The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to impose sanctions against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his immediate family and his top associates in connection with the regime’s deadly response to anti-government protests, and to refer the matter to a war crimes tribunal.
The resolution, passed Saturday evening, freezes the assets of Mr. Gadhafi, his four sons, a daughter and 10 members of his inner circle. It also imposes a travel ban on all 16. Council members also agreed to refer the regime’s crackdown to a permanent war crimes tribunal for an investigation of possible crimes against humanity.
The council also again demanded an immediate end to attacks on Libyan civilians by Mr. Gadhafi’s supporters. The United Nations says more than 1,000 anti-government protesters have been killed in Libya.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama says Mr. Gadhafi has “lost the legitimacy to rule” and should step down immediately. The White House said that Mr. Obama made the remarks in a telephone conversation Saturday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The statement adds that the U.S. and German leaders shared “deep concerns” about the ongoing violent crackdown against protesters in Libya, and discussed “appropriate and effective ways” for the international community to respond.
Also Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. was taking steps to hold Mr. Gadhafi’s government “accountable for its violation of human rights.” She said the State Department has revoked the U.S. visas held by Libyan leaders and members of their immediate family.
Mr. Obama Friday signed an executive order imposing unilateral sanctions on Libya, saying continued unrest and violence there posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy. The same day, the European Union agreed to impose an arms embargo on Libya, along with a travel ban and assets freeze.
Italy’s prime minister – formerly an ally of Mr. Gadhafi – says it appears the Libyan leader is no longer in control of the country. Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday if the international community pulls together, it can stop the “bloodbath and support the Libyan people.”
The U.N. said Mr. Ban phoned Mr. Berlusconi Saturday to discuss Libya and ask for Italy’s support in the international effort to handle the crisis. The U.N. said Mr. Ban also reached out to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s key religious and political role in the region.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, says there are reports of mass killings in Libya that should spur the international community to step in to end the violence. She called for an independent investigation of the reports that thousands of Libyans have been killed or wounded by Libyan security forces.
The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to impose sanctions against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his immediate family and his top associates in connection with the regime's deadly response to anti-government protests, and to refer the matter to a war crimes tribunal. (Reuters)
“Dude, my dad is here at the welfare office,” a 20-year-old woman named Noor al-Maleki texted a friend on Oct. 20, 2009. Noor was at the Department of Economic Security (DES) in Peoria, Ariz., helping Amal Khalaf fill out paperwork for food stamps. Noor was living with Khalaf, a maternal figure whom she’d known since childhood.
Noor was estranged from her parents, who disapproved of what they considered her American ways — a fondness for tight jeans and makeup, and a reluctance to accede to their plans for her. Those plans included an arranged marriage to a man in Iraq. Her father, Faleh al-Maleki, was furious when Noor abandoned the marriage, later becoming involved with one of Khalaf’s sons. A few weeks before he turned up at the DES office, according to Khalaf, the father warned her that if Noor continued living with her family, “something bad would happen.”
He meant it. Faleh, who had become a U.S. citizen two months earlier, told his son that he went to the DES to apply for benefits; he had lost his job. But after apparently seeing the two women there, he stalked out. Khalaf went outside to talk to him but couldn’t find him. It was a sunny day, in the mid-80s, so Noor suggested going to a Mexican restaurant across the parking lot for a drink.
Walking slightly ahead of Noor, Khalaf glanced to her side and saw a gray jeep bearing down on them. Faleh was in the driver’s seat. Khalaf saw him turn the wheel sharply and head toward her and Noor. She made eye contact with him, throwing her hands in the air and yelling, “Stop!”
Faleh kept going, plowing into the women and speeding off. Khalaf never felt the impact. She awoke on the ground to strangers huddled over her.
Khalaf couldn’t see Noor, gasping for breath as blood gushed out of her mouth. The jeep had rolled over her. She suffered a head injury and multiple facial fractures, among other injuries. She never regained consciousness.
On Feb. 22, Faleh al-Maleki was convicted of killing his daughter, committing aggravated assault against Khalaf and leaving the scene of a crime. His defense attorney argued that he had intended to spit on Khalaf and accidentally ran over the two women. Prosecutors had pressed a first-degree murder charge. They characterized his actions as an “honor killing,” a controversial term that refers to a family member or members killing a relative, usually a girl or young woman, whose behavior is judged to have tarnished the family honor.
