The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Bangladesh, a member of the Law Commission, and several rights activists and academics said on Saturday 28 september that the state should not treat human rights defenders as its enemy. They also expressed concern over the use of several laws against human rights defenders Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Human rights defender’
Human rights defenders are not enemies of the state, says national conference in Dhaka
October 3, 2013In run-up to meeting with OSCE observers authorities of Nakhichevan threaten local human rights defenders with physical reprisal
October 2, 2013In the context of reprisals here is a report from Panorama concerning Azerbaijan, admittedly from an Armenian news source: Read the rest of this entry »
Kazakhstan: Court upholds psychiatric confinement of human rights lawyer Zinaida Mukhortova
October 1, 2013On 27 September 2013, Karaganda’s regional court of Karaganda confirmed the decision of the Balkhash Court to approve the forced psychiatric confinement of human rights defender and lawyer Zinaida Mukhortova on which this blog reported earlier. Read the rest of this entry »
Bahrain Court Sentences 50 Shia Muslims to Total 430 Years Imprisonment
September 30, 2013The Ahlul Bayt News Agency reports today that a court in Bahrain sentenced today political detainees, including activists and human rights defenders, to total of more than 400 years’ imprisonment and upheld the sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment against two children. All of the sentences were delivered under the internationally criticized and vague terrorism law. The court also reduced the sentences of two police officers who tortured a detainee to death from 10 years’, to 2 years’ imprisonment. On 29 of September 2013, the court held the ruling session in the case known as “February 14th Coalition”, in which 50 individuals were tried under the terrorism law, including human rights defender Naji Fateel, political activist Hisham Al-Sabbag and activist Rihanna Al-Mosawi. In first session when defendants spoke about the torture they were subjected to, but were ignored by the court. On the 5th of September, the legal defense team submitted a letter requesting a change of court due to the conflict of interest, and requested a medical committee to investigate the torture allegations from the defendants. The defense team then withdrew from the session based on Article 211 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Bahrain, which stated that the defense team can refuse the judges ruling in the cases mentioned in the previous article and in other cases which are prescribed by the law. Moreover, the defendants issued a statement boycotting the trial stating that the lack of an independent judiciary as one of the reasons. On the 29 September 2013, the court continued the trial and sentenced the 50 defendants in the case to a total of 430 years in prison: 16 defendants were sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment including Naji Fateel and political activist Hisham Al-Sabbag, 4 were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 30 to 5 years. The BCHRs Acting President Maryam Al-Khawaja stated: “There was no due process in the entirety of this case which is why the defendants and their lawyers decided to boycott. From the time that the defendants were abducted, tortured and then sentences, nothing was done according to international standards of a fair trial. If these fifty people were really guilty of a crime, why was the only evidence presented confessions extracted under torture? This was a sham trial with a political verdict, they should be released immediately”.
via Bahrain Court Sentences 50 Shia Muslims to Total 430 Years Imprisonment / Names.
Natalia bracelet starts being used by human rights defenders in Belgrade
September 27, 2013
(Kristi Pinderi, LGBT activist from Albania, with Natalia Bracelet)
Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders announced today, 27 September 2013, that Kristi Pinderi, LGBT activist from Albania, will be one of the first human rights defenders to be included in the Natalia Project security system. His bracelet is activated just in time Read the rest of this entry »
Trial of Vietnamese human rights defender Le Quoc Quan set for 2 October
September 27, 2013In five days from now, on 2 October 2013, the People’s Court in Hanoi, Viet Nam, will hear the case of human rights defender Le Quoc Quan, who has been held in detention since 27 December 2012 and whose trial was postponed on 8 July 2013. Le Quoc Quan is a prominent lawyer, blogger and human rights defender. He has a long history of being targeted by the Vietnamese authorities in retaliation for his work. As a lawyer, he represented many victims of human rights violations, but was disbarred in 2007 on suspicion of engaging in “activities to overthrow the regime”. Le Quoc Quan also runs a blog http://lequocquan.blogspot.ie/ where he writes about various issues including civil rights, political pluralism and religious freedom. On 27 December 2012, Le Quoc Quan was arrested on trumped up allegations of tax evasion, was held incommunicado for the first two months and spent fifteen days on hunger strike. Currently the human rights defender remains imprisoned awaiting trial.
More information, please see update from 12 July 2013 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23255
“Fabricated” charges like trafficking and sexual harassment used to silence Uzbek Human Rights Defenders
September 26, 2013In what could possibly put trafficking campaigners and human rights organisations on a collision course, the Uzbekistan authorities have recourse to trafficking and sexual harassment charges to put human rights defenders behind bars. Read the rest of this entry »
Vasil Parfiankou sent for forced treatment in Belarus
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 »
Follow on YouTube very interesting debate on Syria and media organised by International Alert
September 20, 2013While not directly dealing with Human Rights Defenders, I want to share with you this fascinating debate organised by International Alert.
As Syria stays in the news, Read the rest of this entry »
Whistle-blowers and HRDs serve democratic principles says U.N. expert
September 19, 2013On 11 September, 2013 UPI in Geneva carried an interesting but surprisingly-little-noticed item under the title “U.N. expert says whistle-blowers serve democratic principles“: Human rights defenders and whistle-blowers need protection in order to ensure democratic and international order, a rights envoy said from Geneva. Alfred de Zayas, U.N. special envoy in equitable order, told the U.N. Human Rights Council access to “truthful and reliable” information from diverse sources is essential for people to play an effective role in public affairs. German protesters gathered last weekend for an event dubbed “Freedom Not Fear.” Tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out in Berlin to rally against the U.S. National Security Agency and Britains signals intelligence program gathering of databases of peoples email, online chat and Internet browsing histories without prior court authorization. “I am dismayed that notwithstanding lip service to democracy, too many governments seem to forget that in a democracy, it is the people who are sovereign,” de Zayas said in his prepared remarks Wednesday. NSA contractor Edward Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Moscow. He faces charges in the United States, including two espionage-related counts, for leaking information about a surveillance program dubbed Prism. De Zayas said human rights defenders and whistle-blowers deserve “specific protection” from prosecution. “[They] have in some contexts been accused of being unpatriotic, whereas they perform, in reality, a democratic service to their countries and to the enjoyment of human rights of their compatriots,” he said.
via U.N. expert says whistle-blowers serve democratic principles – UPI.com.
As asked in another blog : Are whistle blowers heroes or villains? : “Private Chelsea nee Bradley Manning, Julian Assange. Edward Snowden. They have all claimed that their actions are for the public good. The Establishment says that they are all a risk to national security. That brings up the thorny issue of Free speech v security. Were lives put at risk because of the leaks? If so, is that a price worth paying? Are they moral crusaders? Or are they recklessly endangering national security? Should we even conflate whistle blowing with security? Was national security ever really at risk? Or is that a cop-out from our leaders because they are embarrassed about what is being leaked? Then we have to ask the question – is there a difference between a corporate whistle-blower and one that works for the government? If so, why? Whistle blowers. Good or Bad? Heroes or Villains?”
Related articles
- Walking on eggshells | Are whistle-blowers heroes or heels? (tribune-democrat.com)
- Whistle-blowers need protection, U.N envoy says (upi.com)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 