Italy/Turkey: Giornata internazionale degli avvocati in pericolo (Roma)

24 gennaio 2019

Roma , via de Governo Vecchio, 3 – CNF – Sala Aurora

 

  Giornata internazionale degli Avvocati in pericolo

CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE FORENSE

Giovedì 24 gennaio 2019

ore 14,30

via del Governo Vecchio, 3

Saluti

Andrea Mascherin, Presidente del CNF

Introduzione lavori

Francesco Caia, Coordinatore della Commissione diritti umani del CNF

Intervento

Benan Molu, avvocata in Turchia, specializzata in diritto internazionale

Presentazione del Manuale “La Difesa dei diritti umani”

Roberto Giovene di Girasole, Commissione dir. internaz./Mediterraneo del CNF

Barbara Spinelli, Giuristi democratici/ELHD.

La giornata dell’avvocato in pericolo celebra l’indipendenza della professione legale e promuove la solidarietà per gli avvocati, a livello mondiale, che continuano ad esercitare i propri doveri malgrado enormi pressioni ed interferenze esterne. Quest’anno la giornata si occuperà della professione legale in Turchia.

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https://www.consiglionazionaleforense.it/web/cnf-calendario/-/496122?fbclid=IwAR2J5DjM5I_aEeKOeEqph24E7YZpFFi6MDlhFdYmCElImKMnE4HxDYo59i4

Giornata internazionale dell’avvocato minacciato (24 gennaio 2019, Venezia)

basic-report_turkey2019

https://eldh.eu/en/2018/11/22/day-of-the-endangered-lawyer-2019/

Updated Report: Incarceration of Turkish Lawyers | Unjust Arrests and Convictions (2016-2018)

#DayoftheEndangeredLawyer

#EndangeredLawyers

#24OcakTehlikedekiAvukatlarGünü

#24thJanuaryEndangeredLawyersDay

India: Advocates protest seeking security: Lawyer stabbed at Meerut court premises, ‘attacker’ arrested

January 17, 2019

The alleged attacker was arrested two hours after the incident, police said. The agitating lawyers warned police of an indefinite strike if adequate security was not provided.

A lawyer was stabbed in his chamber in the Meerut district court Wednesday, following which his colleagues staged a demonstration and surrounded the SSP’s office alleging delay in police action.

The alleged attacker was arrested two hours after the incident, police said. The agitating lawyers warned police of an indefinite strike if adequate security was not provided.

Police said lawyer Shailendra Singh (45), a resident of Gyanpur village in Meerut, was sitting at his chamber when one Sonu Singh (24) entered. Sonu then allegedly had an argument with the lawyer and stabbed him on his head. The injured lawyer was rushed to a nearby private nursing home and later to the district hospital, police said.

Sonu managed to escape when the other lawyers rushed to rescue Shailendra, police said.

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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/advocates-protest-seeking-security-lawyer-stabbed-at-meerut-court-premises-attacker-arrested-5542346/

China: Human Rights Watch WORLD REPORT 2019

January 17, 2019

President Xi Jinping, born in 1953, has indicated his intent to rule indefinitely after China’s legislature amended the constitution in March 2018 to scrap term limits for the presidency. This move was also emblematic of the increasing repression under Xi’s rule.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also strengthened its power over the government bureaucracy in a major overhaul of central government structure in March. The party oversees a powerful new government body, the National Supervisory Commission, which is empowered to detain incommunicado anyone exercising public authority for up to six months without fair trial procedures in a system called “liuzhi.”

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Human rights defenders continue to endure arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and enforced disappearance. The government maintains tight control over the internet, mass media, and academia. Authorities stepped up their persecution of religious communities, including prohibitions on Islam in Xinjiang, suppression of Christians in Henan province, and increasing scrutiny of Hui Muslims in Ningxia.

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Human Rights Defenders

The case of human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang is emblematic of authorities’ ruthlessness toward human rights defenders and those activists’ fortitude. Beijing police detained Wang amid a national crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists in August 2015; while detained he was reportedly tortured with electric shocks and forced to take medications. In July, Wang was finally allowed to meet his lawyer for the first time. Charged with “subversion of state power,” he could face life imprisonment if convicted. During Wang’s detention, Li Wenzu, his wife, along with families of other lawyers and activists detained during the crackdown, have campaigned relentlessly for his release despite having to endure incessant intimidation and harassment.

Authorities continued politically motivated prosecutions and disbarments of human rights lawyers. In January, police detained lawyer Yu Wensheng, charging him with “inciting subversion of state power” and “obstructing public duties.” Judicial authorities revoked or suspended the licenses of over a dozen human rights lawyers, and even some who retain licenses have been unable to find work due to police pressure on employers.

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https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/china-and-tibet

https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/media/news/trial-of-mr-wang-quanzhang?fbclid=IwAR0LBoVUPsjE_dfUmTXg9x4dbwOZhy4kv_VuNjLZBDes6RiQCsSnbGkRvQc

https://www.hrw.org/zh-hans/world-report/2019/country-chapters/326274 (CHINESE)

https://www.hrw.org/fr/world-report/2019/country-chapters/326297 (FRANCAIS)

Turkey: Human Rights Watch WORLD REPORT 2019

January 17, 2019

Parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey in June 2018 saw President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-elected president and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) retain control of parliament through a coalition.

