President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia announced on September 15 that he will be suspending further executions of death row inmates. [BBC] In August, President Jammeh had unexpectedly announced all of the remaining forty-eight prisoners on death row would be executed by September, ending the country’s over twenty-five year old moratorium on executions. [BBC] The following Sunday, nine prisoners were executed
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U.S. Targeted Killing Policy Criticized by ACLU, UN Experts at Human Rights Council
The United States government’s program of targeted killings has come under close scrutiny in recent days, during the United Nations Human Rights Council* twentieth regular session (ongoing through July 6). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Human Rights Program (HRP) staff attended the session to raise concerns about human rights in the United States, and specifically the targeted killing policy.
Read moreIn Guatemala, Long-Awaited Step towards Accountability as Former Dictator Faces Genocide Charges
On January 14, 2012, Efraín Ríos Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature (diputado al Congreso) since 2008, and previously from 1994-95 and 1999-2004. [PrensaLibre] After taking office through a coup d’état, Rios Montt presided over what is considered the bloodiest period in Guatemala’s thirty-six year internal conflict. As the
Read moreBahrain Update: Protests Continue, UN Team Finds Ongoing Rights Violations, Prominent Activist Beaten
Last Friday, prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was hospitalized after being beaten by security forces in the capital city of Manama following a large demonstration. [BCHR; Washington Post] Mr. Rajab believed the security forces to be nationals of Bahrain and of other Middle Eastern and South Asian nations. [For more on
Read moreKhmer Rouge Tribunal Trial Underway in Case 002
This week, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly referred to as the “Khmer Rouge tribunal” began hearing opening statements by the prosecution in Case 002, in which Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan are accused of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and genocide in connection with
Read moreCEJIL Documentary Highlights Plight of Miskito Communities Dependent on Dangerous Fishing Industry
The Center for Justice and International Law [CEJIL] has released a documentary on the plight of indigenous Miskito fisherman divers along the Caribbean coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua, where inadequate work safety protections, medical treatment, and compensation for injuries suffered in this increasingly-dangerous occupation have left many families in desperate situations. CEJIL and local organizations have presented a petition to the
Read moreWorld Day against the Death Penalty: Executions Criticized in U.S., Saudi Arabia
In connection with October 10, World Day against the Death Penalty, the ECHR published a “Death penalty abolition” factsheet detailing its caselaw on the subject. [ECHR] Human Rights Watch urged all States to abandon capital punishment, a penalty which is legal in 34 U.S. states and remains in the spotlight in the weeks following the executions of Troy Davis and
Read moreColombia Apologizes for 1994 Extrajudicial Execution of Political Party Leader
Colombia issued a public apology, recognizing its international responsibility for the 1994 extrajudicial execution of communist Senator Manuel Cepeda Vargas in accordance with a judgment issued against the State by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. [IACHR; El Tiempo] The state’s apology was one of the measures of reparation ordered by the Court last year. The Inter-American Commission had alleged, and the
Read moreFreeze on Prison Admissions May Fill Police Station Holding Cells, as Venezuela Attempts to Reduce Historic Overcrowding
Venezuelan police station holding cells are filling up as the country’s new prisons minister orders a freeze on new admissions to the violent, overcrowded prisons operating at nearly 400% capacity. [Washington Post] Venezuelan prisons are known to be effectively run by armed gangs, house inmates in inhumane conditions, and be the scene of numerous violent uprisings and clashes between prisoners
Read moreFive New Orleans Police Officers Convicted in Post-Katrina Shooting Deaths of Civilians on Danziger Bridge
On August 5, in the culmination of a federal criminal trial, a jury convicted five police officers of various civil rights violations, but not murder, for having shot into a crowd of civilians fleeing New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, killing two individuals and injuring four more. [USHR Network] The Department of Justice, which prosecuted the four officers
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