“There are many things that happened in this war that are clearly war crimes,” Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, says about Israel’s war on Gaza. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman spoke with the top U.N. rights watchdog in Geneva this week at the headquarters of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Türk, who has characterized Israel's actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing, discusses the ongoing suffering of the civilian population, how Israel has attacked the U.N. and its workers, and why he continues to hope “for both Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

On May 13, the Chittagong Cyber Tribunal, which adjudicates alleged cybercrime offenses in southeast Bangladesh, registered a complaint under the Digital Security Act against Yasmin and her source in relation to the RTV broadcast reporter’s April 30 video investigation exposing alleged crimes by the conversative Islamic organization Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif and one of its leaders, Shakerul Kabir, according to news reports and a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Kabir filed the complaint accusing her of violating three sections of the Digital Security Act, according to CPJ’s review of the document. In her investigation, Yasmin reported that Kabir has been accused of extortion, land grabbing, and violence against women.  

The Digital Security Act, which criminalizes several forms of speech online, has frequently been used to target critical journalists in Bangladesh since its enactment in 2018. In March 2023, Bangladesh authorities arrested a Prothom Alo reporter and opened multiple investigations under the act into the leading newspaper’s leadership and staff, prompting United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk to reiterate his call on authorities to impose an immediate moratorium on the law.

 CPJ and other rights groups also have called for the suspension of the law.

“It is appalling that Bangladeshi journalist Adhara Yasmin has been targeted under the draconian Digital Security Act for her investigative reporting,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities must immediately drop their investigation, stop using the act against journalists, and ensure Yasmin is not subjected to further retaliation for her work.”

Yasmin found out about the complaint on July 8, in a call from a local police station. The next day, she learned she had been summoned for questioning on July 14 at the police Criminal Investigation Department in Chittagong’s Noakhali sub-district, about 173 kilometers (107 miles) from her home in the capital city Dhaka, according to the person who spoke to CPJ.

Yasmin’s source, who appeared in her video investigation, is named as an accused in the complaint. Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif, led by Pir Dillur Rahman, has previously been accused of filing fabricated criminal complaints to facilitate land grabbing.

CPJ called and messaged Kabir and Muhammad Rafiqul Islam, the investigating officer in the case, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

The United Nations human rights chief on Monday condemned a Russian court's decision to sentence Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident who has publicly criticized the invasion of Ukraine, to 25 years in prison after a closed-door trial.

The charges against Kara-Murza, a journalist and longtime Putin critic, include treason and perpetuating false information about the Russian army. The latter charge was brought under a law passed in the wake of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, called the sentence "another blow to the rule of law and civic space in the Russian Federation."

"Kara-Murza was tried on charges that appear related to the legitimate exercise of his right to freedom of opinion, expression, and association, including his public criticism of the Russian Federation's armed attack against Ukraine," said Türk. "No one should be deprived of their liberty for exercising their human rights, and I call on the Russian authorities to release him without delay. As long as he continues to be detained, he must be treated with humanity and respect for his dignity."

Prominent human rights organizations also denounced the Moscow court's decision, with Amnesty International's Russia director Natalia Zviagina calling it "reminiscent of Stalin-era repression."

Amnesty has deemed Kara-Murza a prisoner of conscience and demanded his immediate, unconditional release.

"Vladimir Kara-Murza's 25-year prison sentence is yet another chilling example of the systematic repression of civil society, which has broadened and accelerated under the Kremlin since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year," said Zviagina. "The so-called 'crimes' Vladimir Kara-Murza was tried for—speaking out against the invasion and advocacy on behalf of victims of human rights violations—are in fact acts of outstanding bravery."

Kara-Murza, who was first arrested just weeks after Russia's launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine, has denied the charges against him while refusing to drop his criticism of the invasion, which has devolved into a catastrophic war with no end in sight.

Kara-Murza is one of thousands of Russians who have been arrested for protesting the war in Ukraine.

"I subscribe to every word that I have said," Kara-Murza declared in a statement last week. "Not only do I not repent any of this, I am proud of it."

Prior to his arrest, Kara-Murza delivered a speech in the U.S. in which he called Russia's airstrikes on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure "war crimes that are being committed by the dictatorial regime in the Kremlin against a nation in the middle of Europe.

