The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Burkina Faso authorities on Friday to immediately release three journalists detained last month. The call came after videos surfaced on social media showing the three in military uniforms. Guézouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba and Luc Pagbelguem were arrested amid escalating concerns over press freedom in the country. In a [...]
A Thai student protester was arrested in Bangkok on Friday for calling Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing a “murderer,” as well as for criticizing the Thai government over its support for the visiting leader during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit. Hlaing’s visit to the Thai capital [...]
The Iranian authorities are set to carry out finger amputation sentences against three prisoners as early as April 11, Amnesty International warned Friday. The rights group stated that amputation sentences, amounting to torture, and the denial of legal representation are violations of international law. Iranian authorities have informed the men — Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharifian [...]
A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Friday in an attempt to stop a presidential executive order that cuts funding for several federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The lawsuit states that for these agencies, compliance has “meant gutting every one of their operations—statutorily mandated or not.” [...]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the European Union (EU) on Friday to consider Serbia’s freedom of press violations for its EU candidacy process. Journalists in Serbia are systemically repressed, facing threats, assaults and arbitrary surveillance, RSF argued. Head of RSF’s European Union-Balkans Desk, Pavol Szalai, said, “Serbian outlets are on the brink of suffocation as [...]
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Friday called for a full, independent investigation into the Israeli military’s killing of fifteen humanitarian aid workers and urged international efforts to locate a missing PRCS paramedic. During a UN briefing, PRCS members pleaded with the international community to challenge the Israeli government’s argument that the organization’s ambulances [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged Argentine authorities to investigate security forces’ “excessive” use of force in quelling a protest led by pensioners advocating for greater access to pensions, medical care, and other social safety nets. HRW Americas director Juanita Goebertus stated: “There is strong evidence that members of the security forces responded with [...]
Massachusetts state and local elected officials, including Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, joined Tufts University on Thursday in calls for the immediate release of doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk. The university maintains that Ozturk did not violate any Tufts’ policy, while Massachusetts officials have accused the federal government of violating Ozturk’s free speech and due process rights. [...]
UN human rights experts on Friday called on Pakistan to stop displacing Afghans from the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and further urged authorities not to carry out deportations to Afghanistan. The UN experts urged the Pakistani government to continue its role as a neighboring host country for Afghan refugees. The experts stated: “We urge [...]
Part one of the series can be found here. Part two of the series can be found here. During the War on Terror, force drift was explained to me as the concept that increasing levels of force are seen to be reasonable, and there is an almost unstoppable trend toward the use of more and [...]
