Egypt/Italy: HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER MUST BE RELEASED: LBRAHIM METWALY

September 15, 2017

Ibrahim Metwaly, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Families of the Disappeared in Egypt group, was detained on 10 September while on his way to Geneva to address the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. After being held incommunicado for two days by Egyptian security forces, the Prosecutor has now ordered his detention for a further 15 days, pending investigation.

View report in English

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https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde12/7088/2017/en/

http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/egypt/2017/09/d24526/

https://www.protecting-defenders.org/en/news/un-rights-experts-dismayed-arrest-egyptian-lawyer-ebrahim-metwally-en-route-meet-them

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22079&LangID=E

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/404553184/un-rights-experts-dismayed-by-arrest-of-egyptian-lawyer-ebrahim-metwally-en-route-to-meet-them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Metwaly

https://www.amnesty.org/ar/documents/document/?indexNumber=mde12%2f7088%2f2017&language=en (ARABIC)

http://it.blastingnews.com/cronaca/2017/09/londra-alfano-incontra-il-ministro-degli-esteri-egiziano-shoukry-002000257.html (ITALIANO)

http://www.fanpage.it/da-oggi-l-ambasciatore-italiano-e-di-nuovo-al-cairo-l-egitto-superata-crisi-regeni/ (ITALIANO)

https://www.infooggi.it/articolo/caso-regeni-il-times-su-al-sisi-e-un-dittatore-meriterebbe-lo-stato-di-paria/101429/ (ITALIANO)

http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20170912/431225915392/desaparece-abogado-guilio-regini-detenido-policia-egipcia.html (ESPANOL)

http://derstandard.at/2000064082953/Aegypten-waescht-sich-von-Foltervorwuerfen-rein (DEUTSCH)

http://www.dn.pt/mundo/interior/detido-no-egito-responsavel-de-ong-sobre-desaparecimentos-forcados-8768248.html (PORTUGUES)

India: Home Ministry cancels Supreme Court Bar Association FCRA registration

September 15, 2017

The Union Home Ministry has annulled the registration of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010.

According to news reports, the Centre has effectively prevented SCBA and a host of other organisations from receiving foreign funding for their failure to file returns for the period extending from 2010-11 to 2014-15. The organisations were asked to furnish their replies by July 23, failing which action would be taken against them.

Section 13 of the Act empowers the central government to suspend the registration of organizations who violate the terms and conditions of the certificate for one hundred and eighty days. Section 14 confers upon the Centre the power to cancel the registration, in which case the organisation will not be allowed to register for a period of three years. However, this cannot be done without giving the registration holder a reasonable opportunity to be heard.

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https://barandbench.com/home-ministry-cancels-supreme-court-bar-association-fcra-registration/

https://barandbench.com/scba-response-cancellation-fcra-registration/

http://www.scbaindia.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_Bar_Association_(India)

Turkey: 2017 Hrant Dink Award Goes to Eren Keskin from Turkey and Ai Weiwei from China

September 15, 2017

On September 15, Hrant Dink’s birthday, the Hrant Dink Foundation presented the International Hrant Dink Award this year to Eren Keskin from Turkey and Ai Weiwei from China. The award is presented annually to people who work for a world free of discrimination, racism and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace, and by doing so, inspire and encourage others. With this award, the foundation aims to remind all those who struggle for these ideals that their voices are heard, their works are visible, and that they are not alone, and also to encourage everyone to fight for their ideals.

Eren Keskin was born in 1959 in Bursa, Turkey. A graduate of the Faculty of Law of Istanbul University, she joined the Human Rights Association of Turkey in 1989, where she worked for many years as a director. During the state of emergency of the early 1990s, she took part in committees formed to fight against the grievous human rights violations in the Kurdish-majority areas; during visits to the region she became the target of verbal as well as armed attacks.

In the 1990s, nearly 200 court cases were brought against her. Because she had used the word ‘Kurdistan’ in an article published in the newspaper Özgür Gündem [Free Agenda] in 1995, she spent six months in jail. In 1997, she founded the Legal Assistance Office against Sexual Abuse and Rape in Custody. In 2002, in a case brought against her for a speech she gave on the subject of sexual torture by the state, she was sentenced to ten months in prison. That same year, the Disciplinary Board of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations issued a decision to bar her from working as a lawyer for one year. During this period, the mainstream media engaged in a smear campaign against her.

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https://mirrorspectator.com/2017/09/15/2017-hrant-dink-award-goes-eren-keskin-turkey-ai-weiwei-china/

https://hrantdink.org/en/announcements/1014-the-2017-international-hrant-dink-award-goes-to-eren-keskin-from-turkey-and-ai-weiwei-from-china

https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-persecuted-activist-keskin-bestowed-human-rights-award-in-sweden/

https://anfenglish.com/human-rights/eren-keskin-prosecuted-by-turkey-receives-human-rights-award-22007

http://www.armradio.am/en/2017/09/16/2017-hrant-dink-award-goes-to-eren-keskin-from-turkey-and-ai-weiwei-from-china/

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/justice-for-turkeys-leading-human-rights-lawyer/

http://asbarez.com/166626/ai-weiwei-and-eren-keskin-win-hrant-dink-award/

http://www.agos.com.tr/tr/yazi/19341/9-hrant-dink-odulu-eren-keskin-ve-ai-weiwei-nin (TURKCE)

http://www.bursadabugun.com/haber/uluslararasi-hrant-dink-odulleri-sahiplerini-buldu-871218.html (TURKCE)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eren_Keskin

https://hrantdink.org/en/

China: No room in China for a human rights attorney

September 15, 2017

Persecution watchdog groups are pressing for the release of a well-known human rights lawyer in China who has been imprisoned in Beijing.

Approximately one month ago, Gao Zhisheng (pictured at left) went missing from his home where he was under house arrest. Beijing authorities have now confirmed that Zhisheng, a Christian believer, was whisked away to a secret location.

Gina Goh of International Christian Concern says the attorney was kidnapped – and this is not the first time he’s been kidnapped and jailed for angering the Communist government, she says.

“This is how they treat him,” she says of the authoritarian government.  “And so we are really saddened by the fact that the Chinese government continues to tighten control on human rights and just shows disrespect for all the human rights defenders.”

It’s presumed the attorney, who has defended others against government abuse, is himself being tortured. There are other human rights attorneys who are also behind bars for the same reason, she says, and it appears to human rights groups that China is “going backwards” instead of moving toward a free country.

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https://www.onenewsnow.com/persecution/2017/09/15/no-room-in-china-for-a-human-rights-attorney

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/09/14/chinas-thought-police-are-giving-a-master-class-in-censorship/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gao_Zhisheng