Posts Tagged ‘political prisoners’

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Indian Human Rights Defender G.N. Saibaba passes away

October 21, 2024

Human rights defender and former professor at the University of Delhi, Gokarakonda Naga (G.N.) Saibaba passed away on 12 October 2024 due to a cardiac arrest at the Nizam’ Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital at Hyderabad, India. On 7 March 2024, G.N. Saibaba was released from the Nagpur Central Jail after nearly a decade of imprisonment. In March 2024 he was acquitted of all charges by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, after being falsely accused of having links with banned Maoist organisations, and charged with serious offences including under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

“G. N.” Saibaba in India continues from his cell

G.N. Saibaba suffered from severe health conditions which worsened during his time in prison. These health conditions included polio related disabilities, a heart condition, a brain cyst, hypertension and breathing difficulties. While in prison, the human rights defender G.N. Saibaba was held in solitary confinement in a windowless cell and kept under constant CCTV surveillance. He contracted COVID-19 twice whilst in prison, in January 2021 and in February 2022, leading to further deterioration of his health condition. In a letter to his wife, G.N. Saibaba had spoken about his ill-treatment in prison stating that he had received no treatment for his ailments despite recommendations by doctors at the Government Medical College Hospital that he receive immediate medical attention. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders had previously called for his release on medical grounds, calling on the “Indian authorities to immediately ensure that G.N. Saibaba has continuous and unrestricted access to health care, including adequate treatment and rehabilitation.”

Even though G.N. Saibaba was released prior to his demise, the ill-treatment suffered by the human rights defender and denial of healthcare during his imprisonment contributed to his already severe health issues. G.N. Saibaba never fully recovered from his time in prison which had prevented him from receiving urgent medical intervention. Front Line Defenders believes that his wrongful imprisonment is at least partially responsible for his untimely demise. It calls on Indian authorities to revise draconian counter-terrorism laws such as the UAPA and ensure that the legitimate work of human rights defenders is not criminalised.

Front Line Defenders holds the Indian authorities accountable for the death of G.N. Saibaba and calls for adequate monetary compensation to be awarded to his family.

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/human-rights-defender-gn-saibaba-passes-away

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Eiffel Tower demo in favour of Cuban political prisoners

October 21, 2024

A group of Cubans, including human rights activist defenders, unfolded a large banner this Thursday under the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, in support of the 1,113 political prisoners in Cuba. The banner displays the faces of many of those imprisoned on the island for expressing their discontent with the Castro regime, criticizing communist policies, or demanding respect for human rights.

Meanwhile, activist Avana de la Torre joined this peaceful demonstration in the French capital, while the NGO Prisoners Defenders presented its latest report on political prisoners in Cuba. The report highlighted that all these detainees face sentences imposed without judicial oversight, which violates international standards.

During 2024, repression and human rights violations against political prisoners in Cuba have intensified. On August 4, two Cuban activists were sent to prison accused of “propaganda against the constitutional order” after being detained in Villa Marista. Subsequently, on August 29, the UN condemned the forced labor that political prisoners suffer on the island, supporting a report from the organization Prisoners Defenders on systematic human rights violations. At the beginning of September, the platform Justicia 11J reported that at least ten political prisoners attempted suicide in Cuban prisons due to the harsh conditions of confinement.

https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2024-10-18-u1-e102582-s27061-nid290382-cubanos-despliegan-cartel-torre-eiffel-apoyo-presos

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United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recognises five imprisoned human rights defenders in Tajikistan

October 7, 2024

On 12 July 2024 OMCT welcomed the UN Working Group’s call to the government of Tajikistan to unconditionally release them and grant them the right to compensation and other reparations. All five are representatives of the Pamiri indigenous population in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province. Their arrest, detention and conviction occurred amidst a human rights crisis in the Autonomous Province when, following the killing of a local Pamiri resident by police, mass protests erupted in November 2021 and were violently cracked down, leaving 40 people dead and hundreds detained.

Ms. Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva is a journalist, well-known human rights defender, and advocate for the rights of the Pamiri Indigenous population. She was arrested and detained on 18 May 2022 in Dushanbe and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in December 2022.

