Posts Tagged ‘harassment’
January 7, 2013
On 26 October 2012 I referred in this blog to the controversy raised by a Arab blogger about the status of Human Rights Defenders in the Emirates (UAE) who were described as being in fact intolerant islamists. No enlightening comments were received, so I have to concluded that the attack was a politically motivated defense of government policy. That is this policy is far from HRD friendly is brought home again by a recent press release from the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) which claims that the number of human rights defenders and activists in detention has now reached 77 as the crackdown continues.
On 14 December 2012 an Egyptian journalist was arrested and three Egyptian doctors were arrested four days later (reportedly bringing the total number of Egyptian activists in detention in the UAE to 11).
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights GCHR has issued previous appeals concerning the deteriorating situation in the UAE (http://gc4hr.org/news/index/country/2). It is reported that approximately 200 people who are supporters or relatives of human rights defenders and activists are being prohibited from travelling. For many of them it is only when they have attempted to leave the UAE, often having purchased tickets in advance, that they are informed of this restriction on their freedom of movement.
It is feared that more interrogations and arrest will take place in the near future.Some of the detained human rights defenders have had their detention extended, including prominent human rights lawyers Dr. Mohamed Al-Mansoori and Dr. Mohamed Al-Roken, who had their detention extended on 2 January 2013. It is reported that these extensions are granted as officials have, to date, failed to gather evidence to prosecute those detained. The GCHR call for urgent action, see:
Urgent Action: UAE- Number of human rights defenders & activists in detention reaches 77 as brutal crackdown continues.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: crackdown, Emirates, GCHR, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Mohamed Al-Mansoori, Mohamed Al-Roken, UAE
January 4, 2013
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 the arbitrary detention of Mr. Le Quoc Quan, a human rights lawyer and blogger.
On December 27, 2012, Mr. Le Quoc Quan was arrested by the police in Hanoi while dropping off his daughter at school. The police also searched his office and home and confiscated some documents. The police told his family that he would be charged under Article 161 of the Criminal Code, which relates to tax evasion. If condemned, he risks three years in prison and a heavy fine. Mr. Le Quoc Quan, who began a hunger strike on December 28, is currently detained incommunicado in Hoa Lo Prison No. 1. Neither his lawyer nor his family have been able to visit him to date.
Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s arrest follows a recent order by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that authorities renew the fight against anyone using the Internet to “defame and spread propaganda against the State”.Mr. Le Quoc Quan has been harassed constantly since 2007 by the Vietnamese authorities because of his human rights activities. On October 3, 2012, some 50 security police and plain-clothed militia forced entry into the head office of VietNam Credit in Hanoi and its branch office in Saigon. The firm belongs to Mr. Le Quoc Quan and his two brothers. Police seized files and documents belonging to the firm, assaulted the staff and detained the brothers for interrogation. In addition, on August 18, 2012, Mr. Le Quoc Quan was brutally beaten by two unidentified men with iron bars outside his home in Hanoi.
The Observatory recalls that allegations of tax evasion have previously been levelled against human rights defenders. Blogger Nguyen Van Hai, alias Dieu Cay, founding member of the Club of Free Journalists, was initially jailed for tax evasion but then sentenced in September 2012 to 12 years in jail for spreading anti-State propaganda under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, along with two other bloggers and members of the Club of Free Journalists.
via Viet Nam: Arbitrary detention of Mr. Le Quoc Quan / January 4, 2013 / Urgent Interventions / Human rights defenders / OMCT.
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Tags: blogger, FIDH, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, lawyer, Le Quoc Quan, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Viet Nam, Vietnam
December 20, 2012
The ‘new’ Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (who took office on on 24 January 2012) Nils Muižnieks stated in his end of the year message some hard truths about the position of human rights defenders in Europe.
”Defamation, threats, verbal and physical attacks, sanctions and judicial harassment are used to deter human rights activists from working with migrants.” Nils Muižnieks states that in several Council of Europe countries, the rise of xenophobic and anti-migrant discourse has “negatively impacted” on the work of human rights defenders who protect and promote the rights of migrants.“Human rights defenders are even increasingly labelled as traitors who are threatening national identity and security,” he adds. “They are often exposed to intimidation and abuse.