The June 2018 election campaign took place under a state of emergency imposed after the July 2016 attempted military coup and in a climate of media censorship and repression of perceived government enemies and critics that persisted throughout the year, with many journalists as well as parliamentarians and the presidential candidate from the pro-Kurdish opposition in jail.

The election brought into force the presidential system of governance agreed in a 2017 referendum. The system lacks sufficient checks and balances against abuse of executive power, greatly diminishes the powers of parliament and consolidates presidential control over most judicial appointments.

In January 2018, Turkey launched a military offensive on the northwest Syrian Kurdish-populated district of Afrin and at time of writing continued to control the territory (see Syria chapter for further information).

State of Emergency and After

The two-year state of emergency formally lapsed in July but was replaced with new counterterrorism legislation, approved by parliament in August. The legislation contains many measures similar to the extraordinary powers the authorities enjoyed under emergency rule. They include widening already broad powers of appointed provincial governors to restrict assemblies and movement; executive authority for three years to dismiss public officials, including judges, by administrative decision; and increased police powers including custody periods extendable for up to 12 days.

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Human Rights Defenders

After more than 13 months behind bars, in August an Izmir court released Amnesty International Turkey’s honorary chair Taner Kılıç from prison. He remains on trial on bogus terrorism membership charges, together with eight other prominent defenders from Turkey and two foreign nationals working on human rights arrested in July 2017 and later bailed.

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Human rights lawyers are among over 1,500 lawyers on trial on terrorism charges at time of writing. Their cases underscore the dramatic erosion of defendants’ rights and due process in Turkey. In September, an Istanbul court released on bail 17 lawyers who had spent up to a year in pretrial detention for membership of an armed leftist group, but reversed its own decision a day later, ordering the rearrest of 12 of them. At time of writing their case was ongoing.

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https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/turkey

HRW: Terrorism trials in Turkey lack compelling evidence

DAY OF THE ENDANGERED LAWYER: TURKEY

basic-report_turkey2019

https://eldh.eu/en/2018/11/22/day-of-the-endangered-lawyer-2019/

Updated Report: Incarceration of Turkish Lawyers | Unjust Arrests and Convictions (2016-2018)

https://www.hrw.org/tr/world-report/2019/country-chapters/325436 (TURKCE)

https://medelnet.eu/index.php/news/europe/485-medel-statement-turkey-heavy-and-unjustified-conviction-of-murat-arslan-vaclav-havel-human-rights-prize-winner?fbclid=IwAR3LBEqLSgz26czB7edkkL_GliZtQ1a23cz18UQqUn3_UCL4sXUO2X4rYlk (FRANCAIS)

#DayoftheEndangeredLawyer

#EndangeredLawyers

#24OcakTehlikedekiAvukatlarGünü

#24thJanuaryEndangeredLawyersDay

 

Iran: Unrelenting Repression

January 17, 2019

Iranian authorities carried out arbitrary mass arrests and serious due process violations during 2018 in response to protests across the country over deteriorating economic conditions, perceptions of corruption, and the lack of political and social freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2019. Authorities tightened their grip on peaceful activism, detaining lawyers, human rights defenders, and women’s rights activists.

Since January 24, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization has detained eight environment activists – Taher Ghadirian, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, Morad Tahbaz, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh – accusing them – but providing no evidence – of using environmental projects as a cover to collect classified strategic information. Four are reportedly facing a capital charge. On February 10, the family of Kavous Seyed Emami, a well-known Iranian-Canadian environmentalist and professor reported that he had died in detention. Authorities claimed he committed suicide, but they have not conducted an impartial investigation.

“Iranian leaders blame the world for their problems, but don’t look in the mirror to reflect on how their own systematic repression contributes to Iranians’ frustration,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Iran’s security apparatus and its repressive, unaccountable judiciary are serious obstacles to respect for and protection of human rights.”

In the 674-page World Report 2019, its 29^th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth says that the populists spreading hatred and intolerance in many countries are spawning a resistance. New alliances of rights-respecting governments, often prompted and joined by civic groups and the public, are raising the cost of autocratic excess. Their successes illustrate the possibility of defending human rights – indeed, the responsibility to do so – even in darker times.

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The authorities arrested thousands of people in protests, and in unfair trials marred by due process violations handed down harsh sentences, including for the legitimate exercise of people’s freedoms. To further restrict detainees’ access to legal counsel, particularly during the investigation period, the judiciary has limited the list of lawyers who could represent people charged with national security crimes.

