Human Rights Defenders
Traders burn 10-year-old boy for ‘stealing’ food
A 10-year-old boy, Ifeanyi, was on Saturday thrown into a fire for allegedly stealing a small measure of uncooked rice in a market at Inikiri Benard village, Effium community, in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Newsmen gathered that the lad’s mother was late, while his father was mentally-challenged. A community source said, “The boy was thrown into a fire by two traders who accused him of stealing rice from a shop at the market to cook for himself and his father.” The Chairman of Human Rights Defenders, Ebonyi State chapter, Mr Sam Nweke, condemned the inhuman act meted out to the kid. He said, “HURIDE got a call from one Mr George Etamesor, on the grave abuse of this poor boy. This was because he was caught trying to steal some rice in their village market. They tied h...
West urges Saudi Arabia to release women activists, prosecute Jamal Khashoggi’s killers
Agence France-Presse Dozens of Western countries on Tuesday voiced concern at Saudi Arabia’s continued detention of women activists and called for those behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be brought to justice. No less than a dozen prominent women’s rights activists were arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2018 as it lifted a ban on women driving cars, a step that many of the detainees had long campaigned for. The women were rounded up as part of a broader crackdown on dissent. Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the United Nations Human Rights Council, brought up Saudi Arabia’s “prolonged detentions of women rights defenders,” including Loujain al-Hathloul. Several of the arrested women say they have suffered torture and sexual assault in detention, accusations w...
