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Category: Human Rights

  • Israeli airstrike kills more than 20 in Christian town in northern Lebanon

    Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv in apparent response, while Israeli attacks on Gaza include a hospital courtyard

    More than 20 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Christian town in northern Lebanon, prompting Hezbollah to fire rockets at Tel Aviv, as Israel’s multifront war continues to escalate.

    It was also a particularly bloody 24 hours in the Gaza Strip. Four people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a hospital courtyard in central Gaza, another strike on a nearby school used as a shelter killed at least 20 people, and a drone strike killed five children playing on the street in al-Shati camp in Gaza City, according to local health authorities.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Iranian journalists who covered Mahsa Amini’s death face five years in prison

    Hopes of pardon dashed for Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who were cleared of collaboration with US

    Two young female journalists who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini have been cleared of charges of collaborating with the United States government but will still spend up to five more years behind bars, the Iranian authorities have announced.

    Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were arrested in 2022 after reporting on the death and funeral of Amini, the young Kurdish woman who died in police custody in 2022, sparking the nationwide Women, Life, Freedom protests.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • European audit of democracy standards too positive, says human rights watchdog

    European Commission report ‘completely ineffective as an enforcement tool’, according to civil liberties organisation

    The European Commission’s exhaustive annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading European civil liberties network has said.

    The yearly rule of law reports were launched five years ago and are presented by the commission as a key weapon in its armoury against democratic backsliding, including corruption and attacks on independent media and judiciary, across the union.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Dozens of islanders locked up as grim history continues for Annobón

    People who wrote protest letter to Equatorial Guinea authorities latest to feel wrath of draconian regime

    Earlier this year, residents of the small island of Annobón began noticing withering plants on their farmland and large cracks in their houses.

    They attributed the damage to years of dynamite explosions linked to mining operations on the island, a province of Equatorial Guinea that lies in the Gulf of Guinea about 220 miles west of Gabon off the west coast of Africa.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rio Tinto class action begins over ‘toxic’ Bougainville mine disaster

    By Harry Pearl of BenarNews

    An initial hearing of a class action against mining giant Rio Tinto over the toxic legacy of the Panguna copper mine on the autonomous island of Bougainville has been held in Papua New Guinea.

    The lawsuit against Rio Tinto and its subsidiary Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) is seeking compensation, expected to be in the billions of dollars, for what plaintiffs allege is historic mismanagement of the massive open copper-and-gold mine between 1972 and 1989.

    More than 5000 claimants backed by anonymous investors are seeking damages for the destruction that sparked a 10-year-long civil war.

    The Panguna mine closed in 1989 after anger about pollution and the unequal distribution of profits sparked a landowner rebellion. As many as 20,000 people — or 10 percent of Bougainville’s population — are estimated to have died in the violence that followed between pro-inependence rebels and PNG.

    Although a peace process was brokered in 2001 with New Zealand support, deep political divisions remain and there has never been remediation for Panguna’s environmental and psychological scars.

    The initial hearing for the lawsuit took place on Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule, at the National Court in Port Moresby, said Matthew Mennilli, a partner at Sydney-based Morris Mennilli.

    Mennilli, who is from one of two law firms acting on behalf of the plaintiffs, said he was unable to provide further details as court orders had not yet been formally entered.

    A defence submitted
    Rio Tinto did not respond to specific questions regarding this week’s hearing, but said in a statement on September 23 it had submitted a defence and would strongly defend its position in the case.

    The lawsuit is made up by the majority of villagers in the affected area of Bougainville, an autonomous province within PNG, situated some 800km east of the capital Port Moresby.

    Martin Miriori
    Martin Miriori, the primary litigant in the class action lawsuit, photographed in Bougainville, June 2024. Image: Aubrey Belford/OCCRP

    At least 71 local clan leaders support the claim, with the lead claimant named as former senior Bougainville political leader and chief of the Basking Taingku clan Martin Miriori.

    The lawsuit is being bankrolled by Panguna Mine Action, a limited liability company that stands to reap between 20-40 percent of any payout depending on how long the case takes, according to litigation funding documents cited by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

    While the lawsuit has support from a large number of local villagers, some observers fear it could upset social cohesion on Bougainville and potentially derail another long-standing remediation effort.

