In questo anno difficile ... Le buone notizie sui diritti umani 2020

Corriere della Sera
Anche in questo anno orribile che va a chiudersi i movimenti per i diritti umani hanno ottenuto risultati importanti: prigionieri rilasciati dopo aver subito condanne ingiuste, sentenza di morte annullate, provvedimenti liberticidi abrogati e leggi progressiste approvate. 

Le "buone notizie" trovano spesso uno spazio inadeguato, nei mezzi d'informazione, rispetto alla loro importanza nel cambiamento della vita di singole persone e di intere comunità. 

Eppure sono state ben 190 nel 2020. Quella che segue è la selezione, assai difficile, delle migliori, una per mese.

Il 7 gennaio il Comitato dei diritti umani delle Nazioni Unite ha stabilito che gli stati devono tenere in considerazione le violazioni dei diritti umani causate dai cambiamenti climatici quando valutano le domande di asilo.

Il 27 febbraio il parlamento del Colorado (Usa) ha votato definitivamente a favore dell'abolizione della pena di morte.

Il 30 marzo il governo della Sierra Leone ha abolito il decreto che impediva alle ragazze incinte di prendere parte alle lezioni e agli esami, "per non influenzare negativamente le altre alunne".

Il 4 aprile l'avvocato cinese per i diritti umani Wang Quanzhang è stato rimesso in libertà dopo aver trascorso in carcere quattro anni e mezzo per "sovversione dei poteri dello stato".

Il 27 maggio il tribunale di Messina ha condannato a 20 anni di carcere un guineano e due egiziani per aver torturato, picchiato e lasciato morire migranti trattenuti in un centro di detenzione di Zawiya, in Libia.

Il 9 giugno è stato rilasciato Nabil Rajab, uno dei più importanti difensori dei diritti umani del Bahrein. Stava scontando una condanna a cinque anni di carcere, inflittagli nel 2018, per aver criticato via Twitter l'intervento militare dell'Arabia Saudita nello Yemen.

Dopo tre anni passati tra i tribunali francesi, il 7 luglio l'attivista 76enne Martine Landry è stata definitivamente assolta. Nel luglio 2017 aveva accompagnato dall'Italia due minori guineani affinché venissero presi in carico dai servizi sociali francesi.

Il 30 agosto a seguito di una sentenza del Tribunale civile di Roma sono arrivati via aereo, per presentare domanda di protezione internazionale, cinque richiedenti asilo eritrei che l'Italia aveva illegalmente respinto in Libia nel 2009, dopo averli soccorsi in mare con una nave militare.

L'11 settembre un tribunale di Madrid ha condannato l'ex colonnello ed ex viceministro della Difesa di El Salvador Inocente Montano a 133 anni, quattro mesi e cinque giorni di prigione per l'assassinio di sei sacerdoti gesuiti avvenuto nel 1989.

Il 6 ottobre, dopo due anni e mezzo, un tribunale di Barcellona ha assolto dall'accusa di "incitamento a disordini pubblici" Tamara Carrasco, attivista dei Comitati di difesa della repubblica, gruppi della società civile catalana creati dagli attivisti indipendentisti nel 2017.

Il 16 novembre, dopo un'indagine durata sette mesi, il difensore marocchino dei diritti umani Omar Naji è stato assolto da accuse relative alla gestione governativa della risposta alla pandemia da Covid-19.

Il 17 dicembre, accogliendo le richieste di Amnesty International e dei movimenti per i diritti delle donne, il parlamento della Danimarca ha approvato la legge che stabilisce che il sesso senza consenso è stupro.

Riccardo Noury

10 dicembre 1950-2020 - Compie 70 la "Giornata Mondiale dei Diritti Umani"

Blog Diritti Umani - Human Rights

Dichiarazione Universale dei Diritti dell’Uomo

New York - Eleanor Roosevelt e la Dichiarazione universale dei diritti umani.

Articolo 1:
Tutti gli esseri umani nascono liberi ed eguali in dignità e diritti.
Essi sono dotati di ragione e di coscienza e devono agire gli uni verso gli altri in spirito di fratellanza.

Articolo 2
Ad ogni individuo spettano tutti i diritti e tutte le libertà enunciate nella presente Dichiarazione, senza distinzione alcuna, per ragioni di razza, di colore, di sesso, di lingua, di religione, di opinione politica o di altro genere, di origine nazionale o sociale, di ricchezza, di nascita o di altra condizione. Nessuna distinzione sarà inoltre stabilita sulla base dello statuto politico, giuridico o internazionale del paese o del territorio cui una persona appartiene, sia indipendente, o sottoposto ad amministrazione fiduciaria o non autonomo, o soggetto a qualsiasi limitazione di sovranità.

Articolo 3
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla vita, alla libertà ed alla sicurezza della propria persona.

Articolo 4
Nessun individuo potrà essere tenuto in stato di schiavitù o di servitù; la schiavitù e la tratta degli schiavi saranno proibite sotto qualsiasi forma.

Articolo 5
Nessun individuo potrà essere sottoposto a tortura o a trattamento o a punizione crudeli, inumani o degradanti.

Articolo 6
Ogni individuo ha diritto, in ogni luogo, al riconoscimento della sua personalità giuridica.

Articolo 7
Tutti sono eguali dinanzi alla legge e hanno diritto, senza alcuna discriminazione, ad una eguale tutela da parte della legge. Tutti hanno diritto ad una eguale tutela contro ogni discriminazione che violi la presente Dichiarazione come contro qualsiasi incitamento a tale discriminazione.

Articolo 8
Ogni individuo ha diritto ad un’effettiva possibilità di ricorso a competenti tribunali contro atti che violino i diritti fondamentali a lui riconosciuti dalla costituzione o dalla legge.

