Human Rights

1 Apr 2019; CSW: A prayer meeting in a home in India’s Tamil Nadu state was disrupted on 19 March by approximately 15 people from the Hindu Munani (Hindu Front) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which is the religious arm of the RSS, a Hindu nationalist movement.

Tehran, Apr 9 (AFP/PTI) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that the United States was the real "leader of world terrorism" after Washington blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a "foreign terrorist organisation".

"Who are you to label revolutionary institutions as terrorists?" Rouhani asked in a speech broadcast live by state television.

WASHINGTON; 9 Apr 2019; AA: The U.S. on Monday designated 16 Saudi officials for their roles in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

All of those who were blacklisted as well as their immediate family members are now ineligible for entry into the United States.

7 Apr 2019; AFP: Turkey on Sunday condemned what it called Benjamin Netanyahu's "irresponsible" remarks after the Israeli leader said he planned to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins upcoming elections.

"West Bank is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in violation of int’l law," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

7 Apr 2019; AFP: The main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel's elections on Sunday condemned the premier's deeply controversial pledge to annex West Bank settlements, calling it an "irresponsible" bid for votes.

Netanyahu said late Saturday he planned to apply sovereignty over at least parts of the occupied West Bank, a move that could prove the death knell for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

7 Apr 2019; DW: Last week, authorities in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg deported Vietnamese dissident and Nobel Prize-nominated writer Nguyen Quang Hong Nhan together with his wife.

The activist, who spent nearly 20 years in a Vietnam prison for spreading "propaganda against the socialist state," applied for asylum in Nuremberg in 2015. Germany's Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), however, rejected their application and denied subsequent appeals.

NEW YORK, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The Committee of 100 (C100), a prominent Chinese American organization, on Sunday condemned the growing racial profiling against Chinese Americans in the United States.

The C100 members are compelled to stand up and speak out against the "increasingly common" racial profiling in the country, where "Chinese Americans are being targeted as potential traitors, spies, and agents of foreign influence," said a statement issued by the organization.

7 Apr 2019; DW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that if he secured another term in office, he would move to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The remark came ahead of nationwide elections in Israel that will take place next week.

"I won't clear a single settlement. And I will naturally ensure that we control the area west of the Jordan River," Netanyahu said during an interview with Israeli television.

ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council on Saturday urged African countries to exert more concerted efforts against an increasing trend of hate speech and xenophobic attacks in Africa.

The council made the call in a statement issued on Saturday following decisions made during its recent meeting under the theme "Prevention of the ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes in Africa."

GENEVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations (UN) expert plans to meet WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London on April 25 after receiving complaints of privacy violations, a statement released Friday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

This move was made after the expert received two separate complaints made by Assange and Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno, according to the statement.