A Sri Lankan court has sentenced a former police chief and a former Defense Ministry official to death after finding them guilty of criminal negligence for the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 260 people in 2019. 

Former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defense Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were convicted and sentenced in a 2-1 decision on Friday by the three-member High Court bench. 

The judgments at the special fast-track court came after the state appealed against a 2022 decision that acquitted the duo. 

The Venezuelan government and a segment of the opposition are to kick off United States-backed talks aimed at paving the way for eventual elections.

Noticeably absent from the negotiations will be one of the country’s most prominent opposition figures, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has not been invited to attend.

Human Rights Watch has accused Russia’s government-controlled paramilitaries of killing eight civilians, including three children, in an air strike in central Mali.

In a report published on Friday, the rights watchdog alleged that the attacks by Africa Corps took place on June 15 in the village of Kyrnia, in Mali’s Mopti region.

“The junta has to impartially investigate all possible war crimes committed on their territory, including the airstrikes in Kyrnia, or be held complicit in abuses,” HRW Sahel researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi said.

This research report examines how civil society actors involved in transitional justice processes narrate and communicate their role, impact, and value. The study focuses on actors in Colombia, The Gambia, and Kenya, describing the content, form, and audiences of their communication work. It contends that the narrative communication work of transitional justice stakeholders can support better justice, peace, and development outcomes if it is taken seriously and is well resourced.

Myanmar courts have sentenced nine activists to up to 37 years in prison for participating in a protest that urged the public to boycott last December’s elections.

Eight protesters against the military government, including prominent activist Htet Myat Aung, were sentenced to 37 years on Tuesday by two courts in Mandalay, an activist group said on Wednesday.

The sentences were imposed following the demonstrators’ convictions under the electoral law and counterterrorism law, according to May Hnin, a spokesperson for the Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee-Mandalay.

The government has declared Tuesday, 28th July 2026, a public holiday to enable Ugandans to participate in the Local Council Elections across the country.

The announcement was made by the Uganda Media Centre in a press release issued on 24th July 2026 and signed by the Executive Director, Alan Kasujja. The declaration comes just four days ahead of the polls, which are expected to see millions of Ugandans vote for leaders at the village, parish, and sub-county levels.

The United Nations human rights chief has condemned Nicaragua’s escalating crackdown on civil and political rights, days after President Daniel Ortega announced a plan to block elections and shut out the opposition. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Wednesday that the “latest developments further deepen the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the dismantling of civic space, and the steady erosion of the rule of law” in the Central American country.

This book features testimonies of young migrants originally from or currently residing in Lebanon, Libya, or Tunisia who left their home countries for political or socioeconomic reasons. The authors all took part in ICTJ’s 2023 writing contest titled “Overseas.” The contest aimed to encourage participants to reflect on the reasons for leaving their home countries and to explore how marginalization, exclusion, inequality, and conflict shaped their decisions.