Articolo 9
Nessun individuo potrà essere arbitrariamente arrestato, detenuto o esiliato.

Articolo 10
Ogni individuo ha diritto, in posizione di piena uguaglianza, ad una equa e pubblica udienza davanti ad un tribunale indipendente e imparziale, al fine della determinazione dei suoi diritti e dei suoi doveri, nonché della fondatezza di ogni accusa penale che gli venga rivolta.

Articolo 11
Ogni individuo accusato di un reato è presunto innocente sino a che la sua colpevolezza non sia stata provata legalmente in un pubblico processo nel quale egli abbia avuto tutte le garanzie necessarie per la sua difesa.
Nessun individuo sarà condannato per un comportamento commissivo od omissivo che, al momento in cui sia stato perpetuato, non costituisse reato secondo il diritto interno o secondo il diritto internazionale. Non potrà del pari essere inflitta alcuna pena superiore a quella applicabile al momento in cui il reato sia stato commesso.

Articolo 12
Nessun individuo potrà essere sottoposto ad interferenze arbitrarie nella sua vita privata, nella sua famiglia, nella sua casa, nella sua corrispondenza, né a lesione del suo onore e della sua reputazione. Ogni individuo ha diritto ad essere tutelato dalla legge contro tali interferenze o lesioni.

Articolo 13
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla libertà di movimento e di residenza entro i confini di ogni Stato.
Ogni individuo ha diritto di lasciare qualsiasi paese, incluso il proprio, e di ritornare nel proprio paese.

Articolo 14
Ogni individuo ha il diritto di cercare e di godere in altri paesi asilo dalle persecuzioni.
Questo diritto non potrà essere invocato qualora l’individuo sia realmente ricercato per reati non politici o per azioni contrarie ai fini e ai principi delle Nazioni Unite.

Articolo 15
Ogni individuo ha diritto ad una cittadinanza.
Nessun individuo potrà essere arbitrariamente privato della sua cittadinanza, né del diritto di mutare cittadinanza.

Articolo 16
Uomini e donne in età adatta hanno il diritto di sposarsi e di fondare una famiglia, senza alcuna limitazione di razza, cittadinanza o religione. Essi hanno eguali diritti riguardo al matrimonio, durante il matrimonio e all’atto del suo scioglimento.
Il matrimonio potrà essere concluso soltanto con il libero e pieno consenso dei futuri coniugi.
La famiglia è il nucleo naturale e fondamentale della società e ha diritto ad essere protetta dalla società e dallo Stato.

Articolo 17
Ogni individuo ha il diritto ad avere una proprietà sua personale o in comune con altri.
Nessun individuo potrà essere arbitrariamente privato della sua proprietà.

Articolo 18
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla libertà di pensiero, di coscienza e di religione; tale diritto include la libertà di cambiare di religione o di credo, e la libertà di manifestare, isolatamente o in comune, e sia in pubblico che in privato, la propria religione o il proprio credo nell’insegnamento, nelle pratiche, nel culto e nell’osservanza dei riti.

Articolo 19
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla libertà di opinione e di espressione incluso il diritto di non essere molestato per la propria opinione e quello di cercare, ricevere e diffondere informazioni e idee attraverso ogni mezzo e senza riguardo a frontiere.

Articolo 20
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla libertà di riunione e di associazione pacifica.
Nessuno può essere costretto a far parte di un’associazione.

Articolo 21
Ogni individuo ha diritto di partecipare al governo del proprio paese, sia direttamente, sia attraverso rappresentanti liberamente scelti.
Ogni individuo ha diritto di accedere in condizioni di eguaglianza ai pubblici impieghi del proprio paese.
La volontà popolare è il fondamento dell’autorità del governo; tale volontà deve essere espressa attraverso periodiche e veritiere elezioni, effettuate a suffragio universale ed eguale, ed a voto segreto, o secondo una procedura equivalente di libera votazione.

Articolo 22
Ogni individuo, in quanto membro della società, ha diritto alla sicurezza sociale, nonché alla realizzazione attraverso lo sforzo nazionale e la cooperazione internazionale ed in rapporto con l’organizzazione e le risorse di ogni Stato, dei diritti economici, sociali e culturali indispensabili alla sua dignità ed al libero sviluppo della sua personalità.

Articolo 23
Ogni individuo ha diritto al lavoro, alla libera scelta dell’impiego, a giuste e soddisfacenti condizioni di lavoro ed alla protezione contro la disoccupazione.
Ogni individuo, senza discriminazione, ha diritto ad eguale retribuzione per eguale lavoro.
Ogni individuo che lavora ha diritto ad una rimunerazione equa e soddisfacente che assicuri a lui stesso e alla sua famiglia una esistenza conforme alla dignità umana ed integrata, se necessario, da altri mezzi di protezione sociale.
Ogni individuo ha diritto di fondare dei sindacati e di aderirvi per la difesa dei propri interessi.

Articolo 24
Ogni individuo ha diritto al riposo ed allo svago, comprendendo in ciò una ragionevole limitazione delle ore di lavoro e ferie periodiche retribuite.

Articolo 25
Ogni individuo ha diritto ad un tenore di vita sufficiente a garantire la salute e il benessere proprio e della sua famiglia, con particolare riguardo all’alimentazione, al vestiario, all’abitazione, e alle cure mediche e ai servizi sociali necessari; ed ha diritto alla sicurezza in caso di disoccupazione, malattia, invalidità, vedovanza, vecchiaia o in altro caso di perdita di mezzi di sussistenza per circostanze indipendenti dalla sua volontà.
La maternità e l’infanzia hanno diritto a speciali cure ed assistenza. Tutti i bambini, nati nel matrimonio o fuori di esso, devono godere della stessa protezione sociale.

