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Ninth Circuit Holds that Prolonged Detention of Immigrants Pursuing Motions to Reopen Must Be Reviewed by Immigration Judge

March 10, 2011 Leave a comment

On March 7, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Diouf v. Napolitano that an immigrant facing long-term detention pending resolution of their motions to reopen immigration proceedings is “entitled to release on bond unless the government establishes that he  is a flight risk of a danger to the community.”  In so holding, the appellate court reversed the district court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief to the petitioner, a citizen of Senegal who was granted voluntary departure from the United States in 2003, after overstaying his student visa, but later sought to reopen proceedings and remain in the country as the spouse of an American citizen.

Diouf was represented by the ACLU, ACLU of Southern California, and Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.  History of the litigation is available here.

The petitioner, Mr. Amadou Lamine Diouf, did not leave the country within the timeframe for voluntary departure specified by the immigration judge because he intended to move to reopen proceedings.  Before he moved to reopen or for an extension of the period for departure, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2005.  After being detained, Diouf moved the immigration judge to reopen proceedings.  This motion was denied and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed.  Diouf appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which granted a stay of removal pending consideration of his petition for review of the BIA decision.

Diouf’s detention, from March 2005 onward, was subject to review on two occasions, pursuant to federal regulation (8 C.F.R. Section 241.4). In these reviews, Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined that he was a possible flight risk and continued detention was justified.

Diouf then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus (28 U.S.C. Section 2241) before the U.S. district court, requesting a preliminary injunction for his immediate release on the grounds that his continued detention violated 8 U.S.C. 1226(a) and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – or in the alternative, ordering an immigration judge to hold a hearing requiring the government to justify his detention.  In February 2007, the district court required a bond hearing before an immigration judge, who then determined that Diouf did not present a sufficient danger to the community or flight risk and ordered his release.

However, the Ninth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction because both the district court had assumed that Diouf was held under 8 U.S.C. Section 1226(a) (decision on removal pending), when in fact he was being held under 8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(6) (inadmissible or criminal aliens). Additionally, the Circuit Court “held that Diouf’s detention was authorized by statute because, although it was prolonged, it was not indefinite”. Diouf v. Napolitano at 3158. The Circuit Court remanded for the district court to determine whether aliens held under Section 1231(a)(6) were also entitled to receive bond hearings and be released unless they were proven to be a danger to the community or a flight risk.  The district court answered in the negative and, on appeal, the Circuit Court reversed.

Under Supreme Court jurisprudence, notably Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001), detention of immigrants pending removal may be extended beyond the 90-day limit following the order of removal for a reasonable period of time where removal is foreseeable (e.g., the immigrant’s home country is willing to take him and there is no other legal barrier to his return); such detention may not be indefinite.

This decision will mean that the legality of continued detention will be determined by an immigration judge, rather than by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and the burden will be on the government to prove that the individual is a danger to the community or is likely to flee if released.

The government had argued that immigrants like Diouf who are collaterally attacking their orders of removal through motions to reopen should be treated differently than those challenging a removal order through the ordinary (direct) appeals process.  The Ninth Circuit disagreed, finding that the liberty interest of the two groups is “comparable” and both channels serve to ensure that immigrants’ rights are not violated and to properly dispose of their claims.

The court also rejected the government’s contention that the regulations provide adequate safeguards of immigrants’ liberty interests, requiring judicial deference.  The court found that deference to the regulations governing review of prolonged detention was not due because:

The DHS regulations governing the 180-day review, however,  do raise serious constitutional concerns. When the 180-day review takes place, the alien has been detained for approximately six months and the review, if unfavorable to the alien, authorizes detention for an additional year. At this point, the alien’s continuing detention becomes prolonged. When the period of detention becomes prolonged,  “the private interest that will be affected by the official action,” is more substantial; greater procedural safeguards are therefore required. […] Thus, at the 180-day juncture, the DHS regulations are appropriate but not alone sufficient to address the serious constitutional concerns raised by continued detention. The regulations do not afford adequate procedural safeguardsbecause they do not provide for an in-person hearing, they place the burden on the alien rather than the government and they do not provide for a decision by a neutral arbiter such as an immigration judge.

