newsjiffy

Hugo Chavez defends three tyrants and a terrorist during speech

2009-11-22T20:39:00.010Z

Venezulan leader Hugo Chavez has been reported by the BBC as having defended Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ugandan dictator Idi Amin during a televised speech to various socialist politicians.

Chavez certainly sounds a little confused about whether he wants to put Amin's poster above his bed or not, saying: "We thought he was a cannibal... I don't know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot."

Normally, only the most stupid of commentators on Indymedia* would defend Mugabe or Amin (although a number seem to defend Ahmadinejad).

Hugo Chavez also defended Carlos the Jackal, whose real name is Ilich Sanchez Ramirez, saying "he is wrongly considered to be a bad guy and is to be praised as a key revolutionary fighter, instead" and described him as "one of the great fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization".

This is the same Ilich Sanchez Ramirez who put bombs on France's TGV trains in 1983, killing four people, who claimed to have thrown a grenade at a resturant in Paris, and who was hired by Communist Romania's brutal secret service, to murder Romanian dissidents in France.

Ramirez is currently serving life in a French prison for the murders of two secret service agents and an alleged informer.

He is also a fan of fellow terrorist Osama Bin Laden, and praised the undertaking of the September 11th attacks.

It seems Chavez forgot to mention him in his recent speech.

I would say that the mark of a "bad guy" is someone who does not care about the human rights of French citizens or about who he works with.

Hugo Chavez should be condemned for his praise of human rights violators, as well as being urged to spend more time on fixing his country's issues.

*Not all commentators are stupid on Indymedia, nor are all articles. I read the site on an occasional basis. It is just that much of the content is dogmaticaly ludicrous.

Slave rescuer Aaron Cohen interviewed in the Observer

2009-11-22T19:42:00.007Z

Today's Observer magazine has a fascinating interview by Carole Cadwalladr with Aaron Cohen, the founder of the Abolish Slavery Coalition.

Cohen, whose book Slave Hunter: One Man's Global Quest to Free Victims of Human Trafficking was published this June, has rescued children from sex slavery and child solider camps all over the world.

In his book, he estimates "it's estimated that 27 million people are enslaved today – double the number taken from Africa during the three and a half centuries of the slave trade. Approximately 80,000 new victims are trafficked across international borders each year."

Some of the testimonies of former victims can be seen at the Polaris Project Action Centre.

You can support Cohen and find out more about human trafficking at the online philantrophy platform Causecast.

Cohen is also on Twitter.

Pressure from those opposed to slavery does have an effect.

In July, the Burmese Shan State Army (SSA) signed an agreement promising to no longer use child soliders in return for aid, in order to increase international credibility.

Your support of Aaron Cohen could make a difference to tens of thousands of slaves around the world.

Youtube: BBC's The Big Questions: Antisemitism from 15th November

2009-11-21T14:57:00.006Z

Via Harry's Place, parts one and two of The Big Questions: Antisemitism, broadcast on Sunday 15th November on BBC One.

You can also read comments on the program by panalist Tony Greenstein and Jewish Chronicle blogger Aaron16.

The first comment left on the Harry's Place blog page to where these Youtube videos were posted was very interesting.

By "yesiam" (which might be short for "yes, i am an idiot"), it reads: "Your boys took a hell of a beating. Trying to defend that fascist little state called Israel in the Middle East by citing antisemitism is no longer good enough.The eyes of the world have been opened. Israel is a pariah state.Free Palestine."

This comment equates British Jews with the events taking place in the Middle East.

People are entitled to have whatever views on the conflict between Israel and Palestine they want.

My own view is that both sides have been guilty of human rights abuses, and that blindly refraining from criticsing one side whatever they do is the wrong approach to take.

Even if someone is strongly opposed to Israel's actions, it does not make it right to attack Jewish people or support attacks on Jewish people.

The Jewish state and Jewish citizens, either living inside or outside Israel, should not be lazily confused.

The current debate, as seen on Channel Four's Dispatches recently, about whether there is an "Israel lobby" and how powerful it is should not be confused with ordinary Jewish citizens either.

Clearly, some people are unable to understand this, as Jonathan Boyd writes in his Guardian article:

In April 2002, at the height of the Palestinian intifada, media reports began circulating that a massacre had been committed by the Israel Defence Force in Jenin, in the West Bank. Rumours circulated that hundreds of Palestinians had been killed. The BBC suggested 150. Saeb Erekat, interviewed on CNN, claimed 500. Yasser Abed Rabbo intimated 900. The overarching impression was that the IDF had committed a horrific atrocity.

On the following Saturday, I was walking to synagogue, wearing my kippah (skull cap) in the north London suburb of Finchley. On the way, I was punched in the face by a young man. It was an entirely unprovoked assault. We were simply crossing paths when he delivered a sudden, forceful, right hook. Taken aback, my first response was to ask why he had done it. "That's what happens to Jews," he responded, "when they behave like that."

