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> Wed., Aug. 11, 2004
FSRN
FREE SPEECH RADIO NEWS
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Today's lead stories:
Groups File Suits for Right to Protest RNC
Continued Conflict in Sudan
Immediate Deportation of Undocumented Immigrants
Iraq Update
Military Recruitment of Youth
FSRN Headlines
Middle East Update
A bomb exploded between two Israeli army checkpoints today
on a busy transit route outside Jerusalem in the first such
attack in six months. Two Palestinians were killed and 19
people were injured. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility
and apologized for the Palestinian casualties saying their
target was Israeli soldiers and police. Also today –
The European Union announced their second aid package this
year to thousands of Palestinians whose homes were demolished
during Israeli Army incursions into the Gaza Strip last spring.
Such attacks continue – just last night an Israeli helicopter
fired a missile into the Khan Younis refugee camp, wounding
15 people as gunmen confronted an Israeli force demolishing
Palestinian homes near a Jewish settlement.
India Scraps Anti-Terror Bill
India has repealed its controversial anti-terror legislation.
Binu Alex reports from Ahmedabad.
Motassadeq Re-Trail
In the re-trial in Germany of the only person to have been
found guilty in connection with the 2001 9-11 attacks, evidence
from a key al-Qaida suspect in US custody claims that Moroccan
student, Mounir Motassadeq, had no knowledge of the plot.
Our German correspondent Guy Degen reports.
UK Can Hold Detainees Indefinitely
A British appeals court ruled today that authorities there
can hold terrorism suspects indefinitely based on evidence
obtained through torture. One judge writes that British authorities
can't use such evidence if the state "procured or connived
at" the torture but that they are not barred from using
such evidence if it falls into their laps. The UK’s
high court rejected an appeal from eight foreign terror suspects.
They say they've been held without charge or trial based on
information collected by U-S officials at camps such as Guantanamo
Bay, or at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
UN Decries War Crimes in Congo
The United Nations has accused all armed groups in the Congo’s
Ituri region of war crimes. Haider Rizvi reports they also
added that Uganda, Rwanda and the former Congolese government
contributed to the massive abuses.
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Groups File Suits for Right to Protest RNC
The city of New York has denied permits to protest the upcoming
Republican National Convention. Some groups unhappy with the
city's lack of conciliation are refusing to comply to the
city demands. Two groups have filed a law suits and more are
expected before the Convention later this month. Leigh Ann
Caldwell has more from WBAI in New York.
[top]
Continued Conflict in Sudan
The conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan continues to
escalate. The humanitarian crisis of 1.3 million internally
displaced people, massive human rights abuses and attacks
on civilians are placing hundreds of thousands of lives at
risk. Claims from the government that they will take steps
to avert disaster increasingly ring shallow to observers of
the crisis. FSRN's Jenny Johnson reports.
[top]
Immediate Deportation of Undocumented Immigrants
Immigrant rights groups denounce the Homeland Security Department's
plan to bypass extradition hearings in expediting the deportation
of undocumented immigrants found within 100 miles of the border.
The plan, which in some cases exempts Mexicans and Canadians,
will likely be in effect by the end of the month. And as Mitch
Jeserich reports, the announced change comes just after heightened
security alerts and the 9/11 Commission report that has many
policy makers looking at immigration.
[top]
Iraq Update
After nearly a week of fighting the Medhi army, US and Coalition
forces are planning a major attack on the city of Najaf, home
to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Nearly 60 Iraqis
have been killed in al-Sadr strongholds in Iraq in the past
24 hours. US forces are using loudspeakers to advise residents
to evacuate Najaf, a city of roughly half-a-million people.
Suaad Al-Mahdawy works with the Iraqi Human Rights Society,
she joins us today from Baghdad to talk about the situation
in Iraq.
[top]
Military Recruitment of Youth
The war in Iraq has generated a hot debate about the role
of an all-volunteer military, along with calls for re-instating
the draft. Some call the current system the poverty draft,
as many young men and women join in hopes of getting money
for college. But as the war grinds on, military-affiliated
youth programs are conducting leadership development and adventure
courses for kids as young as eight that are explicitly not
recruitment efforts. Yet when they're old enough, a high percentage
of these youth join the military. FSRN's Melinda Tuhus reports
from New Haven, Connecticut.
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