Sri Lanka Weliamuna geïntimideerd
De Sri Lankese advocaat J.C. Weliamuna, tevens directeur van de Sri Lankese tak van de anti-corruptieorganisatie Transparency International (TISL), lijkt het doelwit te zijn van een intimidatiecampagne door de autoriteiten. Op 2 maart 2010 publiceerde een nieuwswebsite een lijst met namen van mensenrechtenverdedigers en journalisten die vermoedelijk door de Sri Lankese inlichtingendienst was gelekt naar […]
Syria Trials against Al-Hassani and Al-Maleh commence
On 10 March 2010 the trial against the Syrian human rights lawyer Muhanad al-Hassani, who was arrested on 28 July 2009 by national security forces, commenced. The start of the trial against the 79-year-old lawyer Haitham al-Maleh, who was arrested on 14 October 2009, is due this spring. Both lawyers face 15 years imprisonment. Human […]
Guatemala Advocaat Juan Antonio Chea vermoord
De Inter-Amerikaanse Commissie voor Mensenrechten (IACHR) slaat alarm naar aanleiding van een viertal moorden op mensenrechtenactivisten in Guatemala waarover zij werd ingelicht. De moorden hebben plaatsgevonden na 1 januari 2010. Onder de slachtoffers bevond zich Juan Antonio Chea, een advocaat van Maya-afkomst, werkzaam bij het ODHA, het Mensenrechtenbureau van het Aartsbisdom van Guatemala, en als […]
Iran Women’s rights lawyer Maryam Ghanbari arrested
On 8 February 2010, Maryam Ghanbari, a 27-year-old lawyer and active member of Meydaan (Women’s Field), was arrested in her home in Tehran by five Iranian officers. She is being held in the notorious Evin prison. Maryam Ghanbari takes part in the Volunteer Lawyers Network (a voluntary law service for vulnerable women) and is actively […]
China Gao Zhisheng still missing after one year
On 1 February 2009, human rights lawyer and well-known critic of the Communist Party, Gao Zhisheng, was taken by plainclothes policemen. Nothing has been heard of him since. According to his brother, the police have stated that Gao ‘lost his way and went missing’. The fact that it is not clear for Gao’s family and […]
Vietnam Le Cong Dinh sentenced to 5-year prison sentence
On 20 January 2010, prominent human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In recent years he has defended journalists, writers, human rights activists, bloggers and lawyers. He also regularly published through media that are deemed ‘subversive’ by the Vietnamese government. On 13 June 2009 members of the Vietnamese security […]
Syria Anwar Al-Bunni remains in detention
Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni remains detained in the notorious Adra-prison, located just outside Damascus. It is reported that Anwar al-Bunni has been imprisoned in harsh conditions and has been subjected to abuse by his prison guards. In April 2007 Anwar has been sentenced to five years in prison for ‘spreading of false information’. Al-Bunni was […]
Zimbabwe Alec Muchadehama acquitted
Alec Muchadehama was on trial because of supposed contempt of Court. In June 2009, his prosecution was initiated because he supposedly was involved in the ‘illegal release’ of journalist Andrison Manyere and two members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the political party that was founded in 1999 to oppose the government of President […]
Colombia Lawyer Jorge Molano victim of threat and intimidation
Jorge Eliecer Molano Rodriguez is a Colombian lawyer who provides legal assistance to various human rights organizations in Colombia. Molano Rodríguez also assists victims and relatives in for instance the case of enforced disappearances of 11 people after the events that occured at the Palace of Justice in Bogotá on 6 and 7 November 1985. […]
Russian Federation L4L calls upon authorities to investigate Markelov's death
In a letter dated 21 January 2009, L4L has demanded an investigation into the murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov. In addition, the lack of governmental protection for Markelov must be explained. The Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov (34) and Anastasia Baburova (25), a freelance journalist for the critical newspaper Novaja Gazeta, were […]
Guatemala Defender of indigenous Maya people Fausto Otzín killed
On 18 October 2009, lawyer and defender of indigenous Maya population’s rights Fausto Otzín disappeared. He was last seen in in San Juán Comalapa, Chimaltenango, and found near his home a day later. He endured serious injuries because he had been attacked and jabbed in the face and back with machetes, and as a consequence, […]
Rusland Advocaat en journalist op straat vermoord
Stanislav Markelov, een prominent mensenrechtenadvocaat, is in de middag van 19 januari in de buurt van het metrostation ‘Kropotkinskaja’ in Moskou doodgeschoten. Volgens ooggetuigen schoot de dader de advocaat in het hoofd met een van een knaldemper voorzien pistool. Een medewerkster van de krant Novaja Gazeta, Anastasija Baburova, die op dat moment naast Markelov stond, […]
Iran De positie van mensenrechtenverdedigers staat nog altijd onder druk
Het kantoor van de Iraanse Nobelprijswinnaar voor de Vrede van 2003 Shirin Ebadi werd op 1 januari 2009 door betogers beklad met leuzen. Tien dagen eerder was het kantoor van het Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), geleid door Shirin Ebadi, in Teheran gesloten wegens ontbrekende vergunningen. Ebadi’s organisatie had juist die dag een activiteit […]
Kenia Moorden zijn “ernstige bedreiging rechtsstaat”
Speciaal Rapporteur van de Verenigde Naties Philip Alston wil een onafhankelijk onderzoek naar de moord op Oscar Kamau King’ara en John Paul Oulu op 5 maart 2009 in de hoofdstad van Kenia, Nairobi. King’ara was advocaat, oprichter en directeur van de Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic. De Oscar Foundation is een geregistreerde liefdadigheidsinstelling die […]
Russian Federation Prosecutor reacts on call for investigation into assassination Markelov
In April, L4L received an answer (original, translation) from the Russian National Office of the Public Prosecution Service to its letter dated 21 January 2009 concerning the assassination of the Russian lawyer Markelov. The letter states that the Public Prosecutor of Moscow has filed a criminal case based on article 105 paragraph 1, article 30 […]
Syria Dutch government concerned about fate Haitham al-Maleh
The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Verhagen, has expressed his concern about the fate of the 78 year old Syrian lawyer Haitham Al-Maleh on 10 December 2009. According to Verhagen “it would be a nice gesture of the Syrian authorities to no longer detain Al-Maleh in a prison but to enable him to await […]