“Some families think that the women of the family represent their reputation,” Rana Husseini, a Jordanian journalist who has spent nearly two decades campaigning against the practice and author of the book Murder in the Name of Honor, explains. “If a woman has committed a violation in their point of view, they believe if they kill her, they have ended the shame. Blood cleanses honor.” According to the most recent U.N. Population Fund estimate, which is more than a decade old, 5,000 such killings occur worldwide each year. Experts believe the real number is actually much higher.
The jury found Faleh guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, finding that he didn’t plan the act in advance. They also found the existence of aggravating factors, which means he could face up to nearly 46 years in prison. The evidence presented at trial made clear, however, that Faleh was influenced by a warped sense that Noor had impugned his family’s honor.
Most honor crimes take place in villages in the developing world, however, not in the parking lot of a nondescript American welfare office. The U.S. is supposed to be the melting pot, where immigrants assimilate into the larger culture, discarding much of their native selves. But some communities — like Faleh’s — have stubbornly resisted that transformation. Noor’s murder was an anomaly, but the attitudes that facilitated it don’t spring from the brain of a single deranged man — they are deeply rooted in an Iraqi community that insists on its right, its American right, to believe in the justifiability of practices like honor killings.
A Bloody History The exact origins of honor killings are not known; the practice likely existed among different ancient cultures. Among northern Arabian tribes, the practice predates Islam in the 7th century. In a typical honor killing, the victim is judged to have engaged in a transgression that can encompass just about anything — from wearing Westernized dress to becoming a target of gossip to balking at an arranged marriage to being raped. The murder is often a collective family decision, with the father, a brother or male cousin carrying out the act; rarely, a female relative like the mother does the killing.
The crimes occur most commonly in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. Without decent statistics, it’s impossible to ascertain which countries are the worst offenders, but Husseini points to Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq. In those countries and elsewhere, honor killers are treated with lenience; they often get a slap on the wrist if they plead honor as a mitigating circumstance.
It used to be that an honor killer in Jordan could plead a “fit of fury” defense — similar to the crime-of-passion defense in Western penal codes — and do little or no time at all. In 2009, Jordan toughened the application of its laws, making it harder for honor killers to invoke the fit-of-fury defense. To elude even the light penalties that often exist for honor killings, however, families sometimes delegate the bloody task to male juveniles.
Islam doesn’t sanction honor killings, and the practice is not limited to Muslims. The crimes also occur in Christian communities in the Middle East and in non-Muslim communities in India. Last July, for example, after a number of Hindu girls were killed for dating out of caste, the Indian Prime Minister convened a commission to investigate whether harsher laws are needed to curb the crimes.
The majority of crimes, however, do occur in Muslim communities, and some of the perpetrators seem to believe that killing for honor is their religious duty. Strict attitudes toward sexual behavior in Islam — sexual relations outside marriage are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia and Iran — don’t discourage that mind-set.
Two hundred and sixty-six people have been exonerated by DNA in the United States after spending years—sometimes decades—in prison for crimes they did not commit. More than half of these people were convicted on the basis of bad forensic evidence.
In some cases, the forensic methods themselves had few or no professional guidelines or objective criteria. In other cases, analysts used scientifically valid tests but fudged or misstated the science in their testimony. Here’s a list of some common areas for mistakes or malice – and men who have suffered as a result.
Blood Type Matching
Images Source-Rex USA (top); Michael Paulsen / Houston Chronicle-AP
Before DNA became widely available, forensics analysts relied heavily on serology, or blood typing (above). Eighty percent of the population – known as ‘secretors’- expresses its blood type in body fluids other than blood, such as semen or saliva, and prosecutors often tried to identify rapists by matching the blood type in their semen – a flawed system, since the samples often mixed together, making it difficult to tell which secretions came from the victim and which came from the attacker.
At Gary Alvin Richard’s 1987 rape trial, a supervisor from the Houston Police Department Crime lab told jurors that Richard (bottom) was a non-secretor. This was damning evidence, the supervisor told the jury, because the attacker in the case was a non-secretor; only 20 percent of the population are non-secretors. Twenty years later, investigators re-tested Richard and discovered that he is, in fact, a secretor. He was freed in 2009 after 22 years in prison.
Blood Spatter Analysis
Photos courtesy of the Innocence Project of Texas
When Warren Horinek’s (pictured above) wife Bonnie was shot at close range in 1995, all the evidence seemed to point to suicide. But Horinek was convicted of murdering her and sentenced to thirty years in prison. At his trial, blood spatter analyst Tom Bevel told jurors that the fine spray of blood on Horinek’s t-shirt were a sure sign that Warren had shot Bonnie. The jury foreman later confirmed that this testimony convinced the jury to convict.