Faromuz Irgashov, Khursandsho Mamadshoev and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov are human rights lawyers and belong to the Pamiri Lawyers’ Association, the Director of which is Mr. Kholiqnazarov. All three were members of Commission 44, presided by Mr. Irgashov. This commission had been formed to investigate police brutality following the November 2021 protests. Still, after a further escalation in May 2022, its members were threatened, and several of them were detained and convicted on charges of terrorism or establishing or participating in a criminal association. They were arrested and imprisoned in Khorog on 28 May 2022 and sentenced in December 2022 to 29-, 18- and 16-years imprisonment.

Sorbon Yunoev is a Pamiri civic activist involved in community initiatives in support of the Pamiri indigenous population, who actively criticised the crackdown and police violence during the November 2021 protests. He was arrested on 13 June 2022 in Khorog, released, re-arrested, and detained on 17 June 2022. On 23 August 2022, he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) submitted communications on these cases to the WGAD on 10 October 2023 and requested the Working Group to declare their detention as arbitrary and to call for their immediate release.

In its Opinions, the WGAD endorsed the arguments submitted by the OMCT and concluded that the detention of all five human rights defenders meets the definition of arbitrary deprivation of liberty on four separate counts. It noted also that the government failed to provide evidence that the accusations and charges brought had a factual basis.

The WGAD concluded that the arrest and detention of Mr Irgashov, Mr Mamadshoev and Mr Kholiknazarov were related to their legitimate advocacy for the investigation into police violence against the Pamiri Indigenous population and for having criticised law enforcement authorities for failing to effectively investigate police violence, as part of their work for Commission 44. Likewise, the Working Group concluded that the basis for the arrest and conviction of Ms. Mamadshoeva and Mr. Yunoev was their exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

The Working Group considers that these convictions should be assessed against the backdrop of the current human rights and media freedom situation in Tajikistan – “a picture suggesting that these charges are trumped up and retaliatory in nature, aimed at silencing dissent and quashing human rights advocacy”, in particular in the context of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and the broader context as reported among other things by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, which indicates a pattern of repression in Tajikistan, where the crackdown on peaceful protests, independent media and human rights defenders has intensified

https://www.omct.org/en/resources/statements/tajikistan-un-experts-urge-unconditional-release-of-arbitrarily-detained-pamiri-human-rights-defenders

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United Arab Emirates convicts scores of defendants in a mass trial, sentencing 40 to life in prison

July 22, 2024

The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sentenced 43 individuals to life in prison in a mass trial on Wednesday 3 July 2024, according to the UAE’s state-run news agency, WAM. The trial, which has been criticized by human rights organizations for allegedly targeting dissidents, involved charges linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the UAE government. WAM reported the verdicts shortly after human rights advocates released statements announcing the sentences. Alongside the life sentences, five defendants received 15-year prison terms and another five were sentenced to 10 years. The court dismissed the cases of 24 defendants.

According to WAM, the court ruled that those convicted “have worked to create and replicate violent events in the country, similar to what has occurred in other Arab states—including protests and clashes between the security forces and protesting crowds—that led to deaths and injuries and to the destruction of facilities, as well as the consequent spread of panic and terror among people.”

While WAM did not identify those sentenced by name, and specific details regarding the trial are not clear, Joey Shea, a researcher focusing on the UAE for Human Rights Watch, noted a few prominent figures involved in the case to the Associated Press (AP).

On 10 July 2024, Human Rights First condemned the secret trial and sentencing of dozens of activists in the United Arab Emirates:

“Washington’s ally has again today demonstrated its violent repression,” said Senior Advisor Brian Dooley. “The Biden administration has struck millions of dollars of arms deals with the UAE dictatorship, and failed to sanction its officials responsible for cracking down on peaceful dissent. The message from Washington to the UAE has been clear for many years: Do what you want, there will be no consequences.”

Among those reportedly sentenced to life in prison after a mass trial is prominent legal scholar Nasser bin Ghaith. He graduated with honors from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Ohio with an LLM in U.S. and Global Legal Studies in 2001. Another of those in the mass sham trial — which included 84 defendants — was Ahmed Mansoor, who received his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical, Computer, & Energy Engineering and his Master’s in Telecommunications for the University of Colorado, Boulder. Human Rights First is still waiting for confirmation on the outcome of his case in the trial. [see https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/074ACCD4-A327-4A21-B056-440C4C378A1A]

Bin Ghaith, Mansoor, and other prominent activists in the trial were already in prison serving long sentences for their peaceful activism.

