Front Line News Archive

8 August 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the '8888 Uprising' in Burma when the military killed an estimated 3,000 people following the outbreak of peaceful protests calling for democracy on 8 August 1988. In September 2007 the junta, which has a monopoly on fuel prices, raised the price of fuel from approximately US$1.40 to US$2.80 a gallon, and raised the price of natural gas 5 fold, resulting in students, opposition activists and monks taking peacefully to the streets to protest against the government. During this Saffron Revolution, hundreds of human rights defenders and protesters were detained and sentenced to long periods in prison. Others have been forced into hiding and exile.  

A recent report by the National Union of Somali Journalists documents the ongoing oppression of and attacks on journalists and other media workers. The NUSOJ has recorded numerous cases of attacks against media professionals and news media organisations particularly in Kismayu, Mogadishu, Galkayo, Bossasso, Baidoa, Beledweyne.  

Posted 18/07/2008 Zeinab Bayzeydi, women’s rights activist, member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan and a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign in the city of Mahabad in Kurdistan Province, was arrested on 9 July 2008. On 5 July 2008, Zeinab Bayzeyd was reportedly summoned by telephone for questioning and interrogated for several hours. She was told to return for interrogation again on 9 July 2008, and after three hours of interrogation, she was arrested on the order of the courts and transferred to a detention center in Mahabad, managed by the Ministry of Information and Security.

On 18 June 2008, Sihem Bensedrine and Omar Mestiri were stopped at the Tunisian-Algerian border while on their way to an event in Algeria to promote freedom of expression in the region. They were interrogated for approximately two and a half hours before being released. No reasons were given for their interrogation. Omar Mestiri is the chief editor of the online newspaper Kalima and Sihem Bensedrine is the founder and spokesperson of the Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie (CNLT) (National Council for Civil Liberties in Tunisia) and the Secretary-General for the Observatoire pour la Liberté de presse, d'édition et de création en Tunisie (OLPEC) (Observatory for the Freedom of the Press, Publication, and the Arts in Tunisia). On 7 February 2008, Sihem Bensedrine was awarded the 2008 Peace Prize by the Danish Peace Foundation.  

Yemeni journalist and Human Rights defender Abdulkarin al-Khawaini has been awarded the prestigious Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat. The awards recognise excellence in human rights reporting and acknowledge journalism's significant contribution to the UK public's awareness and understanding of human rights issues.  

Uzbek human rights defender Mutabar Tadjibaeva was released from the Tashkent Women’s Prison where she had been frequently detained in solitary confinement in the psychiatric wing of the prison. Mutabar Tadjibaeva was arrested while on her way to attend the Front Line Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders and subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.  

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that a summons has been issued to Parvin Ardalan to present herself at the Revolutionary Court branch no. 13 on 2 August 2008 on charges of acting against national security through propaganda against the government. These charges relate to her work with websites Change for Equality and Zanestan. Parvin Ardalan is a women's rights defender and one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures Campaign.