With a bit of delay, here is the good news that the Turkish Supreme Court – on 11 June – overturned the life sentence issued which was issued against sociologist Pınar Selek on January 24, 2014. The case will have to be re-tried before a lower court for the fifth time. On June 11, 2014, the Criminal Chamber No. 9 of the Supreme Court decided to overturn the decision of a lower court to sentence to life imprisonment Ms. Pınar Selek, an academic known for her commitment towards the rights of vulnerable communities in Turkey. The court argued that Istanbul Special Heavy Criminal Court No. 12 had violated procedural rules, by revoking its own decision of acquittal while the case had already been transferred for review to a higher court. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘FIDH’
Pinar Selek case in Turkey: the Supreme Court overturns life sentence against Pınar Selek
July 9, 2014Good NEWS: Ales Bialiatski – Belarus’ best-known human rights defender – freed from prison
June 22, 2014for earlier posts on Ales Bialiatski: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/ales-bialiatski/
Major conference on human rights in Belarus on 27 May in Geneva
May 22, 2014On Tuesday 27 May 2014, will take place a Conference on the human rights situation in Belarus, from 14h00 –17h00 in the International Conference Centre in Geneva (room 3)
Speakers include:
- Florian Irminger, Human Rights House Foundation
- Tatsiana Reviaka, Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and Belarusian Human Rights House
- Aleh Hulak, Belarusian Helsinki Committee
- Anna Gerasimova, Belarusian Human Rights House
- Volodymyr Yavorskyy, Working group on the development of the Guidelines on Definition of Political Prisoner
- Andrzej Poczobut, journalist
- Nicolas Agostini, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- Andrei Paluda, Human Rights Centre “Viasna”
- Pavel Levinau, Belarusian Helsinki Committee
- Natallia Pinchuk, wife of Belarus political prisoner Ales Bialaitski
- Marina Adamovich, wife of Belarus political prisoner Mikola Statkevich
For more information contact: anna.innocenti[at]humanrightshouse.org
The meeting is cosponsored by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, Civicus, Belarusian Human Rights House and the Human Rights House Foundation.
Situation of human rights defenders in Africa – Observatory on HRDs before African Commission
May 21, 2014FIDH and OMCT, in the framework of their Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, express their grave concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Africa. They do so in a 7-page written statement before the 55th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights [ACHPR] on 20 May in Luanda. It can be read in full on: Situation of human rights defenders in Africa – Contribution to the 55th ordinary session of ACHPR Read the rest of this entry »
EU asked to press Laos on human rights in today dialogue
May 19, 2014Interesting to note that this piece found its way into the Tourism Section of the Thai newspaper Phuket Wan [“This is the first site on the island dedicated especially to tourism, property, restaurants and nightlife, and jobs”] of 19 May 2014. “The European Union EU must make the strengthening of bilateral relations with Laos contingent upon the Lao governments ability to make tangible progress in addressing key human rights issues, FIDH and it member organisation, the Lao Movement for Human Rights, said .” The paper then summarizes the briefing paper titled ‘Laos: The government’s failure to reform and address serious human rights issues call for EU action‘, released ahead of the 5th Laos-EU Working Group on Human Rights and Governance, held in Brussels today. [Foremost issues: rampant land grabbing and restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion as well as a credible investigation re human rights defender Sombath Somphone.
via EU Asked to Push for Improved Human Rights in Laos – Phuket Wan
Burma: human rights defenders arrested again for expressing political opinions
May 13, 2014Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, must sometimes be doubting her power: on 5 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Ko Htin Kyaw was arrested by the police for distributing pamphlets in Yangon, Burma. On 9 May 2014, two of his colleagues were also arrested when they attended the trial against him. Ko Htin Kyaw is director of the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), a community-based organisation working to promote development and democracy. Read the rest of this entry »
Abu Bakar Siddique released but worries remain for human rights defenders in Bangladesh
April 27, 2014While the world received with great satisfaction the announcement of Bangladeshi human rights defender Adilur as Final Nominee of the MEA, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture and the International Federation for Human Rights, draws attention to the strange and disquieting case of Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique, the husband of Ms. Rizwana Hasan, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyer’s Association BELA. He had been abducted on 16 April by unidentified men while traveling to Dhaka from Narayanganj by car. The vehicle with the unidentified men hit Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique’s car in Fatulla. When Mr. Siddique and the driver of his car exited the car, the unidentified men sprayed something into the driver’s eyes, and took Mr. Siddique away. On April 17, 2014 – about 33 hours after his abduction – Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique was left by his abductors blindfolded in Mirpur. Read the rest of this entry »
Take a minute to make this social media campaign a success!
April 15, 2014The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has started a most interesting campaign using social media to free human rights defenders. I strongly advise readers of this blog to take action by subscribing to the idea and retweeting or reblogging it on their own platforms. Let us see what can be achieved by 27 April when the campaign finishes!
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/9969-forfreedom
Russia: “foreign agent” law considered constitutional and upheld against Memorial
April 10, 2014 
In a hearing observed on 8 April by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT joint programme), the Saint Petersburg City Court upheld that the Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC) “Memorial”, a prominent Russian NGO was performing the functions of a “foreign agent” and had to register as such for its human rights work.
At the end of yesterday’s hearing, which lasted less than an hour, the Observatory mission delegate reported that the judge interrupted ADC “Memorial’s lawyers on several occasions throughout the session, thereby hindering their capacity to develop their arguments and breaching their right to a fair trial and due process, while no one objection or remark was voiced when the prosecutor was speaking. Once again, the City Court pointed a report submitted by ADC “Memorial” to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in 2012 as the only evidence of its so-called “political activities Read the rest of this entry »
Sad anniversary in Bahrain today: Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja arrested 3 years ago
April 9, 201430 human rights organizations express their serious concern for the health and well-being of imprisoned Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. Mr. Al-Khawaja was arrested three years ago today, on 9 April 2011, and continues to require medical attention for injuries sustained during his arrest and subsequent torture.
BAHRAIN: Third Anniversary of Arrest: Calls for the Release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja – FIDH.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 