A court in Lahore Pakistan has sentenced a 37-year-old Christian man, Asif Pervaiz, to death for committing “blasphemy.”

Pervaiz, a garment factory worker, has been in custody since 2013 when his supervisor accused him of sending derogatory remarks about the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in a text message.

Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, has strict blasphemy laws which prescribe a mandatory death penalty for the crime of insulting the Prophet, and strict penalties for insulting Islam or the Quran.

Speaking in his own defence in court, Pervaiz denied the charges but was found guilty and sentenced to death on Tuesday.

Pervaiz told the court his supervisor was trying to get him to convert him to Islam and when he refused to convert, he was accused of having sent blasphemous text messages.

The court order said Pervais would first serve a three-year prison term for “misusing” his phone, then “he shall be hanged by his neck till death.”

Pervais’ lawyer Saif-ul-Malook stated he would appeal the sentence.

Many human rights groups say blasphemy laws are often misused to persecute minorities or even against Muslims to settle personal rivalries.

Read more from Reuters and Al Jazeera

Human rights groups have denounced inhumane conditions in which thousands of protestors were detained and beaten by police, amid huge protests that have weakened Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s grip on power. 

One demonstrator, Arthur Khomenko, said police officers began beating him with their fists and in one instance they pulled down his underwear and threatened to rape him with a truncheon.

Khomenko then spent most of the next week with searing pain and partial hearing loss, where doctors diagnosed him with a traumatic brain injury, concussion and bruising across his head and body.

Valentin Stefanovich, deputy head of the Spring human rights group, said it has found 500 cases of police torture since Lukashenko won a disputed presidential election on 9 August.

The United Nations human rights investigators urge Belarusian authorities to stop their abuse after receiving hundreds of reports of torture, beatings and mistreatment of anti-government protestors.

Ales Belyatski, of the rights group Viasna, stated, "In a cell where normally five to seven people are detained, there are 50 or 70 people. They are standing, they can't sit,"

He went on to say,

“There isn't enough water. They suffer physical violence. They are beaten when they're detained, they're beaten again when they're brought to the local station. Then, they're beaten in detention, and now they're beaten when they're released.”

Read more from Euro News and Reuters 

Overthrown Mali president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita

Overthrown Mali president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita left the country on Saturday seeking medical treatment in the United Arab Emirates, as talks about a transition back to civilian rule began.

Keita, 75, was hospitalised in the capital, Bamako, on Tuesday, six days after he was released from detention by the ruling military junta, which seized power on 18 August.

The medical visit will reportedly take 10-15 days and Keita’s medical condition is unclear.

It is reported that Keita left Mali with his wife, an attaché, two doctors and four security agents.

Keita’s health had been in question following his detention by the army for 10 days.

Keita was first elected in 2013 and had three years left on his term when mutinous soldiers detained him at his residence after firing shots outside his house.

Hours later, he appeared in midnight broadcast on state television, telling the public he would resign immediately so no blood would shed for him to stay in power.

Recent Talks

Talks commenced on Saturday about the shape of the transition period with hundreds of government representatives, political parties and civil society groups in attendance.

Hours before the talks began, supporters of the M5-RPF coalition, the same group which led mass demonstrations against Keita before the coup, began to protest accusing military rulers of excluding them.

The M5-RPF’s protesting brought the opening ceremony to a halt and their protesting stopped when it was announced they would be allowed to participate.

The talks are scheduled to continue Sunday and then resume again late next week.

Read more from Al Jazeera and Reuters

Hong Kong police arrested at least 289 protestors on Sunday, as they assembled on the day the local elections were supposed to be held. Elections were postponed for at least a year, and officials pointed to the pandemic as the reason for moving the election date.

Police officers used pepper spray against protestors, and some of the arrests were made by plainclothes police officers. One activist was even arrested in his home on Sunday for “uttering seditious words”, whilst footage of officers tackling a 12-year-old girl to the ground also went viral.

Pro-democracy groups push back on this reasoning, saying that elections were postponed due to the increasing support for pro-democracy candidates and groups. 

This all comes after the imposition of a new national security law in June, which has been used to quell dissent across Hong Kong in recent months. Sunday’s protest was the largest gathering since the new laws were implanted by China. 

See more from The Guardian here.

Nearly 300 Rohingya refugees who were stranded at sea for months after being denied port in Southeast Asia were rescued by Indonesian fisherman this week. 

The group included 14 children, and two of the refugees were taken to the hospital for medical care. It has been reported that approximately 30 people died during the months they spent at sea.

Since 2017, when a Buddhist nationalist military in Myanmar took power, Rohingya Muslims have been targeted with genocidal intent. This led to an increased number of refugees escaping the genocide in Myanmar, many of whom escaped to refugee camps in Bangladesh. 

“It is appalling that the Indonesian authorities are waiting for local fishermen to take the initiative in carrying out these rescues. The government, not private individuals, should have saved these lives,” said Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia. “Rohingya refugees are still willing to risk everything in search of safety.”

