Maria Burnett
@mariaburnett.bsky.social
Human rights lawyer @CSISAfrica, Ex-@HRW Africa, @YLS, believer in compassionate release, social movements, activism & keeping up w motherhood at the same time…
Reposted by Maria Burnett
East African rights groups condemn Tanzania after Agather Atuhaire was found at the Ugandan border.
‘Tortured’ Ugandan activist dumped at border following arrest in Tanzania
East African rights groups condemn Tanzania after Agather Atuhaire was found at the Ugandan border.
bit.ly
May 23, 2025 at 12:00 PM
East African rights groups condemn Tanzania after Agather Atuhaire was found at the Ugandan border.
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Reposted by Maria Burnett
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👉🏼 Share our recent newsletter with a friend, and encourage them to subscribe (but please don’t do it for them).
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The Inside Story is Prison Journalism Project’s weekly newsletter, which highlights our writers’ best work. Get it right in your inbox.
prisonjournalismproject.org
May 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
📢 We’ve set a big goal: We want to add 200 new subscribers in 2 weeks! If The Inside Story has made a difference for you, help us grow. Here's what you can do ⤵️
👉🏼 Share our recent newsletter with a friend, and encourage them to subscribe (but please don’t do it for them).
👉🏼 Share our recent newsletter with a friend, and encourage them to subscribe (but please don’t do it for them).
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Lydia Mugambe, a United Nations judge, has been jailed for six years and four months after being convicted of forcing a young Ugandan woman to work for her as a slave in Britain.
Lydia Mugambe: UN judge who forced woman to work as slave jailed for more than six years
Lydia Mugambe, 50 was found guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspirac...
news.sky.com
May 2, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Lydia Mugambe, a United Nations judge, has been jailed for six years and four months after being convicted of forcing a young Ugandan woman to work for her as a slave in Britain.
Some days bring miracles.
February 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Some days bring miracles.
Finally #Uganda: All charges or all criminal trials or pending trials before the courts martial involving civilians must immediately cease and be transferred to ordinary courts of law with competent Jurisdiction. Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo, Supreme Court ruling on military prosecution of civilians.
January 31, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Finally #Uganda: All charges or all criminal trials or pending trials before the courts martial involving civilians must immediately cease and be transferred to ordinary courts of law with competent Jurisdiction. Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo, Supreme Court ruling on military prosecution of civilians.
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Biden commutes sentences of 2,500 non-violent drug offenders
January 17, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Biden commutes sentences of 2,500 non-violent drug offenders
Reposted by Maria Burnett
A federal judge struck down parts of an Arkansas law that included prison sentences for librarians and booksellers for providing books that might be considered “harmful” to minors. nyti.ms/3DIpLBi
December 24, 2024 at 9:31 PM
A federal judge struck down parts of an Arkansas law that included prison sentences for librarians and booksellers for providing books that might be considered “harmful” to minors. nyti.ms/3DIpLBi
Reposted by Maria Burnett
A grim reminder that in the era of mass incarceration, 1.9 million people are confined in the US away from their loved ones this holiday season.
December 22, 2024 at 2:15 PM
A grim reminder that in the era of mass incarceration, 1.9 million people are confined in the US away from their loved ones this holiday season.
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Biden was the first president to openly oppose the death penalty – but his actions don't reflect that at all.
POTUS: The clock is ticking on your term. It's not too late to do the right thing and clear the federal death penalty now.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
POTUS: The clock is ticking on your term. It's not too late to do the right thing and clear the federal death penalty now.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Biden urged to empty federal death row before Trump takes office
Joe Biden ran for president opposing the death penalty. He faces calls to commute federal death sentences before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 9, 2024 at 7:52 PM
Biden was the first president to openly oppose the death penalty – but his actions don't reflect that at all.
POTUS: The clock is ticking on your term. It's not too late to do the right thing and clear the federal death penalty now.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
POTUS: The clock is ticking on your term. It's not too late to do the right thing and clear the federal death penalty now.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Maria Burnett
There is much more Pres. Biden could do before his term ends — like commuting sentences for low-risk individuals, people with disproportionate drug sentences, and people with death sentences, @lbeisen.bsky.social tells @npr.org.
Biden isn't the first president to pardon a relative. Here's how the power works
Biden is now the third president to pardon a relative, after Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Here's a look at the commonplace — yet often controversial — presidential power.
www.npr.org
December 2, 2024 at 11:55 PM
There is much more Pres. Biden could do before his term ends — like commuting sentences for low-risk individuals, people with disproportionate drug sentences, and people with death sentences, @lbeisen.bsky.social tells @npr.org.
