Frontline Defenders Latest Newsletter Highlights Lawyers Under Fire From Authorities Around The World

India / Spain / Philippines / Malaysia / China & Cuba and all in the last 5 days !

 

1. India: Lawyers physically assaulted by police personnel
(Front Line Defenders Appeals)

2. Spain: Human rights defender Joan Segura faces trial
(Front Line Defenders Appeals)

3. Philippines: Judicial harassment of ten human rights
defenders (Front Line Defenders Appeals)

4. Malaysia: Judicial harassment of Fadiah Nadwa Fikri
(Front Line Defenders Appeals)

5. China: Police seek prosecution of human rights lawyer Qin
Yongpei (Front Line Defenders Appeals)

6. Cuba: Criminalisation and ill-treatment of human rights
defender Luis Manuel Otero Alc?ntara // Cuba: Criminalizaci?n y
malos tratos del defensor de derechos humanos Luis Manuel Otero
Alc?ntara (Front Line Defenders Appeals)

 

03 March 2020

India: Lawyers physically assaulted by police personnel
On 26 February 2020, lawyers from the Indian Civil Liberties Union were assaulted by police personnel when they went to inquire about detainees who were picked up from the riots that hit north east Delhi.

The Indian Civil Liberties Union (ICLU), formed in 2018, is a collective of lawyers, activists, paralegals and students from across India. It was formed to reach out and provide easily accessible information and free legal aid to Indian citizens, especially the poor, marginalised, and migrant labourers whose citizenship is threatened by the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 (CAA). The collective works to bring justice to those who are excluded and threatened by the prospect of statelessness. ICLU has been at the forefront of providing legal aid to students and protestors harassed, detained and arrested during the anti-CAA protests across India.

On 26 February 2020, a group of lawyers from ICLU, after receiving information about alleged detentions, went to Jagatpuri Police Station, to meet with those who had been detained from the riot hit parts of north east Delhi. However, the police refused to give the lawyers access to the detainees. Further, when the lawyers insisted on meeting the detainees, the male police officers photographed and went on to manhandle the women lawyers who were part of the group. The male lawyers who protested this were slapped and beaten with a police baton. The group were finally forced to leave without having met the detainees.

Since the protests against the CAA began, several instances of police brutality and police inaction have been reported across the country.

Front Line Defenders is concerned by the physical attack and intimidation of the lawyers by the police officials, as it believes that this was solely due to their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in India to:

1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the physical assault of the lawyers from ICLU with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials;

2. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in India are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.

 

3 March 2020

Spain: Human rights defender Joan Segura faces trial
On 25 February 2020, human rights defender Joan Segura testified in court on charges of active resistance to authorities. The charges are related to his participation in a peaceful protest held by his organisation Stop Desnonaments in Palma de Mallorca, against the eviction of a minor with disability and his parents.

Joan Segura is a human rights defender with a 19-year history of social activism that since 2011 has focused primarily on defending the right to housing. Currently, he is a spokesperson for Stop Desnonaments (Stop Evictions), an organisation founded in 2016 in Mallorca, defending the right to decent housing through peaceful actions against forced evictions, as well as advocacy for better access to social housing. Only in 2019, around 400 families at risk of eviction sought the support of the organisation, and Stop Desnonaments has taken action against approximately 235 eviction orders, of which only 10 have been executed.

On 25 February 2020, Joan Segura testified before the Palma de Mallorca Court of Instruction no. 4 against charges he faces for “serious resistance and disobedience to authority”. The human rights defender is now awaiting trial. If found guilty, he could face up to one year in prison.

On 10 December 2019, Joan Segura was arrested by the police in Palma de Mallorca during a peaceful protest held by Stop Desnonaments against the eviction of a minor with disability and his parents. The human rights defender was held at a local police station for a few hours. After requesting habeas corpus, he was transferred to Palma de Mallorca Investigative Court no. 3. The court rejected his request, finding his detention legal. The human rights defender was released on the same day.

Joan Segura lodged an appeal against the rejection of his habeas corpus request by the Court. According to the defender, the police started executing the eviction arbitrarily, hours before the time indicated in the eviction order, making the eviction illegal and thus his own arrest also outside the law. The protest staged by Stop Desnonaments was entirely peaceful. Moreover, Joan Segura was determined to be present on site as he intended to assist the family in negotiating the suspension of their eviction pending the granting of social housing to them. However, he could not accompany the family as he was detained by the police hours before the scheduled time of the eviction.

