Search Results for: khawaja

Pakistan’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that the country now considers itself in an “open war” with Afghanistan after the two countries carried out cross-border strikes Thursday night. Pakistan launched overnight airstrikes on targets in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika hours after Afghan Taliban forces attacked Pakistani military posts along the border. Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad [...]

Since January, Pakistan’s Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has remained the focal point of an ongoing humanitarian and political crisis. Rumors of a counterterrorism operation against the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) escalated into one of the country’s most severe winter emergencies, with tens of thousands of civilians still displaced as of late February. [...]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a special report Thursday containing Palestinian journalists’ first-hand accounts of torture in Israeli prisons. The stories come from 59 testimonies of released journalists. Forty-eight of them were never charged with a crime, but detained under Israeli policies allowing six-month detentions without charge, renewable indefinitely. Others were charged with [...]

The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned terrorist attacks which took place in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on January 31. The attacks killed 48 people, 31 of whom were civilians. In a press release issued by Council President James Kariuki of the United Kingdom, the Council described the attacks as “heinous and cowardly.” It expressed sympathy [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Tuesday that Tunisian authorities have arrested three prominent activists following a “sham trial.” The organization urged authorities to immediately overturn the “unjust convictions” and release those detained. Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, highlighted the political significance of the detentions: The arrests of prominent [...]

A coalition of 31 human rights organizations issued a joint letter on Friday, urging the European Union (EU) to engage with Bahraini authorities to secure the release of Danish-Bahraini Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Swedish-Bahraini Sheikh Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad. For almost 14 years, both men have been arbitrarily detained, enduring torture and denial of medical care. According [...]

With the sun of 2024 having scattered the last of its rays on Earth, it feels like freedom, independence and justice will soon be engulfed by darkness in Pakistan. Today, we find ourselves mired in a troubling quagmire of lawlessness and a hogtied judicial system. On Dec. 21, military courts in Pakistan sentenced 25 civilians [...]

The National Assembly of Pakistan approved the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Monday, with international groups voicing concern about erosion of judicial independence in the country. The amendment modifies Article 175 of the Constitution, introducing a selection process for the Chief Justice of Pakistan. A parliamentary committee will select the Chief Justice from the three most [...]

HRW denounced the pre-trial detainment of prominent activist and former president of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, Sihem Bensedrine, in a press release on Monday calling for her immediate release. Bensedrine was detained in Manouba prison by order of an investigative judge on August 1, 2024, for her work as president of the Commission. Her [...]

Tunisia’s Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) on Monday rejected a decision of the country’s Administrative Court reinstating three candidates for its presidential election on October 6. In a press conference midday yesterday, the ISIE announced its approval of incumbent President Kais Saied, Zouhair Magzhaoui and Ayachi Zammel as the final list of candidates for [...]