China: torturing critics in psychiatric hospitals
In the Chinese ankang (peace and health) system detainees are strapped onto beds, pumped full of drugs, receive electric-shock therapy, and are left to lie in their own excrement. Some are confined for…
Russia: crackdown on ‘dissidents’
Russia declared Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (a member of the Pussy Riot band) and prominent satirist Viktor Shenderovich ‘foreign agents’ as authorities press ahead with a crackdown on dissent. The justice ministry also added to…
Saudi Arabia: punishing cost of change
Human Rights Watch reported on 4 November that important social reforms enacted under Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman have been accompanied by deepening repression and abusive practices meant to silence dissidents and…