Daily Archives: March 31, 2021

The prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, and his government have been accused of trying to sabotage the countrys independent human rights watchdog to prevent accountability for mounting abuses and oppression.

Legislators, activists and lawyers told the Guardian that Khans government punished and immobilised Pakistans National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) over reports that it had produced into human rights abuses and torture carried out by the military, which plays a powerful role in running the country.

On Monday, Islamabad high court directed the government to fill the vacant post of the head of the NCHR, after it was accused of deliberately obstructing the appointments of the new commission members and chairperson for nearly two years, leaving the watchdog in a state of limbo and unable to carry out its duties in holding the government to account.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, chairman of the senate committee on human rights, said: Ever since Imran Khans government came to power, the NCHR has been dysfunctional. We raised this issue two or three times times, and after that the senate commission on human rights came to the conclusion that the government is consciously trying to sabotage the commission.

The period of almost two years during which the NCHR has not functioned has coincided with a decline in press freedom and human rights in Pakistan, as well as accusations of a rise in enforced disappearances carried out by military-linked agencies.

The NCHR is a relatively new body in Pakistan. Its remit includes conducting independent investigations into human rights abuses, advising the government on human rights issues and legislation, reviewing the governments implementation of human rights laws, and promoting the issue on the national political agenda.

Although it was established in 2012, it took three years for the commission to begin working properly. The first term of the commission came to an end in May 2019 and it was the responsibility of the governments ministry of human rights to oversee the appointment of its new members, who are supposed to be non-political appointees.

However, almost two years later, no one has been appointed to the watchdog. Khokar said the gloomy human rights record of Khans government was the reason the NCHR had been immobilised.

Imran Khan has been brought into power by the [military] establishment and it does not want to be challenged or held accountable, said Khokar. If such an independent organisation is allowed to function properly, then the true image of this government would be revealed internationally They do not want the human rights violations to be highlighted.

An advert for positions on the committee was first placed in May 2019, but then withdrawn without explanation. Another advert was issued in July 2019, but unlike before, a condition was included that no member of the commission should be more than 65 years old, which was then challenged as illegal.

Akhtar Cheema, a lawyer and former legal adviser to Pakistans senate, said the age-limit restriction was a method of delaying the appointments to the NCHR. The government knew it would be challenged in the court of law and delay the process of the selection, as it was against the law,. And thats what happened, said Cheema.

Pakistan is a signatory of several international conventions on human rights, political rights and torture, and Cheema alleged that one of the ways the NCHR had angered the government was by monitoring the violations of those conventions, mainly by the military.

He cited the examples of NCHR reports, which were not liked by the authorities in power, into the systematic violation of minority rights, and allegations by farmers in Okara, Punjab, that their lands were forcibly occupied by the military.

There are many grey areas in Pakistan and the commission had the judicial power to start inquiries, receive private complaints on human rights violations, conduct research and investigate and publish their reports, all of which bothered the government and the establishment, she said.

NCHR tried to report a few cases of human rights violations and hence it was punished.

Pakistans human rights minister, Shireen Mazari, denied that the government was obstructing the watchdog and said it had readvertised the NCHR posts in October 2020. She blamed the delay on the failure of the leader of the opposition, Shahbaz Sharif, to approve their recommendations for the posts, as is required to prevent the NCHR appointments being political.

The prime minister of Pakistan sent a list of preferences to the leader of the opposition in December, but the opposition leader hasnt sent their nominations to us yet, said Mazari. We have reminded them time and again to send their preferences. The laziness is from the side of the opposition, not the government.

However, when the government sent its preferences to the opposition leader, he was in jail. Sharif was arrested on 28 September last year on allegations of money laundering.

The first chairman of the NCHR, Ali Nawaz Chowhan, said the commission published 35 reports in the span of four years, including a detailed report on the existence of torture in Pakistan, which angered Khans government, who denied the abuses existed.

Chowhan said the previous government had also put restrictions on the commissions work, but the worst had come after Khan came to power in 2018.

It was clear that Pakistan is not implementing the torture conventions. Instead of punishing the commission for its work or reporting, the government should work on resolving human rights issues, Chowhan said, adding that it should have taken just one month, not two years, to appoint new members after May 2019.

