Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, was arrested Saturday on corruption charges, according to local media. He was arrested on the advice of the Attorney General after it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to charge him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 5 of 2006. Yoshitha Rajapaksa [...]
The Cambodian government Friday approved a draft law that aims to punish those who ignore, minimize or deny the crimes committed by the communist regime between 1975 and 1979. Under the revised law, the civil penalty for genocide denial will now be increased to one to five years imprisonment and 10 million to 50 million [...]
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) published a comprehensive report on Wednesday revealing systematic violations against the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The findings come five years after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide against the minority group. The report, titled “The Genocide Never Stopped – [...]
Iran faced global criticism at the 48th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday, as member nations denounced the country’s treatment of women, crackdown on dissent, and widespread use of the death penalty. Nations including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland raised serious concerns over [...]
Human Rights Watch stated on Friday that the Tanzanian government has failed to implement adequate legal and policy measures to protect the educational rights of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers, or to address years of systemic exclusion from schools. As a result, HRW found that these girls continue to face significant risks of stigma and [...]
US President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading or physically obstructing abortion clinic entrances. Trump remarked while signing the pardon order: “They should not have been prosecuted … Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.” The activists [...]
Rohingya atrocity survivor Maung Sawyeddollah filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Meta for its alleged role in promoting the spread of content inciting attacks against the Rohingya in Myanmar, according to a statement published by Amnesty International on Thursday. In the complaint, Maung Sawyeddollah asked the SEC to investigate [...]
Amnesty International on Friday urged Belarusian authorities to end their cycle of repression in light of the upcoming presidential election on January 26. The human rights organization claims President Alexander Lukashenko’s government is denying the Belarusian population the right to free speech by applying repressive measures such as arbitrary detentions, torture and criminalization of free [...]
The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said Thursday that Meta’s current pay-or-consent strategy in the EU may violate consumer and data protection laws, urging relevant EU agencies to protect consumers immediately. The statement accused Meta of using ambiguous terms and confusing interfaces that do not allow users to consent freely to data collection. The organization also [...]
Pakistan’s National Assembly passed an amendment to the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act on Thursday, giving the government the power to regulate social media usage in the country. The amendment includes a punishment for false and fake information presented as follows: “Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, [...]
