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Zhang Yi, a prominent pro-democracy activist, was formally placed in detention July 28 on suspicion of “inciting separatism” under China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity & Progress, which came into effect on the first of the month. The law states its aim as promoting “a strong sense of community” among Chinese people. Article 2 of the law dictates that this must be achieved by “upholding” the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership. Other articles aim to establish homogeneity in respect of culture, religion, language and written script. Critics contend that the legislation serves as a sweeping legal tool to impose forced assimilation and eliminate the distinct cultural identities of minority populations.

Notably, Article 63 establishes that the law extends beyond China’s borders, allowing charges against those even outside of the mainland territory who create “ethnic division” within the People’s Republic. Rights groups have criticized this as another attempt to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over diaspora communities, causing them to live in fear of retaliation from the Chinese government.

Zhang Yi was initially detained July 1—the day the Ethnic Unity Law took effect—during a visit to Sera monastery outside Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. There, he showed a Tibetan worshiper a photograph of the Dalai Lama on his phone, in an attempt to non-verbally communicate that he needed a prayer mat. This exchange was overseen by plainclothes police, who arrested him as he left the prayer room.

Prior to the law’s enactment, multiple rights groups warned of its far-reaching implications, stating that it puts activists at risk of persecution. Rights organization also criticized the “broad and undefined” nature of prohibitions on acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division,” warning of the potential for arbitrary detentions.

According to rights group Tibet Watch, there have been at several detentions related to expression of cultural or religious identity in Tibet over the past months, including the enforced disappearance of two monks. The group warned of a heightened “pattern of oppression” against Tibetans.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule since 1951, with the ratification of the Seventeen Point Agreement between Lhasa and Beijing. However, many legal scholars and rights groups argue that the agreement was signed by the Lhasa government under duress, and that Tibet legally remains “an independent state” under Chinese occupation.

Rights groups say that China’s ongoing repression of the Tibetan community extends far beyond systematically erasing Tibetan culture from history textbooks and forcing young Tibetan children into state-run residential schools. The government has also sought to extend political control over the community by detaining and hiding the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, since 1995—apparently to set a precedent for control the selection of the next Dalai Lama.

The Panchen Lama is the second-highest authority in Tibetan Buddhism. By replacing the indigenously chosen Panchen Lama with a state-vetted proxy, Beijing has sought to permanently subordinate the religion to Communist Party rule, rights advocates say.

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

See our last report on the “Ethnic Unity Law.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, stated: “The Thai authorities should urgently and impartially investigate online attacks, including death threats, against Angkhana, Anchana, and Romadon, who have been widely recognized for their work defending human rights in Thailand’s deep south… Those responsible for serious threats should be brought to justice, regardless of their affiliation, to demonstrate Thailand’s commitment to protecting human rights defenders.”

The HRW statement came as Angkhana filed a police complaint under the Computer-Related Crime Act after an online disinformation campaign called for her extrajudicial killing, portraying her a sympathizer of the insurgent group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), and falsely claiming that she was a supporter of the deadly militant ambush in Narathiwat province on July 22. Similar claims were shared about Anchana and Romadon. HRW stated that the abusive social media posts were part of a broader state-orchestrated initiative, with accounts being traced back to the Thai government’s information operations.

Angkhana, a senator and former commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, has long been the target of a state-sponsored campaign of intimidation for her frontline work in advocating for the rights of Thailand’s Muslim community. The Muslim community in Thailand—which is concentrated in the Deep South, specifically the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Satun—is extremely vulnerable to arbitrarily detention under local emergency decrees, torture while in custody, and systematic discrimination aimed at forced assimilation.

Thailand’s military has a documented history of human rights abuses, including during the 2010 Red Shirt Protests, which saw the army deployed under a strict state of emergency, leading to over 80 fatalities. However, military repression in the Deep South rarely receives the same level of publicity compared to other provinces in the country, due to severe political neglect, the framing of abuses as counter-terrorism measures, and geographic marginalization. This has resulted in the scale of abuses in the Deep South being effectively invisible, with minimal investigations conducted into such cases.

Angkhana’s husband, Somchai Neelaphaijit, a prominent human rights lawyer, was last seen being pushed into a car by a group of men against his will in early 2004. He has been missing ever since, leaving behind his wife and five young children.

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

Photo: Front Line Defenders

The UN experts say that approximately 57 Bahá’ís are currently detained or imprisoned in Iran. They report claims of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, physical and psychological abuse, and coerced confessions. Some detainees were reportedly subjected to mock executions to pressure them into making confessions that were subsequently broadcast throughout Iranian state media.

