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 »
Posts Tagged ‘Shirin Ebadi’
Nargess Mohammadi arrested in Iran
May 6, 2015Just when one thinks that Iran is going to change for the better, human rights defender Ms. Nargess Mohammadi is arrested (after years of continuous judicial harassment, including repeated summoning, interrogations and trials.)
Several NGOs, including the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/OMCT) have strongly condemned the 5 May arrest of Nargess Mohammadi, who is the spokesperson and Vice-President of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC). Upon her arrest, the agents claimed that she was being taken “to serve her prison sentence”. [Mrs Mohammadi started to serve a 6-year prison sentence on 21 April 2012, but that she was released on bail on 31 July 2012 for medical reasons.]
On May 3, 2015, Ms. Mohammadi attended the first hearing of her trial based on three main charges against her:
- “assembly and collusion against the national security” based on her activities in the DHRC and cooperation with “the [Nobel Laureate] Shirin Ebadi, counter-revolutionary and feminist groups”;
- “spreading propaganda against the State” based on her “interviews with foreign and counter-revolutionary media participation in illegal gatherings, supporting sedition and anti-security inmates”; and
- “membership of the illegal and anti-security LEGAM group”.
Following a meeting in 2014 with the then High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, Ms. Catherine Ashton, the Iranian authorities banned Ms. Mohammadi from travelling abroad; she has received 10 summons and has been detained twice by the security agents.
The Observatory strongly condemns arbitrary arrest of Ms. (…).
Interview with Karim Lahidji on the 36th anniversary of the Islamic regime in Iran
February 18, 201511 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 »
The release of human rights defenders written up in a Lifestyle Magazine
November 29, 2013Just as an example of how human rights defenders and the work to support them can appear in a Lifestyle Magazine:
Across Canada human rights supporters have recently been celebrating the releases of a number of prisoners of conscience—people jailed solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
In China, poet and journalist Shi Tao was released after more than eight years in prison. Supporters of the human rights organization Amnesty International (amnesty.ca) had long campaigned for his freedom by writing letters to the Chinese authorities and signing petitions calling for his release. Shi Tao was imprisoned in 2004 for sending an email using his Yahoo account. His email summarized a communiqué from the Chinese Central Propaganda Department telling journalists how they should handle the 15th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement. The Chinese authorities accused him of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities”. Shi Tao expressed his thanks to supporters: “The support and encouragement of friends from around the world have helped my mother and me through the difficult and lonely times.” Other prisoners of conscience recently released in China this year included human rights defender Ni Yulan, and Falun Gong practitioners Wang Xiuqing and her daughter Qin Hailong, released after 18 months in a “re-education through labour” camp.
In Iran, the sudden release of prisoner of conscience Nasrin Sotoudeh in September further showed how the passion and persistence of individual people around the world taking action by putting pen to paper can help human rights. Sotoudeh is widely respected for her work as a lawyer. She has represented children facing the death penalty, prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders, and has worked closely with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. But in August 2010 Sotoudeh was locked up in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison though she had committed no crime. During her imprisonment, Nasrin was stopped from having regular visits with her husband, Reza Khandan, and two young children. Amnesty International declared her a prisoner of conscience and quickly launched a global appeal demanding her release. Supporters tirelessly wrote letters to the Iranian authorities requesting them to free the human rights lawyer. Their efforts helped win a great victory. Sotoudeh sent a thank you for the support she had received from people around the world. “I have been aware of all your efforts on my behalf and I want to thank you!”
Human rights supporters celebrate recent prisoner releases : The Canadian Lifestyle Magazine.
Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award to follow on the internet (2 October, 18h00)
September 27, 2012
Every day all over the world, unsung heroes are risking their lives to call attention to injustice and to fight for human rights. On Tuesday October 2nd, one of them will honored with the Martin Ennals Award. The Martin Ennals Award is chosen by a Jury of ten leading Human Rights organizations including: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First and others (see www.martinennalsaward.org). Thus, this prize represents the expression of the whole Human Rights movement.
The winner will be selected from three nominees, who personalize wider issues in their home countries and allow these issues to be represented through individual cases:
- Venerable Sovath Luon: sometimes referred to as the “Multimedia Monk”. He challenges the widespread eviction of poor people from land they have long held but without title, often due to the destruction of records during the Khmer Rouge period.
- Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian Lawyer serving a 6 year prison sentence in Iran for “… the offences of “acting against the national security”, “propaganda against the regime” and “membership of Human Rights Defenders Centre” – an organisation presided over by the Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.
- Bahrain Center for Human Rights: Currently high on the world media agenda. Two of the main founders: Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Nabeel Rajab are serving jail sentences. Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested for demonstrating against the government, while other members are regularly arrested and abused.
The ceremony is hosted by the City of Geneva in Victoria Hall. Short films commissioned by the Martin Ennals Foundation. Those who cannot attend in person may want to follow it on the internet (www.martinennalsaward.org) starting at 18h00 Geneva time.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah sentenced to nine years in jail: Iran does it again!
