Human rights – War Watch

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Trump-led abuses amid ‘democratic recession’ put human rights in peril, HRW report says
ByKaren McVeigh February 4, 2026

Rights group says growing authoritarianism and abuses in US, Russia and China threaten global rules-based orderThe world is in a “democratic recession” with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers – levels not …

Read More Trump-led abuses amid ‘democratic recession’ put human rights in peril, HRW report says
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With just weeks left on her student visa, one Iranian woman fears she will be executed if she has to return
ByAdeshola Ore community affairs reporter February 3, 2026

‘There’s no way for me to go back right now. It’s too dangerous for me,’ student says, having protested against the regimeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen bullets fired by Iran’s paramilitary force were sprayed at her hom…

Read More With just weeks left on her student visa, one Iranian woman fears she will be executed if she has to return
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EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation
ByJennifer Rankin in Brussels January 29, 2026January 29, 2026

‘Any organisation that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,’ says Kaja Kallas The EU has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, ending years of division over the issue in respo…

Read More EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation
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Iran appears to ease internet blackout as cost of shutdown mounts
ByAisha Down January 28, 2026

Experts say uneven connectivity suggests regime is throttling and filtering data as losses said to hit $36m a dayIranian authorities appear to have relaxed – but not removed – internet restrictions, in what experts say is a sign of the mounting costs o…

Read More Iran appears to ease internet blackout as cost of shutdown mounts
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Donald Trump | Gaza | Human rights | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Protest | World news

Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?
ByTess McClure and Deepa Parent January 27, 2026

Testimony from medics, morgue and graveyard staff reveals huge state effort to conceal systematic killing of protestersOn Thursday 8 January, in a midsize Iranian town, Dr Ahmadi’s* phone began to buzz. His colleagues in local emergency wards were gett…

Read More Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Capital punishment | Donald Trump | Drugs trade | Gaza | Human rights | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Mohammed bin Salman | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Prisons | Saudi Arabia | World news

‘Don’t they have mercy?’: A mother on losing her son in a record year of Saudi executions
ByTom Levitt January 26, 2026

Essam al-Shazly is the latest foreign national to die in a ‘horrifying’ surge in capital punishment under the rule of Mohammed bin SalmanIn his four years on death row, Essam al-Shazly’s mother was his only contact with the outside world. During their …

Read More ‘Don’t they have mercy?’: A mother on losing her son in a record year of Saudi executions
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‘I could not stay silent’: Palestinian prisoner tells of sexual abuse in Israeli jail
ByEmma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Qalqilya January 21, 2026

Sami al-Saei has defied social stigma to speak out about what a report calls a ‘grave pattern’ of sexual violenceWarning: contains graphic descriptions of tortureSami al-Saei said he heard the Israeli prison guards who raped him laughing through the as…

Read More ‘I could not stay silent’: Palestinian prisoner tells of sexual abuse in Israeli jail
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‘The world needs to know what’s happening’: families of protesters killed in Iran tell of heartbreak
ByDeepa Parent January 15, 2026

As Tehran’s internet blackout means names of those killed in the uprising are only starting to emerge, the diaspora is reacting with shock, sadness and angerThe families of Iranians killed by the regime in its crackdown on anti-government protests over…

Read More ‘The world needs to know what’s happening’: families of protesters killed in Iran tell of heartbreak
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Iran’s protesters need our support – not another western-intervention disaster | Owen Jones
ByOwen Jones January 13, 2026

Previous meddling has damaged the region, and once again the the US and Israel don’t have Iranians’ best interests at heartWhat does it take to shake illusions in western intervention? This is not a question designed to deflect from the barbarism being…

Read More Iran’s protesters need our support – not another western-intervention disaster | Owen Jones
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Tuesday briefing: What has sparked Iran’s latest wave of protests – and what might happen next
ByAamna Mohdin January 13, 2026

In today’s newsletter: A researcher with a focus on the region explains what’s behind deadly nationwide demonstrations and what a hardening of public opinion against the state might bringGood morning. At least 648 people have been killed by Iran’s secu…

Read More Tuesday briefing: What has sparked Iran’s latest wave of protests – and what might happen next