That is the only time in my life that I have been a victim of an antisemitic assault. It is possible, I suppose, that it had nothing to do with the events in Jenin, but I find that very difficult to believe. My attacker saw me as a legitimate target directly linked to the so-called "massacre".

Russian antifascist activist Ivan Khutorskoy murdered in eastern Moscow

2009-11-21T14:30:00.004Z

Ivan Khutorskoy, one of the key figures in the Russian antifascist movement Antifa, was shot dead in eastern Moscow on Monday 16th November.

Many believe his killers were neo-nazis.

According to Schnews, Khutorskoy's address has been published on neo-nazi websites, and three previous attempts have been made to kill him.

The Brighton activist freesheet comments: "Ivan’s life and death show the perils of fighting the increasingly state-assisted far-right movement in Russia and the bravery of those who do so."

On Tuesday, a memorial gathering was held for Khutorskoy outside the Tsvetnoy Boulevard metro station, before being attacked by riot police.

Some of those at the memorial later attacked the offices of Young Russia (Rossiya Molodaya), for alleged links with murderous neo-nazi groups, something that Young Russia's leader Maxim Mishchenko denies.

According to Sky News, the murder of Ivan Khutorskoy has been linked to the arrest of two nationalists suspected of the murders of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.

Find out more about Ivan Khutorskoy at Indymedia Nederland.

Iranian web crime unit set up to locate "insults and lies"

2009-11-19T21:52:00.000Z

A special unit of the Iranian justice system has been set up to police the Iranian internet.

While senior Iranian police officer Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam claims that the "cyber police division" will oppose "Internet crime.", it is disturbing that, according to Article 19, there is also an emphasis on combatting "insults and lies".

This term has been used by the judicary to describe opposition statements.

Colonel Mehrdad Omidi, the head of the web crime unit, said cyber-crimes would be treated as seriously as armed robbery. He pledged to intervene in "political matters on the internet, should there be an illegal act", according to the Guardian.

Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Amnesty International, said: "This new unit will further undermine freedom of expression, which is already severely limited in Iran.

"The authorities’ aim seems to be to deter people from criticizing the government or circulating information – such as information on human rights violations – that they wish to suppress...Iran will be applying to cyber activists the same flawed legal standards that have resulted in the imprisonment of scores of journalists who did nothing other than report the facts, peacefully and objectively."

As the Guardian notes, Iranian opposition candidates rely on the web to communicate their messages. While newspapers supporting them have been closed, websites supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi still exist.

The Iranian government must not be allowed to limit the right to free expression. Support the Iranian resistance and the Green Revolution.

Soft sentences make a mockery of the right to be safe

2009-11-19T21:08:00.002Z

The right to be safe is a basic phyiscal human right. I would question how much British justice protects this right, given two recent cases.

In Rochdale, Greater Manchester, three people who attacked their victim so savagaly that pendant from her bracelet became embedded in her eye were given referral orders or community sentences, according to the Rochdale Observer.

Despite an appeal from the Observer, District Judge Paul Richardson refused to lift an order banning publication of the identies of the attackers, who are sixteen.

Kirsty Leigh Hood, 19, was sentenced last month for verbally abusing the same woman shortly before the attack, including shouting "BNP" at her.

Richardson even told one of the attackers: "When not inebriated, it seems you have good sense.If you didn't, we'd have seen a lot more of you in this court. This is a final chance."

Of course, the lack of money to fund the criminal justice system, including prisons is a huge contributor to the weak sentencing regime.

Via The Policeman's Blog, which also notes that Ashleigh Holliman was sentenced to just 120 hours community service after nearly blinding Jennifer Wilson after smashing her in the face with a glass in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Questions have also been raised about the response of Hertfordshire Police to this incident, according to the London Evening Standard.Wilson ended up using Facebook to locate her attacker.

While it is important that our response to criminals does not include barbarity, the right to be safe is

Rwandan milita leaders arrested in Germany over Democratic Republic of Congo war crimes

2009-11-17T20:06:00.003Z

The BBC reports that Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), and his aide Straton Musoni have been arrested by German police on suspicion of war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The pair are accused by German prosecutors of being in command of a Hutu militia that carried out crimes against humanity on Congolese civilians.

According to Global Security, the FDLR is made up of key members of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as well as a mix of displaced Rwandan Hutus, some of whom are former Rwandan Army soliders.

They describe themselves as "Rwandans determined to defend their motherland kept under constant threats of extermination by a tyrannic and barbaric regime."

The organisation is described as being "among the worst offenders in the onslaught against women, hundreds of thousands of whom have been raped over the past decade of conflict", according to Chris McGreal in the Guardian.

In November 2005 Murwanashyaka was blacklisted by the United Nations for violating an Democratic Republic of Congo arms embargo, and was subjected to a travel ban and assets freeze.

American demonstrations against homophobic Ugandan laws on Thursday 19th November

2009-11-17T20:00:00.001Z

This Thursday, 19th November, two demonstrations are taking place in America opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which allows Ugandan courts to sentence homosexuals to life imprisonment.

