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Arbitrary arrest and detention of 31 human rights defenders in Turkey

October 4, 2011

Several important human rights NGOs, including AI and HRW, have in recent days expressed concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Turkey. I base myself here on the appeal issued on 28 September by 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). 

The Observatory has been informed by the reliable Human Rights Association (İnsan Haklari Derneği – İHD) about the arbitrary arrests of 31 members and executives of İHD Şanlıurfa Branch, the Education and Science Workers Trade Union (Egitim-Sen), the Health and Social Service Workers Trade Union (SES) as well as the searches by the police of the houses of the chairpersons and executives of the above mentioned organisations and their offices.

In the morning of September 27, law-enforcement officers raided İHD, Egitim-Sen and SES Şanlıurfa Branch offices as well as the houses of their chairpersons and executives and arrested 31 members of these organisations. The police was in possession of a warrant from the Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecution Office mentioning allegations of “propaganda for an illegal organisation” and “participating in activities in line with the action and aims of that organisation” and has denied to release information on the reasons of the raids and arrest, on the basis of legal provisions pertaining to the fight against terrorism.

Among those arrested were İHD Şanlıurfa Branch President Cemal Babaoğlu, İHD executivesMüslüm Kına and Müslüm Çiçek, Eğitim-Sen Branch President Halit Şahin, Eğitim-Sen former Branch President Sıtkı Dehşet and Eğitim-Sen executive Veysi Özbingöl.

The Observatory denounces the continuing policy of arbitrarily arresting human rights defenders in Turkey, and particularly İHD members and members of trade unions, which seems to merely aim at sanctioning their human rights activities. To that extent, the Observatory recalls that other İHD members are in pre-trial detention, notably Mr. Muharrem Erbey, İHD General Vice Chairperson and Chairperson of its Diyarbakir Province branch who had been detained since December 2009, Mr. Arslan Özdemir and Ms. Roza Erdede, İHD members in Diyarbakır, or that others remain in provisional release pending the outcome of criminal trials on alleged terrorism charges.

Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Turkish authorities to put an end to the continuing harassment against human rights defenders, including members of İHD, and urges the Turkish authorities.

for more detials and suggested actions you can take, see:

Arbitrary arrest and detention of 31 human rights defenders – TUR 001 / 0911 / OBS 114 – FIDH – Worldwide Human Rights Movement.

Posted in AI, FIDH, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
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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.

 

Posted in AI, Amnesty international, Front Line, HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
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Daughter of Uzbek Dictator Loses Defamation Case in Paris

July 4, 2011

The decision by a French court on July 1, 2011, to dismiss a defamation suit brought by the daughter of Uzbekistan’s president against an online French news agency highlighted Uzbekistan’s repressive approach to criticism, Human Rights Watch said. The Press Court in Paris dismissed the lawsuit brought by Lola Karimova, daughter of President Islam Karimov, against the NGO Rue89. Karimova had sought moral damages for a May 2010 article that called her the daughter of “dictator Karimov,” and alleged she was “whitewashing Uzbekistan’s image” through charity events. Karimova filed the suit in August 2010, seeking €30,000 in damages over an article with the headline, “AIDS: Uzbekistan Cracks Down at Home but Puts on Show at Cannes.

“Uzbekistan is widely known for its atrocious human rights record, including repression of free speech,” said Mihra Rittmann, researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Political figures like Karimova should never be able to abuse defamation laws to silence open and critical debate about government actions.” Uzbek authorities use spurious defamation suits to silence journalists and otherwise threaten and harass them.

The defamation hearing took place on May 19. Two well-known exiled human rights defenders from Uzbekistan testified for the defense. They are Mutabar Tadjibaeva, a former political prisoner and head of the Uzbek human rights group Burning Hearts Club, and Nadejda Atayeva, head of the France-based human rights organization Human Rights in Central Asia. In her testimony, Mutabar gave a detailed description of her repeated ill-treatment, including sexual violence, in Uzbekistan from 2005 to 2008, until she was unexpectedly released and allowed to leave the country as Laureate of the 2008 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

President Karimov’s government has a well-documented record of serious human rights violations, including severe political repression. Torture and ill-treatment are systematic in the criminal justice system. Opposition political parties cannot operate freely in Uzbekistan, and there has not been a single election since Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991 that international observers found to be free or fair. More than a dozen human rights defenders are in prison on fabricated charges. The government severely restricts freedom of expression. In a speech marking Uzbekistan’s Press and Media Day on June 27, Karimov cited the need to strengthen the environment for the media and to develop transparency laws, and noted the growing importance of the internet. Yet in practice, independent journalists are persecuted, detained, and tried on spurious criminal defamation charges that carry the prospect of prison time and huge fines. Websites containing information on sensitive issues or that are critical of the government are routinely blocked within Uzbekistan.

While in Uzbekistan the “authorities have repeatedly convicted journalists in Uzbekistan on spurious defamation charges for nothing more than writing articles perceived to be critical or insulting” (quoted from Rittmann HRW) the  Paris’ Press Court was not a (fixed) home match and shows that the independence of the judiciary protects HRDs.

 

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Uzbek dissident Yusuf Jumaev freed from prison but others remain

May 23, 2011

Human Rights Watch announced last Friday a bit of good news: – Uzbek authorities released the dissident Yusuf Jumaev from prison on May 19, 2011. Jumaev, a civic activist, poet, and prominent government critic, was arrested in 2008 and ill-treated in prison. Jumaev was arrested in the weeks before the December 2007 presidential election after he called for President Islam Karimov to resign. Jumaev had also written poems and staged protests about the Andijan massacre, as well as about government oppression, and the arrest of his son. Jumaev’s release follows an apology he addressed to Karimov in connection with the 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence. Although Jumaev was released, the conviction was not quashed and the government has not given any indication that it intends to ease its campaign to crush its critics, Human Rights Watch said.

