Moral clarity: UN ‘Human Rights’ Council votes 29-1 to investigate Israel’s “war crimes”

Moralclarity:UN‘HumanRights’Councilvotes29-1

SudanreleasesChristianwomansentencedtodeathfor

Sudan releases Christian woman sentenced to death for her faith; Update: State Dept to meet with lawyers tomorrow

posted at 12:01 pm on June 23, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

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The global outcry over the death sentence for a Christian mother seems to have worked. Earlier today, a court in Sudan overturned Meriam Yahia Ibrahim’s conviction and sentence and ordered her release. Ibrahim was due to be flogged with 100 lashes and hanged for her adherence to Christianity, but the sentence — and especially her then-pregnant status — made it a worldwide outrage:

A Sudanese woman on death row for apostasy had her sentence canceled and was ordered released by a Khartoum court on Monday, the country’s official news agency reported.

SUNA said the Court of Cassation canceled the death sentence against 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim after defense lawyers presented their case. The court ordered her release.

The Daily Mail has more:

Daniel Wani’s brother Gabriel, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, said: ‘I need to call my brother to find out what is happening.

‘If it’s true it is great news.

‘Knowing him he will want to want to bring her back to America as soon as he can. I hope he can do that’.

Safwan Abobaker, an activist who works with religious campaign group Hardwired, which is based in the US, said that the pressure to release Meriam had paid off.

He said: ‘The Sudanese government was embarrassed by all the attention so they freed her.

‘It’s better for her to come to America now as her half brother said that he would kill her if the court did not carry out the sentence.

‘The Sudanese government needs to protect Meriam and the US embassy in Sudan needs to find a way of bringing her to America quickly.

‘The US government needs to grant Meriam asylum or find a way to let her come to America right away. She needs to come to America’.

The archdiocese of Khartoum had hailed Ibrahim’s fidelity to the faith as it pressed the Sudanese court to reverse itself:

“There are many people trying to persuade Meriam to renounce Christianity in order to be freed, but she is refusing. Some people are pleading with her husband to convince her to abandon Christian faith in order to save her life, but to no avail,” the archdiocese said.

“The Catholic Church — Archdiocese of Khartoum — expresses deep regret over the way the case is being handled in the court,” with disregard of “Meriam’s moral and religious beliefs,” it said.

“We are pleading with the judiciary and other concerned authorities to review the case … and to bring it to a reasonable end,” it said.

This may be a “reasonable end,” but only in contrast to the unreasonable beginning and middle. Death sentences, prison terms, and floggings for religious conversion are an affront to human rights, and a reflection of the oppression Christians face in much of the world. The need for Ibrahim to flee Sudan to save her life even after the rescinding of the conviction and sentence provides even further demonstration of that persecution. Let’s continue to pray for Ibrahim’s safe deliverance to the US, and keep our focus on the oppression of millions of other Christians around the world.

Update: In a measure of just how dangerous it will be for Ibrahim to remain in Sudan, her attorneys have hidden the family in a safehouse, according to The Guardian:

The Sudanese state news agency Suna said: “The appeal court ordered the release of [Ibrahim] and the cancellation of the [earlier] court ruling.”

However, there was no sign of Ibrahim, her husband Daniel Wani or their two children at the couple’s home in Khartoum.

Mohaned Mostafa, a member of Ibrahim’s legal team, said she had been moved to a safehouse “for her protection and security”. He told Reuters: “Her family had been threatened before and we are worried that someone might try to harm her.”

The US should be acting with alacrity to offer her asylum.

Update: There is good news on the asylum front, too, at least preliminarily:

Ibrahim’s husband, Daniel Wani, holds dual U.S.-Sudanese citizenship, and Ibrahim’s supporters argued that their children, including a daughter named Maya born in prison in May and a 20-month-old boy named Martin who was imprisoned with her, are U.S. citizens.

Sources close to the situation tell FoxNews.com that Ibrahim was whisked away to a confidential location and that her lawyers will be meeting with representatives from the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday.

