The case concerns 19 individuals, of whom 11 are currently in custody and eight remain at large. Prosecutors allege the group sought to destabilize Bahrain’s constitutional order, obstruct government institutions, undermine national unity, and ultimately overthrow the constitutional system. The defendants are accused of creating and managing an organization aimed at achieving these objectives through unlawful means.

Prosecutors further allege that the group attempted to influence religious gatherings, including ma’atam (ritual mourning in Shia tradition), and places of worship, using them to promote its ideology and encourage opposition to the Bahraini government. The alleged activities included efforts to spread political messaging aligned with wilayat al-faqih, the governance theory associated with Iran’s cleric-led political system. Prosecutors also charge that communication between the defendants and individuals linked to the IRGC were part of a coordinated effort to alter Bahrain’s political system.

The defendants are reported to have denied all charges.

The 19 defendants were among 41 people arrested in May in connection with the same investigation. Several individuals have already received life sentences in relation to alleged IRGC-linked spying and sabotage this year.

The next court hearing in the current case is scheduled for July 12.

From JURIST, July 6. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo: Pixabay via Jurist

Commenting on the gravity of this decision for victims of crimes against humanity, Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s regional director for West Africa, stated: “Withdrawing from the ICC amounts to a headlong retreat by these governments from their international law and justice obligations. It will also further imperil civilian lives and further enshrine impunity for crimes under international law.”

The three countries recently formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a mutual defense and economic confederation that seeks to reject the political influence of the Western powers. In September 2025, the countries won international criticism when they announced their decision to exit the Court. Justifying this decision, a joint communique was issued, in which they branded the ICC an instrument of neo-colonialism and selective justice, saying they chose to defend their national sovereignty against what they termed Western imperialism.

On June 18, Niger became the first of the three to formally submit its written instrument of withdrawal to the UN secretary general, in accordance with Article 127 of the Rome Statute. Six days later, Burkina Faso and Mali followed suit. Pursuant to the rules of the Rome Statute, a country’s withdrawal takes effect a year after submission of the formal notification. Before the AES made its sudden announcement of collective withdrawal last September, other countries had recently withdrawn from the international court, including Burundi and the Philippines.

The AES countries are currently engaged in coordinated military actions to beat back surging jihadist offensives, which have resulted in massive civilian casualties across their shared borders. The Sahel war has contributed to an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region, and resulted in multiple massacres and extrajudicial killings committed by state security forces and paramilitaries with Kremlin ties (overseen by Moscow’s Africa Corps), as well as by insurgent groups.

Women and girls live in a climate of fear due to the sheer scale of gang rapes, abductions, sexual slavery, and forced marriages orchestrated by armed groups and unaccountable actors. With internal judicial systems effectively paralyzed, the ICC presented a mechanism for justice in the region. The AES has proposed an alternative Sahel Criminal Court for Human Rights, to be based in Mali.

From JURIST, July 4. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo: Mali Government Information Center via Morning Star

HRW stated that police officers in the Philippines have continued to commit extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests against suspects, which is reminiscent of security officers’ practices under Duterte’s administration. Additionally, accountability mechanisms remain weak and inadequate.

According to HRW, the number of killings in the anti-drug campaign has reached 1,273 since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president in June 2022. The report noted a decline in the number of extrajudicial killings compared to rates under Duterte’s presidency, but found that illegal arrests have significantly increased.

HRW added that police raids have become more difficult to document as they have often been conducted by officers dressed in civilian clothes, while masked gunmen have carried out killings, complicating investigations. Individuals also stated to HRW that they experienced harassment from police officers even after the arrest of their relatives, while others indicated that their family member was tortured during arrest, before going missing.

HRW called on authorities to end this aggressive anti-drug campaign and instead prosecute drug dealers following a rights-based approach that complies with legal norms and proceedings, while ensuring the protection of all Philippine citizens’ rights.

The Philippines long faced criticism for the  anti-drug campaign launched by Duterte in 2016, which was marked by thousands of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug users and dealers. In 2025, Duterte was arrested under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for crimes against humanity related to his “war on drugs.” The trial is scheduled to open Nov. 30, focusing on three counts of crimes against humanity: murder, torture and rape.