“The situation in Greece is particularly worrisome as migrants have become targets of unacceptable, extreme violence notably by members, including MPs, of the far right political party of Golden Dawn.“Human rights defenders defending migrants are under threat. There have been several instances of lawyers being threatened and physically attacked in Athens as they were assisting migrants in the course of asylum and other legal procedures.
“In some Council of Europe countries the work of defenders working with migrants and their rights is being criminalised. In France, legal provisions corresponding to the so-called délit de solidarité the offence of solidarity concretely result in law enforcement bodies pressuring and punishing human rights defenders providing assistance to irregular migrants. Persons standing up for the rights of migrants have been detained, prosecuted and/or fined.“ “In Belgium, similar tendencies have been identified and persons who have been demonstrating in favour of the rights of migrants have been arrested.”
via Nils Muižnieks: “Human rights defenders are increasingly labelled as traitors” | HUMANERIGHTSEUROPE.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Belgium, China Human Rights Defenders, Commissioner for Human, Council of Europe, Europe, France, Golden Dawn, Greece, harassment, migrants, Nils Muižnieks, refugees, threats
December 13, 2012
Two lawmakers are pushing for a law (House Bill 5379), ‘the Human Rights Defenders Act’, which aims to guarantee the rights of human rights defenders. The provisions are:
1 Right to promote and protect human rights
2 Right to information about human rights
3 Right to develop and advocate human rights ideas
4 Right to participate in public affairs
5 Right to access to human rights violations victims and, if necessary, provide legal assistance or facilitate the provision of the same
6 Right to unhindered access to communication with human rights bodies.
7 Right to refuse to violate human rights
8 Right to participate in activities against human rights violations
9 Right to solicit, receive and utilize resources
10 Right to establish a sanctuary to human rights victims
11 Right to file an action involving human rights violations – human rights organizations as complainants and, finally
12 Right to access documents of government units and personnel, paramilitary units and personnel, and military affiliate and government assets.
While some of the language is specifically cut towards the situation in the Philippines, the list is an interesting blueprint for other situations.
This proposal comes in the context of a recent (preliminary) report by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders which concluded: “There is compelling evidence that human rights defenders, in particular those advocating for land and environmental rights, are under serious threat, are constantly vilified, intimidated and ‘terrorized.”
via Passing of law protecting rights defenders urged – Bulatlat.
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, harassment, HRDs, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, intimidation, legislation, NGOs, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Parliament, Philippines
December 13, 2012
Front Line Defenders reports that on On 7 December 2012, human rights defender Ms Saida Kurbanova was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for ‘hooliganism’, after being attacked by two women who alleged that the human rights defender had been the one to attack them. Saida Kurbanova is the head of the branch of the non-governmental Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU). It is reported that following the arrest, the hard disk of Saida Kurbanova’s computer was confiscated.
Since her arrest, Saida Kurbanova has been detained in the temporary detention facility at Pakhtakor police station. On 10 December 2012 a representative of Pakhtakor police station reportedly refused to pass on a food parcel and warm clothes to Saida Kurbanova which her family had brought her. In addition, her release on 21 December 2012 is reportedly subject to her paying for the 15 days spent in the temporary detention facility!
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the use of orchestrated attacks on human rights defenders as a means to accuse them of having instigated the incident, and consequently charging them fines or sentencing them to administrative detention. Front Line Defenders believes that Saida Kurbanova’s sentencing is linked to her human rights activities and fears for her physical and psychological integrity and security while in detention.
Appeals@frontlinedefenders.org
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Tags: detention, Front Line, harassment, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Saida Kurbanova, Uzbekistan, woman human rights defender
December 13, 2012
Yesterday, 12 December 2012, the undersigned Israel based organizations protest the aggressive treatment of three Palestinian civil society organizations by the Israeli military and demand that all property seized be restored and that the work of civil society organizations—and especially those comprised of human rights defenders – be protected and respected.
