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Pacific Islands: World’s First Regional Guidance on Climate Relocation
Pacific Island governments on March 4, 2026, launched the world’s first regional guide to address climate-related relocation grounded in human rights principles.
As Pacific leaders gather for a three-day convening in Nadi, Fiji, they have an opportunity to pair this landmark guidance with the financial and technical support needed to implement it. The Pacific Regional Guidance on Planned Relocation adapts global standards on planned relocation to the realities of the Pacific, where rising seas, coastal erosion, and king tides are already forcing entire communities to move.
“This regional guide recognizes that planned relocation to a new site is a measure of last resort for communities that can no longer adapt to climate change impacts in place, and should protect communities’ rights, dignity, and self-determination,” said Erica Bower, climate displacement researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Now, Pacific governments and donors need to ensure communities have the resources to make those principles real.”
The guidance covers key considerations to support planned relocation in the Pacific, including robust assessments, policy frameworks, funding, and mechanisms for communities to have a seat at the table during all stages of decision-making. It tailors global standards on planned relocation to the complexities of the Pacific, including greater focus on the role of customary land tenure systems, cultural heritage in assessments, and Indigenous rights such as self-determination and free, prior, and informed consent to make changes in their living situation.
In March 2025, Human Rights Watch published “There’s Just No More Land,” a report documenting the experience of Walande, an Indigenous community in Solomon Islands that planned a collective relocation to mainland Malaita after repeated flooding made their island homes uninhabitable. Walande’s relocation, largely community-led and self-financed through remittances, demonstrates both the resilience of affected communities and the risks they continue to face when government support is limited.
Walande’s experience underscores what is at stake across the Pacific. Without adequate government and international support and sustained funding, relocation can lead to new challenges, including continuous flood exposure, food insecurity, and conflicts with host communities over limited land.
The guidance recognizes that international law protects a range of rights implicated in climate-related planned relocations, including the rights to adequate housing, food, water, health, and culture. Countries have obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill these rights without discrimination. Regional and global cooperation can help ensure that island states facing disproportionate climate risks are not left to shoulder these responsibilities alone.
Governments should also ensure that national frameworks on planned relocation, including Solomon Islands’ forthcoming Standard Operating Procedures and Vanuatu’s forthcoming guidelines, align with the regional guidance and provide clear pathways for community leadership and direct access to funding.
But principles alone will not protect communities, Human Rights Watch said. Governments and international partners should mobilize sustained financial and technical resources, including through mechanisms such as the Pacific Resilience Facility, a new Pacific-led grant-making entity, to ensure communities can access land, housing, infrastructure, and livelihood support.
If fully implemented, the Pacific Guidance could serve as a model for other regions facing the sobering realities of planned relocation. Governments in the Caribbean, another region highly exposed to sea level rise, could host similar convenings for exchange and could develop similar regional guidance tailored to the needs of their region.
“The Pacific has shown global leadership by agreeing on a rights-respecting regional approach to planned relocation,” Bower said. “Now, governments in the region and supporters around the world should ensure communities like Walande have the resources and long-term support to adapt with dignity and shape their own futures.”
US State Revokes Gender-Affirming Identification
Across the state of Kansas, transgender people are receiving letters informing them that their driver’s licenses are invalid following the passage of a law that invalidates birth certificates and driver’s licenses that do not reflect the bearer’s sex assigned at birth.
The law also prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth in all public buildings, making it among the most severe bans in the United States.
The driver’s license revocations are part of a larger legislative onslaught against transgender people that is playing out in states across the country. According to the ACLU, more than 400 bills are pending before state legislatures that would target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. And at the federal level, the US Supreme Court recently allowed the US State Department to stop processing applications for passports that display nonbinary gender markers or a gender other than the bearer’s sex assigned at birth.
In the midst of this backlash, several states have barred transgender people from obtaining documentation that reflects their gender identity. As of February 2026, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas do not allow people to update the gender marker on their driver’s licenses, and these states as well as Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Montana do not allow people to update the gender marker on their birth certificate. Some other states have onerous requirements for such changes, like restricting access to people who have had gender-affirming surgery or can secure a court order.
These laws expose many transgender people to a real risk of discrimination and violence by forcing people to carry identification that is inconsistent with their identity and gender presentation. Kansas’s law goes even further than other states have by invalidating legal identification that has already been issued. This threatens people’s ability to exercise other rights, including their ability to travel and vote, unless and until they obtain new identification inconsistent with their gender identity.
Federal and state lawmakers, including those in Kansas, should swiftly ensure all people can obtain and keep identification that reflects their gender identity, without burdensome requirements. And they should ensure that no right, from freedom of movement to voting, is curtailed by cruel attacks on the rights of transgender people.
US Military’s Dangerous Slide Toward Fully Autonomous Killing
The United States Department of Defense’s decision on February 27 to reject the artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s ethical red lines for AI for military use is a clear sign that the Pentagon is unlikely to uphold meaningful safeguards on weapons’ development. Anthropic declined to allow the Pentagon to use the company’s products for fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of US citizens in fulfilling its Defense Department contract.
Governments at the United Nations in Geneva this week should push back against this dangerous decision when they discuss ways to address autonomous weapons systems under the auspices of the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
At the heart of Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon are divergent views about the definition of “responsible AI” in military domains. Anthropic says it drew a red line at fully autonomous weapons systems, which would select and engage targets with no human involvement.
But the Defense Department’s January AI memo apparently removed a requirement for operators of autonomous weapons systems to be able to exercise “appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force.” The memo prioritizes accelerated adoption of AI to achieve US “Military AI Dominance,” which would contravene those standards.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on February 27 directed that Anthropic be designated a “supply chain risk” and swiftly signed a deal with Anthropic’s competitor Open AI, which agreed to their products being used for “any lawful use,” a new requirement from the US government.
Human Rights Watch has long described how autonomous weapons systems risk placing civilians in grave danger because they would struggle to distinguish between civilians and combatants during armed conflict or to navigate complex, dynamic environments like protests. Among other things, they lack the ability to understand subtle clues signaling human intentions.
Because of their opacity and unpredictability, it would be difficult to hold individual operators or developers accountable for the systems. And built-in biases that the algorithms for these systems use could lead to disproportionate harm for people of color, women, and people with disabilities, among other groups.
To prevent the US from leading the world down a dangerous slide from which there is no return, governments at the Convention on Conventional Weapons should use this week’s meeting to support and strengthen the draft treaty banning and regulating autonomous weapons systems.
Türkiye: Leading Opponent of Erdoğan on Trial
(Istanbul, March 3, 2026) – The Istanbul mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu will stand trial on March 9, 2026, as the central defendant in a politically motivated mass corruption prosecution, Human Rights Watch said today. Most of the 407 defendants worked for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
İmamoğlu has spent a year in detention during investigations and prosecutions targeting elected officials from the party with which he is affiliated, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Türkiye’s main opposition party. A court ordered his detention on the day party members selected him as their presidential candidate. Human Rights Watch issued a timeline setting out the sequence of government moves corroborating concerns that the cases targeting İmamoğlu and the party are politically motivated.
“The trial of Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu follows more than a year of weaponizing the criminal justice system against his party and other CHP elected officials while he sits in jail,” said Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights watch, “Looking at these cases as a whole, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that prosecutors are trying to remove İmamoğlu from politics and discredit his party in ways that undermine democracy.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed lawyers for the defendants, examined legal documents and public statements by the İstanbul public prosecutor’s office, and verified media reports. Researchers also analyzed presidential statements about İmamoğlu and other CHP officials. The timeline of events created illustrates the scale since late 2024 of corruption and terrorism investigations that target CHP mayors and municipalities in Istanbul and other major cities, alongside efforts through the courts to discredit the national leadership of the CHP.
İmamoğlu faces allegations that he used the cover of his public office from 2014 to 2025 to establish what the prosecution calls “the İmamoğlu criminal organization for illicit gain,” with the aim of enriching himself and enabling “the organization’s capture of the [Republican People’s] Party” and his election as president of Türkiye. If convicted on all counts, İmamoğlu could face a prison term of up to 1929 years.
Similar to many other politically motivated trials in Türkiye, the bulk of the evidence consists of statements by 15 witnesses whose identities are withheld from the defense—“secret witnesses” — and from among 76 defendants in the trial who have agreed to testify in exchange for a possibly reduced sentence.
Reliance on such evidence, along with prejudicial statements by prosecutors and Turkish President Erdoğan about İmamoğlu and the party, undermines İmamoğlu’s right to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said. The jailing of İmamoğlu’s defense lawyer as a defendant in the case, the large number of defendants, and the complexity of the proceedings all contribute to serious fair trial concerns.
In the March 2024 local elections, CHP received 37.8 percent of the vote nationally, surpassing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), which received 35.5 percent and lost its lead for the first time in 22 years.
Investigations against the CHP began in Istanbul after the October 2024 appointment of Deputy Justice Minister Akın Gürlek as Istanbul chief public prosecutor. On February 10, 2026, on completion of the investigations into İmamoğlu, Gürlek was appointed justice minister. Gürlek’s successive appointments highlight the flagrant nature of government influence over prosecutorial and judicial appointments and decision making in Türkiye, Human Rights Watch said.
The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office’s investigation coincided with the mayor’s political rise. On February 22, 2025, the day after İmamoğlu announced his presidential candidacy and officially submitted his application to the CHP, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into an allegation that İmamoğlu’s university diploma—a requirement for presidential candidacy—had been falsified.
On March 18, 2025, four days before party members were due to select him, Istanbul University cancelled the diploma, and the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office ordered İmamoğlu’s arrest on March 19 in connection with an organized crime and corruption investigation and for terrorism links. A court ordered his detention on suspicion of organized crime and corruption on March 23, the day his party was due to confirm his presidential candidacy.
In October, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office began a third investigation against İmamoğlu for espionage, alleging he had leaked data about voters to foreign countries, and a court also ordered his detention in this separate investigation. On February 4, 2026, he was indicted for espionage, with three others, and faces a 15-20 year prison term if convicted.
In addition to the cases against İmamoğlu, legal processes challenging the validity of CHP leadership elections at party congresses, and the detention and removal of CHP mayors in other Istanbul districts and in major cities like Adana and Antalya, undermine the ability of the CHP to operate effectively as an opposition party to compete with the ruling Justice and Development Party-Nationalist Action Party (AKP-MHP) coalition in future presidential, parliamentary and local elections.
This impact strongly suggests that the detention of İmamoğlu and other elected mayors, as well as the criminal proceedings brought against them, have an improper purpose and violate the safeguards in article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits states from using restrictions on rights for purposes other than those for which they were intended. The cases also raise concerns about the Turkish authorities’ interference with the rights to political participation, to freedom of expression, and to a fair trial.
Independent TV news channels perceived as being close to the political opposition have faced fines, broadcast bans, investigations, and detentions of journalists for their critical news coverage of the arrest of İmamoğlu and the crackdown on the opposition.
“Opposition parties and politicians that can function freely are a crucial element of a democratic system and ensure voters have a real choice in free and fair elections,” Ward said. “With the president declaring the guilt of his rivals, prosecutors jailing and seeking to disqualify İmamoğlu and other elected officials, and a barrage of cases all against one party, the democratic process in Türkiye has never looked at greater risk.”
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` }, { date: "October 2", content: `The Council of Judges and Prosecutors appoints Akın Gürlek— deputy minister of justice from June 2022 to October 2024—as chief public prosecutor of the Istanbul Courthouse. Gürlek goes on to oversee all the main investigations targeting the IMM and Mayor İmamoğlu and other Istanbul-based investigations against the CHP.
` }, { date: "October 22", content: `In a speech to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) provincial chairs, President Erdoğan questions Özgür Özel’s leadership of the CHP by asserting that the November 4-5, 2023 congress at which Özel was elected leader was conducted in a “dubious” manner. Erdoğan repeats the claim on October 27 and again on November 27.
` }, { date: "October 30", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders the arrest of Ahmet Özer, CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district for alleged “membership” of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A court orders Özer’s detention, and he is replaced as mayor with a government-appointed “administrator,” the Istanbul deputy governor.
` }, { date: "November 1", content: `President Erdoğan files lawsuits for criminal defamation and non-pecuniary damages against CHP leader Özel and Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor İmamoğlu over their critical remarks at a rally held in Esenyurt on October 31, in response to the detention and removal from office of Mayor Özer.
` }, { date: "January 13, 2025", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders the arrest of a second CHP mayor, Rıza Akpolat, from Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, in the context of an organized crime and corruption investigation where the main defendant is businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktaş entailing the alleged rigging of bids for tenders and other crimes in Beşiktaş and other CHP municipalities.
` }, { date: "January 17 ", content: `A court orders the detention of Akpolat, Aktaş, and others, and on the same day Erdoğan makes a speech directed at Özel and the CHP, using a proverbial expression translatable as: “They know very well that worse is coming; that’s why they’re panicking.” Three days later, jailed Esenyurt CHP Mayor Özer is detained for a second time in the same corruption investigation.
` }, { date: "January 20", content: `Referring to the arrest that day of Cem Aydın, president of CHP’s national youth branch for a tweet of a video criticizing Chief Prosecutor Akin Gürlek, İmamoğlu makes a speech at a panel in which he criticizes Gürlek’s “reasoning” as “rotten” and condemns the dawn arrests he holds Gürlek responsible for. Gürlek initiates an investigation against İmamoğlu on the same day alleging that İmamoğlu has targeted him as an official involved in counterterrorism and insulted and threatened him.
` }, { date: "January 27", content: `İmamoğlu holds a press conference alleging that the same court expert has repeatedly been appointed in investigations involving CHP municipalities and has issued unfavorable reports in bad faith. The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office immediately launches an investigation against İmamoğlu for his remarks and, on February 14, indicts him for “attempting to influence a judicial official, expert or witness,” seeking a prison sentence of two to four years, and requesting that he be banned from politics.
` }, { date: "January 31", content: `İmamoğlu is summoned to testify at the Istanbul Courthouse for his remarks against Akın Gürlek on January 20 and his remarks against the court expert on January 27. He is subsequently indicted on February 5 for targeting a public official engaged in counterterrorism , insulting a public official, and threats.
On the day İmamoğlu testifies, the CHP’s campaign bus is prevented from approaching the courthouse, and police use pepper spray on people gathered to show support for İmamoğlu. The İstanbul public prosecutor’s office opens an investigation and, on May 8, indicts CHP Istanbul Chair Özgür Çelik and 25 other CHP officials for multiple crimes including violating the Law on Demonstrations and Protests.
` }, { date: "February 10", content: `Months after Erdoğan’s October and November speeches describing the CHP congress at which Özel was chosen as leader as “dubious,” the Ankara prosecution office makes a statement revealing that there is an investigation into CHP’s 2023 national congress.
` }, { date: "February 11", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation and police then arrest the CHP deputy mayors of Istanbul’s Kartal and Ataşehir districts and seven CHP municipal council members from Tuzla, Adalar, Beyoğlu, Şişli, Üsküdar, Sancaktepe, and Fatih municipalities. On February 13, a court places them in pretrial detention on suspicion on “membership of a terrorist organization,” and on March 6 they are indicted on this charge.
` }, { date: "February 12", content: `The minister of justice says in an interview on the NTV television channel that “Rumors [of a fraudulent process to elect Özgür Özel as party leader] started after the CHP’s November 2023 congress… If concrete evidence emerges, the investigation will continue…”
` }, { date: "February 21", content: `İmamoğlu submits his application to participate in the internal party election to become the CHP’s presidential candidate in a future presidential election.
` }, { date: "February 22", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation against İmamoğlu for allegedly having a fake university diploma, on charges of “forgery of official documents,” and on February 26 summons him to testify. Under Türkiye’s constitution, holding a university degree is among the eligibility requirements for presidential candidates.
` }, { date: "February 27", content: `The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office orders the arrest of Alaattin Köseler, CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Beykoz district, on suspicion of organized crime, bid rigging for tenders, and misuse of public office. On March 3, a court orders him and 12 others’ held in pretrial detention pending completion of the investigation, and the Interior Ministry removes him from office.
` }, { date: "March 4", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation into allegations that the CHP Istanbul provincial congress of October 8, 2023, at which Istanbul provincial party leader Özgür Çelik and others were selected followed a fraudulent vote.
` }, { date: "March 18", content: `Istanbul University annuls İmamoğlu’s university diploma four days before he is due to be selected as the CHP’s presidential candidate.
` }, { date: "March 19", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders police to arrest İmamoğlu from his home in the early morning on suspicion of organized crime, corruption, and terrorism links. Police also arrest Resul Emrah Şahan, CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Şişli district, Murat Çalık, CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district, and over 100 municipal employees, bureaucrats, and others in this first wave of detentions in the scope of the investigation against İmamoğlu and the IMM.
` }, { date: "March 20", content: `In a speech to former AKP MPs, President Erdoğan refers to the allegations of corruption against İmamoğlu, saying: “They [the CHP] can’t say there’s no corruption, that the diploma was earned honestly.”
` }, { date: "March 23", content: `İmamoğlu is remanded to pretrial detention by an Istanbul court on suspicion of corruption and organized crime on the day he is selected by CHP members as the party’s presidential candidate in a future presidential election. The court also orders the detention of the Sisli and Beylikdüzü mayors, both from the CHP, and over 40 others. The Interior Ministry removes İmamoğlu and the other two mayors from office.
` }, { date: "March 26", content: `In a speech to the AKP parliamentary group President Erdoğan uses the metaphor of an octopus with many tentacles, saying “with the latest operation, the scale of the ongoing scandals driven by a bribery and extortion mechanism enveloping the entire city almost like an octopus came to light....Where the tentacles of the octopus whose head is in Istanbul extend will of course be seen soon.”
` }, { date: "April 15", content: `The Ankara public prosecutor’s office summons 86 people, including İmamoğlu, to give statements in relation to a criminal investigation into the CHP’s November 2023 congress at which Özel was elected leader.
` }, { date: "April 17", content: `A hearing begins at the Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance of a case brought by a complainant who is a former CHP mayor demanding the invalidation of the November 2023 CHP Congress at which Özel was elected party leader (At the October 24 hearing, the court rejects the case). The complainant, who was expelled from the party in December 2024 over fundamental criticism of party policy, had alleged leading people in the party had paid delegates to vote for them.
` }, { date: "April 26", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders a second wave of arrests of 52 IMM officials and their alleged associates in the corruption investigation of whom a court orders the pretrial detention of 18.
` }, { date: "May 8", content: `İmamoğlu’s Turkish-language X account with 9.7 million followers is blocked in Turkey, after X complies with a Turkish court order.
` }, { date: "May 14", content: `
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a speech delivered at the AKP parliamentary group meeting comments on the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality investigation says:
“The ongoing investigation in Istanbul [concerns] an example of a criminal organization unprecedented in the history of the Republic. The actions [it has] taken have reached dimensions that threaten national security by revealing organized corruption and extortion.”
Third and fourth waves of arrests are carried out in connection with the Istanbul public prosecutor’s investigation against the IMM. In a third wave of arrests, gendarmes arrest 22 people, among them those working in municipality-associated companies on public relations, media, and cultural activities. Courts subsequently order the detention of seven. In a fourth wave of arrests, 49 are taken into custody of whom courts detain 25.
` }, { date: "May 24", content: `Despite having no authority to do so, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office issues a request to the IMM to ban the use of content featuring İmamoğlu’s photo, video, and voice on the municipality’s public transportation system, and on bill boards. The IMM complies with this.
` }, { date: "May 25", content: `In a speech in Istanbul, President Erdoğan repeats the metaphor of an octopus with many tentacles to describe the criminal network and activities he alleges İmamoğlu and others are involved in: “Just about every day, the criminal organization’s theft and deception is revealed. How they plundered Istanbul’s resources. The tentacles of the octopus stretching from Istanbul to Türkiye and abroad are being exposed one by one.”
` }, { date: "May 27 ", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation against acting IMM Mayor Nuri Aslan, formerly a CHP member of the IMM municipal council, for allegedly threatening security officers who would not allow him into the Istanbul Courthouse where those arrested in the fourth wave of the IMM operation had been brought to testify before the prosecutor.
` }, { date: "May 30 ", content: `The Ankara public prosecutor’s office issues an indictment against İmamoğlu and 11 other CHP officials, accusing them on the basis of vague witness testimony of paying people to vote for Özgür Özel as leader at the November 2023 CHP party congress. The offense of falsifying a vote at a party congress in violation of the Political Parties Law is punishable with a one-to-three-year prison term.
` }, { date: "May 31 ", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders the arrest of the CHP mayors of Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece, Avcılar, and Gaziosmanpaşa districts, and also the arrest and transfer to Istanbul of the CHP mayors of the Ceyhan and Seyhan districts in Adana province.
` }, { date: "June 4 ", content: `A court in Istanbul orders the detention of the five mayors along with 17 individuals out of 38 taken into custody.
On the day the five mayors are detained, an Istanbul court releases from pretrial detention and places under house arrest Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessman under investigation on suspicion of being the leader of a criminal organization and criminal activities relating to municipal tenders in Istanbul and other CHP district municipalities. As in the case of other businessmen whose statements provide the main evidence in the cases against İmamoğlu, Aktaş benefits from the “effective repentance” law, allowing a suspect to potentially receive a reduced prison term in exchange for information about other suspects accused in the same investigation.
` }, { date: "June 5", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation into Özgür Özel, accusing him of threatening to obstruct judicial duties and insulting a public official on the basis of remarks directed at the chief prosecutor during a speech criticizing footage from the fifth wave of arrests against mayors and others broadcast on TV. The footage showed a large number of arrested individuals lined up in a single file and under heavy police and gendarmerie escort.
` }, { date: "June 19", content: `Upon the request of Istanbul public prosecutor’s office, an Istanbul court orders the detention Mehmet Pehlivan, İmamoğlu’s main defense lawyer on the basis of a witness statement associating him with the alleged crimes of his client.
` }, { date: "July 5", content: `In a bribery investigation conducted by the Antalya public prosecutor’s office, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality CHP Mayor Muhittin Böcek is arrested and jailed pending trial.
` }, { date: "July 8", content: `In the scope of the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office investigation into İmamoğlu and the IMM, Adana Metropolitan CHP Mayor Zeydan Karalar is placed in pretrial detention. Adıyaman CHP Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere is released with a judicial control order in the same investigation.
` }, { date: "July 10", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders police to arrest Şile CHP Mayor Özgür Kabadayı and, on July 14, a court places him and four municipal officials in pretrial detention on suspicion of organized crime and corruption.
` }, { date: "July 16", content: `İmamoğlu is convicted to a one-year-seven-month prison sentence on two charges of threats and insulting a public official for threatening Gürlek and acquitted of targeting a public official engaged in counterterrorism over his criticisms of the Istanbul chief prosecutor. The case is under appeal at this writing.
` }, { date: "August 14", content: `CHP leader Özgür Özel alleges in a press conference unfair and illegal practices in investigations against CHP municipalities, claiming prosecutors pressured detainees to testify against İmamoğlu and other municipal officials and to fabricate testimony in exchange for release. The party submits a petition to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors outlining the claims with a demand for investigation of the relevant prosecutors.
` }, { date: "August 15", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office orders police to arrest İnan Güney, mayor of Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, and 43 others on suspicion of organized criminal activity and corruption and, on August 19, a court rules for the detention of the mayor and 16 others.
` }, { date: "August 28", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office launches an investigation into Özgür Özel for comments criticizing Akın Gürlek during a speech at an August 27 rally in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. Özel said: “If you say, ‘I am a man of law,’ if you say, ‘I am going after corruption,” if you say, “I am honourable, I treat everyone equally,’ right then, let me see you go to [investigate] the AKP municipalities where Aziz Ihsan Aktaş worked!” The Ankara prosecution office also launches an investigation into Özel for “insulting a public official” and “threats” to Akın Gürlek.
` }, { date: "September 2", content: `The first trial of a CHP Istanbul district mayor for alleged corruption begins with the trial of Beykoz CHP Mayor Alaattin Köseler and 25 others accused of organized criminal activity including bid rigging. Köseler is released on September 6, but detained again after the prosecutor appeals the release order.
The Istanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance cancels the result of the October 8, 2023 Istanbul CHP provincial congress and removes chair Özgür Çelik and board, replacing them with an administrator. The decision follows an application to the court by a CHP member making claims that, similar to the national CHP Congress in November 2023, the leadership were elected by means of a fraudulent vote.
The Istanbul 72nd Criminal Court of First Instance approves the indictment against CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik for alleged “election fraud and violation of the Political Parties Law” in the 2023 Congress election. The public prosecutor’s office is seeking prison sentences of 1 to 3 years for 10 party executives, including Özgür Çelik, plus detained Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney and Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat detained in the scope of separate organized crime and corruption investigations. The first hearing took place on January 6, 2026, and the case is continuing at this writing.
` }, { date: "September 7", content: `Police surround the CHP Istanbul provincial headquarters barring entry, with court-appointed administratorGürsel Tekin entering the building a day later to take up his office. The Istanbul governor bans demonstrations in six nearby districts for 72 hours.
` }, { date: "September 12 ", content: `A court orders the detention the Istanbul Şişli district Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan for a second time for organized crime and corruption.
` }, { date: "September 19", content: `The regional appellate court upholds the conviction of İmamoğlu and his sentence of two years, seven months and 15 days in prison for allegedly insulting the Supreme Election Board by saying “those who cancelled the March 31 [2019 Istanbul mayoral] election are fools” in response to the then-interior minister who had called him a fool. The case goes to a further appeal and is currently pending review before the Court of Cassation. If upheld, İmamoğlu would face a ban from politics.
` }, { date: "September 24", content: `İmamoğlu is acquitted of charges of alleged bid rigging during his term as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district (2014-19) in a trial that had started in January 2023.
` }, { date: "October 20", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office issues an indictment, discussed in the media before it is accepted by the court on November 5, against businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktaş and Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, six other CHP mayors and almost 200 other defendants. The indictment charges Aktaş with leading a criminal organization, embezzlement through illegally obtained public tenders, bribery, and other crimes, and Mayor Akpolat with membership of a criminal organization and multiple corruption offenses.
Among the 200 defendants are Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Ozer, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin. The indictment refers to the “Ekrem İmamoğlu criminal enterprise,” and, while İmamoğlu is not indicted the formulation in the indictment foreshadows the theory of crime in the subsequent November 2025 indictment against İmamoğlu in the IMM case.
` }, { date: "October 24", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office opens a new espionage investigation against İmamoğlu and summons him and others to testify before the prosecutor. On October 27, a court then issues a new detention order against him, his campaign manager Necati Özkan, and journalist Merdan Yanardağ on suspicion of political espionage (Turkish Penal Code, article 328/1). The investigation is based on allegations by Hüseyin Gün, another suspect already detained in the investigation, that municipal data was shared with foreign countries.
` }, { date: "November 4", content: `The first hearing begins of a criminal case against İmamoğlu and 11 other CHP officials, filed before the Ankara 26th Criminal Court of First Instance over allegations, repeatedly mentioned by President Erdoğan, that they were elected fraudulently at the CHP’s November 2023 Congress. The case is continuing.
` }, { date: "November 11", content: `Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek holds a news conference announcing that the investigation in which İmamoğlu is detained has concluded with an indictment against him and 406 others, of whom 105 are held in pretrial detention. The indictment accuses İmamoğlu of being the leader of a criminal organization, which Gürlek and the indictment refer to as the “İmamoğlu criminal organization for illicit gain,” and multiple corruption and bribery-related crimes.
The 3,741-page indictment describes the aim of the criminal organization as personal enrichment for İmamoğlu and attaining political power by taking over the CHP and becoming president of Türkiye. The first paragraph of the indictment refers to the “İmamoğlu criminal organization for illicit gain” as resembling an octopus with many tentacles, a metaphor first used regarding the IMM investigation by President Erdoğan back in March and repeated in May.
The possible prison term for İmamoğlu, if convicted, is up to 1,929 years. The indictment is given to the media at the same time as it is delivered to Istanbul Assize Court No. 40, and the court accepts the indictment on November 25. The first trial hearing is scheduled to take place on March 9, 2026.
Separately on November 11, a court releases former Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer from pretrial detention in the scope of the investigation into his alleged bid-rigging for which he was detained in January. Previously released in July in the terrorism case against him, the second release order ensures he can leave prison though the trials against him continue.
` }, { date: "November 25", content: `Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek gives an interview to the Yeni Şafak newspaper, a government-aligned media outlet, in which he explicitly labels İmamoğlu as the leader of a criminal organization. He repeats the octopus metaphor to describe it. On the same day, Istanbul 40th Assize Court that will hear the case accepts the indictment.
` }, { date: "January 23, 2026", content: `Former Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer is convicted of “membership of a terrorist organization” and sentenced to a prison term of six years three months. The conviction is under appeal at this writing.
` }, { date: "January 27", content: `The first day begins of a one-month-long hearing of the prosecution of seven CHP mayors among 200 defendants charged with alleged corruption. Defendants include businessman Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin. On February 6, Zeydan Karalar was released from detention.
