Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch

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HRW: Police Killed 34 Protesters during Recent Protests in DR Congo
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951002001107

Thu Dec 22, 2016 - All fatalities occurred during initial demonstrations on Tuesday, said Ida Sawyer, the Central Africa director for the New York-based HRW, in a twitter post on Thursday, raising the death toll from an earlier count of 26, presstv reported.

She added that 19 people were killed in the capital, Kinshasa, five in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, and six and four others in the western port cities of Boma and Matadi, respectively.

Sawyer further said that the rights group was verifying additional reports of deaths.

The Congolese government has, however, said that only 22 people had lost their lives in the clashes, including a police officer.

People have been protesting Kabila’s refusal to quit after the end of his second term in office.

Meanwhile, reports say that the army has sealed off a section of Lubumbashi, carrying out mass arrests of young men and adolescents there, in an apparent attempt to curb growing anti-government protest rallies.

Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Haut-Katanga is the second-largest city in the country and the fiefdom of an opposition leader in exile, Moise Katumbi.

On Tuesday, the director of the UN mission in the DR Congo, Maman Sambo Sidikou, said his office had documented 113 arrests of opposition leaders, civil society activists, human rights campaigners, and journalists by police and intelligence authorities since December 16.

President Kabila assumed power in the mineral-rich country in 2001, shortly after the assassination of his father. In 2006, a new constitutional provision limited the presidency to a two-term limit, which expired for the incumbent on Tuesday.

He is thus barred from standing for a third term but has refused to step down.

The electoral commission, blamed by opposition parties as taking Kabila’s side, announced in October that it had postponed scheduled elections from December 2016 to April 2018, paving the way for the 45-year-old president to further remain in power.

The commission’s official decision further angered opponents, particularly in the capital, plunging the African country into more political turmoil and repeated bouts of deadly unrest during the past two months.

The DR Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and has left over 5.5 million people dead.

 

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The refugee policy pursued by Turkey and the EU countries reinforces negative attitudes towards those escaping warzones, Volkan Gorendag, Amnesty International's Refugee Rights Coordinator, told Sputnik Turkey.

Migration 2.0: EU-Turkey Refugee Agreement 'Just Changed Refugee Routes'
https://sputniknews.com/world/201612281049072550-turkey-eu-agreement-migrants/

28.12.2016 - In an interview with Sputnik Turkey, Volkan Gorendag, Amnesty International's Refugee Rights Coordinator, lashed out at the refugee policy agreed to by Ankara and the European Union, which he said helps reinforce negative attitudes within society regarding migration-related issues.

He expressed regret about the way the Turkish and European media have addressed the matter. Gorendag also reproached the rhetoric used by Turkish and European political figures, something that he said fuels negative attitudes towards the newcomers. "The media should use more restrained language on the subject, while the state ought to tread more carefully in its policy towards refugees. First and foremost, this pertains to the European countries and Turkey. These measures could help to reduce society's negative perception of the refugee problem," he said.

He added that although the Turkish-EU agreement on refugees works, the number of refugees who have entered Europe and returned to Turkey under this deal remains very small.

"In fact, we can talk about the existence of migration in an updated form. The EU-Turkey agreement on migrants just changes the roots of the refugees, who currently pass mainly through the Mediterranean Sea rather than being concentrated along part of the Aegean coast," he said.

Gorenbag recalled that scores of refugees continue to die when migrant boats sink off the coast of Libya and in the Mediterranean Sea, a problem that he said now grabs much less international headlines as compared to last year.

The EU-Turkey agreement for the relocation of migrants — many from Syria — back to Turkey has faced increasing opposition, as it is contingent on Turkish citizens being allowed visa-free access to Europe and the acceleration of Turkish accession into the EU.

The deal has faltered because Turkey has failed to meet a series of criteria set out by the EU – including with respect to human rights and freedom of speech.

Opposition to the migrant deal grew after a government crackdown on opposition groups, the media and civil servants which followed the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016. The Ankara-Brussels agreement on returning undocumented migrants in exchange for Syrian refugees on a one-for-one basis came into force on April 4, 2016.

ISIL terrorists "summarily executed" 13 civilians after villagers rose up against them at the start of the Iraqi army's offensive to retake Mosul,
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

HRW: 13 Iraqi Civilians Summarily Executed' by ISIL
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951007001523

Tue Dec 27, 2016 - The killings took place in the villages of Al-Hud and Al-Lazzagah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Mosul on Oct. 17, the day government forces launched the massive operation to oust the extremists from the city, the Daily Star reported.

"ISIL responded to the village uprising by unlawfully executing people captured in the uprising and civilians who weren't involved," Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement.

"Security forces who capture ISIL fighters should properly investigate their participation in alleged war crimes like these," she said.

In total, the ISIL fighters "summarily executed at least 13 people including two boys," HRW said

ISIL had captured Al-Hud and Al-Lazzagah in June 2014, with villagers saying they lived in constant fear of punishment, including death, for activities like smoking and using mobile phones, said HRW.

As Iraqi forces closed in on the morning of October 17, about 30 villagers attacked the militants, killing 19 of them, said the New York-based watchdog.

ISIL fighters began the execution-style killings in the afternoon, leaving bodies lying in the streets.

Iraqi forces entered Al-Lazzagah that evening and Al-Hud the next morning.

Human Rights Watch called on Iraqi security forces to "appropriately investigate incidents of alleged war crimes so that those responsible, if in government custody, can be fairly prosecuted".

The international human rights organizations' reports on Saudi Arabia's crimes in Yemen merely display the tip of an iceberg, an activist said, adding that Riyadh is killing civilians deliberately.

Rights Activist: S. Arabia Deliberately Killing Civilians in Yemen
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951007001105

Tue Dec 27, 2016 - "The International Human Rights Watch has released just a little part of Saudi Arabia's use of cluster bombs in Yemen,"
Head of the Legal Center for Yemen's Development Taha Abu Taleb said.

He said that Saudi Arabia's crime of using the US and British cluster bombs is much more horrible than what has been released by the HRW.

"Saudi Arabia is violating all international laws and regulations by deliberately killing the civilians and destroying Yemen's infrastructures," Abu Taleb said.

Saudi Arabia admitted earlier this month that it used UK-manufactured cluster bombs against Yemeni people, increasing pressure on the British government which has repeatedly refused to curb arms sales to Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia said it would cease to use UK-manufactured cluster bombs and that it had informed the UK government of this decision.

“It has become apparent that there was limited use by the coalition of the UK-manufactured BL755 cluster munitions in Yemen,” said a spokesman for the Saudi forces in Yemen, Ahmed al-Asiri.

He went on to claim that the bombs were only used against legitimate military targets and that the kingdom was not part of the convention banning the use of such munitions.

“Some states have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Saudi Arabia nor its coalition partners are state parties to the 2008 convention, and accordingly, the coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these states under international law,” he said.

He noted that Riyadh has decided to stop the use of cluster bombs and that it has informed the British government of its decision.

The Saudis' announcement came after a British Defense Ministry inquiry showed that Riyadh had used UK-supplied cluster bombs in Yemen.

Saudi fighter jets intensified their airstrikes against Yemeni provinces, using more internationally-banned arms in their latest raids.

Saudi Jets Intensify Airstrikes on Yemen, Use Cluster Bombs
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951007000815

Tue Dec 27, 2016 - Saudi Arabia dropped cluster bombs on Harad district in Hajjah Province, Al Masirah reported.

Cluster bombs, which can contain hundreds of bomblets, pose risks to civilians both during and after attacks. Unexploded bomblets can claim lives long after a conflict is over.

Multiple rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have on various occasions reported the use of cluster bombs by Riyadh in Yemen.

Saudi fighter jets also launched two airstrikes against residential areas in Amran Province and another two on Dhahir district in the province of Sa’ada on Monday.

The kingdom’s warplanes further pounded a residential building in Asilan district in Shabwah Province.

Three other air raids hit the Madfoun area and Asrat valley in Nihm district, Northwest of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.

In Nihm, the Yemeni troops killed 15 Saudi-backed mercenaries in an attack on the militants’ positions, a day after tens of the mercenaries, including five commanders, were killed during clashes with Yemen’s forces there.

In another retaliatory attack, Yemeni army snipers killed a Saudi solider in Tal’a military base in Saudi Arabia’s Southwestern province of Najran.

