Trending rights tweets this week: Thai police arrested a prominent student activist for involvement in a peaceful July protest, the largest since 2014; profound courage from pro-democracy demonstrators in Belarus who face grave risks; Monday’s arrest of 10 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures, including 71-year-old Jimmy Lai, is Beijing’s latest effort to intimidate and punish Hong Kong people who advocate for their rights; and the Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdown are making it even harder for the Wayuu, an indigenous group in Colombia and Venezuela, to survive.
Today @HRW witness tens of thousands take to #Bangkok’s street to join biggest youth-led protest that demands democracy and respect for rights in #Thailand. It’s a new phenomenon of political awakening. #ขีดเส้นตายไล่เผด็จการ #WhatsHappeningInThailand pic.twitter.com/eQUm6hL8Jq
— Sunai (@sunaibkk) August 16, 2020
Urgent Alert! #Thai #police arrested prominent #student #activist Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak on sedition and other serious criminal charges for his roles in #FreeYouth protest that calls for #democracy and reforms of #monarchy in #Thailand. @paritchi @HRW pic.twitter.com/hBq5vL5Wal
— Sunai (@sunaibkk) August 14, 2020
The incredible courage, dignity, & humanity of #Belarus' pro-democracy demonstrators is so profoundly inspiring.
They are demanding something that so many Europeans take for granted: respect of human rights, accountable government, & truly free & fair elections.
✌️✊❤️ https://t.co/SXm5AmZppq
— Lotte Leicht @lotteleicht.bsky.social (@LotteLeicht1) August 16, 2020
All of a sudden, Army started beating protesters viscously near ring. As I was filming, army beat me and threw my phone away. Army still beating other protesters. #LebanonProtests pic.twitter.com/COQbWRGzC8
— Aya Majzoub (@Aya_Majzoub) August 8, 2020
Nazi horror didn’t start with Auschwitz.
It started with words…
…with the dehumanizing of minority groups.
Once they were seen as less than human, anything could be done to them.
If you’re waiting for another Auschwitz before you speak up, you’re leaving it too late.
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) August 4, 2020
Jimmy Lai publishes "Apple Daily, a fiercely pro-democracy newspaper that regularly takes on the Hong Kong government and the Chinese leadership." If that's a threat to "national security" meriting arrest in Beijing's view, freedom in Hong Kong is dead. https://t.co/bkzAjY47ZB pic.twitter.com/T04588DYPB
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/dewamavhinga/status/1293283238765568000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1293283238765568000%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailybrief.hrw.org%2Fembed%2F2732
The US is likely to send Salvatore Mancuso —a Colombian former paramilitary leader— to Italy.
That would be a repugnant betrayal for victims.
Colombia must exhaust all legal avenues to take him back to the country and hold him to account. @HRW https://t.co/xjBFOlBdIy pic.twitter.com/4bYikzF0Pk
— José Miguel Vivanco (@VivancoJM) August 12, 2020
In unprecedented blow to #PressFreedom, rule of law+autonomy in #HongKong, police arrested Jimmy Lai, pro-democracy publisher+critic of the Chinese Communist Party—and his sons—on charges of violating Beijing’s new national security law: https://t.co/gqdxpZMayr #StandWithHongKong pic.twitter.com/n2jr3z00ne
— Minky Worden (@MinkysHighjinks) August 10, 2020
In #Belarus people insisted on what so many of us are taking for granted; democracy, human rights, and a say in the future.
What they got was rigged elections, crackdown on rights, and the ruthless brutality of #Lukashenko’s riot police. https://t.co/j14FVmKL3o
— Lotte Leicht @lotteleicht.bsky.social (@LotteLeicht1) August 10, 2020
On why she bought 16 copies of @appledaily_hk after lining up in the middle of the night: "Hong Kong used to have press freedom, and now they're persecuting press freedom…I'm very angry." https://t.co/Gagi8YYYca pic.twitter.com/lq2knXdmIS
— Maya Wang 王松蓮 (@wang_maya) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/HZayadin/status/1293186341824471044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1293186341824471044%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailybrief.hrw.org%2Fembed%2F2732
The canister came from the same direction where minutes before security forces were firing 1-2 meters above our heads. Teargas canisters should never be fired directly at the head or face. https://t.co/3nuwZCP9wm
— Richard Weir (@rich_weir) August 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/JMVivancoHRW/status/1293818260132110336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1293818260132110336%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailybrief.hrw.org%2Fembed%2F2732
100s if not 1000s of #Ethiopian #migrants are arbitrarily detained in abusive, overcrowded & unsanitary conditions in #SaudiArabia. New @hrw research shows how they were shot + killed by #Houthis + #Saudi security forces when pushed from #Yemen: https://t.co/Q6YzTVb7OM pic.twitter.com/G7MGf8rGtr
— Mausi Segun (@MausiSegun) August 13, 2020
#Cameroon: another humanitarian worker killed. Sad, unacceptable, criminal. Too many aid workers targeted by separatists since #AnglophoneCrisis began. This needs to stop. Separatist leaders should instruct fighters to end all abuses against civilians. Aid workers #Notatarget
— ilaria allegrozzi (@ilariallegro) August 9, 2020
