Egypt Rejects Turkey's Criticism Over Detention of Anadolu Reporters – Foreign Ministry
sputniknews.com | 2020-01-16
CAIRO (Sputnik)

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Plan to Frack, Drill 1 Million Acres of California Public Lands, Minerals
Center for Biological Diversity | indybay.org | 2020-01-16
LOS ANGELES, January 14, 2020

Indonesian journalists condemn Egypt's raid on Anadolu Agency
yenisafak.com | 2020-01-16
Journalists across Indonesia condemned Thursday a police raid on Anadolu Agency's office in Cairo and the detention of its employees.Abdul Manan, chairman of Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said, Egypt, a country bound by international law, has to respect the freedom of the press as well as the rights of journalists to do their job."These raids and arrests could set a bad precedent for the media if the international community let them be," Manan told Anadolu Agency."Moreover, the trend of violence against global journalists is still high," he added.The senior journalist said if the government of any st…
yenisafak.com/en/news/indonesian-journalists-condemn-egypts-raid-on-anadolu-agency-3509795

Lawyers in Weinstein rape case begin questioning potential jurors
yenisafak.com | 2020-01-16
The potential jurors, who have passed an initial round of pre-screening, include supermodel Gigi Hadid, who said she had met Weinstein before but could nonetheless be fair.Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women, and faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault.Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused him of sexual misconduct dating back decades. Weinstein has denied the allegations, saying any sexual encounters he had were consensual.The allegations helped fuel the #MeToo movement, in which women have…
yenisafak.com/en/world/lawyers-in-weinstein-rape-case-begin-questioning-potential-jurors-3509800

Assange's 12-minute hearing presents a grim picture of judicial indifference
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-01-15
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting a legal battle against his extradition to the United States, will only be given an hour to review the evidence that will be presented by the prosecution against him in the next hearing scheduled on January 23. This was announced by judge Vanessa Baraitser of the Westminster Magistrates' Court in a preliminary hearing on January 13, Monday, that went on for barely 12 minutes. The judge also asked the defense to register a complaint against the Belmarsh prison authorities, where Assange is being held, for not allowing sufficient time for him to meet with his legal t…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/01/15/assanges-12-minute-hearing-presents-a-grim-picture-of-judicial-indifference/

Ten poetry books that illuminate a decade's struggles
Chris Butters | peoplesworld.org | 2020-01-15
Occupy Wall Street. The Peoples Climate March. The Women's March. Black Lives Matter. The ongoing mobilizations to defeat Trump and the extreme right that supports him. As we marched and organized against injustice, poets, often marching right alongside us, were creating enduring works of literary art that spoke to the struggle and the times we …
peoplesworld.org/article/ten-poetry-books-that-illuminate-a-decades-struggles/

Palestinian administrative detainee ends 116-day long hunger strike
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-01-15
Palestinian detainee Ahmad Zahran has agreed to go through a security interrogation, following which his long standing demand for an end to his illegal administrative detention will be considered by the court…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/01/15/palestinian-administrative-detainee-ends-116-day-long-hunger-strike/

Why Israel's So-Called "Occupation" of "Palestinian Territories" is a Farce
Miko Peled | mintpressnews.com | 2020-01-15
The root cause of oppression and violence that Palestinians experience is not "the occupation" of 1967 as many people claim it to be. It is something much older and seemingly more benign.
mintpressnews.com/israel-called-occupation-palestinian-territories-farce/264114/

Army Abducts Two Siblings In Bil'in
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2020-01-15
Several Israeli army jeeps invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, Bil'in Palestinian village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and abducted two siblings. Abdullah Abu Rahma, a former political prisoner and the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in Bil'in, said the soldiers …
imemc.org/article/army-abducts-two-siblings-in-bilin/

Uncle Sam the hit man
Nellie Bailey | mronline.org | 2020-01-15
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation's best known political prisoner, says the U.S. is living up to its reputation as an international assassin with its hit on an Iranian general on Iraqi soil. "America is more hated today than ever," said Abu Jamal, co-author of the multi-volume book, "Murder, Incorporated." | Source…
mronline.org/2020/01/15/uncle-sam-the-hit-man/

The DWP agreed a man needed money until his benefits were sorted and then offered him 8p
Emily Apple | thecanary.co | 2020-01-15
A man who needed money until his benefits were sorted was offered a loan of 8p by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). This is Lancashire reported that Carl Poynton ended up in court for shoplifting after the DWP's decision. | "Nowhere else to turn": | Poynton was released from prison on Christmas Eve with a grant of £46. He applied for benefits. But due to the time taken to process the application, he was left with no money. He applied to the DWP for a loan available to peo…
thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/01/15/the-dwp-agreed-a-man-needed-money-until-his-benefits-were-sorted-and-then-offered-him-8p/

Israel Approves Construction of Four New Prison Complexes
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-01-15
Israeli 'housing council' has approved a plan to build four new prisons in the occupied territories as the occupation accelerates its arrest campaign against Palestinians, the Palestine News Network reported. Israeli media sources announced, on Tuesday, that the council authorized construction of the prison complexes, south of the Israeli city …
imemc.org/article/israel-approves-construction-of-four-new-prisons/

Pennsylvania prisoners resist media censorship
Ted Kelly | workers.org | 2020-01-15
When Vol. 61 No. 48 of Workers World newspaper came across the desk of the prison staff at State Correctional Institution Frackville in December, censors seized on an article that criticized the Pennsylvania facility's administration for a variety of offenses. In direct violation of the inmates' First Amendment rights, staff . . . | Continue reading Pennsylvania prisoners resist media censorship at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/01/45549/