Current President Marcos has pledged to shift the government’s punitive approach to the fight against drug trafficking by adopting a more holistic, human rights-based approach. In April 2024, the Philippines held the Drug Policy & Law Reform Summit, launching an initiative aimed at restructuring enforcement. However, President Marcos continues to receive calls from monitors to cease ongoing abuses and ensure accountability for all those involved in human rights violations.

From JURIST, July 2. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Image: Grunge Love via Flickr

Sael Silva Cisneros, a prominent lawyer and advocate for Afro-Mexican and LGBTQ rights, was killed in a roadside attack outside the town of Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero state, on June 5, shortly after delivering a seminar titled “Afro-Mexican dissidences in Guerrero: history, justice and rights.” Silva Cisneros had a history of campaigning for Afro-Mexican rights, and dcoumenting the systemic intersectional marginalization of this community within Mexico and abroad.

The town of Cuajinicuilapa is located close to a stretch of the southwestern coast of Mexico known as the Costa Chica, heartland of the Afro-Mexican population. The seminar was the latest in a series Silva Cisneros had conducted this year in towns and villages throughout the region.

Silva Cisneros had also worked as a researcher for the Supreme Court of Mexico, which released a statement following his murder, honoring his work and condemning “any form of violence that attacks the dignity, equality and human rights of individuals.”

The UN experts reiterated Mexico’s commitments under international human rights treaties to protect marginalized groups, especially those facing intersectional and overlapping forms of discrimination, as well as to dismantle the systemic forces that facilitate these abuses. They also urged Mexico to provide “truth, justice, full reparation and guarantees of non-repetition” for said abuses.

Currently, Mexico has one of the highest rates of attacks on human rights defenders, and has been previously criticized by the UN for its failure to protect activists despite the enactment of the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders & Journalists in 2012.

From JURIST, July 2. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last report on the Afro-Mexican struggle.

Photo: Facebook

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, stated:

Hong Kong’s highly repressive national security regime and bureaucracy have erased long-protected rights and cast a deeply troubling shadow over its future. As Beijing continues to radically transform Hong Kong, the deadly Tai Po housing complex fire illustrates the tragic consequences of a society that has lost its ability to hold the powerful accountable.

The reshaping has fundamentally changed the institutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). All power now lies with institutions that report to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. The new Legislative Council is overwhelmingly comprised of individuals with deep ties to the Chinese state, including 45 people who hold positions in Chinese state-owned enterprises, and numerous former police officers.

The government has also allocated HK$5 billion (approximately USD$638 million) to national security. There is no public information about how this money is used, and there has been increased secrecy in arrests and police operations.

These changes have been consolidated in the six years since the National Security Law was imposed in June 2020. This law has led to the arrests of protestors, activists and former opposition lawmakers, as well as shutting down numerous pro-democracy news sources. Prominent democracy advocates have been imprisoned, including Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong.

HRW emphasized that the response to the Tai Po fire, which left 168 dead, demonstrates how this security apparatus functions to suppress dissent. Seven people involved in a recent renovation of the housing complex were criminally charged, but critics who called for a wider investigation into government negligence were silenced and even detained.

The rights group further stated that the national security framework has led to censorship of art and film, and many businesses have been targeted by the authorities with bureaucratic harassment if they are seen as holding pro-democracy values. Last week, two booksellers were arrested under the National Security Law on suspicion of selling seditious literature.

These changes are also now entrenched in the education system. The Education Bureau has instituted a curriculum that emphasizes the “values” of national security and patriotism, and seeks to vilify the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong before the crackdown. When these changes were proposed in 2024, one anonymous educator raised concerns, saying: “China has historical problems and existing ones. We need to face up to them for the country to progress.”

Pearson said that these far-reaching consequences expose the false promises of the Chinese government:

The Chinese government dishonestly claims the national security regime targets only a small minority of people, but in reality it has turned the city into a security fortress, leaving people powerless. Foreign governments should keep speaking out about Hong Kong, and not forget that it is the ordinary people who fought so hard for universal suffrage and basic rights who suffer the most.

Other organizations, such as Amnesty International, have joined HRW in expressing ongoing concern over national security enforcement in the HKSAR.

From JURIST, June 30. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last report on the National Security regime in Hong Kong.

