human rights

Syrian tanks have opened fire in the city of Homs, raising questions about the validity of an Arab League-brokered deal to end the crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Rally organised by the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland to protest at discrimination against Muslims has caused controversy as some of the protesters used the yellow Star of David symbol.

The Libyan diaspora has played a vital role in helping to overthrow the Gaddafi regime but with the emergence of Islamists conservative factions, many questions how the new Libya will manage to embrace the progressive values.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has expressed his support for the appointment of Abdel Rahim al-Kib as the head of a new Libyan transitional government.

Young Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil, currently in to his third month of hunger strike to protest against the Egyptian justice system, has had his retrial postponed yet again.

In a highly provocative move, Charlie Hebdo, a well-known satirical French magazine has announced it has 'asked' the Prophet Muhammad to be a guest editor on its latest issue, in what appears to be a dig at the rise of Islam-based political parties and policies in countries such as Tunisia and Libya.

In a shocking revelation the large majorities of interviewed migrant workers in the UK sex industry are not forced nor trafficked, suggest a report.

Gruesome images have emerged of the public beheading in a car park of a Sudanese man in Saudi Arabia accused of 'sorcery' and 'witchcraft'.

In accordance with promises to kick-start infrastructure projects and revive the economy, David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has given the thumbs-up for two power plants in Yorkshire, which should create 1,000 construction-related jobs, the BBC reported. Meanwhile, in a strong move to recognize gay rights, Britain will contemplate withholding aid from countries that do not reform the law banning homosexuality.

The announcement of that the new Libya would have Sharia law at its core, and the lift of the ban on polygamy has put the western countries that supported the NATO mission in Libya and the NTC in an uncomfortable position.

Queen Elizabeth II, in visit in Australia, opened the 21st Commonwealth heads of government meeting Thursday, amid demands to take a tough stand against violation of human rights.

Syrian security forces and snipers Thursday killed three people, including a teenager, in the central region of Homs and the southern province of Daraa, often described as two of the regime opponent's stronghold, activists said.

Alfredo Astiz, Argentina's former naval officer also known as "Blond Angel of Death" has been jailed for life for crimes against humanity during military rule in 1976-83, in one of the Latin American's biggest human rights cases.

In the aftermath of the Libyan conflict, weapons hidden by Gaddafi are being discovered across the country, but despite the NTC's assurance the armaments found are being taken to secure places, reports that sites are being looted keep on emerging.

More atrocities conducted during the Libyan conflict have emerged as the bodies of 267 people, thought to have been executed, have been discovered in Sirte, a local Libyan newspaper reported.

The four-decade rule of Libyan autocrat, Col. Moammar Gadhafi finally came to an end on Thursday, after he was dragged from his hiding place - a drainpipe - in the town of Sirte and killed. However, there is growing international unease about increasingly graphic and disturbing images of the abuse of a body that appears to be Gadhafi's, following his capture and the fall of his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.

While evidence of illegal killings and violations of human rights committed by both sides are slowly emerging, the absence of official and updated death toll figures show many secrets are still to be unlocked before the carnage wrought by nine months long civil war is known.

Muammar Gaddafi, his son Muatassim and a top aide have been buried at a secret desert location after Muslim rites with a few relatives and officials in attendance, but the burrials are unlikely to calm down the controversy surrounding Libya's former "brother leader."

An analysis of a video obtained by GlobalPost from a rebel fighter who recorded Colonel Gaddafi's capture appears to show the former leader being sodomized as he was being dragged from the drainpipe where he had taken refuge.

Moderate Islamists claimed victory Monday in the first democratic elections in Tunisia, proving that years of state-sponsored secularism by toppled leader Ben Ali has not prevented the return of Islamists parties in Tunisia.

Libya might have now been 'liberated' but the consequences of nine months of conflict between the anti and pro Gaddafi forces might take much longer to heal as the 53 bodies of apparent Gaddafi loyalists who appeared to have been executed were found by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Gaddafi's death symbolises the beginning of a new Libya, its leaders have said, announcing the liberation of the country, but with the circumstances in which the former leader died still unclear and accusations of violations of human rights throughout the conflict, Libya it seems is still a long way from democracy.

Libya's acting prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, believes former dictator Muammar Gaddafi should not have been killed and instead should have been put on trial for his crimes, Jibril said in a BBC interview.

With reports that the former Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi has been killed, here is a timeline of the civil war in Libya since protests against Gaddafi broke out in February.

In 2007, Indian-born Booker Prize-winning author, Salman Rushdie, established a new high for Asian Muslims living in the UK, when he was honored with a knighthood. More recently, Abdul Arain, a Non Resident Indian and Cambridge-based grocery-store owner, shot to fame when he was nominated in the Cambridge University Chancellor elections. Though he lost, there continues to a lot of hype about the commoner with an MBA from Cambridge.

Libya's National Transitional Council has said it knows the former dictator's whereabouts and is tracking him by satellite.

Judges have condemned government rules to withhold visas for under 21s as a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Perhaps the most famous prisoner in the Middle East, Gilad Shalit (or rather, the campaign for his release) has proved a powerful rallying point for Israeli's over the past five years. But the young soldier has also been used as a political pawn by the Israeli government to justify their blockade of the Gaza strip.

Returning last Friday, 07 November from a family wedding in Canada, I grabbed The Independent and read that News Corp had set up an 'Alert-line' for staff to whistleblow on suspicious colleagues. News Corp's Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer, Eugenia C Gavenchak stressed that all employees are under an obligation to report any of their workmates that they suspect of violating a presumably beefed up ethics code, following on from the recent phone-hacking scandal which led to the closur...

Burma's tightly controlled state media has announced that the government is set to release more than 6,000 prisoners, showing the authorities hope the international sanctions that have isolated the country could in return soon be alleviated.