Human Rights Watch

Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel should urge president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to free leading human rights defenders, journalists, and other government critics jailed unjustly in Azerbaijan, Human Rights Watch says. Merkel is scheduled to meet Aliyev in Berlin on 21 January 2015.

Cambodia urgently needs reforms so that its people can finally exercise their basic human rights without fear of arrest, torture, and execution. The role of international donors is crucial in making this happen.

An Egyptian minor offenses court on January 10, 2015, sentenced a student accused of writing Facebook posts that insulted Islam to three years in prison.

A court in Dushanbe found Shukhrat Kudratov, who is also deputy head of the opposition Social Democratic party, guilty on criminal charges of fraud and bribery. Kudratov is known for taking on politically sensitive cases, including representing victims of police torture and those accused of “religious extremism.”

In 2012 Russia’s parliament adopted a law that required nongovernmental organizations to register as “foreign agents” with the Ministry of Justice if they engage in “political activity” and receive foreign funding. The definition of “political activity” under the law is so broad and vague that it can extend to all aspects of advocacy and human rights work.

Saleh al-Mulla was charged with insulting the Emir, insulting a foreign leader, and endangering bilateral relations over critical tweets he sent before an official visit by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt.

Hundreds of opposition activists have been rounded up and arrested across the country in recent days. The government crackdown has come in response to opposition protests on the anniversary of controversial national polls in January 2014.

A Tunisian blogger has been imprisoned after the Tunis military court sentenced him to a three-year term for “defaming the army” and “insulting military high command” through Facebook posts