Posts Tagged ‘MEA’
September 19, 2012
A group of 10 human rights NGOs called during the 21st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to accept the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations, to be adopted on 19 September. They urge the international community to call for the unconditional release of human rights defenders linked to the MEA 2012 nominee the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights who are currently jailed in Bahrain:
- Nabeel Rajab, sentenced on 16 August 2012 to three years’ imprisonment in relation to three cases brought against him for calling for and participating in peaceful gatherings that the government deems “illegal”. His family has reported his ill-treatment in prison, where he is held separately from other political prisoners.
- Zainab Al-Khawaja, arrested on 2 August 2012 after she staged a one-woman protest calling for the release of her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. It was her fifth arrest since April 2012. On 4 August, she was accused of tearing a photo of the King at the police station and remains in detention, facing 13 charges in total. She requires medical attention for a broken leg suffered during a demonstration.
- Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Abdul-Jalil Al-Singace, whose life sentences were upheld by the High Criminal Court of Appeal on 4 September 2012 in the high-profile case of 13 political and human rights leaders. Despite allegations of confessions made under torture, the men were among 21 originally sentenced by military court in June 2011 to between two years and life in prison on charges including “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution.” In the same case, Blogger Ali Abdulemam was sentenced to 15 years in absentia and his whereabouts are unknown.
…….
In November 2011, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which was mandated by the King to investigate reports of serious human rights violations that occurred since February 2011, released its report. Among the recommendations, the BICI called for the cases of over 300 individuals jailed for peacefully expressing their views to be transferred to civil court, and for an investigation into allegations of torture in detention, which was used to extract confessions. The BICI also recorded a culture of impunity in the deaths of prisoners in custody due to torture, and called for the authorities to hold those responsible accountable. Estimates by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), of which Nabeel Rajab is President, put the number of political prisoners at 3000 as of today, and rights groups continue to record cases of torture and mistreatment in prison.
The NGOs demand the immediately and unconditionally release Nabeel Rajab, Zainab Al-Khawaja, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, Abdul-Jalil Al-Singace and all those jailed for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, observing due process, as recommended by the BICI;
- Implement all 176 recommendations in Bahrain’s UPR, including to respect the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, not just 156 of them;
- Suspend and then revoke the use of penal code articles that violate the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly;
- Comply with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1998, and international human rights treaties and documents ratified by Bahrain, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
- Guarantee the safety of Bahrainis who attend the UNHRC sessions, ensuring they won’t face reprisals as a result of their participation in the peaceful promotion of human rights protection.
Co-signatories:
(in red the two NGOs members of the MEA Jury)
Bahrain Press Association (BPA)
Bahrain Rehabilitation & Anti Violence Organisation (BRAVO)
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR)
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Front Line Defenders
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Media Support (IMS)
Khiam Rehabilitation Centre
No Peace Without Justice
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Front Line Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Nabeel Rajab, United Nations Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, UPR
September 4, 2012
As reported earlier in this blog, in relation to the arrest and release of MEA 2012 Nominee the Venerable Luon Sovath, there was an excellent video produced: “Flowers of Freedom: the Campaign to Free the 15.”
Now – on 29 August 2012 – there was a follow up conversation between:
– Ee Sarom at Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), a housing rights NGO, who was one of several civil society leaders supporting the community’s mobilisation for the release of the activists, and
– Brittis Edman, who is Programme Director for Southeast Asia at Civil Rights Defenders. The event took place on 29 August 2012.
Civil Rights Defenders – Video: Persecution of Cambodian human rights defenders.
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cambodia, Civil Rights Defenders, Housing rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA, video
September 3, 2012
The Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) on 2 October 2012 at 6 p.m. at the Victoria Hall, Geneva. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at 7h15 p.m.
The Laureate will be announced and awarded by Ms. Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the presence of Ms. Micheline Calmy Rey, newly-appointed Chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation,
Register online for the ceremony: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/ <http://www.martinennalsaward.org/>
The three nominees for the 2012 award are: Venerable Luon Sovath, Cambodian monk, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iranian lawyer and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). They all courageously stand for the rights of other despite continuous harassment and threats. The nominees were carefully selected by ten human rights organizations which make up the Martin Ennals Award Jury: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, the International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, Frontline, the International Commission of Jurists, German Diakonie, the International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: City of Geneva, human rights, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Micheline Calmy Rey, Navanethem Pillay
August 16, 2012
Today, 16 August, Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) which is one the 3 nominees of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders 2012, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of illegal assembly
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Front Line, human rights, Human rights defender, MEA, Nabeel Rajab, prison
August 16, 2012
Image from twitter.com by user @SAIDYOUSIF
Late last night, Wednesday 15 August, Russia Today reported that another Bahraini HRD was arrested: Said Yousif (pictured on the right with Nabeel Rajab). Both work for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, one of the three nominees for the 2012 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The ongoing crackdown on human rights activists completely contradicts the promised made by the Government after a government-sponsored report revealed gross violations of human rights.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, detention, Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Nabeel Rajab, Non-governmental organization, Said Yousif
August 13, 2012
On 12 August 2012 the Ahlul Bayt News Agency published a moving letter by Sumaya Rajab, the wife of the prominent Bahraini human rights defender,Nabeel Rajab, who is currently detained in Bahrain. Nabeel Rajab is one of the 3 MEA nominees for 2012. She writes this letter also in the name of their son Adam and daughter Malak to urge all of you to use your influence and act quickly to guarantee her husband’s immediate release.
for the full text of the letter see: Bahrain: An open letter from the family of Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab.
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Bahrain, detention, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Nabeel Rajab
August 10, 2012
As new cases of arbitrary arrests and ongoing judicial harassment have been reported in Bahrain, the Observatory for Human Rights Defenders – a joint project of OMCT and FIDH – remains extremely concerned with the very repressive climate faced by human rights defenders in that country, it appears from a press statement of 9 August 2012..