In New York, a rally will take place at Uganda House on 336 East 45th St from 12:30pm, organised by Sexual Minorities Uganda.

In Washington D.C, a rally will take place at the Ugandan Embassy to the United States,5911 16th Street, NW,Washington, DC 20011 between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm.

The Washington demonstration is 1 mile northwest of the Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro Stop on Quincy Street and also accessible via 16th Street buses.

If you are in New York or Washington this Thursday, why not attend the demo and oppose homophobic laws in Uganda

The bill continues to attract international condemnation.Members of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights have denounced the bill in the European Parliament.

Alleged anti-semitism by group of Romford scouts

2009-11-13T14:54:00.001Z

The Scouting movement is usually something Britain can be proud of, so it was surprising to read of a group of Explorer Scouts shouting anti-semitic abuse at members of the Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen and Women during a Rememberence Day parade in Romford, Essex.

Reverend Lee Sunderland, present at the parade, told the Daily Mail that "Here come the Jews, let's kill the Jews" was said four times during the service.

A Metropolitan police spokesman told the Guardian that they were investigating two allegations of "racially aggravated harassment" involving more than one member of the Romford explorer scout unit.

One of the troop has confessed his part to police, and been ordered by the Scout Association to visit the rabbi of the Romford and district synagogue to apologise in person.

Jewish RAF vetran Paul Freedman MBE, 84, who laid a wreath during the service, told the Evening Standard: "I told them that I was a Jew and I'd spent four and a half years in the RAF during World War Two and that Jewish people had sacrificed so much for freedom. They didn't react to any of this."

Talking of vile behaviour at war memorials, Sheffield Hallam University student Philip Laing is currently awaiting sentence for urinating on a war memorial while taking part in a Carnange UK event.

Let us hope the sentence is a fitting one.

Azerbaijan bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli given long prison sentences

2009-11-13T11:58:00.004Z

Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two bloggers in Azerbaijan who were charged with hooliganism in July after being attacked in a resturant, have been sentenced today.

Hajizade was sentenced to two years in prison by the Sabail District Court in Baku while Milli was sentenced to two and a half.

Their lawyer Isakhan Ashurov told the media: "This sentence is unjust and illegal...we plan to appeal the conviction and if we find no justice in Azerbaijan's judicial system, we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg."

There has been strong condemnation of the sentences, as well as belief that the trial was unfair.

An observer from Article 19 clamed he witnessed one of the alleged victims testify he did not remember writing a statement accusing Milli and Hajizade, a statement which had also reportedly stated he was attacked by three men.

Azerbaijan authorities claim the charges are unrelated to the bloggers' criticism of the government, including a Youtube spoof press conference which can be seen below, created just before the arrests:

It has also been revealed that when the bloggers were first arrested police interrogated them for five hours without legal representation present.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told The Register: "The United States regrets today's court decision in Azerbaijan to imprison Azerbaijani youth leaders Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade. This court decision is a step backwards for Azerbaijan's progress towards democratic reform."

He also commented that the sentences "raised concerns about the independence of the police and the judiciary, as well as about restrictions on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan."

Emin Huseynov, director of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety, told the BBC the sentences were: "aimed at intimidating new media on the internet and preventing the distribution of alternative opinions."

European security watchdog the OSCE told The Hurriyet that the jail terms confirmed the country's status as "the pre-eminent jailer of journalists" in the OSCE region.

Nigerian gay rights activist Davis Mac-Iyalla writes to Archbishop of Canterbury over Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009

2009-11-12T15:18:00.005Z

Gay rights activist Davis Mac-Iyalla has written to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and primates of the Anglican Communion regarding Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill.

In the letter, which was also printed in the Guardian, Davis Mac-Iyalla calls on them to: "condemn Uganda's proposed anti-homosexuality bill, which will make gay relations between disabled people and those under 18 a capital offence. "Carnal knowledge against the order of nature" – as homosexuality is termed in Ugandan law – is already punishable with life imprisonment. However, if passed, the new bill will widen the scope, including promoting homosexuality, aiding and abetting homosexuality and keeping a house "for purposes of homosexuality". This means that the relatives and friends of gay couples could face execution if they allow them to stay in their homes."

As Mac-Iyalla mentions in his letter, he is both a practising Anglican Christian and a refugee from homophobic persecution in Nigeria.

He also established the Nigerian wing of the British Changing Attitude organisation, which presses for for further inclusion of Anglican sexual minorities in the Anglican Communion

He concludes:

"Legislation of the kind proposed in Uganda is based on irrational hatred and a desire to entrench the stigmatisation of LGBT people. There is no place for love, understanding or acceptance in such laws. As such, the Church of England has a duty to condemn the anti-homosexuality legislation and put pressure on those MPs who support such laws. Whatever the divisions within the communion about homosexuality as a moral issue, Anglicans should unite in condemnation of violent persecution and discrimination of LGBT people whoever and wherever they are, particularly when it is carried out in the name of Jesus Christ."