Washington Enables Violent Repression in the UAE as Dozens of Activists Sentenced in Secret Trial

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uae-scores-convicted-sham-trial-uae84

https://www.newsweek.com/uae-court-sentences-40-people-life-prision-mass-trail-report-1923443

https://apnews.com/article/uae-mass-trial-dissidents-2108263bffe49915a866eecc64d1b605

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-un-experts-shocked-after-dozens-sentenced-life-mass-trial

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Surprise pardon for 1,500 prisoners in Bahrain

April 10, 2024

Patrick Wintour in the Guardian 9 April 2024 reports that Bahrain has unconditionally released more than 1,500 prisoners, including political detainees, in the biggest royal pardon since the 2011.

The amnesty followed years of campaigning inside the country and by international human rights groups but came as a complete surprise to activists. Amnesty Bahrain said: “This is a welcome step. Many of [the prisoners] should not have been imprisoned in the first place.”

The releases were ordered by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, coinciding with Eid and the silver jubilee of the king taking power. The US embassy in Bahrain welcomed the move and expressed the hope that all those being released will be reunited with their families.

Many of the detainees have been held in Jau prison, where campaigners said more than 600 political prisoners remain, including some in need of urgent medical help. Recent riots inside prisons had made the expense of keeping so many behind bars a burden on the state. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/20/500-bahraini-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-over-conditions/]

On social media, joyful scenes of families being reunited in their homes were screened, including some who had not been in their family home for as long as a decade.

But Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the British-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: “This came as a complete shock. There had been no prior indication, and this is the most important release programme since 2011. The release is bittersweet as there are still 600 political prisoners behind bars and on death row.”

see also: https://www.adhrb.org/2024/04/bahrains-kings-pardon-an-act-to-hide-the-human-rights-violations/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Among those retained in prison include Hassan Mushaima, the head of the opposition group Al-Haq, and Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a Danish-Bahraini human rights defender serving a life sentence in Bahrain for peaceful human rights work.

See also: https://www.omct.org/en/resources/statements/letter-to-the-king-of-bahrain-calling-for-the-release-of-jailed-academic-dr-abuljalil-al-singace-marking-abduljalil-al-singaces-1-000-days-on-hunger-strike and

https://www.fidh.org/en/region/north-africa-middle-east/bahrain/bahrain-dr-abduljalil-al-singace-s-1000-days-on-hunger-strike

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/09/bahrains-king-takes-activists-by-surprise-with-pardon-for-at-least-1500-prisoners

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Vietnam Frees Australian democracy activist Chau Van Kham

July 12, 2023

On 11 July 2023 EFE reported that Vietnam had released Vietnamese-Australian activist Chau Van Kham, sentenced in 2019 to 12 years in prison for extremism over his ties to the Viet Tan pro-democratic party.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he “very much welcomes the release of Chau,” in remarks Monday from Berlin, through Australian public broadcaster ABC.

Chau’s lawyer Dan Nguyen said in a statement through Amnesty International Australia that the activist, who returned Monday night to Australia, is with his wife and two sons. He also thanked the government’s, organizations and individuals’ efforts that fought for his release.

Chau was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in January 2019 after being accused of entering the country with a false document and sentenced in an express trial to 12 years in prison for extremism charges 10 months later. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/06/08/chau-van-kham-australian-human-rights-defender-disappeared-inside-vietnams-prison-system/

This was due to Chau, 73, being linked to pro-democratic group Viet Tan, considered an extremist entity in the country but a human rights organization in Australia.

Deputy Australian Prime Minister Richard Marles said Chau was released on “humanitarian” reasons and “in the spirit of friendship which exists between Australia and Vietnam,” according to ABC.

Chau is one of “more than 150 political activists in Vietnam who have been detained for peaceful acts in favor of freedom of expression,” Human Rights Watch Asia Human Rights Director Elaine Pearson said in a statement.

Pearson spoke of journalist Dang Dihn Bach and activists Mai Phan Loi, Dang Dinh Bach, and Hoang Thi Minh Hong among them and urged Australia to continue advocating for their release.

The exact number of political prisoners in Vietnam is unknown, as numbers provided by different human rights organizations have discrepancies.

