A really strange case has popped up in Athens, not immediately related to the demonstrations in Turkey but it could add to the tension: A Turkish activist, Bulut Yayla, was reportedly abducted from Solonos Street in Exarchia on Thursday 30 May 2013 and two days later he was traced in Istanbul’s antiterrorism department, where he was being held for questioning. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Police’
Elections monitors’ offices in Zimbabwe raided for second time in one week
February 21, 2013It is clearly election time in Zimbabwe! This blog has reported previously on a number of intimidations and threats against human rights defenders. Now Front Line Defenders informs us that on 21 February 2013, the offices of Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) in Masvingo were raided for the second time this week and several items were stolen. The incident follows a raid on ZESN’s offices in Masvingo and Harare on 18 and 19 February respectively, during which confidential material was stolen. Established in 2000, ZESN is a coalition of 31 non-governmental organisations promoting democratic processes, in particular free and fair general elections. 
For graphic detail see: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21750
Related articles
- Mugabe keeps up the pressure on human rights defenders in Zimbabwe (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- ZESN the latest target (thezimbabwean.co.uk)
- Zimbabwe: Death threats against human rights defenders Nkosilathi Moyo and Jasper Maposa (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- ZimRights Director Okay Machisa arrested in Harare (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Mexico and disappearances: special report by Human Rights Watch
February 21, 2013Mexico’s security forces have participated in widespread enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said in a special report released on 20 February 2013. Virtually none of the victims have been found or those responsible brought to justice, exacerbating the suffering of families of the disappeared, Human Rights Watch found. The 176-page report, “Mexico’s Disappeared: The Enduring Cost of a Crisis Ignored,” documents nearly 250 “disappearances” from December 2006 to December 2012. In 149 of those cases, Human Rights Watch found compelling evidence of enforced disappearances, involving the participation of state agents. 
“President Peña Nieto has inherited one of worst crises of disappearances in the history of Latin America,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “While his administration has announced some important measures to assist victims, it has yet to take the steps necessary to ensure that those responsible for these horrific crimes are brought to justice.”
Human Rights Watch found evidence that members of all branches of the security forces carried out enforced disappearances: the Army, the Navy, and the federal and local police. In some cases, such as a series of more than 20 enforced disappearances by Navy personnel in June and July 2011 in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, the common modus operandi of the crimes, the scale of the operations, and the inconsistent accounts by the Navy suggest the crimes may have been planned and coordinated. In over 60 cases, Human Rights Watch found evidence that state agents collaborated directly with organized crime groups to “disappear” people and extort payments from their families. For example, evidence indicates that local police in Pesquería, Nuevo León arbitrarily detained 19 construction workers in May 2011 and handed them over to an organized crime group. The men have not been seen since….. Read the rest of this entry »
Justice for Colombia reports threats against human rights defenders
February 5, 2013Friday, 1 February 2013 Diego Martinez, national executive secretary, and Jeison Pava of the Permanent Committee for Human Rights (CPDH), have suffered threats in the last weeks. On 16th January, an anonymous call was made to the CPDH head office in Bogota, asking after Mr. Pava, his timetable and when he would be coming and going from the office. On the receptionist’s refusal to relay this information, the caller insulted her and said “We need that head” referring to Mr. Pava. On 28th January, Mr. Martinez’ bodyguard was detained by units of the National Police. Mr. Martinez informed the police officers that this would leave him without security, however the police officers continued their operation. The police then also asked Mr. Martinez to come with them, despite having committed no crime, but he refused. One of the police officers refused to identify himself, and when Mr. Martinez went to lodge a complaint at the police station, they point-blank refused to receive his report. The same police unit has since returned to the CPDH headquarters, threatening Mr. Martinez against denouncing the crime.
On 4th July 2012, Martinez and Pava were described as military targets. Other members of the CPDH human rights organization have also been threatened in recent months, including Harry Caicedo, director of the CPDH branch in Charco, Narino, whose house was shot at in the night on 13th January, following an arson attack months before. CPDH has been requesting security measures since August 2010 and in May 2012 was granted “precautionary measures” by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. In December 2012 the government finally provided the requested security. CPDH has expressed concern that, only one month on, in Mr. Martinez’ case, state forces removed the protection they are obligated to provide.
via Justice for Colombia news: Threats and hostilities against CPDH human rights defenders.