    The class action is running in parallel with an independent assessment of the mine’s legacy, supported by human rights groups and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), and funded by Rio Tinto.

    Locals walk by buildings left abandoned by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto at Panguna mine
    Locals walk by buildings left abandoned by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto at the Panguna mine site, Bougainville taken June 2024. Image: Aubrey Belford/OCCRP

    Rio Tinto agreed in 2021 to take part in the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment after the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre filed a complaint with the Australian government, on behalf of Bougainville residents.

    Legacy of destruction
    The group said the Anglo-Australian mining giant has failed to address Panguna’s legacy of destruction, including the alleged dumping of more than a billion tonnes of mine waste into rivers that continues to affect health, the environment and livelihoods.

    The assessment, which is being done by environmental consulting firm Tetra Tech Coffey, includes extensive consultation with local communities and the first phase of the evaluation is expected to be delivered next month.

    ABG President Ishmael Toroama has called the Rio Tinto class action the highest form of treason and an obstacle to the government’s economic independence agenda.

    “This class action is an attack on Bougainville’s hard-fought unity to date,” he said in May.

    In February, the autonomous government granted Australian-listed Bougainville Copper a five-year exploration licence to revive the Panguna mine site.

    The Bougainville government is hoping its reopening will fund independence. In a non-binding 2019 referendum — which was part of the 2001 peace agreement — 97.7 percent of the island’s inhabitants voted for independence.

    PNG leaders resist independence
    But PNG leaders have resisted the result, fearful that by granting independence it could encourage breakaway movements in other regions of the volatile Pacific island country.

    Former New Zealand Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae was appointed last month as an independent moderator to help the two parties agree on terms of a parliamentary vote needed to ratify the referendum.

    In response to the class action, Rio Tinto said last month its focus remained on “constructive engagement and meaningful action with local stakeholders” through the legacy assessment.

    The company said it was “seeking to partner with key stakeholders, such as the ABG and BCL, to design and implement a remedy framework.”

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Venezuela has cancelled passports of dozens of activists and journalists

    Rights group in Caracas says at least 40 people affected, as Maduro government continues clampdown on opposition

    The Venezuelan government has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since President Nicolás Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of what rights groups said is an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president’s opponents, the Financial Times has reported.

    At least 40 people, mostly journalists and human rights activists, have had their passports annulled without explanation, the newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Caracas-based rights group Laboratorio de Paz.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • One year of war in Gaza – protect journalists now, says IPI

    Pacific Media Watch

    This week marked the grim one-year anniversary of the surprise October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza — a conflict that has taken a devastating toll on journalists and media outlets in Palestine, reports the International Press Institute.

    In Gaza, Israeli strikes have killed at least 123 journalists (Gaza media sources say 178 killed) — the largest number of journalists to be killed in any armed conflict in this span of time to date.

    Dozens of media outlets have been leveled. Independent investigations such as those conducted by Forbidden Stories have found that in several of these cases journalists were intentionally targeted by the Israeli military — which constitutes a war crime.

    Over the past year IPI has stood with its press freedom partners calling for an immediate end to the killing of journalists in Gaza as well as for international media to be allowed unfettered access to report independently from inside Gaza.

    In May, IPI and its partner IMS jointly presented the 2024 World Press Freedom Hero award to Palestinian journalists in Gaza. The award recognised the extraordinary courage and resilience that Palestinian journalists have demonstrated in being the world’s eyes and ears in Gaza.

    This week, IPI renewed its call on the international community to protect journalists in Gaza as well as in the West Bank and Lebanon. Allies of Israel, including Media Freedom Coalition members, must pressure the Israeli government to protect journalist safety and stop attacks on the press.

    This also includes the growing media censorship demonstrated by Israel’s recent closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau.

    Raising awareness
    IPI was at the UN in Geneva this week with its partners Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters without Borders (RSF), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and others for high-level meetings aimed at raising awareness of the continued attacks on the press and urging the international community to protect journalists.

    Among the key messages: The continued killings of journalists in Gaza — and corresponding impunity — endangers journalists and press freedom everyone.

    On this sombre anniversary, the joint advert in this week’s Washington Post honours the journalists bravely reporting on the war, often at great personal risk, and underscores IPI’s solidarity with those that dedicate their lives to uncovering the truth.

    “But it is clear that solidarity is not enough. Action is needed,” said IPI in its statement.

