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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: political prisoner

political prisoner stories: 23 news summaries

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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Suu Kyi Launches Appeal
as Junta Frees 7K Cons 

Detained Burmese leader seeks to overturn extension of house arrest

Sep 18, 09 5:33 AM CDT
(AP) - Lawyers for detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi today appealed her recent conviction that extended her years of house arrest, a day after the ruling junta announced it was releasing thousands of prisoners. Reporters were banned from the hearing, where her lawyers insisted that the law under which... More »

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house arrest • Myanmar • Burma • political prisoner • Aung San Suu Kyi • Burma protest

 Iran Admits Protester 
 Was Beaten to Death 

First official acknowledgment of post-election state violence

Sep 1, 09 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - A man arrested in the upheaval following Iran's presidential election was beaten to death in jail, Iranian media reported yesterday—offering the first official acknowledgment that a detained protester died after the disputed vote. Officials had originally said the man died of an illness, but a coroner's report said he... More »

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Iran • Tehran • prison • detainee • political prisoner • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei • Iranian election • Iranian protests

Iran Reformist Publishes Prison Rape Account

Karroubi says more allegations of protester abuse to come

Aug 25, 09 4:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A testimony released by defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi details a male protester's beating and rape at a notorious prison after the disputed election. The first-person account is just one of many, Karroubi alleges, and CNN reports that he will continue to publish them on his website "if... More »

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Iran • prison • rape • political prisoner • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei • Iranian election • Mehdi Karoubi

Brutal North Korean Labor Camps Hold 200K

Prisoners face 15-hour days, malnutrition, executions: Korean bar

Jul 20, 09 9:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some 200,000 political prisoners are held in North Korean labor camps, where they work up to 15 hours a day before dying of malnutrition by about age 50, the Washington Post reports. Testimony from survivors and former guards has been newly published by the Korean Bar Association, and new... More »

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North Korea • political prisoner • Kim Jong Il • labor camp • prison camp

 Mousavi Backers Tortured, Told to Confess Foreign Plot

Regime seeks to force 'confessions' implicating reformist in conspiracy

Jun 27, 09 7:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Iran's opposition says prominent supporters have been tortured in an effort to extract "confessions" that foreign forces in league with Mir Hossein Mousavi are plotting against the Islamic republic, the Guardian reports. Amnesty International, citing "very credible sources," says screams have been heard from reformist politicians jailed... More »

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Iran • torture • political prisoner • Iranian election • Mir Hossein Mousavi

 Obama Defends Handshake, 
 Urges Cuba to Free Prisoners 

Bolivian prez accuses US of assassination plot

Apr 19, 09 3:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama defended his friendly chat with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and asked Cuba to free its political prisoners, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the close of the Summit of the America's today, Obama brushed off Republican criticism, saying that turning a new page with Venezuela and Cuba represents... More »

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Barack Obama • Latin America • Venezuela • Mexico • Cuba • Bolivia • Mexican drug war • assassination • Evo Morales • political prisoner • Hugo Chávez • microfinance

Chavez Rounding Up
Top Political Foes

Is president tightening grip as oil prices drop?

Apr 3, 09 7:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Venezuelan government arrested opposition figure Raúl Baduel yesterday, the second such move in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Baduel, a former defense minister and ally of President Hugo Chavez, helped restore the president to power after a coup in 2002, but he helped rally opposition to... More »

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Venezuela • arrest • political prisoner • Hugo Chávez • Raul Baduel • oil prices



 'Missing' 
 Journalist 
 Is in Tehran 
 Jail: Iran  

Freelancer locked up after allegedly buying
a bottle of wine

Mar 3, 09 8:23 AM CST
(Newser) - A day after an Iranian-American journalist's father said her whereabouts were unknown after an arrest a month ago, Iran today said she is being held in a Tehran jail for political prisoners, Reuters reports. The Iran foreign ministry said Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old who has reported for the BBC and... More »

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Iran • Tehran • journalist • Evin • political prisoner • Iranian court • Roxana Saberi

Opponents of Mugabe Allege Torture in Court

Zimbabwe political prisoners suffered beatings, abuse

Jan 16, 09 6:53 AM CST
(Newser) - More than a dozen human rights activists and allies of Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were tortured by agents of Robert Mugabe, a court heard yesterday. The New York Times reports that the activists were abducted, detained in secret prisons, and brutalized until they confessed to crimes they had not... More »

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torture • Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai • political prisoner • Jestina Mukoko

Castro Offers Prisoner
Swap, Talks With US

Raul promises to free dissidents in exchange for Cuban 5

Dec 18, 08 5:45 PM CST
(Newser) - In another sign of a potential thaw in US-Cuban relations, Raul Castro offered today to release five political dissidents if the US frees five Cubans jailed on spy charges. Castro says the prisoner swap could precede talks between himself and Barack Obama, Reuters reports. “Give us back our five... More »

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Barack Obama • Cuba • Raul Castro • political prisoner • Cuban dissidents • Cuban exiles • Cuban embargo • prisoner exchange • President Obama

