Singapore Democrats

The west's hollow talk of Arab democracy
By: Khaled Hroub, Europe's World, Spring 2010
Political leaders in America and Europe are vociferous in their calls for the Middle East to embrace democracy. But Khaled Hroub says that the reality is the West connives in keeping Arab autocrats in power
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Iran: The good Ayatollah
By: Abbas Milani, Foreign Policy, March/April 2010 Issue
Milani reports on why his former cellmate's legacy will live on. He writes, "if 2010 turns out to be the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it may well be because of the death of one of the regime's founders, a man I met three decades ago in Tehran's infamous Evin prison. In those days nearly all critics of the shah's regime were incarcerated under this category."
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The Iranian government and the naked ballerina
By: Sahar Sepehri, Huffington Post, February 26, 2010
An Iranian newspaper with a record of needling the regime has been forced to change its masthead because it was seen as depicting a naked ballerina, even though it was a stylised version of the title's name in Persian calligraphy.
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Israel/Palestine: Hebron protest sparks clashes
By: Al Jazeera, February 25, 2010
Clashes have erupted in the West Bank city of Hebron where Palestinian protesters gathered to mark the sixteenth anniversary of a mosque attack in which 29 people were killed.
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Iran: Abdullah Ramezanzadeh banned from teaching and Mohsen Mirdamadi's wages withheld
By: IHRV, February 25, 2010
Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, chairman of the Islamic Iran Jebheh Mosharekat (Participation Front), who has recently been released from prison on a 800,000 USD bond, has been  banned from teaching classes in Tehran University.  Also, the salary of Mohsen Mirdamadi, another member of the same organization, has been discontinued.
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Iranian union leader attacked in prison
By: Al Jazeera, February 25, 2010
Mansour Osanlou, the leader of Tehran's municipal bus service union, was reportedly assaulted by an inmate in an Iranian prison, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The trade unionist was not injured in the attack, which occurred at Gohardasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, on February 22. Osanlou was arrested in July 2007 after being abducted on the street by security forces.
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Jailed Iranian student demands fair retrial from top judge
By: RFE, February 24, 2010
Jailed student activist Seyed Zia Nabavi has written to Iranian judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani demanding he be given a fair retrial, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Nabavi was arrested on June 15 and later sentenced to 15 years in prison and 74 lashes. The charges against him included "assembly with intent to conspire against national security" and "cooperation with the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MKO)."
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Egyptians and internationals rally against the wall of shame
By: Max Ajl, Truthout, February 24, 2010
On Saturday over 200 Egyptian activists for Palestinian rights, alongside 20 or more international sympathizers, condemned the underground metal wall the Mubarak government is now building on the Gaza-Egypt border. The event was filled with energy.
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ElBaradei forms National Association for change with Egyptian opposition
By: Abdel-Rahman Hussein, Daily News Egypt, February 24, 2010
In cooperation with the majority of Egypt's opposition, political hopeful and former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei formed the National Association for Change, the vehicle through which they will attempt to agitate for political change in the country.
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For Israel, defiance comes at the cost of legitimacy
By: Henry Siegman, Financial Times, February 23, 2010
The Middle East peace process and its quest for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict that got under way nearly 20 years ago with the Oslo accords has undergone two fundamental transformations. It is now on the brink of a third.
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Palestine: West Bank strike over Israeli tomb heritage claim
By: BBC News, February 23, 2010
A strike has been called by the Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem in protest at Israel's move to claim two West Bank shrines as heritage sites. Businesses, schools and universities remained closed as people observed the first day of the three-day walk-out.
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Iran bus unionist released from solitary confinement
By: ITF Global, February 19, 2010
A protest letter from the ITF and action by affiliates has been linked to the release of bus workers' leader Mansour Osanloo from solitary confinement. Osanloo has spent almost three years in detention for his trade union activities.
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Syria arrests author of political novel
By: Amnesty International, February 18, 2010
Amnesty International has called for the release of a Syrian writer who was arrested last week after she wrote a novel that describes the political situation in the country during the 1990s.
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Iran, what regime?
By: Le Monde, February 16, 2010
Le Monde's editorialist: "On Monday, February 15, American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton characterized the Iranian regime as a virtual military dictatorship. Although Mrs. Clinton, an accomplished Yale graduate, often takes on a professorial tone, Monday she was not indulging in an academic exercise on the typology of political regimes...She was delivering a warning.
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Women judges barred from influential Egypt court
By: AFP, February 15, 2010
The Council of State's association voted by an overwhelming majority against appointing women as judges in the council, Egypt's MENA news agency said. "Three-hundred and eighty judges took part in the general assembly and voted, with 334 rejecting the appointment of females to judicial posts and 42 agreeing, with four abstentions."
