Archive for category: News

There is a database housed in Arkansas with your name in it … that is, if you live in one of the 28 states participating in the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. It’s one of the growing components of an aggressive drive across the U.S. by Republicans to stop many Americans from voting.

Early voting has already begun in many states in the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. Control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance, as do many crucial governorships, congressional races and ballot initiatives. One question looming over this election is just how significant will be the impact of the wholesale, organized disenfranchisement of eligible voters.

I spoke with Dolores Internicola in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ground zero for the voter-purge efforts of embattled Republican Gov. Rick Scott. She lost her husband, Bill, recently. He was in the news in 2012, when, at the age of 91, Bill received an official notice in the mail that his citizenship was in question, and he would have to prove it or be kicked off the voter rolls. As a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the native New Yorker was upset to hear that he couldn’t participate in the vote that he helped defend against Nazi Germany. “It was terrible,” his widow recalled. Bill did get to vote in the 2012 elections, but millions are now threatened with similar, arbitrary disenfranchisement this year.

Investigative journalist Greg Palast, along with documentary filmmaker Richard Rowley, crisscrossed the country, documenting the impact of the Crosscheck Program. His critical investigative reporting of the now-legendary electoral debacle in Florida in 2000 helped expose how Florida’s then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris oversaw massive, erroneous voter purges there, giving the presidency to George W. Bush in what remains the most controversial presidential election in U.S. history.

“Now, it’s a decade and a half later, and I’m hearing the cry of ‘voter fraud. There’s a million people committing voter fraud.’ Is there really this big crime wave?” Palast asks in his two-part special on alleged “double voting” produced for Al-Jazeera America.

The Crosscheck system described by Palast started with Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach. It takes electronic records of voters from participating states, collects them in a centralized database in Arkansas and attempts to match individual voters who might have voted in more than one state. This “double voting” was responsible, according to conservative commentator Dick Morris, for 1 million fraudulent votes for Barack Obama, allowing him to “steal the election” in 2012. Yet, as Palast reports, there has not been a single successful prosecution of electoral fraud as a result of the Crosscheck system. Rather, Crosscheck has led to massive purges of eligible voters from the rolls, often based on sloppy data.

Purging of the voter rolls is just one way that Republicans are working to limit the vote. Key court decisions in recent weeks have all but guaranteed that tens of thousands of voters will be denied access to their right to vote. Texas just passed a highly restrictive photo-identification law. The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to rule on the substance of it until after the election in order to avoid confusion. In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, “The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters.”

Restrictive voter identification and other obstructions have been allowed to move forward as well in Wisconsin and North Carolina. It has been long acknowledged that photo-ID requirements disproportionately impact poor people and people of color, two groups that tend to vote for the Democratic Party.

In the fall of 1980, Paul Weyrich, a conservative activist who went on to found such right-wing institutions as The Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the American Legislative Exchange Council, addressed a conference in Dallas. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” he said. “Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” Weyrich’s wish back in 1980 has become a grim reality in 2014. The right to vote is sacred, and its protection is the responsibility of us all.

SB/AGB

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticized the wrong policies adopted by certain countries in the region, blaming those policies for spread of extremism.

“Unfortunately, adopting wrong policies in the region in the past has caused the spread of a wave of extremism…which must stop,” the Iranian foreign minister said on Thursday after his arrival in the Chinese capital, Beijing.

The Chinese city will host the 4th Ministerial Conference of Istanbul Process on Afghanistan on Friday.

The conference was first launched in 2011 to help promote coordination between Afghanistan and other regional countries to counter common threats, including terrorism and extremism. It is attended by 14 countries as its members and around 30 others as supporting countries.

The third conference was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 26.

Zarif said the solution to the scourge of extremism hinges on the adoption of a new policy toward Afghanistan and the region by the conference’s member countries.

He further stressed that none of the member countries can solve the problems in Afghanistan by themselves, adding, “Only through unity, convergence, and prioritizing Afghanistan’s problems can we be hopeful to solve them.”

The United States, Britain, and their allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of their so-called war on terror. Although the offensive removed the Taliban from power, insecurity continues to rise across the country.

IA/HJL/SS

The death sentence handed to the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr violates the Divine as well as civil laws, the imam of Al-Reda Mosque in Sydney, Australia said.

In an interview, Sheikh Nami Farhat Al-Ameli added that by issuing such a verdict, the Saudi regime seeks to intimidate the opposition and appease the extremists.  

Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was sentenced to death on October 15 by the Specialized Criminal Court in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Here are Sheikh Al-Ameli’s views about the verdict and the reasons behind it.  

Q: What reasons do you think are behind the death sentence?
A: The Saudi regime is built on a system of dictatorship, everything in the country (including people) belong to one family. So when a voice is raised calling for equality between citizens or asking for some rights it is obvious that such a regime will utilise its power to destroy it. Adding to this that the Saudi regime is built not only on the system of dictatorship but also on the Wahabism beliefs that don’t consider the Shi’a school of thought as Muslims. So how about if a scholar from this -as they claim- disbeliever group stands up and speaks against his people’s oppression?

