By Huiyu Yin

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a well-known lawyer and human rights activist in Iran. Iranian security forces arrested her and several others on their way back from a protest in October 2014. The protest was against a spate of acid attacks targeting women in the central city of Esfahan. Authorities released the others shortly after their arrest but detained Sotoudeh in an Intelligence Ministry facility in Tehran for an additional seven hours and threated to charge her with the crime of Moharebeh, or “enmity against God.” 

This was not her first arrest. In 2010, Iran’s revolutionary court sentenced her to six years in prison and a 10-year ban on practicing law. Human Rights Watch and other international press believed that the national security charges against her arose solely from her peaceful exercise of fundamental rights and zealous defense of her clients, including many human rights activists. The Iranian Bar Association’s disciplinary committee revoked her law license in 2014 to enforce the revolutionary court’s conviction. Sotoudeh believed that the ban was imposed under pressure from security, intelligence and judiciary officials.

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February 05, 2015

By Huiyu Yin

“The Hunger Games” movie is apparently more popular in Thailand than most of us thought. Protesters there used the same three-finger salute as a symbol of resistance to express a disagreement with the Thai military government. However, this simple gesture could lead to a possible two-year prison term. On November 19, 2014, in northeastern Khon Kaen province, the government arrested five university students for giving the three-fingered salute during a speech by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the coup leader and now the prime minister of Thailand. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

 “Six months after the coup, criticism is systematically prosecuted, political activity is banned, media is censored, and dissidents are tried in military courts,” said by Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Prayuth announced on November 17 that criticizing or obstructing him, the government, or the NCPO was unacceptable. He also undermined his claims about a road map to return to civilian democratic rule through free and credible elections, saying on November 21: “Don’t ask me to give you democracy and elections. This is not the right time.” Prayuth then added that the enforcement of martial law would continue “as long as necessary.”

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January 29, 2015

By Courtney Cox

In Rabat (Morocco’s capital), hundreds protested the Moroccan authority’s interference with human rights organizations. The Human Rights Watch reported that since July 2014, fifteen meetings planned by the Moroccan Human Rights Association have been blocked by Moroccan authorities. Access to venues for events have also been denied to other human rights groups including the Moroccan League for Human Rights and Amnesty International. The interference with human rights organizations began in July after the Interior Minister, Mohamed Hassad, claimed that many of the human rights groups’ “baseless allegations of abuses” are detrimental to Morocco’s image and security. Interestingly enough, Morocco will host the World Forum on Human Rights later this month in Marrakesh.

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December 03, 2014

By Kristen McCannon

In an attempt to appease critics of its notoriously corrupt judiciary, China is introducing new reforms to its court system. The reforms are part of a broader effort to modernize certain aspects of Chinese civil society while still keeping it under tight control. As noted by the New York Times, the ruling communist party has “no interest in creating a judiciary that could rule against the party’s policies and interests.” However, Chinese President Xi Jinping apparently hopes he can keep protestors out of the streets by at least trying to treat them more fairly in the courtroom.

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November 04, 2014

By Katie Bacharach

The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials “responsible for violence and excessive force” after the bloodiest day of clashes in Kiev, according to the BBC. 

Seventy-five people have been killed since Tuesday, with some anti-government protesters reportedly being killed by snipers. 

E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that the “prime responsibility” to get talks started  between the two sides lay with President Viktor Yanukovych and that implementation of the measures “will be taken forward in light of developments in Ukraine.”

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February 21, 2014

EGYPT PROTEST/ by oxfamnovib, on Flickr

By Katie Bacharach

The Washington Post has reported that the military-appointed interim government in Egypt has drafted legislation that would strictly regulate street protests. The law would grant authorities the power to cancel demonstrations or quickly escalate the use of lethal force for vague reasons, such as threats to public order. 

The proposed law has made pro-democracy activists and intellectuals wary of the intentions of the interim government. They are concerned that this is a sign the government is attempting to put an authoritarian regime in place similar to that of former President Hosni Mubarak, who used a sweeping emergency law and security apparatus to thwart demonstrations and dissidents.

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October 25, 2013