Archive for the 'Front Line' Category
November 17, 2013
While the appeal of human right defender Naji Fateel in Bahrain is due to start tomorrow, 18 November, a group of five human rights NGOs regrets the lack of cooperation by Bahraini authorities to allow access to the country for a trial observation mission. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Front Line Defenders, the Gulf Center for Human Rights, and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights – and the World Organisation Against Torture), had mandated – with support from IFEX – a lawyer to observe the trial, but their request remains unanswered.
[Naji Fateel, co-founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights and a blogger, was sentenced on September 29, 2013 to 15 years in prison for “the establishment of a group for the purpose of disabling the constitution” under Article 6 of the Terrorism Act.]
via Bahrain: Lawyer mandated by international human rights NGOs denied entry to Bahrain to observe the trial of human rights defender Naji Fateel / November 15, 2013 / Urgent Interventions / Human rights defenders / OMCT.
Posted in FIDH, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Arab Network for Human Rights Information, Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Bahrain, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, bloggers, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, fair trial, Front Line Defenders, Gulf Center for Human Rights, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Human right, Human rights defender, IFEX, International Federation for Human Rights, Naji Fateel, Non-governmental organization, Observatory, Trial, trial observation, World Organisation Against Torture
November 17, 2013
On 11 November the Prosecutor’s Office brought a civil lawsuit against Memorial before the Leninsky District Court of St Petersburg after administrative charges against the same organisation ‘ for failing to register as a ‘foreign agent‘ were dismissed by the same court. The Prosecutor’s Office initiated the civil suit on the basis that its failure to register as a ‘foreign agent’ would violate the interests ‘of an undefined group of persons’. Frontline Defenders follows this and other cases in which the ‘foreign agent’ harassment of NGOs in Russia continues. The details of the case are illuminating, including the involvement of a preposterous ‘expert“: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: ADC Memorial, Foreign agent, Front Line Defenders, funding restrictions, human rights, judicial harassment, Leninsky District Court, Memorial, Prosecutor, prosecutors office, Russia, Saint Petersburg, United Nations Convention Against Torture
November 10, 2013
The Assam Tribune Online of 9 November provides us with an interesting illustration of how a combination of: (a) local activism, (b) introduction by an international NGO, and (c) invitation to an EU meeting can have result: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: activism, Assam, Assam State Government, Civil society, EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Defenders, India, Indigenous rights, international NGO, KMSS, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, meeting, Tarun Gogoi, The Assam Tribune Online
November 4, 2013
On 1 November 2013, human rights defender, Zinaida Mukhortova, was released from Astana Medical Centre for Psychological Health in Kazakhstan. As reported in this blog earlier she had been detained in psychiatric confinement since 9 August 2013 in Balkhash and was transferred to Astana on 30 September 2013 for psychological testing. Since her detention, Zinaida Mukhortova has been subjected to forced psychiatric confinement and treated against her will. Zinaida Mukhortova is a human rights lawyer with more than 10 years’ legal practice. Through her work, she has denounced cases of corruption and interference of political interests in the judiciary.
To find out more about the legal proceedings taken against Zinaida Mukhortova, please see update of 9 October 2013, http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23924 by
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, Astana, forced psychiatric treatment, Front Line (NGO), Health in Kazakhstan, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, independence of the judiciary, Kazakhstan, psychiatric confinement, Psychiatry, woman human rights defender, Zinaida, Zinaida Mukhortova
October 31, 2013
In the last three days Morocco has been seen using Anti-Terrorism laws against human rights defenders and journalists exercising their freedom of expression. The following two cases come from Frontline: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Al Qaeda, Al Sabeel, Ali Anouzla, alianouzla, anti terrorism legislation, detention, freedom of expression, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, journalists, Lakome.com, media, Morocco, Mostafa Al-Hesnawi, Rabat, western Sahara
October 31, 2013
reports that on 30 October human rights lawyer, Ms Wang Yu, was finally permitted access to Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing in order to see Cao Shunli, who had reportedly been detained since 14 September 2013.
