Author Archive for Sebastiaan Faber

Green light for Spanish Guantánamo torture case

February 26, 2011
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Green light for Spanish Guantánamo torture case

Spain's national criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, has decided that the case for alleged torture perpetrated at the Guantánamo prison can go ahead. Judge Baltasar Garzón opened it in 2009, despite the resistance of the Attorney General and--as the WikiLeaks cables revealed--strong pressure from the US government and Congress. The case is conducted by...
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Supreme court rejects annulment of Miguel Hernández sentence

February 16, 2011
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Supreme court rejects annulment of Miguel Hernández sentence

Spain's Supreme Court, El País reports, has rejected a request for annulment from the family of one of Spain's most renowned 20th-century poets, Miguel Hernández, who died in a Francoist prison in 1942, at age 31, after having been convicted of "aiding the rebellion"'--the perverse phrase with which Franco's Law of Political Responsibilities designated...
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Preston wins Catalan history prize

February 15, 2011
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Preston wins Catalan history prize

Paul Preston's forthcoming book The Spanish Holocaust, an exhaustive study of violence and repression during and after the Spanish Civil War, has just been awarded the prestigious Premio de Historia de Catalunya Santiago Sobrequés i Vidal, Público reports. The book will go on sale in Spain this coming April; the English edition will...
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Post-SCW drama scores Goya awards

February 15, 2011
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Post-SCW drama scores Goya awards

Agustí Villaronga's Pa negre (Black Bread) came out as clear winner in this week's Goya award ceremony (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars). The Catalan film is part of the line-up of the Portland International Film Festival this month. The Hollywood Reporter writes:

Agusti Villaronga's Black Bread won...
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Dundee SCW volunteers remembered

February 15, 2011
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The Courier reports:

Dundee volunteers who travelled to Spain over 70 years ago to fight fascism were commemorated on Saturday. The annual remembrance, organised by the Trades Union Council, was held at the memorial to the International Brigade in Albert Square. Taking part in the event along with union members were relatives...
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Call on Spanish Courts to subpoena former Guantánamo commander

February 15, 2011
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Call on Spanish Courts to subpoena former Guantánamo commander

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, together with the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights, has filed two submissions with the successor of Baltasar Garzón at Spain's Audiencia Nacional, who is investigating the accountability of US officials responsible for torture at Guantánamo Bay and other detention sites:

The first...
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Garzón, Pinochet, and G.W. Bush

February 14, 2011
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Garzón, Pinochet, and G.W. Bush

Why did George W. Bush not go to Switzerland last week? Xavier Rauscher at International Jurist has the answer: He did not want to end up like Augusto Pinochet. As Geoff Pingree and I wrote in The Nation last May, the pioneering efforts of the Spanish judge "have ensured, for example, that Donald Rumsfeld...
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African American SCW volunteers featured

February 13, 2011
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BlackPast.org is featuring vignettes of African American volunteers in Spain.
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Shooting for “La voz dormida” begins

February 13, 2011
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La voz dormida, the best-selling novel by the late Dulce Chacón about women prisoners in post-Civil War Spain, is being made into a feature film by Benito Zambrano (Solas, Habana Blues), Variety reports; shooting starts this week, featuring Inma Cuesta and María León.

Budgeted at €4 million ($5.5 million),...
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Thriller set during SCW

February 13, 2011
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In today's New York Times Book Review, Tara McKelvey reviews The Second Son, Jonathan Rabb’s final volume in a trilogy of historical thrillers, set during the Spanish Civil War:

Fascism and anarchy in 1930s Spain combine with romantic entanglement to provide the action ... The Second Son is an unusual blend...
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