Id. at 3170-71 (internal citations omitted).

In concluding its reasoning, the court stated:

Diouf’s own case illustrates why a hearing before animmigration judge is a basic safeguard for aliens facing prolonged detention under § 1231(a)(6). The government detained Diouf in March 2005. DHS conducted custody reviews under § 241.4 in July 2005 and July 2006. In both instances, DHS determined that Diouf should remain in custody pending removal because his “criminal history and lackof family support” suggested he might flee if released. In February 2007, however, an immigration judge determined that Diouf was  not a flight risk and released him on bond. If the district court had not ordered the bond hearing on due process grounds, Diouf might have remained in detention until thisday. To address these concerns, aliens who are denied release in their 180-day reviews must be afforded the opportunity to challenge their continued detention in a hearing before an immigration judge.

Id. at 3172.  Diouf’s motion to reopen removal proceedings is still pending review.

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Private Prison Industry Played A Heavy Hand in Arizona Immigration Law, NPR Reports

November 3, 2010 1 comment

NPR reports that controversial Arizona immigration law S.B. 1070 was drafted and lobbied for in significant part by the private prison industry, through conservative organization the American Legislative Exchange Council, which brings together members of industry and politicians, including Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce. [Salt Lake City Weekly]  CCA, the country’s largest private prison company, participated in discussions of the idea behind the eventual bill from an early stage, and stood to benefit from future contracts to build or run immigration detention centers under the new law, which – if contested provisions are upheld at the end of an ongoing constitutional challenge – would allow local law enforcement to conduct warrantless arrests of individuals suspected of being undocumented aliens.  In addition, CCA and other private prison companies donated heavily to Arizona legislators who supported the bill and CCA reportedly has close ties to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s administration. [Salt Lake City Weekly]

CCA, which operates more than half the immigration detention centers in the country, has been criticized for its employment practices and conditions of detention, and has been on the receiving end of numerous civil rights complaints by prisoners and other litigation, including a class action suit filed in 2000 to enjoin CCA’s alleged practice of colluding with telephone companies to increase the cost to inmates to make phone calls, with financial gain going to CCA. [Tucscon Citizen; CCR; Mother Jones].

A constitutional challenge brought by the Federal government against enforcement of the Arizona law is pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments this week on Arizona’s appeal of the District Court’s injunction against several provisions of the law.  The Arizona Republic reported that the judges seemed inclined to rule in favor of Arizona on some provisions, but in the Federal government’s favor on others.

The growth of the private prison industry has come under intense scrutiny in several contexts, including immigration detention and the Iraq war.  In response to the Arizona story, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association warned on Election Day yesterday that voters “should be just as worried about the things they don’t see – the unknown forces influencing decisions at all levels of government.”

Relatedly, the Latin America News Dispatch reports that deportations of undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions are at a record high in the United States and have increased 70% under the Obama Administration, due in large part to the Secure Communities program, through which local law enforcement provides biometric data to federal immigration authorities to determine the immigration and criminal backgrounds of individuals arrested by local authorities, with a view to increasing deportation of removable aliens convicted of violent or drug-related offenses.  However, the program has been criticized as encouraging racial profiling, distracting local law enforcement from their primary duties, and accelerating deportations  – including of thousands of migrants arrested for petty offenses such as traffic violations who have no prior criminal history – without waiting for legislative overhaul of immigration law. [ACLU; NYT]  Last week, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Center for Constitutional Rights and Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of Cardozo Law sought an injunction in federal court to require the federal immigration agency, ICE, to disclose information on how communities may opt-out of the Secure Communities program. [Florida Independent; CCR]  Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has stated that opt-out is not available and all local law enforcement agencies must begin participating in the program by 2013.

For more information on immigration policy and immigrant detention in the United States, see the IACHR’s Special Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and Their Families, the ACLU, Amnesty International, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Migration Policy Institute, and the International Organization for Migration.

 

2010 in Review: IACHR Merits Reports

November 1, 2010 Leave a comment

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has published two merits reports so far this year, having to do with deportation of non-citizens without consideration for humanitarian factors (against the United States) and impunity in the death of a journalist (against Brazil).  In addition to the two merits reports, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has published thirty-six favorable admissibility decisions, seven inadmissibility decisions, two friendly settlement reports, and thirty-seven decisions to archive petitions with unresponsive petitioners or in which the grounds of the petition no longer subsist.  The seven members of the Commission meet three times per year to review and decide upon admissibility and merits reports prepared by the attorneys of the Executive Secretariat, meet with petitioners, and discuss internal procedures; at two such sessions, the commissioners hold hearings on cases and on issues of concern.  The decisions published in 2010 were adopted at the Commission’s 138th Period of Sessions held in March.  The Commission can be expected to publish additional reports this year, which it  may have adopted at its summer or fall sessions.

WAYNE SMITH, HUGO ARMENDARIZ, ET AL. V. UNITED STATES

In Wayne Smith, Hugo Armendariz, et al v. United States (mentioned previously on this blog here), the Commission concluded that “the United States violated Wayne Smith and Hugo Armendariz’s rights under Articles V [private and family life], VI [family], VII [protection for mothers and children], XVIII [fair trial], and XXVI [due process] of the American Declaration, by failing to provide an individualized balancing test in their removal proceedings”. IACHR, Report No. 81/10, Case 12.562, Wayne Smith, Hugo Armendariz, et al. v. United States, 12 July 2010, par. 66. The petitioners in the case were the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), immigration law firm Gibbs Houston Pauw, and the Center for Global Justice.  In 2006, the Commission published its admissibility decisions in the separate petitions presented on behalf of the two men, and decided to consolidate their cases.

