Europe: Open letter by 85 organizations regarding rights violations of refugees | Human Rights Watch

The undersigned organisations are deeply concerned about recent developments at the Evros border and the Aegean islands where people are stranded at the borders of Europe, instrumentalized for political purposes, and subject to violations of their rights. We are also deeply concerned about the way the authorities of Greece and the European Union are handling new arrivals.

Turkey: Kurdish human rights lawyers detained on terror claims | Al-Monitor

Police detained nine human rights lawyers in the mainly Kurdish provinces of Urfa and Diyarbakir in what rights groups say is part of an ongoing pressure campaign aimed at covering up abuse in police custody.

Egypt: Human rights lawyer jailed for one year over ‘BBC interview’ | Middle East Eye

An Egyptian court has sentenced human rights lawyer Zyad El-Eleimy to one year in prison on charges of spreading false news in a BBC interview he conducted in 2017.

Iran: Jailed lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh marks International Women’s Day with a call for peace | Morning Star

Ms Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer who was sentenced to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes in 2018 for “national security offences” and “promoting immorality and indecency” after a career representing opposition activists and death row inmates, said “violations of women’s rights are systemic” in Iran.

China: How the coronavirus has deepened human rights abuses | Al Jazeera

By taking drastic and what some have called ‘draconian’ measures, China appears to have slowed down the coronavirus, but experts and advocacy groups worry it has come at a high cost.

UK: Suspend police use of facial recognition cameras, says human rights watchdog | The Telegraph

Police use of facial recognition technology and algorithms should be suspended, says the equality and human rights watchdog, despite officers’ insistence that it is needed to protect the public from terrorists and criminals.

Palestine: Twitter storm protests ICC delay in investigating Israel crimes | Middle East Monitor

A “Twitter Storm” has been launched by a Palestinian rights organisation in response to the International Criminal Court’s decision to delay the investigation into Israel’s human rights violations and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.