Worldwide vigils have been held for Troy Davis, a death row prisoner in Georgia, USA, who is believed to be innocent, and is still trying to get a court to hear evidence collected since his original trial 18 years ago, which could prove his innocence.

Amnesty International's annual report for 2009, which will be launched on Thursday 28 May from London, will highlight, among other global concerns, continuing investigations into human rights abuses in the Russian Federation.

A peaceful protester won an important court victory for civil liberties yesterday when police surveillance of him of was ruled unlawful, in a decison that lawyers say will change the way demonstrations and protests are policed.

An ethicist for a leading conservative denomination in the United States, who was an adviser on social issues to former US president George W. Bush, says the former US practice of waterboarding terror suspects is torture and "violates everything we stand for".

Amnesty International has called on the Malaysian authorities to release five government critics arrested in the last week, if they cannot charge them with recognisable criminal offences. The wave of arrests is part of a new crackdown on dissent.

Pope Benedict XVI has met privately with a delegation of Canadian native people to express his sorrow for the abuse suffered by indigenous children in Canadian residential schools. The meeting took place at the end of last week.

Claims made by the Philippines government to a good human rights track record "are utterly false", the Rev Berlin Guerrero told the United Nations Committee against Torture this week. He said it was "remiss in its responsibility to prevent torture".

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has flown to the Solomon Islands to launch a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, modelled on the body he chaired in South Africa to tackle crimes and injustices under the former the apartheid regime.

Amnesty International has welcomed news that Marnie Pearce, a British woman jailed in Dubai for adultery, has been released. But it says that the decision to deny her custody of her children must be reversed.

Bishop Mvume Dandala, an opposition candidate in the South African presidential contest, has told the BBC he would reopen a corruption case against Jacob Zuma if elected.

Caste-based discrimination in India may be 3,500 years old, but something new is unfolding, says Maurice Melanes. That is a new movement for change with a theological twist.

Barack Obama has published secret memos detailing the legal justification for the CIA interrogation programme in the Bush era, which critics say amounted to the legitimation of torture.

Following on from China's recently-released Human Rights Action Plan, the new head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong has called for further initiatives on civil rights across the 1.3 billion nation.

China's recently-released National Human Rights Action Plan has been generally welcomed by human rights groups, while they have highlighted some weaknesses and urged further change.