` }, { date: "February 4", content: `The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office indicts İmamoğlu for espionage. Also indicted are campaign manager Necati Özkan, journalist Merdan Yanardağ, and Hüseyin Gün, the individual himself detained since June 30, 2025, for alleged espionage activities who testified against İmamoğlu alleging that data concerning Istanbul voters was leaked to foreign countries. The trial is due to begin on May 11.
` }, { date: "February 10", content: `By presidential decree, Chief Prosecutor Akın Gürlek is appointed justice minister, also making him ex officio chair of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the main body administering the judiciary and prosecutorial authorities in Türkiye whose members are mostly appointed by the executive. On February 20, Istanbul Deputy Chief Prosecutor Can Tuncay responsible for terrorism and organized crime investigations, and one of the prosecutors who signed off on both the IMM and espionage indictments against İmamoğlu, is appointed deputy justice minister.
` }, { date: "February 18", content: `The prosecutor of Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece courthouse indicts Ekrem İmamoğlu and 11 former municipal officials for "abuse of office" on the basis that during İmamoğlu’s term as Beylikdüzü mayor (2014-19) the municipal council exceeded its authority by agreeing to cover expenses for his use of a private car from his own company as his official car. If convicted, İmamoğlu and co-defendants could face a six-month to two-year prison term. A trial date is yet to be announced.
` } // Continue adding the rest the same way... ]; const timeline = document.getElementById("timeline"); events.forEach((event, index) => { const item = document.createElement("div"); item.className = "timeline-item " + (index % 2 === 0 ? "left" : "right"); item.innerHTML = ` ${event.date} ${event.content} `; timeline.appendChild(item); });Multiple Cases Against İmamoğlu
Since first winning the Istanbul mayoral election in 2019, İmamoğlu has faced several abusive prosecutions, alongside multiple civil cases. He has been prosecuted for political speeches that have not advocated violence and are firmly within the boundaries of protected free speech.
Notable among them is his 2022 conviction for allegedly insulting members of the Supreme Election Council (YSK), that resulted in a two year, seven month prison term and political ban. The conviction is currently on appeal before the Court of Cassation.
İmamoğlu has also been prosecuted and convicted for criticizing Gürlek, the chief prosecutor, who directly oversaw the main criminal investigation against him. After describing Gürlek’s “reasoning” as “rotten,” İmamoğlu was indicted on February 5, 2025, on charges of targeting a counterterrorism official, insulting a public official, and making threats, and was convicted on the latter two offenses on July 16 and sentenced to 20 months in prison.
For a prosecutor to file a personal criminal complaint against someone whose investigation they are overseeing is an unacceptable conflict of interest. That conviction is on appeal.
İmamoğlu was indicted again on June 24, 2025, after a prosecutor accused him of slander on the basis of statements İmamoğlu made during an interrogation on March 23, 2025. İmamoğlu made a payment to settle the case out of court and have the charge dropped.
These cases underscore the problematic nature of Türkiye’s criminal defamation laws. European Court of Human Rights judgments have repeatedly ordered changes to the laws to protect the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In September 2024, İmamoğlu was acquitted of charges, brought in January 2023, that he had rigged tendering bids during his term as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district (between 2014 and 2019) before he was elected mayor of Istanbul.
İmamoğlu is also currently on trial on charges of having a forged university diploma on the grounds that his 1990 transfer from a university in northern Cyprus to Istanbul University was not lawful. He was indicted for this offense on July 4, 2025.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality case
The main case against İmamoğlu, which led to his March 19, 2025, arrest and pre-trial detention, is the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality organized crime and corruption case.
The November 2025 indictment accuses İmamoğlu of being the leader of a criminal organization that committed 18 corruption offenses relating to 142 criminal acts over a 10-year period with the aim of winning political power. The prosecutor alleges İmamoğlu ran a criminal enterprise dating back to 2015, the year after he was elected mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. Of the 18 corruption-related offenses charged, most are connected to alleged rigging of tenders (70 counts), and others include alleged defrauding of public institutions, bribery, extortion, and laundering proceeds of crime.
Six of İmamoğlu’s co-accused have been indicted as leading members of the criminal organization and 92 as members, with others accused of being accessories who committed crimes. Among the defendants are the CHP mayors of Istanbul’s Şişli and Beylikdüzü districts, municipal personnel, advisers, and businesspeople running or employed by private businesses working for the municipality and therefore categorized as business “associates” of the municipality.
Of the 407 defendants in the indictment, 105 are in pretrial detention, and 170 have been released subject to judicial control orders such as travel bans.
In alleging that İmamoğlu and others operated a criminal organization with a “mission and duties independent of public duties,” the prosecutor’s contention is that their crimes were not committed in the course of their official duty to provide and run municipal services in a city of over 16 million people, but rather an organized criminal enterprise that operated parallel to and concealed by the suspects’ municipality duties.
The prosecutor contends that İmamoğlu and his close advisers set up a “system,” in which money from tenders and municipality projects was unlawfully syphoned off with the objective of enriching İmamoğlu and others, alongside the aim of furthering his political ascent within the CHP and with the intent to become president of Türkiye. İmamoğlu's lawful political ambitions are characterized in the indictment as criminal in nature. The indictment claims that over a 10-year period, the criminal organization defrauded public services of 160 billion Turkish Lira (US$ 3.9 billion ) and US$24 million.
Alleged espionage
On October 27, 2025, a court ordered İmamoğlu’s detention a second time on the basis of an espionage investigation, under Turkish Penal Code, article 328/1, accusing him of sharing data about Istanbul voters with foreign countries. On February 4, 2026, İmamoğlu was indicted for espionage along with three others – his campaign manager, Necati Özkan, a journalist, Merdan Yanardağ, and Hüseyin Gün, who was previously detained for espionage and testified against İmamoğlu. That trial will begin on May 11.
Imposing detention as part of a criminal investigation related to additional charges based on the same set of facts is a tactic that prosecutors have previously used to ensure that the human rights defender Osman Kavala and the politician Selahattin Demirtaş would not be released in the scope of the main investigations against them.
Human Rights Watch is concerned that the same tactic, a misuse of criminal law, is being weaponized against İmamoğlu. By improperly reusing alleged facts and evidence from the main Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality indictment to file a separate espionage case, the prosecution and court are creating an insurance policy to keep İmamoğlu detained in the event his release is ordered in the course of the main trial against him.
Cases Against Other Elected CHP Officials
The first Istanbul-based investigation involving elected CHP officials began on October 30, 2024, with the arrest and removal from office of the CHP Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer. Özer, a former academic who is Kurdish, was indicted for “membership of an armed organization,” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), for which he was convicted without credible evidence on January 23, 2026.
That conviction, and the continuing separate trial of two deputy mayors and seven council members from nine CHP municipalities, are based on the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office’s unsupported claim that PKK leaders ordered the CHP and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) to adopt an electoral strategy in the March 31, 2024 local elections in Istanbul, by which DEM candidates stood for election on the CHP ticket.
The prosecutor’s office alleges that what appeared to be a regular and lawful electoral pact, called the “urban consensus” strategy by the politicians and the media, to maximize electoral gains for the CHP, in fact constituted a terrorist offense because those involved were acting under PKK orders. Ekrem İmamoğlu, Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, and two others were arrested in March 2025 and also placed under investigation in this case. No charges have yet been brought against them.
In January 2025, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office began another line of investigation into CHP municipalities focused on alleged organized criminal activity and corruption. This began with the arrest and detention that month of Rıza Akpolat, CHP mayor of the Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, and Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, a businessman who had won tenders with CHP municipalities, and a second detention order against the already detained Esenyurt Mayor Özer.
Five other CHP mayors were arrested and detained in the same investigation in May: the mayors of Istanbul’s Avcılar district, Adana’s Ceyhan and Seyhan districts and, in July, the mayors of Adıyaman and Adana.
The seven mayors were among 200 defendants indicted in October 2025, and are on trial in proceedings that began on January 27. The Adana mayor was released on February 5. Although facing the highest possible prison sentence among all the defendants—over 700 years—Aktaş was released because he was providing evidence against other suspects under “effective repentance” provisions in Turkish law, which allow defendants to become “informants” in exchange for reduced prison terms.
A further trial involving alleged corruption by an elected CHP official began on September 2, 2025. The mayor of Istanbul’s Beykoz district, who has been in detention since February 27, 2025, faces various charges of organized criminal activity and bid rigging on tenders.
Cases Against CHP Party Leadership
Cases opened against the CHP leadership followed complaints by a few CHP members or former members who claimed that Özel’s election as party chair secretary at the November 4-5, 2023 national CHP party congress was conducted in a fraudulent manner.
On October 24, 2025, an Ankara civil court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former CHP member seeking the cancellation of the result of the congress, and thus removed a challenge to Özel’s right to be party leader. A criminal case in the Ankara 26th Criminal Court of First Instance against İmamoğlu and 11 others accusing them of paying people to vote for Özel at the congress is ongoing.
According to his lawyers, government and other authorities have brought 49 civil lawsuits against Özel. Gürlek, the chef prosecutor, has filed 11 and President Erdoğan 16, seeking damages for Özel’s criticism of them in political speeches.
There have also been legal efforts to discredit the October 8, 2023, Istanbul CHP provincial congress, claiming the vote to elect Özgür Çelik as provincial party head was fraudulent. One complaint by a CHP member led to a court in Istanbul on September 2, 2025, ordering the congress canceled, removing Çelik and those elected with him and replacing them with a court-appointed administrator. The CHP held another provincial congress on October 19, 2025, at which Çelik was re-elected provincial party head, a role he has continued to discharge.
On September 2, 2025, a separate criminal case was opened against Çelik and others elected in the congress for the allegedly fraudulent vote.
Days after the court-ordered removal of Çelik, police surrounded the CHP Istanbul headquarters to prevent staff and officials from entering and on September 8 facilitated access by the court-appointed administrator.
