Watchdog

United Nations human rights experts have urged authorities in Kazakhstan to immediately release from prison two men who participated in a mass protest against land reforms.

A court in the western Kazakh city of Atyrau sentenced both Talghat Ayan and Maks Boqaev to five years in prison on November 28 after finding them guilty of inciting social unrest, spreading false information, and violating the law on public gatherings.

In a joint December 6 statement, the human rights experts said that Ayan and Boqaev "should have never faced prosecution for exercising their rights."

The experts included Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Maina Kiai, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and David Kaye, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

"Such prosecution, reportedly tainted with procedural and due process violations, runs counter to Kazakhstan’s international commitments on human rights, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," the joint statement added.

Ayan and Boqaev have both claimed their cases are politically motivated.

They were detained in April in the center of Atyrau, where thousands of people had gathered to protest against a bill on land privatization and land leasing to foreigners.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has won reelection as head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Merkel, who is seeking a fourth term in office next year, won 89.5 percent of votes cast by just under 1,000 party delegates at a congress of the CDU in the western city of Essen on December 6.

Merkel, who ran unopposed, was short of the 96.7 percent she won two years ago.

Merkel’s open-door policy toward migrants has angered some German voters and dented the CDU's support.

She is expected to toughen up the party's stance on migrants in the wake of a string of election successes by the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Before the congress voted, Merkel attacked the rise of populists in Germany while underlining her support for a proposal to ban the niqab, or full-face veil, in public places.

"The full veil must be banned wherever that is legally possible," Merkel said.

The party has begun drawing up plans for banning the garment in areas such as courts and while driving cars.

"The world is not black and white," said Merkel. "Rarely is it the easy answers that bring progress to our country."

Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP