December 29, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: One Comment
Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed Burmese pro-democracy opposition leader, was recently granted visitation rights to meet with three aging leaders of her National League for Democracy. The meeting marked the highest-level contact she has had with her party in years, even as the Burmese junta prepares to clamp down on pro-democracy elements ahead of the first nationwide election since her victory —never realized by taking office— in 1990. Suu Kyi has instead spent most of the last two decades under house arrest.
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September 3, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Since the day of the Afghan presidential election, there has been heated rhetoric on both sides, complete with accusations of massive vote-rigging, hostile acts, intimidation and other attempts to distort the voting process. By all accounts, it is amazing that the Afghan vote went ahead in a climate of outright terror and intimidation, owing to the Taliban-led insurgency and brutal attacks on civilians, including women and young girls.
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August 30, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
One of my closest friends in the world is a committed Republican, as is my father, whose father was a Republican elected to various offices in our state. The friend —whom we’ll call “Dutch”— often chides me for our differences of opinion, and we often have energetic philosophical debates in which we try to detail the workings of the universe according to our own personal abstractions or tastes.
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August 15, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: Comments Off
Sen. James Webb (D-VA) has won the release of American John Yettaw, who was sentenced to 7 years, including hard labor, for swimming to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakefront home, effectively breaching the terms of her house arrest. Suu Kyi’s house arrest was extended by 18 months after she was convicted for allowing Yettaw to rest and recuperate at her home; the sentence will exclude her from the planned 2010 elections process.
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August 15, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: Comments Off
The British government has ordered the UK-appointed governor of Turks and Caicos to suspend the ministerial government and assembly and institute direct rule, after an investigation turned up evidence of systemic official corruption. The order of direct rule will also suspend the right to jury trial in the Turks and Caicos, and the UK says the imposed rule could last up to 2 years.
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July 30, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The alleged violent, even lethal brutality which Iran’s security forces have used against detained opposition supporters has mushroomed into a full-blown prisoner-abuse scandal that is sowing anger and shock among the people of Iran. The alleged abuses run the gamut from mass beatings in darkness, ripping off of finger and toe nails and forcing detainees to lick the inside of dirty toilets. At least 150 people are estimated to have been killed in the crackdown, since the 12 June vote.
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July 20, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Former president and leading reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami has urged that Iran hold a nationwide referendum to allow voters to judge whether the 12 June election was legitimate or whether the government has sought to stay in power through mass fraud and other illegal means. Several reformist websites have reportedly carried the news, with Khatami saying “Durability of order and continuation of the country’s progress hinge on restoring public trust”.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
Wearing green wristbands indicative of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi’s opposition movement, a large but undetermined number of protesters gathered outside Tehran University, after prayers led by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to express their support for the defeated presidential candidate and his charges of election fraud. The Ayandeh news web site estimates that between 1.5 million and 2.5 million people gathered around Tehran University, either to get a glimpse of Friday prayers or show support for the opposition.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Opposition presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi will reportedly attend Friday prayers in Tehran, to be led by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, their most powerful supporter in the clerical establishment, seen as a chief rival to Pres. Ahmedinejad and Ayatollah Khamene’i. The event will be the opposition leaders’ first public appearance since the disputed presidential election of 12 June.
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June 29, 2009 :: Riga Listin :: One Comment
Citing foreign “propaganda”, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has formally requested in a letter to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, head of Iran’s judiciary, that an investigation be launched into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Neda Agha Soltan. Soltan was shot in the chest and died within minutes, while protesting election results that show Ahmedinejad won re-election.
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June 26, 2009 :: Anjika Sridhar :: 5 Comments
Dr. Arash Hejazi is one of the bystanders who attended to Neda Agha Soltan when she was shot and killed at a demonstration in Tehran. Hejazi lives and works in England, and he was in Iran visiting. He told the BBC, after returning to Britain, of how the shocking events of that day transpired, and says bystanders seized an armed Basij militiaman who admitted he had shot Soltan.
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June 25, 2009 :: staff :: 5 Comments
First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
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June 24, 2009 :: staff :: 5 Comments
The Guardian Council, which conceded on Monday that at least 50 cities saw counts that exceeded the eligible number of voters, has reportedly rejected the idea of re-running the election, due to the disputed validity of the official count. Despite an admission that would seem to suggest massive, nationwide, organized fraud, the Guardian Council, through a spokesman, said there was “no major fraud or breach in the election”.
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June 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 11 Comments
Iran’s Guardian Council announced today for the first time that it has found irregularities after reviewing some of the ballots cast in the disputed presidential election. According to state media, the Guardian Council has found that in at least 50 cities across Iran, the number of votes counted exceeded the total number of eligible voters. The Council also has said it would recount all ballots for the effected districts, if the candidates request it.