Bill to be debated at Makerere University:

David Bahati, the bigot who tabled the bill, will be taking part in a "public dialogue" at Makerere University, along with Prof. Sylvia Tamale, Coordinator, Law, Gender & Sexuality Research Project, Faculty of Law, Rev. Canon. Aaron Mwesigye, Provincial Secretary of the Anglican Church of Uganda and Rubaramira Ruranga, a human rights and HIV/AIDS Activist.

The dialogue will focus on the bill and take place in Makerere University,Faculty of Law Auditorium, according to GayUganda, who also highlights this newspaper report.

Reaction to Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill:

Forty gay activists protested outside Ugandan House in central London on Saturday 8th November, including Ugandan John Bosco Nyombi, according to Pink News.

The Pink Triangle Trust has also written a letter to Joan Rwabyomere, the Ugandan High Commissioner in the UK, to ask her to bring the concerns before Ugandan authorities.

A spokesperson from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are concerned by the introduction of a private member's bill on anti homosexuality in Uganda.Adoption of the bill could do serious damage to efforts to tackle HIV and its criminalisation of organisations that support homosexuality could, in theory, encompass most donor agencies and international NGOs."

Bit mealey-mouthed, them being "concerned". Their concern joins France's "deep concern".

I would go further and say I totally oppose Uganda's hateful and backwards laws on homosexuality, and am glad Davis Mac-lylla is taking a stand.

We need people to support Mac-lylla in his fight.

While we can't expect much from the Indymedia crowd, let us hope that others, both on the left and right, will take to the streets, to the telephone and to the Internet in protest.

Lesbian student in Alabama, USA, now allowed to bring girlfriend to prom (subject to usual screening)

2009-11-12T14:19:00.004Z

Cynthia Stewart, a student in Tharptown High School, Alabama, America, is now allowed to take her girlfriend to the school prom in March, subject to the usual screeing process, following a reversal of the decision of Franklin County School System officials, according to Pink News.co.uk

She had originally been told by her headteacher Gary Odom that she was not allowed to

Earlier it had been alleged that the school was cancelling the prom (formal dance for students near the end of the school year) altogether in order to prevent Stewart bringing her girlfriend.

The Miami Herald reports that "Some teachers told classes last Thursday that prom was being canceled altogether as a way to avoid having to let Cynthia bring her date."

The intervention of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), contacted by Stewart's aunt Kathy Baker, encouraged school officials to change their minds.

Stewart's ACLU representative Christine P. Sun, Senior Counsel with the ACLU National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, had told the Miami Herald: "Federal law makes it absolutely clear that Franklin County School System doesn't have any right to discriminate against lesbian, gay, and bisexual students who want to bring same-sex dates to school dances...We hope that our telling the school about its legal obligations towards its students will make it think again about treating Cynthia Stewart like a second-class citizen."

According to the ACLU, Stewart's headteacher Gary Odom also forced her to remove a sticker she was wearing that said: "I am a lesbian," telling her: "You don't have that much freedom of speech at school."

Assistant Superintendent Donald Borden has said that Stewart's girlfriend still needs to be screened, a progress that takes place for all prom dates that live outside the catchment area.

So, Tharptown High School is midly paranoid as well as run by a homophobe. I am glad that Cynthia Stewart has (almost) won victory, given how homophobic schools in America are (like schools in Britain).

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez attacked on way to march

2009-11-09T21:09:00.003Z

Cuban blogger Yonai Sanchez has been attacked while on her way with three friends to a march of young Cubans opposed to the Communist regime.

It is presumed that the attackers, who tried to force them into a car, were state security agents.

Whenthe four refused to get into the car, they were brutally attacked.

Sanchez and one of her friends were thrown in and driven a short distance and then thrown into a street, while two others were taken to a police station in a patrol car (summoned by their orginal attackers) and then released.

On her blog Generation Y, Sanchez vividly describes the assault and attempted kidnap:

Near 23rd Street, just at the Avenida de los Presidentes roundabout, we saw a black car, made in China, pull up with three heavily built strangers. "Yoani, get in the car," one told me while grabbing me forcefully by the wrist. The other two surrounded Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, and a friend who was accompanying us to the march against violence. The ironies of life, it was an evening filled with punches, shouts and obscenities on what should have passed as a day of peace and harmony. The same "aggressors" called for a patrol car which took my other two companions, Orlando and I were condemned to the car with yellow plates, the terrifying world of lawlessness and the impunity of Armageddon.

Sanchez told El Nuevo Herald: "No blood, but black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest...in short, professional violence."

Last year, Harry's Place reported on how Cuban Ministry of the Interior agents tried to prevent Yoani Sanchez and her husband from holding a workshop for bloggers in Pinar del Río.

Time magazine has named Sanchez one of the world's 100 most influential people. Last month, the Cuban government refused to let Sanchez visit New York to receive a top journalism prize, while her blog Generation Y is often blocked in CUba.

