KT News: Kurds will today gather in London to honour the life of Dr Rizgar Amin, the dedicated psychiatrist, champion of women’s rights and ambassador for Kurds who died last month. Details: Saturday 25th May, 16.00-18.30 The Adelaide Suite London Marriott Hotel Regents Park, 128 King Henry’s Road London, NW3 3ST Tel: 0207 722 7711 Bookmark…
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Category Archives: Human rights
Lullaby
A Short Story by Ava Homa: Farzad Kamangar was an elementary school teacher, nonviolent civil liberties advocate and poet from Eastern Kurdistan who was detained by Iranian security forces in 2006 and accused of collaborating with Kurdish opposition groups. Charged with being a mohareb or “enemy of God,” Kamangar refused to confess in spite of…
Excruciating life of Kurds under the Iranian regime
By Ramyar Hassani: As Kurds were segregated into four countries in the 1920s, a part of Kurdistan went under the control of the Iranian government up until now and Kurds in this part have suffered a lot because of being a minority and whenever they have demanded their basic rights they have faced repression and…
Free Rahmatolah Maadi: Innocent Iranian Kurdish businessman
By Neamat Maadi: Rahmatolah Maadi, the father of a newborn baby, a hardworking and peaceful man, was arrested by Iranian intelligence (Etelaat) on November 4th 2012 and there has been no news from him since. Rahmatolah was born on 25th February, 1969 in Saqaz, Kurdistan, Iran and he was raised and studied in Sannandaj. He…
Lawyers of jailed Kurdish leader set to face judges once again
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Press Release: Just days after the much-celebrated announcement of a ceasefire by jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, a long running mass trial of 46 lawyers is set continue this week with the fourth hearing in Istanbul. A delegation of five lawyers from the UK will travel to Istanbul to…
Henry Kissinger: Realpolitik and Kurdish Genocide
By Dr M. Koohzad: “Our movement and people are being destroyed in an unbelievable way, with silence from everyone. We feel, your Excellency, that the United States has a moral and political responsibility towards our people, who have committed themselves to your country’s policy.” Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani’s message to Kissinger, 1975. “Promise them anything,…
Tackling Female Genital Mutilation in the Kurdistan Region
By Sofia Barbarani: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is defined by the Word Health Organization (WHO) as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons”. It is a practice rooted in flimsy accounts of religious traditions, mythical beliefs, and purely…
Lawyers on trial in Turkey: Implications for establishing peace and justice – London meeting
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign supported by the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and CAMPACC Date: Thursday, 28 February, 6.30-8pm Venue: Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, SW1 IMPORTANT Please try and arrive at 6pm to make sure you leave enough time to get through security Hosted by Lord…
Saturday Mothers commemorate their beloved ones: Week 412
By bianet: With the demand to learn about their beloved ones who disappeared in the 1990s, Saturday Mothers/People assembled at Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square for the 412th time on Saturday morning. This week, they commemorated Rıdvan Karakoç was detained by police on February 20, 1995 and found tortured to death on March 2, 1995. Bookmark on…
The Kurds and human rights
By David Morgan, Peace in Kurdistan: What did the Kurdish people have to celebrate on International Human Rights’ Day 2012? The Kurds constitute one of the world’s largest populations without a nation state of their own. This great injustice is the root cause of the abuses and discrimination to which Kurds are still subjected to…
Roboski families receive human rights prize
By bianet: Mehmet Atak, Ali Akel, Mustafa Cemlioğlu, Ahmet Kaya and families from Roboski became the recipients of this year’s MAZLUMDER human rights prizes. MAZLUMDER, a Turkish human rights association, handed out its annual human rights prizes on Sunday, on the occasion of the International Human Rights Week. “In Turkey, we need a new constitution that will…
Secularism without humanism: Turkey
By Ahmet Abidin Ozbek: Turkey is one of those contradictory countries officially described as secular and democratic. However, the real picture is more complex. It is very difficult to describe a country as truly secular and democratic when it lacks a humanistic outlook. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it Subscribe…
Iran: IHRDC reports ‘On the Margins’ – book review
By Michael Rubin: The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) has existed for less than a decade, but it has already established itself as among the most serious and least politicized human rights organizations. Amnesty International may make headlines, but it too often conflates leftist politics with human rights advocacy. Human Rights Watch (HRW), too,…
Obama: the dark face of America’s weakness and wickedness
By Dr Kamal Mirawdeli: On Obama’s track record, presidential debates, Evil-Mind, PKK, Super-Storm Sandy and Super-Man. Human beings love to hope and in particular to share in the euphoria of optimism when this becomes a possible spectre, however illusionary it may seem. Following the Bush years, catastrophes of Iraq and Afghanistan followed by the global…
800 Kurdish political prisoners on hunger strike: Support the petition
By Kurdish American Advocacy Group*: Los Angeles, CA- Almost 800 Kurdish political prisoners in 58 prisons in Turkey are reaching the 50th day of an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike. Serious health consequences stemming from the strikes could be imminent as the US-backed Turkish government refuses to meet the political prisoners’ legitimate demands. Bookmark on Delicious…
