An Egyptian court Tuesday convicted a university student to four years in prison for “spreading false news”, rights groups said, in a sentence Amnesty International labelled “outrageous”. Ahmed Samir, a master’s student at the Central European University in Vienna studying women’s reproductive rights, was arrested in February after returning to Egypt on a family visit. […]
rights
Algerian human rights activist detained: family
Algerian human rights activist Fatiha Briki has been detained by authorities and no official reason has been given for her arrest, her family and a prisoners’ rights group said Monday. Briki, a retired university teacher and a member of prisoners’ rights group CNLD, was arrested on Thursday and her home searched, according to the CNLD. […]
World in worst ‘cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes’: UN
The UN rights chief called Monday for “concerted action” to help recover from the worst global deterioration of rights seen in decades, highlighting situations in China, Russia and Ethiopia among others. “To recover from the most wide-reaching and severe cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes, we need a life-changing vision, and concerted action,” […]
French euthanasia activist dies in Swiss assisted suicide
A terminally ill Frenchman who went on two hunger strikes last year to protest laws prohibiting euthanasia has died in a physician-assisted suicide in Switzerland, close friends and family said Tuesday. “I wish to inform you of my dignified death, carried out as part of an assisted-suicide procedure,” 58-year-old Alain Cocq wrote in an open […]
Hungary passes law banning ‘promotion’ of homosexuality to minors
Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning the “promotion” of homosexuality to minors in what critics have slammed as a crackdown on LGBTQ rights. The law is the latest in a series of measures under right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government it says are aimed at fighting paedophilia and protecting children. But critics claim […]
Iraq frees pro-Iran commander arrested over activist murder
Iraq’s justice system freed a commander of the state-affiliated Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition on Wednesday, two weeks after he was arrested over the murder of a pro-democracy activist. Qassem Muslah was arrested by police intelligence on suspicion of ordering the May 9 killing of Ihab al-Wazni, who was shot dead by men on motorbikes using […]
China says US ‘politicising’ Winter Olympics as boycott talk mounts
China on Tuesday accused the US of “politicising sports”, after Washington’s top diplomat said he was seeking consensus among allies before any possible call to boycott next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a congressional hearing in Washington that the US was “consulting very closely with allies and partners to look […]
Church criticises Austrian government’s ‘Islam Map’
The Austrian Catholic church on Friday became the latest religious group to criticise a government-backed online map of hundreds of Muslim organisations which sparked violence against the Muslim minority. The highly controversial map shows details of more than 600 Muslim associations — from youth groups to mosques — including details on their location and photos […]
Transgender woman battles for ‘dignity’ in conservative Egypt
Farida Ramadan, a transgender woman, overcame major hurdles to transition in conservative Egypt, but she is still fighting for her rights in a country where LGBTQ+ people face acute stigma. Wearing a colourful headscarf, kohl eyeliner and crimson red lipstick, Ramadan, now in her fifties, told AFP that when she was growing up in Damietta, […]
A step forward for transgender rights in Sindh
Transgender people will now be able to serve as regular duty officers as part of the Sindh police even though it could be months before the first transgender police officers are hired. This is an important milestone for the transgender community in a country which extended legal recognition to the transgender people in 2009 but […]