Recently, Yoani Sanchez has blogged about a visit to the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry, where several blogger friends of hers were prevented from entering, despite the event being free for all, and journalist José Alejandro, who had the courage to speak out against media censorship in Cuba.

Along the Malecón reports that some supporters of Yonai Sanchez are using her photo as their Facebook profile photo in order to show their solidarity.

The Miami Herald also reports that a dozen Cuban bloggers and over one hundred Internet Sites recently took part in a virtual protest, "using Tweets, text messages and blog posts to send out messages like ``Freedom'' and demanding the release of all political prisoners".

One country that is not bothered by the repressive regime in Cuba is Russia. According to General Nikolai Makarov in September, the Russian military will help train Cuban military personnel and repair old Soviet military equipment.

Twenty years since the Berlin Wall fell

2009-11-09T19:56:00.003Z

Twenty years ago on this day, the Berlin Wall was brought down, removing the division between Communist East Germany and Capitalist West Germany.

Shortly afterwards, the Communist regime in East Germany collapsed and German unity (Deutsche Einheit) took place.

Five thousand people attempted to escape from East to West Berlin via the Wall.

One hundred were killed doing so. They are being remembered today.

An article in Spiegal International on files kept on East Germans by the secret polic (Stasi) makes fascinating reading:

Herbert Ziehm, who now heads up the department of requests for the Birthler Authority -- which manages the Stasi files -- said that the East German spooks also took notes on details that smacked of bourgeoisie. Ziehm, an East German, told SPIEGEL ONLINE that a look into his own file revealed that "the Stasi were very intrigued as to why my wife could drive and had a car even though she was a housewife." He added: "They were also fascinated by the fact that we were teetotallers and non-smokers. While after 20 years you can still laugh at the absurdity of it all, you always have to remember that people were getting arrested for the tiniest things."

West Germany is by no means perfect, and the past twelve months have shown how flawed capitalism is, but it was a much better place to live in than repressive East Germany.

Any regime that bans George Orwell's Ninteen Eighty-Four is no friend of dissent.

A minority, such as Morning Star columnist Neil Clark and Bruni de la Motte, mourn the fall of the German Democratic Republic.

However, the majority of Germans still feel that the demise of the Soviet Union is a good thing.

Celebrations are currently taking place in Berlin, including a line of 1,000 foam dominoes set up along the wall to be pushed over by former Polish President Lech Walesa, representing the collapse of Communism.

Via Harry's Place, the moment that the Berlin Wall fell:

The Berlin Twitterwall has been set up to allow people to share their thoughts on the Berlin Wall via Twitter.

Mercedes Butnz writes about other digital media projects related to the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Guardian's PDA Digital Content blog.

Disability hate crime in Cornwall

2009-11-08T18:25:00.010Z

While the motives for the recent murder of Mary Fox in Bodmin, Cornwall, are not yet known, it is fairly clear that her son Raum Fox has been a victim of hate crime in the past.

According to The Times, Raum had been bullied at Bodmin College about his acne and reported learning difficulties. He recently moved to St Austell College to escape the bullying.

As with the Fiona Pilkington case, there are reports of local youths being vicious.

Kerry Ollerenshaw, a 36-year-old care worker and friend, told The Times: "The kids on this estate can be very harsh. They hang around in groups, harassing and intimidating and Raum was a victim of that", while Gary Breslin told the Daily Mirror: "They have caused trouble round here, criminal damage and stuff like that. And I know that Mary's boy was being bullied."

Social networking sites are now being examined by police to discover who put the firework through the Foxs' door.

Three teenagers aged between 12 and 16 were spotted chanting "shame, shame, shame" as the Foxs tried to escape, according to the Sunday Express.

Superintendent Martin Orpe told a meeting: ""To suggest that earlier press reports regarding the systematic intimidation or bullying of either of them was a cause of this incident is purely speculation and is unfounded at this time."

Devon and Cornwall police claim that no complaints of harassment were made by the Foxs.

Outrage was expressed in the media and by politicians when the news that Fiona Pilkington had killed herself and her daughter to escape abuse and intimidation from local thugs was first reported.

Has anything really changed? Has popular culture become less intolerant of those who are different? Are those committing the abuse being punished harshly? Are we tough enough on yobs who destroy communities?

Given that one of the alleged principal tormentors of Fiona Pilkington, Alex Simmons, has only just received an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (hardly a harsh punishment), I do wonder.

According to the Leicester Mercury, Anthony Warner Thorne, of Bardon Road, Josh Warner Thorne, of the same address, and Billy Joe Kenney, 20, of Elwell Avenue, Barwell have also received Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

As with Bardon, the Berryfields Estate, where Mary Fox lived, seems to be a dangerous place for anyone who is different. I hope that community leaders work to change this.

I also hope that Bodmin College does more to prevent bullying. No-one should be harassed because of a disability.

Anyone with information should call Devon and Cornwall Police on 08452 777 444 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Tunisian blogger Fatma Riahi released from police custody

2009-11-08T17:17:00.005Z

Tunisan blogger Fatma Riahi, who is known online as Arabicca, has been released by police investigating whether she is the author of Blog de Z, according to a posting on the Free Arabicca blog.

