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Ex North Korea Guard: Inmates Dug Own Graves

Inmates Dug Own Graves in North Korea: Ex-Guard

And one prison is expanding, per new Amnesty International report

(Newser) - More horrific tales have emerged from North Korea via a new Amnesty International report that indicates the country's prison camps are expanding. Satellite images from May of this year indicate one of the largest sites, camp 15, features new housing blocks and production facilities; a review of images... More »

UN Details 'Unspeakable Atrocities' in North Korea

Inquiry chief urges world to take action against human rights abuses

(Newser) - With the world's attention currently focused on human rights abuses in Syria, the results of a UN inquiry is set to pull North Korea back into the spotlight, via a new report detailing the country's "systematic, widespread, and grave violations of human rights." The report is... More »

Twist in 12-Year Hunger Strike: Attempted Suicide Charge

India slaps charge on Irom Sharmila, who last voluntarily ate in 2000

(Newser) - The last time Irom Sharmila ate a meal by her own hand was Nov. 4, 2000. In the 12-plus years since, the 40-year-old Indian known as the "Iron Lady" has been on a hunger strike to protest India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives the military wide-ranging... More »

Torture Reports Halt US-Afghan Detainee Transfer

Human rights abuses could stop funding for Afghan troops

(Newser) - Amid word of inhumane treatment, including torture, the US has halted the transfer of detainees to some Afghan prisons, the New York Times reports. And with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai seeking internal control of detention, the decision is likely to further strain the countries' relationship. The move also comes with... More »

UN Honcho: We Must Investigate North Korea

Navi Pillay: Nuke worries overshadowing human-rights crisis

(Newser) - As the world keeps a vigilant eye on North Korea's nuclear program, the country's long list of human rights violations continue to slip under the radar, charges the United Nation's human rights head. The offenses, which have shown no sign of abating under Kim Jong Un, have... More »

Chinese Citizens: We Were Jailed in a Holiday Inn

Officials want to silence citizens who are looking to air complaints: activists

(Newser) - Last March, while China's legislature held its 10-day annual meeting in Beijing, five citizens say they were being held against their will in a Holiday Inn near Shanghai, reports CNN . They had come to China's capital as "petitioners" looking to file grievances that had fallen on deaf... More »

Birther Sheriff, Feds Clash Over Monitors

Joe Arpaio refuses to let DOJ 'run my office'

(Newser) - Talks between the Department of Justice and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio have broken down, and now the feds are threatening to sue over the sheriff's alleged abuses against Hispanic suspects, reports the Washington Post . The Justice Department is insisting Arpaio's Maricopa County sheriff office take on a court-appointed... More »

Father Slit Throats of Girls Raped by Gadhafi Troops

Human rights group outlines atrocities

(Newser) - Troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi committed heinous atrocities and war crimes during the siege of Misrata, according to a new report from the Physicians for Human Rights, but the allegation that’s making headlines is actually against a civilian. The report cites a father who slit the throats of three... More »

Libyan Rebels Accused of Looting Hospitals, Shops

Among other human rights abuses in captured towns

(Newser) - Libyan rebels have committed a host of human rights abuses in four towns they’ve captured, including beating suspected Gadhafi loyalists, burning their homes, and looting businesses and at least two medical centers, Human Rights Watch said today. These reprisals have driven people from their homes, leaving three of the... More »

Iran to Try Bush Officials for Human Rights Abuses

Trial designed to counter accusations of Tehran's own abuses

(Newser) - Iran intends to try 26 current or former US officials in absentia for human rights violations and forward its findings to international tribunals, one lawmaker said today. He didn’t specify which officials, but Reuters believes it’s likely to be the same people listed on a bill currently in... More »

Rights Groups Issue China Travel Warnings

'Freedom alerts' warn of danger to activists, journalists

(Newser) - Human rights groups urging travelers to avoid mainland China because of the suppression of dissidents have now issued special alerts for certain areas. The Hong Kong-based groups issued the highest level of alert for Beijing and Shanghai, warning that the cities have seen the largest number of repressive incidents since... More »

'Effeminate Boys' Sent to Macho Malay Boot Camp

Human rights groups scream as official talks of 'right path'

(Newser) - Human rights groups have expressed alarm after some 66 boys determined to be "effeminate" by Malaysian public schools have been picked for re-education at a macho boot camp. The education department in Terengganu state established the camp to help boys deal with "identity issues" and place them on... More »

Egyptian Protesters Leak Govt. Secrets on Facebook

After storming State Security, WikiLeaks-like page set up

(Newser) - Hundreds of Egyptians stormed the State Security headquarters this weekend, and now they’re posting the damning documents they found WikiLeaks-style on a Facebook page, Fast Company reports. Amn Dawla Leaks , or State Security Leaks, already has more than 13,000 fans. Egyptians have posted files there, and to other... More »

Cambodians Raped, Killed at UN-Backed Camp

So-called 'social affairs center' really internment facility: human rights groups

(Newser) - Cambodians being held at a UN-funded internment camp are frequently beaten and raped, treatment that has resulted in at least three deaths. Guards at the “social affairs center” say its residents are free to leave when they choose—but human rights watchdogs and ex-inmates say Prey Speu is an... More »

Child Brides Flogged for Fleeing Illegal Marriages

Afghan girls expecting help beaten instead

(Newser) - When Khadija, 13, and Basgol, 14, escaped from the much older men they'd been forced to marry, they thought the police would help. Instead, the police officers who found the girls fleeing on a bus sent them back to their home village to be brutally flogged for running away from... More »

Wife to US: Stand Up to China and Free My Husband

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng held incommunicado for a year

(Newser) - Geng He can’t do anything for her human rights lawyer husband, who she says was "kidnapped" by the Chinese government a year ago today and is being held somewhere incommunicado. But the United States can, and must. “China will listen to the United States,” she writes.... More »

Clinton-Led Recovery Is the Last Thing Haiti Needs

Unofficial aid czar has a record of corrupt dealings

(Newser) - Bill Clinton's high-profile, perpetually teary-eyed presence on the ground in Haiti has snagged him the unofficial role of aid czar in the rebuilding effort, Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in the Wall Street Journal , and that's very bad news for Haitians. As president, O'Grady writes, Clinton did plenty to show he... More »

CIA's Key Shadow Ally: Jordan

Afghan bombing spotlights Amman's pivotal counterterrorism role

(Newser) - The death of a Jordanian intelligence operative alongside seven CIA agents in last week's bombing of a CIA facility in Afghanistan offered an unusually visible sign of Jordan's emerging role as a low-profile but crucial US counterterrorism ally. Since 9/11, the Middle Eastern nation's role in the fight against Islamic... More »

Watchdog: Raúl Just as Bad as Fidel

He shares his brother's disregard for human rights

(Newser) - The perception that Cuba is less repressive under Raúl Castro than Fidel is false, Human Rights Watch says. Dissidents are still harassed by the state, subject to arbitrary detention—532 such cases in the first half of 2009 alone—fired. or denied work. The government also continues to pressure... More »

CIA Kept Prisoners Alive So It Could Torture More

Abuse 'sickening': human-rights lawyer

(Newser) - Detainees tortured to the brink of death were sometimes given medical treatment to keep them alive so CIA operatives could torture them further, a human-rights lawyer alleges. “The CIA engaged in some horrendous abuses, but they appear to have taken precautions to have actually prevented people from dying—which... More »