(2020-01-09). Unions, civil rights groups join mass NYC march against anti-Semitism. peoplesworld.org 
NEW YORK (PAI)—The Teachers, AFSCME members, and the Jewish Labor Committee teamed up with civil rights groups and a raft of Jewish organizations to lead a mass march on Jan. 5 in New York against anti-Semitism. At least 25,000 people turned out to march from Foley Square in downtown Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge, to …
(2020-01-09). International Criminal Court Prepares to Try Israelis over War Crimes. therealnews.com 
Shawan Jabarin of the Al-Haq human rights organization discusses the International Criminal Court decision to prepare a lawsuit against the state of Israel regarding war crimes committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities are already panicking.
(2020-01-09). After 68 Days, Hunger Strikers in ICE Custody Are on the Brink of Death. truthout.org New Orleans, Louisiana — With hunger strikes sweeping immigration jails across the country, two Indian asylum seekers protesting their incarceration at a remote Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Louisiana are reportedly on the brink of death after refusing to eat or drink for 68 days, according to a volunteer who regularly visits the two men. | The hunger strikers have a clear demand: to be released so they can pursue their asylum cases outside of jail. | Medical staff at the…
(2020-01-09). "Clemency:" Exposing the Machinery of Death. aclu.org People on death | row are the direct object of a deeply flawed system of state killing that is infected | by racial and economic disparities and riddled with fatal errors. We currently | know of at least 166 | innocent people who were wrongfully condemned to die. | "Clemency," a new film starring Alfre Woodard as a prison | warden, explores the brutalizing effect the death penalty has on everyone else | in the system — the wardens, prison guards, chaplains, defense lawyers, and | their families, as well as the families of the victims…
(2020-01-09). Democrats Need to Rip Off the Mask of Timidity and Impeach Trump on All Counts. commondreams.org A child participant seen during the rally. Dozens of protesters take part in a rally called "Swarm the Senate" in the Hart Senate Office Building urging action to "impeach, remove, indict and jail" President Trump. (Photo: Michael Brochstein / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/impeach_trump_for_all_of_it.jpg …
(2020-01-09). PPS: Israeli Forces Arrest Fifteen Palestinians Including Mother of Prisoner. imemc.org Israeli forces detained fifteen Palestinians, on Wednesday, from across the West Bank, including a woman from occupied Jerusalem and a senior member of Fatah movement, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. A statement released by the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said that Israeli forces detained Sana Rajabi, from …
(2020-01-09). Updated: "Soldiers Abduct Eight Palestinians, Including One Child, In West Bank" imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday at dawn, at least eight Palestinians, including one child and two former political prisoners, from their homes in several parts of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported. The PPS said the soldiers invaded and ransacked dozens of homes across the …
(2020-01-09). Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Groups Call for Closure of Guant√°namo Prison on 18th Anniversary. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-01-09). Palestinian Prisoner Continues to Suffer Torture in Israeli Prison. imemc.org The Committee of Prisoners and Former Prisoners Affairs said that Samer Arbid, 44, from Ramallah suffers from signs of extreme torture, to which he was subjected during interrogation in Israeli jails, Quds News Network reported. The committee said in a statement on Wednesday that Arbid is held now in the …
(2020-01-09). UN rapporteur Nils Melzer condemns US torture of Chelsea Manning. wsws.org In a statement responding to Melzer's finding, the courageous whistleblower declared: "Even knowing I am very likely to stay in jail for an even longer time, I'm never backing down."
(2020-01-09). Inmates 'wearing fake suicide vests' attack officers in Whitemoor prison, anti-terrorism investigation launched. rt.com 
A counter-terrorism unit is investigating an attack in the maximum security HM Prison Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. Five prison staff were taken to hospital after the incident involving two inmates. | According to some reports, the attackers shouted "Allah Akbar" and were both wearing fake suicide vests. At least one of the men is understood to be a terrorist prisoner, the BBC reports. | BREAKING: Counter-terrorism police are investigating a prison attack today which left five members of staff needing hospital tr…
(2020-01-09). Jailed Catalan politician barred from being MEP in Spain. yenisafak.com The former vice president of Spain's Catalonia region cannot take a European Parliament seat since he is imprisoned for sedition and other charges, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled Thursday.Oriol Junqueras was voted in as an MEP in European elections last May. Yet at the time he was standing trial for his role in the illegal 2017 Catalan independence referendum and a subsequent declaration of independence. He was eventually sentenced to 13 years in prison. | Then, in December, the European Court of Justice ruled that Junqueras should have immunity as an MEP. | "A person who is elected to the European Parliament ac…
(2020-01-08). Iranian Americans Have Rights, Too — No Matter What's Happening Abroad. aclu.org Like most Iranian Americans, my family immigrated to the United States in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution in Iran, hoping to find safety and acceptance in a country that prides itself on diversity and freedom of expression. We learned and embraced the principles of the Constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, due process, and equal protection — protections that apply to every person, citizen and non-citizen alike. But what happened at the U.S. border this past weekend was a painful reminder that sometimes, we are still considered outsiders. | In the state of Washington this weekend,…
(2020-01-08). 'Multiple calls' in hunt for more victims of serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga. thecanary.co Police are investigating further potential victims of Britain's worst serial rapist as Reynhard Sinaga's father said his son's punishment "fits his crimes". | The Indonesian student was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years on Monday after being convicted of drugging 48 men and filming himself sexually violating them in his Manchester city centre apartment after picking them up outside nightclubs near his home. | The 36-year-old was a "perpetual student", studying for a PhD in Manchester, thanks to his rich family — his father, reportedly a devout Catholic, is a wealthy banker in his home country…
