Posts Tagged ‘Human rights defender’
May 17, 2014
The recent killing of the lawyer Rashid Rehman (or Rahman) in a case of blasphemy in Pakistan has created a lot of media attention. This report from the local newspaper The News International of 17 May throws an interesting light on the follow up within the police and alleges that two lower level policemen have been made the scapegoats:
“Police bosses have held their subordinates responsible for their incompetence and negligence in the murder of human rights activist Rashid Rahman. The Multan CPO has transferred Chyllyak SHO Ghulam Abbas and Shah Shamas SHO Akbar Kamboh for their negligence in providing security to Rashid Rahman. On the other hand, a senior police official has contradicted receiving any sort of application from Rashid Rahman for security protection. The official said the government could not provide security to each citizen on demand. The government only provides security to the accused and complainant in all cases, including in blasphemy cases, instead of providing security to counsels. Rashid Rehman was gunned down in his chamber on May 7 evening just a month after he had been threatened by the prosecution during a court hearing. No progress could be made on his murder after eight days of the high profile assassination, which had been condemned across the world. The UN and the US have urged the government to ensure the arrest of killers. Sources in the CPO office disclosed that the route of providing security shelter passed through the SSP Operations. “When someone seeks security, he submits his request to the CPO office who forwards it to the SSP Operation for looking into the matter whether the applicant is deserved for security or not,” they added. They said the HRCP Task Force had informed the Multan CPO office on receiving life threats. The CPO office directed Cantonment SP Mehmoodul Hassan to ensure security to Rashid Rehman. The SP asked Shah Shamas SHO Akram Kamboh to ensure security in jail while Chyllyak SHO Ghulam Abbas was directed to ensure security in his chamber at District Courts. They said that both the SHOs had been suspended in this regard. On the other hand, the Punjab IGP office had directed the Multan CPO to ensure security for Rashid Rahman at any cost on the report submitted by Punjab Special Branch on April 21. However, the CPO office did not comply with the IGP office order and assigned a task to SSP Operation to provide security to rights activist. The sources said that the senior officers had suspended two SHOs to save their skin. CPO Sultan Ahmed Chaudhry was repeatedly contacted on Friday, but his gunman Abdur Razaaq promised every time to ring back, but to no avail. Multan SSP Operations Shaukat Abbas, however, denied that the application was sent to the police by the slain for security. “The government does not provide security to everyone in blasphemy cases. The government only provides security to the complainant and the accused,” he said. The government cannot provide security to the defence counsel even in blasphemy cases, he added. Meanwhile, human rights activists criticised the police for adopting dual standards. The police did not provide security to Rashid Rahman despite his application, but security was provided to a Muhammad Latif Ansar Sial alias Prof Lajpal. He is not an academician but always shows himself as professor. Lajpal had contested in all general elections or local bodies held in the past. He participated in the 2013 elections from NA-151 and PP-198, securing only 59 and 9 votes as an independent candidate. He contested the 2008 elections from NA-151 and secured 183 votes. Rights activists observed police were not taking one of the valuable assassinations seriously and using delaying tactics. The United Nations declared it a cold-blooded murder and strongly condemned it on May 9, right after the second assassination. They urged the government to ensure prompt investigation into the matter so that lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists could work without any fear. The spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville in Geneva said the murder of Rashid Rahman had “brought into stark focus the climate of intimidation and threats that permeates the work of human rights defenders and journalists in the country.“ The UN had urged the government last month to investigate the threats and ensure security for Rehman. “We condemn the killing of Rehman and urge the government to ensure a prompt investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the UN spokesman said.
