dissidents

Emin Milli: I believe tha words can change the world

Emerson — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:34:06 +0100

Freedom of expression is also luxury in Azerbaijan. I learned that lesson myself by exercising freedom of expression, doing it openly and publicly, peacefully and with some sense of humor. Surely there was the price to pay. Freedom of expression is not for free in Azerbaijan. It cost me 16 months of imprisonment.

Source: Emin Milli: I believe tha words can change the world

BBC News - Syria should be referred to ICC, UN's Navi Pillay says

Emerson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:27:45 +0000

The top United Nations human rights official has told the Security Council that Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court over its crackdown on anti-government protests.

Source: BBC News - Syria should be referred to ICC, UN's Navi Pillay says

Ai Weiwei on Beijing's Nightmare City - The Daily Beast

Emerson — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:26:31 +0100

Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I see people on public buses, and I see their eyes, and I see they hold no hope. They can’t even imagine that they’ll be able to buy a house. They come from very poor villages where they’ve never seen electricity or toilet paper.

Source: Ai Weiwei on Beijing's Nightmare City - The Daily Beast

BBC News - Yemen crisis: One-way ticket for Saleh?

Emerson — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:51:02 +0100

President Saleh has gone to Saudi Arabia after being injured in a rocket attack on a mosque inside the presidential compound on Friday.

It appears the injuries are not life-threatening - sources in Saudi Arabia said he walked off the plane although wounds to his head, face and neck were clearly visible.

However, members of his family, including his wife, have travelled with him. In fact he is reported to be accompanied by 35 relatives, as well as the prime minister and the Speaker of the Yemeni parliament.

Source: BBC News - Yemen crisis: One-way ticket for Saleh?

Inspire

harryfear — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:33:20 +0000

CATS students campaign for Burma

mingko — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:47:13 +0100

Human tv.. youtube channel.

protectthehumanatshoreditchchurch2010 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:38:04 +0100

Interesting interactivity. showing protect the human project.

Source: Human tv.. youtube channel.

Amnesty in London Tell Shell

Wily Fox — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:14:14 +0100

Amnesty in London Tell Shell

Wily Fox — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:12:37 +0100

My dear husband Liu Xiaobo, the writer China has put behind bars | World news | The Observer

DrPot — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:51:13 +0000

Liu Xia's wedding day in 1996 turned out to be good preparation for the following 14 years of married life. She and her groom, Liu Xiaobo, ate a modest celebratory lunch with relatives. Then she returned home, leaving her new husband to continue serving his sentence in the re-education-through-labour camp.
It does not sound like much of a wedding, but the poet still smiles when she thinks of it. "I was very happy," she says, "because once we were officially married I could visit him."

Source: My dear husband Liu Xiaobo, the writer China has put behind bars | World news | The Observer

Opening of the trial held against Mr. Mohannad Al-Hassani - SYR 001 / 0210 / OBS 022 - FIDH > Les Droits de l'Homme pour Tous / Human Rights for All

Fulup — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:01:34 +0000

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the opening of the trial held against Mr. Mohannad Al-Hassani, human rights lawyer, President of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights “Sawasiya” and Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).

Source: Opening of the trial held against Mr. Mohannad Al-Hassani - SYR 001 / 0210 / OBS 022 - FIDH > Les Droits de l'Homme pour Tous / Human Rights for All

French PM raises human rights concerns with Syria | Reuters

Fulup — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:55:03 +0000

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said he held "frank and direct" talks with Syria's president on the issue of human rights, days after the trial of a Syrian lawyer who championed the cause of political prisoners.

