detained

Front Line welcomes the release of human rights defenders Osman Ibrahim, Alam Aldeen Abd Alghni, Emad Merghni Seed Ahmed, Abd Allah Abd Alghume, Mugahid Mohamed Abdalla and Osman Shammat on 19 August 2007. However, Front Line remains deeply concerned at the ongoing detention of human rights defender and University lecturer Dr Mohammed Julal Hashim. Dr Mohammed Julal Hashim was arrested on 15 June 2007. He received his last visit from his family two weeks ago when he was being detained in Debek Prison, north Khartoum, but it is believed that he may have been transferred to the national security wing of Kober Prison in Khartoum North. Reports state that he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure. Front Line is concerned that he may be at risk of torture and ill-treatment.  

Gopen Chandra Sharma a District Human Rights Monitor (DHRM) with the “National Project on Preventing Torture in India: From Public Awareness to State Accountability”, was arrested in West Bengal on 12 June 2007.  

Zeinab Peyqambarzadeh a human rights defender and leading member of the One Million Signatures Campaign was freed on 16 May 2007 after 9 days imprisonment in Evin prison and having paid a bail sum of 20, 000, 000 Iranian Toman  

Ahmad Abu Hannya the Youth Project Coordinator for the Alternative Information Center a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization based in Jerusalem was released on 14 May 2007 after two years in administrative detention  

In Zimbabwe Human rights lawyers and their families have faced a surge in violent harassment, including arbitrary arrests, detention and violent physical assaults during April and May 2007.