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Tags: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B’Tselem, Civil society, harassment, human rights, human rights organizations, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian NGO Network., Palestinian people, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Ramallah, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committee
November 27, 2012
On 26 November 2012, the Belarusian authorities did the next step in their harassment of HRDs and confiscated the office of Human Rights Centre Viasna.
The seizure is connected to the case of Viasna’s chairman Ales Bialiatski, who in November 2011 was sentenced to 4,5 years in prison and confiscation of property. The office premises were registered on Ales Bialiatski personally, as Viasna for years has been denied legal registration by the authorities.
Viasna has had the office on Nezalezhnastsi Avenue for 12 years. The confiscation is the latest of many acts of harassment by the authorities against the organisation during the years. [Since Viasna has not been able to register and operate legally in Belarus, the organisation was forced to open private bank accounts abroad. In August 2011 Ales Bialiatski was arrested, suspected of serious tax evasion, after Lithuania and Poland had disclosed information about Belarusian individuals’ bank accounts, at the request of the Belarusian authorities. On 24 November 2011, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and confiscation of property.]
On 26 November, a final activity was arranged at the office as Viasna invited journalists, human rights defenders and others to the premises before the doors were to be sealed by the authorities. However, “Viasna will continue activities as usual”, says courageously Valiantsin Stefanovich, Viasna deputy Chairman.
Belarus clearly likes to thumb its nose at the UN Special Rapporteur!
Related articles
http://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/news/viasna-loses-its-office-in-minsk/
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ales Bialiatski, Belarus, belarusian authorities, Civil Rights Defenders, harassment, Human Rights Centre Viasna, Human rights defender, Lithuania, office premises, Poland
November 21, 2012
In various parts of the world human rights defenders brave legal harassment, arbitrary detention, ill treatment, torture and sometimes death, in seeking to secure freedom and dignity for all. In challenging serious abuses of State power, many such defenders find themselves behind bars;
FIDH works endlessly to secure the release of these (and other) human rights defenders, mainly through the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – its joint programme with OMCT.A recent summing up by FIDH of their (local affiliate) in
Bahrain,
Belarus,
Iran,
Turkey and
Uzbekistan makes sobering reading:
Check out the steps that led to their detention:
The Bahrain Centre or Human Rights is one the 2012 nominees of the Martin Ennals Award.
- In BELARUS :Ales Bialiatski, President of the Viasna Human Rights Centre and FIDH Vice President
Since his election in 1994, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, has installed an authoritarian regime that represses freedom of expression, assembly and association. The human rights situation in Belarus markedly deteriorated on 19 December 2010 when riot police brutally dispersed demonstrators protesting against the unfair handling of the presidential election. This event marked the beginning of an unprecedented wave of repression, which continues to this day. Prominent human rights defender, Ales Bialiatski was arrested in Minsk on 4 August 2011 and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on trumped up tax evasion charges. He remains in prison to this day.
