Posts Tagged ‘illegal detention’
September 20, 2014
Bahraini human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja (R), sister of jailed activist Maryam al-Khawaja, lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi (2-R) and Zainab’s husband Wafi al-Majed (2-L), near the Bahrain court building in Manama on September 6, 2014
AFP reports from Dubai that Bahraini human rights defender Maryam al-Khawaja is to stand trial from October 1 charged with assaulting a police officer. Her lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told AFP the prosecutor general had also decided to extend her custody pending the trial. A conviction could carry a five-year prison sentence, he said. Khawaja, a director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights who also has Danish nationality, was arrested after arriving at Manama airport on August 30.
via Bahrain sets October 1 trial date for key activist – Yahoo News.
for previous posts: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/maryam-al-khawaja/
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AFP, Al-Khawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Denmark, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, illegal detention, Maryam Al-Khawaja, Mohammed al-Jish, Trial, Zainab Al-Khawaja
September 12, 2014
reports that on 9 September 2014, the Specialised Criminal Court reduced [SIC and sick] the sentence of human rights defender Mr Fadel Al-Manasef after it was reconsidered by the Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal. The human rights defender was originally sentenced (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/25761) to 15 years’ imprisonment and a subsequent 15-year travel ban, as well as a fine of approximately €20,000). The Court reduced the sentence to 14 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by a 14 years travel ban, while maintaining the initial fine. Hard not to be cynical.
[Fadel Al-Manasef is a writer and blogger, and a founding member of Al Adalah Center for Human Rights, a Saudi Arabian NGO that documents and monitors human rights violations and provides support to victims of human rights abuses. He has been in detention since his arrest on 2 October 2011. – https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/fadel-al-manasef/]
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: blogger, Fadel Al-Manasef, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Human rights defender, illegal detention, jail, repression, Saudi Arabia
September 8, 2014
On 6 September 2014, the Foreign Ministry of Qatar finally confirmed the arrest and detention of Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev, who were at first feared disappeared: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/human-rights-investigators-in-qatar-being-followed-by-the-police-here-looks-like-they-will-give-me-troubles-now/
[Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev are British citizens working to investigate the conditions of migrant labourers who are constructing facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.]
Posted in films, Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2022 World Cup, disappearance, film, Front Line, Ghimire Gundev, illegal detention, Krishna Upadhyaya, labour rights, monitoring, Nepal, Qatar, UK
September 6, 2014
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | Leave a Comment »
Tags: APRODH, Bahrain, Burundi, Gulf Center for Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation, illegal detention, Maryam Al-Khawaja, MEA Laureate, Oslo Freedom Forum, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Pierre-Clavier Mbonimpa
September 1, 2014
today (1 September 2014) expressed fears for leading human rights defender Maryam Al Khawaja, who landed at Bahrain airport last night on a visit home and has been held by Bahraini authorities. Reports state that al Khawaja, a Danish citizen, was immediately detained and will be held at the airport until tomorrow. “Bahrain is consistently revealing itself as a place where voices on human rights are not welcome,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “In the last two months, a U.S. diplomat, a member of Congress, and the NGO Human Rights First have either been kicked out of or not allowed into the country. Now Maryam has been taken into custody and will appear in court tomorrow after trying to visit her family, including her father who is on hunger strike in prison there. Lets hope the United States, United Kingdom, and other governments will respond to whats happening to her with more than just an awkward silence.”
For more information please contact Brenda Bowser Soder at bowsersoderb[at]humanrightsfirst.org.
via Leading Bahrain Human Rights Defender Stopped at Airport, May Appear in Court Tomorrow | Human Rights First.