The Yemeni forces also fired a volley of Katyusha rockets at Qarn military base in Jizan Province in Southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Saudi army’s position in Hamraa hill in the same province was also targeted by Yemeni artillery attacks.

Meanwhile, a fire erupted at a Saudi military base in Jizan’s Muthalath al-Rokhba after the Yemeni troops fired artillery shells at the site.

Earlier, the Yemeni forces launched rocket attacks on al-Meqran military base in Jizan, killing and injuring a number of Saudi officers.

Yemeni media also released footage this weekend showing the losses and casualties suffered by Saudi army and its mercenaries near Khadra border crossing in Najran as Yemeni forces thwarted their attempts to advance in the area.

The Yemeni troops also seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition from Saudi mercenaries during the operations.

Saudi Arabia began its military aggression against Yemen in late March, 2015 in a bid to restore power to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The campaign has claimed the lives of more than 12,800 people, according to latest figures.

 

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A leading member of Human Rights Watch's group said Israeli soldiers and police have been incited by some of the country’s top politicians to ignore protocols when engaging with Palestinians who initiate attacks.

HRW: Israel Should Stop 'Killing Suspects Policy' at Highest Level
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951015000746

Tue Jan 03, 2017 - Human Rights Watch's Israel/Palestine Advocacy Director Sari Bashi said that Israeli soldiers and police were egged on by high-ranking politicians to break the law when engaging with Palestinians, Sputnik reported.

The remarks by Sari Bashi came after the release of a new report by Human Rights Watch which claimed, in particular, that some top Israeli officials have been encouraging law enforcement officers to kill suspected Palestinian attackers whether it's necessary or not.

The international human rights organization came to this conclusion after documenting the statements of senior Israeli politicians that run counter to both international law and Israeli rules of engagement.

For example, HRW refers to a statement by the country's current defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, who in 2015 said 'no attacker, male or female, should make it out of any attack alive.'

But only one Israeli soldier in the past year has been prosecuted for using excessive force and shooting a Palestinian.

Speaking to Sputnik, Sari Bashi recalled in this context that this week will see the announcement of verdict on an Israeli soldier who shot and killed a wounded Palestinian.

"That verdict is controversial because many in Israel feel that Israeli soldiers should not be tried, and we of course eager to see what the court will decide,"
Bashi said.

She underscored that beyond the behavior of a one Israeli soldier "there is a much bigger problem of senior Israeli officials either encouraging soldiers and police to shoot to kill Palestinians when it's not necessary to protect life or failing to rein in those who use excessive force."

When asked about whether it is relevant to group together Israeli soldiers and police who have completely different roles, Bashi pointed to the historical background of the problem.

"In the context of a nearly fifty year occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip most of what soldiers are doing is police work," she said.

"The problem is that Israeli officials are encouraging security officers to disobey both Israeli law and international law, and use lethal force when unnecessary." She mentioned more than 150 cases of Israeli soldiers and police "fatally shooting attackers or suspected attackers" in the past 18 months.

"In some cases the use of force was probably justified, but the concern is that soldier and police are being egged by the most senior political and security officials to go far beyond the rule of law on human rights, something that needs to be stopped at the highest level," she said.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that top Israeli officials are encouraging soldiers and police officers to kill suspected Palestinian attackers, even when they no longer pose a threat.

HRW: Israeli Officials Advocating 'Shoot-to-Kill' Policy on Palestinians
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951014000477

Tue Jan 03, 2017 - The watchdog said the report devised based on an analysis of statements by Israeli officials compiled since October 2015, New Arab reported.

"It's not just about potentially rogue soldiers, but also about senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot-to-kill," said
Sari Bashi, Israel advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

"Whatever the results of trials of individual soldiers, the Israeli government should issue clear directives to use force only in accordance with international law".

The statements documented by HRW include those of senior Israeli politicians, including the police and defence minister, which call on police to shoot and kill suspects regardless of whether lethal force is necessary or not.

According to international human rights law, shooting to kill is limited to circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to protect life. Israeli open fire regulations, however, do not note this limitation, but do limit shooting at the torso or head to situations in which a threat is allegedly imminent.

HRW cites a number of different cases where Israeli officials have called for the use of lethal force, or indeed failed to condemn its excessive use.

One instance cited is that following a stabbing attack in which two Israeli civilians were injured in October 2015 in Western Jerusalem. The alleged teenage Palestinian assailant was killed when police arrived.

Reporters were later told by Jerusalem Police District Commander Moshe Edri that those who carry out attacks would be killed, without condition.

In October 2015, Israeli Police Minister Gilad Erdan appeared to support the shoot-to-kill tactic during a radio interview.

When asked by the interviewer if he agreed with an opposition party lawmaker who said that "if a terrorist has a knife or screwdriver in his hand, you should shoot-to-kill him without thinking twice," the minister responded strongly in support.

Since October 2015, there have been over 150 cases in which security forces have fatally shot Palestinian adults and children, who were only suspected of trying to stab Israelis.

According to HRW, video footage and witness statements relating to many of these instances "raise serious questions about the necessity of the use of lethal force".

After analyzing video footage and forensic evidence, rights groups Amnesty International Al-Haq and a coalition of nine Israeli groups have called on Israel to rein in the excessive use of force.

The groups say that Israeli security forces have used excessive force where no imminent threat was posed by the suspect, as well as in cases where the suspect may not have committed a crime at all.

 

[angelburst29]

Human Rights Watch and its Executive Director, Kenneth Roth, have managed a number of brazen failures in their attempt to support Western-backed terrorists in their goal of advancing Western imperialism in Syria. From using photos of cities the United States has bombed in order to blame the destruction on Bashar al-Assad to attacking Syrian nuns who attempted to correct Western media propaganda about kidnapped civilians in Lattakia,
HRW has made a name for itself as one of the loudest shill organizations originating out of Soros Land.

That Time HRW’s Ken Roth Contradicted Himself Twice In 4 Days Over Syria
http://www.activistpost.com/2017/01/that-time-hrws-ken-roth-contradicted-himself-twice-in-4-days-over-syria.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActivistPost+%28Activist+Post%29

January 5, 2017 - Kenneth Roth, however, appears to be in a race with his own organization to see who can discredit and/or humiliate him/itself the most. Obviously banking on the short attention span of his audience, Roth’s Twitter account has now become a display of hypocrisy, propaganda, and contradictions ripe for mockery for anyone who visits it.

For instance, going back over a year, Roth tweeted an absurd statement that “Assad released jihadist Zahran Alloush from jail June 2011 – part of effort to taint uprising.” Roth thus suggested the conspiracy theory that Bashar al-Assad released the Jaish al-Islam terrorist Alloush so that Alloush would radicalize the “opposition” (who were already slaughtering and torturing civilians as well as demanding extreme Sharia law) so that he could then crack down on the “opposition” (which he was allegedly already “cracking down” on) and use the radical nature of the “opposition” to justify his crackdown. Roth is suggesting that Assad would multiply and militarize a “peaceful” revolution he was already cracking down upon for public relations. This is a difficult pill to swallow unless the audience is inhabiting a place located as far away from reality as Roth himself.

Assad released jihadist Zahran Alloush from jail June 2011–part of effort to taint uprising https://t.co/kvIm2Ri25V pic.twitter.com/pSkSorCAg0

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) December 30, 2015

The previous tweet came only days after Roth tweeted another gem. This time, he said, “Killing Zahran Alloush is part of Assad strategy of trying to reduce choice to him or ISIS.” Here, Roth is compounding and contradicting his own conspiracy theory since he seems to suggest that Alloush was a “moderate” and thus part of the “moderate opposition” he later claimed Alloush was intentionally released in order to poison. This is a man who led Jaish al-Islam, an organization notorious for rapes, torture, beheadings, and other acts of savagery against both the Syrian military and civilians. Only days before, however, Roth claimed Alloush was a poison pill of terrorism, suggesting that he was a moderate leading moderates.

Killing Zahran Alloush is part of Assad strategy of trying to reduce choice to him or ISIS. https://t.co/wCEebwblWy pic.twitter.com/940ACHwLiq

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) December 26, 2015

The question for Mr. Roth then becomes, “Which conspiracy theory do you really believe? The first or the second? Do you believe either of them?” We certainly don’t.

