Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 14 May 2015

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia should end their pushbacks of the Rohingya boat people and instead act urgently to save lives, Human Rights Watch said today. Up to 8,000 people are believed to be stranded in the waters of the Andaman Ocean and the Malacca Straits, yet instead of bringing people to shore and delivering life-saving aid, south-east Asian authorities are pushing the boats back out to sea. Many of the Rohingya are fleeing violence and persecution in Burma. Military doctors from around the world are meeting in Bali, Indonesia next week. It's the perfect opportunity for them to tell Indonesia to ditch "virginity tests" for female army recruits. For not only are these tests discriminatory and abusive, they have zero scientific credibility too. At least 45 people have been killed in a gun attack on a bus carrying Ismaili Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The horrific attack suggests that Shia and other religious minorities are at risk "anywhere in Pakistan", says Human Rights Watch. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Shia Hazara community is also increasingly under fire. The trial of the former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre is set to begin in July - the culmination of a two-decade campaign for justice. Habre, whose reign of terror and torture saw him dubbed "Africa's 'Pinochet'", will stand trial in Senegal. An appeal court in Bahrain has upheld a six-month jail sentence for the activist Nabeel Rajab, on charges related to a tweet. A Chechen police chief in Russia wants to take a second wife who is only 17 years old. Both polygamy and child marriage are illegal in Russia - but it looks like the nuptials will go ahead regardless. Angola is making news for all the wrong reasons, not least the politically-motivated prosecution of one of the country's leading journalists.