via MULTAN City News – thenews.com.pk.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: blasphemy, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, impuntiy, Independence of Lawyers, killing, lawlessness, lawyer, Pakistan, Police, protection, Rashid Rahman, Rashid Rehman
May 8, 2014
On 7 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Raif Badawi was sentenced by a Jeddah Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia to 10 years in prison, 1000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals. The human rights defender is a co-founder of the “Free Saudi Liberals” website and was convicted of “insulting Islam”. As Raif Badawi’s page https://frontlinedefenders.org/RaifBadawi on Front Line Defenders explains, the human rights defender was originally sentenced to “ONLY” seven years’ imprisonment and 600 lashes. See also last year’s post: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/saudi-website-founder-to-be-imprisoned-and-lashed-·-global-voices/
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: corporal punishment, Free Saudi Liberals, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Global Voices, Human rights defender, illtreatment, Islam, lashes, Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia, website
May 8, 2014
reports that yesterday, 7 May 2014, human rights defender Mr Rashid Rehman was shot and killed in an attack on his office in Kutchery Square, Multan, Pakistan. Two other people were injured in the shooting, which was carried out by two unknown men. Rashid Rehman was a human rights lawyer and a coordinator of the Punjab office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Multan. The human rights defender advocated against the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and, since February 2014, had been working on the case of Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University who is accused of blasphemy. It is reported that no lawyer was willing to take the case for a year because of fear of reprisals from extremist religious groups. The human rights defender was shot several times and pronounced dead on arrival at Nishtar Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: blasphemy, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, in memoriam, Junaid Hafeez, killing, Pakistan, Punjab, Rashid Rehman, threats
April 23, 2014
On 21 April 2014, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network announced the loss of its founding member, Osman Hummaida. Mr Hummaida, who died of natural causes on Thursday 17th April 2014, was a leading Sudanese human rights defender and an inspiration to countless activists in the international and African human rights community. He advocated for human rights in Sudan, challenging the impunity of those responsible for atrocities carried out against civilians. Forced to leave Sudan, having been detained and tortured on account of his work, Mr Hummaida founded the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies in exile. The Centre’s success and strength in documenting and reporting ongoing human rights violations in the country and advocating for justice is a living testament to Mr Hummaida’s vision and determination.
via Human Rights Defenders Mourn the Loss of Osman Hummaida – East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.
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Tags: Africa, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, death, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, exile, human rights, Human rights defender, impunity, in memoriam, Osman Hummaida, Sudan
April 7, 2014
describes a classical but fearsome case of intimidation of a human rights defender, Nasrullah Baloch, who is assisting the Supreme Court in Pakistan with cases of disappearances.
Nasrullah Baloch is the Chairperson of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) and has come to prominence for his work on cases of missing persons and extrajudicial killings. The human rights defender is also assisting the Supreme Court in the context of an investigation into mass graves in Balochistan. Nasrullah Baloch took part in the Supreme Court hearings concerning a number of disappeared persons on 25 March 2014. He also met with the head of the Norwegian Mission to discuss the cases. The hearings were attended by officers of the military and intelligence, who observed the exchange with the Norwegian diplomat Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Baloch, death threats, disappearances, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, intimidation, missing persons, Nasrullah Baloch, Norway, Pakistan, police intimidation, security forces, Supreme Court, the Supreme Court
April 2, 2014
On 26 March 2014, the family of human rights defender Mr Maen Al-Ghoneimi was informed by the Damascus Military Police in Syria that he had died in detention two months earlier, on 14 January 2014. The police declared that he died of heart failure and delivered to the family the personal possessions of the human rights defender, but refused to disclose where he had been buried. Maen Al-Ghoneimi was a human rights lawyer and a member of the lawyers’ syndicate in Damascus. The human rights defender was an active participant in lawyers’ peaceful protests and sit-ins and provided legal aid to internally displaced people in Syria. Maen Al-Ghoneimi was arrested on 20 May 2013, and was then kept incommunicado until news of his death emerged. No charges had been brought against him. The family stated that he was in good health at the time of the arrest, and therefore believes that he may have been tortured or have become ill and denied medical treatment while in detention.
Front Line Defenders rightly demands a thorough, impartial and immediate investigation into the deaths of detained human rights defenders, including also Ayham Mostafa Ghazzoul https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21602
Sadly, this fits too well with the special campaign I mentioned on 16 March https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/the-silenced-voices-of-syria-special-campaign-aimed-at-human-rights-defenders/
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: arbitrary arrest, Ayham Mostafa Ghazzoul, Damascus Military Police, death, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, illegal detention, lawyer, Maen Al-Ghoneimi, Silenced Voices of Syria, Syria, torture
March 27, 2014
According to ucanews.com of 26 March 2014, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a human rights defender, whose name had appeared on a military hit list, in the northern Philippine province of Ifugao on Tuesday. Cristina Palabay, secretary general of human rights group Karapatan identified the victim as William Bugatti of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance. She said that Bugatti’s name had appeared on an army list of targeted persons, obtained from undisclosed sources, which included activists and individuals working with farmers’ organizations. Bugatti was described on the list as the “brains” of the New Peoples Army” the military arm of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines. According to Piya Macliing Malayao of the Alliance of Indigenous People of the Philippines, Bugatti was on his way home from the office when he was gunned down. He sustained three gunshot wounds. Malayao said other members of human rights groups in the Cordillera region have also become targets of the military. “Bugatti’s killing sends a gravely disturbing message to members of peoples organizations and human rights defenders in the region,” she said. Last week, Malayao raised concerns about posters that appeared in Ifugao province, bearing the names of tribal leaders and human rights activists who have been tagged as communist rebels. “We now fear for the lives of the others listed on the military’s target catalog,” she said, adding that the list “proves that there are precision strikes being made on unarmed civilians” under the governments anti-insurgency program. Malayao said that during the first 10 weeks of 2014 alone, four indigenous people were killed by government security forces.
