Posts Tagged ‘terrorist attacks’

Iranian Human Rights Defenders in trouble

September 27, 2018
On 21 September 2018 the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/ OMCT) petitioned the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to seek the release of Iranian human rights lawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh. Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent defender and 2012 laureate of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, was arrested on June 13, 2018 at her home in Tehran. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/08/30/human-rights-defender-nasrin-sotoudeh-on-hunger-strike-in-iran/ ].. On September 16, 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh was informed that she would be denied her family visitation rights if she and her female visitors – including her daughter – did not wear a full hijab. Ms Sotoudeh has refused the condition and was denied the right to see her daughter on September 17, 2018.
The Observatory urges the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Sotoudeh and to cease all acts of harassment and other abuses against her and all human rights defenders in Iran, in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and with international human rights standards and international instruments to which Iran is a State party.

The semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Thursday 27 September that another human rights defender, Narges Mohammadi, has been granted a three-day leave from prison to visit her ailing father.

However, the recent terror attack in Iran may be expected to prompt the Guards to compensate by cracking down on domestic detractors and perceived opponents of their mission of defending and principles of the Islamic revolution. Certainly, some prominent figures within the Iranian activist and expatriate communities have been quick to raise alarms about the likelihood of this outcome. For instance, the Center for Human Rights in Iran quoted the Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi as saying of last Saturday’s attack, “Such actions lead to the justification of state violence and the arrest of many opponents in the name of fighting terrorism.” Meanwhile activists echoed the sentiment, saying, “Terrorism and violence in any form should be condemned in the strongest terms [but] such acts of violence should not become an excuse for state violence to suppress peaceful opposition.”

https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/iran-the-observatory-petitions-un-body-over-the-ongoing-detention-of

https://www.france24.com/en/20180927-iran-rights-activist-out-three-day-prison-leave

https://irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/5353-more-warnings-of-possible-crackdown-by-revolutionary-guards-after-terror-attack.html

Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | Leave a Comment »
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Terrorist attacks in Europe by islamic groups are a surprisingly low number

January 19, 2015

Oliver Wheaton in Metro.co.uk of 15 January 2015 writes that “the number of terrorists who are actually Muslim or religiously motivated will surprise you”.  This surprised me and perhaps also many of my readers who – like me – followed the impact of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.

According to statistics from Europol, less than two per cent of all recorded acts of terror in Europe were perpetrated with religious motivations, with an even smaller number being committed by Muslim extremists. Estimates suggest only around two per cent of all terrorist attacks were committed by Islamic groups or individuals. For example, out of the 152 terrorist acts in the EU in 2013, only two were religiously motivated. In 2011, none of the 174 attacks were ‘inspired’ by religious organisations.The majority of terrorist activity concerns ethno-nationalist organisations, who often commit acts of terrorism that have low, if any, casualty rates, meaning they do not get extensive news coverage. However Europol added: “Islamist terrorists still aim to cause mass casualties.”

The number of terrorists who are actually Muslims motivated will surprise you
Data from the last five years (2010-2014) of terrorist attacks in Europe (Picture: Europol / Metro)

Islamist terrorist groups are also far less of a danger than their nationalist counterparts in the USA, with researchers at Princeton University finding that Islamist extremists were responsible for only 6 per cent of attacks between 1980 and 2005

via: The number of terrorists who are actually Muslim or religiously motivated will surprise you | Metro News.

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