Watchdog

Amnesty International says Caspian Makan, the fiance of Neda Agha Soltan, the young Iranian woman whose death was caught on video during the recent protests in Iran, has been held in detention since June 26 after he made a statement linking her murder to the pro-government Basij militia.

He is believed to be in detention in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

According to Amnesty, Makan told his family that if he signs a "confession" saying that the banned People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) killed her, then he may be released.

Amnesty says it fears he may be forced to sign such a "confession" under torture or other ill-treatment.

Makan was among those who witnessed Neda's horrific death on that street in Tehran on June 20.

Read the full Amnesty statement here.

Three prominent human rights and media freedom groups have written an open letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regarding the case of two bloggers currently on trial for hooliganism.

In the letter, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, and International PEN express their "profound concern" about the prosecution of youth activists Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada, whose trial began on Friday in Baku.

Milli and Hajizada are charged with disorderly conduct and inflicting bodily harm in an altercation in a Baku restaurant on July 8.

In the letter, the groups remind Aliyev of "Azerbaijan’s international commitments to ensure the protection of the right to freedom of expression and the right to a fair and public trial by an independent and impartial tribunal."

It notes the apparent targeting of Milli and Hajizada, the failure of police to take their assault complaint seriously; the refusal to provide the two men with adequate medical care; the refusal to allow them access to a lawyer; and the decision to place them in two months' pretrial detention, "which appears unnecessarily harsh given the nature of the alleged crime of 'hooliganism.' "

It adds the "prosecution of Milli and Hajizada, who used online blogging to further their civic participation, is particularly troubling in light of deteriorating media freedoms in the country."

Read the letter in full here.