The prosecutions have reportedly focused on national-security charges, including “propaganda against the state” and espionage. Human rights groups and Bahá’í representatives say that peaceful religious and community activities are being treated as security offenses, which allows criminal law to become a tool of religious repression.

The EU Agency for Asylum finds that risk varies among Bahá’ís depending on their circumstances. Those who participate in protests, publicly identify as Bahá’í, hold community leadership roles, or have previously been targeted may face heightened risk.

The allegations may constitute violations of Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Islamic Republic is a party. The ICCPR protects freedom of religion and belief, due process and fair trial rights, and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The current allegations form part of a much longer pattern; under the Pahlavi dynasty (1925–1979), Bahá’ís faced state-backed discrimination, including bans on religious literature, closure of Bahá’í schools, and exclusion from public-sector employment. In the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, more than 200 Bahá’ís were reportedly killed or executed, and thousands faced imprisonment, torture and exclusion from education and employment.

By the 1990s, persecution had shifted toward systematic exclusion. A 1991 government memorandum has been cited by Bahá’í organizations as evidence of a state policy intended to prevent the community from developing as a “viable entity” in Iran. Restrictions have since reportedly extended to university education, employment, businesses, religious gatherings, and burial sites.

The latest UN warning follows reports by the Bahá’í International Community and Human Rights Watch of more than 750 incidents involving arrests, home raids and imprisonment between June and November 2025.

From JURIST, July 31. Used with permission.

See our last report on persecution of the Baha’i.

Photo: Baha’i followers in Brazil protest repression in Iran. Via Wikimedia Commons

Amnesty International condemned the July 15 decision of Delhi’s lieutenant governor to invoke Section 3(2) of India’s National Security Act (NSA), which effectively grants police the power to hold individuals in administrative detention without procedural guarantees.

The decision to invoke this section of the NSA comes amid mass youth protests in India, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), demanding accountability over apparent examination paper leaks that affected millions of students. The protests began in May after the answers to India’s medical school entrance exam, known as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test—Undergraduate (NEET-UG), were leaked, leading to more than 2 million students needing to re-take the test.

Following extension of the invocation of Section 3(2) of the NSA until Oct. 18, Aakar Patel, chair of Amnesty International India, stated:

This deeply concerning move is an affront to human rights that risks enflaming the situation in Delhi even further. It grants the police a host of discretionary powers to detain people for entirely arbitrary reasons for up to 12 months. Fair trial rights guaranteed under international human rights law are essentially suspended, as detainees are denied legal representation and do not have to be informed of the grounds of their detention for up to 15 days.

Delhi police claim that this a routine administrative measure, but Patel pointed to previous times Indian police have abused this power, such as during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020 and the 2026 workers’ protests in Noida. The examination paper leaks have resulted in extreme distress among test-takers who had spent years preparing for the grueling exam, leading to at least 20 students committing suicide.

The CJP protests ultimately forced the government to accede to their demands, including a five-point exam reform charter and adequate compensation to the affected families. At the height of the protests on July 20, Delhi police used tear-gas and batons against protestors as they attempted to march towards India’s parliament.

The movement emerged after the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, made derogatory remarks about student protesters, dismissing them as “unemployed youths…who attack the legal system,” and even going so far as to call them “cockroaches.”

Under the NSA, police can detain persons without charge based on the suspicion that they might carry out an activity that undermines public order or national security. Once detained, such individuals have no right to legal representation before the three-member Advisory Board that reviews the grounds on which their detention was ordered.

The NSA has been widely criticized as a contravention of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to liberty and security of person, as well as Article 14 of the ICCPR, which guarantees the right to fair trial.

From JURIST, July 27. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last report on the Gen Z revolutions.

Photo: Pelph Hoters via Wikimedia Commons

From The New Humanitarian, July 24

Photo: chinaworker.info

In January, Gen Z002 organized an online poll titled “Popular Referendum to Remove El-Sisi,” which asked participants whether they supported removing President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi from power. The poll received more than 330,000 responses and spread across social media platforms through Arabic-language hashtags.

Amnesty International said authorities have arrested at least 50 people connected to the group since late May, including women, tradespeople, and public sector workers. Authorities accused the detainees of terrorism-related offenses, publishing false news, or using online platforms to promote ideas linked to terrorism. The charges are based on Egypt’s Anti-Cyber & Information Technology Crimes Law (Law No. 175/2018) and Anti-Terrorism Law (Law No. 94/2015).

