http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/5/10/115557.shtml
Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea Head 'Worst' List In a worldwide survey of repressive regimes, 17 countries including Libya and North Korea are singled out by a human rights group as "the worst of the worst" for maltreatment of their citizens last year. Most of the cited countries are repeat-offenders, and 45 countries were rated not free to some degree. The eight countries judged to have the worst records on political rights and civil liberties were Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Similarly branded for particularly repressive behavior were two territories, Chechnya and Tibet. Within these countries and territories "state control over daily life is pervasive and wide-ranging," said the report by Freedom House, a New York-based private democracy watchdog organization.Also, it said, "independent organizations and political opposition are banned or suppressed and fear of retribution for independent thought and action is part of daily life." Ranked slightly above the group were Belarus, China, Cote d'Ivoire, which is new to the list, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Zimbabwe. The contested African territory of Western Sahara was in this grouping, as well. Massive human rights violations were found in nearly every part of the world. "We offer this report in the hope that it will assist the democratic world in pressing the case for freedom at the United Nations and in other forums," Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, said in a statement. Oil-rich Libya, which has been trying to burnish its image and develop better relations with the United States and the European Union, released some political prisoners but remained a country where its citizens have few civil rights or political liberties, the report said. North Korea, whose nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are considered by the United States and its neighbors as a potential threat, tightly controls every aspect of social, political and economic life, the report said. Many thousands of political prisoners are held in brutal conditions, it said. Saudi Arabia, which the United States looks to as a pivotal promoter of peace between Israel and Arab neighbors, was credited with another year of "incremental reforms," including establishment of a supreme court in Riyadh, and setting up security, family, traffic and commercial courts. But religious freedom does not exist and the government tightly controls domestic media, the report said. Academic freedom is restricted and informers monitor classrooms. And Syria, with which the Bush administration has very tentative and reluctant relations despite calls from critics for more involvement, continued its repression of political and civil rights last year and renewed its crackdown on dissidents, the report said. There were small improvements, meanwhile, in such areas as travel, residence an employment, the report said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