On November 11, 2025, after announcing the İmamoğlu and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality indictment, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office sent a written communication to the chief prosecutor of the Court of Cassation citing alleged “election manipulation” and “illegal financing” by the CHP, in violation of the Political Parties Law and the Constitution (articles 68 and 69). The chief prosecutor has not yet responded but has powers to initiate closure cases or recommend other measures such as a restriction of treasury support to a political party. Whether or not the Istanbul prosecutor’s move results in any such action, it signals an intention to take action specifically against the CHP as a party.
Human Rights Concerns
Detentions and prosecutions for an improper purpose
Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to prohibit misuse of power, bans restrictions on rights and freedoms “for any purpose other than those for which they have been prescribed.” The European Court of Human Rights has made clear that violations of article 18 are particularly grave because of the fundamental threat to democracy implicit in such abuse. The court’s judgment on the detention of Selahattin Demirtaş emphasized this point.
The circumstances under which the detention and trial of İmamoğlu and other CHP officials are being pursued suggests the authorities’ actions are driven by an improper purpose. The actual purpose of these cases is to impede the party’s ability to function as an effective opposition party and to prevent İmamoğlu and other elected CHP mayors and officials from exercising their rights to political participation.
Prejudicial statements
President Erdoğan has made repeated political speeches alleging that both the Istanbul mayor and national leadership had committed crimes. As the timeline shows, the president referred repeatedly to the CHP congresses as “dubious,” warned that the arrest of mayors was just the beginning of the revelation of more crimes (using a proverbial analogy of “the big radish is in the saddlebag,” translatable as “worse is coming”). On March 26 and May 25, 2025, he used the phrase “an octopus with many tentacles” to describe İmamoğlu’s alleged criminal organization within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. This description was used in exactly the same way in the November indictment and repeated by the chief prosecutor in an interview.
In its judgments concerning the politically motivated detentions of Demirtaş and Kavala, the European Court found that the president’s and ministers’ pronouncements about their guilt was one factor in finding that their detention had pursued an ulterior political motivation in violation of article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Throughout the investigation into İmamoğlu and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality case, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office has made written public statements to the media referring to the “İmamoğlu criminal organization.” There have been repeated leaks to government-aligned media of incriminating allegations against İmamoğlu and others in the case, some of which are drawn from the statements of suspects seeking reduced sentences under “effective repentance” provisions. The circulation of this kind of information to the media, a common feature of political investigations in Türkiye, is prejudicial to defendants and undermines the fairness of the proceedings against them.
On November 11, 2025, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office made available to the media a 3,741-page pdf of the indictments, and Chief Prosecutor Gürlek held a news conference to explain its contenton the same day the indictment was submitted to the court for review. Circulating the documents before the court had conducted its own review and approved the formal start of the trial is a violation of Türkiye’s criminal procedure.
Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that they often got information, including indictments, through media channels. The indictment against Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer also circulated among journalists for days before it was officially accepted by a court and lawyers acting for Özer were notified.
Barriers to effective defense
The approach taken by the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality criminal investigation and indictment raises a number of serious concerns relating to fair trial rights. The decision to indict so many people at once and to investigate such a large number of facts relating to a 10-year time period, resulting in an indictment of over 3,700 pages, suggests the trial proceedings could continue for many years, as other mass trials in Türkiye have done. The volume of the material presented as evidence risks overwhelming the process and undermines the ability of lawyers acting for defendants in the case to effectively represent their clients and mount an effective defense.
Moreover, sufficient facilities are not being provided for detainees to prepare their own defense. According to information shared by İmamoğlu’s lawyer with Human Rights Watch, the indictment and its annexes—amounting to 80,000 pages—were provided to İmamoğlu on six DVDs. As a detainee, he is permitted to use a computer for only two hours per week.
Reliance on secret witnesses, and “effective repentance” witnesses
The bulk of the evidence in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality case is based on the statements of 15 protected witnesses and statements from a small number among 76 other defendants who applied to become informants under “effective repentance” provisions. Chief Prosecutor Gürlek emphasized the key role of such evidence in this investigation in a media interview.
Several lawyers intervewed raised concerns about the possible misuse of such “effective repentance” provisions offering the possibility of sentence reduction and, in particular, the risk that police and prosecutors may impose their own narrative on suspects in return for offers of release from detention. In addition, the use of secret witnesses imposes significant challenges for defendants and their lawyers. Both aspects undermine the fair trial rights of defendants to challenge effectively the case against them.
CHP lawyers have alleged that some defendants in the investigation were subject to pressure and coercion before they decided to rely on “effective repentance” provisions. Some gave multiple statements to the prosecutor over months. One was released and then detained again.
On August 14, 2025, in response to these allegations, Özel lodged a complaint with the Council of Judges and Prosecutors requesting an investigation into misconduct by the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office. There is no information about whether the Council has conducted such an investigation, or its outcome.
Detention of İmamoğlu’s lawyer
İmamoğlu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, was detained on June 19, 2025, as a suspect in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality investigation and has been held in pretrial detention since then. He will stand trial on March 9 with his client. Pehlivan is indicted for membership of a criminal organization and concealing evidence on the basis of vague and contradictory witness statements alleging that he gave instructions to other lawyers and advised there might be further arrests. His detention and prosecution raise serious concerns he has been targeted in retaliation for his work as a defense lawyer and the move to prosecute him is at least partially motivated by a desire to restrict Imamoğlu’s ability to exercise his right to a defense.
Laos: Investigate Prominent Dissident’s Death
(Bangkok) – Lao authorities should urgently and impartially investigate the suspicious death of an outspoken critic of the government and appropriately prosecute those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today.
On February 20, 2026, the body of Sisay Luangmonda, widely known by his social media name Bao Mor Khaen, 32, was found on a roadside in Hadxayfong district, outside the capital, Vientiane, four days after his family reported to local authorities that he was missing. The Manushya Foundation, which monitors human rights in Laos, reported that Sisay had not been seen since soldiers arrested him outside Vientiane between 9 and 10 p.m. on February 14 and took him to Phonthan Prison.
“The Laotian authorities should immediately and impartially investigate the suspicious death of a prominent government critic,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Sisay’s death sends a spine-chilling message to critics of the Lao government, deepening the climate of fear in the country.”
Sisay had received death threats related to his social media commentary criticizing corruption and mismanagement by the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
After Sisay’s arrest, Lao authorities provided no information about his whereabouts to his family and did not respond to allegations that he had been forcibly disappeared. Sisay’s family said that since his body was found, Lao authorities have not started an investigation or conducted a forensic examination of his remains.
The government has suppressed activists and dissidents since seizing power in 1975 under a one-party, authoritarian system. Sombath Somphone, a pioneer in community-based development and youth empowerment, was forcibly disappeared after being held in police custody in Vientiane in December 2012. An unidentified gunman shot and seriously wounded Anousa Luangsuphom, an activist and online critic of the government, in April 2023 in Vientiane. Saysomphone Chilikham, a member of the group Alliance For Democracy in Laos, was forcibly disappeared in February 2024.
International law defines enforced disappearance as the detention of a person by state officials or their agents and a refusal to acknowledge the detention or to reveal the person’s fate or whereabouts. Disappearances are especially painful for the victims’ families. In September 2008, Laos signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance but has yet to ratify it.
Activists who have fled persecution in Laos to neighboring countries have remained at risk, Human Rights Watch said. In May 2023, an exiled Lao political activist, Bounsuan Kitiyano, was shot dead in Ubon Ratchathani province in northeastern Thailand. Od Sayavong, a leading Lao human rights and democracy activist living in Bangkok, has been missing since August 2019.
None of the attacks on Lao dissidents and government critics in Laos or in neighboring countries have been resolved or anyone brought to justice.
During its Universal Periodic Review before the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2025, Laos “accepted” multiple recommendations to investigate enforced disappearances but only “noted” the five recommendations on protecting human rights defenders. In August 2025, UN human rights experts urged the Lao government to comply with its obligations to investigate all cases of unlawful killings.
“The Lao government has long carried out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of its critics,” Pearson said. “Concerned governments and UN human rights bodies should use every available opportunity to press Lao authorities to fully investigate and appropriately prosecute those responsible for serious abuses.”
Housing Activist Killed in South Africa
Two unknown assailants shot and killed housing rights activist Zweli ‘Khabazela’ Mkhize on February 12. Treasurer of the eNkanini branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a shack dwellers' movement that has faced significant threats and violence from both state and non-state actors, Mkhize was killed while visiting a friend near Midrand in Johannesburg.
Abahlali baseMjondolo, comprised of urban shack dwellers advocating for land, housing, and dignity, alleges that the “shack mafia” who operate as local militias killed Mkhize.
In the months leading up to his death, Mkhize received death threats, including a phone call on January 20 warning him to stop his activism or be killed, according to Abahlali baseMjondolo. The caller also offered to spare Mkhize’s life if he paid R40,000 (approximately USD$ 2,500), an offer Mkhize refused. Just seven hours before his killing, the Durban office in Kwazulu-Natal received a call threatening Mkhize and other leaders.
When he was shot, Mkhize was mobilizing members of the eNakinini informal settlement—where he was killed—and adjacent settlements to mobilize against forced evictions and for access to adequate housing, water, and electricity. Abahlali baseMjondolo say residents were subjected to illegal coercive efforts by the shack mafia to sell occupied land to residents and collect exorbitant fees under the guise of legal costs to safeguard against evictions.
Activists say Mkhize’s work led to the shack mafia putting a target on his back. Fearing for their safety, six leaders from eNkanini settlement have gone into hiding since Mkhize’s killing; residents fear that the violence will continue.
There have been five killings, but no arrests, in eNkanini between February 2025 and February 2026, according to an Abahlali baseMjondolo statement.
Amnesty International South Africa, in a 2024 report documented that 25 activists and members of Abahlali baseMjondolo have been killed since its inception in 2005, with many of these deaths directly linked to their human rights work. Despite the severity of the violence leveled against Abahlali baseMjondolo, there have only been two convictions in connection with members’ killings.
South African authorities should provide comprehensive safeguards and protection for Abahlali baseMjondolo members and initiate prompt, thorough, and independent investigations into the killing of Mkhize and the organization’s other members and leaders; authorities should also hold those responsible for the killings accountable.
EU Court Rebukes Hungary Over Radio License Cancellation
In an important judgment for media freedom, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on February 26 ruled that Hungary violated EU law when it stripped independent radio station Klubrádió of its FM frequency in 2021.
The court found that Hungarian authorities used disproportionate and discriminatory grounds in refusing to renew the station’s license and excluding it from a subsequent tender. The case, brought by the European Commission, confirms that Hungary’s actions breached EU electronic communications rules and the right to freedom of expression.
Klubrádió was forced off its frequency in 2021 after a legal battle against the government-controlled media regulator over minor administrative issues. The station can now only be accessed via the internet. In its judgment, the CJEU made clear that regulatory technicalities cannot be used to push independent voices off the airwaves.
The ruling comes as Hungary’s media landscape has been hollowed out by years of political interference, the government’s 2010 overhaul of media laws, and attacks on independent media.
Hungary’s media regulator lacks independence, and its distribution of radio frequency tenders is opaque. Hundreds of media outlets have been consolidated into a pro-government foundation while state advertising flows to government loyal media. Meanwhile, major independent news outlets have been acquired by government-friendly businessmen and were either shut down or turned into government mouth pieces.
Independent media and journalists face smear campaigns, restricted government access, and mounting pressure in their work. Public service broadcasting exclusively echoes government narratives, depriving the public of reliable, fact-based information needed to make informed democratic choices. Approximately 80 percent of the media is now controlled, directly or indirectly, by Hungary’s ruling party.
The Hungarian government should immediately comply with the CJEU ruling, restore fair licensing, guarantee independence of the media regulator, end discriminatory state advertising, and ensure journalists can work freely.
The European Commission should track compliance including under the EU’s Media Freedom Act and move swiftly toward financial penalties if Hungary fails to act. EU institutions and member states likewise should use available tools, including budget conditionality and article 7 rule of law scrutiny proceedings, to defend media pluralism and freedom.
Safeguarding independent journalism is essential to preserve democracy and rule of law and requires political will and rigorous enforcement of EU rules.
Lebanon/Israel: Civilians at Grave Risk of Abuse
(Beirut) – Civilians are at grave risk of abuse as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Human Rights Watch said today. In the early hours of March 2, 2026, Hezbollah fired rockets and drones into northern Israel, after which the Israeli military carried over 70 strikes across Lebanon, including on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing at least 52 people, injuring at least 154 people, and displacing tens of thousands of people, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Social Affairs. No casualties were reported from the Hezbollah rockets fired toward northern Israel.
“When war crimes and other grave abuses take place with complete impunity, they are likely to happen again, with civilians paying the price,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Allied countries need to put pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to abide by the laws of war and minimize civilian harm.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have committed numerous violations of the laws of war in Lebanon with total impunity, including apparently deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on journalists, civilians, medics, financial institutions, reconstruction-related facilities, and peacekeepers, in addition to the widespread and unlawful use of white phosphorus in populated areas, among other violations.
Following an escalation in the hostilities between September and November 2024, more than 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, thousands of buildings and houses were destroyed, and entire border villages were reduced to rubble. Prior to the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel failed to take adequate precautions to protect civilians, using explosive weapons in populated areas and failing to effectively warn civilians of attacks.
After Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of rockets and a swarm of drones targeting the Mishmar HaCarmel Israeli missile defense center, south of Haifa, the Israeli military said that it struck a “senior Hezbollah terrorist in the Beirut area” and a “central Hezbollah terrorist in southern Lebanon.” It subsequently announced that it had launched “an offensive campaign against Hezbollah” and an additional wave of strikes in Lebanon targeting “Hezbollah weapon storage facilities and additional infrastructure.”
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on March 2 that the authorities had instructed Lebanon’s security services to arrest those responsible for firing rockets from Lebanon.
Israeli strikes caused a mass exodus from the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Agence France-Presse. At around 4 a.m., the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for more than 50 southern Lebanese villages and towns, telling residents to “immediately evacuate their homes and move away from the villages to a distance of at least 1,000 meters into open lands.” The warnings stated that “anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, facilities and weapons is putting their life at risk.”
Several hours later, an Israeli military spokesperson called on residents who evacuated their homes not to return. The Israeli military issued at least 18 evacuation warnings on March 2 ahead of what it said were incoming strikes targeting the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution al-Qard al-Hassan in Lebanon.
An armed group’s use of a financial institution, association, or bank does not amount to aneffective contribution to military action, and therefore al-Qard al-Hassan is not a lawful military target under the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said. Membership or affiliation with Hezbollah, or other political movements with armed wings, is not in itself a sufficient basis for determining an individual to be a lawful military target. Guidance by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets out that people who have exclusively noncombat functions in armed groups, including political or administrative roles, or are merely members of or affiliated with political entities that have an armed component, such as Hezbollah, may not be targeted at any time unless and only for such time as they, like any other civilian, directly participate in the hostilities.
International humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, requires parties to a conflict to take constant care during military operations to spare the civilian population and to “take all feasible precautions” to avoid or minimize the incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects. These precautions include doing everything feasible to verify that the objects of attack are military objectives and not civilians or civilian objects, giving “effective advance warning” of attacks when circumstances permit and refraining from an attack if the requirement for proportionality will be violated.
Warnings that do not give civilians adequate time to leave for a safer area would not be considered “effective” under the law. Broad warnings unrelated to any imminent attack cannot be considered “effective” and may instead improperly instill fear in the affected population.
Customary international law prohibits “acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.” Statements that call for evacuating areas that are primarily intended to cause panic among residents or compel them to leave their homes for reasons other than their safety would fall under this prohibition.
Civilians who do not evacuate following warnings are still fully protected by international humanitarian law. Forced displacement is prohibited under the laws of war, except in cases in which civilian security is involved or for imperative military reasons. Moreover, some civilians are unable to heed a warning to evacuate, for reasons of health, disability, fear, or lack of any place else to go.
Human Rights Watch has urged Israel’s key allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, to suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel and impose targeted sanctions on officials credibly implicated in grave crimes. Lebanon’s judicial authorities should initiate domestic investigations of serious international crimes, and the government should accede to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rome Statute and submit a declaration accepting the court’s jurisdiction prior to the date of accession, including since at least October 7, 2023.
“Lebanon’s government should act to ensure pathways to accountability for perpetrators committing international crimes on Lebanese territory, including national investigations and giving the ICC jurisdiction in the country,” Kaiss said.
Greek Court Finds Spyware Executives Guilty
An Athens court in a landmark ruling on February 26 delivered the first convictions in Greece’s “Predatorgate” scandal. The court found three executives of the Greek spyware company Intellexa, and another prominent businessman, all guilty of unlawfully accessing information systems, violating communications privacy, and interfering with personal data systems, using spyware.
The ruling is an important step toward surveillance accountability and the rule of law in Greece. Journalists revealed in 2022 that Greece’s intelligence service had targeted dozens of people—journalists, politicians, businessmen, and others—with Predator spyware, as well as via traditional wiretap.
The Athens misdemeanor court has found four people guilty: Tal Dilian, Sara Hamou, Felix Bitzios, and Giannis Lavranos. They were sentenced to 126 years each, capped, however, at 8 years because the charges were misdemeanors. The court suspended their sentences, pending appeal.
It was the first time a Greek court has held spyware company executives accountable for how their technology was used. This sends a powerful message about the need for due diligence by companies that develop and sell surveillance technology, and the legal consequences for facilitating human rights abuses.
In an important move, the court also referred the case file back to prosecutors to reopen the investigation at the felony level, including criminal responsibility for potential espionage.
Still, the victory is bittersweet: while the ruling addresses the people responsible for developing the tools used to carry out this illegal surveillance, the prosecution did not address the criminal responsibility of those who ordered it.
Supreme Court prosecutors in 2024 cleared government agencies and state officials of responsibility, despite documented evidence of their involvement, including findings from a European Parliament investigation.
Human Rights Watch research has documented the chilling effect of the surveillance scandal on media freedom and how the threat of surveillance created an environment of fear among journalists. Journalists who exposed the scandal have faced abusive lawsuits by the former official responsible for overseeing the intelligence service, intending to silence their reporting.
This ruling is an important moment of accountability against the executives of companies that develop and sell dangerous surveillance technology. Now the Greek judiciary needs to hold state officials accountable for ordering its use.
Australia: Offshore Detention Cruel, Costly
(Sydney) – Australia’s government should invest in community-based alternatives to immigration detention rather than spending millions of dollars per person each year on its abusive offshore regime, Human Rights Watch said in a recent submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee of the Australian Senate.
Human Rights Watch Submission to the Inquiry into Offshore Processing and Resettlement ArrangementsSince November 2025, the committee has been holding an inquiry into Australia’s offshore processing and resettlement arrangements. Its focus has been on the payments that Australia has made to private contractors and subcontractors to run offshore processing on the Pacific island nation of Nauru and in Papua New Guinea. The committee is also considering the monetary “value” of such arrangements for Australian taxpayers.
“Australia has spent billions of dollars trying to offload its responsibilities onto poorer countries instead of upholding its international obligations to migrants and refugees,” said Annabel Hennessy, Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Australia’s offshore processing regime has caused immeasurable harm to people seeking asylum and contributed to the global erosion of refugee law.”
Recent Department of Home Affairs budget statements show that in 2024-2025 the department was estimated to have spent approximately A$560 million (US$390 million) on offshore processing in Nauru. During this period, about 100 people were living on Nauru, at an estimated cost equal to A$5.6 million (US$3.9 million) per person.
