The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned four Iranian intelligence officials on Friday for allegedly plotting to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist and human rights activist living in New York City.

A group of determined activists are occupying customs offices, carrying out their own border controls and are monitoring banks in a continued effort to provoke change in Lebanon even after last year’s months-long massive anti-corruption protests died down, local newspaper L’Orient le jour reported on Thursday. 

A Chinese court sentenced a human rights activist to 12 years in prison for leaking state secrets while a Vietnamese court locked seven activists behind bars saying they “caused public disorder.”

Russian authorities often use more than 40 articles of the country’s various laws to persecute opponents of the regime, a human rights activist said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday signed into law controversial amendments to legislation that will require anti-corruption NGOs, journalists and activists to publicly declare their income and assets.