On August 2, 2012, Ms. Zainab Al-Khawaja was once again arrested while she was protesting alone at Al Qadam roundabout against the arbitrary detention of her father Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja,founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), former President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), and former MENA Director at Front Line. While arresting Ms. Al-Khawaja, police officers verbally assaulted her and threatened her with reprisals as she was legitimately resisting their orders to give a blood sample. She was finally forcibly led to the Fort Prison Hospital before being transferred to Isa Town Detention Center, where she was kept handcuffed despite a serious leg injury sustained after security forces shot her with tear gas canisters at close range. On August 4, 2012, the Public Prosecution remanded her into custody for seven days.
The Observatory further recalls that Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of the BCHR – which is one of the three nominees for the 2012 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders – and FIDH Deputy Secretary General, has faced constant judicial harassment, as four cases have been brought against him since May 2012 in relation with his human rights activities. Mr. Rajab is still facing three of these cases. In particular, he has been detained since July 9, 2012 and sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment for alleged libel after he tweeted the following on June 2: “Khalifa, leave the residents of Al Muharraq, its Sheikhs and its elderly. Everyone knows that you are not popular here, and if it wasn’t for the subsidies, they wouldn’t have gone out to welcome you. When will you step down?“
The Observatory is deeply concerned about constant postponements, as their only aim seems to be to keep Mr. Nabeel Rajab in detention as long as possible, by delaying the examination of the request filed by his lawyers against his 3-month imprisonment sentence. The Observatory reiterates its call on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him as his detention is arbitrary and only aims at sanctioning his human rights activities.
Bahrain: Ongoing arbitrary arrests and judicial harassment of human rights defenders / August 9, 2012 / Urgent Interventions / Human rights defenders / OMCT.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 3 Comments »
Tags: Bahrain, detention, FIDH, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Nabeel Rajab, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT
June 21, 2012
As I reported recently the Ugandan Government raided a regional workshop of gay rights NGOs as part of its continuing crusade against homosexuality. It is not surprising that on 20 June the news agency AFP reported that Uganda will ban 38 nongovernmental organisations for spreading homosexuality. According to AFP the minister for ethics and integrity, Simon Lokodo: “I have investigated and established beyond reasonable doubt that these NGOs have been involved in the promotion and recruitment in terms of the [gay] issues”. Lokodo did not specify which organisations would be de-registered but said that the list included international and Ugandan group.
“We will tell them to stop operating and they will not have the legal right to practice here”. Lokodo said he submitted the names of the organisations to the internal affairs ministry and hoped they would be de-listed in the near future. “The sooner we can do this the better,” Lokodo added for good measure.
MEA Laureate Kasha is likely to be in the firing line again.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Agence France-Presse, banning, gay rights, Homosexuality, Kasha, LGBT, LGBT rights, MEA, NGOs, Non-governmental organization, Politics of Uganda, Simon Lokodo, Uganda
June 20, 2012
On 24 May I reported that the Buddhist monk Luon Savath, nominee of the 2012 MEA detained and threatened with defrocking, which would open the way to criminal prosecution. This has not happened yet but the group of 13 women whose protest he was supporting and covering with his video camera, were sentenced as reported by the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) on 19th June 2012
Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake has been an area of ongoing land disputes which has resulted in more than 600 families receiving land grants and over 3,500 families being evicted, while other families have been unfairly excluded from receiving land titles. On the 22nd of May about eighty members of the community gathered peacefully at the sand filled lake to sit and sing land rights songs in support of eighteen displaced families. Before noon, it was reported that about two hundred Phnom Penh police and anti-riot police carrying shields and sticks surrounded some of the protesters and arrested thirteen women. Within forty-eight hours all the women received prison sentences, including a seventy two year-old grandmother, to thirty months of imprisonment under Articles 34 and 259 of the Land Law and Articles 504 of the Penal Code.
WHRD IC is particularly concerned that proceedings began only an hour after charges were filed and those proceedings lasted only three hours. Lawyers asked for a delay to allow the preparation of a defense, which is their right under Cambodian law. However not only was this refused, but the lawyers for the accused were also refused access to the files, state evidence, and were not permitted to call witnesses (some of whom were on standby outside the court). Furthermore, two community representatives, who were to act as witnesses for the defense, were arrested outside the court on the same charges; they have since been released on bail under the supervision of the court. Other witnesses, media and the public were not admitted to the courtroom to observe the proceedings. This irregular judicial process denied the women their right to a fair trial and was in clear violation of Cambodia’s Code of Criminal Procedure.
The women have appealed their convictions to the Appeal Court and requested bail; the appeal court hearing is scheduled for 27 June. There has also been a lack of response to calls from the international community, including WHRD IC members, to the Prime Minister Hun Sen to vacate the convictions of the women.
The WHRD IC calls for the Cambodian authorities to:
· Immediately vacate the convictions and unconditionally release the thirteen women and also drop the criminal charges of the two other community representatives now out on bail.
· Uphold the right to a fair and just trial and the right of peaceful assembly for all its citizens under the Cambodian law and international standards, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Cambodia is a state party.
· Grant land titles to the families who have been excluded and to provide adequate compensation to those who were evicted in full compliance with international human rights standards.
· Fulfil their commitments under the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders to ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities.
For more information including articles, photos and video please visit The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) website http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/ and the Free the 15! Blog http://freethe15.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/solidarity-action-5-ceremony-to-free-the-15/
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Boeung Kak Lake, Cambodia, Cambodian League, Eviction, Human right, Human rights defender, Land Law, LICADHO, Luon Savath, MEA, Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition
Nabeel Rajab with one of many tear gas cannisters fired into his house
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 