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Sarwa Abdul Wahab Al Darwish was a 36-year-old Iraqi journalist from Mosul. On 4 May, Sarwa was in a taxi, returning from the market with her mother. The car was stopped and she was dragged out by two men attempting to kidnap her. Sarwa screamed and struggled against her would-be abductors. They shot her twice in the head and drove away. Her death is shocking for us who knew her. Tragically, this kind of thing happens to women all over Iraq on a daily basis. (16-MAY-08)
 

Every 16th day of the month, the Solidarity Day action takes place in the Republic of Belarus.  This action is ’dedicated’ to the prisoners of conscience and missing politicians in the Republic of Belarus. People light candles in their windows to demonstrate their solidarity or go out on the streets to remind Belarusians about the problem of political prisoners. (16-MAY-08)
 

To the problem of corruption in Polish football was recently added the issue of racism. There is news of racist outbursts after nearly every round of league play. Clubs, whose arenas stage these excesses, remain unpunished. On 9 of May 2008, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights sent a letter to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in which it voiced serious concern about recent racist incidents. (16-MAY-08)

Today, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) presents a report documenting that the situation in the Russian parts of Northern Caucasus remains the worst human rights crisis in Europe. A Regional System of Torture, Forced Confessions and Fabricated Trials shows how Russian authorities abuse the court system in their ongoing anti-terror operation. (14-MAY-08)
 

Sarwa Abdul Wahab Al Darwish was a 36-year-old Iraqi journalist from Mosul. On 4 May, Sarwa was in a taxi, returning from the market with her mother. The car was stopped and she was dragged out by two men attempting to kidnap her. Sarwa screamed and struggled against her would-be abductors. They shot her twice in the head and drove away. Her death is shocking for us who knew her. Tragically, this kind of thing happens to women all over Iraq on a daily basis. (16-MAY-08) 
 

To the problem of corruption in Polish football was recently added the issue of racism. There is news of racist outbursts after nearly every round of league play. Clubs, whose arenas stage these excesses, remain unpunished. On 9 of May 2008, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights sent a letter to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in which it voiced serious concern about recent racist incidents. (16-MAY-08) 
 

On 11 May, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) held its annual convention. Lawyer Aleh Hulak was elected the new chairperson of the organization. “The BHC is ready to assist governmental agencies, organizations and officials in democratization and the protection of human rights.”  It is also going to monitor upcoming parliamentary elections. (15-MAY-08)
 

One by one, they come. They talk about the incessant beatings, the water that was poured over their nose and throat until they couldn’t breathe and the bricks that were tied to their testicles. One says a soldier cocked a gun in his mouth and said “Now you’re dead.” Another recounts how a bagful of chopped, fresh red pepper was pulled over his head, how his eyes and skin felt like they were on fire and he couldn’t breathe. A young man says dead bodies were dropped off in his room, and he was ordered to clean off the blood. Right, demonstration of torture in Karamoja. (15-MAY-08)
 

Security agents have arrested an unknown number of students and subjected at least one of them to beatings following unrest at al-Bahr al-Ahmar University in Port Republic of the Sudan, Red Sea State. A human rights defender who tried to assist the detainees has also been targeted. (15-MAY-08)