Turkey: Stop mis-using the law to detain human rights defenders, urges UN expert
GENEVA (9 June 2021) – A UN expert today urged Turkey to release imprisoned human rights defenders and to stop using vague terrorism charges to turn people who stand up for human rights into criminals. “I am greatly concerned that anti-terrorism laws are being used extensively to silence Turkish human rights defenders and disrupt their legitimate work defending human rights,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code and Article 7 of the Anti-Terror Law relating to leaders and members of armed organisations are being used to convict human rights defenders and sentence them to lengthy prison sentences, Lawlor said.
Iran: UN experts welcome release of Arash Sadeghi
GENEVA (11 May 2021) – UN human rights experts welcomed the release of Iranian human rights defender Arash Sadeghi, who was released from Raja i Shahr Prison this month after five-and-a-half years in detention.
Mr. Sadeghi received prison sentences totalling 15 years by a Revolutionary Court on multiple charges, including publishing lies in cyberspace , propaganda against the system and insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Under Iranian law, he would have to serve seven-and-a-half years in prison, the longest of his sentences. UN experts say his peaceful human rights activism included social media posts and communications with journalists and human rights defenders abroad. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found in an opinion issued in 2018 that the deprivation of Mr. Sadeghi s liberty was arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
Cambodia: UN expert condemns conviction of three environmental rights defenders, urges their release
GENEVA (7 May 2021) – A UN expert today condemned a decision by a Cambodian court to sentence three environmental human rights defenders to jail terms of up to 20 months and urged the Government to release them immediately and unconditionally.
The convicted human rights defenders - Mr. Thun Ratha, Ms. Long Kunthea and Ms. Phuon Keoraksmey – are members of Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC), a non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection and preservation of Cambodia s natural environment and supports local communities in defending those rights.
The three, who were sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal court on charges of incitement to create social chaos, had been in pre-trial detention for eight months before the conviction.
Cambodia: UN expert condemns conviction of three environmental rights defenders, urges their release
GENEVA (7 May 2021) – A UN expert today condemned a decision by a Cambodian court to sentence three environmental human rights defenders to jail terms of up to 20 months and urged the Government to release them immediately and unconditionally.
The convicted human rights defenders - Mr. Thun Ratha, Ms. Long Kunthea and Ms. Phuon Keoraksmey – are members of Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC), a non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection and preservation of Cambodia s natural environment and supports local communities in defending those rights.
The three, who were sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal court on charges of incitement to create social chaos, had been in pre-trial detention for eight months before the conviction.
Lao PDR: Five years after arrest, human rights defenders still denied access to lawyers – UN expert
GENEVA (12 April 2021) – A UN expert called on the Government of Lao PDR to immediately release three human rights defenders who have been detained for more than five years, saying their continued imprisonment was an impediment to the advancement of human rights in the South-East Asian nation. A court in the capital, Vientiane, sentenced Ms. Lodkham Thammavong, Mr. Soukane Chaithad and Mr. Somphone Phimmasone to prison terms of up to 30 years in 2017 after they took part in a demonstration outside the Lao Embassy in Thailand to express concerns over the government’s human rights record. The three, who were arrested in March 2016, had also posted messages on social media criticizing the Government.