April 24th, 2013
Bahrain’s top news during the past 48 hours say a lot about the troubled country: glitzy races are welcome; experts on torture are not.
Bahraini officials yesterday claimed that UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, had cancelled his upcoming visit “indefinitely”. Funnily enough, the special rapporteur has denied this claim, saying that the government has actually blocked his visit, which was set to take place next month. The Special Rapporteur said in a release today that officials claimed that his trip could potentially endanger the success of the country’s National Dialogue, which began earlier this year.
Mendez said that the decision “does not enhance transparency with regard to the situation in the country nor demonstrate a commitment to redress impunity regarding any violations. Rather the authorities seem to view my visit as an obstacle rather than a positive factor to the reform process.”
The tiny gulf kingdom has faced unrest since the start of popular protests on 14 February 2011, which have now left 88 dead, according to Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).
The US State Department recently released a report evaluating human rights globally, and outlined Bahrain’s troubles with keeping up with its commitments to human rights. The report said that the country’s government has “limited freedom of speech and press through active prosecution of individuals under libel, slander, and national security laws; firing or attacking civilian and professional journalists; and proposing legislation to limit speech in print and social media.”
Bahrain says that reforms are underway, but their effect remains to be seen: according to Human Rights Watch, Bahrain’s authorities “have failed to investigate and prosecute high-level officials responsible for serious human rights violations.” To top it all off, the group also reports that there have been “more than 300 formal allegations of torture and ill-treatment.”
Even though there’s no room for UN experts in Bahrain, it looks like the doors are wide open for another Bahrain Grand Prix. This Monday, Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone said he would be pleased to extend the country’s contract for another five years.
“I feel they do a super job and don’t see any problems”, Ecclestone told the BBC.
Let’s recap last weekend’s race: BCHR has reported a total of 96 arrests in the lead up to the race — with 16 protesters arrested the day of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Protests took place in 20 of the troubled country’s villages, with clashes between protesters and security forces. An ITV news crew was forced to leave Bahrain right before the race, after reporting on protests — even though they had the appropriate accreditation. During last year’s race, three Channel 4 journalists were arrested and deported while covering a protest, but officials said that they were cast out for covering protests without media accreditation. I wonder what the excuse was this year?
Last year’s race drew crowds of protesters, who were met with brutal show of tear gas and bird shot pellets from security forces. One man, Salah Abbas Habib, was killed during protests. Bahrain did charge a police officer with murdering Habib, but his case is sadly the exception. In 2011, the race was canceled after 35 people were killed during the country’s crackdown on popular protests at Manama’s now-demolished Pearl Roundabout. Even though this year’s race went forward, every year this seems to come with a worrying cost.
Sounds like a problem to me.
October 22nd, 2012
Index on Censorship joined more than 40 global media organisations demanding governments, the United Nations and industry take action against violence towards journalists.
The joint statement was delivered yesterday to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and marks the second International Day to End Impunity on November 23. The issue will be discussed at the 2nd UN Inter Agency meeting on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, to take place 22-23 November in Vienna. (more…)
July 3rd, 2010
Shaheda Yesmin, the wife of Shamsher M. Chowdhury appeals for help from the United Nations. Chowdhury, a UN commissioner and the country’s former Foreign Secretary has been arrested on arson charges that his family say are politically motivated
Kingston Rhodes
Chairman
United Nations, International Civil Service Commission
New York
Dear Chairman
On the morning of 27th June 2010 my husband Shamsher M. Chowdhury, who has been a commissioner of the ICSC since 2005, was suddenly arrested by the government of Bangladesh on false and concocted charges. He was taken to prison and after appearing in court on 30th June, was released on bail. As he was preparing to return home, another totally false and concocted case has been lodged against him today, 1st July 2010, and he has been detained in prison again.
Mr. Rhodes, the whole episode is part of a campaign of political persecution against my husband. For the last one year, the government of Bangladesh has been trying to get Shamsher M. Chowdhury’s membership of ICSC cancelled on one pretext or another. Since he was elected by the General Assembly and by name, technically the government can’t do anything about it.
Hence, it has started to politically persuade him and try to bar him from attending the 71st session of the ICSC which will be held in New York on 26th July. He is expected to arrive New York on 21st July, for which the UN has already issued him his air ticket. He has also booked his accommodation in a hotel in New York for this purpose.
It is also very likely that the government of Bangladesh will try to discredit him and force the UN to discontinue his membership of the ICSC. Mr. Chairman, the matter is indeed very serious. Not only is my husband being physically and mentally tortured, all attempts are being made to disgrace and discredit him for no fault of his own.