See more from the New York Times here.

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Human Rights Watch said India should prohibit firing metal pellets through shotguns to disperse crowds in the restive Kashmir valley, in the wake of violent clashes with security forces when people defied a ban on public gatherings imposed due to reported concerns over the coronavirus pandemic on Muharram, an important date in the Shia calendar. 

As the police started firing at the crowd, it provoked retaliation from the masses who started to hurl stones at them. Dozens of civilians and police were injured in the confrontation and it has set off a debate about the use of metal pellets as a means to quell protests. 

“Time and again, Indian law enforcement’s use of shotguns in Kashmir has resulted in shocking, grievous injuries of protesters and bystanders,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

India adopted the metal pellet earlier this decade as a non-lethal weapon to neutralise large-scale public demonstrations in the valley. Its capacity to inflict grievous wounds on vulnerable parts of the body, not least the eye, has made it the subject of a polarised debate. 

“According to the data journalism website IndiaSpend, pellets fired from shotguns blinded 139 people between July 2016 and February 2019. In January 2018, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told the state assembly that 6,221 people had been injured by pellets between July 2016 and February 2017 and among them, 782 people had eye injuries,” Human Rights Watch reported. 

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in place in Kashmir gives wide leeway for the army in the region and cases of soldiers harming civilians with impunity are also on the rise. 

“Indian leaders who claim that their policies are improving the lives of Kashmiris cannot disregard that security forces are maiming, blinding, and killing people,” Ganguly said. “The Indian government should cease the use of shotguns firing metal pellets and review its crowd control techniques to meet international standards.”

The Indian government revoked an article of the constitution last year that granted special status to the only Muslim-majority state in the country. It also dismembered the state into two parts and put them under the direct governance of the central government. Kashmir has been under lockdown since much before the Covid-19 pandemic set in. The situation in the valley is extremely precarious right now given the rise in a sense of disenfranchisement among the population and the growing disregard for popular sentiment on the part of the state. 

Read more from HRW here and Tamil Guardian here.

Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new measures to restrict the spread of misleading comments and politically-biased lies on Facebook before the United States presidential election on 3^rd November 2020. Zuckerberg said that he was “worried” but the election would not “be business as usual”.

He added, "With our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalised, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country.”

Facebook has been heavily criticised for allowing political ads to be "micro-targeted” and for failing to fact check adverts placed by candidates. The newly implemented measures will freeze political adverts before the US presidential election and remove posts endorsing false rumors such as claiming people will get COVID-19 if they vote.

Zuckerberg vowed that Facebook had “strengthened” its policies to ensure conspiracy theories such as QAnon were not allowed to spread.

However, critics describe the measures as “a pointless PR stunt” and that the flaws of measures would be exposed as pre-existing ads may be rerun to target new groups of users.

Globally, Facebook faces similar criticism; in August, a smear campaign linked to the Cambodian government conducted on the platform, prompted an activist Buddhist monk into exile to protect himself. In addition, it has been scrutinised for its role in anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka, for which they issued an apology. 

Read more here.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) celebrated the Sierra Leone parliament’s repealed the criminal libel law on 23 July, completing President Maada Bio’s promise he made on the campaign trail before the 2018 election. 

In Sierra Leone, libel has been a punishable criminal offence since 1965, which journalists said restricted free speech and expression.

“Criminal libel law puts journalists in jail and that’s a major impediment, and it’s repeal is very huge for journalism, freedom of expression in a country that has gone to war, that has seen millions of people die because of one party dictatorship,” said Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, the head of Society for Democratic Initiative. 

Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, the president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), said it was common for politicians to instruct the police force to arrest journalists who criticized public officials. 

“The biggest beneficiary of the repeal of this bad law is Sierra Leone,” said the SLAJ. "Our beloved country has now joined the enviable community of progressive nations where free and responsible speech is guaranteed and protected by law. This is a huge milestone for freedom of expression and democracy in Sierra Leone.”

“Criminal defamation laws have no place in a democratic society and have been widely used by autocratic governments to silence the media and jail journalists,” added IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger.

In May 2020, publisher of the Awareness Times, Silvia Olayinka Blyden, was arrested in her home and charged with sedition, defamation, and “perversion of justice”. Jonathan Leigh and Bai Bai Sesay, editors for the Independent Observer, were detained without trial for two weeks in 2013 for publishing a satirical article about former president, Ernest Bai Koroma. 

“Our beloved country has now joined the enviable community of progressive nations where free and responsible speech is guaranteed and protected by law,” claimed Nasralla. This is a huge milestone for freedom of expression and democracy in Sierra Leone.”

See more from IFJ here, Article 19 here and the Sierra Leone Telegraph here.

Photo of displaced Rohingya 

In a joint statement by Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they expressed their intention to intervene in support of Gambia’s genocide lawsuit against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Gambia initially filed the lawsuit against Myanmar at the ICJ in 2019 alleging genocide. In their lawsuit they claimed:

“It is clear that Myanmar has no intention of ending these genocidal acts and continues to pursue the destruction of the group within its territory,” the lawsuit said, adding that the government “is deliberately destroying evidence of its wrongdoings to cover up the crimes.’’

