Raed Fares’ radio station defied threats from jihadist groups and resisted orders to stop playing music
Raed Fares, a well-known Syrian activist, was killed in the north-western town of Kafranbel, in the in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib. Fares and fellow activist Hamoud Jneed were attacked in their car. Jneed died immediately, while Fares was transferred to Orient Hospital, where he later died. It was not the first time the founder of Radio Fresh, an independent radio station broadcasting from inside opposition-held areas in the country, had been targeted. His activism had earned the ire of both militants and the Syrian government. Four years ago, two gunmen for the Islamic State (IS) militant group shattered several bones and punctured his lung in a failed attempt to silence Fares. More attempts on his life would follow and yet the former estate agent was determined to carry on.
It was not just Fares the militants took issue with. The radio station – with its music and female presenters – also angered the groups which overran the town and surrounding area. Four years ago, when IS had a presence in Idlib province, the station’s office was raided by militants. In 2016, Fares was detained by the Nusra Front, the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which currently controls most of Idlib province, had ordered Radio Fresh to stop broadcasting music. The station’s response was to play long sequences of other sounds, such as tweeting birds, clucking chickens and bleating goats. “They tried to force us to stop playing music on air,” Fares told the BBC in 2017. “So we started to play animals in the background as a kind of sarcastic gesture against them.”
Another group, the now-dissolved Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, once instructed the radio station to take women off the air. Instead of complying, Fares told the BBC’s Mike Thomson about his creative solution to get round the issue. “We simply put their voices through a computer software programme which makes them sound like men,” he said… To those who encouraged him to leave Fares, replied “What can they do? Kill me?” he asked. “Well let them kill me. I’m not going to leave and leave them the country.”
Among the many expressions of concern is the Human Rights Foundation as Fares spoke at its 2017 Oslo Freedom Forum: “We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the assassination of Raed Fares, a dear friend and esteemed member of the Oslo Freedom Forum community. Raed worked tirelessly to counter fundamentalist narratives through journalism and to empower his fellow Syrians to build a better future. His work, bravery, and determination to succeed despite the many threats on his life make him a hero of the Syrian revolution,” HRF Chairman Garry Kasparov said. … Fares first became known outside of Syria in early 2014, when he started writing eye-catching, often sarcastic protest signs and sharing photos of them on social media. ….He quickly became one of the most trusted sources of on-the-ground footage and information on Syria’s continuing conflict. With his death, many reporters outside Syria have lost a vital and increasingly rare source, and agents of misinformation will grow that much stronger in his absence.
Every year, Amnesty International runs its Write For Rights, a campaign over November and December where it encourages you to write messages of support to people around the world who have suffered injustice, and show you how to support their campaigns for justice. And the yearly campaign seems to work. For last year’s campaign see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/12/04/write-for-rights-again-in-december-2017/
There is plenty of material for those who want to support:
Get the campaign booklet Download the campaign booklet (PDF). It introduces you to each case and sets out how you can write to them, and how to write to the authorities on their behalf. This is the main resource for Write For Rights.
Three ways to join in Write For Rights:
1. Write a message of solidarity
This is where Write For Rights began: writing to people who are wrongly punished, to show them that they’re not alone. If writing letters isn’t for you, you can send a message of solidarity online.
2. Write an appeal letter
In a world of petitions, physical post does get noticed! As well as writing to the people suffering human rights abuses, we also ask you to write to the authorities who can bring them justice. All the details of how to write to authorities are in our campaign booklet.
You can download pre-printed ‘appeal’ address labels to make it easier to send multiple letters.
Prominent human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani in Iran was granted conditional release after serving more than seven years, reports the Guardian on 21 November 2018.
“The authorities agreed yesterday to my client’s conditional parole and he was released today,” Soltani’s lawyer Saeed Dehghan said on Wednesday, according to IRNA.
Soltani was jailed in 2011 over charges of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “setting up an illegal opposition group”, Amnesty International said at the time. He was granted conditional release after serving more than half a 10-year term, IRNA said. A previous parole request on 8 July had been denied, according to his lawyer. Soltani was a co-founder of the now outlawed Defenders of Human Rights Centre alongside Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and others. The human rights lawyer’s release could not be immediately confirmed with his family. Soltani was briefly released from prison in August to attend the funeral of his 30-year-old daughter, Homa, who died of a heart attack.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award honors an individual or group of individuals who stand up to oppression at grave personal risk in the nonviolent pursuit of human rights. Since inception, the Human Rights Award has honored activists from 30 countries [ or more on this and other awards, see: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award]. All submissions must be received by January 31, 2019.
