Human Rights | WPN World People News

Cambodian authorities should drop fabricated espionage charges against former Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalists Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin and immediately and unconditionally release them, Human Rights Watch said on May 12, 2018. Their arrests six months ago on November 14, 2017, were part of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ongoing crackdown on the media, civil society groups, and the political opposition that have caused many former RFA and other journalists, activists, and opposition members to flee the country.

The Maldives government should immediately drop politically motivated charges against two Supreme Court justices and release them from detention, Human Rights Watch said on May 10, 2018. On the same day, Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed were sentenced to one year, seven months in prison on charges of influencing court rulings. Saeed was also sentenced to five months in prison on obstruction charges earlier this week, and both justices face additional charges of terrorism.

New accounts by witnesses suggest that the killers of a group of people in a poor neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro on November 11, 2017, were members of the army special forces, Human Rights Watch said on May 11, 2018.

Secretary-General António Guterres (at podium) makes remarks on the opening ceremony of the “The Lessons of the Long-gone War We Still Remember” photo exhibition.

Scores of people have been arrested over the past five years in Bangladesh under section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT Act) for criticizing the government, political leaders, and others on Facebook, as well as in blogs, online newspapers, or other social media, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published on May 09, 2018. A proposed Digital Security Bill to replace the existing abusive law, however, is in some respects even broader than the one it seeks to replace, and violates the country’s international obligation to protect freedom of speech.

The government-coerced sale of Cambodia’s oldest English-language newspaper to a Malaysian businessman whose company has ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen marks the end of independent local newspapers in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said on May 08, 2018. The sale of the highly respected Phnom Penh Post was precipitated by a seemingly concocted tax bill of US$3.9 million levied against the paper, which was settled as part of the sale. A similarly vague tax forced the country’s other independent newspaper, the Cambodia Daily, to close in 2017.

A string of recent prosecutions in Somaliland targeting people who spoke out on controversial issues is a dangerous attack of free expression, Human Rights Watch said on May 08, 2018. In the latest such case, a prominent traditional elder was charged, tried, and sentenced to five years in prison on April 26, 2018, in proceedings that lasted less than an hour.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his continued disappointment and concern regarding the ongoing practice of imposing penalties on journalists working without accreditation in Belarus, on May 8.

Increased insurgent attacks on civilians in Afghanistan have left victims’ families and survivors in dire need of financial, medical, and psychosocial support, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 08, 2018. The Afghan government should ensure programs to assist victims of attacks by the Taliban and Islamic State-linked armed groups reach those in need.