Arab League Demands Israel Release Palestinian Prisoners
Rami Almeghari | imemc.org | 2020-03-23
The League of Arab States, consisting of 22 Arab countries, addressed international human rights organizations and other relevant bodies, on Monday, what they describe as an imperative release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, from Israeli jails. A press release, issued by the Deputy-Secretary General of the Arab States' League for …
imemc.org/article/arab-league-demand-israel-release-palestinian-prisoners/

US States Release 'Low-Risk' Inmates Over COVID-19 Spread
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-23
Thousands of 'low-risk' inmates in at least 16 U.S. states are being released in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in crowded jails and prisons. | RELATED: | Iran Temporarily Frees 85,000 Inmates As Pandemic Worsens | "Jails can be incubators for disease so we have to take bold and drastic steps," New Jersey's Attorney General Gurbir Singh Grewal said, adding this measure is made to protect the health of prisoners and limit COVID-19 effect in prison population. | T…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-States-Release-Low-Risk-Inmates-Over-COVID-19-Spread-20200323-0009.html

Army Abducts Three Palestinians In Qalqilia
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2020-03-23
Israeli soldiers abducted, Monday, three Palestinian men in Qalqilia governorate, in northern West Bank, after invading and violently searching their homes, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported. The PPS said the soldiers invaded and ransacked homes in Sniria village, south of Qalqilia, before abducting 'Ala Sadeq Omar, 38, and …
imemc.org/article/army-abducts-three-palestinians-in-qalqilia/

Colombia: Prison Riots Under Investigation
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-23
The Colombian Prosecutor's Office will open an investigation into the deaths of 23 inmates after protests on March 22. The prisoners requested the government instittute preventive measures against the Covid-19 inside the prison facility. The demonstration resulted in violence and the death of several inmates. | RELATED: | Covid-19 Death Toll Rises Moderately in Latin America | The legal body said in a communication: "Because of these regrettable events in which 23 inmates at the La Mode…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombia-prison-riots-under-investigation-20200323-0004.html

'Ticking Time Bombs': Democrats and Advocates Demand Release of At-Risk Inmates Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-23
Rights advocates and Democrats holding state and federal elected offices across the United States are doubling down on demands for the release of "at-risk" inmates and more prevenative measures in jails and prisons to prevent mass outbreaks of the new coronavirus, which has killed at least 473 people and infected over 35,000 nationwide as of Monday morning. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-5660331311.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/23/ticking-time-bombs-democrats-and-advocates-demand-release-risk-inmates-amid?cd-origin=rss

US Urged to Release Detainees at ICE Centers as Virus Spreads
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-22
Legal rights groups RAICES, Rapid Defense Network, and ALDEA-The People's Justice Center filed an emergency lawsuit on behalf of families and children detained by the United States (U.S.) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to demand their immediate release as the new coronavirus is fast-spreading across the country. | RELATED: | Trump Dismissed Intel, Warned in January of COVID-19 Threat | The organizations said Saturday in a press release that all the migrant detention cen…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-Urged-to-Release-Detainees-at-ICE-Centers-as-COVID-19-Spreads-20200322-0008.html

Coronavirus hits US prisons: "thousands face death sentence"
Anya Parampil | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-22
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Dr. Amanda Klonsky, the chief program officer at a prison education organization, about…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/22/coronavirus-prisons-death-sentence/

Taliban-Afghan Gov't Skype Call Revives Hopes of Peace Process
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-22
Afghanistan's Taliban and the current government held a "virtual" meeting on prisoner releases Sunday, officials reported, breathing life back into the nascent peace process. | RELATED: | Afghanistan Suggests Ceasefire with Taliban to Fight Pandemic | The two sides spoke for over two hours in a Skype meeting facilitated by the United States and Qatar, officials said. | "Prisoner releases by both sides is an important step in the peace process, as stated in the U.S.-Taliban agree…
telesurenglish.net/news/Taliban-Afghan-Govt-Skype-Call-Revives-Hopes-of-Peace-Process-20200322-0010.html