According to Al Jazeera, Riahi was first summoned to appear before the Criminal Brigade of Gorjani in Tunis on Monday.

She was released only to be arrested the next day. Her home was searched, and her computer was confiscated, while police accessed her social media accounts.

During this time, she recieved little access to her lawyer Laila Ben Debba.

Riahi has not yet been charged as the police claim her file has not yet been given to a prosecutor, however if convicted she may face a three year prison sentence.

It is still possible that she may be re-arrested.

Join the Facebook group to show your solidarity with Fatma Riahi.

She has done nothing wrong, and neither has the author of Blog de Z, whose latest cartoon is of a bird with an "I'm not Fatma" sign.

Riahi's friend and fellow blogger Aymen Jamani gave the Los Angeles Times a copy of Riahi's final post before she removed her blog shortly before she was first arrested:

An exerpt:

Wanting to live free, read the newspaper you want, meet with friends or colleagues in a coffee house to discuss the development plan proposed by the municipality or the government, for coastal protection, the devastating side effects of the construction of a Marina, the curriculum of our children, to organize a concert of solidarity with a cause, to develop a campaign for the candidate best able to convey our ideas...to create an association to safeguard the Andalusian music or Berber language or to support victims of floods, to create a journal, write an article...participate in the organization of city life, it seems that this is what POLITICS means.

Unsurprisingly for a regime so keen to stifle dissent, a number of bloggers
have been arrested by the Tunisian authorities.

Global Voices Online ranks Tunisia as the country which arrested the fourth highest amount of bloggers in the past few years.

Only China, Egypt and Iran arrested more.

Journalism in Tunisia is also under threat.

On October 29th, Taoufik Ben Brik was arrested last week on charges of assault, which Reporters Without Borders regard as "bogus".

Ben Brik recently published a number of articles critical of the government of Tunisia in the French press.

Journalist Slim Boukhdhir was also attacked by five men on October 20th, two hours after he gave an interview alleging a lack of press freedom in Tunisia to the BBC, Amnesty International reports.

Argentina's ex-President Reynaldo Bignone is on trial for torture and mass murder

2009-11-03T22:13:00.006Z

The trial of former President of Argentina Reynaldo Bignone has begun in Argentina, according to the BBC.

Also on trial are five of his former army officers, including intelligence chief General Santiago Omar Riveros, and a Buenos Aires police commissione.

The seven are accused of the kidnapping,torture and murder of 56 people, committed in the Campo de Mayo dentention centre between 1976 and 1978, according to Momento24

Reynaldo Bignone was the last military ruler of Argentina, ending a long line of brutal dictators that began in March 1976 when the military junta first seized power.

Human rights groups estimate that 30,000 people died or went missing during purges of junta opponents between 1976 and 1983.

He had been under house arrest before the trial.

The case has taken six years to reach court and the ruling will be announced sometime in February 2010.

Taty Almeida, a member of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, an association of Argentine mothers whose children went "missing" during the junta's rule, told Al Jazeera: "When I see them there I feel repulsed but I also feel a great deal of achievement because they're being put on trial."

Amnesty laws prevented former junta officers from facing trial for human rights abuses until they were struck down in 2005 by Argentina's Supreme Court, during the rule of President Nestor Kirchner.

Global Day of Solidarity with Iran on November 4th (13 Aban)

2009-11-03T21:37:00.006Z

Demonstrations will take place across the world on November 4th 2009 in support of those calling for democratic reform in Iran.

In London, there will be a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy, 16 Prince’s Gate London, SW7 1PT, from 6pm until 9pm.

The nearest tube is South Kensington on the District, Piccadilly and Circle Lines.

November 4th is when students gather outside the former U.S. embassy.

Usually, according to Robin Wright of Time Magazine, they protest about American actions.

This year, they are protesting against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei.

The day is called 13 Aban on the Iranian calendar.

Other cities where I am aware of demonstrations are Paris (5pm until 7pm at the Place Saint-Michel,75006 Paris.The nearest Metro is Saint-Michel,Métro ligne 4 & RER B) and Frankfurt (at the Römerberg from 6pm).

If you know where other 13 Aban demonstrations are taking place, post below.

The year-long imprisonment of blogger Hossein Derakhshan, known as Hoder online, is but one reason to show solidarity.

Survivor of Sierra Leone's civil war Mariatu Kamara to have autobiography published tommorow

2009-11-01T20:53:00.005Z

Tired of the latest whinging rubbish by a D-list celebrity?

Want to read about someone interesting for a change?

Mariatu Kamara, who was captured and mutilated by soliders during Sierra Leone's civil war when she was twelve, will have her autobiography Bite of the Mango published tommorow.

The book, written with Susan McClelland and published by Bloomsbury, is on sale at £9.99 and you can obtain a copy for £8.49 at the Mail Bookshop.

Kamara is now living in Toronto, Canada. She is a Unicef Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflicts and is also studying to be a counsellor for abused women and children.

