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Iran: Ongoing detention and reported torture of human rights lawyer Dr Houtan Kianposted on: 2011/04/26

Since his arrest by Iranian security forces during a raid on his offices on 9 October 2010, human rights lawyer Dr Houtan Kian has reportedly been subjected to repeated tortured and ill-treatment while being held incommunicado and in solitary confinement.

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Iran: Human rights defender Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh sentenced to 11 years in prisonposted on: 2011/01/12

Human rights defender Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, and banned from practicing as a lawyer and leaving the country for 20 years after an allegedly unfair trial.

Further Information

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer, who in particular has worked with juvenile prisoners facing the death penalty as well as prisoners of conscience; her past clients have included Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi as well as a number of political prisoners who were taken into custody during the unrest that followed the disputed Iranian presidential election in June 2009.

She is also a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre and the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child. Nasrin Sotoudeh has been the subject of a previous Front Line Urgent Appeal dated 8 September 2010.

On 9 January 2011, Nasrin Sotoudeh's lawyers were informed that she had been sentenced by the 26th Branch of the Revolutionary Court to 11 years in prison and banned from both working as a lawyer and leaving Iran for 20 years.

Belarus: Widespread searches and judicial harassment of human rights defenders following Presidential Electionsposted on: 2011/01/12

Numerous individual human rights defenders and organisations have been subjected to police and judicial harassment, ill-treatment, searches and raids carried out at their offices and homes, since the unrest which followed the Presidential Elections of 19 December 2010.

Further Information

Most of the searches have been carried out in relation to a criminal investigation opened by the Minsk Department of Interior under Article 293 parts 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (participation and organisation of mass disorder) which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. This investigation aims at establishing the involvement of human rights defenders in the political unrest.

On 19 December 2010, Mr Aleh Gulak, Chair of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), who was observing the opposition rally, was arrested despite explaining the reasons for his presence. He was brought to a temporary detention facility where was forced to spend three hours standing with his face to a wall. On 20 December at midday, he was brought to court where he was accused of participation in an unauthorised rally.

Kyrgyzstan: Open Letter to Secretary of State Clinton re case of Azimjan Askarov during her official visitposted on: 2011/01/10

As United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton continued her tour of Central Asia with a visit to Kyrgyzstan (today Thursday 02 December) Front Line has published an open letter to the Secretary of State in which the organisation renewed its call for the release of imprisoned human rights defender Azimjan Askarov and raised the issues of denial of due process and use of torture during his trial.

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During her visit Ms Clinton had a meeting with President Otunbeyeva during which she "expressed to the President the admiration the United States feels for the difficult road that Kyrgyzstan has decided to walk,”.

“This is a bold endeavor that the people of this country have undertaken - reinventing its democratic governance with a strong parliament designed to represent the full diversity of the people and regions in Kyrgyzstan", she added

Front Line is calling on Secretary of State Clinton to take the opportunity of this visit to raise the situation of human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan with President Otunbeyeva and in particular the serious issues relating to the trial and conviction of Azimjan Askarov.

Syria: Human rights defender Mr Radef Moustafa summoned for interrogation before disciplinary council of the Syrian Bar Associationposted on: 2011/01/10

On 19 December 2010, human rights defender Mr Radef Moustafa was summoned for a hearing before a disciplinary council within the Aleppo Branch of the Syrian Bar Association on accusations of instigation against the authorities, crimes against State security, and harming national unity.

Further Information

Radef Moustafa is a human rights lawyer, director of the Kurdish Committee for Human Rights (kurdchr) and coordinator of the Syria Coalition against Capital Punishment. He has provided pro bono legal assistance to several human rights defenders charged and brought to court in Syria, including among others Mr Muhanad Alhasani, imprisoned human rights lawyer and president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization (SHRO), and winner of the 2010 Martin Ennals Award.

