Iranian journalists and bloggers missing -believed taken by police

The sister of Amir Sadeghi who runs tehranlive.org in Iran has announced that he has gone missing. His blog provided excellent coverage of the demonstrations. He went out to participate in the protests last night but failed to return. It is believed that he has been taken by the police of Mahmoud Ahmadinijad. There is grave concern for his welfare. According to Revolutionary Road 23 journalists and bloggers have been arrested in Iran. Many others are missing: Roohollah Shahvadar in Mashhad, Mashallah Heydarzadeh, Hamideh Mahvarzi, Amanollah Shonaji Hossein Shokoohi in Booshehr, and Mojataba Poor Hossein in Rasht are the journalists who have been arrested. Two more journalists Behzad Bashou and Seyyed Khalil Mir-Ashrafi have now been arrested.

Gaza Suffering- Families struggle for food

Gaza residents talk about hardship; The UN will resume relief operations only after receiving guarantees on security of personnel from the Israeli army.
Locked inside the coastal slice of land, just 40 kilometres (24 miles) long and up to 12 kilometres wide, with next to no food getting in each day, 1.5 million people are battling to find enough to keep their families alive.

Zimbabwe: Fears grow for the safety of abducted Human Rights activists as repression grows

There are fears for the safety of
Jestina Mukoko (left), director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) who was abducted from her home in Harare on December 3 when fifteen armed men in plain clothes broke into her family home. Her son witnessed the abduction.

Two of Mukoko’s colleagues were seized from their offices on December 8. Their whereabouts are also unknown. In the last six weeks, 22 opposition or civil rights activists have been seized and not heard from since.


The ZPP, a human rights organization has been documenting human rights violations by the Mugabe regime and its henchmen.
Human rights have drastically deteriorated in Zimbabwe, Caritas Internationalis reports.

People are being indirectly denied food and clean water, health care, and education. The police and army have shot illegal diamond miners, while more than seventy people have been arrested at trade union protests.
Reportedly, civil society activists have been detained after peaceful protests and human rights advocates have been systematically targeted and detained...

Please take this online action demanding the release of Jestina Mukoko.
A recording of an interview with Jestina Mukoko when she visited Ireland is available via Trocaire. The interview was conducted by George Hook on Newstalk