During the same protest, other members of Stop Desnonaments and protesters were physically attacked by the police. Five of them have been diagnosed with injuries, including the evicted minor with disability. A spokesperson for the organisation, Alma Vives, who has a disability, had her wrist and right shoulder sprained as a consequence of the disproportionate use of force by the police. She submitted a formal complaint on 12 December 2019.

These incidents represent a pattern of harassment of Stop Desnonaments which has intensified drastically since June 2019. Members of Stop Desonaments have denounced increased restrictions to their right to protest through repeated fines against some of its members, disproportionate use of force by the police and defamatory campaigns.

Front Line Defenders is concerned about the charges brought against Joan Segura and the targeting of other members of Stop Desonaments, including through restrictions to their right to protest. It believes that they have been targeted as a result of their peaceful and legitimate work in defence of social rights, including the right to adequate housing.


Front Line Defenders urges the Spanish authorities to:

    1. Immediately drop all charges against Joan Segura, as it is believed that they are solely motivated by his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;

2. Lift the fines issued against members of Stop Desnonaments and other participants in peaceful mobilisations against evictions, and cease all further harassment of members of the organisation.

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders and organisations in Spain are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

 
5 March 2020

Philippines: Judicial harassment of ten human rights defenders

On 2 March 2020, human rights defenders from Karapatan, Gabriela and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippinesreceived a court notice sustaining a motion filed by a government official, finding probable cause to charge the human rights defenders with perjury.

Karapatan is an alliance of individuals, groups and organisations, formed in 1995 for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines. It is committed to the defence of people’s rights and civil liberties through education, training, advocacy, research and network building. Gabriela is a grassroots-based alliance that organises Filipino women, primarily from marginalised sectors of society, and helps empower and train them to fight for their rights and interests through collective action. The organisation provides direct services to marginalised women including counselling services, medical missions, relief and rehabilitation in times of disaster, as well as capability building trainings on women’s rights. The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines is a church-based national organisation, comprising priests and lay persons. The group empowers farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples, and educates them on their rights.

On 2 March 2020, human rights defenders from Karapatan, Gabriela, and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines received a court notice informing them that on 24 February 2020, a Quezon City Prosecutor had granted a motion for reconsideration, finding probable cause to charge the human rights defenders with perjury.

In May 2019, the human rights defenders had filed a petition for a writ of amparo citing the increasing attacks, smear campaigns and red-tagging1 of human rights defenders by the Philippine military. However, on 28 June 2019, the Philippine Court of Appeals denied the petition. A government official, who had been named in the petition, filed perjury complaints against the human rights defenders for allegedly including false information.

In September 2019, an assistant Quezon City prosecutor dismissed the complaints against all but one human rights defender. Following this, the government official filed a motion for reconsideration of the dismissed complaints. On 24 February 2020, the Quezon City prosecutor sustained the motion and found probable cause to charge ten individuals with perjury. According to the Philippines law, perjury is punishable by imprisonment from six months to two years and two months. Some of the human rights defenders have applied for anticipatory bail ahead of the issuance of the warrants for their arrest.

This is not the first time members of these organisations have been intimidated and attacked. The human rights defenders have been wrongfully charged, threatened on social media, physically attacked and even accused by officials of having links to armed communist groups in the past.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the increasingly hostile environment for human rights defenders in the Philippines. It urges the government to stop the judicial harassment of human rights defenders as it believes they arebeing targeted for their legitimate and peaceful work for the protection of human rights.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in the Philippines to:

  1. Immediately cease the judicial harassment of the human rights defenders from Karapatan, Gabriela and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, as it is believed to be solely motivated by their legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;

  2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of the human rights defenders, in consultation with them;

  3. Carry out immediate, thorough and impartial investigations into the attacks, smear campaigns and red-tagging of human rights defenders by the Philippine military;

  4. Take measures to ensure that government officials refrain from stigmatising the legitimate work of human rights defenders;

  5. Cease targeting all human rights defenders in Philippines and guarantee in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

1 Red-tagging” refers to the broad trend of labelling by the Philippine authorities of human rights defenders, journalists, rural communities and others perceived as threats or enemies of the State, as having links to communist groups.

5 March 2020

Malaysia: Judicial harassment of Fadiah Nadwa Fikri

On 3 March 2020, woman human rights defender Fadiah Nadwa Fikri was summoned by the federal police in Bukit Aman, for her participation in two peaceful rallies and a tweet she had published on the latter rally.

Fadiah Nadwa Fikri is a human rights lawyer and member of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, an independent non-profit organisation fighting corruption in Malaysia. In her capacity as the Legal Advisor and Campaign Manager, the woman human rights defender conducts research and drafts positions in response to institutional and legal reforms in Malaysia. She also works towards reforming policies concerning good governance, anti-corruption andhuman rights.

