A land deal finalized this week between Paraguayan authorities and a land owner in the country’s central region will allow a long-displaced indigenous community to rebuild in safety and dignity, Amnesty International said today.

For almost two decades, the Yakye Axa indigenous community have fought a legal battle to return to their ancestral lands while around 90 families were forced to live in destitute conditions alongside a nearby highway.

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The Cuban government must reform an arbitrary exit permit scheme that affects all Cubans and is used to punish freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today after a prominent blogger was again blocked from travelling abroad.

On Friday, Cuba’s migration authorities denied blogger and activist Yoani Sánchez an exit permit (white card or tarjeta blanca) for the 19th time in four years. As on previous occasions, no reason was given for the decision.

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The Israeli authorities must release a Palestinian detainee or charge him with a recognizable criminal offence and promptly try him, Amnesty International said today amid fears the man could die in detention after more than 50 days on hunger strike.

Khader Adnan, 33, was arrested on 17 December 2011 at his home in the village of Arrabe near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli security forces burst into his home in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Adnan, a baker, is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement.

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The decision by Russia and China to veto a weak draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria, the day after the Syrian army launched a major assault on residential areas of Homs leaving scores dead, is a shockingly callous betrayal of the people of Syria, Amnesty International said today.
 
"This is a completely irresponsible use of the veto by Russia and China," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary-General.

"It is staggering that they have blocked the passage of what was already a very weak draft resolution."
 

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The UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal’s final judgment against a former prison chief in Cambodia today is an important step towards accountability but raises human rights concerns, Amnesty International said. 

The tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber upheld an earlier conviction of Khmer Rouge jailer Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, for crimes against humanity and war crimes described as “amongst the worst in human history”, and increased his sentence from 35 years to life in prison.

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A decision by the United Nations’ top legal body that Italy was wrong to allow action through its courts to seek compensation from Germany for Nazi-era war crimes is a setback for human rights, Amnesty International said today.

Today’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirms that Germany has legal immunity from being sued for reparations in foreign courts by victims of Nazi war crimes, in breach of their human rights.

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 The Albanian authorities must immediately provide adequate housing for around 35 Roma families who face imminent forced eviction or have already been forcibly evicted, Amnesty International said today.

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Pakistani authorities must do more to protect the Ahmaddiya community, Amnesty International said today amid threats from religious groups to block Ahmadis from entering their place of worship in Rawalpindi on Friday.

An Ahmadi spokesperson yesterday said local religious groups have warned they will not allow Ahmadis to carry out religious activities this Friday, local media reported.

The call comes a week after some 5,000 people demonstrated in favour of demolition of the Ewan-e-Tauheed, one of the largest Ahmadi places of worship in the city of Rawalpindi.

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3 February 2011 was the day when protests in Yemen transformed into a mass movement. On that day a broad group of mainly students and activists calling itself the Youth of 3 February (since referred to itself as Youth of the Revolution) attracted tens of thousands of people to mass protests in the capital Sana’a.

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Cambodian authorities must stop the use of excessive force against peaceful land and housing activists, Amnesty International said today, after police violently dispersed a group of around 150 women protesting forced evictions in the capital Phnom Penh.

Police yesterday beat and arrested several of the women, who were peacefully protesting against last month’s forced eviction of the Borei Keila community and the effects of past evictions at the capital’s Boeung Kak Lake.

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