Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Amnesty International –

The new Criminal Regulation recently endorsed by the Taliban leader will further entrench violence and discrimination against women, Amnesty International said in a new legal analysis documenting its wide-ranging and regressive impact on human rights.

The “Criminal Procedure Regulation of the Courts”, which lays out punishments and sentencing for a range of vague and overly broad offences, criminalizes domestic violence only in cases where a woman has suffered a broken bone or visible injuries. The decree also prescribes a three-month prison sentence for any woman who regularly visits family members without her husband’s permission and who refuses a court order to return home.

The regulation also prescribes harsh punishments for religious non-compliance, more severe punishments for people of lower social status and recognizes slavery. Other provisions authorize the destruction of property as a form of punishment, institutionalize torture and other ill-treatment through corporal punishment, and sanction the death penalty for a greater number of offences.

“The regulation makes an already repressive legal system even more draconian. Women and girls are, of course, among the most affected, with provisions that normalize domestic violence and place even greater restrictions on their movement and autonomy,” said Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director.

The regulation makes an already repressive legal system even more draconian

Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director

“Provisions on strict religious observance and the scaling of punishment depending on social class will entrench discrimination and target the country’s most marginalized and economically disadvantaged people.”

“We call on the Taliban to immediately revoke or revise this repressive regulation and bring it in conformity with international human rights standards. We also urge the international community to unequivocally condemn the regulation, and pressure the Taliban to end their ongoing widespread and systematic violations of human rights.”

The analysis highlights some of the central draconian provisions of the regulation and the challenges they pose, as well as how they will impact human rights in at least seven areas. The areas, and some of the key issues covered, are highlighted below:

Women’s Rights: How the changes outlined above remove essential safety mechanisms for victims and survivors of gender-based violence.

Freedom of Religion, Belief, Thought, and Expression: The impact on religious minorities of severe new penalties for deviating from the Hanifi School of Sunni Islam that the Taliban claim to adhere to, and the designation of beliefs contrary to the Sunni Branch of Islam as heretical.

Torture and other Ill-treatment: How the regulation provisions prescribe torture and other ill-treatment in the form of flagging or lashing for a wide range of offences.

Death Penalty: The prescription of the death penalty for a broad range of offences including ‘habitual sodomy’ based on a discretionary judgement from an Imam that it is in the ‘public interest’.

International Fair Trial Standards: How vague definitions of offences empower the Taliban judges and authorities to arbitrarily define and implement them, which will further undermine the justice process.

Equality Before the Law: The division of offenders into four categories with a sliding scale of punishments based on social hierarchy.

Slavery: How the wording of some provisions appears to recognize ownership over certain individuals, and expressly recognize slavery

Background

On 5 January, the Taliban leader endorsed the regulation and ordered its publication in the Official Gazette, where laws and other legislative documents are published to ensure public awareness and accessibility. On 8 January, the Taliban’s Supreme Court Secretariat (Dar -al-Insha,), circulated the regulation to the members of the Supreme Court, directorates, and courts for its implementation. Though the regulation is not yet published in the official Gazette, the Taliban stated on 23 January that it would be published soon. Amnesty International contacted the de facto Taliban authorities on 19 February seeking an official copy of the regulation and any accompanying materials for this analysis, and to determine whether the regulation has been effectively enforced, but no response was provided.

On 15 February, a media outlet reported that the implementation of the regulation had led to the prosecution of an individual in Badghis province for insulting the Taliban leader.

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to Israel’s use of repeated, overly broad evacuation orders across Lebanon over the past four days, including to more than 100 villages and towns in the country’s south and east, as well as the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said today:

“Civilians in Lebanon are once again being ordered to flee en masse by a military that has repeatedly shown its willingness to inflict significant civilian harm through unlawful attacks in previous rounds of fighting. The sweeping evacuation orders have sown panic and terror, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and fuelled yet another humanitarian catastrophe for a population already exhausted and reeling from multiple crises.

“The overly broad warnings covering vast areas of Lebanon do not constitute effective guarantees of protection. They provide no meaningful information about where or when the Israeli military might strike and offer civilians nowhere near the level of guidance needed to make informed decisions about whether, or for how long, to flee. Many civilians, including older people, children, people with disabilities, cannot evacuate, or may have nowhere safe to go.

The sweeping evacuation orders have sown panic and terror, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and fuelled yet another humanitarian catastrophe for a population already exhausted and reeling from multiple crises.

Kristine Beckerle, MENA Deputy Director

“Issuing mass evacuation orders does not grant the Israeli military the right to treat these areas as open-fire zones, nor does it absolve Israel of its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, wherever they are. In the 24 hours since the mass evacuation order for Beirut’s southern suburbs, for example, the Israeli military has carried out repeated air strikes, many without warnings.

