Media Coverage

A Russian playwright and theatre director accused of “justifying terrorism” have told a Moscow court that they are innocent on the first day of their trial over the staging of an award-winning play. The arrest of director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana Petriychuk in May last year sent shock...

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) has escalated in the western state of Rakhine in recent days, putting thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya who live in the area at increased risk. Based on interviews with Rohingya activists who have spoken to witnesses in Buthidaung...

Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez said on May 18 that he will ensure all political parties are free to operate if he unseats President Nicolas Maduro in a July vote, and he urged the military to uphold the country's institutions as intended by the constitution. Gonzalez, a former...

Tunisian authorities have arrested at least nine people amid escalating government actions in recent weeks to muzzle free speech, prosecute dissent, and crack down on migrants and asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch said on May 17. Tunisian authorities should respect and protect space for independent...

Palestinians are marking 76 years of dispossession on May 15, commemorating their mass expulsion from what is today Israel, as a potentially larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza where over a quarter of the population has been displaced by fighting in the last few days alone. Israel has been pressing...

A prominent Tunisian lawyer and two journalists have been arrested in the latest move of a presidential administration that has shown little tolerance for criticism. The arrest of lawyer and commentator Sonia Dahmani on the night of May 11 was caught on camera as she was bundled out of the Lawyers’...

A controversial media bill passed this week by Georgia’s parliament is “unacceptable” and will be vetoed, President Salome Zourabichvili said on May 16, reaffirming her opposition to a measure that critics describe as a threat to free speech. In an interview with The Associated Press, Zourabichvili...

Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other party leaders agreed on a coalition deal early May 16 that veers the Netherlands toward the hard right, capping a half year of tumultuous negotiations that still left it unclear who would become prime minister. The “Hope, courage, and pride”...

Authorities in Belarus on May 16 announced raids and the seizure of property belonging to 104 opposition activists who have fled the country, the latest step in a crackdown on dissent that has continued unabated for nearly four years. Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, unleashed...

A leading international human rights organization on May 16 urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to authoritarian home countries, where they may face torture, persecution, or death. In a new report, Human Rights Watch said Thai...