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The deportation of a human rights investigator from Kenya this week raises concerns over Kenya’s openness to scrutiny, says East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and Human Rights Watch (HRW). Clara Gutteridge, right, a British citizen, was deported also from Uganda last December, while investigating the same case; the handing over by Kenya of seven men suspected of ‘terrorism’.

Yesterday, the European Parliament voted for a resolution on Azerbaijan where the closure of the Human Rights House Azerbaijan is mentioned as one of the key concerns in addition to the clampdown on freedom of expression and assembly. The resolution expresses its deep concern at the increasing number of incidents of harassment, attacks and violence against civil society and social network activists and journalists in Azerbaijan. Read the full resolution below.

On May 11, Belarus set a sad record: 27 people were tried on accusations of involvement in the 19 December elections protests. Among the 27 was ex-candidate for presidency Uladzimir Niakliayeu, right. Politically motivated sentences were condemned by prominent European politicians, who urge to punish Belarusian authorities with economic sanctions or cancellation of World Ice Hockey Championship – 2014 in Minsk

More than 240, 000 disabled people live in Georgia today, which is more than 10 percent of Georgia’s population; the majority of them are unemployed, lacking of personal realization and the possibility of enjoying all rights. In 2001, the law on “social security of persons with disabilities” was adopted. According to this law, the state undertakes an obligation to provide disabled persons with an equal environment and to ensure their engagement in social, economic and cultural life.

The Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights organization in Russia, celebrates its 35 years’ anniversary today. Ludmila Alexeyeva, who has been a part of the organization since its first day and who is now at its head, says that the main organisation’s purpose is to force the authorities to observe the Constitution and human rights and to respect citizens’ dignity.

The HFHR expressed its concern over the pressure brought by the authorities of Radom on the director of the municipal cultural centre “Resursa Obywatelska” (RO) to exclude a homosexual from the educational project “Żywa Biblioteka” (“Human Library”). The RO director said that she would host the project at centre on a condition that the project did not involve participation of the homosexual.

11 траўня ў Беларусі дасягнуты сумны рэкорд – адначасова за ўдзел у “Плошчы” судзілі 27 чалавек, у тым ліку – былога кандыдата ў прэзідэнты, паэта Уладзіміра Някляева (на фота). Палітычныя прысуды асудзілі выбітныя еўрапейскія палітыкі, заклікаўшы пакараць беларускія ўлады эканамічнымі санкцыямі або адменай Чэмпіянату свету па хакеі’2014 ў Мінску.

Shot clandestinely over a 2-year period by best-selling novelist and filmmaker, Robert H. Lieberman, this film provides a rare look at the second-most isolated country on the planet. It lifts the curtain to expose the everyday life in a country that has been held in the iron grip of a brutal military regime for 48 years.

Despite international criticism, Belarusian judges keep pronouncing harsh sentences for the December 19 protesters. Belarusian authorities also expel members of the International Human Rights Observation Mission. Independent newspapers in the country are under threat of being shut down, while the police continue to enjoy impunity.

The world’s worst online oppressors are using an array of tactics, some reflecting astonishing levels of sophistication, others reminiscent of old-school techniques. All online oppressors are nations with long records of repression but now they have swiftly adapted old strategies to the online world, a new special report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says.

Free speech, media and information flows increasingly ignore and elude physical frontiers or national boundaries. Many governments, fearful of this lack of control, are trying hard to restore or fortify barriers to trace, block, target and censor those who champion the truth.

The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA) condemns the 4 May 2011 conviction of youth activist Jabbar Savalan, who was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment on politically motivated charges of drug possession.