Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is detaining hundreds of migrants, mainly Ethiopian, in degrading conditions at a deportation center in Riyadh. Migrants alleged to HRW that authorities are keeping them in overcrowded rooms for extended periods. Migrants also alleged that guards have beaten and tortured them with rubber-coated metal rods, which has [...]

Iran’s Guardian Council approved a bill on Wednesday that would increase uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of nuclear sites, measures that go against the 2015 nuclear deal, if sanctions are not eased against Iran within two months. The new bill comes from the Iran parliament after the killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Iran blames [...]

The US Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in Edwards v. Vannoy on whether the Supreme Court’s prior decision in Ramos v. Louisiana applies retroactively to cases on federal collateral review. The Supreme Court held in Ramos earlier this year that criminal defendants have a right to a unanimous jury verdict in state criminal trials under [...]

Malaysia lawmaker Chin Foon Hing on Tuesday called on the government to do more to stop online hate speech in light of a Reuters report that shows hate speech on Facebook incited violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar. Hing questioned the government for their plan to curb anti-migrant hate speech and sentiment on [...]

Egyptian authorities arrested Friday Gasser Abdel Razek, the Executive Director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). EIPR is a Human rights organization whose goal is to “strengthen and protect basic rights and freedoms in Egypt, through research, advocacy and supporting litigation in the fields of civil liberties, economic and social rights, and criminal justice.” EIPR [...]

The Hong Kong High Court ruled Thursday that the government’s failure to establish an independent mechanism to handle complaints of ill-treatment by police officers breaches the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. The court further held the government has a duty to “establish and maintain” such a mechanism under Article 3 of the Bill of Rights, [...]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Wednesday requiring the chief administrator of the courts to compile data on the ethnicity, race, disability, veteran status, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation of state judges within specific jurisdictions and submit an annual report of the findings. State Senator Brad Hoylman, also the Chairman of the [...]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice on Tuesday ordered Guinea to pay 160 million Guinean francs (around USD $16,000) each to the heirs of six deceased victims of attacks by government security agents and 240 million Guinean francs (around USD $24,000) each to the 15 others named in the complaint [...]

A report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) alleged Thursday human rights violations during and after the August 9 Belarus presidential election of Aleksander Lukashenko. The allegations of human rights abuses “were found to be massive and systematic and proven beyond doubt.” The report alleges well-documented cases of ill-treatment and torture by [...]

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci stepped down Thursday to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1990s armed conflict against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) for Kosovo’s independence. Thaci was indicted in June on crimes of persecution, imprisonment, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, [...]