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Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón Disbarred in Trial Seen as Retaliation for Trailblazing Human Rights Work

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Feb. 10 (News Report) - Spain’s most famous judge, Baltasar Garzón, has been disbarred for 11 years after being found guilty of ordering illegal monitoring. Garzón is known for taking on global human rights cases under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, with actions including ordering the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, indicting Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks, and probing the abuse of U.S. prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Garzón cannot appeal his disbarment, which effectively ends his career as a judge. We speak to Human Rights Watch's Reed Brody, who observed Garzon’s trial in Madrid. Brody says the case marks "a massive attack on the independence of the judiciary and on a very brave judge." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Voter Photo ID Laws Hit Older Americans Hard

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AARP Bulletin - By Marsha Mercer - Jan. 05 (News Analysis) - Having a driver's license or photo identification card is commonplace for most Americans, but about 11 percent of adult citizens — more than 21 million people — lack a valid, government-issued photo ID, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

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With Indefinite Detention Measure, Has Congress Also Expanded Rendition of U.S. Citizens Abroad?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 22 (News Analysis) - The Obama administration is continuing to come under intense criticism from civil liberties groups for saying it will sign a controversial defense spending bill that some legal experts say would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial. While much of the media focus has been on the bill's provisions regarding indefinite detention, Mother Jones magazine has revealed the bill also contains text that could make it easier for the U.S. government to transfer American citizens to foreign regimes and security forces, a process known as rendition. We speak with Mother Jones national security reporter, Nick Baumann, who also details the cases of several U.S. citizens who have already been detained abroad by foreign security forces, interrogated, sometimes abused, and asked questions they believe could only have come from U.S. law enforcement. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Obama Prepares to Authorize Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens For First Time Since McCarthy Era - Glenn Greenwald on NDAA

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 19 (News Analysis) - The $662 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress last week includes controversial provisions that could usher in a radical expansion of indefinite detention under the U.S. government by authorizing the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial. “Congress, with the Democrats in control of the Senate and a Democratic president, is about to enact into law the first bill that will say that the military and the United States government do have this power,” says Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com blogger and constitutional law attorney. “It's muddled whether it applies to U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, but it's clearly indefinite detention, and there's a very strong case to make that it includes U.S. citizens as well, which, as we know, the Obama administration already claims anyway, and that's what makes it so dangerous.” [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Indigenous Activists From Canada Protest Tar Sands Oil at Durban Climate Change Summit

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 06 (News Report) - This morning in Durban, South Africa, a group of youth and indigenous activists from Canada gave delegates to the U.N. climate talks mock gift bags containing samples of fake tar sands along with tourism brochures for Canada and Canadian flags. Kandi Mossett, one of the activists participating in the action, says Canada’s reliance on tar sands oil “is the largest catastrophic project that I am aware of on earth right now.” Mossett, who is the Native Energy and Climate Campaign Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, notes that the tar sands extraction process is energy and water-intensive, emits immense amounts of pollution into the air, and destroys the landscape. “To even get to the tar sands they have to remove boreal forests — old growth forests — and they call it ‘overburden.’ They just scrape it off and get rid of that. And then they dig down and move so many tons of earth,” Mossett says. “Then they squeeze out the last little 10 percent of oil that’s actually in the sand. And then they have to use chemicals to make it liquid enough to be able to put it through the pipelines — it’s much more toxic than any other kind of, you know, sweet crude oil.”

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20 Ways the Obama Administration Has Intruded on Your Rights

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bill Quigley - Dec. 04 (News Analysis) - Is there a fundamental difference between the Bush presidency and the Obama presidency in the area of domestic civil liberties?

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Battlefield America: U.S. Citizens Face Indefinite Military Detention in Defense Bill Before Senate

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 29 (News Report) - The Senate is set to vote this week on a Pentagon spending bill that could usher in a radical expansion of indefinite detention under the U.S. government. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect — anywhere in the world — without charge or trial.

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SWAT team's shooting of Marine causes outrage

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Amanda Lee Myers - Nov. 27 (News Report) - Jose Guerena Ortiz was sleeping after an exhausting 12-hour night shift at a copper mine. His wife, Vanessa, had begun breakfast. Their 4-year-old son, Joel, asked to watch cartoons.

