Free Republic

Shortly after sending U.S. troops to Afghanistan in October 2001, President George W. Bush focused so intently on freeing Afghan women from the shackles of Taliban rule that empowering them became central to the United States' mission there. More than a decade later, as his successor Barack Obama charts a way out of the unpopular war, Afghan girls are back in school, infant and maternal survival rates are up and a quarter of the parliament's seats are reserved for women who at least on paper have the same voting, mobility and other rights as men. But Obama rarely speaks about...

MADRID — Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Spanish authorities of using racial and ethnic profiling, with police singling out people who are not white in order to meet quotas. In a new report, the human rights group said some police stations in Madrid have weekly and monthly quotas for ID checks and detentions of immigrants not carrying residency papers or work permits, encouraging officers to target people belonging to ethnic minorities, even if they are living legally in Spain as residents or are citizens. “People who do not ‘look Spanish’ can be stopped by police as often as four times...

A true story: Several years ago, the CIA informed the White House counterterrorism adviser that it had located a wanted Islamic terrorist and requested White House guidance for how to proceed. The counterterrorism adviser recommended “extraordinary rendition” — snatching the terrorist in a covert operation and secretly whisking him away for interrogation in a foreign country. A White House lawyer demanded a meeting with the president to argue that this would be a violation of international law. In the Oval Office, the lawyer and the counterterrorism adviser argued their cases, when suddenly the vice president walked in. Hearing the lawyer’s...

Why would any Catholic college welcome a radical pro-abortionist?

Catholics and Catholic organizations should not endorse organizations with “morally objectionable” missions, North Dakota’s bishops said, citing Amnesty International, the March of Dimes and Susan G. Komen for the Cure because of their links to abortion or unethical research. Bishops Paul A. Zipfel of Bismarck and Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo in a March 10 statement called upon pastors, clergy and the lay faithful to be prudent and just in making their charitable decisions, particularly on issues related to human life and marriage.  “All human life is sacred and must be protected,” the bishops said. “This is why we should...

No one really knows how bad it is, but it’s much worse than I thought possible. Piecing together information from satellite images and eye witness accounts, Amnesty International suspects that the horrific concentration camps in North Korea are growing. Some 200,000 people live as slaves – enduring starvation, torture, and rape while performing hard labor. Many die every year, only to be replaced by fresh bodies. Of those that survive, few will ever be released. Deemed ‘prisoners’, the victims of North Korea’s political pogroms are interned for the smallest criticisms of the regime of Kim Jong-Il, and when they are...

An Afghan policeman has shot dead an American soldier and wounded three others in the southern province of Helmand. A member of the Afghan national police opened fire on the Americans on Thursday during a full scale scuffle in the provincial capital city of Lashkar Gah, located about 555 kilometers (344 miles) south of Kabul, a Press TV correspondent reported. The shooting marks the second incident of its kind in less than a month. On April 27, a veteran Afghan army pilot opened fire on foreign troops at Kabul airport, killing eight US-led soldiers and a contractor. Several US-led foreign...

Here’s the latest from CagePrisoners, Moazzam Begg group that campaigns for Salafi jihadi prisoners. The article contains is a mocked-up photograph, showing the bloody corpse of Barack Obama, accompanied by text describing the future assassination of the President of the United States. The article was posted by Fahad Ansari, a solicitor who previously worked with the so-called Islamic Human Rights Commission, and who is now at CagePrisoners. Ansari is the man who described Anwar Al Awlaki, the man tipped to be Bin Laden’s replacement, as “inspirational“. Ansari previously wrote an article for CagePrisoners, in which he said of the death...

LONDON — Tony Blair was accused yesterday of undermining decades of British campaigning for international human rights by using the war on terror to give a “green light” to torture. Amnesty International will today launch an unprecedented global campaign against the British government after ministers admitted that they would use information gained by torture to prevent attacks on the United Kingdom. Mike Gapes, Labour chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, reacted with anger after Ian Pearson, the Foreign Office minister responsible for human rights, said the government could not ignore evidence obtained under torture if it could prevent a...

<p>November 2, 2002 -- Remember those hysterical charges early this year claiming that America was "torturing" and otherwise violating the human rights of Taliban and al Qaeda detainees at Camp X-Ray?</p> <p>Well, four of those prisoners have now been released, and you can hear the truth about America's "brutality" straight from the horse's mouth.</p>

More Afghan captives head for Cuba Security at the base has been massively beefed up Another 30 Taleban and al-Qaeda prisoners have left Afghanistan by plane for Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, it is reported. The prisoners, who were shackled and had white caps covering their faces, boarded a C-17 transport plane at trhe US base in Kandahar, the Associated Press reports. Each prisoner was flanked by two US soldiers as they walked across the tarmac to the aircraft. Most lights at the US base were switched off and security was tight. The first group of 20 detainees arrived in Guantanamo ...

