Tuesday, Jul 25th
Last update05:20:13 AM GMT
Human Rights Glance
Historical tragedies have their own visual references—footage of violence, photographs of victims—that have been pored over, forgotten, and subsequently rediscovered. Of course, images lose their potency with time, and become faded as witnesses die and disappear. Remembering the story behind the photograph becomes tantamount, since reducing history to a collection of snapshots risks a tragic loss of nuance, depth, and truth.
Lee Ming-cheh, a human rights advocate from Taiwan who was detained in China in March, has been formally arrested on a charge of “subverting state power,” the Chinese government has announced, amid a continuing crackdown on civil society organizations.
His arrest, announced on Friday, marks the first time the Chinese authorities have charged someone from Taiwan with subversion. Many people in Taiwan fear it will not be the last, and it has added a new strain to the tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
A prominent UAE lawyer sentenced to 10 years in 2013 for plotting against the government was on Saturday awarded a major human rights award.
Mohammed al-Roken was among 69 people jailed on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government of the United Arab Emirates following a mass trial criticised by rights groups.
Israeli forces have shot and injured at least 11 Palestinian protesters who staged a general strike in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the besieged Gaza Strip in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hundreds of protesters blocked roads in cities and towns of the West Bank on Monday. Stores and government offices closed down, public transportation ground to a halt and main thoroughfares in Palestinian cities were empty of people and cars.
An Israeli settler has shot and killed a 23-year-old Palestinian during a protest in solidarity with hunger-striking prisoners near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian health ministry said the victim succumbed to his wounds on Thursday shortly after being shot at by the settler who fired live ammunition on protesters near a military checkpoint in the village of Huwwara, local Ma'an News Agency reported.
Israeli police forces have destroyed a Palestinian village in the Negev region of the country's south for the 113th time since 2010, displacing its residents and flattening its few still-standing structures.
Heavily-armed officers as well as riot police forces raided the village on Wednesday morning, and bulldozers destroyed the makeshift homes locals had been living in, local Palestinian media outlets reported.
Palestinians are commemorating the 69th anniversary of the "Nakba", the "day of catastrophe" in which Israel was officially declared a state following the forced removal of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of over 500 villages and towns.
People across historic Palestine - including Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip - are holding rallies, marches and candlelight vigils on Monday, as well as sounding sirens.
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