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June 22, 2009 :: staff :: 11 Comments
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
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June 20, 2009 :: staff :: 12 Comments
This article is an update to an earlier report on shots fired at pro-opposition demonstrators in Iran. Throughout the day on Saturday and late into the night, the internet was buzzing with rumor and conjecture, anecdotal reports and amateur video footage showing evidence of security forces attacking, beating and even shooting unarmed civilians. The following video shows police attacking students and opposition supporters at Shiraz University, on Saturday…
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June 20, 2009 :: staff :: 17 Comments
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has declared he is “ready for martyrdom” and has urged his supporters across the nation to strike if he is detained or harmed. Responding to the supreme leader’s vocal support for the use of violence to suppress the demonstrations, security forces have reportedly fired shots at or over a crowd of demonstrators in central Tehran. Mousavi has written a letter to the nation’s highest electoral authority, demanding a re-run of the election; the move is being seen as the most overt show of defiance to date against the supreme leader.
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June 19, 2009 :: staff :: 13 Comments
We commend the remarkable and resilient actions of the grassroots organizations of Iranian civil society led by courageous women, students, teachers and workers, and support their demands for democracy, individual liberties, and political and religious freedoms.
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June 19, 2009 :: staff :: 18 Comments
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned Iran that illegal violence by militia groups could sow unrest. Pillay called for the regime to exercise restraint and cease its attacks on demonstrators and organizers. With the legal basis for recent arrests “not clear”, Pillay called on Iran to explain “Why have some of those who have been arrested been denied access to lawyers and members of their families? And why is the whereabouts of others unknown?”
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June 18, 2009 :: staff :: 21 Comments
Tens of thousands of Iranians have gathered at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square to mourn demonstrators killed by security forces in opposition rallies earlier this week. The day of mourning was called for by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the election was stolen by pro-Ahmedinejad forces. As the demonstrations have persisted, over the last week, a range of prominent political and religious figures have joined Mousavi’s calls for a probe into the alleged fraud and establishment of transparency in the democratic process.
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June 15, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 24 Comments
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, who had already declared the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad fair and legitimate, and most importantly, final, has agreed to investigate allegations the vote was rigged. He reportedly met yesterday with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom many believe actually received more votes than Ahmedinejad, to give his allegations a hearing at the top level of Iran’s revolutionary government.
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June 13, 2009 :: staff :: 13 Comments
After a contentious and sometimes ugly election campaign, with accusations of corruption, “undermining” the nation, and incompetence, flying between the two main rivals for the presidency, Iranian officials have declared incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad the outright winner, and by an astonishingly wide margin. The results have immediately been called into question by the opposition candidates, and by foreign governments and international observers barred from monitoring the polls.
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June 12, 2009 :: staff :: 24 Comments
After a long day of voting and possibly record voter turnout, Iran’s presidential election has ended in deep uncertainty. Reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi has reportedly announced that he has won by a substantial margin, while state media are reporting that incumbent Pres. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has won, with over 67% of the votes counted so far. Both candidates say they will contest the results if they are not declared winner.
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June 12, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 17 Comments
Iran’s government has opted to keep polls open for several hours, to accommodate the huge number of citizens still waiting to vote. There is suspicion, perhaps legitimate, that the ruling clerics or the office of the president would like to enable a swing toward Pres. Ahmedinejad in late polling, but no hard evidence so far to support such suspicions. The official reason given for extending polling is massive and historic voter turnout.
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June 12, 2009 :: staff :: 20 Comments
Iranians go to the polls today, to choose between extremist hardliner Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and a popular reformist and former premier, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi has said he was compelled to enter the race by the dangerous “mismanagement” of Ahmedinejad’s, whose policies he says are characterized by “adventurism, instability, exhibitionism and extremism”.
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June 8, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Conservative and extreme right-wing parties gained significantly in this month’s elections for the European Parliament. Britain’s governing Labour party suffered its worst electoral performance since 1910, finishing 3rd behind the opposition Conservatives, and the hard-line anti-Europe UKIP.
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June 6, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The European Parliamentary elections are the world’s largest transnational democratic vote, with 375 million people across 27 nations, choosing among 650 parties for 785 seats in the Parliament. It is worth asking what effect these elections, held once every 5 years for all the seats in the European Parliament, will have on EU environmental policy. Will these elections speed the spread of clean energy resources, like wind, solar and wave power, across the EU member states and neighboring states?
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February 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
CitiGroup announces deal to let US government take 36% stake in firm, up from 8% stake, a move that will intensify regulatory scrutiny and possibly move firm toward solvency by way of nationalization. Move is third rescue in five months in ongoing effort to save massive banking operation. Obama announces plan to remove most US [...]
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January 3, 2009 :: Evelyn Winston Perez :: Comments Off
John Atta Mills, leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, has won the presidency, paving the way for Ghana to again demonstrate its standing as an established democracy in which a peaceful transfer of power is the accepted process.
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December 8, 2008 :: Evelyn Winston Perez :: Comments Off
Reports from Ghana suggest turnout was historically high and the elections peaceful and without significant irregularities. While many voters were forced to wait in long lines for hours, and some began forming lines at polling stations the night before the vote, there were few reported incidents of serious problems. It is expected the election will result in Ghana’s second successive peaceful transfer of power, which the AP cites as “a litmus test for a mature democracy and a feat that only a handful of other nations in Africa have accomplished”.
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December 30, 2007 :: The Editors :: Comments Off
In the wake of the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto, stability seems to be the key goal among top rivals in secular political leadership. The PPP has announced that in keeping with Ms. Bhutto’s wishes, her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a 19-year-old student at Christ Church College, Oxford, will take the helm [...]
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