Success Stories!
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Uzbek Human Rights Defender Released
Human rights defender Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov was released on February 4 under a presidential amnesty. He had been serving a seven-year sentence, handed down in January 2006 after what was in effect a secret trial. He was indicted for libel, "information dissemination fomenting the panic" and "terrorism." Prior to his imprisonment, Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov was monitoring protests in the town of Andizhan which escalated on May 12-13, 2005. During the information blockade that engulfed Uzbekistan in the aftermath of the protests, messages from Saidjahon Zainabitdinov were forwarded to the leading world news agencies, TV channels, radio stations and newspapers.
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Youth Leader Freed in Belarus
Amnesty International welcomes the release from prison on January 23 of Zmitser Dashkevich, leader of a youth organization that advocates political freedom in Belarus. AI mounted a global campaign to win his release featuring his case in a Global Write-a-thon in December through which thousands of people across the United States appealed for his release. As one of Amnesty International USA's Special Focus Cases, Zmitser Dashkevich's case was a particular focus for action by Amnesty student activists, who joined youth activists around the world in sending 10,000 origami cranes to Belarusian authorities in a symbolic plea for freedom for Mr. Dashkevich and other prisoners of conscience.
Haleh being interviewed on IRINN TV after her release. © AFP
Dr. Haleh Esfandiari allowed to leave Iran!
Haleh Esfandiari is the Head of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., and is a well-known advocate of dialogue between the U.S. and Iranian governments. She had travelled to visit her elderly mother. While on her way to the airport to return to the USA, her taxi was stopped by armed, masked men, who took both her passports and her belongings. In May Amnesty International activists began a letter-writing action and in June held a rally calling for her release. Many thanks to all who participated on Haleh's behalf.Environmental Activist Released!
It is with great joy that we announce the release of Dr Mohamed Jalal Ahmed Hashim, a prominent opponent of the construction of the Kajbar Dam in Sudan, who was arrested on June 16th. He was released from detention on August 25th. He expressed his sincere thanks to Amnesty International, explaining that so many faxes arrived that the security services holding him suspected that he was a very important person with many contacts worldwide. Since several of the faxes mentioned his diabetes, prison medical staff started to check his diabetes every day.
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Environmental Defender Freed!
Amnesty International is happy to report that Andrei Zatoka was released from jail on January 31. Andrei had been detained on December 17 by local police at the airport in his home city of Dashoguz. There were allegations that he was targeted to punish him for his peaceful work as an environmental activist. He and his supporters are grateful for the appeals sent by AI's Urgent Action network on his behalf.
Marcelino Miranda (top left), Leonardo Miranda (lower left), and Feliciano Pineda (right). © Private
Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda, and Feliciano Pineda Freed
Leonardo Miranda, the last of three Honduran prisoners of conscience on whose behalf AIUSA has campaigned for the past year through its Special Focus Case project, was freed on August 15, 2006. Leonardo's brother Marcelino was freed on July 12, 2006, following a decision by the Honduran Supreme Court in June that acquitted Marcelino and Leonardo of a 2001 murder for which they were wrongfully imprisoned. On August 15, a lower court commuted Leonardo's sentence on another charge, resulting in his release. Amnesty believed the two brothers and another indigenous rights activist, Feliciano Pineda, were jailed in connection with their efforts to secure communal land titles for their communities in Montaña Verde. Pineda was released from detention in February 2006.
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi. (c) Private
Prisoner of Conscience "Very Grateful" to Urgent Action
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi was returned to prison on March 26, 2006 after an appeal against a one-year prison sentence was rejected on February 20, 2006 by Branch 2 of the Special Court for the Clergy. If charged, Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi could be a prisoner of conscience, held solely on account of his peaceful beliefs and activities on behalf of the Azeri Turk community in Iran.
Photo by Evens Sanon for AP
Prisoner of Conscience Gérard Jean-Juste has been released!
