Sunday, Jun 30th
Last update07:49:10 AM GMT
Human Rights Glance
The rebel forces of Gen Laurent Nkunda and pro-government militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been accused of war crimes by the UN.
The alleged crimes took place in the eastern town of Kiwanja this week when it was captured by Gen Nkunda's forces. Several civilians were reported killed.
For the past year, a 28-year-old Muslim American student, Sayed Fahad Hashmi—the first person extradited to the United States from Britain to face charges of terrorism—has been held at the Manhattan Correctional Center under conditions of confinement that are the very definition of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment."
He has not been charged with being a member of Al Qaeda or for providing any money or resources to any terrorist. He is here—for a trial months away in 2009—for letting a former acquaintance, Junaid Babar, stay for a couple of weeks in his London apartment, where Babar stored several ponchos, raincoats, and waterproof socks in a suitcase. (Hashmi was still in London after receiving a master's degree from London Metropolitan University.)
Babar—not Hashmi—gave these socks and ponchos, it is alleged, to a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda.
In September, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the United States to give the pictures to the American Civil Liberties Union. Now the government has asked all 12 judges on the court to hear its case.
In the court papers, the government said release of the pictures would pose a grave risk of inciting violence and riots against American troops and coalition forces.
The Israeli military is investigating a video in which a Palestinian detainee appears to be humiliated by a group of Israeli soldiers.
The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says we have no clue as to when or where this video was shot and it is impossible to know just how frequently such incidents occur.
But a leading Israeli human rights group says "many instances of abuse are not exposed because they have become the norm".
The U.S. government has asked an appellate court to reconsider its decision ordering the release of 21 pictures of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. In court papers made public Friday, the government says the photos must be withheld to protect American troops.
In September, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the U.S. to give the pictures to the American Civil Liberties Union. Now the government is asking the full appeals court to hear the case.
A Justice Department lawyer yesterday urged a federal judge to continue the detention of six Algerians at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, contending they would "take up arms" and attack Americans if released.
The government alleges that the six Algerians were planning to go to Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces. But the detainees' lawyers said the men are innocent, never should have been confined and, after nearly seven years of captivity, should be freed. The lawyers described the detainees as hardworking family men.
TVNL Comment: If you were held without charges for seven years by some foreign governtment, would you want to 'take up arms' against those who imprisoned you? Just asking....
AS EVIDENCE of prisoner mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay began to mount in 2002, FBI agents at the base created a "war crimes file" to document accusations against American military personnel, but were eventually ordered to close the file down, a Justice Department report has disclosed.
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