Roth’s inconsistency is not atypical of Western Soros-backed “humanitarian” organizations or of the mainstream media. But how can anyone take Roth or Human Rights Watch seriously when he and his organization engage in such obvious pro-war propaganda. Even more so, how can either be taken seriously when their propaganda becomes so inconsistent and contradictory within a matter of days?

Of course, this is not the first embarrassingly obvious fail for Human Rights Watch or for Ken Roth. On February 25, HRW posted a photo of a devastated civilian area in Syria with the tagline “Syria dropped barrel bombs despite ban.” The “ban” HRW is referring to is the ban on bombing civilian areas that applies to both sides in Aleppo after the United Nations stepped in to save the Western-backed terrorists from annihilation. Assad’s forces had surrounded the city and had cut off a major supply route for the death squads from Turkey thus making the ultimate elimination of the jihadist forces a virtual inevitability.

There was only one problem with HRW’s tweet – the photograph the organization provided was not Aleppo.

In fact, the damage that had been wrought upon the civilian area in the photograph was not committed by the Syrian military but by the United States.

The photo was actually a picture of Kobane (Ayn al-Arab), the city which has been the site of heavy US aerial bombardment over the last several months as the US engages in its program of death squad herding and geographical reformation of sovereign Syrian and Iraqi territory.

But, while HRW was content to use the destruction of the city as a reason to condemn the Assad government and continue to promote the cause for US military action in Syria, the “human rights organization” was apparently much less interested in the exact same destruction wrought by US forces.

In other words, if Assad’s forces bomb a civilian area into the stone age, it is an atrocity, a war crime, and justification for international military involvement. If the United States bombs a civilian area into the stone age, it’s no biggie.

Partially funded by George Soros, Human Rights Watch has repeatedly shilled for NATO and America’s imperialist aims, particularly in Syria.

For instance, when Western media propaganda had reached a crescendo regarding the outright lie that Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people, HRW stood right beside Barack Obama and John Kerry in their effort to prove Assad’s guilt. HRW even went so far as to repeat the lie that the UN report suggested that Assad was the offending party, driving the final nail into the coffin of any credibility HRW may have had.

When a last-minute chemical weapons deal was secured by Russia in an effort to avoid yet another US/NATO invasion of Syria, HRW did not rejoice for the opportunity of peaceful destruction of chemical weapons and a chance to avoid war, it attacked the deal by claiming that it “failed to ensure justice.” Of course, the deal did fail to ensure justice. There were no provisions demanding punishment of the death squads who actually used the weapons or the US/NATO apparatus that initiated and controlled the jihadist invasion to begin with.

Regardless, when Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross released her report that refuted what the US/NATO was asserting in regards to chemical weapons in Syria, HRW embarked upon a campaign of attack against her and her work.

Even as far back as 2009, however, HRW was showing its true colors when it apparently signed off on and supported renditions – the process of kidnapping individuals off the street without any due process and “rendering” them to jails and prisons in other countries where they are often tortured – in secret talks with the Obama administration.

If HRW ever had any credibility in terms of the question of actual human rights, all of that credibility has assuredly been lost. HRW is nothing more than a pro-US, pro-NATO NGO that acts as a smokescreen for the continuation of the violation of human rights across the world – that is, unless those violations are committed by America’s enemies. HRW and Kenneth Roth must now be remembered as exactly what they are – a fake humanitarian running a fake humanitarian organization for the benefit of Western corporations, banks, and the U.S. State Department.

Roth and HRW have made sure to drive the last nail into the coffin of whatever credibility they might have had. When the dust settles in Syria, both Roth and HRW should be publicly tarred and feathered in the press for their cynical deception of genuinely well-meaning people into supporting the Western-backed proxy war that has taken so many lives and decimated an entire country. In the meantime, they should be allowed to wither on the poisoned vine of Western propaganda along with the rest of the Western corporate media.

 

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the Brazilian police for its excessive use of force against people while criticizing overcrowded prisons across the country which the rights group said have exposed inmates to violent gangs.

HRW slams police violence, prison abuse in Brazil
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/12/505939/Brazil-police-HRW-prison-violence

Thu Jan 12, 2017 - HRW said in its 2017 world report published on Thursday that police in Brazil torture and illegally kill thousands of people every year.

“Torture and extrajudicial killings by police contribute to a cycle of violence in Brazil, undermining public security and endangering the lives of police officers,” said HRW , adding that police officers killed at least 3,345 people in Brazil in 2015, a six percent rise from 2014 and a 52 percent surge from 2013.

“While some police killings result from legitimate use of force, others are extrajudicial executions,” said the rights group, warning that Brazilian citizens are becoming increasingly scared off from cooperating with police to help them catch criminals.

HRW also slammed Brazil’s inability to properly manage the prison population, saying “inhumane conditions in prisons and detention centers” were an “urgent problem.”

Citing official data from the Brazilian government, the New York-based group said that prison facilities were packed with 67 percent more inmates than they were designed to hold.

“Overcrowding and understaffing make it impossible for prison authorities to maintain control within many facilities, leaving detainees vulnerable to violence and gang activity," said the HRW report , adding, “Torture and mistreatment of detainees, including children, is an acute problem.”

A series of prison riots erupted in Brazil last week, which resulted in the deaths of around 100 inmates. Authorities blamed drug gangs for the massacres, which involved many inmates beheaded and dismembered.

President Michel Temer said after the riots that his government would build at least one new prison in each of Brazil's 26 states, a massive project which he said would cost the country around $250 million.

]Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Bahrain stepped up its suppression of activists and those critical of the Manama regime’s conduct in 2016, in a move further deteriorating rights situation in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

Bahrain intensified crackdown on activists, critics in 2016: HRW
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/12/505942/Bahrain-HRW-Manama

Thu Jan 12, 2017 - In its 2017 world report released on Thursday, the New York-based rights organization accused Bahraini authorities of having prevented several activists from leaving the island and deporting six nationals after arbitrarily stripping them of their citizenship.

The HRW further stressed that the kingdom’s “orchestrated crackdown on the rights to free expression, assembly, and association” had further undermined the prospect of a political solution to the unrest in the country.

“The Bahraini authorities have had their foot on the throat of Bahraini civil society for years, but in 2016 they indicated their intent to cut off its air supply altogether,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW.

He also underlined the need for a political reform in Bahrain with respect for basic rights, warning, however, that the kingdom is heading in the other direction.

Elsewhere in its report, the HRW highlighted the case of Bahrain’s dissolved opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which was forced to suspend its activities and had its funds confiscated in June 2016.

Sheikh Isa Qassim, Wefaq's spiritual leader, was stripped of his nationality over accusations that he used his position to serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence. The prominent Shia cleric has denied the claims.

The HRW report also noted that based on Bahrain's official data, the Al Khalifah regime has made little progress in holding security forces accountable for the torture of those detained during the 2011 anti-regime protests

Bahrain, home to US Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been rocked by a wave of anti-regime demonstrations since mid-February 2011.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded or detained amid Manama’s ongoing crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination against the country’s Shia majority.

 

[angelburst29]

HRW Tanya Cooper, Ukraine researcher at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), stated that watchdog has some concerns that the level of homophobia, transphobia among senior officials of Ukraine and also among the population remains very high.

HRW Expresses Concern About High Level of Homophobia Among Ukrainian Officials
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201701121049539944-hrw-ukraine-homophobia/

A representative of a prominent international human rights watchdog expressed concern on Thursday with the fact that the level of homophobia remains high among Ukrainian high-ranking officials and the population in general.

"We have some concerns that the level of homophobia, transphobia among senior officials of Ukraine and also among the population remains very high,"
Tanya Cooper, Ukraine researcher at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.

At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities are trying to take measures to defend the LGBT rights, she added.

Human rights group Amnesty has called on the EU and other European leaders to show strong leadership in the face of thousands of migrants who are trapped in freezing conditions on Greek islands because of disagreements over a common approach to the migrant crisis.

Amnesty Demands Leadership From EU Over 'Freezing-to-Death' Migrant Crisis
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201701121049520527-amnesty-italy-greece-migrants/

Amnesty is deeply worried about the fate of thousands of refugees who are currently trapped on the Greek Islands and many of whom are at risk of freezing to death. This is a result of EU and European government policy and the infamous EU-Turkey deal, because they are refusing to transfer people from the overcrowded inhumane conditions on the islands to mainland Greece, because they are holding on to try and return these people to Turkey,"
Amnesty EU Head of European Institutions Office and Advocacy Director Iverna McGowan told Sputnik.

