Kenya: Lawyer Moses Musau Mutanda Arrested

August 19, 2018

Our attention has been drawn to the arrest of Moses Musau Mutanda Advocate by Police officers at Banana Police Station allegedly for being rude to police officers when he went to handle a matter on behalf of his Client. The Law Society of Kenya is very concerned and condemns with the strongest terms possible the increasing cases of harassment of advocates by police officers and while it is currently engaging the AG and other stakeholders on how to bring the same to an end, we urgently call on the ODPP, the IGP and IPOA to investigate the current case of un warranted harassment, arrests and incarceration of advocates. The Council is considering filling a Public Interest Litigation in light of the ongoing abuse of office by police officers including seeking personal liability against specific officers. In the meantime since we received the report of the arrest of Mutanda advocate at around *9.00pm last night* we have reached out to the relevant authorities to ensure that the matter is resolved and the advocate released. We urge all members to remain calm as we handle the matter which is indeed a threat to the independence of the legal profession.

*Allen W. Gichuhi, C.Arb*
*LSK, President*

(Law Society of Kenya Facebook, 19/8/18)

https://ke.linkedin.com/in/moses-mutanda-musau-ba6048115

#FreeMosesMusauMutanda

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The Philippines: CHR probes arrest of lawyers in Makati bar raid

August 18, 2018

The commission says it is ‘deeply alarmed’ by the arrest of the 3 lawyers ‘who were only fulfilling their obligation as counsels of their client’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it has launched its own probe into the arrest of 3 lawyers who were monitoring a police search on a raided bar in Makati City.

In a statement on Saturday, August 18, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said the commission will “continue to pursue its investigation on the matter.”

She confirmed in a DZBB interview on Saturday that the commission has begun a motu proprio probe, which means they initiated it on their own.

In her separate statement, De Guia said CHR is “deeply alarmed” by the arrest of the lawyers “who were only fulfilling their obligation as counsels of their client.”

She said it is a “a constitutional right of every Filipino to be represented by a counsel of his or her own choice.”

“It shows an utter disrespect not only of the law profession but also of constitutionally enshrined rights. It emboldens other law enforcement agencies and puts at risk ordinary Filipino citizens,” De Guia added.

…

https://www.rappler.com/nation/209868-chr-probe-arrest-lawyers-makati-bar-raid

http://www.canadianinquirer.net/2018/08/18/drug-war-now-targets-lawyers-de-lima/

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1022658/chr-exec-lashes-out-at-cops-for-arrest-of-lawyers-in-makati-bar-raid

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/18/18/police-defend-arrest-of-3-lawyers-at-makati-bar-raid

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/08/18/1843743/arrest-makati-bar-lawyers-puts-risk-ordinary-filipinos-chr

http://politics.com.ph/bawal-yan-senator-abogados-condemn-arrest-of-makati-bar-abogados/

Posted by National Union of Peoples' Lawyers – UP Law on Friday, August 17, 2018

Iran: Security Agents Storm Detained Lawyer’s House

August 18, 2018

Agents of the Islamic republic’s Ministry of Intelligence stormed the house of a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, Nasrin Sotoudeh, on Saturday, her husband has disclosed.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Farda, Reza Khandan said, “It was eight o’clock in the morning when the security agents stormed into our apartment and ransacked it.”

The agents somehow forced neighbors to open the main entrance to the building, Khandan noted, adding, “Our young children were asleep when three huge armed guys stormed into the place and searched every corner. Our children woke up and found these armed corpulent men over their beds. They were deeply shocked.”

The Intelligence Ministry is constitutionally under the control of the president of the republic, not the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The 55-year-old human rights lawyer has been arrested and kept behind bars in Tehran’s notorious prison, Evin, since June 13.

Days before her arrest, Ms. Sotoudeh had represented two ladies who had removed their scarves in a busy street in Tehran to protest compulsory hijab.

…

https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-human-rights-sotoudeh-house-raided/29441056.html

https://women.ncr-iran.org/iran-women-news/5422-nasrin-sotoudeh-s-house-was-attacked-by-intelligence-agents-in-iran

https://irannewsupdate.com/news/human-rights/5209-no-justice-in-iran-while-regime-rules.html

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

http://fa.euronews.com/2018/08/18/iran-intelligence-agents-searched-our-house-said-wife-nasrin-sotoudeh (FARSI)

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/Iran-intelligence-agents-attack-Nasrin-Sotoudeh-home/29440612.html (FARSI)

https://ir.voanews.com/a/iran-human-rights-justice/4534216.html (FARSI)

https://www.protect-lawyers.com/fr/avocat/nasrin-sotoudeh/ (FRANCAIS)

https://www.mena-watch.com/mena-analysen-beitraege/endstation-fuer-die-mullahs/ (DEUTSCH)

Poland/EU: Polish judges set to be suspended from European network

August 17, 2018

Warsaw has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over changes to its judicial system.