via Another activist shot dead in Philippines ucanews.com.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, death squads, death threats, environmental issues, Extrajudicial killing, human rights activists, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights groups, Ifugao, indigenous groups, Karapatan (NGO), Philippine, Philippine Army, Piya Macliing Malayao, security forces, tribal leaders, William Bugatti
March 25, 2014
reports that on 22 March 2014, human rights defender and director of Radio Free Iraq, Mr Mohammed Bedaiwi, was shot dead, allegedly by an officer of the Presidential Regiment, in Baghdad. Mohamed Bedaiwi was a professor at the University and, for the past two years, the director of the Baghdad office of Radio Free Iraq. The station broadcasts from Prague. Mohammed Bedaiwi was stopped at a checkpoint on his way to work. An argument began between an officer and the human rights defender, and other officers reportedly began to beat Mohammed Bedaiwi. The incident culminated in the killing of the human rights defender. Reports indicate that the officer has been arrested but his identity has not been disclosed, leading to fears that the case may end in impunity. Mohammed Bedaiwi was very well-known and local sources consider it unlikely that the officers did not recognise him. On 23 March 2014 over 40 media institutions, including newspapers, radio stations and satellite TV channels, refrained from publishing or broadcasting in protest at the killing of Mohammed Bedaiwi. There have also been vigils and marches around the Iraqi capital in honour of the human rights defender. The press syndicate has expressed its concern about the killing of a journalist by an armed officer of the Presidential Guard.
[Since 2003 approximately 274 media professionals have been killed in Iraq; in the last four months alone, 11 journalists have been killed]
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Tags: baghdad, Extrajudicial killing, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, Iraq, Journalist, killing, media professionals, military, Mohammed Bedaiwi, police beatings, Radio Free Iraq
March 25, 2014
On 20 March 2014, human rights defender Mohamed Salah Mohamed was forcibly disappeared at Khartoum International Airport as he was traveling to a workshop in Tunisia. His family have not been provided with any information to his whereabouts.
Mohamed Salah Mohamed is actively involved in the mobilisation of Sudanese citizens to demand human rights and democracy. The human rights defender had attended the funeral of Ali Akabar, a student protester who was killed during a demonstration on 11 March 2014. During the memorial he had given a speech in which he named National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) officials who he claimed were directly responsible for the killing. According to sources, this is very likely to be the reason for his disappearance.
On 20 March 2014, Mohamed Salah Mohamed, for reasons of security, was accompanied by family and friends to the departures hall of Khartoum International Airport. They left the airport after receiving a message from his phone stating that he had boarded the aircraft. However, other individuals on the same flight later informed them that the human rights defender never boarded the plane. Later, the airline confirmed that he had never checked in. After spending four hours seeking information as to his whereabouts, Mohamed Salah Mohamed’s family were informed by an unofficial source that he had been arrested before he checked in. According to the source, he was kept at the airport for some time and was then taken to an unknown location.
On the morning of 21 March 2014, members of Mohamed Salah Mohamed’s family went to NISS headquarters in Khartoum to deliver clothes and personal items to the human rights defender, however they were told by a source in the political section that he was not in their custody and that they should “look for him elsewhere”. They were further advised to search in other NISS centres in Khartoum to obtain information regarding the human rights defender’s whereabouts.
Since the events of 11 March 2014, Mohamed Salah Mohamed’s family home in Khartoum has been monitored, with at least ten security guards spending the night in front of the house every night. On 15 March, the human rights defender’s brother was kidnapped by plain-clothed NISS agents metres from their home. The agents took him to a deserted location of the Alshagara neighbourhood in Khartoum, and there assaulted and robbed him. He was told that this was a message for his brother, Mohamed Salah Mohamed, and that both brothers “should be careful from the consequences of their actions” [sic].
via
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Forced disappearance, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Khartoum International Airport, Mohamed Salah Mohamed, Sudan
March 24, 2014
In Foreign Policy magazine of 19 March, Alex Gladstein has written a very complete and moving story about the great Cameroonian musician, political prisoner and human rights defender, Lapiro de Mbanga. He died of cancer this past Sunday, 16 March 2014, in Buffalo, New York. Known as “Ndinga Man” to millions of Cameroonians, Lapiro escaped President Paul Biya’s regime in 2012, after three years of political imprisonment. He received asylum in the United States.
Mourning a Musical Dissident.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alex Gladstein, Cameroon, death, Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy magazine, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, in memoriam, Lapiro, Lapiro de Mbanga, music, Ndinga Man, New York, Paul Biya, political prisoner, Refugee
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 