• Jun 29, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi Arabia sentenced seven government critics to prison on June 24, 2013, for allegedly inciting protests and harming public order, largely by using Facebook. The Specialized Criminal Court sentenced the men, all from the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years and barred them from travelling abroad for additional periods.
  • Jun 28, 2013
    Press release
    European Union (EU) High Representative Catherine Ashton should pursue with Bahrain the immediate release of 13 high-profile activists and others detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights. Ashton will attend an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting in Bahrain on June 30, 2013.
  • Jun 27, 2013
    Press release
    Burma’s new telecom license winners should make a public commitment to strong human rights policies and broad transparency measures, Human Rights Watch said. Firms should say how they plan to protect users from illegal surveillance and censorship, given the current lack of legal human rights protections in Burmese telecommunications law.
  • Jun 27, 2013
    Press release
    The lynching of four Shia by a mob apparently led by Salafi sheikhs in the village of Abu Musallim in Greater Cairo on June 23, 2013, came after months of anti-Shia hate speech at times involving the ruling Muslim Brotherhood and its political party.
  • Jun 22, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court sentenced a prominent human rights activist to five years in prison on June 17, 2013, based on his writings and exposure of human rights abuses. Mikhlif al-Shammari was convicted of “sowing discord” and other offenses and barred from travelling for 10 years.
  • Jun 20, 2013
    Press release
    Libyan judicial authorities should immediately drop all criminal charges that violate freedom of speech over election poster cartoons against two Libyan National Party officials. Under the laws being applied in this case, the men could face the death penalty over posters their party displayed during the 2012 election campaign for the General National Congress.
  • Jun 18, 2013
    Press release
    The United States should protect people who use classified or other sensitive government information to expose what appear to be serious human rights violations and other government wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch said in a statement released today.
  • Jun 17, 2013
    Press release
    The Communications Law that the Ecuadorian National Assembly approved on June 14, 2013, seriously undermines free speech. The law includes overly broad language that will limit the free expression of journalists and media outlets.
  • Jun 15, 2013
    Press release
    The two-year prison sentence for a Tunisian rapper on June 13, 2013, for “insulting the police” in a song violates freedom of speech. The criminal court sentence is another manifestation of the continuing intolerance for those who criticize government institutions in Tunisia.
  • Jun 11, 2013
    Press release
    Recent revelations about the scope of US national security surveillance highlight how dramatic increases in private digital communications and government computing power are fueling surveillance practices that impinge on privacy in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. There is an urgent need for the US Congress to reevaluate and rewrite surveillance laws in light of those technological developments and put in place better safeguards against security agency overreach.
  • Jun 7, 2013
    Press release
    The Singaporean government should withdraw an onerous new licensing requirement for online news sites. The new rules will further discourage independent commentary and reporting on the Internet in Singapore.
  • Jun 7, 2013
    Press release
    The Indian government should enact clear laws to ensure that increased surveillance of phones and the Internet does not undermine rights to privacy and free expression, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Jun 4, 2013
    Press release
    Jordanian authorities should immediately rescind an order to censor 263 unlicensed local news websites.The government should also scrap recent legislation that allows it to encroach on online media freedom. The attempts to regulate online speech violate Jordan’s constitutional free expression guarantees.
  • Jun 3, 2013
    Press release
    The decision by the National Communication Council to suspend the readers’ forum of the Burundian newspaper Iwacu infringes on the right to freedom of expression. The government should lift the suspension and allow the newspaper to resume publication of its readers’ comments page.
  • Jun 1, 2013
    Press release
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government should end police violence and excessive use of force against protests across Turkey. Officials should uphold the right to peaceful protest and free speech.
  • May 24, 2013
    Press release
    Serious electoral flaws and human rights abuses by the Iranian government undermine any meaningful prospect of free and fair elections on June 14, 2013. Dozens of political activists and journalists detained during the violent government crackdown that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election remain in prison, two former presidential candidates are under house arrest, and authorities are already clamping down on access to the internet, having arbitrarily disqualified most registered presidential and local election candidates.
  • May 22, 2013
    Press release
    Facebook has taken a critical step toward increasing respect for human rights by joining the Global Network Initiative.
  • May 20, 2013
    Press release
    The Ugandan government should immediately end politically motivated police intimidation of newspapers and radio stations and ensure that the media can operate freely.