Israel's Palestinian Inmates to Hunger Strike Due to COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-22
Palestinians detained in Israel threatened to start an indefinite hunger strike to protest Israel's response to the coronavirus pandemic including a ban on meeting attorneys, absence of preventive measures, and refusal of protection gear, Haaretz reported Sunday. | RELATED: | 'Dear World, How Is the Lockdown?' Gaza Takes To Twitter | Prisoners affiliated with Hamas, the group governing Gaza, returned their breakfast and lunches Thursday, and others affiliated with Fatah, the faction tha…
telesurenglish.net/news/Covid-19-Israels-Palestinian-Inmates-Threaten-to-Hunger-Strike-20200322-0009.html

Prison Protests Due to Overcrowding Ends in 23 Dead, 83 Wounded
telesurenglish.net | 2020-03-22
At least 23 prisoners died and 83 were wounded in the La Modelo Prison in Bogotá during the riots last night, the Colombian Ministry of Justice reported on Sunday. According to the Ministry, several prisoners protested the overcrowding of these facilities amid fears of the coronavirus spreading. | RELATED: | Colombia: President Duque Faces Investigation for Vote Buying | "The result of the escape attempt in La Modelo was 23 dead and 83 wounded, of which 32 are in hospital centers,"
telesurenglish.net/news/Prison-Protests-Due-to-Overcrowding-Ends-in-23-Dead-83-Wounded-20200322-0005.html

How the ACLU Organized to end Racial Profiling on Greyhound Buses
Andrea Flores | aclu.org | 2020-03-20
Two years ago, the ACLU set a clear goal: push Greyhound to refuse Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers access to their buses to conduct warrantless searches. As part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, CBP officers were targeting bus passengers around the country, boarding their buses to racially profile, harass, and too often, detain people who they suspected of being undocumented. Of course, you can't tell someone's immigration status by how they look or sound

FRSO condemns the murder of Communist Party of the Philippines leader Julius Giron
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-03-20
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) condemns the brutal government murder of the prominent Filipino communist Julius Giron, his wife Lourdes Tan Torres and their aide. We extend our condolences to his family, friends and our comrades of the Communist Party of the Philippines. | We are given to understand Julius Giron made a lifetime of huge contributions to revolutionary struggle of the people of the Philippines to end all oppression and exploitation. This cruel and cowardly killing, carried out by police thugs at 3 a.m., stands as an indictment of the Duterte regime and its imperialist masters. This crimi…
fightbacknews.org/2020/3/19/frso-condemns-murder-communist-party-philippines-leader-julius-giron

We Know Prisons Need COVID-19 Plans, but our Arizona Prison Tour Suggests it's not Happening
Corene Kendrick | aclu.org | 2020-03-19
Earlier this month, the Prison Law Office and the ACLU National Prison Project filed an emergency motion in federal court in Phoenix. The motion asks the judge to order the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to consult with a correctional health care expert to develop a plan to prevent, manage, and treat any COVID-19 outbreaks in the state's 10 prisons. You might think this is an obvious request, but we've spent the last decade observing the Arizona pri…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/we-know-prisons-need-covid-19-plans-our-arizona-prison-tour-suggests-its-not-happening

Preventing discrimination against people with disabilities in COVID-19 response
news.un.org | 2020-03-19
Unless Governments and communities take action, discrimination against people with disabilities could increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/03/1059762

The Military Should not be Searching Cars or Checking Documents at the Border
Shaw Drake | aclu.org | 2020-03-18
There's an old saying that goes, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." This adage is especially applicable to the Trump administration's approach toward border policy, which is ever more militarized. On March 6th, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials announced that the Department of Defense would deploy 160 active-duty troops to ports of entry at the border

Delay or Hold Primaries: Can the 2020 Election Be Safeguarded Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic?
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-18
Tuesday night's primary election for the Democratic presidential nomination was marred by chaos, confusion and fears over the spread of coronavirus at polling places as former Vice President Joe Biden consolidated his lead as he won Florida and Illinois by a wide margin and scored a victory in Arizona. We are joined by Vanita Gupta, former head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration, now president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights coalition. They issued a call with 100 voting rights groups for states to proce…
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/18/democratic_primaries_joe_biden_coronavirus_fears