A 2009 report by the National Academies of Science warned that “the opinions of bloodstain pattern analysts are more subjective than scientific” and said the “uncertainties associated with bloodstain pattern analysis are enormous.” That same year, a reconstruction of the crime scene by a more qualified spatter analyst shows that the spatter on Horinek’s t-shirt was most likely created by performing CPR. Horinek’s lawyers have filed a writ of habeas corpus to try to have him released.
Hair Analysis
Hair image courtesy of Max Houck (left); From top right: Jose F. Moreno / AP; Brian Bohannon / AP; Bill Wolf / AP
In microscopic hair comparison, an analyst compares hair from a suspect with hair found at a crime scene under a microscope (as seen at left above). If the hairs appear similar, or share unusual characteristics, they are often said to “match.” But the matching process is entirely subjective, and whether characteristics are unusual or noteworthy is based only on the analyst’s experience; there is no data on how common various characteristics are. Even if an analyst is cautious and says on the stand that a defendant “cannot be excluded”—that the hairs could be his—“the jury has no idea how many people are included,” says UVA Law Professor Brandon Garrett. “It’s incredibly vague terminology.”
Larry Peterson (top) was convicted of a 1987 rape and murder when a forensic analyst concluded that hairs found on and near the victim were Peterson’s. When the hairs were later tested for DNA, all matched the victim. Peterson was exonerated in 2006.
William Gregory (center) served 7 years of a 70 year sentence for convicted of rape, attempted rape, and burglary before he was exonerated in 2000. The forensic analyst at his trial testified that hairs found at the crime scene were “more than likely” from Gregory due to their “Negroid origin” and unusual characteristics.
In some cases, questions about the accuracy of the science take a backseat to outright fraud: Curtis McCarthy (bottom) was convicted based on hair and fluid evidence, but was released from prison in 2007 when it was revealed that a member of the forensics team willingly tampered with evidence and gave false testimony.
Fiber Matching
Heather Ainsworth / AP (left); Courtesy of the Innocence Project
Steven Barnes was convicted of a 1985 rape and murder on the basis of several unvalidated forensics techniques, chief among them an unusual type of fiber analysis. When police couldn’t find any other evidence linking him to the crime, they turned to an imprint made in the dirt on Barnes’s truck. An analyst testified that the imprint and fabric of the victim’s jeans (at right) made a similar pattern. The prosecution then called a manufacturers’ representative to the stand to testify that these jeans were unusual—as few as 200 pairs had been sold in the county that year. Jurors were convinced the imprint must have been made by the victim’s jeans. Barnes served almost 20 years of a 25-year-to-life sentence before he was exonerated by DNA. Here he hugs his sister after being released from prison in 2008.
Bite Mark Matching
Darryl Webb / East Valley Tribune-AP (left); Alex Garcia / KRT-Newscom
In 1991, an Arizona bartender was found dead in the bar where she worked, with bite marks to her breast and neck. During suspect Ray Krone‘s trial, an analyst testified that the impressions of Krone’s teeth matched the bite marks in the victim. Krone (above, left) was sentenced to death, and spent more than a decade in prison before he was exonerated by DNA and released in 2002.
Bite-mark comparison assumes that the alignment of every person’s teeth is unique, and therefore that each of us would leave a different impression when biting skin (right). This assumption has never been proven. This method of forensics has lately fallen out of favor, because bite marks usually include traces of saliva, making it a much more reliable forensic test available: DNA.
Fingerprint Analysis
Courtesy of Chris Bily / West Virginia University Forensic Science Initiative (top); Alex Garcia / KRT-Newscom
In this image, the print on the left—a whorl pattern—was left in blood at a crime scene. The print was then enhanced with dye to make it easier to see (above center). An analyst compared the enhanced print to another print of an identified suspect and found several matching characteristics, marked (at right above) with colored arrows.
It sounds like a slam-dunk match, but the science isn’t so clear. Even the same person touching the same surface with the same finger will leave a slightly different print each time. Once a print is found, scientists have to perform several subjective measures in determining if the print is a match. Stephan Cowans, pictured here in Boston, was convicted of shooting a police officer in 1997. At Cowans’ trial, an expert testified that Cowans’ thumb print matched a print one left by the shooter. Later, after DNA exonerated Cowans, a re-examination revealed that the print did not in fact match Cowans’—and at least one examiner knew it when he testified otherwise. As a result, the Boston Police Department’s latent fingerprint unit was closed, and two of the fingerprint examiners who testified at Cowans’ trial were brought before a grand jury. Neither examiner was indicted. Cowans was found shot dead in his home in 2007.
