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Category: Front Line

  • Defamation Campaign against Syrian woman rights defender Hiba Ezzideen Al- Hajji

    On 23 April 2025 Front Line Defenders expressed its serious concern for Syrian woman human right defender Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajji, as well as her family and the ‘Equity and Empowerment’ organisation, who are being targeted by a defamation campaign on Facebook which seeks to incite violence against them. The online campaign, initiated both by individuals known to support the new government and unknown users, has targeted Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii for a Facebook post she made on 20 April 2025, in which she advocated against forced marriages. This bombardment of defamatory messages has included calls for violence, including death threats, constituting a clear case of harassment.

    Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajji is a Syrian feminist and woman human rights defender. She is the CEO of the Equity and Empowerment organisation and the Chairperson of the Board of Directors in Shan network for peace building. Equity and Empowerment is a women-led organisation which works on gender equality, focusing on digital security, economic and political empowerment. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/10/syrian-woman-human-rights-defender-hiba-ezzideen-al-hajji-threatened/]

    Since 20 April 2025, Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii’s Facebook account, through which she posted about women’s rights, has been used to start a defamation campaign and incite violence against her, as well as her family and the Equity and Empowerment organisation, both based in Idlib, Syria. The online campaign has led to Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii receiving numerous death threats on the social media platform, both through private messages and through a flood of posts on her own account, as well as on Equity and Empowerment’s page. The online mob, formed by unknown users, have urged followers to post defamatory content against her online and called for physical violence, inciting people to burn down the center of Equity and Empowerment in Idlib, with the objective of killing Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii and harming her family. They have distorted the meaning of an old video, in which she stated that it is unnecessary to use the veil in the centers of Equity and Empowerment where there are only women, to falsely accuse her of insulting the Hijab and Islam. The online mob have also attempted to distort her Facebook post in which she urged authorities to investigate cases of women’s abduction, in order to allow for accountability.

    Several public figures have taken advantage of this defamation campaign in order to falsely accuse the woman rights defender of being an agent to Assad security branches, despite her clear stands against the Assad regime and extensive record of human rights activism against it. Subsequently, on 22 April, the police in Idlib closed down the center of Equity and Empowerment. Furthermore, the governor of Idlib announced via Facebook that he has requested the public prosecutor to file a lawsuit against Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii for insulting the hijab. The woman human rights defender has expressed a profound concern for her personal safety and well-being. She has reported fearing for her life, as well as the lives of her family and team at Equity and Empowerment.

    Front Line Defenders condemns the defamation and online campaign seeking to incite violence, as well as subsequent acts of intimidation against woman human rights defender Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii, her family and her organisation Equity and Empowerment. Front Line Defenders believes that the defamation campaign and online harassment is directly related to Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajji’s work in the defence of human rights, particularly her work towards the promotion of women’s rights in Syria.

    Front Line Defenders also expresses concern with the recurrent use of Facebook as a tool to incite violence against woman human rights defenders in Syria. The organisation urges Meta to immediately take down all Facebook posts against woman human rights defender Hiba Ezzideen Al-Hajii and her organisation Equity and Empowerment, suspend any groups, pages and profiles used to defame her or organise attacks and incite violence against her and her organisation, while also storing data that is relevant for future investigations and accountability. Meta must fulfill their responsibility to protect human rights, in accordance with international human rights standards. They must take the necessary steps to guarantee the safety of human rights defenders online, ensuring their platforms do not contribute to violent and dangerous campaigns, or allow users to incite targeted violence against defenders, particularly woman human rights defenders, which puts their lives at serious risk. Front Line Defenders stands ready to assist Meta with identifying the defamatory and violent content in question and the accounts on which they are hosted or shared.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/syria-defamation-campaign-against-woman-rights-defender-hiba-ezzideen-al-hajji

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Repression of the Baloch women human rights defenders in Pakistan

    Dr. Sabiha Baloch is a woman human rights defender and member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a network focused on advocating for the human rights and interests of the Baloch people in Pakistan. Dr. Sabiha Baloch has faced reprisals due to her work, including attacks against her family. Notably, her work as a woman human rights defender has led to the abduction of her brother and relative, who were subsequently released after several months in detention. Dr. Sabiha Baloch has been an integral part of peaceful campaigns against extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in Balochistan. She was part of the Baloch Long March and the Baloch National Gathering in 2024, which faced severe State reprisals, including violence and arrests. Since March 2025, following the arrest of several leading human rights defenders and members of the BYC, Dr. Sabiha Baloch has continued to document and highlight violations, and demand the release of detained colleagues and protesters.

    On 5 April 2025, Pakistani authorities arrested the father of Baloch woman human rights defender Beebow Baloch. He is currently detained at the Hudda District Prison in Balochistan under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (MPO). The woman human rights defender Beebow Baloch has also been held at the same prison under the MPO since her arrest on 22 March 2025.

    On 7 April 2025, Pakistani authorities arrested woman human rights defender Gulzadi Baloch in Quetta, Balochistan, with disturbing reports of excessive violence being used during the arrest. For several hours following her arrest, there was no information about her fate or whereabouts, causing serious concerns for her physical and mental safety. She is presently held at the Hudda district prison under the regressive Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act, which severely restricts access to bail.

    In March 2025 UN experts demanded the release: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/pakistan-un-experts-demand-release-baloch-human-rights-defenders-and-end

    The NGO Frontline demands that Baloch human rights defenders in Pakistan are protected from reprisals, and end their ongoing persecution and punishment in the State, including for exercising their right to free expression and peaceful dissent, under the guise of national security.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/baloch-woman-human-rights-defender-sabiha-baloch-facing-risk-imminent-arrest-and-reprisals

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/father-baloch-woman-human-rights-defender-beebow-baloch-arrested

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/woman-human-rights-defender-gulzadi-baloch-arrested

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Breaking News: The Laureates of the 2024 Martin Ennals Award are….

    Two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life mission to protect human rights in Afghanistan and in Tajikistan will receive the Martin Ennals Award 2024 on November 21th, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award.

    The Jury of ten of the world’s leading human rights NGOs – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, HURIDOCS, Bread for the World, Human Rights First, World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Front Line Defenders – has selected, after much deliberation, the two human rights defenders whom it strongly believes deserve to be recognized and honored in 2024, on the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award. [see also: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE]

    The two 2024 Laureates, Zholia Parsi (Afghanistan) and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov (Tadjikistan) have shown exceptional courage and determination to bring human rights at the forefront despite evolving in deeply repressive environments.

    “We are very proud to honor these two exceptional Laureates. They have paid too big a price for justice and equality to be respected in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and the international community must support their efforts instead of battling geostrategic interests in the region“.
    – Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury

    The two Laureates 2024:

    Zholia Parsi: is a teacher from Kabul, Afghanistan. Having lost her career and seeing her daughters deprived of their education with Taliban takeover in August 2021, she founded the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW) to protest the return of policies and practices against women rights and fundamental freedoms. She displayed remarkable leadership and resilience in organizing numerous public protests despite the risks involved. The grassroots movement that is the SMAW quickly grew momentum in Kabul and other provinces, now counting 180 members and having mobilized communities to resist the Taliban’s policies and practices.
    She was arrested in the street by armed Taliban in September 2023, and detained along with her son. She was released after three months of torture and ill-treatment under their custody, which further strengthened her resolve to resist Taliban oppression and repression.

    Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov: is a Pamiri human rights lawyer from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), Tajikistan. He is serving a 16 year-long prison sentence after what is widely considered an unfair trial in retaliation for his human rights work.
    As Director of the Lawyers’ Association of Pamir (LAP), he led strategic advocacy efforts in the GBAO, a region marked by its ethnic minority and historical tensions with the central government, including by lobbying for the incorporation of international human rights standards into domestic law and practice, and by providing legal support to residents of the GBAO.
    Through the human rights initiatives Commission 44 and Group 6, he played a key role in investigating the death of youth leader Gulbiddin Ziyobekov in November 2021, and the violent repression of subsequent mass protest in the regional capital Khorog. The investigation resulted in critical evidence of an unlawful killing, possibly an extrajudicial execution of the young man, and the unlawful use of force of security forces against protesters, resulting in two deaths, seventeen injured and hundreds detained.
    He was arrested on 28 May 2022 together with two other members of Commission 44 amid a widespread crackdown on local informal leadership and residents of the GBAO.

    The Martin Ennals Award (MEA): 30 years alongside human rights defenders

    The Martin Ennals Award (MEA) was given for the first time in 1994 to recognize, promote and protect human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. Over the years, the MEA has offered defenders a platform to issues that are of global concern and the means to steer the movement for human rights and larger freedoms.
    The MEA culminates every year in a public ceremony in Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva (Ville de Genève). The 2024 MEA Ceremony will take place on November 21th, 2024 at the Salle communale de Plainpalais. The Ceremony, which is also livestreamed, draws many local and international human rights supporters to an inspiring event which celebrates the achievements and commitment of exceptional human rights defenders.
    “Geneva has a long tradition of hosting international diplomacy and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The City of Geneva is proud to co-host the Martin Ennals Award and shed light, on this 30th anniversary, on the impressive resilience of two human rights defenders and the hope they bring for peace and equality” concludes Alfonso Gomez, Administrative Counselor of the City of Geneva.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/martin-ennals-award-2024-laureates-announced

    https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/martin-ennals-award-to-reward-rights-activists-from-afghanistan-tajiskitan-on-its-30th-edition/

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Hope and defiance abound as Dublin event hosts 100 human rights defenders

    At a time of unprecedented backlash against them, dozens of the most at-risk human rights defenders (HRDs) from all regions of the world will come together with dignitaries and civil society leaders in Dublin for three days from 23-25 October at Front Line Defenders’ flagship event, the Dublin Platform. This is Front Line Defenders’ 12th Platform, bringing together around 100 HRDs from close to 100 different countries.

    First held in 2002, previous Dublin Platforms have given HRDs from almost every country the opportunity to share strategies for advocacy and protection, build solidarity with colleagues around the world, and network with high-level decision makers.

    “Human rights defenders represent the best of the human spirit. They steadfastly champion the human rights of others, often at great personal risk, to push for fairer, more just societies,” said Alan Glasgow, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders.

    “But the challenges they face are enormous. For their courageous work, human rights defenders are often targeted with the worst forms of violence, surveillance, criminalisation and other repression.

    The dignitaries addressing this year’s Platform will include: Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe; and Seán Fleming, Minister of State in Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/10/human-rights-defenders-are-oxygen-human-rights-ecosystem

    Among the HRDs attending the Dublin Platform are LGBTIQ+ rights defenders; Indigenous, land and environmental rights defenders; women human rights defenders; journalists facing threats and persecution; those fighting against corruption and corporate abuse, and those working on a range of other issues.