23 Years in a North Korean Prison Camp

Escapee, born in prison, tells of routine, stunning torture

Dec 11, 08 7:27 AM CST
(Newser) - There are 14,431 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, but only one, Shin Dong-hyuk, who escaped from a Northern prison camp. In an interview with the Washington Post, Shin describes the daily horrors of life inside Kim Jong-Il's gulags, from fire torture to mutilation. He committed no crime—... More »

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North Korea • torture • South Korea • escape • Koreans • political prisoner • mutilation

ANALYSIS

 Suu Kyi's Silence 
 Troubles Followers 

Nobel peace prize winner doing nothing as country slides further into squalor

Nov 11, 08 3:26 PM CST
(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi, who’s spent 20 years under house arrest, is an almost sainted symbol of democracy to the people of Burma, the Guardian writes. But since 2003, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has  offered no practical leadership for her party, the National League for Democracy, and has... More »

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Myanmar • Burma • political prisoner • Aung San Suu Kyi • junta • military junta

EU Honors Chinese Dissident, Enraging Beijing

Hu Jia is serving a prison sentence for 'subversion'

Oct 23, 08 3:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - A move by the European Parliament to award a major human-rights prize to a Chinese dissident has Beijing outraged on the eve of a summit on the economic crisis, the Telegraph reports. The government denounced as “gross interference in China's domestic affairs” news that the jailed Hu Jia had... More »

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China • human rights • prison • Nicolas Sarkozy • political prisoner • dissidents • Jose Manuel Barroso • Hu Jia • European Parliament • Sakharov Prize

Glossies

Out of the Cyclone, Seeds
of Change in Burma


Aug 23, 08 6:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - In the wake of the ruling junta's efforts to waylay foreign aid following May's Cyclone Nargis, Burmese citizens—including former political prisoners—created a grass-roots relief effort to help the embattled populace. In doing so, writes George Packer in the New Yorker, they may have created the catalyst for long-awaited... More »

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Myanmar • Burma • political prisoner • Burma protest • Democratic Voice of Burma • military junta • Cyclone Nargis

Kremlin Foe Denied Bid
for Parole

Oil tycoon, Putin opponent remains in Siberian prison

Aug 22, 08 10:40 AM CDT
(AP) - A Russian court has rejected Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole on Friday, ordering the jailed oil tycoon to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a ruling his lawyer called politically motivated. Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos oil company and once Russia's richest man, was sentenced to 8... More »

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Russia • prison • Siberia • parole • political prisoner • Yukos • Mikhail Khodorkovsky

 Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard 

Fight the monsters, she urges

Jun 6, 08 7:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Harry Potter birth mom JK Rowling yesterday urged Harvard graduates at their commencement to use their imaginations on more than wizards and muggles to envision—and create—a better world. She recalled the rewarding time she spent when she was younger working for prisoners of totalitarian regimes for Amnesty International.... More »

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Harry Potter • JK Rowling • Amnesty International • wizard • political prisoner • Harvard • Albus Dumbledore • commencement speech

Belarus Expels US Diplomats

Souring relations take a turn for the worse after Washington's criticism, economic sanctions

Apr 30, 08 3:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - Belarus ordered most of the staff of the US embassy to leave the country today, a sign of souring relations between the states, the AP reports. The top US diplomat in the former Soviet republic says all but six staffers have been ordered out within 72 hours. More »

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Belarus • political prisoner • Alexander Lukashenko

Indian 'Spy' Freed After 35 Years

Trader languished in Pakistani prisons after case was forgotten

Mar 5, 08 7:51 AM CST
(Newser) - An Indian prisoner has finally come home after spending 35 years on death row in Pakistan on spying charges, the BBC reports. Trader Kashmir Singh was greeted by his family and hundreds of well-wishers as he crossed the border back into India. "I have got a new life,"... More »

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Pakistan • Pervez Musharraf • India • prison • espionage • political prisoner • prisoner • Kashmir Singh

Argentina Baby Snatch Witness Dies in Trial

Possibly killed before could talk about Dirty War disappearances

Feb 27, 08 9:46 AM CST
(Newser) - Days before he was to testify about the Dirty War disappearance of twins born to a political prisoner, a former Argentine army officer has been found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, the BBC reports. Police don't know if Paul Navone committed suicide but human rights groups think... More »

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adoption • kidnapping • Argentina • political prisoner • Dirty War • dissidents • military junta • Paul Navone • La Guerra Sucia • baby snatching

Colombia Prez: Rebels Don't Have Hostage's Love Child

DNA to determine if boy is orphan in custody

Jan 2, 08 10:29 AM CST
(Newser) - Relatives of FARC hostage Clara Rojas yesterday underwent DNA testing to determine whether a boy surrendered to a Bogota orphanage 2 years ago is her 3-year-old son, as Colombian president Alvaro Uribe contends. Uribe yesterday said FARC rebels couldn't release Emmanuel Rojas, along with his mother and another hostage, as... More »

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Colombia • political prisoner • FARC • Hugo Chávez • Alvaro Uribe • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Clara Rojas • Emmanuel Rojas • love child • hostage

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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