Whatever happened on the Mavi Marmara on the morning of May 31st, 2010, the BBC’s Panorama team failed to give a balanced view of it in its so-called documentary, Death in the Med. Even the title sounds more like that of a paperback mystery, rather than a serious analysis of Israel’s worst atrocity since Operation Cast Lead.
Ethan Bronner reports in the New York Times that a report on the situation in the Gaza Strip from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
says that anti-Israeli militants operate from the border areas in question, planting explosive devices, firing at Israeli military vehicles and shooting rockets and mortar rounds at civilians. But it argues that Israel has an obligation under international law to protect civilians and civilian structures.
Bronner devotes the first part of his article to noting the impact on a Palestinian family, whose “trees and wells were bulldozed”, noting “destroyed houses” surrounding the family’s “desolate fields”. He notes that, according to the report, 12 percent of the population “have lost livelihoods or have otherwise been severely affected by Israeli security policies along the border, both land and sea, in recent years”, and that “the restricted land comprises 17 percent of Gaza’s total land mass and 35 percent of its agricultural land”, but this is about the extent of his discussion with regard to the content of the report. Most of the rest of the article is dedicated to offering the Israeli point of view and response to the release of the report:
Population: Estimated to be from 60,000 to 1 million
Headquarters: Rabwah town, Punjab
Headquarters: Qadian in Gurdaspur district, Punjab, where the sect was established. The 2001 census counted roughly 20,000 Ahmadis in Qadian.
Status: Since 1974, declared non-Muslim
Why low numbers: Partition saw the bulk of Ahmadis becoming citizens of Pakistan
What they can’t do: Call themselves Muslim, offer prayers in mosques, quote Quranic verses in their newspaper, propagate their religion
Status: Several high court verdicts say they must be treated as Muslim
Threats from fundamentalists: They say it is ‘permissible to kill’ them. Some 2,000 died in riots in 1953, suffered untold misery in 1974. The attacks on them claimed nearly 100 lives.
What they can’t do: They don’t sit on the Muslim Personal Law Board, but are governed by Muslims
As the international media frenetically reported the simultaneous terror attacks on the two mosques of the Ahmadi community in Lahore, Pakistani journalists countenanced an arrantly absurd situation—they were required to eschew the M-word under law. In their dispatches, as poignant as any, the two Ahmadi mosques became mere “places of worship”. Between the two nomenclatures—mosque and place of worship—lies the gulf separating Muslims from non-Muslims in Pakistan. The wishes of Ahmadis do not matter, their own definition of themselves as Muslim counts for nothing. The Constitution of Pakistan declares them as non-Muslim and proscribes the use of the word mosque to describe their places of worship. The defiant can flout the law at their own peril.
“Silencing Shia advocates will do nothing to hide the Saudi government’s record of harassment and discrimination against the group. But jailing a peaceful critic for months on end shows just how far Saudi officials will go to avoid criticism.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director
(New York) – Saudi Arabia’s domestic intelligence service should immediately release Munir Jassas, an advocate for Shia rights, who has been detained without charge for over five months, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Silencing Shia advocates will do nothing to hide the Saudi government’s record of harassment and discrimination against the group,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “But jailing a peaceful critic for months on end shows just how far Saudi officials will go to avoid criticism.”
Today’s ruling is yet another setback for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. The case is blatantly part of a pattern of prosecutions in which the authorities have brought trumped-up charges against outspoken journalists and activists in Azerbaijan.
Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus researcher for Human Rights Watch
(New York) – The Azerbaijani government should release two bloggers who have been detained since July 2009 as the result of a staged fight designed to frame them, Human Rights Watch said today. The bloggers, Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, lost their appeal against their conviction today.
In a hearing that lasted two and a half hours, the Baku Appeal Court upheld the trial court’s decision in November, convicting Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm. The Appeal Court did not examine the two bloggers’ central contention, that the attack that led to their conviction had been deliberately staged to frame them, even though multiple witnesses would corroborate their claim.
