Hedme Castro's Car Tyres Punctured

On 7 April 2017, human rights defender, Hedme Castro, discovered that the tyres of her car had been sabotaged by unidentified persons.

Hedme Castro is the General Coordinator of Asociación para una Ciudadanía Participativa - ACI Participa (Association for Participative Citizenship). The organisation promotes citizen participation in decision-making, as well as the knowledge and exercise of civil and political rights. It also encourages government institutions to act in line with principles of social equality and to transparently administer their resources. Hedme Castro participated in the Front Line Defenders platform for human rights defenders in Dublin in 2013.

On 7 April 2017, Hedme Castro was driving to her office at approximately 7.30am, when she noticed that the vehicle was becoming unbalanced and difficult to manoeuvre. Upon arriving at her office, she discovered that one of the tyres had been punctured with a screw. The human rights defender and two colleagues took the car to a garage, where they realised that the spare tyre had also been punctured. Later that day, while returning home, Hedme Castro noticed that the vehicle was still unbalanced. She took the car to a garage for the second time that day where she discovered that the other three tyres had also been punctured with screws.

Hedme Castro and her organisation have been the targets of threats, intimidation, smear campaigns, digital attacks and illegal detention due to their work in Honduras as human rights defenders.

On 2 March 2017, the human rights defender was arbitrarily detained at the Toncontín International Airport while preparing to board a flight to Europe to attend an UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva. Having registered her luggage and made her way through security, Hedme Castro was summoned to the airport security office and told that she could not board her flight due to security problems with her suitcase. Three security officers one of whom was a criminal investigator, seized her suitcase and proceeded to search her belongings while interrogating her about her future activities and reasons for reporting on the human rights situation in Honduras. The human rights defender was kept incommunicado for approximately thirty minutes. She was then released and managed to board her flight.

Front Line Defenders has previously reported on the hacking of ACI Participa’s institutional email account, as well as the deletion of files and contacts by unknown persons. On 22 September 2015, the email account of the organisation was hacked and the culprits managed to obtain and delete all the contacts, as well as files, folders and records of emails sent and received.

Front Line Defenders is concerned at the most recent act of intimidation against human rights defender, Hedme Castro, as it believes that it was carried out due to her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of human rights in Honduras.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Honduras to:

1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the ongoing harassment against Hedme Castro, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
2. Take all necessary measures, in consultation with the human rights defenders or their representatives, to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Hedme Castro and all members of ACI Participa;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Honduras are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.