Inside Prison Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: Incarcerated Journalist Says Millions Behind Bars at Risk
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-17
As San Francisco takes the most severe measures in the country in response to COVID-19, telling 7 million people to shelter in place, we go inside the Bay Area's San Quentin State Prison, where two prison blocks are under partial quarantine, to speak with incarcerated journalist Juan Moreno Haines. We look at how the coronavirus pandemic is a growing threat to the 2.3 million people locked up in U.S. prisons and jails, as prisons across the country have been shut down in response to the spreading virus and calls grow for mass prison releases around the United States.
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/17/coronavirus_prisons_san_quentin

SPLC's Three Strikes Project helps nonviolent offenders move from prison to parole
splcenter.org | 2020-03-17
Drugs were a way of life in the economically struggling "Brickyard" neighborhood of Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Nicky Patterson grew up.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/17/splcs-three-strikes-project-helps-nonviolent-offenders-move-prison-parole

SPLC offices, Civil Rights Memorial Center close
splcenter.org | 2020-03-14
Our work continues with fervor and is needed more now than ever.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/20/splc-offices-civil-rights-memorial-center-close

This Law Makes Voting Nearly Impossible for Native Americans in Montana
Alora Thomas-Lundborg | aclu.org | 2020-03-12
Voting has never been easy for Native Americans living on rural reservations in Montana, which are often geographically isolated, with limited access to postal service and transportation. The passage of the Montana Ballot Interference Prevention Act (BIPA) has made these obstacles even greater, severely inhibiting Native Americans' access to the ballot. That's why we're suing. | In a state where the majority of individuals vote | by mail, rural tribal communities often work with get-out-the-vote organizer…
aclu.org/news/voting-rights/this-law-makes-voting-nearly-impossible-for-native-americans-in-montana

The Government Has a Secret Plan to Track Everyone's Faces at Airports. We're Suing
Ashley Gorski | aclu.org | 2020-03-12
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration are putting us on an extraordinarily dangerous path toward the normalization of face surveillance. But because key facts about this surveillance are still secret, the public lacks the information it needs to hold these agencies to account. We're suing to bring some much-needed transparency., , Over the past few years, CBP and the TSA have dramatically expanded their use of facial recognition technology at the airport and other U.S. ports of entr…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/the-government-has-a-secret-plan-to-track-everyones-faces-at-airports-were-suing

Keep Calm and Carry on Voting: How to Vote By Mail During the Coronavirus Outbreak
Nicole Hansen | aclu.org | 2020-03-11
Coronavirus should not be a political issue, but with presidential primaries and the general election coming up, it could soon directly impact our politics. We should protect not only our health, but our civil liberties at this time

Civil Rights Memorial Center closed through March
splcenter.org | 2020-03-10
The Civil Rights Memorial Center (CRMC) in Montgomery, Alabama, is closed and will remain closed through the end of March 2020.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/10/civil-rights-memorial-center-closed-through-march

San Diego Police Stop Black People at a Rate 219 Percent Higher Than White People
Chelsey Birgisdóttir | aclu.org | 2020-03-10
"They did what human beings looking for | freedom, throughout history, have often done. They left." | These | are the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson in her book, "The | Warmth of Other Suns." The book | follows the story of three Black Southerners and their journey escaping racial | violence

[Research Paper] Gender discrimination and depressive symptoms among child-bearing women: ELSPAC-CZ cohort study
Irena Stepanikova, Sanjeev Acharya, Safa Abdalla, Elizabeth Baker, Jana Klanova, Gary L. Darmstadt | thelancet.com | 2020-03-04
The findings provide the first evidence that perceived gender discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms among child-bearing women. Social intervention programs aimed at reducing gender discrimination can potentially contribute to better mental health of women.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30041-9/fulltext?rss=yes

Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent
Marjorie Cohn | zcomm.org | 2020-03-02
The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/extradition-of-assange-would-set-a-dangerous-precedent/

Carol Anderson on Voter Suppression
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2020-02-28
Media…
fair.org/home/carol-anderson-on-voter-suppression/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carol-anderson-on-voter-suppression