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Human rights

Human rights
Latest news, features and analysis on human rights, with a focus on civil liberties in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia.
Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, at the White House in Washington on April 14. Photo: EPA-EFE
El Salvador

El Salvadore’s Bukele suggests prisoner swap with Maduro for Venezuela deportees

Proposal comes as El Salvador has come under international scrutiny for accepting Venezuelans and Salvadorans deported by the US.

Israel

15 Gaza paramedics were shot and killed in ‘misunderstanding’, Israel finds

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Myanmar

Ethnic Karen people flee Myanmar for Thailand amid bombing, unrest

Pakistan

Mob in Pakistan beats to death man from persecuted minority

The minority Ahmadiyya community are considered heretics by the Pakistani government and have been persecuted for decades.

Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) shout slogans during a demonstration against Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community in Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE
United States

US Supreme Court hits pause on deportations of Venezuelan migrants

Lawyers had filed urgent requests saying the men were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the court.

Donald Trump

Man wrongly deported from US says he’s been moved from El Salvador mega-prison

The update came from Senator Chris Van Hollen after he met Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man at the centre of a debate on rights and immigration.

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Donald Trump

Supreme Court keeps hold on Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship

Trump said he is ‘so happy’ the Supreme Court will hear arguments in May. ‘I think the case has been so misunderstood,’ he said on Thursday.

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US President Donald Trump. Photo: Abaca Press / TNS
Israel-Gaza war

Hamas ‘ready to release all remaining hostages’ for end to Gaza war

Khalil al-Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team for indirect talks with Israel, said the group refused an interim truce deal.

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Cambodia

Cambodia’s descent into madness remembered, 50 years after the Khmer Rouge

Frenchman Roland Neveu witnessed the victorious Khmer Rouge enter Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, heralding a savage era for Cambodians.

Donald Trump

Judge finds cause to hold Trump admin in contempt for El Salvador deportations

The administration did not turn around planes carrying deportees to a notorious prison despite an order from the court.

Salvadoran police officers escort an alleged member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Centre in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in March. Photo: Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia via Reuters
Indonesia

‘Risking our lives’: Indonesians warn of dangers in Cambodian scam compounds

Indonesians promised employment in Cambodia say they were instead forced to work long hours in shadowy compounds scamming victims.

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Indonesian authorities say there were 515 reported cases “related to online scams” from Cambodia in the first six months of 2023. Photo: Shutterstock
Britain

‘Woman’ refers to someone born biologically female: UK’s top court

This means a transgender person with a certificate that recognises them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.

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Myanmar

Trafficked workers from Myanmar scam hubs say death better than going back

‘We will kill ourselves instead of going back to them,’ said one of the dozens who attempted a mass escape from their Myanmar detention.

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United States

Trump administration faces court inquiry over El Salvador deportation case

A judge demanded US officials provide documents and answer questions under oath about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation to El Salvador.

Demonstrators rally during a status hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador. Photo: EPA-EFE
Indonesia

Indonesia’s new rule for foreign reporters raises concerns about press freedom

The introduction of police certification is yet another indication of the challenges of reporting in Indonesia, critics say.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto speaking to the local media. Photo: Reuters
Cambodia

Cambodia’s tougher ban on genocide denial: ‘another tool to silence dissent’?

Critics fear the move to further criminalise denial of the Khmer Rouge’s horrors will stifle opposition to Hun Sen’s dynasty.

Asean

How Malaysia’s Anwar risks legitimising Myanmar junta through diplomacy

The Asean chair hopes for progress from his meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, but will it give the isolated junta a propaganda boost?

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United States

Palestinian activist expecting US citizenship interview is arrested by ICE

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent US resident and a critic of the war in Gaza, was arrested in Vermont on Monday.

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Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University, gives a peace sign as he is detained at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester, Vermont on Monday. Photo: Christopher Helali via AP
Donald Trump

El Salvador’s Bukele says he will not return wrongly deported migrant to US

Trump administration has been ordered by a court to facilitate return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was deported without due process.

Hong Kong courts

Hong Kong activist in legal fight to allow women to wear shorts in prison

Women prisoners must wear trousers even in summer unless they have medical or religious reasons.

United States

US deports another 10 gang members to El Salvador, Marco Rubio says

US secretary of state hailed alliance between Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele a day before Bukele’s White House visit.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in El Congo municipality, El Salvador in February. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS
Bangladesh

Bangladesh reintroduces ‘except Israel’ phrase on passports

Muslim-majority Bangladesh does not recognise Israel. The ‘except Israel’ phrase was removed in 2021 during former PM Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.

Bangladeshi Muslims buy clothes during Ramadan in Dhaka on March 25. Israel is a flashpoint issue in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Photo: AFP
Indonesia

Indonesia’s Prabowo: Gaza violence undermines world’s rules-based system

Indonesian president says violence and unilateral decisions by the West are only leading the world towards unrest with little say for emerging nations.

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh families seek sons feared fighting for Russia in Ukraine war

Worried families claim the men were duped into joining the Russian army after being originally promised jobs elsewhere.

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Israel-Gaza war

Judge rules US can deport Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil

The pro-Palestinian activist was the first person arrested under Trump’s crackdown on students taking part in campus protests over Gaza.

Muslim protesters pray outside the main campus of Columbia University during a demonstration to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil in New York in March. Photo: Reuters
United States

Supreme Court says Trump admin must help bring back man sent to El Salvador

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported and put in a notorious prison in his native country despite being in the US legally.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the US legally and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen in a handout image obtained on Tuesday. Photo: Abrego Garcia Family via Reuters
Middle East

Taliban’s morality police arrest men for skipping mosque or wrong hairstyles

During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention.

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United States

US-Russian citizen released in Moscow-Washington prisoner swap

Ksenia Karelina was convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about US$52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.

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