Bahrainis still suffer with human rights abuse, torture and political imprisonment, says Sara Yasin. Despite its supporters’ “astonishment”, it’s no wonder that the world was “hostile” to its Grand Prix
This article was originally published in The Telegraph.
The European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of a human rights resolution which calls for new rules to monitor internet censorship under autocratic regimes yesterday. The report’s author Labour MEP Richard Howit recommended an export ban on the technology that can be used to censor or block websites and monitor mobile communications. The reports calls for a coherent European Union policy on the implications technology can have on human rights. The MEP’s report also recommended the implementation of a “human rights tzar” in each of the 130 delegations of the union, who would be responsible for all issues relating to human rights.
Alisher Karamatov, a member of teh Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was released from prison on 13 April, having served almost six years of a nine-year sentence. Karamatov was found guilty of extortion and imprisoned in 2006, but independent observers believe the charges were trumped up and he was peresecuted for his human rights monitoring work. According to Human Rights Watch, “at least 10 ” human rights defenders remain in prison in Uzbekistan.
A Chinese human rights lawyer has been visited in prison by his family for the first time since he disappeared over two years ago. Gao Zhisheng, China’s best known human rights lawyer, was sentenced to three years in jail in 2006 for “inciting subversion of state power.” He was put on probation for five years, which meant he did not have to serve the sentence, but he was taken into custody throughout that period. Gao was taken from a relative’s home in northern China in February 2009. Last December, in the first official account of his whereabouts, state media reported that Gao was back in jail.