A spurious investigation into Egyptian human rights organizations has escalated. On 7 December, prominent women’s rights defender and lawyer Azza Soliman was arrested and charged.

Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after disclosing classified information – some of which pointed to potential human rights violations – after a trial marred by due process shortcomings. President Obama must commute her sentence before he leaves office.

One of the two Sudanese nationals at risk of being illegally returned to Sudan from France was released on 22 November and is not at immediate risk.

The High Court of Israel accepted to review the case of Mohammad Faisal Abu Sakha but, in a 5 December hearing, his lawyer decided to withdraw the petition after the judges indicated that they believed there was enough “evidence” in a secret file to justify his detention.

Francisca Ramírez, coordinator of the Council for the Defence of Our Land, Lake and Sovereignty, reported that the Nicaraguan police damaged and took possession of a pickup truck and another truck which she uses for her work, without notice.

A Bahraini court of appeal upheld the death sentences against three Bahraini men, the life sentences against seven others and the revocation of the nationality of eight of them on 4 December after an unfair retrial in relation to the killing of three policemen in March 2014.

Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian was forced to return to Tehran’s Evin Prison on 4 December. He had been on medical leave following his month-long hunger strike.

The trial of 15-year-old Aser Mohamed has been adjourned to 27 December. He faces a string of charges, including belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and attacking a hotel, based on “confessions” that he says were obtained under torture after 34 days of enforced disappearance.

Cuban prisoner of conscience and graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado (‘El Sexto’) has been transferred to a new detention centre where he continues to be detained without charge since his arrest on 26 November. He now refuses to eat the food from the prison.

Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned in the USA for over 40 years despite concerns over the fairness of his trial. President Obama must grant him clemency before he leaves office.