December, 22 2014, 10:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
Man in Line for Execution Tomorrow Not a Terrorist, Admit Pakistan Authorities
The Pakistani authorities have admitted that a man set to be hanged tomorrow is not connected to the Peshawar school attack, but said they have no plans to stay his execution.
Shafqat Hussain, from the province of Sindh, was arrested in 2004 at the age of 14. Tortured into a confession, he was eventually convicted of 'involuntary manslaughter' in Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Courts, and sentenced to death.
Last week, after the collapse of the country's six-year moratorium on the death penalty, Mr Hussain's family were informed he would be executed on Tuesday (23rd).
LONDON
The Pakistani authorities have admitted that a man set to be hanged tomorrow is not connected to the Peshawar school attack, but said they have no plans to stay his execution.
Shafqat Hussain, from the province of Sindh, was arrested in 2004 at the age of 14. Tortured into a confession, he was eventually convicted of 'involuntary manslaughter' in Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Courts, and sentenced to death.
Last week, after the collapse of the country's six-year moratorium on the death penalty, Mr Hussain's family were informed he would be executed on Tuesday (23rd).
On Sunday, a senior Pakistani prison official was quoted as saying that Mr Hussain and another man due to be hanged "both [...] don't have affiliations with any banned outfit." Despite this, the Pakistani authorities have indicated to Mr Hussain's family that he could still be executed tomorrow - while Pakistan's interior minister has said that the Government plans to execute 500 more people in the coming week.
International human rights organisation Reprieve, together with Justice Project Pakistan, has submitted an urgent request to the UN's human rights body, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking for it to intervene to prevent the execution from going ahead.
Pakistan has the largest death row in the world, estimated at over 8000 people.
Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: "Killing a man who was arrested as a juvenile and tortured into a 'confession' will not bring justice - it will merely add to the tragedy of the Peshawar school attack. This resumption of executions is putting more innocent lives at risk, and gravely threatening Pakistan's commitment to the rule of law. Even Government officials are now admitting that Shafqat, among others, has nothing to do with terrorism - the authorities must then change course, before it is too late."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
LATEST NEWS
171 Republicans and 150 Democrats Vote Down Effort to Withdraw Troops From Syria
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the no votes on the resolution led by Rep. Matt Gaetz and backed by progressives.
Mar 09, 2023
More than 170 House Republicans and 150 Democrats teamed up Wednesday to defeat a resolution aimed at withdrawing all remaining U.S. troops from Syria, a proposal led by right-wing Rep. Matt Gaetz and supported by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The measure, just the latest House push to bring the nation's yearslong military presence in Syria to an end, failed by a vote of 103 to 321, with Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California among the no votes.
The resolution would have required the president to remove 900-plus U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days of passage, barring congressional action to authorize their continued presence.
Opponents of the resolution who support prolonging the occupation echoed the Pentagon claim that U.S. forces are needed in Syria to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to ensure "stability" in the region.
"Either we fight 'em in Syria, or we'll fight 'em here," said Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana.
While lamenting the proposal's defeat, peace advocates noted that it garnered more Republican support than any previous war powers resolution, with 47 GOP yes votes. Fifty-six House Democrats—including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ro Khanna of California, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Cori Bush of Missouri—voted for the resolution.
“There is a new generation of thinking on two central issues," Khanna toldThe Intercept following Wednesday's vote. "A concern about wars and entanglements over the last 20 years that have not made us safer, and a concern over the offshoring of our domestic production over bad trade deals that have left the working class and middle class poorer."
"I believe that this new generation of political leaders can help fix those two mistakes that the country has made, and that there is an emerging consensus that we should not have our troops fighting overseas without congressional authorization," Khanna added. "If the president wants to make the case for a certain presence that is required for America to protect the Kurds, then he should come to Congress and work with us to make that case."
As The Intercept's Ryan Grim and Daniel Boguslaw noted, "the legal rationale for U.S. occupation" of Syria is "dubious at best."
Opponents of the Syria war powers resolution, including Zinke, pointed to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—a law that U.S. presidents have cited to give legal cover for airstrikes and ground operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.
"With ISIS suppressed," Grim and Boguslaw wrote, the Biden administration "has suggested the purpose of the occupation is to act as a bulwark against Iran."
Pointing to U.S. officials' claim that the presence of American troops prevents Iranian forces from establishing a "land bridge" to shuttle weapons to allies in Lebanon, Grim and Boguslaw observed that Iran "already has a direct 'land bridge' through eastern Syria to Lebanon; the U.S. occupation merely adds some time to the Iranian truckers' journey."
Critics of the U.S. troop presence in Syria have stressed that Congress did not specifically authorize a military operation to confront "Iran-backed militias" in Syria.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Nonsense!': Jamie Raskin Rips Republicans Over Unending January 6 Lies
"America, we cannot let McCarthy and Carlson become the Orwellian editors of our past or the authoritarian authors of our future," exhorted the Maryland Democrat.
Mar 08, 2023
As right-wing politicians and pundits continue to peddle lies and conspiracies related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin on Wednesday delivered a passionate rebuttal of Republicans' "nonsense."