    The HRDs taking part in the Platform face a wide range of risks, from digital surveillance and online harassment, to death threats and violent attacks, to criminalisation and vilification through smear campaigns. Some work in extremely challenging circumstances amid armed conflicts, crackdowns and other large-scale crises. Front Line Defenders documents the wide array of risks faced by HRDs in its Global Analysis, published annually.

    The HRDs in attendance will also attend a special tribute at the HRD Memorial monument in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens, to commemorate the hundreds of their colleagues around the world who are killed every year for their peaceful work. According to the HRD Memorial initiative – which Front Line Defenders coordinates – at least 300 HRDs across 28 countries were killed in 2023

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/hope-and-defiance-abound-dublin-event-hosts-around-100-human-rights-defenders

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Indian Human Rights Defender G.N. Saibaba passes away

    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

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Dublin festival sees human rights defenders and artists stand up in solidarity

    Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival showcases dozens of events from 11-20 October

    The Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival, Ireland’s only annual festival celebrating the intersection of the arts and human rights, is back for a sixth year, with events taking place in the capital, around Ireland and online from 11-20 October.

    Under the slogan, “In Solidarity: An International Celebration of Arts and Human Rights,” Front Line Defenders and Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality – alongside a range of partners – will bring an exciting and innovative line-up of events that promote equality, human rights and diversity through the arts.

    “We are delighted to be back for a sixth year of the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival, with another strong lineup of innovative and thought-provoking events that use the arts to shine a light on a range of human rights issues,” said Laura O’Leary, International Events and Promotions Coordinator at Front Line Defenders, and the festival’s human rights curator.

    “The festival highlights the extraordinary work of human rights defenders in Ireland and around the world, who courageously work to promote human rights and justice for all.”

    Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, this year’s festival takes place over 10 days and includes events in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Kerry, Cork, Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway, with artists and speakers in attendance from multiple countries. With an exciting blend of events happening in person and online, the festival reaches audiences locally, nationally, and internationally

    Front Line Defenders hosts and co-sponsors a range of events during the festival, including (click the links for full event and booking details):

    • Memorial Monologues – The Path of Memory (1-2pm on 18, 19 and 20 October). This play by Mary Moynihan is adapted from the words of four brave and inspirational human rights defenders from around the world who were murdered because of their peaceful work defending the rights of others. Created as a promenade, ‘walk-in-the-park’ show with theatre, poetry and music, the performance features four of the stories of human rights defenders who are commemorated at the Memorial to Human Rights Defenders in the Iveagh Gardens.
    • Open Mic Night (7-10:30pm on 17 October). A night of poetry and music related to themes of solidarity, human rights and social justice. We will have special guests featuring curated poetry and music for the night, which will be announced closer to the event and the floor is also open for anyone who would like to sign up to perform.
    • Guardians of the Land: The Colombia Migrant Film Festival Launch (7-9pm on 16 October). Join us for the launch of the Colombia Migrant Film Festival, where we will be screening a two short documentaries. This year, we welcome the film festival in its Environmental and Migrant Justice edition, an edition that recognises the importance of speaking with urgency about the direct relationship between environmental impacts and migration. This is the year in which migrants, exiles, refugees and artists, positioning themselves from a perspective of the Global South, reaffirm their connection with the territory and recognise that to remember the armed conflict in Colombia is to remember nature itself: victim, scenario and instrument for war.
    • “Where should they go?” Migrants and Refugee rights Panel Discussion (4-5pm on 20 October). This is a shared discussion on Migrants and Refugees rights, organised by Front Line Defenders with guest speakers including Haneen Boshosha, a woman human rights defender from Libya; Ieva Raubiško, a woman human rights defender from Latvia and Lorena Zambrano, a woman human rights defender from Chile. During this panel, speakers look at the challenges migrants and refugees face around the world but also what their strategies are to build responses and alternatives.

    Click here for the full programme of events on the official web page of the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival 2024.

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Bangladesh: Six student human rights defenders arbitrarily detained

    On the 26th to 28th July 2024, six student human rights defender namely: Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum reportedly have been arbitrarily detained under custody of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) and coerced to announce the withdrawal of their protest programmes through a video message sent to media from the DB office at around 8:00 PM on 28 July 2024.

    Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum are students and dedicated human rights defenders and National Coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination Movement. Nahid Islam is from the Sociology Department, Abu Bakar Majumder from the Geography Department, Asif Mahmud from the Linguistics Department, Sarjis Alam is affiliated with the Zoology Department, Hasnat Abdullah is from the English Department, and Nusrat Tabassum is from the Political Science Department of Dhaka University.

    Students Against Discrimination Movement is a student led protest demanding reform of the present quota system in government jobs. A total 56 percent of first and second class government jobs in Bangladesh entailed quotas. 30 percent of the total reserved for the descendants of ‘freedom fighters’. This quota has been widely criticised especially by the students, stating that it create a discriminatory system and allegedly used to recruit students affiliated with the ruling party. Following widespread protests in 2018, the Government of Bangladesh abolished all quotas with an executive order. However, on 5 June 2024, the High Court ordered the Government to reinstate the quota with the power of any adjustment they want to make.

    Since 01 July 2024, the protests have escalated in several university campuses.The protests was met with a severe crackdown from the authorities involving ruling party goons, police and paramilitary forces from Rapid Action Battelion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). It has reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 250 people with thousands more injured. With the internet shutdown for almost a week, suspicion remains about many more killings. Since 18 July 2024, local media reported over 10000 people, including many students been arrested in a mass arrest spree.

    On 28 July 2024, at around 5:00 AM, woman human rights defender Nusrat Tabassum from Dhaka University had been reportedly picked up by individuals claiming to be from Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s DB at her cousin’s home in Mirpur.

    On 27 July 2024, two more student human rights defenders Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah were picked up and brought to the DB office. The Additional Commissioner of the DB claimed in a press conference that the student human rights defenders have been brought to their custody to ensure their safety, however the comissioner did not clear it whether they have been arrested. While the family members were not allowed to even enter into the DB office on 28 July 2024, they were allowed to meet the students on 29 July – only after their video message of withdrawal of their protest program been covered in media.

    On 26 July 2024, at around 4:00 PM, human rights defenders Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Bakar Majumder were forcefully taken from Gonoshasthaya Kendra Hospital by the police in plainclothes in Dhaka and taken to custody of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s DB. Nahid and Asif were undergoing treatment Gonoshasthaya Kendra Hospital while Abu Bakar was accompanying them. Police also took away their phones.

    Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary detention and coercion of student human rights defenders Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in an attempt to repress their human rights work and target legimate students protests in Bangladesh.

    Front Line Defenders urges the relevant authorities in Bangladesh to:

    1. Immediately and unconditionally release Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum.
    2. Ensure the physical and psychological safety and well-being of Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum while they remain in custody.
    3. To secure their immediate access to their families, legal representation, and any medical care they may require.
    4. End to all forms of harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary detention of student human rights defenders in Bangladesh. The rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association must be respected and protected.
    5. Conduct independent and transparent investigation into the arbitrary detention and coercion of these student human rights defenders.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/six-student-human-rights-defenders-arbitrarily-detained-and-forced-announce-withdrawal-protest

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • JOINT NGO LETTER asks to suspend EU-CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE 2024

    On 12 June 2024, a group of important NGOs addressed the following letter to Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs:

    We, the undersigned civil society organisations, are writing to reiterate our request for the European Union to suspend its human rights dialogue with China, and to consider other, more impactful measures at the EU’s disposal to address the Chinese government’s assault on human rights at home and abroad.

    While appreciative of the open and frank discussion and engagement with the EEAS in preparation of each round of human rights dialogue with China, we regret that the EU continues this exercise despite its amply proven ineffectiveness over 38 rounds. While the EU raises concerns during these dialogues, it knows that the Chinese government will not acknowledge abuses, will not undertake any effort to secure accountability, and will not be persuaded to undertake any policy or legislative action to comply with China’s international human rights obligations. The EU’s reluctance to establish any measurable benchmark of progress, or even to establish clearly defined objectives beyond having a dialogue, exacerbates the ineffectiveness of this exercise.

    This year’s human rights dialogue would also entail EU officials sitting down with authorities in Beijing to “engage… through dialogue and cooperation” on human rights, days after the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.

    Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on dissent, harassing and imprisoning human rights defenders and activists including the Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, the Uyghur economist and Sakharov Prize laureate Ilham Tohti [7 human rights awards, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/37AE7DC4-16DB-51E9-4CF8-AB0828AEF491], the Hong-Kong barrister and human rights activist Chow Hang-tung and human rights lawyers Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan, who were arrested a little over a year ago on their way to meet with the EU delegation [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/69fc7057-b583-40c3-b6fa-b8603531248e and https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/07/12/new-wave-of-repression-against-human-rights-lawyers-unleashed-in-china/]. The Chinese government has committed egregious violations against Uyghur and other Turkic communities in Xinjiang/The Uyghur Region, which a report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in August 2022 stated “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Beijing has also intensified its repression in Tibet, while in Hong Kong the creation of a new national security architecture at Beijing’s behest has severely restricted the rights and freedoms long enjoyed by Hong Kong’s people.

    Beijing’s foreign policy has also been increasingly detrimental to human rights, both in the region and beyond. The Chinese government continues to support highly abusive governments, to challenge international efforts to secure accountability for grave abuses, and to intensify efforts to undermine the international human rights system and rewrite its norms. The Chinese government has also engaged in increasingly brazen transnational repression – abuses committed outside its borders – including in EU countries.

    The EU has already suspended human rights dialogues with highly repressive countries such as Russia, Syria, Belarus, and Myanmar, among others, in light of the nature, scale and pervasiveness of their authorities’ human rights abuses and violations of international law. The Chinese government has committed serious crimes amounting to crimes against humanity. It has long been evident that the human rights dialogue is not an appropriate nor an effective tool to address them. There is no reason to expect the 39th round will prove more beneficial to the rights of people in China than the previous 38. The EU and its member states should pursue different, more effective actions to press the Chinese government to end its crimes against humanity and other serious violations – and to hold accountable those responsible for failing to do so.

    We have long been suggesting alternative action, latest in this February 2023 letter. We stand ready to discuss these and other options with you any time.

    Signatories:
    Amnesty International
    Front Line Defenders
    Human Rights Watch
    International Service for Human Rights
    World Uyghur Congress

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/joint-public-civil-society-letter-eu-china-human-rights-dialogue-2024

    and see https://www.ucanews.com/news/jailing-of-chinese-metoo-journalist-upsets-rights-groups/105431

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Front Line Defenders: 2024 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk

    On 31 May 2024, Front Line Defenders announced the five winners of its top distinction, the 2024 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, at a special ceremony in Dublin this morning. Laureates from each of the major global regions travelled to Ireland to accept the Award, including:

    • Africa: Gamito dos Santos Carlos of AJOPAZ, the Youth Association for Peace (Mozambique)
    • Americas: The Trans women collective Muñecas de Arcoíris (Honduras), represented by Jennifer Bexara Córdova
    • Asia and the Pacific: Sammi Deen Baloch of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (Balochistan, Pakistan)
    • Europe and Central Asia: Doros Polykarpou of KISA (Cyprus)
    • Middle East and North Africa: We Are Not Numbers (Gaza, Palestine), represented by Ahmed Alnaouq

    “Given the immensity of the challenges we face and the adverse forces working against human rights in many parts of the world, it might seem tempting to lose hope that a better world is even possible,” said Alan Glasgow, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders. “But these courageous human rights defenders have defied that temptation and inspire us to keep hope alive. They say ‘no’ to the perpetrators and ‘yes’ to optimism – they know a fairer, more equal, rights-respecting world is worth fighting for.

    For more on the Annual Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk and it many laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/2E90A0F4-6DFE-497B-8C08-56F4E831B47D

    The 2024 Front Line Defenders Award winners are:

    Gamito dos Santos Carlos, a human rights defender from Nampula, northern Mozambique, is the executive director of AJOPAZ, the Youth Association for Peace. His human rights work centres around social, civil and political rights and accountability. Gamito has been advocating for the protection of human rights activists and engaging with young people to advocate for significant social change in his community, to foster justice and sustainable decision-making by authorities. He is also a member of the Friends of Amurane Association for a Better Mozambique -KÓXUKHURO, as well as an analyst and Provincial Coordinatorof the Mozambican Network of Human Rights Defenders (RMDDH). He has faced ongoing intimidation for his human rights work, including repeated raids on his home and the loss of his job, and in March 2023 he was kidnapped and tortured after he organised a demonstration.

    Muñecas de Arcoíris (Rainbow Dolls) is a collective of trans women from the city of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela in Honduras, founded in 2008. Muñecas works under the LGTBI+ Arcoíris Association of Honduras with the aim of creating a safe space for trans sex worker women. The members of Muñecas started as volunteers of the Arcoíris Association, where they became more aware of the situation that trans people were facing in Honduras. With the support of the Arcoíris Association, Muñecas members received training related to their rights as LGTBI+ people. They then started to document human rights violations specifically against trans women in 2006 and two years later, on 31 October 2008, the collective was formally created as a trans women organisation. Most of its members are sex workers, informal workers, stylists, and housekeepers,among others.

    Sammi Deen Baloch is a Baloch woman human rights defender from Mashkai, Awaran District of Balochistan province,Pakistan. She is the General Secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), a non-governmental organisation that represents and supports victims and relatives of enforced disappearances in Balochistan. In June 2009, at the age of 10, Sammi’s father, Dr Deen Mohammed Baloch, was forcibly disappeared in Khuzdar, Balochistan. She began persistently campaigning for the release of her father, which further led to her deeper, collective involvement in advocating against enforced disappearances in Balochistan by state forces.

    Doros Polykarpou is a leading human rights defender and founding member of KISA (the Movement for Equality, Support, and Anti-Racism). He is an expert on migration, asylum, discrimination, racism, and trafficking in Cyprus. For over 27 years, he has dedicated himself to defending and advocating for the rights of people on the move and tackling discrimination and xenophobia in Cyprus, navigating the unique socio-political environment of the small island nation with strong conservative elements. This has exposed him and the organisation to a backlash, and earlier this year KISA’s office was targeted by a bomb attack. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/01/19/attack-against-cypriot-anti-racism-ngo-kisa/]

    We Are Not Numbers (WANN) is a youth-led Palestinian nonprofit project established in the Gaza Strip in 2014, with the aim of telling the everyday, human stories of thousands of Palestinians. Their vision is to spread Palestinian voices and narratives, based on respect for human rights through the work of peaceful, non-violent, youth led Palestinians. When co-founder Ahmed Alnaouq lost his 23-year-old brother, Ayman, during an Israeli military attack on Palestinians in the summer of 2014, he was devastated, and sunk into a depression from which he thought he would never escape. During this time, he met American journalist Pam Bailey, who encouraged him to celebrate his brother’s legacy by writing a story about him. Like many young people in Gaza, Ahmed was majoring in English literature to improve his language skills. Pam published the story on a Western news website, which was well-received beyond expectation. Ahmed and Pam realised that writing the story had brought some healing to him and that this could be done on a much bigger platform.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/inspirational-human-rights-defenders-five-continents-receive-front-line-defenders

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • One of many FLD appeals: Jina Modares Gorji

    Front Line Defenders issues regularly urgent appeals on behalf of Human Rights Defenders. This case is just an example: on 29 May 2024 FLD called for action on behalf of woman human rights defender Jina Modares Gorji in Iran who was sentenced to twenty-one years in prison.

    Please get your own Front Line Defenders Appeals. By subscribing to this list [https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/secure/act-now.php] you will receive information on all cases that Front Line Defenders takes up on behalf of human rights defenders at risk. You will receive an average of 4 to 8 emails per week.

    On 24 May 2024, Jina Modares Gorji was notified that Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court has sentenced her to a total of twenty-one years in prison. In the verdict of the revolutionary court, the woman human rights defender has been sentenced to ten years in prison on the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security,” ten years in prison for “collaboration with a hostile government,” and one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against the state.”

    Jina Modares Gorji is a woman human rights defender, book seller, and feminist podcaster and blogger in Sanandaj, in the Kurdistan province in Iran. Her human rights work includes advocating for women among the Kurdish community, girls’ rights, and socio-cultural rights via holding book clubs and writing blogs. She has been arrested several times since September 2022, following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the custody of the Iranian morality police …

    On 9 April 2024, the last hearing occurred for the woman human rights defender. The aforementioned charges are related to her peaceful human rights activities, which includes speaking to media, participating in international conferences and organising activities to promote women’s rights in the Kurdistan province in Iran. The woman human rights defender was arrested on 10 April 2023 and was arbitrarily detained for almost three months in solitary condiment and in the public Womens Ward of Sanandaj prison. She was also denied access to a lawyer. In mid-February 2023, she was informed that “spreading disinformation” had been added to the previous charges of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security”, and “propaganda activities against the state”. On 3 July 2023, the woman human rights defender was released on a bail of one billion IRR.

    In April 2023, Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Public and Revolutionary Court dismissed the lawsuit that Jina Modares Gorji filed against the physical and verbal assault during her arbitrary arrest.

    On 12 February 2023, Jina Modares Gorji appeared with her lawyer before Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, where she did not sign the pardon scheme as she stated this would constitute an acknowledgement that the charges against her human rights work were legitimate. This scheme was announced by the Iranian judiciary in February 2023 on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

    The woman human rights defender had previously been arrested on 21 September 2022 for her work and participation in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, and charged with “gathering and collusion against the national security” and “propaganda activities against the state.” She was released on a bail of 10 billion IRR on 30 October 2022, after going on hunger strike for three days in protest against the physical assault and detention she endured in the Sanandaj Correctional Centre.

    The prosecution of Jina Modares Gorji is part of a wide crackdown on human rights defenders in Iran where, hefty sentences issued against human rights defenders on the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security,” against groups of human rights rights defenders reported by Front Line Defenders in April and May 2024.

    Front Line Defenders is particularly concerned with the sentencing of the woman human rights defender Jina Modares Gorji , as it believes the judicial action is in reprisal for her peaceful and legitimate human rights work.

    Download the urgent appeal.

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    1. Front Line Defenders launches Global Analysis 2023/24 on human rights defenders

      On 22 May 2024 Front Line Defenders launched its Global Analysis 2023/24 on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) at risk around the world, an in-depth annual publication detailing the variety of risks, threats and attacks faced by HRDs around the world.

      The Global Analysis gives a panorama of the threats faced by HRDs in all regions of the world. Despite an assault on human rights and the rule of law in many countries, human rights defenders (HRDs) showed remarkable courage and persistence in advocating for more democratic, just and inclusive societies in 2023. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/04/04/front-line-defenders-just-published-its-global-analysis-2022-new-record-of-over-400-killings-in-one-year/]

      At least 300 HRDs killed in 28 countries

      The report also reveals statistics gathered and verified by the HRD Memorial initiative – which Front Line Defenders coordinates – documenting the killings of at least 300 HRDs in 28 countries in 2023. Almost a third of those killed (31%) were Indigenous people’s rights defenders. This brings the total documented killings of HRDs in the last decade to nearly 3,000.

      “This appalling wave of attacks on human rights defenders is a direct result of an international human rights framework left in tatters and governments’ double standards when it comes to respecting human rights,” said Alan Glasgow, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders. “A quarter decade after the UN adopted a Declaration on human rights defenders, not enough progress has been made to ensure defenders are valued and protected. In this time, thousands of defenders have paid with their lives and many more face ongoing attacks and intimidation for their peaceful work. Urgent action is needed to change this.”

      Wide-ranging risks to HRDs

      Globally, the violation most commonly cited by HRDs was arbitrary arrest/detention (15%), followed by legal action (13%), continuing an ongoing trend of criminalisation as the most-reported risk. This was followed by death threats (10.2%), surveillance (9.8%) and physical attacks (8.5%). Trans and non gender-conforming HRDs reported slightly higher rates of physical attacks, and a much greater risk of smear campaigns. Globally, the five most targeted areas of human rights defence were: LGBTIQ+ rights (10.2%); Women’s rights (9.7%); Human rights movements (8.5%); Indigenous peoples’ rights (7.1%); and Human rights documentation (5.2%).

      The statistics in the Global Analysis are derived from Front Line Defenders’ casework and approved grant applications between 1 January and 31 December 2023. The statistics are based on 1,538 reported violations in 105 countries. Front Line Defenders documents multiple violations per case or grant, as this is the reality of the situation for human rights defenders. For more details on how these and the HRD Memorial data are gathered, please refer to the Methodology section at the end of the report.

      Download the full Global Analysis 2023/24

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/resource-publication/global-analysis-202324

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    2. Alan Glasgow new Executive Director of Front Line Defenders

      On 17 April 2024 Front Line Defenders announced that Alan Glasgow will take up the role of Executive Director of the organisation in late May 2024.

      The appointment follows a competitive, international recruitment process led by Front Line Defenders’ Board and an external recruitment agency.

      “As a longtime admirer of Front Line Defenders, I am delighted to have this opportunity to progress its work in supporting and protecting human rights defenders at risk,” said Alan Glasgow, incoming Executive Director of Front Line Defenders. “I feel privileged to work with human rights defenders from all around the world, in addition to our partners in civil society and government, and our supporters and donors.”

      “There is no doubt that human rights defenders in many parts of the world face an increasing danger and a stark reality. I hope to draw on decades of work on some of the world’s most challenging contexts – as well as the strength of Front Line Defenders’ existing skills, its remarkable global team, and knowledge base built over two decades – to help bring positive change for defenders and their crucial work.”