The charging document against Kara-Murza cites the speech as evidence of his guilt.

"The verdict against Vladimir Kara-Murza is a travesty of justice," Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Monday. "Russian authorities should immediately vacate the verdict and unconditionally free him."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jake Johnson.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday called out Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for saying that Huwara, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, "needs to be wiped out" and "the state of Israel should do it."

Smotrich's comment Wednesday came after Israeli settlers on Sunday rampaged through Huwara, killing a 37-year-old Palestinian man—mass violence that came just hours after a Palestinian gunman murdered a pair of Israeli brothers, who were 19 and 21.

While presenting a report on Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine and "the current intensification of violence" to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Türk blasted Smotrich's remark as "an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility."

"Over half a century of occupation has led to widening dispossession, deepening deprivation, and recurring and severe violations of their rights, including the right to life."

More broadly, Türk lamented that "the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is a tragedy. A tragedy, above all, for the Palestinian people. Over half a century of occupation has led to widening dispossession, deepening deprivation, and recurring and severe violations of their rights, including the right to life. Nobody could wish to live this way—or imagine that forcing people into conditions of such desperation can lead to an enduring solution."

"2022 saw both the highest number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the past 17 years, and the highest number of Israelis killed since 2016," he highlighted. "This death toll has further, and sharply, deteriorated in the first weeks of 2023, and in the month that has just ended."

Türk's office found that over the reporting period, Israeli security forces frequently used lethal force, "regardless of the level of threat—and, at times, even as an initial measure, rather than as last resort." Researchers also documented "several cases of apparent extrajudicial, targeted killings" by such forces.

As the rights chief told the council, other key findings in the report include:

• Israeli security forces killed 131 Palestinians—including 65 people who were unarmed and did not engage in violence—and since 2017, fewer than 15% of such killings have been investigated, and fewer than 1% led to an indictment;
• Palestinians killed 13 Israelis—and nine more, including three children, have been killed in two attacks since then;
• Israel increasingly imposes collective punishments such as the blockade of Gaza, which are prohibited by international law, on Palestinians;
• 967 Palestinians are being held in "administrative detention," the highest number in 15 years; and
• There are over 270 illegal Israeli settlements across Palestine.

"The occupation is eating away at the health of both societies, on every level—from childhood to old age, and in every part of life," Türk stressed. "For this violence to end, the occupation must end. On all sides, there are people who know this."

The U.N. leader urged decision-makers in the region and around the world to heed the recommendations of his office's reports "and to step back from the precipice to which increasing extremism and violence have led."

While the settler attack on Huwara drew rare widespread rebuke—including from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and a pair of conservative Jewish organizations in the United States—the Israeli government's recent shift to the right has stoked fears that violence in the region will only get worse and more frequent.

As Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said earlier this week, "The Israeli settlers burning down Palestinian homes and attacking Palestinians in the street are supported by the Israeli military and the Israeli government."

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa, declared Friday that "under Israel's apartheid system, impunity reigns."

"Despite the intensity and scale of Sunday's attacks, which resulted in the killing of one Palestinian and the wounding of nearly 400 more, and despite a rare show of international condemnation of settler violence, Israeli police yesterday released six suspects who were arrested in connection with the attacks," she noted. "Meanwhile two others have been issued with administrative detention orders, which violate international law."

Like Miller, Morayef emphasized that "Israeli authorities have long enabled and incited settler attacks against Palestinians, and in some cases soldiers have directly participated."

"State-backed settler violence is endemic in the occupied West Bank," she continued. "Towns and villages like Huwara, which was the epicenter of Sunday's attacks, are frequently targeted as they are surrounded by illegal settlements. For example, in October 2022, settlers broke into a school in Huwara where they smashed windows and beat teachers and pupils; less than two weeks later a café was set on fire, and groups of settlers assaulted Palestinian residents with pipes and rocks."

"Amnesty International reiterates its call on Israeli authorities to remove all settlements, which are war crimes under international law, and to dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians," Morayef added. "Apartheid is a crime against humanity and violence against civilians will continue for as long as it is in place."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.