They want us to lie to represent a positive image of Pakistan, but I believe it is better to uplift the image of Pakistan by ensuring human rights.

Link:

Pakistani government accused of 'sabotaging' rights watchdog - The Guardian

Xiyue Wang was a captive of the Iranian government for 40 months. He spent some of that time imprisoned with journalists, academics, former government officials and religious minorities. Before his 2019 release, they had a request.

"We need you to tell the world and for the world to better understand the malign behavior and oppression of the regime," Wang told Fox News. "And today, I think I must do that."

Wang has become an active participant in the renewed debate over American Iran policy. Hes writing, tweeting and speaking a warning to the new administration: The United States cannot return to the 2015 nuclear agreement without extracting deeper concessions from Irans government.

A Princeton University graduate student, in August 2016, Wang was preparing to return home from Tehran after about fourmonths of studying Persian language and history. Iranian intelligence called him in for questioning and confiscated his passport and computers. Less than three weeks later, authorities arrested him.

"They told me explicitly that you're here because you're American, because we want a deal to get Iranian prisoners back and to get Iranian assets back from the United States," said Wang. "Obama engagement didn't change Iranian behavior for better, but actually aggravated its malign behavior."

IRAN HAS BUILT NEW BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCH POSITIONS, SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW

In May of 2018, the Trump administration withdrew the US from the nuclear deal and restored the considerable economic sanctions that the agreement had lifted. The administration initiated a maximum pressure campaign designed to economically and diplomatically isolate Iran.

The Biden administration has offered to engage with Iran and the other US allies that are still part of the nuclear agreement. The US has offered to return to compliance if the Iranian government does so first.

"Should that happen, we would then seek, as weve said, to build a longer and stronger agreement, but also to engage on some of the other issues where Irans actions and conduct are particularly problematic," said Blinken last week at NATO headquarters in Brussels, citing Irans destabilization of countries in the region and ballistic missile program.

Irans government has demanded the US return to the agreement first.

Congressional Republicans remain as opposed to the deal as they were when the Obama administration initially signed on to the agreement in 2015.

"The Iranian regime is controlled by radicals who hate America, but for some reason, the Biden administration believes Irans corrupt and brutal leaders will negotiate in good faith," said Senator Marco Rubio. "There can be no good faith negotiations with a regime that uses terrorism as a tool against our allies, pledges our destruction, and has absolutely no respect for human rights."

SEN. BILL HAGERTY WARNS BIDEN OF 'INCREASING AGGRESSION' FROM IRAN, SAYS REGIME TESTING US RESOLVE

Wang is advising the Biden administration to take the Obama administrations initial approach: more pressure.

"If the Biden administration really wants to safeguard the Obama legacy, it has to understand pressure is what made the negotiation eventually work," he said. "That the Trump administration, despite its confusing rhetoric, actually adopted the same approach as Obama pressure backed by credible deterrence."

Wang said he is also motivated to shape US policy by the renewed death sentence of one of his fellow inmates, Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish academic. Earlier this month, United Nations human rights experts released a statement demanding his release, calling his situation "truly horrific," as hes been held in "prolonged solitary confinement for over 100 days with the constant risk of his imminent execution laying over his head."

Wang also said he would like to share his experience with the State Department, though he said no current officials have contacted him.

In response, a State Department spokesperson said:"We have been in touch with several families of current or former detained, abducted or missing U.S. Citizensin Iran. These conversations are ongoing, and we value the unique perspective they bring."

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During his first week at State, Secretary Blinken also met virtually "with almost all the families with loved onescurrentlyheld hostageand wrongfully or unlawfully detainedabroad," according to the spokesperson.

After more than 3 years in captivity, Wang has returned to his wife and young son, and to his dissertation.Originally, his work focused on a comparative study between Iran and Russia from the early 1900s to the 1930s.

"That project, which has to rely on our Iranian archives, is no longer possible, also, because of my extraordinary experience," he said. "I have shifted my interest and research to the more contemporary issue that is Russia and China's interaction with Iran since the 1970s leading up to the present day."

Continued here:

American held captive by Iran warns against return to 2015 nuclear deal without gaining concessions - Fox News

COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is facing backlash on social media after sharing an article about the controversial claim that the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab in Wuhan, China.

Husted shared an article that quotes Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying he believes the virus was manipulated in a Wuhan research laboratory to make it more contagious for research purposes and that the virus "escaped" from the lab.

In the interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Redfield expressed those ideas, but stressed they were strictly his opinion.

In February, a World Health Organization expert said the coronavirus is unlikely to have leaked from a Chinese lab and is more likely to have jumped to humans from an animal.

Husted shared the article on Twitter Friday evening, writing "So it appears it was the Wuhan Virus after all?"

Many people responded to Husted's tweet, condemning him for pushing a "dangerous narrative" and promoting anti-Asian racism at a time where violence and harassment against the Asian and Asian American community are heightened.

Unsubstantiated claims such as the one shared by Husted Friday evening have been the target of many advocating for the Stop Asian Hate movement across the country.

Thousands of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have turned to social media to support the movement using the hashtag #StopAsianHate, which became a top trending topic on Twitter hours after the Atlanta spa shootings that left eight people dead, including six Asian women.

Events aimed at stopping the violence and harassment directed at the Asian community have popped up across the state, with the most recent being a Stop Asian Hate rally and march held Sunday afternoon in Downtown Cleveland.

After the surge of backlash, Husted doubled-down on his original statementattempting to add clarity to his meaning but not apologizing for how his tweet was received.

"To be clear, the tweet above referred only to the Chinese GOVERNMENT. A government of oppression that imprisons people of faith, silences dissenters and the media, manipulates its currency and steals our technology," Husted wrote on Saturday. "Would anyone be shocked to learn they also lied about a communicable disease that caused a pandemic?"

Unsatisfied with Husted's explanation, many Twitter users spoke out again, calling his words "irresponsible," "dangerous," and "reckless."

RELATED: Northeast Ohio groups show solidarity for Asian community after violence, harassment

See more here:

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted facing backlash following series of controversial tweets - News 5 Cleveland

Angela Davis, arenowned activist and author. Her event at Butler was cancelled without student input. Photo courtesy of Trident Booksellers and Cafe.

ROUA DAAS |GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | rdaas@butler.edu

On March 29, without warning or discussion, Butler University administration canceled an event titled Joint Struggle and Collective Liberation, which featured a conversation with the revolutionary author, abolitionist and anti-racist activist Angela Davis. The administration abruptly and unilaterally canceled the event without the input of and without even notifying the student leaders who spent four months of tireless planning, coordination and collaboration on the event.

The event, which was set to take place on April 1, sought to highlight the advancements against racism and state violence against Black, Indigenous, People of Color, commonly written as BIPOC. It was to be hosted by the Butler Student Government Association, and co-sponsored by the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement and the Diversity Center.

The world-renowned political activist, author and philosopher was anticipated to discuss topics such as antiracism, U.S. and international solidarity movements and the impacts of policing on communities of color, which would have been an unparalleled opportunity for Butler students to learn from and speak with a true Civil Rights icon and prominent leader in intersectional social justice movements.

Butler staff and administration gave an array of inconsistent and unfounded justifications for its racist and authoritative cancelation: failure to follow procedure, too high of an honorarium and inappropriate timing. Currently, they are claiming that due to obscure procedural errors, this event must be postponed and will not occur this school year. Although a statement released by the Student Government Association stated that the event will be postponed, Angela Davis team, along with the behind-the-scenes conversations with university officials, indicated that the contract had been terminated and the event was canceled.

Students working on the event have planned countless past events for which these procedures have not been enforced. The decision to arbitrarily enforce these procedures now is an attempt to specifically censor Angela Davis. It is grounded in the schools history of racism and highlights the lack of genuine support for students of color, academic freedom and political engagement at Butler University, a predominantly-white institution.

Days before Butler Universitys shameless censorship of Angela Davis, the Student Government Association was bombarded by pressure from Zionist students who claimed to oppose Davis event because of her support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement a grassroots demand for nonviolent economic pressure against Israels illegal military occupation of Palestine. This is not the first time this school year that these students have attempted to silence free speech and prevent political events on campus. Many will recall failed attempts this past fall to use student senate resolutions to cancel student organization events and place limits on topics that could be discussed.

This is also not the first time that Zionists have attempted to deplatform Angela Davis for her supportive stance on Palestine. Whether it be the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Northeastern University or Butler University, institutions which silence the voices of Black radicals such as Davis are complicit in the systems of racism and oppression which hurt BIPOC people within and beyond Butler University.

