Watchdog

Russia's rights ombudsman says the jailed brother of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny urgently needs dental surgery outside the penitentiary where he is being detained.

Ella Pamfilova said on November 17 that she had requested the state agency monitoring Russia's penitentiaries to allow Oleg Navalny to have a surgery in a decent clinic.

Pamfilova said she also asked the agency to check whether Navalny's recent placement in solitary confinement and other disciplinary measures against him in the penitentiary in the Oryol region were legal.

Navalny is serving a 3 1/2-year jail term after a court in December found him and his brother, Aleksei, guilty of defrauding a French cosmetics company.

Aleksei Navalny, the key driving force behind the 2011-12 mass protests in Moscow, received a suspended sentence in the same case.

Both brothers rejected the charges as politically motivated.

Based on reporting by rbc.ru and Interfax

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Pakistan's government to take steps to end “rampant police harassment, threats, and violence” against Afghans.

Some 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees and 1 million undocumented Afghans are estimated to be living in Pakistan.

In a report published on November 18, the New York-based group said they are viewed with deep suspicion inside Pakistan and are routinely accused by authorities of harboring militants.

"The Pakistani police's outrageous mistreatment of Afghans over the past year calls for an immediate government response," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at HRW. "The Pakistani government should press the police to apprehend perpetrators of atrocities instead of scapegoating the entire Afghan community."

Police abuses have prompted fearful Afghans to restrict their movements, leading to economic hardship and curtailing access to education and employment, HRW said.

With reporting by AFP