Read more…

News Clips – October 25, 2010

October 25, 2010 Leave a comment
  • The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights begins holding hearings today in its 140th Period of Sessions.  Issues to be discussed today include the Situation of Environmentalists in Mesoamerica, and Discrimination against the Transsexual, Transgender, and Transvestite Population in Brazil.  See the week’s schedule of hearings here.  Webcast of some hearings is available here.
  • The IACHR has called on the United States to suspend the execution of Jeffrey Timothy Landrigan, following its grant of precautionary measures in Landrigan’s favor last week.  The Commission subsequently held that the U.S. violated the rights of Landrigan, who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow, when he was sentenced to death by a trial judge rather than a jury using a procedure later found to be unconstitutional, but was never granted a new sentencing hearing.  The Commission requested the immediate suspension of his execution. [IACHR] Amnesty International USA questioned Landrigan’s defense counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence of his neuropsychological health and raised concerns that the state of Arizona may have obtained the drug used for lethal injections, sodium thiopental, from a non-FDA-approved source. [AI USA]  Landrigan’s application for stay of execution and habeas petition  – on the grounds of possible actual innocence – are pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights for arbitrarily and discriminatorily denying authorization for gay rights marches in Moscow, in its judgment in Alekseyev v. Russia.
  • Canadian Omar Khadr has pleaded guilty to war crimes charges before a Military Commission in Guantánamo, as part of an agreement which will likely limit his prison sentence and provide for his return to Canada, while avoiding the controversy of trying Khadr for crimes he allegedly committed as a juvenile. [AI] Amnesty International urges the U.S. government to comply with its obligations to investigate Khadr’s allegations of torture and abuse while in custody.
  • Another mass killing in Ciudad Juárez has claimed the lives of 14 individuals at a teenage boy’s birthday party, following the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers’ visit to Mexico and her call for a reformed, independent judiciary capable of handling the increased incidence of violent crime, ensuring access to both defendants and victims, and prosecuting human rights offenders in the ordinary – rather than military – courts. [NYT]
  • Human Rights Watch calls on Turkey to investigate the arbitrary detention and beating of five transgender activists in Ankara by police officers in May 2010, as well as drop the charges against the activists. [HRW]
  • The ICC Trial Chamber III has rejected former DRC vice president Jean Pierre Bemba Gombo’s double jeopardy claim, making way for his trial to begin on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges related to the Movement for the Liberation of Congo’s activities in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. [RNW]  The situation in the CAR was referred to the ICC prosecutor in 2005 and the warrant for Bemba’s arrest was issued in 2008.
  • Cholera continues to take lives in Haiti, as fears grow of the disease spreading to camps for earthquake survivors. [Washington Post]
  • The Associated Press reports that “[a] group of Israeli reservists critical of the military’s treatment of Palestinians has released new photos that appear to show Israeli soldiers abusing Palestinians” [Washington Post] Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called attention to torture allegations in Palestinian detention in the West Bank. [HRW]
  • Vietnam has attracted criticism for recent, continued arrests of Vietnamese political bloggers and critics. [HRW]
  • The United Arab Emirates Federal Supreme Court has ruled that husbands have a right – under the penal code – to “chastise” their wives and children using violence and coercion, provided they leave no physical marks. [HRW]
  • Last week, the Burundi government denied that police arbitrarily executed 22 rebels, accusing the president of the Association for Protection of Detainees and Human Rights of making false accusations and insisting that the rebels were killed in combat. [RNW]
  • Strikes and fuel shortages persist in France as workers protest President Sarkozy’s decision to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 to balance the social security budget. [Washington Post]
  • Serbia is urged to prosecute two war crimes suspects, Goran Hadzic and Ratko Mladic, as the European Commission considers Serbia’s application to join the EU. [HRW]
