The Sudanese government is continuing its relentless harassment of journalists and editors who dare to do their job. The authorities are deploying a wide array of coercive measures against individuals and media organizations to discourage or prevent independent reporting and critical comment. The [arrest] of Faisal Saleh is a smack in the face for free speech and the Sudanese authorities must ... [end] these constant attempts to silence any form of dissent.

Press freedom continues to be a crucial human rights issue around the world. In March, UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya [official website] outlined the risks and challenges faced by human rights journalists and media workers [JURIST report], and called for additional protection of those workers. Her report [text] indicated that, "journalists and media workers active on human rights issues were subject to killings, attacks, disappearance, abduction, torture and ill-treatment." In February, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website] released its annual Attacks on the Press report [text], expressing concern about increased censorship of journalists worldwide [JURIST report] in 2011, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Last May, journalism rights group Reporters without Borders (RSF) [advocacy website] released [JURIST report] its annual list of predators of press freedom [materials; press release], which included the heads of state of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In April 2011, the US Department of State (DOS) [official website] released its 2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [materials]. The reports cited many of the same leaders and organizations [JURIST report] as the RSF for violating freedom of the press. RSF's 2010 report [JURIST report] also listed many of the same offenders.

The evidence shows that defendants completely lacked any semblance of remorse for this deadly attack and in fact, encouraged and supported this and similar attacks. When a state chooses to use terror as a policy tool—as Iran and Syria continue to do—that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation.

Iran has faced similar lawsuits in the past. In May 2011, a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted $300 million in punitive damages [JURIST report] in each of two cases against Iran for deaths resulting from suicide bombings by Iranian-backed terrorist groups. In February 2010, 85 victims of rocket attacks in Israel filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in DC District Court seeking damages from Iran and Iran's central bank for injuries suffered in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. In 2009, the US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in Ministry of Defense and Support for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] that the brother of dissident Cyrus Elahi, assassinated in Paris in 1990, cannot collect on a default judgment he holds against Iran by attaching a $2.8 million judgment obtained by the Iranian Ministry of Defense against California-based Cubic Defense Systems [corporate website]. Dariush Elahi was awarded $11.7 million in compensatory and $300 million in punitive damages after Iran refused to respond to his 2000 lawsuit brought in a Washington federal court, alleging that the Iranian government was responsible for his brother's death.

Amnesty International calls upon all parties in this conflict to respect international humanitarian law and, in particular, asks them not to attack civilians, nor people who have laid down their arms or have been taken out of action. The organization calls upon Malian authorities to put an end, without delay, to the harassment of those who campaign peacefully for the return to the rule of law.

Last month Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released a similar report claiming that all sides to the conflict are committing war crimes [JURIST report]. Earlier in April the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] said they are monitoring the situation [JURIST report] for potential crimes under the ICC's jurisdiction. They noted that Mali has ratified the Rome Statute [text], which gives the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have occurred since fighting began in January. The turmoil began when Taureg rebels attacked Malian soldiers [Al Jazeera report]. Many in the international community have expressed concern over the situation, including the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [JURIST reports]. All of this has come after Malian soldiers took control of the government [JURIST report] and suspended the constitution in March.

Iraqi security forces are grabbing people outside of the law, without trial or known charges, and hiding them away in incommunicado sites. The Iraqi government should immediately reveal the names and locations of all detainees, promptly free those not charged with crimes, and bring those facing charges before an independent judicial authority.

Since the beginning of the Iraq War [JURIST backgrounder], Iraq has consistently come under fire for alleged poor conditions and security shortcomings in its prisons. This past March more than 20 Iraqi police officers were arrested and faced interrogation following the escape of 19 detainees [JURIST report] from a temporary prison in Iraq. The group of escapees, who were being held at the al-Tasfirat prison in the city of Kirkuk, included alleged al-Qaeda leaders [Al Jazeera report] and two men who had been sentenced to death. In September 2010, AI reported that the Iraqi government was unlawfully detaining and torturing [JURIST report] thousands of detainees. In June 2010, UN Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert urged the Iraqi government [JURIST report] to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Last month the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a similar complaint [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York accusing Apple and other major publishers of colluding to illegally fix e-book prices. The DOJ investigation of the defendants' conduct revealed conversations between company executives in which they agreed to proceed under the guise of a joint venture in order to raise prices. The lawsuit claims that the defendants' conduct constitutes violations of the Sherman Act [text], and the DOJ is requesting declaratory and injunctive relief.

safeguarding journalists and human rights defenders is not only compatible with the fight against crime, it is an essential element of this struggle. The Mexican authorities should take immediate measures to protect those journalists and human rights defenders that are being threatened, as well as to make definitive advances in the struggle against impunity for the crimes that have been committed against them.

Earlier this month, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [official website] Irena Bokova urged [JURIST report] Mexican authorities to do everything in their power to solve the murders of three Mexican journalists discovered in Veracruz. In March, the Mexican Senate unanimously passed [JURIST report] a bill making it a federal crime to attack journalists. Passage of this law came days after UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya released a report [JURIST report] of threats faced by human rights journalists and called for extra protection of them.