      Alan has worked for 25 years in development, humanitarian, and human rights contexts. He joins Front Line Defenders from the position of Regional Director for Asia and Europe with the international aid agency, Mercy Corps. Prior to this, he served as Mercy Corps’ European Migration Director. He has also worked with International Rescue Committee in New York and West Africa and with GOAL as Country Director and Director of Global Business Development.

      Alan’s leadership experience has focused on work at the frontlines of the world’s most challenging human rights environments, including Afghanistan, Gaza, Liberia, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.His career has demonstrated a profound commitment to the rights of the marginalised and his work has been underpinned by a belief in human rights principles.

      Alan will be Front Line Defenders’ third Executive Director since the organisation was founded in 2001. He follows in the footsteps of Front Line Defenders’ founder Mary Lawlor who served from 2001 until 2016, and former Executive Director Andrew Anderson, who held the role from 2016 to 2023. Olive Moore, who held the role of Interim Director for the last year, will resume her role as Deputy Director.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/alan-glasgow-appointed-executive-director-front-line-defenders?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=Zoho+Social&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=Zoho+Social&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0uD1M8a8Mh8eTG6_R6LxP31vaITT54kGWkp386xmZ-XxcUsPj3t6AnAUY_aem_Ac1ZDLje1eeciqOeVtT6mYfE1z7wuplnjiEKV4VqMBewrV4cAI211hMoWDDyLHdVM4oUcHZfDXpyRurDIF2BoO3Q

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    3. Joint statement on the 10-year anniversary of ‘deadly reprisals’ against Chinese activist Cao Shunli 

      On 14 March 2024, a large number of leading NGOs paid tribute to Cao Shunli, and all human rights defenders targeted by the Chinese government for their commitment to uphold the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/cao-shunli/]:

      Cao Shunli was a brave Chinese woman human rights defender and lawyer. Working with fellow activists, Cao documented abuses, including the now-abolished ‘Re-education through Labour’ extrajudicial detention system, which she was also subjected to as a result of her human rights work. She campaigned for independent civil society to be meaningfully consulted and to be able to contribute to the Chinese government’s national reports to its first and second Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR). In an attempt to speak with government officials about the UPR, Cao courageously organised peaceful sit-ins with other concerned citizens outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs despite great risks. She also submitted information on extralegal detention and torture in China to the UN and expressed the hope that ‘if we could get even 100 words’ into a UN report, ‘many of our problems could start to get addressed.’

      On 14 September 2013, Chinese authorities detained Cao at the Beijing Capital International Airport as she was traveling to Geneva to participate in a human rights training, one month before China’s second UPR. Cao was forcibly disappeared for five weeks, until she resurfaced in criminal detention and was charged with ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’. By October 2013, it was clear that Cao Shunli was experiencing serious medical issues while in detention. After months of denial of adequate medical treatment, rejected appeals by her lawyers for bail on humanitarian grounds, and despite multiple calls from the international community for her urgent release, Cao died of multiple organ failure on 14 March 2014 in a hospital under heavy police guard to keep out her lawyers and friends.

      Cao was one of the 2014 finalists of the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

      To this day, there has been no accountability for Cao Shunli’s death. The Chinese government refuses to admit wrongdoing, despite repeated calls in 2014 and 2019 by UN Special Procedures experts for a full investigation into this ‘deadly reprisal’. 

      Her case is one of the longest-standing unresolved cases in the UN Secretary-General’s annual reports on reprisals against civil society actors for engaging with the United Nations. China is one of the most consistent perpetrators of reprisals over time, and one of the most egregious perpetrators in terms of the sheer number of individuals targeted. 

      Cao is not alone: her courage, but also the abuses she endured, are unfortunately those of other human rights defenders who paid a high cost for cooperating with the UN. Her close colleague, Chen Jianfang was forcibly disappeared under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) from 19-20 March 2019 after paying tribute to Cao Shunli on the 5th anniversary of her death. Chen was sentenced to four years and six months in jail for ‘inciting subversion of State power’ and left prison on 21 October 2023, after which authorities subjected her to strict surveillance. UN experts have raised with the Chinese government acts of reprisals against Chen Jianfang, but also Jiang Tianyong, Li Qiaochu, Dolkun Isa, Li Wenzu and Wang Qiaoling, among others. The recent instances of intimidation and harassment against NGO participants in China’s 4th UPR in January 2024 further highlight the gravity of the situation.

      Li Qiaochu, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Yu Wensheng, Xu Yan, Huang Xueqin, Li Yuhan, Chang Weiping: many other Chinese human rights defenders are today detained, disappeared, and at grave risk, for upholding the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

      These documented acts do not account for the even greater self-censorship and refusal to engage with the United Nation as a result of a generalised climate of fear. 

      Ten years ago, when ISHR and many other human rights groups sought to observe a moment of silence at the Human Rights Council in her memory, the Chinese delegation, together with other delegations, disrupted the session for an hour and half.

      Cao Shunli is a paradigmatic case of reprisals, not only because of her prominence, but also due to the array of severe human rights violations against her, committed in total impunity. These range from Chinese authorities blocking her exit from her own country, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, lack of due process, torture or ill-treatment and denial of adequate medical care, to subsequent death in custody, and the lack of accountability for these abuses. The lack of any progress in achieving accountability underscores the urgent need for continued international attention and pressure on the Chinese government to ensure justice for Cao and all human rights defenders who face persecution for their work.

      Cao Shunli said before her death: ‘Our impact may be large, may be small, and may be nothing. But we must try. It is our duty to the dispossessed and it is the right of civil society.’

      Today, we pay tribute to Cao Shunli’s legacy, one that has inspired countless human rights defenders in China and abroad. We urge UN Member States to call for a full, independent, impartial investigation into her death. We reaffirm that no perpetrator of reprisals, no matter how powerful, is above scrutiny, and that reprisals are fundamentally incompatible with the values of the United Nations and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

      Signatories: 

      1. Art for Human Rights
      2. ARTICLE 19
      3. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
      4. Asian Lawyers Network (ALN)
      5. Campaign for Uyghurs
      6. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
      7. CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
      8. Front Line Defenders
      9. HK Labour Rights Monitor
      10. Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights
      11. Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC)
      12. Hong Kong Watch
      13. Human Rights in China
      14. Humanitarian China
      15. Humanitarian China
      16. International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
      17. International Campaign for Tibet
      18. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
      19. International Service for Human Rights
      20. International Tibet Network
      21. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
      22. Martin Ennals Foundation
      23. Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
      24. PEN International
      25. Safeguard Defenders
      26. The 29 Principles
      27. The Rights Practice
      28. Tibet Justice Center
      29. Uyghur Human Rights Project
      30. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
      31. World Uyghur Congress

      On 14 March also a group of UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint call: “We regret that no action appears to have been taken over the last five years, since the last call for an independent, impartial and comprehensive investigation into Ms. Shunli’s death,” [https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/china-un-experts-renew-calls-accountability-cao-shunlis-death]

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/joint-statement-10-year-anniversary-deadly-reprisals-against-chinese-activist-cao

      https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/in-tribute-to-cao-shunli-rights-groups-call-on-geneva-to-install-permanent-monument-for-her

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    4. Acquittal of activist Vanessa Mendoza Cortés on defamation charges in Andorra

      The acquittal of abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, on defamation charges is an important victory, but she should never have been charged in the first place, said Amnesty International following a court decision. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/11/16/andorra-should-drop-charges-against-woman-human-rights-defender-vanessa-mendoza/]

      In a joint public statement with the Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women’s Link Worldwide and Front Line Defenders the organisations welcome today’s decision acquitting Vanessa Mendoza Cortés and remind the authorities that she should face no further intimidation or reprisals for carrying out her important and legitimate human rights work.

      “Today’s acquittal upholds Vanessa Mendoza Cortés’ right to freedom of expression and affirms the legitimacy of the efforts of all those defending women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights. However, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés has paid a high price for defending human rights. She has endured an unjust and protracted judicial process lasting more than four years. This has impinged on her crucial work and that of the organisation she represents.  

      Vanessa Mendoza Cortés has paid a high price,  enduring an unjust and protracted judicial process lasting more than four years.

      “We call on the Andorran authorities to publicly recognize the legitimacy of the human rights work carried out by Vanessa Mendoza Cortés. The authorities must take concrete measures to ensure she and other activists can defend the human rights of women and girls in Andorra, including the right to safe and legal abortion, without intimidation and fear of reprisals.

      “Andorra should comply with its obligations to decriminalize abortion and make access to it safe and legal in the country.”

      Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, President of the women’s rights organisation Stop Violence (Stop Violències), was charged with criminal defamation after voicing concerns about Andorra’s total abortion ban at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to examine the country’s record on women’s rights in 2019.

      https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/andorra-acquittal-of-activist-who-raised-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-a-un-meeting-an-important-victory/

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    5. Torture victim Damian Gallardo from Mexico speaks out

      More than 10 years ago, in May 2013, Damian Gallardo from Oaxaca, Mexico, was arbitrarily detained, disappeared, and tortured. He was eventually released but lodged a complaint with the UN Committee against Torture, who reviewed Gallardo’s case and adopted an unprecedented decision stating that, in fact, Gallardo had been tortured.

      In a decision published on 14 December 2021 the UN anti-torture body found that Damián Gallardo Martínez, a teacher and campaigner for education and indigenous people’s rights, was a victim of torture in Mexico, in violation of Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

      The Committee also requested that Mexico provide Gallardo Martínez with full compensation, make a public apology to the complainants, and widely disseminate the Committee’s decision through a daily newspaper with a large circulation in the state of Oaxaca.

      On 18 January 2024, UN Human Rights published the above video clip.

      https://www.ohchr.org/en/2022/01/mexico-detention-and-torture-human-rights-defender-highlights-criminalization-legitimate

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/case-history-damian-gallardo-martinez

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    6. Human rights defenders in Palestine and Israel

      While the war rages in Gaza, the media focus is understandably on the conduct of the war and the many victims. Still, it is good to focus on the role of HRDs and that is what Front Line Defenders has done on 15 December 2023.

      Front Line Defenders has been receiving reports from human rights defenders in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel on an ongoing basis in recent months, updating on the dire circumstances they have been facing since 7 October 2023.

