Lives of LGBTQ+ Afghans ‘dramatically worse’ under Taliban rule, finds survey

Human Rights Watch reports cases of mob attacks, gang-rape and death threats, with LGBTQ+ people living in fear and unable to flee

The lives of LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan have “dramatically worsened” under Taliban rule, according to a new survey, which highlights cases of violence, gang-rape and death threats since the group seized power last year.

The report, by Human Rights Watch (HRW), recorded nearly 60 cases of targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people since August 2021, many of whom described how Taliban rule has destroyed their lives.

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‘Virginity repair’ surgery to be banned in Britain under new bill

Move to outlaw procedures to reconstruct the hymen welcomed by campaigners and survivors of ‘honour’-based abuse

“Virginity repair” surgery known as hymenoplasty has no place in the medical world, British healthcare professionals were warned today, as legislation to criminalise the practice was introduced by the government.

An amendment added to the health and care bill on Monday will make it illegal to perform any procedure that aims to reconstruct the hymen, with or without consent.

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Kill the Bill and period protests: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Costa Rica

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Desmond Tutu’s funeral and Kazakhstan clashes: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to Hong Kong

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Jon Needham: the man who went to hell and back as a child – and now fights for all rape victims

He experienced horrendous abuse in foster care, then suffered terribly years later when the case came to court. Now a police officer, he is determined to change how the system treats survivors

Jon Needham looks like a copper. Tall, broad and imposing, he works in a lifetime offender management unit, where he deals with serious and organised criminals. So when he speaks, his gentleness comes as a surprise. “I joined the police because I was passionate about helping people,” he says. “It sounds like a cliche to say you want to make a real difference, but I genuinely mean it.”

Needham gets paid for working with “nominals” – people who are on the police database (“That’s what the police call them, I call them people,” he says). But he is also transforming how his colleagues deal with victims of rape and sexual assault.

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the Demon Queen, is behind bars. Does she have a secret that could unlock her shackles?

Our writer sat through the trial in New York and reports on the humiliation of the mwah-mwah princess, her repeated failures to end Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and the chances of her cutting a deal with the Feds

Guilty, five times over, Ghislaine Maxwell, shackled, sits in the sweat box as it crawls over Brooklyn Bridge along with the rest of the rush-hour little people she used to fly over, saying a last goodbye to the Imperial City’s billion-dollar stalagmites. The one-time Princess Mwah-Mwah is now the Demon Queen, facing 30 years, the rest of her life in prison, not some Disneyland of rightwing fantasy but a bone pit of the bad, the mad and the broken locked up until the end of age.

She has a secret key that could unlock her shackles. What if she sings, tells the feds what she knows, gives up the overmighty men who, along with her one-time lover Jeffrey Epstein, abused women more child than adult back in her pomp? She could cut her jail time down to 10 years and be out in seven, thanks to good behaviour.

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Judge calls for ban on drunken parties in UK armed forces after rape case

Pattern of criminal behaviour seems to be emerging, says judge as another sailor is jailed for raping a colleague

A judge has called for a ban on parties in the armed forces involving excessive drinking after a Royal Navy sailor was jailed for raping a female colleague following a party at a hotel.

The judge said a pattern of criminal behaviour seemed to be emerging and asked military chiefs to consider finding a way of clamping down on drink-fuelled parties that end with colleagues bunking down together.

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My role in clearing the man wrongly convicted for rape of Alice Sebold

Why didn’t the writer, the US justice system and the media ask more questions given the miscarriage of justice, asks the film producer whose investigation led to exoneration of Anthony Broadwater

 Anthony Broadwater, a 61-year-old resident of Syracuse, New York state, and former marine, was exonerated last week of the brutal rape, assault and robbery of best-selling author Alice Sebold. He was convicted in 1982.

Sebold was savagely attacked while walking home from a friend’s house late one night. Five months later, Sebold said she saw her attacker in Syracuse town centre.

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Alice Sebold’s publisher pulls memoir after overturned rape conviction

Scribner has responded to the news that Anthony Broadwater has been cleared of the crime at the centre of Lucky by ceasing to distribute the book

Alice Sebold’s publisher Scribner is pulling her 1999 memoir Lucky from shelves after a man was cleared of the rape at the heart of it.

Anthony Broadwater was convicted of raping Sebold in 1982, and spent 16 years in prison. He was exonerated last week after a re-examination of the case found serious flaws in his arrest and trial.

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Many disabled women are assaulted each year. Forgetting my own rape feels impossible

After the attack, I became preoccupied with the idea that my case would be questioned because of my disability. But what happened continues to haunt me

I have been a wheelchair user for a number of years, due to a progressive condition. I have been a rape survivor for four. These things are more connected than you might think.

I first met Alex (not his real name) four years ago. We were at a house party. He was drunk and I was sober; this would become a running theme.

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England and Wales ‘one step closer to ending child marriage’ after MP vote

Second reading of bill to ban marriage for under-18s receives cross-party support

A ban on child marriage in England and Wales came a step closer Friday with cross-party support for a new bill in the House of Commons.

The marriage and civil partnership (minimum age) bill had its second reading in parliament, with government and opposition MPs supporting the private member’s bill brought by Conservative MP Pauline Latham.

