Posts Tagged ‘defamation’
August 22, 2020
The Philippines government’s practice of ” red tagging” – i.e. labelling HRDs as communists or terrorists – has been repeatedy criticised by human rights defenders, NGOs, government and the UN. “We are saddened and appalled by the ongoing violence and threats against human rights defenders in the Philippines, including the killing of two human rights defenders over the past two weeks,” said Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Randall “Randy” Echanis, an agrarian reform advocate and peace consultant, was killed in his home in Quezon City, located just outside capital Manila, on 10 August, added the OHCHR spokesperson, noting that reports indicated that he suffered brutal treatment before he died, including blunt force trauma to the head and stab wounds. On 17 August, the day that Mr. Echanis was buried, another long-standing human rights defender, Zara Alvarez, was shot dead in Bacolod City on Negros Island, some 490 kilometres south east of Manila. Investigations into both cases are underway.
According to OHCHR, both Mr. Echanis and Ms. Alvarez had been repeatedly “red-tagged” – labelled as communists or terrorists – in relation to their work. Ms. Alvarez’s name appeared, for example, on a list of 649 people that the Government sought to designate as terrorists on 28 March 2020. “While the list was later truncated, many who were removed from the list, including Ms. Alvarez, continued to report harassment and threats, as highlighted in the High Commissioner’s human rights report on the Philippines published in June this year,” added Ms. Throssell.
Ms. Alvarez’s photo also appeared in a publicly displayed poster purporting to depict terrorists. She was pictured alongside two other human rights defenders who had been killed – Benjamin Ramos Jr. and Bernardino Patigas, both of whose murder cases remain unsolved. She had also spent two years in prison on murder charges before she was acquitted in March for lack of evidence. Following the murder of Ms. Alvarez, her colleague Clarizza Singson, received a death threat on Facebook warning her that she would be next. “This is particularly worrying as Ms. Singson’s name also appeared on the abovementioned list of suspected terrorists and her photo is included in the same poster,” added Ms. Throssell.
“We have raised our concerns with the Government and the Commission on Human Rights on these cases, and look forward to continuing to engage with them,” said Ms. Throssell.
Eighty-nine cases involving the deaths of human rights activists from 2017 to 2019 are now being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), an official said Friday. “The data that we have from 2017 to 2019, we have a total of 89, not to include the ones happening now. We call them human rights defenders,” CHR commissioner Leah Armamento said over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked about the number of killings of activists and members of progressive groups being investigated by the commission.
‘The endless killings of activists in the Philippines have become systematic in Duterte’s regime, and demonstrate the continuing impunity in the country. The government should end these killings immediately and take genuine steps towards ensuring justice for victims and their family members,’ said Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Executive Director at FORUM-ASIA.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | 1 Comment »
Tags: defamation, Duterte, Forum Asia, Human Rights Defenders, killings, Leah Armamento, Liz Throssell, Philippines, Randall “Randy” Echanis, red tagging, Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, UNHCHR, Zara Alvarez
May 12, 2019
On 10 May 2019, a number of NGOs issued a joint statement on the defamation campaign by Egypt against human rights defender Mohamed Soltan:
We, the undersigned organizations strongly condemn the defamation campaign by the Egyptian authorities against human rights defender Mohamed Soltan,
…
Mohamed Soltan is a prominent human rights defender from The Freedom Initiative, an independent human rights advocacy group in Washington D.C. He spent nearly two years in prison in the case known as “Raba’ Operations Room,” in which authorities pressed politically-motivated charges in 2014-2015 against scores of critical journalists and political figures for “membership in an illegal group”, “publishing false news” and “planning to overthrow the ruling regime”, among other charges. Some of the charges do not constitute recognizable crimes under international law. In any case, the US State Department, and Human Rights Watch’s analysis of the casefile in April 2015, found that prosecutors failed to present any credible evidence to establish him as a suspect, let alone establishing Soltan’s individual criminal responsibility for the alleged crimes. An Egyptian court sentenced him to life in prison in 2015.