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Together with @mariaburnett.bsky.social , I've written a critical piece on the #EU policy in #Uganda, which we argue, is counterproductive in the current context. Please ignore the title (inserted by publication), this is a much broader problem than the anti-gay law: euobserver.com/africa/arbb2...
The EU's insipid response to Uganda's death penalty for gays
After Uganda passed legislation for life imprisonment — or even the death sentence — for homosexual acts, the World Bank pulled funding, the US imposed sanctions, and the EU? The EU issued a weakly-wo...
euobserver.com
December 2, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Together with @mariaburnett.bsky.social , I've written a critical piece on the #EU policy in #Uganda, which we argue, is counterproductive in the current context. Please ignore the title (inserted by publication), this is a much broader problem than the anti-gay law: euobserver.com/africa/arbb2...
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Have you read this yet? It’s the best thing I’ve read in a long time, by @susandominus.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/m...
An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice
Two couples in California discovered they were raising each other’s genetic children. Should they switch their girls?
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2024 at 12:55 AM
Have you read this yet? It’s the best thing I’ve read in a long time, by @susandominus.bsky.social. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/m...
Reposted by Maria Burnett
Hey! @sophie-neiman.bsky.social and I have been looking to connect with other journalists and analysts with an interest in East Africa, so we collaborated on a starter pack. Please get in touch if you'd like to be added - and welcome!
go.bsky.app/U148YzY
go.bsky.app/U148YzY
November 19, 2024 at 12:59 PM
Hey! @sophie-neiman.bsky.social and I have been looking to connect with other journalists and analysts with an interest in East Africa, so we collaborated on a starter pack. Please get in touch if you'd like to be added - and welcome!
go.bsky.app/U148YzY
go.bsky.app/U148YzY
And lastly, a few of my favorite sunsets from around the world:
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
And lastly, a few of my favorite sunsets from around the world:
And lastly for today, a long report written with Stanford Law School’s Rule of Impact Lab, Human Rights Watch and Florida Rising earlier this year on discriminatory educational censorship: law.stanford.edu/2024/06/19/s...
SLS’s Rule of Law Impact Lab, Florida Rising, and Human Rights Watch Issue Report: Florida School Laws Discriminate against Black, LGBTQ People | Stanford Law School
Since 2021, Florida has enacted policies and laws that restrict public school students’ ability to access vital information about race, history, sex
law.stanford.edu
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
And lastly for today, a long report written with Stanford Law School’s Rule of Impact Lab, Human Rights Watch and Florida Rising earlier this year on discriminatory educational censorship: law.stanford.edu/2024/06/19/s...
And this one, not authored by me but I am quoted, about dementia in US prisons and the importance of compassionate release. chicago.suntimes.com/health/2024/...
Can prison cause dementia? New Northwestern study explores how incarceration impacts health
The university was recently awarded a grant for a first-of-its-kind study on how incarceration affects health, age-related conditions and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
And this one, not authored by me but I am quoted, about dementia in US prisons and the importance of compassionate release. chicago.suntimes.com/health/2024/...
Third, a long piece about Uganda’s tragic Kasese massacre of November 2016 and the politics of those killings. www.theelephant.info/analysis/202...
Business as Usual: The Kasese Massacre and Power Politics in Uganda - The Elephant
The patterns of state violence in Uganda are sadly repetitive as the ruling party obstructs burgeoning criticism to President Yoweri Museveni’s decades-long grip on power.
www.theelephant.info
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
Third, a long piece about Uganda’s tragic Kasese massacre of November 2016 and the politics of those killings. www.theelephant.info/analysis/202...
Second, this piece about Uganda’s horrific Anti LGBTQ law. Sadly the President signed it into law shortly after this came out. Uganda’s Supreme Court should eventually hear a challenge to the law but it hasn’t been scheduled yet. www.csis.org/analysis/uga...
Uganda’s Horrific Anti-LGBTIQ+ Bill Returns: The Stakes Are Higher Than Ever
The draft anti-LGBTIQ+ bill passed by Uganda's parliament will have far-reaching implications for fundamental human rights in the country if signed into law.
www.csis.org
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
Second, this piece about Uganda’s horrific Anti LGBTQ law. Sadly the President signed it into law shortly after this came out. Uganda’s Supreme Court should eventually hear a challenge to the law but it hasn’t been scheduled yet. www.csis.org/analysis/uga...
As I start this BlueSky journey, I am going to post a few things I have written over the years that cover topics I care about. Happy reading… Some are quite old! First up: www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
For inmates released during COVID, online-everything makes coming home a digital headache
COVID made re-entry exponentially harder for those without digital skills. We must tackle the digital divide and ensure digital literacy for all.
www.usatoday.com
November 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM
As I start this BlueSky journey, I am going to post a few things I have written over the years that cover topics I care about. Happy reading… Some are quite old! First up: www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...