it is indeed izzard. from amnesty international's secret policeman's ball which just aired last night in the UK. there were a bunch of performances from several different comedians so it wasn't really a show of his or anything

Deaths from tasers in last five years - 156
Source - Amnesty International.


"Tasers have been used in the US against pregnant women, unruly schoolchildren and mentally ill people. In some cases, simply walking away from a police officer has led to people getting a 50,000 volt electric shock. Is this a glimpse into the future of UK policing? We want an assurance from the Home Office and police chiefs that tasers will only be issued to trained firearms officers and kept locked in the firearms box. Tasers could kill, so they must be treated as lethal weapons."
Amnesty UK Director Kate Allen


"The vast majority of people who have died after being struck by Tasers have been unarmed men who did not pose a threat of death or serious injury when they were electro-shocked. In many cases, they did not appear to have posed any significant threat at all”.
Amnesty Internation Public Statement, 2007


It's not the tasers - it's the idiots who have been given a uniform and a taser.

You don't see what Israel's constant calling for the USA to attack Iran has to do with anti-Israeli sentiment in Iran?


So you are saying that Ahmadinejad's calls for "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" are, at least somewhat, justified. At least we know were you stand then.


Israel attacked all of Lebanon and committed war crimes.

They decimated Jenin, too, and murdered hundreds.


Most people accusing Israel of war crimes in Lebanon and Palestine cite sources like Amnesty International. I even agree with that. My issue though is that you would choose to paint such an unbalanced picture. Amnesty International also condemns Hezbollah and Hamas on far more counts of war crimes.

If you really care to pay any attention to history you'll notice that Israel's aggressive foreign policy didn't appear out of a vacuum of non-aggression. Has Israel ever, in it's entire existence, had peace treaties with all of it's neighbors?

I'm all for condemning Israel when it over reacts to rockets hitting their cities. I'm just not keen to ignore the fact that rockets are landing in their cities. Neither will I accept the notion that EITHER such acts are justifiable. But go ahead and ignore all that and one up it even by justifying speeches rallying crowds to chant "Death to Israel". Just don't pretend to be doing it in the name of peace.

[EDIT:grammar]

Tags for this video have been changed from 'amnesty international, human, arial, art' to 'amnesty international, human, aerial, art' - edited by MINK

I hope a video like this gives you your Crown. Not Amnesty International or anything else that is a serious reflection of society's need for productive change. I hope it's a penis joke.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is somehow behind this illogical nonsense. The Man can't come up with any real reasons to keep marijuana illegal so the simple illegality of it is the reason not to do it. It is illegal so it is bad. But if we made it legal why would it be bad then? Because the giant systems of control, like the police state of Maricopa County Arizona, would lose money and power. Maricopa County's jail system is atrocious and has been cited by Amnesty International before.

I am very familar with Amnesty reports.

The atrocities are IN RESPONSE to Israeli attacks and oppression AND they are justifiable military attacks on occupied land.

Hamas is what you get when you invade an arab land.
Hezbollah is what you get when you invade an arab land.
The IRA is what you get when you invade Ireland.
The ANC is what you get when you invade South Africa.

All of this is IN RESPONSE to occupation and oppression.
IN RESPONSE.

When Israel kills civilians, Hamas kills civilians in return. The difference is that Hamas do it on OCCUPIED LAND.

Hamas can define whatever they want in their charter, are you suggesting we remove the democratic right of a sovreign country just because another country doesn't like what's in their charter? This can be resoved politically, without fighting, but you can't do that without a ceasefire. It's not that I don't believe it, it's that I UNDERSTAND it.

Hamas was created IN RESPONSE to the Israeli occupation. It would not and could not have been elected to power without Israel scattering the Palestinian people with an illegal occupation. The Israeli invasion created the conditions for an extremist government to come to power.

"Israel was only occupying Southern Lebanon to stop PLO attacks on Israel."
Where in the hell did you get that idea from? The PLO was set up to liberate Palestine, when you grow up where I grew up you learn about the PLO when you're 12 years old.

"The only thing Israel has refused is the 'right of return'"
Israel has NOT RESPONDED to THREE mediated calls for a ceasefire.

If you are suggesting that Hamas was set up to invade Israel you are wrong.

You are suggesting that Israel's justification for invading Palestine is Hamas' charter. Yet the occupation LED to Hamas being elected by creating the conditions for an extremist Palestinian government. Hamas has saved more Palestinian lives and fought off more sieges than the PLO. All occupations create the conditions for extremist governments, and historically these have all been resolved when the extremists politicise themselves.

