The Ecuadorian government’s financial crimes agency froze the bank accounts of several Indigenous and environmental groups, using secret intelligence information in an apparent effort to silence protests, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, commented that the measures in question constitute a misuse of anti-money laundering mechanisms, which [...]

Indonesia repatriated two Dutch nationals, one of whom had been on death row, to the Netherlands on Monday, following a bilateral agreement signed between the two countries. Both were convicted of smuggling illegal substances and had been serving lengthy sentences under the Indonesian drug laws before their repatriation. The two men were facing health problems, [...]

Former European Union Commission Vice President and foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was formally accused on Wednesday of procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest, and violation of professional secrecy, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) revealed in an online statement. Mogherini and two other high-profile suspects were detained as part of a bigger fraud [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a preemptive presidential pardon in connection with a slate of corruption charges that have been pending against him since 2019. The formal documents, which Netanyahu submitted to President Isaac Herzog on Sunday, include a 111-page request from Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad and a letter signed by Netanyahu. In [...]

Germany’s decision to lift restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel risks conflicting with its obligations under international law, Amnesty International warned on Monday. The decision was “reckless, unlawful and risks complicity in Israel’s international crimes,” pointing to accusations of war crimes, genocide, apartheid, and unlawful occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem. In a [...]

A Dutch court on Monday upheld the decision by the Netherlands government to deny asylum to US transgender woman Veronica Clifford-Carlos. The court acknowledged the worsening conditions for transgender persons in the United States, but held that she was not facing systematic denial of protection or essential services. Clifford-Carlos, 28, is said to be the first [...]

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was released from prison after only 20 days, following a court judgment pending an appeal. He was seen returning to his Paris home on Monday. “Truth will prevail. This is a fact that life teaches us,” he wrote on X after returning home. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and [...]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday urged Spanish authorities to swiftly investigate an attack on reporter José Ismael Martínez that occurred during clashes between police and far-left protesters in Pamplona on October 30. The group stated authorities should prosecute the perpetrators and protect journalists during protests.  At the protest by far-left Basque separatists, [...]

Amnesty International accused TikTok of insufficiently protecting vulnerable children and teenagers from psychologically harmful content on Monday, reconfirming 2023 findings that young users interested in mental health-related content are often led to a “rabbit hole” of videos featuring depressive themes and suicidal ideation. It called for the company to move to a rights-respecting business model [...]

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to begin serving his prison sentence in Paris next week, following a court decision last month sentencing him to five years in prison. The Correctional Tribunal of Paris found Sarkozy guilty of a criminal association with an organized scheme to illegally finance his 2007 presidential election campaign. [...]