(New York) - A Moroccan appeals court has confirmed the conviction of 35 defendants, including six political figures, in the so-called "Belliraj" terrorism case, apparently without addressing the procedural irregularities that denied the defendants their right to a fair hearing in the lower court, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - The suicide car bombing that destroyed the Baghdad bureau of Al Arabiya News Channel and killed at least six people on July 26, 2010, was an assault on the fundamental principles of freedom of expression and respect for life, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Jerusalem) - Israel's Knesset should reject proposed legislation that would weaken the country's vibrant civil society, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent proposed bills would penalize human rights groups for critical reporting and advocacy, including publicizing information on war crimes, expressing support for boycotts, or helping refugees and asylum seekers.
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(New York) - The Syrian authorities should release Ziad Ramadan, who the Syrian authorities falsely claim is detained so he can be interviewed by the international body investigating the assassination of Rafic Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, Alkarama, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch said today. The following is the statement from the three groups:
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(Jerusalem) - Israel's Knesset should reject proposed legislation that would weaken the country's vibrant civil society, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent proposed bills would penalize human rights groups for critical reporting and advocacy, including publicizing information on war crimes, expressing support for boycotts, or helping refugees and asylum seekers.
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(Washington, DC) - The US government should not forcibly return Guantanamo detainees to places where they fear ill-treatment without providing them a fair legal process to contest their repatriation, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Beirut) - The United Arab Emirates government should allow hundreds of deported Lebanese citizens and Gazans an opportunity to appeal their expulsions, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today to the UAE interior minister.
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(Beirut) - A religious edict by the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union on female genital mutilation (FGM) sends a clear signal that the practice is not prescribed by Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. The edict, however, does not call for an outright ban on this harmful traditional practice.
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(New York) - President Bashar al-Asad has not delivered on his promises to increase public freedoms and improve his government's human rights record during a decade in power, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today on the eve of the anniversary of his accession to power.
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(New York) - Prosecutors should immediately drop charges against Shaikh Mikhlif bin Dahham al-Shammari, a human rights activist, and release him, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - Iran needs to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians at risk of serious harm from artillery bombardment and other military operations in an area that includes dozens of Kurdish villages inside northern Iraq, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Washington, DC) - The Italian government should immediately offer to take into Italy at least 11 Eritreans it had previously forced back to Libya and who are now detained there and threatened with deportation back to Eritrea, Human Rights Watch said today.
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In
Africa,
Libya,
asylum seekers,
Italy,
Eritrea,
Europe/Central Asia,
asylum seeker,
forced return,
immigrant detention,
pushback,
refugees,
Press Release,
Middle East/N. Africa
(Beirut) - The Lebanese government should immediately drop criminal charges against three men for posting comments critical of President Michel Suleiman on Facebook, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(New York) - The Iranian judiciary should immediately suspend plans to execute Mohammad Reza Haddadi and permanently revoke his death sentence, Human Rights Watch said today. Haddadi, now 23, is scheduled to be executed on July 7, 2010, for a murder he allegedly committed when he was just 15 years old. International law prohibits the imposition of the death sentence on child offenders.
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(Geneva) - Libyan authorities should immediately stop apparent efforts to deport a group of 245 Eritreans, some of whom have been severely beaten by guards, Human Rights Watch said today.
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In
United Nations,
UNHCR,
migrants,
UNCHR,
Libya detention,
Misrata,
Africa,
Libya,
asylum seekers,
Eritrea,
refugees,
Press Release,
Middle East/N. Africa
(Washington, D.C.) - Tunisia should stop insisting that former political prisoners sign-in regularly with the police, an onerous obligation that has no clear basis in Tunisian law, Human Rights Watch said today. Some prisoners are made to sign-in daily at specific times and often made to wait, making it difficult to resume their daily lives and find work.
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(New York) - The Egyptian government should keep its promise to free detainees who can no longer be held because of changes on May 11, 2010, to the country's emergency law, a coalition of 12 Egyptian and international human rights organizations said today.
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(New York) - A Kuwaiti judge ordered the release on bail on June 28, 2010, of the journalist and blogger Mohammad al-Jasim, Human Rights Watch said today. Al-Jasim, a well known government critic, faces criminal charges under Kuwait's state security law based on his blog postings and books critical of Kuwait's government, including members of the ruling family.
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(New York) - The Iranian judiciary should immediately halt plans to execute Zainab Jalalian and other Kurdish dissidents, Human Rights Watch said today. Jalalian is one of 17 such dissidents currently on death row in Iranian prisons.
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In the United Arab Emirates, a country that prides itself on modernity and its willingness to advance women's rights, the criminal court in Abu Dhabi has sentenced an 18-year-old Emirati woman to a year in prison for illicit sex after she reported that six men had gang-raped her.
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(New York) - Egyptian authorities should stop beating and arbitrarily arresting peaceful demonstrators and investigate those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Jerusalem) - Hamas authorities in Gaza should immediately end the cruel and inhuman treatment of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit of Israel and allow him to communicate with his family and receive visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Human Rights Watch said today. June 25, 2010 is the fourth anniversary of his captivity.
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(New York) - Egyptian authorities should speedily investigate and bring charges against two plainclothes police officers who numerous witnesses say beat to death 28-year-old Khaled Said in Alexandria on June 6, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Geneva) - The United Nations Human Rights Council took positive steps to respond to human rights emergencies in Kyrgyzstan and Somalia in its session that ended on June 18, 2010, Human Rights Watch said today.
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In
Asia,
Afghanistan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Somalia,
HRC,
United Nations,
Africa,
Europe/Central Asia,
Iran,
Press Release,
Middle East/N. Africa
(Tel Aviv) - The government of Zimbabwe has broken its promises under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) work plan to improve abusive practices in its diamond fields and should formally be suspended from the Kimberley Process, Human Rights Watch said in a 16-page report released today.
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In
Trade,
Zimbabwe,
Business,
diamonds,
labor,
Extractive Industries,
Global Initiatives,
Marange,
Kimberley Process,
Africa,
Israel and the Occupied Territories,
Press Release,
Middle East/N. Africa
(Paris) - Human Rights Watch and several other organizations issued the following statement today after the Tunisian parliament passed a measure on June 15, 2010, that would subject human rights defenders to criminal penalties for contacting foreign organizations and institutions:
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(New York) - Syrian authorities should immediately drop any new charges against the political activist Ali al-`Abdallah for his peaceful political expression and immediately release him, Human Rights Watch said today.
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(Arbil) - A significant number of girls and women in Iraqi Kurdistan suffer female genital mutilation (FGM) and its destructive after-effects, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. The Kurdistan Regional Government should take immediate action to end FGM and develop a long term plan for its eradication, including passing a law to ban the practice, Human Rights Watch said.
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In
female genital mutilation,
sunnah,
Kurdistan,
Health,
Women's Rights,
Sexual and Reproductive Health,
Reproductive Choices and Sexual Autonomy,
FGM,
Iraq,
Press Release,
Middle East/N. Africa