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Nawal Benaissa, 36 yeards-old, is a mother of 4 who joined Hirak early on and became one of its main female leading voices. She took part to several protests with her husband and children and has been very active on social media. Her Facebook profile gained more than 80 000 followers, before authorities asked her to shut down during one of her detention in custody. She was arrested and held in custody for few hours four times between June and September 2017. This last time she was sued and on mid-February 2018, she was sentenced to 10 months suspended sentence and a fine of 500 hundred dirhams for inciting to commit an offence (by speech, cries or threats made in the places where public meetings, either through posters exposed to the public or by any means fulfilling the condition, advertising, including electronically, on paper and by audio-visual channel, if the provocation has not been followed by effect. Article 299 of the penal code). Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule. Benaissa responded to the court's decision on her Facebook page by expressing her continued support for the Rif protests. "I am proud to take part in the protests in the region and I denounce the imprisonment of Hirak activists. I demand their immediate release," she wrote. Few weeks ago, she moved from the northern city of Al Hoceima to another Moroccan city in order to flee harassment from authorities.

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Amnesty International launches world’s biggest human rights campaign

Women human rights defenders around the world are facing unprecedented levels of abuse, intimidation and violence, said Amnesty International as…

November 28, 2018

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Tanzania: 10 men arrested in Zanzibar for being ‘gay’

Ten men have been arrested on suspicion of being gay on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar after police received a…

November 6, 2018

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Crackdowns on LGBTI people in Indonesia hit alarming level

LGBTI communities in Indonesia are facing increasing crackdowns both from the police and the municipal police (Satpol PP) with at…

November 6, 2018

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‘Dangerous’ plans for homophobic taskforce must be abandoned immediately in Tanzania

Following the announcement of plans to form a government taskforce which will begin hunting down and arresting people who are,…

November 1, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - OCTOBER 28: Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), arrives to cast his vote on October 28, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes-Pool/Getty Images)

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Brazil: Toxic speech must not become government policy

Reacting to the election of Jair Bolsonaro and Hamilton Mourão as president and vice president of Brazil, Amnesty International said…

October 28, 2018

People take part in the Bucharest Pride 2018 March gay pride parade on June 9, 2018. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP) (Photo credit should read DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)

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Romania: Rights groups submit legal challenge against 'homophobic' referendum

A planned referendum to change the definition of family in Romania’s constitution could lead to a breach of international human rights standards and increase…

September 14, 2018

A protester shows a local newspaper during a demonstration against the murder of Brazilian councilwoman and activist Marielle Franco in front of Rio's Municipal Chamber, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 20, 2018. Brazilians mourned for the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and outspoken critic of police brutality who was shot in the city center in an assassination-style killing on March 14. / AFP PHOTO / Mauro Pimentel (Photo credit should read MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP/Getty Images)

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Brazil: Failure to identify Marielle Franco’s killers after six months is unacceptable

The Brazilian authorities’ failure to identify all those responsible for the killing of human rights defender Marielle Franco, six months after she…

September 14, 2018

Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images

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Supreme Court decriminalizing consensual same-sex relations marks a new era for LGBTI rights in India

The landmark ruling by India’s Supreme Court decriminalizing consensual same-sex relations is a historic step, which sends a message of…

September 6, 2018

Members of the LGBT community hold a protest outside of Guatemala Congress against the law 5272 that criminalizes LGBT community human rights and abortion -among others- in Guatemala City on September 4, 2018. (Photo by JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

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Guatemala: Discriminatory law puts at risk the lives and rights of thousands of women, girls and LGBTI people

Guatemala’s Congress must reject proposed law 5272, also known as the “Law for the Protection of Life and Family,” because…

September 5, 2018

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Malaysia: Convictions of two women sentenced to caning for having sexual relations must be quashed

Responding to yesterday’s sentencing of two women to six strokes of caning and a fine of RM 3,300 after they…

August 15, 2018

The Cuban national flag flies at half-mast in tribute to the victims of a plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Jose Marti airport and killed 107 people, in Havana, on May 19, 2018. - Cuba begins two days of national mourning Saturday for victims of the crash of a state airways plane that killed all but three of its 110 passengers and crew. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said an investigation was under way into Friday's crash of the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737, leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company. (Photo by Yamil LAGE / AFP) (Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)

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Cuba: 100 days in, new administration has yet to dismantle repressive state machinery

On the 100th day of Miguel Díaz-Canel’s term as president of Cuba, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said: “The news…

July 27, 2018

Participants attend a gay pride march in central Kiev on June 17, 2018.
(GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

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Ukraine: "March of equality" in Kyiv is a new human rights triumph

This year’s Kyiv Pride demonstration, which brought together thousands of people in a display of solidarity with the lesbian, gay,…

June 18, 2018