The execution of Don Davis, scheduled for 17 April in Arkansas, did not go ahead. Minutes before midnight, when the death warrant was set to expire, the US Supreme Court refused to lift the stay issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court that afternoon.

The staff of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and journalists supporting them have been threatened following the newspaper’s publication of reports about the abduction and torture of gay men in Chechnya.

Leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), Mr Hakainde Hichilema was arrested on 10 April.

On 3 April, the Court of Cassation in Bahrain reduced the prison sentence against opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman to four years in prison for the second time. He is a prisoner of conscience.

Human rights defenders David Boniface and Juders Ysemé fear for their lives following the sudden death of their colleague, Nissage Martyr, one day after service of a lawsuit filed by the three men in the US for grave human rights violations against Jean Morose Viliena, the former mayor of their hometown in Haiti. The men have reported repeated death threats and attacks from the former mayor since 2007, and must be provided adequate protection.

Three political opposition activists are being held in prolonged detention without charge following their arrests in Khartoum by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) between January and February 2017. They are being detained because they supported protests in November 2016 against economic austerity measures. They are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Hundreds of Roma living in the settlement of Gianturco were forcibly evicted on 7 April. Dozens of families had already left the settlement due to intensified police checks and harassment and many are feared homeless.

Xie Yang, a human rights lawyer detained since the government crackdown in 2015, has been transferred to an unknown location and is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. He is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediately and unconditionally released.

On 7 April, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution in the case of Paul Storey, who was scheduled to be put to death on 12 April. The case has been remanded to a lower court for further review of the claim that the prosecution presented false evidence at the trial.