Arson Investigation
Courtesy of John Lentini; Chicago Tribune-Landov
Cameron Todd Willingham (pictured above with his daughter Amber above) was convicted of homicide when arson investigators determined that the 1991 fire that killed his three children was intentionally set. But his case came under scrutiny from noted fire experts like John Lentini, who said the police relied on outdated science and “mythological indicators,” a term Lentini uses to describe the mixture of facts, falsehoods, and mistakes used by many police investigators. For instance, the investigators argued that the white spots on the floor of his home (above, left) were signs of an accelerant, but Lentini argues those were just patches of floor covered by toys, blankets, or rugs. Willingham’s story was told in depth in the New Yorker after his death, and in 2010, a four-person panel in Texas found that while faulty science may have played a role in the conviction, the investigators involved did not act negligently.
Ballistics Matching
Carlos Osorio / AP (top); Courtesy of Max Houck (bottom left); Richard Ellis / Getty Images
The Detroit Police crime lab was shuttered in 2008 when an audit discovered that 10 percent of its ballistics cases involved major errors such as misidentifications. (Top, prosecutor Kym Worthy testifies in Detroit City Counsel regarding the lab’s shortcomings). The audit was spurred by a 2008 pleaded case in which ballistics reports which supposedly showed that 42 bullets from the crime scene were all fired from the same weapon; later tests revealed that the bullets were from 2 different guns.
Ballistics experts often fire a bullet from a gun they suspect was used in a crime, then try to match the grooves, striations and markings on that bullet to the bullet – or bullet fragment – found at the crime scene (at right are the images of two bullets considered a match to the same gun; at left are the tools used to measure and mark evidence). So far, however, there’s no scientific evidence to validate the claim that no two guns fire the same way. The National Academy of Science agrees that toolmark analysis makes it possible to isolate the manufacturer or model of a gun that fired a particular bullet, but that there is not enough data to say how common various imperfections in the barrel of a gun.
DNA Testing
Dan McCoy / Science Faction-Corbis (left); Michael Stravato / AP
DNA testing is certainly not foolproof–nothing is–but more common than errors in the lab are errors in how results are described to juries. In the case of Gilbert Alejandro, a forensic analyst told the jury that DNA testing matched Alejandro; in fact, the analyst (who was later implicated in dozens of other cases of fraud), had not even performed DNA testing at the time of Alejandro’s trial. Later DNA tests definitively excluded Alejandro. At Josiah Sutton’s trial, a crime lab employee testified that DNA found on the victim was an exact match with Sutton (pictured above); actually, 1 in 16 black men share that particular profile. Both men have since been exonerated.
Private security personnel employed by the world’s largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold, have been implicated in alleged gang rapes and other violent abuses in Papua New Guinea.
Barrick maintains a private security force of nearly 450 personnel at Porgera. The mine must cope with extraordinary security challenges, including violent raids by groups of illegal miners. But Human Rights Watch’s research documents a pattern of opportunistic, violent abuses that are in no way a reaction to these threats.
Every day, hundreds of people try to eke out a living by scouring the waste rock dumps around the mine for minute traces of gold. In contrast to the violent raids the mine confronts on a regular basis, these miners are for the most part engaged in an entirely nonviolent—albeit illegal—routine.
Users in China are reporting that access to LinkedIn has been blocked throughout the country. By all indications, it seems that the popular career networking site has run afoul of the country’s infamous Great Firewall.
According to LinkedIn’s Hani Durzy, the company is aware of a blockage in China and is “currently in the process of investigating the situation further.”
The shutdown follows days of calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” in China, on the model of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Access to Twitter and Facebook has been blocked throughout China for some time; Chinese internet users seeking to use Twitter have been forced to access the site through difficult-to-use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
However, Chinese dissidents have another way of accessing Twitter… LinkedIn. Use of LinkedIn, which is fully integrated with Twitter, was by far the easiest way to access Twitter in China. Messages can be easily read and posted through Twitter via LinkedIn.
One Chinese Twitter user who accesses both Twitter and LinkedIn through a proxy posted photos to Twitpic that seem to confirm a Chinese LinkedIn outage.
Adding credence to the LinkedIn-shutdown-to-block-Twitter strategy is the news that the Chinese government has started censoring the name of U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman from search results on the wildly popular homegrown Twitter/Tumblr clones Sina Weibo/QQ Weibo. Weibo means “microblog” in Chinese.
