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Since, January 2012, through its Observatory for the protection of Human Rights defenders*, FIDH has contributed to the release or acquittal of 31 human rights defenders jailed or prosecuted merely for their engagement in favor of human rights.
* joint program of FIDH and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)
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Egypt: Release of Maikel Nabil
The Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil was released on January 24th 2012, after having spent 10 months in prison for "insulting the army" and "dissemination of false information". The Observatory campaign led the Army Supreme Council to amnesty this young defender, ironically, on the occasion of the Egyptian Freedom Spring’s one-year anniversary. His release came just a few weeks after that of the blogger Alaa Abdel-Fatah, detained for two-months for having criticized the Egyptian military establishment.
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Mexico: Release of Maximino García Catarino
Maximino García Catarino, member of the Organisation for the future of the Mixtec people (OFPM) was released on March 20th 2012. The first high court of the state of Guerrero decided unanimously to revoke the formal order of preventive detention for lack of evidence against him.
On January 21st 2012, police officers of Guerrero State had forced entry into his house and arrested him without explanation or official warrant. He was then beaten by the policemen who were seeking to obtain the names of other leaders of the OFPM, before being falsely accused of murder.
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Zimbabwe : Acquittal for Joel Hita and Zimrights
Joel Hita, Regional Chairperson in Masvingo for the Human Rights Association of Zimbabwe (ZimRights), and Pelagia Razemba Sewaksekie, Zimrights Acting National Chairperson, were both acquitted (after having been accused of “holding a public meeting without notifying the authorities”. This judicial harassment followed a photo exhibition in Masvingo in 2010, which showcased pictures of political violence during the pre-electoral context in 2008. At the time, other Zimrights members had been arrested, including Joel Hita.
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| Turkey: Release on bail of Ragip Zarakolu
Honorary Board Member and Founder of the Human Rights Association (İnsan Haklari Derneği - İHD), and also Director of the Belge Publishing House and Chairman of the Publishers Association Freedom to Publish Committee of Turkey, Ragip Zarakolu was released on bail on April 10th 2012, after six months of detention.
Ragip Zarakolu had been arrested in Istanbul on October 28, 2011, together with Ms. Büşra Ersanlı, still detained, as part of a vast anti-terrorist operation. This action targeted more than 48 militants, the majority of whom are Kurdish political activists and particularly members of the Democracy and Peace Party (BDP). Their trial will begin on July 2nd. He faces up to 15 years of prison on charges of “knowingly and willingly helping an organised criminal group”.
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India: Release on bail of Abhay Sahoo
Abhay Sahoo, President of the “POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti” (PPSS), was released on bail on March 14, 2012. This human rights activists had been arrested on November 25, 2011, and detained during 4 months for his opposition to the forced acquisition of public land by a South Korean multinational, POSCO, in the Jagatsinghpu district. The charges against him remain pending and another activist leading the anti-POSCO campaign is still being detained.
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The FIDH also applauds the release of the Chadian defender Daniel Deuzoumbé Passalet, of the Djibouti defenders Farah Abadid Heldid and Hassan Amin Ahmed, of the Iranian trade union activist Ebrahim Madadi, of the defender Kazakh Evgeniy Zhovtis, and the dismissal of charges against seven Cameroonian union activists and against the Russian defender Sapiyat Magomedova, the conditional release of the Turkish defenders Cemal Babaoglu, Halit Sahin, Yasin Öztürkoglu, Müslüm Kina, Hikmet Evin, Adil Arslan and Adile Sahi,of the Algerian defender Abdelkader Kherba and of the Iranian trade union activists Farzad Ahmadi and Peddram Nasrollahi, as well as the end to the incommunicado detention of the Vietnamese defender Nguyen Van Hai (also known as Dieu Cay).
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Steadfast in Protest - 2011 Report
The 2011 Report denounces, with hundreds of examples, the many kinds of acts of repression that defenders suffer. Each day, with their families and friends, they suffer attacks and harassment, threats and arrests, arbitrary detention, defamation campaigns, restrictions in terms of freedom of association and expression, etc.
An annual rendez-vous for the protection of defenders, it highlights the most serious cases of obstacles and threats against defenders in each country.
Read or download the full text
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Learn more about FIDH in action!
To watch all of our operations in the world, click here. |
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FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights
17, Passage de la Main d’Or, 75011 PARIS, FRANCE
Tél : (33-1) 43 55 25 18 / Fax : (33-1) 43 55 18 80
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