&nbsp; www.thejakartapost.com Print January 23, 2002 &nbsp; Taliban's detention The premature and hypocritical concern voiced by otherwise reputable international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International over detention conditions of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba is not just utterly misplaced, but outright ridiculous. If given the choice, millions of destitute, hungry and freezing Afghan refugees would gladly change places with Taliban prisoners in their roofed, albeit open-air, wire cage accommodations with three square meals a day, medical attention, sanitary facilities, not to ...

An American judge has said he has "grave doubts" about whether he has the right to rule on the treatment of prisoners captured in Afghanistan and detained by the military in Cuba. A group of civil rights advocates is challenging the detention of 158 al-Qaeda and Taleban prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, saying it violates international law and the United States constitution. But during a 20-minute hearing in Los Angeles, District Judge Howard Matz did not rule on a petition from the groups demanding that the US Government identify the men, disclose specific reasons for their detention and ...

Detainees or POWs? Ancient distinctions. By Mackubin Thomas Owens is professor of strategy and force planning at the Naval War College in Newport. His views do no necessarily reflect those of any agency of the U.S. government. January 24, 2002 8:55 a.m. as President Bush's decision launch a "war against terrorism" in response to September 11 now hoisted the United States on its own petard? That would seem to be the case as international organizations and even officials of allied countries such as Great Britain have intensified criticism of the United States concerning its treatment of captured al Qaeda and ...

What's the deal with these riots in Sydney? You switch on the television and there's scenes of urban conflagration and you think, "Hang on, I saw this story last month." But no. They were French riots. These are Australian riots. Entirely different. The French riots were perpetrated by - what's the word? - "youths". The Australian riots were perpetrated by "white youths". Same age cohort, but adjectivally enhanced. And, being "white youths", they thus offered "a chilling glimpse into the darker corners of Australian society", as Nick Squires put it last week, "with thousands of white youths rampaging through a...

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorized waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.In "Decision Points," published this week, Bush defended his decision to authorize waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by some as torture.Bush said the practice was limited to three detainees and led to intelligence breakthroughs that thwarted attacks and saved lives. He told NBC in an interview to publicize the book that his legal adviser had told him it did "not fall within the anti-torture act."...

On Monday the head of Finland’s branch of Amnesty International, Frank Johansson, termed Israel a “scum state.” Writing in his blog, which appears on the Web site of Iltalehti, one of Finland’s largest newspapers, he based his characterization of Israel on his “own visit[s], which occurred during the 1970s and for the last time in the 1990s.” Johansson further justified his rhetoric toward Israel because he has previously invoked strong language against former Pres. George Bush on Finnish TV. He called Mr. Bush “the biggest executioner in the Western Hemisphere.” Turning Israel and the United States into whipping boys is...

Amnesty International urged Saudi authorities on Friday not to medically paralyse a man in retribution for similar injuries he allegedly caused during a fight. The London-based group quoted reports that a court in the northwestern town of Tabuk had approached a number of hospitals to ask if they could cut the man?s spinal cord in retribution, as requested by the victim. "We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less than torture. While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralysing a man in this way would constitute...

Note to Mexico:  Shut you stupid gob until you clean up your gross human rights abuses! Richest Irony of the Year:  A guy who calls himself "Felipe Calderon" and claims to be "President" of a country called "Mexico" criticized US immigration policies, saying the new Arizona law "opens the door to intolerance, hate, and discrimination." Now The Irony Part Next comes Amnesty International, with a damning report on the cruel human rights depredations inflicted upon immigrants passing through Mexico. Yahoo News plays it straight up: The group's report comes at a sensitive time for Mexico, which is protesting the passage...

So, Amnesty International is pushing us to embrace the UN in further enslaving our citizens under the guise of “humanitarian assistance.” Ironically, the overarching slogan of the Amnesty report is, “Demand Dignity.” But, where is the dignity in living on handouts? Where is the dignity in taking money that you haven’t earned? Receiving a little help when we’re down is one thing, but playing the system for your entire livelihood in another. There is no dignity in being a ward of the state.

