Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 27 November 2014

A "reign of terror" has been released on civilians in the Libyan city of Derna, with armed militias carrying out summary executions and public floggings, Human Rights Watch said today. The militias, some affiliated to the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS), are committing appalling and violent abuses. Human Rights Watch documented the beheadings of three residents and dozens of assassinations of public officials, judges and members of the security forces, as well as other individuals, including women. The Chinese government should immediately drop all charges against two prominent activists who are due to go on trial tomorrow, Human Rights Watch has said. Guo Feixiong and Sun Desheng are charged with organizing and taking part in a peaceful public protest. In Egypt, female genital mutilation (FGM) remains widespread because there are almost no investigations or prosecutions into those who carry it out, Human Rights Watch has warned. FGM is on the wane but latest figures show 80 per cent of Egyptian women under 25 have undergone the procedure. Two teenage girls in India who were found hanging from a tree in May took their own lives and were not gang-raped and murdered, investigators have said. The suspected attack on the two cousins, aged just 14 and 15, sparked outrage in India and beyond. Sexual abuse of children in India remains rife, and authorities need to do much more to protect youngsters. Deadly attacks on health workers in Pakistan means the country may become the last corner of the world where the polio virus remains endemic and widespread. So far this year 35 polio vaccinators have been killed, some by gunmen from a Taliban splinter group. Pakistan accounted for 80 per cent of the world's polio cases in 2014. The UAE authorities have jailed a man for three years simply because he took to Twitter to peacefully call for the release of his imprisoned father, say Amnesty International. Malaysia appears to be becoming less tolerant of dissent and has back-tracked on a promise to abolish its controversial "Sedition Law", that's been used to prosecute those who criticize the government. Fighting in Gaza may be over for now, but there are still serious humanitarian issues there, with thousands of people homeless and schools being used as temporary shelters, rather than for education.