  • May 19, 2013
    Press release
    International telecommunications companies risk being linked to human rights abuses if they enter the Burmese market before adequate protections are in place, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Burma’s human rights reforms thus far have been inadequate, including in the Internet and telecommunications sector, so companies entering the country should adopt robust safeguards to prevent and address any abuses linked to their operations.
  • May 16, 2013
    Press release
    Recent amendments to Azerbaijani legislation violate the government’s international commitments and would limit free expression. President Ilham Aliyev should veto the amendments and ensure that no one is punished for exercising fundamental rights.
  • May 16, 2013
    Press release
    The systemic changes to Hungary’s legal framework introduced by the government since 2010 weaken legal checks on its authority, interfere with media freedom, and undermine human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
  • May 15, 2013
    Press release
    Kuwaiti authorities should amend a proposed new press law that would increase state control of the news media and further curtail the right to free speech. The draft should be revised to protect free speech, consistent with requirements under international law, not curtail it, Human Rights Watch said.
  • May 15, 2013
    Press release
    Vietnam should drop charges and free two activists arrested in October 2012 for “conducting propaganda against the state.
  • May 10, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi authorities should ensure a fair trial for the Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
  • May 10, 2013
    Press release
    The Vietnamese authorities should stop impeding and abusing people trying to hold “human rights picnics” in public spaces.
  • May 4, 2013
    Press release
    A preliminary parliamentary committee report based in part on witness interviews and given to Human Rights Watch claims top Iraqi officials ordered a raid on a demonstrators’ camp on April 23, 2013, in Haweeja.
  • May 4, 2013
    Press release
    Jordanian criminal justice authorities should immediately drop their three-year prosecution of two intellectuals and withdraw all charges against them.
  • May 4, 2013
    Press release
    ibya’s General National Congress (GNC) should vote down the latest draft of a new law to bar Gaddafi-era officials from holding public office. The proposed law’s provisions and procedures for exclusion are too sweeping and vague, Human Rights Watch said. Further, a recent amendment to the provisional constitution would prohibit judicial review of the law. A vote is expected in congress on May 5, 2013.
  • May 3, 2013
    Press release
    With new protests planned in the coming days, the Bangladeshi government should ensure that the security forces immediately end their practice of using excessive force against protesters. The government should appoint an independent commission to investigate the deaths of dozens of protesters, including children, since large-scale street protests began in February, and prosecute anyone responsible for unlawful killings and use of force.
  • May 3, 2013
    Press release
    Security force harassment and unlawful detention of journalists is undermining freedom of expression in South Sudan, the Agency for Independent Media (AIM), Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Human Rights Watch said today, on World Press Freedom Day.
  • May 3, 2013
    Press release
    Sudan should immediately stop censoring newspapers and end all forms of repression of media and journalists, on World Press Freedom Day.
  • May 3, 2013
    Press release
    The Ethiopian government should mark World Press Freedom Day, on May 3, 2013, by immediately releasing all journalists jailed under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law. On May 2, 2013, the Supreme Court upheld an 18-year sentence under the anti-terrorism law for Eskinder Nega Fenta, a journalist and blogger who received the 2012 PEN Freedom to Write Award.
  • May 2, 2013
    Press release
    Colombia should ensure that the investigation into the attack on a leading investigative journalist thoroughly examines possible motives related to his work and identifies all responsible parties, Human Rights Watch said today. On the evening of May 1, 2013, gunmen opened fire on the car driven by Ricardo Calderón, an editor at Semana magazine, Colombia’s main newsweekly, as it was stopped on a road between Ibagué and Bogotá. Five bullets penetrated the body of the vehicle, but Calderón escaped without injuries.
  • May 1, 2013
    Press release
    Malaysia’s ruling party and opposition leaders should rein in their supporters to end intimidation and violence that threaten general elections slated for May 5, 2013.
  • Apr 30, 2013
    Press release
    The Iranian government is increasingly violating workers’ rights to peaceful assembly and association. Dozens of labor and independent trade union activists are in prison for speaking out in defense of workers.Human Rights Watch called for the government to end the crackdown and free labor rights advocates in anticipation of International Workers’ Day on May 1, as part of a joint campaign by Iranian and international rights groups to highlight the plight of workers.