  • Jailed Iranian human rights defender Nasrine Sotoudeh enters her eighth week of detention in solitary confinement, where she is reported to be on a hunger strike. [LA Times Blog]
  • Cuban journalist and political prisoner, Guillermo Fariñas, has been awarded the Sakharov Prize given by the European Parliament to recognize those who “combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression”.  Fariñas has been leading a hunger strike in prison to advocate for the release of prisoners in poor health who want to stay in Cuba. [RNW]
  • Following a YouTube video depicting the torture of two Papuan men by Indonesian officials, Amnesty International is calling for an investigation of torture allegations against Indonesian security forces in Papua province over the past two years. [AI]
  • A Virginia man has pleaded guilty in federal district court to attempted material support of terrorism and communicating threats, in connection with his online threats to South Park creators and advocacy of Somali Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabaab. [Washington Post]
  • The Iraqi Supreme Court has ordered Parliament to meet within two weeks, finding the suspension of the current legislative session – due to legislators’ failure to reach consensus on the formation of the next government – unlawful. [Washington Post]
  • A New York Times article reports on the crumbling state of public housing in the United States, as budget constraints force residents to wait years for necessary repairs. [NYT]
  • The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily stayed enforcement of the District Court’s injunction against the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy regarding sexual orientation in the U.S. armed forces, in order to consider the federal government’s appeal in Log Cabin Republicans v. USA.
  • Twice this month, Iranian authorities have used amputation as punishment by cutting off the hand of two Iranians convicted of theft, raising concerns that the practice is regaining favor. [Huffington Post]
  • Thousands protested in Argentina following the death of labor activist Mariano Ferreyra last week during demonstrations for better pay and benefits for railway workers. [Impunity Watch]
  • The Telegraph reports, “The US is withholding assistance to Pakistani military units accused of human rights abuses, according to American officials, sparking outrage in a country where CIA drones are blamed for killing hundreds of civilians”. [Telegraph]
  • 1.3 million votes have been cancelled in Afghanistan’s recent election, following findings of fraud and irregularities. [BBC]  Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai is taking heat for accepting funding from Iran. [BBC]
  • The African Union has reported that the Central African Republic, along with the DRC, Sudan and Uganda, are working together to defeat the Lord’s Resistance Army, in part by creating a joint brigade and classifying the LRA as a terrorist organization. [RNW]
  • A New York Times editorial questions U.S. government treatment of material witnesses in terrorism cases, following the Supreme Court’s decision to hearAshcroft v. al-Kidd, a suit by an American citizen held in detention and subjected to strict probation-like restrictions for fifteen months, as a material witness. [SCOTUSblog]  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision holding he was not entitled to absolute immunity against the suit.
  • The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture warned last week that Greek detention facilities are dangerously overcrowded as they continue to receive irregular migrants seeking to enter Europe from Turkey, and called on the EU to address the migrant detention issue. [OHCHR]
  • Last week, Tibetan students marched in protest of reported government plans to institute a Chinese-only language policy in classrooms. [Impunity Watch]
  • The European Commissioner for Human Rights calls attention to the plight of institutionalized persons with disabilities in his latest comment.
  • A U.S. federal district court judge in Kansas has ruled that Human Rights Watch and a researcher must disclose their notes and sources in the trial of a Rwandan charged with illegally obtaining U.S. citizenship by lying about his participation in the Rwandan genocide. [AP]
  • Mark Lyttle, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent who was wrongly deported to Mexico is suing the U.S. government after Lyttle, who apparently has a history of mental illness and speaks no Spanish, was deported without court-appointed counsel or an opportunity to present evidence of his citizenship. [Impunity Watch]

