An incursion by paramilitaries and subsequent armed confrontation between them and guerrilla groups forced a mass displacement of families and the potential confinement of surrounding communities in Peña Azul, Chocó department, in north-western Colombia. The increase in paramilitary activity in the area is placing residents of rural areas of Chocó department at risk.

The Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh has upheld Saudi Arabian human rights defender Issa al-Hamid’s 11-year prison sentence. It is feared that he could be detained at any time to start serving his sentence. If detained he will be a prisoner of conscience.

Iranian prisoner of conscience and human rights defender Arash Sadeghi is being subjected to torture by Revolutionary Guard officials who are blocking his access to urgent medical care.

Salvadoran woman Sara Beltran Hernandez has been granted bond and released from detention. She had been held in a Texas detention centre for 15 months, despite having a claim to asylum and being in urgent need of medical attention.

Kiryl Kazachok has decided not to appeal the death sentence he was given on 28 December 2016 and is now at risk of imminent execution.

Iranian academic Dr Ahmadreza Djalali has resumed his hunger strike and has said he has stopped taking liquids as well as food.

Sibel Çapraz was conditionally released from prison on 28 February. She had been in pre-trial detention for almost one year and was in need of medical treatment and an urgent operation.

Following international pressure, the Myanmar Army announced that two missing Kachin pastors, Dumdaw Nawng Lat and Langjaw Gam Seng, are now in police custody and face what Amnesty International believes to be politically motivated charges. If convicted they would face up to 6 years in prison. There are concerns for their health in detention.

The 21 families of the Asháninka Meantari Indigenous community, in the Central Peruvian rainforest, remain displaced from their land due to fear that armed individuals will return and act on the death threats they previously made.

Sudanese national and political activist Alaa Aldin al-Difana is currently being held incommunicado without charge, following his arrest on 26 December 2016, raising fears he could be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. He requires access to a lawyer and medical care.