      This has included serious risks to life and safety amid Israel’s relentless bombardment and siege of Gaza, as well as increased violence and harassment targeting Palestinian HRDs in the West Bank and Israel. Meanwhile, some governments have decided to suspend or review funding to Palestinian and Israeli civil society organisations, further contributing to the hardships faced by HRDs at this critical time. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/11/02/not-the-moment-for-switzerland-to-suspend-funding-for-human-rights-defenders-in-israel-and-palestine/]

      Here you can find Front Line Defenders’ public responses to the challenges faced by HRDs:

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/human-rights-defenders-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-israel-0

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    7. Soltan Achilova – finalist MEA 2021 – denied travel to Geneva Human Rights Week

      On 21 November, 2023 the Martin Ennals Foundation, joined by HRW and the ISHR, issued the following statement:

      The Martin Ennals Foundation condemns the harassment of Soltan Achilova and her daughter by government authorities at Ashgabat airport and calls for Turkmen authorities to stop their reprisals against journalists for their human rights work.

      In the early hours of November 18th, 2023, Mrs. Soltan Achilova and her daughter were stopped by Turkmen government officials from boarding their flight for Switzerland. A customs official took their passports, wet them with a damp rag and declared the passports to be ruined, effectively obstructing Soltan from traveling to Geneva where she would feature as a keynote speaker at the University of Geneva’s Human Rights Week 2023.

      This act of harassment and denial of freedom of movement is particularly reprehensible in that it comes only a few days after Turkmenistan’s 4th Universal Periodic Review, during which high-level government representatives expressed their “support for …the promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms and human rights“, giving multiple examples of their progress in terms of respect for freedom of expression.

      Soltan Achilova believes she was not allowed to leave the country because of the authorities’ fear that negative information might be heard during the Human Rights week in Geneva. Yet, the obstruction from travel of an internationally recognized human rights defender is more striking evidence of the lack of freedoms in the country and the bad faith with which the Turkmenistan government engages with the Human Rights Council.  

      Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive and isolated countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom and working conditions for journalists. Soltan has been reporting about her country for more than a decade. Her pictures of daily life are one of the few sources of documentation of human rights violations occurring in this most secretive nation. In 2021, Soltan was recognized by the Martin Ennals Award for her documentation of land grabs and forced evictions of ordinary citizens in Ashgabat.

      Soltan has not been allowed to travel freely outside of her country on several occasions. She is under constant surveillance by Turkmen authorities and has suffered numerous incidents of harassment, intimidation, and threats. Despite the challenges, Soltan persists in her human rights work, regularly sending information and pictures  outside of the country so that government authorities are held to account.

      We renew calls for Turkmenistan to fully implement their human rights obligations, including, inter alia, allowing human rights defenders and journalists to conduct their work peacefully. We invite Member States accompanying the 4th Universal Periodic Review of Turkmenistan to strongly sanction the silencing of Soltan Achilova and other Turkmen journalists.

      For more on Soltan: https://youtu.be/7xkSvMXaZUU?si=JhWOrMxs4yQQ2wz8

      Soltan Achilova MEA2021 denied travel to Geneva Human Rights Week

      https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/21/turkmenistan-journalist-prevented-travelling-abroad

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/turkmenistan-whrd-soltan-achilova-denied-travel-geneva-human-rights-week

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    8. Magomed Alamov’s life in Chechnya threatened

      On 24 October 2023, human rights group Crew Against Torture reported that the Chechen Authorities had held Crew Against Torture member and Chechen human rights defender Magomed Alamov, and issued death threats. The authorities also threatened Magomed Alamov by threatening his family’s safety.

      Magomed Alamov returned to the Chechen Republic after accompanying a young woman, who was a survivor of domestic, violence from Russia’s North Caucasus on 5 October 2023. Since his return, his colleagues have not been able to reach him.

      Magomed Alamov is a human rights defender and lawyer of Chechen origin. Up until very recently, he has collaborated with the human rights group Crew Against Torture; an informal union of Russian lawyers who, individually, continue the work they used to do as a Russian-based human rights organisation “Committee Against Torture” (CAT). Following the listing of CAT as a foreign agent by Russian authorities on 10 June 2022, the organisation was forced to close its doors. Established in 2000, CAT was a prominent human rights organisation in Russia, investigating allegations of torture by state agents and representing victims of torture in the court system, including at the European Court of Human Rights. Human rights defenders who used to work with CAT were regularly subjected to defamation campaigns, physical attacks, detentions, and judicial persecution because of their peaceful human rights work.

      On 5 October 2023, at the request of the human rights organisation ‘North Caucasus: SOS’, Magomed Alamov accompanied a survivor of domestic violence from Ingushetia to a safehouse. On 11 October 2023, the human rights defender started to receive phone calls from the General Administration for Combating Extremism (Centre E). The caller demanded that Magomed Alamov present himself for questioning in relation to his involvement in the alleged disappearance of the aforementioned survivor. In the absence of a subpoena, the human rights defender refused to present himself.

      On 13 October, Chechen law enforcement officers unlawfully detained the human rights defender’s brother, at the Special Police Regiment #2, where the authorities threatened him, and demanded him to get in touch with Magomed Alamov and to convince the human rights defender to return to the Chechen Republic. Fearing for his brother’s life, Magomed Alamov travelled to the Chechen Republic; his colleagues from Crew against Torture are unsure about his current whereabouts.

      On 23 October2023, the survivor of domestic violence got in touch with her relatives in the Chechen Republic, and reported that Magomed Alamov was present at their house during the call. She reported that the human rights defender addressed her and said “I am at your house, surrounded by your relatives. My life and the life of my family is in danger. They gave me a week for you to return home. If you are not home in a week – they will kill me.” On 23 October 2023 the Crew against Torture filed complaints to the Ministry of Interior and to the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation demanding protection for the human rights defender.

      Front Line Defenders condemns the harassment and death threats against the human rigths defender and lawyer Magomed Alamov. The organisation believes he is being targeted for his peaceful and legitimate human rights work. Front Line Defenders reminds the Russian authorities that the Chechen Republic is a part of the Russian Federation, and calls upon them to end systemic harassment against human rights defenders in the North Caucasus. Front Line Defenders urges the Russian authorities to confirm the whereabouts of Magomed Alamov, and ensure his safety in the Chechen Republic, as well as elsewhere in the country.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/chechen-authorities-hold-human-rights-defender-magomed-alamov-promising-kill-him-5-days

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    9. Death threats against Ecuadorian human rights defender Javier Medardo Feijoo Villa

      On 20 October 2023 Front Line Defenders wrote that between 2 October 2023 and 16 October 2023, human rights defender Javier Medardo Feijoo Villa received several death threats via phone calls and voice messages towards both him and his family. The unidentified perpetrators claimed that they were keeping the human rights defender under surveillance, and maintained that they had access to his data and aware of all his moves within the community.l

      Javier Medardo Feijoo Villa is the president of the Estero Piedras community, located in the coastal area of the Molleturo on Azuay province. This community is also part of the San Felipe de Molleturo Commune, an ancestral territory that has been of great importance to the region, given that it has fought to defend against attempts by transnational mining companies to dispossess the people in the region of their land and water sources. He is also president of the North Zone Road Committee, which represents 15 communities in the region. As a community leader, the human rights defender has sought support from the competent authorities to stop criminal acts and illicit activities, mainly assaults and robberies caused by criminal groups that threaten the area. Javier has played an important role in the defence of water, nature and the territories belonging to the communities who he represents.

      Since 2 October 2023, human rights defender Javier Medardo Feijoo Villa has been the target of several death threats. Over the course of two weeks, he has received calls and voice messages threatening to kill him and his family. The callers claimed to be keeping the human rights defender under surveillance, and maintained that they had access to his data, as well as all his moves. The level of violence articulated in these threats increased over the weeks, causing the human rights defender to stop responding to messages or calls altogether, and provoking him to block the numbers of those who called him. The threats continued up until 16 October 2023. The human rights defender has been filing relevant complaints with the Prosecutor’s Office about the recent threats and has requested that the Police Commander of Zone 6 take the necessary measures protect him and his family.

      Violence against human rights defenders working on indigenous, land and environmental rights has been on the rise in Ecuador; human rights defenders Andrés Durazno and Alba Bermeo were murdered in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Still to this day no one has been charged with their murder.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/ecuador-death-threats-against-human-rights-defender-and-community-leader-javier-medardo-feijoo

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    10. 5th Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival in October 2023

      Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival marks 5th anniversary
      Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival marks 5th anniversary

      Dublin’s only annual festival dedicated to celebrating the intersection of the arts and human rights marks its fifth anniversary this year as it hosts 10 days of events in the capital, around Ireland and online this October.

      Dozens of events promoting equality, human rights and diversity through the arts will be coming to Dublin between October 13 and October 22. Front Line Defenders’ Laura O’Leary said the festival will feature “a range of innovative and thought-provoking events exploring how art and human rights interact in our world today“.

      by Taboola

      The Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival is an annual, international festival organised by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality and Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based international organisation working to improve the security and protection of human rights defenders at risk, in partnership with Amnesty International, National Women’s Council of Ireland, as well as other arts and human rights partners.

      It takes place in Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, and Cork, with artists and speakers in attendance from multiple countries. Events are taking place across 17 different venues, involving 29 different organisations nationwide.

      The festival comprises 21 live performances, six exhibitions, nine talks or panel discussions, four installations, three workshops, three film screenings, two partner exchanges, one podcast, and one radio documentary. Some of the events include:

      https://www.dublinlive.ie/whats-on/dublin-arts-human-rights-festival-27884655

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    11. Front Line Defenders Award winners go on US advocacy trip

      Three human rights defenders (from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Philippines and Ukraine) will visit New York and Washington, D.C. as part of an advocacy tour after being awarded the prestigious Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/2E90A0F4-6DFE-497B-8C08-56F4E831B47D]

      Apart from engaging in high-level advocacy meetings with U.S. lawmakers and the State Department, the human rights defenders will speak at the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, participate in Climate Week NYC and take part in the Global Citizen Festival in New York, among other events.

      “From defending environmental rights to supporting civil society during armed conflict, to fighting for the right to education, these courageous human rights defenders represent some of the most at-risk communities of activists around the world today,” said Ana Cutter Patel, U.S. Representative at Front Line Defenders. “We hope this advocacy tour will bring them much-needed additional support and recognition, to energize them in their struggle to ensure human rights are respected in their respective countries.”

      Those taking part in the advocacy tour are:

      Africa laureate: Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole (Democratic Republic of the Congo) is a leader among environmental and land defenders in DRC [https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/4bdd9da9-740f-41b6-b6a1-bcad15e2e0a0]

      Asia and the Pacific laureate, Jeany ‘Rose’ Hayahay (Philippines) is a woman human rights defender based in Mindanao, the Philippines. [https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/ab448b53-297d-4ebc-8608-4baa29c1c161]

      Europe and Central Asia laureate, Digital Security Lab Ukraine (Ukraine) – represented by Executive Director Vita Volodovska – is a team of specialists in the field of digital security and internet freedom. [https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/70e5e379-d671-42c8-9d56-40b9a879cac2]

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/front-line-defenders-award-winners-launch-us-advocacy-trip

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    12. Global Witness annual report 2022: a land rights defender killed every other day

      Over the last decade, nearly 2,000 land and environment defenders have been killed around the world, and in 2022, a land defender was killed every other day, according to a report. [for last year’s see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/10/05/global-witness-report-2021-continued-disaster/]

      The study from Global Witness, a non-profit human rights environmental watchdog, shows that the killings of Indigenous peoples defending their territories and resources represented nearly 34 percent of all lethal attacks despite making up about 5 percent of the world’s population.

