• Kuwait: Security Forces Attack Protesters
    Press release
    Dec 27, 2012
    Kuwait security forces have on several occasions used what appears to be excessive force to disperse largely peaceful protesters at a series of demonstrations over participation in the country’s political process since October 2012. Some demonstrators have been wounded, and the security forces have arrested many more.
  • Saudi Arabia: Website Editor Facing Death Penalty
    Press release
    Dec 22, 2012
    Saudi authorities should immediately drop all charges against the detained editor of a website created to foster debate about religion and religious figures in Saudi Arabia
  • Turkey: End Overly Broad Website Blocking
    Press release
    Dec 21, 2012
    The Turkish government should promptly stop unlawfully blocking websites. On December 18, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the case of Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey, that blocking Google Sites in Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression. A Turkish court had ordered the complete blocking of Google Sites because of one person’s post. But the European Court found that Turkey’s legal framework was inadequate and did not prevent abuses and arbitrary application of blocking measures.
  • Tunisia: Stop Undermining Judicial Decision
    Press release
    Dec 21, 2012
    Tunisia’s justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel. Fehri is being held despite a decision by the highest court in Tunisia on November 28, 2012, to quash his indictment and detention order
  • Ethiopia: 4 Journalists Win Free Speech Prize
    Press release
    Dec 20, 2012
    Four Ethiopian journalists have received the prestigious Hellman/Hammett award for 2012 in recognition of their efforts to promote free expression in Ethiopia, one of the world’s most restricted media environments.
  • Russia/EU: Moment of Truth Over Human Rights
    Press release
    Dec 17, 2012
    The European Union should urge President Vladimir Putin at the upcoming EU-Russia summit meeting to end the crackdown on Russia’s civil society.
  • Joint Letter to States on UNGA’s Final Vote on Human Rights in Iran
    Letter
    Dec 14, 2012
  • Kazakhstan: Growing Crackdown on Free Speech
    Press release
    Dec 13, 2012
    The Kazakh government should end its crackdown on independent media outlets and opposition groups. The authorities appear to be targeting media and opposition groups that most extensively covered violence a year ago in Zhanaozen, in western Kazakhstan, and its aftermath.
  • Iran: Activists Fleeing Assault on Civil Society
    Press release
    Dec 13, 2012
    The space in Iran for civil society has been shrinking since the crackdown following the disputed presidential election in 2009, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Three-and-a-half years after government forces brutally suppressed largely peaceful anti-government demonstrations, hundreds of activists have sought temporary refuge and an uncertain future in neighboring Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan in the face of harassment and detention at home.
  • Kaveh Kermanshahi, Iranian Activist
    Media spotlight
    Dec 13, 2012
    The Iranian activist Kaveh Kermanshahi was free on bail in 2010 when an Iranian court sentenced him to four years in prison for his work on Kurdish and women’s rights. Kermanshahi, who was 26 at the time, decided he couldn’t return to prison, where he had been tortured, interrogated, and held in solitary confinement for four months after he was arrested earlier that year. He decided to leave Iran for Iraqi Kurdistan.