In Turkey, police arrest journalists and executives

By Andrew Finkel, for CNN-Sun December 14, 2014
Istanbul (CNN) — Turkish police on Sunday arrested senior journalists, media executives and even the scriptwriter for a popular television series on charges of “forming, leading and being a member of an armed terrorist organization.”

The more than two dozen arrests followed another series of police raids on December 17 of last year, in which prominent supporters of the government, including the sons of ministers and the head of a state-owned bank, were interrogated on charges of corruption.

In almost all cases, those year-old charges have been dropped.

The current crop of detentions are people associated with the influential Gulen religious movement and whose followers have an active network of schools and businesses. The government accuses the movement of infiltrating the police and judiciary.

Among those now detained are Ekrem Dumanli, editor-in-chief of Zaman, the country’s widest circulating newspaper.

Police arriving at 7.30 a.m. were greeted by scores of protesters shouting “a free media cannot be silenced.”

Journalists and Gulen supporters had mounted a vigil after tweets from “Fuatavni” — a reliable but anonymous source — had warned of the raid. Police retreated only to reappear in the afternoon when Dumanli gave himself up voluntarily.

Also in custody are Hidayet Karaca, the head of the Gulen-affiliated Samanyolu television, as well as the director, producers and writer of long-running political soap operas that cast aspersions on the government’s attempt to broker a deal with Kurdish militants by depicting it as a conspiracy hatched in the corridors of Tehran.

For the past year, the government has been waging a campaign against the Islamic spiritual leader Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. In the pro-government press, even the word Pennsylvania has become synonymous with a conspiracy to create what is called a “parallel” state by overthrowing the elected government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former Prime Minister and now President.

The Gulen-affiliated movement counters that these accusations are simply a smokescreen to cover up corruption in high places, including the president’s own family. For the past 12 months, suspected Gulenists in the bureaucracy have been let go from key positions and laws enacted that will shut down a chain of university tutorial colleges affiliated to the movement.

"Whether driven by a desire to shift public attention from the anniversary of corruption probes, or by public criticisms of systematic nepotism and excesses of the presidential palace, these raids and arrests are politically motivated," the Alliance for Shared Values, an organization that represents U.S. groups affiliated with the Gulen movement, said in a statement. “Such actions taint Turkey’s image around the world and raise the growing authoritarianism of the Erdogan regime to a new level.”

Until recently, the Gulen movement had been among Erdogan’s most enthusiastic supporters. The Zaman media group was a cheerleader of a series of trials that involved scores of military officers convicted of trying to stage a coup d’état. Journalists critical of the Gulenists’ political ambitions also stood trial, including the freelance writer Ahmet Sik, who spent 2011-2012 in prison awaiting trial.

Sik has refused to have his revenge eaten cold. While the Gulen community may have “served fascism a few years ago, what happened to them is also fascism,” he tweeted at the news of Sunday’s raid.

Indeed many observers see the crackdown as a growing example of Erdogan’s increasing authoritarian rule.

"These arrests appear to be government retribution against journalists reporting on corruption and criticizing the government. The crackdown on speech in Turkey must end, said Daniel Calingaert, executive vice president of Freedom House, the Washington-based democracy watchdog that this year downgraded the Turkish press from being "partly free" to "not free."

"The situation changes when people … try to take control of the bureaucracy and thus declare war against the country’s elected government," said Ahmet Davutoglu, Erdogan’s successor as Prime Minister.

A statement by the U.S. State Department last week cautioned Turkey, a key NATO ally, not to violate its “own democratic foundations” while drawing attention to raids against media outlets “openly critical of the current Turkish government.”

Palestinian president presses for UN vote on Israeli withdrawal

Mahmoud Abbas pushes for Wednesday vote as Netanyahu files to Rome to meet US secretary of state John Kerry

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (right) with Saeb Erekat at an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo in November. Photograph: Mohamed Adel/EPA

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem-Monday 15 December 2014

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is pushing for a vote in the United Nations security council – as early as Wednesday – on a resolution calling for a deadline to end the 47-year-long Israeli occupation.