Articolo 26
Ogni individuo ha diritto all’istruzione. L’istruzione deve essere gratuita almeno per quanto riguarda le classi elementari e fondamentali. L’istruzione elementare deve essere obbligatoria. L’istruzione tecnica e professionale deve essere messa alla portata di tutti e l’istruzione superiore deve essere egualmente accessibile a tutti sulla base del merito.
L’istruzione deve essere indirizzata al pieno sviluppo della personalità umana ed al rafforzamento del rispetto dei diritti umani e delle libertà fondamentali. Essa deve promuovere la comprensione, la tolleranza, l’amicizia fra tutte le Nazioni, i gruppi razziali e religiosi, e deve favorire l’opera delle Nazioni Unite per il mantenimento della pace.
I genitori hanno diritto di priorità nella scelta del genere di istruzione da impartire ai loro figli.

Articolo 27
Ogni individuo ha diritto di prendere parte liberamente alla vita culturale della comunità, di godere delle arti e di partecipare al progresso scientifico ed ai suoi benefici.
Ogni individuo ha diritto alla protezione degli interessi morali e materiali derivanti da ogni produzione scientifica, letteraria e artistica di cui egli sia autore.

Articolo 28
Ogni individuo ha diritto ad un ordine sociale e internazionale nel quale i diritti e le libertà enunciati in questa Dichiarazione possano essere pienamente realizzati.

Articolo 29
Ogni individuo ha dei doveri verso la comunità, nella quale soltanto è possibile il libero e pieno sviluppo della sua personalità.
Nell’esercizio dei suoi diritti e delle sue libertà, ognuno deve essere sottoposto soltanto a quelle limitazioni che sono stabilite dalla legge per assicurare il riconoscimento e il rispetto dei diritti e delle libertà degli altri e per soddisfare le giuste esigenze della morale, dell’ordine pubblico e del benessere generale in una società democratica.
Questi diritti e queste libertà non possono in nessun caso essere esercitati in contrasto con i fini e principi delle Nazioni Unite.

Articolo 30
Nulla nella presente Dichiarazione può essere interpretato nel senso di implicare un diritto di un qualsiasi Stato, gruppo o persona di esercitare un’attività o di compiere un atto mirante alla distruzione di alcuno dei diritti e delle libertà in essa enunciati.

Amnesty International USA lancia un appello a Joe Biden perchè la difesa dei diritti umani sia una priorità negli Stati Uniti

Blog Diritti umani - Human Rights

A seguito delle notizie secondo cui Joe Biden diventerà il 46 ° presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America, il direttore esecutivo ad interim di Amnesty International USA, Bob Goodfellow, ha rilasciato la seguente dichiarazione: 

"In qualità di organizzazione dedita alla difesa dei diritti umani di tutti negli Stati Uniti e nel mondo, Amnesty International USA invita la nuova amministrazione Biden ad agire immediatamente per porre fine alle violazioni dei diritti umani perpetrate dal governo degli Stati Uniti, inclusa la detenzione e la separazione dei bambini e dei loro famiglie in cerca di sicurezza."

 “Sebbene l'attuale amministrazione abbia commesso numerose violazioni dei diritti umani, molte sono state prima di Donald Trump. Per iniziare a cambiare le sorti della lunga storia delle violazioni dei diritti umani degli Stati Uniti, il presidente eletto Biden e il Congresso devono dare la priorità a un'agenda audace sui diritti umani. Abbiamo sviluppato undici priorità fondamentali in materia di diritti umani e lavoreremo con i nostri membri per garantire che siano attuate e sostenute, comprese la violenza della polizia, la violenza armata, i rifugiati, il genere, la vendita di armi e la libertà di espressione."

"Da sessant'anni difendiamo la libertà da dittatori e prepotenti in tutto il mondo e non intendiamo fermarci adesso. Lavoreremo per creare slancio attorno a questi cambiamenti che chiediamo al governo degli Stati Uniti e riteneremo l'amministrazione Biden responsabile degli obblighi in materia di diritti umani degli Stati Uniti ".

ES 

Fonte: Amnesty International

Turchia - Dopo 14 mesi scarcerato Taner Kılıç, Presidente onorario di Amnesty International Turchia

Amnesty Italia
Finalmente, dopo oltre 14 mesi di carcere, la sera del 15 agosto il presidente onorario di Amnesty International Turchia, Taner Kılıç, ha potuto riabbracciare la moglie e le loro figlie.

In mattinata un tribunale di Istanbul aveva disposto la scarcerazione del noto avvocato per i diritti umani.

“Siamo felicissimi per questa notizia. C’è voluto oltre un anno di campagne e di mobilitazioni per arrivare a questo punto“, ha dichiarato Kumi Naidoo, nuovo segretario generale di Amnesty International.

“Insieme alla gioia e al sollievo, tuttavia, restano dolore, rabbia e una profonda determinazione. Dolore per tutte le cose che Taner si è perso durante la sua crudele prigionia. Rabbia perché le infondate accuse contro di lui e altri 10 difensori dei diritti umani non sono state annullate. Determinazione a continuare la nostra lotta per i diritti umani in Turchia e per il rilascio di tutti gli altri difensori dei diritti umani, dei giornalisti e delle altre persone finite ingiustamente in carcere durante una crudele repressione“, ha aggiunto Naidoo.

Premio Nobel per la pace a Denis Mukwege e Nadia Murad che combattono la violenza sessuale nei conflitti

Avvenire
Sono il ginecologo congolese Denis Mukwege e la testimone yazida Nadia Murad i vincitori del premio Nobel per la pace 2018. Il premio consiste in 9 milioni di corone svedesi, parti a circa un milione di dollari.

Il medico ginecologo congolese Mukwege cura le vittime di violenza sessuale nella Repubblica Democratica del Congo, mentre Murad è una donna yazida irachena, attivista per i diritti umani, ex schiava sessuale del Daesh, che nel suo villaggio uccise migliaia di persone.

Questa la motivazione del premi: «Per i loro sforzi per mettere fino all'uso della violenza sessuale come arma in guerre e conflitti armati».
Vai all'articolo >>>

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Venezuela: Amnesty denuncia oltre 8mila casi esecuzioni extragiudiziali

AdnKronos/Dpa
Buenos AiresUn rapporto di Amnesty International denuncia migliaia di casi di esecuzione extragiudiziali da parte delle forze di sicurezza del Venezuela, di cui sono vittima soprattutto giovani uomini delle fasce più povere della popolazione.

La Cofavic, una Ong venezuelana che rappresenta le famiglie delle vittime, ha documentato 6.385 esecuzioni extragiudiziali fra il 2012 e il 2017, nota il rapporto. Ma secondo Amnesty, i casi fra il 2015 e il 2017 arrivano a 8.292.

Il rapporto, presentato in una conferenza stampa a Buenos Aires, cita anche i dati della procura generale venezuelana, secondo i quali 4.667 persone sono state uccise dalle forze di polizia nel 2016 e 1.848 nei primi sei mesi del 2017. 

Secondo Amnesty, la polizia fa un'uso eccessivo e militarizzato della forza, spesso con l'intento di uccidere. Le vittime vengono poi presentate come criminali, anche se erano manifestanti o persone disarmate. Nel 2017, il 95% di queste vittime erano maschi fra i 12 e i 44 anni.

Le uccisioni extragiudiziali si aggiungono al contesto di estrema violenza del Venezuela, che ha un tasso di 89 omicidi ogni 100mila abitanti, uno dei più alti del mondo. Solo in un paese in guerra come la Siria vi sono livelli maggiori di violenza, ha denunciato il portavoce di Amnesty Esteban Beltran. 

"La violenza è uno dei motivi per i quali i venezuelani sono stati costretti a lasciare il paese negli ultimi anni", ha sottolineato Mariana Fontoura Marques, della sezione argentina di Amnesty, ricordando gli oltre 2,3 milioni di persone che dal 2014 hanno lasciato il Venezuela guidato dal presidente Nicolas Maduro, in preda ad una drammatica crisi politica ed economica.

Blog Diritti Umani - Luglio record con 109.463 pagine lette. Grazie a tutti i lettori!

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9816 visite - Chi piange per Kabul? 81 morti e 231 feriti in attentato Isis contro Hazara sciiti - 24 luglio

7131 visite - Elie Wisel: “L'opposto dell'amore non è odio, è indifferenza. L'opposto dell'arte non è il brutto, è l'indifferenza. L'opposto della fede non è eresia, è indifferenza. E l'opposto della vita non è la morte, è l'indifferenza.” - 03 luglio

4762 visite - Turchia - Analisi di Antonio Ferrari: Il «golpe fasullo» che rafforza il "sultano" Erdogan - 16 luglio

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Blog Diritti Umani - Human Rights - Superate le 600 mila visite. 75.000 nel mese di maggio

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Superate le 600 mila visite

75.000 pagine lette nel mese di maggio

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MN Oromos decry human rights violations in Ethiopia, say violence continues

MRP News
The Ethiopian government may have backed off its planned expansion of the capital after deadly protests last fall, but ethnic Oromo in Minnesota say violence and arrests continue.

Manifestazioni di Oromo  ad Addis Abeba

On Thursday, members of the community — around 40,000 Oromo people live in the state — came together for a daylong forum in Minneapolis to discuss the human rights violations in the East African nation.

In the last few months, clashes between state security forces and students in the Oromo region of Ethiopia have been deadly. Activists say more than 200 people have been killed, but Human Rights Watch said it couldn't verify the number. And it's unclear how many Oromos, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, have been arrested and imprisoned.

Teshite Wako, president of Oromo Community of Minnesota, said Oromo people are being targeted.

"By the name of development, and investments in the country, Oromos are evicted from their land, and students started to protest against that, and the response they got was to be killed," Wako said.

Ethiopia's prime minister said he regretted the loss of life during November's demonstrations, and since then the government has ceased its plan to develop beyond the capital. However, daily killings and arrests have continued, said Wako.

"It's an urgent matter that we need to pay attention to," he said. "We would like, really, for genocide not to happen in our country. We are not against developments, investments, but what we are against is developments and investments that marginalize our people."

Among those featured at the forum was Anuradha Mittal, executive director of The Oakland Institute, who spoke about human rights violations that her California nonprofit has been reporting about in Ethiopia since 2007.

"What is horrifying is a very systematic violation of human rights toward all communities that are not in political power," she said. "This is based on so-called development schemes, which will result in the renaissance state of Africa, grand highways, the largest dam. But all of those schemes are being carried out through land-grabbing, taking away farmlands of communities without their consent, without compensation."

Mittal added that when people protest, as young students apparently attempted to in November, there's violence.

"They've been tortured, they've been intimidated, arrested, there's no rule of law," Mittal said. "There's a complete misuse of the anti-terrorism law, which has become a tool to lock up people (and) not have them face charges for years. It is shameful for us to keep quiet."

When President Barack Obama visited Ethiopia last year, he reportedly discussed greater business developments with officials, as well as human rights in the state. But Oromo Minnesotans say that's not enough and many are urging Obama to help the Oromo before he leaves office.

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Human Rights - Tweet Storm for Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki Iranian blogger arrested in December 2009

ciluna27's Blog
One of the people I have been supporting for some time is the Iranian blogger Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki. In this post, I give you some information about him and – more important – invite you to join a Tweet Storm for him on Monday, 18 January 2016.

Please join and share the post. We want as many participants as possible. Please read the post and continue to support him even when the Tweet Storm is over.

