Archive for the 'AI' Category
Radio Victoria in El Salvador under threat from death squad
May 23, 2011Through Amnesty International, Protection On Line and others, the case of threatened journalists in El Salvador begs for attention.
Pablo Ayala, Manuel Navarte and Marixela Ramos are staff members of Radio Victoria in El Salvador, a community radio station committed to social and human rights reporting. Between 20 April and 4 May they received several messages (by letter and mostly SMS via the internet). Anonymous but indicating that the authors belong to a a “death squad” (“grupo de exterminio”). The message is clear: “..from Wednesday onwards if you are at the radio station you will regret it. You have made us lose our patience, let’s see what it will take you to stop talking” or ”… stop that news bulletin you are the coordinator of as you also have a daughter”
On 4 May, Radio Victoria staff held a press conference in the capital San Salvador regarding the threats they had received. A few hours later, at 20:00, Pablo Ayala and Marixela Ramos both received two text message threats: “Today you should have left like we ordered you, if you haven’t done so it is not a problem we will finish our work”.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights deemed the threat to Radio Victoria staff to be so great that it issued Precautionary Measures which required that the authorities ensure their safety. For those with further interest there is Tim’s El Salvador blog (http://luterano.blogspot.com) where you can read more about the work of Radio Victoria. There is also an online petition at Change.org which you can sign. Already in 2009 there were threats against this radio station as shown in the short film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmIVQVJlxOY
Chinese Human Rights Defender Liu Xianbin heavily punished
March 31, 2011Many human rights organisations from around the world – including Hong Kong – have criticised the trial and are calling on the Chinese authorities to immediately release Liu (e.g. Amnesty International’s Catherine Baber says the ten-year sentence is “appalling” and a travesty of justice). Liu is a veteran of the human rights movement and has been imprisoned several times for his work. He served 2 years for taking part in the 1989 democracy movement and in 1999 he was sentenced to 13 years after helping to establish the China Democratic Party. He was released early in 2008, but arrested again in June 2010.
Syria: will al-Hassani finally be freed?
March 26, 2011As you will know, on Wednesday 16 March a group of about 150 protestors – including relatives of the 21 political prisoners whose release the protest was designed to secure – gathered outside the Interior Ministry in Damascus to present a petition calling for the prisoners’ release. The 21 include MEA 2010 Laureate Muhannad al-Hassani, the president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization.
Forty of the protestors were seized and interrogated by the security services; several were detained on the usual charges of bringing the State is disrepute. Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a news release, “Like many of the political prisoners whose release they were calling for, protestors appear to have been arrested simply for the peaceful expression of their views. The Syrian authorities must immediately release all those arrested in the last two days for merely attending peaceful protests, and stop these attacks on freedom of expression and assembly.”
Today- Saturday 26 March – it was reported that under pressure from the various on-going demonstrations, the Government would have decided to release 200 political prisoners. Is this true? Will al-Hassani finally be allowed to return to his family and his human rights work?
Eight important NGOs protest assault on MEA laureate Al-Hassani in Syrian jail – situation criticial
November 4, 2010“Muhannad al-Hassani was physically assaulted on 28 October by a prisoner sentenced for a criminal offence who was being held in the same cell in ‘Adra prison. For five days after the attack Muhannad al-Hassani continued to be held in the same cell as his attacker, but is then reported to have been moved to a tiny underground isolation cell. He and other political prisoners in ‘Adra prison have now launched a hunger strike to protest against his solitary confinement.
The prisoner who attacked Muhannad al-Hassani is said to have been moved into the same cell only recently and to have beaten him using a heavy metal finger ring he was wearing at the time of the assault although prisoners are not normally permitted to wear such ‘jewellery’. As a result of the assault, Muhannad al-Hassani suffered a cut to his forehead requiring ten stitches, swelling to his eye and cheek and bruising to his body.
Following the incident, the police took statements from other prisoners who had witnessed the assault and interviewed Muhannad al-Hassani in the presence of his attacker, but reportedly took no action when he continued to threaten him and accused him of being unpatriotic and did not even make note of the threats.
Muhannad al-Hassani was subsequently taken to a doctor at a government forensic clinic in Douma, a town between ‘Adra and Damascus, who issued a report on his injuries on 1 November. The case was referred to a court in Douma though Muhannad al-Hassani’s lawyers were not informed and so were unable to be present at the hearing.
The eight human rights organizations call on the Syrian authorities to carry out a prompt, thorough and transparent, independent investigation into the assault on Muhannad al-Hassani and the circumstances which led to his being exposed to such risk. In particular, they must examine whether officials at ‘Adra prison were complicit in the attack by moving the prisoner responsible into Muhannad al-Hassani’s cell to facilitate it, and why they continued to hold them in the same cell for several days afterwards. The results of such an investigation should be made public and those responsible for the attack must be brought to justice.”
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 