The move, disclosed late on Sunday night by the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, comes as Israel’s prime minister vowed to reject any attempt to set a deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders or a timeline for ending the occupation.

Binyamin Netanyahu’s comments came as he flew to Rome for a meeting with the US secretary of state, John Kerry, to discuss Palestinian moves at the UN. Kerry will later meet with Arab foreign ministers and Erekat in London.

The push to hold a vote on Wednesday comes during a period of intense diplomatic negotiations over two rival draft texts for a resolution. The first, sponsored by Jordan at the behest of the Palestinians – envisages setting a November 2016 deadline for ending the occupation. The rival proposal, drawn up by France, would only set a deadline for an end to negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Kerry’s sudden involvement in talks around the resolution is being seen as an attempt to manage a process the US fears could raise already high tensions and in which according to one quoted official it sees only “bad scenarios”.

The French draft – which has been drawn up with input from the UK and Germany – speaks of the 1967 borders as the basis for dividing the land, which President Barack Obama has publicly backed, but it does not include key Israeli and US conditions such as Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

A senior western diplomat said the Europeans – led by France – were aiming for a consensus resolution devising a binding, unspecified, timeframe and felt the Americans were open to the possibility.

“There is a window of opportunity now, there is a willingness from them to consider … options at the security council,” the diplomat said.

However, the French proposal is seen by Palestinians as falling far short of their demands. “It has killed substance of our resolution,” one senior official with intimate knowledge of the negotiations told the Guardian.

“The French are talking about a timeframe for a conclusion of peace talks. We are talking about ending occupation. And so far the Americans have committed a serious mistake. They have failed to engage with the resolution despite being invited to.”

The increased diplomatic manoeuvring comes amid concerns among some western countries that the security council will need to be seen to take concrete action on the the Middle East peace process – which collapsed in the spring amid mutual recriminations – to avoid a downward spiral between Palestinians and Israelis turning into a more serious confrontation. The timing of any vote is regarded as crucial.

Palestinian negotiators have been seeking at least nine votes in support on the security council that many believe they will find easier to muster in January when three states without diplomatic relations with Israel join the council’s rotating membership.

While Palestinian officials expect the US to veto any resolution – despite US claims that they have yet to decide how to vote – officials around Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas are divided over when that likely veto should be prompted.

A vote attracting majority support on the security council – even one attracting a US veto – would be seen by Palestinians as exposing the fact that the US “is not an honest broker” in the peace process, opening the way to pressure for an international conference on the issue.

It would also be seen as strengthening any future Palestinian move to join the international criminal court, which it has long been threatening to do.

Complicating the issue are several factors, not least the fact that Israel is at the beginning of a prolonged election campaign that diplomats believe will lead to a hardening of Netanyahu’s position.

Speaking ahead of his trip to meet Kerry in Rome, Netanyahu said: “We will not accept attempts to impose unilateral measures upon us by a set date, at a time when radical Islam is spreading throughout the world.”

While the US has long opposed the idea of the security council imposing a framework for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the increasing internationalisation of the issue – several European countries have taken symbolic votes recognising a Palestinian state – has pushed some to speculate that the Washington is more open to engaging in talks about security council intervention.

For Washington, too, simply vetoing the plan could be seen as more difficult than in the past.

A veto would upset Palestinians and perhaps some Arab allies frustrated by years of diplomatic gridlock. Several are fighting alongside the US against the Islamic State.

Executed teenager cleared of rape and murder, 18 years after China put him to death

Huugjilt (right), was only 18 at the time of his execution in 1996. His mother (left) weeps after today's court ruling, which found him not guilty. Photos: iFeng.com

 Monday, 15 December, 2014

Shang Aiyun (second left) and Li Sanren (second right) burn a copy of the court's verdict at their son's grave in Hohhot. Photo: Xinhua [1]A Chinese court has found a man not guilty of the 1996 rape and murder of a woman after a retrial – more than 18 years after he was found guilty and executed.