  • Apr 30, 2013
    Press release
    Iraq’s media commission should immediately reverse the license suspensions for ten satellite television stations and allow them to continue broadcasting. A senior official has admitted the suspension was not according to any law, nor could the commission produce any evidence of direct incitement to violence by any of the stations, leading to the conclusion that the suspension was arbitrary.
  • Apr 29, 2013
    Press release
    South Africa’s “secrecy bill,” adopted by the National Assembly on April 25, 2013, lacks essential protections for whistleblowers.
  • Apr 25, 2013
    Press release
    Police and prosecutors in Uganda have turned a blind eye to the killings of at least nine people by security forces during protests in April 2011. Human Rights Watch issued a video in which relatives of the victims explain the impact on their families and their struggle to secure justice and compensation.
  • Apr 24, 2013
    Press release
    Iraqi authorities should ensure that a promised investigation into a deadly raid on April 23, 2013, in Haweeja, near Kirkuk, examines allegations that security forces used excessive and lethal force.
  • Apr 23, 2013
    Press release
    Kenya’s new administration should take urgent steps in four key areas to address longstanding human rights challenges, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The administration should ensure that abusive security forces are held to account, protect independent voices, accelerate key police and land reforms, and cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • Apr 22, 2013
    Press release
    Kuwait’s Court of Appeal released a former member of parliament on bail on April 22, 2013, in his appeal of a five-year sentence for insulting the emir.
  • Apr 19, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi authorities should immediately halt the 18-month prosecution of a Jeddah-based human rights lawyer.
  • Apr 19, 2013
    Press release
    The World Bank’s “vision” statement will be undermined if it fails to recognize the importance of human rights, nine organizations warned. The human rights and development groups called on President Jim Kim to make a firm commitment to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in all of its activities.
  • Apr 19, 2013
    Press release
    The World Bank Group should uphold human rights as it works to create a world free of poverty and economic exclusion, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Group’s president, Dr. Jim Kim.
  • Apr 17, 2013
    Press release
    International racing bodies responsible for scheduling the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix from April 19 to 21, 2013, have taken no steps to address human rights abuses that appear to be directly linked to the event.
  • Apr 17, 2013
    Press release
    United Nations Security Council members should task the United Nations with monitoring human rights violations in Western Sahara and in the refugee camps around Tindouf, in Algeria, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to all 15 Security Council member countries.
  • Apr 17, 2013
    Press release
    The government of Venezuela should not limit citizens’ rights to freely express their views and assemble peacefully in response to the disputed presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. It should respect freedom of the press and all violent incidents should be subject to prompt, thorough, and impartial investigations, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Apr 15, 2013
    Press release
    The Kuwaiti authorities should drop criminal charges against dozens of online activists, journalists, and politicians for legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of expression. The authorities should also withdraw charges and overturn the sentences for at least 10 people already convicted in such cases, as recently as April 15, 2013.
  • Apr 12, 2013
    Press release
    The adoption of a new media law by Burundi’s National Assembly on April 3, 2013, is an attempt to curtail free speech and independent journalism. The Senate and president should reject this version of the draft law, which would undermine Burundians’ hard-won struggle for fundamental freedoms.
  • Apr 12, 2013
    Press release
    Libyan authorities should immediately drop criminal defamation charges and free Amara Hassan al-Khatabi, editor of al-Ummah daily. Al-Khatabi, who has been in detention since December 19, 2012, is on trial for “insulting” and “slandering” members of the judiciary. His private lawyer was not allowed to visit him while he was detained in prison and says he was transferred to a medical facility due to his fragile health on April 6, 2013, where he remains detained under guard.
  • Apr 12, 2013
    Press release
    Tunisia’s new justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel.
  • Apr 10, 2013
    Press release
    Egyptian authorities should bring to justice those responsible for the sectarian violence that left five Christians and one Muslim dead on April 5, 2013, in the town of Khosus, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should also investigate police failure to intervene effectively to prevent an escalation of violence outside the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo on April 7, after a funeral service for the Christians killed at Khosus.
  • Apr 10, 2013
    Press release
    Bahraini authorities are carrying out home raids and arbitrarily detaining opposition protesters in advance of the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend of April 19 to 21, 2013, Human Rights Watch said today, based on information from a variety of local sources.
  • Apr 9, 2013
    Press release
    The Peruvian Congress should reject a legislative proposal that includes overly broad language to criminalize the denial of terrorist crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Apr 3, 2013
    Press release
    Yemen’s Defense Ministry should cooperate in bringing the killer of a journalist and his friend to justice, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the defense minister, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, requesting information about possible military involvement in the case.