Source: French PM raises human rights concerns with Syria | Reuters

Iranian opposition leader's wife accuses supreme leader over protest crackdown | World news | guardian.co.uk

DrPot — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:37:46 +0000

The wife of one of Iran's opposition leaders today accused the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of allowing violence and abuses to crush opposition supporters, including the alleged beating of her son during last week's protests.
Fatemeh Karroubi claimed her son Ali was savagely attacked inside a mosque by hardline militiamen amid a large-scale security crackdown on Thursday during events marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"They beat him up and insulted him along with other people arrested. This happened in a house of God,"

Source: Iranian opposition leader's wife accuses supreme leader over protest crackdown | World news | guardian.co.uk

Burma frees pro-democracy deputy leader Tin Oo | World news | guardian.co.uk

DrPot — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:32:25 +0000

Burma's ruling junta has released the deputy leader of the country's pro-democracy party from nearly seven years in detention, but offered no indication that he or still-detained party leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be allowed to take part in this year's elections.
The release yesterday of 82-year-old Tin Oo, who helped found the National League for Democracy with Aung San Suu Kyi, comes shortly before a UN envoy visits Burma to evaluate the regime's progress on human rights.

Source: Burma frees pro-democracy deputy leader Tin Oo | World news | guardian.co.uk

Resilient Iranians still dream of a new revolution | World news | The Guardian

DrPot — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:27:26 +0000

Tehran University students have been filing into their classes past giant posters of Ayatollah Khomeini and the stern slogans of the Islamic revolution for the last 30 years. But the angry scenes on the university's sprawling campus this week seemed like a throwback to another age.
"Marg bar diktatur" (Death to dictatorship), they chanted in their thousands, waving green banners and posters behind high canvas screens tied to the railings as basij miltiamen and revolutionary guards prowled the streets outside.
Some held up Iranian flags with the symbol of the Islamic republic cut out of the middle.

Source: Resilient Iranians still dream of a new revolution | World news | The Guardian

Iranian men don hijabs in protest at student's arrest

DrPot — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:15:21 +0000

Iranian opposition supporters have launched an online campaign to free a student activist accused of dressing as a woman to try to avoid arrest.
Hundreds of men have posted photos of themselves wearing Islamic headscarves as part of the "Be a man" campaign to show solidarity with Majid Tavakoli.
He was arrested during protests in Tehran on Monday and state media showed images of him in headscarf and robes.
The opposition say the pictures were staged in a bid to discredit him.

Source: Iranian men don hijabs in protest at student's arrest

The Associated Press: Mob, police force nuns to leave Vietnam monastery

Lightowl — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:26:28 +0100

HANOI, Vietnam — Followers of a world-famous Buddhist teacher say police and an angry mob have forced them out of a monastery in central Vietnam, ending a religious experiment in the communist country that turned into a monthslong standoff with authorities.

Followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, an Vietnam-born monk who has popularized Buddhism in the West, said about 150 monks were forced from the Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province Sunday, and about 230 nuns left on their own Monday morning.

Source: The Associated Press: Mob, police force nuns to leave Vietnam monastery

Tehelka news magazine pictures point to Indian police killing unarmed man | World news | The Guardian

DrPot — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:37:45 +0100

Several Indian police commandos have been suspended after an extraordinary series of photographs were published apparently showing the killing of an unarmed man in the north-eastern city of Imphal.
Authorities in the state of Manipur have promised a judicial inquiry into what appears to be a "fake encounter" – a tactic used by Indian police to dispose of suspects who they do not believe will be dealt with by the courts. ...........
.....The pictures, published in the respected Tehelka news magazine, appear to show the sequence of events leading up to the shooting dead of a former militant, Chungkam Sanjit, and the aftermath of the encounter.

Source: Tehelka news magazine pictures point to Indian police killing unarmed man | World news | The Guardian

Freedom @ Desborough

Thommo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:54:41 +0100

Iran election: faces of the dead and detained | World news | guardian.co.uk

DrPot — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:03:39 +0100

Iran election: faces of the dead and detained. We want to put a face to each of those hundreds - possibly thousands - killed or arrested since the Iranian election.