1. Who is Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki?
Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki is a 30 year old blogger from Iran. He was arrested in December 2009, because he had protested earlier in 2009 against the results of the Iranian presidential elections. In addition he was a member of Proxy Iran, a Committee against Censorship.

He and his brother were arrested, they were kept in solitary confinement and both were mistreated and tortured. His brother Hassan was not involved in any protests or political activity, but was only targeted to put pressure on Hossein.

Hossein was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The charges were:
Membership in the Committee against Censorship in Iran (10 years)
Insulting President Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader (4 years)
Propaganda against the regime (1 year)

Hossein is prosecuted because he defended freedom of speech. He is a prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International reports that in June 2015 his sentence was reduced to 13 years.

Hossein developed problems with his kidneys. These were a result of the torture he had to endure during interrogations added to long periods in solitary confinement. Because he did not get proper medical care, his condition became worse and he lost a kidney. His health condition is still critical and he cannot get proper medical treatment in prison.

2. Why shall I participate in the Tweet Storm?
On 17 June 2015 Hossain Ronaghi-Maleki was given furlough on medical grounds. Initially the furlough was only given for one week, but then extended. He and his family had to endure constant pressure and harassment during the furlough, because the authorities asked him to return to prison.

On Monday 11 January 2016 he was ordered back to prison. There are serious concerns that his health will deteriorate further, if he returns to prison. The Medical Examiner has found him unfit to serve his sentence because he has multiple medical problems.

3. When does the Tweet Storm take place?
The Tweet Storm is effectively a Twitter Day and it takes place on Monday 18 January 2016.

You can start sending tweets after midnight in your time zone and tweet during the whole Monday until midnight. Tweet as much as you can, if many people from different time zones take part, we have hopefully tweets during the whole of Monday.

Please join, even if you have only time for a few tweets at a specific time. It is a team effort and we all work together.

4. What shall I tweet?
Send tweets to @HosseinRonaghi with words of support. You can tweet that you stand with him and that you will campaign for him until he is released and similar messages.
Send tweets to Iran, in particular to Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran [@HassanRouhani (English account) or @Rouhani_ir (Persian account)] and to Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader @Khamenei_ir and ask them to reverse their decision and to quash the judgement against Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki.
You can also tweet to politicians in Europe and the US, e.g. Federica Mogherini (@FedericaMog) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country. Feel free to tweet in your own language.
Send tweets to raise your followers’ awareness for Hossein Ronaghi Maleki. You can also send tweets to journalists and newspapers and ask them to report about him.

5. Is there a special hashtag?
Please use for all your tweets (irrespective of the language in which you tweet) the special hashtag #NoJail4Hossein. If everyone does, it is easy to find and retweet the tweets of others.

6. Suggested tweets
You can write your own tweets, but if you need some inspiration here are some suggested tweets:
#NoJail4Hossein. We ask #Iran to release @HosseinRonaghi immediately. He is a prisoner of conscience and not a criminal.#FreeHosseinRonaghi
.@Khamenei_ir quash the unfair sentence against @HosseinRonaghi and don’t send him back to prison. #NoJail4Hossein #FreeHosseinRonaghi #Iran
.@HassanRouhani Do everything to impede that @HosseinRonaghi is sent back to jail. He needs medical care outside of jail. #NoJail4Hossein
Please @FedericaMog intercede for @HosseinRonaghi #Iran. His health will be at serious risk, if he has to return to prison. #NoJail4Hossein
Please @guardian write about @HosseinRonaghi #Iran. His life is at risk, if he has to return to jail. He needs medical care #NoJail4Hossein
Please be assured @HosseinRonaghi that we stand with you and will campaign for you until you are free at last. #NoJail4Hossein #Iran
We will keep shouting: #NoJail4Hossein #FreeHosseinRonaghi until #Iran finally releases @HosseinRonaghi unconditionally
We will not be silent or turn away, but continue to demand #NoJail4Hossein #FreeHosseinRonaghi as long as it takes. @HosseinRonaghi

7. Where can I find more information about Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki?
If you want to know more about Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki there are some useful websites:

a) The website “Journalism is not a crime” has a good summary article about him with links to current articles and an Amnesty Urgent Action.

b) Laleh writes a blog about human rights in Iran. She writes often about Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki. It is also worth following her blog.

c) Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki has also a blog. Most of his posts are in Persian, but some have an English translation.

d) Here is a link to a letter in which Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki describes the actions towards his family and him during the first 24 hours of his detainment in 2009.

e) Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki’s father spoke with IranWire in March 2015. Here you can find the article “I will set myself on fire.”

8. Can I do anything after 18 January?
Please do not stop supporting Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki when the Tweet Storm on 18 January 2016 is over.

Amnesty International will hopefully update their urgent action for him. If they do, you will find a link here once the updated action is online. PEN International has also actions for him on their website: here a link to the English action and here a link to the German action. Write to Iran on his behalf.

As always, if you are on Twitter or in other Social Media, please continue to raise his case and make other people aware of it. If you like the suggested tweets, just continue to use them.

Show your support and show Iran that we will not forget Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki and will campaign for him until he is free.

China Charges Prominent Human-Rights Lawyers With Subversion

TIME
The lawyers had been held in undisclosed locations since July
Chinese authorities have officially placed at least seven human-rights lawyers and their colleagues under arrestafter having detained them for six months, relatives and associates of the accused said on Tuesday.

Zhou Shifeng

The arrests include that of Zhou Shifeng, founder of Beijing’s Fengrui law firm that was the main target of a sweeping government crackdown last year, Agence France-Presse reported.

According to a social-media post by his colleague Liu Xiaoyuan, Zhou has been charged with “state subversion,” which carries a possible life sentence.