Mr. Chairman, Shamsher M. Chowdhury has the rank and status of an Under Secretary General of the United Nations being a commissioner of the UN ICSC. I therefore appeal to you that the Secretary General of the United Nations should immediately, I repeat, immediately intervene with the government at the highest level (Prime Minister) and ask for the release of Mr. Shamsher M. Chowdhury. Such an intervention is fully justified as Mr. Chowdhury is currently working for the United Nations in an elected capacity. In his appeal to the government of Bangladesh, Secretary General should also strongly mention that Mr. Shamsher M. Chowdhury has a major physical handicap and his continued incarceration under extreme hard and inhuman conditions which tamp amount to physical torture and causing hardship to a handicapped individual.
Mr. Chairman, given the seriousness of the matter, I seek your immediate necessary action so that the secretary general can intervene to not only end this persecution of an UN official but also put an end to this torture of a physically handicapped person immediately.
I am eagerly looking forward to hearing from you on this.
Yours Sincerely
Shaheda Yesmin
Wife of Shamsher M. Chowdhury
Commisioner UN ICSC
February 17th, 2010
Campaign groups call on Iran to reconsider after envoy reverses its position and withdraws invite to UN rapporteurs
February 17, 2010, Geneva – Organisations supporting journalists, writers and publishers in Iran have called on Tehran officials to open the door to the United Nations’ special rapporteurs on human rights – including its expert on freedom of expression Frank la Rue.
Resisting calls here for an international investigation into post-election abuses of human rights in Iran, Tehran’s envoy Mohammad Javad Larijani told both diplomats and the media on Monday that there was a “standing invitation” for the UN’s special rapporteurs to visit Iran and investigate claims of rights abuse – only to reverse his position today.
Listen to a recording of today’s UN meeting here.
The rapporteurs should be allowed to visit the country at the earliest opportunity, said representatives of the “Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign, in Geneva to observe the UN Human Rights Council‘s review of Iran’s record this week.
The campaign is a joint initiative of Index on Censorship, Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the International Publishers Association.
Named for a pledge the Ayatollah Khomenei made during the 1979 Iranian revolution to protect freedom of expression and the press, the campaign will run through 20 March 2010, Iranian New Year (Nowruz), with events aimed at building pressure for the release of writers and journalists in prison in Iran continuing through the spring.
“Mr la Rue and the other UN rapporteurs should not be prevented by the Iranian government from making their own independent assessment of the situation,” said Alexis Krikorian of the International Publishers Association.
“The UN rapporteurs should go to Iran as soon as possible. Certainly we should hear their reports before the UN even starts to consider Iran’s bid to become a member of the Human Rights Council this May.”
Addressing the hearing before the 47-nation Council’s quadrennial Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure, Larijani said Iran was in “full compliance with the relevant international commitments it has taken on in a genuine and long-term approach to safeguard human rights.”
UN human rights experts have already voiced concerns about mass arrests and the abuse of opposition supporters, clerics, journalists, students and others, said Rohan Jayasekera of Index on Censorship “but independent investigation on the ground is crucial”.
The Council’s working group report on Iran, which included concerns raised by diplomats and human rights groups was adopted at noon Wednesday, following Iran’s grilling by other nations at the UN on Monday.
“The UN should have been able to mark Iranian New Year this year by announcing a programme of visits to Iran by its human rights rapporteurs,” said Jayasekera.
“Instead today Iran repudiated its international obligations on human rights and further underlined its unsuitability for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.”
Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continue to be undermined by the Iranian regime and human rights defenders face an increasingly precarious situation, said six of the rapporteurs in a statement last year.
The rapporteurs questioned the legal basis for the arrests of journalists, human rights defenders, opposition supporters and demonstrators, saying it was unclear and gave rise to fears of “arbitrary detentions of individuals legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression, opinion and assembly.”
The statement was issued by: Manuela Carmena Castrillo, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on arbitrary detention; Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Frank la Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and Santiago Corcuera, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the working group on enforced and involuntary disappearances.
The list of prisoners of conscience currently held in Iranian prisons includes some of Iran’s most distinguished journalists, some of the country’s leading bloggers, and Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American scholar sentenced in August 2009 to 15 years in prison following a mass trial of 140 activists, intellectuals, and writers accused of fomenting a “velvet revolution.”
Among the journalists are Emadeddin Baghi, also a well known author and human rights defender; Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, an award-winning editor and press freedom advocate; and Shiva Nazar Ahari, a human rights journalist who has been jailed twice in the last eight months. The Committee to Protect Journalists this month announced that the 47 journalists now in prison in Iran are more than any other country on earth has imprisoned at any one time since 1996.
May 28th, 2009
Farouk Hosny Egypt’s culture minister, and candidate to lead Unesco, the UN’s cultural arm, has expressed “solemn regret” over a May 2008 pledge to burn Israeli books in Egyptian libraries. Read more
here