Q: What objectives does Saudi Arabia pursue by issuing such a verdict?
A: In my opinion the Saudi regime wants to send three messages. The First message is to the opposition making them aware that any stand that opposes us publicly the result will be execution even if you are considered an important figure in the Islamic nation.
The Second message is to the right wing in the country showing them that they are applying the Islamic laws according to their beliefs, and I believe this is a very important message that the Saudi regime wants to deliver. As nowadays there is a big debate taking place between extreme groups in the Saudi regime whether their government is practicing Islam laws correctly (according to their beliefs) or should they take sides with ISIS (ISIL) and other extreme parties. By issuing the death sentence, the Saudi regime sent a clear message to this particular group, also convincing them they have an enemy inside their country (i.e. the Shias) and they arrested their leader. So there is no need for you to help or join ISIS which may cause damage inside the country as we will protect you from the enemy.

The third message the Saudi regime wants to send is for the world stating that they are still strong! It is important as in the past few years many problems occurred within the Saudi family, and the king is on his death bed. The message is to state that we are still able to protect our regime.
However I highly doubt that they will execute the death sentence on Sheikh Al Nimr. It is only messages that they want to deliver and they have been successful in some.

Q: Is the sentence justifiable according to Islamic laws as well as in terms of human rights?
A: The death sentence against Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr violates civil and divine laws. The Human rights declaration states “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law” (description of the UN declaration article 7, the United Nations). In Islam we do not find any ruling stating that you can kill a human being if he asks for justice; in fact Islam is built on a just system, anyone who reads the history will know how even non-Muslims used to live under the Islamic government which protected them, and the Islamic Republic of Iran today is a clear example of a true Islamic government that gives the opportunity to the minorities ( including Sunnis, Christians, Jews, etc) to represent themselves in the parliament and they have freedom in practicing their religions and traditions.
But if you ask me whether is it justifiable according to Wahabi laws? The answer is Yes. As they consider Sheikh Nimr to be a disbeliever and killing him is not only allowed but a recommended act that they will be rewarded by performing it!

Q: What should human rights organizations as well as international bodies like the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, etc, do with regards to this verdict?
A: The UN is under the control of the American imperialist system and only works for the benefit of this system. As for us, we must stand as Muslims, and show our support and rejection. Every community or party can study the steps that they can take according to where they live and the freedom they have. Perhaps in the west we can show our support through contacting human rights organizations and also through protesting in front of the Saudi embassy under the slogan of “we are all Sheikh Al-Nimr”.

Q: What can the media do about it?
A: Again media is under the control of the American imperialist system, but today’s media is not limited to newspapers or television. In fact social media is more powerful than television. We can use media to educate our communities, guide and encourage them to be active in standing and supporting the case of Sheikh Nimr in the way they find best.

Q: Will this issue lead to the deterioration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority countries like Iran, Lebanon and Iraq?
A: Governments work in a different way than societies, there is a system that they must follow in facing this problem and it can’t be announced publicly until they decide

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On 29 October 2014, a Bahraini court ruled that Nabeel Rajab will face criminal charges stemming from a single tweet in which both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense allege that he “denigrated government institutions.” The court postponed the trial until Sunday, 2 November. If convicted, Mr. Rajab could face up to six years in prison.

Americans for Democracy Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), and Index on Censorship condemn the criminal prosecution brought against Mr. Rajab, denounce his continued detention on charges related to his right to free speech and call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Mr. Rajab, President of BCHR and Co-Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), was summoned to the Cyber Crimes Unit of the Central Investigations Directorate’s (CID) for interrogation and promptly arrested on 1 October after spending months advocating for human rights in Bahrain throughout Europe. After 19 days in pre-trial detention, Mr. Rajab appeared in front of a judge on 19 October, where the court postponed his trial until 29 October and denied him release on bail.

The international community has been outspoken in condemning the arrest of Mr. Rajab and calling for his immediate and unconditional release. The United Nations called his detention “chilling” and argued that it sends a “disturbing message.” The governments of the United States, Norway, France, and Ireland, as well as the President of the European Parliament, United States Ambassador Samantha Power, United States Congressman James McGovern, 13 members of the UK Parliament, and 40 members of the European Parliament also called for Mr. Rajab’s release. While the UK government claims to be following the situation closely, it has yet to call for Mr. Rajab’s release.

This is not the first time Mr. Rajab has faced arbitrary detention. From July 2012 to May 2014, he was detained after calling for and participating in peaceful protests in Bahrain’s capital of Manama. Mr. Rajab was also previously sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment for allegedly defaming citizens of Muharraq via Twitter. Despite his eventual acquittal by the Court of Appeal, Mr. Rajab served most of his sentence.

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, call on the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other national and international bodies to actively engage the Government of Bahrain to:

•        Immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Nabeel Rajab;

•        Drop all charges against him in relation to or retaliation for his work and his exercise of the right to freedom of expression; and

•        Ensure that all civil society organizations and human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to conduct their work without fear of retaliation or reprisal.