As everyone is knee deep in exams and may not be following what it going on in the larger world, the Human Rights Committee thought it would be appropriate to update you on what is occurring on the Human Rights Front.
Unlike the new BLS curve changes, these occurrences are not positive unfortunately. First, Xiu Liaobo's standing ovation at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo for receiving the Peace Prize was blacked out today on Chinese television screens. The political dissident is serving an 11-year prison term for subversion based on his lead authorship of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for democratic reform of China's one-party political state. His wife is under house arrest much like what Suu Kyi faced. Hopefully she will be released more speedily than Suu Kyi. For testimony highlights from Liaobo's December 2009 subversion trial and more about the Nobel Prize ceremony see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337510/Chinese-screens-blacked-Liu-Xiaobo-awarded-Nobel-Peace-Prize.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Second, the ongoing and much publicized Ashtiani situation in Iran continues to unravel. Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 for her husband's murder and sentenced to 10 years (later reduced to 5) in addition to death by stoning for "adultery while married." Recently, the press forced Ashtiani to reenact a "visual recount of the crime at the murder scene." A second "confession" will be aired. The international community is condemning this act on behalf of the Iranian government which seems to be manipulating the Iranian media in order to portray Ashianti as a dangerous criminal, For more information, see http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/reports-latest-ashtiani-tv-confession-iran-condemned-2010-12-10?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