Huntsman faces widespread charges in China of support for the Jasmine Revolution after a citizen journalist spotted him watching a pro-democracy protest from within a crowd this past Sunday. Like any good American abroad, Huntsman was standing outside a McDonald’s.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese dissidents have been disseminating calls to protest and organizing events via LinkedIn. Reuters notes that the LinkedIn outage could hurt the firm’s chances at an IPO:
“If the disruption for LinkedIn is permanent in China, it could hurt the company’s prospects at an IPO as a ban would exclude the company from the world’s largest Internet market–about 450 million users and growing.”
“It certainly would be a negative in terms of the company’s future growth and profitability,” said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida.
“This is something where investors would take it into account and be willing to pay a little lower price per share.” Luckily for LinkedIn, China’s Internet censors are notoriously fickle: Sites blip on and off the Great Firewall frequently, with no prior warning. Related: Fast Company’s Anya Kamenetz recently interviewed LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman. Read more about the social networking site as part of our Most Innovative Companies of 2011 project.
On February 14th, a court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador ruled in favor of the residents of the Amazonian rainforest who have spent the last 18 years trying to force Chevron to clean up their deadly mess. (ChevronToxico)
A court in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle ordered Chevron Corp. to pay more than $8 billion in damages Monday in a closely watched environmental suit.
But the U.S. oil company vowed to appeal, meaning the long-running case dating from drilling in the South American nation during the 1970s and 1980s could last for years more.
The case, which activists portray as a fight for justice against rich polluters but Chevron says has more to do with opportunism, has triggered related legal action in U.S. courts and international arbitration.
It is being monitored by the oil industry for precedents that could lead to other large claims. Chevron had expected to lose the case in the Ecuadorean court.
In a statement Monday, Chevron said the ruling by the court in Lago Agrio was “illegitimate” and “unenforceable in any court that observes the rule of law.”
It said the United States and international tribunals had already taken steps to bar enforcement of the ruling.
Pablo Fajardo, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the court had ordered Chevron to pay more than $8 billion in damages.
The lawsuit had originally demanded $27 billion
Residents of Ecuador’s Amazon region have said faulty drilling practices by Texaco, which was bought by Chevron in 2001, caused damage to wide areas of jungle and harmed indigenous people in the 1970s and 1980s.
Investors are watching the case closely to see what precedent could be set for other mega-lawsuits.
“This ruling is an intermediate step. The appeals could go on for many years,” said John van Schaik, oil analyst at Medley Global Advisors in New York.
“But the fact that the Lago Agrio court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs sends a signal to oil companies that, more than ever, they need to be good corporate citizens,” he added.
“The ruling shows that times have changed, and companies need to take environmental concerns seriously.”
Texaco first struck oil in Ecuador in 1967 and started pumping in 1972 as part of a consortium with the state. The company operated in Ecuador until 1990. Soon after, it turned its share of the consortium over to the Ecuadorean government.
State oil company Petroecuador has continued drilling in the area over the last 20 years since Texaco pulled out.
“If you look at the Exxon Valdez case, that took 20 years to settle,” said Allen Good, oil analyst at Morningstar in Chicago. “I think there were expectations that the initial judgments would go against Chevron and I think the case is going to play out over a very long time.”
Hardline Iranian lawmakers called on Tuesday for the country’s opposition leaders to face trial and be put to death, a day after clashes between opposition protesters and security forces left two people dead and dozens injured.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the opposition rally Monday in solidarity with Egypt’s popular revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power. The demonstration was the first major show of strength from Iran’s beleaguered opposition after canceling planned rallies for the past year when authorities refused permission.
Iranian protesters stage an anti-government demonstration in support of the Arab uprisings, in Tehran on Feb. 14, 2011. (AFP/Getty Images)
In Washington, President Barack Obama criticized the Iranian government for its harsh treatment of protesters and noted the irony of its support for Egypt’s uprisings while repressing demonstrators at home.
At an open session of parliament Tuesday, pro-government legislators demanded opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami face be held responsible for the protests.
Pumping their fists in the air, the lawmakers chanted “death to Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami.”
“We believe the people have lost their patience and demand capital punishment” for the opposition leaders, 221 lawmakers said in a statement.
Hardliners have long sought to put senior opposition figures on trial, but the calls for the death penalty signaled an escalation in their demands.
Parliament formed a special committee to review the case and decide in coming days about how the government should deal with the opposition leaders.
Iran has already tried scores of opposition figures and activists on charges of fomenting the mass protests following the country’s disputed 2009 presidential elections that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win a second term. More than 80 of people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.
Funeral of anti-government protester Saneh Jaleh (AFP/Getty Images)
The opposition says scores were killed in the massive crackdown on those protests, while the government says only around 30 people died.
At one point their demands descended into chanting against Karroubi, a former Parliament speaker, and Moussavi. Both men ran against Ahmadinejad in the last election. “Moussavi, Karroubi should be hanged!’’ the members shouted in unison.
The protesters, by chanting against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were demanding that the entire government system should go.
Of the 290 Parliament members, 222 signed a statement yesterday demanding the government prosecute Moussavi and Karroubi, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency. It was at least the third time that the two men have been threatened publicly with prosecution, but the government has not pursued trials, perhaps because such an action could fuel new demonstrations.
“They would like to provide an atmosphere for the government to take harder action against the opposition leaders,’’ said Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an exiled former member of Parliament now at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “But I do not think they could do anything like execute the leaders — even if they arrested them it would motivate a new round of the uprising.’’
The government of Afghanistan says they are going to take control of women’s shelters. But human rights’ groups fear this could be disastrous for hundreds of abused women who seek refuge at the safe houses. They say the government’s conservative attitude towards the shelters will put women’s lives in danger.
Pro-democracy Protesters in Tahrir Square. Photo: AP
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has resigned from his post, handing over power to the armed forces.
Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, announced in a televised address that the president was “waiving” his office, and had handed over authority to the Supreme Council of the armed forces.
Suleiman’s short statement was received with a roar of approval and by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, as well by pro-democracy campaigners who attended protests across the country on Friday
The crowd in Tahrir chanted “We have brought down the regime”, while many were seen crying, cheering and embracing one another. Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader, hailed the moment as being the “greatest day of my life”, in comments to the Associated Press news agency.
“The country has been liberated after decades of repression,” he said.
“Tonight, after all of these weeks of frustration, of violence, of intimidation … today the people of Egypt undoubtedly [feel they] have been heard, not only by the president, but by people all around the world,” our correspondent at Tahrir Square reported, following the announcement.
“The sense of euphoria is simply indescribable,” our correspondent at Mubarak’s Heliopolis presidential palace, where at least ten thousand pro-democracy activists had gathered, said.
“I have waited, I have worked all my adult life to see the power of the people come to the fore and show itself. I am speechless.” Dina Magdi, a pro-democracy campaigner in Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera.
“The moment is not only about Mubarak stepping down, it is also about people’s power to bring about the change that no-one … thought possible.”
In Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, our correspondent described an “explosion of emotion”. He said that hundreds of thousands were celebrating in the streets. Pro-democracy activists in the Egyptian capital and elsewhere had earlier marched on presidential palaces, state television buildings and other government installations on Friday, the 18th consecutive day of protests.
ANGER AT STATE TELEVISION
At the state television building earlier in the day, thousands had blocked people from entering or leaving, accusing the broadcaster of supporting the current government and of not truthfully reporting on the protests.
Egypt's vice-president Omar Suleiman makes the announcement on Egyptian television that President Mubarak has stepped down from office. Photo: AP
“The military has stood aside and people are flooding through [a gap where barbed wire has been moved aside],” Al Jazeera’s correspondent at the state television building reported.
He said that “a lot of anger [was] generated” after Mubarak’s speech last night, where he repeated his vow to complete his term as president.
‘GAINING MOMENTUM’
Outside the palace in Heliopolis, where at least ten thousand protesters had gathered in Cairo, another Al Jazeera correspondent reported that there was a strong military presence, but that there was “no indication that the military want[ed] to crack down on protesters”. She said that army officers had engaged in dialogue with protesters, and that remarks had been largely “friendly”. Tanks and military personnel had been deployed to bolster barricades around the palace.
Our correspondent said the crowd in Heliopolis was “gaining momentum by the moment”, and that the crowd had gone into a frenzy when two helicopters were seen in the air around the palace grounds.
“By all accounts this is a highly civilized gathering. people are separated from the palace by merely a barbed wire … but nobody has even attempted to cross that wire,” she said.
As crowds grew outside the palace, Mubarak left Cairo on Friday for the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.
In Tahrir Square, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered, chanting slogans against Mubarak and calling for the military to join them in their demands.
Our correspondent at the square said the “masses” of pro-democracy campaigners there appeared to have “clear resolution” and “bigger resolve” to achieve their goals than ever before.