By comparison, it is estimated that the government spends about A$3,962 (US$2,750) per year for a person to live in the Australian community on a bridging visa while their asylum claim is being processed.
In 2021, Human Rights Watch conducted research on alternatives to immigration detention in six countries. Human Rights Watch found that community-based case management programs—which provide holistic support, including access to legal assistance and help securing necessities such as housing and employment—are more cost-effective than detention.
“While Australian politicians have been making unsubstantiated claims about immigration’s impact on the Australian economy, far less scrutiny has been given to Australia’s abusive offshore immigration regime,” Hennessy said. “The government should stop using offshore detention and instead invest in programs in Australia that are cost-effective and rights-respecting.”
Landmark Win on Abortion in the EU
On Thursday, the European Union Commission announced that the European Social Fund can be used by member states to fund safe abortions and improve access to abortion. This is in response to the European Citizens’ Initiative—My Voice, My Choice—which requested that “the EU does what is in its power to ensure safe and accessible abortion for all.”
The My Voice, My Choice campaign garnered over 1 million signatures from EU citizens and was also supported by civil society organizations from all 27 member states. They argued that abortions were neither accessible nor affordable for many across the EU, especially marginalized women, and that this put women at risk of physical harm, undue stress, and financial strain.
While the European Commission has not committed to introducing new legislation to reinforce this step, Hadja Lahbib, commissioner for equality, stated that Thursday’s decision means “support for women who need to travel; support for women in their own country; support for women in remote areas; support for women without financial means.” And that, in practice, “it means women will have better access to safe abortion care. Any vulnerable woman. Anywhere in Europe.”
In the EU, only two countries—Poland and Malta—maintain highly restrictive abortion laws, permitting the procedure only in exceptional circumstances. Malta amended its legislation in 2023, easing what had previously been a total ban, while Poland further tightened access following a 2020 constitutional tribunal ruling. Although most other EU member states allow abortion on broader grounds, many permit broad conscientious objection by medical practitioners, which can significantly limit availability and delay care. International human rights bodies have repeatedly found that barriers to accessing abortion can violate rights to health, privacy, humane treatment, and nondiscrimination. But now women in countries with abortion bans or limited access could seek help abroad.
This is a significant and long-overdue victory for women across the EU. It signals a renewed commitment to protecting reproductive rights and expanding access to safe abortion care. However, because health policy rests at the national level, now the responsibility lies with member states to ensure these funds translate into meaningful, tangible improvements on the ground. Governments across the EU should seize Thursday’s decision as an opportunity to strengthen access to abortion and uphold women’s rights.
A Small Change in Egypt’s Tax Code, A Big Opportunity for Rights
In an overdue but welcome step, Egypt’s Ministry of Finance has published data showing state owned enterprises, following 2024 tax reforms to remove their tax exemptions, contributed 67 billion pounds (US$1.4 billion) in tax revenue in FY2024/25 and is expected to raise 87 billion pounds (US$1.7 billion) in FY2025/26.
While Human Rights Watch cannot verify the government data, it shows that most of this revenue came from a small number of military businesses such as cement factories and military social and sporting clubs.
Since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seized power in 2014, he has greatly expanded the reach of the military’s businesses into a massive swath of the civilian economy. These opaque businesses operate in virtually all sectors from poultry to gas stations. For decades, they have largely not been subject to civilian oversight, transparency requirements, or taxation, so their revenues have not contributed to the government’s budget or fulfilling socioeconomic and other rights. Instead, they provide the military a revenue stream outside the state budget and have helped President Sisi and military generals solidify control over civilian life through authoritarian repression. Military businesses have also been linked to abusiveconduct with impunity.
For years, HumanRightsWatch and other groups have advocated for transparency around Egypt’s military businesses. As part of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) ongoing program, the government committed to publish the cost of tax exemptions for state-owned enterprises. It also enacted legal amendments in 2023 and 2024 to remove such exemptions, albeit with overbroad defense and national security exceptions. Last week, the IMF approved the release of US$2.27 billion as part of the US$8 billion deal.
The recent disclosures are unprecedented. Although they are far from detailed, they show that taxing even a small number of military businesses in Egypt generates billions in revenue. This confirms what democracy and human rights advocates have been pointing out for years: broad tax exemptions for state-owned enterprises like military business rob the state of significant revenue that could help fulfill Egyptians’ economic, social, and cultural and other rights.
A government report published in April 2024 under the IMF program estimated that total revenue lost to tax exemptions, including for state owned enterprises amounted to between 3 and 4.5 percent of GDP. By contrast, the country’s 2025/26 education budget was only 1.5 percent of GDP. Human Rights Watch has previously found that the Egyptian government has severely undermined the rights to education and health care by failing to allocate sufficient spending.
That a seemingly obscure tax reform could generate such huge sums highlights the transformative potential of tax policy for human rights. But to unlock that potential, the revenue should support increased spending on rights, such as concrete outcomes on health, education, and social security.
UN Experts Rebut Olympics Sex Testing Plan
United Nations human rights experts issued a damning public critique of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) plans to “sex test” all women athletes.
Last year, the IOC started a secret process to “protect the female category,” and it appears the result is an impending announcement that all women athletes will undergo genetic sex testing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic games.
Sex testing has long been used by sporting bodies to target women athletes who, often through variations in their sex characteristics, or intersex traits, have higher than typical natural testosterone. Yet sex testing has been debunked as unethical, unscientific, and unworkable, and has often relied on racist gender stereotypes. Moreover, there is no scientific consensus that such higher than typical testosterone in women confers an athletic advantage.
Men have never been subject to sex testing, illustrating its discriminatory nature. Instead, the vague language of sex testing regulations, sport governing bodies’ exclusive control over their implementation, and the arbitrary application of unscientific methods, trigger surveillance of women.
Brave athletes have previously pushed back against sex testing and won. In 2015, following Indian sprinter Dutee Chand’s successful appeal against an Athletics Federation ban for having higher testosterone, global sex testing regulations for women runners were temporarily scrapped. South African Caster Semenya successfully challenged sex testing at the European Court of Human Rights, with one of the court’s judges emphasizing that Semenya “was at a disadvantage … not only as a professional athlete.... but also because she is a woman, she is black, and she is from the Global South.” In the 2024 Paris Games, the IOC, drawing on its framework for inclusion, stood up for Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, with then-President Thomas Bach saying: “I would ask everybody to respect these women[...]. When you speak about human rights then you have the human right of every woman to participate in a women's competition,”
Women’s equality in sport is an ongoing project, and sex testing does nothing to promote inclusion. Rather it casts a dragnet over women showing their talents to the world.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry should reconsider her endorsement of sex testing and instead follow the IOC’s evidence-based framework for inclusion developed to promote fairness and inclusion while treating all athletes with dignity.
Japan Should Adopt Regulation to Counter Uyghur Forced Labor
Japanese lawmakers and Uyghur activists gathered on February 25 at an event hosted by the Japan Uyghur Association in Tokyo to address the Chinese government’s atrocity crimes in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
“It’s important to send a big message to the world” about the Chinese government’s rights abuses against Uyghurs, said Keiji Furuya, a senior lawmaker for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in his opening remarks. Furuya, chairperson of the Japan Uyghur Parliamentary Association, said last November that his caucus would draft a Japanese version of the United States Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Human Rights Watch, in a February 18 letter to the Japan Uyghur Parliamentary Association, underscored that import restrictions targeting state-imposed forced labor are crucial for increasing pressure on the Chinese government to end abusive labor practices in Xinjiang and beyond.
Human Rights Watch recommended that Japan should target any global region with a high risk of state-imposed forced labor. The law should also require companies seeking to import at-risk products to demonstrate that a product was not produced through forced labor.
Since 2016, Chinese authorities have detained up to a million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang’s political reeducation camps, sentenced a half-million to prison without due process, and subjected many to torture, forced disappearance, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, family separation, and forced labor. State-imposed forced labor in Xinjiang affects global supply chains, including in Japan, in sectors including automotive, solar panels, apparel, seafood, agricultural products, and critical minerals.
The Japanese government has long been critical of Beijing’s abuses against Uyghurs. In 2024, during China’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as during a 2025 bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping, Japan expressed concern about China’s human rights situation, including in Xinjiang.
Import restrictions and other corporate accountability laws, such as the European Union’s corporate sustainability due diligence directive, are essential to integrate human rights with economic policies that protect consumer and local industries from “low rights” economic models in China and beyond.
Pakistan: Quash Longstanding Blasphemy Case
(New York) – Pakistani authorities should quash the unjust conviction of Junaid Hafeez, who was sentenced to death in 2013 under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws, Human Rights Watch said today. Hafeez’s 13 years in prison raise grave concerns about the lack of due process and the broader misuse of the country’s blasphemy laws.
Police in Punjab province arrested Hafeez, then an academic in his twenties, on March 13, 2013, for blasphemy based on comments he allegedly posted on Facebook. In December 2019, a court in Multan sentenced Hafeez to death following a repeatedly delayed trial lasting several years that took place inside a high-security prison amid fears of mob violence. His appeal has yet to be heard and he has been held in solitary confinement since June 2014.
Click to expand Image Junaid Hafeez. © Junaid Hafeez/Twitter“Junaid Hafeez’s case is emblematic of the unjust and abusive nature of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should quash Hafeez’s conviction and safely release him and others held under the blasphemy laws.”
The blasphemy laws, section 295-C, and other provisions of Pakistan’s penal code carry what is effectively a mandatory death sentence. Although there have been no executions, several people are currently on death row, while dozens are serving life sentences for related offenses. Hundreds have been charged under the law in the past three decades.
