OUR CRUCIAL SPRING CAMPAIGN IS NOW UNDERWAY
Please donate now to keep the mission and independent journalism of Common Dreams strong.
European Court Confirms Polish Complicity in CIA Rendition and Torture
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today confirmed its judgement that Poland actively assisted the CIA's European "black site" programme, which saw detainees held and tortured in secret prisons across the Continent.
In July 2014, the ECHR had ruled that Poland "facilitated" the torture, secret detention and unlawful transfer of Abu Zubaydah, who is now held in Guantanamo Bay.
WASHINGTON
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today confirmed its judgement that Poland actively assisted the CIA's European "black site" programme, which saw detainees held and tortured in secret prisons across the Continent.
In July 2014, the ECHR had ruled that Poland "facilitated" the torture, secret detention and unlawful transfer of Abu Zubaydah, who is now held in Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Zubaydah was flown from a secret site in Thailand to another CIA prison in Stare Kiejkuty in northern Poland, where he was detained and tortured during 2002 and 2003. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) detailed in its recent report how Mr Zubaydah was subjected to torture numerous times by the CIA, before the Agency concluded that he was not a member of al Qaeda at all.
Today's ruling by the ECHR confirms its 2014 judgement and rejects a request by Poland to refer it to its Grand Chamber for potential reconsideration.
The 2014 judgment described the evidence that Mr Zubaydah was detained in Poland as "coherent, clear and categorical," and ruled that it was "inconceivable" that Poland was unaware of his mistreatment. It concluded that "Poland, for all practical purposes, facilitated the whole process, created the conditions for it to happen and made no attempt to prevent it from occurring."
Kat Craig, legal director at human rights charity Reprieve, said: "The Court's decision today is a crucial step forward for justice and accountability over the European role in the US torture programme. Poland's attempts to avoid responsibility were rightly refused - it's now time for the Polish authorities to admit their complicity in renditions, take their investigations seriously, and come clean about how they allowed these abuses on Polish soil."
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
Rahm Emanuel Slammed for 'Trying to Light the Fuse of a Massive Carbon Bomb'
Emanuel is using his role as U.S. ambassador to Japan to boost a major gas export project in Alaska, The American Prospect reported.
May 17, 2023
A figure widely reviled in progressive circles for his past efforts to drag the Democratic Party to the right on climate and other issues is using his current position as the U.S. ambassador to Japan—and his extensive ties to the corporate world—to help secure funding for a major gas export project in Alaska that the Biden administration is supporting despite its pledge to rein in planet-warming emissions.
The American Prospect's Lee Harris reported Wednesday that Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as White House chief of staff in the Obama administration and was the mayor of Chicago for eight years, "hosted a summit last October" on the Alaska gas project "with investors including Goldman Sachs and BlackRock, and is expected to continue his promo tour with next week’s keynote address at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference."
"The Alaska LNG Project, which would help the U.S. sell more gas to Asia, has struggled for years to raise capital, despite billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees," Harris noted. "Oil companies ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP pulled out of the project in 2014, after a natural gas supply glut caused prices to collapse."
Climate advocates voiced outrage—but not surprise—over Emanuel's role in boosting the project, which got a crucial green light from the Biden Energy Department last month.
"Rahm Emanuel did more than any single individual to sabotage Barack Obama's climate agenda at a time when there were congressional majorities," Lukas Ross, senior program manager at Friends of the Earth, told the Prospect. "It comes as no surprise to find him 13 years later trying to light the fuse of a massive carbon bomb."
\u201cYou maybe thought when Rahm Emanuel was exiled to Japan that would be the end of his policy meddling days, but no, he's leading the charge to get a gas pipeline and LNG terminal built on the Pacific Coast. From @leee_harris:\nhttps://t.co/8MCl4ck5ZV\u201d— David Dayen (@David Dayen) 1684334172
Harris noted that the $40 billion project would "include multiple interlocking pieces of infrastructure: a gas processing facility with carbon capture and an export terminal, connected by 800 miles of pipeline across melting permafrost."
Proposed by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), the project could result in more than 50 million metric tons of new planet-warming emissions each year if it's completed.
Politicoreported earlier this month that Emanuel's "continued promotion of the project [has] helped ease foreign buyers' fears that the Biden administration would abruptly kill the project."
Earlier this week, Sierra Club and Earthjusticeformally requested a rehearing of the Department of Energy's decision to approve methane gas exports from the Alaska project, which the groups said would "exacerbate the climate crisis by locking in decades of increased gas extraction."
"Claiming that a project like this could possibly be in the public interest isn't just out of step with the Biden administration's stated commitment to climate action—it's out of step with reality," said Andrea Feniger, chapter director of Sierra Club Alaska.
But as Harris detailed, the Biden administration has "expanded existing guarantees to move risks associated with Alaska LNG onto the public balance sheet."
"In 2004, the Natural Gas Pipeline Act authorized up to $18 billion in loan guarantees for the Alaska project, meaning the government would act as a backstop to assure lenders that they would be repaid. That commitment, which was indexed to inflation, is worth nearly $30 billion in guaranteed debt today," Harris explained. "The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021 sweetened the deal. The 2004 law would have required that the Alaska project send gas to the continental United States to be eligible for subsidies. But an IIJA amendment allowed any project that exports natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope, including outside the U.S., to qualify."
Harris added that the project could also benefit—to the tune of billions of dollars—from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which "dialed up federal subsidies for carbon capture in the Section 45Q tax credit."
The IRA was heavily influenced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), one of the fossil fuel industry's top allies in Congress.
\u201cLong list of derisking & subsidies:\n-Nearly 30 billion(!) in loan guarantees, expanded in bipartisan infrastructure bill to allow exports\n-$6 billion in subsidies for carbon capture from IRA\u2019s fattened 45Q\n-State entity issues debt tax-free\n-More support expected from EXIM bank\u201d— Lee Harris (@Lee Harris) 1684334359
Harris reported that Emanuel is "selling the Alaska gas complex as a blunt political instrument," citing a recent Wall Street Journalop-ed in which he wrote that "if America, Australia, and other friends can supply the majority of Japan's LNG needs, why would Japan need to rely on its adversaries?"—pointing specifically to Russia.
"The U.S. already supplies Japan with 10% of its LNG, and we are ready to do more," Emanuel declared.
By working to boost U.S. gas exports, Harris wrote, Emanuel is "working on behalf of senators from fossil fuel states, including Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who in March wrote a letter complaining of 'excessive restrictions on public financing of gas projects and unnecessary delays in approving privately-financed projects.'"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ecuador's Right-Wing President Dissolves Congress to 'Stave Off Impeachment'
The head of the Andean nation's largest Indigenous rights group accused President Guillermo Lasso of launching a "cowardly self-coup" and pushing the country toward an "imminent dictatorship."
May 17, 2023
Days before Ecuadorian lawmakers were expected to vote on removing him from office, Guillermo Lasso, Ecuador's deeply unpopular right-wing president, dissolved the country's National Assembly, a move progressive critics called a bid to avoid impeachment.
For the first time ever, Lasso invoked Article 148 of the Ecuadorian Constitution, which gives presidents the power to dissolve the legislature under certain circumstances, including legislative overreach and a "severe political crisis and domestic unrest."
The move, popularly known as "muerte cruzada"—"the death cross"—will allow Lasso to rule by decree for six months. It came a day after the president defended himself before lawmakers during an impeachment trial for allegedly turning a blind eye toward embezzlement.
"Not having the necessary votes to save himself from his imminent dismissal, Lasso launched a cowardly self-coup with the help of the police and the armed forces, without citizen support, becoming an imminent dictatorship," Leonidas Iza, head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the country's largest Indigenous rights group, said in denouncing the move.
\u201c\ud83d\udea8 Muerte cruzada \ud83d\udea8 \n\nEcuador\u2019s President, Guillermo Lasso, just disbanded the National Assembly to stave off impeachment.\n\nWith Ecuador\u2019s largest Indigenous org and the opposition promising mass protests, unrest in Quito could get intense fast. \n\nI\u2019ll be updating periodically.\u201d— Will Freeman (@Will Freeman) 1684325328
As Will Freeman, Latin America specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, explained last week:
The impeachment process originated in a scandal that erupted in January 2023. That month, Ecuadorian journalists denounced members of Lasso's inner circle for allegedly mismanaging public companies and maintaining ties to Albanian mafia groups that have come to dominate Ecuador's lucrative cocaine trafficking routes. The journalists say their information came from a police investigation, although Ecuador's attorney general has claimed the source material was doctored.
