What kind of news organization holds news stories because the government officials credibly accused of grotesque human rights abuses refuse to comment on the record? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

Thanks to Middle East Eye for covering @humanrightsfirst.org's push for the U.S. government to acknowledge that the ongoing torture in Bahrain's prisons requires, among other things, a visa ban on the country's long-serving interior minister.

Will a copy of the federal indictment charging him with corruption be in it?

The United States and Russia continue to sanction and threaten ICC judges. Just disgraceful.

I see we’re at the naming buildings after the incumbent leader stage of personalist rule

Human Rights First has submitted evidence and a recommendation urging the U.S. government to impose #GlobalMagnitsky sanctions and a mandatory visa ban against Bahrain’s interior minister, based on the torture and cruel treatment of prisoners in facilities under his supervision.

We at @humanrightsfirst.org are calling for targeted sanctions against Bahrain’s Minister of the Interior for failing to stop torture in prisons @drewerydyke.bsky.social @jongambrell.bsky.social @elizlanders.bsky.social

Almost certainly not, is our answer; but advocates and Congress should use the occasion of this upcoming report to scrutinize the administration's record and highlight the human impacts of U.S. backsliding on anti-corruption.

The sanctions that Trump has imposed on the ICC and UN rapporteurs have been deterring American human rights advocates and scholars from exercising their First Amendment rights. This letter--obtained by @mesa1966.bsky.social & @knightcolumbia.org--should help. knightcolumbia.org/content/trum...

DC statehood now.

What oil, what land, what assets did Venezuela steal from the US? And when? A social media post from an alternative reality.

Thank you to Rep. Jamie Raskin for joining our event honoring Baldwin Award winner Dang Dinh Bach and for calling on Vietnam to free him. We’re grateful for your leadership alongside @lofgren.house.gov, @repmcgovern.bsky.social, and Rep. Derek Tran.

Today I’m leading my colleagues in calling on the government of Vietnam to immediately release internationally respected environmental activist and attorney Dang Dinh Bach. Mr. Bach's detention on phony charges violates his basic human rights—and we demand his release and freedom.

A million Muslims live in New York City. We belong here, as does every other New Yorker. This is vile Islamophobia from the Councilwoman and it has no place in our city.

Pardons would prevent federal prosecutions, sure. Federal prosecutions aren’t the only way to write the closing chapter to a lawless authoritarian regime.

When the winner of the Nobel peace prize smuggled herself over the water and out of Venezuela to attend the ceremony in Oslo this week, her allies called the Pentagon to ask them not to arbitrarily murder her. www.wsj.com/world/americ...

Our Substack is now LIVE! Human Rights First's CEO @uzraz.bsky.social launches our substack with a piece arguing that human rights can’t be limited to vague “natural rights” ideas. Universal rights, grounded in law, protect everyone and are essential for U.S. credibility at home and abroad.

Also, this is an invitation to international criminals, just like these kinds of program are everywhere else

The Trump administration that deported these Russians is the same government that this February condemned Thailand's forcible return of 40+ Uyghurs to China, where they would face the risk of "persecution, forced labor, and torture."

To be a lawyer who is suggesting sending non-Salvadorans to CECOT at a time when the torture occurring there is so well-documented you have to be willfully blind not to know about is to be a lawyer suggesting the United States can send people to torture, and that is to suggest breaking the law.

🚫 Today is #AntiCorruptionDay and we observe today by recognizing the brave work of Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu – a renowned Azerbaijani scholar of political economy and anti-corruption activist. 📢 We renew our call for Dr. Ibadoghlu’s immediate and unconditional release. #FreeGubad

Can an administration whose foreign policy can only barely be described as anti-corruption pronounce on the anti-corruption work of other governments? New article today in @justsecurity.org with Sky Miller on making the most of a congressional reporting mandate coming due at a less than ideal time.

Important breakdown by Sky Miller and @adamofkeith.bsky.social of what Congress and others should look for in the forthcoming and first-ever Combating Global Corruption Act report 👇

Hopefully the butchers of El Fasher see this: #ICC judges have sentenced former Sudanese militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, to a sentence of 20 years for crimes against humanity & war crimes committed in Darfur in 2003-2004. www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-ea...

