Russia slams US for its rights record

[islamica]

Russia slams US for its rights record

2011-12-29

Moscow - Russia's foreign ministry has attacked United States' human rights record in its first report on injustice elsewhere in the world, offering examples such as the Guantanamo Bay prison and wrongful death row convictions to paint the US as hypocritical for lecturing other nations on the subject of rights.

"The situation in the United States is a far cry from the ideals that Washington proclaims," says the report released on Wednesday.

Moscow has previously reacted angrily to the accusations of human rights breaches that the US state department has levelled at Russia in its annual reports.

The state department has expressed concern about the violent attacks on rights activists and journalists in Russia, most of which go unpunished. It also has criticised abuses in Russia's Caucasus, including extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture.

The 90-page Russian report slams EU nations, Canada and Georgia, but reserves its longest section of 20 pages for what it says are violations by the United States.

The report does not cover Asia, Africa or the Middle East, other than a five-page section criticising the Nato operation in Libya.

Moscow laments the ongoing operation of the "notorious" prison in Guantanamo Bay, where terrorism suspects have been held since the September 11 2001 attacks, and criticises President Barack Obama for "legalising indefinite and extrajudicial custody and the return of court martials".

The report accuses the US of prying into citizens' personal lives and violating the rights of Muslim Americans in the fight against terrorism. It also points to errors made by American courts.

"Judicial errors are the Achilles heel of American justice as concerns capital punishment," the report argues.

It notes the roughly 130 people sentenced to death in the past 30 years who were later cleared of the charges, some after they were executed.

The foreign ministry also struck back at international criticism of Russia's recent parliamentary election, which independent observers said involved widespread fraud.

Outrage over the vote set off a spate of protests led by citizens unhappy with Vladimir Putin's rule.

The report accuses the US of blocking independent candidates from elections and criticises the practice of allowing governors to nominate senators when a Senate seat is vacated, as when Obama became president.

It refers to the conviction this year of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to auction off Obama's Senate seat.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Rus...ecord-20111228

[GuestFellow]

Both countries are just as bad.

[Abz2000]

yes, i remember the us criticizing russia for it's refusal to promote sodomy,
they cracked down on the gay pride parade and the us was hurt

[samin62]

yes, i remember the us criticizing russia for it's refusal to promote sodomy,
they cracked down on the gay pride parade and the us was hurt

I wonder if hardcore jews will crackdown on the gay pride parades in Jerusalem.

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[Ramadhan]

I wonder if hardcore jews will crackdown on the gay pride parades in Jerusalem.

The ultra-orthodox jews are already demanding stricter public observance of their laws:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...115357269.html

Israel's deepening religious divide

As extremists are accused of harassing Israeli women, is the influence of ultra-orthodox Jews growing in the country?

Israeli police and ultra-Orthodox protesters clashed on Monday in Beit Shemesh, an Israeli town on the outskirts of Jerusalem where protests have flared over demands to crackdown on extremists accused of harassing women.

A police officer was injured and several black-robed protesters taken into custody in the disturbances that erupted after a public outcry over televised footage of Naama Margolese, an eight-year-old Israeli girl complaining of verbal abuse from Orthodox men on her way to school. Police were also investigating complaints that some of the Orthodox men had spat at and spoken "disrespectfully" to girls en route to an elementary school.
The case brings to the forefront, yet again, the issue of coercion by the Israel's ultra-orthodox Jews.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has demanded a crackdown on the the men of which some have been accused of spitting at or harassing women they see as immodest.

This issue highlights a widening faultline in Israel between the religiously devout and a majority of moderate Jews. And a campaign to segregate men and women in public has caused a lot of anger in the community.


Though numbering only 10 per cent of Israel's mostly Jewish population of 7.7 million, ultra-Orthodox voting patterns give them considerable clout, helping them secure welfare benefits and wider influence.

So is the influence of ultra-Orthodox Jews growing in Israeli society? How deep is the religious divide in Israel? And what will be the political repercussions of a crackdown on extremists?

Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, discusses with guests: Gideon Levy, an author and columnist as well as a member of the editorial board for Haaretz newspaper; Ben Hartman, a reporter for the Jerusalem Post; and Gregg Roman, a former defence ministry official and deputy director of the Gloria Centre at the interdisciplinary centre Herzliya. "It's not only a religious divide, it's also an ethnic divide, a national divide, a political divide. the Israeli society is a torn society, is a society of immigrants which has not been yet totally crystallised."
Gideon Levy, an author and columnist

[IslamicRevival]

I would not be so quick to slam Russia