“The repeated use of overly broad warnings, paired with the Israeli military’s extensive destruction of civilian property in more than two dozen municipalities along Lebanon’s border both before and after a ceasefire was in place, raises serious concerns that some of these mass evacuation orders are intended to forcibly displace civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law.

“The absolute impunity that Israel has enjoyed after previous rounds of fighting has paved the way for these same violations of international law to recur, once again placing civilians at grave risk. We urge parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, to protect civilians and to refrain from unlawful attacks.”

Background

Less than 100 hours after fighting escalated in Lebanon, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, more than 300,000 people had been displaced across the country. As of 6 March, Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health, announced that 217 people had been killed and 798 injured since fighting escalated on 2 March, and that more than 110,000 of those displaced were in collective shelters.

Between 3-6 March the Israeli military issued a series of evacuation orders instructing residents of entire towns and villages in south Lebanon and areas of the Bekaa Valley to evacuate. These included one on 5 March in which Israel’s military ordered the entire population living south of the Litani River to leave “immediately” for their “safety”.

On 5 March, the Israeli military issued another blanket evacuation order, this time to all the residents of Dahieh, the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut. As residents scrambled to flee, roads were clogged for hours, with fear-gripped residents escaping in cars or on foot carrying whatever they could.

Hezbollah and Israel engaged in cross-border hostilities after the group launched attacks into northern Israel following the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the occupied Gaza Strip in October 2023. Despite a ceasefire being agreed in 2024, Israel continued carrying out near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region, killing at least 127 civilians while the ceasefire was in place.

On 2 March 2026, Hezbollah launched a series of attacks into Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei following a US-Israeli attack on Iran. Since October 2023, Amnesty International has documented Israel’s unlawful attacks on civilians and civilian objects, use of white phosphorous and its extensive destruction in Lebanon’s border villages, as well as Hezbollah’s repeated firing of unguided rockets into civilian areas in Israel. All must be investigated as war crimes.

Source: Amnesty International –

Governments around the world are rolling back decades of progress on gender equality resulting in increasing attacks on reproductive rights, the silencing of feminist voices, funding cuts for women’s rights organizations, and much more.

Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls is more important than ever, and will be top of the agenda when UN member states convene for the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 9 to 19 March.

Here are eight areas in which Amnesty International has been campaigning for gender equality and justice. These wins take different forms – from landmark court rulings and legal reforms to hard-won recognition, accountability and resistance in the face of injustice. As long as we don’t give up, humanity can – and will – win against discrimination, gender-based violence and injustice!

Source: Amnesty International –

Ahead of the first hearing in the trial of Istanbul Mayor and presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and 406 other defendants on charges including bribery and extortion, Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for Europe, said: 

“After almost a year behind bars in pretrial detention, Ekrem İmamoğlu will take to the dock to face an absurd array of 142 charges set out in an almost 4,000 page indictment and carrying a ludicrous jail term of more than 2,300 years.

Ekrem İmamoğlu will take to the dock to face an absurd array of 142 charges carrying a ludicrous jail term of more than 2,300 years

“This politically-motivated prosecution, which is based almost entirely on secret witness testimony, is riddled with serious international fair trial and rule of law issues. Hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence have been submitted to this mass trial where defendants’ and their legal representatives’ ability to mount an effective defence is almost impossible. This prosecution bears the hall marks of an attempt to intimidate political opponents of the government and silence wider dissent in the country.

“This mass trial is the most extreme example of the disturbing weaponization of Türkiye’s justice system, whose independence has now been almost entirely hollowed out. Turkish authorities must end this travesty of justice and uphold the rule of law and human rights of everyone in the country.”

Background 

Ekrem İmamoğlu is the elected Mayor of Istanbul and was declared as the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples’ Republican Party (CHP).

He faces allegations including running a criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion and tender rigging. If found guilty he could face up to 2,352 years behind bars. 

Most of the other 406 defendants in the trial worked for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. 105 are currently in pretrial detention, and 170 have been released subject to judicial control orders. 

Ekrem İmamoğlu faces other prosecutions including an espionage investigation the trial for which is set to begin on 11 May and carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. 

The hearing will take place on 9 March

Source: Amnesty International –

The Nigerian Government must immediately expedite their investigation into gas leaks across the Bille community in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, which are putting the lives of local residents in grave danger, warned Amnesty International.

In October 2025, fishermen from Bille, a coastal town in Rivers State, reported seeing bubbling water accompanied by a sulphurous smell in a mangrove swamp and river several kilometres away from the town. Within a week, scores of residents reported the same phenomenon at other sites including inside the town itself, while some said they were able to set fire to the air near where the gas was bubbling. The Bille community is located close to various sites of extensive oil and gas infrastructure, including oil wells and pipelines.

“The alarming number of reports of gas leaks across the Bille community is harrowing and the affected area appears to be expanding. The leaks are already contaminating the town’s drinking water, while a number of children at a local school have been forced to relocate after they fell ill and started vomiting,” said Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Country Director.

“The Nigerian government has a duty to protect Bille residents from human rights abuses, including any which may be caused by private actors, such as oil companies. Oil company infrastructure has previously been found to be impinging on a range of rights including the right to health and to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The government needs to immediately identify the source of the leak and stop it – or take other measures to secure the community from a potentially catastrophic incident.”

Nigeria must take action and prevent further harm

The site of the bubbling methane is located close to extensive oil and gas infrastructure, including pipelines and wells, constructed and operated by the oil major Shell, but then sold to various Nigerian companies. An investigation of the gas leak has not been completed, so the source is not known. This is precisely why Nigeria must take urgent action to investigate and prevent further harm.

Residents are now desperate for Nigerian state agencies to take action, having reported the leaks widely. In December 2025, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) sent a representative to conduct air quality tests at several sites, which found that methane levels at one site were 10,000 times higher than normal background methane levels.

Everyone in Bille is affected by the methane leak and something needs to be done urgently to save the lives of the residents.

Chairman of the Bille Council of Chiefs, Bennett Okpoki

“Everyone in Bille is affected by the methane leak and something needs to be done urgently to save the lives of the residents,” said Chairman of the Bille Council of Chiefs, Bennett Okpoki.

“The tests have revealed that there is a high level of methane and until now the Nigerian government has not done anything to remedy this situation. This is an indication that the life of Bille residents is not important to the government. We want the international community to step in and at least tell the government to do something about it.”

Oil companies must cooperate with the government

Going forward, Amnesty International is calling for oil companies to co-operate with the Nigerian government to prevent any further harm to this community.

“While it remains unknown whether oil and gas infrastructure has caused the methane leak, all oil and gas companies in the region must determine whether their current or former infrastructure could be contributing to the issue and fully cooperate with any forthcoming investigation by Nigerian authorities,” said Isa Sanusi.

“The choice to divest from or abandon certain infrastructure does not absolve any company from the responsibility to clean up and remedy any harm it may have caused. Urgent action needs to be taken now.”

Notes to editors

Amnesty International contacted Shell prior to publication and provided the company with an opportunity to respond. Shell replied that it “no longer owns or operates onshore oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta” following the sale of its Nigerian subsidiary in 2024.

Amnesty International Nigeria contacted NOSDRA to request a report of the findings from this visit, but the regulatory agency declined to provide any materials until “investigations are completed”.

Amnesty International also contacted Nigeria’s Ministers of State for Petroleum Resources for comment on the government’s plans to protect the Bille community, but has not received a response as of the date of publication.

Background

Amnesty International has been supporting the residents of Bille and another community, Ogale, for more than ten years after their livelihoods had been destroyed and homes damaged by hundreds of oil spills caused by Shell. The pollution caused widespread devastation to the local environment, killing fish and plant life, and left thousands of people without access to clean drinking water.

The communities brought their claims in the UK courts where Shell repeatedly delayed the case arguing it had no legal responsibility for any of the pollution. In 2021 the UK Supreme Court then ruled that Shell can be held liable for the oil spills and leaks it has failed to clean up in the Niger Delta. A trial in the case is due to be held in 2027.

Source: Amnesty International –

Warning: This press release contains descriptions of sexual violence and torture.

Members of Ethiopia’s Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) have subjected women and girls to sexual violence committing rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, summary killings and destruction of civilian property which may amount to war crimes, during the conflict which started in the Oromia region in 2019, Amnesty International said in a new briefing today.

The briefing, “No one came to my rescue: Gang rape, sexual slavery and mass displacement of women in Oromia, Ethiopia,” documents the atrocities against civilians particularly women and girls committed by the OLA armed group in Sayo and Anfillo woredas (districts) of Kellem Wallaga zone between 2020 and 2024.  “For seven years, under the cover of darkness caused by a communication and media blackout, fighters in the Oromia region have caused immense suffering on civilians. These repeated abuses are not only horrific but may amount to war crimes,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “International and African rights monitors cannot continue to look the other way. They must demand that Ethiopian authorities launch immediate, impartial and thorough investigations into the atrocities with the aim of bringing all perpetrators to account and provide access to justice and remedy for victims and survivors.”

For seven years, under the cover of darkness caused by a communication and media blackout, fighters in the Oromia region have caused immense suffering on civilians. These repeated abuses are not only horrific but may amount to war crimes.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa

“The Oromo Liberation Army must immediately issue an order to all its fighters to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law. They must also disarm and demobilize fighters and/or units who committed sexual violence, other forms of torture, killing, forced displacement, and other crimes under international law.”

Fighting between the former military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), along with allied Oromia regional security forces, erupted in 2019, and the conflict continues to take a heavy toll on the civilian population.

For the briefing, Amnesty International interviewed 10 survivors of gang rape, seven of whom were under 18 at the time of the assaults. The organisation also received testimonies from healthcare providers and reviewed medical records of the survivors.

Source: Oxfam –