Posts Tagged ‘Karim Lahidji’
April 4, 2019
“It’s an Insult:” says human right defender Karim Lahiji about Iran’s new Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi. His predecessor Sadegh Larijani was already a serious problem but this seems worse. [see e.g.: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2014/02/02/larijani-brothers-iran-attack-un-rapporteur-and-human-rights-defenders/].
The appointment by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of a known human rights violator to head the country’s judiciary is a prelude to dark days ahead for human and civil rights defenders, Iranian attorney Abdolkarim Lahiji told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
In a wide-ranging interview, Lahiji, who for decades worked as a prominent attorney and human rights activist in Iran until going into exile in France, discussed the events leading up to Raisi’s appointment to chief justice in early March 2019. Before his appointment, Raisi, 58, held top positions in the country’s judiciary, including Tehran prosecutor and chief prosecutor for the clergy, as well as membership in the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council. In 1988, Raisi served on Iran’s so-called “death commissions,” which were set up shortly after the end of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) by order of then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who wanted to crush opposition to the state.
Many of the prisoners executed after being interviewed by the inquisition-like commissions set up around the country were supporters of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh (MEK), but communists, members of the Fadaian-e Khalgh and other opposition groups were targeted as well. The estimated 4,000-5,000 prisoners—actual numbers could be higher—who were secretly killed in prisons throughout the country and dumped in mass graves had already been issued prison sentences before they were suddenly sent to the gallows.
Raisi now takes the reigns of the judiciary from Sadegh Larijani, who was chief justice of Iran from August 2009 until March 2019. At least 15 political prisoners died in state custody under Larijani’s watch. All of the cases were closed without fair and unbiased investigations and no one in the judiciary was ever held accountable for these deaths.
Lahiji, who defended political prisoners during Larijani’s rule, discussed what lies ahead for human rights defenders under Raisi. For excerpts of the interview follow the link below:
https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2019/04/its-an-insult-human-rights-attorney-condemns-irans-new-judiciary-chief-ebrahim-raisi/
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Chief Justice, independence of the judiciary, Iran, Karim Lahidji, Sadegh Larijani
January 28, 2016
Five years ago, human rights defender Ahmed Abdullah was among thousands of Egyptians who took to the streets for 18 days of mass protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, eventually forcing then-President Hosni Mubarak to step down and the security forces to retreat. Today, Ahmed is on the run. He dodged arrest by the thinnest of margins on January 9, after plainclothes police in Cairo raided his regular coffee shop. The NGO which he chairs, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, had recently exposed a surge in enforced disappearances, which has seen hundreds vanish at the hands of state security forces over the last year alone. He is not the only one whose activism has put him at risk. In recent weeks, security forces have been rounding up activists linked to protests and journalists critical of the government’s record. This how Amnesty International starts its assessment of the fifth anniversary and it concludes: “Five years since the uprising that ousted Mubarak, Egypt is once more a police state. The country’s ubiquitous state security body, the National Security Agency, is firmly in charge.”
The same sentiment is echoed in the long piece in the Huffington Post of 25 January 2016 by Karim Lahidji, President of FIDH and Bahey eldin Hassan, Director of Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Amnesty international, CIHRS, FIDH, Front Line, HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ahmed Abdullah, Ahmed Malik, Amnesty International, Arab spring, Bahey eldin Hassan, condoms video, Egypt, FIDH, Foreign Policy of the USA, Front Line, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights First, Karim Lahidji, Malek Adly, Sanaa Seif, Shady Hussein Abu Zaid, Tahrir Square
September 11, 2015
Health and holidays (in that order) have slowed down my blog production somewhat this summer, but perhaps this was a welcome break for many of my readers for reasons of holiday and health (in that order I hope). Anyway, during these summer months I read quite some instances of HRD repression related to countries involved in major ‘geo-political’ progress and I started wondering whether this is coincidental. Take the following three cases: Colombia, Iran and Cuba. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Shaheed, Akbar Ganji, Colombia, Cuba, Dagoberto Giraldo Henao, extra judicial killings, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation, Iran, Karim Lahidji, killings, media, Oswaldo Payá, peace talks, Shirin Ebadi, transition, USA
February 18, 2015
11 February 2015 marks the 36th anniversary of the Islamic regime in Iran. Karim Lahidji, President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), answers questions about freedoms and liberties in Iran today. The very experienced and well-respected Iranian exile recalls briefly the historical background and states the record on freedom of religion in Iran: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Abdolfattah Soltani, apostacy, Ayatollah Khomeini, blasphemy, FIDH, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, Iran, Iranian revolution, islamic regime, Karim Lahidji, Nargess Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, SAVAK, Shirin Ebadi
January 19, 2015
The next ‘logical’ step by Russia in curtailing the work of human rights defenders is in the making: on 20 January the Russian Parliament (Duma) will debate a bill to declare certain foreign and international organisations as ‘unwanted’ and to fine anyone working with such entities. 
The Observatory, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, issued a statement today calling on the Duma to drop this bill. 
