World Insights: U.S. uses "black sites" to trample on human rights under counterterrorism guise

https://english.news.cn/20230715/56af85dfc29d463eabef06cf944d892d/c.html

Pakistan to renew military courts for 'terror' suspects

Lower house of parliament votes in favour of trying civilian 'terrorism' suspects in military courts for two more years.

Islamabad, Pakistan - The lower house of parliament voted to renew the mandate for military courts to try civilian "terrorism" suspects for a further two years, raising concerns among activists over allegations of rights violations by such courts in the past.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/pakistan-renews-military-courts-terror-suspects-170321143432673.html

Libya: Torture, Starvation, Deprivation - Life Inside IS Prisons in Libya

During a months-long investigation, IRIN tracked down and spoke to those held in so-called Islamic State's secret prisons

http://allafrica.com/stories/201610241624.html?aa_source=nwsltr-terrorism-en

Self-described 9/11 plotter rails against US

Khaled Sheikh Mohammed accuses US president of torture and murder on third day of pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/10/201210185357223988.html

Clegg signals disquiet over secret court hearings

Nick Clegg has signalled opposition to parts of the government's plans for secret trials in some civil cases involving national security.

His move coincides with a report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights which strongly criticised the plans.

Ministers say closed hearings are needed to protect national security.

Mr Clegg has also said that he believes no inquests should be held in private.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17601594

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sets up live webcams at home

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has set up four live webcams at his home, in a nod to the 24-hour police surveillance he has lived under for the last year.

"In my life, there is so much surveillance and monitoring... our office has been searched, I have been searched, every day I am being followed, there are surveillance cameras in front of my house," he told the AFP news agency.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17601407

FBI 'anti-terror' arrest near US Capitol

A man has been arrested near the US Capitol building as part of an anti-terror investigation, US officials say.

Amine El Khalifi, 29, of Alexandria, Virginia was taken into custody by the FBI.

Officials told US media the man thought he was heading to carry out a suicide attack on the Washington DC building, home to the US Congress.

He was "closely and carefully monitored" for weeks, according to the FBI and US Capitol police.

Authorities say the public was never in any danger.

Mr Khalifi allegedly thought undercover FBI agents he was working with were members of the al-Qaeda network.

However, he was not believed to have any known existing connections to al-Qaeda, officials said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17080940#TWEET80149

UN experts welcome entry into force of treaty on enforced disappearance A l...

UN experts welcome entry into force of treaty on enforced disappearance

A landmark treaty to deter enforced disappearances entered into force today with United Nations experts tasked with assisting families determine the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared urging States to ensure the eradication of the crime by bringing those responsible to justice.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 2006, took effect 30 days after Iraq became the 20th State to ratify it.

“The entry into force of the Convention is a new and important step in the right direction. But it is not enough,” said members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in a statement.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37150&Cr=disappearance&Cr1=

Iraq paves way for UN treaty on enforced disappearance to enter into force ...

Iraq paves way for UN treaty on enforced disappearance to enter into force

The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the approaching entry into force of a landmark new treaty to deter enforced disappearance after Iraq became the 20th State to ratify the convention, paving the way for it to become effective in the next 30 days.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is designed to prevent enforced disappearance, punish those who perpetrate the practice and protect victims. Iraq ratified the Convention yesterday.

“An important legal gap in international human rights legislation has been filled in the fight against enforced disappearance, one of the most serious and distressing crimes on the international stage,” said Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“This ground-breaking Convention provides a solid international framework to put an end to impunity and pursue justice, and as a result will hopefully have a significant deterrent effect.

“It should provide the friends and relatives of victims a significant boost in their efforts to find out what happened to their loved ones. The pain of not knowing, sometimes for decades, whether someone is healthy or suffering, or even dead or alive, is excruciating – almost a form of torture in itself,” Ms. Pillay said.

The Convention, which has 45 articles, outlaws enforced disappearance without exception. Article one states that: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”

Signatories to the Convention are prohibited from holding anyone in secret detention and are required to hold criminally responsible “any person who commits, orders, solicits or induces the commission of, attempts to commit, is an accomplice to or participates in an enforced disappearance.”

The treaty also characterizes as a crime against humanity the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance. It also obligates States to take steps to protect complainants, witnesses, relatives of disappeared individuals, their defence counsel and investigators. 

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36856&Cr=human&Cr1=rights