    “The international community must place effective pressure on the Israeli authorities to comply with international law; protect the safety of journalists; investigate the killing of journalists by its forces and secure accountability; and grant international media outlets immediate and unfettered access to report independently from Gaza.

    “We urge the international community to meet this moment of crisis and stand up for the protection of journalists and freedom of the press in Gaza.

    “An attack against journalists anywhere is an attack against freedom and democracy everywhere.”


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • EU unable to retrieve €150m paid to Tunisia despite links to rights violations

    Concerns are growing that funds from the migration deal are connected to abuses by the repressive regime in Tunis

    The EU will be unable to claw back any of the €150m (£125m) paid to Tunisia despite the money being increasingly linked to human rights violations, including allegations that sums went to security forces who raped migrant women.

    The European Commission paid the amount to the Tunis government in a controversial migration and development deal, despite concerns that the north African state was increasingly authoritarian and its police largely operated with impunity.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • West Papua – the war on our doorstep under The Pacific spotlight

    Pacific Media Watch

    ABC’s The Pacific has gained rare access into West Papua, a region ruled by Indonesia that has been plagued by military violence and political unrest for decades.

    Now, as well as the long-running struggle for independence, some say the Melanesian region’s pristine environment is under threat by the expansion of logging and mining projects, reports The Pacific.

    As Indonesia prepares to inaugurate a new President, Prabowo Subianto, a man accused of human rights abuses in the region, West Papua grapples with a humanitarian crisis.

    The Pacific talks to indigenous Papuans in a refugee settlement about being displaced, teachers who want change to the education system and locals who have hope for a better future.

    A spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry told The Pacific that Indonesia was cooperating with all relevant United Nations agencies and was providing them with up to date information about what is happening in West Papua.

    This Inside Indonesia’s Secret War story was produced with the help of ABC Indonesia’s Hellena Souisa.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Israel keeps killing Palestinian journalists and no one in the corporate media cares

    Content warning: this article contains graphic footage which some readers may find distressing

    Israel is continuing its war on journalists. Just this week, 19 year old Hassan Hamad was killed at his home in the Jabalia refugee camp.

    Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists continues

    According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, Hassan’s death means Israel has killed 176 Palestinian journalists so far. Al Jazeera reported that:

    Colleagues and the Government’s Media Office in Gaza confirmed Hamad’s death, saying the journalist’s home was deliberately attacked to silence him after he received threats.

    One of Hassan’s colleagues used his Twitter account to announce his death, writing:

    With deep sorrow and pain, I mourn the journalist Hassan Hamad. I testify before God that you fulfilled your duty. Hassan Hamad, the journalist who did not live past the age of 20, resisted for a full year in his own way.

    He resisted by staying away from his family so they wouldn’t be targeted. He resisted when he struggled to find an internet signal, sitting for an hour or two on the rooftop just to send the videos that reach you in seconds.

    His colleague described Hassan’s final moments:

    Yesterday, from 10 PM, he moved between the bombed locations and then returned to search for an internet signal, only to go back and cover the scenes of the scattered remains. He endured the pain of an injury to his leg, yet continued filming.

    At 6 AM, he called me to send his last video. After a call that didn’t last more than a few seconds, he said, “There they are, there they are, it’s done,” and hung up. It’s a feeling no human can bear. Hassan also resisted the occupation, leaving behind a mark and a message that we will carry on after him. We belong to God, and to Him we shall return.

    As they have with many others, Israel specifically targeted Hassan because he was a journalist.

    They sent him warnings that they would kill him for reporting on the genocide. He removed himself from his family, at 19 years old, in order to keep them alive.

    Then, he was warned they were coming to kill him.

    That in itself should be enough to shake the foundations of the West’s moral system.

    But, it will do nothing. Nothing will change and more Palestinian journalists will be targeted while everyone who can stop this genocide, does nothing.

    Israel’s horror killing

    Hassan was fired upon so heavily that all that remained of his body was scattered into pieces. The following is a video posted by one of Hassan’s colleagues – Hassan himself is in the blue bag his colleagues carry.

    Normally, the Canary wouldn’t publish such a graphic clip.

    However, on this occasion, we feel that it’s important to show the footage, and to provide the context for it.

    Let’s be clear, Israel made the choice to target Hassan. They targeted him heavily, and literally tore his body into pieces. His friends and colleagues were left to scoop up his remains into bags and boxes. They did so in order to cover as much of him as they could in a funeral shroud:

    Journalist Hossam Shobat asked how many of his colleagues he would have to see so obliterated that their remains could only be scooped into bags:

    Journalist Maha Hussaini translated the threats the Israeli army sent to Hassan:

    Hassan was killed because he refused to be silent. He refused to stop documenting the genocide and ethnic cleansing of his own people.

    Solidarity where?

    One commenter on social media said:

    Hassan’s death alone should be enough to overturn Western media. It should have journalists scrambling to report on this travesty. One of their own has been targeted for being a journalist. They should be expressing their grief, resolving to never forget.

    But, grief and remembrances are for white and Western victims. Hundreds and thousands of Palestinians being killed doesn’t warrant any grief, or in fact any response at all, from these journalists that are stenographers of power.

    If you can’t even gather around a colleague’s death, then what use is your journalism?

    Journalist Shorouk Asaad told The New Arab:

    If 176 Israeli journalists were killed elsewhere, I do not think the world’s reaction would silence, but when we talk about a Palestinian journalist, unfortunately everyone is silent.

    May their silence haunt them and their useless journalism.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Jenrick denies privately telling Tory MPs he would pivot back to centre if he became leader – as it happened

    Tory leadership also suggests it was a mistake for him to order murals at a children’s asylum centre to be painted over

    Keir Starmer was “appalled” by reports that Israel deliberately fired on peacekeepers in Lebanon, Downing Street said this morning.

    Asked about the prime minister’s reaction to the story, a Downing Street spokesperson said:

    We were appalled to hear those reports and it is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected.

    As you know, we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to suffering and bloodshed. This is a reminder of the importance of us all renewing our diplomatic efforts.

    All parties must always do everything possible to protect civilians and comply with international law. But we continue to reiterate that and call for an immediate ceasefire.

    The very hard Brexit forced through by Boris Johnson means that we are for now driving with the economic handbrake on – we can’t let that handbrake off. It is what is, It is difficult to see this being reversed within the next decade.

    The truth is it could be a conversation that starts in 10 years’ time. It could be longer, but the beginning of a conversation is not the end of that; it’s not the resolution of our relationship to the European Union.

    I think it’ll be very hard to persuade people in the European Union to revisit, to reengage and start getting into another negotiation about Britain’s membership of the European Union, for a long time to come. I’m sorry to say that but they have had up to here with us.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Bring France into decolonisation talks, French Polynesian president tells UN

    By Stefan Armbruster 0f BenarNews

    French Polynesia’s president and civil society leaders have called on the United Nations to bring France to the negotiating table and set a timetable for the decolonisation of the Pacific territory.

    More than a decade after the archipelago was re-listed for decolonisation by the UN General Assembly, France has refused to acknowledge the world’s peak diplomatic organisation has a legitimate role.

    France’s reputation has taken a battering as an out-of-touch colonial power since deadly violence erupted in Kanaky New Caledonia in May, sparked by a now abandoned French government attempt to dilute the voting power of indigenous Kanak people.

    Pro-independence French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson told the UN Decolonisation Committee’s annual meeting in New York on Monday that “after a decade of silence” France must be “guided” to participate in “dialogue.”

    “Our government’s full support for a comprehensive, transparent and peaceful decolonisation process with France, under the scrutiny of the United Nations, can pave the way for a decolonisation process that serves as an example to the world,” Brotherson said.

    Brotherson called for France to finally co-operate in creating a roadmap and timeline for the decolonisation process, pointing to unrest in New Caledonia that “reminds us of the delicate balance that peace requires”.

    ‘Problem with decolonisation’
    In August, he warned France “always had a problem with decolonisation” in the Pacific, where it also controls the territories of New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.

    The 121 islands of French Polynesia stretch over a vast expanse of the Pacific, with a population of about 280,000, and was first settled more than 2000 years ago.

    Often referred to as Tahiti after the island with the biggest population, France declared the archipelago a protectorate in 1842, followed by full annexation in 1880.

    France last year attended the UN committee for the first time since the territory’s re-inscription in 2013 as awaiting decolonisation, after decades of campaigning by French Polynesian politicians.

    2024107 French rep at UN.jpg
    French Permanent Representative to the UN Nicolas De Rivière responds to French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson at the 79th session of the Decolonisation Committe on Monday. Image: UNTV

    “I would like to clarify once again that this change of method does not imply a change of policy,” French permanent representative to the UN Nicolas De Rivière told the committee on Monday.

    “There is no process between the state and the Polynesian territory that reserves a role for the United Nations,” he said, and pointed out France contributes almost 2 billion euros (US $2.2 billion) each year, or almost 30 percent of the territory’s GDP.

    After the UN session, Brotherson told the media that France’s position is “off the mark”.

    17 speakers back independence
    French Polynesia was initially listed for decolonisation by the UN in 1946 but removed a year later as France fought to hold onto its overseas territories after the Second World War.

    Granted limited autonomy in 1984, with control over local government services, France retained administration over justice, security, defence, foreign policy and the currency.

    Seventeen pro-independence and four pro-autonomy – who support the status quo – speakers gave impassioned testimony to the committee.

    Lawyer and Protestant church spokesman Philippe Neuffer highlighted children in the territory “solely learn French and Western history”.

    “They deserve the right to learn our complete history, not the one centred on the French side of the story,” he said.

    “Talking about the nuclear tests without even mentioning our veterans’ history and how they fought to get a court to condemn France for poisoning people with nuclear radiation.”

    France conducted 193 nuclear tests over three decades until 1996 in French Polynesia.

    ‘We demand justice’
    “Our lands are contaminated, our health compromised and our spirits burned,” president of the Mururoa E Tatou Association Tevaerai Puarai told the UN denouncing it as French “nuclear colonialism”.

    “We demand justice. We demand freedom,” Puarai said.

    He said France needed to take full responsibility for its “nuclear crimes”, referencing a controversial 10-year compensation deal reached in 2009.

    Some Māʼohi indigenous people, many French residents and descendants in the territory fear independence and the resulting loss of subsidies would devastate the local economy and public services.

    Pro-autonomy local Assembly member Tepuaraurii Teriitahi told the committee, “French Polynesia is neither oppressed nor exploited by France.”

    “The idea that we could find 2 billion a year to replace this contribution on our own is an illusion that would lead to the impoverishment and downfall of our hitherto prosperous country,” she said.

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

  • Haitian gangs recruiting starving children to fight security forces, rights group finds

    Hundreds of poor and desperate children targeted in anticipation of long and bloody battle, says Human Rights Watch

    Haitian armed gangs are recruiting starving children to swell their ranks ahead of an anticipated long and bloody battle with international security forces, a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

    Armed groups – which control most of Haiti – are enticing hundreds, if not thousands, of impoverished children to take up arms with offers of food and shelter, the rights groups said.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Published by the Star – the genocide advert that Stuff didn’t want you to see

    By John Minto

    Published in the Christchurch Star newspaper yesterday — this was the advert rejected last week by Stuff, New Zealand’s major news website, by an editorial management which apparently thinks pro-Israel sympathies are more important than the industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanon.

    Stuff told the Palestinian Solidarity Movement Aotearoa (PSNA) on Thursday last week it would not print this full-page “genocide in their own words” advertisement which had been booked and paid to go in all Stuff newspapers this week.

    Stuff gave no “official” reason for banning the advert about Israel’s war in Gaza aside from saying they would not do so “while the ongoing conflict is developing”.

    It seems that for Stuff, pro-Israel sympathies are more important that Palestinian realities.

    It’s worth pointing out that Stuff has, over many years, printed full page advertisements from a Christian Zionist, Pastor Nigel Woodley, from Hastings.

    Woodley’s advertisements have been full of the most egregious, fanciful, misinformation and anti-Palestinian racism.

    Our advertisement on the other hand is 100 percent factual and speaks truth to power – demanding the New Zealand government hold Israel to account for its war crimes and 76-years of brutal military occupation of Palestine.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Imprisoned British-Egyptian activist named PEN writer of courage 2024

    Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who is still in jail in Egypt despite completing his five-year sentence, was selected by PEN Pinter winner Arundhati Roy

    British-Egyptian writer, software developer and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been named this year’s PEN writer of courage. The 42-year-old is still in prison in Egypt, despite having completed his five-year sentence for allegedly “spreading false news”.

