Archive for the 'Front Line' Category

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OSCE can and should do more on Human Rights Defenders in the region

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

 

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Harassment and illegal arrest of HRD in Sri Lanka – backlash against testimony in the UN

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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Death threats against Indian human rights defender Mr Azimuddin Sarkar

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.

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Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab sentenced to 3 years prison in Bahrain

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

Nabeel Rajab with one of many tear gas cannisters fired into his houseNabeel Rajab with one of many tear gas cannisters fired into his houseFront Line Defenders, one of the NGOs on the Jury of the MEA, other NGOS condemned the imprisonment of Nabeel Rajab and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

The prosecution of Nabeel Rajab for exercising his rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, was done before a court that has consistently failed to adhere to international fair trial standards. It is part of an ongoing pattern of repression by the Bahraini authorities against human rights defenders.

See interview with Nabeel Rajab at time of his initial arrest in July

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Two HRDs defending the rights of fishermen in Brazil killed

July 2, 2012

Front Line Defenders and other NGOs report the case of Brazilian human rights defenders Mr Almir Nogueira de Amorim and Mr João Luiz Telles Penetra whose bodies were found on 24 and 25 June 2012. The story is shocking in its brutality and impunity.

Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra, or “Pituca” as he was known, were both leaders of the Associação Homens do Mar – AHOMAR (Association of Sea Men) which was set up in 2009 to defend the rights of the fisher-folk working in Rio de Janeiro, and particularly those affected by the construction of a gas pipeline for Petrobras. Since the founding of the organisation its members have reported being subjected to death threats, physical attacks and killings. According to AHOMAR’s members, the attacks are perpetrated by people linked to death squads, security guards hired by the companies in charge of building pipelines and militias operating in the region.

On the afternoon of 25 June 2012, João Luiz Telles Penetra’s body was found on the banks of Guanabara Bay by employees of a shipyard. The fisherman’s corpse was bound at his hands and feet by rope. The previous day, at around midday, the body of Almir Nogueira de Amorim was found tied to his boat. He had bruises on his neck and the boat had several holes in the hull.

On 22 June 2012, at approximately 4:00pm, Almir Nogueira de Amorim went to João Luiz Telles Penetra’s home in Ilha de Paquetá, a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, to collect him to go fishing.

Almir Nogueira de Amorim was a founding member and vocal activist of AHOMAR. João Luiz Telles Penetra was the leader of the association in Ilha de Paquetá and had been a key figure in a new campaign launched by the organisation. He led the struggle against Petrobras’ construction plans in Guaxindiba river, located within the Área de Proteção Ambiental Guapimirim (Environmental Protected Area of Guapimirim). The oil company wants to deepen the river to create a waterway, which would eliminate any possibility of fishing in these waters.

Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra are not the first members of AHOMAR to be murdered. On 19 January 2010, fisherman and human rights defender Marcio Amaro was assassinated one day after a demonstration organised by AHOMAR took place in front of the Petrobras headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Prior to his killing Marcio Amaro had filed a formal complaint concerning the presence of unlawfully armed men in Petrobras construction sites in Guanabara Bay. On 22 May 2009 Paulo César dos Santos Souza, former treasurer of the association, was killed in front of his wife and children after being shot in the head five times. The crime occurred six hours after a government inspection decided to stop the pipeline construction due to irregularities. To date no one has been brought to justice for these killings.

The president of AHOMAR Mr Alexandre Anderson de Souza, has been under the National Protection Programme for Human Rights Defenders for the past three years. However he, and his family, still face many risks. Reportedly at least three other leaders of AHOMAR received death threats in recent months. Even with the high rate of violence in the region of Mauá and all the threats faced by human rights defenders, the only police station covering the region was shut down on 13 February 2012.

Front Line Defenders believes the murder of Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra is directly related to their human rights activities, in particular their work to defend the rights of the fisherfolk in Rio de Janeiro, and is seriously concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of their family members and other members of the association.

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Human Rights Defenders have a team in the Euro 2012

June 21, 2012

Front Line Defenders has launched a new campaign during the Euro 2012 football tournament to focus attention on the treatment of human rights defenders in some UEFA countries, where they face imprisonment, attack, harassment, detention and prosecution because of their human rights work.

Visit www.sportshrd.org to view the campaign and to take action to support these brave human rights defenders by sending solidarity postcards, After the Euro 2012 tournament, the site will switch over to focus on the 2012 Olympics and each day of the Olympic fortnight there will be a focus on a defender from an Olympic nation.

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Blogger and symbol of Syria uprising, RAZAN GHAZZAWI, wins Front Line human rights award

June 11, 2012

MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent of the Irish Times, did an excellent profile on this courageous woman, who is on trial in a military court for her part in the anti-regime protest. It is worth reading in full: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0609/1224317568749.html

IN HER OWN WORDS: THE POSTINGS OF RAZAN GHAZZAWI:

“Do you understand, that I was scared to protest, but now I am no longer scared? Do you understand that I was scared of detention and now we don’t even think about it? ‘Fuck it all. My people are being killed,’ is what everyone is saying.”

“There is a common feeling that is generally discussed in Syria, well, at least in Damascus where I live. It has to do with the question: ‘What can I do more for the revolution?’”

“I can write about those amazing revolutionaries who left their families and children and [are] living solely for this revolution . . . some were detained and tortured, you stand listening to them speak about their experience with detention, and you know that what you witnessed from detention is nothing compared to theirs, those unknown activists, the unprivileged, who don’t have Facebook nor Twitter, but they are the very ones who inspire you and make you truly believe that there is hope.”

“People who do not live in a country that is living a revolution may not know that time is revolutionaries’ biggest enemy . . .

“I have a 10-to-5 job, after that I go to do some other work till 9, sometimes till 11.

“I get home to check my email and

Facebook to discover new massacres, new statements, and further escalations on many levels.”

“Yesterday, regime army bombed the neighborhood of Karm El- Zeitoun in the city of Homs and destroyed several buildings, two whole streets were evacuated, and 27 civilians killed, many were injured . . . [the] regime’s violence keeps surprising us. Last night when I saw this picture I froze for a moment before I ‘shared’ it on my [Facebook] wall. I didn’t cry, I didn’t have room for more anger, I just felt helpless, I felt time was, is, not on my side . . . After last night’s massacre, Syrians now feel more outraged and will cry for the right to self-defense, even if they didn’t agree with the term the day before.

“That’s precisely how regime violence is pushing the country to more violence, that’s precisely how time moves very rapidly, and leaves you back in history.”

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Bahrain: arbitrary arrest of Nabeel Rajab

May 8, 2012

On May 7, 2012, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), reports and protests the arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and FIDH Deputy Secretary General. The Centre was announced only two weeks ago as one of the nominees of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (for a short film on their work see http://www.martinennalsaward.org)

On May 5, 2012, Mr. Nabeel Rajab was arrested by plain clothes police officers upon arrival at Manama airport from Lebanon and transferred to Al Hawra police station. The police officers who proceeded to the arrest stated that they were following orders by the Public Prosecutor, however neither Mr. Rajab nor his lawyers were then informed of the reasons for his arrest. 

Mr. Rajab had returned to Bahrain in order to attend a hearing for charges of “participating in an illegal assembly” and “calling others to join”, relating to a protest organised on March 31, 2012 in Manama to denounce the detention of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, former BCHR President and former MENA Director at Front Line.On May 6, Mr. Rajab was accordingly taken to court, where he denied the charges against him. The trial was postponed to May 22, 2012.

Later the same day, Mr. Rajab was presented before the Public Prosecutor, who informed him of the reasons for his arrest. According to Mr. Rajab’s lawyers, charges of “insulting the statutory bodies”, pursuant to Article 216 of the Penal Code, which carry an imprisonment for a term of up to three years and a fine, are pressed against him in relation to tweets he posted deemed “insulting” to the Ministry of Interior. Mr. Rajab replied that he was the author of tweets posted through his account and that he did not recognise the jurisdiction of the Court and the Prosecution due to their lack of independence from the Executive. The Public Prosecutor remanded Mr. Rajab to detention for seven days.

The Observatory firmly denounces the arbitrary detention as well as the judicial harassment of Mr. Nabeel Rajab, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning his legitimate human rights activities. It recalls that according to international standards pre-trial detention should only be used where other measures of restraint are not possible.

The Observatory recalls that these events occur within the context of an intensified crackdown against activists, including human rights defenders, who have supported or are alleged to have supported the protest movement which started in Bahrain in February 2011.

Bahrain: Arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment … – FIDH.

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Will Bahrain’s highest court do justice tomorrow for HRD Al-Khawaja?

April 1, 2012

A leading Bahraini human rights defender, Al-Khawaja’s appeal is set to be heard in Bahrain’s Court of Cassation on 2 April. He is currently serving a life sentence for his role in anti-government protests last year. The activist is at risk of death after 50 days on hunger strike (according to his lawyer, he has lost 16 kg since his hunger strike began on 8 February). Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, 52, is a former protection co-ordinator with Frontline, an NGO on the Jury of the MEA. He was arrested in April last year for being one of the leaders of anti-government protests and was sentenced to life imprisonment in a grossly unfair trial by a military court last June.  “Bahrain must ensure that Al-Khawaja is released immediately and unconditionally,” said Philip Luther of  Amnesty International, another member of the MEA Jury. He added: “The continued imprisonment of Al-Khawaja demonstrates that the Bahraini authorities are not serious about fulfilling their promises to release people imprisoned for exercising their right to free spHe has not used or advocated violence in his participation in the anti-government protests, and no such evidence was shown by the authorities during the trial.

Activists in Bahrain have repeatedly called for ’s release. Demonstrators in Manama attempted to stage a sit-in at a main highway on Monday, but were quickly dispersed by riot police.  Al-Khawaja, who is married with four daughters, is also a citizen of Denmark, where he lived in exile for decades. He returned to Bahrain after the government announced a general amnesty in 2001. Danish diplomats have visited him in prison several times and confirmed his deteriorating health.

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Sudan does something good for HRDs

December 15, 2011

Front Line reports that on 4 December Four human rights defenders were acquitted, while charges against three others were downgraded by the Khartoum North District Court.

 Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-GasimAbdelrahman Mohamed Al-GasimThe seven human rights defenders had initially been arrested in October and November 2010 for alleged involvement with Radio Dabanga. In June 2011, they were charged with, inter alia, conspiracy against the state and espionage, crimes which are punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment, for allegedly carrying out illegal broadcasts from a studio in Khartoum. On 4 December 2011, the charges against Messrs Zakaria Yacoub, Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim (pictured), Khalid Ishaq, and Adam al Nur Adam were dismissed. However, three defenders, namely Messrs Abdelrahman Adam Abdelrahman, Jaafar Alsabki Ibrahim, and Kwather Abdel Haj, remain charged with the lesser crimes of “undermining security and public order” and “spreading lies”, which are punishable by up to three years in prison. Front Line reiterates its call on the Sudanese authorities to immediately drop all charges against all of the aforenamed human rights defenders as Front Line believes they are solely motivated by their legitimate human rights work.

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