​Under the EU-Turkey migrant deal, "irregular migrants" — those refused asylum in Greece — would be returned to Turkey, which the EU is paying to improve refugee camps and conditions. However, the number of returnees has been small amid growing opposition to the scheme.

"We've launched an international action to appeal to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker to use his voice towards other European governments to say: 'you need to forget the EU-Turkey deal, because we have thousands of people in a humanitarian crisis that need to be helped,' " McGovern told Sputnik.

We're appealing to European leaders to show leadership. The EU-Turkey deal was agreed many months ago, March 2016. I think their presumption at the time was that the returns would be happening quickly, but now we're in a situation where thousands of men, women and children are facing a freezing cold winter in tents that are flimsy and were erected for summer conditions. So you have to take stock of the reality on the ground. Will they wait for people to start to die in large numbers before they take action? We hope, of course not," she added.

'Back to Basics' Over Dignity and Rights

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos is on a fact-finding mission to Italy to meet Interior Minister Marco Minniti and Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano over the continuing migrant crisis in Italy and Greece and the slow pace of the proposed relocation of 160,000 refugees from both countries across the EU under a controversial mandatory quota system.

Irrespective of the 'mandatory' question, they have already agreed at European Council level that those 160,000 relocation places will be offered. That was agreed at European level. The rate at which that is happening is too slow. Leaving the politics aside, it needs to be swiftly implemented.

"Amnesty does not take a position on whether it should be an EU scheme or a national initiative, but there is a need for people's rights to be realized through relocation and resettlement. In 2015 and 2016, the approach of European governments and the EU has not been successful in capturing the imagination of the European public and what's so worrying is that we need leadership at this moment in time. "If the European project is to keep going, it needs to go back to basics and find that vision for a Europe that respects dignity and the rights of people first," she told Sputnik.

 

[angelburst29]

These "nonprofit - nongovernmental organization (s)" need to be exposed for the fake propaganda that they promote to the general public.

Human Rights Watch calls US President-elect Donald Trump and several other high-profile world leaders threats to human rights in its 2017 World Report.

Human Rights Watch Calls Trump and European Populists Human Rights Threats
https://sputniknews.com/society/201701141049603694-HRW-trump-rights-threat/

14.01.2017 - "Donald Trump's election as US president after a campaign fomenting hatred and intolerance, and the rising influence of political parties in Europe that reject universal rights, have put the postwar human rights system at risk," the nonprofit, nongovernmental organization said in announcing the new report on its website January 13.

The organization also cautions the world to be on guard against tyranny in the wake of populist victories.

The 687-page report covers human rights issues in more than 90 countries, but the US and Trump came in for specific mention in Roth's introductory essay, "The Dangerous Rise of Populism," where he argues that Trump rose to victory by using the "politics of intolerance." "The rise of populism poses a profound threat to human rights," HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said, as quoted on the organization's website. "Trump and various politicians in Europe seek power through appeals to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and nativism. They all claim that the public accepts violations of human rights as supposedly necessary to secure jobs, avoid cultural change, or prevent terrorist attacks. In fact, disregard for human rights offers the likeliest route to tyranny."

In the report's section on the US, HRW says the soon-to-be US president embraces "policies that would cause tremendous harm to vulnerable communities, contravene the United States' core human rights obligations, or both."

Also highlighted were "strongman leaders in Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, and China" who the organization says have substituted their personal authority for accountable government and the rule of law. On the other hand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Barack Obama were cited in the report as leaders who occasionally offered a "vigorous defense" against the "populist surge."

Alberto Estevez, an expert on arms sales at the Spanish branch of Amnesty International called a plan of the Spanish authorities to sell five corvette warships to Saudi Arabia "illegal."

Rights Group Calls ‘Illegal’ Spain’s Plan to Sell Warships to Saudi Arabia
https://sputniknews.com/world/201701131049578413-spain-saudi-arabia-warships-sales/

14.01.2017 - A plan of the Spanish authorities to sell five corvette warships of the Avante 2200 design, worth over $2 billion, from the Spanish state-owned Navantia shipbuilding company to Saudi Arabia is "illegal," a prominent watchdog said Friday.

"The question is: is the contract legal or illegal. And it is clearly illegal," Alberto Estevez, an expert on arms sales at the Spanish branch of Amnesty International said as quoted by the Euractiv media outlet.

The statement comes just a day before Spain’s King Felipe VI official visit to Saudi Arabia to meet with the country’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. El Pais newspaper reported on November 11 that the Spanish government was to go ahead with an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, despite postponement and controversy over the country's attacks on Yemen. The sale of 40 million euros ($43 million) worth of 155mm artillery ammunition, including the corvette warships, which had been put on hold over concerns that it would be used in the civil war in Yemen, was unblocked, according to the newspaper.

In October, four NGOs demanded an independent investigation into the destination of arms acquired by Saudi Arabia, after increasing evidence suggested that Spanish weapons have been used in the conflict in Yemen.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed standoff between the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, the country’s main opposition force. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request despite a ceasefire agreement. The Saudi-led coalition has been repeatedly accused of war crimes in Yemen due to the mounting death toll and an increasing number of attacks on civilians, with humanitarian organizations blaming countries who supply Saudi Arabia with arms for fueling the conflict.

 

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HRW Slams Saudi Arabia, US, UK over War on Yemen
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951027000568

Mon Jan 16, 2017 - Human Rights Watch released its annual report for the war-torn country of Yemen, saying that thousands of people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemen conflict on behalf of the country’s ousted President, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In 2016, the violence escalated as the Saudi aerial and ground bombardment, that had started in March 2015 continued, backed by the United States and United Kingdom, the Citizen reported.

The report states that as of October 10, at least 4,125 civilians had been killed and 7,207 wounded since the start of the campaign, the majority by coalition airstrikes, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The HRW report states that “Dozens of coalition airstrikes indiscriminately or disproportionately killed and wounded thousands of civilians in violation of the laws of war. The coalition also used internationally banned cluster munitions.”

Yemeni warring parties began peace talks in Kuwait in April, following a cessation of hostilities, but airstrikes and fighting on the ground continued. This latest round of peace talks broke down in August, subsequent efforts to bring the parties back to negotiations have failed, and coalition airstrikes and ground fighting continue.

Pointing to the lack of accountability on all sides, the report notes that “none of the states’ party to the conflict carried out meaningful investigations into their forces’ alleged violations.”

“The Saudi Arabia-led coalition killed several dozen civilians in three apparently unlawful airstrikes in September and October 2016. The coalition’s use of United States-supplied weapons in two of the strikes, including a bomb delivered to Saudi Arabia well into the conflict, puts the US at risk of complicity in unlawful attacks,” the report notes.

Human Rights Watch has documented 58 apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes since the start of the campaign, which have killed nearly 800 civilians and hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses, and mosques. Some attacks may amount to war crimes. These include airstrikes on a crowded market in northern Yemen on March 15 that killed 97 civilians, including 25 children, and another on a crowded funeral in Sanaa on October that killed over 100 civilians and wounded hundreds more.

“Repeated coalition airstrikes on factories and other civilian economic structures raise serious concerns that the coalition deliberately sought to inflict damage to Yemen’s limited production capacity,” the report states. Human Rights Watch investigated 18 apparently unlawful strikes, some of which used US or UK-supplied weapons, on 14 civilian economic sites. The strikes killed 130 civilians and wounded 173 more. Following the attacks, many of the factories ended production and hundreds of workers lost their livelihoods.

Human Rights Watch has documented the coalition using internationally banned cluster munitions in at least 16 attacks that targeted populated areas, killing and wounding dozens.

Human Rights Watch has identified six types of air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munitions in multiple locations in Yemen, including those produced in the US and Brazil. Amnesty International has further documented the use of UK-made cluster munitions.

In May, the Obama administration suspended transfers of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia after reports of their use in civilian areas in Yemen. Textron, US-based manufacturer of the CBU-105, announced it would stop production of the weapon in August.

