Iraqi security forces have extrajudicially executed at least 255 Sunni prisoners , Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Friday. HRW estimates that the executions are revenge for killings committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) , a Sunni extremist group. Many of the individuals were reportedly arrested under Article 4 of Iraq’s [...]
There is mounting evidence of abductions and violence against activists, protesters and journalists in eastern Ukraine over the last three months, Amnesty International (AI) reported Friday. The report, entitled Abductions and Torture in Eastern Ukraine , documents the findings of allegations of abduction and torture perpetrated by separatist armed groups and pro-Kyiv forces. The Ukrainian [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday expressed alarm at the possible international human rights law violations as a result of the military operations that took place in Gaza on Thursday afternoon resulting in the deaths of 88 Palestinians. Israel’s military operation “Protective Edge” began early last week, resulting in the killing [...]
A provincial court in Myanmar on Thursday sentenced four journalists and the chief executive from the Unity Journal to a 10-year prison sentence and hard labor for publishing a story in January in violation of the national State Secrets Act, a British colonial law dating back to the 1920s. The report alleged the Myanmar military [...]
The public prosecutor’s office of the government of Bahrain said Thursday that the country’s most senior opposition leader and one of his aides will be charged for holding an illegal meeting with a US diplomat from the office of the US Secretary of State . The Bahraini nationals are Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of [...]
A Florida judge ruled Thursday that the state’s 2012 congressional redistricting plan illegally favors Republicans. Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ordered that two of the state’s 27 districts be redrawn, which will likely affect neighboring districts as well. Lewis found that the 2012 plan violated the Fair Districts Amendments, approved by voters in 2010 for [...]
US Army Col. James Pohl on Thursday stepped down from the trial of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , who faces terror charges in connection with the al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in 2000, which killed 17 American service members. Pohl, the chief judge at the Guantanamo military court, stepped down in order “to ensure [...]
US Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Udall (D-CO) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would require for-profit businesses to supply full contraceptive coverage guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act, notwithstanding conflicting religious beliefs related to birth control. The bill is titled the “Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act of 2014,” and Senate Democrats [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay on Thursday expressed deep concern over the harsh sentences and detention of peaceful human rights advocates in Saudi Arabia in recent months. In particular, Pillay expressed concern over the sentence imposed upon Saudi human rights activist and lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair , who is the founder and [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday released a report identifying various government, militia and rebel leaders of the Central African Republican (CAR) that the organization believes to be responsible for serious violent offenses that have forced nearly a million people to abandon their homes over the past year. The report, entitled “Central African Republic: Time for [...]
