Rights Defenders Go On Trial in Turkey: Daily Brief

Rights defenders go on trial in Turkey; Xi Jinping extends grip on China rule; families forcibly evicted in Zambia; civilian casualties rise in Afghanistan; Bahrain "intimidating" human rights defender; Manus Island refugees speak out; Rohingya in Bangladesh top 800,000; floggings in Indonesia; & stabbing of Russian journalist...

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Eleven human rights defenders go on trial in Turkey today facing terrorism charges, despite the absence of any credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The prosecution should ask for the defendants to be acquitted of all charges, and for the nine people in pretrial detention to be released.
China has revealed its new senior leadership committee, but has not announced a clear successor to President Xi Jinping.
The omission cements Mr Xi's grip on China for the next five years, a day after his name and his teachings were written into the constitution.
Large commercial farms in Zambia are displacing rural residents with devastating effects, a new HRW report shows. Families that have lived and farmed for generations on land are being forcibly evicted without due process or compensation, and many have been left "hungry and homeless".
A new United Nations report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan says 2017 may be the deadliest year since the UN began keeping records in 2007.
The European Parliament is "seriously concerned" about the Bahraini authorities' ongoing targeting and intimidation of UK-based human rights defender, Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei, and his family back home in Bahrain.
Asylum seekers and would-be refugees stuck on Manus Island, Australia's offshore immigration processing center, have spoken of their frustration at being held there, some for years on end.
At least 815,000 Rohingya are sheltering in Bangladesh having fled violence in neighboring Burma, new figures show. More then 600,000 of them have fled in the past month alone.

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