Human Rights Watch has documented numerous airstrikes that unlawfully struck or damaged health facilities in Yemen. On August 15, 2016, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit an Medecins Sans Frontiers, MSF-supported hospital in Hajja, killing 19 people, and the fourth on an MSF facility. Following the strike, the organization pulled its staff out of six hospitals in northern Yemen.

According to OHCHR, as of 2016, over 600 health facilities have closed due to damage caused by the conflict, shortage of critical supplies and lack of health workers.

More than 80 percent of the country’s total population – 20 million people – have been in need of humanitarian assistance. Parties to the conflict have continued to block or restrict critical relief supplies from reaching civilians.

The coalition has imposed a naval blockade on Yemen, limiting the importation of vital goods like fuel, which is urgently needed to power generators to hospitals and pump water to civilian residences. In August 2016, the coalition suspended all commercial flights to Sanaa. This is “having serious implications for patients seeking urgent medical treatment abroad,” according to the UN.

Among repeated violations against children by parties to the conflict, Human Rights Watch has documented 58 apparently unlawful coalition airstrikes that killed at least 192 children, and multiple airstrikes that struck or damaged schools.


Human Rights Watch report identifies Saudi atrocities in Yemen
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/human-rights-watch-report-identifies-saudi-atrocities-in-yemen/

16/01/2017 - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has slammed the Saudi regime for the thousands of innocent deaths its coalition air force has perpetrated against the Yemeni's, as well as significant infrastructure destruction it has engaged in.

The annual report found that at least 4,125 civilians were killed and a further 7,207 injured between March 26, 2015 when the Saudi campaign began, and October 10, 2016.

HRW identified “six types of air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munitions in multiple locations in Yemen, including those produced in the US and Brazil. Amnesty International has further documented the use of UK-made cluster munitions.”

The report identified that the Saudi-led aggression “has been supported by the United States and the United Kingdom.”

“The US has been a party to the conflict since the first months of fighting, providing targeting intelligence and in-air refueling,” the report noted.

“US and UK lawmakers, whose governments altogether approved more than $20 billion and $4 billion worth of weapons sales, respectively to Saudi Arabia in 2015 alone, have increasingly challenged the continuation of these sales,” the report added.

 

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Following US President Barack Obama’s decision to commute the prison sentence of US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, attention has now turned to the fate of transparency advocates Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, with calls for Washington to drop their pursuit of the pair.

After Manning's Reprieve, Attention Turns to Fate of Snowden and Assange
https://sputniknews.com/us/201701181049723211-manning-reprieve-snowden-assange/

Obama's intervention will see transgender Manning, born Bradley, released from prison in May 2017, shaving 27 years off her original 35-year sentence for leaking 700,000 sensitive military and diplomatic classified documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Manning's reprieve has also led to calls for another whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to be pardoned for disclosing classified information about the US government's bulk surveillance programs.

​Former National Security Agency (NSA) employee Snowden, who has been living in exile in Russia since 2013, is facing charges of violating the US Espionage Act and theft of government property, which could see him spend decades in prison.

"We also hope President Obama will take the logical next step by pardoning NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose release of information the president himself recognized has led to an important public debate," said Sarah St. Vincent, national security and surveillance researcher of campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW).

​Amnesty International echoed the sentiment, calling on Obama to "use his executive powers during his remaining days to pardon whistleblower Edward Snowden."

Like Manning's leaks, Snowden's revelations were instrumental in exposing illegal US government practices, with supporters of the former NSA employee arguing that his leaks to journalists, and their subsequent publication, justify being pardoned.

​"The resulting stories spurred significant reforms and two independent review panels in the US, as well as important developments at the United Nations and globally, where the right to privacy was recognized as endangered in this digital age," said HRW general counsel Dinah PoKempner.

Will Assange Hand Himself in? - The debate over the fate of whistleblowers has also led to questions about the future of WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

Following the decision to commute a large slice of Manning's sentence, Assange released a statement describing her as "a hero, whose bravery should have been applauded not condemned."

He also called for the US government to "immediately end its war on whistleblowers and publishers, such as WikiLeaks and myself", however he made no mention of his Twitter pledge to hand himself in and whether he intends to honor it.

​WikiLeaks' Twitter statement has led to speculation that Assange, who has been living in London's Ecuadorian embassy since 2012, might be close to ending his four-and-a-half-year exile in the building.

Melinda Taylor, a member of Assange's legal team, indicated that the WikiLeaks would follow up on his pledge. "Everything that he has said he's standing by", she said.

​The US justice department has never announced any indictment of Assange and it is unclear whether any charges against him have been brought under seal. However, the department has acknowledged that the FBI is investigating WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents.

The Australian is also the subject of a European arrest warrant over sexual assault claims allegedly committed in Sweden.

 

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that the Manama regime authorities may execute two more Bahrainis after “unfair” trials and based on confessions extracted under torture.

HRW Warns New Impending Executions Occur in Bahrain in Unfair Trials
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951104001281

Mon Jan 23, 2017 - The advocacy organization said on Monday that the Manama regime may be about to enforce death sentences against activists Mohamed Ramadhan Issa and Hussain Ali Moosa, presstv reported.

Bahrain’s Court of Cassation upheld the death sentences against the two in 2015, accusing them of killing a policeman in a bomb explosion in the village of al-Dair in February 2014.

HRW said that the recent execution of three other Bahraini activists in a similar case raised concerns that King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah would approve the executions of Ramadhan and Moosa as well.

Bahrain carried out the executions of Shia activists Sami Mushaima, Abbas Jamil Tahir al-Sami’, and Ali Abdulshahid al-Singace on January 15. The Court of Cassation had similarly upheld the death penalties given to the three over allegations of killing an Emirati security forces in al-Daih in Bahrain in March 2014. Emirati forces have been deployed to Bahrain to help the regime crack down on political dissent.

The defendants had denied the charge.

The international rights group said the confessions of Ramadhan and Moosa, which had been extracted under torture and which both men had retracted, were used as evidence in a trial that violated international judicial standards.

“Bahrain should not under any circumstances execute two more young men, especially where there is credible evidence of confessions obtained through torture and unsound convictions,” said HRW’s deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork.

Stork also urged the UK, France, Germany, and the EU to “publicly condemn this unfair trial and oppose these sentences before Bahrain assembles its firing squad.”

 

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Amnesty International

The mayors of the Greek islands of Lesbos, Kos, Chios, Samos and Leros have all called for the Greek Government to urgently move migrants, freezing in inhumane conditions, to the mainland amid further delays to the controversial EU migrant plan to relocate them back to Turkey.

Greek Island Mayors Join Amnesty in Pleading for Freezing Migrants
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201701241049961642-eu-turkey-migrants-greece/

24.01.2017 - The mayors have reacted to reports of migrants being held in camps which are unfit for the winter, living in freezing temperatures in overcrowded camps with no hot water. Many are being held on the islands pending return — under the EU-Turkey migrant deal — to Turkey as "irregular migrants," being refused asylum. However, the "temporary" accommodation has become long-term.

"Amnesty International has launched a petition to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, asking him to urgently engage with European governments and change the policy of keeping people stranded in awful conditions on the Greek islands with the sole purpose of trying to implement the EU-Turkey deal," Iverna McGowan, Head of European Institutions Office and Advocacy Director told Sputnik.

​"Dimitris Avramopoulos European Commissioner for Migration has said that some vulnerable people are being moved, but Amnesty and other international organizations have found that, firstly, even the vulnerable groups are not being moved sufficiently quickly because there's not an adequate method to identify vulnerable groups."

​"Secondly, at this stage, so many months onwards with abnormally cold conditions on the Greek islands, the humanitarian imperative now has to take over and we would fully back any calls to move people urgently from the Greek islands to mainland Greece," she told Sputnik.

Legal Questions

The EU-Turkey migrant deal has attracted criticism over its policy of returning migrants refused asylum at centers in Greece to Turkey in return — on a one-for-one basis — for Syrian refugees in Turkey being relocated to EU member states.

However, many human rights groups have protested that the conditions in Turkish refugee camps do not match international standards under the Geneva Convention. The UNHCR has recently admitted that it does not have full access to those sent back from Greece, throwing into doubt the legality of returning migrants to places which are deemed unsafe.