Source: Iran election: faces of the dead and detained | World news | guardian.co.uk

Iran's women take a step forwards | Heather Harvey | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Aggy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:41:45 +0100

For all the gloom of events in Iran today, this is still a time of hope for women, as their campaigning has had a slow but sure effect

Source: Iran's women take a step forwards | Heather Harvey | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Iran 'to hold election recount'

Aggy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:49:35 +0100

Iran's powerful Guardian Council says it is ready to recount disputed votes from Friday's presidential poll.

Source: Iran 'to hold election recount'

Witness to history

serpentinite — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:31:14 +0100

This marks the 20th anniversary of the Chinese government crackdown of student protesters in Tiananmen Square. In the past few days, I have been inundated with interview requests about my coverage there in 1989 and about a famous photograph I made. It is a picture of a young man halting the advance of a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Many call it iconic, but honestly, I call it a miracle because the picture was almost lost due to a miscalculated film speed setting. To make matters worse, I had received a massive concussion from a rock a protester threw that hit my head. The Nikon titanium camera had absorbed the shock — and saved my life. I also had the flu.

Source: Witness to history

Returning to Tiananmen Square

serpentinite — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:54:41 +0100

On the day before my return to Honolulu, I struggled with jet lag and finally made the pilgrimage to Tiananmen Square. Security police squinted at me with cold stares and I felt like squinting back but I could not. The black and white video of a Chinese tank toppling the Goddess of Democracy was still etched in my brain. It was hard to imagine that this wide open square in the late afternoon was once filled with joyous hope for the future and dancing children only to be left in ruins with blood-stained tents.

Source: Returning to Tiananmen Square

Pelosi Pressured to Avoid China Dissidents

serpentinite — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:59:29 +0100

Beijing quietly pressured U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to curtail meeting with dissidents on last week's trip to China, sources say.

Quoting people familiar with the situation, the Washington publication Politico reported that Chinese diplomats in Washington discreetly urged Pelosi to not show up the country's leadership by loudly criticizing Beijing's human rights record as she has done in the past.

Source: Pelosi Pressured to Avoid China Dissidents

Freedom under threat in Thailand

Francesca Woodward — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:04:44 +0000

RE: Lese majeste: Giles Ji Ungpakorn

"We wish to express our deep concern at the decision of the Thai special branch to prosecute associate professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn of the political science faculty at Chulalongkorn University, with lèse majesté - that is, with insulting King Bhumibol. Mr Ungpakorn is a well-known commentator on Thai politics widely quoted in the international media...."

Source: Freedom under threat in Thailand

Video Player

Wily Fox — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:50:45 +0000

This meeting has not yet started.

Policing and Protest 1:30PM Tuesday 25 November
Witnesses

1. Acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison MBE, Metropolitan Police, Deputy Chief Constable Sue Sim, Association of Chief Police Officers, and Constable Neil Hickey, Police Federation of England and Wales

Source: Video Player

Burma comic jailed for 45 years

Lightowl — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:26:40 +0000

A popular comedian active in Burma's democracy movement has been sentenced to 45 years in jail by a Burmese court.

He is the latest in a string of opposition activists to be given long jail terms by the military government.

He was detained earlier this year for criticising the government's slow response to Cyclone Nargis in interviews with foreign news groups.

More than 100 activists have been sentenced over the past two weeks in a judicial crackdown across the spectrum of Burma's pro-democracy movement.

Some people have been sentenced to terms as long as 65 years.

Many took part in protests against the ruling junta sparked by fuel and food price rises in August 2007.

Source: Burma comic jailed for 45 years

Burma comic jailed for 45 years

Niluccio — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:46:27 +0000

A popular comedian active in Burma's democracy movement has been sentenced to 45 years in jail by a Burmese court.

Zarganar was found to have violated the Electronics Act, which regulates electronic communications.

He is the latest in a string of opposition activists to be given long jail terms by the military government.

Source: Burma comic jailed for 45 years