Rights watch
A round-up of human rights stories from around the world.
A government proposal to assign lawyers to legal aid applicants by default instead of allowing them to decide who represents them may violate the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, which guarantee Hongkongers’ right to choose legal representation, the city’s Bar Association has said.
India: Activist lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj gets bail in caste violence case | Al Jazeera
A court in India has granted bail to prominent rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, more than three years after she, along with more than a dozen others, was accused of conspiring to set off caste violence in a village in the western state of Maharashtra.
Turkey: Police raid home of prominent human rights lawyer Eren Keskin | Ahval
The raid was conducted to summon the chairwoman of the Human Rights Association (İHD) to give a statement over a speech she delivered in a panel in Turkey’s southeastern Dersim province in 2019.
Saudi women’s rights activist sues three ex-US intel operatives over hacking for UAE | The Guardian
Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi women’s rights activist, has filed a lawsuit against three former US intelligence and military officers who have admitted in a US court to helping carry out hacking operations on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
Brazil’s labour justice system is battling with growing rights violations | Equal Times
Brazil’s Public Labour Prosecutor’s Office is fighting on all fronts to defend the country’s workers. At the centre of this battle, which has intensified since the onset of the pandemic, are the institution’s prosecutors.
UK: Pro-Palestine activists ‘not guilty’ after defacing Israeli arms company | Middle East Eye
Three activists in the UK have been acquitted of criminal damage over daubing the walls of an Israeli arms company with red paint.