Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Human Rights Lawyer Says UN Failed To Protect Palestinians
The Israeli air and ground war against 2.3 million Palestinians imprisoned in the Gaza Strip is in its is 98th day. Ralph Nader stated on Democracy Now that the reported 23,000 deaths of Palestinians is vastly understated. He estimated a true count to be around 100,000. Moreover, he projected, that because of disease and starvation 500,000 people in Gaza will likely die this year.
International human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber resigned from the United Nations on October 28, 2023.
He had worked for the UN for more than three decades, and was the director of its human rights agency in New York. In his resignation letter he wrote that the UN had failed in its duty to protect Palestinians. Mokhiber accused the US, the UK, and much of Europe, of being “wholly complicit in the horrific assault” in Gaza.
Last week South Africa filed a lawsuit against the government of Israel in the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide. The ICJ is the court of the United Nations. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the United States, called the lawsuit “counterproductive, without any basis in fact, whatsoever“.
Guest – Attorney Craig Mokhiber, graduated from the University of Buffalo Law School and has lived in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Craig Mokhiber is a Director in the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). A lawyer and specialist in international human rights law, policy and methodology, he has served the UN since 1992. As chief of the Human Rights and Development Team in the 1990s, he led the development of OHCHR’s original work on human rights-based approaches to development and human rights-sensitive definitions of poverty.
—
CIA Operations Subject To Discovery In Assange Attorneys’ Spying Case
On December 19th, a federal court in New York rendered a decision of profound importance, having to do with claims of illegal actions by the CIA, and others, brought by attorneys representing the world-renowned journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. Assange is currently imprisoned in London awaiting a final ruling in the U.S. government’s efforts to extradite him back to the United States and stand trial for violations of the Espionage Act of 1917, for having published documents exposing U.S. war crimes in connection with America’s wars in the Middle East. In their lawsuit against the CIA, former CIA head Mike Pompeo, and others, Assange’s attorneys alleged that the CIA violated the attorneys’ constitutional rights by subjecting them to illegal surveillance during their visits with Assange while he was staying in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been granted asylum.
While the other claims of the attorneys were dismissed by the court, the CIA was not dismissed from the lawsuit. And so, the plaintiffs have won a rare opportunity for the clandestine operations of the CIA, which prides itself on secrecy, to now be subjected to public scrutiny and accountability through discovery actions in connection with the plaintiff’s claims.
The importance, the significance of this victory against the CIA cannot be overstated. And to help us understand how this victory came to pass, what the alleged abuses of the CIA were that led the judge to deny the attempt of the CIA to be dismissed from the lawsuit.
Guest – Vincent de Stefano, the chief organizer for the National Defense Committee for Julian Assange. Mr. De Stefano is a life-long social justice activist and a founding member of the Southern California Assange Defense Committee, as well as an Executive Board member of the national Assange defense committee. He is the former President of the Pasadena/Foothills Chapter of the ACLU and a board member of the Southern California ACLU Affiliate. Vince De Stefano has worked with Amnesty International for over 4 decades, and in 2019 was recognized by Amnesty as their Urgent Letter Writer of the Year.
Hosted by Attorneys Michael Smith, Maria Hall and Jim Lafferty
———————————————-