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We host a debate between two former officials at the human rights organization Human Rights Watch. Omar Shakir resigned this week after more than a decade as the organization's Israel and Palestine director, over a report on the Palestinian right of return that he says was blocked from publication for ideological reasons. "I've lost faith in our new leadership's fidelity to the integrity of what we do best, which is to publish the facts that we document and consistently apply the law," says Shakir. Yet HRW's former executive director Kenneth Roth says the report was "utterly unpublishable" and questions the legal basis of the unpublished report's claim that Israel's denial of Palestinians' right of return is a crime against humanity. "Some Palestinian refugees may have this great suffering required for it to be a crime against humanity, but a lot of them clearly don't," he states. Shakir calls Roth's objections hypocritical in light of similar HRW claims about the rights of Rohingya and Chagos Island refugees. "The right of return remains this third rail even among progressive human rights institutions," he says.
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The monitoring of law enforcement has a long history, dating back to the 1960s, when leftist groups like the Black Panthers began police patrols.
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(Second column, 11th story, link)
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As protests continue in Minnesota over the federal government's immigration crackdown, former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort now face federal charges stemming from their reporting on a January 18 demonstration at a St. Paul church, where a senior ICE official works as a pastor. The two journalists were released Friday without bail following initial court hearings and could face fines or prison time if convicted. Their charges stem from the FACE Act, a 1994 law intended to protect access to abortion clinics which also prohibits interference with religious worship. Seven activists who took part in the demonstration also face charges.
"We're having a constitutional crisis," Fort tells Democracy Now! "What we're seeing here in Minnesota is the people are continuing to stand. They are continuing to demand that our Constitution be upheld. I believe that journalism is not a crime."
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