At least 1,000 prisoners are on death row in Iraq, which now has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, the human rights group Amnesty International says in a report being released Tuesday. The courts that sentence people to death do not meet international standards, the report charged, and Iraqi authorities “provide very little information on executions, and some have been carried out secretly.” It criticizes the Central Criminal Court of Iraq and the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, which issue the majority of death sentences in the country. “Defendants commonly complain that ‘confessions’ were extracted from them under torture,” the report alleges
Tag Archives: Cnn
Prejean to sue Miss California USA officials
Carrie Prejean will file a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials for stripping her of the title earlier this year, her attorney announced Monday. “We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage,” her attorney, Charles LiMandri, said in a news release
Sci-fi apartheid film ‘District 9’ opens in South Africa
The futuristic South African sci-fi that has taken the U.S box office by storm opened in its home country this weekend. Parallels with the experience of apartheid in “District 9” are likely to resonate particularly with South African audiences.
Missing boaters clung to thread of hope
They kept their bodies alive with rationed crackers, bubble gum, beer and three gallons of water. But spiritually, the three men lost at sea for eight days had something else to keep them going. “We just kept praying, and we kept hope alive,” rescued boater Tressel Hawkins told CNN on Monday.
Analysis: Dick Cheney’s claims reopen ‘waterboarding’ debate
Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday said his claim that enhanced interrogation techniques — including waterboarding — produced critical post-9/11 information was supported by a pair of intelligence reports released last week. “The enhanced interrogation techniques were absolutely essential in saving thousands of American lives,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” However, the two dossiers that were declassified at Cheney’s request do not disclose what kinds of techniques were used to elicit the intelligence. The only method occasionally cited by the reports is a routine one — using information from one detainee to gain details from another.
In Taiwan, Dalai Lama disputes China’s claims
The Dalai Lama — on a visit to Taiwan that includes prayers for recent typhoon victims — has rebutted China’s claims that he is there for political reasons. In a Monday interview with CNN’s Sara Sidner, the Tibetan spiritual leader said he was visiting the island to comfort victims of Typhoon Morakot
Peacekeeping staff kidnapped in Darfur
Two international staffers supporting the peacekeeping mission in the volatile Sudanese region of Darfur were kidnapped Saturday morning, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force told CNN. The man and the woman, whose identities and nationalities were withheld, worked for UNAMID, a U.N.
Victims of repeated abuse suffer complex trauma
For 18 years, a girl who was whisked away into a secret backyard compound was forced to grow up in isolation. By the time authorities discovered Jaycee Lee Dugard, she was a 29-year-old mother of two who had spent more than half of her life in sheds
U.S. reporter wounded in Afghanistan
A CBS News reporter was seriously injured Friday in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan that also killed a U.S.
Sen. Ted Kennedy to be laid to rest Saturday
Sen. Ted Kennedy will be buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery after a private funeral Mass.