Simply put, Butler administrators are trying to silence marginalized voices in order to maintain systems of power and privilege. While Butler University claims to be an institution that supports diversity, equity and inclusion, their actions speak otherwise. In the face of opposition, they immediately rescinded support for their students of color and allowed unfounded complaints to derail a major student-organized event to the detriment of the entire Butler community.

Members of Butler Universitys academic community, as well as allied members of the Indianapolis community, released a statement demanding that the Butler Administration formally apologize to Dr. Angela Davis and immediately reinstate and affirm their support of the event.

Related

Excerpt from:

Letter to the Editor: Students demand answers, action - The Butler Collegian

The Telegraph

Smart motorways were designed without enough thought for "human error", a widows report has found, as it highlights how live lane breakdowns have increased more than 200 per cent. A transport expert hired by Claire Mercer, whose husband died on the M1, has concluded that motorways where the hard shoulder has been scrapped and four lanes of traffic are running have "the lowest level of intrinsic safety". The 220-page dossier insists that the continued roll-out of smart motorways "is not justified" because they have the "highest rate of people killed or seriously injured". Sarah Simpson, a transport specialist at the engineering consultancy Royal Haskoning DHV, has spent a year analysing Highways England data to try to establish whether smart motorways are safer than traditional ones. "I am in no doubt the All Lane Running smart motorway has the lowest level of intrinsic safety of any form of motorway," she writes in her report, sent to the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Highways England. She accuses the Government-owned company of having failed to fully use a process called "Safe Systems", which attempts to reduce deaths and injuries by factoring in how "people are fallible with physical vulnerabilities, and that human error occurs" because motorists can make "unwise decisions". The author says Highways England only adopted the "Safe Systems" approach in 2015, seven years after the transport select committee said it warranted "proper exploration for adoption". She adds how new technology - such as CCTV cameras and gantries with speed limits - "can give people the impression that they are safe, even when they are not". The report found that "the risk of being in a live lane breakdown increases 216 per cent" where the hard shoulder has been scrapped and emergency refuges are dotted along the roads. Simpson says that it appears Highways England adopted a "value engineering approach used to compromise safety in order to reduce cost savings" when developing smart motorways. Highways England has rejected repeated criticism of smart motorways by "mathematically offsetting risk" by pointing to other elements in their design that enhance safety, the report adds. Mrs Mercer, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said: "Smart motorways are death traps. This report vindicates what I and other campaigners have been saying for some time. The report author warned me that she would only write what she found to be true, so it is independent. "How many more people have to suffer the heartbreak of losing a loved one or suffer life-changing injuries before action is taken?" The report, called An Independent Review of All Lane Running Motorways in England, was commissioned by the law firm Irwin Mitchell which is representing Mrs Mercer, 44, whose husband Jason, 44, died in 2019. A total of four coroners investigating deaths on smart motorways - including Mr Mercers - have written reports warning how the removal of the hard shoulder poses a risk to life. Helen Smith, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, which is representing Mrs Mercer, said the report "lays bare more shocking details about how a cost-driven, value engineering approach is compromising the publics safety". She added: It follows on from a number of concerns raised by key figures, including a police commissioner and coroners, about the safety of smart motorways. All of this just adds to the growing groundswell of opinion that more needs to be done to improve safety on smart motorways, which operate on some of the countrys major routes. We call on the Department for Transport, Grant Shapps, and Highways England to acknowledge that the development and roll out of ALRs was flawed. They must act in accordance with their legal duties and take action to improve safety, or face formal legal action. Claire, and other families whose lives have been tragically impacted by crashes on smart motorways, are determined to bring about change for the better. "Well continue to support them in their campaign. If there are witnesses to similar accidents on smart motorways, we encourage them to get in touch with us to support the campaign. A Highways England spokesperson said they will respond to the report. Every road death is a tragic loss of life and we are determined to reduce the number of fatal incidents, and injuries, on our roads," she added. The Governments evidence stocktake of the safety of smart motorways analysed a wealth of data and found that in most ways they are as safe as, or safer than, conventional motorways. We are committed to delivering the stocktake actions to further raise the bar on smart motorway safety."

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