Human Rights Glance
In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called "Moles Wanted." Law enforcement sought to pre-empt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention.
Pre-Emptive Strikes Against Protest at RNC
Georgia admits to dropping cluster bombs
A prominent human rights group says Georgia has admitted dropping cluster bombs in its military offensive to assert control over the restive province of South Ossetia.
Human Rights Watch says it has received an official letter from Georgia's Defense Ministry that acknowledges use of the M85 cluster munition near the Roki tunnel that connects South Ossetia with Russia.
The M85 is the same weapon that was used extensively by Israel in its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Documentary shows tough reality of doctors in war
A new documentary on aid workers in war zones shows the tough choices, dilemmas and limits faced by doctors providing emergency care in extreme conditions.
Shot in 2005-2006 and presented at the Venice film festival, "Living in Emergency" follows four Western volunteers working in Africa for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the French-based aid agency which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
Two are new recruits and two are experienced field workers in Liberia after its brutal civil war and in the lawless northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo. All struggle to cope with a crushing work load, the lack of adequate supplies, and the chaos and carnage around them.
Halliburton subsidiary KBR sued for forcing Nepalese workers to Iraq
One of America's biggest military contractors is being sued by a Nepali labourer and the families of a dozen other employees who say they were taken against their will to work in Iraq. All but one of the Nepalese workers were subsequently kidnapped and murdered.
Judge fears secret hearings over Guantanamo Bay
A federal judge overseeing cases against dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees said Wednesday that he fears the public — and the detainees themselves — will be locked out of the courtroom when evidence in the case is scrutinized for the first time.
Hundreds of detainees are awaiting hearings in a Washington federal court in the coming months to determine whether they were properly labeled enemy combatants and imprisoned without being charged.
Families of Nepalese workers killed in Iraq sue KBR
KBR Inc and its Jordanian contractor are being sued for human trafficking by a Nepalese survivor and the families of 12 other employees who were killed while being transported, allegedly against their will, to work in a U.S. military base in Iraq.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, says military contractor KBR and Daoud & Partners recruited the men in Nepal by promising them jobs at a luxury hotel in Amman, Jordan, but instead sent them to Iraq where all but one were kidnapped and killed.
The 12 victims had their passports confiscated by Daoud representatives, and were kidnapped from an unprotected convoy by Islamic militants and killed in 2004, according to the suit filed in Los Angeles.
US warning to court in alleged torture case
The US state department yesterday warned that disclosure of secret information in the case of a British resident said to have been tortured before he was sent to Guantánamo Bay would cause "serious and lasting damage" to security relations between the countries.
Stephen Mathias, a legal adviser to the department, also claimed that the "national security of the UK" would be affected by disclosure of the details of the detention and interrogation of Binyam Mohamed, 30, who is accused of conspiring with al-Qaida.
Lawyers for the Ethiopian national have been arguing in the high court that they should have access to details of his interrogation from the time he was detained in 2002 until he was taken to Guantánamo Bay - where he is still held - in 2004. Mohamed claims that he was tortured by, among other methods, having his penis cut with a razor blade.
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