Earlier today:
A pair of Iranian dissidents — a jailed human rights lawyer (above) and a banned filmmaker (below) — were named winners Friday of the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize Continue reading Iranian dissidents win esteemed human rights prize
New York Times reporter Mark Landler opens his front-page piece this morning this way:
“On the eve of a crucial visit to the White House by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, that country’s most powerful American advocates are mounting an extraordinary public campaign to pressure President Obama into hardening American policy toward Iran over its nuclear program …
The pressure from an often-hostile Congress is also mounting. A group of influential senators, fresh from a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem, has called on Mr. Obama to lay down sharper criteria, known as “red lines,” about when to act against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.“We’re saying to the administration, ‘You’ve got a problem; let’s fix it, let’s get back on message,’ ” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who took part in the meeting with Mr. Netanyahu and said the Israeli leader vented frustration at what he viewed as mixed messages from Washington. Continue reading American Jews, Israel, Iran — and the Netanyahu/Obama meeting
In a few minutes, Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, NDP MP Wayne Marston, and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler will hold a joint news conference about the following: Continue reading MPs "sound the alarm" on Camp Ashraf
They are half-a-world away and there are only seven of them, but the members of Parliament on a House of Commons human rights committee are doing whatever they can for the 3,400 refugees at Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, who, the MPs believe, are in imminent danger.
There are two Canadians among that group. They remain at Ashraf voluntarily despite offers from Canadian consular officials to get them out of what could, within days, become a very dicey situation. Continue reading Iranian terrorists or refugees? Either way, MPs say those at Camp Ashraf are in danger