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The British army has serious questions to answer about the alleged killing of Agnes Wanjiru | Gaby Hinsliff

When the Kenyan woman died nine years ago, the army closed ranks – it’s time to find out what happened and why

The last time 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru was seen alive in public, she was leaving a hotel bar with two soldiers.

Her body was found by a hotel worker two months later, stuffed into a nearby septic tank, naked but for her bra. The mother of a five-month-old baby, Agnes was a hairdresser who turned to sex work to support herself and her daughter, and had gone to the hotel expecting it to be full of partying British soldiers. An inquest later concluded that one or more of them must have killed her.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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Natalie Wood was sexually assaulted as a teen by Kirk Douglas, her sister writes in memoir

In a memoir coming out next week, Wood’s younger sister identifies the actor’s long-suspected assailant

For decades, it’s been one of Hollywood’s darkest rumors: Natalie Wood was sexually assaulted by a top movie star more than twice her age when she met with him at a hotel in Los Angeles as a teenager.

In a memoir coming out next week, Wood’s younger sister identifies the long-suspected assailant: Kirk Douglas.

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Lyft admits it recorded 4,000 sexual assault claims in long-awaited report

Company reveals figures, promised in 2019, as ride-hailing companies face growing safety scrutiny

The ride-hailing app Lyft received more than 4,000 reports of sexual assaults during rides from 2017 to 2019, the company revealed in a new report, including 1,800 reports in 2019 alone.

Lyft revealed the numbers on Thursday, after having pledged in 2019 to do so. In its report, the company said the number of sexual assault reports collected through its app had risen from 1,096 in 2017 to 1,255 in 2018 and 1,807 in 2019.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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US border agents engaged in ‘shocking abuses’ against asylum seekers, report finds

Revealed: documents released after six years of legal tussles uncover over 160 cases of misconduct and abuse

Shocking instances of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers at the southern US border by federal officers have been uncovered by Human Rights Watch, after a years-long battle to wrestle the information from the Department of Homeland Security under freedom of information laws.

A stash of redacted documents released to the human rights group after six years of legal tussles uncover more than 160 cases of misconduct and abuse by leading government agencies, notably Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Border Patrol. The papers record events between 2016 and 2021 that range from child sexual assault to enforced hunger, threats of rape and brutal detention conditions.

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The indecent exposure epidemic: ‘How are they not taking this seriously after Sarah Everard?’

Flashing is a sexual offence, victims say it can have a lifelong impact and experts say it can lead to escalating crimes against women. Why is the police response so often dismissive?

Cathkin Braes country park, in south Glasgow, is beautiful. You can see the city and, behind it, the mountains. Clara (not her real name), a 35-year-old community worker from Glasgow, went there in March to enjoy the view from her campervan. As she relaxed, she looked over and saw a car parked beside her, with the passenger window rolled down. A man was staring at her, and masturbating. He clearly relished her visible fright. “That is what was turning him on,” Clara said. “His head was nearly out of the passenger window, staring at me.”

Because she was in a campervan, it wasn’t easy to get away quickly: Clara had to get out to fold away some seats. “I decided to jump out,” she says, “and when I looked at him, he was wiping ejaculation off his dashboard and looking at me.” She took a photograph of his car numberplate and drove away. But the man realised what she had done and gave chase. For 15 minutes, he tailed her through the streets of Glasgow. Frightened for her life, Clara drove to a police station, but the man turned off before she arrived.

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R Kelly’s ex-wife says victim shaming stopped women coming forward

Drea Kelly puts focus on what happens outside courtroom after singer’s racketeering and sex trafficking conviction

The culture around victim shaming stopped women coming forward sooner about the abuse they experienced at the hands of R Kelly, the singer’s ex-wife Drea Kelly has said.

A New York jury on Monday found R Kelly guilty of being the ringleader of a decades-long racketeering and sex trafficking scheme that preyed on women and children.

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Alanis Morissette says she was victim of multiple statutory rapes as a teenager

Canadian music star says in new documentary: ‘I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded … you’re not consenting at 15’

Speaking in a new documentary, Alanis Morissette has said she was the victim of multiple statutory rapes as a teenager.

The documentary, Jagged, is screening at the Toronto film festival this week. The Washington Post has reported that Morissette describes the attacks during the film. “It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimisation on my part,” she says. “I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all paedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’”

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The disappeared in Mexico, Afghan female footballers and a giant puppet: human rights this fortnight in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms from Thailand to Texas

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Kidnapped, raped and wed against their will: Kyrgyz women’s fight against a brutal tradition

At least 12,000 women are still abducted and forced into marriage every year in Kyrgyzstan. But pressure is growing to finally end the medieval custom

Aisuluu was returning home after spending the afternoon with her aunt in the village of At-Bashy, not far from the Torugart crossing into China. “It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday. I had a paper bag full of samsa [a dough dumpling stuffed with lamb, parsley and onion]. My aunt always prepared them on weekends,” she said.

“A car with four men inside comes in the opposite direction to mine. And all of a sudden it … turns around and, within a few seconds, comes up beside me. One of the guys in the back gets out, yanks me and pushes me inside the car. I drop all the samsa on the pavement. I scream, I squirm, I cry, but there is nothing I can do.”

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