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Nine leaders of the 2014 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests are being charged with three vague and ambiguous offences, each facing a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. The continued prosecution of prominent figures of the Umbrella Movement is having a chilling effect on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. 1) TAKE ACTION Write a letter, …
Aasia Noreen, known as Aasia Bibi, is a Christian farmworker who was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 2010. Despite being acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court, the Pakistani government gave in to demands by a violent mob, stopping her from leaving the country and having the Supreme Court review its ruling.
James Gatdet and William Endley received a presidential pardon on 31 October 2018. The president also ordered the immediate deportation of William Endley to his home country, South Africa. They were released on 2 November.
Activist Tin Maung Kyi has been detained for staging a peaceful solo protest calling on the international community to arrest senior Myanmar generals. He has been charged under laws often used to silence peaceful activists and faces up to two years and one month in prison if found guilty. He must be immediately and unconditionally released.
On 4 November 2018, the Bahraini Appeal Court sentenced opposition leader and prisoner of conscience, Sheikh Ali Salman, to life imprisonment. The court overturned an earlier acquittal, and convicted him and two others of communicating sensitive security information to Qatar.
After weeks of uncertainty about the fate and whereabouts of IT specialist Victor Filinkov and civil society activist Yuliy Boyarshinov, on 31 October the two men were confirmed to being held at pre-trial detention centres in St. Petersburg, Russia. The authorities failed to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the two men, despite them being in their custody, which amounts to an enforced disappearance. Their allegations of torture and ill-treatment remain un-investigated and there are serious concerns for Victor Filinkov’s health.
Israel renews, for the third time and without charge or trial, the administrative detention of Khalida Jarrar for further four months. She is a Palestinian lawmaker and prominent political figure.
On 22 October 2018, Bahrain’s Cassation Court overturned the death sentences it had confirmed in 2015 against Mohamed Ramadhan Issa Ali Hussain and Hussain Ali Moosa Hussain Mohamed, and returned their cases to the Appeal Court for retrial.
Alfredo Okenve, an Equatorial Guinea human rights defender was brutally attacked on 27 October by unknown armed men. He was later abandoned in a lonely area outside the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea’s capital.
In March, Valquiria and her seven-year-old son Abel* fled Brazil and requested asylum in the US after death threats from drug traffickers. US border authorities forcibly separated them and continue to detain Valquiria. The extreme anguish she and her son are experiencing may amount to torture. US immigration authorities must immediately free Valquiria while she pursues her asylum claim.