Amnesty International Monday condemned the death sentences of 54 individuals linked by Algerian prosecutors to the lynching of activist Djamel Ben Smail amid wildfires in the Kabylie region in August 2021. Amnesty alleged that numerous fair trial violations occurred during the mass proceedings in November 2022. Amnesty also raised alarm about claims of torture and [...]

At least 17 people were killed Monday during anti-government protests in Peru, according to the Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office. The protests began in early December 2022 following the removal and arrest of former president Pedro Castillo, who is currently serving 18 months of pre-trial detention on rebellion charges after he attempted to dissolve Congress illegally. The [...]

A Georgia state judge Monday issued an order dissolving a special purpose grand jury investigating potential criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 general election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her investigation with the grand jury in May 2022. Judge Robert McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia dissolved the grand jury following [...]

The European Union, France, Germany and the UK Monday independently summoned Iran’s envoys to their respective countries over Tehran’s severe crackdowns on and executions of anti-government protesters. The EU reiterated to Iran ambassador Hossein Dehghani its “strong appalment” over the January 7 executions of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini. The two men were [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday vacated the judgment in the case of Areli Escobar. Escobar is currently incarcerated on death row for the stabbing murder of Bianca Maldonado Hernandez during the course of committing or attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault. Escobar and Hernandez were unknown to each other and there were no eyewitnesses to [...]

Twitter Monday upheld the suspension of VOA Chief National Correspondent and JURIST Journalist in Residence Steve Herman’s Twitter account. Twitter first suspended Herman’s account, along with those of other journalists, on December 15, 2022. Twitter continues to claim that Herman’s tweets, containing reference to accounts that track public flight data of Twitter owner Elon Musk, [...]

The UN Security Council Monday unanimously adopted Resolution 2672, which authorized the renewal of the cross-border mechanism in Syria a day before it was set to expire. Resolution 2672  renewed the UN’s previous authorization of the Bab al-Hawa crossing point on Syria’s border with Türkiye. The UN Security Council first authorized the border crossing point [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday introduced a bill in the Duma, the lower house of Russia’s Parliament, to withdraw from the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. Russia ratified the convention on January 27, 1999. The convention aims to coordinate criminalization of a large number of corrupt practices and is implemented by Group of States against [...]

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson Sunday affirmed that Sweden is confident Türkiye will ratify Sweden’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) application. At the same time, Kristersson expressed concern since Sweden is unable to accept certain demands made by Türkiye. This comes as NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stolenberg said that “it is important that Sweden and [...]

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Secretary General Jan Egeland Sunday warned of the “devastating consequences” of Afghanistan’s continued ban on women non-governmental organization (NGO) workers. The ban stems from a December 25, 2022 Minister of Economy (MoE) directive. Following a meeting with Afghanistan’s acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Khalil Rahman Haqqani, Egeland said the continued [...]