Gen Z002 was created in October 2025 by exiled Egyptian activist Anas Habib as an online community hosted on Discord, a platform that allows users to communicate through text channels, voice chats, and online groups. The group described itself as an “Egyptian national youth movement” focused on social justice. Although the group discussed political issues, it also hosted additional community activities, including discussions about football, online first aid training, a book club, and fitness sessions.

The arrests follow previous concerns over Egypt’s treatment of online critics. In February 2025, Amnesty called for the release of at least 59 people arrested over their alleged support for an online movement called “Revolution of the Joints.” Authorities accused those individuals of participating in online channels calling for destabilization of President El-Sisi’s government.

International organizations have also raised concerns about Egypt’s restrictions on political expression and civil society. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 14 other press freedom and human rights organizations warned the European Union about what they described as widespread patterns of enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and restrictions targeting journalists, activists, academics and political opponents.

The Gen Z002 case has drawn parallels to the 2011 Egyptian revolution, often known as the “Facebook Revolution,” which grew from a Facebook page exposing police brutality that ultimately led to the mobilization of thousands against the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

The UN has also criticized Egypt’s use of anti-terrorism legislation against human rights defenders and activists. Critics point out that the use of ambiguous terminology such as “harming national unity” and “disturbing public order” is prone to political weaponization to silence dissent.

From JURIST, July 23. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last posts on the crackdown in Egypt and the Gen Z revolutions.

Image via Facebook

The 131-page complaint, filed under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, names among many defendants senior presidential advisor Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and State Department official John Armstrong, along with the Heritage Foundation and two online surveillance or “doxxing” groups, Canary Mission and Betar, as well as individual leaders of each organization.

According to the complaint, the Heritage Foundation launched Project Esther in October 2024. This project was a plan to identify and target non-citizen students and scholars who advocated for Palestinian rights for arrest and deportation through a “public-private partnership” with a “willing Administration” in the White House. Canary Mission and Betar would select the targets. An Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) official testified in separate federal proceedings brought by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) that roughly 75% of the names of student activists his agency investigated came from Canary Mission.

Khalil, a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen, was arrested by ICE agents on March 8, 2025. He spent 104 days in immigration detention in Louisiana, missing the birth of his first child. His lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and an injunction barring the defendants from continuing to pursue his removal.

“This case is about far more than what was done to me,” Khalil said in a press release. “It’s about a coordinated, ongoing campaign to punish, silence, and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation.”

From JURIST, July 15. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last reports on Mahmoud Khalil and the pro-Israel doxxing operation.

Photo: Office of Rep. Jim McGovern via Wikimedia Commons

Since President Donald Trump launched the current immigration crackdown, at least 14 Mexican nationals have died in the custody of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), and three more have reportedly died in arrests conducted by the agency. Most recently, on July 7, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who had been living in the US without legal documentation for more than three decades.

His killing—which sparked protests in Houston, where Araujo had lived for nearly 35 years, and throughout Mexico—marked at least six people shot dead in ICE operations since early 2025, when Trump returned to office and launched a campaign of mass deportations. In addition to several formal diplomatic protest letters to the US government, demanding a “prompt and thorough investigation,” Sheinbaum’s government has also filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). However, in light of the new deaths and the apparent lack of tangible progress in the United States, the Mexican government has decided to escalate the matter to the criminal justice system.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the Mexicans who have died,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. “We cannot allow the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters who are in the United States—our fellow citizens. Therefore, we will propose other measures.”

She added that her government is prepared to assist all citizens who request it, but especially to “Mexicans whose only crime is working honestly in the United States.”

In addition to formally requesting that the US Department of Justice open criminal investigations into the killings, Sheinbaum said her government will bring civil lawsuits in the US courts against the companies that operate detention centers for ICE.

The announcement represents a significant escalation as relations between the two neighbors continue to worsen. Addressing the press during that day’s conference, Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Robert Velasco stated that a request will also be made to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to demand protection for Mexican nationals in ICE custody.

The move underscores Mexico’s growing willingness to challenge US immigration enforcement through international and legal channels, as pressure mounts for accountability over deaths tied to detention and arrest operations. With tensions already strained, the moves could further deepen the diplomatic rift between Washington and Mexico.

From JURIST, July 10. Used with permission.

See our last report on the struggle in Texas.

Photo of Houston protest against ICE: Jessica Bolanos via Wikimedia Commons

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Image: CounterVortex, after JSCSR