“Jumaev’s release is a positive development but it serves as a stark reminder of the many other activists who remain unjustly behind bars and the urgency of securing their release,” Swerdlow of HRW said. “Jumaev’s imprisonment and the ill-treatment he suffered underscore the danger of dissent in Uzbekistan.” At least 13 human rights defenders and numerous political activists and independent journalists remain in prison in Uzbekistan in retaliation for their work or criticism of the government, Human Rights Defenders in prison include: Solijon Abdurakhmanov, Azam Formonov, Nosim Isakov, Gaibullo Jalilov, Alisher Karamatov, Jamshid Karimov, Norboi Kholjigitov, Rasul Khudainasarov, Ganihon Mamatkhanov, Habibulla Okpulatov, Yuldash Rasulov, Dilmurod Saidov, and Akzam Turgunov. Several of them are in serious ill-health and at least seven have suffered torture or ill-treatment in prison.

Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
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Bahrain, hell for human rights defenders

April 11, 2011

Human Rights Watch and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies reported on Wednesday 6 April that hundreds of people have been detained or arbitrarily arrested in Bahrain, activists barred from traveling abroad and several protesters killed as security forces in balaclavas and military fatigues resort to excessive force and storm villages, hospitals and news organizations. They called on the UN to hold an emergency session on Bahrain.

The same day Mohammad al-Maskati, the head of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said in an interview with Press TV that the “Bahraini authorities are not only arresting the opposition leaders, but also human rights defenders, doctors, a lot of religious figures … anyone who may affect the situation in Bahrain”.

Bahrain’s leading opposition group, al-Wefaq, also says over 450 opposition activists, including 14 women, have been arrested since the uprising began in the tiny Persian Gulf state in mid-February.

On Thursday 14 April Nabeel Rajab, the president of the Bahrain center for Human Rights added during an interview with the Voice of America that the situation is ‘very critical’. “You have approximately one for every 1,000 citizens detained right now for political reasons”. The interviewer, Hilleary, asked what Rajab believed the detained persons are going through “I am afraid that many bloggers and [those] who are active in the net – on Twitter and Facebook – are facing very hard times at this point in time”. 
The interview then turned to his own risk (“are you fearful of speaking out?”). 
Rajab’s reply is worth quoting in full as it shows the uncompromising dedication that many Human Rights Defenders share: “Arrests, harassments and intimidation will never stop an activist who believes in his work and believes in the importance of his work. I do believe in my work very much. I was arrested, as I told you, and I was beaten up, but that has encouraged me to do more activism, believing [that] this situation cannot continue. And this activism that we are doing – it has a cost. The cost might reach – it might be our life – but, you know, once we believe in our work, once I believe in my work, I am willing to see [through] the changes that I am fighting for.”

The international human rights movement should ensure that it does not have to come to such sacrifices and that is what this little blog is about.

 

Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
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Belarus refuses access to human rights monitors

March 20, 2011

And to add immediately a second instance in the series ‘response to non-response” here is the case of Belarus as reported by HRW:

On March 17, 2011, Belarusian authorities ordered Andrei Yurov, a leading Russian human rights defender visiting Belarus, to leave the country within 24 hours. He is the second human rights activist the government has banned from the country this month as on March 9, another member of the International Observation Mission, Maxim Kitsyuk, a Ukrainian national, was refused entry at the border while entering Belarus via train from Kyiv.

Both Russia and Ukraine have a no-visa regime with Belarus. Belarusian authorities did not charge Yurov or Kitsyuk with a crime or other offense, nor did they explain the grounds on which they effectively being expelled or would be denied entry to Belarus in the future. For more information see the website of HRW.

 

Posted in HRW, human rights, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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Human Rights Watch office in Uzbekistan closed: HRDs made more vulnerable

March 20, 2011

As a first contribution in the series “response to non-response“, here  is what happened to Human Rights Watch office in Uzbekistan, the home of the 2008 MEA Laureate Mutabar Tadjibaeva:

On 17 March 2011 Human Rights Watch reported that the Uzbek government has forced it to close its Uzbekistan office. For years the government has obstructed the organization’s work by denying visas and work accreditation to staff, but has now officially ended the presence in Tashkent after 15 years. “With the expulsion of Human Rights Watch, the Uzbek government sends a clear message that it isn’t willing to tolerate critical scrutiny of its human rights record,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “but let me be clear, too: we aren’t going to be silenced by this. We are as committed as ever to report on abuses in Uzbekistan.”

HRW added that the Uzbekistan authorities’ move is the culmination of years of harassment and an attack not just on the organisation but on all human rights defenders in the country.  It is urging the West to finally stand up to Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov and condemn the closure or risk making the same mistakes it did in backing autocratic regimes in the Middle East.  Steve Swerdlow, a researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) who spent two months in Uzbekistan at the end of last year before being forced out of the country, told IPS: “The West needs to stand up and give its support for human rights and show Uzbekistanis that it is on the right side of history.”  He added: “Our closure just leaves what human rights defenders there are in Uzbekistan even more isolated and under threat”.  According to IPS the only registered local human rights monitoring group in Uzbekistan, Ezgulik, has said the regime’s move to shut down HRW would “isolate” Uzbekistan, while Uzbek human rights activist Abdurahmon Tashanov told local media that with HRW no longer in the country local rights defenders had lost their “moral support”.

Posted in HRW, human rights, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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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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