Condition Nasrin Sotoudeh seriously deteriorating
Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, for whom L4L organized a letter writing campaign in the summer of 2010, has been on a hunger strike since 29 September 2010. In addition, she has stopped drinking water since 31 October, to protest against her arbitrary detention since 4 September 2010 and her maltreatment in the Evin […]
Amsterdam Dean’s Award presented to Al-Hassani
On Thursday 21 October 2010, the Amsterdam Dean’s Award was presented to Muhanad al-Hassani. This Syrian human rights lawyer was sentenced to three years in prison by a court in Damascus on 23 June 2010 convicting him of conveying information that weakens national sentiment and conveying false news about Syria abroad. He was also disbarred […]
First anniversary of Haitham Al-Maleh’s detention
Haitham al-Maleh, the 80-year-old human rights lawyer who was convicted to three years in prison on 7 July 2010, was in detention for exactly one year on 14 October 2010. Two days before, it was announced that he is to receive the annual Alkamara Award for human rights defenders. The award will be presented on […]
Reputatie zelfs voor Iraanse autoriteiten belangrijk
Op vrijdag 24 september sprak de Iraanse advocate Shadi Sadr op uitnodiging van L4L op het jaarcongres van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten in Rotterdam. Ze legde uit waarom zij en sommige van haar collega’s niet meer naar hun vaderland kunnen terugkeren. Als advocaat spanden ze zich in om politieke gevangenen, ter dood veroordeelde minderjarigen […]
MEA 2010 for Al-Hassani: “A man of an exceptional courage, arbitrarily detained”
Muhanad al-Hassani, the Syrian lawyer who was sentenced to 3 years in prison in the spring of 2010, will be awarded the most important human rights prize, the Martin Ennals Award, on 15 October 2010. The son of the imprisoned Haitham al-Maleh, the 80-year-old Syrian lawyer of Al-Hassani, will receive the prize on Al-Hassani’s behalf […]
Manifestation against CAJAR for complaint Uribe
Several prominent Colombian politicians organized a manifestation against lawyers collective José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR) on 1 September 2010. This collective was to lodge a complaint against former President Uribe on 2 September 2010. During the manifestation, the action of CAJAR was depicted as supportive of rebel organization FARC and the collective was denounced as terroristic. […]
Authorities arrest human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
On 4 September 2010 another human rights lawyer was arrested in Iran. Nasrin Sotoudeh is the lawyer of – among others – the Iranian-Dutch human rights activist Zahra Bahrami, who recently turned out to have been detained in an Iranian prison over the last few months. Whether Sotoudeh’s arrest is linked to the Bahrami case […]
Participating in the second ‘Caravana de Juristas’
Final declaration participants ‘Caravana 2010’ The Second Caravana Internacional de Juristas (International Caravan of Lawyers) met in Bogota, Colombia, from 23rd to 28th August 2010, following the first Caravana in 2008. 56 lawyers from 13 countries came to Bogota in solidarity with their Colombian colleagues. The Caravana met with authorities and members of various communities […]
Missing lawyer awarded by ABA
On 6 August 2010, the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law awarded Gao Zhisheng with the International Human Rights Lawyer Award. Zhisheng had been missing for fourteen months, reappeared earlier this year, but went missing again shortly afterwards. Therefore his daughter Geng Ge accepted the award on his behalf. Together with her mother and […]
Lawyer Kenia Olivia Cardona subject to threats
Amnesty International has initiated a letter writing campaign for Kenia Olivia Cardona on 29 July 2010. She works as a lawyer in Honduras for the ‘Comité de Familiares Detenidos Desapericidos en Honduras’ (COFADEH). Since the coup in June 2009, the Honduran police violently oppress public protests, often in collaboration with national security agencies. COFADEH helps […]
Mohammad Mostafaei applies for asylum in Norway
The Iranian lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, against whom a warrant of arrest was issued on 24 July 2010, fled to Norway via Turkey, as became clear on 9 August 2010. Turkey could not grant him asylum, and so the Norwegian embassy in Turkey gave him a temporary visa for Norway, where he will apply for asylum. […]
Haitham Al-Maleh sentenced to 3 years
On 7 July 2010, Haitham al-Maleh was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment by the Syrian Secondary Military Court. The 79-year-old human rights lawyer was charged with ‘the spreading of false information that was damaging for the morale of the nation’, ‘the weakening of national sentiments’ and ‘slandering a government institution’. He was held in detention […]
L4L supports amicus curiae to constitutional court
On 5 March 2010, the Commision Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ) and the Colombian NGO Corporación Reiniciar submitted a request to the Constitutional Court of Colombia to declare certain articles of the law 1288 of 2009 unconstitutional. This law “… sets out norms to strengthen the legal basis that allows institutions carrying out intelligence and counterintelligence […]
Open letter to the new President
Benigno Aquino III, since 30 June 2010 the new president of the Philippines, recently promised to seriously handle the problem of the extra judicial killings in the country. This problem still is the order of the day, as is shown by the recent murders of journalists and farmer’s leaders. Aquino also stated that he considers […]
Human rights lawyer Blanca Mesina receives death threats
Mrs. Blanca Mesina is a lawyer in the Mexican City of Tijuana, close to the border with the US, some 20 miles from San Diego. Tijuana is known for its vivid drug trade and other crime and because many Mexicans attempt to cross the border from the city. The independence of the police is under […]
Al-Hassani sentenced to 3 years in prison
On 23 June 2010 the court in Damascus has sentenced Syrian lawyer Muhanad al-Hassani to three years in prison for committing vague offenses as ‘the spreading of information that weakens the national morale’ and ‘the spreading of false information abroad’. On behalf of L4L and the Dutch Bar Association, Germ Kemper attended the announcement of […]