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In December 2017 and January 2018, several women took their headscarves off while standing on electric utility boxes across the country to protest Iran’s compulsory hijab law. Courts have sentenced several of them to prison. Intelligence agents have also cracked down on peaceful protests against the abusive hijab laws. They arrested Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer, her husband, Reza Khandan, and Farhard Meysami, another human rights defender.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/17/iran-unrelenting-repression

https://en.radiofarda.com/a/human-rights-watch-report-iran-2018-criticizes-violations/29716175.html

Jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh held incommunicado

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/16/iranian-prisoners-hunger-strike-plea-basic-rights

Evin Prison Repeatedly Blocking Nasrin Sotoudeh From Seeing Her Children

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

https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2019/01/17/iran-une-repression-implacable (FRANCAIS)

http://www.women.ncr-iran.org/fr/infos-des-femmes/3542-la-prisonniere-politique-nasrin-sotoudeh-interdite-de-visite-en-prison-en-iran?fbclid=IwAR0ENWpqKSggvq7VRet7XYS7F4kK37QTXj0f9W1Oc2dd2CCw7U2e_l_dVFY (FRANCAIS)

https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2019/01/17/325879 (ARABIC)

https://www.hrw.org/es/news/2019/01/17/iran-la-implacable-represion (ESPANOL)

#FreeNasrin

Since the summer, human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh and peaceful activist Farhad Meysami have been imprisoned in #Iran on trumped-up charges. Join former NASA Director @Firouz_Naderi in calling for their release pic.twitter.com/Dcfz3jNDQP #FreeNasrin #FreeFarhadMeysami

— IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) January 18, 2019

Nasrin Sotoudeh, est privée de visites de ses enfants. L’avocate est détenue dans le quartier réservé aux femmes de la prison d'Evin à Téhéran. Opposante déclarée à la peine de mort et au voile obligatoire, Sotoudeh, a été condamnée à cinq ans de prison.
IRNA, 14 janvier 2019 pic.twitter.com/NM0VLCxvmI

— AFIF (@femmiran) January 18, 2019

The Philippines: Crackdown Against Critics Intensifies

January 17, 2019

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration heightened its repression in 2018, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2019.

The government’s murderous “war on drugs” expanded to cities outside Manila. Attacks escalated against activists, journalists, and critics of the government. Donor governments should intensify pressure on Duterte to end targeted killings and to drop politically motivated criminal cases.

“President Duterte has used the killing of thousands of largely poor drug suspects as a tool to bolster his popularity,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “He’s also targeting anyone who might undermine that popularity, from outspoken senators to journalists documenting his abuses.”

In the 674-page World Report 2019, its 29^thedition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth says that the populists spreading hatred and intolerance in many countries are spawning a resistance. New alliances of rights-respecting governments, often prompted and joined by civic groups and the public, are raising the cost of autocratic excess. Their successes illustrate the possibility of defending human rights – indeed, the responsibility to do so – even in darker times.

…

The government vilified activist groups, calling them communists, and terrorists. In March, the foreign affairs secretary accused human rights groups of being “unwitting tools” of drug syndicates. In November, gunmen killed a rights lawyer, Benjamin Ramos, in Negros Occidental. Ramos represented the families of victims of a recent massacre of peasants in the province. There were violent attacks against human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, indigenous group members, peasants, and farmers.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/17/philippines-crackdown-against-critics-intensifies

https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/philippines-killing-of-human-rights-lawyer-benjamin-ramos

http://bulatlat.com/main/2018/12/30/resistance-unity-and-hope-a-look-back-at-the-year-2018/

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/01/18/1886167/hrw-drug-war-attacks-vs-critics-deepened-rights-crisis-philippines

US NGO finds PH ‘a war zone in disguise’; hogwash! says Palace

https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2019/01/17/rapport-mondial-2019-resistance-aux-attaques-des-autocrates-contre-les-droits (FRANCAIS)

Sudan: Marching Toward a Massacre

January 16, 2019

Half a world away, crowds of heroic protesters are in the streets. They shout “Peaceful, Peaceful” even as security forces target them with live ammunition.

They are risking their lives to try to topple a genocidal ruler. But President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other world leaders are largely ignoring these brave protesters, increasing the risk that they will be massacred.

These protests are unfolding in Sudan against the regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide. Other presidents have committed genocide over the last century, but Bashir has the distinction of conducting three different genocides by my count: in South Sudan, in the Nuba Mountains and in Darfur. He is not just a serial killer; he is a serial genocidaire.

For almost a month, ordinary Sudanese have poured out of their homes and offices around the country to join this “Sudan uprising.” Perhaps 40 or more have been killed by security forces and hundreds more detained and often beaten. The police reportedly have dragged injured protesters from hospital beds, with lawyers, doctors and journalists particularly targeted.

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http://www.africanews.com/2019/01/16/police-clashes-with-sudanese-protesting-a-state-of-emergency-in-atbara/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/18/sudan-hundreds-protesters-arrested

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24080&LangID=E

https://annafrica.net/2019/01/16/sudan-protest-al-bashir-insists-protest-wont-solve-economic-problems/

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article66921

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2019/1/16/hope-rises-for-a-third-revolution-in-sudan

https://allafrica.com/stories/201901180102.html

https://allafrica.com/stories/201901180100.html

Human rights breaches in Azerbaijan and Sudan

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/afraid-government-month-protests-sudan-190119111337527.html

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B8-2019-0054&language=EN (FRANCAIS)

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1153070/le-parlement-europeen-condamne-la-repression-au-soudan.html (FRANCAIS)

#SudanUprising