“This is a huge first step,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization Subcommittee. “But the second step is that Ms. Ibrahim and her husband and their children be on a plane heading to the United States.”

Make it so.

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Tags: Catholic Church, human rights, Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, Sudan, war on christians

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UNreportblasts“pro-Russianseparatists”inUkrainefor

UN report blasts “pro-Russian separatists” in Ukraine for human-rights violations

posted at 8:41 am on May 16, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

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The UN warned that the human-rights situation in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating rapidly, but they don’t put the blame on the Ukrainian government. Most of the blame, according to a new report released this morning, belongs to the so-called “pro-Russian separatists” that have seized buildings and power locally in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The “impunity” of armed groups and their attacks on peaceful demonstrations of dissent have turned the region into an arena of humanitarian crisis:

Armed groups are increasingly undermining the rights and basic freedoms of people in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations said Friday, expressing concern at the rising number of killings, abductions, beatings and detentions of journalists, politicians and local activists.

“Primarily as a result of the actions of organized armed groups, the continuation of the rhetoric of hatred and propaganda fuels the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, with a potential of spiraling out of control,” the United Nations said in its second report on the issue in a month, which was released simultaneously in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and in Geneva.

The actions and impunity enjoyed by armed groups “remain the major factor in causing a worsening situation for the protection of human rights,” the United Nations said.

The report, compiled by a 34-strong team of human rights monitors in the capital, Kiev, and four other cities, names only the “Slovyansk self-defense unit” in the eastern city of Donetsk but reports several instances of attacks by other pro-Russian activists on rallies in support of Ukrainian unity and against lawlessness. “In most cases, local police did nothing to prevent violence, while in some cases it openly cooperated with the attackers,” the report states.

The United Nations expressed particular concern about increasing abductions and unlawful detentions in eastern Ukraine that appeared to be targeting journalists and to be controlled by the Slovyansk unit, reporting that by May 5 it was aware of 17 unlawful detentions in the Donetsk region alone.

This puts an altogether different light on the referenda held this past weekend in the region. Russia in particular claimed legitimacy for the results, which supposedly showed that 9 in 10 Ukrainians in the area wanted independence from the government in Kyiv. This report shows that the people whose support Russia claims have been oppressed and intimidated into acquiescence — or worse.

Russia laughably complained about the legitimacy of the UN’s investigation:

“The complete lack of objectivity, blatant discrepancies and double standards leave no doubts that (the report’s) authors were performing a political put-up job aimed at clearing the name of the self-declared authorities in Kiev,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Discrepancies and double standards certainly sounds applicable to the referenda, too — even in Crimea, which Russia used as an ex post facto validation for its seizure of the peninsula. AFP has a report on Donetsk which gives a decently objective view of the situation there:

The US and Europe are looking at expanding the sanctions if Russia doesn’t back down in eastern Ukraine before the May 25th elections:

Although Western nations have threatened additional sanctions against Russia, Hague said they were not willing to give an “exact definition” of what would provoke them or what form the measures would take.

“If we set a red line, Russia knows that it can go up to that red line,” he said at a news conference. “Efforts to disrupt the election may take many different forms. That’s not something we can define in advance,” but it will be “what determines the attitude of the whole Western world” toward Russia.

In separate comments, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said, “If Russia or its proxies disrupt the election, the United States and those countries represented here today in the European Union will impose sectoral economic sanctions as a result.”

Asked whether the West would be watching for direct Russian interference or hold Moscow accountable for the actions of the pro-Russian separatists, Kerry said a judgment would be made based on “attitude and behavior.”

“I’m not going to start laying out the whole series of definitions except to say to you that it is clear what proxies mean,” he said.

A senior State Department official said earlier that “we have been pretty clear in being able to pinpoint and expose . . . when Moscow’s hand has been behind past disruptions.” The official added, “We’ve seen it in the past — we’ve seen personnel, we’ve seen money, we’ve seen weapons, we’ve seen coordination, we’ve seen actual actors. So all of those things are possible again in this context.”