Speaking on the House floor, Raskin asserted that "it all starts" with "Donald Trump's 'Big Lie'" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
He continued: "They say, 'Who knows, maybe he won, maybe he didn't. You say Joe Biden's president, we say Donald Trump's president.' Nonsense!"
"Sixty federal and state courts rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption that they put forward. Sixty," Raskin—who was the lead manager for Trump's historic second impeachment—reminded listeners. "They don't have a single court that ever ruled in their favor. Donald Trump lost that election by more than seven million votes, 306-232 in the Electoral College."
"So then... their Big Lie has to stretch all the way over January 6," Raskin said. "We have to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes and our own ears. We saw them come and descend upon this chamber, this Congress, wounding and injuring 150 of our police officers, breaking people's noses, breaking people's fingers, putting people in the hospital, and already they're back on the news with big lies saying, 'No, no, no, it was a tourist visit.'"
Referring to the Fox News opinion host and the Republican House speaker, Raskin tweeted Wednesday that "Tucker Carlson's assault on the truth about January 6 is unconscionable, but more scandalous yet is Kevin McCarthy's central role in its design. America, we cannot let McCarthy and Carlson become the Orwellian editors of our past or the authoritarian authors of our future.
On Monday evening, Carlson—who according to legal documents said he "passionately hates" Trump even as he publicly amplified the ex-president's lies—dubiously dismissed the Capitol attack as "mostly peaceful chaos."
Carlson's characterization was roundly rejected even by numerous Republican senators including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who called the false narrative "bullshit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Free Press Advocates Say FTC Has No Business Probing Journalist Interactions With Twitter
"Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC's demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the administration," said one critic.
Mar 08, 2023
Press freedom defenders on Wednesday expressed outrage after it was revealed that the Federal Trade Commission, as part of its investigation into Twitter's data privacy practices, demanded that the social media giant "identify all journalists" given access to company records, including in relation to owner Elon Musk's dissemination of the so-called "Twitter Files" purporting to expose censorship on the platform.
"Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC's demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the [Biden] administration, regardless of what they think of Elon Musk or Twitter," Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) advocacy director Seth Stern said in a statement.
According to FPF: "Government-compelled identification of journalists is dangerous on its own and enables further surveillance of those identified. Administrations from both political parties have overreached to spy on journalists—especially journalists investigating those in power."
"The Department of Justice has adopted policies against surveilling journalists," the advocacy group noted, "but other agencies like the FTC have not."
The Wall Street Journalreported Tuesday that in addition to the names of journalists granted access to Twitter records, the FTC also sought internal communications related to Musk as well as information regarding layoffs, which the agency said could undermine the corporation's capacity to protect users, and the launch of the Twitter Blue subscription service.
FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar told the newspaper that the agency is "conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter's compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company."
Farrar explained Wednesday on social media that Twitter in 2011 "agreed to a 20-year consent order over its data security practices and how it uses your private information."
"In 2022, the FTC charged Twitter with violating the 2011 order for misusing personal information. The company then paid a $150 million penalty and entered a new consent order," he continued. "Besides the penalty, the FTC added further provisions to protect consumers' sensitive data. This order was issued in May of 2022," several months before Musk's acquisition of the company was finalized.
"The FTC should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users."
Farrar added that the 12 demand letters the FTC has sent to Twitter since Musk took over in late October "are nonpublic, but cherry-picked portions of some have recently been made public."
This happened after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government published excerpts of the letters in an interim staff report about the FTC's Twitter probe.
As part of its investigation, the FTC on December 13 "asked about Twitter's decision to give journalists access to internal company communications, a project Mr. Musk has dubbed the 'Twitter Files' and that he says sheds light on controversial decisions by previous management," the Journal reported.
According to the newspaper: "The agency asked Twitter to describe the 'nature of access granted each person' and how allowing that access 'is consistent with your privacy and information security obligations under the order.' It asked if Twitter conducted background checks on the journalists, and whether the journalists could access Twitter users' personal messages."
Journalist Matt Taibbi—whose December 2 thread on Twitter's 2020 decision to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story and subsequent reporting have put him at the center of the "Twitter Files" saga—tweeted Tuesday: "Which journalists a company or its executives talks to is not remotely the government's business. This is an insane overreach."
In response, Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly think tank, wrote that "the FTC is seeing whether Twitter is violating its consent decree on privacy."
Farrar doubled down on that claim Wednesday, writing: "FTC investigations are straightforward and nonpolitical. They are to ensure that companies are following the law, including protecting people's privacy. The consent order the FTC has with Twitter isn't about Musk's acquisition of the company or their content moderation policies. This isn't about free speech, it's about the FTC doing its job to protect Americans' privacy."
Stern, for his part, was unconvinced by Farrar and Stoller's attempts to justify the FTC's actions as an exercise in protecting consumers' data.
"The FTC," said Stern, "should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users."
"It's especially disturbing," he continued, "that the demand could enable future efforts to obtain the journalists' newsgathering materials."
The FTC's actions underscore why Americans of all political persuasions "should support passing the PRESS Act," Stern added. "It's the only way to ensure that all administrations, and all government agencies, are prohibited from surveilling or retaliating against journalists."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT OUR WORK.
We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
reader supported.
reader supported.