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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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Front Line marks 10th anniversary with Platform for Human Rights Defenders

August 10, 2011

Front Line – the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders based in Ireland – exists 10 years and one of the main celebrations will be the holding of its 6th Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders from September 14th– 16th, 2011.

The aim of the Dublin Platform is to provide an opportunity for Human Rights Defenders from all parts of the world to come together to share experiences, learn from each other, acquire new skills, develop new strategies and further their understandings of the mechanisms that are available to them at the international level. Ms. Margaret Sekaggya, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, has confirmed her participation. The themes of the Sixth Dublin Platform will include issues such as patterns of attacks against HRDs and practical measures to ensure their protection; electronic communication and security; specific challenges facing women HRDs and regional mechanisms for the protection of HRDs. The  recommendations from the conference will serve to inform the work of Front Line going forward in its support strategies for human rights defenders.

The event is by invitation only but if you can make a good case why you should be invited please contact Front Line’s International Conference Assistant, Sinéad Nic Aodh, by email at sinead@frontlinedefenders.org.

 

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‘Cry Emirates’: Abu Dhabi goes after Human Rights Defenders

July 18, 2011

Today, Monday 18 July, the trial against five pro-democratic activists re-opens in Abu Dhabi’s Federal Supreme Court. The five activists are Ahmed Mansoor, an engineer, blogger and member of Human Rights Watch Middle East advisory committee and ANHRI’s (Arab Network for Human Rights Information); Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist, university lecturer and advocate of political reform; and three online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis. They are all accused of “publicly insulting” the UAE president and other top officials (as Article 176 of the UAE Penal Code makes it a crime to publicly insult the country’s top officials, its flag or national emblem; offenders can be sentenced to five years imprisonment). The UAE government is obviously using defamation as a pretext to prosecute activists for peacefully expressing their opinions.

The four NGOs are:  Amnesty International, ANHRI, Front Line and Human Rights Watch. They have called jointly on UAE authorities to release immediately the five activists and drop all charges against them.

 

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Cyprus: Charges against human rights defender Doros Polykarpou | Front Line

July 12, 2011

 

 

 

From the NGO Front Line comes the following case. As I am a resident of Greece and many if not most Greeks show unashamedly open sympathy for the Cypriots, I wonder what they make of this (follow the link below):

Cyprus: Charges against human rights defender Doros Polykarpou | Front Line.

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Doctors and Nurses in Bahrain targeted for repression

July 7, 2011

As the human rights crisis in Bahrain continues Front Line and other NGOs express their deep concern about the ongoing prosecution and persecution of doctors and nurses who are facing the prospect of prison sentences simply because they treated injured demonstrators during the recent disturbances. Severe sentences have handed down on human rights defenders, including Abdulahadi Al Khawaja who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment.
In no other country in the world have we witnessed doctors and nurses persecuted on such a scale as a result of their legitimate humanitarian actions, says Front Line:  47 members of the medical  profession were arrested, several of them reportedly tortured, and  all of whom are currently being subjected to an unfair trial. They feel abandoned by the international community. 

Please – show your support for these brave men and women – add your name to the open letter to the King of Bahrain via the link below and which will be published in The Guardian and the London Independent this Friday

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/petitions/bahrainopenletter#sign>

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Syrian Human Rights defender Anwar Al – Bunni released from prison on Monday 23 May 2011

May 23, 2011

Anwar Al-Bunni

Anwar Al-Bunni winner of the 2008 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk has been released today. He finished serving his sentence on the 17th of May 2011 but was taken initially to a branch of the security apparatus before being finally released today. Anwar Al-Bunni was originally sentenced to a five year prison sentence because of his courageous work defending human rights defenders and opposition activists facing charges before the State Security Court, now slated to be abolished by a regime under pressure from the protests. He had also set up a human rights centre in Damascus to support the work of human rights defenders and publicly denounced the use of torture in Syrian prisons. This is very similar to the work and condemnation of Muhannad Al-Hassani the 2010 MEA Laureate which is still in prison.

The good news re Al-Bunni is tempered by the consideration that he was not released before he had served his time and that the Syrian regime still holds hundreds of human rights defenders in detention or under threat.

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Front Line expresses grave concern about disappearance of human rights lawyers in Syria

March 31, 2011

Yesterday, Wednesday  30 March, Front Line – one of the 10 NGOs in the Jury of the MEA –  issued an urgent appeal concerning a number of human rights lawyers that have been disappeared amid the upheaval of the last weeks. Between 5 and 27 March 2011, a number of human rights lawyers may have been arrested and remain detained in undisclosed locations in Syria, including Messrs Hussain ‘Issa and Tamer Al-Jahmani, Sulayman Nahili, Nidal Al-Shaykh Hammoud and Muhammad Ibrahim ‘Issa. It is believed that they are at risk of torture and ill treatment.

Front Line notes that “these arrests reflect an ongoing and widescale crackdown by the Syrian authorities against human rights defenders, pro-democracy and political activists across Syria in response to ongoing protests calling for democratic reforms and improved observance of civil and political rights. As part of this crackdown, which has also involved violent attacks on protesters including through the use of live ammunition by security forces, a large number of human rights defenders have been subjected to arrests, detentions and charges solely as a result of exercising their fundamental rights to free assembly and expression”. For more detail see: www.frontlinedefenders.org/

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Eight important NGOs protest assault on MEA laureate Al-Hassani in Syrian jail – situation criticial

November 4, 2010
On 4 November 2010 eight leading human rights organizations  – of which 6 are on the jury of the Martin Ennals Award (MEA) – called on the Syrian government to guarantee the safety of Muhannad al-Hassani, a human rights defender serving a three year prison term, after he was assaulted last week in ‘Adra prison, Damascus. The eight organizations – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and Front Line – urged the Syrian government to investigate the assault and protect Muhannad al-Hassani from further brutality or ill-treatment. The joint statement adds some important new development:

“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.”

The  organizations also called for an immediate end to Muhannad al-Hassani’s solitary confinement and for guarantees of his safety while he remains in prison, although he should NOT be in prison to start with (see previous posts). The statement adds that “other government critics are previously reported to have been assaulted by criminal inmates, as well as prison guards, while held in ‘Adra prison. In December 2006, for example, Anwar al-Bunni, another human rights lawyer, was pushed down a flight of stairs by a criminal detainee and beaten on his head in the presence of prison guards, who failed to intervene.”

Posted in AI, Al-Hassani, CIHRS, EMHRN, FIDH, Front Line, HRW, human rights, ICJ, MEA, OMCT | 9 Comments »
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