"At this stage, it's very clear to Amnesty International that the sole reason that people are being stranded on those islands for so many months is on the false notion that they can be quickly returned to Turkey. This is months later. It hasn't happened. Men, women and children are in dire circumstances and the humanitarian imperative now has to take the front line and something has to be done urgently to alleviate the human suffering on the Greek islands," McGowan told Sputnik.


Save the Children is an agency connected to Amnesty International.

The situation for refugees and migrants in Serbia is deteriorating by the day, with people exposed to diseases in derelict warehouses or frostbite in sub-zero temperatures on the country's border.

'Dire' Conditions in Serbia for Refugees Squatting in Derelict Buildings
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201701241049964597-serbia-refugees-dire-conditions/

24.01.2017 - Serbian authorities have been accused of failing to provide adequate food, water and sanitation for the 1,200 refugees and migrants sleeping rough on its soil.

Meanwhile it's emerged refugees and migrants who have crossed Serbia's border into Croatia or Hungary are being forced back.

According to charity, Save the Children, there have been 1,600 cases of illegal push-backs with refugees and migrants, who have been forced, often violently, back into Serbia.

The charity claims there has been an average of 30 cases a day of "clandestine" push-backs, which it says "highlights a disregard for the human right to an individual assessment of the need for international protection."

It's thought around 100 people are arriving every day, risking their lives as they cross mountains and forests in sub-zero temperatures along the Balkans where police brutality is a regular occurrence.

A 12-year-old boy from Afghanistan told Save the Children:

During the trip I had many problem especially in the woods. The Bulgarian police beat us, took our money, asked us why we came to Europe. We also had problems with the Mafia."

Despite the EU-Turkey deal, the refugee crisis according to Save the Children, "has not abated."

"It's simply a more dangerous route, especially for children. The EU-Turkey deal has given smugglers a firmer grip on a hugely profitable business, incorporating increasingly dangerous tactics to circumvent authorities," Jelena Besedic, Save the Children's advocacy manager in Serbia said.

"We are seeing injuries such as dog bites and people wounded by brutal treatment as they are pushed back," she added.

Despite the European Union's pledge to crack down on people smugglers by closing off routes into Europe, child refugees are disappearing from aid agencies' sights and into the hands of people smugglers, who continue to profit in Serbia.

 

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Amnesty International

A prince in Kuwait’s royal family has been hanged in punishment for murder, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Sheikh Faisal Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was among seven people executed for serious crimes in Kuwait, the first executions in the gulf state since 2013.

Kuwaiti Prince Hanged for Killing Fellow Prince
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201701261050012007-kuwait-prince-execution-murder-hanging/

26.01.2017 - Kuwaiti State news agency KUNA reported that Faisal's crime was "premeditated murder and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a license." Al-Sabah was found guilty of shooting and killing his nephew, Sheikh Basel Salem Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, in 2010.

Witnesses say that Basel, who was wheelchair-bound and Faisal's junior by twenty years, was shot 5-7 times by Al-Sabah. Basel was the grandson of Sabah III, the emir of Kuwait in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a distant cousin of Sabah IV, the present emir.

Basel was described by those who knew him as patriotic and a lover of democracy. His widow, Sheikha Intisar, told The Khaleej Times that he was "the perfect husband and father, as well as a very democratic man." He was a known lover of sports, particularly automobile racing.

During the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Basel extensively aided the Kuwaiti resistance, to the point that Iraq placed him on their "most wanted" list.

Prior to his arrest, Faisal worked in military intelligence at the rank of captain. Kuwaiti authorities ruled out a political motive behind the murder. Faisal's motive for the crime is unknown.

The six people hanged alongside him were diverse in nationality and crime. KUNA reported that two hailed from Egypt, as well as one each from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Three were men and three were women, and their offences ranged from murder to abduction and rape.

The most famous executed person, besides Faisal, is Nusra al-Enezi, a woman found guilty of starting a fire at a wedding that killed 58 people. She reportedly did this as revenge against her husband for taking a second wife.

The executions are part of an uptick in such events in the Persian Gulf. Bahrain, another gulf state, executed three men by firing squad earlier in January, the country's first executions since 2010. Anti-death penalty group Reprieve claims that Saudi Arabia has seen a "significantly higher" rate of executions as well. The Saudis executed a prince of their royal family in October 2016 after he was found guilty of murder.

Kuwait, a constitutional monarchy typically seen as the most modern and democratic of the gulf states, is similar to its neighbors in this regard.

"We are witnessing a disastrous resurgence in executions throughout the Gulf," Reprieve deputy director Harriet McCulloch told Sky News. "Those executed… include young people who were children when they were arrested, political protesters, and people who were tortured into bogus 'confessions.'"

Amnesty International condemned the executions, stating, "[The executions are] a shocking and deeply regrettable step backward for Kuwait," according to Amnesty official Samah Hadid. "By choosing to resume executions now, the Kuwaiti authorities have displayed a wanton disregard for the right to life and signaled a willingness to weaken human rights standards."


Civil and Human Rights Coalition is another 501(c)(4) organization partially funded by Soros.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society – an America as good as its ideals.

The Leadership Conference is a 501(c)(4) organization that engages in legislative advocacy. It was founded in 1950 and has coordinated national lobbying efforts on behalf of every major civil rights law since 1957.

Civil and Human Rights Coalition Responds to White House's Baseless Voting Claim
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/01/25/civil-and-human-rights-coalition-responds-white-houses-baseless-voting-claim

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - WASHINGTON - Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to the made-up claim from the White House that millions of illegal votes were cast in the past election. Invented claims like these are usually used to undermine the advancement and enforcement of voting rights laws:

“The White House is bashing immigrants, undermining voting rights, and playing to bigotry all at once.

Senator Jeff Sessions once made up fraud charges to wrongly prosecute voting rights activists, and the White House appears to be using the same anti-civil rights playbook. Peddling these lies just drives this administration farther from reality and from the people it claims to govern.

Only a day after the White House promised to try to get things right, this conspiracy theory raises serious doubts about whether our new President can be trusted on anything.”

US President Donald Trump's anticipated executive order targeting undocumented migrants, refugees, and Muslims will discard key constitutional rights of minorities and turn the country into a police state, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a press release on Wednesday.

Trump’s Expected Orders on Migration to Make US 'Police State' - US Rights Group
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201701251050007313-trump-orders-migrants/

25.01.2017 - The rights group urged Trump to reverse his decision on migration and focus on creating a strong infrastructure plan that would provide additional jobs for American workers.

“Actions to build a wall around us, criminalize a religion, and to strike fear in the heart of immigrants make Trump’s America look more like a police state than the republic we truly are," president of the rights group Wade Henderson stated in the release.

Henderson stressed that the new administration is governing out of baseless fear of minorities, who made the economy of the United States stronger and more dynamic.

The Leadership Conference also said its message is in response to “expected White House actions to discriminate against Muslims, refugees, and immigrants.”

The Trump administration said it is committed to building a wall on the US border with Mexico to stop illegal migration, gangs, violence and drugs from pouring into the United States, according to the America Law Enforcement Policy plan released by the White House on January 20.

 

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Saudi Arabia stepped up arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of peaceful dissident writers and human rights advocates in 2017, the US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press release.

HRW: Saudi Arabia Intensifies Crackdown on Writers, Activists
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951119001288

Tue Feb 07, 2017 - “Saudi Arabia is trying to silence and lock away anyone who doesn’t toe the official line or dares to express an independent view on politics, religion, or human rights,” HRW Middle East Director Sarah Whitson stated, Sputnik reported.

In January, a Saudi court sentenced two prominent activists to long jail terms, accusing them of being in contact with international media and human rights organizations. The authorities jailed two others, one of whom remains in detention while under investigation.

“When will the Saudi authorities understand that talking to the media or an international organization should not be a crime,” Whitson noted.

The release explained that Saudi courts have convicted at least 20 prominent activists and dissidents since 2011, with many receiving sentences of 10 years or more on vague charges such as breaking allegiance with the ruler.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Wednesday warning that in the battle for Mosul, ISIL militants are regularly occupying medical facilities, using them as a base for operations.

HRW: ISIL Using Hospitals as Bases in Mosul
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951120001675

Wed Feb 08, 2017 - “As the battle for Mosul unfolds, we are finding that ISIL is regularly occupying medical facilities and placing civilians and staff there at risk of incoming attacks,” Lama Fakih, the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said, NRT reported.