The long delay in Hafeez’s trial was among the denials of due process that many charged with blasphemy face. Holding him for years insolitary confinement is cruel and inhuman treatment that may amount to torture, Human Rights Watch said. Blasphemy suspects often find it extremely difficult to find legal representation because of threats and violence against legal counsel. In May 2014, unidentified gunmen fatally shot Rashid Rehman, a prominent human rights activist and Hafeez’s defense lawyer, in his office in Multan. Rehman had been threatened with “dire consequences” for defending Hafeez.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have long been used to prosecute members of minority religious communities or to carry out personal vendettas, extortion, and blackmail. In recent years, blasphemy laws have been increasingly invoked to jail and prosecute people for comments made on social media.
Discrimination in Pakistan’s criminal justice system against people accused of blasphemy has resulted in miscarriages of justice, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities almost never hold those who commit violence in the name of blasphemy to account, while those accused under blasphemy laws—generally without evidence—suffer long pretrial detention, lack of due process, and unfair trials that may result in years in prison.
The government’s indifference to the abuses under the blasphemy laws and the mob violence it provokes is discriminatory and violates rights to freedom of religion, belief, and expression.
In October 2025, the government announced that it would introduce procedural safeguards to the blasphemy laws. Introducing safeguards and safely releasing all those detained or imprisoned on blasphemy charges would be important steps toward repealing the blasphemy laws, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should investigate threats and attacks based on blasphemy accusations, with particular concern for members of targeted religious minorities and other marginalized groups.
“In recent months, the government has made progress in addressing some of the injustices of the country’s blasphemy laws,” Pearson said. “Hafeez’s case is an opportunity to demonstrate real intent and seriousness toward reform."
Cambodian Journalists Unjustly Sentenced to 14 Years
A Cambodian government-controlled court sentenced two journalists to 14 years in prison for treason after they appeared in a photograph with Cambodian soldiers near the disputed Thai-Cambodian border.
The journalists, Phorn Sopheap of the Battambang Post TV Online and Pheap Pheara of TSP 68 TV Online, were arrested last July and charged with “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense” under article 445 of Cambodia’s Criminal Code. The sentence was announced on February 20, after a one-day trial in December.
The photo, taken near Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey province, appears to show anti-personnel landmines in the background. The temple is near the site of clashes between Cambodian and Thai forces in July and December 2025.
Thai government agencies and media outlets had earlier published the photograph, saying it shows that Cambodian soldiers had laid new landmines in the area in violation of international law.
Thailand and Cambodia have both ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which comprehensively prohibits any production, transfer, stockpiling, or use of antipersonnel mines. Thailand has alleged that Cambodian forces used landmines in the recent fighting that injured Thai soldiers. Cambodia denied such allegations, claiming the mines were from decades-old conflicts.
Cambodian authorities have recently detained and charged at least two other journalists for reporting on the border conflict. On August 27, Meas Sara was charged with incitement after live-streaming interviews with Cambodian villagers displaced by the fighting. On February 13, Luot Sophal, a journalist with the independent Srotop Yuvakvey news, was arrested and charged with incitement to commit a felony and demoralizing the armed forces after reporting on an alleged water shortage facing frontline Cambodian troops.
The authorities have targeted journalists as a part of a broader crackdown on freedom of speech since the border conflict started.
Despite this, the Cambodian government has been eager to court the attention of international media, with Prime Minister Hun Manet granting a rare interview to Reuters about the situation on the border just days after Sophal’s arrest. Cambodian leaders should recognize that the best way to ensure Cambodia’s side of the story receives press coverage is to stop baselessly charging journalists for their reporting.
A Year On, Two North Korean POWs in Ukraine Fear Forced Return
More than a year after Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, the men’s future remains undecided. Under the Third Geneva Convention applicable to the armed conflict in Ukraine, prisoners of war (POWs) may be held until the end of active hostilities, but they can be repatriated or transferred to a third country before then.
These men, among the thousands of North Korean soldiers sent to fight alongside Russian forces, have said they want to go to South Korea, not returned home. Seoul has said it will accept them, and a senior European Union official recently affirmed the EU stands ready to assist.
North Korea’s military instructs soldiers to die rather than be captured, and state media glorifies such suicides as heroic. “I feel very uncomfortable just being alive,” said one of the soldiers. “Being a prisoner of war means betraying the country.” Returning POWs to North Korea would expose them to grave abuses, including enforced disappearance, torture, forced labor, and execution.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, in its 2020 Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention, states that the repatriation of POWs “must be understood as subject to an exception where the prisoners face a real risk of a violation of fundamental rights by their own country.” This is consistent with the principle of nonrefoulement under international human rights law, which prohibits the transfer of a person to a place where they would likely face persecution or torture.
In early February, the United Nations special rapporteur on North Korea, Elizabeth Salmón, stated that, “[t]he Ukrainian government is very well aware of the situation in North Korea, and they replied that there may be reasonable grounds to believe that they [the two POWs] could be subject to torture” if returned there. While Ukraine has no obligation to transfer the two men while hostilities are ongoing, prolonged uncertainty about the men’s future increases concerns that they could be returned to North Korea as part of a peace settlement.
Ukraine should work with South Korea and the EU to ensure that captured North Korean soldiers are protected from forced return to a government that is likely to treat them harshly.
US ‘Energy Dominance Agenda’ Drives Indonesia Trade Deal
On February 20, Indonesia and the United States agreed to a new trade deal, with US$15 billion specifically allocated for fossil fuel imports. This deal is part of a broader series of global fossil fuel agreements promoted under the US “Energy Dominance Agenda,” which aims to expand domestic fossil fuel production and boost exports. Key provisions of the Indonesia-US Reciprocal Trade Agreement include a significant share of Indonesia’s current energy imports—oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and metallurgical coal—and favor US investment in Indonesia’s mining sector, echoing recent US-backed deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere.
Environmental experts warn the agreement pushes Indonesia further away from fulfilling its international climate and human rights obligations. Atina Rizqiana of CELIOS, a Jakarta-based research group, said that the deal “represents a significant setback in the energy transition agenda.” Provisions on fossil fuel imports raise concerns about Indonesia’s commitment to phase out fossil fuels. Despite earlier commitments to phase out coal under the $20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership— an international financing mechanism to support the country’s energy transition—President Prabowo Subianto’s government has already approved a significant increase in coal generation.
The import of US fossil fuels comes as Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, have significantly expanded Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import infrastructure, and new investor involvement in LNG projects could lock the country into decades of fossil fuel dependence. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has done little to promote renewable energy in electricity generation and mineral processing, or to prevent human right abuses in communities located near coal mines and nickel smelters.
The deal also exposes Indonesian and American companies to human rights due diligence risks. US investors shouldexercise caution when considering investments in the Indonesian nickel sector, which has been tainted with serious rights abuses. At the same time, US exports of metallurgical coal to Indonesia may carry additional human and environmental costs, particularly as the Donald Trump administration has pursued deregulation in the fossil fuel industry, rolling back key climate and public health protections.
Countries reaching energy deals with the US government should recognize the broader implications. They risk losing credibility on climate and human rights and jeopardizing financial resources needed for a safe and equitable energy transition.
Afghanistan: Accountability Needed for Gender Persecution, Other Grave Crimes
Mr. President,
We thank the Special Rapporteur for his comprehensive report on the Taliban’s systematic violation of women’s rights, including the right to health.
The Taliban have recently passed a new criminal procedure code that further deepens repression and discrimination in Afghanistan. The new law defines Muslims exclusively as adherents of the Hanafi jurisprudence and labels other religious groups, including Shia, as heretics. It prescribes strict punishments to silence dissent and recognizes only “excessive” beating as domestic violence against women, leaving survivors of other forms of abuse with no protection or pathways to justice.
We urge UN member states to listen to the women and girls of Afghanistan, center their voices, and do more to protect their rights and advance accountability for gender persecution.
The new mechanism that this Council created last October will be a key tool in holding perpetrators of grave abuses to account. Member states and the UN leadership should urgently operationalize it and ensure it has the necessary resources to fulfill its mandate.
In addition, states should recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, support and protect ICC efforts to prosecute those responsible for gender persecution and other grave international crimes in Afghanistan, support the initiative to hold the Taliban accountable for CEDAW violations at the ICJ, and pursue criminal cases through universal jurisdiction.
Thank you.
Greece Under Fire for Law Targeting Aid Groups
Led by Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor, five United Nations experts have issued a damning critique of Greece’s latest attempt to criminalize human rights defenders working to support migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
In a letter to the Greek government, made public on February 24, the experts warn that a new migration law adopted on February 5 “would impose unfair restrictions on the work of NGOs working in the field of migration in Greece, while criminalising their activity of defence of human rights.”
Under the new law, membership in a nongovernmental organization is considered an aggravating factor in migration-related criminal offenses, meaning a person is punished more severely simply because they belong to a nongovernmental group. For example, if a private citizen is found to have helped an undocumented person find shelter, they might face a misdemeanor charge. But if an aid worker from a registered nongovernmental group does the exact same thing, the law converts that act into a felony.
The UN experts argue the law creates “de jure discrimination” against aid workers. They further warn that such legal “ambiguity is likely to generate a chilling effect on humanitarian actors,” as individuals and organizations providing essential assistance in good faith may face criminal charges.
The law also grants Greece’s migration minister unchecked authority to deregister nongovernmental groups without a court ruling. These measures complicate an already burdensome registration framework for nongovernmental groups that the UN experts have previously criticized.
The new legislation and the UN experts’ critiques of the law underline what we have documented at Human Rights Watch: Greek authorities are engaged in a systematic effort to smear and intimidate those who provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to people on the move; who report on the government’s violent pushbacks against migrants; and who seek accountability for the mounting deaths of migrants and asylum seekers at borders.
By targeting and criminalizing civil society, Greece is fostering a climate of fear and undermining the rule of law in ways that ultimately put the lives of people on the move at risk.
The Greek government should heed the warning from the UN experts and annul abusive provisions of this law. The government should also preserve civil society space as a cornerstone of democracy, including for those defending the rights of people on the move.