Death in custody campaigns unite to launch petition for justice
originally by: Socialist Worker
published: 20th January 2012
Campaigns demanding justice for those who have died in police custody join forces today [20th Jan 2012] to launch a petition calling for major changes in the criminal justice system.
The petition demands the replacement of the Independent Police Complaints Commission with a body genuinely independent of the police, and the suspension of officers involved in deaths in custody for the duration of any investigation.
Other demands include automatic prosecutions of officers following unlawful killing verdicts and the right to non-means tested legal aid for the families of those who die.
Britain Bans Press TV
originally by: Counterpunch
published: 22nd January 2012
For the first time, British government censors have banned a 24-hour news channel from British viewers. As of the afternoon, UK-time, 20th January 2012, viewers of Press TV, an avowedly anti-imperialist TV channel headquartered in Tehran and featuring many of the voices found in CounterPunch, saw the words “Channel Unavailable” when tapping their clicker.
And so the war on Iran by Britain, Israel and the U.S. continues using propaganda, proxy militants and asymmetric warfare.
See the powerful short documentary, ‘Newspeak’ by Migrant Media >
Obama signs order to close Guantanamo
originally by: CNN
published: 22nd January 2012
Promising to return America to the “moral high ground” in the war on terrorism, President Obama issued three executive orders Thursday to demonstrate a clean break from the Bush administration, including one requiring that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year.
During a signing ceremony at the White House, Obama reaffirmed his inauguration pledge that the United States does not have “to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals.”
The president said he was issuing the order to close the facility in order to “restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism.”
United families launch 100,000 No:10 custody deaths petition
The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) have launched an ambitious petition appeal that calls for an independent judicial inquiry into all suspicious deaths in custody.
The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) is a coalition of families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police and prison officers as well as those who died in psychiatric and immigration detention. It also has members and supporters from campaign groups and advocacy organisations from across the UK.
The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody report published in 2011 states: in total, there were 5,998 deaths recorded for the 11 years from 2000 to 2010. This is an average of 545 deaths per year. Despite the fact there have been 11 unlawful killing verdicts since 1990 there has never been a successful prosecution.