In protest of his unjust detention by the Egyptian authorities, Soltan entered into an open-ended hunger strike and was supported by a worldwide campaign effort. The U.S. government intervened at the highest levels and successfully facilitated his release and return to the United States on May 30th, 2015. Since his release, Soltan has become a full-time human right advocate relentlessly defending democratic values and human rights.
The Freedom Initiative has worked diligently with Egyptian and international human rights organizations to shed light on the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt. The organization’s annual flagship event, the Egypt Advocacy Day, involved two award-winning actors who joined over 100 Egyptians and Egyptian Americans from over 25 U.S. states and six countries for meetings with members of the U.S. Congress and State Department. The aim of the meetings was to engage the Egyptian diaspora in the U.S. with their elected representatives on human rights and democratic governance issues in Egypt
In response, the Egyptian authorities have apparently unleashed a systematic defamation campaign against some of those who participated in the meetings and against the organizers, particularly the award-winning actors, The Freedom Initiative and Soltan. The Egyptian government,as well as privately owned newspapers, falsely accused him of being a convicted terrorist, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and working on behalf of foreign agents. The defamatory statements were reported on government-sponsored media outlets in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The coordinated harassment of Soltan is part of a broader repression of rights and freedoms in Egypt and is aimed to stigmatize human rights defenders, both nationally and abroad, and undermine the effectiveness of their work.
We stand in solidarity with Mohamed Soltan, The Freedom Initiative and all Egyptians who peacefully speak out against human rights abuses despite the hefty price. We urge the Egyptian government to respect its obligations under international human rights treaties and the Egyptian constitution, end the crackdown on critics, halt the persecution of human rights defenders and release all those detained for peacefully expressing their opinions.
Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms
Amnesty International
Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Committee for Justice
Egyptian Front for Human Rights
Egyptian Human Rights Forum
EuroMed Rights
Front Line Defenders
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
The Freedom Initiative
https://mailchi.mp/euromedrights/egypt-reprisal-against-human-rights-defender-mohamed-soltan-for-human-rights-advocacy?e=1209ebd6d8
Posted in HRW, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: defamation, Egypt, euroMed Rights, HRW, Human rights defender, joint statement, Mohamed Soltan, NGOs, reprisals, The Freedom Initiative, USA
February 7, 2019
reports that on 30 January 2019, Randy Felix Malayao, a human rights defender and peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), was shot dead while he was asleep on bus in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. Randy Felix Malayao [https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/randy-felix-malayao] was a human rights defender and peace advocate. Since 2008, he had served as a consultant on political and constitutional reforms for the NDFP, a coalition of groups that has long been engaging in peace negotiations with the Phillipine government. The human rights defender also participated in the peace talks in Europe in 2016, as a spokesperson during the formal negotiations. Other than his work with the NDFP, Randy Felix Malayao was also on the board of trustees of a local human rights organisation in Northern Luzon, the current vice president of the Makabayan coalition, and an active campaigner against human rights violations committed by the military in Cagayan Valley.
Following the death of the human rights defender, his work and character were targetted by a slew of unfounded allegations from the Philippine National Police (PNP). They alleged that Randy Felix Malayao was a ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), that he embezzled funds from “the Party” and extorted money from the people, and that he had eloped with another activist who was already married. Randy Felix Malayao’s family denounced these allegations. Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Filipino NGO Karapatan , also denounced the PNP’s allegations and reaffirmed that Randy Felix Malayao was not a member of the CPP.
