Hunger strikes at three New Jersey prisons
Sara Flounders | workers.org | 2021-01-08
The filthy conditions, indefinite incarceration and escalating COVID infections have touched off desperate hunger strikes at three New Jersey county jails. Each jail operates as a prison-for-profit, renting space at $120 a day for ICE to jail out-of-state migrant detainees. The N.J. counties use the contracts to generate tens of . . . | Continue reading Hunger strikes at three New Jersey prisons at Workers.org…
workers.org/2021/01/53670/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hunger-strikes-at-three-new-jersey-prisons

Brutal Human Rights Abuses — Torture, Sanctions and Our Failure to Discuss Economic Rights
Rod Driver | zcomm.org | 2021-01-07
People in advanced nations assume that their governments do not torture prisoners, but it is practized by the US, and was used by Britain in its colonies and in Northern Ireland…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/brutal-human-rights-abuses-torture-sanctions-and-our-failure-to-discuss-economic-rights/

Libya urged to investigate fate of hundreds missing in Tarhuna
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2021-01-07
Libya urged to investigate fate of hundreds missing in Tarhuna | Dozens of mass graves were found in Tarhuna last summer after withdrawal of forces aligned with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar | MEE staff | Thu, 01/07/2021 – 19: 12 | Since June, Libyan teams have been searching for graves and exhuming bodies in Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli (AFP) | Human Rights Watch urged Libya's internationally recognised government to…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/libya-gna-inv…

Hong Kong: UN human rights office urges immediate release of arrested activists
news.un.org | 2021-01-07
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Thursday voiced deep concerns over the arrests of over 50 individuals under the new National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and called for their immediate release.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1081552

Hong Kong: UN human rights office urges immediate release of arrested activists
news.un.org | 2021-01-07
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has voiced deep concerns over the arrests of over 50 individuals under the National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and called for their immediate release.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1081552

Callamard calls for 'clear, explicit and unambiguous standards' to protect civilian planes during conflicts
news.un.org | 2021-01-07
Urgent measures are needed to protect civilian aircraft flying over conflict zones or other areas where military tensions are high, a UN independent human rights expert said on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1081582

Saudi Arabia: UN rights expert welcomes 'positive first step' toward détente in Gulf
news.un.org | 2021-01-07
Saudi Arabia's action in lifting sanctions against Qatar is a "positive first step" towards normalized relations in the Gulf region, a UN independent human rights expert said on Thursday, urging the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt to follow suit.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1081612

Police Arrest Several People Near Court After Assange's Bail Denied
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-07
London – The police arrested several supporters of Assange who did not have press IDs and refused to disperse as the city is currently under a lockdown and public gatherings prohibited. Among the detained are several women and an elderly man. | Journalists with proper identifications were allowed to continue their work. Earlier in the day, Westminster Magistrates Court refused to release Assange on bail, leaving him incarcerated while a US appeal against the decision not to extradite him to the United States is considered. | Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jump…
popularresistance.org/police-arrest-several-people-near-london-court-after-assanges-bail-denied/

The DWP is continuing with sanctions despite a national lockdown
Steve Topple | thecanary.co | 2021-01-07
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has just announced that Jobcentres will remain open during the latest coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown. While this is not new, the devil is in the detail. Because the DWP has not publicly said whether it is suspending sanctions or not, like it did in March 2020. But now, The Canary has received confirmation that the DWP will continue to impose sanctions on claimants in some circumstances. | DWP Jobcentres: remaining open: | On Wednesda…
thecanary.co/exclusive/2021/01/07/the-dwp-is-continuing-with-sanctions-despite-a-national-lockdown/

PDF of January 7 issue
Workers World Party | workers.org | 2021-01-07
Download the 12-page PDF. Alabama prisons: ON STRIKE! 'Relief' bill offers little; Outrage at year's end; Workers as 'contractors'; Massive hack; Historic postal strike; Editorial: COVID unpreparedness. GLOBAL: Cuban and Haitian revolutions; Brexit crisis; Long live DPRK; Argentina: abortion rights victory. TEAR DOWN THE WALLS: Exonerate Mumia! Letter from Pennsylvania . . . | Continue reading PDF of January 7 issue at Workers.org…
workers.org/2021/01/53645/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pdf-of-january-7-issue