Photo: HKFP

Commenting on the large scale of atrocities committed against civilians in Mali, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, Ilaria Allegrozzi, stated:

As fighting flares up again, the warring parties in Mali are once again carrying out grave abuses against civilians, repeating former patterns of harming civilians… All parties are obligated to respect international humanitarian law, take all feasible steps to avoid civilian harm, and facilitate access to humanitarian aid.

The crisis in Mali began in January 2012, after a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north allied with Islamist armed groups and seized much of the country’s territory, later to be driven back. However, a sudden intensification of violence began this April after the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam & Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM) formed a pact with Tuareg fighters of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a faction with which they have had a rocky relationship, to carry out attacks across Mali.

Although they have formed a temporary alliance, the two insurgent have differing ideologies and aims. JNIM seeks to establish an ultra-conservative Islamic state across the Sahel region, whereas the Tuareg separatists are fighting for the independence of their homeland in Mali’s north, which they call Azawad. In response to their new alliance, the Malian armed forces have carried out drone strikes that resulted in multiple fatalities. The armed forces and militia groups are also believed to have carried out reprisals against Fulani communities, who are stigmatized as JNIM collaborators. Russian fighters from the Africa Corps (formerly the Wagner Group) have also participated in atrocities.

Human Rights Watch criticized all sides in the conflict for contributing to the mass suffering of the civilian population, noting abuses such as publicly executing civilians, burning vehicles, and conducting military operations that have killed non-combatants, including children. In September 2025, JNIM cut off the entry of fuel supplies into Mali, blocking and attacking tanker-truck convoys from neighboring countries and killing truck drivers, triggering severe shortages that halted transport, disrupted education and electricity, and paralyzed daily life in the capital Bamako.

The prohibition on deliberately killing civilians during armed conflict is codified under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and is considered a jus cogens norm, which is non-derogable in nature.

From JURIST, June 30. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Map: PCL

The DRC accused Rwanda of bearing direct responsibility for years of violations, including massacres, displacement, and atrocities in the easternmost parts of the DRC, which directly border Rwanda. The application concerns “abuses attributable to Rwanda over a period extending from 1996 to the present day,” the ICJ said in a statement, confirming it had received the DRC’s application to initiate proceedings.

The case comes after years of worsening tensions, with the Congolese government repeatedly accusing Rwanda of supporting armed groups operating in eastern DRC, particularly the M23 rebel group, which has seized large areas of territory in recent years. Rwanda has denied backing the group.

The DRC stated that the abuses have “primarily targeted Hutus present on Zairian, and subsequently Congolese, territory following the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994” in Rwanda. However, the filing added that other Congolese ethnic groups, including the Nyindu, Bembe, Nande, Lega, Hunde and Bashi, have also been targeted.

“The civilian populations of eastern DRC have been victims of massacres, extrajudicial executions, acts of torture, sexual violence, forced displacement, and discrimination,” the Congolese government said in its statement, describing suffering amongst the locals as of an “exceptional magnitude.”

The eastern DRC has been trapped in cycles of violence for decades. The region has seen a proliferation of armed groups, and civilians have often been caught between rebel forces, government troops, and foreign-backed militias. Millions of people have been displaced, while many communities have faced repeated attacks.

From JURIST, June 29. Used with permission.

Note: Last September, a report prepared by a Fact-Finding Mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’(OHCHR) documented a string of atrocities in in the eastern DRC since late 2024 involving the M23 rebels, the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC), and government-allied militias such as the Wazalendo. The report found serious violations of international humanitarian law, possibly rising to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. (Jurist)

Photo: ICJ

Amnesty described the measures as “excessive” and constituting an attack on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The Ankara governorate issued a statement June 22, announcing the special security measures ahead of the NATO summit, which will be held July 7-8. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s office announced June 25 that 225 people had been detained under the measures, with 135 referred to court with requests for pre-trial detention. The statement said those arrested were linked to ISIS and leftist groups.

Human Rights Watch also reacted to the development, saying the wave of arrests “highlights Türkiye’s ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly.”

The Turkish authorities have justified the protest ban and mass detentions as necessary measures to ensure public order ahead of the NATO summit and to counter alleged terrorist threats. However, human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, argue that these measures constitute disproportionate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

From JURIST, June 28. Used with permission.

See our last report on the crackdown on political opposition in Turkey.