If adopted, the law will complement an already very restrictive legislative arsenal used to silence all forms of criticism against the regime in contradiction with international human rights instruments ratified by Russia and will allow authorities to ban legitimate human rights activities, though they are protected under international law. On January 14, the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation recommended that the lower house pass a bill to ban “undesirable foreign organisations” in Russia and ban cooperation with them. The bill, presented initially by two members of Parliament, would allow the Prosecutor General’s Office, upon consultation with the Foreign Ministry and based on information provided by the interior and security agencies, to ban foreign and international organisations that “threaten the defence or security of the State” or “public order and health”.
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Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 1 Comment »
Tags: Civil society, criminalization, FIDH, Foreign agent, foreign funding, freedom of association, Gerald Staberock, Human Rights Defenders, international organisations, Karim Lahidji, NGOs, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Russia
December 11, 2014
On Human Rights Day, FIDH reports that Chan Soveth, a prominent Cambodian human rights defender, has died at the early age of 51. He was a senior investigator at the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC, a member organization of FIDH). “Chan Soveth was a voice for the voiceless. For decades, he selflessly worked for victims of human rights violations and abuses, in particular the poor and those living in remote areas, which ADHOC managed to reach out to”, said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President. “Soveth’s death is a great loss for his family, his colleagues and Cambodia’s human rights community, but the heritage of courage and commitment he left will last for generations”.
On many occasions, Soveth’s human rights work and personal commitment had caused him to be subjected to threats, intimidation and reprisals in the form of judicial harassment. In 2012, he had been forced to stay outside his country for several months. Upon his return, despite receiving another summon to appear before Cambodia’s flawed judicial system, and thus, despite the risk of being arbitrarily detained, he had decided to stay in Cambodia, amongst his fellow countrymen. Soveth relentlessly fought against human rights violations – from land grabbing and violations of people’s and communities’ rights to food, water or housing, to extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture, and violations of the rights to free expression and free assembly. He was not only a great investigator, trainer and human rights advocate, but also an inspiration to many. He was always eager to improve his impressive human rights and professional skills and to celebrate successes.
Cambodia and the community of human rights defenders lose a (…).
more details in: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rights-warrior-passes-age-51
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adhoc, Cambodia, Chan Soveth, death, detention, FIDH, Human rights defender, human rights violations, in memoriam, intimidation, Karim Lahidji, land rights
June 13, 2014
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint programme, expressed its concern that the Hungarian government is alarmingly shrinking the space of civil society by hindering their access to funding, conducting unexpected inspections and blacklisting prominent human rights organizations. The Observatory – not by accident – did so on 12 June 2014, the day the Hungarian Government was meeting representatives from a group of donor Governments including Norway.
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Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 3 Comments »
Tags: Civil society, EU, Foreign agent, foreign funding, freedom of association, freedom of expression, Gerald Staberock, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights organizations, Hungarian Government, Hungary, Karim Lahidji, media law, Norway, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OSCE, restrictive laws
March 10, 2014
The FIDH, on 6 March 2014, issued a statement on the lack of access to medical care for human rights defenders in Iran, resulting in further deterioration of their health FIDH fears this may amount to a systematic practice aiming at further intimidating civil society voices critical of the regime.
On March 2, 2014, several prisoners of conscience detained in Evin prison, Tehran, wrote their second Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Abdolfattah Soltani, Afshin Karampour, Amir Eslami, Bahareh Hedayat, blogger, dervishes, detained, Evin Prison, FIDH, Hamidreza Moradi-Sarvestani, Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, illegal detention, Iran, Journalist, Karim Lahidji, lawyers, medical treatment, Mostafa Daneshju, women human rights defenders
January 21, 2014
The ‘eastern’ pull of Ukraine is now also reflected in its repressive legislation on human rights defenders. On January 16, 2014, Ukrainian Parliament unexpectedly and hurriedly adopted a comprehensive restrictive bill, which punishes protests, criminalises libel, restricts civic organisations receiving foreign funding and labels them as “foreign agents”. The bill, entitled “On Amendments to the Law on Judicial System and Status of Judges and Procedural Laws on Additional Measures for Protecting Citizens’ safety”, was introduced on January 14, 2014 and voted only two days after, with no legal assessment, no parliamentary hearings, and no consultation. The text was swiftly adopted by show of hands, backed by 235 out of 450 parliamentarians, before it was immediately signed it into law by the President. According to the bill, all civic organisations receiving funds from foreign sources must include in their title the term “foreign agents”, register as such, submit monthly reports regarding the organisations, publish quarterly reports on their activities in the official media and may not benefit from a tax-exempt status. The bill specifies that all organisations taking part in political actions, defined as actions aimed at influencing decision-making by state bodies, a change in the state policy which those bodies have defined as well as forming public opinion for those purposes, are deemed civic organisations. Organisations failing to register may be closed by court decision.
There were quite a few other restrictions passed in the same bill as can be seen from the Open Letter of 20 January 2014 sent to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and Parliamentary Speaker Volodym, signed by Karim Lahidji, FIDH President, and Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General:
Ukraine: Call to repeal highly restrictive law on so-called “foreign agents”, libel and extremism, which blatantly violates Ukraines international obligations / January 20, 2014 / Urgent Interventions / Human rights defenders / OMCT.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 1 Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, civic organisations, controversial restrictions, criminalization, FIDH, Foreign agent, foreign agent law, foreign agents, foreign funding, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression, funding, Gerald Staberock, Human Rights Defenders, Karim Lahidji, legal restrictions, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, open letter, Russia, Ukraine
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 