Human Rights Watch

For Immediate Release Russia: Police Use of Force Against Peaceful Protesters March Turns Chaotic; Arbitrary Arrests (Moscow, May 9, 2012) – Russian authorities should promptly and effectively investigate reports of excessive use of force against protesters and arbitrary detentions during and following a protest on May 6, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities […]

A joint campaign initiated by Iranian and international student and rights groups calls for the unconditional and immediate release of the 32 students in prison on various national security-related charges.

Mansogo’s prosecution was clearly opportunistic, designed to remove a vocal opponent from the political arena, and not supported by the facts of the incident in question, said Human Rights Watch.

A new law banning insults against the people of Libya or its institutions, and prohibiting criticism of the country’s 2011 revolution and glorification of the deposed former leader Muammar Gaddafi, was passed on 2 May 2012.

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the EBU held a workshop in Geneva on media freedom in Azerbaijan but failed to use the opportunity to call the government to task and to speak out about Azerbaijan’s abysmal record on freedom of expression.

For Immediate Release Egypt: New Law Keeps Military Trials of Civilians 12,000 Tried by Military in 2011, Hundreds More Cases Pending (New York, May 7, 2012) – Egypt’s parliament on May 6, 2012, approved amendments to the Code of Military Justice that failed to end the unprecedented expansion of military trials of civilians, despite pleas […]

For Immediate Release ***To download photos and raw footage of an interview with a former detainee: http://hrwnews.org/distribute/2012MENA_Yemen_Unlawful_Detention/ ***Photos available for download at: http://www.hrwnews.org/press/yemen_unlawfuldetention.zip Yemen: Detained, Tortured, and Disappeared Yemenis Describe Illegal Detentions, Abuse by Security Forces (New York, May 7, 2012) – Yemeni security forces have arbitrarily detained dozens of demonstrators and other perceived opponents […]

On 1 May, between 200 and 300 Bidun gathered near al-Sha’bi mosque in Taima’a to demand government action on their citizenship claims and resolution of their stateless status only to be met with force and arrests.

The US recently missed a key opportunity to engage publicly with the Philippine military about the need to end impunity for serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch notes.

The report also highlights numerous cases in which individuals were threatened, forced into hiding, and murdered as a result of their perceived political leanings.

A new trend in Indonesia is the use of criminal defamation laws targeting religious minorities, Human Rights Watch has found.

The Specialized Criminal Court, set up in 2008 to try terrorism cases, is increasingly used to try peaceful dissidents and rights activists on politicized charges and in proceedings that violate the right to a fair trial and the rights to freedom of expression.

Eighty-year-old Ebrahim Yazdi, who suffers from cancer and a heart condition, was convicted for exercising his right to freedom of speech.

Chen Guangcheng and his family are at risk of violent reprisals after the activist’s escape from unlawful detention, Human Rights Watch said.

For Immediate Release Bangladesh: Alarming Rise in ‘Disappearances’ Government Needs to Account for Missing Opposition Figures (New York, April 27, 2012) – The Bangladesh government should immediately order an independent and impartial investigation into the growing number of cases where opposition members and political activists have vanished without trace, Human Rights Watch said today. The […]

The case is the fifth time in 2012 that peaceful critics have faced charges for speech offenses, a pattern that undermines the credibility of the authorities’ reform efforts, Human Rights Watch said.