We reiterate that the detention of Ruth López is unjust and disproportionate, and violates international human rights standards as well as our own legal frameworks. We will continue supporting all efforts to ensure her freedom and her right to a fair trial #FreeRuth #HaveDecency #RuthBloomsInFreedom

the elevation of “separation of powers” as the paramount value of the constitution is just rhetorical justification for presidential dictatorship, since that is what you have when the legislative branch cannot constrain the exercise of executive power through law.

Important statement from 12 Ukrainian civil society groups at this week's meeting of the ICC Assembly of States Parties. Calls for states to uphold "the ICC's critical role in Ukraine and beyond" in the face of U.S. sanctions, non-cooperation, and other threats.

8/ A public service reminder: This entire exercise is an absurd, imaginary world for legal experts. That's because the truth is: It's not an armed conflict. The laws of war thus don't apply. The more restrictive rules of human rights apply. It's extrajudicial killing under that law.

What if, instead of policies for countering foreign interference, we had policies inviting it?

Grand corruption as policy

The initial appearance for Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri is scheduled for tomorrow at 13:30.

#LFJL welcomes the transfer of Khaled Mohamed Ali Al Hishri to #ICC custody after his arrest in Germany earlier this year. Al Hishri, a senior member of the Special Deterrence Force, is accused of overseeing torture, rape, and other serious crimes at Mitiga Prison.

Coercive measures are affecting the lives, security, and physical safety of the Court officials. States parties should protect the staff. The Court will not accept intimidation and pressure. It will continue to carry out its mandate and uphold the values of the Statute. #ASP24

‼️#ASP24 starts today! #ICC Member countries should use their annual meeting: ➡️Defend the ICC and those cooperating with it, including within civil society ➡️Robustly enforce findings of non-cooperation ➡️Provide the court with the resources it needs New from @hrw.org 👇 www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...

One obvious function of any such congressional oversight is to identify all the U.S. officials and personnel involved in the killing spree at sea.

It is a particular challenge for this SecDef to convincingly argue these operations are lawful given his own history of war crimes appreciation and denigration of military lawyers.

lawlessness is the signature feature of the trump regime. the supreme court is useless as a brake and it will only get worse in the coming year(s) unless congress stops acquiescing in it.

If they ever get around to building this thing, it should be bulldozed on Day 1 of a new administration. No messing around, no hemming and hawing about procedure or costs. Order heavy equipment in and start knocking it down immediately, as surely as an overthrown tyrant's statues would be torn down.

Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing "Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions." Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social

The Trump admin will tear down the entire human rights system--and treat the most respected jurists like terrorists--to protect Israel's leaders from accountability for what essentially the whole world recognizes to be terrible crimes. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The #ICC Deputy Prosecutor briefed the UNSC yesterday on the progress of the OTP’s investigation in the Libya situation. LFJL welcomes the decision to extend investigations in Libya beyond May 2026, in line with LFJL’s and our partners’ recommendations (link to report below)

The Epstein/Summers emails made last week especially tough week for some of us - a reminder that serial offenders only survive within an enabling culture. @rlswrites.bsky.social gets it. Plse read & share her powerful piece @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/o...

At a news conference this week during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the US, a reporter asked President Donald Trump about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. President Trump claimed that Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that.”

“You literally have an axe murderer before you,” prosecutor Julian Nicholls told judges in The Hague as Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, looked on.

I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...

Pleased to speak with @nickturse.bsky.social about the OLC permission slip for the US killing spree at sea. “It’s legal Mad Libs. They’re throwing all these terms and concepts at the wall, but there’s no real content or substance behind them.”

Today in UK parliament, @chloecheung.bsky.social @iainduncansmithmp.bsky.social @billbrowder.bsky.social @uzraz.bsky.social & Finn Lau urged the UK govt to follow the lead of @usstatedept.bsky.social and sanction the #HongKong officials responsible for the national security crackdown in #HK.

Something the US needs to accept too is that without a large-scale correction imposing consequences on a large number of people, the crisis of governance here will continue indefinitely

One of many costs to US murder (sorry, no better word for it) in Caribbean: "United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal."