Vietnam: Crackdown on activists must end

Yet another politically motivated trial in Viet Nam has turned citizens who have only peacefully expressed opinions into prisoner of conscience. Today, three leading members of the People?s Democratic Party (PDP) were sentenced to prison terms of between three and five years in what the prosecutor in the Ho Chi Minh City People?s Court described as a warning to other ?hostile forces.?
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IFJ Mourns the Death of Somalia Journalist

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the death of journalist Mohammed Abdullahi Khalif, shot while on assignment in Puntland, north-eastern Somalia on Saturday, 5 May.

?We express our solidarity with Mohamed?s family and colleagues,? said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa office. ?Somalia is the most dangerous place for journalists in Africa.?
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Pacific Islands Leaders Wrap Up Successful Washington Meet

HONOLULU – The Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders (PICL) representing 12 Pacific states and territories, including the U.S. State of Hawaii and two French dependencies, completed their latest triennial meeting Wednesday in Washington, D.C. with participants agreeing the gathering “establishes a way forward for strengthening U.S.-Pacific Islands relations.”

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Hungary: Justice denied to victims of rape in the home

“… The difference between rape in films and marital rape is that we cannot scream, as our child might wake up in the other room. Or our child is right there next to us, her or his face distorted with terror. And another difference is that the person who does this to us is someone we used to love, someone we once trusted more than anyone else. And there is another difference, too: that others say that we invented the whole thing…”
A victim of rape in the home
“…At least 85 per cent of them are whores. They wanted to have sex, but then do not manage to come to an agreement. They are prostitutes, overtly or secretly…”
A police officer and advisor on rape issues

Two thirds of sexual crimes in Hungary are committed by people known to the victim, yet few of the perpetrators are tried for their crimes, Amnesty International said today.
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