Gérard Jean Juste, who is reportedly suffering from leukemia, was granted a provisional release from detention on health grounds on January 29. The interim government in Haiti apparently granted his release to allow him to seek treatment abroad, as there are no medical facilities in Haiti able to offer treatment for leukaemia. Father Jean Juste has been allowed to travel to Miami, USA, where he will be treated. Gérard Jean Juste was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2005 by two US doctors, though doctors at the National Penitentiary Annex in Port-au-Prince where he was detained refuted this diagnosis. His health deteriorated recently after he suffered a bout of pneumonia, which apparently was brought on by the conditions in the prison where he was held.
Yuldash Kasymov. (c) Private
19 Year Old Yuldash Kasymov's Death Sentence Commuted
Uzbekistan's Supreme Court commuted 19-year old Yuldash Kasymov's death sentence to 20 years in prison in November 2005. Shortly after the Supreme Court's decision, guards led Yuldash Kasymov out of his death row cell in Tashkent prison. "They read out the Court's ruling to him. Yuldash Kasymov was in a state of shock; he could not believe what they were telling him. He thought they were joking and he was about to be executed," said Tamara Chikunova, director of the human rights group Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture. Yuldash Kasymov was moved to the prison in Andizhan.
Felipe Arreaga. © AI
Environmental Activist and Prisoner of Conscience Felipe Arreaga Released
Amnesty International has received with pleasure the news of the acquittal of Felipe Arreaga Sánchez, environmental activist, founder of the Peasant Environmentalist Organization of the Sierra de Petatlán (OCESP) and prisoner of conscience. He was released on September 15. However, he, his family and other environmental activists in the region remain in grave danger. After considering his case, Amnesty International believed that the arrest and prosecution of Felipe Arreaga was in retaliation for his peaceful struggle to prevent excessive logging of the region’s forests. Read more. »
Airat Vakhitov © Private
Former Guantanamo Prisoners Freed in Russia!
Airat Vakhitov and Rustam Akhmiarov, who were originally held in US custody at Guantanamo Bay, and then sent to Moscow where they later ''disappeared'' before being located in detention, were released several days later on September 2, 2005.
Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina. (c) Private
Néstor Rodríguez, Prisoner of Conscience, Relased
Prisoner of conscience Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina was released in July 2005, after five years and four months in prison. He had been detained in March 2000 and sentenced to a six year prison term for "disrespect," "public disorder," and "damage."
Gagan Thapa at Amnesty International's headquarters in London. (c) AI
Student Leader, Gagan Thapa, Thanks Urgent Action
Gagan Thapa appeared before the Special Court in Kathmandu in August 2005, where he was charged with sedition before being released pending trial. He told trial observers that such international attention had been instrumental in ensuring his safety. "If the international community had not been present at the right moment, the action taken against me would have been even more serious... As soon as the international pressure started, the police changed their tone." Gagan Thapa, a student leader and former Secretary General of the Nepal Students Union (NSU), was detained by police in Kathmandu on July 27, 2005. He chose to stay with the other prisoners so as not to appear privileged.
Dogan Genc, Eren Keskin and Saban Dayanan (front row, l-r) with other IHD members at a press conference about the threats they received (c. Private)
Human Rights Defenders Receive Protection, Thank Urgent Action Activists
Three members of the Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD), Human Rights Association, Eren Keskin, Saban Dayanan and Dogan Genc have not received any further death threats following the threatening letters sent to their home and work addresses on April 19, 2005, by an ultra-nationalist group. The Turkish authorities have informed Amnesty International that the Ministry of the Interior is investigating the threats against three human rights defenders and that they have warned all the provincial governors in Turkey to take "the necessary security precautions" to protect the branches of IHD and other non-governmental organizations in case of possible attacks.
Moazzam Begg c. Marie-Anne Ventoura
Released Guantanamo Bay detainee thanks AI
A dual citizen of the UK and Pakistan, Moazzam Begg was one of the first foeign nationals to be detained by the US after September 11, 2001. He was held without charge or trial until his release in January of 2005. Urgent Action # UA 199/03 was issued on his (and other's) behalf on July 8, 2003 and re-issued several times.
Abdullah Webster with his baby in 2004 c. AI 2004
"I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Amnesty Internaitonal . . "
Conscientious objector Abdullah Webster was released from prison on April 30, 2005, after serving 11 months of a 14-month sentence for refusing to participate in the war in Iraq on the basis of his religious and moral beliefs.
Saleh Mahmud Osman with UA
Human Rights Defender Thanks Activists
Sudan: Lawyer and human rights defender Saleh Mahmud Osman visited AI UK in London in April 2005. He discussed his work for the Amal Center in Nyala, in the Darfur region, where he provides legal aid for the victims of human rights abuses. The center also provides medical treatment and rehabilitation for survivors of torture. Saleh Mahmud Osman was detained in connection with his work on February 1, 2004, and spent seven months in detention before being released on September 4, 2004.
Rebiya greeted with flowers (© AI)
Rebiya Kadeer – Special Focus Case
Amnesty International is happy to report that Rebiya Kadeer was released from prison on March 17. Rebiya Kadeer is a successful businesswoman who was jailed for her efforts to publicize discrimination and human rights violations against China's Uighur minority. Read more »
Sumi Khan c. AI
Bangladeshi journalist appreciates AI's support.
On March 8, 2005, Bangladeshi journalist Sumi Khan visited AI's United Kingdom section to talk about her experiences as a campaigning journalist and human rights defender. Soon after her return to Bangladesh, she received a written death threat, purportedly from local Islamist groups, saying that her home and office would be attacked with grenades if she reported on their activities again. Sumi Khan has worked to expose those responsible for crimes such as child- and arms-trafficking in her role as a reporter for the magazine Weekly 2000 in the port city of Chittagong in southern Bangladesh. April 2004, as she was on the way to the courier office to send a report to her editor, a three-wheeled taxi pulled up and three men got out and began to beat her and stab her hands and face. Though Sumi fought back, she was beaten unconscious. Her attackers shouted at her that she would be killed if she continued writing. They deliberately harmed her hands so that she would not be able to write.
Wangari Maathai (c. AFP)
Wangari Maathai, previous Urgent Action case, is awarded Nobel Peace Prize!
A leader of Kenya's Greenbelt Movement, Wangari Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Urgent Action Network members took action on her behalf on five separate occasions.
Camilo Mejia Castillo
Conscientious Objector Freed
Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo, who had been imprisoned on charges of 'desertion' from the US Army, was released from prison on 15 February, three months before the end of his one-year sentence. He is a conscientious objector who cited his moral objections to the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi civilians and prisoners and questioned the legality of the war in his conscientious objector application.
Rehab holding an Urgent Action appeal letter (© Private)
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"I can tell you that these letters work".
Thanks to all who joined AI in calling for the release of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. He was freed on September 2, 2004. Ibrahim had been arrested after policy disagreements with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. He was charged with "abuse of power" and sodomy.Learn More »
Nepalese transgender community protests the arrest of 39 members of the Blue Diamond Society.
(© AFP)
The Blue Diamond Society
The 39 metis (male transvestites) arrested in Kathmandu on 9 August were released on bail on 20 August. The Blue Diamond Society, a local organization which campaigns for the rights of sexual minorities, has sent its "sincere and grateful thanks" for the work done on behalf of the 39, all of whom are members of the Society. They were arrested on the street and in bars and nightclubs. All were apparently told that they were being taken to a meeting, and to an identity parade to pick out the man who had attacked another meti on 7 August. All 39 were reportedly kept together in a very small and overcrowded cell. Police are alleged to have beaten two of the men severely, and verbally abused all of them, saying that acid should be thrown in their faces and they did not deserve to live. Many of the 39 are illiterate, and were reportedly forced to sign statements they could not read, while others, who could read, were not allowed to see the documents they signed.
Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam
"We will win in a prosperous world."
All charges against human rights activist Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), were dropped on August 7, 2004, and he was released. Dr. Mudawi was arrested in December 2003 after he visited Darfur in the course of his work for SUDO and charged with crimes against the state that carried the death penalty.
Imran Ezhiev with a copy of AI's 'Fair Trials Manual'. (c) AI
Activist Imran Ezhiev Continues Work, Even After Multiple Arrests and Torture
Imran Ezhiev, head of the regional department of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society for Ingushetia and Chechnya and a regional coordinator of the Moscow Helsinki Group, has been detained more than a dozen times in the course of the last five years. But he has not stopped his human rights work. In September 2000, he was detained by police for a week, and has stated he was tortured and threatened with "disappearance."
Thich Tri Luc heads a procession of monks as they set off for a demonstration and hunger strike preceding Thich Don Hau's funeral in April 1992. (c. IBB)
Vietnamese Buddhist monk takes a breath of freedom
Prisoner of conscience Thich Tri Luc has been resettled in Sweden. He has expressed thanks "from the bottom of my heart... to [those to] whom I owe my freedom."Thich Tri Luc, a former Buddhist monk and member of the non state-sanctioned Unified Buddhist Church of Viet Nam (UBCV), fled from Viet Nam to Cambodia to seek asylum after suffering years of persecution by the Vietnamese authorities. He was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International on two previous occasions before he left Viet Nam in early 2002, and in between periods spent in prison was subjected to house arrest, harassment, short term detention, and deprivation of basic rights by the authorities because of his membership of the UBCV and his peaceful religious activities.
Thich Tri Luc's case was considered of vital importance and emblematic for AI campaigning and advocacy because of its focus on serious human rights violations in both Viet Nam and Cambodia: religious persecution in Viet Nam and Cambodia's failure to honor its commitments under the Refugee Convention.
Khalmurad Gylychdurdyev returned to his family.
Khalmurad Gylychdurdyev was returned to his family by officers of the Ministry of National Security (MNS) on June 26, 2004. He said that Amnesty International's involvement had helped secure his release. Mr Gylychdurdyev had been taken away by three men in a car on the morning of June 23 during a visit to the eye hospital in the capital, Ashgabat. During interrogation, while in detention, he was pressured to stop giving interviews on Radio Liberty - a US station that frequently broadcasts programs critical of Turkmenistan's government policies..jpg)
Isidro Baldenegro
Environmental activists more determined now to continue work.
Isidro Baldenegro and Hermenegildo Domingo Rivas, two environmental activists and human rights defenders, were released on June 23, 2004 after all charges against them were dropped. Both men are members of the indigenous Raramuris community of Coloradas de la Virgen, in Chihuahua State, where they had been among the leaders of their community's struggle against unregulated logging in the region. In retaliation for their work, officers of the state judicial police detained them in March 2003, and charged them with illegal possession of firearms. Isidro Baldenegro was also charged with possession of marijuana. National and international pressure was vital in securing this action by the authorities. Isidro Baldenegro told the newspaper La Jornada that he was "now even more determined [to carry on his work in defense of the environment], because this experience has shown us that there are people who are prepared to help us."Ingushetia relatives grateful to Urgent Action letter-writers
All 36 Chechen men detained in Altievo, Ingushetia during a police and army raid on June 23, 2004, were released, according to the human rights organization, Memorial. A representative from Memorial said that they very much appreciated the work of the Urgent Action Network, which is thought to have contributed to the men's release. Many female relatives of the detainees asked Memorial to convey their thanks to those who campaigned for the release of their loved ones.
Wang Dan (c. AI)
Tiananmen Square activist thanks UA activists
Student leader Wang Dan, jailed for his part in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, spoke at Amnesty International's headquarters on June 18, 2004. Because of Urgent Action appeals, he said, he was treated much better than other prisoners. He asked AI staff members to thank the Urgent Action Network, and encourage them in their work on behalf of those in prison now.
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Journalist Ruslan Sharipov has been moved from prison to house arrest
On 13 March he was reportedly transferred to a detention centre in Tashkent region best described as an "open" prison (koloniya-poseleniye, a "penal colony settlement"). He has reportedly been allowed to live with a relative, who lives close by, so he is effectively under house arrest. He has to report daily to the prison authorities and must not undertake any public activities such as attending meetings or writing articles for publication. If he breaks these conditions he could be sent back to a stricter regime penal colony to serve the remainder of his sentence. Under a December 2003 presidential amnesty his sentence was reduced to three years, one month and 17 days. According to at least one official statement from the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs he could qualify for early release after he has served a third of his sentence, which would be on 11 June 2004.
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Leyla Zana – Special Focus Case
Leyla Zana and three other parliamentarians were released from prison on June 9, 2004 by order of a Turkish appeals court. Amnesty International USA championed Leyla Zana's case through the Casework Program's Special Focus Case project. More than 400 AIUSA groups in the Northeast Region, and many others around the country, have campaigned intensively for the release of Zana and her colleagues. » Read moreThe Threat of an Urgent Action
This message is from a member of the Urgent Action Team at Amnesty's International Secretariat in London:"I wanted to share the success story of an Urgent Action that was drafted and edited today, but was not issued. The Russia Team sent us a draft Urgent Action about a prisoner, Stanislav Ryabchikov, who was being held in a punishment cell in poor conditions at a detention facility in Moscow, where he was being denied medical treatment for tuberculosis. The team had heard about the case from a Russian NGO, and was concerned for the man's health and well-being. Just as we were about to send out a Urgent Action on his behalf, the Russia Team heard that he had been released from the punishment cell, and was back in a specialist wing of the prison for tuberculosis sufferers.
"The team told us that they felt the Urgent Action may have been a factor in his release, as both the team at the IS and the NGO in Russia had telephoned the detention facility a number of times to check the fax numbers we were including in the Urgent Action. They think that this made the authorities aware that the international spotlight was about to be turned upon them, so they took action before this happened!
"There is no news on the state of Stanislav Ryabchikov's health, and further action by Amnesty International may be needed on his case in the future, but it's great to be reminded of the power of Urgent Actions!"
Dr. Elma Novais (© AI)
"I Will Carry On..."
In January 2003, Urgent Action letter-writers sent thousands of appeals to Brazilian officials on behalf of Dr. Elma Novais and her children Jefferson and Roxana, following a campaign of threats and intimidation against them. This campaign appeared to be designed to intimidate Dr. Novais, who had been working tirelessly to bring to justice those responsible for killing her son, Josenildo Joao de Freitas Junior. He was shot dead in Caruaru, Pernambuco, in 1999 by a group of men who witnesses described as military policemen, and who were believed to be members of a death squad. After the Urgent Action was issued, Dr. Novais' protection was switched from 12- to 24-hour.
Dilobar Khudoberganova
(c. AI)
Sister thanks Urgent Action activists for helping brother.
Dilobar Khudoberganova is the sister of Iskander Khudoberganov, a man who has been the subject of numerous Urgent Actions. In 2002, Iskandar Khudoberganov was sentenced to death on charges that included religious extremism and serious anti-state crimes. Iskander Khudoberganov's mother, Matlyuba Khudoberganova, told AI that when she saw her son for the first time in the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB), he told her: "They tortured me to force me to confess to all the charges they have come up with. If I hadn't signed the confession in the end, I wouldn't be alive anymore. Everything inside me feels smashed."
Sok Yoeun
Cambodian refugee expresses gratitude to letter-writers
Cambodian authorities accused Sok Yoeun, a member of a Cambodian opposition party, of being responsible for a 1999 rocket attack, which Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed was aimed at him. This allegation was widely believed to be unfounded but he was kepting in detention for five years in Thailand (where he had escaped to) and Amnesty International found Sok Yoeun to be a prisoner of conscience, campaigning for him several ways including several different Urgent Actions issued during 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Sok Yoeun, a Cambodian national, was finally reunited with his family in Helsinki, Finland on 27 February 2004, one day after being released from a Thai prison in Bangkok.Letters Help Prevent Amputation of 16 Year Old
The sentence of cross amputation passed on 16-year-old Mohamed Hassan Hamdan, member of the Ja'afra ethnic group (an Arab group in South Darfur), was quashed in December 2003 by the Appeal Court in Nyala, South Darfur State, on the grounds that the accused was a child. The sentence was commuted to a year of imprisonment in a reformatory. Mohamed Hassan Hamdan has now been sent to a reformatory in Khartoum. External pressure from the UA Network was reportedly one factor that led authorities to reconsider the sentence.