Death threats against Indian human rights defender Mr Azimuddin Sarkar
November 13, 2012Front Line Defenders reports on 13 November that since 14 October 2012, the Indian human rights defender Mr. Azimuddin Sarkar and his family have been targeted with threats and intimidation on several occasions, which has been exacerbated by unwillingness on the part of the police to investigate the matter. Azimuddin Sarkar is the District Human Rights Monitor of MASUM, a non-governmental human rights organisation based in Howrah, Kolkata, West Bengal.
On 14 October 2012, a group of 20-25 people, of whom four were identified as locally known thugs, raided the house of Azimuddin Sarkar’s older brother, who was home with his family at the time, in Bardhanpur village, West Bengal state. The thugs reportedly issued threats to Azimuddin Sarkar, saying they would “teach him a lesson” as they threatened the family with weapons and looted the house. An hour after the incident, police appeared on the scene and advised the victims to make a complaint. When the human rights defender’s brother went to the local police station at Raninagar the next day, it is reported that the officer on duty refused to file the complaint, insisting instead to register it only as ‘information received’. A written complaint was sent to the Superintendent of Police at Murshidabad.
On 16 October, Azimuddin Sarkar asked a friend from a non-governmental organisation to make a request to the police to arrest the culprits. The Officer in Charge (OC) at Raninagar station responded that they should leave the matter be, as it was related to MASUM. The OC added that MASUM was not the State Human Rights Commission, and as such “had no right to pressurise the police”. The next day, around 11pm on 17 October, four of the same thugs assembled outside Azimuddin Sarkar’s family home armed with lethal weapons and went on to publicly threaten to kill the human rights defender and his family.
On 19 October, the human rights defender filed a written complaint on the incident with the OC and the Superintendent of police at Murshidabad, supported by multiple eye witnesses. On 5 November, after repeated attempts to call the OC at Raninagar police station, a call from a fellow District Human Rights Monitor at MASUM was returned. All the OC offered regarding police actions on the issue was that he could give no detail of whether any case had been initiated or not. The police have reportedly sent a number of messages to the complainants urging them to withdraw their complaints against the assailants.
Azimuddin Sarkar has been involved in campaigns against the use of torture by the police and Border Security Forces in the area. Currently he is unable to move freely and carry out his work due to the threats. It is believed he is being targeted solely for his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
Is Tanzania’s police restricting the freedom of assembly of HRDs?
February 23, 2012Earlier this month, 16 prominent human rights activists were arrested in Dar es Salaam on the grounds of unlawful assembly. The human rights defenders were arrested at the Muhimbili National Hospital, where the police allege they had gathered illegally and were intending to hold an illegal demonstration, although the group maintained that they were merely going to observe the dialogue between the government and health officials.
Article 20 of the Constitution of Tanzania enshrines the right for people; “to freely and peaceably assemble, associate and cooperate with other persons”. However, as expressed in the constitution, this right can be limited by other national legislation for certain purposes, including ensuring public order or where it is in the public interest. The Police Force and Auxiliary Services Act forms part of the national legislation, which regulates public assemblies. This Act states that notification must be provided to the police 48 hours in advance of a planned public assembly. The police are given broad powers to prohibit the assembly if they believe it “is likely to cause a breach of the peace, or to prejudice public safety or the maintenance of public order”.
Africa Review who reports on this rightly asks the question : did the 16 activists cause a breach of the peace, or prejudice public safety and the maintenance of public order? Were the police, by prohibiting the alleged assembly and subsequently arresting the activists, using their discretion appropriately? Arguably a “breach of the peace” could be interpreted very broadly by police, allowing them to use their discretion to prohibit all public assemblies. Without further explanation by the Tanzanian police this is bound to be considered an unnecessary restriction in international law.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 