Dual Danish-Bahraini national and prisoner of conscience Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is serving a life sentence in prison for leading peaceful protests during the 2011 popular uprising in Bahrain.
He is now facing a number of separate trials accused of breaking a plastic chair and insulting a police officer.
All charges against Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja must be dropped as these new cases against him compound his unjust imprisonment for the peaceful exercise of his human rights.
Responding to today’s announcement that the UN Human Rights Council has passed a landmark resolution to establish a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022, especially with respect to women and children, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said: “This important and long overdue step shows that the cries of people in Iran for justice have finally been heard. We hope the establishment of this fact-finding mission marks a fundamental shift in the international community’s approach to tackling the crisis of systematic impunity that has long fueled crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Iran. The resolution not only enhances international scrutiny of the dire situation in Iran, but also puts in place a process to collect, consolidate and preserve crucial evidence for future prosecutions.
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IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS
At least 378 people including 47 children and 27 women have been killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests.
As the number of slain rapidly rises, Islamic Republic forces refuse to accept responsibility and attribute the killings to terrorist and foreign groups. Iran Human Rights warns of this disinformation campaign escalating in the days leading to the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Iran on November 24. The Organisation also reiterates the importance of establishing an accountability mechanism under UN supervision to prevent further killing of protesters.
Egyptian-British prisoner of conscience and prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah is held incommunicado, amid the authorities’ refusal to allow his family or lawyer to see or contact him.
In a letter to his family on 31 October, he announced escalating his prolonged hunger strike by stopping any calorie intake on 1 November and water consumption on 6 November.
After days in agony waiting for a letter from him at the gates of Wadi al-Natrun prison, on 10 November, a security officer told his mother that he is undergoing a “medical intervention”. He provided no further details about his location and wellbeing and instructed her to no longer come. On 10 November, security officials denied Alaa’s lawyer access to see him despite a visit authorization by the public prosecution.
Amnesty International has drawn attention to Iranian security forces unlawfully killing at least 18 protesters, bystanders and worshippers, including two children, and injuring scores of others during a deadly crackdown on largely peaceful protests after Friday prayers in the city of Khash, Sistan and Baluchistan province, on 4 November. This latest deadly incident in Sistan and Baluchistan province reveals that protesters from the oppressed Baluchi minority have borne the brunt of the security forces’ particularly vicious crackdown on demonstrations. Ahead of protests expected after Friday prayers tomorrow, Amnesty International reiterates its call on the international community to take urgent action to stop further killings of protesters Sistan and Baluchistan province and across the rest of Iran. The UN Human Rights Council must help break this cycle of systemic impunity by establishing an independent investigative and accountability mechanism to investigate crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations committed in Iran or risk yet more unlawful killings under their watch.
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More than 760,000 people across 218 countries and territories have added their voices to petitions calling for the establishment of an independent UN mechanism to conduct investigations as a step towards pursuing accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran, Amnesty International said today. On 2 November, Nazanin Boniadi, a British-Iranian actor and Amnesty International UK Ambassador, conveyed people’s demands for immediate action by the UN Human Rights Council to United Nations officials in New York. Amnesty International national entities across the world also delivered petitions to their ministries of foreign affairs. “The people of Iran continue to courageously protest and call for the end of widespread repression and the establishment of a political system that respects equality and upholds human rights. Will member states of the UN Human Rights Council respond to the cries of people in Iran and activists across the globe to urgently establish an international mechanism on crimes committed by the Iranian authorities?” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Iran Human Rights strongly condemns the statement by the 227 MPs who it emphasises, represent the oppressive Islamic Republic leaders and not the Iranian people. Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “People have the inalienable right to protest. Killing or issuing death sentences against protesters is an international crime. Those calling for such actions are complicit in this crime and must be held accountable.”
Throughout history, protest has been a powerful tool for change, but this precious right is under attack. Many governments around the world are restricting people’s right to protest, because they fear change. They want to maintain the status quo. They want to keep people divided.
In a world where the opinions of people are often repressed, protecting human rights, land, and the environment becomes more and more dangerous.
The world needs more people to turn their outrage into action, to invite their friends and family to participate, to get involved, and demand equality and justice from their governments.
For over 20 years, Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights campaign has transformed the lives of people whose rights have been wronged. Using the power of their words, Write for Rights supporters have united behind a common purpose: together, we can change lives for the better.
Take action today and change a life forever.
CLICK HERE to view the 2022 Write for Rights cases and to take action!
More than 2,000 academics from universities across the United States have written to President Joe Biden urging him to do more to support the anti-government protesters in Iran, many of whom are coming out of Iranian universities and schools as young Iranians take to the streets and face off against the country’s brutal security services. The letter sent to Biden Tuesday evening, which was obtained by CNN, was signed by 10 Nobel laureates, among many others. It calls for “urgent attention to a dire situation in Iranian universities,” and beseeches Biden to take “further tangible actions,” including an end to negotiations with Iran and no sanctions relief.
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Lawyer Hoda Abdelmoniem has been arbitrarily detained for four years and is on trial by an Emergency State Security Court on bogus charges stemming from her human rights work.
The Egyptian authorities continue to deny her access to her family and adequate healthcare despite her serious health problems including kidney failure and a heart condition, and her history of hospitalization. She must be immediately and unconditionally released.