Former prisoner of conscience Zouheir Yahiaoui
Tunisian Prisoner of Conscience Released
Following a relentless national and international campaign, Tunisian prisoner of conscience Zouheir Yahiaoui was conditionally released from prison on November 18, 2003. When he returned home, he found out from his family and through the internet that he had received immense international support.Prisoner of conscience Zouheir Yahiaoui had been on hunger strike in protest at his continued detention. He is the former operator of TUNeZINE, an independent Internet website. He was arrested on June 4, 2002 in Ben Arous in the outskirts of Tunis and taken to the Ministry of the Interior, where he was allegedly tortured by security officers. He was convicted on charges of "spreading false information" and "misuse of telecommunication lines" and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in July 2002.
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Hasan Bility c. AI
"Amnesty International has helped me so many times."
Hassan Bility, a journalist with The Analyst newspaper in Liberia, was held incommunicado and without charge or trial following his arrest on June 24, 2002. He was accused of supporting the armed opposition Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). The authorities initially threatened to try him under military jurisdiction. He was tortured, denied access to defense lawyers and not brought before any court, despite several writs of habeas corpus submitted on his behalf.Following months of national and international pressure, Hassan Bility was finally released by the Liberian government and handed over to the United States embassy officials on December 7. He was flown out of the country to Ghana and then on to the United States.
Algerian Medical Doctor is Acquitted and Released
Doctor and human rights defender Salaheddine Sidhoum was acquitted on October 16, 2003, in a retrial of his earlier conviction in absentia. His original conviction had resulted in a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment. He went home and celebrated his acquittal and release with family and friends. An Amnesty International staff member who works on the Algeria team at the IS was able to speak with Salaheddine on the day he left Serkadji prison. He warmly thanked Amnesty International for the campaign that was launched in his support, which he said had given him a lot of strength. He also expressed his determination to continue his work for human rights in Algeria in order to contribute to establishing the truth about all the crimes that have been committed in his country.Five Political Leaders in Gabon Thank AI Members
Hughes Bessacque, Brice Obanda, Gervais Amogo, Abdul Allogo Mintsa, and Pascal Nkoulou, five members of the Gabonese opposition party Bongo Doit Partir (BDP), Bongo Must Go (or BDP-Gabon Nouveau), were released on October 1, 2003, after three months of detention. They have been reunited with their families and are generally in good health, although they did suffer some health problems during their imprisonment. They had been charged with threatening state security and insulting the head of state. Most, if not all, of them were released without charge. In a press release BDP-Gabon Nouveau's leader thanked members of Amnesty International and others for having put pressure on the government, as this was a factor in their release.
Sevim Yetkiner, human rights defender
Turkish human rights defender thanks activists for effective work
Sevim Yetkiner, chair of the Mus branch of the Human Rights Association was released from Erzurum prison in eastern Turkey on August 6, 2003. Sevim Yetkiner was imprisoned in Mus province, southeast Turkey, on July 17, 2003 after attending the funeral of a member of the illegal armed group the Kurdistan Worker’s Party. She told Amnesty International, "The 21 days that I spent in prison reinforced my commitment in the struggle for human rights. This is a struggle that everyone in society should join". She is convinced that appeals from UA network had a huge impact on her treatment in the prison; she noticed a positive difference in her conditions and the attitude of the prison administration towards her. She also attributes her swift release to the pressure of the Amnesty International’s campaigning. She thanked the organization warmly and said, "The appeals sent by AI members are effective and important -- I have seen first-hand how important they are".
Natalia Melman was murdered in Argentina in February 2001.
Letters offer support and protection to family of murdered daughter
Gustavo Melmann, members of his family and family friends were subjected to harassment and intimidation following the conviction of three policemen for the murder of Gustavo and Laura Melmann's daughter Natalia. They are continuing their legal struggle for justice, but have not received any new death threats. Gustavo Melmann has sent this message of thanks to all those who sent appeals.
