Human Rights Glance
Four detainees held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have been transferred to Albania and Spain, according to the US justice department. Three detainees, originally from North Africa, were sent to Albania.
They were identified as Saleh Bin Hadi Asasi, originally from Tunisia, Sharif Fati Ali al Mishad, an Egyptian national and Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammad Abu al Qusin from Libya. The fourth man, transferred to Spain, was not identified beyond that he was from the occupied Palestinian territories.
US transfers Guantanamo more detainees
Torture architect ‘distorts’ investigation timeline to blame Obama
Recently cleared from criminal prosecution, President Bush's "torture architect" John Yoo criticized Obama on Wednesday for allegedly ordering a "witch hunt" against him. But the timeline reflects that the investigation of his transgressions began under the former president, not the current one.
Vatican official refuses to quit after defending abortion doctors
The Vatican's top bioethics official on Monday dismissed calls for his resignation following an uproar over his defense of doctors who aborted the twin fetuses of a 9-year-old child who was raped by her stepfather.
Monsignor Renato Fisichella told The Associated Press he refused to respond to five members of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life who questioned his suitability to lead the institution.
Fisichella wrote an article in the Vatican's newspaper in March saying the Brazilian doctors didn't deserve excommunication as mandated by church law because they were saving the girl's life. The call for mercy sparked heated criticism from some academy members who said it implied the Vatican was opening up to so-called "therapeutic abortion" to save the mother's life.
Destroying C.I.A. Tapes Wasn’t Opposed, Memos Say
At a closed briefing in 2003, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee raised no objection to a C.I.A. plan to destroy videotapes of brutal interrogations, according to secret documents released Monday.
The senator, Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, also rejected a proposal to have his committee conduct its own assessment of the agency’s harsh interrogation methods, which included wall-slamming and waterboarding, the documents say.
Department of Justice Finds That Its Torture Lawyers Engaged in Professional Misconduct by Advocating Torture During the Bush Administration
Late Friday, the Department of Justice issued it's long awaited report on the actions of the DOJ lawyers who authored the infamous legal memos authorizing torture. The report consists of two parts: the first is a 300-page report from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility finding that the attorneys, specifically John Yoo and Jay Bybee, engaged in "professional misconduct." The second is a 69-page cover letter from career DOJ staffer David Margolis finding that the lawyers exercised "poor judgment." The OPR finding would under normal circumstances require transmittal to the state bar for disciplinary proceedings. However, Mr. Margolis, a 17-year employee of the DOJ who was in a supervisory position when the legal memos were written, has specifically refused to allow the OPR report to be transmitted. However, he did state that "[t]he bar associations in the District of Columbia or Pennsylvania can choose to take up this matter, but the Department will make no referral."
Gaza Fishermen Fight to Keep a Way of Life Alive
According to Mohammed Hessey, general secretary of Gaza's Fishing Workers Trade Union, established in 1998, Israel waited just four years before unilaterally reducing the officially allowed fishing zone to 10 miles from shore.
Then, when resistance fighters kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, the approved fishing zone was ratcheted down to six miles. Following Israel's latest attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, it was reduced once again to three miles. But even that zone isn't always honored. Israeli gun boats have been known to attack Gaza fishermen just one or two miles from the shore.
Yoo Said Bush Could Order Civilians 'Massacred'
The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report by released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
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