Three leading civil liberties, human rights, and juvenile justice organizations today issued a letter urging Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to end military commission proceedings against Omar Khadr, the Canadian national apprehended in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15-years-old.
The Yemeni government’s acknowledgment that an airstrike killed more than 42 civilians in December 2009 is a stark reminder of the need for careful targeting when using such counterterrorism measures.
The long-awaited US Justice Department report on the conduct of Bush administration lawyers who provided a legal rationale for torture and other abusive interrogation techniques underscores the need for a full-scale investigation into post-9/11 detainee abuse.
The trial before Egypt’s state security court of 25 defendants accused of membership in a terrorist organization fails to protect the due process rights of defendants.
The Canadian government should immediately request the repatriation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo even though Canada’s Supreme Court did not order it to do so.
The case of Abdullah Sa'd should serve as a stark reminder to the US and its allies as they meet with Yemeni officials in London on Wednesday to craft a strategy to confront Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group's Yemen-based franchise. If donors don't stringently monitor and condition their planned counterterrorism aid for Yemen, they may inadvertently become complicit in such abuse.
Governments in the Middle East were responsible for serious human rights violations over the past year, including harassment and attacks against human rights defenders and organizations that document abuse.
Governments participating in a high-level meeting on Yemen in London on January 27, 2010, should press the Yemeni authorities to address the country's serious human rights problems.
As one would expect from so eloquent a leader, Barack Obama has brought a marked improvement in presidential rhetoric on human rights compared with his predecessor. The challenge facing his administration is translating that rhetoric into policy and practice.