Liu Xiaobo is a human rights activist in China who has been repeatedly arrested for his political activities.
Imprisoning Liu Xiaobo for his criticism of the government is a stain on China’s reputation and standing in the world. Instead of punishing and making an example of Liu, the Chinese government should address the concerns expressed in Charter 08.
Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch
(New York) – More than one hundred leading China scholars, writers, and human rights advocates from around the world are today releasing a letter to China’s National People’s Congress that calls for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Liu, a long-time critic of the government, was sentenced in December 2009 to 11 years in prison for his publication of six political essays and for his role in the drafting of Charter 08, a petition calling for the rule of law and respect for human rights in China.
“Imprisoning Liu Xiaobo for his criticism of the government is a stain on China’s reputation and standing in the world,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of punishing and making an example of Liu, the Chinese government should address the concerns expressed in Charter 08.”
It was a relatively short response to a question in a town hall-style meeting in Florida, yet it said much about President Barack Obama’s lack of concern about human rights in his foreign policy. The question came not from a hostile Republican opponent, but from a young college student who had volunteered on Obama’s campaign. She spoke directly to an issue that has alienated much of Obama’s Democratic base since the president took office: ongoing U.S. support for Israeli and Egyptian human rights abuses. The Israeli and Egyptian governments, both of which have notoriously poor human rights records, are the two largest recipients of U.S. security assistance.
Tamil women in a camp for displaced persons in Sri Lanka asking for news of their relatives who were taken away by the army, allegedly for rehabilitation.
The government has been keeping 11,000 people in a legal limbo for months. It’s time to identify who presents a genuine security threat and to release the rest.
–Brad Adams, Asia director
(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should end its indefinite arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 people held in so-called rehabilitation centers and release those not being prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 30-page report, “Legal Limbo: The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri Lanka,” is based on interviews with the detainees’ relatives, humanitarian workers, and human rights advocates, among others. The Sri Lankan government has routinely violated the fundamental rights of the detainees, Human Rights Watch found. The government contends that the 11,000 detainees are former fighters or supporters of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Liu Xiabao, left, had co-authored a political paper calling for sweeping reforms [AFP]
A Chinese court has rejected a prominent dissident’s appeal against his 11-year jail term for subversion.
The appeal by Liu Xiaobo, a writer and a former university professor, was turned down after a brief legal hearing in Beijing.
Liu, 54, was first detained in December 2008 after co-authoring a bold manifesto known as Charter 08, which called for sweeping political reform in China and an end to Communist Party dominance.
He was sentenced on December 25 last year on a charge of incitement to subvert state power.
Liu previously spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 Tiananmen Sqaure protests, which ended when the government called in the military, killing an unconfirmed number of demonstrators.
“The Iranian government’s effort to use anniversary celebrations to deflect attention from its human rights violations isn’t going to work. Instead, it should use the occasion to finally hold the abusers accountable.”
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director
(Washington, DC) – The scope of the Iranian government’s crackdown on dissent since the disputed June 2009 elections is even broader and the abuses more flagrant than previously reported, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today that documents numerous instances of abuse. The government should immediately release all those still being held for peacefully expressing dissent and make certain that those responsible for human rights abuses are held accountable, Human Rights Watch said.
Peace and Justice Post 
BBC Bias: The Gaza Freedom Flotilla
September 13, 2010By Anthony Lawson, Foreign Policy Journal, Sep 13, 2010
Whatever happened on the Mavi Marmara on the morning of May 31st, 2010, the BBC’s Panorama team failed to give a balanced view of it in its so-called documentary, Death in the Med. Even the title sounds more like that of a paperback mystery, rather than a serious analysis of Israel’s worst atrocity since Operation Cast Lead.
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Tags:Anthony Lawson, BBC, Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Human rights, Israel, propaganda, war crimes
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