Zhou and more than 100 other lawyers, both from his firm and elsewhere, were detained in July in what many said was China’s toughest suppression of rights activists in several years. Chinese state media reported that Zhou had “confessed” to an unspecified crime a few days after his arrest, prompting fears that he was made to cooperate under duress.

“For the crime to become as serious as state subversion, it’s a completely political charge,” Liu told Reuters.

Others charged with subversion include a 24-year-old trainee lawyer, Li Shuyun, and Zhou’s colleague, Wang Quanzhang, with the latter’s sister confirming news of his arrest in an online post.

Legal assistant Zhao Wei, also 24, has meanwhile been charged with “incitement to state subversion” — a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison — according to her husband and mother, who cited a police notice. Similar notices were posted on the Internet by friends of lawyers Xie Yanyi, Xie Yang and Sui Muqing, indicating they have also been charged with incitement.

The notices show that Zhou, Zhao and Li are being held at a detention centre in the northern city of Tianjin. It is the first time since their disappearance six months ago that relatives and acquaintances have received any knowledge of their whereabouts.

Human Rights Watch Dispatches: Arrest of Respected Politician Escalating Crisis in Ethiopia

Human Rights Watch
Over the past eight weeks, Ethiopia’s largest region, Oromia, has been hit by a wave of mass protests over the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital, Addis Ababa. The generally peaceful protests were sparked by fears the expansion will displace ethnic Oromo farmers from their land, the latest in a long list of Oromo grievances against the government.

Security forces have killed at least 140 protesters and injured many more, according to activists, in what may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence.

The crisis has taken another worrying turn: on December 23, the authorities arrested Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromia’s largest legally registered political party. There had been fears he would be re-arrested as the government targets prominent Oromo intellectuals who they feel have influence over the population. He was first taken to the notorious Maekalawi prison, where torture and other ill-treatment are routine. The 54-year-old foreign language professor was reportedly hospitalized shortly after his arrest but his whereabouts are now unknown, raising concerns of an enforced disappearance. Other senior OFC leaders have been arbitrarily arrested in recent weeks or are said to be under virtual house arrest.

This is not the first time Bekele has been arrested. In 2011, he was convicted under Ethiopia’s draconian counterterrorism law of being a member of the banned Oromo Liberation Front – a charge often used to silence politically engaged ethnic Oromos who oppose the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He spent four years in prison and was only released shortly before the elections last May. The OFC ran candidates but the EPRDF coalition won all 547 parliamentary seats, a stark reflection of the unfair electoral playing field.

Bekele is deeply committed to nonviolence and has consistently advocated that the OFC participate in future elections, despite the EPRDF’s stranglehold on the political landscape.

By treating both opposition politicians and peaceful protesters with an iron fist, the government is closing off ways for Ethiopians to nonviolently express legitimate grievances. This is a dangerous trajectory that could put Ethiopia’s long-term stability at risk.

The Ethiopian government should release unjustly detained opposition figures including Bekele and rein in the excessive use of lethal force by the security forces. They should also allow people to peacefully protest and to express dissent and ensure that farmers and pastoralists are protected from arbitrary or forced displacement without consultation and adequate compensation.

These steps would be an important way to show Oromo protesters that the government is changing tack and is genuinely committed to respecting rights. Without this kind of policy shift, desperate citizens will widen their search for other options for addressing grievances.

Iran - Solmaz Ikdar, Journalist Jailed for Insulting the Supreme Leader

Journalismisnotacrime.com
A judge in Iran handed down a three-year prison sentence to journalist Solmaz Ikdar on November 10, on charges of ‘insulting the supreme leader’ and ‘propaganda against the state.’

Solmaz Ikdar

Judge Moghiseh, well known for his harsh treatment of independent journalists, sentenced the 33-year-old, who has worked for a range of publications in Iran, including Farhikhtegan, Mardom-e Emruz, Aseman, Bahar, and Sharq.

Ikdar was stopped at the airport on June 18, 2015 and denied the right to travel abroad. She had planned to study abroad after being expelled from university in 2008 in connection with a previous charge of propaganda against the regime. She was sentenced to six months in a probation facility.

Despite hopes that she would be able to resume her studies when Hassan Rouhani began his presidency in 2013, this did not materialize.

“Solmaz went on many trips after 2008 and never had a problem,” the journalist’s mother, Shahrzad Garschi, told Journalism is Not a Crime. But in June, she said, “they confiscated her passport and sent her to the prosecutor’s office. There she discovered that she had been charged with insulting the leader and propaganda against the regime.”

Ikdar’s mother said authorities informed the family about the bail amount in connection with the charges, but that the family was unable to pay it.

“Solmaz was taken to Gharchak Prison, where she stayed one night. There they charged her with yet another charge, of insulting regime officials. She was convicted by a non-criminal court and ordered to pay a fine.”

She was due to face trial in September, but this was postponed due to the absence of the prosecutor’s representative. Finally her case was heard on October 20, 2015. Judge Moghiseh convicted her, announcing the sentence on November 10.

“We have not yet appealed,” said her mother. “We will definitely appeal against this verdict. But we do not have much hope.”

UNHRC calls for human rights investigations in Sri Lanka

JURIST
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] on Thursday adopted a resolution [A_HRC_30_L.29 text, DOC] encouraging the government of Sri Lanka to investigate violence toward human rights activists and minority groups, and create a scheme for reporting violations of human rights and humanitarian law. Based on the recommendations, the Sri Lankan government has expressed interest [Reuters report] in creating a judicial process to investigate war crimes committed during its 26-year civil war. 

