Iran executed Tuesday Mohammad Ghobadlou, a protester with a long-term psychosocial disability, for the alleged murder of a police officer during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. The Iranian judiciary’s news agency Mizan reported the execution. The Criminal Court of Tehran Province executed Ghobadlou after the Supreme Court of Iran confirmed Ghobadlou’s death sentence. Ghobadlou was [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised concerns Tuesday about the draft Cybercrime Treaty of the United Nations over possible human rights violations. A UN Committee released the latest draft of the Treaty on September 1, 2023. HRW, along with over 100 groups globally, expressed concern about the draft global cybercrime treaty being negotiated at the UN in [...]

India’s Assam state police registered a criminal complaint Wednesday against the leaders of the country’s largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC). The complaint was registered on multiple charges, including damaging public property and assaulting police personnel during the INC’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra cross-country march. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief minister [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday in O.G. and Others v. Greece that Greece violated the right to respect for private life of HIV-positive sex workers. Greece imposed blood tests on Greek sex workers and publicly disseminated their personal data upon the order of a prosecutor in 2012. The ECHR unanimously identified two [...]

India’s Delhi High Court (DHC) refused Monday to interfere with ombudsman proceedings against Shibu Soren, who is the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand state and a member of India’s upper house of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. Soren is facing corruption charges stemming from a complaint filed by MP Nishikant Dubery of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party [...]

A bipartisan group of US Senators, led by Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Senator Todd Young, sent a letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, expressing concern over the alleged harassment of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, who was convicted by a Bangladesh labor law court in early January. The letter [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on Monday on the “pre-election crackdown” in Senegal, denouncing it for repressing the opposition, media, critics and other civil society members. Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Senegal in February. The report accuses the authorities, led by President Macky Sall, of arresting political opponents, stifling freedom [...]

The Indian Supreme Court (SC) stayed Friday a Madras High Court order restoring defamation proceedings against Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who is the General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Tamil Nadu state’s largest opposition party. Palaniswami was sued for defamation by fellow AIADMK member K. C. Palanisamy, whom Palaniswamy accused of misusing [...]

The Indian Supreme Court (SC) reduced Friday a sentence in a criminal contempt of court case by the Delhi High Court (DHC) against a lawyer, Virendra Singh, over his remarks against the judges of the DHC. The lawyer was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 2,000 rupees. The SC, in [...]

The Indian Supreme Court rejected Wednesday an appeal filed by the Punjab state government challenging the bail given to Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the leader of the Indian National Congress, the country’s second-largest opposition party. Khaira had been granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on January 4 in a criminal case related to [...]