Human Rights Watch

Charles Hector is facing a US$3.3 million suit for his criticisms of the treatment of Burmese migrant workers at a Japanese company’s facility.

Norboi Kholjigitov is a longstanding member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, who defended farmers’ rights in the Samarkand province, helping farmers fight expropriation of their farms.

A broad coalition of 105 human rights, media, and development organisations urged the president to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.

The slander case stemmed from Oleg Orlov’s statement suggesting that Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, was responsible for the murder of the human rights advocate Natalia Estemirova in July 2009.

The charges of “humiliating” top officials relate solely to the defendants’ peaceful use of speech to criticise the UAE government and therefore violate their freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said.

(Human Rights Watch/IFEX) – Beirut, June 14, 2011 – Bahraini authorities should immediately halt all proceedings before the special military court and free everyone held solely for exercising their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said today. Civilians charged with genuine criminal offenses should be tried in an independent civilian court […]

Indonesia should use its election to the UN Human Rights Council to implement rights reforms at home, says Human Rights Watch in a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“EU leaders should make it clear they won’t tolerate threatening activists for their legitimate human rights work,” says Human Rights Watch.

The beating by unidentified men on the stairway of his Moscow apartment building was the second recent attack on Hamroev, a longtime human rights defender who works on issues related to Central Asia and Islam with the Memorial Human Rights Center.

In a letter, Samir Feriani named high-level interior ministry officials whom he said bore responsibility for killing protesters during the revolution.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) should repeal laws that restrict free expression, association and assembly, and end trials of civilians before military tribunals, Human Rights Watch said.

Staff of the organisation told Human Rights Watch that they saw the raid as retribution and harassment for documenting cases of alleged abuse by federal police.

The government’s refusal to take responsibility for the massacre of unarmed civilians in June 1989 laid the foundation for the state impunity behind the current crackdown on dissent, Human Rights Watch said.

The company’s possible entry into China coincides with an aggressive effort by the government to silence dissent.

Four people have been sentenced in Havana for distributing pamphlets criticising Raúl and Fidel Castro, while two human rights defenders have been sentenced for “insulting national symbols” and “disorder” for public acts that they denied had taken place.

Several activists in the capital told Human Rights Watch that they believed that the increased security and recent arrests were an attempt to head off reinvigoration of public protests, amid efforts by various small protest groups to work together.