The resolution, adopted without a vote, urges the Sri Lankan government to ensure that investigations are conducted by special courts with international judges, counsel and investigators. Additionally, the UNHRC called on the Sri Lankan military to perform more thorough vetting of its personnel to ensure that "no scope exists for retention in or recruitment ... of anyone credibly implicated ... in serious crimes involving human rights violations or abuses or violations of international humanitarian law." The UNHRC also invited the country to speak at the commission's 32nd session and submit a comprehensive report explaining its implementation [press release] of the recommendations. Amnesty International (AI) [official website] called the resolution a "turning point" [statement] for victims of conflict. AI South Asia Research Director David Griffiths cautioned that "[i]t will also be up to the international community and the Sri Lankan authorities to ensure that victims and their families are genuinely consulted at every step of the process to get to truth and justice".

The UN released a report in September finding that war crimes may have been committed [JURIST report] during the Sri Lankan civil war. Later that month, the President of Sri Lanka rejected [JURIST report] a UN recommendation for international involvement in its domestic investigation of the war crimes. The UN report came amid mounting pressure on the Sri Lankan government from human rights groups and the international community to investigate and prosecute abuses during the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [CFR backgrounder]. Last year, then-US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Stephen Rapp called on Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses [JURIST report] by security forces during the civil war. In 2013, UK Prime Minister David Cameron demanded [JURIST report] that the Sri Lankan government conduct its own investigation into war crime allegations. Earlier that year, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on [JURIST report] Sri Lanka to improve its human rights record.

Azerbaijan: Journalist Shirin Abbasov Illegally Detained

Human Rights Watch

Berlin – Azerbaijani authorities illegally detained a TV journalist on September 16, 2015, and have neither allowed him to see a lawyer nor brought him before a judge, Human Rights Watch said today.

Azerbaijani journalist Shirin Abbasov, 19,
is being held incommunicado

Colleagues fear for the safety and well-being of the journalist, Shirin Abbasov, a regular contributor to independent online television station Meydan TV. The authorities should release Abbasov immediately and take swift action against those responsible for the violations of his right to liberty and security and basic detainee rights.

“Holding Shirin Abbasov in incommunicado arbitrary detention is outrageous and raises real concern that he may be ill-treated,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This is an escalation in the Azerbaijan government’s campaign to silence independent media.”

Officials involved in Abbasov’s unlawful arrest should be investigated for abuse of power, misconduct, and potential criminal offenses, Human Rights Watch said.

A person close to Abbasov’s family with knowledge of the case told Human Rights Watch that officials from the Interior Ministry’s organized crime unit have confirmed that Abbasov is being held at their headquarters, known as “Bandhotel.” Azerbaijani law only allows authorities to hold detainees in temporary detention facilities such as police stations for 72 hours.

The source said that despite his lawyer’s repeated attempts to see Abbasov, officials have not allowed anyone to see him since a brief meeting with his mother on September 17.

A Meydan TV staff member said that Abbasov, 19, went missing at about 2 p.m. on September 16 on his way to university. His family and colleagues grew concerned when they could not reach him and began to search for him. Shortly after midnight, officials from the Interior Ministry’s organized crime unit confirmed to Abbasov’s family that he was in their custody. They refused to explain the reason for Abbasov’s arrest, saying they would tell his parents at a meeting the next morning. At the meeting, Interior Ministry officials claimed that Abbasov did not want to see them or anyone else.

Officials also told Abbasov’s lawyer that Abbasov refused his assistance. Under Azerbaijani law, a detainee must be allowed to meet with his lawyer and refuse legal assistance in writing.

According to Meydan TV, on September 17 officials claimed that they took Abbasov to the Nurmanski district court in Baku, which sentenced him to 30 days in administrative detention allegedly for resisting police. However, the individual with knowledge of the case said that Abbasov’s lawyer had requested documentation of the proceedings, but the court responded that it had no record of administrative or criminal cases against Abbasov.

Abbasov’s lawyer told Meydan TV that he was concerned that authorities could use Abbasov’s isolation and detention to put pressure on him to confess to trumped-up charges. Incommunicado detention, as well as violating due process rights, places detainees at an enhanced risk of ill-treatment.

Access to an independent lawyer and contact with relatives are critical safeguards against torture and other ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said. Failure to bring Abbasov before a judge to rule on his continued custody is a clear violation of protections against arbitrary detention guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Azerbaijan is a party.

“There is absolutely nothing that justifies denying Shirin Abbasov contact with his lawyer or holding him in the police station for days beyond the legal limit,” Buchanan said. “This leaves the strongest impression that the Azerbaijan government has no actual reason for detaining Abbasov and in fact has something to hide.”

Abbasov’s detention is the latest attack on Abbasov and other Meydan TV staff and contributors, Human Rights Watch said.

In early September, prosecutors questioned Abbasov, allegedly in connection with a death of a local man in the city of Mingechevir after he had been questioned by police. The incident sparked protests that Meydan TV covered, although Abbasov did not go to Mingechevir. Meydan TV reported that Abbasov said that while he had been officially summoned in relation to the Mingechevir case as a witness, he was also questioned about Meydan TV’s activities. Officials also questioned several other Meydan TV journalists in early September about the Mingechevir events.

In June, authorities prevented Abbasov and three other Meydan TV journalists from leaving Azerbaijan as they attempted to attend an international event abroad. Officials reportedly told them they were on a blacklist and barred from exit, although later said that it was an administrative error.

In the last week, authorities have twice taken other Meydan TV journalists, Ayten Farhadova, Izolda Aghayeva, and Sevinc Vaqifqizi, into custody, interrogated them, and then released them, on September 20 at the Baku airport and again on September 22.

