Ethiopian editor and journalist Woubshet Taye received the Free Press Award from the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Competition. His wife and son received the award on his behalf, as Taye sits in an Ethiopian prison.
Taye, along with three other Ethiopian journalists, received Human Rights Watch’s Hellman/Hammett award for their commitment to free expression in difficult and repressive environments, like Ethiopia’s.
Amnesty International said a senior officer in Nigeria’s army gave credible information that more than 950 people died in military custody in the first half of 2012. Those in custody were accused of either belonging to, or associating with, the armed Islamist group Boko Haram.
Pope Francis has already set the tone that will help moderate the church’s public discourse on sexuality. He can do more. Pope Francis should publicly condemn violence against LGBT people.
Nothing is certain, but activists believe we could be witnessing the end of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia.
But under the flood of women’s rights reform stories, the government’s crackdown on human rights activists has largely escaped international notice – yet it speaks volumes about the government’s attitude toward reform.
From earlier today: A bomb blast in Iraq outside a Sunni mosque in the northern city of Kikurk has killed nine people and left at least 22 others injured. Police say the explosion occurred after prayers marking Eid al-Adha. The bombing is part of a continuing upsurge of sectarian violence in Iraq, with almost 6,000 people killed so far this year.
