Crimes Against Humanity

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced it has filed a criminal complaint with the German Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, detailing a litany of crimes against humanity committed against journalists in Saudi Arabia.

The complaint targets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials and addresses 35 cases of journalists: slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and 34 journalists who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia, including 33 currently in detention -- among them, blogger Raif Badawi.

"In Saudi Arabia, journalists, who are a civilian population according to international law, are victims of widespread and systematic attacks for political reasons in furtherance of a state policy aimed at punishing or silencing them," an RSF statement said.

As the first European country, the Dutch parliament has passed a non-binding motion declaring the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority by China genocide.

The Dutch motion said that actions by the Chinese government such as "measures intended to prevent births" and "having punishment camps" fell under United Nations Resolution 260, generally known as the genocide convention.

For the first time worldwide, an individual was sentenced for aiding crimes against humanity in another country. A German court convicted a former Syrian secret service agent for delivering victims to a detention center in Douma, Syria, where they were tortured. War crimes are covered by international law allowing the prosecution of foreigners for crimes committed in other countries.