Archive for the 'Front Line' Category
January 25, 2013
Front Line Defenders launched today its 2013 Annual Report on human rights defenders, which rather confusingly in fact covers 2012. It highlights developments in the
situation of human rights defenders in 2012 and analyses the situation in each region of the world. It concludes: “The sad reality is that while governments
proclaim their support for human rights and their respect for the work of human rights defenders in international fora, in practice, human rights defenders face a daily struggle for survival.”
In 2012, Front Line Defenders issued 287 urgent appeals on 460 human rights defenders at risk in 69 countries; it provided 267 security grants and trained 358 human rights defenders.
The Report, currently in English, will shortly be available in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Farsi.The Report is available at
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21376 <http://www.frontlinedefenders.org//node/21376>
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Tags: 2013, annual report 2012, Front Line Defenders, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders
January 22, 2013
On 12 January 2013 the family of imprisoned human rights defender Gao Zhisheng were permitted a visit to see him ten months after an initial visit on 24 March 2012. A report of this second visit reached Front Line only on 18 January 2013. Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Ms Geng He who is US-based, told Radio Free Asia that her father and brother-in-law saw Gao Zhisheng for 30 minutes on 12 January but were forbidden from asking any “sensitive” questions, including what conditions in prison were like. Gao Zhisheng is being held in China’s remote northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Previous attempts by his family for a second visit had been denied by the authorities. According to Geng He, Gao Zhisheng appeared to be ‘relatively well’ and did not need assistance walking. Gao Zhisheng is a human rights defender and self-taught lawyer, and was named one of China’s top ten lawyers by the Ministry of Justice in 2001. He regularly took on cases involving persecution of religious minorities, including Falun Gong practitioners and those associated with the unofficial ‘house church’ movement.
While Front Line Defenders welcomes this recent visit by the family of Gao Zhisheng, it reiterates its continued call on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Gao Zhisheng as it believes he is being detained solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
For more information on Gao Zhisheng’s case, see http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/17876
Posted in Front Line, human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: China, Falun Gong, family visit, Front Line Defenders, Gao Zhisheng, Human rights defender, prison, Radio Free Asia, Xinjiang
January 21, 2013
On 12 January 2013, human rights defender Mr Vitaly Ponomarev received several anonymous death threats through electronic mail. Vitaly Ponomarev is the head of the Central Asia programme of Human Rights Centre (HRC) Memorial, which was founded in 1999 and has a major focus on documenting human rights violations in Central Asian states, particularly Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, in close cooperation with local human right defenders.
The messages received on 12 January, in Russian and Uzbek languages and originating from an IP address in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, threatened Vitaly Ponomarev with death if he moved to the south of Kyrgyzstan, and also issued death threats against his family members living in Moscow. HRC Memorial has lodged a complaint to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and requested an investigation to be launched into the threats. The messages follow
the publication on web site of Memorial on 27 December 2012, of a report containing information about reported torture by Uzbekistan’s security services against Uzbek citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Front Line Defenders believes that the death threats issued against Vitaly Ponomarev are directly linked to his work.
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Central Asia, death threats, Front Line Defenders, Frontline, human rights, Human rights defender, Russia, Uzbekistan, Vitaly Ponomarev
January 16, 2013
One does near much about Oman and the impression could be that it is doing relatively well (the position of women is acknowledged to be good; there is a governmental Human Rights Commission and limited democracy) but after reports in 2012 by AI, HRW and Freedom House amongst others, Frontline now, 14 January 2013, reports the arbitrary arrest of human rights defender and blogger Said Jaddad by the Special Division of Muscat Police Station, where he is currently being detained. Said Jaddad’s work includes the documenting of human rights violations as well as writing critical blog posts about human rights violations in Oman.
On 14 January, Said Jaddad received a call from the Special Division of Muscat Police Station, requesting that he present himself to the Station. No legal basis was provided for this request. Upon his arrival, the HRD was detained. He has been denied visitation rights and access to a lawyer, while no formal charges have yet been presented. Furthermore, Said Jaddad, who reportedly suffers from heart problems, has not been provided with medical attention. He has previously been subjected to interrogation by police, on each occasion he was requested to sign an undertaking to cease working in the field of human rights, which he rejected. In February 2011, the human rights defender was threatened if he did not cease his contact with international non-governmental organisations. Said Jaddad has also been officially banned from publishing in the Omani media, including in newspapers, such as Al Zaman and Ru’aya.