May 3, 2012And the virtual ink on my previous post is hardly dry and I come across the case of Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, just but not justly sentenced to 9 year prison. Iran can hardly be surprised that it leads the table of HRDS honored in the context of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
A prominent lawyer who worked on the case of a Christian pastor on death row in Iran for apostasy, which made headlines around the world, Dadkhah has been sentenced to nine years in jail. “I have been convicted of acting against the national security, spreading propaganda against the regime and keeping banned books at home,” he said. Iranian authorities have used such vague charges in recent years to incriminate activists and lawyers in recent years. He had also been banned from teaching at universities or practicing law for an extra 10 years.
Dadkhah has represented several political and human rights activists jailed in the aftermath of the country’s 2009 disputed elections. He has also been the lawyer of the 32-year-old Yusuf Naderkhani, whose sentencing to death for apostasy triggered an international outcry.
Other prominent Iranian lawyers have also been sentenced to lengthy prison terms such as Abdolfattah Soltani, Nasrin Sotoudeh and recently Narges Mohammadi. Like them, Dadkhah worked for the DHRC of Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi who fled the country in 2009.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) on Thursday condemned the sentencing of Dadkhah as well as the systematic harassment by the state against the DHRC members.
“We fear that the harassment against DHRC and attempts to silence its members will continue exponentially”, says Souhayr Belhassen, the FIDH President.
“The authorities in Iran are doing their utmost to stifle human rights defenders by imposing heavy sentences of imprisonment, exile, and ban on professional practice. All this is aimed at intimidating the whole society into a deadly silence”, adds secretary general of the OMCT, Gerald Staberock.
Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah sentenced to nine years in jail | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Iran continues its persecution of Human Rights Defenders: Narges Mohammadi detained
May 3, 2012Prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi was arrested last month. On Wednesday 26 April Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Paris said the group “strongly condemns” her jailing. Narges Mohammadi was a spokeswoman for Ebadi’s now-banned Center for Human Rights Defenders.
She was reportedly detained on Saturday 21 April and brought to Tehran’s Evin prison to begin serving a six-year sentence following a conviction in 2010 after she was accused of anti-government crimes. Mohammadi had remained free pending appeals. Ebadi left Iran after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, which touched off unprecedented protests and harsh crackdowns by authorities. Several of her co-workers have been arrested and harassed, such as Nasrin Sotoudeh, recently announced as a 2012 nominee of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (www.martinennalsaward.org).
For more details on her case see: http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/04/narges-arrest/
Reporters Without Borders is concerned by the case because Narges is a journalist and author. In its recently released report on press freedom in 2011, the organisation ranks Iran number 175 outr of 179 countries surveyed. I states inter alia: “It is no surprise that the same trio of countries, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea, absolute dictatorships that permit no civil liberties, again occupy the last three places in the index. This year, they are immediately preceded at the bottom by Syria, Iran and China, three countries that seem to have lost contact with reality as they have been sucked into an insane spiral of terror, and by Bahrain and Vietnam, quintessential oppressive regimes. Other countries such as Uganda and Belarus have also become much more repressive.”
For the full report go to:
http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html
Related articles
- Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi arrested (guardian.co.uk)
- Breaking news: Nasrin Sotoudeh from Iran – MEA 2012 nominee (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Iran again: HRD Narges Mohammadi gets 11 years prison sentence
September 30, 2011Narges Mohammadi, who became ill after being detained by security officials, was convicted by a court in Tehran to 11 years in jail. Narges Mohammadi, 39, the deputy head of Iran’s Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), a rights organisation presided over by the Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, was picked up last year by security officials who raided her house without a warrant for her arrest. She was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison where she was kept in solitary confinement but was released after a month and taken to hospital. It emerged on Tuesday that a court in Tehran has now convicted her on three charges: acting against the national security, membership of the DHRC and propaganda against the regime.
“I’m not involved in politics, I’m only a human rights activist,” Mohammadi said by phone from Tehran. “I was informed of the 11-year sentence through my lawyers, who were given an unprecedented 23-page judgment issued by the court in which they repeatedly likened my human rights activities to attempts to topple the regime.” In March the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a US-based non-governmental organisation, reported that security forces had stolen Mohammadi’s medical records from the hospital. Her husband, Taghi Rahmani, a political activist, has spent a third of his life in jail.
Amnesty International reacted with outrage to Mohammadi’s conviction. “The verdict claims that Narges Mohammadi is a liar and has tarnished the image of Iran,” said Drewery Dyke, Amnesty’s researcher on Iran. “However, this latest verdict regrettably does exactly that by showing what Iran’s judiciary thinks of the government’s so-called commitment to uphold human rights in the country, and indeed exactly how it deals with those advocating international human rights standards.”
for more info see inter alia:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/28/iranian-activist-narges-mohammadi-jailed?newsfeed=true
Amnesty International’s big meeting started Sunday 14 August
August 16, 2011On Sunday 14 August Amnesty International started its big meeting (ICM) in Noordwijkerhout in the Netherlands. AI is ‘celebrating’ its 50th anniversary and the list of interveners on the first day illustrates the continued importance of this unique, large, membership-based human rights movement. In addition to the new Secretarty-General Salil Shetty, there were messages from Aung San Suu Kyi (by video), Shirin Ebadi, and Kasha Nabagesera, the 2011 Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award. For a short video summary of the first day go to: http://amnestyicm.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/highlights-from-day-one/
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 