Tears of Joy as Turkey Frees Taner Kilic: Daily Brief
Turkey frees Amnesty's Taner Kilic; government intimidation in Maldives threatens next month's elections; bloody day for civilians in Afghan capital Kabul; Egypt arrests artists in latest crackdown; Yemen airstrike on bus filled with children; campaigner jailed for 20 years in Vietnam; and move to fight for a free press in the United States...
There have been tearful celebrations in Turkey after Taner Kilic, the national head of Amnesty International, was freed after more than a year in prison. Kilic was arrested in June 2017 on terrorism charges, but Amnesty said the charges were an attempt to silence critics of President Erdogan.
The Maldives government’s intimidation of the political opposition and media threatens prospects for free and fair elections in the country, HRW said in a new report today.
48 people have been killed and 67 injured in a suicide bombing at an education centre in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. Many of those killed were teenagers getting extra tuition as they prepared for university entrance exams.
Egyptian authorities have arrested more than a dozen people in a crackdown against artists, HRW has confirmed, saying the government is seeking to "brutalize and bully Egypt’s entire society into silence and submission, including the country’s creative class of artists".
Yemen is still reeling from an airstrike on a bus by the Saudi-led coalition which killed dozens of school-age children. Meanwhile, an activist has just been arrested by the Houthis - the armed group the coalition is fighting - in another part of the country.
A court in Vietnam has sentenced an environmental campaigner to 20 years in prison.
And finally, more than 300 news outlets across the United States have launched a campaign to counter President Donald Trump's attacks and promote a free press.