Posts Tagged ‘Islam’
April 19, 2015
Alison Des Forges (1942-2009) was a well-known human rights defender and one of the world’s leading experts on the Rwandan genocide. She was senior adviser of Human Rights Watch at the time of her death in the crash of Continental flight 3407. HRW named its human rights award after her [
see: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/alison-des-forges-award-extraordinary-activism]. Now the
Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee in her native Buffalo (NY) is organizing three events in Buffalo on 23 and 24 April 2015 with as focus “
Islam, Islamism, and Human Rights in Africa”:
- An international symposium on April 23 featuring talks by university researchers and representatives of human rights organizations working in Africa. This event is free and open to the public.
- A scholarship dinner and discussion on April 23. [reservation is required, and tickets are $100 per person. Proceeds go to the Alison Des Forges Memorial Scholarships]
- A community roundtable on April 24, where university researchers will reflect on the previous day’s symposium topics: “The Interplay of Politics, Religion, Terrorism, Modernity and Human Rights”.
“In an effort to address issues of intense public concern, these events will explore in depth the recent rise of violent extremist groups in Africa,” said Dussourd, co-chair of the Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee. “In so doing, we will go beyond sensational media headlines to the historical roots of this phenomenon as we examine groups such as Boko Haram, Seleka and Al-Shabaab.”
For information about the events contact Ellen Dussourd dussourd@buffalo.edu)
Events in memory of Alison Des Forges will focus on Islam and human rights in Africa – University at Buffalo.
Posted in awards, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Africa, african region, Alison Des Forges, Boko Haram, Buffalo, Ellen Dussourd, event, HRW, human rights award, Islam, Islamism, Rwanda, symposium, university, woman human rights defender
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
December 5, 2013
Civil Rights Defenders strongly condemns the death threats directed towards Aida Corovic, a leading human rights defender in Sandzak, Serbia, and requests a quick and firm response from the authorities. “We have seen too much tolerance towards radical and extremist groups who use violence and threats”, says Goran Miletic, Programme Director for the Western Balkans of the Stockholm-based NGO. Aida Corovic is head of the organisation Urban–In from Novi Pazar. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Aida Corovic, Balkan, Boban Stojanovic, Bosniak, Civil Rights Defenders, death threats, freedom of expression, Islam, islamic fundamentalists, Montenegro, Novi Pazar, Sandzak, Serbia
November 18, 2013
An interesting example of how human rights defenders should tackle the pernicious issue of islamic opposition to human rights progress comes from Malaysia:
According to Bar Council member Andrew Khoo, Muslim-majority countries were among those which have asked Malaysia to obey international human rights standards in the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) last month. “These are not Western, European-centric recommendations… For anyone to attempt to say this is a Western agenda, sorry you’re barking up the wrong tree,” said Khoo, who is the co-chairman of the Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Andrew Khoo, bar association, Comango, Human right, human rights law, human rights lawyers, international human rights treaties, Islam, islamic fundamentalists, Malaysia, Nalini, Non-governmental organization, ratification, Suaram, The Malay Mail Online, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
July 30, 2013
Global Voices reports today that Free Saudi Liberals website founder Raif Badawi was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. Badawi was arrested on 17 June, 2012 in Jeddah and was charged with “setting up a website that undermines general security” and ridiculing Islamic religious figures. The Free Saudi Liberals website was an online forum for public discussions. It was shut following Badawi’s arrest, and it had been blocked within the country for years. In todays sentence, the judge also ordered the permanent shutdown of the website. On December 17, 2012, the case was referred to a higher court, the General Court in Jeddah, after he had been charged with apostasy, which carries the death penalty. Badawi was asked by the judge to abandon his views, but he refused. Amnesty International has considered him “a prisoner of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression” and demanded his immediate, unconditional release.
via Saudi Website Founder to be Imprisoned, Lashed · Global Voices.
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Badawi, Capital punishment, corporal punishment, Human rights defender, Islam, Jeddah, prison sentence, Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia, twitter, website
