Innocence Project on Offensive After Texas Tries to Suppress It Executed Innocent Man

By Staff, Innocence Project | Allan Turner, Houston Chronicle | Brandi Grissom, Texas Tribune | Haiti Chery. The Texas State Fire Marshal hurriedly resigned in Dec 2011. This follows protests against the State Attorney General’s July dismissal of a forensic panel that had ripped the methods used to convict Cameron Todd Willingham, a man Texas executed in 2004.

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Frederico Garcia Lorca, Three Poems: Ditty of First Desire, Debussy, Fare Well | Frederico Garcia Lorca, tres poemas: Cancioncilla del primer beso, Debussy, El balcón

By Frederico Garcia Lorca, Casa Poema, Kempis, Everything2 | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Frederico García Lorca, one of the greatest poets and playwrights in the Spanish language, became Franco’s most famous victim at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Lorca’s remains might be in one of the unmarked graves that Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered exhumed as part of his probe into Spain’s fascist era. (English | Spanish)

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Tunisians ‘Occupy’ Police, Courts, Government | Les Tunisiens continuent à affronter la police, les tribunaux, le gouvernement

By Staff, Tunisia News Agency. In Zarzis, Tunisia, youths stormed a police station and freed a friend who had been arrested for suspicion of damage to property; in Kebili, relatives of several individuals who had been arrested in September have been blocking the activities of a military court for over three days so as to get them transferred to civil justice; in Mazouna, a general strike is in effect to demand provision in the budget for the agricultural sector, reopening of factories, electricity, and clean water. These are just a few examples. (English | French)

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The Garzon Trial: Petty Vengeance

By Robert Bosschart, Radio Netherlands. More than anything, Judge Baltasar Garzon is paying the price for seeking to uncover a vast corruption ring (the so-called Gurtel case) within a Conservative party that embezzled millions during its previous administration and has just returned to power.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail

By Martin Luther King Jr, In: Why We Can’t Wait (Harper & Row, N.Y., 1963) | Charles Moore, Photos | Estate of Martin Luther King Jr, Statement by Clergymen | Assembled by Haiti Chery. “Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.” – MLK

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Argentina Invokes Universal Jurisdiction for Crimes Against Humanity | Argentina invoca la jurisdicción universal para crímenes contra la humanidad

By Marcela Valente, IPS, Periodistas En Español | Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction, Univ. Minnesota Human Rights Library. A judge in Argentina has begun to investigate human rights crimes committed during Spain’s civil war and the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (between 1936 and 1975). The case is invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and has landed in Argentina because Spain’s justice system is not effectively taking action. (English | Spanish)

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Pan-European Backing for Hungarian Journalists on 3rd Week of Hunger Strike | Démonstration pan-européenne pour sauvegarder la liberté de la presse en Hongrie

PRESS RELEASE, European Federation of Journalists | Contrary Hungarian blog | Christine Dupre, La Libre | Translations by Haiti Chery. The EFJ, which represents over 260,000 journalists in over 30 countries, backs the Hungarian journalists and union workers on a hunger strike since December 10 to protest repression and manipulation of the news.

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Journalists on Hunger Strike Subjected to Dismissal, Loud Music, Spotlights

By Jake Blumgart, Dissent Magazine. Phone interview of Jake Blumgart with Balázs Nagy-Navarro: the vice-president of Hungary Television and Filmmakers’ Union and one of several journalists and union members who, on Dec 10, 2011, started a hunger strike to protest media repression.

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Cuba Announces Massive Prisoner Release, Gradual Ease of Travel Restrictions

By Staff, Xinhua | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The release of 2,000 Cuban prisoners on the anniversary of the release of the Bay of Pigs invaders by Cuba is hardly coincidental. It is now the United State’ turn to free the Cuban 5.

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Rwanda Genocide Organizers Get Life Imprisonment

By Edwin Musoni, The New Times. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced both Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera, who were President and Vice-President of Mouvement Révolutionnaire Nationale pour le Développement (MRND) respectively, to life imprisonment for their roles in the 1994 Hutu Genocide against the Tutsi minority.

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Gildan Orders Haitian Subcontractor to Reinstate Union Workers

By Alison MacGregor, Montreal Gazette. Gildan Activewear Inc., a Montreal-based apparel firm, has ordered its Haitian subcontractor, the Genesis S.A. factory owned by Haiti’s Apaid family, to reinstate four workers illegally fired in September for forming a new union.

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Iceland Recognizes Palestine

Press Release, IceNews. After a parliamentary resolution that passed unopposed, the Government of Iceland, on 15 December 2011, recognised Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the pre-1967 Six Day War borders. This is the first recognition of Palestine by a Western European or Northern European country.

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