Human Rights Watch has called upon Iran's judiciary to abandon charges and quash the verdicts against 11 members of a Sufi order convicted in what the rights group called unfair trials and informed of their sentences this month. HRW found that evidence suggests all 11 were prosecuted and convicted solely because of their peaceful activities on behalf of the largest Sufi order in Iran or in connection with their contributions to a news website dedicated to documenting rights abuses against members of the order. "The Sufi trials bore all the hallmarks of a classic witch hunt," said Tamara Alrifai, HRW's Middle East advocacy director. "It seems that authorities targeted these members of one of Iran’s most vulnerable minorities because they tried to give voice to the defense of Sufi rights."

Murders in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas jumped more than 90% and kidnapping reports more than doubled over last year to the highest rate in the country, according to a new travel warning issued July 26 by the US State Department. The State Department maintained its stance that US citizens should defer all non-essential travel to Tamaulipas, as carjackings, armed robberies, gun battles and grenade attacks continue to pervade the region, including in the border towns of Matamoros and Reynosa. "These crimes occur in all parts of the city at all times of the day," the bulletin stated.

Israeli forces evicted a protest village near the Kfar Etzion settlement compound south of Bethlehem on July 27, a local committee said. The Popular Struggle Committee Against Settlements and the Wall said its activists pitched tents on land belonging to the Abu Ayyash family. Four hours later, the Israeli army arrived with an order to evict the protesters, the committee said. The committee said the action sent a message to the Israeli government that Palestinians were entrenched in their land, and that they would dictate the next stage in peace talks, not the negotiators. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an News Agency that Israeli forces dispersed a gathering of 20 to 30 Palestinians in Umm Salamuna. "After a while they left," he said, adding that no riot dispersal means were used. 

Protesters in Libya attacked offices linked to the Muslim Brotherhood following the assassination July 26 of political activist Abdelsalam al-Mismari (also rendered Elmessmary). Al-Mismari, a vocal opponent of the Brotherhood, was shot dead as he left a mosque in Benghazi after Friday prayers. As the news broke, his supporters stormed offices of the Justice and Construction Party (JPC), the Brotherhood's Libyan political wing, in both Benghazi and Tripoli. Two members of the security forces were also shot in Benghazi that day, the latest in a wave of targeted killings in the city.

At least 100 were killed and hundreds injured July 27 as Egyptian security forces attacked Muslim Brotherhood supporters holding a public sit-in at a square outisde Rabaa al-Adawia mosque in northwest Cairo, bringing the toll in repression since the fall of President Mohammed Morsi to over 200 dead. Five were also killed in Alexandria the previous day, and rival demonstrations were reported from cities and towns throughout the country. Army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued a call for the Brotherhood's opponents to take to the streets in mass demonstration of support for the military. But with Rabaa al-Adawia square occupied by Morsi supporters and Tahrir Square now held by Morsi opponents responding to al-Sisi's call, a relatively small group of protesters established a vigil in Giza's Sphinx Square, calling themselves the "Third Square" movement. Their banners and flyers call for Egyptians to reject both Morsi's "religious fascism" and  "the army's continued political role."

Some 150 followers of the United Front in Defense of Tepoztlán (FUDT) seized control of the town hall and took captive the mayor at the historic village in the central Mexican state of Morelos July 23. The mayor, Francisco Navarrete Conde of the center-left PRD, is being held to demand that the federal Communications and Transport Secretariat (SCT) halt plans to widen La Pera-Tepoztlán highway. The FUDT asserts that some 1,800 comuneros (communal farmers) whose ejidos (collective landholdings) would be impacted by the road expansion have not been consulted. The comuneros, armed with clubs, sucessfully routed municipal riot police guarding the town hall. Speaking to a reporter by phone from his protester-occupied office, Navarrete Conde expressed support for the demands of his captors, charging that the company with the road contract, Tradeco, "is violating the rights of the comuneros." The company apparently has an agreement with the comuneros, but FUDT followers have challenged it as illegitimate, with a case over the matter pending before the Agrarian Tribunals. (La Jornada, July 23)

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on July 25 intervened in the public hearing of the Constitutional Court to defend the Framework for Peace, a constitutional amendment that brought about peace talks with the FARC rebels. Rights groups, including the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), challenged the amendment because it vests the congress with the discretion to decide which acts of war are applicable to the justice system. According to the CCJ and Human Rights Watch (HRW), this discretion could lead to loopholes that allow violent criminals to escape justice. Santos defended the amendment as a vital prerequisite for peace, "Our commitment to the expectations and rights of the victims is serious," Santos said. "It's not about sacrificing justice to reach peace but how to achieve peace with the most justice." The representative for the CCJ responded, "In this case the cure could end up being worse than the disease." The Constitutional Court's decision has not yet been released.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit  on July 24 ruled (PDF) that Israel cannot be listed as the place of birth on US passports for citizens born in Jerusalem. Section 214(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (PDF) requires the State Department to list "Jerusalem, Israel," as the birthplace for US citizens born in Jerusalem if the parents request. The appeals court found that § 214 is unconstitutional, basing its decision on the executive power of recognition, affirming that only the executive has the sole power to recognize a state. This decision now requires that section of the law to be reinterpreted, as Congress does not have the power to recognize foreign states. The office of the president has never recognized any one state as having jurisdiction over the city of Jerusalem, and as such, citizens born there cannot include a country name on their passport.