disappeared

Aminatou Haidar the Saharawi woman human rights defender and member of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), has won the Silver Rose Award 2007. The Silver Rose is awarded annually by the international organisation Solidar, to celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations who are active in the fight for social justice.  

On 12 April 2007, in Iloilo province, the Philippines, unidentified gunmen ambushed the car in which three human rights defenders were travelling, leaving one man seriously injured.

Reportedly, the gunmen opened fire at the pick-up and then dragged Nilo Arado and Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado to their van and drove off. Jose Ely Garachico was taken to a hospital in Iloilo city where he remains in a critical condition awaiting an operation to remove a bullet, which is lodged in his chest. The pick-up used in the abduction of Nilo Arado and Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado was reportedly found in a burned-out state in a secluded area in Barangay Guadalupe, Janiuay, and 30kms northwest of Iloilo City.  

13th January, 2005

Front Line is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Tursunbek Akunov. Tursunbek Akunov is a prominent human rights defender and the chair of the Human Rights Defending Movement in Kyrgyzstan: a network of partner non- governmental organisations and human rights activists who seek reform and an end to corruption. Tursunbek Akunov has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the current government and, just prior to his arrest, he was involved in collecting signatures, at prominent locations around Bishkek, for a petition which calls on the President, Askar Akaev, to resign. According to reports received by Front Line, Tursunbek Akunov failed to return home on the evening of 16th November 2004 after he was summoned to a meeting with representatives of the National Security Service (NSS). He was scheduled to fly, along with a number of other NGO members and journalists to Kiev, on the evening of 17th November in order to monitor the Ukraine presidential elections. His ticket and passport remain at home. Days before, on 15th November 2004 Tursunbeck Akunov reported that he had been followed for 10-days by unknown men in a car.