In the joint statement by Canada and the Netherlands, they applauded the “laudable” lawsuit filed by Gambia and emphasised that “States Parties to the Genocide  Convention must resolve to prevent genocide but also, critically to hold perpetrators to account”.

They further pledged to “assist with the complex legal issues that are expected to arise and will pay special attention to crimes related to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape”.

They emphasised in the statement that Gambia’s lawsuit highlighted the “targeted and systemic atrocities [by Myanmar’s security forces] against the Rohingya”. These crimes include “mass murder, sexual violence, torture, forced displacement, and denial of access to food and shelter”. This violence has led to over 850,000 Rohingya having to flee to Bangladesh since 2016.

Read the full statement here.

Prashant Bhushan, an Indian public interest lawyer, who was fined one rupee for posting tweets that were critical of the Indian Supreme Court, called the decision “very dangerous”.

The Court imposed the fine for having “brought the administration of justice in disrepute and are capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the institution of Supreme Court in general and the office of the Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of public at large”.

Many had feared a much more serious outcome, as Bhushan was facing a six-month sentence in prison. The tweets in question criticized the Supreme Court for participating in “how democracy has been destroyed in India” and included a photograph of Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on a motorbike. In July, the tweets were removed by Twitter.

Mr. Bhushan said in a statement that he believes the Supreme Court is the “last bastion of hope for the weak and oppressed,” and that he will respectfully pay the fine. 

“I am not saying there are no vile or scandalous, scurrilous allegations being made against judges. They are. But they are dismissed for what they are. People understand that these are scurrilous and unsubstantiated allegations. The respect for the judiciary does not stand on the ability of the court to stifle this kind of criticism even it is sometimes scurrilous and unfair,” Mr. Bhushan added.

“Every citizen in a democracy, those who are familiar with the working of the judicial system and the Supreme Court, should be able to speak freely but unfortunately that has also been treated as contempt of court by scandalising.”

See more from the Times of India here and the Hindu here.

The builder who contracted a five-storey building in Maharashtra has been arrested following a collapse last month that saw at least 16 people killed.

The building collapsed during heavy monsoon rains in Mahad in the Raigad district, south of Mumbai. 

The office of the chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, tweeted about his contact with local representatives: “He has assured them that all possible support will be extended for speedy rescue and relief works.”

It is undetermined what exactly caused the collapse, but many collapses of this sort happen during the monsoon season. Monsoon season this year has led to over one thousand deaths, 800 of those in India, according to AFP news.

The collapsed building was 10 years old. 

The builder, identified as Farooq Mamoodmiya Kazi, has been arrested alongside two other people.

See more from Yahoo here, Tribune India here and Times Now News here.

The leaders behind the coup in Mali said during an address to the nation that they will hold democratic elections, as talks on the transition to civilian rule begin in the country this weekend.

The talks come after former president Ibraham Boubacar Keïta, who was arrested last month, was moved to a private hospital overnight, and at least 10 soldiers were killed in an attack overnight.

Ismaël Wague, a spokesperson for the coup leaders, claimed “political patronage, the family management of state affairs, have ended up killing and opportunity for development in what little remains of this beautiful country”. “Mismanagement, theft and bad governance have become virtues,” he added.

The coup has been widely criticized, and the African Union has suspended Mali, saying in a statement, “The African Union suspends Mali from the African Union until restoration of constitutional order and demands release of President Ibraham Boubacar Keïta, the Prime Minister and other government officials forcibly detained by the army”.

The European Union and the United States have all also condemned the coup, which came after two months of protests in the capital of Bamako. Four people were killed during the coup and 15 were wounded, according to hospital union representatives.

This weekend’s talks will take place with the military coup leaders, political parties, former rebels, unions, civil society organisations, media representatives and members of the diaspora.

See more from France 24 here and Al Jazeera here.

Photo of Kaing Guek Eav at his 2009 trial 

Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, has died after admitting to overseeing torture and killings as many as 16,000 Cambodians whilst running the regime’s most notorious prison.

Duch died in the Cambodian Soviet Friendship Hospital at the age of 77. He was serving a life prison term for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face the U.N. backed tribunal in 2009 for massacres which killed approximately 1.7 million people, roughly a quarter of Cambodia’s population at the time, during the late 1970s.

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 and has been accused of genocide due to mass executions, starvation and lack of medical care provided by the regime. In 2004, the UN and the then Cambodian government established a tribunal to investigate these atrocities.

The New York Times reports that since Dutch’s trial, two high-ranking Khmer Rouge leaders have been convicted and further two others have died before their trials could be concluded. Nuon Chea, the regime’s No.2 leader, died during his appeals process.

The New York Times further reports that the former head of state Khieu Samphan, will “almost certainly” be the last one to face trial, due to the Cambodian government’s opposition to more prosecutions.

Read more from the New York Times.