Watchdog

A top official of Russia's only nonstate election-monitoring organization says the group is considering liquidating after being declared a "foreign agent."

The Russian Justice Ministry announced on September 4 it was adding the Golos organization to its list of foreign agents. A controversial Russian law says any nongovernmental organization involved in politics that receives foreign funding must register as a foreign agent.

The term carries a pejorative Cold War-era connotation and critics say the law is aimed at discrediting such groups.

The law is among several measures President Vladimir Putin's government has taken to clamp down on groups seen as opposed to the government.

In response to the move, Golos co-Chairman Grigory Melkonyants was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "It's possible we will liquidate.... Evidently, we'll now have to do that."

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax

Amnesty International is condemning as "abhorrent" the public flogging of a man and a woman in Afghanistan for "adultery."

In a statement issued on September 2, the human rights organization called on Afghan authorities to hold to account those responsible.

The couple was illegally sentenced to 100 lashes by a primary court in western Ghor Province.

One of the court's judges in Cheghcheran town later carried out the punishment in public in the presence of police and other officials on 30 August 2015.

However, it only came to public attention after being broadcast on Afghan TV.

"Corporal punishments constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and in this case, with the degree of violence and humiliation shown, may amount to torture," said Horia Mosadiq, Amnesty International's Afghanistan researcher.

"This is far from an isolated example of cruel and unlawful punishments being handed down and carried out in Afghanistan, which is particularly common in the informal justice system that still exists in many parts of the country," Mosadiq explained.

The Taliban and other armed insurgent groups are also often responsible for meting out corporal punishments in public, as well as carrying out public executions.