AMISOM Public Information, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Prominent Ugandan opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye, who disappeared Saturday while visiting Kenya, resurfaced on Wednesday in a military jail back in Uganda, according to statements from his wife and James Orengo, governor of Siaya, Kenya. The opposition figure’s disappearance sparked a response from Amnesty International. The group discussed the growing and worrying trend of [...]

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Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Pakistan has escalated its crackdown on political dissent, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday. The group urged the authorities to release detainees who participated in peaceful protest, respect their right to fair trial, and comply with international human rights standards when responding to violence. The HRW report highlights the [...]

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user:Adz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

An Australian court upheld an order on Friday for X (formerly Twitter) to pay a fine of A$610,500 for failing to comply with a regulator’s request for information disclosing anti-child-abuse practices, amid efforts to impose responsibilities on digital platforms to protect children from online exploitation. Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms are required [...]

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President.ge, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday refused to sign a highly controversial “Family Values and the Protection of Minors” bill to significantly curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. The bill, which passed with overwhelming parliamentary support, seeks to ban same-sex marriage, prohibit adoption by same-sex couples, restrict gender-affirming care, and limit public expressions of LGBTQ+ [...]

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The Supreme Court of Tasmania ruled on Friday that the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart was within its legal rights to bar men from attending a women-only art exhibit aimed at addressing gender inequalities. The exhibit, titled the “Ladies Lounge,” was designed to highlight the exclusion of women from male-dominated spheres [...]

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Eswatini’s main opposition leader Mlungisi Makhanya was poisoned in an attempted assassination, according to his party, the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), on Wednesday. This accusation drew attention to the southern African nation, which is one of the last absolute monarchies still in existence and where the government has been working for years to suppress [...]

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Mehdi Benazzi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Around 5,000 Moroccan lawyers in Rabat on Saturday protested a series of judicial reforms proposed by the government, which they say would significantly diminish the role of defense lawyers and harm the integrity of the justice system. The lawyers argue that the proposed reforms to Morocco’s Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code violate key [...]

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A Tehran court sentenced two individuals to finger amputation as punishment for a theft that occurred in June 2022, when 13 individuals, allegedy including the two principal defendants, arranged a robbery at the National Bank of Iran. The group proceeded to flee the nation following the theft, however, Turkish officials ultimately apprehended them and sent [...]

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Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), called the government of Australia fascists on Friday for introducing a bill that would impose fines on social media companies that fail to prevent the spread of misinformation online. Joining a global movement to regulate global social media platforms, Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland [...]

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EdwinAlden.1995, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The justice minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Constant Mutamba, announced on Saturday the release of 527 prisoners from the central prison of Makala, DRC on X (formerly Twitter). Mutamba delivered 2,000 mattresses and ordered 7,000 mattresses to improve the detention conditions of prisoners, and said that prisoners in the DRC eat two [...]

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