The Vietnamese government has significantly escalated its suppression of dissent, increasingly punishing individuals, including ordinary citizens, for peacefully expressing concerns about state policies and public officials, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released today. Titled “We’ll All Be Arrested Soon’: Abusive Prosecutions under Vietnam’s ‘Infringing of State Interests’ Law,” the report highlights the [...]
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) concluded Friday that there has been professional failure following the killing of several Palestinian medics but no planned execution or attempt to conceal the event. The IDF finding noted that the incident occurred in a “hostile and dangerous combat zone” and “under widespread threat to the operating troops” from the [...]
A mass trial on Friday started in Türkiye for 189 people following the protests against the detention and arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu last month. The defendants, mainly students, journalists and lawyers, are facing charges involving participation in illegal rallies, failing to disperse despite police warnings, carrying weapons, and covering their faces for identity [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Thursday that the escalating violence in Haiti is putting civilians at “grave risk,” urging the international community to protect human rights in the country. HRW said Haiti’s transitional government is unable to contain the spread of violence throughout the country while criminal groups maintain a hold on the capital of [...]
The Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg in Russia has sentenced 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for “discrediting the armed forces” by publicly posting 19th-century Ukrainian poetry in protest of Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to local media sources. Kozyreva began her anti-war activism in 2022, the year [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected a bid by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to strip deportation safeguards from roughly 350,000 Venezuelans who live and work in the US under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), according to the plaintiffs. The three-judge panel in San Francisco denied DHS’s request to [...]
Polish President Andrzej Duda sent a bill to the Constitutional Tribunal Thursday for review, seeking to expand on hate crimes provisions by adding sexual orientation, gender and other categories to the list of protected groups. The tribunal will consider whether the bill violates the constitutional right to free speech. The current Polish Penal Code includes [...]
The Russian Supreme Court officially lifted the designation of the Taliban as a terrorist organization on Thursday, marking a significant shift in Moscow’s diplomatic stance toward Afghanistan’s de facto rulers. The move was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stated that the decision aims to facilitate the establishment of a “full-fledged partnership” with [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, expressed concerns on Thursday over the suspension and disciplinary actions taken against three judges of the Supreme Court of Maldives. The UN expert indicated that these suspensions are aimed at preventing the Supreme Court from reviewing a constitutional amendment announced in November [...]
A group of lawyers filed a lawsuit on Thursday before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child against the Costa Rican government for allegedly violating the rights of minors deported from the United States. Lawyers from the Global Strategic Litigation Council, Instituto Internacional de Responsabilidad Social y Derechos Humanos, and the Transnational [...]