  • Apr 2, 2013
    Press release
    The prosecution of 29 Muslim protest leaders and others charged under Ethiopia’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law raises serious fair trial concerns. The trial is scheduled to resume in Addis Ababa on April 2, 2013, after a 40-day postponement.
  • Mar 27, 2013
    Press release
    Algerian authorities illegally restricted rights to free movement when they barred 96 Algerian civil society activists from travelling to Tunisia, without giving any reason.
  • Mar 26, 2013
    Press release
    The Burmese government is systematically restricting humanitarian aid and imposing discriminatory policies on Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State.
  • Mar 26, 2013
    Press release
    Algerian authorities illegally restricted rights to free movement when they barred 96 Algerian civil society activists from travelling to Tunisia, without giving any reason. Border officials stopped the activists on March 25 as they were about to enter Tunisia, where they intended to attend the World Social Forum. The forum, a global gathering of approximately 50,000 activists on areas such as human rights and the environment, runs from March 26 to March 30, 2013.
  • Mar 25, 2013
    Press release
    The United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda should be grounded in human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
  • Mar 25, 2013
    Press release
    President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia should order local governments not to demolish houses of worship and should revoke discriminatory regulations on religious structures.
  • Mar 20, 2013
    Press release
    New criminal defamation charges against a university professor and a blogger for allegedly libeling public officials underscore the need to end the criminalization of defamation in Tunisia. They face up to two years in prison for publicly exposing alleged wrongdoing of the minister of foreign affairs and the general rapporteur of the constitution at the National Constituent Assembly.
  • Mar 16, 2013
    Press release
    Yemeni authorities should ensure that an investigation into the killing of a journalist and another man in Aden fully and impartially examines the military’s possible role and brings those responsible to justice.
  • Mar 8, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi authorities should immediately disclose the whereabouts and condition of the Jordanian activist Khaled al-Natour, and free him or charge him with a recognizable criminal offense.
  • Mar 7, 2013
    Press release
    Iran’s judiciary should conclude a speedy, independent, and transparent criminal investigation followed by prosecution of those believed responsible for the death of the blogger Sattar Behesht. Beheshti died in the custody of Tehran’s cyber police in November 2012. Iranian officials should stop harassing his family and hampering their efforts to seek justice and ensure that those responsible for the blogger’s death are held to account.
  • Mar 3, 2013
    Press release
    An appeals court’s ruling to uphold the conviction of a journalist who interviewed a woman alleging rape by government forces is a major setback for freedom of the media in Somalia. The woman, who had also been convicted of “insulting the government” and other alleged crimes, was found not guilty.
  • Mar 3, 2013
    Press release
    The trial of 94 Emirati citizens accused of crimes against national security on March 4, 2013, raises serious fair trial concerns, including limited access to lawyers and withholding of key documents concerning the charges and evidence against them. The detainees include two prominent human rights lawyers, Mohammed al-Roken and Mohammed al-Mansoori, as well as judges, teachers, and student leaders, at least 10 of whom are women. Several defendents have alleged that they were subjected to ill-treatment in detention.
  • Feb 28, 2013
    Press release
    Bahrain’s rulers have made no progress on key reform promises, failing to release unjustly imprisoned activists or to hold accountable high-level officials responsible for torture, Human Rights Watch said today at a news conference in Manama.
  • Feb 28, 2013
    Press release
    The Indonesian government is failing to protect the country’s religious minorities from growing religious intolerance and violence. 
  • Feb 26, 2013
    Press release
    Sudanese authorities should charge or release six members of opposition parties who have been detained in poor conditions by Sudanese security, most of them for weeks, without access to lawyers or adequate medical care.
  • Feb 25, 2013
    Press release
    The government-proposed draft law in Egypt concerning public demonstrations would severely limit the right to peaceful public assembly and is open to abuse by police, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the president and the Justice Ministry.
  • Feb 22, 2013
    Press release
    Omani authorities immediately should release and expunge the convictions of a group of reform activists jailed solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association. Twenty-four members of the group who are serving prison terms have been on hunger strike since February 9, 2013, to draw attention to their plight.
  • Feb 14, 2013
    Press release
    The Iranian authorities should immediately release from arbitrary house arrest two former presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, an author and political activist, the Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and six leading human rights groups said today. The authorities should also stop harassing or detaining without cause the couple’s two daughters and Karroubi’s son.