Before his death, as a result of his human rights advocacy, Randy Felix Malayao had been hounded by suspected military personnel; abducted and tortured by political adversaries; spent four years in prison on trumped-up and politically-motivated charges; and was among the 650 individuals branded as terrorists by the Duterte administration in the proscription petition issued by the Department of Justice in February 2018. The eventual removal of his name from this list in January 2019 by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch was supposed to have accorded Randy Felix Malayao a safer environment to carry out his work, but his murder proves that this was not the case. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/11/08/and-in-the-philippines-the-killing-of-human-rights-defenders-also-continues-with-benjamin-ramos/]
To show that harassment of HRDs continues unabated is shown by the Amnesty USA report that the Philippine Department of Justice has recommended ‘cyber libel’ charges against Maria Ressa, the editor of news outlet Rappler, together with one of its former reporters. Amnesty International’s Philippines Director, Butch Olano stated: “The latest harassment of Maria Ressa and her team comes as no surprise. Rappler’s fearless journalism has consistently exposed the so-called ‘war on drugs’ for what it really is: a deadly campaign that has led to thousands of unlawful killings of poor and marginalized people, including children. Critics, activists, and journalists alike have faced President Duterte’s wrath for speaking the truth”. It is all the more ridiculous given that the National Bureau of Investigation, which first reviewed the complaint, dismissed this claim as baseless last year.
Background: On May 29, 2012 Rappler published a story, written by former reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., alleging that a car used by former Chief Justice Renato Corona during his impeachment trial belonged to a businessman, Wilfredo Keng, who has alleged ties to human trafficking and drug smuggling rings. On January 10, 2018, Keng filed a “cyber libel” complaint against Santos, Maria Ressa, and six members of Rappler’s board of directors under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The National Bureau of Investigation subsequently dismissed the complaint because the report preceded the enactment of this law.
Posted in AI, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI USA, Communist Party, cyber libel law (Philippines), defamation, Duterte, Front Line (NGO), judicial harassment, killing, Maria Ressa, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Philippines, Randy Felix Malayao, Rappler
October 7, 2018
I recently wrote about India’s shameful place in the list of countries that practice reprisals [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/09/22/attack-on-human-rights-defenders-in-india-are-an-attack-on-the-very-idea-of-india/]. On 5 October 2018 this was followed by a joint statement by a large number of UN experts (Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ms. Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ms. Ivana Radacic (Chair), Ms. Meskerem Geset Techane (Vice Chair), Ms. Elisabeth Broderick, Ms. Alda Facio, Ms. Melissa Upreti, Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Mr. Seong-Phil Hong (Chair), Ms. Leigh Toomy (Vice-Chair), Ms. Elina Steinerte (Vice-Chair), Mr. José Guevara, Mr. Setondji Adjovi, Working group on arbitrary detention) saying that India uses terrorism charges as a pretext to silence human rights defenders
The UN human rights experts did so in the context of terrorism charges – under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) – laid against 10 human rights defenders working with India’s poorest and most marginalised communities, including the Dalits, and urged authorities to ensure their cases are promptly heard in line with international law. All were arrested in June in connection with investigations into a public meeting organised a day before the 200th anniversary of the commemoration of a battle at Bhima-Koregaon, an important cultural event and a symbol of Dalit empowerment. Police subsequently claimed that the human rights defenders had links with ‘unlawful organisations’. “We are concerned that terrorism charges brought in connection with the commemoration of Bhima-Koregaon are being used to silence human rights defenders who promote and protect the rights of India’s Dalit, indigenous, and tribal communities,” the UN experts said. “We are very concerned about the charges against the human rights defenders and the continuing detention of nine of them,” the UN experts said. “All have been active in peacefully defending human rights, including those of marginalised and minority communities, political prisoners, and women, and their arrests appear to be directly related to their human rights work.
In June2018 Front Line Defenders listed as some of these:
Surendra Gadling <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/surendra-gadling> a human rights lawyer and General Secretary of the Indian Association of Peoples’ Lawyers (IAPL).
Rona Wilson <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/rona-wilson> is a member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), which has campaigned against the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other repressive laws.
Sudhir Dhawale <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/sudhir-dhawale> is a Dalit rights activist and the editor of the Marathi magazine ‘Vidrohi’.
Shoma Sen <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/shoma-sen> is a professor at Nagpur University and a long time Dalit and women’s rights activist.
Mahesh Raut <https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/mahesh-raut> is a land rights activist working with Gram Sabhas in the mining areas of Gadhchiroli.
