Peter Biar Ajak, a prominent South Sudanese academic and activist, has been arbitrarily for almost six months.

On 23 January, Anastasia Shevchenko was put under house arrest and may face up to six years in prison if convicted.

Two anti-slavery activists Biram Dah Abeid and Abdellahi el Housein Mesoud were released from Nouakchott civil Prison.

Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian national, was sentenced to death after being convicted of drug trafficking at his retrial

On 17 January, unidentified armed men attacked demonstrators in Amatán, Chiapas state, southern Mexico.

Suha Jbara was released after spending over two months in detention where she says she was tortured by interrogators.

Huang Qi, founder and director of Sichuan-based human rights website “64 Tianwang”, was secretly tried.

69-year-old human rights defender Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi, started serving a 10-month prison sentence.

On 25 January, Islam Khalil and four other prisoners began a hunger strike to protest their arbitrary detention.

Macomia’s District Judicial Court ruled that the pre-trial detention of journalist Amade Abubacar was lawful.