Police Reform Advocates Press Minnesota Legislature For More
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-07
Civil rights organizers were back at Minnesota's Capitol as a new legislative session got underway Tuesday, ready to mount another push for changes to police accountability laws less than a week after another fatal police shooting in Minneapolis. | "We know that George Floyd is not an anomaly," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "George Floyd represents the history of state violence against people of color in this country and particularly against Black people." | Floyd's death last May in the custody of Minneapolis police officers made M…
popularresistance.org/police-reform-advocates-press-minnesota-legislature-for-more/

Pamela Winn Fights the Shackling of Pregnant People
Pamela Winn | aclu.org | 2021-01-07
Pamela Winn was sent to federal prison when she was six weeks pregnant. In prison, she fell down attempting to step into a van while shackled. She was not given prenatal care and she miscarried a little over three months later, shackled to a prison bed., , Winn, who was released from prison in 2013, is now an activist for the rights of incarcerated women. She helped enact a law to prevent the shackling of pregnant people in Georgia and is leading a mission to end prison birth altogether , But her story is not unique. There are currently thousands of pregnant people in prison. Many are not given proper medical…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/pamela-winn-fights-the-shackling-of-pregnant-people

Hirak activists on hunger strike against pre-trial detention hospitalized in Algeria
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-07
The three Hirak activists – Mohamed Tadjadit (25), Noureddine Khimoud (25) and Abdelhak Ben Rahmani (38) – began a hunger strike on December 27 last year after they were denied bail and their pre-trial detention was extended by the authorities…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/07/hirak-activists-on-hunger-strike-against-pre-trial-detention-hospitalized-in-algeria/

Human Rights Watch Urges Biden to End Trump's 'Devastating' Remain In Mexico Policy
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2021-01-06
The global organization Human Rights Watch urged President-elect Joe Biden to "quickly and decisively" end a two-year-old policy under which tens of thousands of asylum seekers have been forced to stay in squalid and often dangerous makeshift shelters in Mexico. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2021/01/06/human-rights-watch-urges-biden-end-trumps-devastating-remain-mexico-policy?cd-origin=rss

UN human rights expert 'cautiously' welcomes UK court's refusal to extradite Julian Assange
news.un.org | 2021-01-06
An independent UN human rights expert has welcomed a British court's refusal to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on the basis that he would be exposed to oppressive conditions of imprisonment.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1081442

Medical doctors respond to Assange extradition ruling: "He must be released without delay"
wsws.org | 2021-01-06
"We demand that all legal proceedings be dropped and that he be released from prison, and only then will his psychological torture finally end."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/06/doct…

Trade union coalition in Sudan launches campaign to dissolve government-backed militia
Pavan Kulkarni | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-06
The Sudanese Professionals Association launched the campaign following the torture and killing of a young activist, Bahaeldin Nouri, who was abducted by the intelligence wing of the government-backed Rapid Support Forces on December 21…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/06/trade-union-coalition-in-sudan-launches-campaign-to-dissolve-government-backed-militia/

Iran Uses Its Grip on Strait of Hormuz to Fight Back US-Imposed Sanctions
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-06
Iran has found an original way of dealing with sanctions and limitations imposed on it by the so-called "maximum pressure" campaign launched by the Trump administration. | On January 4, the Navy of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained a …
globalresearch.ca/iran-uses-its-grip-on-strait-of-hormuz-to-fight-back-us-imposed-sanctions/5733681

Journalists, Activists Condemn UK Decision to Keep Assange Locked Up without Charge
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2021-01-06
"To us, that is nothing more than a pretext to keep him detained. This seems unnecessarily punitive and adding insult to injury after the 10 years of hell that he has endured" — Rebecca Vincent, Reporters Without Borders…
mintpressnews.com/journalists-activists-condemn-uk-bail-decision-julian-assange/274066/