She has also set up the Mariatu Foundation.

You can read an extract from Bite of the Mango in the Daily Mail.

Sierra Leone's civil war, which began in 1991, caused the deaths of around 100,000 people as well as the displacement of millions. It ended in 2002.

Soliders from the Revolutionary United Front, who wanted to depose the government, were responsible for countless murders and mutiliations, including cutting off Mariatu Kamara's hands.

Sadly, the news that a survivor of a brutal civil war, who has used her life to help others, has published her life story, has recieved far less prominance in the British media than Stephen Fry's Twitter spat or Lady Gaga's Hello Kitty shoot.

British National Party candidate used to supply execution equipment

2009-11-01T20:38:00.000Z

What charming candidates the British National Party have.

David Lucas, a British National Party candidate for the East of England during the 2009 European elections and a Lakenheath Parish Council member, has been charged with various firearms offences.

Of even more interest is that Lucas used to make mobile execution chambers and said that he would: "sell them to whoever wants to buy them", until the European Union outlawed this trade in July 2006 when the European Commission Trade Regulation was brought in.

Lucas told the Newmarket Journal that he had not done business with Zimbabwe, but the People has alleged that a reporter posing as a representative of Robert Mugabe met Lucas in 2006 and was told: "They still use these [mobile execution chambers] in places like Libya and a few years ago I did some business with Zimbabwe so I know what your problems are."

We told him we wanted new gallows for provincial prisons in Zimbabwe and admired British craftsmanship. Lucas said proudly: "I have two systems - the traditional platform gallows or the mobile units which I have designed myself."

He pointed to an articulated lorry trailer and said: "I build trap doors into the bottom and you can have them with the sides open so people can see.

"Depending on the length of the trailer you could use five or six gallows at the same time.

"They are expensive but you can use them over and over again. Say you only have one execution team - that's all you would need.

Bringing back the death penalty is British National Party policy.

On their website, their webmaster Simon Bennett claims: "As most (if not all) of our readers will know, the British National Party have always supported the re-introduction of the Death Penalty in the United Kingdom."

However, I wonder how many British National Party members would support someone who has been alleged to have traded with Mugabe's Zimbabwe and Gaddaffi's Libya. I doubt the People story was part of his campaign literature.

It is rather disturbing that he sits on Lakenheath Parish Council.

I am glad the European Union has stopped the sale of mobile gallows, in particular when they are sold to despotic countries with little rule of law.

I would hope that anyone stupid enough to vote for the British National Party will at least consider David Lucas' former trade if he is a candidate again.

Labour plans to cut costs of elections abandoned

2009-10-31T18:22:00.011Z

It is not often I say this, but well done Jack Straw.

The Justice Secretary has announced that plans to close polling stations,replace polling cards with e-mail or call centre contacts and limit the number of hours during one can vote on election days, as reported in The Times yesterday, have been abandoned.

Although this plan was presented as a way to save money (from the party who brought you the Millenium Dome in 2000), I believe that it would have had the effect of further reducing participation in a basic human right.

Dizzy, in a fascinating analysis, alleges that: "the proposals themselves [were] rather blatantly designed to stifle the non-Labour vote and silence opposition of the fringe candidates who threaten to split their core vote".

He goes on to mention that reducing the number of polling stations will have a huge effect on those in rural areas: "What sort of voters live in rural areas? Couldn't perhaps be non-Labour voters could it? What about the elderly and infirm?"

The cost of participating in elections would have increased, and Dizzy regards this as a way of preventing Labour votes going to the British National Party: "Then there is a rather nifty idea of increasing the deposit for candidates. An excellent way to reduce the number of candidates on the ballots to only those from well-funded organisation. Handy if you're seeing your vote leak like a bucket full of holes to the BNP in former Labour strongholds. The best way to tackle the BNP is to make it harder for them to stand then they won't split your vote right?"

While I have no proof that these proposals were created in order to prevent a decrease in the Labour vote, I regard them as anti-democratic and shameful, and am glad they are not going ahead.

The annoucement by Jack Straw, who claimed he had not seen these plans, was only made after The Times got hold of the documents and published them yesterday.

The Ministry of Justice told The Times yesterday that the draft proposals were "work in progress", also saying that the paper they were contained was part of the normal negotiations with the Treasury during a spending round.

The Times reports that other proposals included reducing pay for election staff, transferring the running of the elections from local councils to the Electoral Commission and having fixed-term parliaments.

The latter idea of fixed-term parliaments is actually quite a good one, meaning that the Prime Minister cannot call an election when it suits him or her. David Cameron argued for these in May.

However, every other proposal published by the Times yesterday would have further reduced participation in British politics.

Death threats for Sri Lankan journalists who reported on alleged executions of Tamil rebels

2009-10-31T17:49:00.005Z

Two newspaper editors recieved deaths threats last week after reporting on alleged video footage of Sri Lankan government soldiers executing Tamil prisoners.

Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushataq, editors of The Sunday Leader, recieved the handwritten letters on 22nd October, according to ARTICLE 19.

The newspapers’s previous editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated in January, three weeks after receiving a similar death threat.

After his death, The Sunday Leader published a posthumous editorial by Wickrematunge where he blamed the Sri Lankan Government for attacks on journalists, saying: "Electronic and print media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last."

Journalist and former Convener of the Sri Lankan Free Media Movement Uvindu Kurukulasuriya told ARTICLE 19: "The Sri Lankan government has failed to investigate the murder of Lasantha and bring his killers to justice and now there are the same death threats against his successors."

ARTICLE 19 has called on the Sri Lankan government to immediately investigate the death threats against The Sunday Leader editor-in-chief Frederica Jansz and news editor Munza Mushataq, and to ensure the safety of both women.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered an investigation, the BBC reports.

The footage, which was shown on Channel Four earlier this year, can be seen at Channel Four's World News Blog.

A recent US State Department report has also highlighted allegations that Sri Lankan troops or paramilitaries killed Tamil civilians during fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Suren Surendiran, a member of the British Tamils Forum, claimed in the Guardian on Monday 26 October that "Sri Lanka has committed nearly every form of crime against humanity".

Phil Woolas is wrong on Zimbabwe

2009-10-30T23:44:00.002Z

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has announced that the Home Office will begin removing 10,000 failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe, according to Alan Travis in the Guardian.

Repatriation packages worth up to £6,000 will also be offered to failed asylum seekers to go home voluntarily.

Woolas commented on the Home Office Website: "The situation in Zimbabwe is improving under the Inclusive Government, and we will be looking to normalise our returns policy progressively as and when the political situation develops".

Is this the same Zimbabwe where President Mugabe's Zanu-PF has been accused of attacking Movement for Democratic Change spokespeople, where two Zimbabwe Election Support Network staff members can be arrested for "conducting a meeting without first seeking police clearance" and where there are still concerns over lack of press freedom?

Recently, the United Nations' torture investigator was refused entry to Zimbabwe, telling the BBC "I have never in any other country been treated in such a manner."

Amnesty International Africa Programme Director Erwin van der Borght said: "Dozens of human rights and MDC activists are on trial for simply exercising their internationally recognised rights, including the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression. Some of these people were victims of enforced disappearance in 2008."

Zimbabwe is still a dangerous place. The forced removal of asylum seekers needs to be opposed by people across the political spectrum.

I would note that the Left are vocal about the Middle East, with Sussex University's student union voting to boycott Israeli produce in Union stores, but mostly silent on Zimbabwe.

It has been left to the Right and moderates in Britain to speak out against Mugabe. This must change.

Large turnout for vigil against hate crime in Trafalgar Square

2009-10-30T23:36:00.007Z

Tonight's vigil against hate crime had an excellent turnout, with Trafalgar Square packed with people holding candles.

Held in response to the murder of Ian Baynham, those present heard speeches from a number of supporters, including Darren Johnson MEP, a representative from London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard and Europe Minister Chris Bryant.

A sea of candles was laid out near Nelson's column, and some were also used to spell out "No". No to hate crime and homophobia.

At nine o' clock, a two minutes' silence was held before comedian Sue Perkins read out the names of some of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people murdered in Britain in the past ten years.

Comedian Stephen K.Amos ended the event by reminding those present that "we shall overcome", before the Gay Men's Chorus sang You'll Never Walk Alone, a beautiful end to the vigil.

Pinknews.co.uk reports that 1,192 homophobic offences were recorded between September 2008 and September 2009, showing how much there is to overcome.

The London vigil was organised by 17-24-30, whose name remembers the three bombings carried out against the gay community by nail bomber David Copeland in 1999.

Liverppol vigil in response to homophobic attack on PC James Parks:

A vigil will be taking place in Liverpool on Sunday 1st November outside Superstar Boudoir in Stanley Street, where trainee police officer James Parks was attacked on Sunday 25th October.

The vigil is organised by the Friends of Liverpool Gay Community and Scene, and will begin at 8pm.

Rwandan milita leader Desire Munyaneza convicted of genocide

2009-10-29T21:19:00.002Z

The first case brought under Canada's 2000 War Crimes Act has seen former milita leader Desire Munyaneza sentenced to life without the prospect of parole for 25 years for genocide committed in 1994.

According to the BBC, Desire Munyaneza was accused of leading a militia whose members raped and killed dozens of Tutsis, and of orchestrating a massacre of between 300 and 400 Tutsis in a church.

The judge wrote that Desire Munyaneza: "chose to kill, rape and pillage in the name of the supremacy of his ethnic group, reminding us that every time a man claims to belong to a superior race, a chosen people, humanity is in danger." How true the latter comment is.

A profile of the milita leader can be seen on Trial Watch.

The Rwandan genocide of 1994 saw the murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus by exteremists Hutus.

In related news, the trial of former Bosinan president Radovan Karadžić continues in the International Criminal Court.