HRW slams Obama's rights records

[The Northerner]

Source: Press TV

Human Rights Watch has blasted US President Barack Obama's change in "rhetoric" rather than "policies" as US transfers more Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Europe.

Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, says that vows of change in the US administration have been limited to presidential rhetoric, US media said on Wednesday.

When it came to promoting human rights, there has undoubtedly been a marked improvement in presidential rhetoric, Roth said.

However, he added, the translation of those words into deeds remains incomplete.

Roth referred to Obama's failure to deliver on his promise for the closure of the notorious Guantanamo prison one-year after assuming power and urged the president to "aggressively" pursue the rights agenda.

Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119455§ionid=3510203

[OHdem10]

1. Sometimes this issues dealing with war and foreign policy are most

dicey and sometimes are more difficult than we can imagine.
He will in time do something, I believe.

[Turborama]

2. Hardly what could be called a "slam"

Iranian state media reporting it in this manner is deflection, projection and propaganda for their own masses, no doubt. Their military junta's hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Here's what a proper slam by HRW looks like...

Iran: Crackdown’s Torrent of Abuses

The scope of the Iranian government's crackdown on dissent since the disputed June 2009 elections is even broader and the abuses more flagrant than previously reported, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today that documents numerous instances of abuse. The government should immediately release all those still being held for peacefully expressing dissent and make certain that those responsible for human rights abuses are held accountable, Human Rights Watch said.

The 19-page report, "http://www.hrw.org/node/88464">The Islamic Republic at 31: Post-Election Abuses Show Serious Human Rights Crisis," documents widespread human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings; rapes and torture; violations of the rights to freedom of assembly and expression; and thousands of arbitrary arrests and detentions during the nine months since the election on June 12, 2009. Fresh details of abuse are coming to light even as the government organizes celebrations to mark the 31st anniversary of the revolution that paved the way for the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

"The Iranian government's effort to use anniversary celebrations to deflect attention from its human rights violations isn't going to work," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, "Instead, it should use the occasion to finally hold the abusers accountable."

The report is based on extensive phone interviews and email correspondence with protesters, journalists, human rights defenders, and the families of detained political figures. It says that the government is carrying on its campaign of intimidation, arrests, and convictions of individuals for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. It has neither ended its crackdown nor held those responsible to account.

Continues: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/10/iran-crackdown-s-torrent-abuses

[Flaneur]

3. Most countries have human rights issues.

It's good to remember that when we get all those posts comparing Hugo Chavez to Stalin or Hitler because of his human rights issues.

[bvar22]

4. "the translation of those words into deeds remains incomplete..."

Now THATS an understatement.

Great epitaph for the entire Obama Administration:

the translation of words into deeds remains incomplete