All of the criticisms you lay against Hamas can also be said of Nelson Mandella, the Irish Republicans, and the ANC.

Stop trying to defend your own personal beliefs, open your eyes, educate yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxh4HUDaoaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpA1f1GZgns

http://inminds.co.uk/palestine-rally-13apr02.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3037117.stm
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855881.html
http://israels60thbirthday.com/2008/05/13/pro-palestinian-rally-through-london/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/books/12arts-PROPALESTINI_BRF.html
http://origin.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49971,00.html
http://www.davepearce.me.uk/Palestine/palestine_solidarity.htm
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-middle_east_politics/union_engagement_4485.jsp



In reply to this comment by bcglorf:

Hezbollah was set up to drive Israeli occupying forces from Lebanon (and it drove MOST but not all of them out in 2000).


More or less, and their mandate is certainly far better than that of Hamas. Israel was only occupying Southern Lebanon to stop PLO attacks on Israel. I'd say that gives some valid reason for being there, but I'd still agree it was wrong. Before you judge Israel alone though, remember the better part of the PLO army in southern Lebanon was there because Jordanian forces had already chased them out of Jordan. Hezbollah has since continued to use southern Lebanon to launch attacks deeper into Israel. Given Hezbollah's strong ties to Syria and Iran though, I think Israel does have legitimate security concerns about just watching Hezbollah build up forces on the border. But more to the point, we were talking about Hamas...


Hamas was set up to drive occupying forces from Palestine.


And I've already told you that Hamas defines Palestine as not just the occupied territories beyond the '68 borders, and not even just the territory outside the '48 borders, but also the entirety of Israel. If you refuse to believe it go read Hamas Charter, and if you still refuse to recognize this I don't see us getting any where.


Israel has refused time and time again to respond to the offer of a ceasefire in return for removing their forces from occupied territory.


The only thing Israel has refused is the 'right of return', they have offered themselves to return back to the '68 borders. Is it really Israel's fault a ceasefire fails when it is most often broken by attacks on Israeli checkpoints or cities?


Amnesty International has even condemned the killings of civilians by Israeli armed forces, and that is a good place to start to learn about what is really going on.


Thanks, others have pointed me to the same report before. You really should go read it, it seems to make it very clear that the vast majority of atrocities committed in Palestinian territory are the result of factional fighting between groups like Fatah and ... Hamas. Amnesty International has also repeatedly condemned Hamas and Hezbollah for using human shields in their tactics. That aught to take out some of the fire in condemning Israel for collateral damages, no?

Hezbollah was set up to drive Israeli occupying forces from Lebanon (and it drove MOST but not all of them out in 2000).


More or less, and their mandate is certainly far better than that of Hamas. Israel was only occupying Southern Lebanon to stop PLO attacks on Israel. I'd say that gives some valid reason for being there, but I'd still agree it was wrong. Before you judge Israel alone though, remember the better part of the PLO army in southern Lebanon was there because Jordanian forces had already chased them out of Jordan. Hezbollah has since continued to use southern Lebanon to launch attacks deeper into Israel. Given Hezbollah's strong ties to Syria and Iran though, I think Israel does have legitimate security concerns about just watching Hezbollah build up forces on the border. But more to the point, we were talking about Hamas...


Hamas was set up to drive occupying forces from Palestine.


And I've already told you that Hamas defines Palestine as not just the occupied territories beyond the '68 borders, and not even just the territory outside the '48 borders, but also the entirety of Israel. If you refuse to believe it go read Hamas Charter, and if you still refuse to recognize this I don't see us getting any where.


Israel has refused time and time again to respond to the offer of a ceasefire in return for removing their forces from occupied territory.


The only thing Israel has refused is the 'right of return', they have offered themselves to return back to the '68 borders. Is it really Israel's fault a ceasefire fails when it is most often broken by attacks on Israeli checkpoints or cities?


Amnesty International has even condemned the killings of civilians by Israeli armed forces, and that is a good place to start to learn about what is really going on.


Thanks, others have pointed me to the same report before. You really should go read it, it seems to make it very clear that the vast majority of atrocities committed in Palestinian territory are the result of factional fighting between groups like Fatah and ... Hamas. Amnesty International has also repeatedly condemned Hamas and Hezbollah for using human shields in their tactics. That aught to take out some of the fire in condemning Israel for collateral damages, no?

Israel is attacking Palestine, and occupying it. Israel is invading Lebanon, and occupying it.

