Two More Men Exonerated in Texas After Serving 30 Years -By Mark Strassmann| CBS

It is an all-too-familiar story in this country: in Dallas, two men who spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for a rape they didn’t commit were formally exonerated Monday after DNA testing implicated two other men.

With James Curtis Williams and Raymond Jackson, Dallas County has now cleared 32 convicts in the past decade.

CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman reports this is such a common occurrence, the wrongly convicted in Texas have joined forces to help one another.

Excerpt, read: Exonerated Ex-Convicts Ban Together in Texas -By Mark Strassmann| CBS

Related: Exonerated| CBS (Video)

Innocence Project

 

Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies | Freedom House

This picture taken on March 30, 2011 shows an inmate pushing his hand out through a hole on a window grille at the Berbera prison in Somalia's breakaway republic of Somaliland (Photo: Tony Karumba /AFP/Getty Images)

Freedom House has prepared this special report entitled  Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, as a companion to its annual survey on the state of global political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World.   The special report provides summary country reports, tables, and graphical information on the countries  that receive the lowest combined ratings for political rights and civil liberties in Freedom in the World, and whose citizens endure systematic and pervasive human rights violations.

The purpose of this report is to  focus the attention of those who are working to advance respect for fundamental human rights around the world, as well as those who are actively engaged in suppressing  such rights. The report serves a reminder that over 1.6 billion people—more than 24 percent of the world’s population—suffer every day from the  basic indignities of not being able to express their thoughts and opinions, of not having a say in who  governs them and how the wealth of their land and labor is spent, and of being unable to obtain justice for crimes perpetrated against them.

Excerpt introduction: Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies | Freedom House

Related: Least Free Places in the World, 2011| Foreign Policy (Photo Essay)

Postcards from Hell, 2011 –By Elizabeth Dickinson | Foreign Policy

 

Crackdown on Ai Weiwei Extends to Family, Friends & Associates –By Alison Klayman | PBS

More than two weeks after he was first detained, Ai Weiwei’s family still hasn’t received official notice from Chinese authorities that they are holding the artist, or what the possible charges against him may be. His mother, Gao Ying, and wife, Lu Qing, posted missing persons notes in Beijing because, for all intents and purposes, all they really know for sure is that Ai has been missing since April 3rd.

And authorities have gone beyond simply detaining Ai. While the world-famous artist’s disappearance has been widely covered and discussed, fewer have taken note that his friends and associates have also been targeted. Four of Ai’s associates are also missing: journalist Wen Tao, Ai’s driver Xiao Pang, ‘FAKE Design’ company accountant Hu Mingfen and ‘FAKE’ designer Liu Zhenggang. Earlier today, Liu Xiaoyuan, a rights lawyer who had represented Ai in the past and had said he was willing to do so again, ‘reappeared’ after a five-day disappearance.

Ai’s family, assistants and volunteers have also been targeted, questioned by local police and contacted by phone and through home visits. Ai’s wife Lu Qing was questioned at the Beijing tax office for three hours last week. His foreign assistants who had lived at the ’258 Fake Studio’ complex in Beijing — including Inserk Yang, who was featured in the FRONTLINE story — were forced to move out in the days following Ai’s disappearance, and have been pressured to leave the country. Shortly after his disappearance, a member Ai’s cleaning staff, Xiao Wei, was picked up at his home in Anhui province by Beijing and local police and flown to Beijing for questioning. It was his first plane ride.

The nature of possible charges against Ai is still unclear. Statements in Chinese and Hong Kong newspapers have alluded to crimes as diverse as tax evasion, bigamy and spreading pornography online. His family maintains that the charges are politically motivated, saying the company that handles Ai’s financial affairs, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., is registered under wife Lu Qing’s name and belongs to her. All that the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman would say to international journalists last week is that Ai is a suspected criminal, and that foreign support for the artist has confused and angered the Chinese people.

International response has included a coordinated, hour-long sit-in at Chinese embassies and consulates around the world on Sunday, April 17 and the U.S., U.K., France and Germany calling for Ai’s release. The EU delegation to China cited his case in a statement calling for the “Chinese authorities to refrain from using arbitrary detention under any circumstances.” The art community has also spoken up, with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation starting an online petition calling for his immediate release, while the Tate Modern, home to Ai’s ‘Sunflower Seeds’ exhibition, put a large sign on their exterior that reads “Release Ai Weiwei.”

Finally, the title of my FRONTLINE segment, Who’s Afraid of Ai Weiwei? has entered the public consciousness and been harnessed as a rallying cry of sorts since his disappearance. Graffiti tags began appearing around Hong Kong with Ai’s face that read “Who’s Afraid of Ai Weiwei?” Local authorities said they would seriously investigate the matter, and the student artist who marked up the city risks being charged with criminal damage, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ in prison.

“It will be worth it if just one person sees what I’ve done and asks themselves: `Why should Ai Wei Wei be silenced?’” she told the South China Morning Post.

To track developments related to Ai and his detention, follow filmmaker Alison Klayman on Twitter, or the Twitter account for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, her upcoming documentary.

Reprint:  Crackdown on Ai Weiwei Extends to Family, Friends & Associates –By Alison Klayman | PBS

 

Presidential Proclamation – National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

A PROCLAMATION

The United States was founded on the principle that all people are born with an unalienable right to freedom — an ideal that has driven the engine of American progress throughout our history. As a Nation, we have known moments of great darkness and greater light; and dim years of chattel slavery illuminated and brought to an end by President Lincoln’s actions and a painful Civil War. Yet even today, the darkness and inhumanity of enslavement exists. Millions of people worldwide are held in compelled service, as well as thousands within the United States. During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we acknowledge that forms of slavery still exist in the modern era, and we recommit ourselves to stopping the human traffickers who ply this horrific trade.

As we continue our fight to deliver on the promise of freedom, we commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective on January 1, 1863, and the 13th Amendment, which was sent to the States for ratification on February 1, 1865. Throughout the month of January, we highlight the many fronts in the ongoing battle for civil rights — including the efforts of our Federal agencies; State, local, and tribal law enforcement partners; international partners; nonprofit social service providers; private industry and nongovernmental organizations around the world who are working to end human trafficking.

The victims of modern slavery have many faces. They are men and women, adults and children. Yet, all are denied basic human dignity and freedom. Victims can be abused in their own countries, or find themselves far from home and vulnerable. Whether they are trapped in forced sexual or labor exploitation, human trafficking victims cannot walk away, but are held in service through force, threats, and fear. All too often suffering from horrible physical and sexual abuse, it is hard for them to imagine that there might be a place of refuge.

We must join together as a Nation and global community to provide that safe haven by protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers. With improved victim identification, medical and social services, training for first responders, and increased public awareness, the men, women, and children who have suffered this scourge can overcome the bonds of modern slavery, receive protection and justice, and successfully reclaim their rightful independence.

Fighting modern slavery and human trafficking is a shared responsibility. This month, I urge all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, we can and must end this most serious, ongoing criminal civil rights violation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2010 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the vital role we can play in ending modern slavery, and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA