A Tibetan writer was sentenced to four years in prison last month after helping edit a publication critical of Chinese policy in the restive region, the UK-based International Campaign for Tibet said July 1. Tashi Rabten, an editor of banned journal Eastern Snow Mountain (Shar Dungri), was sentenced on June 2 by a court in Aba prefecture, a largely ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province. The literary magazine was suppressed after running a series of essays on the unrest and repression in Tibet in 2008. Copies of the journal were among books seized and burnt by security personnel at a school in the Ngaba area in April of this year. (Reuters, July 2; International Campaign for Tibet, July 1)

The captain of a US boat carrying activists seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza was jailed July 2 in Athens, flotilla organizers said. John Klusmer, who was handcuffed and jailed after arriving at a police station that afternoon, is being charged with two felonies, organizers told reporters at a news conference in the Greek capital. He and the organizers understood the charges to be misdemeanors, but authorities later accused him of two felonies. The captain’s four-member crew is being detained on the boat. While passengers are free to go, they are staying on the Audacity of Hope as a show of solidarity with their captain and crew.

Israeli Defense Forces troops arrested 23 Palestinians, including a Hamas legislator and a member of Palestine National Council (PNC), in operations across the West Bank June 28. Among the detained is Hamas legislator Nasser Abduljawad, who was taken from his home in the village of Deir Ballout, to the west of Salfeet. Um Owais, Abduljawad’s wife, said that soldiers broke into the house at 3 AM, searched their bedroom, and ordered her husband to get dressed before taking him away. Abduljawad was among dozens of Hamas officials who Israel arrested in June 2006 in response to the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. He was released in September 2010.

Security forces in Syria are reported to have killed 24 civilians in Friday protests on July 1, as tens of thousands marched to demand the resignation of President Bashir Assad in some of the biggest demonstrations of the three-month uprising. Lawyer Razan Zaitouna told Reuters by phone that the 24 dead included seven protesters in the central city of Homs, and 14 villagers in the northwestern province of Idlib, where troops backed by tanks and helicopters have been deployed. "Bashir get out of our lives," read placards carried by thousands of Kurds who marched in the northeastern city of Amouda, according to a video taken by resident.

Venezuela's National Telecommunications Commission announced June 30 that it has opened sanction proceedings against Caracas-based news channel Globovision, which it accuses of spreading "anxiety in the population" by broadcasting images of the recent deadly violence at El Rodeo prison. Globovision faces charges of violating the country's Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television. Peter Maldonado, director of the telecommunication agency, said that Globovision could be subject to a fine of 10% of gross income obtained in the previous fiscal year, and may have its transmission suspended for up to 72 hours.

The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on June 30 released to Lebanese authorities an indictment with four arrest warrants in relation to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The warrants were issued for Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hasan Aineysseh and Asad Sabra, who are alleged members of Hezbollah. Lebanon has 30 days to arrest the suspects before the STL personally summons them and makes the indictment public. In a press conference, Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated that "the indictments, from whatever source, [are] not sentences, and the charges need to contain compelling evidence beyond any doubt, and that every defendant is innocent until proven guilty." Many have interpreted this statement as an indication that Hezbollah members will not be arrested. Although Mikati was endorsed in the election by Hezbollah, he said he will not "take sides."

The Audacity of Hope, US-registered lead ship in the latest Gaza aid flotilla, was stopped by the Greek Coast Guard just some 20 minutes outside the port of Perama on July 1. Dimitris Delavekouras, a spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry, confirmed that the vessel had been detained. Athens warned that all ships bound for Gaza will be prohibited from leaving Greek ports. The Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection issued a statement saying that the Minister, C. Papoutsis, decided to prohibit the departure of ships flying either Greek or foreign flags "to the maritime area" of Gaza.

More than 20,000 local Aymara residents filled the public square in Desaguadero, in Peru's southern region of Puno, to hear Walter Aduviri, leader of the Natural Resources Defense Front of the Southern Zone of Puno, announce a formal end to the civil strike that the organization has maintained for more than 40 days. Aduviri said the decision was taken after consultation with the Front's base communities along the shores of Lake Titicaca. In his address, he detailed accords reached in recent negotiations with the government in Lima for the suspension of a controversial mining concession in Puno. (Radio Onda Azul, Puno, June 26)