“Shamefully, ISIL militants have also taken to advertising their abuses on the streets, as they did with the parading of soldiers’ bodies,” Fakih added.

ISIL has been known to bury themselves in and around dense civilian populations as a tactic during the months-long battle between Iraqi forces and the militnat group. By doing so, the militants are able to utilize Mosul’s civilian population as a human shield from airstrikes, and advancing Iraqi troops on the ground.

An ISIL presence in medical facilities is not new, a staff member at al-Salam Hospital in Eastern Mosul told HRW that when the group first took control of the city in 2014, a consistent presence of around ten ISIL militants occupied the hospital at all times.

By occupying hospitals, ISIL militants appear to attempt to make themselves less of a target due to the presence of hospital staff and civilians, and the need to keep such infrastructure intact.

Under the laws of war, hospitals and other medical facilities receive special protection. Armed forces or groups are not allowed to occupy medical facilities, as doing so undermines their protected status and places civilians and civilian objects at risk.

The United Nations warned at the beginning of the operation that ISIL could try to take thousands of people as hostages and human shields during the Mosul offensive.

The campaign to capture Mosul started on October 17, and the offensive on the largest city under ISIL control in either Iraq or Syria, is turning into the biggest battle in Iraq's turbulent history since 2003.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “was horrified” at the recent report on alleged sexual abuses by security forces in Myanmar against the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority.

UN: Abuses by Myanmar Forces against Rohingya Horrifying
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951120000520

Wed Feb 08, 2017 - UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric gave the UN chief’s reaction to the report by advocacy group Human Rights Watch, Japan Times reported.

The rights group alleged that soldiers and Border Guard Police took part in rape, gang rape, invasive body searches and sexual assaults while conducting counter-insurgency operations in Western Rakhine state from October through mid-December.

Human Rights Watch urged Myanmar’s government on Monday to back an independent international investigation.

The estimated 1 million Rohingya face official and social discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Most are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Many fled home during communal violence in 2012 and over 100,000 live in refugee camps.

Damascus slammed as “inaccurate and politically-motivated” an Amnesty International report claiming that Syrian military police hanged as many as 13,000 people over the course of five years.

Syria Rejects Amnesty ‘False’ Report of Mass Jail Hangings
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951120000560

Wed Feb 08, 2017 - The Syrian Justice Ministry rejected the account of mass hangings at Saydnaya prison near Damascus between 2011 and 2015 as bogus and false, saying such claims are meant to ruin the government’s reputation in the international community, presstv reported.

The statement further emphasized that based on Syrian law, death sentences are handed only after judicial trials run through several degrees of litigation.

Such allegations come in the face of recent gains by Syrian army forces and allied popular defense groups in battles against foreign-sponsored terrorists, and the atmosphere of national reconciliation in the country, it added.

Meanwhile, Syrian military forces have discovered a long tunnel used by foreign-backed militants during a clear-up operation on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.

Army soldiers and pro-government forces of popular defense groups found the 500-meter tunnel in Harasta city, situated roughly 8 kilometers Northeast of Damascus, SANA reported.

An unnamed Syrian military source said terrorists with the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, reportedly used the tunnel to sneak into a Syrian military site but army units managed to thwart their attempt and eliminate dozens of terrorists in the process.

Additionally, scores of ISIL militants were killed and two pickup trucks equipped with heavy machine guns destroyed as Syrian forces engaged the terrorists in the al-Bayarat district of the central province of Homs.

Syrian fighter jets also bombarded militant hideouts in the al-Msheirfeh al-Shamaliyeh district of the same province, killing and injuring many ISIL terrorists.

Elsewhere in the Northern province of Aleppo, Syrian soldiers mounted an ambush against members of a terrorist group affiliated to Fatah al-Sham, and killed scores of of them.

Government forces and their allies also targeted Daesh terrorists on the outskirts of Dayr al-Zawr Military Airport, and killed a large number of them in the process.

Also on Tuesday, Syrian government representatives and militant officials exchanged 112 prisoners and hostages in the province of Hama.

The exchanges took place in the militant-held Qalaat al-Madiq town, and that many of those released had been detained for years.

Chairman of the Russian upper house's Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev called the Amnesty International rights group's report on alleged torture in one of the Syrian prisons "a part of the information campaign against the Syrian authorities."

Amnesty International's Report Part of Information War Against Damascus
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702071050440485-kosachev-syria-amnesty-international/

07.02.2017 - The Amnesty International rights group's report on alleged torture in one of the Syrian prisons prepared by the is just a part of the information war against the Syrian government, Chairman of the Russian upper house's Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Amnesty International issued a report accusing the Syrian authorities of killing 13,000 people at the Saydnaya prison.

“This report seems to be a part of the information campaign against the Syrian authorities, which had triggered the civil war in the country in 2011,” Kosachev said.

He said that the accusations voiced by the watchdog were too serious to believe based on a report of only one organization.

Kosachev pointed out that Russia was aware of the problems that the Syrian democracy was facing. He also called on the Syrian government to ensure public access to detention facilities in order to repel the information attack.

The accusations by Amnesty International against the Syrian government of mass executions are "ridiculous" and the organization should better tell about public executions of civilians, carried out by terrorists and the so-called moderate opposition members near Damascus, Fares Shehabi, a member of the Syrian parliament, told Sputnik Tuesday.

Syrian MP Advises Amnesty Int'l to Tell Truth About Executions by Terrorists
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702071050423997-syria-amnesty-terrorists-executions/

07.02.2017 - Earlier in the day, the human rights group published a report, in which it accused the Syrian government of carrying out mass killings of up to 13,000 people in custody at Syria’s Saydnaya military prison.

"These words are ridiculous. I would like to hear their allegations of executions [by radicals] in the eastern suburbs of Damascus before [militants’] retreat to Idlib. Over 100 people were executed, I would like Amnesty [International] to tell about the execution of civilian prisoners, servicemen and police officers, who were killed in cold blood. A number of executions have been recorded on camera," Shehabi said.

He added that it was not the first time when the West was spreading a misleading information about Syria.

The last time when the mass execution of civilians and war prisoners occurred in Syria was during the liberation of eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. In January, militia representative told Sputnik that terrorists had executed prisoners either by a gunshot wound to the head or decapitation.

Videos, showing the execution of civilians by the so-called moderate opposition members have regularly appeared on the Interned throughout the Syrian crisis, which has been ongoing since 2011.

Amnesty International has been repeatedly criticized by some countries, including Russia, the United States and China, for spreading misleading information and acting as an instrument of propaganda and information wars.

The human rights group describes itself as an independent organization free from government financing. At the same time, the watchdog reserves the right to take money from government agencies if they are allocated to educational projects in the human rights area. In this way, it receives funding from several international institutions and governments, including the US State Department, the UK authorities and the European Commission. According to media reports, substantial funds are allocated to the watchdog by US billionaire George Soros through his Open Society foundation.

It is not the first time when the West accuses the Syrian government of human rights violations amid its fight against a wide range of opposition groups and terrorists, such as Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al Sham (formerly known as al-Nusra Front), both outlawed in Russia and other countries worldwide. The United States and is allies are conducting anti-terror airstrikes in the country without the permission of the Syrian government.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's response to 2015 accusations of prison detainee torture was that Damascus is ready for "unbiased and fair" way to verify the allegations. According to the Syrian leader, there is no verification of any alleged evidence that the Damascus authorities have been involved in the abuse of people in detention.

 

[angelburst29]

Amnesty International’s report on #yria doesn’t have a shred of evidence: Assad
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/amnesty-internationals-report-yria-doesnt-shred-evidence-assad/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek7fvSqSTwk (33:40 min. - Feb 10, 2017) President Assad's Interview with YAHOO. English.

10/02/2017 - Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad called out Amnesty International for their allegations of mass executions during his interview with Yahoo News on Thursday.

Assad would begin his discussion on Amnesty International by attacking their reputation and bias in their reporting on the six year long Syrian Conflict.

“Amnesty International has always been biased and politicized,” Assad told Yahoo News during his interview.

The Syrian President would later add that the allegations made by Amnesty International regarding the mass executions at Saydnaya were claimed without proof.

“Amnesty International’s report on Syria doesn’t have a shred of evidence,” Assad added.