      “Governments where these violations are happening are not acting properly to create a safe environment for defenders and a civic space proper for them to thrive,” said Gabriella Bianchini, senior advisor for the land and environmental defenders team at Global Witness. “They are not reporting or investigating and seeking accountability for reprisals against defenders. And most importantly, they are not promoting legal accountability in the proper manner.”

      Latin America has consistently ranked as the deadliest region for land defenders overall and saw almost 9 in every 10 recorded killings in 2022. More than a third of those fatal attacks took place in Colombia. In 2021, Brazil was named the deadliest country for land defenders by Global Witness and now sits at second; In July, activist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips were murdered in the Brazilian Amazon.

      Growing tensions from agribusiness, mining, and logging have led to consistent lethal attacks in the region. Between 2011 and 2021, for instance, more than 10,000 conflicts related to land rights and territories were recorded in Latin America alone. 

      “The worsening climate crisis and the ever-increasing demand for agricultural commodities, fuel, and minerals will only intensify the pressure on the environment — and those who risk their lives to defend it,” wrote the authors.

      Earlier this year, Frontline Defenders, an international human rights organization, released a similar report to Global Witness’ with corresponding findings — including that Colombia was the most dangerous country for land defenders. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/04/04/front-line-defenders-just-published-its-global-analysis-2022-new-record-of-over-400-killings-in-one-year/ . While Frontline Defenders reported that there were 186 land defender deaths in Colombia and Global Witness reported 60, Bianchini said differences in statistics are the result of different methodologies, which vary by organization. However, both organizations’ reports were united in findings: Indigenous people make up a disproportionate amount of the deaths among land and environment defenders, Latin America sees the highest rates of violence, and the number of killings is likely underreported.

      “I am incredibly grateful and impressed to see the fight of all of these communities who are there living in these areas and who have been acting for thousands of years to protect the array of life,” said Bianchini. “I cannot believe that humanity right now is living in a moment where we are killing those who are protecting their own lands and civil rights.”

      https://grist.org/indigenous/in-2022-a-land-defender-was-killed-every-two-days/

      https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/standing-firm/

      Latin America most dangerous place for environmental defenders, report says

    13. More join Maryam Al-Khawaja’s solidarity trip to Bahrain……to be continued

      On 7 September 2023, Maryam Al-Khawaja announced that she would return from exile to Bahrain to try and save her father Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/11/maryam-al-khawaja-risks-prison-by-returning-to-bahrain-to-press-for-her-fathers-release/]. Now Front Line’s Interim Director Olive Moore announced that she will accompany Maryam on the trip to Manama this week to press the Bahraini authorities to release him. Other leading human rights figures have announced their participation in the trip, including Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General; Tim Whyte, Action Aid-Denmark’s Secretary General; and Andrew Anderson, former Front Line Defenders Executive Director and Amnesty International staff member.

      “Front Line Defenders owes a debt of gratitude to Abdulhadi, both as a former staff member and friend to many in the organisation, but more importantly as a principled and trailblazing human rights defender in Bahrain and the region. We will not rest until the Bahraini authorities free him and the human rights defenders Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace and Naji Fateel, both also unjustly imprisoned for over a decade.” said Moore.

      The exact timing of the solidarity trip is not being publicised, but it comes the same week as the Bahraini Crown Prince visits Washington, DC, and more than a dozen human rights organisations, including Front Line Defenders, have also called on President Biden’s administration to demand the release of human rights defenders.

      “Now is the moment for the Biden administration to step up to the plate and show solidarity with human rights defenders in Bahrain. In meetings with the Crown Prince this week, the US government must be unequivocal in its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and other unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders,” said Olive Moore.

      Human Rights Watch stated on 11 September: “If Maryam al-Khawaja can have the courage to risk her life for democracy and human rights in Bahrain, the least the Biden Administration can do is show the political strength to use its leverage to call on its allied government to free its political prisoners.“

      The same day Human Rights First’s Brain Dooley blogged about two prisoners (among the hundreds on hunger strike) that have told him about the daily reality of the protest.

      One of them is 49-year-old Ahmed Jaafar Mohammed Ali, who has been in prison since he was extradited from Serbia in January 2022 and Sayed Sajjad who has been in prison since September 2013, and is one of the inmates negotiating with the prison authorities. See more at: https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/two-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-in-bahrain-tell-of-their-ordeal/

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/front-line-defenders-director-join-solidarity-trip-bahrain-free-abdulhadi-al

      https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/audio/2023/09/11/bahrain-brutality-and-biden

    14. Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and the practice of enforced disappearances: joint letter

      We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng ahead of the sixth anniversary of his disappearance on August 13. 

      And as we near “The International Day of the Disappeared” on August 30, we also condemn the Chinese government’s use of enforced disappearances as a tactic to silence and control activists, religious practitioners, Uyghurs and Tibetans, and even high-profile celebrities, entrepreneurs, and government officials. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

      Gao Zhisheng was one of the first human rights lawyers to emerge in the early 2000s and he became an important leader of China’s rights defense movement. He took on cases to help migrant workers and defend spiritual practitioners, including Falun Gong adherents and Christians. Gao wrote open letters to China’s top political leadership to call attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners and the abuse he had suffered while defending them. 

      In 2006, Gao was sentenced to three years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” and after being released on parole, he was repeatedly disappeared for extended periods and tortured by police between 2007 and 2011. In December 2011, state media reported that Gao had been imprisoned in the Uyghur region to serve out his sentence after violating terms of his parole. He was then released in 2014 but remained under house arrest.

      Gao’s relatives in China, as well as fellow rights lawyers and activists, who previously remained in contact with him, have not heard from him since August 13, 2017. Ever since then, Chinese authorities have, implausibly, claimed that Gao is not under any “criminal coercive measures.”   

      Over the past six years, Gao has effectively remained in a state of enforced disappearance. 

      Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Geng He, although living in the United States, has continued to advocate for him, pleading with the Chinese government to allow the world to “see him if he’s alive, or see his corpse if he’s dead”. Most recently, she has demanded that he be put on trial if he is guilty, and at the very least, that his lawyers should be allowed to meet with him and family members should have videoconferences. 

      However, the Chinese government has not provided Geng He with even this minimum amount of information. 

      On several occasions United Nations bodies and human rights experts have sought information about Gao Zhisheng’s status, but the Chinese government has refused to clarify his situation. Most recently, in 2020, the Chinese government responded to a letter from six UN Special Rapporteurs by claiming that, “In August 2014 Mr. Gao was released, having served his sentence. Since his release, the public security authorities have not taken any coercive measures against him.”

      Gao Zhisheng’s case has been treated under the humanitarian mandate of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (case no. 10002630). The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also previously issued an opinion in 2010 stating that Gao’s detention was arbitrary under international law and calling for his immediate release, but Gao has remained under control of the authorities ever since.

      Enforced disappearances of other human rights defenders

      While Gao Zhisheng’s case is arguably the most famous and well-documented case of prolonged enforced disappearance in blatant violation of international law, there are several other noteworthy cases: 

      Former human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained in April 2023 as they were taking the subway to attend an event at the European Delegation in Beijing. They have been arrested and charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” but authorities have prevented lawyers from visiting them, and their 18-year-old son is under “house arrest.”  See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/yu-wensheng/

      Human rights activist Jia Pin has been missing since September 24, 2022. He was last known to have been traveling to Beihai City in Guangxi. His friends do not know where he is, although some speculate that he may have been taken away by Henan provincial police.

      Protester Peng Lifa, was taken away by authorities on October 13, 2022 after engaging in a one-man protest on the Sitong Bridge in Haidian District in Beijing against China’s stringent COVID measures and against the rule of Xi Jinping. There have been no reports about where Peng Lifa is being held.

      Jiangsu-based human rights defender Tao Hong has been a victim of enforced disappearance since September 9, 2022, after she signed a open petition showing concern for the death of Mao Lihui, a petitioner who police claimed died via self-immolation while detained in a hotel. Before being detained, Tao Hong told friends on WeChat that she “absolutely wouldn’t commit suicide” – as a pre-emptive warning not to believe authorities should she mysteriously turn up dead.

      Journalist Yang Zewei, who goes by the pen name Qiao Xinxin, was presumably taken away in Laos on May 31 by what is believed to have been a joint Chinese and Laotian policing effort. Earlier in the year he had launched a campaign to urge for the dismantling of the Great Firewall, an action he labeled as the #BanGFW movement. Before being detained Yang had tweeted that authorities were harassing his relatives in his hometown, and he also declared that he would not commit suicide in detention. On August 8 it was confirmed that he had been returned to China and was being held at the Hengyang Detention Center in Hunan.

      Falun Gong practitioners Chen Yang (陈阳) and Cao Zhimin from Hunan province have been held incommunicado since October 2020, after being detained when studying spiritual scriptures with fellow believers. Yang had previously been jailed for four years for his activism and Cao had been held with her five-year-old daughter at an extralegal detention facility in 2010. According to the couple’s daughter, now a teenager studying in the United States, relatives in China have been unable to meet with them since their detention and lawyers hired were stopped from representing the couple. They are believed to have been sentenced to prison in November 2022, but the length of sentence remains unknown, no formal notification was sent to the family, and no news is available on their condition in custody. 

      Enforced disappearances of Uyghurs and Tibetans

      The Chinese Communist Party, composed solely of Han Chinese officials at the highest levels of decision making, continues to use systemic enforced disappearances of non-Han groups to control, intimidate, and silence them. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/18/un-experts-demand-detailed-information-on-nine-tibetan-environment-defenders/

      In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), also known as the Uyghur region or East Turkistan by Uyghurs, there likely remain hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who are subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance through the legal system. In 2022, the Xinjiang High People’s Procuratorate, stated that 540,826 people had been prosecuted in the region since 2017. In November 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged China to “immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained in the XUAR, and to provide relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.”

