• Press release
    Feb 9, 2012
    Since February 3, 2012, the attacks on Homs have killed more than 300 people, according to Syrian monitoring groups, and wounded hundreds others, including women and children.
  • Press release
    Feb 9, 2012
    Iraqi authorities should halt all executions and abolish the death penalty. Since the beginning of 2012, Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners, 51 of them in January, and 14 more on February 8, for various offenses.
  • Press release
    Feb 8, 2012
    The Obama administration’s decision to move forward on a $1 million arms sale to Bahrain sends the wrong signal to a country that is engaged in serious human rights abuses.
  • Press release
    Feb 8, 2012
    Yemeni security forces stormed and shelled hospitals, evicted patients at gunpoint, and beat medics during an assault on Yemen’s protest movement that killed at least 120 people in the flashpoint city of Taizz last year. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is in the United States receiving medical treatment, received amnesty in Yemen for such attacks.
  • Press release
    Feb 7, 2012
    Iranian security forces arrested more than 65 Arab residents during security sweeps in Iran’s Arab-majority Khuzestan province since late 2011 according to local activists. The Iranian government should immediately charge or release those arrested. Authorities should also investigate reports by local activists that two detainees have died in Intelligence Ministry detention facilities in the past week.
  • Press release
    Feb 5, 2012
    Egyptian authorities should drop all charges against unregistered nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and stop the criminal investigation of such groups. Authorities should not take action against NGOs until Egypt’s new parliament proposes legislation consistent with international legal standards, Human Rights Watch said. The organizations under investigation are not registered under the Mubarak-era Associations Law, in many cases because the government failed to respond to their requests to register.
  • Press release
    Feb 5, 2012
    Kuwait’s government should follow through on promises to address citizenship claims of stateless residents, known as Bidun. The government should also amend its national laws to protect domestic workers following its approval, in June 2011, of a new international treaty on decent work for domestic workers.
  • Press release
    Feb 5, 2012
    Israeli policies on Palestinian residency have arbitrarily denied thousands of Palestinians the ability to live in, and travel to and from, the West Bank and Gaza. Israel should immediately stop denying or cancelling the residency of Palestinians and close family members with deep ties to the West Bank and Gaza, and end blanket bans on processing their applications for residency.
  • Press release
    Feb 4, 2012
    Vetoes by Russia and China of the UN Security Council resolution on Syria are a betrayal of the Syrian people, Human Rights Watch said today. A resolution urging the Syrian government to end all human rights violations and cooperate with the UN commission of inquiry and the Arab League observer mission was approved by 13 council members, including India, South Africa, and Pakistan, before being vetoed.
  • Press release
    Feb 3, 2012
    Syrian army and security officers have detained and tortured children with impunity during the past year. Human Rights Watch has documented at least 12 cases of children detained under inhumane conditions and tortured, as well as children shot while in their homes or on the street. Human Rights Watch has also documented government use of schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks, and sniper posts, as well as the arrest of children from schools.