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AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan rebuked Human Rights Watch on Monday for criticizing the kingdom's arrest of four lawmakers after they paid condolences to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's family. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad on June 8. The four lawmakers — members of Jordan's largest opposition group, the Islamic Action Front — attended the al-Qaida in Iraq leader's wake in his native Jordan on June 9. One described al-Zarqawi as a "martyr." Two days later, they were arrested and charged with "instigating sectarian strife" and "fueling national discord" and jailed for 15 days. The New York-based rights...

While sticking to its demand for the establishment of an independent inquiry into a blast on a Gaza beach 10 days ago that killed seven Palestinian civilians, the Human Rights Watch conceded Monday night for the first time since the incident that it could not contradict the IDF's exonerating findings. On Monday, Maj.-Gen. Meir Klifi - head of the IDF inquiry commission that cleared the IDF of responsibility for the blast - met with Marc Garlasco, a military expert from the HRW who had last week claimed that the blast was caused by an IDF artillery shell. Following the three-hour...

AMMAN, Jordan, AP -Human Rights Watch criticized Jordan's arrest of four lawmakers who visited the family of slain terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, calling it a violation of freedom of expression. "Expressing condolences to the family of a dead man, however murderous he might be, is not a crime," Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, said in a statement Saturday. The lawmakers, members of Jordan's largest opposition group, visited al-Zarqawi's family home in Zarqa, 17 miles northeast of Amman, on June 9, two days after al-Qaida in Iraq leader was killed in...

Human Rights Watch and Saeb Erekat lack objectivity The Israeli Defense Forces recently concluded a report on the tragic deaths of seven Palestinians on a Gaza Beach. As detailed yesterday in HR's special report "Gaza Beach Libel", the IDF has carefully analyzed all evidence and proven that it was not responsible for this tragedy. In the past 24 hours, our report has generated over 500 letters to the media. While some news organizations have reported the IDF findings, it certainly does not compensate for the highly emotive front page initial accusations.At the same time, many in the media have been...

US counter-terrorism policies, with their deliberate use of "torture and mistreatment," put the global defence of human rights on the back foot in 2005, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report released overnight. The New York-based monitor said the US strategy has fuelled terrorist recruitment and hampered Washington's ability to pressure other countries into respecting international law. "Fighting terrorism is central to the human rights cause," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But using illegal tactics against alleged terrorists is both wrong and counterproductive." The watchdog also criticised US allies in the war on terror for...

(CNN) -- After a year of arduous political spadework by Iraqis trying to establish a democracy, a major humanitarian watchdog group has said "the human rights situation in Iraq deteriorated significantly in 2005." Human Rights Watch made the assessment Wednesday in a report titled "Human Rights Watch World Report 2006," a global survey of the state of human rights. The U.S.-led coalition has touted a year of political progress in Iraq, as Iraqis numbering in the millions went to the polls to vote for a transitional parliament, a four-year parliament and a constitution.

Bush Meets Victims of 'Butcherer' Saddam By NEDRA PICKLER ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - 0118dv-bush-iraqis Iraqis who said they were beaten, imprisoned and lost loved ones at the hands of Saddam Hussein's government shared their stories Wednesday with President Bush, who said the former Iraqi president "will get his due justice." There was an emotional atmosphere in the hourlong meeting, participants said, as Bush went around a table in the Roosevelt Room asking each of roughly a dozen Iraqis to tell their experiences. Bush said they told "stories of sadness and stories of bravery." "One of the interesting moments will...

Poland was main CIA centre in Europe, says rights body 09/12/2005 - 5:03:52 PM A Human Rights Watch investigator said Poland was the CIA’s main centre to detain terrorist suspects in Europe at clandestine prisons, a Polish newspaper reported today. Poland’s leaders continue vigorously to deny any involvement. Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the rights organisation, was quoted by Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza as saying Human Rights Watch had documents corroborating its case about Poland, and showing Romania was a transit point for moving prisoners. “Poland was the main base of interrogating prisoners and Romania was more of a...

EU investigator seeks data on CIA planesJAN SLIVAAssociated Press PARIS - The head of an investigation into alleged secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe said Tuesday he was checking 31 suspect planes that landed in Europe in recent years and was trying to acquire past satellite images of sites in Romania and Poland.If the European probe uncovers evidence of covert facilities, the potential impact ranges from major embarrassment for the United States to political turmoil in countries that might have participated, even unwittingly. Countries found housing secret detention centers also could be suspended or expelled from the 46-member Council...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA took the first step toward a criminal investigation of a leak of possibly classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post, a U.S. official said Tuesday. The agency's general counsel sent a report to the Justice Department about the Post story, which reported the existence of secret U.S. detention centers for suspected terrorists in Eastern Europe. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue deals with classified information, said the referral was made shortly after the Nov. 2 story. The leak investigation into the disclosure of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame's...

