The Malaysian government should scrap plans to expand a state sponsored security force of civilian volunteers with a long record of human rights abuses against refugees and migrants, Amnesty International said today.

Amnesty International has warned that ten Malukan political activists detained by Indonesia's special anti-terrorism police are facing a high risk of torture.

Amnesty International has condemned the closed trial and conviction of three Uighur website managers on state security charges.

Amnesty International is urging a special court to redouble its efforts to prosecute Khmer Rouge-era criminals, following the landmark conviction today of a notorious prison camp commander of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

19/7/10; http://www.theage.com.au/national/letters/only-steps-have-been-backward-20100718-10fwp.html (3 Items) The Vatican has again excelled itself. Its declaration that paedophilia among priests and religious is a crime is at last one great positive step. But its declaration that it is a similar ”crime” for a priest to ordain a woman must rank as one of the most negative and insensitive steps the [...]

Tim Costello; 19/7/10; (12 Items) It is already clear that asylum seekers and ‘’stopping the boats” will be a critical element of this election. Yet the politics of asylum seekers is both deflating and confounding. Little wonder Immigration Minister Chris Evans, in an unguarded moment, reflected on his frustrations on the issue, which he said was [...]

19/7/10 Malaysian police have smashed a child-trafficking racket and rescued eight children and babies, an official said yesterday. Police detained 16 suspects, including four Indonesian women, in a sting operation after an Indonesian woman was nabbed last Monday when she tried to sell a 23-day-old baby girl for 10,000 ringgit ($3590). In the latest operation on [...]

Amnesty International is calling on the Singapore authorities to immediately release British author Alan Shadrake, who was arrested for criminal defamation on July 18th after he published a book critical of Singapore's use of the death penalty.

Paige Taylor; 19/7/10 – 6 Items Patrick McGorry, touched down on Christmas Island yesterday as a guest of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The leading mental health researcher, Australian of the Year and and outspoken critic of immigration detention centres, (he has described them as factories for mental illness), said he was there to “look and learn”.Professor [...]

9/7/10; ASEAN, whose members include the largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, is calling for unimpeded aid access to Gaza . The body also wants the resumption of Middle East peace talks. A draft document says foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations “strongly condemned” the May 31 Israeli military raid on an aid flotilla bound [...]

Amnesty International has welcomed the release of an Indonesian prisoner of conscience jailed for his role in a peaceful flag-raising protest. Yusak Pakage, 31, was released on Wednesday morning from the Doyo Baru prison in Sentani, Papua province. He had been serving a ten-year sentence for his role in a peaceful demonstration in December 2004 during which the Morning Star flag, symbolizing Papuan independence, was raised.

Amnesty International is urging the Chinese government to launch an independent investigation into last year's riots in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, after new testimony obtained by the organization has cast further doubt on the official version of events.

Bangladeshi security forces used excessive force during a raid on the house of a senior opposition politician on June 27, Amnesty International said today.

The Malaysian government should give refugees in the country the right to work, Amnesty International said today as it revealed a litany of abuses suffered by refugees in Malaysia, the vast majority of whom are from Myanmar.

15/5/10 What are these?  The NSW government is moving to grant itself sweeping powers to control alcohol consumption. Under changes introduced to state parliament yesterday, the government has moved to seize control of the opening hours of pubs, bars and clubs and give itself the power to impose measures such as lock-outs and service restrictions on [...]

Jamie Walker;15/5/10; (3 Items) The investigation into the 2004 death in custody of Palm Island man Mulrunji Doomadgee was stripped of credibility because of a “perception of collusion” between local detectives and the policeman who caused the Aborigine’s fatal injuries. But Queensland Deputy Chief Magistrate Brian Hine, delivering the findings of the third coronial inquest into [...]

13/5/10 (2/Items) People smugglers will find it harder to ply their trade after parliament approved tough new laws. The Federal Government’s Bill, supported by the opposition, creates two new people smuggling crimes. Smuggling ventures to Australia that involve exploitation or the danger of serious harm or death will carry a maximum jail term of 20 years. [...]

Mark Metherell; 13/5/10 In contrast to the crackdown on cigarettes, the Rudd government has rejected its own experts’ recommendations to take on the powerful food and alcohol industries. Obesity was recently found to trigger more diseases in Australia than tobacco, but the government has given the thumbs-down to the call from its preventative health taskforce for [...]

15/5/10; A mud-walled village in Iran. Soraya, a 35-year-old mother of seven, is falsely accused of adultery by her violent husband, who wants to be rid of her to marry a 4-year-old girl. He blackmails the local mullah, who sentences Soraya to death by stoning under Sharia law. The crowd cries “Allahu akbar [God is [...]

15/5/10 A Catholic diocese in the US has agreed to pay more than $US20 million ($22.3m) to victims of predator priests and says it will sell some of its real estate to foot the bill. The diocese of Burlington in the northeastern state of Vermont agreed to pay $US17.65m yesterday to 26 sex abuse victims and [...]