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Threats and intimidation against journalists in the Republic of Uganda are commonplace. A proposed new media law as well as next year’s presidential elections could mean more bad news for reporters and whole media outlets in the country. The proposed new laws are ‘draconian,’ says Andrew Mwenda, right, editor of the Independent magazine.

Міжнародная аўтарытэтная арганізацыя “Рэпарцёры без межаў” выказвае заклапочанасць, што ціск на беларускую прэсу з набліжэннем прэзідэнцкіх выбараў узмацняецца. Пра гэта гаворыцца ў адмысловай заяве, якую арганізацыя распаўсюдзіла 17 жніўня.

Amnesty International is urging the Syrian authorities to release or charge a Kurdish man who has been detained for almost two years. Reports from exiled Kurdish activists have raised fears that ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf has been tortured at the hands of State Security.

There is an increasing harassment of the Belarusian press in the run-up to the presidential election that has been scheduled for next spring. What with the information ministry’s repeated warnings, police raids, tax inspections and the country’s new media law, press freedom is now severely compromised in the Republic of Belarus.

As the Burmese authorities have announced the date of the national election for 7 November, the opposition has started its activity. The main aim of one of the opposition groups, young activists called Generation Wave (GW), is to urge the people of Burma to boycott the elections, given the undemocratic nature of the 2008 Constitution. They spread posters with a text “You have the right to not vote” and with a picture of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the background.

The Polish Border Guard Office released a number of documents to the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which, for the first time, provide details of the number of prisoners transferred by the CIA to a secret prison in the Republic of Poland between December 5, 2002, and September 22, 2003, and, in one case, the number of prisoners who were subsequently transferred to a secret CIA prison in Romania.

Polish Magazine “Polityka” published interview with Professor Irena Lipowicz, the new Ombudsman, about sexual minorities, partnerships, ethics lessons, the rights of the elderly, as well as whether she’ll be able to oppose the state and the Church.

European Union member states should publicly support the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to EU foreign ministers on 11 August 2010.

The Burmese military government announced on 13 August 2010 that general elections are to be held on 7 November of this year, just days before Aung San Suu Kyi’s current terms of house arrest comes to an end. In a report to the UN Human Rights Council human rights organisation Article 19 outlines concerns around the elections, and other gross violations of the right to freedom of expression in the country.