In this report, Human Rights Watch calls on insurgent groups active in Iraq to: Cease all attacks against civilians, the civilian population and civilian objects, both Iraqi and non-Iraqi. Civil servants, politicians, religious leaders, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and civilian employees of foreign governments are immune from attack; Cease all attacks that do not discriminate between combatants and civilians, and attacks that cause harm to civilians or civilian objects that is excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage; Take all feasible precautionary measures during military operations to verify that objectives to be attacked are not civilian but military, and...

Iraqi insurgents are committing war crimes by attacking civilians in their fight against U.S. forces, the New-York based Human Rights Watch said on Monday. Although the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the ensuing occupation resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, and abuses that enraged many Iraqis, this was no justification for deliberate killings of civilians, it said. "The deliberate targeting of civilians during an armed conflict constitutes a war crime," Human Rights Watch said in a 140-page study, released in Jordan.

Ok, this is 'older'; but it looks front page news worthy to me! Corporate Board Member May/Jun 2003 Feature Story How Citigroup’s Board Cleaned the Stable by Monica Langley Sandy Weill built the world’s most profitable financial empire. Then Citigroup—and Weill—became embroiled in scandal. Here’s how he got his board to sign off on his plan to save the company and redeem himself. During his tumultuous career, humbly born Sanford I. Weill survived setbacks that would have finished most people and went on to build Citigroup, the singularly profitable agglomeration of Citibank, Travelers, Smith Barney, and other financial businesses (2002...

U.S. Policy Options for Iran: Sham Elections, Disinformation Campaign, Human Rights Abuses, and Regime Change Excerpt from Executive Summary While the Bush administration has been reluctant to adopt an unambiguous policy of regime change for Iran, the outcome of the Iranian electoral process, disinformation campaign, and violations of human rights require adoption of an explicit regime change policy for Iran.  An ambiguous American policy was somewhat effective prior to the June 2005 Iranian elections. That policy allowed Washington to support the European diplomatic initiative toward Iran without fear of being blamed for sabotaging negotiations by threatening the regime’s existence....

US faces prison ship allegations The United Nations says it has learned of serious allegations that the US is secretly detaining terrorism suspects, notably on American military ships. The special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak said the accusations were rumours at this stage, but urged the US to co-operate in an investigation. He said the UN wants lists of the places of detention and those held. The comments come five days after the UN accused the US of stalling on their requests to visit Guantanamo Bay. Investigators have been asking to visit the jail in Cuba to carry out checks...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States abused a law intended to keep witnesses from fleeing when it jailed dozens of Muslim men after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a report Monday by two major rights groups. The 70 men, all but one of them Muslim, were suspected by the Justice Department of involvement in terrorism but were held as material witnesses rather than criminal suspects, said Jamie Fellner of Human Rights Watch, which released the report with the American Civil Liberties Union. The designation, intended to hold people who have information about a crime but may want...

As millions of children look forward to a break from school, millions of oth­ers only wish they could begin. For these children, summer days will not be spent in ballparks and play­grounds, but on battlegrounds or in fields. These children have no time for play. It's all work. And the work is dirty, hard and dangerous. According to the International Labor Organization's (www.ilo.org) global report, "A Future Without Child Labor," 246 million children worldwide are in­volved in child labor, which should be abolished. The study found that 179 mil­lion children ages 5 to 17 are exposed to forms of child...

NEW YORK, May 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US should investigate the humiliation of Muslim detainees and the abuse of their religious beliefs rather than attack those who expose them, an international human rights group has said. “Around the world, the United States has been humiliating Muslim detainees by offending their religious beliefs,” Reed Brody, a special counsel for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP). “If the United States is to repair the public relations damage caused by its mistreatment of detainees, it needs to investigate those who...

When The New York Times, “Nightline,” and CNN nominate a young blonde for sainthood ahead of the Pope, it’s time for a reality check. Especially when that blonde, Marla Ruzicka’s sole purpose is to legitimize our enemies, cause problems for U.S. troops already in harms way, and morally equivocate dead terrorists with victims of 9/11. Jane Fonda lite—but unfortunately without having been spat upon by right-thinking veterans. The recent death of Ruzicka, an American “activist” in Iraq, elicited an orgy of gush—everywhere from Time Magazine to The Guardian of London to Al-Jazeera. A 28-year-old San Franciscan, Ruzicka was in Iraq...

Human Rights Watch has begun a project to track how allegations of abuse and homicide against U.S. soldiers are dealt with in the military justice system. “What we’re trying to get a handle on, is how successful the military justice system has been in investigating and prosecuting allegations of abuse,” said John Sifton, lead researcher on counter-terrorism and military affairs for the non-profit group based in New York City. “We’re not on a witch hunt against troops; our concern is systematic failures.” The project to collect and analyze data from more than 100 cases began in December, which includes allegations...