Human Rights

By Michael Page | Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – President Biden is set to land in Saudi Arabia later this week to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid disturbing media reports that, if true, signal a policy reversal that could lead to […]

Apartheid

Palestinians Protest, hang Black Flags of Mourning over Biden’s Bethlehem Visit, Accusing him of Sidelining their Political Rights

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that widespread protests broke out on Thursday in the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank against the planned visit on Friday by US President Joe Biden to Bethlehem, with residents staging demonstrations and raising black flags. They chanted against US one-sidedness in backing Israel’s actions, and […]

censorship

The Family of American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed by Israeli Sniper, Pleads for Meeting with Biden on Mideast Trip

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The family of slain American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is asking for a meeting with President Joe Biden during his trip to the Middle East this week. So reports Yasmin al-Qassas at Sada al-Balad. In a letter to Mr. Biden, Shireen’s brother Anton Abu Akleh wrote that the family “feels […]

censorship

Biden once wanted to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ – so why is he playing nice with the kingdom’s repressive rulers now?

The Conversation

By Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Even before setting foot in the Middle East for his first visit to the region as president, Joe Biden felt compelled to defend a portion of the trip. “I know that there are many who disagree with my decision […]

Bashar al-Assad

Lebanon’s Plan to Deport 15K Syrian Refugees per month back to Syria Is Unsafe and Unlawful

Human Rights Watch

By Lama Fakih, Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – Human Rights Watch – Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine announced a government plan this week to begin returning 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria a month, saying: “The war was over and the country has become safe.” The alarming news, which […]

censorship

Review of Ilham Tohti, We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks

Marc Martorell Junyent

Tuebingen (Special to Ann Arbor) – Review of Ilham Tohti, We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks (London: Verso, 2022). Ilham Tohti, a Chinese intellectual and advocate for the rights of the Uyghurs, the Muslim minority group he belongs to, was jailed in 2014 by the Chinese government. Little has been known about […]

censorship

Iran’s latest surge in executions heavily targets Baloch minority

Global Voices

By Hamid Yazdan Panah | – Iran is in a midst of yet another surge in executions, reaching a rate of killings in 2021 that is the highest in five years. According to a June 8 report from Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), at least 168 people have been executed by Iranian authorities in the first […]

Unlawful Imprisonment

What are bail funds? Two social policy experts explain

The Conversation

By Cynthia A. Golembeski, The New School; and Matthew Bakko, University of Michigan | When someone charged with a crime is eligible for release but cannot afford cash bail, they typically will remain in jail until they are sentenced or released – unless someone makes a payment on their behalf. One option is to enlist […]

Feminism

Robert Reich: Bans on Abortion, Birth Control, and same-sex Marriage are at Stake

Minnesota Reformer

By Robert Reich | – (Minnesota Reformer) – Overturning Roe v. Wade is extreme, but what’s just as alarming is the logic Justice Samuel Alito used to justify it, which puts a whole range of other rights on the chopping block, too. We enjoy many rights that are protected by the Constitution but not explicitly […]