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Newsvine - AP Impact: Right-to-know laws often ignored

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

NewsVine - By Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer,: Ravi Nessman from India, Charles Hutzler from China, Adriana Gomez Licon from Mexico. - Nov. 17 (Investigative Report) - In Mexico, the AP filed a query through a website and got all the information requested within two months. But in the U.S., the AP had to mail requests to six branches of the Justice and Homeland Security departments. After 10 months, 18 phone calls and 40 letters from the government, the AP ended up with two spreadsheets and a piece of paper with all names blanked out.

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Court bars Muslim group access to FBI operating guidelines

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

rcfp.org - By J.C. Derrick - Nov. 16 (News Report) - He ordered the agency to provide further explanation to allow the court to "undertake a meaningful assessment of the redacted material."

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"Corporations Are Not People": Activists Push Amendment to Revoke "Corporate Personhood"

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 09 (News Report) - After an Election Day that saw a number of wins for progressive causes nationwide, activists opposed to "corporate personhood" — the notion that corporations have equal rights to individuals — are pushing ahead with a campaign to add a twenty-eighth amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would reject the idea that corporations are people and reverse the 2010 landmark case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In a 5-to-4 vote, the Court ruled corporations have First Amendment rights and that the government cannot impose restrictions on their political speech — clearing the way for corporations and other special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. We speak to John Bonifaz, a constitutional attorney and co-founder and director of Free Speech for People. [Rush transcript to come. Please check back soon.]

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Scott Campbell Films Police Shooting At Occupy Oakland: Video Sparks National Outrage (VIDEO)

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Nov. 08 (News Report) - Early Thursday morning after Occupy Oakland's general strike, Campbell filmed police as they surrounded the remaining protesters. According to Campbell, an officer asked him to step back as he approached the police line with a video camera. Campbell obliged, and then began filming about ten feet from the officers. On the video, Campbell can be heard asking "is this OK?" twice. Several seconds later, an officer shoots him with what appears to be a rubber bullet.

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Missoula voters say corporations are not people, ask for constitutional amendment

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

missoulian.com - Nov. 08 (News) -

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Glenn Greenwald on Two-Tiered U.S. Justice System, Obama’s Assassination Program & the Arab Spring

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald - Oct. 26 (News Analysis) - Glenn Greenwald’s new book,"With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful,” offers a scathing critique of what he calls the two-tiered system of justice that ensures the political and financial class is virtually immune from prosecution in the United States. Greenwald explores how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying, financial fraud and even the assassination of U.S citizens. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Murder Conviction Upheld

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Pirate FM - Oct. 25 (News Report) - One of the brothers serving life for the brutal murders of a Wadebridge couple in their own home loses his last appeal.

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Alleged Inhumane Conditions for Post-9/11 Suspects Sparks Global Scrutiny of U.S. Detention Policies

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Oct. 14 (News Analysis) - Mehanna is accused of trying to serve in al-Qaeda’s "media wing." He was 27 years old when he was arrested in October 2009 and has been held in solitary confinement since then. Mehanna was originally courted by the FBI to become an informant. Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights is hearing a case on the legality of extradition of terror suspects to the United States on the grounds that inmates are subjected to inhumane conditions of confinement and routine violations of due process. This could become a landmark case in human rights law, potentially damaging the international reputation of the U.S. legal system.

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"Chaos and Bloodshed": 25 Die in Cairo as Egyptian Military Attacks Coptic Christian Protesters

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Oct. 10 (News Report) - In Egypt, at least two dozen people died on Sunday when the Egyptian military attacked a large gathering of Coptic Christian protesters. The violence broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous was in Cairo and witnessed the killings. "Then the military attacked. They came rushing forward, beating anyone in their path. Then they started opening fire. The sound of gunfire filled the air," said Kouddous. "It was really a scene of chaos, a scene of bloodshed, the likes of which I have not seen since the revolution here in Cairo. And the reaction of the army does not bode well for the future." [includes rush transcript]

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U.S. Continues to Back Afghan Warlord Linked to 2006 Massacre and Torture of Prisoners

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, NERMEEN SHAIKH - Sep. 27 (Special Report) - New revelations about a U.S.-backed warlord in Afghanistan are raising questions about whether the United States has violated its own laws in its aim to defeat the Taliban. The Atlantic magazine reports the United States, under both former President George W. Bush and President Obama, has actively supported the police commander in Kandahar, General Abdul Raziq, despite knowing of his involvement not just in corruption and drug smuggling, but also in major human rights abuses including killings and torture.

