Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 2 October 2014

Beijing has warned against "illegal" protests in Hong Kong, but pro-democracy demonstrators are showing no signs of leaving the streets, and some are threatening to take over government buildings. Reports of police using riot gear, tear gas, pepper spray, police batons, and the detention of peace protesters in recent days raise serious concerns. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to get rid of the country's Human Rights Act (HRA) if re-elected, sparking an outcry from rights groups. In Russia, a set of amendments to the media law would severely undermine media freedom and media pluralism.  Claims by the Russian foreign ministry and others of a mass grave in Ukraine with some 400 bodies in it have been thrown into doubt by Russia-backed rebels and by a representative of Amnesty International, which also released a report yesterday calling on both the Kiev government and insurgents to "immediately end indiscriminate attacks in residential areas", which persist despite a ceasefire. One year ago tomorrow, 368 people migrants trying to reach Europe died in a shipwreck off Lampedusa, a southern Italian island. With thousands more dead this year, it seems fair to ask, has the EU learned anything since? Bahrain has lifted a travel ban on one leading rights campaigner, Mayram al-Khawaja (who still faces trumped-up charges), while arresting another, Nabeel Rajab, who was taken into custody for tweets that allegedly "denigrated" government institutions. A new poll in the US has found that 69% of voters believe the Senate Intelligence Committee should release its report on the torture of terrorism suspects after 9/11. Rights groups have long called for the report's publication. In Indonesia’s Aceh province, new Islamic bylaws violate rights and carry cruel punishments. The bylaws extend Sharia to non-Muslims and criminalize consensual same-sex sexual acts as well as all zina (sexual relations outside of marriage). The criminal code permits as punishment up to 100 lashes and up to 100 months in prison for consensual same-sex acts, while zina violations carry a penalty of 100 lashes.