Inner Mongolia's High Court ruled today that Huugjilt, who was 18 at the time of his execution, was innocent of the crimes, and apologised to his weeping parents. Another man had admitted to the crimes in 2005.

Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported that Huugjilt had gone to try to help the victim after hearing someone cry out in a public toilet in Hohhot as he and his friend, Yan Feng, had walked past.

Yan told Xinhua that they had found a woman's body inside the toilet, and Huugjilt had gone to report the crime to police - despite him urging his friend to stay silent.

Zhao Jianping, deputy president of the high court, told Huugjilt’s tearful parents: “We learnt a heart-breaking lesson in this case; we are sorry.”

He also presented 30,000 yuan (about HK$38,000) to the parents as an expression of the court’s sympathy.

Huugjilt was found guilty of raping and murdering the woman in the public toilet in Hohhot on April 9, 1996. He was sentenced to death after being convicted of the crime and executed in June 1996.

However, an alleged serial rapist and killer, Zhao Zhihong, confessed to police that he had carried out the rape and murder of the woman after being arrested in 2005. But Huugjilt’s retrial was held only in November.

Miao Li, the lawyer representing Huugjilt, told reporters packed into the home of Huugjilt’s parents, that she would help the family to seek compensation from the government.

In a similar case, Nie Shubin, aged 21, from China’s northern province of Hebei, was executed in 1995 for the 1994 rape and murder of a woman in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang.

Another man, Wang Shujin was caught by police in 2005 for three unconnected rape and murder cases, and confessed to the earlier rape and murder of the woman in Shijiazhuang.

However, in this matter, the province’s higher court did not believe Wang’s claim during a retrial of Nie’s case held last year and Nie’s guilty verdict still stands.

Also last year, a man in the eastern province of Anhui was found not guilty after serving 17 years of a life sentence for the killing of his wife.

UN says death toll in eastern Ukraine up to 4,707

Workers decorate a New Year tree, in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral in central Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. New Year is widely celebrated as the most popular holiday in Ukraine with the Orhodox Christmas being celebrated on Jan. 7. (Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated Press)

By Associated Press December 15 at 8:30 AM

GENEVA — Fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed at least at least 4,707 people since the conflict began in mid-April and more than a quarter of the recorded deaths have come since a much-ignored cease-fire, U.N. rights investigators said Monday.

A new report from the U.N. team in Ukraine says at least 1,357 of the fatalities have been recorded since the cease-fire began in early September, but the team noted that some of those deaths may have occurred before then.

Some 10,322 people have been wounded in the conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine, where more than 5 million people are facing rising hardships, according to the report. The most vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, children and people in state institutional care, are being particularly affected by disruptions in social and medical services.

“The situation of many people, including those held against their will, in areas under the control of the armed groups may well be life-threatening,” said the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein. “The government of Ukraine remains responsible for protecting the human rights of all Ukrainians, including the right to health, education and social security, in all its territory, including areas it does not fully control.”

The latest findings from the Geneva office, based on reports from a 34-member U.N. monitoring mission in Ukraine during November and other figures through Dec. 12, says large-scale offensives have halted since the cease-fire, but skirmishes and indiscriminate shelling of populated areas continue.

Previous U.N. reports have observed that the standoff between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine is increasingly entrenched as law and order breaks down in Donetsk, the largest city under separatist control, and in rebel-controlled areas in the neighboring Luhansk region.

The report also notes lack of progress with several human rights investigations into alleged violations in Kiev, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Who is Sydney gunman Man Haron Monis?

Self-styled sheikh Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee, is named as the gunman who took hostages in Sydney. Here's what we know about him.

Lucylove

Dramatic video as police storm Sydney cafe to end siege

MONDAY 15 DECEMBER 2014
Man Haron Monis, also known as Sheikh Haron and formerly Manteghi Boroujerdi, has been named by Australian authorities as the lone-gunman who held several people hostage in a café in Sydney’s central business district.

Message of ‘peace’

Monis posted the following on his website on the same day he entered the Sydney café: "Islam is the religion of peace, that's why Muslims fight against the oppression and terrorism of USA and its allies including UK and Australia.

"If we stay silent towards the criminals we cannot have a peaceful society. The more you fight with crime, the more peaceful you are.

"Islam wants peace on the Earth, that's why Muslims want to stop terrorism of America and its allies. When you speak out against crime you have taken one step towards peace.”

Convert to Sunni Islam

Monis, an Iranian refugee and former Shia cleric living in southwest Sydney, is 50 years old and has been living in Australia since 1996. He is believed to have recently converted to Sunni Islam after posting "I used to be a Rafidi, but not anymore. Now I am a Muslim, Alhamdu Lillah” on his website earlier this month.

Monis, along with his current partner Amirah Droudis, was arrested and charged as an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, mother of two Noleen Hayson Pal, late last year.

Pal was stabbed and set alight on the staircase of her apartment in Sydney but both Monis and Droudis were released on bail after the case was deemed "weak" by magistrates.

Offensive letters

Monis and Droudis gained notoriety in Australia after sending numerous offensive letters to the grieving families of seven Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan within days of their deaths between 2007 and 2009.

He pleaded guilty to 12 charges relating to the malicious letters after a four-year legal battle to have the charges thrown out. He was sentenced to 300 hours of community service in September 2013.

After Monis's guilty plea he spoke outside court and said: "From now on when I want to advise people not to kill children I should do it by hand delivery, not by using postal service!"

Sex crime charges

Monis was also arrested by Australian sex crimes squad detectives in April and charged with the indecent and sexual assault of a 27 year-old woman at his property in 2002.

During a recent court appearance in October 2014 he was charged with a further 40 sexual offences,including 22 counts of aggravated sexual assault and 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault relating to six other women.

Police allege that Monis was operating as a self-proclaimed "spiritual healer" at the time of the alleged offences.

He is currently on bail for these offences and was due to appear in court in relation to indecent and sexual assault charges in February.

Iran's Rouhani says will try to clinch nuclear deal as talks with U.S. resume

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani replies to a question during a news conference on the sidelines of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York September 26, 2014.

GENEVA/DUBAI Mon Dec 15, 2014 

(Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that he would try to clinch a nuclear deal with world powers despite opposition from some quarters in Iran.

Rouhani was speaking as Iran resumed talks with the United States in Geneva on its nuclear programme. An eventual deal would remove sanctions imposed on Tehran

But his government must sell any agreement to hardliners in the Islamic Republic who are wary of any rapprochement with the West.

"Some people may not like to see the sanctions lifted. Their numbers are few, and they want to muddy the water," Rouhani, widely seen as a pragmatist, told a gathering of officials at a Central Bank seminar in Tehran.

He appeared to refer to hardliners including senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

"The overwhelming majority of our nation - intellectuals, academics, theologians, the greats, and the leadership - are in favour of getting the sanctions removed," Rouhani said.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators began a two-day meeting in Geneva before wider talks between Iran and six global powers in the same city on Wednesday on how to end the 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia failed last month to meet a self-imposed deadline to resolve the standoff, extending the talks for seven more months.

They aim to reach an agreement on the substance of a final accord by late March as more time would likely be needed to reach a consensus on the technical details.

Wendy Sherman, acting U.S. deputy secretary of state, and Abbas Araqchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, led their delegations in Monday's talks.

Iran's official IRNA quoted an unnamed member of Tehran's delegation as saying uranium enrichment and how to remove sanctions were sticking points.

