Watchdog

Russian police have briefly detained six people who staged a protest in Moscow demanding the authorities disclose the whereabouts of jailed activist Ildar Dadin, who has said he was tortured in prison.

The protesters were released after spending about four hours in custody on January 4.

Prominent opposition politician Aleksei Navalny tweeted two photos of a woman whom he described as a lone protester.

One photo depicts the woman holding a placard reading "Where is Ildar Dadin?" and another condemning "torture in Russian concentration camps."

The second photo shows the woman being escorted away by two policemen.

Dadin, 34, became the first Russian citizen jailed for participating in more than two unsanctioned public gatherings in 180 consecutive days under a controversial 2014 law that critics say is part of a redoubled Kremlin effort to stifle dissent during President Vladimir Putin's third term.

Dadin received a three-year sentence in December 2015, and it was later reduced by six months.

Last month, Russian human rights campaigners draped a banner calling for Dadin's release from a St. Petersburg bridge.

A jailed Iranian activist has ended his hunger strike following his wife's release from jail.

Arash Sadeghi had reportedly refused to eat since October 24 to protest the arrest of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi.

Ebrahimi, a writer and human rights activist, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda on January 3 that she had been temporarily released from prison on bail.

Ebrahimi was arrested in October for writing an unpublished story about the practice of stoning in Iran.

She was later convicted of "insulting Islamic sanctities" in a trial that Amnesty International called "grossly unfair."

Ebrahimi said she had been able to briefly meet with her husband who, she said, was in poor condition after refusing to eat for more than two months.

Sadeghi's hunger strike had led to several online protests by his supporters, who had expressed concerns about his health.

On January 2, dozens of Iranians marched outside of Tehran's Evin prison to call for the couple's release.

Sadeghi, a philosophy student, is serving a 15-year prison sentence for "collusion against national security," "propaganda against the state," "spreading lies in cyberspace," and "insulting the founder of the Islamic republic [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]."