Joe Stork

Oman is a Gulf country we usually hear very little about, despite its strategically important location in the region and its great oil wealth. Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, tells us about the country, its ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, and the harsh crackdowns on dissent there.

For several weeks we’ve watched as videos have trickled out of Syria onto YouTube and other websites. The Syrian activists who take the video say they are images of protests that turned violent at the hands of the Syrian government.

 

 

Protests in Libya to overthrow Muammar Gadhafi and his government continue, and unlike Tunisia and Egypt, it's a far bloodier crisis. The number dead is said to be in the hundreds and Gadhafi is not going to go quietly; he has waged all out war against his people. However, the people are continuing their fight. For more on what's happening in Libya is Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East Division for Human Rights Watch. He explains how Human Rights Watch gathers information from such a complicated and violent situation.

Torture actually spread, it became sort of an epidemic, which is what it is today, I'm sorry to say. It happens in police stations, it happens not just with political disside...

Yesterday New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright discussed his new article on Scientology. But when he was at the studios, he also discussed his past reporting on the roots of Al-Qaeda and the connection to Egyptian prisons and abuses under the Mubarak regime. Then, Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division joins us from Cairo and provides a history of oppression and abuse under the Mubarak regime.

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