      As the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has noted, there is almost no public data about the criminal justice system in the region since 2020 and the government has not made public criminal verdicts or provided relevant information to the OHCHR. Furthermore, as a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) opinion noted in a 2022 decision finding that three Uyghurs – Qurban Mamut, Ekpar Asat and Gulshan Abbas – had been arbitrarily detained and were victims of enforced disappearance, no verdicts were ever made public and the Chinese government did not respond to the UN with any information regarding the proceedings, “it is unclear if they have indeed stood trial at all.”  In another case from 2022, the WGAD issued an opinion that found that Abdurashid Tohti, Tajigul Qadir, Ametjan Abdurashid and Mohamed Ali Abdurashid had been arbitrarily detained. The Chinese government refused to provide any information about the detention and or of any legal proceedings against them, and the WGAD was “disturbed at the total secrecy which appears to surround the fate and whereabouts” of the four people.

      In Tibet, the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been missing since May 17, 1995.  In 2022, UN human rights experts have raised their concerns regarding the arrest, detention and subsequent enforced disappearance of Tibetan writer Mr. Lobsang Lhundup (pen name of Dhi Lhaden), musician Mr. Lhundrup Drakpa, and teacher Ms. Rinchen Kyi, in connection with their cultural activities advocating for Tibetan language and culture. Dhi Lhaden and Rinchen Kyi were subsequently released.

      On August 10, UN experts urged Chinese authorities to provide clarification on the situation regarding nine imprisoned Tibetan environmental human rights defenders, including information about why they were imprisoned, where they were detained, and their current health conditions. The nine defenders are Anya Sengdra, Dorjee Daktal, Kelsang Choklang, Dhongye, Rinchen Namdol, Tsultrim Gonpo, Jangchup Ngodup, Sogru Abhu and Namesy. 

      Disappearances as a form of governance [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

      Even powerful and famous people in China are not immune to becoming victims of disappearances: 

      ..

      More broadly, the Chinese authorities appeared to have increasingly adopted disappearances as a form of governance. In 2012, the government amended the Criminal Procedure Law to allow for the police to hold suspects in non-detention facilities for up to six months, depriving those investigated for national security crimes of access to lawyers, family members, or other detainees – a practice known as “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL). The government continues to use RSDL, despite numerous UN independent experts urging its abolition because it is a form of secret detention and enforced disappearance, and therefore incompatible with China’s human rights obligations and despite countless cases of torture and other ill-treatment occurring in RSDL having been exposed. 

      In 2018, the National Supervision Law created a “retention in custody” (or liuzhi) system to subject Chinese Communist Party members and public employees to incommunicado detention for up to six months for disciplinary infractions and alleged dereliction of duty, including, but not limited to, corruption. The system is run by a non-judicial, non-law enforcement body, the National Supervision Commission (NSC) and precedes formal detention and arrest. 

      As humanity approaches the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we urge the Chinese government to take seriously the fundamental principles of human rights enshrined in the UDHR.

      Unconditionally and immediately free Gao Zhisheng, and all others who are victims of enforced disappearance, and pending that release, allow for Geng He and other family members as well as Gao Zhisheng’s lawyers to communicate with him through in-person visits and/or videoconferencing.

      Provide other relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.

      End the practice of enforced disappearance, which gravely impacts some of the core rights articulated in the UDHR, such as the right not to be subjected to torture, the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and even the right to life. 

      Abolish RSDL (Articles 72-75 of the Criminal Procedure Law) and liuzhi (Article 22 of the National Supervision Law), and any other laws and regulations providing for practices tantamount to enforced disappearance.

      Cosigned by, in alphabetical order:

      ARTICLE 19

      Campaign For Uyghurs

      China Aid

      China Against the Death Penalty (CADP)

      Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)

      Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

      Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation

      Dialogue China

      European Criminal Bar Association 

      FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights

      Freedom House

      Friends of Falun Gong (FoFG)

      Front Line Defenders

      Hans Gaasbeek, Coordinator of the Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer

      Human Rights in China (HRIC)

      Human Rights Now

      Humanitarian China

      International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers

      International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) 

      International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

      Judicial Reform Foundation

      Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada 

      New School for Democracy Association

      PEN America

      PEN International

      Safeguard Defenders

      Symone Gaasbeek-Wielinga, President of the Dutch League for Human Rights

      Taipei Bar Association Human Rights Committee 

      Taiwan Bar Association Human Rights Protection Committee

      Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

      Tencho Gyatso, President of The International Campaign for Tibet 

      Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy 

      The Rights Practice

      The World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

      Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/release-human-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-and-end-practice-enforced-disappearances

    15. 500 Bahraini prisoners on hunger strike over conditions

      On 18 August 2023 Brian Dooley posted for Human Rights First about the new crisis in Bahrain‘s prisons as at least 500 prisoners are on hunger strike refusing food in protest at their detention conditions. Among those denied the care they need are prominent rights activists Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, Abduljalil Al Singace, and Hassan Mushaima, who have been jailed since their peaceful protests in 2011. On 15 August 2023, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was denied a prearranged video call with his daughter days after he was rushed to the intensive care unit where doctors declared his life was in danger. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is at imminent danger of losing his life since he has started a water-only hunger strike on 9 August 2023. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/4d45e316-c636-4d02-852d-7bfc2b08b78d]

      Bahrain’s main prison, Jau, currently holds an estimated 1300 prisoners, around half of whom are on a hunger strike. The current crisis could have been easily avoided – if Bahrain’s government had shown an iota of wisdom, it would have released those unjustly jailed years ago, and given all those who need medical treatment adequate care.

      See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/bahrain/

      It’s another mishandling of a situation that now threatens to spiral dangerously out of control. In March 2015 there was a prison riot at Jau. HRF predicted that the poor conditions, overcrowding, and poor medical care would erupt into large-scale disturbances, and they did.

      I spoke to several former inmates of Jau last night. One recently released prisoner said “This frustration in the prison has to go somewhere, it’s been building for so long. The situation is getting worse every day with more and more prisoners joining the protest. Some have already collapsed.”

      Some prisoners began refusing food on August 7, and many more have since joined the protest. International attention is starting to turn towards Jau. Yesterday I joined others in an overnight protest outside the Bahrain embassy in London, praying for those prisoners in urgent need of medical care.

      But if any of the hundreds of prisoners on the hunger protest die, the consequences of Bahrain’s failure to resolve the crisis could be catastrophic, with unrest spilling onto the streets. The authorities in Bahrain need to act fast to prevent a similar outcome to 2015, when they responded to prison unrest by torturing and ill-treating dozens of detainees.  Better to make the smart move now, grant the prisoners’ basic demands including proper health care, and avert another disaster.

      Among those in most acute danger are the leading rights activists. Human Rights First joined other NGOs this week urging the State Department to use its considerable influence with Bahrain to press for a speedy and humane resolution to the crisis.

      Bahrain Faces New Crisis As Prison Protests Escalate

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/18/bahraini-prisoners-hunger-strike-conditions

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/human-rights-defender-abdulhadi-al-khawaja-imminent-danger-losing-his-life

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    16. Algerian human rights defenders Slimane Bouhafs and Kamira Nait Sid 3-year sentence confirmed

      On 18 July 2023 Front Line Defenders reported that on 4 July, a court of appeal in Algiers confirmed the three-year prison sentence of human rights defenders Slimane Bouhafs and Kamira Nait Sid, in addition to confirming the fine of DZD 100,000 (approx. EUR 660). The charges against both human rights defenders include “belonging to a terrorist organisation”; “receiving funds from abroad for the purpose of political propaganda”; “hate speech and discrimination”; “use of technology to spread false information”; and “conspiracy”, among others.

      Slimane Bouhafs is a human rights defender advocating for freedom of expression and democracy in Algeria through social media. He is the Chairman of the St. Augustine Coordination of Christians in Algeria which defends minority rights and freedom of religion in the country. Kamira Nait Sid is a woman human rights defender and co-president of the World Amazigh Congress (WAC), an international NGO defending the rights of the Amazigh people. The mission of the WAC is to ensure the defence and promotion of political, economic, social, cultural, historical and civil rights of the Amazigh people.

      The human rights defender Slimane Bouhafs, who was granted refugee status in Tunisia before being illegally transferred back to Algeria, received the same three-year prison sentence as the one previously handed down at the first instance. Meanwhile, the woman human rights defender Kamira Nait Sid received a three-year prison sentence, which was a two-year reduction of the original sentence handed down by the court of first instance.

      Both Slimane Bouhafs and Kamira Nait Sid reject and deny all the charges against them and maintain that they have been targeted because of their peaceful human rights work and advocacy for freedom of expression and belief. The defence counsel, which represented both human rights defenders, reportedly emphasised the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees during the trial and the appeal processes, including a lack of evidence supporting the charges.

      In December 2022, Slimane Bouhafs and Kamira Nait Sid were sentenced to three and five years respectively by the court of first instance mainly on the basis of an alleged association with the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), classified as a terrorist group by the Algerian authorities. The human rights defenders continue to deny any involvement with the MAK group.

      The two human rights defenders have been arbitrarily detained since the summer of 2021. On 25 August 2021, the human rights defender Slimane Bouhafs was abducted, subjected to ill-treatment and forcibly returned to Algeria from Tunisia, where he had been granted refugee status, in a gross violation of international law. On 24 August 2021, the woman human rights defender Kamira Nait Sid was also abducted by Algerian security forces from her home in Draa-Ben-Kheddaas in northern Algeria and detained at an unknown location. On 1 September 2021, the two human rights defenders appeared before an investigating judge in an Algerian court to be charged with several terrorism-related accusations based on an alleged connection with the MAK.

      Front Line Defenders condemns the confirmation of the sentence of human rights defenders Slimane Bouhafs and Kamira Nait Sid and calls on the authorities of Algeria to immediately release them and quash their conviction as it believes that it is solely motivated by their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights. It urges the authorities to guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of the human rights defenders while in detention.

      Front Line Defenders also calls on the authorities to cease targeting all human rights defenders in Algeria and guarantee in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/court-appeal-confirms-three-year-prison-sentence-human-rights-defenders-slimane-bouhafs-and

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    17. Ukrainian woman human rights defender and writer Viktoria Amelina killed in Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk

      On 1 July 2023, woman human rights defender and author Viktoria Amelina died in hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine after sustaining fatal injuries during the Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk, Ukraine on 27 June 2023. PEN Ukraine reported the death of the woman human rights defender on 3 July 2023 with the consent of her relatives. Viktoria is survived by her husband and 10-year old son.

      Viktoria Amelina was a woman human rights defender and writer. In June 2022, after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, she joined the Ukrainian human rights organisation Truth Hounds to document war crimes. She had been documenting apparent Russian war crimes in the liberated territories of eastern, southern and northern Ukraine, and particularly the village of Kapytolivka in Kharkiv region. During one of her missions, Viktoria Amelina discovered a diary of Volodymyr Vakulenko, a Ukrainian writer who was abducted and killed by the Russian military. She was also working on a non-fiction project “War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War”, a research project about the Ukrainian women human rights defenders documenting and investigating war crimes committed by the Russian military. Before joining Truth Hounds, Viktoria Amelina actively campaigned for the liberation of Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director from Crimea who was a political prisoner of the Russian authorities from 2014 to 2019.

