Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 30 January 2015

Over two dozen people, including at least nine civilians, have been killed in fresh attacks in Egypt's northern Sinai province. A group that says it is Egypt's branch of the Islamic State militant organization has claimed responsibility. Some 72 people were slaughtered in a village in eastern Iraq earlier this week, apparently by Shiite militias allied with Iraqi security forces. A coalition of humanist organizations has launched a new global campaign against blasphemy laws. The Guardian reports on the refugee camp where Pakistanis are "a step from death." Washington has given hundreds of military vehicles to the Uzbek government, highlighting a policy of what it calls "strategic patience" for encouraging reform in the 25-year-old regime known for appalling rights abuses. The US has apparently forgotten - or chooses to forget - that Tashkent has used military vehicles to slaughter people en masse before. Human Rights Watch launched its annual World Report yesterday...