However, he also said that protesters were “confused by mixed messages” coming from the army, which has at times told them that their demands will be met, yet in communiques and other statements supported Mubarak’s staying in power until at least September.
ARMY STATEMENT
In a statement read out on state television at midday on Friday, the military announced that it would lift a 30-year-old emergency law but only “as soon as the current circumstances end”.
The military said it would also guarantee changes to the constitution as well as a free and fair election, and it called for normal business activity to resume.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tahrir Square said people there were hugely disappointed with that army statement, and had vowed to take the protests to “a last and final stage”.
“They’re frustrated, they’re angry, and they say protests need to go beyond Liberation [Tahrir] Square, to the doorstep of political institutions,” she said.
Protest organizers have called for 20 million people to come out on “Farewell Friday” in a final attempt to force Mubarak to step down.
ALEXANDRIA PROTESTS
Hossam El Hamalawy, a pro-democracy organizer and member of the Socialist Studies Centre, said protesters were heading towards the presidential palace from multiple directions, calling on the army to side with them and remove Mubarak.
“People are extremely angry after yesterday’s speech,” he told Al Jazeera. ”Anything can happen at the moment. There is self-restraint all over but at the same time I honestly can’t tell you what the next step will be … At this time, we don’t trust them [the army commanders] at all.”
An Al Jazeera reporter overlooking Tahrir said the side streets leading into the square were filling up with crowds.
“It’s an incredible scene. From what I can judge, there are more people here today than yesterday night,” she said.
“The military has not gone into the square except some top commanders, one asking people to go home … I don’t see any kind of tensions between the people and the army but all of this might change very soon if the army is seen as not being on the side of the people.”
Hundreds of thousands were participating in Friday prayers outside a mosque in downtown Alexandria, Egypt’s second biggest city. Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also gathered outside a presidential palace in Alexandria. Egyptian television reported that large angry crowds were heading from Giza, adjacent to Cairo, towards Tahrir Square and some would march on the presidential palace. Protests are also being held in the cities of Mansoura, Mahala, Tanta, Ismailia, and Suez, with thousands in attendance.
Violence was reported in the north Sinai town of el-Arish, where protesters attempted to storm a police station. At least one person was killed, and 20 wounded in that attack, our correspondent said.
DISMAY AT EARLIER STATEMENT
In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Mubarak said he was handing “the functions of the president” to Vice-President Omar Suleiman. But the move means he retains his title of president.
Halfway through his much-awaited speech late at night, anticipation turned into anger among protesters camped in Tahrir Square who began taking off their shoes and waving them in the air.
Immediately after Mubarak’s speech, Suleiman called on the protesters to “go home” and asked Egyptians to “unite and look to the future.”
Union workers have joined the protests over the past few days, effectively crippling transportation and several industries, and dealing a sharper blow to Mubarak’s embattled regime.
Jackie and Mike Bezos have donated a personal gift of $25,000 to "The RaiseForWomen challenge," a fundraising initiative supporting nonprofits doing work to empower women and girls around the world. The donation, combined with $75,000 from The Skoll Foundation, brings to $100,000 the total in prizes going to the causes that raise the most funds. Ja […]
We are thrilled to announce a very successful first week in the RaiseforWomen Challenge, with over $126,000 raised! We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the challenge so far. We have under five weeks left –– until June 6 –– to raise as much as possible! Half the Sky Movement will be giving out weekly prizes to individuals participating in […]
I remember reading Betty Harragan’s Games Mother Never Taught You when it first came out over thirty years ago. As a woman entrepreneur, that book had a huge impact on me — both in how to navigate at work, a new universe that felt like I had been dropped onto Mars, and how I saw myself as an agent of change. This was long before cell phones, the Internet, an […]
Just over a year ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on racial profiling in over a decade on the heels of the murder of 17-year-old Florida resident Trayvon Martin. His death gave a face to the terrible practice of racial profiling and brought new media scrutiny to the issue. Over the years, many of our political leaders have recognize […]
Earlier this week, in a case brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Arizona, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit struck down an extreme Arizona law that bans abortion care starting at 20 weeks. The court called it "per se unconstitutional." That's judicial-speak for "are you kidding me with this […]
As the Supreme Court takes up affirmative action once again, the word "diversity" has found its way into many legal briefs. For me, it is not an abstract concept. If today I am a supportive colleague, a successful civil rights lawyer, a good citizen in the broadest and best sense, it is thanks to affirmative action. I arrived at the University of C […]
