Human Rights Watch

This June, the Gulf crisis and its ramifications on the right to free expression across the region dominated the news. Other developments included protests in Morocco and Lebanon, censorship in Egypt and the West Bank, and the loss of lives in Iraq.

The Uzbek government is urged to immediately allow an independent investigation into the enforced disappearance and death in prison of a human rights and opposition activist, Nuraddin Jumaniyazov.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ tour of five Central Asian countries appeared big on handshakes and praise but short on specifics about improving human rights problems.

A new Human Rights Watch report highlights 36 incidents in which unknown men in civilian clothes beat rights campaigners and bloggers between January 2015 and April 2017, often resulting in serious injuries.

The Huthi and allied forces should immediately and unconditionally release ten Yemeni journalists detained arbitrarily without charge or trial, said nine NGOs, on the second anniversary of their detention.

This statement was originally published on hrw.org on 6 June 2017. Saudi Arabia should immediately quash the death sentences of 14 members of the Shia community for protest-related crimes, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The Court of Appeal of the notorious Specialized Criminal Court upheld the sentences in May 2017, after they […]

After an Azerbaijani journalist was spirited away from Georgia, rights groups say the country must back up its previous statements on enforced disappearances.

As President Trump visited Saudi Arabia, repression hit new highs throughout the Middle East. But, though the level of repression to stamp out dissent may be new, the excuse was a very familiar one.