The “red line” phrase is an albatross anyway, especially in regard to Russia. It’s better for the West to be ambiguous on this point after the embarrassing overstep on Syria. The West should already have applied sectoral sanctions long before this — long before Crimea’s annexation, but certainly in its immediate aftermath. Had the West acted with strength at that time, Russia may not have been so bold in eastern Ukraine, and the human-rights crisis may have been avoided.

The problem with ambiguity, though, is that it makes it too easy for the West to claim that the threshold for action wasn’t met, even if Russia is still interfering in the Ukrainian election. They need to discredit the May 25th vote in order to keep momentum on the side of their provocateurs in Luhansk and Donetsk. Even this tough talk leaves plenty of room for escape hatches for Western nations without the stomach for a real economic battle.

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Tags: human rights, Russia, Ukraine, United Nations

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Video:ObamatellsMalaysianpresserUnitedStates“has

Video: Obama tells Malaysian presser United States “has work to do” on human rights

posted at 5:01 pm on April 27, 2014 by Jazz Shaw

A trip around Asia entails a lot of pressers for the President, and as formulaic and stodgy as they can become you never know when the star of the show will fire off a memorable line. Caleb Howe notes that, while addressing the press in Kuala Lumpur, Major Garrett asked Barack Obama why, in general, he hadn’t used his diplomatic “tool kit” to do more to influence foreign leaders to improve on human rights, and in specific why he hadn’t taken a meeting with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, currently in jail for his views and activism. (Or for sodomy, depending who you ask.) His response drew more than a few odd looks.

“I think the Prime Minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia’s still got some work to do. Just like the United States, by the way, has some work to do on these issues. Human Rights Watch probably has a list of things they think we should be doing as a government.”

Caleb expresses some surprise, since many assumed that the Apology Tour was over by this point.

This is the first time a sitting President of the United States has made a state visit to Malaysia in almost fifty years. However, the last time the President bad-mouthed the United States in a foreign country is far more recent. From France to Mexico to Afghanistan and Egypt, the President has made a habit of negative assessments of the United States while traveling abroad.

It is especially ironic that a free press was on the list of human rights concerns that President Obama said Malaysia and America need to work on, given the many and increasing reports from White House reporters and the usually sympathetic mainstream press about his administration’s mistreatment and bullying of reporters.

We have some spots where there is probably room for improvement, at least in terms of overcrowding in prisons and citizens being spied on and such, but overall I think most people would agree that the United States has a pretty impressive record on human rights compared to the rest of the planet. In fact, there are areas where some could fairly say that we’re a bit too obsessed with human rights, leading to additional exposure to attacks, both internal and external. But hey… that’s part of the price you pay for living in a mostly free society.

This was an odd choice of words for the President, though. And certainly an odd time and place to break it out.

Tags: Barack Obama, human rights, Malaysia

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VenezuelatotheUN:Theseprotestsarejust

Venezuela to the UN: These protests are just the result of an “international campaign of lies and falsehoods,” you know

posted at 1:21 pm on March 4, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

Well. There’s that ol’ United-Nations fightin’ spirit we’ve been waiting for, via the BBC:

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the Venezuelan authorities to “listen carefully to the aspirations” of protesters and engage in dialogue with the opposition.

His comments came before a meeting in Geneva with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua.

Mr Ban said protesters “must resort to peaceful means in delivering and conveying their messages”. …

Mr Jaua, who is in Geneva for a meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council, said Venezuela was the victim of a “psychological war” perpetrated by the media.

“The propaganda carried out by some national and international media corporations conveys the wrong idea that there is widespread chaos in our country and indiscriminate repression against the people,” he said.

It was aimed, he said, at portraying Venezuela as a country that violates human rights to “justify foreign intervention”.

Yes, sadly, these are the actual real-life words that Venezuelan officials are using to excuse and explain away their country’s economic crisis and political protests, at the United Nations. Meanwhile, however, the death toll is now estimated to be somewhere around 18 and hundreds have been arrested, and despite the beginning of the carnival festival season, the protests are still ongoing. Whatever lame lies Maduro and his government prefer to feed to the public and the world, the reality of runaway inflation, shortages of basic staples, and rampant violent crime are too big for even the Maduro’s reliable political base in the country to keep ignoring, via the Financial Times:

“This is only getting worse,” says the father of two, as he waits in the shade. “They are selling food like you only need to eat once a week.”

