Home

human rights defender

Iran: Human rights defender Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh sentenced to 11 years in prisonposted on: 2011/01/12

Human rights defender Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, and banned from practicing as a lawyer and leaving the country for 20 years after an allegedly unfair trial.

Further Information

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer, who in particular has worked with juvenile prisoners facing the death penalty as well as prisoners of conscience; her past clients have included Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi as well as a number of political prisoners who were taken into custody during the unrest that followed the disputed Iranian presidential election in June 2009.

She is also a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre and the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child. Nasrin Sotoudeh has been the subject of a previous Front Line Urgent Appeal dated 8 September 2010.

On 9 January 2011, Nasrin Sotoudeh's lawyers were informed that she had been sentenced by the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court to 11 years in prison and banned from both working as a lawyer and leaving Iran for 20 years.

Kyrgyzstan: Open Letter to Secretary of State Clinton re case of Azimjan Askarov during her official visitposted on: 2011/01/10

As United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton continued her tour of Central Asia with a visit to Kyrgyzstan (today Thursday 02 December) Front Line has published an open letter to the Secretary of State in which the organisation renewed its call for the release of imprisoned human rights defender Azimjan Askarov and raised the issues of denial of due process and use of torture during his trial.

Further Information

During her visit Ms Clinton had a meeting with President Otunbeyeva during which she "expressed to the President the admiration the United States feels for the difficult road that Kyrgyzstan has decided to walk,”.

“This is a bold endeavor that the people of this country have undertaken - reinventing its democratic governance with a strong parliament designed to represent the full diversity of the people and regions in Kyrgyzstan", she added

Front Line is calling on Secretary of State Clinton to take the opportunity of this visit to raise the situation of human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan with President Otunbeyeva and in particular the serious issues relating to the trial and conviction of Azimjan Askarov.

Syria: Human rights defender Mr Radef Moustafa summoned for interrogation before disciplinary council of the Syrian Bar Associationposted on: 2011/01/10

On 19 December 2010, human rights defender Mr Radef Moustafa was summoned for a hearing before a disciplinary council within the Aleppo Branch of the Syrian Bar Association on accusations of instigation against the authorities, crimes against State security, and harming national unity.

Further Information

Radef Moustafa is a human rights lawyer, director of the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights (kurdchr) and coordinator of the Syria Coalition against Capital Punishment. He has provided pro bono legal assistance to several human rights defenders charged and brought to court in Syria, including among others Mr Muhanad Alhasani, imprisoned human rights lawyer and president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization (SHRO), and winner of the 2010 Martin Ennals Award.

Nigeria: Death threats against human rights defender Mr Patrick Naagbantonposted on: 2011/01/07

Human rights defender Mr Patrick Naagbanton has been receiving a series of death threats in the past two weeks. Patrick Naagbanton is Coordinator of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Further Information

On 30 December 2010, Patrick Naagbanton was reportedly accosted by two individuals at CEHRD's office in Eleme, Rivers State, who threatened to “deal with him”. It is reported that the same two individuals had also threatened a member of CEHRD's administrative staff.

On 31 December 2010 at approximately 23:00, Patrick Naagbanton received a further telephone call in which his interlocutor demanded that he deliver them a sum of money by 1 January. The following day, he received another call in which he was summoned to a local shrine in Ogoni, Rivers State, and threatened that he would be killed should he not appear; this was followed by a further death threat via telephone two hours later.

China: Human rights defender Sun Hongjie left brain-dead after assaultposted on: 2010/12/22

Front Line is saddened by a brutal assault on human rights defender and anti-corruption journalist Mr Sun Hongjie on 18 December in Kuitun, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Sun Hongjie is an investigative journalist with Northern Xinjiang Morning Post.

Further Information

At approximately 1 am on 18 December Sun Hongjie was returning home after meeting an acquaintance for a drink.

As the two walked home, the acquaintance turned on Sun Hongjie as five other men appeared and proceeded to attack him. They dragged him into a construction site where he was severely beaten and reportedly hit over the head with clumps of earth.

