Human rights

An undated image of Enes Hocaogullari.

Turkey arrests youth delegate over Council of Europe address: What to know

The youth activist’s arrest adds to Ankara’s growing isolation as Turkey faces suspension from Europe’s top human rights body.

Turkmen Alabai

Fears mount over fate of missing Turkmen dissidents in Turkey

The pair vanished after being released from a Turkish deportation center, prompting concerns they were abducted or secretly returned to Turkmenistan.

Iranians cross a street by a billboard with a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Enqelab Square, Tehran, July, 9, 2025.

Iran executions double to 625 as parliament mulls harsher espionage penalties

The United Nations said executions so far this year stand at 625, at the least, more than double the number for the same period last year.

Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah exits the police headquarters in Cairo following his release on December 25, 2011.

What to make of Egypt's removal of Alaa Abdel-Fattah from terror list

An Egyptian court has removed a prominent jailed activist from the country's terrorism list amid scrutiny over Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Latest News

Sharaa reportedly mulls action against Lebanon over Syrian prisoners

Roumieh

Rebuking 5-year sentence, France urges Algeria to pardon Sansal: What to know

RICCARDO MILANI/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Over 170 global NGOs call for end of US-backed GHF operations in Gaza

Palestinians wait in a queue to receive food outside a distribution center south of Khan Younis, on Dec. 6, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

From Qom to Gilan, over 500 arrested in Iran as war with Israel continues

Smoke rises as fire burns, in an alleged site of IRGC's missile launch targeted by Israel on the mountains of Shiraz, Iran, June 21, 2025.

BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 18: A child attends a demonstration in support of Palestine amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, which the Israeli government says targets Hamas, the Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip, on November 18, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. According to Hamas' health ministry, over 11,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began retaliation for the group's deadly attack on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 240 other

Analysis

In midst of Gaza carnage, could outside solidarity spur Hamas to go global?

Even if Hamas as a military threat remains largely confined to the region, the ideology it promotes has an opportunity to capitalize on Gaza's grievances, gain more traction than at any point in recent memory.

Colin P. Clarke

By Colin P. Clarke

In Pittsburgh, US, reporting on counterterrorism, militancy

Family members of American hostages held by Hamas speak to the press outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13, 2023, after a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Biden meets with families of Americans held hostage by Hamas

As President Joe Biden meets at the White house with families of those kidnapped by Hamas, his administration keeps its efforts to jump-start negotiations for a new release deal.

Signs criticizing the Iranian Islamic Regime's use of the death penalty are seen in Trafalgar Square on Sept. 16, 2023, in London, England.

Iran executions rise as world busy with Israel-Hamas war

A man accused of killing a powerful senior cleric was executed in Iran, as rights groups warn of a rising number of executions.

CNN's Becky Anderson interviews Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian over a videocall during the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital on December 11, 2023. (Photo by SALIM MATRAMKOT / AFP) (Photo by SALIM MATRAMKOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s FM confirms US messages on Iraq, dodges questions on protests

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Washington has been dispatching weekly messages to Iran to rein in militants in Iraq and Syria attacking its forces.

Dubai, United Arab Emerates, Dec. 2: António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General speaks at the G77 and China Leaders' Summit.

Analysis

Explainer: Why did UN chief Guterres invoke Article 99 over Gaza?

The invocation of the article, which formally brings the war to the attention of the Security Council, drew a rebuke from Israel and praise from Arab states, and may harm the UN secretary-general's relations with the US.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

A Bahraini protester holds his national flag during clashes with riot police following the funeral of 20-year-old prisoner Fadel Abbas Musalem in the village of Diraz, west of the capital Manama, on January 26, 2014. The Gulf kingdom's main Shiite political opposition group said Musalem died the previous day as a result of torture during his detention. AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP via Getty Images)

Rights groups denounce Bahrain's trial of 13 political prisoners

Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said a Bahraini court that convicted 13 people in September failed to look into allegations of torture against the defendants.

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Facebook, speaks during a session at the Congress centre on the second day of the World Economic Forum, on January 18, 2017.

‘Silence is complicity:’ Sheryl Sandberg speaks out on allegations of Hamas sexual violence

At the UN headquarters in New York, Israel’s envoy to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, slammed the organization UN Women for its reluctance to acknowledge the sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli women on Oct. 7.

People pass a pro-Palestinian mural on the Republican Falls Road in Belfast on October 23, 2023. Northern Ireland may be thousands of miles from the Middle East but signs of the current heightened conflict can be seen on the streets of the British province. Palestinian and Israeli flags flutter in pro-Irish and pro-UK neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland, tapping into its own history of conflict and division that still affects everyday life despite a 1998 peace deal that largely ended violence. (Photo by Paul

Analysis

Israel-Ireland relations take another dive over Gaza war, PM statements

Israel's Foreign Ministry has summoned Ireland's ambassador over Prime Minister Leo Varadkar saying that nine-year-old hostage Emily Hand was "lost and found" when she was freed from Hamas captivity.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Zaid Abdulnasser

As Germany expands anti-Hamas raids, a Palestinian activist fights against deportation

Caught in a web of geopolitics, migration policy and Germany’s growing attempts to contend with pro-Palestinian speech, Zaid Abdulnasser is fighting a battle to avoid deportation from his new home.

Families wait for Hamas hostages

Analysis

First Israeli hostages return home, but Hamas war is nowhere near over

Israelis are praying that hostage release process — which kicked off with the liberation of 13 children, mothers and elderly women — means that the other 37 abductees included in the deal with Hamas will also come home.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Forlorn Israeli soldier, hostages

Breaking | Last Updated: November 24, 2023, 6:44 pm

Hamas releases 13 Israeli hostages

After a one-day delay, the Qatar-mediated deal for the liberation of hostages held in Gaza is underway.

Israeli soldiers wait in their vehicle in an area in Southern Israel near the Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023 amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Why Israel's hostage deal with Hamas is not a permanent cease-fire

The negotiations that led to the deal for the expected release of 50 Israeli hostages, however excruciating, do not mean that Israel has given up on toppling Hamas in Gaza.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense