Washington, United States | AFP | A US court on Monday heard arguments from lawyers for two pregnant teenaged immigrants who are being prevented from having abortions while in custody. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in a motion filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, identified …
Read More »UN expert says Guantanamo torture continuing
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The UN’s top expert on torture on Wednesday said reports from sources indicated at least one inmate was still being tortured at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay and reiterated his request to visit. Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said he had …
Read More »Kenyan police accused of rape in election violence: HRW
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan security forces raped, beat and assaulted civilians during violence in recent elections, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. “There was widespread sexual violence against women and girls, and sexual attacks on men,” HRW said, in a report titled, “They were men in uniform.” The violence, …
Read More »Activists mark Human Rights Defenders day
Coalition boss decries shrinking space, calls for constructive engagement with state Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | Robert Kirenga, the Executive Director National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders Uganda spoke to the Independent’s Flavia Nassaka about his perspective on the international human rights defenders day and general human rights situation in …
Read More »Trump salutes civil rights heroes at boycotted museum opening
Jackson, United States | AFP | Donald Trump called for an end to racial hatred Saturday at the launch of a museum dedicated to victims of white-supremacist violence in America’s Deep South, a ceremony boycotted by several black leaders. The Republican president’s attendance at the gathering to open the Mississippi …
Read More »HRW denounces attacks on Sufi shrines in Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Human Rights Watch on Thursday denounced a series of attacks against shrines of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam in Libya by “extremist” militias. “Sufi religious sites are under assault in Libya,” the New York-based rights watchdog said after two attacks in the capital Tripoli …
Read More »DR Congo govt recruited rebels for deadly crackdown on protests: HRW
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Former militants were recruited by the Democratic Republic of Congo government for a bloody crackdown on protests against the president that left dozens of people dead last year, a rights group alleged Monday. Human Rights Watch said President Joseph Kabila’s regime had drafted in fighters previously …
Read More »Egypt court sentences lawyer to jail over rape remarks
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced a lawyer who said woman wearing ripped jeans should be raped to three years in prison, a judicial source said. The sentence against Nabih al-Wahsh was passed in absentia as the lawyer, previously released on bail, did not attend …
Read More »Libya slave auctions hurt African unity: Ghana
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, has criticised Libya over migrant slave markets, saying the abuses call into question wider African unity. A furore over the auctions is expected to dominate discussions between African Union and European Union at a two-day summit starting Wednesday in Ivory Coast’s …
Read More »HRW condemns summary executions in eastern Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned a series of summary executions of dozens of people in areas of eastern Libya under the control of controversial strongman Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The New York-based watchdog called on Haftar’s Libyan National Army to make good on a …
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