Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders

I tend not to refer to all cases of human rights defenders detained or sentenced. Sadly there are too many, but also they are often covered by many human rights NGOs and other media. I make an exception for two recent cases which were done by serial offenders China and Azerbaijan:

– A Chinese court sentenced 71-year old journalist, Gao Yu, to 7 years in jail, accusing her of ‘leaking’ an inner Communist Get together document to an overseas site. Many NGOs, human rights defenders and media outlets have condemned the harsh sentence, as well as several States and the EU.

See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gao_Yu_(journalist)

– The other case is Rasul Jafarov, a human rights lawyer In Azerbaijan, who has been an outspoken critic of the government’s crackdown of media freedoms that have resulted in the arrests of prominent journalists in Azerbaijan. Despite protests, on 16 April a Baku court sentenced Jafarov to six and a half years imprisonment. [He actively participated in the ‘Sing for Democracy <https://www.ned.org/30years/rasul-jafarov-azerbaijan/> movement in the build-up to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in May 2012. He is  the Head of the Human Rights Club <http://www.civicsolidarity.org/member/551/human-rights-club>. For more see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/rasul-jafarov/]

http://www.bulletinstandard.org/life-style/china-sentences-journalist-to-seven-several-years-in-jail-for-leaking-condition-secrets-and-techniques-h3441.html

http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150417_02_en.htm

China jails journalist accused of leaking state secrets for 7 years – New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD TV).

https://www.the-newshub.com/international/prominent-humans-rights-defender-sentenced-on-fabricated-charges

This entry was posted on April 19, 2015 at 13:17 and is filed under human rights, Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: Azerbaijan, China, freedom of expression, Gao Yu, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, human rights NGOs, jail, journalists, prison sentence, Rasul Jafarov, repression