ISHR is calling for applications for its flagship Human Rights Defender Advocacy Programmein 2019 – the extensive training programme for human rights defenders. So if you are a human rights defender keen to increase your interaction with the UN system (or know someone who would profit from this) apply now!
The training will take place in Geneva between 17 and 28 June 2019 and provides defenders with opportunities to put their advocacy skills directly into action at the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council. Get a taste of the programme here, and find out more about how to apply here.
ISHR’s Human Rights Defender Advocacy Programme (HRDAP) equips defenders with the knowledge and skills to make strategic use of the international human rights system. It also provides an opportunity for participants to directly engage in lobbying and advocacy activities at the UN level to effect change on the ground back home.
As well as receiving training modules on all the UN human rights mechanisms from a range of experts, participants will also have the opportunity to build networks in Geneva and around the world, carry out lobbying of UN member States and UN staff, and learn from peers from a range of regions working on a range of human rights issues.
In last year’s edition, 14 committed human rights defenders working on a wide range of areas – migrant rights, women’s rights, business and human rights, the rights of LGBTI persons and human rights defender protection – came from extremely different contexts to take part in this training.
Participants will take part in:
A short online learning component, prior to face-to-face training, to enable you to consolidate your existing knowledge and develop your advocacy objectives;
Intensive training in Geneva during June, to coincide with the 41st session of the Human Rights Council. The training will focus on ways to effectively use international human rights mechanisms and to influence outcomes;
Specific advocacy at Human Rights Council sessions and other relevant meetings, with regular feedback and peer education to learn from the experiences, including expert input from leading human rights advocates.
This programme is directed at experienced human rights defenders in non-governmental organisations, with existing advocacy experience at the national level and some prior knowledge of the international human rights system.
If you are interested in applying for ISHR’s training programme, please read the call for applications to check that you comply with the requirements, and apply before midnight Geneva time on 10 December 2018. The link to the online application form can be found in the call for applications.
The African network NGO DefendDefenders seeks a Data & Web Campaigning Lead to coordinate its “Doc-IT” program. The Data & Web Campaigning Lead will work with human rights organisations throughout the East & Horn of Africa to improve their documentation and data collection practices and turn them into high-impact online and print advocacy campaigns. A strong confidence with visual communications, web technologies, social media marketing, and data analysis is ideal. Experience in project management and working with outsourced designers and developers is an added advantage. Full Time. Location of work: Kampala, Uganda. Starting January 2019.
Fo more information go the the website. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
To apply to this vacancy send a letter of interest and CV to jobs@defenddefenders.orgwith “[DOCIT]” in the subject line by 2 December 2018.
To celebrate the voices and actions of human rights defenders from Ireland and around the world, leading human rights organisations [Front Line Defenders, National LGBT Federation, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Fighting Words & LASC] have once again come together to bring a weekend with interactive workshops, panel discussions, artistic performances: Dublin Human Rights Festival 2018, 23-24 November 2018. If only more countries would be able to organize things at this scale! Read the rest of this entry »
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – celebrating its 70th anniversary – has 30 articles. True Heroes Films (THF) made for the UN 30 short video stories to show the impact of the Declaration around the world. Go to: @TrueHeroesFilms or YouTube. The series runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. Everyday a new one!
This video is published in the context of the Norwegian Human Rights Fund’s(NHRF) 30 years anniversary on 13 November 2018. A well-deserved celebration for 30 years service to the worldwide human rights community and especially the human rights defenders.
Support to human rights in a context of shrinking space, rise of populist regimes and hostile environment lie as a backdrop in the year we celebrate both the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights Defenders and the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What are the consequences for the movement and what are the ground realities for human rights work and defenders working in the frontline in these changing realities? What strategies are used to support and respond to juridical harassment, restriction in freedom of association and expression, threats, criminalization and killings of human rights defenders? What new tools can be used in our work and what kind of support and strategies are needed looking ahead? This conference gathers international experts and human rights defenders from a variety of local, national and international contexts, to give us their advice and reflections on how to continue and improve support to human rights work in changing and challenging times. The conference seeks to highlight and celebrate the indispensable work that human rights defenders – individuals, groups and organizations – do every day to promote equality, dignity, justice, peace, sustainable development and freedom in their local communities as well as across the world.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 