On September 4, Shiva Nazar Ahari, a young female human rights activist incarcerated in Evin since last December, will enter a Revolutionary Court to face fabricated charges that carry the death penalty. Ahari, a leading activist with the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), stands accused of “anti-regime propaganda” and “acts contrary to national security.” She faces an additional charge in a category of criminality plausible only in societies run along totalitarian lines; what the ayatollahs deem mohareb, or “rebellion against God.” It would require the most blinkered apologist for the Iranian regime to suggest that someone charged in this way can expect a fair trial.
From my latest article on The Huffington Post.
Michelle Sieff has an interesting piece here in which she argues against what she sees as a partial application of human rights law to Israel’s responses to Hamas. Her main point is that the goals being pursued by an organization have to be considered when assessing what sort of response to it is justifiable and warns of the consequences if this is not done:
Continue reading ‘Hamas, Israel And Human Rights’
The whatboutery dispute, therefore, comes down to this. One side subscribes to the universality of human rights and urges two conclusions. Firstly, more equitable distribution of popular concern across the myriad human rights crises in the world. Secondly, greater awareness that the internal character of a regime - whether it’s a democracy or a tyranny - will tell you a great deal about how responsive it will be to human rights complaints.
The other side filters everything through the idea of Empire - including the ICC. If you regard the ICC as a tool of a sinister global conspiracy, there is no need to examine its status as a “court of last resort,” and therefore particularly appropriate for those states which lack robust, transparent judicial systems.
From my latest article for The Huffington Post.
UPDATE: Davem on Harry’s Place, where this piece is cross-posted, points out that Hezbollah has declared its solidarity with al-Bashir.
Over at savedarfur.org, Megan Flemming explains the arrest warrant issued yesterday against the Butcher of Khartoum, Omar Hasan al-Bashir:
The judges found that there are reasonable grounds to believe al-Bashir is responsible for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
Here are some good suggestions of action you can take to assist the process of bringing al-Bashir to a prison cell. Why should you? Here’s the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Louis Moreno Ocampo:
Continue reading ‘“It’s Not Possible for a Muslim to Commit Genocide…”’
I received an e-mail circular from B’Tselem today about Israel’s policies towards Gaza. The first substantial argument offered is this:
“The siege of Gaza is causing enormous suffering among innocents, and it’s hard to see how that deprivation can be justified,” said Uri Zaki, B’Tselem’s USA Director. “International law, as well as basic human and Israeli values, demands that Israel do its utmost to address its legitimate security concerns without inflicting unnecessary harm to the civilians of Gaza. The current policy doesn’t come close to meeting that standard.” Gazans’ rights to minimal standards of food security, shelter, health, education and to travel are protected under international law. These needs should not be held hostage to security and political issues.
Continue reading ‘B’Tselem And Bad Arguments’
Commenting on Human Rights Watch’s criticisms of the Jordanian government for stripping nearly 3,000 Palestinians of their citizenship, Elder of Ziyon makes the following observation: “…every Arab country is equally wrong by refusing to grant citizenship to people of Palestinian origin born in their countries - who now number in the millions. Not only is the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness being violated, but also the Convention on the Rights of the Child.” Read it all.
In Iran, it’s a case of escalation, escalation, escalation. The Times of London reports that “Iran is working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb.” Meanwhile, the repression of dissidents takes on a crueller, uglier quality. If proof was needed that the chador is a symbol of humiliation, look no further than the photo of student leader Majid Tavakoli, forced to pose while wearing one by the regime’s thugs (a tactic that has backfired now that Majid’s male supporters are distributing photos of themselves adorned in the same garb.) Then there are the additional arrests of dissidents for allegedly tearing photos of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamist tyrant who seized power in 1979. Then there are the three young Americans arrested by the regime and now likely to face trial on espionage charges. Are we done? No. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal paid a visit to his paymasters over the weekend. And don’t forget Hugo Chavez; Venezuela’s answer to Robert Mugabe doesn’t want to feel left out, so he’s declaring fealty to the theocrats of Tehran too.
“If western feminists who have staked out a ‘troops out’ position remembered to ask Afghan women their views, they would find that rather than bristling at ‘masculine militarization,’ ‘cultural imperialism,’ or any other in-vogue sin found on the placards waved at rallies, many Afghan women are haunted by the memory of the Taliban’s public stoning to death of women,” write Wazhma Frogh and Lauryn Oates in a superb piece for The Calgary Herald. Read it in full here. Via Terry Glavin, whose commitment to the principles of genuine solidarity and internationalism never wavers.
This is a crosspost by Mark Gardner of the CST blog.
It is plain that if the Jewish state is regarded as a pariah, a compulsive serial abuser of human rights, then Jews everywhere will suffer by (real or imaginary) association.
So, it matters when Robert Bernstein, founder and emeritus chair of Human Rights Watch (HRW), and its chairman for 20 years, writes in the New York Times to regretfully inform HRW that its scrutiny and attitude to Israel “are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state”. As with HRW’s recent Marc Garlasco controversy, however, what matters even more is HRW’s public response to Bernstein:
We fundamentally disagree with Mr Bernstein’s views.
Continue reading ‘“We Fundamentally Disagree With Mr Bernstein’s Views”’
Mark Gardner of the CST with an important piece here.
As documented on numerous other blogs - here and here and here for starters - it appears that this person and this person are one and the same. So what does this tell us about the Human Rights Watch researcher and virulent Israel critic, Marc Garlasco?
Continue reading ‘Nazi Chic at Human Rights Watch’
I have already written here and here about a violent attack on a street celebration in the city of Buenos Aires of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of Israel and later about the petition signed by various pillars of the Argentine human rights movement calling for the attackers to be released forthwith. On Wednesday last there appeared in Pagina /12 a lengthy article by Osvaldo Bayer justifying his support for the petition and today in the same paper there’s a brief reply from Daniel Goldman.
Continue reading ‘Antisemitism, Human Rights and Acceptable Jews in Buenos Aires’
This is a guest post by Terry Glavin.
Today is May Day, the holiday most of the world marks as international workers’ day. North Americans call it Labour Day and celebrate it on the first Monday in September, usually without much of a thought about its meaning, but it’s the same holiday.
Continue reading ‘On Solidarity: May Day Reflections’
I’ve just written and directed a new video for AJC on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. You can watch it on YouTube here.
“You can only imagine what would happen if Israel dealt with its internal political enemies or dissenters in such a fashion,” writes Richard Cohen of a new Human Rights Watch report detailing the appalling abuses of human rights entailed by the continuing rule of Hamas in Gaza.
Continue reading ‘The Hideous Face of Hamas Rule in Gaza’
