US: Human rights lawyers sue Trump administration for ‘silencing’ them | The Guardian

Prominent US human rights lawyers are suing the Trump administration over an executive order they say has gagged them and halted their work pursuing justice on behalf of war crimes victims around the world.

Kashmir: Prominent Kashmiri lawyer-activist shot dead in Srinagar | Al Jazeera

A prominent lawyer-activist was fatally shot by assailants in the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, police and the victim’s relatives said.

Right Livelihood Awards go to rights activists from Belarus, Nicaragua, the US and Iran | DW

Each year the Right Livelihood Award Foundation in Stockholm honors people who toiled to improve our world. From a jailed lawyer in Iran to an activist in Belarus, we profile 2020’s “Alternative Nobel Prizes”.

Iran: New charges thrown at political prisoners to keep them behind bars | Center for Human Rights in Iran

Judicial authorities in Iran are increasingly issuing new charges and pushing through rushed convictions without any semblance of due process, just as a growing number of political prisoners are nearing release.

Philippines: Land defenders are killed in the Philippines for protesting Canadian mining | VICE

Not only do Canadian mines in the Philippines degrade the environment and displace Indigenous communities, activists say, eco-defenders are targeted by the Philippine government for protesting them.

Jamal Khashoggi’s rights group launched two years after murder | Al Jazeera

A rights organisation established by slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi months before his controversial killing in 2018 at the hands of a Saudi hit squad in Turkey has now been opened in the United States.

Iraq: Amnesty calls for justice for victims of protests | Middle East Monitor

Amnesty International yesterday called on the Iraqi government to ensure justice is served for hundreds of protesters who have been killed or forcibly disappeared during the country’s anti-government protests that erupted a year ago.

Saudi Arabia: British training of Saudi pilots continues amid bombing of Yemen | Declassified UK

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is training pilots from Saudi Arabia in the UK while the Gulf dictatorship continues airstrikes in Yemen, the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster where 20 million people need urgent assistance.

Egypt: Arrests and torture of gays, lesbians are ‘systematic’, rights report says | The Washington Post

The Egyptian government continues to target gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in a “systematic fashion” through arbitrary arrests, torture and other forms of abuse, including forced “virginity tests,” Human Rights Watch said.

Palestine: The Lancet censors Gaza health letter after pro-Israel pressure | The Electronic Intifada

Gaza is not just fighting a global pandemic. Under an Israeli blockade and successive military attacks since 2007, the coastal strip is fighting one of the highest levels of poverty and unemployment in the world as well as a crumbling infrastructure, including in its health sector.

Turkey: Law tightening rules on social media comes into effect | Euronews

A law considerably strengthening authorities’ control over social networks has come into force in Turkey.