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The health and life of Mapuche Indigenous spiritual leader Machi Celestino Córdova, imprisoned since 2014 in Temuco, central Chile, is at risk after having spent more than 90 days on hunger strike, which he started in protest after the authorities denied him access to his ceremonial altar.
Kachin pastors Dumdaw Nawng Lat and Langjaw Gam Seng have been released from prison following a Presidential amnesty on 17 April 2018. The two men had been detained since December 2016 in connection with their role organizing a visit by journalists to Monekoe town, northern Shan State, to show the destruction allegedly caused by Myanmar Army airstrikes.
Kachin prisoner of conscience Lahpai Gam has been released from prison following a Presidential amnesty on 17 April 2018. Detained since June 2012, he was tortured during interrogation and falsely accused of being a member of an “unlawful” association. Lahpai Gam suffers from ill-health, which further deteriorated while he was in detention.
Prominent Chinese activist Wu Gan (better known by his pen name Tufu, ‘The Butcher’) continues to face grave risks of torture and other ill-treatment after the Tianjin Municipal High People’s Court rejected his appeal and upheld his sentence of eight years’ imprisonment for subverting state power.
On 28 March 2018, the Public Prosecutor announced that it had requested the review of the cases of Mohamed Ramadhan Issa Ali Hussain and Hussain Ali Moosa Hussain Mohamed, both of whom had their death sentences confirmed by the Cassation Court in November 2015, as new evidence emerged following investigation by the Special Investigations Unit.
Matar Younis Ali Hussein, a visually impaired religious teacher, was arrested by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in Zalingei city, Central Darfur State on 1 April. He is currently being held at the NISS detention centre at Kober Prison in Khartoum and has been denied access to a lawyer and his family. Matar Younis has been a vocal critic of the government’s policy in Darfur. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment while in detention.
On 13 April, prisoner of conscience, Akmaral Tobylova was released on bail. She had been under house arrest since 13 March, and is charged with financing an extremist organization merely for browsing an opposition party website.
56 opposition party members and human rights defenders arrested in January and February were released without charge on 10 April. They were arbitrarily arrested and detained by the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) in connection with protests condemning the rise in the cost of food and medicine in Sudan since the beginning of January.
On 16 April, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that 20-year-old journalist Yousef al-Kronz, who was seriously wounded by Israeli forces on 30 March during Land Day protests in the Gaza Strip, must be permitted to leave Gaza for urgent medical care in Ramallah to save his remaining leg.
Pavitri Manjhi has faced continued threats, harassment and intimidation in relation to her peaceful activism. Visited at her home by two men every evening from 3 to 5 April 2018, she has been told to withdraw all formal complaints filed by Adivasi villagers against two private companies who allegedly defrauded members of the community of their land.