Human Rights Watch

Five IFEX members and other organisations called on the Council to consider the findings of the Syrian Commission of Inquiry and ensure accountability for attacks on peaceful protesters.

Peaceful blogger Pham Minh Hoang was punished because he wrote about social and political issues in the country and was sentenced to three years in prison and three years on probation.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that pro-government gunmen killed at least five anti-Saleh protesters who were participating in a peaceful march on 24 November in Sanaa.

The rate of voter participation is being closely watched because it is seen as a gauge of public enthusiasm for the reforms that King Mohammed VI initiated during 2011.

Authorities ignored an intimidation campaign against jailed activists, says a new report on the eve of a verdict on 27 November. IFEX members and partners have been lobbying for the release of the five men.

The report describes abuses by the security, military and judicial branches, including actions against protesters that led to deaths, injuries, arbitrary arrests and unfair trials.

The organisation views the sentencing of Ales Bialiatski to four and half years in prison on tax evasion charges as a move to silence someone who helped victims of abuse.

The bill as passed is in need of serious revision and, if implemented, will curtail freedom of expression and the right to access information, says Human Rights Watch.

The government should release all those imprisoned on politically motivated charges, whether they have been convicted under Burma’s repressive political laws or for common criminal offenses, said Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch submitted a joint amicus brief with the Center for Freedom of Expression and Information of the University of Palermo (Argentina) before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, arguing that desacato norms violate Ecuador’s international human rights obligations.

The military prosecutor’s failure to identify the soldiers driving the military vehicles that crushed 13 Coptic protesters on 9 October has eroded public confidence that there will be a transparent investigation of those responsible for the deaths, says Human Rights Watch.

The activists said the hunger strike will continue until authorities release them unconditionally and end all judicial proceedings against them.

Despite the expression of support by elements within the government to end black jail-related abuses, the authorities failed to stop the practice.

Human Rights Watch is urging the government to immediately rescind a police-imposed ban on a “sexual diversity” festival and adopt measures to protect all Malaysians from discrimination.

Stephen Ferry’s project, “Violentology: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict,” focuses on the history and current dynamics of the conflict in Colombia, exposing the roles of all parties involved and the impact of the violence on civilians.

Eleven Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March, apparently to protest restrictions on basic freedoms and punitive security measures imposed on a number of monasteries.