The New York chapter of Students for a Free Tibet held a rally outside the Chinese consulate in Manhattan Sept. 4 to demand freedom for A-Nya Sengdra, an imprisoned Tibetan nomad leader and ecologist. Sengdra, who had long campaigned against corruption, illegal mining and wildlife poaching, was arrested in September 2018 by the Gade County Public Security Bureau in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province (part of the Tibetan region of Amdo), and charged with the usual offenses of "gathering people to disturb public order" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." Convictions follow as a matter of course in such cases, and Sengdra spent the next seven years in near-total isolation, suffering severe deterioration of his health. He had initially been scheduled for release the day before the rally, but weeks earlier authorities brought new charges against him while he was still imprisoned, extending his sentence through February 2026.

Amnesty International called on the Syrian government Aug. 29 to undertake concrete measures, including a nationwide search for thousands who disappeared under the Assad regime, to deliver truth, justice and reparations for the victims and their families. A new report published by the human rights organization finds that thousands of individuals are still struggling to uncover the whereabouts of their family members, many of whom are believed to have been subject to torture, murder, and other human rights abuses.

Future plans for the Gaza Strip currently circulating among United States government officials call for for the relocation of the entire population to make way for construction of tourist resorts and tech industry hubs under a decade of US administrative control, according to a Washington Post exclusive published Aug. 31. The 38-page document obtained by the newspaper includes full-color artist renderings of the envisioned "Riviera of the Middle East." The prospectus, yet to be officially approved, would see the US take the Strip under trusteeship for at least 10 years, overseeing "voluntary departures" of the residents to third countries or into "restricted" zones within the territory. A "Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration & Transformation Trust" (GREAT Trust) would be established to coordinate the effort.

Days of popular protest in Indonesia exploded into violence Aug. 28 after Affan Kurniawan, a motorbike delivery worker, was fatally struck by a police vehicle in Jakarta. The worker had not even been participating in the protest when armored vehicles ploughed into the crowd, mowing him down. Both Grab and Gojek delivery apps confirmed that Kurniawan was registered on their respective platforms. Grab also offered condolences to the families of other affected workers, including Dandi Rusdamdiansyah, who was fatally attacked during unrest in Makassar. Kurniawan's helmet, lying in the rainy street after he was struck, has become an online viral image that fueled further demonstrations across the country. Six were killed and the army called to the streets before the protests were called off Aug. 31, when the government agreed to revoke controversial perks for lawmakers, including lavish housing allowances. But the underlying grievances of unemployment and inflation remain. (Jakarta Globe, Straits Times, CNA, NYT, France24, Politico, Marketing Interactive)

The US military could face legal responsibility for assisting Israeli forces that commit war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated Aug. 27. Direct participation by US forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023, including by providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, has made the United States a party to the conflict, HRW found. Members of the US military could also be individually implicated for the crimes, according to the rights group.

The Israeli cabinet will convene to discuss annexation of areas of the West Bank this week, local media report. The discussion has been called in light of the recently-approved settlement construction plan spearheaded by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which will see some 3,400 housing units built in the West Bank's contentious E1 area between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement bloc. (ToI)

Kilmar Abrego García, released from extrajudicial detention in El Salvador, now fights deportation to Uganda. Hundreds of the Venezuelans sent by the US to the Salvadoran prison gulag have now been returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap. But El Salvador remains on the growing list of human rights offendors cultivated by the Trump regime as surrogate detention states. The Trump State Department's farcical "Human Rights Report" seeks to sanitize dictator Nayib Bukele's anti-crime police state. And adding to the Orwellian nature of the Trump-Bukele axis, the US Justice Department has dropped charges against MS-13 leaders who collaborated in the consolidation of the new Salvadoran dictatorship. In Episode 293 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg exposes the perverse charade.

Amnesty International on Aug. 28 condemned the lack of accountability for the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghur Muslims in western Xinjiang region, noting that nearly three years have passed since a groundbreaking UN report detailed gross violations of international law against the ethnic group. In commenting on the sheer scale of crimes committed by state authorities against the community, Amnesty International's China director Sarah Brooks stated: "Lives have been ruined, families separated and communities dismantled by the Chinese authorities' continuing cruelty. Today, families of detainees continue to seek truth, justice and freedom for all those suffering in the Uyghur region."