      Viktoria Amelina won the Joseph Conrad Literature Prize for her prose works, including the novels Dom’s Dream Kingdom and Fall Syndrome, and was a finalist for the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2021, she founded the New York book festival in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, where New York refers to a village in Donetsk that is very close to the military frontline.

      On 27 June 2023, the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina was in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, accompanying a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists who represented #AguantaUcrania, a group that raises awareness about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Latin America. Before coming to Kramatorsk, the group took part in a prominent Ukraninan literary fair “Book Arsenal.” They all arrived to Kramatorsk to document the situation in Ukrainian cities in the Donetsk region to support the visibility work of #AguantaUcrania.

      On the evening of 27 June 2023, the group was having dinner in the Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk, when a Russian missile hit the building in which the restaurant was located. This missile killed 13 civilians and injured a further 60. As a result of the missile strike, Viktoria Amelina suffered a severe head injury and was hospitalised in Kramatorsk, before being transferred to the hospital in Dnipro. The woman human rights defender died in the hospital in Dnipro three days later, on 1 June 2023.

      Truth Hounds and PEN Ukraine reported that, in the aftermath of the attack, Russian state propaganda media falsely claimed that the target of the missile was the temporary headquarters of one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades. In reality, the Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk was one of the most popular restaurants in the city and was frequented by Ukrainian and international human rights and civil society actors, humanitarian volunteers, and media and film crews. Truth Hounds and PEN Ukraine’s report stated that there were no military objectives that the Russian military could have have been targetting with a missile attack that day. Together, the human rights organisations made a public statement concerning the strike, stating that the precision of the Iskander missiles leads them to believe that the missile strike was an attack against the civilian population.

      In light of the death of the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina, Front Line Defenders once again reiterates its grave concern about the killings of Ukrainian human rights defenders, civil society activists, humanitarian volunteers and other community leaders as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. According to Front Line Defenders’ HRD Memorial, at least 50 human rights defenders were killed in Ukraine in 2022, including humanitarian actors and human rights journalists, as a result of the activities of the Russian military forces.

      Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the killing of the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina and urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to cease targeting civilian objects in accordance with Russia’s international humanitarian and human rights law obligations, recalling that the deliberate targeting of civilians is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The attack on the Ria Lounge restaurant may qualify as a war crime pursuant to Article 8(2)(b)(ii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – “intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects.” Alternatively, such an attack may be qualified under Article 8(2)(b)(i) – “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population”; or Article 8(2)(b)(iii) – “intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance […] mission.” Front Line Defenders calls for an impartial and independent investigation into the killing of human rights defender Viktoria Amelina while she was on mission conducting her human rights work. All those involved in the commission of this crime must be brought to justice.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/ukrainian-woman-human-rights-defender-and-writer-viktoria-amelina-killed-russian

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    18. Journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov severely attacked in Chechnya

      Rights defenders are sure of Chechen law enforcers’ involvement in attack on Milashina says Roman Kuzhev, СK correspondent

      The attack on the journalist Elena Milashina and the advocate Alexander Nemov has to do with Milashina’s publications in which she wrote about human rights violations in Chechnya, human rights defenders have noted.

      The “Caucasian Knot” reported that on July 4, Elena Milashina, a journalist of the “Novaya Gazeta” outlet, and Alexander Nemov, an advocate for Zarema Musaeva, were attacked in Chechnya. They were beaten up by masked gunmen when they were on the way from the airport to Grozny, where the verdict in the case of Zarema Musaeva was to be announced. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has promised to “sort things out”; and Akhmed Dudaev, the head of the Chechen Press Ministry, have pointed out that “the style of Western intelligence services” is seen in the attack.

      Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the “Civic Assistance” Committee, is sure that the attack had to do with Milashina’s human rights activities. “They were waiting for her there to beat her for her so much writing on human rights issues, conducts inquiries and shows the real Chechnya,” Ms Gannushkina has stated.

      According to her version, the attackers are definitely law enforcers. Gannushkina* has also added that the attackers would not be identified and punished. Oyub Titiev, a human rights defender, is also sure that Milashina was the attackers’ target. “Only law enforcers can beat a woman so openly and with such cruelty,” he has stated.

      Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, is sure that Milashina would have been attacked at any moment while in Grozny.

      A criminal case on the attack on Milashina and Nemov can be initiated under several articles, said Galina Tarasova, a lawyer. According to her story, the case should have been transferred to the central office of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

      This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 5, 2023 at 08:07 pm MSK. https://eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/62817

      Many other human rights groups reported on this:

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/human-rights-defenders-aleksandr-nemov-and-elena-milashina-attacked-and-severely-beaten-0

      https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/6/elena_milashina_attack

      https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/04/journalist-and-human-rights-lawyer-viciously-attacked-chechnya

      https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/russia-un-experts-dismayed-violent-attack-against-journalist-yelena

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    19. Front Line Defenders award 2023 goes to front line defenders…..

      Front Line Defenders announced the five winners of its 2023 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, at a special ceremony in Dublin on 26 May 2023. Laureates from each of the major global regions travelled to Ireland to accept the Award, including:

      “This year’s laureates are a courageous and inspiring group of people who reflect the determination, dynamism and diversity of human rights defenders (HRDs) who are on the front lines of fighting for a more just world,” said Olive Moore, Interim Director of Front Line Defenders. “Their vital work in defence of human rights in DRC, Ecuador, Jordan, Philippines and Ukraine impacts countless people in their communities and beyond. By shining an international spotlight on their struggles and empowering them to continue their work, we at Front Line Defenders hope this Award will touch the lives of many more people on whose behalf they act.”

      For more on the Front Line award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/2E90A0F4-6DFE-497B-8C08-56F4E831B47D

      Watch a video:

      The 2023 Front Line Defenders Award winners:

      AFRICA

      Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole (Democratic Republic of the Congo) is a leader among environmental and land defenders in DRC and one of the most trusted advocates on behalf of communities impacted by land grabs, trafficking, and illegal resource extraction activities. He is also the only advocate who organises judicial training and capacity-building sessions for DRC citizens on topics related to environment and community rights in Goma, eastern DRC.

      AMERICAS

      Segundo Ordóñez (Ecuador), an Afro-descendant human rights defender, is one of the most visible faces and the community representative in the two legal proceedings brought against the Japanese-owned company Furukawa Plantaciones C. A. and the State of Ecuador. The cases have focused on how workers on abacá (Manila hemp) plantations suffer labour exploitation as they farm the raw materials in slavery-like conditions.

      ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

      Jeany ‘Rose’ Hayahay (Philippines) is a woman human rights defender based in Mindanao, the Philippines. Since 2019, she has been the spokesperson of the Save Our Schools Network (SOS Network), a coalition of child-focused NGOs, church-based groups and other stakeholders advocating for children’s right to education in Mindanao.

      EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

      Digital Security Lab Ukraine (Ukraine) is a team of specialists in the field of digital security and internet freedom. They help Ukrainian journalists, human rights defenders and public activists solve problems with digital security, as well as promote the realisation of human rights on the internet by influencing government policy in the field of digital rights.

      MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

      Hala Ahed (Jordan) is a Jordanian human rights lawyer who has worked with a number of human rights and feminist organisations to defend women’s rights, workers’ rights, and the freedoms of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly in Jordan.

      https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/front-line-defenders-announces-winners-2023-award-human-rights-defenders-risk

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

    20. NGOs demand adequate medical treatment and access to Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja in Bahrain

      14 NGOs call on Bahrain to ensure that human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is allowed adequate medical treatment, as well as the right to access and respond to allegations made by the Government of Bahrain in a response to a UN communication.

      In a joint communication made public on 4 May 2023, six UN experts – including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, and the Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mumba Malila – expressed their utmost concern at the continued arbitrary detention of human rights defender Mr. Al-Khawaja. He is a widely recognised HRD, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/4d45e316-c636-4d02-852d-7bfc2b08b78d

      The UN communication addresses troubling allegations of torture, ill treatment and poor prison conditions of Mr. Al-Khawaja, including intimidation, restriction of communication with family, deprivation of basic rights, including his inability to give power of attorney to his lawyer in court, as required, shackling of hands, despite doctors’ orders to the contrary, as well as fabrication of cases against him and other political prisoners in Bahrain.

      The UN communication was sent to the Government of Bahrain on 17 February 2023 and remained confidential for 60 days, as is UN protocol. The Government of Bahrain replied to the six UN experts on 17 April 2023, which was recently translated and made publicly available.

      The Government of Bahrain’s response denies that Mr. Al-Khawaja has been subject to torture. This is contradicted by findings from the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which was established by the King of Bahrain and medically documented that Al-Khawaja was subjected to torture and sexually assaulted by security forces in 2011. Furthermore, the Government of Bahrain’s response fails to adequately recognize Mr. Al-Khawaja as a human rights defender or acknowledge the arbitrary nature of his detention.

      On more than one occasion, Mr. Al-Khawaja attempted to receive information over the phone about the nature of the UN communication, including the Government of Bahrain’s response, but the calls were systematically cut by the authorities. Therefore, Mr. Al-Khawaja officially requested through his lawyer that he be allowed a hard copy of the mentioned documents. The signatories call on Bahrain to ensure that the request is honored.

      In addition, Mr. Al-Khawaja has continued to be repeatedly denied access to a cardiologist, as well as other appointments with relevant doctors, despite being at risk of a heart attack or stroke at any time. As recently as the past two weeks, Mr. Al-Khawaja was denied two medical appointments, the most recent being on Thursday 11 May 2023.

      Since 9 May 2023, Mr. Al-Khawaja has protested in the yard of Jaw Prison on a daily basis holding up two signs in front of the CCTV cameras stating “Treatment prevention is slow systematic killing” and “You commit torture and prevent treatment” in order for him and his fellow prisoners of conscience to be allowed his necessary medical appointments. He informed his family on 14 May 2023 that he has suspended his protest temporarily due to promises made by the prison administration to improve conditions and allow access to adequate treatment.

      The signatories call on the Government of Bahrain to:

      1. Immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, as well as all other prisoners of conscience.
      2. Ensure that Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is taken to the necessary medical appointments for diagnostics and treatment.
      3. Ensure that Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja obtains the requested documents related to the UN communication and that he is allowed a written response.

      Signatories:

      • The #FreeAlKhawaja Campaign
      • Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
      • Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
      • European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
      • CIVICUS
      • Global Citizen
      • Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
      • Danish PEN
      • The Martin Ennals Foundation
      • IFEX
      • Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
      • Front Line Defenders
      • DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture
      • Freedom House
      https://www.rafto.no/en/news/joint-statement?utm_source=Rafto+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d551fe4c71-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_03_10_12_21_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-c210dc7357-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

      This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.