The COVID-19 RT-PCR Test: How to Mislead All Humanity. Using a "Test" To Lock Down Society
Dr. Pascal Sacré | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-06
The misuse of the RT-PCR technique is used as an intentional strategy by some governments, supported by scientific safety councils and by the dominant media, to justify the violation of a large number of constitutional rights, the destruction of the economy with the bankruptcy of entire active sectors of society,…
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-rt-pcr-how-to-mislead-all-humanity-using-a-test-to-lock-down-society/5728483

The Onus Is Now on the SC to Protect Constitutional Rights to Privacy and Free Choice
Badri Raina | zcomm.org | 2021-01-06
While the apex court on January 6 will take up pleas for anti-conversion laws, two views of citizen's rights will be in direct contention — one propagated by the right-wing and the other enshrined in the constitution…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/the-onus-is-now-on-the-sc-to-protect-constitutional-rights-to-privacy-and-free-choice/

Mexico and Four Other Countries Join the UN Security Council
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-05
Mexico, India, Ireland, Kenya, and Norway on Monday began to assume responsibilities as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). | RELATED: | For Fifth Time, Cuba Elected Member of UN Human Rights Council | While their two-year term officially started on Jan. 1, Monday is the first working day of the council for 2021 after the Christmas and New Year break. A flag installation ceremony was held to mark the start of their responsibilities. | Kazakh UN a…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-and-Four-Other-Countries-Join-the-UN-Security-Council-20210105-0006.html

"Medical Apartheid": Israeli Vaccine Drive Excludes Millions of Palestinians in Occupied Territories
Staff | democracynow.org | 2021-01-05
Israel has administered COVID-19 vaccines faster than any country in the world, with more than 14% of Israelis receiving vaccines so far. Despite the fast rollout, human rights groups are expressing alarm over Israel's decision not to vaccinate Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, where about 1,500 people have died during the pandemic. Israel has defended its actions citing the Oslo Peace Accords, which put Palestinian authorities in charge of healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian officials are facing a number of hurdles in launching their own vaccine campaign, including a shortage of mone…
www.democracynow.org/2021/1/5/israel_vac…

Argentina: Felisa Sotelo, A 'Mother of Plaza de Mayo', Died
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-05
Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo movement informed on the death of one of its founders Felisa Sotelo, 82, in City Bell town, in Buenos Aires province. | RELATED: | Mothers of Argentina's Disappeared March to Keep Memory Alive | "We bid her farewell with pain and deep respect. Her perseverance will always remain in our hearts," Health, Ethics, and Human Rights Defense Committee (CODESEDH) stated. | Sotelo, better known as 'Lila,' suffered the kidnappings and disappearances of her husband and…
telesurenglish.net/news/Argentinas-Mothers-of-Plaza-de-Mayo-Member-Felisa-Sotelo-Died-20210105-0011.html

Draconian NY Police State Assembly Bill: Indefinite Detainment of "Disease Carriers"
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2021-01-05
Draconian NY State Assembly Bill A416 calls for indefinitely detainment of residents considered to be "disease carriers (sic)." | It's aimed at seasonal flu/influenza, diabolically disguised as covid. | It's all-about wanting to eliminate fundamental freedoms on the phony pretext of | …
globalresearch.ca/draconian-ny-police-state-assembly-bill-indefinite-detainment-of-disease-carriers/5733587

Guaido Steals US$40 Million of Venezuelan Assets, Report Holds
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-05
Opposition politician Juan Guaido would have stolen US$40 million of Venezuela's foreign assets that were aimed at humanitarian aid, according to a report published by The Washington Post. | RELATED: | Airline Workers Confront Juan Guaido Over New Sanctions | The U.S.-backed opposition needed money to implement its plan to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro's government from abroad. | According to The Washington Post, Miami-based Venezuelan businessmen Jorge Reyes and Pedro Anta…
telesurenglish.net/news/Guaido-Steals-US40-Million-of-Venezuelas-Assets-Report-Says-20210105-0008.html

"We have fewer rights than animals": The unbearable life in the Greek refugee camp Kara Tepe
wsws.org | 2021-01-05
Anyone wanting to gauge the criminal character of European governments and the European Union (EU) must look to Kara Tepe, the temporary camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/05/refu…