Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 27 March 2015

There are reports of civilian casualties in the Saudi-led, US-backed air attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen, which threatens to turn into a land war. Some of the allies in the coalition are causing serious concern: Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for example, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Since last week's brutal murder of a young woman in Kabul, Afghans have taken to the streets in large numbers, pressuring the government for justice. But this murder is just the latest and most violent example of the poor state of women's rights in Afghanistan. There's been a victory for internet freedom, with the UN Human Rights Council unanimously agreeing to appoint a new UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy. Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld the conviction against Timur Tangiyev, a Chechen sentenced to 22 years by a Chechen court in 2003 for a series of violent crimes. The new move comes despite a 2013 European Court of Human Rights ruling overturning the earlier verdict because evidence had been obtained under torture. The authorities have never investigated the torture allegations. Moreover, in 2014 while Tangiyev was awaiting retrial , he was attacked, threatened and subjected to serious pressure in the pre-trial facility. Burma took a giant leap backward two weeks ago when it arrested more than 100 students, Buddhist monks, and villagers after a brutal police baton charge that ended days of peaceful protest in the town of Letpadan, north of Rangoon. This week it compounded the violence by charging 65 of the students with various Penal Code provisions related to unlawful assembly and rioting that could send them to prison for up to nine-and-half years. Turkey has passed a contentious public order law. While the government says it will protect the country against terrorism and violent protests, rights groups fear it is paving the way for unchecked police abuses. Another problematic bill has been approved, this time in Spain, despite extensive criticism. The new security law will limit the right to protest, freedom of the press and the right to asylum. Amid atrocities and abuses by the militant group Boko Haram as well as by government security forces in the north of the country, Nigeria will hold its presidential elections on Saturday. Uzbekistan will also have its presidential election on Sunday. Well, "election"...