• Bahrain: Human Rights Body Should Target Repression
    May 20, 2012
    Press release
    United Nations member states should scrutinize Bahrain’s deplorable human rights record during the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council on May 21, 2012. The international community should push Bahrain to adopt specific measures to ensure free expression and peaceful assembly, end torture, free political prisoners, and establish credible accountability mechanisms for continuing abuses.
  • Egypt: Widespread Military Torture of Protesters Arrested in May
    May 19, 2012
    Press release
    Military soldiers beat and tortured protesters they arrested at a demonstration near the Defense Ministry on May 4, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today, after interviews with numerous victims and lawyers. The military also failed to protect the protesters from attacks by armed groups in the early morning hours of May 2, at the same demonstration, which began on April 27 in Cairo’s Abbasiyya neighborhood.
  • Uzbekistan: No Justice 7 Years after Andijan Massacre
    May 11, 2012
    Press release
    The European Union and the United States should re-examine their relationships with the Uzbek government in light of its atrocious rights record.
  • Yemen: Detained, Tortured, and Disappeared
    May 7, 2012
    Press release
    Yemeni security forces have arbitrarily detained dozens of demonstrators and other perceived opponents of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since anti-government protests began in February 2011. Human Rights Watch documented 37 cases in which security forces have held people for days, weeks, or months without charge, including 20 who were picked up or remained behind bars after the November 2011 power transfer.
  • Tunisia: Reform Legal Framework to Try Crimes of the Past
    May 3, 2012
    Press release
    Tunisia’s first torture case to go to trial following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali highlights the need to address inadequacies in the legal framework for trying torture crimes. Many other cases of torture are likely to be filed against former President Ben Ali and his associates, as other victims step forward to file complaints.
  • Iraq: Investigate Death of VP’s Bodyguard in Custody
    Mar 23, 2012
    Press release
    Iraqi authorities should order a criminal investigation into allegations that security forces tortured to death a bodyguard of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.
  • Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses
    Mar 20, 2012
    Press release
    Armed opposition elements have carried out serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today in a public letter to the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other leading Syrian opposition groups. Abuses include kidnapping, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called shabeeha. Human Rights Watch has also received reports of executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians.
  • Belarus: Abolish the Death Penalty
    Mar 19, 2012
    Press release
    Belarusian authorities should take immediate steps to abolish the death penalty.
  • UK: Halt Deportations of Tamils to Sri Lanka
    Feb 24, 2012
    Press release
    The United Kingdom should suspend deportations of ethnic Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and immediately review its policies and information about the country’s rights situation used to assess their claims.
  • EU: Keep Sanctions on Mugabe’s Inner Circle
    Feb 17, 2012
    Press release
    The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out concrete human rights and institutional reforms, ahead of this year’s national elections. The EU is conducting its annual review of its sanctions policy toward Zimbabwe and is scheduled to announce a decision on February 17, 2012.