human rights defender
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.
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.
Further Information
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.
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.
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.
Human rights defender Zhao Lianhai has reportedly been released from prison on medical parole and is currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
Further Information
It is reported that in a statement posted on his personal blog, Zhao Lianhai agreed with the punishment handed down to him and did not want the issue to be discussed further. He also reportedly expressed his gratitude to and support for the government, and apologised for his earlier statements about the government.
Zhao Lianhai, whose son was one of at least 300,000 babies in China who became ill as a result of drinking deliberately contaminated milk from over 20 Chinese dairy producers, founded the website 'Home for the Kidney Stone Babies', an online space set up to collect and provide information for the parents of children who became ill after drinking contaminated milk.
Further to the news reported on 22 December 2010 regarding an attack on human rights defender and journalist Sun Hongjie in Xinjiang province,Front Line is deeply saddened to learn of Sun Hongjie's death on 28 December 2010 due to injuries sustained in the brutal assault.
Further Information
Sun Hongjie was a senior journalist with the Northern Xinjiang Morning Post who frequently reported on sensitive issues. He had recently written a story concerning the forced demolition of a dairy company's building to make space for houses for government officials. Police have denied that the assault was related to his work, although Sun's colleagues have expressed doubt about this explanation.
Previous Update on case of Sun Hongie
On 28 December 2010, human rights defender Mr Yahya Mohamed el Hafed Aaza was transferred from his cell in Ayat-Melol prison in Agadir to the city hospital, following a serious deterioration in his health.
Further Information
Yahya Mohamed el Hafed Aaza, aged 44 and father of three children,is a member of the Tan-Tan Branch of the Association Marocaine des Droits de l'Homme -- AMDH (Moroccan Association of Human Rights), and a member of the constitutive assembly of the Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des Droits de l'Homme - CODESA (Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights defenders).He suffers from various illnesses including rheumatism, asthma, and anemia for which he has spent three months in hospital while in Enzkan prison
On 4 March 2008, Front Line issued an Urgent Appeal concerning the arrest of Yahya Mohamed el Hafed Aaza on 29 February 2008 while working in his shop in Tan-Tan, South Morocco. It was believed that the arrest was related to peaceful pro-independence demonstrations that took place two days earlier in Tan-Tan.
On 15 December 2010, human rights defender Mr Mohammed Abdulgader al-Jassem had his prison sentence reduced by a Kuwaiti appeal court from one-year to three months. Mr Al-Jassem was arrested on 22 November 2010, and is currently in prison serving his sentence, but plans to appeal the sentence at the Supreme Court in Kuwait.
Further Information
Mohammed Al-Jassem was charged with defaming the Kuwaiti Prime Minister, Shaikh Nasser Mohammed El-Ahmad Al-Sabah, in an article written one year ago on his blog Al Meezan: http://www.aljasem.org <http://www.aljasem.org/>. MohammedAl-Jassem is a Kuwaiti lawyer who has observed trials on behalf of human rights organisations. He is also a prominent writer and has authored books and articles on issues including political reforms, corruption and independence of the judiciary.
For further information on this appeal please refer to http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/13888
Front Line is saddened by a brutal assault on human rights defender and anti-corruption journalist Mr Sun Hongjie on 18 December in Kuitun, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Sun Hongjie is an investigative journalist with Northern Xinjiang Morning Post.
Further Information
At approximately 1 am on 18 December Sun Hongjie was returning home after meeting an acquaintance for a drink.
As the two walked home, the acquaintance turned on Sun Hongjie as five other men appeared and proceeded to attack him. They dragged him into a construction site where he was severely beaten and reportedly hit over the head with clumps of earth.
His mobile phone was also smashed. His wallet and other belongings remained untouched. A colleague brought Sun to a hospital, where he was later pronounced brain dead. Six men have been arrested.
Sun Hongjie has become well known in Kuitun for exposing corruption and abuse of power in his writing.
Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer and human rights defender, was released from prison on 9 September 2010 after serving more than four years on account of his work exposing human rights abuses in Linyi City, Shandong Province. Since then he and his family have been under strict house arrest with extremely limited contact with the outside world.
Report from China
The entrances to his village are blocked by hired thugs who refuse to let anybody from outside the village – including foreign diplomats – enter to visit Chen, amidst reports of his worsening health.
Below is an appeal launched by Chinese civil society and human rights defenders urging greater action to be taken to help show solidarity with Chen and to secure his freedom.
More information may be found on the website www.chenguangcheng.com
“YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN”
As of September 9, 2010, blind self-taught rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng had served in full his sentence of 4 years 3 months and was transported from the prison directly to his home in Shandong province; Chen and his family were placed under strict house arrest and remain under constant guard by several dozen people.
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