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Texas GOP Rep On Cuts To Family Planning: ‘Of Course This Is A War On Birth Control’

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Sep. 21 (News Report) - while they smother women’s rights with one hand, Republicans insist “we are not attacking women” on the other. “This is not a war against women,” said Republican founder of WomanTrend Kellyanne Conway. Texas Rep. Wayne Christian (R), however, begs to differ. With Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) at the helm, Texas Republicans have passed an “emergency” law forcing women to view a sonogram before an abortion, threatened a poor women’s health care program over Planned Parenthood funding, are seeking to restrict hospitals and physicians over abortion procedures, and has cut funding for family planning clinics by two-thirds. When asked whether Texas’s anti-family planning efforts were “a war on birth control,” Christian replied, “Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything”:

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Guatemalan Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years in Prison for Role in 1982 Massacre

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 04 (News Report) - a Guatemalan judge has sentenced four of the soldiers who carried out the Dos Erres attack to 6,060 years of prison each, 30 years per person they killed. The court also found the soldiers guilty of crimes against human rights, adding another 30 years to their sentences. It is the latest step in a process to end impunity for those involved in the deaths or disappearances of more than 200,000 people in the 1980s and 1990s. However, human rights groups allege General Otto Pérez Molina, now a leading presidential candidate in Guatemala, was directly involved in the systematic use of torture and acts of genocide in the 1980s and could block pending cases if he is elected.

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Egyptians Celebrate as Mubarak Stands Trial for Murder, Corruption

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Sharif Abdel Kouddous - Aug. 04 (News Report) - In Egypt, the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak has been adjourned until August 15. On Wednesday, Mubarak appeared in court for the first time, along with his two sons, Gamal and Alaa. He was brought into the Cairo courtroom on a hospital stretcher. Mubarak denied all the charges against him, which include profiteering, illegal business dealing involving Israeli gas exports, and the unlawful killing of protesters during the revolution. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous was outside the courtroom, where crowds had gathered to watch, many expressing relief that justice could be served for the victims of the revolution.

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Assad Regime the Lone "Terrorist Group" Inside Syria

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Razan Zaitouneh, Amy Goodman - Aug. 02 (News Report) - We go to Syria to speak with human rights activist and attorney Razan Zaitouneh, who provides us with an update of the violent government crackdown on pro-democracy protest movement across the country. “We want the whole world to know what is going on,” Zaitouneh says. “We all know the truth, that the only terrorist group in the country is this regime, who has been killing its own people for more than four months, who has been arresting dozens of thousands of people only because they want their freedom.”

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Chris Hedges: America’s Disappeared Chris Hedges

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TruthDig - By Chris Hedges - Jul. 19 (Special Report) - Torture, prolonged detention without trial, sexual humiliation, rape, disappearance, extortion, looting, random murder and abuse, have become, as in Argentina during the Dirty War, part of our own subterranean world of detention sites and torture centers. - 2011/07/18

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The CIA’s Secret Prison in Somalia

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Harper's - By Scott Horton - Jul. 17 (News Analysis) - The Obama Administration’s recent decision to charge a Somali militant named Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame with crimes in a federal court in Manhattan has focused a good deal of attention on American intelligence operations in the Horn of Africa. Somalia is still viewed as the quintessential failed state, and it has been cited by American analysts as a breeding ground for Islamist militants. The U.S. government has made no secret of the special attention it devotes to the country, but it has been remarkably short on details about what that attention entails. Much of this knowledge gap has now been filled in by a remarkable piece of reporting from The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill. . . .

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Jeremy Scahill Reveals CIA Facility, Prison in Somalia as U.S. Expands Covert Ops in Stricken Nation

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Jeramy Scahill - Jul. 13 (Special Report) - In a new investigative report published by The Nation magazine, independent journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reveals the CIA is using a secret facility in Somalia for counterterrorism as well as an underground prison in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Scahill says the CIA is training a new Somali force to conduct operations in the areas controlled by the militant group, Al Shabab, and in Mogadishu. While a U.S. official told The Nation that the CIA does not run the prison, he acknowledged the CIA pays the salaries of Somali agents.

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