Amnesty International currently has no offices or employees in Syria; their allegations were based on testimonies from opposition activists living abroad.

Amnesty International issued a report saying that the Syrian government was carrying out a campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison.

Russian diplomat slams Amnesty International’s report on Syria as provocation
http://tass.com/politics/930028

February 9. 2017 - Moscow believes Amnesty International’s report on extrajudicial executions allegedly carried out by the Syrian government at Saydnaya Prison to be a provocation and misinformation, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"We have seen this report. It’s a pity it comes at a moment crucial for the process of solving the Syrian crisis," the diplomat said.

"In fact, this is just another deliberate provocation aimed at adding fuel to the fading fire of the Syrian conflict and raising tensions again and make the Syrian people hate each other more," Zakharova stressed. "Those who compiled this fake report are not even bothered by the fact that the huge number of victims they are citing is a result of some calculations based on testimonies made by unnamed individuals."

"In our opinion, this respected organization could and should adopt a more responsible manner while assessing the fantasies of the organization’s Lebanese branch," the Russian diplomat went on to say.

Amnesty International issued a report saying that the Syrian government was carrying out a campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. According to the report, "between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya." Amnesty International also said that the Syrian government was "deliberately inflicting inhuman conditions on detainees at Saydnaya Prison through repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care.".

]Amnesty International earlier released a report where it said that thousands of inmates had been hanged at the Saydnaya prison over the recent years

Amnesty report is part of media campaign against Damascus — Russian MP
http://tass.com/world/929611

The latest Amnesty International’s report about alleged mass executions and tortures in Syrian prisons is part of information campaign against the Syrian authorities, which however should let experts visit the country’s penitentiaries to have such accusations dropped, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.

Amnesty International earlier released a report where it said that thousands of inmates had been hanged at the Saydnaya prison over the recent years.

Commenting on this report, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, said it lacks concrete facts. "Moreover, reports from one organization citing anonymous sources are not enough," he said. "This repost seems to be part of the ongoing information campaign against Syria’s authorities which triggered a civil war in that country back in 2011."

The Russian lawmaker noted however that the Syrian authorities "should provide access for public activists and experts to penitentiary facilities in order to remove or at least adjust these serious accusations until this campaign becomes irreversible."

He admitted that there might be problems with democracy in Syria, but they are not that dramatic as follows from the Amnesty International report. Apart from that, he reminded of the words Syrian President Bashar Assad had said at a meeting with a Russian parliamentary delegation in December 2016 that no regime can go on for long by means of repressions only. "Bashar could not have survived in conditions of civil war and with armed opposition at power is he enjoyed no serious support from society," Kosachev stressed.

He said he is confident that the Syrian authorities "are interested in repelling information attacks." "I am sure it is in Syria’s interests and I hope the Syrian authorities have enough counter arguments to rebuff such information attacks," he added.

 

[angelburst29]

Amnesty International's latest report on mass extrajudicial killings in Syria would not stand scrutiny, according to former British ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford.

Amnesty Report on Syrian Prison Deaths Questioned by Ex UK Ambassador to Syria
https://sputniknews.com/world/201702151050686212-amnesty-international-syria-report-not-credible/

15.02.2017 - On February 7, the organization issued an explosive report titled ‘Human Slaughterhouse, Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydhaya prison, Syria,' alleging that the Syrian authorities were responsible of killing 13,000 opponents of President Bashar Assad at the Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus.

In an interview with Sputnik, Ford pointed out that it was interesting how the report was coincidentally released after the Syrian city of Aleppo was liberated by the government forces two months ago, after successful negotiations in Astana and as it appears that Syria is coming closer to a political solution for the ongoing war.

It's very strange after this report has been over a year in gestation — you have to ask, why now?" He said.

According to the former Ambassador, there is a number of reasons why the report puts into question the credibility of the human rights organisation. Apart from the fact that it was based on interviews with anonymous witnesses and doesn't provide a hint of evidence, those nameless sources were wrong on ‘basic information', and that naturally puts to doubt the veracity of other claims.

The retired British diplomat had visited Saydnaya numerous times as he served in Damascus from 2003 to 2006. According to Ford, the prison was too small to contain ten to twenty thousand prisoners at one time, contrary to what Amnesty said in the report.

"Ten to twenty thousand is a fair-sized town." He said in an interview. "The building which I saw at Saydnaya could not possibly accommodate more than ten percent of those numbers."

The human rights group also quoted its sources as saying that Saydnaya became the main political prison in 2011, which was just as false.

"It was already, when I was in Syria in 2006 and many years before then, Saydnaya was the main political prison." Ford clarified. "When they get this level of detail wrong I find it very hard to believe anything at all."

The former ambassador referred to the organization as "the spearheads of liberal interventionism", citing Amnesty International's "sensationalist" reports of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Amnesty said that they had verified that claims that Iraqi soldiers had stolen incubators in Kuwaiti hospitals and left babies on the floor to die. Turned out this was a total fabrication…they were gullible and they used it and it helped to justify the Iraqi war." Ford said.

"This is the new way of picking up the white man's burden — you go around changing regimes that you accuse of human rights abuses."

Amnesty International has been repeatedly criticized by some countries, including Russia, the United States and China, for spreading misleading information and acting as an instrument of propaganda and information wars. In 2013 the International Business Times wrote that in the past Amnesty received funds from the European Commission, from the governments of the Netherlands, the US, Norway and, in 2009, it received 2.5 million euros from government entities.

"Amnesty is well known in the NGO community for being very aggressive, for being sensationalist and for being focused very much on its own fund-raising." Ford said.

"They have become part of the liberal, elite establishment; part of the vanguard of liberal interventionism. They have lost their way. And this latest report will do them no credit."

Human Rights Watch's claims that the Syrian government troops used chemical weapons are amateurish, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Russian MoD Slams HRW's 'Amateurish' Claims Syrian Army Used Chemical Weapons
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702141050676742-syria-chemical-weapons-hrw-russia/

14.02.2017 - The HRW's new report states that the Syrian Army used chemical weapons in opposition-controlled areas at least eight times in 2016.

"Such reports, drafted by amateurs, citing data from social networks and stories by unknown anonymous eyewitnesses by phone, destroy the already controversial reputation of Human Rights Watch," ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

He stressed that in case the watchdog really wanted to examine the issue of chemical weapons in Syria, it should have started with mustard gas use by militants in September 2016 in the village of Marat-Um-Haouch.

"This crime has real witnesses, including Russian and foreign journalists, there are real victims with specific names, real weapons with traces of mustard gas and soil samples that were discovered," Konashenkov said.

On Monday, the watchdog presented a report at the United Nations, saying that Damascus conducted chemical attacks in the opposition-held part of Aleppo during the final months of the fight for the city. The HRW, basing on data obtained from in-person interviews with witnesses as well as video footage and photographs, concluded that government helicopters dropped chlorine in the residential areas of Aleppo at least eight times in the period between November 17, 2016 and December 13. The organization also called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria and urged the country's government to stop using chemicals as weapons and assist the UN-appointed investigation.

So far, there has been a number of reports on use of chemical weapons in Syria, putting responsibility for attacks both on Syrian authorities and Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) terrorist group.

In October 2016, the UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) on the chemical weapons use in Syria said that the Syrian authorities used chemical weapons at least three times throughout 2014-2015, while an earlier report said the IS was also responsible for several attacks.

Despite lack of conclusive evidence, a number of countries, in particular the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, blamed the Syrian government for the chemical attacks. Syrian President Bashar Assad though denied all accusations, claiming the reports failed to provide conclusive evidence of its culpability and putting blame on the terrorist groups. The Russian authorities have repeatedly called on necessity to double-check such kind of reports, stressing that conclusions cannot be simply made on interviews of several local residents.

In late October-early November 2016, a number of chemical attacks were conducted in Syria's city of Aleppo by militants, killing dozens of Syrian servicemen and civilians. The Syrian government urged the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct the investigation, while the Russian Defense Ministry handed the results of the chemical use probe to Syria’s national regulator in charge of implementing the OPCW convention.

Earlier on February, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it expected more effective work from the OPCW, adding that the organization's act-finding mission in Syria had conducted its activity over the past years remotely by interviewing witnesses, which raised questions over information's credibility.

Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including al-Nusra Front and Daesh, banned in a range of countries, including Russia.