form of punishment. Mehdi Mahmoudian, an outspoken member of Iran's Participation Front, a reformist political party, is among those prisoners who have succeeded in smuggling out letters revealing the extent of rape inside some of the most notorious prisons. ... one young prisoner was raped seven times in a single night. "In...

Iran announced on Sunday that it has decided to bar a special United Nations (UN) human rights reporter from entering the country. The state-run Press TV reported that the Human Rights Committee of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) decided to prevent the reporter from entering Iran, arguing that the UN does not monitor human rights violations in Western countries. "The United States, Israel and the UK are the biggest violators of human rights in the world and the United Nations Human Rights Committee should send their reporters to those countries instead of Iran," member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign...

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has turned a blind eye to most of the world’s worst abusers, UN Watch has found. In an exhaustive study, the watchdog group examined all statements by Pillay published on the UN website between September 2008 and June 2010. The findings show “a questionable sense of priorities,” the group reported. “Ms. Pillay turned a blind eye to most of the world’s worst abusers… She failed to voice any concern for victims in 34 countries rated ‘Not Free’ by Freedom House—meaning those with the worst records, and the most needy victims.” Syria was...

The Internet is a fundamental human right, a United Nations report released on Friday proclaims -- a statement that resonates all the more in the wake of the recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and the ongoing uprisings and protests in the Middle East and North Africa. The Internet, and sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, played a huge role in helping protesters organize and spread information, and also in spreading the word about what was going on around the world. Says the UN report on the "promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression": The...

Saudi authorities have re-arrested an activist who defied a ban on female drivers in the conservative kingdom, a security official said Monday... Through Facebook, the campaigners set June 17 as the day all women should drive their cars. The page, called "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself," was removed after more than 12,000 people indicated their support for the call. The campaign's Twitter account also was deactivated. Al-Sherif was detained for several hours on Saturday by the country's religious police and released after she signed a pledge agreeing not to drive. ...Khobar prison chief Ayoub ben...

Lawyers for the suspected al-Qaida mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole said Tuesday they have filed a case against Poland at Europe's court of human rights over alleged abuse against him at a CIA-run site in that country about eight years ago. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a New York-based human rights group, and lawyers for Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri are challenging Poland for "active complicity" in the extraordinary rendition program carried out under then-President George W. Bush. The case filed with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, seeks in part to press Poland...

When Lara Logan traveled to Egypt to cover the Tahrir Square protests, she was unaware that she was going to be working in a country where sexual harassment rates of women and especially foreign women are so high as to be universal. In a politically correct profession, such truths are politically incorrect. And even now all of the coverage studiously avoids mentioning one dangerous word. Islam. Muslim rape culture did not begin in Tahrir Square and it won't end there. Not when it actually began in the year 624 when Mohammed came up with an ingenious means of rewarding his...

Via Greg Hengler, why would an American cap a three-day visit to Kim Jong-Il’s national gulag by accusing the U.S. of human rights violations? Well, much like Superman, Carter’s more a “citizen of the world” now than part of the country he used to lead. In fact, he wasn’t there on behalf of the State Department but as part of a delegation from “The Elders,” an elite team of ex-statesmen who travel the world sharing the sort of wisdom that’s made “Jimmy Carter” synonymous with successful foreign policy ideas here at home. Kim wouldn’t meet with them, incidentally, for reasons...

The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council. And despite calling for an independent investigation into the crackdown, which has left hundreds dead, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently won’t do much about blocking Syria’s path to the human rights group. "That's not really for the secretary general to suggest to a member state," said Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary-general, when asked if the U.N. chief would ask Syria to drop...

Why should a little slaughter prevent Syria from ascending to a seat on the prestigious UN Human Rights Council? In a move reminiscent of his brutal father, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched his armed forces to try to snuff out the country’s five-week-old democratic uprising. Thousands of Syrian troops backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers stormed the southern city of Daraa on Monday, killing as many as 25 people, witnesses said. It was the first time the Syrian regime has resorted to such extreme measures against civilians in the current crisis. “This is monumental,” said Barry Rubin,...

