Arbitrary executions in Iran continue
13/10/2026: Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed a further five people convicted in relation to the January 2026 protests. Amnesty International asserts that the men were sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial involving forced confessions, torture, prolonged solitary confinement, beatings and electric shocks.
Source: Amnesty International
Singapore increasingly isolated on death penalty
8/10/2026: A growing number of states across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are taking positive steps towards reducing the use and scope of the death penalty. Singapore remains the only ASEAN member state known to carry out executions regularly and to openly oppose substantive reform.
Source: Amnesty International
After botched execution attempt, Tennessee must commute Christa Pike’s death sentence
2/10/2026: Amnesty International has condemned the attempted execution of Christa Pike as "an extreme display of cruelty and the latest reminder that the death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment." In 2025, the US carried out 47 executions, reaching the highest level since 2009.
Source: Amnesty International
Egyptian authorities arrest entire investigative newsroom
2/10/2026: Egyptian security forces have arrested six journalists, refusing contact with family or lawyers. The Interior Ministry alleges links to the Muslim Brotherhood. The country remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Accountability can exploit divisions within Taliban rule
1/10/2026: The international community's failure to influence reforms in Afghanistan may overlook that the Taliban’s authoritarian rule isn’t uniformly enforced. Accountability models such as the International Criminal Court could exploit provincial divisions, preserving evidence for future justice.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Gender equality woefully off track, new UN report reveals
17/9/2026: Not a single indicator on the Sustainable Development Goal for gender equality is on track to be met by 2030, according to a progress report. Amid broadening cuts to funding for development aid, programmes addressing gender inequality are amongst the hardest hit, with such funding falling to its lowest level since 2021.
Source: UN News
Architects of Iran’s suppression of 2022 protests must face international justice
16/9/2026: A report by Amnesty International finds that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their bloody suppression of the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising. Its in-depth investigation identifies 87 officials who should be accountable.
Source: Amnesty International
Russian recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine amounts to human trafficking
10/9/2026: Research by Amnesty details how individuals have been lured into the Russian Armed Forces under false pretences, including migrants and refugees already present in Russia. This amounts to human rights violation and the crime of human trafficking.
Source: Amnesty International
Human cost of violence in South Sudan as elections approach
10/9/2026: The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned that renewed violence and political tensions put the planned transition to democracy at risk. It calls on the authorities to create conditions for inclusive political dialogue ahead of elections scheduled for December. South Sudan is the world’s youngest country having gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.
Source: UN News
Nepal-Tibet disaster highlights restrictions on information in China
8/9/2026: Authorities in Nepal have published official government lists of persons missing in the glacier disaster, but families in Tibet have no such support. China's state control over the internet appears to have been deployed to conceal the true scale of the death toll.
Source: The Guardian