  • Feb 14, 2013
    Press release
    The acquittal of five Kuwaiti online activists charged with “offending the emir” could help ensure that Kuwaitis can freely express critical political opinions.
  • Feb 14, 2013
    Press release
    Israel engaged in discriminatory practices and other rights violations against Palestinians during 2012, while Palestinian authorities committed abuses against their own population, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.  
  • Feb 13, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi authorities should immediately release and drop all charges against Sulaiman al-Rashoodi, a 76-year-old former judge and president of the Saudi Association of Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA). He is one of 16 people detained in 2007 and convicted in 2011 for peacefully trying to establish a human rights organization in Jeddah. Four others also have been sentenced to long prison terms.
  • Feb 13, 2013
    Press release
    The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to President Paul Biya. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Consensual same-sex conduct is criminalized under the Cameroonian penal code’s article 347 bis, and at least 28 people have been prosecuted under the law since 2010. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.
  • Feb 12, 2013
    Press release
    (Kuwait City) – Human rights conditions deteriorated in Kuwait in 2012 during an ongoing political crisis, Human Rights Watch said today at a news conference for its World Report 2013. The security forces used what appeared to be excessive force to disperse stateless bidun residents and anti-government demonstrators on multiple occasions, and authorities briefly banned protests in October. 
  • Feb 12, 2013
    Press release
    The Azerbaijani government should immediately end a hostile campaign of intimidation against writer Akram Aylisli. Aylisli recently published a controversial novel depicting relationships between ethnic Azeris and Armenians in Azerbaijan.
  • Feb 12, 2013
    Press release
    Investigators never questioned top officials in the criminal investigation by Yemen’s previous government into the shooting of demonstrators during the so-called Friday of Dignity Massacre on March 18, 2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed his attorney general when he demanded that government officials be questioned in the shooting deaths of 45 protesters – three of them children – and wounding of 200 others. It was the deadliest attack on protesters of Yemen’s uprising
  • Feb 11, 2013
    Press release
    Somali authorities should immediately charge or release Daud Abdi Daud, a journalist who has been in custody since February 5, 2013. On February 11, he was transferred from police custody to Mogadishu Central Prison. Daud Abdi, who works for Kulmiye Radio, is secretary general of the Somali Media for Environment, Science, Health, and Agriculture.
  • Feb 11, 2013
    Press release
    The Cambodian government and bar association should drop their efforts to prohibit lawyers from giving media interviews without the permission of the national bar association.
  • Feb 10, 2013
    Press release
    Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should stop arbitrarily detaining journalists, activists, and political opposition figures, and end its prosecution of journalists for insulting or defaming public figures. The Asayish – the Kurdistan Security Agency – and police arrested without warrants journalists and others who published articles criticizing public officials, and detained them without charge or trial for periods ranging from several weeks to a year.
  • Feb 7, 2013
    Press release
    A criminal court conviction of three former members of Kuwait’s parliament for “offending the emir” violates their right to freedom of expression. On February 5, 2013, the court found the defendants guilty, based on speeches they gave at a gathering in October 2012, and sentenced all three to three years in prison. The defendants have appealed their sentences, one of their lawyers told Human Rights Watch.
  • Feb 7, 2013
    Press release
    Qatar has not delivered on its pledges to improve migrant workers’ rights, Human Rights Watch said today at a news conference in Doha about its World Report 2013. More than two years after it won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, It is high time for Qatar to deliver on its promises for reforms to prevent the trafficking and forced labor of migrant workers, Human Rights Watch said. The Qatar Supreme Committee for Qatar 2022 – the tournament’s quasi-governmental delivery committee – has made encouraging pledges on workers’ rights, but these lack detail. Nor do they mask the failure of the Qatari authorities either to reform exploitative laws, such as the kafala system of sponsorship-based employment and the prohibition on trade unions, or to enforce the prohibition on illegal recruitment fees and the confiscation of passports.
  • Feb 6, 2013
    Press release
    Libya is still plagued by serious rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests, torture, and deaths in detention nearly a year-and-a-half after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Human Rights Watch said today at a news conference for its World Report 2013.