On 3 March 2020, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri was summoned by the Classified Criminal Investigation Unit of the federal police in Bukit Aman in relation to a speech she had delivered at a rally on 25 February 2020, where she expressed her disappointment in the country’s current political situation. The summons also referred to her subsequent participation in a protest rally on 29 February 2020, prior to which she had urged people on Twitter to join the rally. The tweet stated “Turun ke Jalan, Demokrasi Mati” which translates to ‘Go to the Streets, Democracy is Dead’. The rally saw a huge gathering of people disappointed with the recent change of government.

The human rights defender was called in for an investigation under the Peaceful Assembly Act of 2012. In addition, there are concerns that Fadiah Nadwa Fikri might also be charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the Sedition Act whichdeals with committing of an act that has a seditious tendency, as well as Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act which deals with wrongful use of network services and facilities, as these provisions have frequently been used to target human rights defenders in the country. During the questioning on 3 March 2020, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri was compelled to give the police access to her Twitter account.

Human rights defenders across Malaysia have been raising concerns over the increasingly hostile environment for those who are critical of the government. The case being filed against Fadiah Nadwa Fikri can be seen as one among many and adds to a pattern of intimidation of human rights defenders in the country.

Front Line Defenders condemns the ongoing judicial harassment of woman human rights defender Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, which it believes is solely motivated by her peaceful human rights activities and her exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Malaysia to:

  1. Immediately cease the investigation against Fadiah Nadwa Fikri as it is believed to be solely motivated by herlegitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;

  2. Engage with human rights defenders and civil society organisations denouncing corruption and cease all further harassment or intimidation directed against them;

  3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Malaysia are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.

6 March 2020

China: Police seek prosecution of human rights lawyer Qin Yongpei

On 2 March 2020, the Nanning Municipal Public Security Bureau in Guangxi province formally transferred the case against human rights lawyer Qin Yongpei (???) to the Nanning Municipal People’s Procuratorate for review for prosecution on the charge of “inciting subversion of State power”. Qin Yongpei has been in police custody since 31 October 2019 and is currently detained at the Nanning Municipal Detention Centre No. 1. Under Chinese law, the procuratorate must make a decision on whether to prosecute the case within a month and may extend the deadline for another 15 days if the case is deemed “major” or “complicated”; it may also return the case back to the police for supplementary investigation.

In a legal career spanning more than a decade, Qin Yongpei has defended other human rights lawyers facing reprisals from the authorities, provided legal assistance to vulnerable groups, and took up cases involving unlawful administrative detention, industrial pollution, forced demolition of housing, and wrongful convictions. He is the founder and director of the Guangxi Baijuming Law Firm, where several human rights lawyers in Guangxi also worked. In July 2015, he was briefly taken and questioned by police in what has become known as the “709 Crackdown” targeting human rights lawyers and other defenders across China. He has often taken to online platforms to comment on State policies and actions, including incidents of abuse of power by officials and human rights violations. He has had multiple social media accounts shut down because of his online postings critical of the government.

In May 2018, the authorities revoked Qin Yongpei’s lawyer’s license and ordered him to shut down his law firm. He then founded a legal consultancy services company to continue his legal work. After his license was revoked, Qin Yongpei submitted a complaint against Fu Zhenghua, China’s Minister of Justice, to the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI), a top internal body within the Communist Party of China responsible for enforcing party rules and combating corruption and malfeasance among party members. In his complaint, Qin Yongpei accused Fu Zhenghua of ordering the revocation of human rights lawyers’ licenses, which he argued constituted abuse of power and malfeasance. In November 2018, he also sued the Guangxi Justice Bureau for its decision to revoke his lawyer’s license, and sought financial compensation.

On 31 October 2019, police detained Qin Yongpei after they raided, searched, and seized computers and other belongings from his legal consultancy company’s office in Nanning city, without showing a warrant. On the same day, the police also searched his home and took away electronic devices, without providing the family with an inventory of the seized items as required by law. Qin Yongpei has been in police custody since then and is currently detained at the Nanning Municipal Detention Centre No. 1.

In November 2019, the Nanning Public Security Bureau refused requests by Qin Yongpei’s two lawyers to meet their client, without providing a reason in the written refusal notice. The two lawyers also requested the police to providethem with any main facts of the alleged crime that had been ascertained by the police at the time, but the police refused on the ground that doing so would risk “potential leaks of State secrets”. On 3 December 2019, the policeformally arrested Qin Yongpei on the charge of “inciting subversion of State power”.

