Helen Davidson: High profile pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests

Nine high-profile activists and pro-democracy figures have gone on trial in Hong Kong in one of the biggest court cases linked to the protest movement that paralysed the city for more than a year. Among the defendants are Martin Lee, considered the father of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan, and… Read More Helen Davidson: High profile pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests

Express Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals paranoia, not democratic power.

Evidence in the in the public domain points to Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old environmental activist, being just that – young and an activist. In an online interview, eight months ago, she talks, in sentences that end with a rising intonation, as if her sentences are questions, about causes ranging from climate change to feminism. Evidence… Read More Express Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals paranoia, not democratic power.

Defend Iranian Labour Leader Parvin Mohammadi

Parvin Mohammadi needs support from labor activists and feminist activists around the world. During all these years of struggle, she has never separated the labor struggle from women’s struggles for their rights. On December 21, 2020, the Iranian government sentenced Parvin Mohammadi, in absentia, to a year in prison on charges of “sedition.” She has refused… Read More Defend Iranian Labour Leader Parvin Mohammadi

Alexei Navalny: 1,000 arrested after protests over jailing of Russian opposition leader

A Moscow court has sentenced Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a prison colony in a landmark decision for Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on the country’s leading opposition figure. The move triggered marches in Moscow and the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters. Navalny, who has accused the Russian president and his allies… Read More Alexei Navalny: 1,000 arrested after protests over jailing of Russian opposition leader

Andrew Roth – The problem is Putin: protesters throng Russia's streets to support jailed Navalny / Russia’s courageous and historic protests against Putinism / Video sensations

NB: The Russian people have fought for freedom and democracy for over a century, in 1915-21; in the deadly struggle against Nazi invasion; and again in the aftermath of glasnost. Putin is the inheritor of the Russian autocratic tradition, he moved easily from the KGB and membership of the Communist Party to becoming a Russian… Read More Andrew Roth – The problem is Putin: protesters throng Russia's streets to support jailed Navalny / Russia’s courageous and historic protests against Putinism / Video sensations

Press Conference to condemn the Arrest and Sexual Violence of Nodeep Kaur by Haryana Police. 3 pm on Saturday, 23 January 2021. Press Club of India, New Delhi

Press Conference Condemning Nodeep Kaur’s Arrest and Custodial Sexual Violence by Haryana Police Date: January 23rd, 2021 (Saturday) Time: 3 pm Venue: Press Club of India (1, Raisina Road, Near Central Secretariat Metro, Windsor Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001) Campaign for the Release of Nodeep Kaur! On January 12th, as the Kisan Andolan continued unabated, Nodeep Kaur, a… Read More Press Conference to condemn the Arrest and Sexual Violence of Nodeep Kaur by Haryana Police. 3 pm on Saturday, 23 January 2021. Press Club of India, New Delhi

Nirupama Subramanian: Why a demolition in Jaffna recalls Sri Lanka’s unaddressed Tamil question

The sudden demolition of a memorial in the Jaffna University Campus in northern Sri Lanka to remember Tamil civilians killed during the LTTE’s last stand against the Sri Lankan Army in 2009 has brought attention to the simmering and yet unaddressed issues of post-war ethnic reconciliation, justice and accountability, as well as a political resolution of the… Read More Nirupama Subramanian: Why a demolition in Jaffna recalls Sri Lanka’s unaddressed Tamil question

Hagai El-Ad: We are Israel's largest human rights group – and we are calling this apartheid

One cannot live a single day in Israel-Palestine without the sense that this place is constantly being engineered to privilege one people, and one people only: the Jewish people. Yet half of those living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea are Palestinian. The chasm between these lived realities fills the air, bleeds, is… Read More Hagai El-Ad: We are Israel's largest human rights group – and we are calling this apartheid

China in darkest period for human rights since Tiananmen, says rights group

China is in the midst of its darkest period for human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre, Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report. But 2020 was also the year that world governments found “safety in numbers” to push back on China’s policies of repression, with less fear of retaliation, it said. Worsening persecutions… Read More China in darkest period for human rights since Tiananmen, says rights group

Chinese journalist who documented Wuhan coronavirus outbreak jailed for 4 years

An independent Chinese journalist who reported from Wuhan at the height of the initial coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years by a Shanghai court, her lawyer said Monday. Zhang Zhan, 37, was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to one of her defense lawyers Zhang Keke, who attended her hearing. The… Read More Chinese journalist who documented Wuhan coronavirus outbreak jailed for 4 years