Following on reports late last night and early this morning, Israel made concessions aimed at ending hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in an Egyptian-mediated deal. The agreement won approval today from key hunger-striking prisoners, some of whom are detained indefinitely without charge.

Earlier today, before the prisoners accepted the deal, the New York Times reported on the concessions made by Israel to the hunger-striking prisoners:

Israel had accepted three of the prisoners’ main demands: to restrict the military courts’ ability to extend the terms of some 300 inmates being held without charge or trial under what is known as administrative detention; to end the solitary confinement of 17 prisoners who have been kept in isolation; and to permit family visits for prisoners in the West Bank who come from Gaza.

Prisoner Khader Adnan sparked the mass protest of around 1,600 prisoners after he refused food and was released 66 days later. Last week, the Israeli HIgh Court rejected appeals from two prisoners who went even longer and are reportedly in danger of death.

The hunger strikes stoked fear in Israel because of protests in their support; prisoner deaths could inflame this movement. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour covered the hunger strikes and other non-violent pro-Palestinian activism on her CNN show last week:

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch called on Israel to end detentions without charges, a practice some Israeli figures have admitted is often unnecessary.

Approximately 400 women and girls are currently imprisoned for “moral crimes” in Afghanistan, says a new report released today by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report finds that almost all girls in juvenile detention in Afghanistan had been arrested for “moral crimes” which usually involved escaping from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence.

Some women and girls have been convicted of “zina,” sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution.

“It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW. “No one should be locked up for fleeing a dangerous situation even if it’s at home. President Karzai and Afghanistan’s allies should act decisively to end this abusive and discriminatory practice.”

HRW conducted 58 interviews with women and girls accused of “moral crimes.” Some of the women interviewed by HRW reported going to the police for help in escaping forced marriages and/or domestic abuse, only to find themselves arrested. HRW explains [PDF]:

[M]any of the women interviewed for this report were accused of “running away” and zina. Zina is a crime under the Afghan Penal Code, though “running away” is not. Zina is the crime of sexual intercourse by two individuals who are not married to each other. The sentence of “long imprisonment” for zina constitutes 5-15 years of imprisonment under Afghan law.

Women and girls interviewed by HRW described fleeing from forced and underage marriages, beatings, stabbings, burnings, rapes, forced prostitution, kidnapping and murder threats.

HRW warns that women and girls accused of “moral crimes” face a justice system stacked against them. The report describes situations in which: women are arrested solely on a complaint from a husband or relative; prosecutors ignore evidence that supports the women’s claims of innocence; and “confessions” are given in the absence of lawyers. While women routinely face long prison sentences for “moral crimes,” prosecutors and judges rarely work to prosecute cases of violence and abuse against the accused women.

One woman told HRW about her experience of “running away” after fleeing a husband and mother-in-law who beat her:

I will try to become independent and divorce him. I hate the word ‘husband.’ My liver is totally black from my husband… If I knew about prison and everything [that would happen to me] I would have just jumped into the river and committed suicide.

Yesterday’s announcement that UNESCO’s board had approved a $3 million award in life sciences research funded by Equatorial Guinea raised eyebrows in the human rights community. The decision to approve the prize puts Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s interests “above UNESCO’s basic principles of human rights and good governance,” said a statement issued by seven civil society groups, including: Human Rights Watch, Global Witness and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Whether it’s ever awarded or not, the vote in favor of a US$3 million international prize for life science sponsored by a government that fails to invest sufficiently in basic health care at home is a cruel joke,” said Tutu Alicante, an Equatorial Guinean lawyer who runs the human rights group EG Justice from exile. “The UNESCO board members who backed this prize have sold out the organization’s principles and have tarnished UNESCO’s reputation.”

But the process of defending Obiang’s public image rests solidly on the shoulders of Qorvis Communications, a Washington based PR, communications and lobbying firm which, for a hefty $60,000 per month retainer (plus expenses), has been working overtime since May 2010 to portray the Equatorial Guinean president as a human rights-minded political reformer.

A December 2011 Qorvis Federal Agent Registration Act (FARA) filing [PDF] details the extensive PR blitz conducted on behalf of Obiang. Among other activities, Qorvis made an active outreach effort to major media outlets over the past year:

But Qorvis didn’t just try to influence the news coverage of the NYT, AP, CNBC, and Washington Post. They also produced their own press releases to put a positive spin on Equatorial Guinea’s notoriously corrupt government. Qorvis, in their FARA filing, takes credit for nearly 40 press releases [PDF] touting Obiang’s supposed democratic reforms and humanitarian projects in Equtorial Guinea. Press releases issued by Qorvis included: “President Obiang Improves Equatorial Guinea’s Political System;” “President Obiang Urges Unity And Solidarity In Africa;” “Obiang Reveals Plans For Nationwide Electrification;” “President Obiang Stumps for Constitutional Reforms;” Obiang Calls For Economic Development As Key To Democracy In Africa;” and “Equatorial Guinea Launches National Campaign for Constitutional Reforms.”

Reading Qorvis’ press releases, it’s hard to believe that Equatorial Guinea holds the distinction of ranking among the “worst of the worst” in Freedom House’s survey of political and civil rights [PDF], or that Reporters Without Borders labeled Obiang a “predator” of press freedom. But Qorvis, which also represents human rights offenders like Fiji’s military government, and the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, appears to be in the business of whitewashing the records of human rights abusers, for the right price.

In response to our post, Qorvis Partner Greg Lagana issued the following written statement:

The government of Equatorial Guinea is very aware of criticism over conditions in the country. While it recognizes that many criticisms made against it are legitimate, it believes that its efforts to improve the situation in the country have gone unrecognized. Those efforts include an ambitious infrastructure-development program, the establishment of an ICRC presence in the country to help improve law enforcement and corrections, and efforts to develop human capital through improvements in the education system and use of international exchanges. They have asked Qorvis to help them tell a more complete story.

As for the UNESCO prize, the government of Equatorial Guinea made an offer to fund a prize to promote study of life sciences in Africa. This is consistent with its policy of using some of its income to support international humanitarian causes. When objections arose over the name of the prize, President Obiang agreed to withdraw his name. His position is that he conceived of the prize to encourage scientific research, not to memorialize himself, and that his commitment to promote scientific research in Africa through UNESCO has not wavered through this process.

All communications products that Qorvis Communications develops for the government of Equatorial Guinea are clearly identified as produced by Qorvis.

The Persian-language BBC service, beamed into Iran by satellite, has been a thorn in the side of the regime there since its launch in January 2009. During the crisis following the election that June, widely thought to be a fraudulent poll that reinstalled president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the channel garnered attention from viewers inside Iran, according to its annual report. From the start, the Iranian government accused the channel of working on behalf of British intelligence.

This week, Iran escalated the war of words into action, with authorities allegedly harassing BBC Persian employees’ family members in Iran and arresting Iranians it accuses of working directly for the channel. A BBC spokesman released a statement last week accusing Iran of arresting the sister of a BBC Persian employee, amid other intimidation. Then news broke from a state-run agency that Iran detained alleged employees of the network inside Iran. The BBC said in a statement that this couldn’t be true because the “Persian language service does not have a presence in Iran. There are no BBC Persian staff members or stringers working inside Iran.” (In its 2010 annual report, the BBC indicated that much of its content from inside Iran comes from “citizen journalism.”)

Rights groups and journalism advocacy outfits chimed in to join the BBC in condemning the Iranian actions. Citing the recent reports as well as the arrests of other journalists and filmmakers, Middle East director of New York-based Human Rights Watch Sarah Leah Whitson said:

The recent wave of arrests, especially against relatives of journalists working abroad, is a reprehensible escalation in the current campaign to stifle freedom of information in Iran. It is a sober reminder of the lengths Iranian authorities will go to control the airwaves, newspapers, and the internet – even if it means ruining the lives of Iranians at home and abroad.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Abdel Dayem added:

Iran’s government must immediately stop its harassment of the friends and family members of journalists. These attacks on journalists beyond Iran’s own borders show the lengths to which Tehran will go to intimidate the media into silence and deprive its constituents of information.

The latest accusations traded between the Iranian government and the BBC follow a recently-heightened pattern of the Iranian regime cracking down on journalists and bloggers. The continuing blocking of websites and satellite jamming of outside news channels — including the U.S.-government sponsored VOA Persian Service — led to a protest last month in Geneva outside of a meeting of the U.N. telecommunications agency calling on the group to work to end censorship and jamming in Iran.

Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday calling on foreign governments to prosecute President George W. Bush and other officials in his administration — including Vice President Cheney — for authorizing torture on suspected terrorists if the Obama administration fails to investigate. In an interview with France 24 today, the report’s author Reed Brody said Bush’s explaination that his lawyers said authorizing waterboarding was OK is “not a legal defense,” adding that according to his report, the Bush White House was actually complicit in the Justice Department’s authorizing torture:

BRODY: What we show in this report is that the justifications presented or prepared by the Justice Department were not arm’s length independent analyses. What we show in this report is that led by Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief lawyer, the administration actually went to the Justice Department and put pressure on the Justice Department. [...] They were complicit. [...] What we are saying is that there are grounds to believe that there was a conspiracy.

Brody also noted the importance of prosecuting torture. He said that while President Obama has rightly abandoned the Bush administration’s torture regime, he added that failure to prosecute it treats it as a policy choice that can be repeated, not a crime to be punished:

BRODY: President Obama is treating torture as a policy choice not as a crime. So, President Obama to his credit has stopped authorizing torture, has disbanded the program of secret prisons but those decisions are easily reversible and very fragile. It’s like a loaded gun that’s on the table: “I’m not going to do it but maybe the next guy is going to do it.”

Watch the France 24 interview:

The HRW also calls for an “independent, nonpartisan commission, along the lines of the 9-11 Commission” in order to “make recommendations to ensure that the systematic abuses of the Bush administration are not repeated.”

Earlier this year, Bush canceled a trip to Switzerland reportedly fearing that legal action would be taken against him for authorizing torture.