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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

The Democrats’ stubborn refusal to learn from the campus protests for Palestine

The Democrats’ stubborn refusal to learn from the campus protests for Palestine

Ahmed Moor writes: In mid-November, I attended a public meeting organized by Reclaim Philadelphia, a progressive group founded in the aftermath of the first Trump presidency. The event served as an election post-mortem, but also as a place to begin to chart a way forward — to consider what the next four years may bring. Speakers, including members of the local Philadelphia community and Reclaim’s leadership, described the ways in which the Democratic party leadership had failed them: plenty of…

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True scale of Assad’s slaughter revealed at Syrian mass grave

True scale of Assad’s slaughter revealed at Syrian mass grave

  His prisons held hundreds of thousands of people: relentlessly tortured and abused, many of them did not survive. But since Bashar Al-Assad fell from power – the full horror of the regime’s crimes is being revealed. Syria was largely cut off to journalists during his 24 years in power. But now the daunting task of documenting Assad’s atrocities can begin: starting with the country’s mass graves. Including one where around 150 thousand people may have been buried.

Congress keeps trying to hide the true Gaza death toll

Congress keeps trying to hide the true Gaza death toll

The Intercept reports: Tucked into a $895 billion Pentagon bill making its way through Congress is a little-noticed provision to further conceal the death toll in Gaza — the latest effort by U.S. policymakers to cast doubt on casualty figures reported by Palestinian health officials. The House approved this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, on Wednesday and sent it to the Senate for a vote, despite Democratic objections over a GOP proposal to prohibit transgender children on military…

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Israel to close Dublin embassy after Ireland supports ICJ genocide petition

Israel to close Dublin embassy after Ireland supports ICJ genocide petition

The Guardian reports: Israel has announced it will close its embassy in Ireland, citing Dublin’s decision last week to support a petition at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide. The move was announced by the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, who said it was prompted by the Irish government’s “extreme anti-Israeli policies”, noting its decision to join the ICJ petition last week. The Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris, said on X: “This is a deeply regrettable decision from…

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Turkey exploits post-9/11 counterterrorism model to target critics in exile

Turkey exploits post-9/11 counterterrorism model to target critics in exile

The Washington Post reports: As abduction teams fanned out across neighborhoods in Nairobi in October, their targets — members of a Turkish religious movement — seemed to have few worries beyond the hassles of a hectic weekday. One was returning from a visa appointment with his family; a second was at the motor vehicle office for a driving test; still others were trying to beat traffic during the early Friday commute. By morning’s end, seven Turkish nationals had been abducted…

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Hope and despair at Assad’s ‘human slaughterhouse’

Hope and despair at Assad’s ‘human slaughterhouse’

Aubin Eymard and Cian Ward write: Crowning the top of a small hill, surrounded by the rocky outcroppings of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range about 20 miles north of Damascus, Sednaya Prison has attracted thousands of Syrians since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Dec. 8. For more than half a century, many of the secrets of the regime’s inner workings remained impenetrable. Sednaya was one of the best kept. “Until last Sunday, people could drive by the prison, but…

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New set of human rights principles aims to end displacement and abuse of Indigenous people through ‘fortress conservation’

New set of human rights principles aims to end displacement and abuse of Indigenous people through ‘fortress conservation’

Many protected areas, including California’s Yosemite National Park, displaced Indigenous people in the name of protecting wildlands. Matthew Dillon/Flickr By John H. Knox, Wake Forest University For more than a century, conservationists have worked to preserve natural ecosystems by creating national parks and protected areas. Today the Earth faces a global biodiversity crisis, with more than 1 million species at risk of extinction. This makes it even more important to conserve places where at-risk species can thrive. In 2022, governments…

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Syrians, in a triumph of hope, turn the page on the horrors of Assad

Syrians, in a triumph of hope, turn the page on the horrors of Assad

Syrians gather in the heart of Damascus on Dec. 9, 2024, to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime. Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images By Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years. The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive. Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a conflict seemingly frozen since 2020 emphasize shifts in geopolitics and…

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Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza, study finds

Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza, study finds

The Guardian reports: A new study of children living through the war in Gaza has found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through. A needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance charity, also found that 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality”, 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit…

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Liberation in Syria is a victory worth embracing, yet some observers remain trapped in the past

Liberation in Syria is a victory worth embracing, yet some observers remain trapped in the past

Layla Maghribi writes: The fall of a brutal and inept tyrant should be cause for celebration among a people who rarely triumph over their oppressors. Yet, in Syria’s case, conflicting interests and worldviews have tempered some of the excitement and, in some instances, turned former “freedom-fighting” comrades into questionable allies. No sooner had the rebel Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group approached Damascus, poised to topple the Assad regime, than starkly polarized reactions began to surface worldwide, including among Arabs. While…

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Europeans swiftly initiate repatriation and deportation plans for Syrian refugees

Europeans swiftly initiate repatriation and deportation plans for Syrian refugees

The Guardian reports: The UK and other European countries have said they will suspend the processing of asylum applications from Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, with Austria already preparing a “repatriation and deportation” programme to the country. In London, a Home Office spokesperson said it had “temporarily paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation”. “We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond…

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Assad’s ‘forever’ rule is over

Assad’s ‘forever’ rule is over

Kareem Shaheen writes: The last time I set foot on Syrian soil was in 2017, when I went to the town of Khan Sheikhun to report on a chemical attack carried out by the now-deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad. I remember sitting next to a man named Abdul Hamid al-Youssef, who had buried his wife and two infant children a day earlier. They had choked on poison gas while he rushed to help the wounded, fainting and waking up in…

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Tears of joy and sadness as ‘disappeared’ Syrians emerge from Assad’s prisons

Tears of joy and sadness as ‘disappeared’ Syrians emerge from Assad’s prisons

The Guardian reports: As Syrian rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured city after city on the road to Damascus, forcing Bashar al-Assad to flee the country, they also opened the doors of the regime’s notorious prisons, into which upwards of 100,000 people disappeared during nearly 14 years of civil war. Many emerged frail and emancipated into the bright December sunlight, greeted by weeping family members who had no idea they were still alive. Some struggled…

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Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International concludes

Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International concludes

Middle East Eye reports: Israel is carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip, a new report by Amnesty International has concluded. The report, titled ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza is based on research and legal analysis carried out since October 2023 and concludes that Israel’s war on the enclave is being carried out with “the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza”. Amnesty International is arguably the highest profile rights group to…

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Gazans face extreme hunger as ‘real famine’ spreads from north to south

Gazans face extreme hunger as ‘real famine’ spreads from north to south

Ruwaida Kamal Amer reports: Mustafa Al-Darsh, a 35-year-old father of three from Gaza City, spends hours every day searching for food for his family. Some days, he manages to secure a few canned goods; other days, his family has to settle for plain rice. “In the north, we yearn to eat bread with some thyme,” he told +972. He hasn’t been able to find flour for months. Since the start of October, when the Israeli army encircled northern Gaza and began subjecting…

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Joe Biden starts reading Rashid Khalidi ‘four years too late’

Joe Biden starts reading Rashid Khalidi ‘four years too late’

After Joe Biden stepped out of Nantucket Bookworks on Friday, he and his son Hunter looked like they’d just been caught shoplifting: Maybe it was because Biden was clutching a copy of Rashid Khalidi’s book The Hundred Years War on Palestine. During his Thanksgiving visit to Nantucket, Biden said: I’m thankful for a peaceful transition of the presidency. And I’m thankful for the fact that, I think, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors and a…

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