Dr. Irene Fernandez, Director of Tenaganita, was sentenced on 16 October 2003 to 12 months’ imprisonment by the Magistrates’ Court for a memorandum published by her in August 1995, entitled "Abuse Torture and Dehumanized Treatment of Migrant Workers at Detention Camps". She was first arrested in March 1996, and during a seven and a half year trial, she allegedly went to court 310 times. If you wish to support the Tenaganita ‘Keep Irene Free, Defend the Defenders’ campaign, please visit http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/irene_fernandez/, send signatures to Tenaganita by post, e-mail or fax by 6 March 2004, or send statements to the Prime Minister's office by e-mail (ppm@pmo.gov.my) or by fax ( + 603 8888 3444) on 8 March 2004, International Women's Day.

Front Line was delighted to welcome Dr. Irene Fernandez to the 2nd Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders last September, and honoured that a Human Rights Defender of such international stature and reputation addressed us. Dr. Irene Fernandez’s credibility has been internationally recognized, and we have called on the authorities to ensure that her case is immediately reviewed with a view to vindicating her right to freedom of expression and reversing her conviction as being unjustified.

Front Line believes that the prosecution of Dr. Irene Fernandez is not consistent with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, which recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of Human Rights Defenders and their right to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. In particular, article 6 (2) protects the right “freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

In addition to the prosecution of Dr. Irene Fernandez for her human rights activities, the length of her trial is also of grave concern. Article 12(2) of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders states that “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present declaration.”