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Iran: IHRDC press conference
By: Iran Human Rights DC, February 13, 2010
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) released Violent Aftermath: The 2009 Election and Suppression of Dissent in Iran at a press conference and panel discussion at Hughes, Hubbard & Reed LLP. The report is the most comprehensive record to date of human rights abuses committed in Iran since last summers disputed presidential election.
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Ombudsman says Armenia amnesty applies to jailed journalist
By: RFE, February 24, 2010
Armenia's human rights ombudsman says jailed opposition journalist Nikol Pashinian should have his prison sentence cut by half in line with the amnesty declared by the parliament last year, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.
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India: Peace for Kashmir?
By: Prerna Suri, Al Jazeera, February 25, 2010
Just how much violence is enough? Kashmiris, who've suffered years of political bickering between India and Pakistan, say they've suffered enough. As India and Pakistan talk on the tables on all issues - including Kashmir - in New Delhi today, people in Srinagar just want to be left alone.
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'Our movement is unique for women from Burma'
By: Chiang Mai, IPS, February 26, 2010
Women who fled conflict and oppression in military-ruled Burma have become a potent political force during their lives in exile, says a leading women's rights activist from the South-east Asian country's Shan ethnic minority.
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Malaysia: Borneo dams chief under media scrutiny
By: Survival International, February 24, 2010
The CEO of the company overseeing a massive dam project on Penan tribal land in the Malaysian part of Borneo has come under scrutiny in his native Norway over violations of indigenous rights.
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Burma: Six on hunger strike in Insein prison
By: DVB, February 23, 2010
Six Burmese political inmates in Rangoon's infamous Insein prison are on hunger strike after complaining that authorities there are refusing to provide for "basic human requirements".
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Burma: Opposition calls for talks
By: RFA, February 23, 2010
A top opposition politician recently released from house arrest at his home in Rangoon has called on Burma's military government to hold talks with his party on the country's political future.
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Indonesia: Ministry blasts 'illegal' Freeport mining
By: Arti Ekawati and Reva Sasistiya, Jakarta Globe, February 22, 2010
The increasingly frustrated Ministry of Forestry has issued a second warning to mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia for not obtaining a permit to mine in protected forest areas. Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan told lawmakers he had sent Freeport, a subsidiary of giant US miner Freeport-McMoRan, an initial warning on Aug. 7 last year but had heard no reply.
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Grim reality of female North Korea defectors
By: Korea Herald, February 26, 2010
Heo Jin, a 46-year-old North Korean defector living in Seoul, sees a need for a psychological treatment for those still suffering from what they have experienced coming to the South. "I still become stupefied when I happen to see any security guards or police on the streets that remind me of the tough times while I was in China, fearing possible repatriation," Heo said.
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China to shake up cybercafes
By: RFA, February 24, 2010
China looks set to go ahead with a large-scale shake-up of its Internet cafe industry in a move critics say is aimed at further tightening controls over its citizens online.
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China tightens internet controls
By: BBC News, February 23, 2010
China has tightened controls on internet use, requiring anyone who wants to set up a website to meet regulators and produce ID documents.
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China's 'online Tiananmen'
By: RFA, February 22, 2010
A former student leader from China's 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement has called current online protests against government curbs on the Internet an "online Tiananmen," saying the spirit of online activists is the same as that seen 20 years ago in Beijing.
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Ex-inmates recount ordeal in North Korean prison
By: Ahn Mi Young, IPS, February 18, 2010
Kim Tae-Jin remembers shuddering in fear when he arrived at Yoduk Prison, a notorious detention centre in North Korea, in 1998. "First, a fear of brutal uncertainty struck me. I doubted if I would remain alive there for long," Kim recalled.
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Calls for free Papua and release of political prisoners in Jayapura
By: Cenderawasih Pos, February 23, 2010
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Jayapura, calling for Papua Merdeka - Free Papua. The demonstration which took place yesterday outside the Papua Legislative Assembly building consisted of several groups who had come from different parts of the city.They called on the Papuan people to struggle for the rights of the Papuan people which continue to be violated.
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Papua New Guinea: Autonomy and what lies ahead
By: The National, February 2010
When Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visits in two weeks' time, apart from the very many matters of mutual bilateral concerns, will PNG dare raise the matter of autonomy for the mostly Melanesian people of West Papua? Or is to be considered an internal Indonesian affair?
