Posts Tagged ‘detention’
January 11, 2014
(Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine)
On 11 December 2013 Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, welcomed the release of 44 prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, hailing it as an important step towards fulfilling President Thein Sein’s pledge of freedom for all political prisoners by the end of this year. “When I look back to the start of my mandate in 2008, I was referring to figures of over 1,900 persons detained on political grounds. It is important to acknowledge the significance of the progress that has been made: today we are referring to figures of less than 50”. The expert said the practice of arresting those who express views that are different to those of the Government became embedded during 50 years of military rule. “Moving to a culture of democracy, where people are free to express their views, will take time,” he stated. “The releases today are a step towards this, but need to be accompanied by legislative reforms.” However on 17 December the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, welcoming the latest release of prisoners of opinion in Burma/Myanmar, deplored the re-arrests of human rights defenders Ko Htin Kyaw and Aye Thein within hours of their “release”. Front Line reported that on 3 December 2013, Tin Htut Pai was arrested for his involvement in commemorating the one-year anniversary of the protests against the Letpadaung mining project. Tin Htut Pai is currently detained but has not been permitted to see his lawyer. Tin Htut Pai is the founder of Generation Youth, an organisation that advocates for youth empowerment and campaigns against land confiscation.
On 10 January 2014 this was followed by praise from the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, for President Thein Sein’s announcement on 2 January that he would commute death sentences to life imprisonment and reduce some sentences on humanitarian grounds and to mark the 66th anniversary of independence of the country. The move is “very significant” for Myanmar, which has not carried out the death penalty since 1989, the spokesperson noted, as the country assumed the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
https://www.un.org/apps/news//story.asp?NewsID=46718&Cr=myanmar&Cr1=#.UtEULijKzZQ
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=46904&Cr=myanmar&Cr1=#.UtEThCjKzZQ
http://www.fidh.org/en/asia/burma/14406-burma-it-is-time-to-free-all-human-rights-defenders-and-stop-ongoing
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/24414#sthash.HRV7IJe0.dpuf
Posted in FIDH, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR, OMCT, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: abolition, arrest, ASEAN, Burma, death penalty, detention, FIDH, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, human rights situation, Letpadaung, Mining, Myanmar, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, President Thein Sein, release, Rupert Colville, Special Rapporteur, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Tin Htut Pai, Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur
October 31, 2013
In the last three days Morocco has been seen using Anti-Terrorism laws against human rights defenders and journalists exercising their freedom of expression. The following two cases come from Frontline: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Al Qaeda, Al Sabeel, Ali Anouzla, alianouzla, anti terrorism legislation, detention, freedom of expression, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, journalists, Lakome.com, media, Morocco, Mostafa Al-Hesnawi, Rabat, western Sahara
October 29, 2013
Human rights defenders working on behalf of communities affected by large-scale development projects are increasingly being branded ‘anti-government’, ‘against development’ or even ‘enemies of the State’, the Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, has warned. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 3 Comments »
Tags: criminalization, death threats, detention, development, environmental issues, freedom of expression, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harassment, Land issues, Margaret Sekaggya, retaliation, Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur, UN General Assembly, United Nations, United Nations Special Rapporteur
October 17, 2013
In a move praised by local and international rights groups, Burma’s government, led by ex-general Thein Sein, has released 56 political prisoners. However, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners [AAPP] noted in a statement to the media that 133 political prisoners were still languishing in the country’s prisons. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AAPP, activism, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Aung Myint, Burma, Burmese President Thein Sein, David Cameron, detention, freedom of demonstration, Hla Myo Naing, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, Karen, minority rights, Myanmar, political prisoner, political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, Rakhine, Rakhine State, release, Sittwe, Thein Sein, U Aung Myint
October 15, 2013
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Africa, bloggers, Bunge La Mwananchi, Daniel Bekele, Dennis Itumbi, detention, Front Line Defenders, harassment, HRW, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Criminal Court, Kenya, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Maina Kiai, police brutality, Ruth Mumbi, threats, Uhuru Kenyatta, United Nations Special Rapporteur, William Ruto, women human rights defenders
September 24, 2013
Former political prisoner Vasil Parfiankou has been placed in medical and labor dispensary No. 1 in the town of Svetlahorsk, after serving five days of arrest in Minsk. The Human Rights Center “Viasna” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, Charter97, detention, forced psychiatric treatment, Human rights defender, Minsk, news from belarus, Prosecutor, Vasil Parfiankou, Viasna Human Rights Centre
August 25, 2013
(Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – Photo: OAS)
By letter of 23 August 2013, addressed to Dr. Emilio Álvarez Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a group of human rights NGOs [National Religious Campaign Against Torture, California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement, California Prison Focus, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, Disability Rights Legal Center, Stanford International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, American Friends Service Committee (Western Region), ACLU National Prison Project, Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes, Fair Chance Project, Center for Constitutional Rights, Justice Now, National Lawyers Guild, San Diego Committee for Prisoners Rights, The Real Cost of Prisons Project and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law] requested a thematic hearing with a focus on people incarcerated in California prisons. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: American Friends Service Committee, California, california coalition for women prisoners, Centre for Constitutional Rights, detention, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, Human right, Human Rights Defenders, IACHR, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, mandatory minimum sentences, national prison project, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Organization of American States, prison conditions, racial discrimination, solitary confinement, thematic hearing, USA
August 23, 2013
On 23 August 2013, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, expresses its deep concern about the Iranian blogger and human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, whose health status has been deteriorating. On August 9, 2013, Mr. Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki started a hunger strike to protest the authorities’ ongoing refusal to allow him to continue his medical treatment out of Evin prison in Tehran. His mother, Ms. Zolaykha Mousavi, also started a hunger strike on August 20, 2013 to draw attention to his plight. Ronaghi-Maleki has been suffering from kidney and heart problems and bladder inflammation. Since the beginning of his hunger strike, he has suffered kidney bleeding, blood pressure oscillations and arrhythmic heart beats. He has already undergone several operations on his kidneys that were damaged after being repeatedly tortured during his detention, including 13 months in solitary confinement. He has been serving a 15-year prison sentence after being arrested on December 13, 2009 and convicted on charges of “membership of Iran-Proxy Internet Group”, “spreading propaganda against the system”, “insulting the Iranian Supreme Leader and the President”. 
via Iran : IRAN: Grave concern over health status of human … – FIDH.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
Tags: blogger, detention, Evin Prison, Hossein Ronaghi, Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, human rights, Hunger strike, illtreatment, Iran, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Tehran, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
August 20, 2013
On 17 August 2013, it emerged that Guangzhou-based human rights defender Mr Yang Maodong, better known by his pen name Guo Feixiong, had been detained on charges of “assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place”. Although in detention since 8 August 2013, Yang Maodong’s family were only notified by the police of his arrest on 17 August [!]. Yang Maodong is a well known figure in China‘s rights defence movement Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, detention, Front Line (NGO), Guangdong, Guangzhou, Guo Feixiong, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, human rights movement, illtreatment, torture, Yang Maodong
June 20, 2013
(Du Jirong, sister of human rights activist Du Bin, with sign saying “Du Bin is innocent” outside the Fengtai District Public)
The 41-year-old photographer and filmmaker Du Bin disappeared on May 31, weeks after he had released a documentary on the extreme conditions of Chinese labor camps in May, called Women Above Ghosts’ Heads. His film focused on Masanjia Women’s Labor Camp where many detainees were Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: China, detention, disappearances, Du Bin, Du Jirong, Epoch Times, Falun Gong, film makers, Hu Jia, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights of women, photo journalism, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, writer
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 