  • Feb 5, 2013
    Press release
    A Somali court’s conviction of a woman who alleged rape by security forces, and a journalist who interviewed her, is a serious setback for ending sexual violence and protecting press freedom, five human rights and media organizations said today. The government should drop its groundless case against the journalist and the woman, and immediately order the release of the journalist, the organizations said.
  • Feb 1, 2013
    Press release
    Pakistan’s government has failed to act against abuses by the security and intelligence agencies, which continued to allow extremist groups to attack religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    The Human Rights situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) deteriorated rapidly during 2012, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    Moroccans still await tangible improvements in human rights a year after the adoption of a progressive new constitution and the election of an Islamist-led parliament and government, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    Iraq’s leadership used draconian measures against opposition politicians, detainees, demonstrators, and journalists, effectively squeezing the space for independent civil society and political freedoms in Iraq, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    Saudi Arabia arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters during 2012, and sentenced activists from across the country to prison for expressing critical political and religious views, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    Bahrain’s failure to release political prisoners or hold accountable high officials responsible for torture, and its escalating campaign to silence human rights defenders, exposes the government's fraudulent claims that it is carrying out promised reforms, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013.
  • Jan 31, 2013
    Press release
    Authorities arrested, detained, and harassed some of Iran’s most celebrated rights lawyers, and stepped up their assault on critical journalists, bloggers, and their families in 2012, HumanRightsWatchsaidtodayinitsWorld Report 2013.The government also prevented reformists and opposition leaders from participating in parliamentary elections, and is holding the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard under house arrest as Iran prepares for its presidential election in June 2013.
  • Jan 29, 2013
    Press release
    Somali authorities should drop politically motivated charges against five people including a journalist and a woman who alleged she was raped by state security forces.
  • Jan 29, 2013
    Press release
    Iran’s judiciary should charge or immediately free more than a dozen journalists arrested in recent days,. Any criminal charges would have to be based on clear evidence, and not in themselves amount to a violation of the journalists’ fundamental rights, including their freedom of expression or association. The judiciary and all Iranian authorities should ensure that the rights of all journalists in Iran to freedom of expression are fully protected, particularly in the period leading up to the 2013 presidential election.
  • Jan 23, 2013
    Press release
    Armed opposition groups appeared to have deliberately destroyed religious sites in mixed areas of Northern Syria, in November and December 2012.An armed opposition group destroyed a Shia place of worship in Idlib governorate, and two Christian churches in Latakia governorate were looted.
  • Jan 21, 2013
    Press release
    Russian authorities should investigate death threats against Vitalii Ponomarev, the lead Central Asia expert with Memorial Human Rights Center. The investigation should be prompt and comprehensive, and Russia should seek cooperation from Uzbek authorities to ensure its thoroughness.
  • Jan 13, 2013
    Press release
    Sudan should immediately rescind its decision to shut down four civil society organizations in Khartoum in December 2012. The government should allow independent groups to operate freely and conduct peaceful protests.
  • Jan 12, 2013
    Press release
    Venezuela should end censorship and intimidation of media that challenge the official line regarding President Hugo Chávez’s health and inauguration, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Jan 12, 2013
    Press release
    President François Hollande of France should publicly and privately convey concerns about deteriorating human rights conditions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on his visit there. Hollande is scheduled to arrive for his first official visit to the UAE on January 15, 2013.
  • Jan 9, 2013
    Press release
    The conviction and prison sentences of 14 activists by the People’s Court of Nghe An province on January ­­­9, 2012, marks a sharp escalation of government attacks on critics
  • Jan 7, 2013
    Press release
    Bahrain’s Court of Cassation ruling on January 7, 2013, upholding lengthy prison terms of 13 prominent dissidents appears to confirm the inability of Bahrain’s judicial system to protect basic rights. A military court had convicted the dissidents solely for exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly.
  • Jan 4, 2013
    Press release
    The Chinese government’s further tightening of internet controls and mandating real name registration threaten security and privacy of internet users. On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, passed the “Decision to Strengthen the Protection of Online Information.” The Decision contains troubling provisions that require internet access and telecommunications providers to collect personal information about users when they sign up for internet access, landline, or mobile phone service.
  • Jan 3, 2013
    Press release
    Bahraini authorities should provisionally release a human rights activist who faces charges over his tweet reporting about a wounded demonstrator. The activist, Sayed Yusuf al-Muhafadha, has been charged with “willfully disseminating false news” amounting to “incitement to violence.”