Headline Title: Greek police beat a tortured Turkish woman 23 May 2013 This is part of a special ‘People on the Move’ series, highlighting the human rights violations faced by migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in every part of the world. These profiles are being published around the launch of Amnesty International's Annual Report 2013.For people wh […]
Headline Title: Malaysia: Release activists arrested in government U-turn on repressive law 23 May 2013 Malaysia must end its post-election crackdown and release a member of parliament and other opposition political activists arrested under the repressive Sedition Act, Amnesty International urged today.Opposition activists Tian Chua MP, Ibrahim Harris and T […]
Headline Title: 'I cannot explain how terrible the situation was' 23 May 2013 This is part of a special ‘People on the Move’ series, highlighting the human rights violations faced by migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in every part of the world. These profiles are being published around the launch of Amnesty International's Annual Report 2 […]
Tweet Widget Facebook Like Email Many of the 1,429 households resettled to make way for Vale and Rio Tinto’s international coal mining operations in Tete province, Mozambique have faced serious disruptions in their access to food, water, and work. The Mozambican government’s speed in approving mining licenses and inviting billions of dollars in investment ha […]
Tweet Widget Facebook Like Email Ukrainian authorities should allow the Kiev Pride Equality March, scheduled for May 25, 2013, in Kiev, to proceed and protect its participants from violence, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter sent to Kiev’s city administration on May 21, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged the office not to ban the Equ […]
Tweet Widget Facebook Like Email The Kenyan authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute those responsible for shootings by the police in Kisumu on March 30, 2013. Five people died and at least twenty-four were injured. (Nairobi) – The Kenyan authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute those responsible for shootings by the police in Kisum […]
Just moments ago, the Nevada State Assembly approved SJR13, by a vote of 27 to 14, with Republican Assemblymember Michele Fiore joining the Democratic majority.
Support for loving, committed same-sex couples is at a record high 59 percent – a 19 percentage point increase in the last 12 years, according to a Gallup poll released today.
Few female immigrants have enjoyed the benefit of the travel ban on people with HIV lifted three years ago Financial hardships, fear of stigma in their homelands and uncertainties about their U.S. legal status all block the way.
Critics say federal wage protections for these workers will drive elderly and disabled people into institutionalized settings. Advocates say that hasn't happened in states that currently extend the minimum wage to home care workers.
Tabitha Waugh, a registered nurse in a West Virginia hospital, can't complain about the pay. But it's tough finding time with her kids and the work takes a toll, physically and mentally. "I just don't want to do direct patient care forever," she said.
Indigenous peoples in Latin America have undergone an unprecedented mobilization in the past 20 years, but political participation, particularly among women, is still low, the United Nations said in a new report released today.
The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the decision of dozens of international companies to sign on to an fire-and-safety agreement in the aftermath of the deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh, while calling for additional actions to overhaul the entire garment sector.
Members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing, the top United Nations human rights official said today.
Go behind the scenes at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by checking out The White House Photo Office’s latest photo gallery. The gallery highlights some of the major events that occurred in April – from the Easter Egg Roll to the opening of the George W. Bush Library and Museum. Check out some of our favorite images below, and then see the full set on our Flickr ga […]
Today marks one year since we released the Digital Government Strategy (PDF/ HTML5), as part of the President’s directive to build a 21st Century Government that delivers better services to the American people. The Strategy is built on the proposition that all Americans should be able to access information from their Government anywhere, anytime, and on any […]
Ed. Note: You can help people affected by the recent tornadoes through American Red Cross Disaster Relief. If you are in the affected areas, click here to apply for assistance and learn about other resources that are available to you. Check back here for more information — we'll continue updating this post as the response effort develops. 5/23/13 Presid […]
“Ahora el video de la Cascada de Tratamiento de VIH también está disponible en español” Recently we shared an animated video about the HIV treatment cascade in the United States that has quickly become one of the most-watched videos ever on the AIDS.gov YouTube channel . We’re pleased to share the Spanish language version of this...
Today marks one year since we released the Digital Government Strategy (PDF/ HTML5), as part of the President’s directive to build a 21st Century Government that delivers better services to the American people. The Strategy is built on the proposition that all Americans should be able to access information from their Government anywhere, anytime, and on any […]
Last week, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a nearly $1 billion initiative that will fund grant awards and evaluation to build on the Obama administration’s work to transform the health care system by delivering better care and lowering costs for taxpayers and patients. The Health Care Innovation Awards are funded by...
