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Act Now!
Across the globe human rights defenders face various forms of persecution in their everyday struggle for human rights
Artillery shells are fired at radio studios in Mogadishu injuring two journalists. Fariba Davodi Mohajer is sentenced for campaigning on behalf of women in Iran. In the Philippines, gunmen ambush a car in which three human rights defenders are travelling, leaving one man injured. In Mexico, a journalist is abducted and six days later his body is found.
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- - Thompson Ade Bayor, lawyer and human rights defender, Liberia
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Urgent Cases
 Front Line is deeply concerned about the provisions of the forthcoming Charities and Societies Proclamation (draft law) which according to reports received is scheduled for discussion in the Ethiopian parliament on 24 December 2008. This is the fifth draft of a law to regulate all domestic and international civil society organisations (CSOs) operating in the country. The provisions of the new law would seriously curtail the already-limited work of human rights defenders in Ethiopia and would drastically reduce their ability to criticise or act independently of the government, through the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on their work, complex bureaucratic procedures, severe criminal penalties and escalated government surveillance of their activities. 
Front Line and Human Rights First strongly condemn the murder of Mr Edwin Legarda Vazquez, husband of human rights defender, Ms Aída Quilcué, Chief Counsel of the Consejo Regional Indígena de Colombia - CRIC (The Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca), on 16 December 2008. We ask that you urge the Colombian Government to undertake a prompt, impartial investigation into the murder and to protect Ms Quilcué and her family.
Front Line is concerned following reports received that Egyptian human rights defender, Mr Gamal Eid, was detained and interrogated by the Jordanian intelligence service in Amman's Alia airport for 6 hours prior to being deported to Egypt on 15 December 2008. Gamal Eid is the Executive Director of the The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). The ANHRI distributes information regarding human rights violations in the MENA region and provides legal support to cases related to human rights.
Front Line is concerned following reports that journalist Mr Lotfi Hidouri was arrested on 10 December 2008 at Tunis' Carthage airport as he prepared to leave for Beirut to attend the Third Arab Free Press Forum. Mr Mohamed Abbou, was also prevented from leaving the country and attending the conference in Beirut after he intervened to determine the reason for Lotfi Hidouri's arrest. Lotfi Hidouri is the sub-editor of Kalima newspaper and a member of L'Observatoire pour la Liberté de Presse – OLPEC (The Observatory for the Freedom of the Press). Mohamed Abbou is a lawyer and a member of the Conseil National pour les Libertés en Tunisie – CNLT (National Council for Liberties in Tunisia).
Front Line strongly condemns the murder of human rights defender, Mr Joel Pérez Cárdenas, near San Vicente del Caguán on 8 December 2008. Joel Pérez Cárdenas was one of the founders and first directors of the movement which became known as the Corporación por la Defensa de Derechos Humanos Caguán Vive (Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights in Caguán). He was the Chairman of the Junta de Acción Comunal de la Vereda Vegas Bajo Pato, (Board of Community Action of the Vereda Vegas in the region of Bajo Pato), Vice-President of the Asociación Ambiental del Bajo (The Environmental Association of Bajo Pato), and a former Councillor of San Vicente del Caguán for the Polo Democrático Alernativo (The Alternative Democratic Pole), a leftist opposition coalition.
Update
Front Line is concerned by the reported arbitrary detention of over 60 civil society activists and journalists in Kenya who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration on the occasion of Kenya's Jamhuri Day celebrations on 12 December 2008. Activists who arrived outside the Nyayo National stadium in Nairobi wearing t-shirts condemning the failure of MPs to pay taxes were reportedly targeted for detention. The majority of those detained were released without charge.
Mr Mwalimu Mati, Chief Executive of Mars Group Kenya (marsgroupkenya.org), and his wife, Jane Mati, remained in detention for two nights. An investigation against them on the grounds of “incitement to violence” is currently pending. Mars Group Kenya describes itself as a leadership, governance, accountability and media watchdog organization whose "goal is to create awareness and to generate an effective demand, by Kenyans, for accountability from Kenya’s leadership and to encourage Kenyans to hold to account those who have committed improprieties."
Front Line is deeply concerned by the arrest of Mr Bernard Njonga, Mr. Isaac Difakoué and two other members of the Association Citoyenne de Défense des Intérêts Collectifs - ACDIC (The Citizens Association for the Defence of Collective Interests) who were amongst nine protesters arrested during a peaceful protest on 10 December 2008 in Yaoundé. Two other ACDIC members, Mr Nono Theophile and Mr Mowha Franklin, were severely beaten by the police during the demonstration. Bernard Njonga is the National President of the ACDIC and Isaac Difakoué is the Vice-President of the same organisation. The ACDIC is a citizen´s movement which defends the rights of citizens in Cameroon.