"Some differences have been bridged, some others haven't. There is need for more diplomacy and consultations," he said.

Iran's reluctance to scale back its capacity to enrich uranium - which can have both civilian and military uses - has drawn international sanctions that have severely hurt its economy.

Tehran denies Western allegations it has been seeking to develop the capability to assemble nuclear weapons.

In a new report, the International Crisis Group think-tank said an agreement was within reach if both sides showed more flexibility on enrichment capacity and sanctions relief.

But it warned that differences "remain sharp and overcoming them will grow more difficult with time, as the voices of sceptics get louder," referring to hardliners on both sides.

(Reporting by Mehrdad Balali in Dubai, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Venezuela’s Maduro Must Adapt to Survive. He Won’t.

• BY JUAN CRISTÓBAL NAGEL-DECEMBER 12, 2014

The international price of oil has dropped by more than 40 percent in the past six months. To put it lightly, this presents a major challenge to oil-exporting nations. Many analysts agree that, of all oil rich countries, Venezuela is the most vulnerable. A combination of persistent fiscal deficits, out-of-control inflation, and plunging public support for President Nicolás Maduro threatens to make the nation of 30 million ungovernable. What can Maduro do to survive?

In order to answer this question, we must differentiate between what Madurocan do, and what he most likely will (or, rather, will not) do.

Maduro has been living on borrowed popularity ever since Hugo Chávez anointed him his successor. After Chávez’s funeral 19 months ago, Maduro won a disputed 1.5 percentage point victory. Since then, Maduro’s numbers have been dropping steadily. The latest poll from local pollster Datanálisis puts his popularity at just 25 percent, with 85 percent of Venezuelans saying the country is headed in the wrong direction. Other opinion polls confirmthis drop.

This has everything to do with the Venezuelan economy. Reports of scarcity have been surfacing all year long. Venezuela’s recession makes it the worst performing economy in the hemisphere, and the government’s rapacious fiscal deficit (estimates put it at 17 percent of GDP) is feeding what is now theworld’s highest inflation rate. Lack of confidence in the economy is driving Venezuelans to dump the local currency and find safer assets. The black market exchange rate on the dollar has soared, and some economists are already starting to discuss the possible threat of hyperinflation.

Maduro needs to adapt if he is to survive. In order to do that, he should look to some of his neighbors, who are doing a better job riding out the dip in the commodity boom by combining pragmatic measures and tacking to the political middle. The measures needed — rationality in monetary and fiscal policies, and working with the private sector in order to disentangle the web of price distortions — are obvious.

Sadly for Venezuelans, change is unlikely.

In Brazil, the drop in the price of commodities that make up much of the country’s exports has brought the economy to a standstill, prompting massive street protests. After barely winning reelection a month ago, President Dilma Rousseff has now tacked to the center, selecting aconservative finance minister for her second term.

Meanwhile, fellow socialist presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador are both popular thanks in part to the fact that their respective countries are outperforming the region. Both governments call themselves “anti-imperialist,” and both presidents are considered socialist firebrands. However, their economic policies have been remarkably orthodox, and the private sector in both countries is doing remarkably well.

The unpopular Cristina Fernández of Argentina cannot claim to have good relations with the private sector in her country. Partly as a consequence, her economy is suffering from recession and inflation, so she is stepping aside next year in order to give her political movement a chance at survival.

All four leaders understand that political longevity requires flexibility and constructively working with the private sector. When leaders are unable to deliver, they must either tack to the center or step aside. Can Maduro learn the same lessons?

Probably not. So far, Maduro’s response to the crisis has been to deny the problem exists and push aside any hints of substantive reform. He has ignored calls to dismantle the onerous price distortions crippling the private sector, while insisting that he is the victim of an “economic war” few in Venezuela believe exists. While he has announced a cut in spending and a tax hike, these measures are not extensive enough to seriously reduce the deficit.

In other words, Maduro seems incapable of shifting.