Nigeria: Death threats against human rights defender Mr Patrick Naagbantonposted on: 2011/01/07

Human rights defender Mr Patrick Naagbanton has been receiving a series of death threats in the past two weeks. Patrick Naagbanton is Coordinator of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Further Information

On 30 December 2010, Patrick Naagbanton was reportedly accosted by two individuals at CEHRD's office in Eleme, Rivers State, who threatened to “deal with him”. It is reported that the same two individuals had also threatened a member of CEHRD's administrative staff.

On 31 December 2010 at approximately 23:00, Patrick Naagbanton received a further telephone call in which his interlocutor demanded that he deliver them a sum of money by 1 January. The following day, he received another call in which he was summoned to a local shrine in Ogoni, Rivers State, and threatened that he would be killed should he not appear; this was followed by a further death threat via telephone two hours later.

China: Harassment of human rights defender Ms Ni Yulanposted on: 2011/01/07

Human rights defender Ms Ni Yulan faces her 19th day without electricity or internet connection due to ongoing police harassment. Her water supply has also been cut for the majority of this time.

Further Information

Ni Yulan is a lawyer who has been involved in human rights defence for 11 years. She has been persistently targetted by police since offering legal aid to a Falun Gong practitioner in 1999. In 2002 Ni Yulan attempted to document on camera her neighbours' forced eviction and the demolition of their home. She was noticed by the police, and subsequently dragged to a police station and beaten so severely that she was left permanently disabled. She is currently confined to a wheelchair.

As of 7 January 2011, human rights defender Ni Yulan has had the electricity and internet connection cut for 19 consecutive days in the Beijing hotel room where she is currently staying, as a result of police pressure on the owners of the hotel. She has had only intermittent access to water during this time.

India: Release on bail of human rights defender Mr Ahongsangbam Mobi Singhposted on: 2011/01/07

On 5 January 2010, human rights defender Mr Ahongsangbam Mobi Singh(hereinafter A. Mobi Singh) was released on bail following seven nights in detention in Imphal, Manipur, on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.

Further Information

A. Mobi Singh is the Editor of the local daily newspaper “The Sanaleibak” as well as Vice President and spokesperson of the All Manipur Working Journalist's Union (AMWJU), a state-wide union which works to defend freedom of the press and journalistic independence in the context of the ongoing conflict between various State and non-State armed groups in Manipur.

On 28 December 2010, A. Mobi Singh was contacted on his mobile phone by an individual who identified himself as a member of the Tabungba faction of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), who requested that A. Mobi Singh send three members of the AMWJU to Delhi to meet and discuss publication of their statements, at the expense of the KCP.

On 29 December 2010, A. Mobi Singh was again contacted by an individual claiming to represent the KCP asking him to collect a sum of Rs.

Yemen: Physical assault of human rights defenders Ms Tawakkol Karman, Ms Bushra Alsorabi and Mr Ali al-Dailamiposted on: 2011/01/07

On 14 December 2010, human rights defenders Ms Tawakkol Karman, Ms Bushra Alsorabi and Mr Ali Hussain al-Dailami were physically assaulted during a peaceful protest in Sana'a, Yemen.

Further Information

Tawakkol Karman and Bushra Alsorabi are Chairperson and Executive Director respectively of Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC), an organisation which campaigns for freedom of the press and other human rights in Yemen. Ali Hussain al-Dailami is the executive director of the Yemeni Organization for the Defence of Democratic Rights and Freedom.

Tawakkol Karman has been the subject of Front Line Urgent Appeals dated 9 October 2009 and 27 October 2010, along with Bushra Alsorabi.

Zimbabwe: 83 Members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise removed from remandposted on: 2011/01/06

83 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who had been arrested while protesting peacefully on 20 September 2010, have been removed from remand out of custody in a routine hearing in Harare Magistrate's Court.

Further Information

Magistrate Macdonald Ndirowej granted an application for refusal of further remand which had been lodged by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in a Court hearing on 1 December 2010.

The application had initially been refused on condition that the prosecution had their case properly prepared on 29 December.