On 5 July 2018, Front Line reported that human rights lawyer Advocate Sudha Bhardwaj released a statement refuting the false allegations and defamatory statements levelled against her by Arnab Goswami, news anchor and managing director of Republic TV. In a program that aired on 4 July 2018, Arnab Goswami alleged that the human rights defender was linked to Maoists. (https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/sudha-bhardwaj). Sudha Bhardwaj firmly denied that the letter was written by her, and refuted the false allegations as defamatory and hurtful. She also expressed incredulity at the fact that the source of the letter had not been revealed, and that the letter had surfaced at the studio. She believes that the malicious and fabricated attack on her is a result of a press conference she had addressed in Delhi on 6 June 2018, condemning the arrest of Advocate Surendra Gadling. Front Line adds that This smear campaign comes as a part of an ongoing crackdown against human rights lawyers in India, especially those who work with Adivasi people and Dalits. Front Line Defenders condemns the smear campaign against human rights defender Sudha Bhardwaj, which it considers to be in retaliation to her legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders expresses its concern for the security of Sudha Bhardwaj, particularly as the inflammatory allegations may motivate judicial harassment or other forms of retaliation.
—–
https://www.jurist.org/news/2018/10/un-experts-decry-india-terrorism-charges-against-human-rights-defenders/
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23686&LangID=E
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: anti terrorism legislation, Dalit, defamation, detention, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, India, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Sudha Bhardwaj, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, UN Special Rapporteurs, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)
March 26, 2018
British labor rights activist Andy Hall (Associated Press)
The Washington Post and many others reported on this development. The Monday ruling involves four defamation suits filed by pineapple canning company Natural Fruit, which employed migrant Myanmar workers who claimed the company had abused them and broke labor regulations.Hall’s legal troubles stem from a 2013 report he researched for the Finnish consumer organization Finnwatch that alleged labor abuses at Natural Fruit’s facilities. They also concern an interview that he gave to Al-Jazeera on the subject, which was the focus of Monday’s ruling. Natural Fruit claimed that the report Hall helped research and his interview comments both hurt their business.
(Hall left Thailand in 2016, citing intolerable legal harassment after another company, poultry producer Thammakaset Farm, sued him in another case, but still works on labor rights issues concerning migrants in Thailand.)
“This verdict is a major setback for rights of human rights defenders, migrant workers, labour/migration activists and researchers everywhere and casts a dark shadow over recent positive progress the Thai government and Thai industry has made to improve migrant worker conditions,” Hall commented Monday on his Twitter account.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thai-court-finds-british-labor-activist-defamed-fruit-firm/2018/03/26/3c0094f4-30d4-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987_story.html?utm_term=.fa9fba4f63b6
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Andy Hall, defamation, Finnwatch, Human rights defender, judicial harasment, labour rights, migrant workers, Natural Fruit Company Ltd, Thailand
August 21, 2017
The Home Minister in Malaysia has resorted to an old but persistent ‘canard’ often leveled at lawyers in general, namely that human rights defenders are siding with criminals in court. On Tuesday 15 August, 2017 themalaymailonline.com/ reported that Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi alleged that critics of the law often masquerade as human rights defenders.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has criticised human rights defenders today, accusing them of defending criminals instead. While launching his book on the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) 1959 today, the deputy prime minister reportedly alleged critics of the law often masquerade as human rights defenders. “They defend crime syndicates. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing,” he was quoted saying by news portal Malaysiakini. “They claim to defend human rights, but in court, they defend criminals accused by the authorities.”
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has put forth a definition of human rights defenders, two days after the deputy prime minister called them “wolves in sheep’s clothing who protect criminals”. Suhakam chairman Razali Ismail said such individuals were people who work towards the realisation of rights and freedoms contained in the Federal Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments through non-violent means. “The efforts of human rights defenders contribute to positive societal change and play an important role in the establishment of the rule of law. “They certainly cannot be said to be defending crime syndicates and criminals,” he said in a statement today.
