German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Friday she will allow a criminal inquiry to proceed against German comedian Jan Boehmermann after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a complaint. The comedian made sexual references to Erdogan on the public television station ZDF two weeks ago and could be prosecuted under a rarely used section of [...]
The US Department of Defense (DOD) announced the transfer of 9 Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia on Saturday as they continue their efforts to close the facility. They would have sent the prisoners back to their home country but the instability in Yemen made transfer to Saudi Arabia inevitable. Eight of the 9 [...]
The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told the UN Security Council on Friday that Yemen is at a “critical crossroads” as peace talks between the government and the Houthis are scheduled to begin this Monday. Ould Cheikh Ahmed says he hopes the talks will lead to an agreement and an end [...]
Several aid organizations urged EU leaders on Thursday to stop deportations of migrants from Greece to Turkey and to stop detaining asylum seekers. Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council and Solidarity Now took part in the joint letter. The deportations are part of a deal struck last month between Turkey and EU leaders in which all migrants [...]
Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana on Friday accused former Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina of accepting part of a $25 million bribe while in office. Pérez Molina, who is already awaiting trial on conspiracy charges filed after he was forced out of office in 2015, stands accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for helping [...]
The United Nations Security Council on Friday strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) attempt to fire a ballistic missile in clear violation of UN resolutions. Referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Security Council renewed its commitment to “continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures in [...]
Ge Yongxi, a civil rights defense lawyer, was detained and released late Friday by Chinese authorities for posts on social media that “poked fun” at President Xi Jinping in relation to the Panama Papers. Ge posted an image of the president on WeChat, a messaging service, along with Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin in a [...]
UN experts commended Tunisia Friday on the implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), a torture prevention body, and recommended that officials ensure that the delegates are “well-resourced and able to function in the shortest time possible.” The experts visited the country from April 12-14. Tunisia has been taking steps toward creating the commission since [...]
A delegation from the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) called on the Chilean government Thursday to establish a national independent body to monitor “places of detention.” The SPT monitors how states are meeting their treaty obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and was in Chile between April [...]
Two independent human rights experts called upon the UN Friday to put into motion a plan to redress damages suffered by internationally displaced persons who were exposed to lead poisoning at camps settled by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 1998 and 1999. Special Rapporteurs Rita Izsák-Ndiaye and Chaloka Beyani also urged the UN [...]