News Clips – October 3, 2010

October 3, 2010 Leave a comment
  • In Ecuador, a state of emergency remains in place following last week’s uprising of members of the military against President Correa’s government, prompting human rights defenders to call for a quick restoration of full civil liberties. [CEJIL] The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the attack against Correa. [IACHR]
  • Germany today commemorates 20 years of reunification and will use its experience to assist the South Korean government in moving forward with unification of the Korean Peninsula. [New York Times; VOA]
  • The UN fact-finding mission into the Gaza flotilla incident has issued its report, concluding that Israel used “unlawful” and “unnecessary” violence in its interception of a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid in May and June of this year.  The report was adopted by the Human Rights Council. [UN; OHCHR]
  • The U.S. government has apologized for conducting medical experiments on Guatemalan prisoners, sex workers, psychiatric hospital patients, and soldiers from 1946 to 1948.  The tests purposefully infected approximately 1,500 Guatemalans with syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases between 1946 and 1948.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed outrage and regret, while Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom qualified the experiments as a “crime against humanity” and reserved the right to pursue legal redress. [CERIGUA; Reuters]
  • In Venezuela, a riot in the Tocoron prison, which is allegedly run by gang members, has claimed 16 lives. [Impunity Watch]  The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has previously expressed concern regarding the overcrowding and conditions in Venezuelan prisons, and last week expressed its concern at the discovery of a child prostitution ring operating out of a Paraguayan prison. [IACHR]
  • Uganda has charged detained Kenyan human rights defender Al-Amin Kimathi with terrorism and murder due to his role in representing the six Kenyans being prosecuted for the Kampala World Cup bombing. [HRW]
  • Cuba may release more political prisoners if they agree to leave the country. [AP]
  • Seven years after Liberia’s civil war, Prince Johnson, a current Liberian senator and former warlord who participated in atrocities committed during the war, has been certified to run for the presidency in next year’s election.  The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia’s final report recommended that Johnson be banned from holding public office for 30 years and be prosecuted for crimes against humanity (p. 353). [AP]  The Special Court for Sierra Leone is managing the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, in The Hague, for atrocities committed by Liberian and rebel forces under his direction in neighboring Sierra Leone, but the International Criminal Court has not opened an investigation into the crimes committed in Liberia during its civil war.
  • The UN Human Rights Council has confirmed that the right to water and sanitation is binding on States, as embodied in international treaties  [UN]
  • The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term tomorrow with Justice Elena Kagan becoming the third woman on the court.  As quoted in the Washington Post, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated, “When the schoolchildren file in and out of the court and they look up and they see three women, then that will seem natural and proper – just how it is.” Critics note that the the ideological divide among the 9 justices may be seen as partisan, in that each Supreme Court justice viewed as conservative was nominated by a Republican president and each justice viewed as liberal in his or her judicial philosophy was appointed by a Democratic president, which had not previously been true.  [Washington Post]  The Court’s docket this term will include cases related to immigration law, freedom of expression, criminal due process and other issues. [SCOTUSblog]  For an interesting commentary on the Roberts Court’s impact on American constitutional law thus far, see Barry Friedman and Dahlia Lithwick’s article on Slate.
  • The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a report calling on Nepal to establish an independent body to receive and investigate citizen complaints, following its discovery that security forces are suspected of having committed dozens of extrajudicial killings since January of 2008. [UN]
  • As a series of teen suicides in the United States are attributed to school bullying on the basis of perceived sexual orientation, activist Dan Savage has initiated the It Gets Better Project on YouTube to offer messages of hope to LGBT teens. [ACLU]
  • The trial of former Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani for his alleged participation in the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 is set to begin tomorrow in federal court in New York City, drawing further criticism of the continued use of military commissions and detention abroad of terrorism suspects. [ACLU; HRW]
  • Indigenous Chilean prisoners have ended their hunger strike in protest of the terrorism charges levied against them in connection with their anti-poverty protests.  The end of the hunger strike was welcomed by the UN, but Human Rights Watch called on the Chilean government to amend its anti-terrorism laws and limit use of the military court system. [ UN; HRW]
  • Human Rights First urged the UNHCR to continue working to ensure equality and dignity in the treatment of LGBTI refugees, as governments and civil society met in Geneva to discuss the issue. [HRF]
  • The CIA has begun using armed drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in an expansion of the highly controversial use of targeted killings. [Washington Post]
  • Bahrain has issued a travel ban against several human rights defenders, preventing them from leaving the country. [HRW]
  • Mexican mayors’ lives are at risk in the country’s ongoing battle against drug trafficking. [Washington Post]
  • Britain has legally recognized  Druidry, an ancient faith whose followers worship the natural world, as a religion by approving the Druid Network’s application to be registered as a religious charity.  [Huffington Post]
  • Liu Xiabobo, a likely contender for the Nobel Peace Prize and Chinese dissident, is serving an 11-year prison sentence for subversion in connection with the publication of Charter 08, a proposal for peaceful democratic reform. [Washington Post]
  • One year after a massacre perpetrated by Guinea security forces claimed the lives of more than 150 people, the government has yet to prosecute the suspects, despite the ICC’s opening a preliminary examination. [HRW]
  • Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy has been convicted of spreading disinformation and falsifying maps, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Cambodia criticizes “disproportionate use of the law” against the press, activists and political leaders. [OHCHR; VOA]
  • The Thai government continues to invoke emergency powers to limit civil liberties, five months after anti-government protests were suppressed. [HRW]
  • Human Rights Watch calls for an investigation into a recent rash of police brutality and deaths in custody in Vietnam. [HRW]
  • In Zimbabwe, violence and arrests of activists have led to the disruption and suspension of community outreach meetings on Zimbabwean constitutional reform. [HRW]
  • The Global Migration Group, comprised of various intergovernmental organizations including the International Organization for Migration, urges States to ensure the fundamental rights of migrants in irregular situations. [OHCHR]
  • The Al-Jazeera network protested the arrest of two cameramen by NATO forces in Afghanistan. [Washington Post]  The cameramen were released two days later. [Al-Jazeera]
  • Following reports that Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was to be allowed to vote in upcoming elections and be freed from house arrest, it remains unclear what action the military government will take. [The Hindu; AP]

