Free Republic

Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- Chinese attorneys are risking their own freedom by pressing for the release of an activist against forced abortions detained by local officials in the eastern Chinese city of Linyi. They have released an open letter calling for authorities to release Chen Guangcheng, who has been under house arrest for the last month after exposing the brutal forced abortion and sterilization tactics of population control officials. The letter comes at a time when Chen may be charged with passing on government secrets because of an interview he conducted with Time magazine about the scandal. Chen said that...

A federal judge on Thursday ordered that a Jan. 6 defendant diagnosed with cancer be transferred to another prison after an inspection at a D.C jail found that prisoners were living in “deplorable” conditions. Judge Royce Lamberth ordered that Christopher Worrell be immediately transferred to another jail and then released to home detention for chemotherapy as soon as possible, CNN reported. He stated that the “court has zero confidence” that the D.C. jail would provide proper treatment and not retaliate against Worrell. Last month, Lamberth called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a civil rights investigation into the...

On December 20, 2017, by Executive Order 13818, the President declared a national emergency with respect to serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world and, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), took related steps to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. The prevalence and severity of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have arrested more than 22,000 people as a blitz on illegal stores and shantytowns gathers pace, sending homeless people fleeing to the countryside, the state Herald newspaper said on Wednesday. "We have so far arrested a total of 22,735 people and recovered 33.5 kilogrammes of gold from 47 illegal gold panners and 26,000 litres of fuel," Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told the newspaper. He was not immediately reachable for comment. The leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which draws the bulk of its support in urban areas, described the campaign...

Amnesty International today (24 August 2004) expressed its outrage at the reported execution of a girl believed to be 16 years old for “acts incompatible with chastity”. Ateqeh Rajabi was reportedly publicly hanged on a street in the city centre of Neka, northern Iran, on 15 August 2004.

CJTF-7 Public Affairs BAGHDAD, Iraq Release #031227e  Colorado National Guard develops military medical emergency response program    BAGHDAD, Iraq – A bomb explodes in Baghdad. People are injured and need medical treatment quickly. But a security team is needed for the military medical emergency response team to travel outside the “Green Zone” in the city. How long can the injured wait while the two teams – security and medical – scramble together? A group of medics from the Colorado National Guard are developing a pilot program in coordinated military medical emergency response. The Rapid Advance Medical Team, or RAM-T, concept was...

Slovakian Roma Forced to Ghettos Defying EU pressure, Slovakia is systematically segregating its Romany minority into ghettos, and barring their entrance into cities. By Arie Farnam | Special to The Christian Science Monitor KOSICE, SLOVAKIA – Teenager Lucie David still has nightmares about the evening two years ago when local police and neo-Nazi skinheads attacked her family's home in the small town of Stos in eastern Slovakia. "Rocks came smashing through the windows, and a crowd was outside chanting that they would rape me and my mother," she recalls in a whisper. After huddling together in the dark for several...

Myanmar sanctions in the dock By Alan Boyd SYDNEY - Energy multinational Unocal Corp will go in the dock in September over charges that it contributed to human-rights abuses during the installation of a gas pipeline between Myanmar and Thailand. A Los Angeles court rejected a motion by Unocal that sought to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a coalition of labor unions, environmentalists and human-rights groups. It is the first time a US company has ever been put on trial for its alleged actions in another country. But it is unlikely there will be a flood of other applications against...