An Algerian military appeals court on Saturday acquitted three top officials who were jailed in 2019 during mass protests. On trial was Said Bouteflika, brother of the country’s longtime former leader, and two ex-intelligence chiefs, General Mohamed Lamine Mediene and his former right hand General Athmane Tartag. Also on trial was Louisa Hanoune, who had [...]
More than 100 retired bureaucrats and diplomats urged the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to repeal a new law that criminalizes forced religious conversion of brides on Tuesday, warning that it risks fueling communal tensions. Demanding withdrawal of the “illegal” ordinance and suitable compensation for those booked under it, the letter [...]
Argentina’s Senate on Wednesday passed a law legalizing abortion after a marathon 12-hour session, a victory for the country’s women’s movement that has been fighting for the right for decades. In addition to allowing abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, the legislation establishes that even after that period, a pregnancy can be legally [...]
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for “disseminating sacrilegious content” through their platforms. According to the authority, these websites are hosting misleading content about the present khalifa (spiritual head) of Islam. The searches on these platforms show the current leader of the Ahmadiyya community as the “present khalifa [...]
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday commended the Republic of Chad for adopting its first asylum law to enhance protection for close to 480,000 refugees currently hosted in the country. Chad has one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. At present, it hosts more than 915,000 refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced [...]
Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, was convicted Wednesday on charges of terrorism in Turkey and sentenced in absentia. The Istanbul court convicted Dündar of aiding an armed terrorist organization and espionage. It sentenced him in absentia to 27 years and six months in prison. Dündar was first sentenced to five years [...]
The Chilean Senate unanimously approved a bill to reserve 17 of its 155 seats for indigenous communities in its upcoming constitutional convention. The bill provides a fixed number of seats for representatives of certain indigenous communities in the country. Mapuche, the largest indigenous group, will enjoy seven seats. The Senate did not reserve seats for [...]
UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Michele Bachelet Friday condemned ongoing human rights violations in Belarus and called on the government of that country to release imprisoned protestors. Mass protests erupted in August after President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner for a sixth term in a disputed election. Since then, police have cracked down [...]
Amidst outcry from international human rights groups, Bangladeshi naval ships on Thursday started shifting the first batch of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a remote island located in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh currently hosts around 1.1 million Rohingyas out of which it plans to relocate around 100,000 to Bhasan Char. The reasons cited are [...]
New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020 came into effect Tuesday, repealing and replacing the 1993 Act. The Act has numerous amended provisions to keep pace with the fast-changing world of technology and its consequent impact on privacy. Section 3 brings out the Act’s purpose, which is to promote and protect individual privacy by protecting an individual’s right [...]
