A new law governing surveillance powers by police and other agencies in Poland will seriously undermine the right to privacy in the country. The law, which could come into force in a matter of days, was approved after a fast-track process, which brought only minor changes to the draft law, despite strenuous opposition from civil society groups and other experts.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Turkish prosecutors to drop all charges immediately against journalists at the daily newspaper "Cumhuriyet" and release them without delay.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the growing dangers for media personnel in Yemen where a second journalist has been killed in the space of a week as a result of the Saudi-led coalition’s air-strikes and an Al Jazeera reporter has been abducted together with his crew.

On 21 January, the United Nations reported on human rights situation in South Sudan. Hundreds of  extra-judicial  killings, enforced disappearances,  gang-rapes , forced abortion, massive child soldier recruitment and indiscriminate attacks against civilians with entire villages burned down have been perpetrated by all in sides in the country.

Kuwait’s first instance criminal court sentenced Hassan Hajiya, a Kuwaiti national, and Abdulreda Dhaqany, an Iranian national to death. They were convicted of spying for Iran and Hezbollah. 

The detention of 19 academics in Turkey represents a new assault on the imperilled right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International said.

On 16 January, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomed the release today of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who spent 544 days in prison in Iran. Rezaian was freed as part of a prisoner swap deal between Tehran and Washington. 

On 14 January, Burma’s court held the second hearing of a social worker Patrick Kum Jaa Lee, who had been earlier accused of mocking Burma’s military in social networks. He has been in detention for three months, and the court has already rejected numerous attempts to secure him bail for health reasons. 

On 13 January, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned a Cairo court's sentencing of three journalists and one press freedom advocate to three years in prison each on charges of "publishing false news" and belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

On 13 January, Human Rights Watch said that the Chinese government should immediately release four labor rights activists who were formally arrested in Guangdong province on politically motivated grounds this year.