Hezbollah was set up to drive Israeli occupying forces from Lebanon (and it drove MOST but not all of them out in 2000). Hamas was set up to drive occupying forces from Palestine.

It can't be made any clearer than that. Hamas is now the elected government of Palestine with the overwhelming support of its people. Israel has refused time and time again to respond to the offer of a ceasefire in return for removing their forces from occupied territory.

Jesus man, everyone knows this. I am completely exasperated now. Amnesty International has even condemned the killings of civilians by Israeli armed forces, and that is a good place to start to learn about what is really going on.

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/middle-east-and-north-africa/palestinian-authority







In reply to this comment by bcglorf:

Hamas' charter calls for a withdrawal from all land occupied by Isreal since 1967, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.


No, it doesn't:
Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences:
[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad...

Plainly Hamas Charter defines Palestine as all of modern Israel in addition to the occupied territories.


That is their legitimate goal and attacks sanctioned by Hamas are against military targets on occupied Palestinian territory. Attacks inside Isreal are not sanctioned by Hamas and are condemned by Hamas.


And yet the most recent school shooting inside Israel was praised by Hamas. That is of course consistent with their Charter since all of Israel is rightfully part of Palestine in their view.

I'll walk through the various truce offers made when I've got time make sure I have the correct sources. I clearly recall Hamas' stance on the 10 year truce to be that it was only acceptable as an interim step to re-claiming all of Palestine. None the less, that's a good step but a lot more went into each effort falling apart.

*rushes onto the field with bandages for legacy

any government which has to shoot journalists and imprison the opposition is a bad government, period. Putin is KGB, not Amnesty International. Him and his friends have found a way to convince millions of politically naive people that everything is OK. His end will come, unfortuntely only after more people get killed and the fake economy he creates collapses again.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. For evidence, see "The History Of The World parts 1 to 1048973"

My suggestion was to have the sifters pick an international charity (amnesty international for example) Then start a donation drive here on the sift, first 100 to donate get a free Tshirt.

Tis the season, I bet the community could raise quite a few bucks.

The following report from Human Rights Watch details Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon last summer - http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/ . Similar conclusions were reached by Amnesty International - http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1856587,00.html They have also reported the same indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Palestine http://hrw.org/english/docs/2001/02/21/isrlpa271.htm . I of course condemn Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians too - as do Human Rights Watch and Amnesty.

Now you say that the orders didn't come from the top. Lets look at the past careers of some Israeli Prime Ministers. Menachem Begin was the commander of the terrorist group Irgun that blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, killing 96 people. He was Israeli Prime Minister in the '70s and '80s. He once described a massacre as "a splendid act of conquest". Yitzak Shamir was Prime Minister until 1992. He had been a leader of a Jewish group called the Stern Gang which carried out a string of assassinations. One of the most recent Israeli Prime Ministers, Ariel Sharon, has long been involved in terror. In 1983, he was found indirectly, but personally, responsible for a civilian massacre by Lebanese militia in two Palestinian refugee camps. At least 800 innocent men, women and children were murdered in cold blood, most of them Palestinians, after Sharon ordered his men to allow the militiamen access to the camps.

*politics - this was part of Amnesty International's campaign against the arms trade and how easy it is to buy arms

Tags changed from "ak-47,commercial,comedy,qvc" to "ak-47,advert,qvc,amnesty,international" by gold star member gwaan.

For a real picture of how interrogation works, watch this over 24 ridiculousness.

Closet Land is a 1991 independent film directed by Radha Bharadwaj and stars Alan Rickman as a sadistic, ruthless interrogator and Madeleine Stowe as a young author of children's books accused of embedding anarchistic messages into her particular book entitled: Closet Land, a story about a child who, as a result of bad behaviour, has been locked in a closet as punishment. While in there, the child is greeted by a choir of childhood ally archetypes who innocently attempt to comfort the scared little girl. While the novel, as the viewer will later on discover, is actually a form of escapism and provides a coping-mechanism for the author who endured sexual abuse as a child, the seemingly simple content is questioned by the government of encouraging and introducing anarchism among its audience of naïve children. Whilst the interrogator is obstinate in his belief that the author is guilty of hidden propaganda, the audience is convinced of the victim's innocence.

The film takes place in a purposely unspecified country, and is quite reminiscent of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The film exhibits the use of brutal and inhumane torture to coerce confessions from innocent victims. The human rights organization Amnesty International served as consultants for the film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closet_Land