torture

For the first time in its history, an interrogator from Israel’s secret police agency, the Shin Bet, is to face a criminal investigation over allegations of torture.
It will be the first probe of the Shin Bet since Israel’s supreme court issued a landmark ruling nearly two decades ago prohibiting, except in extraordinary circumstances, the use of what it termed “special methods” of interrogation.
Before the ruling, physical abuse of Palestinians had been routine and resulted in several deaths in custody.

January 11, 2018 marked the 16th year that Guantanamo prison has exclusively imprisoned Muslim men, subjecting many of them to torture and arbitrary detention.
Witness Against Torture demonstrators marching to the White House (Credit: Justin Norman)

Ali Feruz is a correspondent for the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta who is currently facing deportation to Uzbekistan, where he was born — and where, according to friends and colleagues, he faces torture at the hands of the security services and possibly death.

Chiraq peacekeepers, thought police and Pentagon programs + this day in history w/Michael Jackson charged and our song of the year by Cory Branan on your Morning Monarchy for December 18, 2017.

Il est triste de voir que le militaire le plus décoré de la Résistance, qui a été quasiment le seul gradé à avoir dénoncé la torture en Algérie, qui a fait pour cela 2 mois de forteresse, qui a viré non-violent puis anti-nucléaire, est désormais un quasi inconnu…
Alors que ce héros était très connu il y a 50/60 ans :

National embarrassments, disciplined sailors and EMP missiles + this day in history w/the Lufthansa heist and our song of the day by Glassjaw on your Morning Monarchy for December 11, 2017.

When I learned of the death of Kamal al-Assar, a few years ago, I was baffled. He was only in his 40s. I remember him in his prime, a young rebel, leading the neighborhood youth, armed with rocks and slingshots, in a hopeless battle against the Israeli army. Understandably, we lost, but we won something far more valuable than a military victory. We reclaimed our identity.
Kamal al-Assar’s mother, Nuseirat Refugee Camp

Following the devastation of WWII, many survivors of the armed sieges sought refuge in lands that were not their own. Among them were not just the beleaguered, but also the ordained. Here I write not of the papacy, but of an equally powerful cabal of power-holders who envisioned the continual progression of Western-and indeed non-Western, as well- societies towards Edward Bernays’ coveted ideal of a modern democracy.

MEXICO CITY – A study published Tuesday by the advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has revealed the woeful inadequacy of the Mexican government in pursuing cases of human rights violations committed by soldiers against civilians — in spite of recent reforms that allow such cases to be heard by civilian, rather than military, courts.