Front Line Defenders is the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. We work to provide fast and effective action to help protect human rights defenders at risk so they can continue their work as key agents of social change.

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK

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Preliminary hearing against Anar Mammadli
Update: Azerbaijan – Preliminary hearing of case against human rights defender Mr Anar Mammadli
2014/04/23

On 21 April 2014, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes held a preliminary hearing on the case of human rights defender Mr Anar Mammadli.

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Banner:“Strongly demand the release of Ding Jiaxi and Zhao Changqing—not guilty"
China: Sentencing of human rights defenders Messrs Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Li Wei and Zhang Baocheng
2014/04/22

On 18 April 2014, human rights defenders Messrs Ding Jiaxi and Zhao Changqing were sentenced to 3.5 years and 2.5 years' imprisonment respectively, while Messrs Li Wei and Zhang Baocheng were both given prison sentences of 2 years.

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Fadel Al-Manasef has been sentenced to 15 years in prison
Update: Saudi Arabia – Sentencing of human rights defender Mr Fadel Al-Manasef
2014/04/22

On 17 April 2014, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced human rights defender Mr Fadel Al-Manasef to 15 years' imprisonment, issued a travel ban against him for 15 years and fined him SAR100,000 (€19,300).

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Abu Bakar Siddique has been released from detention
Update: Bangladesh – Release of Abu Bakar Siddique
2014/04/22

On 17 April 2014, Mr Abu Bakar Siddique, husband of Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a renowned environmental rights defender, was released by his abductors in Ansar Camp in Mirpur, Dhaka.

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Map of Cameroon
Update: Cameroon – Release of human rights defenders Mr Abdulkarim Shehu and Mr Mallam Yunusa and return of lands to the indigenous Mbororo community in Mamada Hills
2014/04/18

On April 15 2014, the Archbishop of Bamenda Cornelius Fontem Esua announced the Archdiocese's withdrawal from the disputed lands of Mamada Hills in Cameroon. This announcement comes a few weeks after the release of Mbororo rights defenders Mr Mallam Yunusa...

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"Nunca Más" (Never Again) - Source: http://www.enmanosdenadie.com.ar
Argentina and the issue of impunity
2014/04/17

As Front Line Defenders launches a new documentary, Memory, Truth & Justice, on the struggle for justice by HRDs and families of the disappeared in Argentina, Mary Lawlor looks at just why these cases are so important to the current struggle for...

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Waleed Abu Al-Khair has been placed in detention
Saudi Arabia – Arbitrary detention of human rights defender Mr Waleed Abu Al-Khair in Riyadh
2014/04/17

On 15 April 2014, prominent Saudi Arabian human rights defender Mr Waleed Abu Al-Khair was arbitrarily detained, while at the premises of the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh.

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Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja has been in prison since 2011
Outrageous propaganda and inconvenient truths
2014/04/17

In a recent article in the respected Middle East web publication Al Monitor, Sarah Bin Ashoor published an article on Bahrain which severely distorted the facts of the situation. Front...

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"Don't Talk!" Soviet propaganda poster
Russian constitutional court ruling on foreign agent law opens door to new wave of prosecutions
2014/04/17

As the political crisis in Ukraine continues to escalate, an equally sinister, if less militaristic, narrative is unfolding in the Russian Federation which may have serious long-term consequences for the future of human rights and the work of human rights defenders...

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Murharrem Erbey has been released from pre-trial detention
Turkey: Murharrem Erbey released following 1,570 days of pre-trial detention
2014/04/16

On 12 April 2014, Mr Murharrem Erbey, a human rights defender from Turkey, was released from detention by the Diyarbakir Heavy Penal Court No. 2 because of a “lack of evidence.”

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