Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 13 February 2015

In Egypt, two Al Jazeera journalists were freed on bail today after 411 days behind bars. Authorities should drop all charges against them. At least 9 and possibly as many as 67 journalists remain in prison in Egypt.
Although the ink is barely dry on yesterday’s peace deal between Ukraine’s government and the Russia-backed rebels, reports say that fighting in eastern Ukraine has intensified. Venezuela has granted powers to the military to use force to control peaceful demonstrations. Additionally, a year after a violent crackdown on nonviolent demonstrators, there has been little accountability for the killings, arbitrary arrests, beatings, and torture of protesters committed by security forces. Senegal’s courts have decided there is sufficient evidence against Hissène Habré, Chad’s former dictator, to move ahead with the trial. Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture during his presidency, from 1982 to 1990. Thailand’s military-appointed lawmakers are considering a draft amendment that would allow the armed forces to detain civilians without charge for nearly three months. Check out Human Rights Watch’stop dispatches and our hottest news on Twitter this week. Finally,are you sad to hear about Jon Stewart’s departure from the US satirical news program The Daily Show? Well, it may not be so bad if he keeps making great films like Rosewater, which will be screening as the Closing Night film at the London Human Rights Watch Film Festival on 27 March - a special event, featuring a Q&A with film subject, journalist Maziar Bahari.
From earlier today: Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine despite yesterday's peace deal calling for a ceasefire to come into effect at the weekend. Meanwhile, members of parliament in The Netherlands are seeking details about the amnesty mentioned in the new agreement, concerned it may cover the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over the area last summer.