Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 5 July

In today's Brief: Egypt nervously faces the "Day of Rejection". There's some hopeful progress for rape survivors in India. And HRW is expanding in Central Asia and online... In Egypt, supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsy will take to the streets today, and the nation waits nervously to see what will unfold. The army has promised to allow peaceful protest, but given arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members, a troubling investigation into Morsy for "insulting the judiciary", a crackdown on the media, and a new constitutional amendment process apparently designed to preserve the army's enormous autonomy, there is clear cause for concern that the new authorities may not respect fundamental rights any more than previous ones. Though events are still very much in motion and new violence seems to be looming, we shouldn't forget the deaths on the streets of Egypt over the past several days. Available information indicates that both supporters and opponents of Morsy – and possibly security forces as well – were responsible for needless loss of life, and this demands an independent investigation. And of course, the epidemic of sexual violence in Egypt goes on... There has been some good news in India, where the Supreme Court issued a binding ruling that "finger tests" inherently violate the rights of rape survivors. Condemned by rights groups for years as degrading and scientifically farcical, this inhumane practice will now hopefully be replaced with  treatment and forensic examinations better suited o the survivors' needs and rights. In Kyrgyzstan, HRW is opening a new office today... And we're expanding online as well, with HRW's Facebook page passing 500,000 "likes". Of course, not everyone likes HRW: authoritarian rulers, abusive security services, and others whose crimes we expose... But for everyone else, come join us on Facebook today! Read yesterday's Daily Brief, covering Egypt, Burma, India, Iran, Hungary and Snowden's asylum claims...