A court in India on Friday convicted six of the eight accused of gang raping and murdering a 20-year-old college student in the Kamduni village district of the state of West Bengal. The conviction comes after more than two-and-a-half years since the incident, which prompted strong public pressure to prosecute and convict the individuals involved. [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Chinese government on Friday to overturn a verdict sentencing three human rights activists, including a lawyer, in the Guangdong province to up to five years in prison. The individuals were convicted for “inciting subversion of state power.” HRW argues that the Chinese government under President Xi Jinping has been [...]

Amnesty International (AI) reported Friday that satellite images show five possible mass graves in Buringa, Burundi, which may be connected to last month’s infamous massacre. On December 11, security forces killed at least 87 armed protesters who stormed military barracks in the capital of Bujumbura. Witnesses told AI that authorities retrieved bodies from the streets [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said Friday his office is investigating allegations of sexual abuse against children in the Central African Republic (CAR) by EU forces. Most of the alleged abuse took place in 2014, near the M’Poko camp for displaced persons, but was not uncovered until recently. During UN [...]

A Hungarian court on Thursday acquitted 15 employees of the Mal Corp for their role in the toxic red sludge spill that killed 10 people in 2010 after a reservoir burst. The spill, which was one of the worst environmental disasters of the nation, with more 1 million cubic meters of the sludge destroying hundreds [...]

Amnesty International (AI) called on the government of Myanmar Thursday to either repeal or amend a law that could grant former presidents immunity from prosecution for human rights violations and crimes under international law. The outgoing Myanmar Parliament approved the Former Presidents Security Law, which could grant blanket immunity to former presidents for actions committed [...]

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood stated Wednesday that he plans to ask lawmakers to approve the firing squad, electrocution or nitrogen gas as alternate methods of execution if the state prohibits lethal injections. States access to execution drugs has been hindered as a result of companies refusing the use of their products for execution purposes. [...]

An Indiana legislative committee approved a bill Wednesday that would repeal the controversial religious freedom law passed last year that allowed businesses to deny service based on sexual orientation. The Senate Rules committee voted 7-5 to approve the bill, which will grant civil rights protections to gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals. The amendment is still [...]

Lithuania began war crime trials for 65 former Soviet military officials on Wednesday. The officials are accused of committing crimes against humanity during the 1991 crackdown by the Soviet Union during Lithuania’s independence movement. The action resulted in 14 civilian deaths and over 700 others wounded by the Soviet army. Russian officials are refusing to [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU) and the Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services Commission (IPAS) reached a settlement agreement on Wednesday with the Department of Corrections over the treatment of mentally ill prisoners. The ACLU of Indiana and IPAS filed suit in 2008 alleging violations of the Eight Amendment , the Americans with [...]