=== Aum Shinrikyo
1. AUM guru may undergo mental tests

=== Falun Gong
2. falungong leader savages ''wicked'' Chinese leadership
3. China's crackdown on falungong sect rooted in fear and ignorance: members
4. China Jails 13 More Falun Gong Activists

=== Unification Church
5. Ministers upset by Moon visit
6. Rev. Moon's event raises local hackles
7. In Oakland, Moon Stresses Family
8. Rev. Moon delivers message in Oakland
9. The Reverend Moon's Comeback

=== Islam
10. 2 Bamyan Buddhas completely destroyed, reports AIP
11. Taliban vows to keep thumbing nose at the world
12. Taliban close BBC Kabul office
13. The anti-Buddhist fury in Afghanistan

=== Catholicism
14. Ranking Congressmen Support Suspect Religious Group

=== Mormonism
15. Skinhead Church
16. 'It Isn't A Sunday Religion. It's A Lifetime Change.'

=== Hate Groups
17. FindLaw Forum: Court should have heard KKK case
18. Haider the Rightist Is Firing Up Vienna's Election With Slurs

=== Other News
19. Novato 'Diploma Mill' Shut Down by State
20. Leader Of Religious Group, Son Charged With Molestation
21. Man charged with DUI and fired after drinking kava sues employer
22. Elementary may be closed due to polygamists withdrawal
23. 'Fairy' pictures fetch £6,000

=== Faith-Based Initiatives

24. Christian leaders pan Bush's faith plan
25. Cult fear hits Bush plan to fund by faith
26. Poll: Americans approve of Bush
27. Delay on Faith-Aid Plan Puts Time on Bush's Side
28. Senate To Introduce Religion Plan

=== Human Rights Violations

29. Amnesty International Condemns Sentencing of 14-year-old Boy to Life Imprisonment Without Possibility of Parole

=== Noted
30. Hearing From Dearly Departed Proves a Hit on Sci-Fi Channel

=== Trends
31. Claim of 'Post-Denominational Era' Defied
32. It's chic to be a Protestant in France


=== Human Rights Violations

[Note: this section is included here primarily because the U.S. government consistently chides other countries for what it considers to be human rights violations. This includes critizing countries like France and Germany for keeping tabs on extremist groups like Scientology, whereas the U.S. would like to see the cult recognized as the ''religion'' it claims to be. As reports in this section show, there are more important issues to be dealt with in the U.S.A. itself.]

29. Amnesty International Condemns Sentencing of 14-year-old Boy to Life Imprisonment Without Possibility of Parole
Amnesty International, Mar. 9, 2001 (Press Release)
http://www.amnestyusa.org/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(Washington, DC) - Amnesty International today strongly condemned the sentencing of 14-year-old Lionel Tate to life imprisonment without parole for a crime committed when he was only 12 years old.

''This sentence violates international law, which clearly states that the possibility of parole must not be denied to children, however serious their crime,'' said William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA).

''The fundamental principle at stake here is that children are capable of change and growth and should not be denied that opportunity. This ruling precludes that possibility. The state's response to these crimes must never take away the possibility of the child's successful reintegration into society.''

Amnesty International's serious concerns about the case were brought to the attention of Broward County Judge Joel Lazarus through an observer who monitored the hearing and testified regarding the issue of international standards.

''We urge Governor Jeb Bush to request that Florida's legislature examine how a judge can be placed in an untenable position of having to sentence a child to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,'' said Schulz.

''However, while Lionel Tate is one of the youngest children to be sentenced to life without parole, he is not the only one,'' said Schulz. ''We must not give up on our children. This is a matter of great urgency.''

In his decision, Broward County Judge Joel Lazarus said that the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment, ''even when the defendant is barely into his teens,'' and that it is not the role of the courts to reflect public opinion or legislate.

''This is an extraordinary abandonment of hope when it comes to our children,'' said Ajamu Baraka, the Amnesty International observer who monitored the hearings. ''Common standards of justice and decency - not to mention international standards that the US is bound to respect - state that a child should not be written off with a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Florida law must be brought into alignment with these standards.''

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 191 countries, states in Article 37(a) that no person under the age of 18 at the time of the offense should be sentenced to ''life imprisonment without the possibility of release.''

''The US has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and as such is bound under international law not to do anything that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty,'' said Baraka.

Amnesty International said that it will support any steps to reduce the sentence imposed today, and reminded Florida's authorities that any sentence should take into account international standards stipulating that a child offender must not be held with adult offenders. Such standards recognize that young people in prison are a common target of sexual and physical assault by adult inmates.

Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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