While Human Rights Watch says the total exceeds 150, Amnesty International said there were 128 political prisoners in the country last year. Dissident organization Defend the Defenders raised the number to more than 250.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-26/dan-phuong-nguyen-chau-van-kham-human-rights-vietnam-730/102646526

Vietnam Frees Australian pro-democracy activist

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Nicaragua: death in detention and sham trial

February 21, 2022

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s 49th session, which begins on February 28 in Geneva, presents an opportunity to send a powerful message to the Ortega-Murillo government that these human rights violations will not be tolerated. Governments should support a strong resolution on Nicaragua, demanding the release of all detainees subjected to arbitrary detention and prosecutions and establishing an independent mechanism to investigate rights violations.

Tamara Taraciuk Broner, Acting Director, Americas Division of HRW, describes the latest in the Nicaraguan Government’s Attempts to Tighten its Authoritarian Grip:

Nicaragua’s courts are scheduled to hold a sham trial of seven government critics and opposition leaders, all arbitrarily imprisoned since June 2021. It’s the latest in a slew of trials of people detained on absurd charges months on end.

This week’s trial epitomizes Nicaragua’s mockery of justice: A joint trial, with no due process, on charges of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity,” in most cases based solely on the defendants’ exercise of their right to free expression, that will most likely result in swift convictions for all.

Since February 1, at least 14 detainees have been found guilty of “undermining national integrity” during closed-door trials at “El Chipote” prison, rather than at public courthouses, as Nicaraguan law requires. Each trial has lasted just a few hours and has resulted in swift convictions and sentences of several years in prison.

Announcing the trials on January 31, the Attorney General’s Office called the detainees “criminals and thieves.” Authorities had suspended the trials in October 2021 without offering a clear reason.

Between May and November 2021, the government unleashed a wave of arbitrary arrests to pave the way for President Daniel Ortega’s reelection to a fourth consecutive term. Nicaraguan authorities arrested at least 40 critics, including student and business leaders, campesino representatives, defense lawyers, journalists, activists, and seven presidential candidates. More than 130 others were detained earlier and remain in detention.

Criminal proceedings have lacked basic due process. In many cases, detainees were held incommunicado for weeks or months at El Chipote, some in prolonged solitary confinement. When allowed visits, families described abusive conditions, including repeated interrogations and insufficient food.

On February 12, Hugo Torres died in detention. Torres a 73-year-old former companion of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, had been arbitrarily arrested in early June and accused of “treason.”

Prosecutors have based serious accusations solely on claims that the accused had given interviews to media outlets, shared WhatsApp messages, participated in meetings, or signed letters calling for free elections, demanding international condemnation of government abuses, or expressing support for sanctions against Nicaraguan officials.   

These trials contribute to President Ortega’s mounting record of abuse. Given the lack of judicial independence of Nicaraguan courts, this would provide victims the possibility of being heard by an independent body with a chance to holding perpetrators accountable.

Other inmates also are in dire straits, according to family members and rights defenders, who say the prisoners are malnourished, losing weight, teeth and memory, and getting weaker by the day.

“Many are facing a serious risk to health and life,” the former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Antonia Urrejola, said on Twitter.

Ortega, who secured a fourth consecutive term in November elections, has faced widespread criticism from rights groups, opposition figures and international observers who decried the vote as “a sham”.

On Monday, the European Union’s external affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, sent “deep condolences” to Torres’s family and called for an independent investigation into his death. “We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners … subjected to inhumane detention conditions” in Nicaragua, Stano tweeted.

See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/12/24/vilma-nunez-human-rights-defender-who-stays-in-nicaragua/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/14/nicaraguas-ultimate-sham-trial

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/14/calls-grow-for-nicaragua-to-release-jailed-opposition-figures

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Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers in Belarus continues

October 27, 2021
Gennady Fedunych (left) and Natalia Matskevich (right) at the trial in Minsk, Belarus.
Gennady Fedunych (left) and Natalia Matskevich (right) at the trial in Minsk, Belarus. © Human Rights Center Viasna 2018

Anastasiia Zlobina, Assistant Researcher for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch reports that on 25 October 2021, the Minsk Bar Association disbarred prominent Belarusian defense lawyer Natalia Matskevich, the latest in a wide-raging and politically motivated crackdown on lawyers.

Matskevich is one of four lawyers who represented Viktar Babaryka, former presidential contender arrested on politically motivated charges in June 2020 in the run-up to the August 9 election. In July 2021, Supreme Court sentenced Babaryka to 14 years in prison for “grand bribery” and “laundering of illicit funds.”