- In IRAN :Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, founding member of Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) and human rights lawyer
Abdolfattah Soltani, founding member of DHRC and human rights lawyer
Mohammad Seifzadeh, member of the DHRC and human rights lawyer
Nasrin Sotoudeh, member of DHRC and prominent human rights lawyer known for defending juveniles facing death penalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and child victims of abuse; she is lso a 2012 MEA nominee
- In TURKEY :Muharrem Erbey, IHD Vice Chairperson and former Chairperson of Diyarbakır branch
Arslan Özdemir, Executive, IHD Diyarbakır branch
Şerif Süren, Executive, IHD Aydın branch
Orhan Çiçek, Executive, IHD Aydın branch
Reşit Teymur, Executive, IHD Siirt branch
Abdulkadir Çurğatay, Executive, IHD Mardin branch
Veysi Parıltı, Executive, IHD Mardin branch
Şaziye Önder, representative IHD Doğubeyazıt (Ağrı)
Mensur Işık, former Chairperson, IHD Muş branch
Hikmet Tapancı, Executive, IHD Malatya branch
Ali Tanrıverdi, Chairperson IHD Mersin branch
Osman İşçi, IHD General Headquarters (Ankara) former worker and member of IHD
Hanim Koçygit, Executive, IHD Sakarya branch
Bekir Gürbüz, former Chairperson, IHD Adıyaman branch
FIDH notes in this respect: Despite Turkey’s considerable human rights progress since 2000, those expressing ideas on “sensitive” human rights related issues continue to be targeted and criminalised by the public authorities. So-called “sensitive” questions include the promotion of alternative identities to the Turkish mainstream (e.g. asserting the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, especially Kurds, as well as the rights of sexual minorities). It also encompasses any criticism of the State and its institutions, including institutional functioning, judicial independence, and impunity for human rights violations. Members of NGOs, lawyers, trade unionists, journalists, intellectuals, academics, conscientious objectors, the families of victims of serious human rights violations, and others have been targeted by State policies that consider their expression of their views to be a threat. Fourteen members of the Human Rights Association (IHD), a Turkish FIDH member organisation, are currently being held in preventive detention under an anti-terrorism law that criminalises legitimate expression of opinion.
- In UZBEKISTAN :Zafar Rakhimov, member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) Kashkadarya regional branch
Nasim Isakov, member of the HRSU Djizak regional branch
Yuldosh Rasulov, member of the HRSU Kashkadarya regional branch
Azam Formonov, Head of the Sirdarya regional branch of the HRSU
Gaybullo Jalilov, member of the HRSU Karshi regional branch
Uzbekistan has the highest number of human rights defenders serving lengthy prison sentences in Eastern Europe/Central Asia. These sentences are usually served in penal colonies where the regime is extremely strict. Harsh conditions and ill treatment have caused the health of incarcerated defenders to deteriorate quickly. These inhumane and degrading conditions are currently the reality of several members of FIDH member organisation, the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan.
Posted in FIDH, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bahrain, Belarus, detention, FIDH, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, International Federation for Human Rights, Iran, MEA, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Turkey, Uzbekistan
October 18, 2012
The situation in Bahrain continues to deteriorate and judicial harassment goes on unabated:
On 16 October 2012, human rights defender and president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights Mohamed Al-Masktai has been summoned for interrogation at Al-Naem police station. On 17 Oct 2012 he was released. Human rights defender Mohamed Al-Masktai has been active in documenting and reporting the violations committed by the Bahraini authorities in recent months. In September 2012 he has been subjected to intimidation campaign as he received more than a dozen anonymous phone calls threatening his life and the safety of his family, which followed an oral intervention he delivered at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, during a panel discussion focused on intimidations and reprisals, where he informed the (HRC) about the massive intimidation campaign against him.
On 16 October 2012, human rights defender Nader Abdulemam was summoned for interrogation at the public prosecution office. At the time of writing this appeal (17 Oct) Nader Abdulemam has not appeared at the public prosecution office as yet.
In addition to her previous 13 plus lawsuits, activist and human rights defender Zainab Al-Khawaja was summoned again for a new case that includes the charge of “insulting a police officer”. The case goes back to 6 May 2012, however it has been activated just now and a trial was scheduled on 17 October 2012, but postponed to 2 November 2012 in order to summon Al-Khawaja. Al-Khawaja was recently released on 3 October 2012 after she spent two months imprisonment sentence on the charge of “ripping photo of king of Bahrain”. She is expecting verdicts on several cases in the coming weeks.
On 16 October 2012, the court refused to release leading human rights defender Nabeel Rajab; during a session of his appeal trial against 3 year imprisonment sentence which has he received on charges of “participating in illegal gatherings” and “calling for gatherings over social media”.
In addition, the court refused to provide assistance to allow foreigner witnesses to enter Bahrain and testify on behalf of Rajab. On 15 October 2012, Stephanie David, a representative from FIDH has been denied entry to Bahrain to testify for Rajab, as she was required to provide an authorization from the court.
Bahrain: Judicial crackdown continues on human rights defenders and activists.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, FIDH, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, independence, Nabeel Rajab
