Watchdog

A 23-year-old Ukrainian who says he was tortured has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder by a court in Russia-annexed Crimea.

The court in Simferopol on June 10 said Andriy Kolomiyet had thrown a Molotov cocktail at two former Ukrainian Berkut riot police during the pro-Western Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in January 2014.

Kolomiyets was arrested in Russia’s North Caucasus region in May 2015 and transported to Crimea, where he has been held in custody ever since.

Kolomiyets has said he was tortured into confessing to taking part in extremist Ukrainian organizations during protests in Kyiv in 2014 that led to the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Human rights activists in Ukraine have described the charges against Kolomiyets as absurd.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

Iranian authorities have arrested an Iranian-Canadian anthropologist on unknown charges, according to her family.

Family members said in a June 8 statement that Homa Hoodfar, 65, is being held at Tehran’s Evin prison.

"The authorities have not made clear whether Professor Hoodfar is being charged with espionage, sedition, or propaganda against the state,” the statement reads.

Hoodfar, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, was reportedly arrested earlier this week following some three months of questioning by intelligence services.

In March, she had been banned from leaving the country.

Hoodfar’s lawyer and family have not been allowed to visit her, the family says.

In the past few months, several dual nationals from the United States, Britain, and France have been jailed in Iran or faced pressure from authorities.

Based on reporting by Toronto Star, CBC, and AFP