The president’s closest advisors seem equally at sea. Maduro recentlydispatched his foreign minister to lobby OPEC members to lower production ahead of a crucial meeting. When the countries denied the request, it was an embarrassment for Venezuela. Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco has recently returned from China, where he was hoping to secure more loans to keep Venezuela afloat. He came back empty handed.

Sources privately say that Maduro’s cabinet has no grasp of the current economic maelstrom, singling out Marco — an army general with little formal training in economics — for not understanding the severity of the government’s problems. In a recent, well-sourced article, journalist Nelson Bocaranda claimed a group of people inside chavismo was lobbying the president to name Francisco Rodríguez, a respected Harvard economist currently working for Bank of America, to replace Marco the in Finance Ministry.

All of this is wishful thinking. Chavismo is a movement that feeds off price distortions, and elements of the military are deeply involved in the black market. A move to the center or a replacement of key players in the cabinet could upset the delicate balance between hardline socialists and the more pragmatic military clique in the chavista coalition.

Maduro postpones a solution at his own peril. Deep economic crises usually usher in political change, and in Venezuela, this could mean violence. If Maduro continues mimicking a deer in the headlights, and if low oil prices become the new norm, his political survival will be greatly imperiled.

The question would not then be “if” change will come, but rather “when,” or “how.”

Juan Cristóbal Nagel is the Venezuela blogger for Transitions, editor of Caracas Chronicles, and author of Blogging the Revolution. Read the rest of his posts here.

HEART ATTACKS AND WATER !

Nov 23, 2013

How many folks do you know who say they don’t want to drink anything before going to bed because they’ll have to get up during the night. Heart Attack and Water – I never knew all of this ! Interesting…….
Something else I didn’t know … I asked my Doctor why people need to urinate so much at night time. Answer from my Cardiac Doctor – Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc) seeks level with the kidneys, it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. This then ties in with the last statement!
I knew you need your minimum water to help flush the toxins out of your body, but this was news to me. Correct time to drink water…
Very Important. From A Cardiac Specialist!
Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body
2 glasses of water after waking up – helps activate internal organs
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal – helps digestion
1 glass of water before taking a bath – helps lower blood pressure
1 glass of water before going to bed – avoids stroke or heart attack
I can also add to this… My Physician told me that water at bed time will also help prevent night time leg cramps. Your leg muscles are seeking hydration when they cramp and wake you up with a Charlie Horse.
Mayo Clinic Aspirin Dr. Virend Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the report in the July 29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Most heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.
1. If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night.
The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour “half-life”; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system.
2. FYI, Aspirin lasts a really long time in your medicine chest, for years, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar).
Please read on…
Something that we can do to help ourselves – nice to know. Bayer is making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the tongue.
They work much faster than the tablets.
Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It’s about Heart Attacks.
There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently.
Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack.
The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep.
If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.
Afterwards: – Call 911. – Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by.- Say “heart attack!” – Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins.
Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and …DO NOT LIE DOWN!
A Cardiologist has stated that if each person after receiving this e-mail, sends it to 10 people, probably one life could be saved!
I have already shared this information. What about you?
Do forward this message. It may save lives!
“Life is a one time gift”

A Human Rights Agenda For Sri Lanka’s Presidential Candidates – Amnesty International

[Citizens Power in Colombo 12.12.2014; Vikalpa photo]

Report: SRI LANKA: THE FUTURE IS NOW-12/12/2014
12 December 2014

INTRODUCTION
As the people of Sri Lanka prepare for the presidential election in January 2015, Amnesty International calls on the presidential candidates to commit publicly to ensuring that human rights are protected, respected and fulfilled in accordance with international human rights law, transparency, accountability and through rebuilding strong independent institutions to protect human rights, including civil and political rights as well as social, economic and cultural rights.
A Human Rights Agenda for Sri Lanka’s Presidential Candidates – Amnesty International by Thavam Ratna