News Clips – September 20, 2010

September 20, 2010 Leave a comment
  • In a heartbreaking blow to Afghan hopes for peace, several U.S. soldiers are under investigation for murdering at least three Afghan civilians last year as part of a rogue “kill team” that was allegedly formed when a staff sergeant who had served in Iraq in 2004 joined the platoon stationed in Kandahar province. [Washington Post]
  • The French Senate has approved a ban on the use of full-face veils in public, subject to a fine of 150 Euros ; the legislation will now be reviewed by the Constitutional Council [Impunity Watch; BBC]
  • On Thursday, the U.S. state of Virginia will execute Teresa Lewis, following her conviction for the 2002 deaths of her husband and stepson; she will be the first woman to be executed in the state in 98 years and is reported to have “severe learning difficulties”. [Guardian]
  • Polish police have detained exiled Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, who was granted asylum in the United Kingdom in 2003, but Polish authorities have not determined whether he will be extradited to Russia, where he is sought on charges of armed revellion, murder and kidnapping. [BBC; RNW]
  • Italy and Libya’s joint agreement to intercept would-be migrants at sea has led to several incidents where Libyan patrols have fired upon Italian boats in the mistaken belief that they were carrying migrants. [Impunity Watch; Human Rights Watch]
  • Ecuador and Colombia have met to discuss the plight of the approximately 135,000 displaced Colombians living in Ecuador, due to ongoing violence [Impunity Watch; ADN]
  • Leading Russian gay rights activist, Nikolai Alekseyev, has been released after being held by Russian authorities for two days while they allegedly pressured him to withdraw a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights. [Radio Free Europe]
  • A U.S. citizen has been released from Iranian custody after inadvertently crossing Iranian border from Iraq while hiking; meanwhile, while Amnesty calls attention to 30,000 held in Iran without trial and prominent Iranian human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. [Guardian; NYT; Amnesty]
  • The Philippine National Police will support the installation of a human rights desk in every police station, following torture accusations levied against the police. [Manila Bulletin]
  • In Kyrgyzstan, human rights reporter Azimjon Askarov has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges the Committee to Protect Journalists says are completely unfounded. [CPJ]
  • Peruvian President Alan Garcia approved a repeal of recent Legislative Decree 1097, amidst fears that the law would provide amnesty for security forces members accused of human rights violations. [Peruvian Times]  The repeal was viewed favorably by the IACHR, which had criticized the decree. [IACHR]
  • Citing “the lack of the right to legitimate defence in Rwanda today”, a French court has rejected Rwanda’s request to extradite Eugene Rwamucyo, a doctor wanted for his alleged involvement in the Rwandan genocide. [RNW]
  • Hamas and UN Relief & Works Agency clash over human rights curriculum in schools. [NPR]
  • The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has released its annual report, Steadfast in Protest, provides a region-by-region analysis of government  protection (or repression) of the media and civil society (note that the Table of Contents is at the end of the 500-plus page report).  The report is choc-full of individual examples of human rights defenders who were subjected to harassment or prosecution, and instances of dissent which were stifled – particularly during elections – in 2009. [FIDH]
  • Human Rights Watch calls for the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry for Burma, to investigate past abuses by the military and armed groups.  [HRW]
  • The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on legislation, which has been approved by the House of Representatives, and which would repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy towards gay and lesbian members of the military. [ACLU]
  • Kashmiri separatists protest curfew laws and Indian occupation in bloody battles with Indian troops, in which at least three protesters have lost their lives, while Human Rights Watch calls for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which protects members of the Indian military from prosecution and grants broad powers to use force and conduct warrantless arrests. [BBC; HRW]
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing warns of the high rate of forced evictions in Kazakhstan. [OHCHR]
  • The IACHR has presented a case to the Inter-American Court involving Chilean courts’ denial of parental custody rights to a lesbian mother because of her sexual orientation.  Karen Atala’s petition is the first to be decided by the Commission relating to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [IACHR]
  • UN expert calls on Sudanese authorities to investigate the September 2nd killing of dozens of civilians in North Darfur. [OHCHR]
  • A Reprieve investigator reports that the FBI has been deeply involved in the questioning and detention of individuals connected to the World Cup bombings in Kampala this year, the investigation of which has included the arbitrary detention of two Kenyan human rights defenders arrested in Uganda last week.  They had been working on behalf of three Kenyans subjected to extraordinary rendition and charged in Uganda for their alleged role in the Kampala World Cup bombings. [Huffington Post]
  • Organizations call for the immediate release of 19-year-old blogger being held incommunicado in Syria for nine months now.  [AFP; HRW]
  • Attacks against journalists threaten lives and freedom of expression in Mexico. [Impunity Watch]
  • The Costa Rican Supreme Court has ruled that the high crime rate in the country cannot justify arbitrary police checkpoints on public roads, which may be established only when there is substantiated evidence or actual notice of a crime having been committed. [CEJIL]
  • 18 protesters were injured, and one killed, in a confrontation between Peruvian police and protesters opposed to a dam and agricultural irrigation system which residents of Espinar fear would leave them without water. [Reuters; AlertNet]
  • In Thailand, planning for anti-government protests is underway as the fourth anniversary of the military coup approaches. [Democracy Now]
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