On July 10, the Associated Press reported that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo had removed the professional licenses of potentially hundreds or thousands of lawyers from the Supreme Court’s official registry, without notice or explanation. Those affected included exiled human rights lawyers, attorneys with no political practice, Nicaraguans living abroad, and even …
Human Rights Watch published a July 8 analysis warning that, five years after President Kais Saied seized extraordinary executive powers, Tunisia’s systematic repression now centrally targets the legal profession and judiciary. Saied dismantled the independent High Judicial Council in 2022 and replaced it with a body under executive control, granting himself powers to dismiss judges. …
The Stockholm Center for Freedom reports that two international legal organizations—Lawyers for Lawyers and the Law Society of England and Wales—have called on Turkish authorities to release three attorneys detained ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara. In a joint statement, the groups said the detention of Semra Demir, Kürşat Bafra, and Doğa İncesu appeared …
Human Rights Watch reports that Turkish police arrested at least 209 people in Ankara in overnight raids on June 22–23, 2026, ahead of the NATO summit scheduled there for July 7–8. Those detained included political activists, lawyers, an academic, and a journalist known as a prominent LGBT rights advocate. Authorities cited efforts to counter “terrorist …
A new OHCHR dataset, Human Rights Count 2026, reported by UN News on June 17, 2026, finds that attacks on human rights defenders—a category that includes lawyers and other legal advocates—reached record levels over the past year. Preliminary data indicate that roughly 950 human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists were killed or forcibly disappeared …
The Malaysian Bar has welcomed the government’s move to separate the offices of the Attorney General and Public Prosecutor—a long-standing institutional reform aimed at strengthening the rule of law and prosecutorial independence—but cautioned that the proposed constitutional amendments may fall short without stronger safeguards and supporting legislation. Bar President Anand Raj stressed that the powerful …
Thirty-nine international legal and human rights organizations—including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists—issued a joint statement on June 5, 2026, condemning what they describe as the Tunisian authorities’ systematic and escalating campaign of intimidation, prosecution, and retaliation against lawyers, judges, and independent civil society, a pattern that has deepened since …
Israel’s two most senior judicial officials—Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara—issued stark warnings on June 1, 2026, accusing the governing coalition of deliberately working to dismantle Israeli democracy through its assault on the judiciary. Speaking at an Israel Bar Association conference, Amit, who has been boycotted by the government since his …
On June 2, 2026, the International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala will present its report “Climate of Fear: The Legal Profession and Judicial Independence at Risk” in Madrid, based on a fact-finding mission carried out in October 2025. The mission—a joint initiative of the International Observatory for Lawyers at Risk (OIAD), Lawyers for Lawyers, AJUFIDH, …
Slate interviews federal judges who describe an unprecedented climate of intimidation, doxing, swatting, and impeachment threats against members of the bench. The reporting highlights statements by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche calling for “war” with the judiciary, the Attorney General’s public attacks on judges who rule against the administration, and congressional calls to impeach at …