Amnesty International has stepped up on behalf of women human rights activists, who disproportionately face discrimination and attacks across the globe for their work – including Malak al-Kashef, a 19-year-old Egyptian transgender activist who was arrested in March 2019 during protests in Cairo. Her case, in which she was charged…
Algerians have protested every week for more than six months now, demanding economic reforms and an embrace of democratic principles. Thousands continued to protest even after former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April, and they haven’t stopped as the North African nation works its way toward a December 12 presidential…
In Malawi, a second firebomb has been launched at the property of Timothy Mtambo, the leader of a human rights organization that has organized protests against the outcome of the disputed May presidential election and Malawi’s electoral commission. Mtambo, who heads up the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), said this…
Amnesty International has joined the Committee to Protect Journalists and other advocacy groups in calling on the Tanzanian government to fully investigate what happened to missing freelance journalist Azory Gwanda – gone since November 2017, and now reported dead this week by the foreign minister. Palamagamba Kabudi told the BBC…
Young climate change activists from across the globe have received Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2019, for their work in the Fridays for Future movement spearheaded by Greta Thunberg of Sweden. “We are humbled and inspired by the determination with which youth activists across the world are challenging…
Zimbabwe is cracking down on its human rights activists, with two new arrests reported on Monday, according to Amnesty International. Stabile Dewah, 35, and 61-year-old Rita Nyamupinga were arrested at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare as they returned from the Maldives, where they attended a training workshop on holding…
The conditions in Democratic Republic of Congo’s artisanal mines were front and center on Thursday, as Nordic Electric Vehicle (EV) Summit in Oslo focused on the future of clean-energy vehicles that rely on lithium-ion batteries. That’s because Amnesty International highlighted concern over the ever-increasing demand for cobalt and other minerals…
Senegal’s electoral commission has until Friday to release the former results of Sunday’s election, but the early results suggest that President Macky Sall is headed toward a second term. That said, the Commission Electorale Nationale Autonome (CENA) is asking candidates and their supporters to refrain from announcing victory or prematurely…
Voters in Senegal head to the polls on Sunday in a closely watched contest that’s raised concerns over electoral violence and a democratic process. Five candidates, including incumbent President Macky Sall, are competing for the presidency. The others include Issa Sall and the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR); Ousmane Sonko of…
Amnesty International issued an appeal Thursday on behalf of Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who is expected in military court today on charges which carry the death penalty. Kamto, head of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), is in the first group of 131 people who were arrested in January and…
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera media outlet confirmed Tuesday that the Sudanese government had pulled the credentials of three of its journalists covering weeks of economic and political unrest. Correspondents Osama Ahmed and Ahmed Alrehaid, along with photojournalist Badawi Bashir, have been barred despite earlier approval from the Sudanese Press and…
Congolese election officials face pressure from within and outside the country to release legitimate polling results, even as the CENI electoral commission warns of delays in publishing provisional results expected on Sunday. The Roman Catholic bishops of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), influential for more than two years…
Activists in Sudan say that more than 200 government websites have been shut down by the Anonymous group, in retaliation for Khartoum’s violent actions against Sudanese protesters. The main Sudanese government site, along with local and regional governments and various official agencies, remained inaccessible early Wednesday and had been for…
Have you been targeted by hostile trolls on Twitter? You’re not alone, and if you’re a female politician or journalist the odds are you’ve already encountered the experience plenty of times. A study of 288,000 tweets sent to 778 such women in 2017 demonstrated a pattern of abuse that’s especially…
After weeks of investigation into the October 2 death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, the United States said Tuesday that it stands by its relationship with Riyadh – a move that critics say gives a green light to repressive, authoritarian governments in Africa and across the globe….