OPINION EUROPE APRIL 14, 2010, 5:00 P.M. ET "Amnesty International and Jihad Why is a human rights group working with a Taliban supporter?" SNIPPET: "Amnesty International defines itself as "a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all." So why is the organization working hand-in-glove with one of the Taliban's most notorious defenders? That's a question serious human-rights campaigners are asking themselves in light of Amnesty's curious collaboration with Moazzam Begg. Mr. Begg is a British citizen and former Guantanamo detainee who, following his release in 2005, wrote a memoir and became director of a...

“As a former Guantanamo detainee it was legitimate to hear his experiences, but as a supporter of the Taliban it was absolutely wrong to legitimise him as a partner,” Sahgal told The Sunday Times. ….. Andy McCarthy reports in disgust of their response: In response to the petition, AI Secretary-General Claudio Cordone has issued a letter in vigorous defense of AI’s collaboration with Begg and Cageprisoners. Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism has the story, here. In the letter, Cordone states AI’s position outright: advocacy of “jihad in self defence” is not antithetical to human rights. That Islamists reserve unto...

A controversy centred on the human rights body Amnesty International is raging in Britain and it could be instructive for India. Earlier this month, Gita Sahgal, the head of the organization’s ‘gender unit’, publicly protested against its close association with Moazzam Beg, a British Islamist and former inmate of Guantanamo Bay. Beg, who had earlier migrated from Birmingham to Kabul because he was inspired by the Taliban, returned to Britain after his release from US custody in 2005. Exploiting the fierce anti-Bush mood in Europe after the invasion of Iraq, an unrepentant Beg founded Cageprisoners to campaign for the release...

A senior Amnesty International official has been suspended after attacking the human rights charity for allying itself with 'Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban'. Gita Sahgal, head of the organisation's gender unit, branded Amnesty's links to former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg a 'gross error of judgment'. She was removed from her post within a few hours of her criticism...and now a bitter war of words is raging between the activist and her employer. Both have angrily defended their position over Mr Begg, 42, a Briton held at Guantanamo for three years until 2005 because of suspected links to...

Moazzam Begg spend a few years in Guantanamo accused of being a member of al Qaida and other affiliated terrorist organizations, which he denies. He has written a book about his Guantanamo experience claiming he was tortured. He also claims his innocence, despite the fact that there is evidence that he * recruited individuals to attend al Qaida run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. * provided money and material support to al Qaida terrorist training camps. * received extensive training at al Qaida run terrorist training camps since 1993. He has been trained on the AK-47, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs),...

In a couple of months - April, to be exact - Amnesty International will organize a "Human Rights Arts Festival" in Silver Spring, Maryland. A first event of this kind, the purpose of the festival is to "bring together artists, local businesses and politicians to use socially transformative art to raise awareness of human rights and justice issues, as well as the important work of Amnesty International". Human rights and justice issues? Sounds like a good venue to present the plight of the non-Albanians precariously surviving in the "Independent State of Kosovo," right? At least that's what the folks at...

Human rights group Amnesty International has argued that Sweden is taking part in torture after the country handed over its first prisoner in Afghanistan to local authorities, according to a report by Sveriges Radio news programme Ekot. "There is an absolute ban on torture and thus also a ban on handing over prisoners to countries in which there is a risk of torture," Lisa Bergh, Amnesty Sweden's Secretary-General, told Ekot. "It is patently clear that prisoners risk torture if they are handed over to the authorities in Afghanistan," Bergh explained. The prisoner was captured by Swedish forces in July after...

"Sleep deprivation, "insult slaps," water dousing and "walling," or slamming a detainee's head against a wall, were techniques used by CIA interrogators to break high-value detainees, according to an agency memo." Holder decision "promises political headaches for President Barack Obama, came after the Justice Department's ethics watchdog recommended considering prosecution of CIA employees or contractors for interrogations in Iraq and Afghanistan that went beyond approved limits." Cheney said ""The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions," he said in a statement."

Fiorella Nash London, England, Aug 21, 2009 / 05:55 pm (CNA).- The British woman Fiorella Nash owes the release of her father from prison in Malta in the 1970s to Amnesty International. For Nash, supporting the organization over the years was a given, but recently she decided to suspend her support because of group's pro-abortion agenda.According to the website Religion Confidencial, “Fiorella Nash owes her father’s life to Amnesty International.  For many years she worked with the NGO until she became aware of its pro-abortion slant.”Since its founding by Catholic British lawyer Peter Benenson, Amnesty has been one of...