N'sii Luanda Shandwe
Letters bring release and happiness to Congolese prisoner of conscience
N'sii Luanda Shandwe was released January 26, 2003, having spent nine months in prison. He was detained as a result of his human rights activism, but was never formally charged with a criminal offence. His release appears to have been a measure of presidential grace, announced on the second anniversary of President Joseph Kabila's accession to power.
Zouhayer Makhlouf holding copies of the Urgent Actions issued on his behalf. (© Private)
Urgent Action letters save lives!
Urgent Action appeals helped to protect Colombian human rights defenders Astrid Manrique and Yolima Quintero after they received death threats.
Coronado Avila M.
Honduran human rights defender thanks Urgent Action activists.
Along with two other grassroots leaders in Honduras, Coronado Avila had been receiving death threats - allegedly from armed groups with links to the authorities - for his work defending the land rights of peasant farmers, protecting the environment, and promoting participation in elections. An Urgent Action was issued on their behalf.
Eren Keskin
Turkish Prisoner of Conscience thanks Urgent Action Activists
Eren Keskin, a human rights activist and lawyer, was arrested on June 1, 1995 and sentenced to serve a prison sentence for writing and publishing "separatist propaganda". Amnesty International considered her a prisoner of conscience and issued Urgent Actions on her behalf.
The mother of Jose Nunes da Silva, holding the letters sent to her family by UA network members c.AI
The authorities now recognize the problem.
In May 2000, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action on behalf of Valdenia Aparecida Paulino, a Brazilian lawyer who was facing threats and intimidation in her attempts to uncover the truth behind the suspected extrajudicial execution of two men by military police. In the Urgent Action, we also asked for copies of appeals to be sent to the family of one of the men, Jose Nunes da Silva, who lived in one of the favelas (shanty-towns) which surround Sao Paulo. Earlier this year, Valdenia Aparecida Paulino spoke to AI about the impact of the UA.
Danis, left and Arsen, right
Death sentences commuted for members of Uzbek pop group
Two lead singers of Al-Vakil, a well-known Uzbek pop group, Danis Vladimirovich Sirazhev and Arsen Albertovich Arutyunyan, had been in danger of imminent executions, charged with the killing of another singer in Uzbekistan. Both death sentences were later commuted to 15 years' imprisonment.
Christine Anyanwu
"I knew I was not alone"
Christine Anyanwu, publisher of the Sunday Magazine in Nigeria was detained without charge apparently for publishing articles critical of the govenrment. After an Urgent Action was issued on behalf of her and other jounralists, she was released in June, 1998. After her release, she wrote to thank all those who supported her during her imprisonment
Radhia Nasraoui and her 16 yr old daughter, Nadia Hammami
Tunisian human rights lawyer explains importance of Urgent Actions
On the night of February 11, Tunisian security forces ransacked the office of Radhia Nasraoui, a human rights lawyer and mother of two. All the files relating to her clients, legal codes, books and a computer were stolen. Nothing was taken from colleagues sharing the same office. An Urgent Action was issued and updated on her behalf three times in 1998 expressing concern for pattern of harrassment and intimidation against her.
Gendun Rinchen, holding his Urgent Action.
Tibetan tourist guide thanks activists for his release
On May 13, 1993, Tibetan tourist guide, Gedun Rinchen was arrested after security forces raided his home and found documents describing the state of human rights in Tibet. He was held in solitary confinement in Llasa until his surprise release eight months later.
Dr Fathi Subuh
Urgent Action appeals help Palestinian professor
Fathi Subuh, a university professor, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service (PSS)on July 2, 1997, for what Amnesty International concluded was for setting examination questions seen as critcal of al-Azhar University and the Palestinian Authority. He was released late in 1997 after serious health problems.AI delegates visited Fathi Subuh and his family in their home in February 1998. He said that sometimes, during his interrogation, he was asked how he knew so-and-so from Sweden or Germany - the writers of the Urgent Action appeal letters. He expressed his deep gratitude to AI members for all their work on his behalf.
