Activists raise alarm about E. Guinea elections

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) — Human rights groups are expressing concern about the fairness of legislative elections taking place later this month in Equatorial Guinea.

The tiny country is home to Africa's longest serving strongman, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

On Monday, Amnesty International, EG Justice, and Human Rights Watch issued a joint statement saying they are already worried about how level the electoral playing field will be.

The groups cited the country's history of politically motivated arrests and lack of freedom of speech. The government has denied requests from opposition parties to hold political rallies.

Activists also are criticizing restrictions being placed on foreign observers who want to monitor the May 26 vote.

Obiang, who first seized power in a 1979 coup, has insisted that his government is committed to holding fair and democratic elections.

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Bangladesh police, Islamic activists clash; 27 die

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Police banned all rallies in Bangladesh's capital through midnight Monday after at least 27 people died in clashes between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law, officials said.

The protesters blocked roads with burning tires and logs during more than five hours of clashes. They also attacked a police station and set fire to at least 30 vehicles, including police trucks, private Ekattar TV reported.

A police official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said 13 people, including two police and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in clashes in Kanchpur just outside Dhaka. He said seven others died in Motijheel, a commercial area of the capital.

Police in southeastern Chittagong city fired on Islamic activists who attacked them with iron rods, meat cleavers and sticks. At least seven people were killed, police official Farid Uddin said.

The private United News of Bangladesh reported that the violence in Dhaka erupted after security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters in the central commercial district.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police said all rallies and protests had been banned in the city until midnight Monday for fear of more clashes.

The Islamic activists have been holding protests to demand that the government implement an anti-blasphemy law. They say some Internet users have recently used their blogs to spread atheism and lies about Islam.

The government of the Muslim-majority nation has rejected the demand, insisting that Bangladesh is governed by secular law.

On Sunday, police fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing activists who were among thousands who rallied around Dhaka. Officials said at least one person died and 45 others were injured.

The ruling Awami League and an opposition alliance had both planned rallies Monday in response to Sunday's violence but postponed their plans.

Bangladesh, an impoverished nation of 160 million people, has a history of political violence.

The opposition has sponsored a series of recent general strikes demanding that the next general election due in early 2014 be supervised by a neutral caretaker administration.

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Activists call for release of imam in Gambia

BANJUL, Gambia (AP) — Activists in Gambia are calling on the government to release an imam who has been jailed for five months.

Imam Baba Leigh has been missing since December and is believed to have been detained by Gambia's National Intelligence Agency.

Media reports have linked his alleged arrest with comments he made in September 2012 describing the execution of nine death row inmates as "un-Islamic."

Hamat Bah of the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP) called on the Gambian government to release the Muslim cleric late Tuesday, describing his detention unconstitutional.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has ruled the country since he came to power in a coup in 1994.

Human rights groups have accused the government of Gambia of carrying out arbitrary arrests, summary executions and torture in recent years.

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Activists to BRICS: Press Syria for access

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Human rights activists from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are appealing to their leaders to use their influence to press Syria to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to U.N. agencies.

Camila Asano of Brazil's Conectas says it is "a responsibility" for leaders of a BRICS summit starting Tuesday in South Africa to act to protect Syrian civilians.

Human Rights Watch director Jan Egeland wrote separately that it is "time for BRICS to stop sitting on the fence over Syria's atrocities."

BRICS countries oppose foreign intervention in Syria and accuse the West of forcing regime change. Russia, China and South Africa have vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria.

The U.N. estimates some 70,000 people have been killed since Syria's civil war began with peaceful protests two years ago.

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