This award is selected by the International Human Rights Community (See Jury Below) and given to Human Rights Defenders who have shown deep commitment and courage in the face of personal risk. The aim of the award is to highlight their work and protect them through increased visibility.
Mohamed Zaree is the Egypt Country Director for the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), responsible for CIHRS’s legal research, media outreach and national advocacy. CIHRS’s work was influential in the Arab world particularly Egypt, which resulted in death threats to its director. This forced the CIHRS executive director and regional staff to move abroad to continue their work. Mohamed chose to stay and is now banned from travel. He is a legal scholar coordinating research to challenge laws designed to limit NGOs activities working on human rights, such as freedom of expression and assembly. He is widely seen a unifying figure bringing together the human rights community in Egypt to advocate with a common approach.
He stated “Our hopes were high following the Egyptian revolution in 2011; we don’t know how the situation has instead deteriorated to such an extent. Today, we are battling human rights violations that are worse than before 2011, and challenging the normalization and acceptance of these atrocities. Killing almost 1000 citizens in few hours, arresting almost 40,000 others, innocents dying in Egyptian prisons; is not the norm and we will not allow it to become so. We human rights defenders are fighting these abuses at risk of indefinite imprisonment.”
The Award will be presented on October 10th at a ceremony hosted by the City of Geneva.
The impeachment bid on Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno started rolling yesterday after 25 members of the House of Representatives endorsed a complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon with the House.
House secretary general Cesar Pareja confirmed the endorsement by the 25 legislators.
Gadon alleged in his complaint that Sereno failed to make truthful declarations in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and networth or SALn, which was the same allegation that ousted the late former Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is her predecessor.
Sereno was primarily accused of corruption over the alleged use of judiciary funds in the purchase of a new vehicle amounting to more than P5 million; alleged use of public funds to stay in expensive hotels when attending local and foreign conferences; flying on business or first class with her staff and security; and bringing a huge entourage of lawyers in her official foreign trips.
Sereno was also accused in the Gadon complaint of alleged falsification of Supreme Court documents; delayed action on the petitions for retirement benefits of justices, judges and the surviving spouses of deceased justices and judges; alleged manipulation and delay in resolving the request of the Secretary of Justice to transfer the Maute cases outside of Mindanao; and alleged manipulation of the shortlist of the Judicial and Bar Council among others.
Today Paul Biya through his Secretary General at the President of the Republic sent out a communique which says the case against the detained Consortium leaders and Ayah Paul Abine has been discontinued. The communique says these three and others shall be released. Angelbert Nde, “Anglophone” Cameroon shed his opinion. It reads:
Biya has just narrowly missed a looming surprise ejection from the Unity Palace, giving himself a chance to potentially hold on to it for a fewer more months. Many people see the return to school as the sensitive issue. I see the 2018 Presidential elections! The man does not want that crucial year to dawn with that part of the country still ungovernable. Worst of all, he would dread that the polls take place with the Southern Cameroons cut off from the state.
This is the main stake ! The back-to-school pretext is only accessory ! Biya is frightened by francophone outrage that has been resonating exponentially after the showdown staged by diaspora Southern Cameroonians in Belgium, Canada, USA etc especially the hoisting of the Amba flag in La Replique’s embassy. The francophones were clearly quickly losing faith in him as the right man with faculties to hold the nation together, including even the military. Biya was told that secret strategies cooked up at the drawing board in the gendarmerie were all split out on the Bamenda streets even before the meeting wrapped up. So Biya knows he is in danger.
Our dad, our Advocate General, our Hero, the Hostage, the Political prisoner for close to 8 months, is now home. Here are first images of him alongside this writer.
His first words were: “have all detainees been freed”? And as he heard a ‘NO’, he focussed on a particular detainee, MANCHO BBC, asking if he was included in the words “SOME OTHERS” spelt out in Yeaterdays’
Presidential Decree. So disappointed at the repetitive ‘NOs’, he elected to go immediately to Kondengui to see the detainees. But he was stopped by the authorities who insisted they MUST drive him home at all cost.
After a rest, Ayah will storm Kondengui with this writer.
A popular Aba Based Lawyer and Human Right Activist Barr. Emperor Gabriel Ogbonnaya has been shot by yet to be identified gunmen in Aba.
According to PUO METRO, the Item Born Lawyer was shot in front of his House. Confirming the incident our source revealed that Emperor Gabriel Ogbonnaya is in a critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.
However, Mr. Onyebuchi Emenanka has released a press statement debunking the claim that Emperor is in critical condition. He further confirmed that contrary to views making round, the attach on Emperor was not politically motivated.
His statement below:
This is to inform the general public, especially members of the Nigeria Bar Association, Aba branch and friends of associates of my friend, Barrister Empero Gabriel Ogbonna that he is safe and stable. He is currently in good hands at a good medical facility.
Late last night when I got the information, I rushed to the medical facility where I met Emperor himself, his wife and other close relatives including his junior in Chambers.
I was delighted to see Emperor in high spirits. God intervened and the ultimate plans of the evil minds were unsuccessful. Before I left the place just before midnight, we ensured that all necessary arrangements were put in place for unhindered treatment and access to proper Medicare. The medical personnel are on top of the situation.
For the avoidance of doubt, please note that Emperor will receive the best available treatment.
The Tulip award site describes Wang’s work as follows:
Wang Quanzhang has pioneered the use of social media in his approach to human rights defense, using public advocacy in tandem with legal representation. He promotes the idea that in China reliance on the law itself is insufficient to protect basic human rights and presses for change. He is actively training and working together with other rights defense lawyers, locally-based ‘barefoot’ lawyers, and victims, to develop a social movement. Wang Quanzhang is the founder of a system of legal aid stations, which at one point spanned 10 provinces, where key “barefoot” lawyers offered pro-bono legal aid to victims in their home communities. Through this program, over 1,000 public interest lawsuits were filed, including province-level changes to law and procedure. Besides these initiatives, Wang has developed the Urgent Action program, setting up and providing an infrastructure for lawyers and Human Right Defenders who seek financial support for the cases they work on, as well as providing direct financial assistance to HRDs at risk or to their families. In this way he institutionalizes support for the larger community.
An Israeli court slammed human rights researcher Salah Hamouri with a six-month administrative detention order, the human rights group Addameer said on Wednesday.
It said that the Israeli Magistrate Court of Jerusalem had first ordered the conditional release of Hamouri, 32, a dual Palestinian-French citizen from Jerusalem and former prisoner, which included exile to a town inside Israel, ban from entering Jerusalem and from leaving the country for three months, in addition to posting a bail of around $3000.
However, when his family went to pay his release bail shortly after the court ruling, it was informed that Hamouri will not be released after all and that he was served with a six-month administrative detention order that ends on February 22.
“This practice of arbitrary detention is a grave violation of international laws and human rights standards, particularly articles 78 and 72 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which state that an accused individual has the right to defend himself. This also violates article 66 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the basic standards of fair trial,” said Addameer.
Hamouri was released from Israeli prison in 2011 in a prisoners exchange deal after spending seven years in jail. He was rearrested last week at his home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kufr Aqab.
Le président camerounais Paul Biya a ordonné la libération de tous les leaders détenus dans le cadre de la crise dans les régions anglophones du pays.
Cette mesure intervient la veille de la rentrée scolaire au Cameroun prévue lundi prochain.
Depuis le 29 novembre 2016, les cours sont suspendus dans les universités, collèges et écoles dans plusieurs villes des deux régions anglophones du pays.
Depuis le début de la crise une journée ville morte est observée dans ces régions tous les lundis.
Fin juillet, le comité des affaires publiques du “Southern Cameroon”, la région anglophone du Cameroun, a réclamé la partition du pays aux Nations unies.
Neither Ayah, Balla nor Fontem have left prison as I write. The administrative procedure (paper work) still has to be done to formally set them free: ADMINISTRATION IS WRITTEN AND NOT VERBAL.
Friday being a public holiday, it is hoped that all the necessary formalities will be finalised today without which the noise of yesterday will be mere ‘congossa’. We will be giving you news as it happens this day.
Meanwhile, others are in court later today. We keep praying for their release as well.
