US rights group sues Obama over drone attacks

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121118§ionid=3510203



The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against US President Barack Obama, demanding legal basis for America's deadly drone attacks overseas.

The lawsuit requests essential information on the fatalities of drone strikes and other information essential for judging the legality of using armed drones to carry out targeted killings, the United Press International (UPI) reported.

"The public has a right to know whether the targeted killings being carried out in its name are consistent with international law and with the country's interests and values," UPI quoted Jonathan Manes, a legal fellow with the ACLU National Security Project as saying.

"The Obama administration should disclose basic information about the program, including its legal basis and limits, and the civilian casualty toll thus far," he added.

ACLU is specifically seeking legal information that justify the 'targeted killings' of people by the US's remote-controlled aerial weapons program and unmanned Predator drones.

US drone attacks have so far claimed many civilian lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US rights groups demand release of young Gitmo inmate

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120703§ionid=3510203


Human Rights organizations have demanded that Washington drop military charges against a Guantanamo Bay detainee captured by the Americans at the age of 15.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights Watch, and Juvenile Law Center organizations have issued a joint letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, urging the release of Omar Khadr, a Canadian national arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade at a US army officer.

They also say that Khadr should be prosecuted in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards in a federal court.

"Trying Omar Khadr in a discredited military tribunal flies in the face of universally recognized standards of juvenile justice," ACLU's human rights program director Jamil Dakwar said Friday, adding, "As a former child soldier and victim of abuse in US custody, Omar Khadr should first and foremost be a candidate for repatriation and rehabilitation, not subject to prosecution in an illegitimate system of military commission."

Khadr's lawyers say that the then-teenager was kept under painful stress while in custody at the notorious US Naval prison compound at Guantanamo Bay.

The three organizations have asked US officials to send him back to Canada after having spent nearly a third of his life in abusive detention.

US observers have viewed Khadr's case as just one obvious example of America's total disregard for human rights and juvenile welfare despite its strong condemnation of other nations for far less severe rights violations.

Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120101§ionid=351020202


Israeli forces have stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds and cordoned off its premises where dozens of Palestinian protesters had gathered.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli policemen had encircled the Al-Aqsa Mosque since the early morning hours and clashes erupted in the holy complex after the Israeli forces raided the area to push out the Palestinians.

The protesters responded to the attack by throwing stones. Several people were injured and dozens more detained in the unrest.

Muslims consider the frequent Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as part of a Judaization campaign that targets the holy city of Jerusalem Al-Quds and a provocation of Muslim feelings.

Israel occupied Al-Quds during a 1967 aggression and later annexed it. The status of the city is among the thorniest issues of the so-called peace process with the Palestinians, underscoring the reality that any Palestinian state should include the city as its capital.

Israel Fighting De-legitimization Campaign

Source: Al Jazeera
By: Clayton Swisher
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/02/12/israel-fighting-delegitimisation-campaign



Harvard University's well-known law school, or HLS, was the intellectual training ground for US President Barack Obama (HLS 91'), who through his high marks became editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Obama might find it interesting to know the miles some HLS students have to travel to become expert in their field - only to be turned back.

Consider the case of 3rd year law student Hebah Ismail, who is putting the finishing touches on her studies with Harvard's International Human Rights Clinic.

Like Obama, Hebah entered Harvard law already a world traveller. The US citizen of Egyptian extraction landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion recently to study land disputes facing the Arab Bedouin community.

But airport security officials weren't having it.

According to the Harvard paper, Hebah's laptop and cell phone were seized and searched. But that wasn't satisfying enough, so an ultimatum was delivered: log us into your email accounts, or you will be deported and banned from ever entering Israel.

Hebah refused and faced the consequences. She was put on a plane back to the States, unable to conduct her research.

Al Jazeera has reported about how Israeli authorities have been denying NGO workers access into Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Yesterday I wrote that Israel might not be prepared to counter the growing American campus outrage over its policies towards the Palestinians.

But connecting the dots, it is clear this is how they intend to fight back.

A new study flagged in this Israeli newspaper warns that Israel is facing a global delegitimisation campaign.

The prestigious Reut Institute, which issued the report, is headed by an erudite mover-and-shaker named Gidi Grinstein, a lawyer who also attended Harvard.

The Reut Study is comprehensive, and deserves reading in full. But I seriously doubt Grinstein (whom I've known for nearly a decade) would advocate deportation of visiting scholars and field researchers who refuse to let Israeli cybersleuths sign into their Harvard/Gmail acccounts.

On the positive side, at least US immigration officials welcomed Hebah home without incident.

Good thing she wasn't carrying Arabic flash cards.

UK photographers protest against anti-terror law

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116923§ionid=351020601


Around 2,000 British photographers have staged a rally in London, protesting the UK's new controversial terrorism laws that warrant stop and search by police.

The photographers gathered in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday to express their discontent over the country's Terrorism Act 2000, which grants the police further authority to impinge on photographers' privacy.

The demonstrators said Terrorism Act 2000 is not being “sensibly” implemented by law enforcement officers, according to BBC.

They waved placards reading, "I am a photographer, not a terrorist" and flashed their cameras in a symbolic gesture.

"We're coming together to show solidarity and to show that we won't be intimidated" by the implementation of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, CNN quoted Jonathan Warren, a self-employed photographer and a founder of Saturday's campaign, as saying.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the "coercive powers" of the counter-terrorism law and identified the Act as a breach of human rights.

Participants at the rally reported repeated police intrusion of their activities on grounds of fighting 'terrorism.'

British media say under the new legislation, police stopped and searched around 36,000 people between April and June last year alone.

Patriot Act Provisions Voided

A federal judge in Oregon ruled yesterday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional, marking the second time in as many weeks that the anti-terrorism law has come under attack in the courts…

This is a VERY SIGNIFICANT VICTORY for the people of the United States against the unassailable Federal system!

Since 2001, through the executive offices in Washington, “The Federal System” has formed itself into an absolute controlling monster on the back of a terror scare! Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1930’s Germany used the same fear tactic. Those guys managed to convince the people of its nation and did so using the medium of their time, radio. Today that medium is television…need I say more? History does repeat itself.

Those that will criticize me for writing this post will do so because they have been convinced by the current Federal propaganda ploy of fear or they are part of the propaganda ploy. These people usually shout down anyone with an opinion that differs from their own agenda. If American citizens take control of their destiny rather than have the Federal system dictate destiny, then Freedom is real. Otherwise, you are no longer free to make your own choices.

Where do you go from here?

The next step is to challenge the implementation of electronic voting machines that were not approved by the American Public. Get a voters list, and do not use anything but a paper ballot. Smash the Feds plans to rig elections. Get your congressperson to vote against the implementation of any voting system that does not leave an absolute verifiable paper trail. This is a WAR to take back your own country! No one else can do it but YOU, the FREE American People.

These comments have been Posted in the Washington Post under the the story detailed below. Please voice your opinions loudly! The time is now!

Patriot Act Provisions Voided
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602084.html