A Swedish gay rights organisation has called on the government not to deport any homosexual Iraqi asylum seekers in the light of a shocking new report categorising an extermination campaign against gay men in the Middle Eastern country. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) has now called on the Swedish government to halt all deportations to Iraq of people who have sought asylum on the basis of sexual orientation or gender. "We urge Sweden to investigate the possibility of evacuating homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people who are at risk of being subjected to 'sexual cleansing',"...

MANAGUA, August 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "Amnesty International," an organization that was once devoted to the protection of human rights, has issued a report filled with falsehoods and distortions in an attempt to smear the nation of Nicaragua for daring to protect unborn children from the brutality of abortion.Although most Central American countries have similar legislation penalizing abortions, Nicaragua has provoked the wrath of the international abortion lobby by abolishing the exceptions formerly contained in its penal code for "therapeutic abortions" -- a loose term that can be used by physicians to justify practically any abortion.Amnesty International (AI), foaming at the...

p>MANAGUA, August 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Amnesty International (AI) has launched an international campaign against the government of Nicaragua, claiming that its law protecting the unborn from abortion is "cruel," and "cynical.""There is only one way to describe what we have seen in Nicaragua: a great horror," said Kate Gilmore, Deputy Secretary General of AI, in a press conference held recently in Mexico."The prohibition of therapeutic of abortion in Nicaragua is a shame.  It is a human rights scandal that ridicules medical science and distorts the law, being a weapon against the provision of essential medical services for pregnant girls...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military said today that insurgents have capture an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan. Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier went missing Tuesday.

June 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last year international media was awash with headlines about the case of pregnant 14-year-old Polish girl, who had become the focal point of the debate about abortion in the strongly pro-life country. In the end the girl aborted her child, apparently under intense pressure to do so from her mother and an international pro-abortion group.But Amnesty International (AI), the human rights organization that last year announced that it now believes that legal access to abortion is a universal "human right," has now claimed that the girl, dubbed "Agata" by the Polish media, became pregnant...

Human rights groups have protested against the execution on Friday of a young Iranian woman for a murder committed when she was 17 years old. Amnesty International said it was outraged by Delara Darabi's hanging and that she did not get a fair trial.

'Mother, they're going to kill me': Outrage as Iran executes woman, 23, for alleged murder when she was just 17 By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 02nd May 2009 An Amnesty International member protester demonstrates outside the Iranian Embassy in Kensington on Delara Darabi's behalf A 23-year-old woman made a frantic phonecall to her mother begging for help before Iran authorities held a rushed execution - disregarding a stay-of-execution and allegedly without informing her lawyer. 'Mother they are going to execute me, please save me,' Delara Darabi screamed, before a prison official grabbed the phone and told her mother: 'We are going...

More than 400,000 people a year are detained by immigration officials in the United States - including undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants who run afoul of the law and asylum seekers who come fleeing persecution - but according to a report released today by Amnesty International, conditions are often deplorable and detainees are routinely denied due process. It's the second major human rights report in a week to indict the nation's immigration detention system. The system is attracting increased attention in part because the number of people in detention has grown exponentially in recent years and in part because of dozens...

I’m glad to report that I’m all charged up as a result of my column on Amnesty International (also known as Anti-Semitism International) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). That column ran yesterday in The Bulletin. In it, I showed that Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union are on a lower moral plane than the mass murderers and genocidal maniacs that make up Hamas and al-Qaida. At least the latter two admit their purposes. In its charter, for example, Hamas advocates the slaughter of innocents. So at least they have the honesty lacking in Amnesty International and...

Here’s a quiz to determine if you are aware of America’s most immoral and dangerous enemies. Many are not aware of our enemies and, in fact, many Americans and other people around the world are not only unaware of the true nature of these enemies, but also lend their financial support to them. Question one: What do these four organizations have in common: The ACLU, Hamas, Amnesty International and al-Qaida? Question two: Of those four organizations named above, which two are the most immoral, depraved, and despicable? Answer to question one: All four work on behalf of terrorists and terrorism...

The human rights group said it found evidence that Israel and Hamas had both used weapons supplied from overseas to carry out attacks on civilians, accusing both sides of committing war crimes during the three-week conflict at the start of the year. It accused Israel of using white phosphorous and other weapons from the US and said Barack Obama had a "particular obligation" to suspend military aid over their use. Amnesty called for the UN Security Council to enact an arms embargo until mechanisms were put in place to ensure that equipment was not used to commit violations of international...