Front Line Defenders expresses serious concern at the arbitrary detention of Said Jaddad, and at his physical and psychological integrity, in particular given his reported medical condition. Front Line Defenders believes Said Jaddad’s detention to be solely motivated by his human rights work and views this act as part of an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders in Oman, including continued acts of judicial harassment. For further information on this situation, please see Front Line Defenders’ appeal dated 15 June 2012 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/18650 .
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Tags: Amnesty International, Arab spring, arbitrary arrest, blogger, detention, Freedom House, Front Line Defenders, Frontline, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Watch, Non-governmental organization, Oman, Said Jaddad
December 20, 2012
On 17 December 2012, a group of four armed men carried out an attack on human rights defender Mr Gunaratne Waninnayaka, the president of the Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyers’ Association and the convenor of People’s March. Gunaratne Waninnayaka is an outspoken campaigner for the independence of the judiciary. Over the past years, Gunaratne Waninnayaka has figured prominently in campaigns to protect the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka. Most recently he has been at the forefront of the campaign opposing the Sri Lanka government’s move to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, who was a member of the Supreme Court when it delivered an adverse ruling to the government.
In the morning of 17 December, Gunaratne Waninnayaka was ambushed outside his house by four unidentified persons armed with automatic weapons who had been waiting for him to return home. As he approached his home, he saw the armed group and managed to enter his residence in his car, enter his home and block the entrances. The armed persons tried to enter the house but failed.
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/ar/
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Tags: Asia, attack, Chief Justice, Colombo, Colombo Magistrate's Court Lawyers' Association, Gunaratne Waninnayaka, Human rights defender, independence of the judiciary, Sri Lanka, threat
December 13, 2012
Front Line Defenders reports that on On 7 December 2012, human rights defender Ms Saida Kurbanova was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for ‘hooliganism’, after being attacked by two women who alleged that the human rights defender had been the one to attack them. Saida Kurbanova is the head of the branch of the non-governmental Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU). It is reported that following the arrest, the hard disk of Saida Kurbanova’s computer was confiscated.
Since her arrest, Saida Kurbanova has been detained in the temporary detention facility at Pakhtakor police station. On 10 December 2012 a representative of Pakhtakor police station reportedly refused to pass on a food parcel and warm clothes to Saida Kurbanova which her family had brought her. In addition, her release on 21 December 2012 is reportedly subject to her paying for the 15 days spent in the temporary detention facility!
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the use of orchestrated attacks on human rights defenders as a means to accuse them of having instigated the incident, and consequently charging them fines or sentencing them to administrative detention. Front Line Defenders believes that Saida Kurbanova’s sentencing is linked to her human rights activities and fears for her physical and psychological integrity and security while in detention.
Appeals@frontlinedefenders.org
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Tags: detention, Front Line, harassment, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Saida Kurbanova, Uzbekistan, woman human rights defender
December 6, 2012
The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was founded with a commitment to human rights as one of its three key pillars. Sadly, says Dublin-based Front Line Defenders, OSCE member states have not been living up to those ideals and human rights defenders face imprisonment, threats, harassment, defamation and restrictive legislation in countries across the region. “It is time the OSCE backed up fine declarations with effective action,” said
Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders, “too often it has been the prisoner of consensus and failed to respond when human rights defenders have been jailed, attacked or killed.”Front Line Defenders will undertake a silent vigil outside the OSCE Ministerial Council in Dublin on Thursday 6th December highlighting
ten cases of human rights defenders from the region:
Vidadi Iskenderov is in prison in
Azerbaijan
Ales Bialiatski is in prison in Belarus
Natalya Estemirova was murdered in Chechnya, Russia in July 2009
Agnes Gereb is under house arrest and facing a prison sentence in Hungary
Roza Tuletaeva is in prison in Kazakhstan
Azimjan Askarov is in prison in Kyrgyzstan
Pat Finucane was murdered in Northern Ireland in February 1989
Osman Isci is in prison in Turkey
Sviatoslav Sheremet was attacked and badly beaten in Ukraine in May 2012
Dilmurod Sayid is in prison in Uzbekistan
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Dublin, Front Line, Front Line Defenders, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE
November 30, 2012
Today Front Line Defenders reports the case of arbitrary arrest of human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe in Sri Lanka.
