political prisoner

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Chavez Rounding Up Top Political Foes

Is president tightening grip as oil prices drop?

(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...

'Missing' Journalist Is in Tehran Jail: Iran

Freelancer locked up after allegedly buying a bottle of wine

(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...

Opponents of Mugabe Allege Torture in Court

Zimbabwe political prisoners suffered beatings, abuse

(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...

Castro Offers Prisoner Swap, Talks With US

Raul promises to free dissidents in exchange for Cuban 5

(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...

23 Years in a North Korean Prison Camp

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

(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—...

Suu Kyi's Silence Troubles Followers
 Suu Kyi's Silence 
 Troubles Followers 
ANALYSIS
Nov 11, 2008 3:26 PM CST

Suu Kyi's Silence Troubles Followers

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

(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...

EU Honors Chinese Dissident, Enraging Beijing

Hu Jia is serving a prison sentence for 'subversion'

(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...

Out of the Cyclone, Seeds of Change in Burma
Out of the Cyclone, Seeds
of Change in Burma
Glossies
Aug 23, 2008 6:51 AM CDT

Out of the Cyclone, Seeds of Change in Burma

(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...

Kremlin Foe Denied Bid for Parole
Kremlin Foe Denied Bid
for Parole
Aug 22, 2008 10:40 AM CDT

Kremlin Foe Denied Bid for Parole

Oil tycoon, Putin opponent remains in Siberian prison

(Newser) - 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...

Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard
 Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard 
Jun 6, 2008 7:10 AM CDT

Rowling Casts Spell at Harvard

Fight the monsters, she urges

(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....

Belarus Expels US Diplomats
Belarus Expels US Diplomats
Apr 30, 2008 3:51 PM CDT

Belarus Expels US Diplomats

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

(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.

Indian 'Spy' Freed After 35 Years
Indian 'Spy' Freed After 35 Years
Mar 5, 2008 7:51 AM CST

Indian 'Spy' Freed After 35 Years

Trader languished in Pakistani prisons after case was forgotten

(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,"...

Argentina Baby Snatch Witness Dies in Trial

Possibly killed before could talk about Dirty War disappearances

(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...

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

DNA to determine if boy is orphan in custody

(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...

Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up
Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up
Oct 24, 2007 4:14 AM CDT

Bush to Urge Cubans to Rise Up

Calls power transition from Fidel to brother unacceptable

(Newser) - President Bush is expected to make a landmark speech on Cuba today, calling the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul unacceptable to the United States. The president will also address the Cuban people, urging them to resist "the force of a dying regime," reports...

3,000 Detained in Burma, by Junta's Count

Japan cuts aid, China supports UN diplomat

(Newser) - Burma’s military regime imprisoned roughly 3,000 people in last month’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the state-run newspaper announced today. Over 500 are still in custody, and more are being arrested each day. “Those who should be released will be,” the paper said. Meanwhile international outrage...

Freed Scholar Recounts Iran Prison Ordeal

Esfandiari recalls determination not to 'succumb to despair'

(Newser) - It took a daily routine for Haleh Esfandiari to stay level-headed during her 105-day stint in Iran's notorious Evin prison. The Iranian-American scholar paced her room for 3 to 4 hours a day, read, and wrote a book in her head to ward off depression. She was treated respectfully, but...

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