The family of Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti has had no news of his whereabouts since he was arrested at his home in Beijing on January 15, 2014. Tohti is a leading academic and one of the most prominent commentators on basic rights issues affecting the Uyghur people. The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority—in a country that is 91.6% Han Chinese—that live primarily in the Xinjiang region of China and have been repressed by the government. The Chinese authorities raided Tohti’s home on January 15, arresting him and confiscating his computer. The public security bureau in the capital of Xinjiang released a statement accusing Tohti of inciting separatism, but refused to inform his family where he is being held.
In an opinion adopted on 20 November 2013, the United Nations UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention [WGAD] requested the release of Iranian human rights defenders Khosro Kordpour and Massoud Kordpour from arbitrary detention. The WGAD carried out its investigation pursuant to an appeal by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and informed the Observatory (an FIDH-OMCT joint program me) of its decision on 4 February, 2014.Read the rest of this entry »
Grammy award-winning Esperanza Spalding and Human Rights First bring a LIVE online broadcast of Spotlight on Guantanamo, a night of performance and discussion from Washington, DC’s historic Lincoln Theatre. In November 2013, Esperanza Spalding launched her new music video titled ”We Are America” to urge Congress to close Guantanamo responsibly. You can watch the live stream via the link below starting at 19h00 (Washington DC time) on Wednesday 29 January.
“Why do people turn to human rights defenders?” asks Vladimir Husainov in this video posted by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting [IPWR] on 27 January 2014. “Because they can at least do something, even though they have no official powers or authority.” Husainov is one of a handful of courageous human rights defenders in Uzbekistan. They investigate various kinds of abuses ranging from the routine practice of torture in detention to the use of child labour in the cotton fields. Read the rest of this entry »
[reposted as it seems that the link no longer worked – why? – Syrian secret service THAT sophisticated??]
After more than a month the abduction of 36-year-old human rights defender Ms. Razan Zaitouneh in Syria continues to go unsolved. She became part of the statistics herself that she was gathering inside Syria. Now part of ‘the missing’ inside her country Zaitouneh was joined in her abduction by her husband Nazem al-Hamadi, along with reform activist Ms. Sameera Alkhalil along with lawyer and poet Wael Hamada on December 9, 2013 in the Damascus suburb of Douma city. Just before she recorded this video message for the FIDH:
This is the full text of Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement to the Court on January 22, 2014, at the end of his trial in China. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about 10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, saying it was irrelevant to the case.” For historical reason the full text of his long statement (translated by a group of volunteers) “For Freedom, Justice and Love” follows below: Read the rest of this entry »
While all attention is focused on the political power struggle in Turkey, human rights defenders there continue to be harassed and detained. A glaring example is the case of Muharrem Erbey who is in pre-trial detention since 4 years. On 13 January 2014, the trial against Muharrem Erbey, the recipient of the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize for 2012, will resume. On 24 December 2009, Mr. Muharrem Erbey was arrested by the Anti-Terror Unit of the Diyarbakır Security Directorate as part of an operation launched simultaneously in 11 provinces in Turkey. His arrest and detention Read the rest of this entry »
Camilo Ganga – pseudonym of a journalist living in Havana – reported that independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation[CCDHRN] recorded 5,301 politically-motivated arrests in [the first 11 months of] 2013 in Cuba. A slight fall on 2012 !!! Read the rest of this entry »
While we were celebrating the New Year, Cambodian garment workers protesting for a rise in wages faced a violent police crackdown on 2 January 2014. Freedom Park in Phnom Penh was forcibly cleared by police and mass actions are now banned from the site. Violent crackdowns were instigated by Cambodian military when workers of the Yak Jin factory held a protest asking for a salary increase. Soldiers threatened protesters with “metal pipes, knives, AK47 rifles, slingshots and batons” and arrested 10 people, including monks and human rights defenders. On 3 January, protesters rallied at the Canadia industrial park and were met with live ammunition, teargas and grenades, leading to a violent clash that ended in 4 dead and 21 wounded. In all, 23 people have been arrested, their location unknown.
[Cambodia’s garment industry comprises 500,000 workers, a majority of whom are women from the rural areas. It provides products for western brands such as H&M, Adidas, GAP, and Walmart. Some of the factories are Korean-owned.]
A group of NGOs is organizing a Week of Action at international level. For more info write to apwld[at]apwld.org – a campaign kit will be available at apwld.org
Djibouti is not the best covered part of the world. Therefore I forward this case of Mohamed Chehem Gadito, brought to my attention by the Djibouti Observatory for the Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights [ODDH in its French abbreviation]. According to the ODDH this is a glaring example of the situation of human rights in Djibouti. The young activist was arrested at a meeting of the opposition on Friday 6 December 2013 and officially released 12 December by the Chamber of flagrante delicto, the court of first instance in Djibouti. Unfortunately, he was again arrested by the police at the threshold of the Gabode prison. Placed in illegal detention he was again presented to the court on 17 December which again ruled in favor of an immediate release. Unfortunately, Chehem Gadito was once again placed back into custody. Several members of his family who were waiting outside the Gabode prison were also arrested and forcibly shipped to Nagad, an administrative detention center intended for illegal aliens. Faced with this denial of justice, Chehem Gadito began a hunger strike. This case highlights the failure of the judiciary in its role as guardian of individual freedom and for ensuring compliance with this principle as provided by law.
Countries in the Horn of Africa: Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia
While we were celebrating the New Year, Cambodian garment workers protesting for a rise in wages faced a violent police crackdown on 2 January 2014. Freedom Park in Phnom Penh was forcibly cleared by police and mass actions are now banned from the site. Violent crackdowns were instigated by Cambodian military when workers of the Yak Jin factory held a protest asking for a salary increase. Soldiers threatened protesters with “metal pipes, knives, AK47 rifles, slingshots and batons” and arrested 10 people, including monks and human rights defenders. On 3 January, protesters rallied at the Canadia industrial park and were met with live ammunition, teargas and grenades, leading to a violent clash that ended in 4 dead and 21 wounded. In all, 23 people have been arrested, their location unknown.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 