Map: CIA

Türk noted that at least 52 people have died in ICE custody since the beginning of 2025, following President Donald Trump’s return to office and the start of the administration’s expanded immigration enforcement policies. According to official figures, 18 people died in ICE detention during the first five months of this year, with an additional death recorded in June, while 33 deaths were documented during 2025 overall—compared with 11 in 2024.

Türk stressed that governments have an obligation under international human rights law to protect the right to life, particularly when individuals are deprived of their liberty. Authorities must provide detainees with adequate medical care and other necessary protections while in custody, he emphasized.

Human Rights Watch issued a similar warning on June 25. The group also noted that, under official ICE policy, the government is expected to provide families with relevant information following a death in custody, including medical records and investigative findings.

However, a report by Physicians for Human Rights concluded that in all 39 cases it reviewed, the government failed to publicly disclose sufficient information regarding the circumstances surrounding the deaths, or the medical treatment provided in detention, preventing independent clinical assessment.

Earlier this year, Türk expressed concern over US immigration enforcement practices, stating that individuals suspected of lacking legal immigration status have been arrested, “sometimes violently,” at hospitals, places of worship, courthouses, schools, markets and private homes. Noting “unnecessary or disproportionate” use of force in these detentions, he emphasized that under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is permissible only as a last resort against an individual posing an imminent threat to life.

ICE is reportedly detaining more than 60,000 individuals at present, compared with approximately 40,000 detainees in early 2025, and has announced plans to expand detention capacity to 90,000 by the end of 2026.

According to Human Rights Watch, the mortality rate in ICE custody has reached its highest level in more than a decade, exceeding rates recorded during both the first Trump administration and the COVID-19 pandemic. Rights groups and the UN have both called for urgent action to ensure accountability for deaths in custody and to safeguard the lives of those held in immigration detention.

From JURIST, June 26. Used with permission.

Photo: ICE via Wikimedia Commons

Mosbah and her colleagues are affiliated with the anti-racism and rights organization Mnemty (“My Dream”), with Mosbah serving as president. In May 2024, Mosbah and several other activists, including her co-defendants, were arrested on charges of money laundering and “illicit enrichment.” In March, the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Mosbah to eight years in prison and a fine of TND122,000 (approx. USD$36,000) while her colleagues were given prison terms of between one and three years as well as fines of up to TND64,000 (approx. $22,000).

Rights organizations have called the charges a miscarriage of justice and asserted that the investigative judge presiding in the case failed to provide any conclusive evidence that the activists had engaged in illegal financial activities. Amnesty’s North Africa researcher Safia Rayan stated:

The initial verdict issued on 19 March against Saadia Mosbah and other Mnemty staff and collaborators, among them four who now risk imminent arrest, is shocking and profoundly unjust. It is another appalling indictment of the Tunisian authorities’ ongoing weaponization of the criminal justice system to silence civil society. It is shocking how far the authorities are willing to go in their assault on the right to freedom of association and human rights work, disproportionately targeting Black and anti-racism defenders.

Amnesty also criticized the statutory provision used to convict Mosbah and her colleagues. Specifically, the rights group said that the definition of “illicit enrichment” is not clearly defined, and that there is ambiguity in the language “important increase in the fortune of the person.” This has led to allegations that the charges were brought in retaliation against Mosbah and her colleagues as part of a campaign to repress rights groups. The appellate hearings opened last month. The appeal presents renewed hope that the convictions will be overturned.

As president of Mnemty, Mosbah has spearheaded multiple efforts to address the country’s longstanding issue of racism against minority groups, particularly the Black Tunisian community who make up roughly 10 to 15% of the country’s population. In 2018, this work culminated in the adoption of Organic Law 2018-50, which criminalized racial discrimination and made Tunisia the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to do so. Amnesty said her position as a key figure in the fight for equality in Tunisia led to her arrest; she has remained in detention ever since. Rights experts are also concerned about reports of Mosbah being subjected to racist abuse and physical assault tantamount to torture in prison.

In recent years, racism against Black Tunisians has been exacerbated by official political rhetoric, amid a rise in xenophobia and violence. Amnesty has accused Tunisian President Kais Saied of inciting racial discrimination and fueling a hostile environment in the country. Tunisia is a party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits discrimination based on race.

From JURIST, June 19. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo: Huda1977 via Wikimedia Commons