After the journalists published leaked audio clips corroborating aspects of their story, one top government appointee, Hernan Luque, became a fugitive from justice. Another businessman allegedly connected to the ring, Rubén Cherres, was found murdered. In March, a majority of Ecuador's National Assembly asked to start impeachment proceedings. Ecuador's Constitutional Court partially granted the request, allowing a vote on the corruption allegations to move forward.
Ousting Lasso from office would require the votes of 92 of the National Assembly's 137 members. The motion to proceed with the impeachment process received 88 votes.
\u201cA legislative coup now is underway in @LassoGuillermo's Ecuador, which @SecBlinken just recently "applauded" for its democratic values. "More than ever, Ecuador today shares the values that have guided the United States to prosperity since its founding," Blinken said. Indeed.\u201d— David Adler (@David Adler) 1684323931
Lasso denies both the corruption allegations and accusations that he dismissed lawmakers in order to derail the impeachment.
"Ecuador needs a new political and social pact that will allow it to get out of the political crisis in which it finds itself," Lasso said during a mandatory nationwide television and radio address, according to teleSUR. "We must move towards a solution that offers hope to families and puts an end to a useless and irrational confrontation."
Article 148 stipulates that the National Electoral Council (CNE) must call presidential and legislative elections within seven days of lawmakers' dismissal, although the electoral process is allowed to take up to six months.
\u201c#Ecuador | Citizens express their rejection of President Guillermo Lasso outside the National Assembly. They demand his dismissal.\n\u201d— teleSUR English (@teleSUR English) 1684258393
The CNE came under fire during the 2021 presidential election—in which Lasso, a former banker, defeated progressive economist Andrés Arauz—for trying to prevent Arauz from running by, among other things, banning his political party and then outlawing another party he tried to form.
Arauz wanted to have progressive former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as his running mate, but the CNE banned him from the ticket. Electoral officials also blocked the Arauz campaign from using Correa's voice or image—but allowed Arauz's opponents to depict the former president in a negative manner.
Correa—who argued that what Lasso is doing is "illegal"—looms large during the current crisis. Although the former president fled Ecuador rather than face trial for what he claims are baseless corruption charges, he still controls the largest bloc of National Assembly lawmakers.
\u201cLo que Lasso hace es ilegal. Obviamente no hay ninguna \u00abconmoci\u00f3n interna\u00bb. Tan solo no pudo comprar suficientes asamble\u00edstas para salvarse.\nEn todo caso, es la GRAN oportunidad para librarnos de Lasso, de su Gobierno y de sus asamble\u00edstas de alquiler, y recuperar la Patria\u270a\ud83c\udffd\u201d— Rafael Correa (@Rafael Correa) 1684326089
Lasso wasted no time in exercising his new powers.
"Starting today, the national government will issue decrees that will comply with the mandate that you gave me," he said during his address to the public. "I have signed a first decree to reduce taxes on families. It will be sent to the Constitutional Court for its review."
The president promised that "public services will operate normally," and that "the armed forces and the police continue to guarantee security."
As Lasso spoke, state security forces surrounded the National Assembly building to block anyone from entering or leaving the legislature, teleSURreported.
Nelson Proaño, head of the Ecuadorian military's Joint Command, delivered a brief Wednesday morning address to the nation in which he endorsed Lasso's invocation of Article 148.
\u201cNothing to see here, just Ecuador\u2019s armed forces deployed to enforce Guillermo Lasso\u2019s \u201ccross of death\u201d decree that dissolved the National Assembly in order to prevent his imminent impeachment\u2026\u201d— David Adler (@David Adler) 1684338991
"Therefore, it is subject to a constitutional norm and must be fully and completely respected by all citizens," Proaño asserted. "I wish to remind Ecuadorians that the armed forces and the National Police are obedient and nondeliberative institutions and we fulfill our mission strictly abiding by the Constitution."
Freeman wrote last week that "Ecuador is likely headed for a period of increased instability."
"Given the acute challenges Ecuador is already facing—from surging crime to mass migration to a weak economy—that is something ordinary Ecuadorians can hardly afford," he added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'End This Absurdity': Sanders, Gillibrand, and DeLauro Unveil Bills to Guarantee Paid Leave
"It is a total disgrace that millions of workers are having to choose between their job and caring for their family, their newborn child, or themselves when they are sick and in need of care," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
May 17, 2023
Mothers along with leaders from nursing and railway unions joined U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning to introduce two bills that would guarantee paid leave nationwide.
DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sanders (I-Vt.) are leading the Healthy Families Act (HFA), which would enable everyone working for businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven paid sick days per year to "recover from their own illnesses, access preventive care, provide care to a sick family member, or attend school meetings related to a child's health condition or disability."
A fact sheet from Sanders' office highlights that "34 million American workers in the U.S. lack paid sick time entirely, including 25% of the private sector workforce and nine% of the public sector workforce," and such policies are "particularly inaccessible" for low-wage workers.
"It is time to end this absurdity," declared Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). "It is time for the United States to join nearly every other major country in the world and finally guarantee paid sick leave."
"In the richest country in the history of the world, it is a total disgrace that millions of workers are having to choose between their job and caring for their family, their newborn child, or themselves when they are sick and in need of care," he asserted. "It is time Congress passed this legislation to ensure workers receive the basic dignity and benefits that they deserve."
\u201cLIVE: It is long overdue for the United States to join virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing paid leave to all its workers. https://t.co/f83l4hYm7J\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1684332123
DeLauro and Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also unveiled an updated version of the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would ensure that all workers in the United States have access to paid leave for serious medical events. The legislation would provide up to 12 weeks of partial income annually and ensure those with the lowest pay earn up to 85% of their normal wages.
The FAMILY Act would also ensure workers who have been at their job for over 90 days have the right to be reinstated after their leave, allow states to continue administering existing programs, and establish a new Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave. As DeLauro noted, she and Gillibrand have been fighting for versions of their bill for the past decade.
"Thirty years ago, we broke ground by enshrining the Family and Medical Leave Act into law, providing unpaid family and medical leave for working Americans," she said. "Let's break ground again by making it paid. Since 2013, I have been proud to be joined by Sen. Gillibrand in introducing the FAMILY Act, which would establish the nation's first universal, comprehensive paid family and medical leave program. This year, the fight continues, as we reintroduce a strengthened FAMILY Act to meet families where they are now and ensure no one has to make the impossible choice between their job and the health of themselves or their loved ones."
The proposals are backed by dozens of advocacy organizations and unions, with several groups and activists demanding swift passage of both bills—though the odds are unlikely, with slim Democratic control of the Senate and the House's GOP majority.
\u201cHere with the most beautiful crowd for #PaidLeaveForAll\u2014nurses, railroad workers, parents, Teamsters, advocates, Congressional leadership. @SharitaGruberg of @NPWF kicks off.\u201d— Paid Leave for All (@Paid Leave for All) 1684332673
"I had my first child, I was a public school teacher, and I had to drain all my sick time to try to maintain some income during my unpaid maternity leave," said Rachel Shelton, a MomsRising member from Asheville, North Carolina, in a statement.
"That was a huge challenge, because babies get sick!" Shelton explained. "When I had my second, I made the tough decision to leave my job because the situation was unsustainable. It shouldn't be this hard to balance caregiving and work. We need Congress to pass the FAMILY Act and Healthy Families Act, now. It's past time we guarantee all working people the paid leave and paid sick days we need to care for our families and for ourselves."
National Nurses United also supports both bills. The organization's president, Jean Ross, said that "nurses want what is best for patients, and that's why our union supports paid sick and family leave for all workers. Nurses see the negative health consequences on patients when they are unable to take leave due to their own illness, or the need to care for family."
"Nobody should have to choose between their own health or the health of their loved ones, and their livelihood," Ross stressed. "Further, nursing is a majority female profession, and paid sick and family leave is essential to ensuring that nursing becomes a sustainable profession."
\u201cIt's a great day for a rally for not one but TWO pieces of legislation that support families and #paidleave: FAMILY Act & Healthy Families Act!\n\nSpecial thanks to @PaidLeaveforAll and our allies.\u201d— Family Values @ Work Action (@Family Values @ Work Action) 1684335871
The introductions—which also featured remarks from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—come after a year of railway workers, backed by key congressional allies including Sanders, gaining national attention for their fight for paid leave in the face of dangerous working conditions and industry greed.
Mike Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, said Wednesday that "the BRS would like to thank those members of Congress who support paid sick leave. Rail workers were deemed essential during the pandemic. They came to work sick because they didn't want to miss a day's pay, or worse be disciplined for their absence."
"This legislation is important to rail workers," he said of the HFA. "It is an essential need, and it isn't just a frivolous want."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT
JOURNALISM TODAY
JOURNALISM TODAY
We Can't Do It
Without You!
Without You!