Europe's top human rights official on July 4 raised concerns that Serbian authorities are using violence and arbitrary arrests to break up protests against President Aleksandar Vučić's populist government. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty especially decried "the arrest of children, as well as the number of students being charged for criminal offenses or hospitalized for the treatment of injuries."

Donald Trump's draconian immigration policies are to get a massive injection of cash thanks to the omnibus budget bill that the president signed into law on July 4. The bill includes over $170 billion in funding for new detention centers, deportation operations, border wall construction, and other anti-immigration initiatives. While this outlay is to be spread out over five years, critics point out that it surpasses the annual military budgets of any country on Earth except for the US and China. It is also more than four times the World Food Program's estimate of the yearly sum needed to end global hunger by 2030. (TNH, NYT, AIC, HT)

A court in Algeria has sentenced French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes to seven years in prison on charges of "glorifying terrorism" and "possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on July 1. Gleizes, who has written for French publications So Foot and Society, was arrested on May 28, 2024, in Tizi Ouzou, in Algeria's restive Kabylie region, after interviewing the president of football club JS Kabylie. Authorities alleged the interviewee had ties to the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), which Algeria designated a "terrorist group" in 2021. Gleizes' arrest was not made public until his sentencing on June 29.

The Hong Kong Legislative Council passed a law on June 25 that bans anyone convicted of a "national security" offense from forming or holding a leadership position within a union. The new law amends the Trade Union Ordinance, introducing a lifetime ban on union organizing for such offenders. This includes both holding a leadership position within a union as well as registering a new union, and the ban cannot be overruled by the chief executive. For reference, those charged with fraud or membership in a criminal organization are subject to a five-year ban. Unions must now also disclose any financial contributions from foreign actors.

One result of the 12 days of war has been the intensification of repression inside Iran under the name of "defending the homeland" or "fighting espionage." According to reports, at least 700 people have been arrested on accusations of cooperating with Israel. Six political prisoners (all with serious legal irregularities in their cases) have already been executed, labeled as "spies." And this is only the beginning... The Islamic Gestapo (the Basij) have turned major urban areas like Tehran into militarized zones. They roam the streets, hunting for "suspicious agents."

Police in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on June 12 lobbed tear-gas and clashed with hundreds of demonstrators angered by the death in police custody of a 31-year old teacher, Albert Ojwang, after he was accused of having "insulted a senior person on X" (a high-ranking police officer). Police initially claimed Ojwang had committed suicide but have been forced to apologize after an autopsy contradicted their account.

California filed suit against the Trump administration June 9, asserting that its activation and deployment of the state National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles is unconstitutional. The suit asks the US District Court for the Northern District of California to halt President Donald Trump's "unlawful militarization" of Los Angeles.

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation June 4 implementing a nearly full travel ban on nationals from a dozen countries, severely restricting potential entry into the United States. The proclamation is based on an executive order issued on Trump's first day in office that laid the foundation for the administration to enact extensive immigration controls. Trump claimed the action serves national security interests: