By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Community members attend a vigil for Renee Nicole Good, following a fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, January 7, 2026. © 2026 Jaida Grey Eagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Washington, DC, January 9, 2026) – The killing of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer on January 7, 2026, was unjustifiable, Human Rights Watch said today. Three videos of the incident shared on social media, verified by Human Rights Watch and media outlets, clearly contradict federal officials’ claims that…
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By Amnesty International
Following the release of a small number of persons arbitrarily detained in Venezuela on 8 January 2026 out of a total of around one thousand politically-motivated arbitrary detainees (according to local civil society organizations), which included prisoner of conscience Rocío San Miguel and Spanish nationals like Jose María Basoa and Andrés Martínez, as well as political leader Enrique Márquez and journalist Biagio Pilieri, Ana Piquer, […] The post Venezuela: Arbitrary detentions must end and all victims must be immediately released appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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Friday, January 9, 2026
The UN human rights chief has called for an independent and transparent investigation into reports of deaths and widespread arrests during ongoing nationwide protests in Iran, amid mounting concerns over the use of force by security forces.
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By Carmen Beatriz Fernández, Profesora de Comunicación Política en la UNAV, el IESA y Pforzheim, Universidad de Navarra
“And when he woke up, the oil was still there…”
The Dinosaur is a one-sentence story, penned in 1959 by Guatemalan author Augusto Monterroso. One of the shortest stories ever written, it likely refers to the “dinosaurs” of power, to Central America’s numerous, longstanding dictators, and to the ghosts that survive apparent changes.
In the above adaptation of the story, the dinosaur is not only the authoritarianism, ideologies and slogans of the 1960s,…
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By Klaus Dodds, Interim Dean, Faculty of Science & Technology, Middlesex University
Donald Trump and his senior officials insist that Greenland must become part of the US. This is for national security purposes, they say, maintaining that Denmark, of which Greenland is a constituent part, is not investing enough in defending the strategically vital region beyond – as the US president put it – adding “one more dog sled”.
The 1951 defence agreement between Denmark and the US is likely to be the first casualty of any hostile American takeover, since article…
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By Martin Siegert, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall), University of Exeter
A 30-minute stroll across New York’s Central Park separates Trump Tower from the American Museum of Natural History. If the US president ever found himself inside the museum he could see the Cape York meteorite: a 58-tonne mass of iron taken from northwest Greenland and sold in 1897 by the explorer Robert Peary, with the help of local Inuit guides.
For centuries before Danish colonisation, the people of Greenland had used fragments of the meteorite to make tools and hunting equipment. Peary removed that…
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By Candice Stewart
The name “Melissa” is of Greek origin and translates to “honeybee” in English, but [the] fallout felt personal, as if we troubled the hive and threatened the queen.
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By Amnesty International
Following an internet and telecommunications blackout imposed by Iranian authorities on 8 January 2026, as nationwide protests intensified since erupting on 28 December 2025, Rebecca White, researcher at Amnesty International’s Security Lab, said: “The Iranian authorities have once again deliberately blocked internet access inside Iran to hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law they are carrying out to crush the largest nationwide protests since the Woman Life […] The post Iran: Internet shutdown hides violations in escalating deadly crackdown…
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By Julia Thomas, Professor of English Literature, Cardiff University
When film adaptations disappoint, it’s not bad filmmaking necessarily but a clash with the private images we create when we read.
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By Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds
Teaching art at HMP Wakefield changed my life. This series includes the most accurate description of prison teaching I have seen.
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