His mobile phone was also smashed. His wallet and other belongings remained untouched. A colleague brought Sun to a hospital, where he was later pronounced brain dead. Six men have been arrested.

Sun Hongjie has become well known in Kuitun for exposing corruption and abuse of power in his writing.

China: Public support for human rights defender Chen Guangcheng under close house arrestposted on: 2010/12/02

Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer and human rights defender, was released from prison on 9 September 2010 after serving more than four years on account of his work exposing human rights abuses in Linyi City, Shandong Province. Since then he and his family have been under strict house arrest with extremely limited contact with the outside world.

Report from China

The entrances to his village are blocked by hired thugs who refuse to let anybody from outside the village – including foreign diplomats – enter to visit Chen, amidst reports of his worsening health.

Below is an appeal launched by Chinese civil society and human rights defenders urging greater action to be taken to help show solidarity with Chen and to secure his freedom.

More information may be found on the website www.chenguangcheng.com

“YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN”

As of September 9, 2010, blind self-taught rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng had served in full his sentence of 4 years 3 months and was transported from the prison directly to his home in Shandong province; Chen and his family were placed under strict house arrest and remain under constant guard by several dozen people.

Colombia – Human rights defender Carolina Rubio Esguerra detained by Colombian Criminal Investigation Unit posted on: 2010/11/17

On 16 November 2010, human rights defender Ms Carolina Rubio Esguerra was detained by members of the Seccional de Investigación Criminal - SIJIN (Criminal Investigation Unit) in Bucaramanga City, Colombia, and is currently being held at the SIJIN Headquarters. Carolina Rubio Esguerra is in her ninth month of pregnancy.

Warsaw: Fair trial standards in case of prominent human rights defender in Kyrgyzstan crucial, ODIHR director saysposted on: 2010/11/12

WARSAW, 11 November 2010 - The Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, today encouraged Kyrgyzstan's authorities to ensure full compliance with fair trial standards in the case of human rights defender Azimjan Askarov and other trials related to the June violence in the south of the country.

Further Information

An appeals court yesterday upheld the 15 September verdict of a lower court, which sentenced Askarov to life imprisonment and confiscation of his property on charges of organizing mass disorder and inciting inter-ethnic hatred.

ODIHR monitors at the first instance trial and appeal proceedings noted that the authorities failed to make adequate efforts to address repeated instances of verbal abuse, including death threats, directed at the lawyers and the defendant, as well as an instance of physical attack against one of the lawyers.

Sudan – Nine Darfuri human rights defenders arrested and being held in incommunicado detention in Khartoumposted on: 2010/11/11

On 29 October 2010 between 4pm and 4:30pm eight Darfuri human rights defenders were arrested in Khartoum, Sudan. In a similar incident on 3 November another human rights defender was arrested. As yet no charges have been brought against them. It is reported that the arrests targeted people working with HAND (Human Rights and Advocacy Network for Democracy), a coalition of nine grass-roots Darfuri organisations, that publishes weekly human rights monitoring reports from Darfur, and people working for Radio Dabanga, a Sudanese radio station registered in the Netherlands that broadcasts news on the conflict in Darfur.

Both HAND and Radio Dabanga reportedly share the same building in Khartoum. Some of those arrested had just attended a youth forum on social development hosted by Girifna, a pro-democracy student movement.

The first disappearance occurred on 29 October, in Suq al Arabia in down-town Khartoum, when National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) agents arrested Abdelrahman Mohamed Al-Gasim, a member of the executive committee of the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor (SHRM) from Tulus, South Darfur. Mr.

Saudi Arabia: Human rights defender Fahd Bin Abdu-Rahman Al-Harbi sentenced to two months in prison and lashes in publicposted on: 2010/11/08

On 26 October 2010, a court in Qubba, in the central province of Qaseem, Saudi Arabia, sentenced human rights defender Mr Fahd Bin Abdu-Rahman Al-Harbi (known as Fahd Al Jukhaidib), to two months in prison and 50 lashes, including 25 lashes in public in front of the local electricity department.