Mr Aranda has not joined the anti-government protests that have left at least 17 dead in Venezuela over the past four weeks, in a South American version of Ukraine’s popular uprising. He says he remains a backer of Chávez’s “Bolivarian Revolution”, for now.

Yet his complaints are a sign that the revolution’s biggest threat may lie not with the opposition but within its own ranks. …

Even believers in Chávez’s brand of socialism cannot ignore the country’s galloping inflation, growing shortages and the inability of Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s anointed successor as president, to summon up a fraction of his predecessor’s rallying charisma.

“There is growing frustration even within the [pro-government] chavista bases,” says Margarita López Maya, a historian at the Central University of Venezuela. “The current economic crisis and unrest are not only a product of Maduro, they are also part of Chávez’s legacy.”

Tags: human rights, Nicolas Maduro, protests, socialism, United Nations, Venezuela, violence

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Yep:DennisRodman’snextbasketballdiplomacytripto

Yep: Dennis Rodman’s next basketball diplomacy trip to North Korea still a go

posted at 6:51 pm on December 13, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

I mentioned this story in the Green Room earlier today, but the whole thing is so bizarre and gruesome, and certainly has enough possible implications for the future of North Korea, that I think it warrants a bigger slot.

Late Thursday night, reports started to emerge that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un had suddenly had his mentor/adviser/uncle-by-marriage and at least several of his aides executed, with the state’s official media deeming him “despicable human scum” who was “worse than a dog” and “a traitor for all ages.” The NYT has more:

Perhaps one of the most intriguing details in North Korea’s announcement of the execution of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle and presumed mentor of the leader Kim Jong-un, was what its state-run news media reported that Mr. Jang said while confessing to plotting to overthrow Mr. Kim’s government.

“I was going to stage the coup by using army officers who had close ties with me or by mobilizing armed forces under the control of my confidants,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Friday quoted Mr. Jang as having said on Thursday during his court-martial. “I thought the army might join in the coup if the living of the people and service personnel further deteriorate in the future.”

It could not be independently confirmed whether Mr. Jang, long considered a champion of a Chinese-style economic overhaul in North Korea, actually made such a statement or whether the government made up the assertion to justify his execution. But the long list of crimes that Mr. Jang and his followers were accused of having committed was tantamount to a highly unusual admission of what analysts said could be a serious and bloody power struggle over economic and other policies inside the impoverished but nuclear-armed country.

What exactly is going on here? “Press freedom” isn’t really a thing in North Korea, so pinning down the background information here is a tough task. Is Kim losing his grip on power, and desperately trying to demonstrate and consolidate it? Is he trying to shake off the old-school senior leadership in his cabinet and prove himself? Was this merely the end result of a sordid family drama over some crazy love triangle?

Whatever the reasoning (or lack thereof) behind it all, we can at least rest assured that Dennis Rodman’s next date with his BFF is still on. Evidently, not even the possible shakeup of the NorK’s authoritarian political structure is enough to faze this bromance made in hell — and really, why would it? If mass crimes against humanity and a couple of nuclear bomb threats here and there weren’t enough to do the trick, I don’t know why a few wanton political executions would change things, either. Via Politico:

Dennis Rodman plans to travel to North Korea next week to train its basketball team, a trip unaffected by the execution of leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle. …

Rodman considers Kim a close friend and has a long-scheduled trip that starts Monday to train the national team. Rodman also has organized an exhibition game in January in Pyongyang to celebrate Kim’s birthday. …

“Yes, I’m going to North Korea to train the basketball team,” he told The Associated Press by phone. “I’m going to bring American players over there. Yes I am. I’m going to be the most famous person in the world when you see American people holding hands and hoping the doors can be opened. If they can. If they can. If they can. I’m going. I’m going back for his birthday. Special.”

Tags: human rights, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, tyranny, violence

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