On October 20, the Justice Ministry suspended the license of Evgeni Pylchenka, a lawyer who also represented Babaryka, pending the outcome of a disciplinary case against him. Matskevich’s disbarment and Pylchenka’s suspension came soon after they had filed an appeal in Babaryka’s case. Their colleagues said these sanctions were “absurd” and based on “ridiculous” allegations, including “some [supposedly] incorrectly worded questions to witnesses during trial.” 

In July, days after Babaryka’s verdict, authorities stripped his then-lawyer Dmitry Layevsky of his attorney’s license, citing “inappropriate comments about the work of his colleagues.” Prior to his disbarment, Layevsky had faced pressure from the authorities and the Minsk Bar Association.

In October 2020, the Justice Ministry terminated the license of Aliaksandr Pylchenka, another prominent member of Babaryka’s defense team, over supposed “incompetent comments to mass media”

According to Layevsky, Matskevich and Evgeny Pylchenka became “irreplaceable” in Babaryka’s case due to their detailed knowledge of the voluminous case as well as Babaryka’s trust in them.

Since August 2020, Belarusian authorities have been turning up the pressure on lawyers for publicly speaking out about human rights violations and in defense of clients in politically motivated cases. In addition to the obstruction of their work, lawyers have faced personal harassment such as threats, arbitrary detention, raids, revoked licenses, and administrative and criminal charges.

The Belarusian National Bar Association and its regional bars have continuously failed to protect their members.

At least 27 lawyers have already been banned or suspended in reprisal for speaking out against the recent wave of repressions in Belarus. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/09/10/two-lawyers-from-belarus-share-lawyers-for-lawyers-award-2021/

In November, new restrictive amendments will enter into force, further increasing the Ministry of Justice’s authority over, and eviscerating the independence of, Belarusian lawyers. The arbitrary suspension and disbarment of Belarusian lawyers doesn’t just rob them of their ability to practice their profession, but undermines their clients’ right to legal counsel, and sends a chilling message of intimidation to their colleagues.

On October 26, the Belarusian human rights community issued a joint statement on their recognising another 12 persons as political prisoners, HRC Viasna reported. As of October 26, there are 833 political prisoners in Belarus on this list.

The updated list includes:

  • Syarhei Prus and Dzmitry Bondarau, who were sentenced under Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code to 5 years in a penal colony for creating and posting online a video calling for illegal actions against riot police officers of the Mahilioŭ regional department of internal affairs;
  • Dzmitry Sonchyk, who was sentenced under Art. 364 and Art. 369 of the Criminal Code to 5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony for insults and threats to police officers in comments in a Telegram channel in 2020 and 2021;
  • Andrey Razuvayeu , who was sentenced under Article 369 and 295 of the Criminal Code to 4 years in a penal colony for insulting a government official and keeping a small amount of hunting gunpowder;
  • Iryna Melkher, Anton Melkher, Halina Dzerbysh, Syarhei Razanovich, Lyubou Razanovich, Pavel Razanovich, who have been in custody on terrorism charges since early December 2020. According to the human rights defenders, they have not participated in any investigative actions, while the investigation is not formally completed, and the state propaganda resources back in 2020 claimed that the guilt and role of all those involved in the case was ‘established and proven’;
  • former investigator Yauhen Yushkevich. The circumstances of the new accusation of terrorism give grounds to believe that his detention may be arbitrary and related to his public activities, human rights activists stress;
  • Yauhen Buynitski, who was detained on charges under Part 3 of Art. 371 of the Criminal Code for organizing illegal border crossing by citizens fleeing arbitrary politically motivated persecution by the Belarusian authorities, which could have serious consequences for them – torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and illegal imprisonment.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/26/belarusian-authorities-retaliate-against-lawyers-defending-human-rights

https://belsat.eu/en/news/26-10-2021-another-12-names-on-list-over-830-political-prisoners-in-belarus/

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China: Weiquanwang’s annual report details more than 800 political prisoners in 2018

January 2, 2019
And for those interested in China there is a good wrap up in a piece of 31 December 2018 by Radio Free Asia. It refers to the Weiquanwang rights website which published its annual report detailing more than 800 political prisoners in China. [for some of my other posts on China: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/china/]

The same article details other cases such as:

