Category: Other

United Nations: Bulgarian Woman Elected UNESCO Chief – Egypt’s Farouk Hosni Who Called for Book Burning – Blames West, “Jewish Groups” for Defeat

Bulgarian elected first UNESCO woman chief
— UPI reports: “Irina Bokova, a former Bulgarian foreign minister, is the first woman to lead the United Nations’ cultural unit, UNESCO, officials said.”
— “Bokova was elected Tuesday after five rounds of voting saw her prevail over Farouk Hosni of Egypt, Radio France Internationale reported Wednesday.”

— Egypt critics turn against Hosni and regime for UNESCO loss
—- AFP reports: “Some Egyptians are lashing out at the government over the case of Culture Minister Faruq Hosni and his failed bid for the top job at UNESCO, blaming the regime or Hosni himself for the defeat.”
—- “Egypt fought a tough diplomatic battle to get Hosni elected, and when the man lost out to Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova last week, government officials and Hosni blamed ‘Jewish groups’ and some Western states for his defeat.”

—- Wall Street Journal reported: In early May, responding to a question in Parliament from a member of the Muslim Brotherhood about cultural ties with Israel, he said: “I’d burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt.”

Iran: Women’s rights activist sentenced to six months in jail

Iran: Women’s rights activist sentenced to six months in jail
— AKI reports:
— “A women’s rights activist and journalist has been sentenced to six months in jail by one of Iran’s Revolutionary Courts in the capital, Tehran, for having ‘endangered state security’.”
— “Jelveh Javaheri, arrested in June 2008 for protesting in the centre of Tehran in favour of women’s political and civil rights, was subsequently freed from Iran’s notorious Evin prison and her sentence has only now been made public, Iran’s Radiofarda said.”
— “She was charged with ‘acting against national security by spreading propaganda against the state.'”
— “Javaheri had been previously arrested in May and was freed after posting a bail of 75.000 euros. She was the founding member of the Campaign for Equality.”
— “Javaheri is part of a group of Iranian feminists that begun a national campaign two years ago to abolish all of of Iran’s discriminatory laws against women.”

North Carolina: YWC Faculty Adviser Resigns After Gun Comment

North Carolina: Professor steps down after joke
Chapel Hill News reports:
— “UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp shut down a campus anti-immigration group Friday after an anonymous flier targeted its faculty adviser, who then joked about his skills with a Colt .45.”
— “Activists put out the flier last week revealing the home address of Youth for Western Civilization faculty adviser Elliot Cramer.”
— related report

Nepal: “Under UN pressure, Nepal to probe ‘disappearances'”

“Under UN pressure, Nepal to probe ‘disappearances'”

AP reports:
— “Nepal’s Maoist-dominated government promised Saturday to establish a “disappearance commission” to investigate political killings that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says were perpetrated by communist insurgents fighting to overthrow the monarchy.”

“Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal spoke to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, telling other nations: ‘We have come a long way in terms of our transition from conflict.'”

“‘Like in every post-conflict situation, there are ups and downs and obstacles in the way. Managing the legacy of the violent past with justice and reconciliation and mainstreaming all the forces into a democratic order are major challenges before us,’ he said.”

“The prime minister promised that his government ‘is determined to establish a truth and reconciliation commission and a disappearance commission as a part of ensuring transitional justice and restoring social harmony and peace.'”

“The pledge came a day after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, Richard Bennett, released a letter demanding that the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) allow police to get to the bottom of several assassinations and a bus bombing.”

“The U.N. envoy’s letter wanted answers to the killings of businessman Ram Hari Shrestha, journalist Birendra Shah and another victim, Arjun Lama, as well as a deadly bus bombing in June 2005 in Madi at killed some 50 people.”

“Bennett’s letter said the three killings ‘are among those for which there is substantial evidence of Maoists’ responsibility,’ naming Maoist Third Division Commander Kali Bahadur Kham as being allegedly involved in Shrestha’s killing.”

“In the case of the bus bombing, Bennett said, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has claimed responsibility and identified the perpetrators, but no one has been punished and the Nepalese police seem unable to act without cooperation from the Maoist party.”

“‘The practice of protecting and promoting alleged human rights violators, whether they are Nepal Army officers or members of UCPN-M, must end,’ Bennett wrote.”

“Nepal’s government is preparing a report that says 16,274 people were killed in the country during the 10-year conflict between Maoist rebels and government troops that climaxed in 2006, officials recently said.”

“The Maoist rebels began their armed revolt in 1996 seeking an end to the monarchy and to establish a communist state. The rebels gave up their insurgency in 2006 and joined a peace process under U.N. supervision and ultimately became part of the political mainstream.”

“A communist-dominated Constituent Assembly voted in May 2008 to abolish the centuries-old monarchy and declared Nepal a republic and a secular state.”

“The UCPN-M contested elections last year and emerged as the largest political party in Nepal. They led a coalition government between September 2008 and May 2009.”

“Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned as prime minister over the president’s refusal to dismiss the army chief, and a new coalition government took over in May.”

