Leaders of the Islamic world are finally talking about minority rights and healthy dissent, kinda!

 by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Representatives of 57 states, members of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), convened for their regular summit in Cairo this week. Among the notable attendees is the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The latter received a red-carpet welcome as Egypt’s new president, Mohammed Morsi, greeted him on the tarmac at Read more

Continue Reading

Free Syrian Army may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Armed opposition groups operating inside Syria may have violated international humanitarian law by committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Arguably, some members of the Syrian troops may also have committed similar violations. However, the self-incriminating evidence released by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups is simply overwhelming. The evidence used Read more

Continue Reading

Burdening the victims: impact of US sanctions on human rights at home and abroad

The case for peoples’ diplomacy by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* On the occasion of the start of the Persian New Year (Nowrūz), President Obama delivered a recorded video message to the Iranian people. In it, he highlighted the many ways the Iranian government denies its citizens access to information, including censoring media outlets and filtering the Read more

Continue Reading

Libyan and European rulers’ treatment of Blacks and immigrant workers: Apathy in the face of Cruelty

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Since the start of the Libyan uprising, mainstream news outlets have reported that African and even Eastern European mercenaries were fighting with Qaddafi’s forces. The Libyan rebels, eager to minimize any support for Qaddafi among the Libyan population, have fed western media horror stories of mass murder carried out by Black Read more

Continue Reading

Delusions of Grandeur: Tunisian leaders and the loss of civil society institutions

By A. E. SOUAIAIA• On cold winter days, Mohamed al-Bouazizi, a resident of Sidi Bouzid, loads his cart with fruits and vegetables and pushes it along the dusty streets of the town hoping to make enough money for himself and his family. One day, like many other days, police officers harassed him and then confiscated Read more

Continue Reading

Under international law and treaties, children should have rights to culture and ancestry

Haitian children sit in the Canadian run Masion Enfants Espoir orphanage Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz. It is being reported in the news this week that Baptist missionaries from Idaho have been accused of attempted kidnapping. They were detained as they tried to transport 33 Haitian orphans Read more

Continue Reading