(2020-01-07). 'This Is a Moment to Be Really Vigilant Against All Forms of Oppression' – CounterSpin interview with Audrey Sasson on antisemitism. fair.org 
Janine Jackson interviewed Jews for Racial and Economic Justice's Audrey Sasson about antisemitism for the January 3, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
(2020-01-07). It Is Time for a New Way Forward. aclu.org In 1996, at the height of the "tough on crime" era, President Bill Clinton signed two laws that dramatically changed the criminal legal system and radically altered the U.S. immigration system. Just as the 1994 crime bill instituted unjust mandatory minimum sentences and ballooned the prison population, the immigration bills of that same era led to similarly disastrous consequences for immigrants — an explosion in the growth of detention and unfairly harsh punishments for immigrants, including mandatory deportations for minor…
(2020-01-07). The right-wing weaponisation of last year's London Bridge attack needs calling out. thecanary.co In 2019 the UK was convulsed by a shocking act of violence along London Bridge. On 29 November, two people were killed and another three injured in a stabbing attack committed by a radical Islamist who had previously served prison time for another terrorism offence. Predictably, the usual suspects in the right-wing media cynically used the attack and the background of the perpetrator to push their reactionary agenda. And as the 12 December election day neared, it was also inevitably used as ammunition for attacki…
(2020-01-06). Tulsa's Troubling Past is Not Far Removed from Its Present. aclu.org The Tulsa massacre of 1921 may have become known to many | Americans because of a fictional HBO series, but it actually happened. Is the | probable discovery of heretofore undiscovered mass graves in Tulsa enough to | propel the city to a reckoning — | an unambiguous admission of responsibility for horrific acts and a determined | mind to make right what was wrong? We are about to find out. | In a recent …
(2020-01-06). Venezuelan Government and Opposition Fraction Announce Release of 14 'Political Prisoners'. venezuelanalysis.com The National Roundtable for Peaceful Dialogue also offered its backing to the new National Assembly president, Luis Parra.
(2020-01-06). Former Head of Identity Evropa Taken Into Custody for Contempt of Court. splcenter.org Elliott Kline, the onetime leader of Identity Evropa, is in federal custody after being found in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in a civil lawsuit stemming from the violent "Unite the Right" rally.
(2020-01-04). Trump Order Aimed at Palestine Solidarity, Not Antisemitism. fair.org 
Antisemitism is a very real problem—which Donald Trump is exploiting to advance an anti-Palestinian agenda. | President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month to deny funding to post-secondary schools that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Jewish people. The order notes that such bigotry is rooted in antisemitism, and says that it will determine whether discrimination has occurred by using the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism adopted by the…
(2020-01-03). Boston anti-prison organizers oppose $50 million project. liberationnews.org 
Liberation News reports from the final 2019 meeting of the Panel on Justice-Involved Women in Boston.
(2019-12-28). Prison gave me a greater will to fight. zcomm.org Interview on the reality that Brazil is experiencing and the social protests that have occurred in several Latin American countries…
(2019-12-24). Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities. aclu.org During the holiday season, in the picturesque town of Petoskey, Michigan, Kimiko Uyeda, and her son Marshall celebrate with an annual tradition of selecting a new ornament to add to their tree. Year after year, Kimiko and Marshall add to their collection of ornaments as a part of their tradition. | For years, however, they were separated from one another and unable to enjoy this holiday tradition together. It all began in 2013 when Kimiko was arrested for filing what the local sheriff believed to be a false police report. Because of broken sentencing laws, the prosecutor in the case was able to add four additi…
(2019-12-20). A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box. aclu.org When Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reintroduced the Fair Chance Act earlier this year, he | said: "This bill would give individuals who are reentering society from prison | a fair chance at truly achieving the American dream." The Fair Chance Act would | ban the box that employers use to ask about arrest and conviction history on | job applications. It also requires that federal agencies and contr…
(2019-12-20). Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Year. aclu.org 
It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories—from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead—what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…
(2019-12-18). A Secret CBP Team is Targeting and Detaining Innocent Travelers. We're Suing. aclu.org U.S. Customs and Border Protection is deploying secret teams that target, detain, and interrogate innocent travelers. We're suing to expose their activities. | In November 2018, three CBP officers detained Andreas | Gal, a former chief | technology officer at Mozilla Corporation and current Apple employee, at San | Francisco International Airport after he landed from a business trip to Sweden. | Andr…
(2019-12-18). A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court. aclu.org For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…
(2019-12-16). He spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps. Now Willie Parker is free. splcenter.org It was pouring rain the day Willie Parker left William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility after 36 years in prison.
(2019-12-13). Weekend Read: Amid Alabama's prison crisis, the voices of the people living through it should be heard. splcenter.org For years, Alabama's prison system has been under a microscope. Harsh sentencing laws coupled with chronic underfunding have led to horrific conditions for people behind bars.
(2019-12-04). SPLC lawsuit seeks to restore Mississippi citizens' right to vote. splcenter.org When they were children, Herman Parker and his three sisters went to their grandparents' house every election day.
(2019-12-02). Prison By Any Other Name: A Report on South Florida Detention Facilities. splcenter.org …
(2019-12-02). Civil Rights Are on the Chopping Block in New Supreme Court Term. zcomm.org Hello, A very small proportion of ZNet content is available only to Sustainers. You can become a sustainer for a small repeating donation – monthly or yearly via the links for Sustaining, or Donating, available on the top page of ZNet.
(2019-11-21). After parole, Alabama man gets life back on track, helps others. splcenter.org Chris "Champ" Napier started speaking to students and at-risk youth about his experience in prison before he knew he would ever regain his freedom.