An organization representing Europe’s judiciaries has moved to suspend the Polish Council for the Judiciary (KRS) on the basis it lacks independence from the executive in Warsaw.

The board of the European Network of Councils of the Judiciary (ENCJ) put forward the proposal to suspend its Polish member, to be voted on at a meeting September 17.

“The Board considers that the KRS is no longer the guardian of the independence of the judiciary in Poland,” the ENCJ wrote in a detailed opinion. “It seems instead to be an instrument of the executive.”

The ENCJ represents judiciaries from across the EU, and it acts as an advisory body to EU institutions. Its Polish member, the KRS, is the body responsible for selecting Poland’s judges.

Chairman of the KRS Leszek Mazur told Polish news site Onet: “We consider these actions as unauthorized and unjust.” Stating that a decision to exclude Polish judges “would be extremely regrettable,” Mazur said, “Let us hope that we will be able to appeal against such a decision.”

In January, a new law came into effect in Poland under which judicial members of the KRS are no longer selected by their peers but rather by the parliament. KRS members originally vehemently opposed the new law, but following the change its chairman issued a letter to the ENCJ defending the shift in how it functions.

But the international body deemed the legal changes are problematic.

…

https://www.politico.eu/article/polish-judges-set-to-be-suspended-from-european-network-rule-of-law-poland/

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1004626/EU-news-Poland-supreme-court-reform-European-Network-of-Councils-for-the-Judiciary

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-poland/eu-judicial-body-to-suspend-poland-for-flouting-freedom-of-courts-idUSKBN1L11YD

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/eu-judiciary-network-may-suspend-poland-over-412703.html

https://www.encj.eu/index.php/node/492

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4987_en.htm

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

http://www.bruxelles2.eu/2018/08/18/lappel-au-secours-de-la-presidente-de-la-cour-supreme-de-pologne/ (FRANCAIS)

South Sudan: Friends say Philly-educated peace activist Peter Biar Ajak has been charged with treason in South Sudan

August 17, 2018

Friends of the imprisoned international peace activist Peter Biar Ajak, who was seized and held without charges in his homeland of South Sudan, say he now has been charged with treason-related offenses by the government.

Ajak, 34, has been outspoken in his criticism of the country’s repressive regime.

Now a well-known scholar and speaker on East Africa, he had come to Philadelphia as a teenage refugee in January 2001, one of 40,000 “Lost Boys” left homeless by the violence and brutality of civil war in Sudan. He graduated from Central High School and La Salle University, earned a master’s degree at Harvard, and was completing a doctorate at Cambridge University in England at the time of his arrest.

Among the charges are concealing treason, publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to South Sudan, and an offense that covers insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism, according to a charging document.

The maximum sentence for concealing treason is 20 years in prison.

…

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/peter-biar-ajak-south-sudan-lost-boy-blue-house-treason-20180817.html

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/09/south-sudan-release-peace-activist

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article66020

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/peace-efforts-south-sudan-arrests-activist-peter-biar-ajak-180814133528096.html

http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/ArticleView/mid/519/articleId/21555/Sudd-Institute-Calls-For-Release-of-Peter-Biar-Ajak.aspx

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/south-sudan-must-end-the-arbitrary-detention-of-peter-biar-ajak

Welcome to Independent South Sudan Peter Biar Ajak: We Pray for You and Our Country

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/peter-biar-ajak-sudan-lost-boys-philadelphia-activist-jail-20180810.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/la-salle-grad-lost-boy-philadelphia-biar-ajak-detained-south-sudan-activist-civil-war-prison-20180730.html

http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ID/21557/Default.aspx

https://www.newsweek.com/us-senators-call-release-harvard-activist-detained-south-sudan-officials-1055531

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article66003

https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/philadelphia/peter-biar-ajak-lost-boy-philly-jailed-south-sudan

https://www.varsity.co.uk/features/15970

https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/15954

https://www.change.org/p/freedom-for-peter-biar-ajak (PLEASE SIGN URGENT PETITION!)

