Iranian trade unionist Esmail Abdi started a hunger strike on 24 April to protest against the treatment of teachers and workers in Iran, on the one hand, and the denial of his requests for prison leave, on the other. Esmail Abdi is a prisoner of conscience serving a six-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison for his peaceful trade union activities.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
IRAN: Trade Unionist on Hunger Strike - URGENT ACTION
Amnesty International, IRAN, April 26, 2018.
Iranian trade unionist Esmail Abdi started a hunger strike on 24 April to protest against the treatment of teachers and workers in Iran, on the one hand, and the denial of his requests for prison leave, on the other. Esmail Abdi is a prisoner of conscience serving a six-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison for his peaceful trade union activities.
Iranian trade unionist Esmail Abdi started a hunger strike on 24 April to protest against the treatment of teachers and workers in Iran, on the one hand, and the denial of his requests for prison leave, on the other. Esmail Abdi is a prisoner of conscience serving a six-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison for his peaceful trade union activities.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
USA: Nepalese Face Deportation - NEWS
Washington Post, April 25, 2018.
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to cancel the temporary residency permits of about 9,000 immigrants from Nepal, the Trump administration’s latest move to expel foreigners living in the United States with some form of provisional status.
According to internal planning documents viewed by The Washington Post, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will give the Nepalis a one-year grace period to prepare their departure, but they would face deportation after June 24, 2019.
NICARAGUA: State Repressing Demonstrators - URGENT ACTION
Amnesty International, USA, April 24, 2018.
Since 18 April, several protests have taken place all over the capital city of Managua as well as other cities in Nicaragua (Bluefields, León, Estelí, Masaya), mobilizing hundreds of people from different sectors of society that were in disagreement with reforms to the social security system.
Since 18 April, several protests have taken place all over the capital city of Managua as well as other cities in Nicaragua (Bluefields, León, Estelí, Masaya), mobilizing hundreds of people from different sectors of society that were in disagreement with reforms to the social security system.
At least 28 people have been killed and there are reports of several injured, detained and disappeared.
Although President Daniel Ortega announced on 22 April the derogation of social security reforms, reports of demonstrators detained and disappeared persist.
Repression against journalists has been particularly strong and scaling. When the demonstrations began on 18 April, security forces and armed civilians who sympathize with the government hit several journalists and threatened them with stealing their equipment. On 19 April, the government censored national media, and took three channels off the air. On 21 April, an unknown assailant fatally shot a journalist in the head while he was doing a Facebook Live broadcast of the commotions taking place in Bluefields.
INDIA: Indigenous Activist Threatened - ONLINE EMAIL ACTION
Amnesty International, Australia, April 23, 2018.
For decades India’s Adivasi Indigenous people have been kicked off their lands and seen their rights trampled on – to make room for business development, factories and dirty power plants.
For decades India’s Adivasi Indigenous people have been kicked off their lands and seen their rights trampled on – to make room for business development, factories and dirty power plants.
One Adivasi woman in central India, Pavitri Manjhi, is mobilising her community to take a stand. And local ‘strongmen’ have been called in to intimidate and harass her into silence.
Pavitri says her family and other villagers were coerced into selling their land to make way for power plants.
Since they filed complaints against the companies, two men have visited her home and threatened her. They told her, “everyone who helped you file the complaints are outsiders and will not be able to save you and we will silence them”.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
BAHRAIN: Urge Moratorium on Death Sentences - URGENT ACTION
Amnesty International, USA, April 19, 2018.
On 28 March, the Public Prosecutor issued a statement in which he said that his office had received a memorandum from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) relating to its investigations into the complaints brought by Mohamed Ramadhan Issa Ali Hussain and Hussain Ali Moosa Hussain Mohamed. The SIU recommended that the cases be sent for review, despite the fact that their death sentences had been previously upheld by the Cassation Court.
The cases have been referred to the Minister of Justice to consider the SIU’s recommendation. According to the SIU, the unit uncovered medical reports issued by doctors of the Ministry of Interior relating to the alleged torture of both men that had not been made available to the court before it issued its verdict.
On 16 November 2015, the Court of Cassation had confirmed the death sentences of Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Ali Moosa and their cases were passed to the King who has the authority to ratify the sentences, commute them or grant a pardon. The two men are held in Jaw prison in south Manama, Bahrain’s capital. They were sentenced to death on 29 December 2014 for the killing of a policeman, who died in a bomb explosion in al-Deir, a village northeast of Manama, on 14 February 2014. Ten people, who were sentenced with them, to between six years and life in prison, also had their sentences upheld.
During the trial, Hussain ‘Ali Moosa’s forced “confession” was used as the main piece of evidence against him. His “confession” was also used to incriminate Mohamed Ramadhan.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
IRAQ: Two Hours, 14 Death Sentences - NEWS
New York Times, April 18, 2018.
The 42-year-old housewife had two minutes to defend herself against charges of supporting the Islamic State.
Amina Hassan, a Turkish woman in a flowing black abaya, told the Iraqi judge that she and her family had entered Syria and Iraq illegally and lived in the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate for more than two years. But, she added: “I never took money from Islamic State. I brought my own money from Turkey.”
The whole trial lasted 10 minutes before the judge sentenced her to death by hanging.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
TURKEY: Students Imprisoned for Peaceful Protest - ONLINE ACTION
Amnesty International, Australia, April 16, 2018.
At this moment, 10 students from Boğaziçi University in Turkey are in prison for ‘shouting slogans and holding banners’ at a peaceful anti-Syrian war protest.
We are in a position to work together and put enough pressure on Turkey’s authorities to get the students released too.
At this moment, 10 students from Boğaziçi University in Turkey are in prison for ‘shouting slogans and holding banners’ at a peaceful anti-Syrian war protest.
The Turkish courts have accused them of ‘making propaganda for a terrorist organisation’ and these young people may face up to five years in prison.
The situation in Turkey for human rights defenders is volatile. But when thousands of Amnesty supporters take action for people unfairly imprisoned, we can win their freedom.
Just last year, within months of Turkey unjustly imprisoning a group of human rights defenders, hundreds of thousands of Amnesty supporters signed petitions and emailed Turkey’s authorities in protest. And in October those people were released and once again with their families and friends.
We are in a position to work together and put enough pressure on Turkey’s authorities to get the students released too.
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