A judge overturned the warrant for the arrest of a prominent member of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement on 17 October 2007 ruling that the facts and evidence were untenable. This was the third warrant issued for the arrest of Jaime Amorin, indicating a pattern of harassment to stop his work promoting the rights of workers affected by the unjust distribution of land in Brazil.

Jaime was detained last August and the charges revoked when a judge outlined a failure to demonstrate justification for preventative imprisonment. Leaving the detention centre, Jaime said: “My arrest was politically motivated, with the clear objective of demoralizing and isolating the MST, criminalizing the social movements that fight for Agrarian Reform even more”. Jaime also faces criminal charges of causing damage during a demonstration against the visit of George Bush to Brazil in November last year.

Over the past 20 years, Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement has not only led land occupations but also built schools, clinics, a national university–level training center and many regional training centers and has increased the number of teachers in country by the thousands.

Two leading members of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement, Josias de Barros Ferreire and Samuel Matias Barbosa were murdered on 20 August 2006, by hired gunmen, because of their opposition to workers leaving the settlement in exchange for payment by the landowner. The state police have not yet managed to arrest the gunmen who committed these murders.

Front Line is deeply concerned by the ongoing intimidation and harassment of Jaime Amorim and urges the Brazilian authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure that he is guaranteed an independent, impartial and fair trial and that all human rights defenders in Brazil are able to carry out there work free from restrictions and harassment.