Update
Front Line welcomes the release of human rights defender, Khalid Abdul-Wahab El-Sharif from prison on Friday 19 December. He had been detained since 5 July 2008 in the Political Security Prison, San´a, where he had been denied legal consultation, regular visits and was never officially charged. Despite his release, Front Line remains deeply concerned about the ongoing detention without charge of human rights defenders, Mr Yasre Abdul-Wahab Al-Wazeer and Mr Mu’een Ibraheem Al-Mutawakel.
Front Line is seriously concerned following reports received of a widespread police crackdown, including a wave of arrests and incommunicado detentions of human rights defenders, in the context of their commemoration of the the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This includes the dispersal by the police of a peaceful demonstration on 10 December in Beijing; the arrest On 8 December 2008 of Mr Zhang Zuhua and Mr Liu Xiaobo for their participation in the Charter 08 initiative, a declaration that outlines a vision for a constitutional democratic China and initiates a platform for citizens' action; The arrest, On 4 December, and incommunicado detention of five human rights defenders in Guizhou who had planned to organize the Fourth Guizhou Citizens' Forum on Human Rights on 10 December 2008.
Front Line is profoundly concerned by reports received concerning the continued detention and deteriorating health condition of human rights defender, Mr Alisher Karamatov, who has been detained since June 2006 and has been denied necessary medical treatment. Alisher Karamatov is the Chairperson of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), Mirzaabad region. He has served two years of a nine year sentence for “extortion” following a trial which international observers defined as “deeply flawed” and “unfair”.
Front Line expresses concern regarding reports of police harassment of human rights defender Mr Waliullah Ahmed Laskar in Assam on 4 December 2008. Waliullah Ahmed Laskar is the Liaison Officer and a member of the legal team of Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC), an organisation monitoring and documenting human rights abuses in North East India.
Front Line is deeply concerned following reports received the authorities arrested, tried and fined ten human rights defenders following their organisation of, and participation in, a peaceful demonstration in Tashkent on 6 December 2008. The defenders were members of the Ezgulik Human Rights Society, the Committee of Prisoners of Conscience and Uzbek Human Rights Alliance.
Front Line is concerned by the harassment of human rights defenders Alnassiri Ahmed and Engiya Boukhars following meetings with Front Line representatives and a peaceful demonstration in Smara on 21 September 2008. Following a Front Line meeting with Mr Alnassiri Ahmed, Moroccan security services raided his home but did not find him there. He was subsequently dismissed from his job at Khraibka Municipality. Al Nassiri is the Secretary General of the Committee for Protection of Human Rights in Smara-Western Sahara and a member of the Moroccan Human Rights Society. Women’s human rights defender Engiya Boukhars Alshaikhi who also met with the Front Line delegation was physically assaulted during the demonstration on September 21, 2008 by security forces and has since had her salary frozen.
Front Line is deeply concerned following reports received of the abduction of Ms Jestina Mukoko by Zimbabwean security forces from her home in Norton Harare in the morning of 3 December 2008, at approximately 5:00 am. Jestina Mukoko is the Project Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), an organisation monitoring and documenting violence and human rights abuses across the country through a network of peace observers.
Front Line is concerned following reports of charges of “impersonating a lawyer” and “threats” pending against human rights defender Mamsour Hamadou, following his arrest on 22 November 2008 in Maroua, Far North Province. Mamsour Hamadou is a member of the Mouvement pour la Défense des Droits Humains et des Libertés – MDDHL (Movement for the Defence of Human Rights and Liberties).
Front Line is concerned following reports that human rights defender and journalist, Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani, was banned from travelling to a human rights conference on 30 November 2008 despite receiving a presidential pardon on 25 September 2008 for all charges held against him. Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani is the former Editor-in-Chief of the pro-democracy online newspaper, Al-Shoura, and a campaigner for the right to freedom of expression in Yemen.
Front Line is deeply concerned for the continued detention and the deteriorating in health condition of Mosaad Soliman Hassan Hussein (a.k.a. Mosaad Abu Fagr) who has been in detention in Borg Al Arab prison in the Alexandria desert since his arrest on 26 December 2007. Mosaad Abu Fagr is a human rights defender, blogger and writer working on behalf of the rights of the Sinai community in Egypt. Front Line previously issued an urgent appeal concerning his arrest on 10 January 2008.
Front Line is deeply concerned following reports received regarding death threats that have been recently made against human rights defender Fernando Ruiz Canales, the President of the non-governmental Consejo para la Ley y los Derechos Humanos – CLDH (Law and Human Rights Council). Fernando Ruiz Canales works with families that have been victims of kidnappings allegedly committed by members of the Mexican Armed Forces. Front Line previously issued an urgent appeal concerning threats against Fernando Ruiz Canales, on 21 January 2008.
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