    “Let’s remember that this is an innocent man who has committed no crime, but even so, he will have served his time on 29 September,” Abd el-Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif, said last month.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • I Gave Birth During Genocide, Into a World I No Longer Know

    “We are waiting for you to arrive tomorrow!” my sister told me in our call on Saturday, October 6, 2023. It was midnight, the perfect ending to a beautiful and calm day. “We will spend such an enjoyable weekend together.” Then it was 6 am October 7, and my life turned into an indescribable nightmare. Rockets whistled everywhere, and no one understood why. Crying and trembling with fear…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi calls for peace in Middle East from Iran jail

    Activist’s treatment at Evin prison has become even more severe since she was awarded prize last year

    The jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has marked the first anniversary of her award with a call for peace in the Middle East from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

    The Iranian human rights activist said in comments to Italy’s Corriere della Sera: “Today, the dark shadow of war once again hangs over our beloved country. I hate war.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Profile in Persecution: Mohamed Ali AlNibool

    Mohamed Ali AlNibool was a 22-year-old accounting student from Sitra at the University of Bahrain when Bahraini authorities arrested him on 28 June 2023 at Caribou Café in Hala Plaza. The arrest was carried out without a warrant. During his detention, he endured torture, denial of family contact and visits, denial of access to his lawyer, unfair trial, reprisal, isolation, and medical neglect. He is currently serving a life sentence at Jau Prison

    On 28 June 2023, Mohamed was at Caribou Café in Hala Plaza, when plainclothes officers raided the café and arrested him without presenting any arrest warrant or informing him of the reason for his arrest. Following the arrest, at 1:00 A.M., officers brought Mohamed to his home in Sitra, entering without concern for privacy. His brother’s wife, who was in the kitchen of her first-floor apartment, was shocked to find the officers inside. They confiscated his car, two mobile phones, a laptop, and a sum of money. He was then taken to unknown locations, possibly in the AlSakhir area, where he was coerced into reenacting a crime he did not commit. He was then transferred to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), where he was allowed to contact his family for one minute for the first time two days after his arrest. He informed them that he was held at the CID, and asked them to send him clothes. 

    During his 15-day interrogation at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), CID officers subjected Mohamed to various forms of torture and psychological pressure to force a false confession while denying him lawyer access. Out of concern for his mother’s feelings, he did not reveal the specific methods of torture. Throughout this period, he was not allowed to change clothes, despite his family sending clothes, nor was he permitted to shower. As a result of the torture, Mohamed was coerced into signing fabricated confessions at the Public Prosecution Office (PPO), which then ordered his detention for 60 days. On 13 July 2023, 15 days after his arrest, he was transferred to the Dry Dock Prison.

    Mohamed was previously arrested on 24 June 2017, when he was 16 years old. He was detained for 10 days at the CID pending investigation on charges of gathering to commit crimes and targeting a police patrol with Molotov cocktails.

    Mohamed was not brought before a judge within 48 hours after his arrest, was denied adequate time and facilities to prepare for his trial, was denied access to his attorney before and after trial sessions, and was unable to present evidence and challenge evidence presented against him. Additionally, the confessions extracted from him under torture were used as evidence against him in court, even though he informed the judge that his confessions were obtained under torture and psychological pressure. On 24 June 2024, Mohamed was sentenced to life imprisonment, a fine of 100,000 Bahraini dinars, and the confiscation of his belongings. He was convicted of multiple charges, including 1) joining a terrorist cell (AlAshtar Brigades), 2) possession and acquisition of explosives, fireworks, and weapons for terrorist purposes, which is an alleged plan to bomb the American base in the Sitra in July 2023, 3) training in the use of explosives, fireworks, and weapons for terrorist purposes, 4) transferring and receiving funds for terrorist activities, and 5) participating in operations targeting military institutions and security agencies.  Following his sentencing, Mohamed was transferred on the same day to Building 2 in Jau Prison, which houses foreign inmates convicted of felonies who do not share his language, culture, and religion, therefore he was isolated.

    Mohamed appealed his sentence, however, he did not attend the appeal sessions due to his participation in the prisoners’ strike and sit-in at Jau Prison between March and August 2024, protesting mistreatment and demanding basic prisoner rights. Consequently, on 24 August 2024, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence and rejected the appeal in absentia. Mohamed has since applied for cassation and is currently awaiting the Court of Cassation’s decision.