Posted in HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, access, Bahrain, Bahrain airport, Brian Dooley, Denmark, HRF, Human Rights First, illegal detention, Maryam Al-Khawaja, USA, woman human rights defender
August 21, 2014
The family of MEA 2013 Final Nominee, Mona Seif, continues to be under the greatest strain in Egypt. Front Line Defenders reports that on 18 August 2014, her brother, human rights defender Mr Alaa Abd El Fattah, began a hunger strike to protest his detention [http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/AlaaAbdElFattah] and said that he will remain on hunger strike until he is released. Her sister human rights defender Ms Sanaa Seif also continues to be imprisoned. [https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/26336]. Her father, human rights defender Ahmed Seif El-Islam is in the Intensive Care Unit of Qasr el-Eini hospital. Her family had tried several times to visit the father, but in vain.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Seif Al Islam, Ahmed Seif El-Islam, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Egypt, family, freedom of expression, freedom to demonstrate, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Hunger strike, illegal detention, MEA final nominee 2013, Mona Seif, prison, repression, Sanaa Seif, woman human rights defender
August 20, 2014
Yesterday,19 August 2014, three United Nations human rights experts [The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom or opinion and expression, David Kaye] alsoy condemned the growing tendency to prosecute prominent human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, and urged the Government “to show leadership and reverse the trend of repression, criminalization and prosecution of human rights work in the country.” Yesterday I referred to the UN expert group on business and human rights (currently in the country, see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/un-expert-group-on-business-and-human-rights-on-timely-visit-to-azerbaijan/) and reports of several major NGOs (see my post of yesterday: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/azerbaijan-a-hot-summer-in-summary/)
The UN experts highlighted the specific cases of Leyla Yunus, director of the Azerbaijani Institute of Peace and Democracy; Arif Yunus, head of Conflict Studies in the Institute of Peace and Democracy; Rasul Jafarov, coordinator of Art of Democracy and head of Human Rights Club; and Intigam Aliyev, chair of Legal Education Society. “Azerbaijan’s recent membership of the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations does not square well with the authorities’ actions directed at stifling freedoms on the ground,” the UN rights experts noted.
UN experts call on the Government of Azerbaijan | Scoop News.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Azerbaijan, civil society organisations, David Kaye, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Intigam Aliyev, Leyla Yunus, Maina Kiai, Michel Forst, Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Rasul Jafarov, Special Rapporteur, special rapporteurs, UN, UN Human Rights Council, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
August 18, 2014
On 17 August 2014 Nabeel Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (the MEA Final Nominee of 2012), posted a strong piece in the Huffington Post which contains an impressive stand on why he takes the risks he does as well as a scathing attack on the western governments, especially those of the UK, for putting (arms) business before human rights consideration.
Nabeel Rajab, Final Nominee MEA 2012
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 2 Comments »
Tags: arms sales, Bahrain, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, diplomatic pressure, Huffington Post, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, MEA final nominee 2012, Middle East, Nabeel Rajab, UK, USA
July 9, 2014
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 »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
Tags: fair trial, FIDH, human rights lawyer, illegal detention, judicial harassment, Kurdish cause, minority rights, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Pınar Selek, retrial, torture, Turkey, woman human rights defender
June 24, 2014
reports that 0n 23 June 2014, the Public Prosecutor in Egypt ordered that the detention of human rights defenders Ms Yara Sallam and Ms Sanaa Seif be extended by four days. The day before, the human rights defenders were accused of breaching the ‘Protests Law’ by demonstrating without a permit, committing acts of violence, possession of inflammable material and Molotov cocktails, blocking a road, sabotaging public and private property, and belonging to the banned group ‘April 6’. The human rights defenders were among 24 persons arrested on 21 June 2014 during a demonstration against the ‘Protests Law’.
Yara Sallam is a human rights researcher who currently works with the NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). She is also the winner of the African Shield Human Rights Defenders in 2013. Sanaa Seif is a student who has participated in previous protests in the defence of human rights. The human rights defender was arbitrarily detained during Magles El Wuzara events on 16 December 2011, and was released on the same day. Sanaa Seif is also the sister of human rights defender Mr Alaa Abd El Fattah, who was sentenced in absentia on 11 June 2014 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/26164 and of Mona Seif, MEA Nominee of 2013 (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/egyptian-hrd-and-mea-nominee-mona-seif-under-attack/)
Twenty-three of the individuals arrested at the protest have had their detention extended by four days and one was released on bail. A decision on whether to charge the human rights defenders is expected shortly. The human rights defenders’ lawyer, Mr Mohamed Khedr, has highlighted inconsistencies in the testimonies of witnesses for the prosecution, as well as within the police’s own statements. In particular, the police secretary accused the protesters of damaging a police vehicle at 9:30pm on 21 June 2014, despite the demonstrators having been arrested at 5:30pm that day outside a kiosk when they were not present at the protest, and a police report having been filed against them at 9:30pm. The police found no inflammable objects within the possession of the demonstrators.
The human rights defenders are two of several Egyptian human rights defenders, such as Maheinour Al Masry <http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/25996> , who have been targeted through the ‘Protests Law’ (Law no 107 of 2013 on the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations). The law was approved on 24 November 2013 by interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour and has been condemned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai.
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Alaa Abd El Fattah, arrest, Egypt, freedom to demonstrate, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, Maheinour Al Masry, MEA final nominee 2013, Mona Seif, protests law, Sanaa Seif, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Yara Sallam
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 