Dehumanizing Rohingya Refugees: Daily Brief

Bangladesh will remove the words “Myanmar nationals” from identity cards issued to Rohingya refugees who fled to the country following a campaign of ethnic cleansing against them last year. Following a request from Myanmar, refugees' ID cards will now show the words “displaced persons from Rakhine state” instead, a move which Rohingya leaders fear will further “obliterate” their historical rights. Some 700,000 Rohingya refugees now live in makeshift camps in Bangladesh. 

After years of silence from the Syrian government, many Syrian families have now learned that their sons – known as “the disappeared" – were actually killed in detention. As the tide of the war turns and prospects for truth and justice for these families remains bleak, the rest of the world should support them.

Assad's regime in Syria has also prosecuted thousands of dissenters throughout the years of conflict. Now, activists and survivors are fighting back to seek international justice. 

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Rab’a Square massacre in Egypt. On August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces killed at least 817 protesters who gathered at Rab’a al-Adawiya demanding the reinstatement of President Mohamed Morsy, whom the army had overthrown and arrested the previous month. 

The Azerbaijani human rights defender Ilgar Mammadov has finally been released after more than five years in prison. While this is great news, Azerbaijan’s international partners should now insist authorities fully exonerate Mammadov and release others similarly imprisoned for speaking up for freedom in Azerbaijan.

Cambodian authorities should quash the politically motivated conviction of prominent land rights activist Tep Vanny and unconditionally release her.

For the second time this month, Tajikistan’s government has allowed a child of exiled dissidents to leave the country and reunite with their family living abroad. This is only the very tip of the iceberg in terms of ending the government’s practice of harassing relatives of exiled activists and politicians, or indeed of ending the human rights crisis that has gripped the country for the last three years.

The Italian Coastguard has broadcast a third distress call regarding a rubber boat carrying 150 people that has been at sea - without assistance - since Saturday.

A wave of arrests has followed the violent crackdown of students in Bangladesh, who took to the streets calling for better road safety after a speeding bus killed two university students late last month. The Bangladesh government responded to the peaceful protests with force, and has now has been monitoring social media accounts to shut down criticism.

And finally, several prominent Saudi women activists are still behind bars after being arbitrarily arrested last month for their peaceful activism.