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Libya facing major problems and challenges
Al Jazeera #39;s Sami Zeidan talks to Anas El Gomati, the director of the Sadeq Institute, on the numerous challenges facing Libya. Subscribe to our channel http...
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Libya facing major problems and challenges - Video
Libya 2011: Responsibility to Protect Whom?
Watch the VIDEO: The event took a critical view of the humanitarian rhetoric around the intervention in Libya. Dr. Kamila Otman and Roshan Mohammed Salih overviewed the outcome of the NATO...
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Libya 2011: Responsibility to Protect Whom? - Video
Warning that human rights defenders in crisis-torn Libya are being increasingly targeted by armed groups, the United Nations human rights chief today urged Libyan authorities to undertake prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into the incidents, to hold those found responsible to account, and to ensure an effective remedy for victims.
"The work of civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders is particularly crucial in the context of the ongoing conflict in Libya," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, in a press release strongly condemning the attacks.
According to Commissioner Zeid, rights defenders, political activists, bloggers and media professionals have been under increasing attack from armed groups in Libya since mid-May, when fighting between rival factions intensified in and around Benghazi and later erupted in Tripoli.
Further, he said UN human rights staff have received numerous reports of intimidation, harassment, abductions and murder of members of civil society, causing some human rights defenders to flee the country while others have curtailed their activism or gone into hiding, seeking protection for themselves and their families.
Individuals have been shot in the street while going to work or coming out of mosques after prayers. Many have received text messages or have been the subject of social media posts threatening them or their families with death, abduction or rape, he said.
"The climate of fear created by such attacks, coupled with the total impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators, threatens to silence the few independent voices emerging from within the country," said Mr. Zeid, underscoring that victims of human rights violations and abuses in Libya rely on these important actors to document and draw attention to their plight.
Recalling that "attacks against civilians are war crimes", the High Commissioner goes on to list a raft of disturbing incidents, including in Benghazi, where 10 people were murdered in a single day on 19 September, including two prominent young civil society activists, Tawfik Bensaud, 18, and Sami al-Kawafi, 17.
Since May, a number of other prominent public figures have been killed in the city, including newspaper editor Muftah Abu Zeid and lawyer and human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis. In Derna, East of Benghazi, lawyer Usama al-Mansuri was killed on 6 October, apparently after publicly criticizing a declaration by armed groups in the town pledging allegiance to the so-called ISIL.
Similarly, in Tripoli, since July a number of activists and other public figures have been abducted, received threats or had their homes looted or burned. One prominent human rights defender received text messages warning him to stop his advocacy work or else his children would be abducted and killed.
'Women activists are particularly vulnerable and pressured to abandon public roles. One rights advocate reported that she had received several calls from armed groups warning that if she continued writing on women's rights, she and her children would be killed. She and her family have since left the country," Mr. Zeid said.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder claimed "vindication" on Tuesday for the Department of Justice's efforts to crack down on voter identification laws in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark decision last year in Shelby County to gut a centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act.
In an interview with TPM, the soon-to-step-down Holder pointed to a federal judge's ruling that Texas's voter ID law was designed with "discriminatory purpose" and amounted to an unconstitutional "poll tax" on Lone Star State residents.
"We are heartened by what we saw," Holder told TPM. "We think it is a vindication of the approach we have taken. And no matter what follows, this is a legal fight worth waging. ... We couldn't allow the states to interpret the Shelby County decision as open season on the right of people to vote -- to have a war on the ability of the American people to exercise their right to vote."
The state of Texas is appealing the ruling. It is "uncertain," Holder conceded, that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative courts in the country, will agree with the federal trial judge. Nor is it clear what would happen if the issue lands at the Supreme Court again.
But Holder wants to send a warning shot to any state or jurisdiction that might consider restrictive voting laws: We will come after you.
"This Justice Department will use whatever tools we have and opposed any effort designed to impinge on that most fundamental right," the attorney general said. "We remain vigilant. We have the tools to hold them responsible ... and we are going to use them."
If the reasoning by Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos is upheld, the Obama administration may be able to use Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act to "bail in" Texas under the requirement that states pre-approve any changes to their voting laws with the Justice Department or a federal court. (The Supreme Court invalidated the formula used to determine which jurisdictions it applies to.)
Holder called the judge's scathing opinion "really, really striking judges don't use that kind of language. Judges are, small c, conservative when judging intent." Asked if the ruling would help the administration put Texas back under preclearance, Holder said, "We're not presuming anything. We're hopeful."
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Eric Holder Claims 'Vindication' For Voting Rights Crackdown
Published October 15, 2014
In this Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014 photo, President Barack Obama, right, looks on as Attorney General Eric Holder speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington.(AP)
President Obama plans to wait on nominating a new attorney general to replace Eric Holder until shortly after the November election, setting up a likely battle in a lame-duck session despite calls from Republicans to wait even longer -- until the new Senate is seated.
A source close to the process on Tuesday confirmed to Fox News that the president plans to wait until after the Nov. 4 midterm elections. The source said the administration considers the appointment to be serious and wants to wait so the nomination doesnt get mired in election-year politics. Democrats reportedly had asked the president to hold off until after Nov. 4.
But some Senate Republicans wanted Obama to wait until the new Senate is seated in January to name his pick to succeed Holder.
By naming a nominee shortly after the election yet before the new year, the White House would be putting his or her confirmation in the hands of some lawmakers who are not returning in 2015 -- and thus no longer accountable to voters.
Further, the White House would be handing the nomination to a Democrat-controlled Senate, despite the possibility that control of the Senate could flip to Republicans in January.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has warned that confirming Holders successor before a new Congress is sworn in would be an abuse of power that should not be countenanced."
According to the Associated Press, Senate Democrats had asked Obama to hold off until after the midterms so controversy doesn't arise over whether they will support a specific nominee.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the leading Republican on the Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on the nominee, said Democrats are trying to "avoid making clear to the voters of their states where they stand on what could be a controversial choice for attorney general."
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HOLD ON, HOLDER Obama likely to pick AG nominee after midterms