On the fortieth anniversary of the gruesome murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and seven other victims, mass murderer Charles Manson granted an interview. Charlie was convicted and sentenced to death for these murders, though he boasted of many more. But after one of several court decisions ruling the death penalty unconstitutional, Charlie was resentenced to life imprisonment. He continues to reside as a guest of the State of California, as do other members of his “family.” Manson rambled on about global warming, protecting nature, and various topics including theology. Typically, the college-educated are more likely to substitute environmentalism for...

NEW YORK/ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Pakistan`s National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Insani Huqooq Ittehad (IHI) comprising 10 NGOs and other women and human rights organisation have expressed “deep shock” and “disappointment” at the Supreme Court verdict acquitting the accused who had raped Mukhtar Mai about nine years ago. “This is a setback for Mukhtar Mai, the broader struggle to end violence against women and the cause of an independent rights-respecting judiciary in Pakistan,” the HRW said in a statement and urged the government to ensure her safety. It said that any argument...

Germany’s Parliament says its human rights committee is protesting the conditions in which a United States Army private suspected of giving classified material to WikiLeaks is being detained.

Muslim student Amran Hussain, speaking on behalf of the European Union of Jewish Students, recently spoke out for Israel a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where he castigated the Council for anti-Israel bias. “Why is Israel consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation on the grounds of human rights violations, yet the world turns a blind eye to the human rights situations in the Arab countries …or the Far East...or Africa?” he asked.....

How ironic that Richard Goldstone's retraction of his libelous report alleging Israeli "war crimes" -- commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council -- came just two days after the Obama administration announced it would seek re-election to that same body. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Goldstone's stunning admission, in a Washington Post oped, that -- contrary to his report's conclusion -- Israel did not intentionally target civilians during the 2008 war in Gaza. But Netanyahu is being way too charitable. After all, Goldstone is merely acknowledging what was apparent to nearly any reasonable and objective observer. That it took...

Do you recall President Obama’s comment on cardiac pacemakers for the elderly? He said, “If we’ve got experts…advising doctors across the board that it will save money…” In other words, “experts” will tell doctors what to do “across the board” − not for individual patients but for whole groups − but only if it will “save money.” If a conservative said that, the media would excoriate him for being a cold-hearted, money-grubbing hater of elderly people. And do you recall what President Obama said about hip replacement for the seriously ill? He said, “Maybe you’re better off not having the...

A foreign policy adviser to President Obama said this evening that the Administration has "rehabilitated" the concept of human rights, tarnished by the Iraq war, in a way that laid the groundwork for international collaboration. Samantha Power, a senior director on the National Security Council best known for her human rights advocacy before she entered the White House, spoke at Columbia University in New York City two hours before the president's planned speech in Libya tonight. Obama "has used his pulpit and a number of speeches ... to kind of clear the brush that had gathered around the norms in...

To: justiceseeker93 Israel stands alone In human rights and tolerance, Jewish state far superior in its regionBy MICHAEL COREN, QMI AgencyLast Updated: March 12, 2011 2:00amI will defend all of my beliefs, but one of the ideas I most proud of is Zionism. No apologies, no hiding, no doubts.Zionism is arguably the most successful example of the restoration of an indigenous people to their rightful homeland in human history. It is a liberation struggle, a story of the creation of a light on a hill, that light being the Jewish state in the Middle East.I write this now in...

This is probably the most important ongoing revolt in the Middle East right now. If Assad were to fall, it would reverberate all over the region, and greatly weaken the Iranian regime. Typically, it is getting far less coverage than the other “crises,” but we’ll follow it here. Latest updates: Dara’a. According to eyewitnesses, the whole city (Population: ~100,000) is up in arms. Tens of thousands are on the street demanding freedom and liberty. Many are aware that the French Foreign Ministry, the US State Department, and the world is watching what they’re doing. This video shows Syrian security men...