Prosecuting the soldiers who killed an imam in army detention will be a test of the administration of Thailand’s new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has vowed to bring justice to Thailand’s conflict-ridden southern border provinces.

On October 30, 2008, justice for victims of atrocities committed during the course of Liberia's long and brutal years of armed conflict took a major step forward in a very unlikely location: Miami, Florida.

The Angolan government should urgently end torture and unfair trials in state security cases. Fourteen civilians who were arbitrarily detained and tortured in military custody are currently being held on security charges in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.

All parties  in the escalating conflict in Somalia  have regularly committed war crimes and other serious abuses during the past year that have contributed to the country's humanitarian catastrophe, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the United States, the European Union, and other major international actors to rethink their flawed approaches to the crisis and support efforts to ensure accountability.

In late August 2008, the Congolese army (FARDC) and the rebel group, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), resumed heavy fighting in the most recent episode of more than a decade of war in eastern Congo. The Congolese army was sometimes aided by Congolese militia known as Mai Mai and PARECO, as well as by a Rwandan armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), some of whose leaders participated in the 1994 genocide.

President George W. Bush should not issue a preemptive pardon of past or present officials implicated in torture or other abuses related to the “war on terror,” said Human Rights Watch and eight other organizations in a letter sent to the president today.

While the Constitution provides the president power "to grant reprieves and pardons" for federal crimes, doing so under the current circumstances would be an unprecedented misuse of the pardon power.

The health of a former Guantanamo detainee has declined alarmingly in a Russian detention facility, and he should be given immediate access to an independent medical examination and appropriate treatment, Human Rights Watch said today.