On Wednesday June 25, it was announced that the “Ludovic Trarieux” human rights award was granted to Maheinour El-Massry, Egyptian lawyer and human rights defender. She currently serves two years in prison for violating the Protest Law. The defender was imprisoned under three consecutive presidents in Egypt: Mubarak, Mohamed Morsi and Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) expresses its pleasure and reiterates its demand to release Maheinour El-Massry along with all those who are being imprisoned under the notorious Protest Law. For more on the award see: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/award/ludovic-trarieux-international-human-rights-prize
Posts Tagged ‘Human rights defender’
Good NEWS: Ales Bialiatski – Belarus’ best-known human rights defender – freed from prison
June 22, 2014On 21 June 2014 it was reported by AP and others that prominent Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski was finally released from prison that day. The 51-year-old leader of the NGO Vyasna, was released 20 months ahead of schedule. Supporters greeted Bialiatski at a train station in the capital, Minsk, after he traveled from prison.”The international support and the support back home, this is what brought about my release,” Bialiatski told reporters, “I will continue to do what Ive been doing.” [6 people remain in prison for political activism, including former presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich]
for earlier posts on Ales Bialiatski: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/ales-bialiatski/
Tibetan Filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen Released from Prison Yesterday
June 6, 2014
On 5 June 2014 Dhondup Wangchen, the imprisoned Tibetan video-activist, was released from prison in Qinghai’s provincial capital Xining, China, after serving a six-year sentence. In a phone call to Gyaljong Tsetrin, cousin and president of Filming For Tibet, living in Switzerland, a very emotional Dhondup Wangchen said: “At this moment, I feel that everything inside me is in a sea of tears. I hope to recover my health soon. I would like to express my feeling of deepest gratitude for all the support I received while in prison and I want to be reunited with my family.”
Lhamo Tso, wife of the imprisoned filmmaker who was granted US asylum in 2012 and now lives in San Francisco, is overjoyed: “Six years of injustice and painful counting the days ended today. It is a day of unbelievable joy for his parents in Dharamsala, our children and myself. We look forward to be reunited as a family.”
Gyaljong Tsetrin, his cousin and co-producer of “Leaving Fear Behind”, said after talking him to: “Though Dhondup is still under the control of the Chinese authorities I am very relieved that he finally could leave prison and has now the possibility to consult a doctor.” The self-taught cameraman and video-activist travelled across Tibet with his assistant Golog Jigme in 2007/2008. His film “Leaving Fear Behind” (28 min.) has been translated into a dozen languages and has been screened in more than 30 countries worldwide. Golog Jigme recently just arrived in India after a spectacular escape from Tibet. Dhondup Wangchen has been given awards by various NGOs, such as Committee to Protect Journalists, for his courageous work making the documentary “Leaving Fear Behind” and his case was the focal point of many campaigns of international human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders. Government representatives around the world have brought up his case in their talks with their Chinese counterparts.
Critically Ill Human Rights Defender Abdurasul Khudoynazarov Freed in Uzbekistan
June 6, 2014A court in Uzbekistan ordered the release of a human rights defender on medical grounds on 31 May 2014. The Uzbek government should now meaningfully investigate credible allegations that Abdurasul Khudoynazarov was tortured and denied appropriate medical care in prison, and allow him to resume his human rights work.
via Uzbekistan: Critically Ill Activist Freed | Eurasia Review.
Update on case of MEA Laureate Mbonimpa in Burundi
May 29, 2014
reports that on 26 May 2014, the Bujumbura Court of First Instance refused a request for release due to unlawful arrest (Habeas Corpus) filed by human rights defender Mr Pierre Claver Mbonimpa in Burundi. Mbonimpa – Laureate of the MEA in 2007 – has been in detention since 16 May 2014 and is currently being held in the Central Prison of Mpimba. More information on Pierre Claver Mbonimpa’s case is available on http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/25956 and my previous post https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/alert-mea-laureate-2007-pierre-claver-mbonimpa-arrested-in-burundi/.