The journalists told another Meydan TV staff member that the officers interrogated them about Meydan TV’s activities, management, salary structure, and the coverage of clashes between police and protesters in Mingachevir. Authorities did not permit the journalists to contact their families, despite a requirement under Azerbaijani law allowing those detained to make a phone call after three hours in custody.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, on September 18 police searched the Baku apartment of another Meydan TV contributor, Javid Abdullayev, and confiscated computers and cameras. On September 16, the same day as Abbasov’s detention, police from the organized crime unit also detained Aytaj Akhmedova, a freelance journalist and regular Meydan TV contributor, and a friend of hers, and questioned them for five hours, then released them. Akhmedova told colleagues that investigators also asked her about Meydan TV’s activities, management, and salaries.

These attacks are the latest in the government of Azerbaijan’s relentless crackdown against dissenting voices.

On September 1, a court in Baku sentenced leading investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to seven-and-a-half years in prison in a trial that violated international standards and was in retaliation for her critical reporting on corruption. Ismayilova is a 2015 recipient of Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges award for extraordinary activism, in recognition of her exemplary courage as a journalist and human rights activist in the face of the unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.

The government should immediately release all wrongfully imprisoned journalists and human rights defenders and end its crackdown on free speech, Human Rights Watch said.

“The attacks on journalists working with Meydan TV, one of the last sources of independent news about Azerbaijan, shows that the government is going to great lengths to stamp out any remaining critical voices,” Buchanan said. “The European Union and Azerbaijan’s other international partners should call for Abbasov’s urgent release and make clear that there is a price to pay for trampling fundamental freedoms.”

North Korea - Kim regime expands secret prison camp for women forcibly returned from China

Fox News
The communist regime in North Korea has been expanding space for women in its notorious prison labor camps to accommodate the number of Koreans forcibly returned from China, where they had sought the economic means to survive.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The atrocities that await inmates in the North Korean gulag include forced labor, savage beatings, starvation, episodic executions and other crimes against humanity, according to a new report by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (CHRNK), a Washington-based non-profit group.

The most recent changes in North Korea’s remote and extensive secret prison network is documented in The Hidden Gulag IV, an update of the Committee’s decade-long examination of the North Korean system, published on Friday. The report is buttressed by a separate analysis of satellite photographs and based on interviews with inmates who endured stays in the horrific system and subsequently escaped to South Korea after their release.

The Kim regime steadfastly denies the existence of any and all of the camps.

>>> Continues to read the article

UN Human Rights Council urges Sri Lanka war crimes court

BBC
The United Nations has called for a special court to try war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan army's long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels.

In a long-awaited report, the UN human rights office accused both sides of atrocities, especially during the final stages of the war in 2009.

In response Sri Lanka promised a local inquiry but will not allow the proposed court, which would have foreign judges.

One UN estimate is that 40,000 Tamils died in the final army offensive.

Analysis: Charles Haviland, former BBC correspondent in Colombo
In the government's reaction to the report, there appears to be one major shift. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told the BBC that ex-President Rajapaksa and his family would not necessarily be protected if there were allegations of serious crimes against them.

"Where even the president or other commanders or defence secretaries - whoever - is involved, our government is ready to take action."

But otherwise Colombo is sticking to its line that a Sri Lankan process, with nothing more international than advice, will suffice. He said a series of domestic commissions, including a South Africa-style Truth Commission, will be set up "to clear the name of the country".

That is not compatible with the hard-hitting UN report. Its main thrust is that a hybrid - part-international, part-Sri Lankan - tribunal is needed, because "years of denials and cover-ups" mean the Sri Lankan system is "not yet ready to handle these types of crime".

Sexual violence and torture
Unveiling the report in Geneva, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said only a special court with international magistrates and investigators would be up to the huge task of examining the alleged crimes over a nine year period up to 2011.

"Our investigation has laid bare the horrific level of violations and abuses that occurred in Sri Lanka, including indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, harrowing accounts of torture and sexual violence, recruitment of children and other grave crimes," he said.

He also called on the Sri Lankan government to remove from office anyone if there were credible grounds to believe they had committed human rights abuses.

The report's main findings include:
numerous unlawful killings between 2002 and 2011, allegedly by both sides
enforced disappearances affecting tens of thousands over decades
the "brutal use of torture" by security forces, in particular during the immediate aftermath of the conflict
extensive sexual violence against detainees by the security forces "with men as likely to be victims as women"
forced recruitment of adults and children by the rebels, particularly towards the end of the conflict

The report said forced recruitment by the rebels would, if proven in court, be a war crime. The denial of humanitarian assistance - which it said the government might be guilty of - could also constitute a war crime.

Senior Sri Lankan minister Rajitha Senaratne told the BBC: "Our stand on war crimes is we need an internationally accepted local inquiry. We are not ready to agree with the international inquiries."

Despite its promises to pursue accountability, the government elected last month would be reluctant to hold war-crimes trials, correspondents say.

The BBC's Azzam Ameen in Colombo says most among the majority Sinhalese community opposed prosecuting troops.

Some Tamil politicians in the north back a UN-led inquiry and say they have no faith in a domestic process.

The final months of the war saw hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in territory held by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the north-east.

While government forces were accused of indiscriminate shelling leading to massive casualties, the Tamil Tiger rebels were alleged to have used civilians as human shields and shot people trying to escape.

Allegations persist to this day that the army killed rebel leaders and others after they surrendered or were captured - and the UN admitted in 2012 that it could and should have done more to protect civilians.

As well as the thousands of Tamils who died in the final battles near Mullaitivu, many others are still missing.

The UN human rights office postponed the planned publication of its report in March, after Mr Rajapaksa lost the presidential election to party rival Maithripala Sirisena in January.

Mr Sirisena, who served as a government minister during the final stages of the war, had promised to co-operate with the UN.

The Rajapaksa government held its own commission into what happened in the last years of the war, but critics said it lacked credibility.

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle.

Channel 4 and the UN have documented numerous atrocities committed during the war.

One investigation said it was possible up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months alone. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.