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KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – The United Nations has demanded the Taliban provide information on two more women activists allegedly detained by the group this week — bringing to four the number missing this year. Since returning to power in August the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women’s rallies, detaining critics and beating local journalists covering protests. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late on Thursday it had sought […]
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) – Panamanian authorities announced Thursday that as part of an operation to disrupt a sex trafficking ring, 10 children were rescued and three people in Panama and Costa Rica were arrested. “The victims in this case range between the ages of four and 16 and the people involved are close relatives” of the minors, said Emeldo Marquez, a senior Panamanian prosecutor. He explained that the relatives “facilitated” the shipment of the […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) – A 14-year-old environmental activist has been shot dead in Colombia, indigenous groups and officials said, in the latest such attack in the world’s deadliest country for environmentalists. Breiner David Cucuname was one of two people killed while taking part in a rural security patrol Friday by an indigenous guard in the southwestern Cauca department plagued by violence between illicit armed groups. The group of the Nasa indigenous community, armed only with […]
by Poornima WEERASEKARA Agence France-Presse BAODING, China (AFP) – Beaten, forced off their land, cheated out of money, and even falsely imprisoned — farmers in China say they are paying a heavy price as authorities rush to deliver on ambitious pledges to ramp up national green energy output. China has vowed the upcoming Winter Olympics 2022 will be the first Games to be run entirely on wind and solar energy, and have built scores of […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — A Singapore court Tuesday postponed the imminent execution of a Malaysian man whom campaigners say is mentally disabled after he tested positive for Covid-19, meaning a last-ditch appeal could not proceed. Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state, which has some of the world’s toughest drugs laws. He was sentenced to death the following year. He was scheduled to be hanged […]
KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) – Environmental watchdogs Saturday condemned the arrest of six Ugandan rights campaigners as a coordinated effort to silence critics of a contested energy project involving French oil giant Total. The activists from Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), the country’s highest-profile environmental defenders group, were detained without charge at a police station outside Kampala on Friday, the organisation said in a statement. Its French partners, Amis de la Terre France (Friends of the […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — The United Nations voiced alarm Friday at Myanmar’s military junta deploying heavy weapons and troops to particular townships, fearing for the civilian population. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the deployment of two high-ranking commanders represented a worrying escalation in the situation. “Alarming reports indicate that there has been substantial deployment of heavy weapons and troops by the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, over the past few […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Dozens of children have been killed and hundreds arbitrarily detained in Myanmar since a coup more than five months ago, UN rights experts warned Friday. The UN child rights committee said it had received “credible information” that 75 children had been killed and around 1,000 arrested in Myanmar since February 1. “Children in Myanmar are under siege and facing catastrophic loss of life because of the military coup,” committee chair […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Parliament on Thursday removed Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from the “Sakharov Prize community” because of her “acceptance” of state crimes against the Rohingya community. The EU assembly awarded the former democracy campaigner its top human rights prize in 1990, a year before she received the Nobel Peace Prize, but she will no longer take part in events for laureates. A source close to the parliament said […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The US drone strike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani was “unlawful”, the United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings concluded in a report released Tuesday. Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concluded it was an “arbitrary killing” that violated the UN charter. The US had provided no evidence that an imminent attack against US interest was being planned, she wrote. The independent rights expert […]
PEKIN, China (AFP) — A proposal to enact new Hong Kong security legislation was submitted to China’s rubber-stamp on Friday, state media said, a move expected to fan fresh protests in the semi-autonomous financial hub. The proposal, which has been condemned by the United States and Hong Kong pro-democracy figures as an assault on the city’s freedoms, was tabled on the opening day of the week-long National People’s Congress, Xinhua news agency said. Parliament spokesman […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) –Saudi Arabia on Sunday ended the death penalty for crimes committed by minors after effectively abolishing floggings as the kingdom seeks to blunt criticism over its human rights record. The reforms underscore a push by de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to modernize the ultra-conservative kingdom long associated with a fundamentalist strain of Wahhabi Islam. The death penalty has been eliminated for those convicted of crimes committed while they […]