China continues harassment and reprisals against human rights defenders
May 29, 2014The Treaty Body that oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, composed of independent experts, recently completed its review of China‘s compliance. In its conclusions (called ‘Concluding Observations’), the UN committee expressed serious concern about ‘instances where labour and human rights activists, and their lawyers, have been victims of repression and reprisals while taking up cases of violations of economic, social and cultural rights’ and said that China is obliged under international law ‘to protect human rights and labour activists, as well as their lawyers, against any form of intimidation, threat and retaliation‘.
[The ISHR had briefed the treaty body experts on the case of Chinese human rights defender, Cao Shunli, on of the 3 Final Nominees of the MEA 2014, who died in detention after being denied access to adequate health care. In its briefing, ISHR also expressed concern at ongoing intimidation and reprisals against other human rights defenders, saying, ‘The Chinese Government again restricted human rights defenders from travelling to Geneva to attend this session, a pattern which is widespread. We call on the Committee to recommend that the government immediately cease its harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, and that it guarantee the right of everyone to safely access and communicate with international bodies, such as this Committee. Further, we request that the Committee remain vigilant about reprisals, and that it recommend that the Government investigate all cases of alleged reprisals, and hold perpetrators to account.’] [http://www.ishr.ch/news/china-un-committee-demands-respect-human-rights-activists-and-end-reprisals]
Two days earlier, 26 May, the NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported that Chinese authorities have detained a top rights lawyer and questioned dozens of activists and family members of victims of the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement after they held a seminar to mark the sensitive 25th anniversary.
Russian human rights defender Andrei Mironov meets his death in Ukraine
May 27, 2014
(Picture taken May 25 shows the domestic and foreign passports of Russian rights defender Andrei Mironov, reportedly killed near Ukrainian town of Slavyansk. AFP POOL-/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
“It’s hard for me to believe that Andrei Mironov is dead” writes Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs Reporter of the Toronto Star on 25 May 2014. Indeed a terrible shock. I met him for the first time in 2004 when he accompanied the MEA Laureate Lida Yusupova of Memorial to the ceremony in Geneva. According to an Agence France- Presse report from Slavyansk, Ukraine, the veteran Russian human rights defender and sometime war zone fixer, used up the last of his nine lives on Sunday. He was acting as a translator for Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli, who was also killed. According to a French photographer who escaped with leg wounds, the two men were hit by shrapnel from mortar shells as government troops and pro-Russian separatists continued to battle for territory in eastern Ukraine.
Olivia Ward describes Andrei as a “slight, self-effacing man of 60, with a puckish sense of humour, he belied his frail appearance with an iron will to do good in the world. In 1986, that got him a year in a Soviet labour camp as an “anti Soviet dissident” – a time he used to channel his talent for languages, including French and Italian. Nor did he let up on government abuses after the fall of the Soviet Union. As a human rights campaigner linked with the venerable rights organization Memorial , he snapped at the heels of Boris Yeltsin’s and Vladimir Putin’s governments, especially during the two bloody wars when Russian troops battled Chechen separatist fighters…..“You don’t understand,” he rasped. “I have to go and witness what is happening. If I don’t, who will?”
“Andrei dodged so many bullets in his decades of battling impunity that it is hard to believe he is gone. It would be harder still if the truth were buried along with him” concludes Olivia Ward, who covered the former Soviet Union as bureau chief and correspondent from 1992 to 2002. For the full story see: Death in Ukraine: bitter end for Russian human rights hero | Toronto Star.
Killing of human rights lawyer Rehman in Pakistan leads to low level response
May 17, 2014The 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.
The middle ages are back: 10 years prison & 1000 lashes for Saudi Human Rights Defender
May 8, 2014On 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/
Human rights defender Rashid Rehman killed in Pakistan
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 »
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 