“In the last five years we have sadly seen an increase in the attacks on human rights defenders around the world,” said Mary Lawlor, Director of Front Line, at an event in Dublin to mark the 5th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
In the last week we have seen an attempt by a group of 10 men in balaclavas and armed with machetes to kill human rights defender Victor Rosa in Guatemala. At the same time human rights defenders Madeleine Afite and Franka Nzounkekang were threatened and harassed by the authorities in Cameroon because of their work to expose torture.
In China Jiang Lijun is beginning a four year prison sentence for “incitement to subvert state power” because he posted political views in favour of democracy on the Internet. In Tunisia human rights lawyer Radhia Nasraoui is entering the seventh week of a hunger strike in protest against threats and harassment from the Tunisian authorities. 