    Mohamed was denied family visits for over a year following his arrest. In response, his family submitted a request to the Ombudsman on 30 April 2024, seeking permission to visit him. This request was ignored for an extended period. It was not until 9 July 2024 that the prison administration permitted his parents to visit him for the first time since his arrest.

    While serving his sentence in Building 2 of Jau Prison, known as the isolation building, Mohamed contracted a skin disease known as black ringworm, which caused red spots to spread across his body. Despite his condition, authorities denied him access to proper medical treatment. His family filed numerous complaints with the Ombudsman and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), requesting both medical care and a transfer to a different building. Although Mohamed was eventually transferred to Salmaniya Hospital, he did not receive adequate treatment and continues to suffer. Despite further complaints to the Ombudsman and NIHR, no effective action has been taken, and Mohamed remains without treatment.

    Mohamed experienced significant psychological distress during his isolation in Building 2 of Jau Prison. His communication was severely restricted; the prison administration allowed him to make a phone call only once a week for no more than five minutes and occasionally denied him this right altogether. Additionally, Mohamed had no programs to occupy his time, the building lacked a television and a place to dry clothes, and his cell lacked ventilation and sunlight. On 14 July 2024, his family submitted a new complaint to the Ombudsman about the lack of communication and the brief duration of calls but received no response. Mohamed was only given two pieces of clothing, and officers did not allow him to visit the canteen for personal necessities.

    Between July and August 2024, communication between Mohamed and his family was cut off for over a month due to the conditions in Jau Prison during a prisoners’ sit-in protesting mistreatment and demanding basic rights. His family filed additional complaints with both the Ombudsman and the NIHR but received no response. During this period, the Jau Prison administration dangerously escalated its retaliation against protesting prisoners by cutting off electricity, water, and food during extremely hot summer days, when the temperature reached 50°C. Communication was restored in the fourth week of August after a prolonged strike and tough negotiations with the administration, which promised to address the issues. Consequently, communication between Mohamed and his family was restored. As part of the agreement between the protesting prisoners’ representatives and the prison administration, the administration ended the isolation of the protesting political prisoners, including Mohamed, who was reclassified to Building 6 on 30 August 2024 and granted access to the prison’s outdoor area daily from morning until afternoon.

    Mohamed’s arrest without a warrant, torture, denial of family contact and visits, denial of legal counsel, unfair trial, reprisals, isolation, and medical neglect are clear violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, to which Bahrain is a party.

     

    As such, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the Bahraini authorities to uphold their human rights obligations by immediately and unconditionally releasing Mohamed. ADHRB further urges the Bahraini government to investigate allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture, denial of family contact and visits, denial of legal counsel, reprisals, isolation, medical negligence, and ill-treatment, and to hold the perpetrators accountable. ADHRB also demands compensation for the violations Mohamed endured in prison. At the very least, ADHRB advocates for a fair retrial for Mohamed, leading to his release. Additionally, ADHRB urges the Jau Prison administration to provide prompt and appropriate healthcare for Mohamed, holding it responsible for any further deterioration in his health.

    The post Profile in Persecution: Mohamed Ali AlNibool appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • Saudi Arabia narrowly fails in bid to win a seat on UN human rights council

    The country had faced a campaign from rights groups who accused it of being ‘unfit to serve on the Human Rights Council’

    Saudi Arabia narrowly failed in its bid to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a blow to Riyadh’s efforts to boost the country’s rights reputation abroad, four years after it was rejected in a 2020 bid to join the 47-member body.

    Saudi Arabia is spending billions to transform its global image from a country known for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into a tourism and entertainment hub under a plan its Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, launched known as Vision 2030.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Keith Lomax obituary

    My friend Keith Lomax, who has died aged 75, was a tenacious, talented and principled human rights lawyer whose court victories often benefited not only those he directly represented, but thousands more.