Source: Home Minister: Human rights defenders siding with criminals in court | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/home-minister-human-rights-activists-defend-criminals#uREoQ0H4g4AhbZYU.99
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/08/17/suhakam-human-rights-defenders-do-not-protect-criminals/
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, defamation, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, Malaysia, stigmatization
June 10, 2016
The Deutsche Welle (DW) Freedom of Speech Award 2016 goes to Turkish ‘Hürriyet’ journalist Sedat Ergin. The DW prize is awarded annually to journalists who stand out in their fight for human righ
ts and free speech. The award ceremony will on 13 June 2016 at the Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: awards, defamation, Deutsche Welle, DW Freedom of Speech Award, Erdogan, freedom of expression, Global Media Forum in Bonn, Hürriyet, human rights award, Journalist, Peter Limburg, Raif Badawi, Sedat Ergin, Turkey
June 23, 2015
He already was portrayed as an atheist, working for foreign agendas, receiving foreign funding, etc. Now, in one of the leaked WikiLeaks cables of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Interior tries to justify its preventing Waleed AbuAlKhair from traveling to attend the Democratic Leaders Program sponsored by the US State Department. After the Saudi ambassador in Washington received a call from the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Saudi Ministry of Interior fabricated a story that Waleed is facing a family suit because of his marriage and his conversion from Sunni to Shiite Islam. None of this was mentioned in court, when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for demanding constitutional monarchy, and the establishment of two human rights organizations.
Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: defamation, exit visa, freedom of movement, harassment, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia - MHRSA, Samar Badawi, Saudi Arabia, travel ban, US State Department, USA, Waleed Abu Al-Khair, Waleed AbuAlkhair, WikiLeaks
March 4, 2015
Judiciary chief registrar Anne Amadi on June 10, 2014.pic\file
If true, the news in The Star of 3 March 2015 is good news for human rights defenders in Kenya. The chief registrar Anne Amadi said that the judiciary is set to prosecute more than 15,000 cases on human rights violations across the country, adding that the backlog and delay of cases over the years have greatly affected administration of justice, especially affecting human rights defenders.
“It is very unfortunate that the judiciary has never had clear policy frameworks to urgently deal with cases surrounding human rights violations and defenders,” Amadi said. Importantly, she added that the State has for years viewed human rights defenders’ pleas as criticisms and unpatriotic, hence used threats and physical surveillance to intimidate the human rights champions.
Amadi was speaking during the launch of a report on the situation of human rights defenders in Busia, Kwale and Marsabit counties.
Judiciary to prosecute 15,000 human rights cases, says Amadi | The Star.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: administration of justice, Anne Amadi, defamation, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, impunity, Kenya, prosecution, registrar, the Star
February 9, 2015
On 6 February 2015, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an OMCT-FIDH joint programme, welcomed the decision of 28 January of the Russian Supreme Court to reject the complaint filed by the Ministry of Justice against the Society “Memorial”.
[Since its foundation in the final years of the Soviet Union, the network “Memorial”, consisting in a number of independent NGOs under the same society, is known for exposing Soviet-era repression, commemorating victims of violations and monitoring the current human rights situation in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet countries.]
“The complaint filed by the Justice Ministry, was a clear attempt to harass and discredit the Society “Memorial”, undermine its tremendous human rights work and expeditiously lead to its closure. It followed years of harassment, in the form of defamation through slandering media campaigns and acts of vandalism targeting the group’s headquarters in Moscow.Russian civil society organisations are facing a deep and systematic clampdown”, said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock.
[Human Rights Center “Memorial” is currently fighting a separate battle against an official move to label it a “foreign agent” under the controversial law targeting NGOs that receive foreign funding. Moreover, under a newly proposed piece of legislation, currently debated in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, foreign organisations would face being labelled as “undesirable” and closure and local NGOs engaged in cooperation with such bodies would face criminal charges.]
“While the decision of the Supreme Court dismissing the complaint against the Society “Memorial” should be welcomed, we remain deeply concerned by the constant threats to human rights defenders in the Russian Federation in the context of an ever increasing repressive legal framework and frequent attacks targeting human rights defenders”, said FIDH President Karim Lahidji.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, Civil society, defamation, FIDH, Foreign agent, freedom of association, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harasment, Ministry of Justice, Mourad Magomedov, Observa, OMCT, reprisals, Russia, Supreme Court
