Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti

News came through after business hours this Friday afternoon that the Harper government has succeeded in blocking a high profile speaker on Palestinian human rights entry to Canada.

Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti | rabble.ca

Dawg's Blawg

... a new find. Very informed of the goings on of the Canadian political scene.

Never mind a "long march through the institutions": Stephen Harper and his ideological confederates far prefer the blitzkrieg approach.

Independent watchdogs have been muzzled or fired. Government ministers have meddled in the work of arms-length agencies. Respectable charities have been blacklisted with bogus charges of "anti-Semitism." And the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development has apparently been targeted for outright destruction.

Dawg's Blawg

Afghan Scandal Sullies Canada

Our leaders were warned that not jailing prisoners ourselves would lead to torture

by Eric Margolis

Canada has long been admired around the globe as a nation of high ethics, human rights and respect for law.

But Canada's sterling reputation is being seriously degraded by the spreading scandal over involvement in torture in the increasingly sordid Afghan conflict.

Afghan Scandal Sullies Canada | CommonDreams.org

Hébert: MPs out of the loop on Afghan torture?

Chantal Hébert

Under a majority Conservative government, former diplomat Richard Colvin's assertion that Canada knowingly allowed scores of Afghan civilian detainees to fall into the hands of torturers would likely have remained the stuff of informed behind-the-scenes speculation.

Until a parliamentary subcommittee stepped in to look into the matter, the government had deployed a lot of heavy legal artillery to prevent Colvin from telling his story to a more private inquiry held by the independent Military Police Complaints Commission.

Why?

Hébert: MPs out of the loop on Afghan torture? Unlikely - thestar.com

Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen's Israel Concert Fund

New York, NY, August 18 – Amnesty International has announced today that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert's proceeds. A number of media accounts had reported that Amnesty International was to manage or otherwise partner in a fund created from the proceeds of Cohen’s concert in Israel that would be used to benefit Israeli and Palestinian groups. Amnesty International’s announcement today followed an international outcry over the human rights organization’s reported involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert fund, and an earlier international call for Cohen to boycott apartheid Israel.

Amnesty International Withdraws from Leonard Cohen's Israel Concert Fund :: www.uruknet.info