https://www.freepeterbiar.org/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/FreePeterBiar/about/?ref=page_internal

@FreePeterBiar

http://www.agenceafrique.com/13362-soudan-du-sud-hrw-exige-la-liberation-du-defenseur-des-droits-de-lhomme-peter-biar-ajak.html (FRANCAIS)

https://www.voaafrique.com/a/les-etats-unis-r%C3%A9clament-la-lib%C3%A9ration-d-un-activiste-au-soudan-du-sud/4510816.html (FRANCAIS)

http://www.lequotidien.lu/international/soudan-du-sud-arrestation-de-peter-biar-ajak-eminent-defenseur-des-droits-de-lhomme/ (FRANCAIS)

https://lemonde-arabe.fr/03/08/2018/soudan-du-sud-peter-biar-ajak/ (FRANCAIS)

http://www.europapress.es/internacional/noticia-detenido-sudan-sur-destacado-economista-detractor-kiir-machar-20180731173246.html (ESPANOL)

https://www.nzz.ch/international/suedsudans-verlorene-kinder-misstrauen-dem-frieden-ld.1409112 (DEUTSCH)

http://www.nigrizia.it/notizia/impunita-minacciosa (ITALIANO)

https://extra.globo.com/noticias/mundo/presidente-do-sudao-do-sul-concede-anistia-ex-vice-outros-rebeldes-22962949.html (PORTUGUES)

India: Civil Judge arrested for allegedly raping Woman Advocate

August 17, 2018

A Junior Civil Judge of Thungathurthi Court in Suryapet district of Telangana has been accused of raping a 29-year-old Advocate.

Rape

The Junior Civil Judge has been arrested.

Victim has alleged that Junior Civil Judge, sexually exploited her after promising her a marriage.

He reportedly got engaged to another woman last month.

Woman Advocate belongs to tribal community. She has alleged that accused sexually exploited her over the past few years with a promise of marriage.

Based on the complaint, a case of rape under relevant IPC sections and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against him on August 3.

After receiving the Complaint, Chikkadapally Police of Hyderabad arrested the accused judge and produced him at the Nampally court of the city. He was sent to jail by Court.

https://www.latestlaws.com/latest-news/civil-judge-arrested-for-allegedly-raping-woman-advocate/

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/junior-civil-judge-rape-woman-advocate-telangana-1314442-2018-08-14

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/junior-civil-judge-held-on-rape-charge/articleshow/65408642.cms

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/judge-held-raping-woman-687610.html

https://telanganatoday.com/junior-judge-held-for-rape-in-hyderabad

Egypt/CCBE: Detention of lawyer Haytham Mohamadeen

August 17, 2018

…

Your Excellency,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which represents the bars and law societies of 45 countries, and through them more than 1 million European lawyers. The CCBE places great emphasis on respect for human rights and the rule of law, and is particularly concerned with the situation of human rights defenders around the world.
The CCBE would like to express its concern regarding the detention of lawyer Haytham Mohamadeen.
According to the information received, on 15 May 2018, Haytham Mohamadeen was arrested in El Saf in Giza Governorate. He was detained in an unknown location. On 19 May 2018, the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo ordered a detention of 15 days pending an investigation on charges of “aiding a terrorist organisation” and “calling for illegal protests”.
We understand that Haytham Mohamadeen did not take part in protests and that he offers pro-bono legal advice to workers. He is also a member of El-Naddim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of  Violence, an Egyptian NGO dedicated to combating torture and providing medical and legal aid in support of victims of human rights’ abuses.

…

https://www.ccbe.eu/fileadmin/speciality_distribution/public/documents/HUMAN_RIGHTS_LETTERS/Egypt_-_Egypte/2018/EN_HRL_20180817_Egypt_Detention-of-lawyer-Haytham-Mohamadeen.pdf

https://www.ccbe.eu/fileadmin/speciality_distribution/public/documents/HUMAN_RIGHTS_LETTERS/Egypt_-_Egypte/2018/EN_HRL_20180817_Egypt_Continued-detention-of-lawyer-Ibrahim-Metwaly-Hegazy.pdf

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/Comment/2018/5/28/In-Sisis-Egypt-collective-punishment-tears-entire-families-apart

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/aegypten-deutscher-an-einreise-gehindert-und-festgenommen-a-1222976.html (DEUTSCH)