Rights groups warn of anti-Rohingya disinformation in Malaysia
Rights groups and analysts have warned that a new wave of political disinformation targeting Rohingya refugees in Malaysia is fuelling xenophobia and intimidat…
Human Rights, Justice & Society
Published stories in Human Rights, Justice & Society.
Report describes hereditary bondage on Indonesia's Sumba island
On Indonesia's island of Sumba, people are still born into a hereditary status of bondage even though slavery has been illegal in the country for more than 160…
Turkey condemns Greece over closure of Turkish-language schools
Turkey's foreign ministry condemned a Greek decision to close eight schools serving the country's Turkish-speaking minority, accusing Greece of discrimination. In a communique on Sunday, the ministry said Greece was following systematic practices that weakene…
Iran judiciary says man executed over security force death in 2022 protests
Iran's judiciary media outlet reported on Saturday that Iran executed another suspect who had been sentenced to death for killing a member of the security forces during the wave of protests that began in 2022. The Mizan agency said the sentence against Aref K…
Niger journalist freed after more than a year in detention
A journalist from Radio Sahara FM in northern Niger was freed on Friday after more than a year in detention, local media and a private media association said. The association said Hamid Mahmoud, who worked for the Agadez-based station, had been released. Mahm…
Cricket figures pay tribute after Garry Sobers dies at 89
Tributes from across cricket followed the death of West Indies all-rounder Garry Sobers on Friday at the age of 89. Sobers was widely regarded as one of the greatest players in cricket history. Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott said anyone who saw Sober…
Irish Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker dies aged 81
Irish actress Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar in 1990 for her supporting role in "My Left Foot", has died at the age of 81, her agent announced on Friday. Agent Phil Belfield said Fricker died peacefully on Thursday in Dublin, after a period of ill health. F…
Rowling criticises Amnesty label as UK charity regulator assesses concerns
Britain's charities regulator is assessing concerns about an Amnesty International UK report that described Beira's Place, a women's centre for sexual violence…
Ugandan prosecutors drop case against two women arrested for kissing
Ugandan prosecutors said Friday that they had withdrawn a case against two women who were arrested for kissing in public under the country's anti-gay law. The two women, both in their 20s, were arrested in February after a complaint by neighbours in the north…
Rights groups say Cuban dissident remains in custody after prison term
Human rights groups said Thursday that Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara remains in custody even though he finished serving a five-year prison term a week earlier. Otero Alcantara, who Amnesty International has designated a prisoner of consci…
China warns of response to US limits on journalist stays
China warned Friday that it could take countermeasures after Washington finalized rules shortening how long journalists can stay in the United States, with Chinese nationals facing the strictest limits. Under the change, which could take effect as soon as Sep…
Rights lawyer says Egypt arrested about 60 people over opposition Discord server
A lawyer with a rights group handling some of the cases said Egyptian authorities have arrested about 60 people for joining a political opposition group on Discord. Shorouk Sallam, head of the legal unit at the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, said the detain…
Vietnam arrests publishing executives over book on Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese police said on Wednesday that they had arrested three executives of a publishing house that released a book about Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the country's Communist Party. The book, "Stories with Thanh -- A New Account of Light", was written by fo…
Several European countries allow assisted dying under different rules
As France looked set to adopt a bill allowing assisted dying on Wednesday, several European countries already permit some terminally ill people to end their lives, under different legal systems and conditions. The source distinguishes euthanasia, in which a c…
Hong Kong police raid independent bookstore and arrest five people
Hong Kong police raided an independent bookstore run by former journalists on Wednesday, in the latest action targeting independent bookshops in the city. Officers led a handcuffed woman to a van and removed several boxes of materials from Have A Nice Stay bo…
Botswana same-sex marriage case faces church and cultural opposition
Botswana church and cultural groups told a court on Tuesday that they opposed a bid by a gay couple to overturn laws that bar same-sex marriage. Bonolo Selelo, 41, and Tsholofelo Kumile, 39, have taken Botswana's government to court. They argue that the Marri…
Palestinian groups launch campaign on alleged sexual abuse in Israeli prisons
Palestinian rights organisations launched an international campaign on Tuesday to document and combat alleged sexual violence against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. Campaign coordinator Youssef al-Amayreh, who was released in January after two year…
Saudi Arabia shows signs of reassuring LGBTQ visitors before 2034 World Cup
Saudi Arabia is showing tentative signs of trying to reassure LGBTQ visitors before it hosts the 2034 World Cup, including a planned LGBTQ-focused cruise from Jeddah next year, while homosexuality remains criminalised in the kingdom. The US travel company VAC…
Taliban minister defends women's dress crackdown in Herat
Afghanistan's minister in charge of vice and virtue defended a crackdown on women's dress in the western city of Herat, saying it protected dignity and rejecting criticism as propaganda. Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban government's minister for the Propag…