See Also:

May 7, 2009 – Washington Times: “Nepal’s Maoist double-cross”

SATA Report on “Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist”

2007 – Deteriorating Rights Situation in Nepal — By Navaraj Pudasaini, Human Rights Attorney

Asian Human Rights Commission – Nepal
May 2007 – “Everyone should receive social justice but without breaking other people’s legs” — by Dr. Sanjeev Upreti
— “Maoists continue to maintain that it is all right to use violence as a temporary tool to obtain social justice. Madhesi aandolan also repeated the same lesson learnt during the Maoist war. As a consequence, the idea that it is all right to break other ‘people’s legs-or to vandalize shops and burn buildings- in order to achieve justice has become a part of the national culture of Nepal.”

— “Maoists continue to maintain that it is all right to use violence as a temporary tool to obtain social justice. Madhesi aandolan also repeated the same lesson learnt during the Maoist war. As a consequence, the idea that it is all right to break other ‘people’s legs-or to vandalize shops and burn buildings- in order to achieve justice has become a part of the national culture of Nepal.”

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Nepal – December 2006:  The torture and death in custody of Maina Sunuwar – Summary of concerns

NYC: Many Attend Freedom Protest for Iran

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) also joined this protest

Press Release: Stand for Freedom in Iran

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Marcy Fishman      212-983-4800, ext. 142     Cell:  646-662-0335

GOVERNER DAVID PATERSON, NOBEL LAUREATE ELIE WIESEL, AND FORMER MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI RALLY TOGETHER WITH MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND NEW YORKERS TO STAND FOR FREEDOM IN IRAN

Photos by Michael Priest

Thursday, September 24, 2009, New York, NY — More than ten thousand participants gathered together outside the United Nations Plaza to demand freedom for all Iranians. Such prominent New Yorkers as Governor David Paterson, Elie Wiesel, and Rudy Giuliani showed their solidarity with a range of other elected officials, religious leaders, and representatives of many ethnic communities to send a united message of hope.

More than 40 organizations have come together to create the Stand for Freedom in Iran Coalition, which demands freedom of assembly, expression, and the press; the immediate cessation of human-rights abuses and the release of demonstrators from prisons and protection for minority communities; prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan and many other victims; full compliance and cooperation by Iran with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Security Council resolutions, including an end to Iran’s uranium enrichment; and an end to the incitement of genocide and the support of terrorism.

Speakers included New York State Governor David Paterson; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli; New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr.; New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; Canadian Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler; Stuart Appelbaum, president, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; J. David Cox, national secretary-treasurer, American Federation of Government Employees; The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski, dean, Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine; Iranian student activist and former prisoner Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir and Iranian political activists Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, Shohreh Nazar, and Roya Teimouri; and former Sudanese refugee and human-rights activist Simon Deng.

“Ahmadinejad is the Number One Holocaust denier in the world,” said Nobel Laureate Elie and called on world leaders to shun him. “He’s unworthy of your attention; he’s unworthy of being your colleague. He’s in fact an enemy of humanity.”

“Thank you all for coming here, for this great cause today,” said New York State Governor David Paterson. “We will not stand for any more of President Ahmadinejad.

“I hope he lives to see the day when he and his kind are held in judgment by a free Iran,” said New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, about Ahmadinejad.

“The regime stands against everything we value,” said Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani about the toll of the repressive government under Ahmadinejad.

“We cannot remain silent when, in our city, there is a leader of a regime who arrests innocent civilians, imprisons students, brutalizes protesters, tortures dissidents, abuses women, executes children, sponsors terror groups, threatens to annihilate sovereign nations, and violates international resolutions while developing nuclear weaponry,” said Janice W. Shorenstein, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. “The Stand for Freedom in Iran Coalition reflects the broad sentiment among Americans of many faiths, ethnicities, and walks of life that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not welcome in New York.”

“We support the right for all people from all nations to have the freedoms we have as Americans,” said John M. Shapiro, president of UJA-Federation of New York. “We publicly condemn the actions of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran as he appears before the United Nations. We cannot tolerate his abuse of his fellow Iranians nor the threat he poses.”

Additionally, there are national rallies being held in Washington, D.C.; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois; and throughout the world in Vienna, Paris, Germany, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Holland, and Norway.

Participating organizations include the Progressive American-Iranian Committee; Jewish Community Relations Council of New York; New York City Central Labor Council: AFL-CIO; UJA-Federation of New York; Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union; American Federation of Teachers; United Federation of Teachers; American Federation of Government Employees; NAACP-New York Conference; The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine; National Puerto Rican Coalition; Alliance of Iranian Women; Iran Human Rights Documentation Center; Foundation for Democracy in Iran; Korean American Public Affairs Committee; Turkish American Community in New York; Chinese Community Relations Council; National Inter-agency Task Force on Iran; and more than 40 other non-Jewish and Jewish organizations. For more information, visit www.standforfreedominiran.org.

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