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US: Internet freedom beyond circumvention
By: Ethan Zuckerman's Blog, February 22, 2010
Secretary Clinton's recent speech on Internet Freedom has signaled a strong interest from the US State Department in promoting the use of the internet to promote political reforms in closed societies. It makes sense that the State Department would look to support existing projects to circumvent internet censorship.
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In solidarity with Pedro Brizuela in Honduras
By: Al Giordano, The Field, February 25, 2010
Yesterday afternoon between two and three o'clock gunmen knocked on the door of the home of Claudia Larisa Brizuela in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. When she answered the door, they assassinated her on the spot. Claudia, 36, was a member of the civil resistance movement in Honduras, and the daughter of Pedro Brizuela, union organizer, political strategist, radio host, columnist and good friend and collaborator of Narco News.
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Cuba: Dissidents bid final farewell to hunger striker
By: Patricia Grogg, IPS, February 24, 2010
Several dozen anti-government opponents gathered Wednesday at the headquarters of the Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident group, in the capital, to hold a "symbolic wake" for Orlando Zapata, a political prisoner who died on the 85th day of a hunger strike.
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Cuba: Castro 'laments' death of hunger-striking dissident
By: BBC News, February 24, 2010
Cuba's leader Raul Castro "laments" the death of a detained activist who had been on hunger strike for nearly three months, its foreign ministry says. It marks a rare expression of sorrow by Cuba's leadership, although Mr Castro was then quoted as attacking the US.
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Peru protects mining company instead of citizens: Interview with Mario Tabra Guerrero
By: Yásser Gómez, Upside Down World, February 24, 2010
Today, while those in power wage a campaign of  media disinformation to prepare the scene for the 2011 presidential elections, peasant communities of Ayabaca, Piura continue to fight multinational mining corporations. With government support, these companies continue to explore for and exploit mineral deposits, ignoring residents' concerns about the environment and the water supply. Upside Down World interviewed Mario Tabra Guerrero, one of the leaders in this fight.
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Venezuela: Chávez furious as OAS rights watchdog accuses him of endangering democracy
By: Rory Carroll, The Guardian, February 26, 2010
President Hugo Chávez vowed to withdraw Venezuela from the top human rights body in the western hemisphere last night after it accused him of endangering democracy and intimidating opponents.
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Organization of American States report rebukes Venezuela on human rights
By: Juan Forero, Washinton Post, February 25, 2010
The human rights branch of the Organization of American States issued a blistering 300-page report Wednesday against Venezuela, saying that the oil-rich country run by President Hugo Chávez constrains free expression, the rights of its citizens to protest and the ability of opposition politicians to function.
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Will James Cameron support real-life Ecuador struggle against Chevron?
By: Han Shan, Huffington Post, February 24, 2010
Cameron gave a powerful speech about how he's "on a mission" to support environmental causes. He specifically noted how moved and inspired he was by a screening of Avatar in Quito for a group of Shuar and Achuar indigenous leaders and community members from the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador - people that Amazon Watch and our allies have worked to support.
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Resisting mining: Repression and uprising in Argentina
By: Marie Trigona, Upside Down World, February 23, 2010
Residents in Northern Argentina have protested the opening of an open pit mining site in the town of Andalgala in the province of Catamarca.  A recent police crackdown on the protest has sparked a popular uprising of citizens saying, 'no to the mine'. Following massive protests in response to police repression this month, a judge temporarily halted further mine works planned to open in 2012.
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Italy's harmful conviction of Google
By: LA Times, February 20, 2010
In September 2006, four students at a school in Turin, Italy, beat and humiliated an autistic classmate. A fifth student captured the incident on her cellphone camera, then posted the digital footage to Google Video. It spent two months as one of the site's most popular clips before Google took it down at the request of Italian police.
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Greek protesters clash with police during strike
By: BBC News, February 24, 2010
Clashes have broken out between police and protesters in Greece, as up to two million people continue to strike over austerity measures. Police fired tear gas at a group of some 50 protesters on the edges of the rally. It is the second general strike in two weeks and coincides with growing anger at the EU's response to the crisis.
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'Women In Shroud' documentary wins major award
By: RFE, February 21, 2010
"Women In Shroud," a documentary coproduced by RFE/RL's Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Reza Kazemi, was awarded by the Cinema For Peace initiative that promotes humanity through film. The film explores the injustice toward women in Iran's legal system and the "Stoning of Soraya M."
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2010 World Vision Peace Prize
By: Peace and Collaborative Development Network, February 2010
Nominations are now accepted for the 2010 World Vision Peace Prize. The Peace Prize is given in honour and memory of Steve Williams, World Vision UK's Senior Policy Advisor on Peace and Conflict, who served as a great advocate for peace and justice in his professional and personal life before his sudden death in December 2007.
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