Authorities in Guangdong have handed down a two-year jail term to anti-censorship campaigner Zhen Jianghua after finding him guilty of subversion. He was tried in secret in Guangdong’s Zhuhai city on Aug. 10, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after the court found him guilty of “incitement to subvert state power,” his former defense attorney Ren Quanniu told RFA. “Given the particular circumstances of the case, two years is quite a harsh sentence,” Ren said. “They could have given him a suspended sentence for this, but this is probably because he refused to cooperate and plead guilty.” Zhen had registered a website overseas to elude ruling Chinese Communist Party censorship, and offered information about censorship, and circumvention tools for accessing the internet beyond the complex system of blocks, filters, and human censorship that make up China’s Great Firewall. [According to Frontline Defenders, Zhen had also worked as a technical consultant with Human Rights Campaign in China, as an advising expert with Chinese Wikipedia, and as a project officer of a HIV/AIDS prevention education project in Zhuhai, run by the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation.]

The tally also included Deng Yaoqiong, a woman incarcerated in a psychiatric facility in the central province of Hunan after she live-streamed video of herself splashing ink on a poster of President Xi Jinping. Dong Yaoqiong was sent for “compulsory treatment” after she streamed live video of herself splashing ink on a poster of President Xi in Shanghai, in protest at “authoritarian tyranny” on July 4. She is being held as a psychiatric patient in a women’s ward in Hunan’s Zhuzhou No. 3 Hospital. Her father Dong Jianbiao and Beijing artist-activist Hua Yong were also detained when they spoke out about her detention. Beijing artist Guo Zi said Hua Yong is now in contact with the outside world after his detention, but that nothing has been heard from Dong Yaoqiong or her father. “It’s nearly 2019 now, and it’s a great tragedy that there is still no legal framework being implemented for the freedom of speech … nearly 20 years into the 21st century,” he said.

Another political prisoner, veteran democracy activist Wang Bingzhang, has warned that his life is in danger in prison, where he is serving a life sentence for “espionage” in the southern province of Guangdong. Wang made the comments to his daughter, who visited him on Christmas Day. “In particular, he said that if he met with an unfortunate end, it wouldn’t be from health or physical problems, because his health was OK.”

Patrick Poon, China researcher for Amnesty International, said the mass incarceration of Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang has been a major concern during 2018. The authorities have also stepped up a nationwide crackdown on religious believers, shutting down churches and mosques and detaining anyone who resists. “Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui Muslims, and other Muslim minorities have been persecuted to a high degree, and we have heard reports of torture and inhumane treatment,” Poon said. Meanwhile, a crackdown on human rights lawyers and associated activists begun in July 2015 continues to widen, while political prisoners are denied a fair trial in Chinese courts. “The Chinese government should stop all of this persecution, and respond to concern from the international community by releasing all political prisoners,“. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/01/15/today-ilham-tohti-completes-his-fourth-year-in-chinese-detention/]

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/prisoners-12312018133354.html  (as reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Liu Fei for the Mandarin Service; translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie))

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Amnesty starts again its Write For Rights campaign

November 24, 2018
Write for Rights event in Amsterdam, 2015

Write for Rights event in Amsterdam, 2015 © Amnesty International

Every year, Amnesty International runs its Write For Rights, a campaign over November and December where it encourages you to write messages of support to people around the world who have suffered injustice, and show you how to support their campaigns for justice. And the yearly campaign seems to work. For last year’s campaign see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/12/04/write-for-rights-again-in-december-2017/

There is plenty of material for those who want to support:

Get the campaign booklet Download the campaign booklet (PDF). It introduces you to each case and sets out how you can write to them, and how to write to the authorities on their behalf. This is the main resource for Write For Rights.

Three ways to join in Write For Rights:

1. Write a message of solidarity

This is where Write For Rights began: writing to people who are wrongly punished, to show them that they’re not alone. If writing letters isn’t for you, you can send a message of solidarity online.

2. Write an appeal letter

In a world of petitions, physical post does get noticed! As well as writing to the people suffering human rights abuses, we also ask you to write to the authorities who can bring them justice. All the details of how to write to authorities are in our campaign booklet.

You can download pre-printed ‘appeal’ address labels to make it easier to send multiple letters.

3. Hold an event

Write for Rights events come in all shapes and sizes – from stalls in outdoor markets, to intimate gatherings in a local pub. See UK AI’s tips for putting together a successful Write for Rights event. Don’t forget to add your event to the website once you’ve got the date and location confirmed!

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/write-rights-getting-started

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