Month: April 2008

Ankara’s parliament passes incremental changes to Turkey’s notorious “insulting Turkishness” law, but the small reforms leave free speech advocates unsatisfied: Turkey’s Parliament Softens Law Restricting Free Speech (Associated Press/Wiredispatch) Latest incident over who is responsible for four dead Palestinian civilians—an Israeli tank shell or nearby munitions owned by militants—threatens to torpedo fragile cease-fire talks: New…

Once the DoD’s top legal gunslinger, Col. Morris Davis recently testified under oath that the Pentagon and Bush administration seek convictions in its kangaroo courts to score political points, not administer justice: From Chief Prosecutor To Critic at Guantanamo (Washington Post) Social and economic discrimination of European Muslims lead to a disproportionate incarceration rate in…

Drawing on lessons of ending Nepal’s civil war, former President Jimmy Carter finds diplomatic engagement with Hamas and Syria will pay greater peace dividends than isolating and economically punishing them: Pariah Diplomacy (New York Times) By finally acknowledging long-ignored trends in Muslim-majority countries and communities, the US begins to gain some strategic leverage over Al-Qaeda:…

Secret DoJ letters given to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden argue the Geneva Convention protections do not apply to interrogations used specifically to combat terrorism: Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale (New York Times) Prominent civil society advocate’s arrest and release signal growing power among the Kingdom’s pro-democracy activists and bloggers: Saudi Activist Blogger Freed…

Former Israeli combatants blow the whistle on army abuses of its occupation in the Palestinian Territories; meanwhile, based on a letter “personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon”, Tel Aviv claims they had a secret nod from Bush to continue its settlement expansion: Israeli Ex-Soldiers Expose Abuse of Palestinians (Christian Science Monitor) Israelis Claim…

Federal magistrate judge in Chicago says invoking “state secrets” is an invalid justification to refuse telling Americans whether or not they are on the terrorism watch list: Judge Rules on Terrorism Watch Lists (New York Times) Huge paper trail in Freedom Of Information Act filing by human rights groups underscores depth of CIA’s torture program:…

Caught between ongoing violence and economic deprivation, many of Iraq’s one million widows fight each day to survive and maintain their families, while Iraqi Christians struggle to maintain their presences within Iraq: Iraqi Women Take On Roles Of Dead or Missing Husbands (Washington Post) Iraqi Christians Struggle With Fear After Slayings (Washington Post) Former extremists…

Experts on law and terror financing find government prosecutions of Muslim charities use McCarthyite tactics and reasoning that arrest innocent individuals, erode civil liberties and ineffective in fight terrorist networks: Trials of Muslim Charities Likened to a Witch-Hunt (Inter Press Service/Antiwar.com) The declassified Yoo torture memo gave the government that has increasingly used terror tactics…

Carter returns from his meeting with Meshaal and other Hamas officials saying they are open to a peace deal, but with certain conditions… Carter Says Hamas Open to Peace Deal (Reuters/New York Times) …meanwhile Israel faces a greater military and public relations threat from Hamas as the tactical lessons it learned from Hizbullah lead it…