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 […]
Xu Zhiyong sentenced to 4 years in prison
Xu Zhiyong, a forty-year-old human rights lawyer, was convicted to a four-year prison sentence by a Beijing court on 27 January on charges of ‘gathering crowds to disrupt public order’. At his trial, Xu’s lawyer was not allowed to call witnesses and his closing argument was interrupted and ended after ten minutes. Xu Zhiyong is a […]
Nasrin Sotoudeh expresses gratitude in video message
The video message that you find below was recently received from Nasrin Sotoudeh, after she was unexpectedly released early from prison in September 2013. Since 2009 L4L has campaigned for Nasrin Sotoudeh; this was after she received a travel ban for the first time. During her (unfair) trial and three-year detention, we asked attention for her situation through letter writing campaigns. When she went […]
Day of the endangered lawyer
24 January 2014 is the “Day of the Endangered Lawyer”. This year, the annual event focuses on lawyers in Colombia who receive death threats or have even been murdered because they defend the rights of the poorest, and who work on cases of human rights violations in rural areas where small-scale producers are attempting to return to lands illegally […]
Human rights lawyer Juan Carlos González Leiva attacked
On 9 January 2014, human rights lawyer Juan Carlos González Leiva, his wife and seven other individuals were attacked by by members of the National Revolutionary Police. Leiva is a human rights lawyer and member of the Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba (Council of Human Rights Reporters of Cuba), as well as […]
Lawyer Muharrem Erbey already 4 years in pre-trial detention
Muharrem Erbey, a Turkish lawyer, is one of the 152 prominent members of political and civil society organisations that stand trial together, in one single trial in Turkey. Since 24 December 2009, when he was arrested in the early morning by an anti-terror unit, he has been in pre-trial detention. As a lawyer, he stood […]
Monitoring trial Ümit Kocasakal, President of the Istanbul Bar Association
Lawyers for Lawyers has organised a trial observation and asked former President of the Amsterdam Bar Association, Hans van Veggel, to join the observation on behalf of concerned Dutch Bar Presidents. On 7 January 2013 Ümit Kocasakal, the President of the Istanbul Bar Association and members of its board , were put on trial […]
Human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh abducted
On 9 December 2013, human rights lawyer Razan Zeitouneh, her husband, Wa’el Hamada, and two colleagues, Nazem Hamadi and Samira Khalil, were abducted by unknown individuals. Razan Zeitouneh recorded this message and sent it to FIDH on 4 December 2013. L4L, together with another 15 organisations, issued a joint public statement saying Razan Zeitouneh and […]
UN Rights Tribunal calls for release of Vietnamese lawyer
PRESS RELEASE The detention of Vietnamese blogger, lawyer and human rights activist Le Quoc Quan has been condemned by a United Nations human rights tribunal as violating his right to freedom of expression and his right to a fair trial. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a tribunal set up under the UN’s Human […]
Beatrice Mtetwa aquitted
On 26 November 2013, human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was acquitted of the charge of “obstructing justice”. Zimbabwean police arrested Mtetwa, on Sunday 17 March 2013. She was arrested while attempting to provide legal assistance to Thabani Mpofu, Director of Research and Development in the Office of the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was arrested the same […]
Ramazan Demir is facing prosecution
Ramazan Demir, one of the guest speakers on the L4L-Award seminar in May 2013, has been charged with “insulting or (…) offending the dignity of a public authority in the performance of his duties”, pursuant to Section 125 of the Criminal Code which provides for up to two years of imprisonment. The charges are based on defence speeches he made […]
Abdolfattah Soltani ends hungerstrike
L4L received information that Abdolfattah Soltani ended his hunger strike. He went on hunger strike on 2 November 2013 to protest against the lack of proper medical care for himself and other prisoners of conscious jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison. Abdolfattah Soltani is a prominent human rights lawyer, and was spokesman for the Human Rights Defenders’ Center (CHRD). […]
Zinaida Mukhurtova released from psychiatric confinement but still at risk
On 1 November 2013, lawyer Zinaida Mukhortova was released from Astana Medical Centre for Psychological Health. She had forcibly been detained in psychiatric confinement since 9 August 2013. Unfortunately L4L has received information that during the latest appeal hearing, psychiatric tests reaffirmed that Zinaida Mukhortova is suffering from a ‘delusional disorder’. Therefore she is once again at risk […]