Protesters Face Execution in Saudi Arabia: Daily Brief
Protesters face execution in Saudi Arabia; Russia librarian guilty of 'extremism crime'; activist charged for violating Russia's 'foreign agents' law; Polish women's health at risk; US mulls quitting UN Human Rights Council; threats ahead of Bulgaria's LGBT pride; #CARcrisis violence; step towards justice in Syria; HRW Film Festival.
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The US administration is contemplating pulling out of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which it accuses of focusing disproportionately on Israel, and of having too many abusive governments among its members. There is some merit in both complaints, but neither is a reason to abandon the council's important work.
Fourteen members of Saudi Arabia's Shia community risk execution after a Court of Appeal upheld their death sentences for protest-related crimes handed down last year after grossly unfair trials. Since 2013, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recorded a worrying increase in death sentences against political dissidents in Saudi Arabia, including the Shia Muslim minority.
The director of the Moscow Library of Ukrainian Literature has been found guilty of “inciting hatred” and handed down a four-year suspended sentence, in the latest example of Russia’s misuse of its vague anti-extremism legislation. The trial left little doubt that authorities targeted Natalia Sharina for running a Ukrainian library at a time when Russian-Ukrainian relations are in dire straits.
Staying with Russia, a Russian human rights activist has been formally charged with “malicious evasion” of legal requirements set out in the country's “foreign agents” law. If found guilty Valentina Cherevatenko, a prominent rights activist and chair of the Women of the Don Foundation for Civil Society Development, faces up to two years in prison.
Poland’s government is again trying to curb women’s control over their bodies, with a bill to limit sales of emergency contraception, or the “morning-after pill,” which can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, including in cases of rape.
The forthcoming pride march in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, this weekend is an opportunity for the country to showcase diversity and tolerance. Authorities can start by pledging up front to protect marchers from a group calling on counter-demonstrations to “cleanse Sofia from garbage” at the weekend event.
Violence in the Central African Republic has fallen from the world's radar, but that does not mean the conflict is over, with over a dozen armed groups now roaming the country, committing a range of abuses. A comprehensive new report by the UN makes the extent of the devastation abundantly clear.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced a bill that could be a small but meaningful step toward justice in the long and brutal Syrian conflict. The Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act of 2017 would reinvigorate US support for justice in Syria after years of unchecked atrocities.
And finally the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, now in its 28th year, will take place in New York on June 9-18, with 21 topical and provocative feature documentaries and panel discussions that showcase courageous resilience in challenging times.