Wang Yu reported that Cao Shunli is extremely thin and has not received any medical attention in the detention centre. According to Wang Yu, Cao Shunli has been detained on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
[On 14 September 2013, two security agents prevented Cao Shunli from boarding a flight from Beijing Capital Airport to Geneva. She was flying to take part in a training on UN mechanisms]
[In the months leading up to China’s Univeral Period Review (UPR) on 22 October 2013, Cao Shunli had been campaigning for greater civil society involvement in the UPR process]
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Beijing, Cao Shunli, China, detention centre, freedom of expression, Front Line Defenders, Geneva, ill treatment, illegal detention, United Nations, UPR, Wang Yu, woman human rights defender
October 28, 2013
reports that on 22 October 2013, human rights lawyer André Michel in Haiti was arbitrarily held in police custody after police attempted to carry out a search on his vehicle. He was eventually released the next morning but remains at risk of arrest. André Michel is involved, as legal representative of the complainant, in a case of corruption and embezzlement of public funds allegedly implicating members of the President’s family. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: André Michel, arrest, Arrest warrant, Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers of 1990, Haiti, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, Independence of Lawyers, judicial harassment, lawyer, lawyers, legal profession, Mario Joseph, MEA, police intimidation, Political corruption, threats
October 27, 2013
reported that on 22 October 2013, unidentified gunmen shot Mohamed Mohamud Tima’adde six times on his way to work. Three people were subsequently arrested trying to access the Medina hospital ward where Mohamed Mohamud was being treated. Initially it was reported that he was responding well, but on 27 October AP reports that according to the Somali journalist Ahmed Nor Mohamed his colleague has died of his wounds on Saturday night.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AP, attack, Frontline Defenders, Horn of Africa, human rights, Human rights defender, Journalist, killings, Medina, Mogadishu, Mohamed Mohamud, Mohamed Mohamud Tima, Mohamed Mohamud Tima'adde, murder, shooting, Somali diaspora, Somalia, television, Universal Television, Universal TV
October 25, 2013
A post of 24 October in LGBT Weekly informs about a cooperation between Front Line Defenders and the LGBTI Support Centre of the of the Helsinki Committee for human rights of the Republic of Macedonia and the ACI-Particpa in Honduras in a new campaign RADIOHRD. LGBTI rights defenders attempt to increase their recognition and capacity to carry out their work by sharing a clear message on Public Service Announcements [PSAs] in each country in order to change societal attitudes and institutional frameworks that lead to violence and discrimination. This new campaign utilizes radio as one of the most powerful tools for awareness raising and reform. “In a time where technologies of information play an increasingly important role in the processes of social change, we find that the radio is still the most reliable, trusted and widely used media amongst all sectors of society all around the world, and Honduras and Macedonia are no exception to this”, explains Kocho Andonovski, program director of the LGBTI Support Centre in Macedonia. Through this awareness raising campaign, eight human rights defenders give their testimony to illustrate the reality faced by the LGBTI communities and those working to promote their rights and end violence and discrimination. During the coming months, national and local radio stations in Macedonia and Honduras will broadcast the series of Public Service Announcements PSAs, short radio spots aimed to promote the recognition that LGBTI rights defenders are engaged in legitimate and valuable work to promote human rights. The campaign will also be broadcasted via the website http://www.radiohrd.org, where video interviews, petitions in support of the defenders and further information are also available.
via Front Line Defenders uses radio to promote the security of LGBTI rights defenders | LGBT Weekly.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: awareness raising, campaign, Frontline Defenders, gay rights, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, homophobia, Honduras, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, LGBT, LGBT social movements, LGBTI, protection, PSA, public service announcements, radio, radio journalist, Republic of Macedonia, www.radiohrd.org
October 16, 2013
A group of United Nations experts has expressed serious concern at reports that Chinese human rights defenders have suffered reprisals for seeking to participate in a major UN human rights assessment of China. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 5 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Chen Guangcheng, Chen Jianfang, China, Civil society, Frank LaRue, Geneva, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human rights in China, illegal detention, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggaya, reprisals, retaliation, UN Special Rapporteur, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR, woman human rights defender, Zhao Zhenjia