L4L Submissions on Iran and Vietnam at HRC
L4L has together with Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) filed two submissions for the Human Rights Council on Iran and Vietnam. Submission Iran In the submission on Iran, that was co-signed by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), we ask attention for the wrongful prosecution and imprisonment of lawyers in Iran. Lawyers in Iran are […]
Pu Zhiqiang arrested after attending Tiananmen protests commemoration
Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was arrested on Sunday morning 4 May after he had attended a meeting where the Tiananmen Square protests were commemorated. These peaceful student protests were beaten down violently by the Chinese authorities, on 4 June of this year 25 years ago, leaving hundreds of demonstrators dead. Dutch news agency NOS […]
Thulani Maseko arrested again
On 9 April, human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko was arrested for the second time, shortly after he was released following a verdict of the high court. Thulani Maseko is suspected of ‘contempt of court’. Thulani Maseko was firstly arrested on 17 March 2014. One day later, journalist Bheki Makhubu was arrested. Both are charged with […]
Kazakhstan submission on the Universal Periodic Review
L4L has brought to the attention of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism key issues regarding Kazakhstan’s compliance with its human rights commitments to guarantee effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. From 27 October to 7 November 2014, the […]
L4L actively engaged in consultation at HRC
On 17 March, L4L and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) delivered oral statements at the 25th session of the Human Rights Council, this time with respect to Iran and Myanmar. Since L4L was granted ECOSOC Consultative Status in July 2013, it has become even more active in participating in the consultation process. Iran With respect to […]
Vrijspraak deken goed nieuws, maar geen trendbreuk
De vrijspraak van de deken en het bestuur van de advocatenorde in Istanbul op 24 februari is goed nieuws voor de advocatuur in Turkije. Judith Lichtenberg, bestuurslid van Lawyers for Lawyers, is er echter helemaal niet gerust op dat deze vrijspraak een nieuwe trend zal inzetten. Dat zei zij vandaag in BNR Juridische Zaken. “De trend is helaas nog […]
Lawyer faces complaint filed by former president Bar Association
Human rights lawyer Ermogenes Jacinto de Souza is facing a complaint filed by the former president of the National Bar Association, Hélio Vieira. According to our information, this charge was made in connection to the lawyer’s professional activities in defending a community of peasants. This community was living in an area that was reclaimed and […]
ECtHR: Turkey guilty of torturing lawyer
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a verdict in the case of Gülizar Tuncer, a human rights advocate who has been subjected to police violence in 2000. Turkey was found guilty of violating the European Convention of Human Rights Article 3 on the ban of “ill-treatment and torture”. The court ordered the Turkish […]
Appeal Court upholds sentence Le Quoc Quan
On 18 February 2014, an appeals courts in Vietnam upheld the verdict against lawyer Le Quoc Quan. He was arrested on 27 December 2013 and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment on charges of ‘tax evasion’. Members of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, as well as representatives of the US and Canadian embassies, were allowed to attend […]
Lawyer Didier Kalemba subjected to intimidatory acts
Didier Kalemba, a lawyer from the Democractic Republic of the Congo, has been subjected to intimidatory acts. He received a series of threathening calls, ordering him to appear at the headquarters of the Agence Nationale de Renseignements (ANR, National Intelligence Agency) on the morning of 3 February. When he didn’t obey this order, he received […]
Letter to appeal judge for Le Quoc Quan
L4L, together with a broad coalition of organizations, has sent a letter to the Supreme Court of Vietnam to express their support for the appeal of Mr. Le Quoc Quan against his recent conviction on charges of alleged tax evasion. In the letter, the organisations highlighted four important legal issues in support of Mr Quan’s […]
Talk with Ragia Omran
On 11 January 2014, L4L met with Ms Ragia Omran, a leading member of a number of Egypt’s legal advocacy organizations and women’s rights activists. Ms Omran has set up a rapid response network, involving approximately 40 organizations and 100 lawyers, to (legally) assist people who are arrested for protesting or for other political reasons. […]
Lawyer Roshdy El Sheikh Rasheed victim of enforced disappearance
On 31 January 2014, lawyer Roshdy El Sheikh Rasheed was taken from his home to an unknown location by plain-clothes individuals. Because his home is in Tadmor, which is under control of government forces, it is considered very likely that state actors are involved in the human rights defender’s continued enforced disappearance. His whereabouts are unknown. […]
Le Quoc Quan on hungerstrike
Jailed Vietnamese blogger and human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan has launched a hunger strike to protest the refusal by prison authorities to provide him access to legal counsel, access to legal and religious books, and access to a priest, ahead of his appeal trial on 18 February 2014 in Hanoi. Le Quoc Quan has […]
L4L participates in UPR ‘side-event’
Every four years the United Nations Human Rights Council reviews the human rights situation of each member state. In advance of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Vietnam, L4L, together with a coalition of Vietnamese and international human rights organisations and activists, hosted a side event. This event focussed on the most […]
Disbarment of lawyers for ‘violating professional ethics’
Two lawyers from Kazakhstan were disbarred for simply doing their job.The lawfulness of one disbarment will now be reviewed by the Supreme Court. What happened?Lawyers Lyubov Agushevich and Polina Zhukova represented a defendant in criminal proceedings. During his trial, they submitted motions and requests for recusals. While the lawyers claim that they were just […]