tortured

The youth activist, Gift Tandare was shot dead in Harare's Highfield township on 11 March 2007 as riot police arrested at least seventy people including four prominent human rights defenders while attempting to attend a Save Zimbabwe Campaign prayer meeting.

Gift Tandare is the youth Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly.The 4 human rights defenders are, Mike Davies - Chairperson of the Combined Harare residents association, Madock Chivasa - Spokesperson for the National Constitutional Assembly, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, member of the National Constitutional Assembly and Gladys Hlatsawo, Information officer for the Crisis Coalition.  

Ahmad Batebi, a former student activist and human rights defender serving a ten-year sentence in Evin Prison, Tehran is reportedly in poor physical and mental health and it is said to be deteriorating.

Ahmad Batebi is suffering from a number of medical problems as a result of being tortured and ill treated during his period of detention, including stomach and kidney problems and permanent hearing problems and poor vision. Despite the seriousness of his medical condition, prison authorities are allegedly not permitting Ahmad Batebi to receive any medical treatment beyond a few painkillers. Ahmad Batebi's doctor, wrote to the authorities on 6 August 2006 stating that his patient was at risk of paralysis or heart attack, and needed to receive specialist treatment outside prison.  

Ali-Salem Tamek, a prominent human rights defender and founding member of the Western Sahara branch of the Forum for Truth and Justice, an organization that campaigns for the rights of victims and families of victims of torture, “disappearances” and other human rights violations, is in Dublin until 21 December, to highlight the human rights and political situation in Western Sahara.

Since his arrival he has met with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and is scheduled to meet public representatives, Simon Coveney, TD and MEP, Michael D. Higgins, Labour TD and Proinsias De Rossa, Labour MEP. He will also attend a session of the human rights committee of Joint Oireachats Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Ali-Salem Tamek has been instrumental in collecting and disseminating information about human rights violations committed by Moroccan forces. He has faced routine harassment and persecution in his attempt to monitor and denounce abuses by Moroccan authorities.  

Sherko Jihani, correspondent for the Turkish news agency Euphrat in Mahabad and member of the Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan (HROK) was arrested on 27 November. He is been held incommunicado in an unknown location and at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Jihani was arrrested in the town of Mahabad, in Kurdistan, northwestern Iran. He was reportedly interrogated about forming an investigative committee to object to the kidnapping on 8 January 2006 of a woman human rights activist, Sarveh Komkar (Kamkar), and for giving interviews to foreign stations about the July 2005 killing by Iranian security forces of Kurdish activist, Showan (Shivan) Qaderi. Sherko Jihani has been arrested and detained on nine occasions since 1999 during which he was allegedly subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

Sherko Jihani staged a hunger strike in protest over his detention on 30 November. Sherko Jihani's family visited him at Mahabad Central Prison, however two days later he was removed from Mahabad Prison and brought to an undisclosed location. Reports claim that he has been denied legal representation.  

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum published on 29 September the Political Violence Report for August. The report highlights an escalation in violence by Zimbabwean authorities against human rights defenders.

The report outlines the arrest and detention of members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The full Report is available here.

One hundred and one members of WOZA face trial on 23 October for ‘participating in a public gathering with the intent to cause public disorder, breach of peace or bigotry’. If convicted, the women could receive up to five years in custody or a heavy fine. About 150 WOZA members face similar charges for participation in a demonstration in August and stand trial on 10 of October.

On 13 September 2006,180 members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were arrested in Zimbabwe prior to the commencement of an anti-poverty and anti-government March. Many of those arrested were tortured.