Amnesty International condemned the IDF's conduct during its military operation in Gaza in a report published Monday, and called for an arms embargo on both Israel and the terrorist Hamas group. "Amnesty International found that the Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely-populated civilian residential areas in and around Gaza City, and in the north and south of the Gaza Strip," the report says. "The organization’s delegates found white phosphorus still burning in residential areas throughout Gaza days after the ceasefire came into effect on 18 January - that is, up to three...

Thousands of Iraqis detained by US forces are at risk of torture or even execution, following the ratification of a security agreement between the US and Iraqi governments. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which will take effect on 31 December, around 16,000 prisoners held by the US will be transferred to Iraqi custody. Those at particular risk include former Ba’ath party officials or those who held posts under Saddam Hussain's government. Ali Hassan al-Majid and two others sentenced to death for crimes committed under Saddam Hussain’s rule are likely to be executed if handed over to the Iraqi...

The execution of José Ernesto Medellín Rojas by the state of Texas is a violation of international law, said Amnesty International today. "It undermines the authority of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which had ruled in favour of a stay of execution."

NEW YORK — Amnesty International is currently touring the country with a life-sized replica of a maximum security prison cell at Guantánamo Bay. But critics say the cell, which is an attempt to call attention to alleged human rights abuses at the camp, is missing basic amenities provided to prisoners. The 7x10-foot cell, on display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., lacks amenities like bedding, toiletries and a copy of the Koran, and it has nothing to illustrate that regular meals are served to inmates three times a day.

Olympics 'worsening China rights' China's human rights record is getting worse, not better, because of the Beijing Olympics, a rights group says. According to Amnesty International, China is clamping down on dissent in a bid to portray a stable and harmonious image ahead of the Games in August. It urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and world leaders to speak out against abuses, including China's handling of protests in Tibet. US President George W Bush is facing calls to boycott the Games' opening. "It would be clearly inappropriate for you to attend the Olympic Games in China, given the increasingly...

Politicians and human rights groups want to go on board US-registered planes that are believed to be carrying terror suspects when they land in Norway for refueling. Planes believed to be chartered by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have landed at the Sola Airport outside Stavanger as many as 15 times since 2003, reports local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad. It's also believed that the planes, officially owned by Aviation Specialties Inc of the US, have landed for refueling at airports in Bergen and Evenes as well. A report to the European Parliament in 2006 claimed that Aviation Specialties is a...

The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International has condemned Israel's attacks on Gaza, claiming they are "being carried out with reckless disregard for civilian life." "Israeli military attacks over the past few days have killed more than 75 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 10 children, and other unarmed civilian bystanders not involved in the confrontations" Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, said Sunday. "Israel has a legal obligation to protect the civilian population of Gaza. Such attacks are disproportionate and go beyond lawful measures which Israeli forces may take in response to rocket attacks...

Amnesty International today issued an urgent action calling for the protection of several Kenyan human rights defenders and activists who have received serious death threats. The group, which includes six men and three women -- some of whom are prominent members of human rights organizations -- have received a number of anonymous threats in the form of SMS messages, phone calls and emails. They are now taking precautions for their safety, such as moving house and not making any public statements. The threats include accusations that they are ”traitors” to their ethnicity. All but one of the activists are of...

Australian Archdiocese Directs 328 Catholic Schools to Withdraw Support from Amnesty International By Meg Jalsevac MELBOURNE, September 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Amnesty International is facing yet another national backlash after its recent policy decision to promote the decriminalization of abortion world-wide.  All 328 Catholic schools in the Australia archdiocese of Melbourne have been counseled to withdraw all aid to Amnesty and close their school sponsored Amnesty support groups. Mr. Stephen Elders, director of the Catholic Education Office in Melbourne, sent a letter to all the schools encouraging them to "convey their disappointment" to Amnesty regarding the new pro-abortion policy.  Elders...

Amnesty International Organizes Worldwide Gay Protest Against Nicaragua By Peter J. Smith MANAGUA, Nicaragua, September 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After enshrining abortion as a human right in its humanitarian mission, Amnesty International has now stepped up its campaign to target nations that criminalize sodomy as grave violators of human rights, beginning with Nicaragua. Last week Amnesty International through its affiliates orchestrated international protests outside Nicaraguan embassies and consulates in Germany, Canada, Chile, Iceland, Mexico, Paraguay, Sweden and Taiwan, demanding the repeal of Nicaragua's sodomy ban. "Article 204 contradicts numerous provisions in international human rights law," said an Amnesty press release....