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Saturday, February 04, 2012 03:15 GMT

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HONDURAS
Support for President Lobo Hits All-Time Low
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA - Last Friday marked two years since the inauguration of Porfirio Lobo as president of Honduras, amidst accusations of corruption, an unprecedented crime wave, and his lowest approval rating yet.
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GUATEMALA
Ríos Montt to Stand Trial for Genocide
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - After a hearing that lasted more than 11 hours, a Guatemalan court ordered the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), who could face up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
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EL SALVADOR
Gangs May Be Scapegoat for Soaring Murder Rate
By Edgardo Ayala
SAN SALVADOR - El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world, with one of the highest murder rates. But the authorities cannot agree on whether or not most of the killings should be laid at the door of the youth gangs known as "maras".
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War Crimes Immunity for Ousted Leaders Under Fire
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - As ousted political and military leaders in the Middle East continue to seek immunity from war crimes prosecutions, the United Nations and international human rights groups are taking an increasingly tough stance against such legislation in Yemen, Egypt, and possibly in a post-conflict Syria.
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SPAIN
Trials of Judge Garzón Called Scandalous by Rights Groups
By Tito Drago
MADRID - Another trial opened Tuesday with Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzón, in the dock for attempting to investigate crimes against humanity committed during the 36-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
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Cuba Rebuts International Criticism Over Prisoner's Death
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA - The Cuban government energetically rebutted what it regards as another campaign to discredit it, following the death in prison of a man who, according to the authorities, was not a dissident nor on hunger strike, as the opposition alleges.
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HONDURAS
Pressed by the U.S., Lobo Amends Extradition Laws
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA - Following a surprise meeting between President Porfirio Lobo and U.S. government officials, Honduran lawmakers voted to amend the constitution to allow extradition of its nationals.
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Guatemalans Long for Security, Fear More Abuses
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala's new president, retired general Otto Pérez Molina, made campaign promises to deal with crime with a firm hand ("mano dura") in this country, one of the most violent in the world where impunity is almost absolute, giving rise to cautious hopes from civil society.
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U.S.
A Decade in the Purgatory Called Guantanamo
By Charles Davis
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of protesters, dozens outfitted in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, took to the streets outside the White House on Wednesday to demonstrate against torture and indefinite detention on the 10th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
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Q&A
War Crimes Court Should Strengthen Victims' Participation
Tressia Boukhors interviews BRIGID INDER, Executive Director of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice
UNITED NATIONS - Most of the cases brought before the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) include gender-based crimes, but advocates say the court is still falling short in ensuring that women play an active role in decision-making and outreach at the highest levels.
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VENEZUELA
Putting (Mothers') Faces to the Violence
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS - These women are not fashion models, nor are they advertising any product, yet their images look down on passersby from giant black-and-white posters in the Venezuelan capital. There are 52 of them, and they are all mothers who have lost one or more children to the criminal violence that is plaguing the country.
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Death Penalty Returns to Haunt Afghanistan
By Rebecca Murray
KABUL - While Afghanistan’s violent decades-long war has claimed thousands of lives, the last known state-sanctioned execution was in June under the direct order of President Hamid Karzai.
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DEATH PENALTY
Urgent Appeal for Fair Trials
By Dennis Engbarth
TAIPEI - Senior representatives of Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network have urged the Taiwan government to "uphold fairness and justice" in its judicial system and resume a broken moratorium on use of the death penalty.
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BELARUS
Fight Against Death Penalty Gets Tougher
By Pavol Stracansky
BRATISLAVA - A petition signed by 250,000 people calling for an end to capital punishment has been turned away by Belarussian authorities as the regime continues to harden its stance on the death penalty.
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Nigerian Bill Criminalises More Than Just Gay People
By Elizabeth Whitman
UNITED NATIONS - "The prospect of arriving home... being arrested at the airport - that's kind of scary," said Osazeme O., a dual citizen of Nigeria and the UK, in a wry understatement.
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US
For Many Women, a Prison Sentence Also Means Abuse
By Amanda Wilson
WASHINGTON - While most of the one million women in prison in the U.S. are incarcerated for non-violent offences, many experience harsh treatment that advocates say violates their human rights.
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/CORRECTED REPEAT*/Will Texas Execute Man, Despite Untested Evidence?
By Michael J. Carter
SEATTLE - To date, 138 people have been exonerated from death row in the United States. That figure represents 11 percent of the 1,277 executions carried out since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the country in 1976.
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MEXICO
Activists Want President and Drug Lords Tried for War Crimes
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - Activists are hoping that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will take up a case against Mexican President Felipe Calderón, government officials and drug traffickers and indict those responsible for the violence wracking the country. But this is likely to be a complex and lengthy process.
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LATIN AMERICA
How to Prevent 'Femicide'
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Vanina Alderete, an 18-year-old from Argentina, is a survivor of a particularly heinous case of domestic violence: when she was 11, her father killed her mother and her two little brothers and left her seriously injured.
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NIGERIA
A Deadly Case of Mistaken Identity
By Sam Olukoya
LAGOS - The worst day of Olaniyi Emiola’s life was Mar. 17, 1998. At least it was for Olaniyi Emiola, 22, the spare motor parts trader. For Olaniyi Emiola, the armed robber, it was a lucky escape as another man with the same name had been wrongly sentenced to death for a crime he committed.
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The struggle for abolition of the death penalty is not over, not even where it is no longer being enforced. Abolition, or the moratorium several states have in place on the death sentence, often seems to become a cover for inhumane alternatives such as jail for life in unacceptable conditions, and simply longer sentences. IPS correspondents report here of the campaign against capital punishment, and for legal and prison reforms that would give prisoners the right to life, and also to justice and decency.

IPS has partnered with Penal Reform International to expand its independent coverage of issues surrounding capital punishment and long-term imprisonment.

In this newsletter you will find in-depth reports by IPS correspondents from around the world and columns by experts, in addition to special sections for news from international NGOs and a review of the global media for a glimpse of what is happening on the ground.

GLOBAL SUPPORT PEAKS FOR NO NUKES
By Jonathan Frerichs

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS IN DAVOS?
By Johan Galtung

CLIMATE EMERGENCY
By Ignacio Ramonet

THE UNITED STATES AND THE DEFEAT OF VICTORY
By Joaquin Roy

IS CHINA STILL A DEVELOPING COUNTRY?
By Martin Khor

MORE >>

AI: Amnesty International Against the Death Penalty
Human Rights Watch: End the Death Penalty
Child Rights Information Network, End Executions of Juveniles
Hands Off Cain – against death penalty in the world
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
International Helsinki Federation on Human Rights: Abolish the Death Penalty in Central Asian States
International Federation for Human Rights
Death Penalty Information Centre (USA)
Death Penalty Links
Penal Reform International
Human Rights: Death Penalty
The Innocence Project (USA): Fix the System
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)
Human Rights First: Respect for Human Rights and the Rule of Law
Physicians for Human Rights

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