The Trump Administration Weakens Standards for ICE Detention Facilities
Eunice Cho | aclu.org | 2020-01-14
Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officially released a new version of its National Detention Standards (NDS), which govern the treatment of immigrant detainees held in almost 140 facilities in 44 states. These facilities include local and state jails and prisons

Israel Extends Detention of Two Palestinian Prisoners, Days Before Release
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-01-14
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said the Israeli government renewed the administrative detention of Shorouq al-Badan, 25, for six more months, on Monday, only two days before her scheduled release, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. Badan, from Bethlehem, was arrested July 2019, and was supposed to be …
imemc.org/article/israel-extends-detention-of-two-palestinian-prisoners-days-before-release/

Detainee Zahran Suspends Hunger Strike
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2020-01-14
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees Affairs has reported that detainee Ahmad Zahran, 42, has suspended the hunger strike, which lasted for 113 days, after reaching an agreement with the Israeli Prison Authority regarding his continued Administrative Detention without charges or trial. Lawyer Jawad Bulus, the head of the …
imemc.org/article/detainee-zahran-suspends-hunger-strike/

Coercive Plea Bargaining Has Poisoned the Criminal Justice System. It's Time to Suck the Venom Out
Somil Trivedi | aclu.org | 2020-01-13
In 2006, George Alvarez was charged with assaulting a prison guard while awaiting trial on public intoxication. He knew he didn't do it

Due to mass pressure, prison activist-writer removed from solitary
Joe Piette | workers.org | 2020-01-13
EDITOR NOTES: Bulletin: After receiving hundreds of phone calls, SCI Albion prison officials took Coffey out of solitary confinement late Jan. 13 but claimed he couldn't be allowed to call his sister because of a prison lock down. Coffey finally called his sister on Jan 14. He reported no physical . . . | Continue reading Due to mass pressure, prison activist-writer removed from solitary at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/01/45452/

Iraq air base housing U.S. personnel struck by rockets
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-01-12
Washington, DC – According to widespread press reports in the Middle East, the Balad Air Base, which houses U.S. personal was struck today, January 12, by multiple rockets. | The events come in the context of the Iraqi parliament passing a resolution telling the United States to remove its forces from the country, and the country's Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi requesting the U.S. to start talks on withdrawing military forces. The Trump administration says it will not leave Iraq. | In the past, the Balad Air Base housed a U.S. facility for holding and torturing Iraqi prisoners. | In related developments, Iraq's…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/1/12/iraq-air-base-housing-us-personnel-struck-rockets

The Critical Role Auditing Plays in the Battle Against Police Surveillance
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-01-10
Auditors across the country are turning the tables on police surveillance. The Police Accountability Report spoke to an auditor who was arrested to understand how filming cops ultimately preserves our civil rights.
therealnews.com/stories/auditing-battle-against-police-surveillance

Pregnant Workers Are Still Fighting for the Right to Work
Vania Leveille | aclu.org | 2020-01-10
In 2015, | Michelle Durham, an ACLU client, was faced with an impossible choice: | continue working and risk the health of her pregnancy or give up her paycheck. | She was working | as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for Rural/Metro Corporation, a company | in Alabama that provides emergency medical care to people living in areas that | lack basic medical services. Shortly after joining Rural/Metro Corporation in | Alabama, Michelle learned she was pregnant with her first child and was advised | by her health professional not to lift more than 50 pounds. She was confident | the company would grant her a…
aclu.org/news/womens-rights/pregnant-workers-are-still-fighting-for-the-right-to-work

Weekend Read: SPLC sues Trump administration over family separation policy
splcenter.org | 2020-01-10
The SPLC and its allies have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration policy that has separated and traumatized thousands of migrant families.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/11/weekend-read-splc-sues-trump-administration-over-family-separation-policy

"Clemency:" Exposing the Machinery of Death
Stephen Rohde | aclu.org | 2020-01-09
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

Despite horrific prison stay, a mother comes to understand her addiction
splcenter.org | 2020-01-09
When Shanna Rainey was a mother to two young children, she began using methamphetamine.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/15/despite-horrific-prison-stay-mother-comes-understand-her-addiction

International Criminal Court Prepares to Try Israelis over War Crimes
Staff | therealnews.com | 2020-01-09
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.
therealnews.com/stories/international-criminal-court-prepares-israel-war-crimes

It Is Time for a New Way Forward
Madhuri Grewal | aclu.org | 2020-01-07
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

Venezuelan Government and Opposition Fraction Announce Release of 14 'Political Prisoners'
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-01-06
The National Roundtable for Peaceful Dialogue also offered its backing to the new National Assembly president, Luis Parra.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14757

Former Head of Identity Evropa Taken Into Custody for Contempt of Court
splcenter.org | 2020-01-06
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.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/01/06/former-head-identity-evropa-taken-custody-contempt-court

Boston anti-prison organizers oppose $50 million project
Liberation Staff | liberationnews.org | 2020-01-03
Liberation News reports from the final 2019 meeting of the Panel on Justice-Involved Women in Boston.
liberationnews.org/boston-abolitionists-oppose-50-million-prison-project/

Prison gave me a greater will to fight
Luiz ignacio lula Da silva | zcomm.org | 2019-12-28
Interview on the reality that Brazil is experiencing and the social protests that have occurred in several Latin American countries…
zcomm.org/zvideo/prison-gave-me-a-greater-will-to-fight/

Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities
Nicole Zayas Fortier | aclu.org | 2019-12-24
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…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/across-the-country-harsh-sentencing-laws-are-tearing-apart-families-and-communities

He spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps. Now Willie Parker is free
Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2019-12-16
It was pouring rain the day Willie Parker left William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility after 36 years in prison.
splcenter.org/news/2019/12/17/he-spent-36-years-prison-because-he-stole-100-cash-and-4-food-stamps-now-willie-parker-free