On 27 November 2012, human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and questioned for 13 hours without a reason given or a lawyer present, before being released. Sanjeewa Samarasinghe is a journalist and the chairman of the State Media Workers’ Association, which defends press freedom and the rights of media workers in Sri Lanka. The human rights defender was taken to the CID office in Colombo 1 with a friend present, although his friend was told to leave the interrogation after 15 minutes. The defender asked the police officers to wait for his lawyer to arrive before questioning him, but this request was ignored and the police proceeded to question him in the absence of his lawyer. The defender’s lawyer was not permitted to enter the CID premises for the entire duration of the interrogation. It is reported that Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was subsequently questioned throughout the night for a period of 13 hours until he was eventually released around 9.30am the following morning on 28 November. Although no reason was given for the arrest, he was reportedly asked during the questioning whether he had been supplying information on human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Sanjeewa Samarasinghe works as a journalist and leads the State Media Workers’ Association, which works on issues related to media freedom, the right to freedom of expression, and which holds conferences, campaigns, and demonstrations on the rights of media workers.
It would seem another case of backlash against those HRDs who testify in the UN on which I reported previously and which has been condemned in the strongest terms by the United Nations.
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Tags: Colombo, Criminal Investigation Department, Front Line, Geneva, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ill treatment, illegal detention, Sri Lanka, United Nations Human Rights Council
November 13, 2012
Front Line Defenders reports on 13 November that since 14 October 2012, the Indian human rights defender Mr. Azimuddin Sarkar and his family have been targeted with threats and intimidation on several occasions, which has been exacerbated by unwillingness on the part of the police to investigate the matter. Azimuddin Sarkar is the District Human Rights Monitor of MASUM, a non-governmental human rights organisation based in Howrah, Kolkata, West Bengal.
On 14 October 2012, a group of 20-25 people, of whom four were identified as locally known thugs, raided the house of Azimuddin Sarkar’s older brother, who was home with his family at the time, in Bardhanpur village, West Bengal state. The thugs reportedly issued threats to Azimuddin Sarkar, saying they would “teach him a lesson” as they threatened the family with weapons and looted the house. An hour after the incident, police appeared on the scene and advised the victims to make a complaint. When the human rights defender’s brother went to the local police station at Raninagar the next day, it is reported that the officer on duty refused to file the complaint, insisting instead to register it only as ‘information received’. A written complaint was sent to the Superintendent of Police at Murshidabad.
On 16 October, Azimuddin Sarkar asked a friend from a non-governmental organisation to make a request to the police to arrest the culprits. The Officer in Charge (OC) at Raninagar station responded that they should leave the matter be, as it was related to MASUM. The OC added that MASUM was not the State Human Rights Commission, and as such “had no right to pressurise the police”. The next day, around 11pm on 17 October, four of the same thugs assembled outside Azimuddin Sarkar’s family home armed with lethal weapons and went on to publicly threaten to kill the human rights defender and his family.
On 19 October, the human rights defender filed a written complaint on the incident with the OC and the Superintendent of police at Murshidabad, supported by multiple eye witnesses. On 5 November, after repeated attempts to call the OC at Raninagar police station, a call from a fellow District Human Rights Monitor at MASUM was returned. All the OC offered regarding police actions on the issue was that he could give no detail of whether any case had been initiated or not. The police have reportedly sent a number of messages to the complainants urging them to withdraw their complaints against the assailants.
Azimuddin Sarkar has been involved in campaigns against the use of torture by the police and Border Security Forces in the area. Currently he is unable to move freely and carry out his work due to the threats. It is believed he is being targeted solely for his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
Posted in Front Line | 1 Comment »
Tags: Azimuddin Sarkar, death threats, human rights, Human rights defender, India, Kolkata, Non-governmental organization, Police, West Bengal
August 16, 2012
Today, 16 August, Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) which is one the 3 nominees of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders 2012, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of illegal assembly
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Front Line, human rights, Human rights defender, MEA, Nabeel Rajab, prison
Nabeel Rajab with one of many tear gas cannisters fired into his house
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 