CC: Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Senator James Risch, Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Representative Gregory Meeks, Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs Representative Michael McCaul, Ranking Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Dear Secretary Blinken:
We, the undersigned organizations, work to promote human rights, democracy, media freedom, environmental sustainability, and an end to corruption around the world. The protection of human rights defenders such as activists, lawyers, and journalists is critical to each of our missions.[1] We are deeply concerned by the unabated rise in reprisals against human rights defenders, both globally and within the United States, and the chilling effect that these attacks have on fundamental freedoms and civic space.
Target: Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General Nominee
Goal: Prosecute the 17 individuals who played a role in the brutal murder of an immigrant at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2010, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas was caught by U.S. Border Patrol while attempting to cross into the United States. He was brutally murdered by agents, but his death, and the names of those responsible for it, have been covered up for over a decade. Demand justice.
According to an investigation by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Rojas was handcuffed and then was subsequently beaten, kicked, and tasered. He was pronounced brain dead upon arrival at the hospital and died two days later. Federal action prevented local authorities from investigating the murder in what the Inter-American Commission is calling a “cover-up.” There were 17 individuals responsible for the murder of Rojas. Many of them went on to obtain leadership positions.
American Drones Kill Indiscriminately. Biden Can Change That | Opinion Jennifer Gibson
, Reprieve On 2/8/21 at 7:30 AM EST
Almost exactly four years ago, as one of his first acts in office, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. special forces to raid a tiny village in a remote part of Yemen. Residents were woken at 2 a.m. by the noise of drones, helicopters and machine guns. Confused as to who was shooting at them and why, some ran for their lives and others tried to defend themselves.
By daybreak, 26 people were dead, almost all from the al-Ameri family, including Fateem, a mother shot in the back as she ran for safety clutching her 18-month-old child, and Abdullah, a grandfather gunned down as he tried in vain to save his son and three grandchildren.
Farmers’ protests: Sachin Tendulkar is batting for sovereignty but shooting in the dark
When he took on pop star Rihanna on Twitter last week, the cricketing icon made the academic concept the subject of public debate. Sachin Tendulkar. | Vivek Prakash/Reuters Last week, an academic concept jumped out of the dusty books of jurisprudence and political theory into the chirpy streets of social media when an arch-god of cricketing pantheon lectured the world about “sovereignty”.
Joining the chorus of orchestrated opposition to tweets by pop star Rihanna and climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg in support of the long-drawn farmers’ protests, Sachin Tendulkar tweeted that India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. “External forces can be spectators but not participants,” he said. “Indians know India and should decide for India.”
U.S. Army Military Police escort a detainee to his cell January 11, 2001 in Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during in-processing to the temporary detention. The detainees will be given a basic physical exam by a doctor, to include a chest x-ray and blood samples drawn to assess their health, the military said. The U.S. Department of Defense released the photo January 18, 2002. (Photo: Petty Officer 1st class Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy)
Gitmo is Still Open
Back in 2008, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp was rightly regarded as a symbol of everything that was wrong with the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” policies. Torture. Indefinite detention. Violations of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. A brazen disregard for anything resembling international law. As a Democratic Senator running for president, Barack Obama vowed to close the camp if elected.