    His success in Connors v United Kingdom in the European court of human rights (ECHR) in 2004 led to UK legislation giving Gypsies and Travellers living on local authority-run sites security of tenure. In 2007 the Labour government allocated £150m to improve medical help for vulnerable people in custody. It followed Keith’s victory in the ECHR representing the family of Judith McGlinchey, who died in prison after medical staff failed to monitor her drug withdrawal symptoms. From 2006 to 2011, Keith defended against eviction Travellers living on the Dale Farm site in Essex. He was declared legal aid lawyer of the year by the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group in 2017.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Israeli Troops Have Repeatedly Filmed Themselves Committing War Crimes

    A new documentary from Al Jazeera takes a look at evidence of war crimes in Gaza in the form of social media posted by Israeli soldiers recording and celebrating their own attacks on Palestinians. We play excerpts from the film Investigating War Crimes in Gaza, now available online, and speak to two of the journalists involved in its production, director Richard Sanders and Gaza-based…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • What is gender apartheid – and can anything be done to stop it?

    Activists hope a change in international law could help to address the intensifying erosion of women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan

    Read more: Afghan exiles on the Taliban’s gender apartheid

    Over the past three years, the world has watched in horror as women and girls in Afghanistan have had their rights and freedoms systematically stripped away.

    In the face of inaction by the international community, a campaign for the conditions being imposed on Afghan and Iranian women to be made a crime under international law as gender apartheid was launched last year. What does the term mean and will it make a difference?

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Afghan women fight to hold Taliban to account over gender apartheid

    What women face in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity, say activists pushing for recognition by UN

    Explainer: What is gender apartheid – and can anything be done to stop it?

    When Sima Samar and other Afghan women came up with the term “gender apartheid” in the 1990s to describe the systematic oppression faced by women and girls under Taliban rule, she never imagined it would have become a key weapon in the fight to hold a second Taliban regime to account for their crimes two decades later.

    “When the first Taliban regime fell, the idea that we would once again see the persecution, isolation and segregational and systematic repression of half the Afghan population on the basis of their gender seemed impossible,” says Samar, who served as the minister for women’s affairs after the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and now lives in exile. “But now, in 2024, it is happening again and this time we must find a way to fight for justice.”

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • As Israel Extends Its Genocide Into the West Bank, It Targets and Kills Children

    The Israeli occupation forces have extended their genocidal campaign in Gaza to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Using drone strikes, troops in armored vehicles and bulldozers, their regular raids since October 7, 2023, have escalated into extensive and deadly attacks. Between August 28 and September 6, Israel launched “Operation Summer Camps,” a major military invasion…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A Single Day of Genocide Would Be Too Much. What Then When It Lasts a Year?

    Today is a difficult day. Israel’s U.S.-sponsored war on Gaza has been relentlessly raging on for a whole year — with no end in sight. On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other resistance fighters broke through their open-air prison wall and launched a massive assault that killed 1,140 Israelis. They also took 250 hostages, of whom 101 remain in custody awaiting an elusive ceasefire and hostage…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • View From Gaza: This War Has Broken Me in Ways I Didn’t Think Possible

    Before October 7, 2023, I was Abdallah. Afterward, I’m still Abdallah, according to my ID, but I can’t recognize this new version of myself. Displaced by bombing from my home in eastern Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, to the al-Mawasi neighborhood of Khan Younis, I have lost so many loved ones to Israel’s attacks over the past year: I am mourning 60 family members…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Democracy campaigners criticise President Saied as polls close in Tunisia

    Leader of north African country expected to win second term after jailing opponents and changing constitution

    Polls have closed in Tunisia’s presidential election as the president, Kais Saied, seeks a second term, while his most prominent critics are in prison and after his main rival was jailed suddenly last month.

    Observers see the election, which Saied is expected to win, as a closing chapter in Tunisia’s experiment with democracy.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘We’re living like wild animals’: Europe’s largest shantytown waits in vain for power

    Four years after the lights went out in the Cañada Real, outside Madrid, people plead for electricity as another winter approaches

    The banner hanging over the busy road that runs through Europe’s largest shantytown carries a desperate plea that has now remained unanswered for four years.

    “Luz para Cañada,” it reads – “Light for Cañada”.

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Unprecedented Israeli Airstrike in West Bank Kills 20, Wiping Out Entire Family

    Israel killed 20 Palestinians in an airstrike on Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank late on Thursday, October 3, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported. Several children and an entire family were among the dead, as the strike targeted a three-floor residential building in the center of the camp. The strike, conducted with an Israeli fighter jet using a heavy missile…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.