Press Release Jan 4, 2018 UNWGAD Affirms HRF Petition on Detention of 18 Turkmen NEW YORK (January 4, 2018) — Last Friday, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) published a decision calling for the immediate release of 18 Turkmen individuals who were arrested for exercising their freedom of association in the fall of 2016.
News Jan 3, 2018 Ethiopia announces release of political prisoners (The Washington Post) – Ethiopia’s prime minister shocked the country Wednesday by announcing the release of all political prisoners and the closure of a notorious detention center to promote political dialogue.
News Jan 3, 2018 Somalia: UN Concerned Over Destruction of Humanitarian Infrastructure (UN News Centre) – A senior United Nations official in Somalia expressed deep concern over reports of the unannounced destruction of settlements for internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as humanitarian infrastructure in Mogadishu.
News Jan 3, 2018 Deaths and detentions as Cameroon cracks down on anglophone activists (The Guardian) – Felix Agbor Nkongho looked over his shoulder at a secluded Yaoundé cafe. As a leader of Cameroon’s growing anglophone rights movement, he had reason to be on his guard.
News Jan 2, 2018 DR Congo has shut down internet amid bloody anti-government protests (Quartz) – At the start of a new year, the Democratic Republic of Congo is being rocked by an old problem: violent protests against president Joseph Kabila who has refused to leave office after his term expired.
News Jan 2, 2018 Thousands in Hong Kong protest Beijing’s interference (Reuters) – Thousands of protestors marched to the mainland Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong on Sunday, demanding universal suffrage and protesting against Beijing’s perceived interference in the territory’s recent chief executive election.
News Jan 2, 2018 Iran protests and death toll grow as tension rises (The Washington Post) – Anti-government protests in Iran flared on more fronts Tuesday with clashes that left at least nine people dead, state media reported, as leaders in Tehran struggled to respond to the most serious internal crisis in nearly a decade.
News Dec 19, 2017 Uzbekistan Forces State Workers to Subscribe to State-Run Newspapers (Radio Free Europe) – In Uzbekistan, where media has remained tightly controlled by the government even decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, public-sector workers say they still don’t have the freedom to choose whether to subscribe to state-run newspapers.
News Dec 18, 2017 China tells web giants they must accept limits to access (Sky News) – Web giants such as Google, Facebook and Twitter would be welcome to operate in China if they adhered to Beijing’s strict censorship and surveillance laws, regulators have said.
News Dec 16, 2017 HRF calls on the Vietnamese government to release Nguyen Van Dai Human rights lawyer and activist Nguyen Van Dai was arrested on December 16, 2015, five days after he was beaten by a masked mob. He was charged under Vietnam’s ludicrous Article 88 for “conducting propaganda against the state.”
News Dec 14, 2017 6,700 Rohingya Muslims killed in one month in Myanmar, MSF says More than 6,700 Rohingya Muslims, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the first month of a crackdown that started in August in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, according to Médecins Sans Frontières.
News Dec 14, 2017 HRF in the News — En El País sobre la crisis democrática en Bolivia El historiador boliviano Alcides Arguedas relata que, tras hacerse redactar una Constitución a medida en 1868, y mientras sus diputados elogiaban sus virtudes de estadista, el presidente Mariano Melgarejo interrumpió la tertulia palaciega y dijo:
News Dec 12, 2017 Evidence that Ethiopia is spying on journalists THROUGHOUT 2016 AND 2017, individuals in Canada, United States, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, and numerous other countries began to receive suspicious emails. It wasn’t just common spam. These people were chosen.
News Dec 8, 2017 Prize-winning Cameroonian writer detained after criticizing government DOUALA (Reuters) – A celebrated Cameroonian writer who wrote a piece critical of the government’s handling of a separatist crisis in its Anglophone region was detained at Douala airport on Thursday, his wife and lawyer said.
News Dec 5, 2017 Cambodia urged to free opposition leader (The Australian) – More than 150 parliamentarians from 23 countries have sent an open letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, calling on him to “immediately and unconditionally” release opposition leader Kem Sokha from prison.
News Dec 5, 2017 Russia names Radio Free Europe and Voice of America ‘foreign agents’ (The Washington Post) – Russia on Tuesday named Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and seven affiliated news services as foreign agents, and the Russian parliament prepared to ban the organizations from attending its sessions.
News Dec 4, 2017 Police arrest woman in Tanzania over video of same-sex kiss HRF condemns crackdown on LGBTQI people and rights groups being carried out by Tanzania’s authoritarian regime.
News Nov 30, 2017 Togo opposition vows to continue protests even during talks (Africanews) – Hundreds of Togolese opposition members turned up for the new round of anti-government protests in the capital Lome on Monday. Wednesday’s march was largely peaceful according to reports from local media.
News Nov 30, 2017 Sudan armed groups still deploy child soldiers: UN (AFP) – The United Nations said Wednesday that some armed groups fighting in Sudan still deploy child soldiers, but acknowledged Khartoum’s efforts to prevent child recruitment into its forces.
News Nov 30, 2017 Global press freedom plunges to worst level this century Media freedom around the world has fallen to the lowest level for at least a decade, according to a study that shows journalists are threatened by government censorship, organised crime and commercial pressures caused by the growth of the internet.