On 6 December 2019, the two lawyers lodged a complaint with the Nanning procuratorate against the Nanning police for these refusals, which they argue are in violations of Chinese law and regulations governing the rights of suspects and of lawyers in carrying out their professional duties. The Nanning procuratorate responded that the police had acted lawfully. In January and February 2020, the police continued to refuse the lawyers’ requests for meeting Qin Yongpei.

On 26 February 2020, the Nanning police took Qin Yongpei’s two young daughters separately to a police station for questioning. The police asked them whether they knew about their father’s online postings and their “political content”, whether he talked to them about politics, and whether he criticised the Communist Party of China and the government during conversations at home.

Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned about the ongoing detention of Qin Yongpei and the transfer of his casefor review for prosecution as these measures are believed to be a reprisal for his activities as a human rights lawyerand his criticisms of State policies and actions, particularly the persecution of human rights lawyers.

Front Line Defenders urges the relevant authorities in China to:

  1. Immediately and unconditionally release Qin Yongpei, and end all investigative and judicial actions against him;

  2. Cease all forms of harassment of his family;

  3. Ensure that, pending his release, Qin Yongpei is not subjected to any form of torture or other ill-treatment, in strict adherence to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment’, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988. Ensure as well that he has immediate, regular and unrestricted access to legal counsel of his choice, and is able to communicate with family members, without undue interference;

  4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, in line with China’s international human rights obligations and commitments;

  5. Initiate a comprehensive legal reform process, in genuine consultation with independent civil society and human rights defenders, to review existing laws, regulations, policies and practices, especially the provisions related to national security offences, that have been used to target human rights defenders, with a view to align them with China’s obligations under international human rights law and standards.

 
6 March 2020

Cuba: Criminalisation and ill-treatment of human rights defender Luis Manuel Otero Alcántar

On 1 March 2020, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was arrested when leaving his house to attend a peaceful protestorganised by the LGTBIQ community to call for freedom of expression. During the arrest, his girlfriend Claudia Genlui was violently beaten, and both had their phones confiscated. Since the entry into force of Decree 349, artists have been protesting against government control over cultural productions, resulting in a number of arbitrary arrests.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a visual artist and human rights defender from Cuba. He is the general coordinator of the San Isidro Collective, a group of artists formed in 2018 to promote freedom of expression and cultural rights in light of the restrictions introduced by the Decree 349. Over the past years, he has been using art and cultural expressions to contest violations of freedom of expression by the Cuban government.

On 1 March 2020, at 2:30 pm, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was arrested on fabricated charges of property damage, as he was leaving his house to join a protest organised by the LGTBIQ community in front of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión). The defender was ill-treated during the arrest. When his girlfriend Claudia Genlui tried to film the incident, she was violently beaten and thrown to the ground by an officer of the National Revolutionary Police. Both had their phones confiscated, and were denied documents to prove that.

The next day, members of the San Isidro Collective went to the Directorate General of the National Revolutionary Police (Dirección General de la Policía Nacional Revolucionaria) to request information about Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. They were told that he would remain detained in a detention centre known as “el Vivac” awaiting an “abbreviated summary trial” (juicio sumario abreviado), an obscure procedure whereby the accused is sentenced within ten days. The grounds for the charges brought against the human rights defender were not disclosed. He might be facing up to 5 years’ imprisonment.

In late 2018, Decree 349, which gives control over cultural and artistic productions to the Cuban government and provides a list of prohibited subjects, was met with protests and contestations by the Cuban artistic community. Since then, public demonstrations have commonly resulted in arbitrary detentions lasting for several days. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has been arrested 24 times since then. Each time, the authorities denied him any proof of detention.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has been previously charged with aggravated contempt toward state leadership and desecration of national symbols. Neither of these offences is punishable with imprisonment. Local human rights defenders believe that the additional charge of property damage has been brought against Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara to accumulate charges and allow for his sentencing to prison.

Front Line Defenders is concerned about the arbitrary arrest, criminalisation and ill-treatment of Luis M anuel Otero Alcántara, as well as the ill-treatment of his girlfriend Claudia Genlui. These acts are believed to be solely motivated by his peaceful activities promoting freedom of expression and cultural rights, and may constitute a chilling message to Cuban defenders and the artistic community promoting freedom of expression. Front Line Defenders is furtherconcerned about the recurrent use of the state security apparatus to repress human rights defenders who promote freedom of expression.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Cuba to:

  1. Immediately and unconditionally release Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and drop all charges against him, as Front Line Defenders believes that his criminalisation is solely motivated by his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights;

  2. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the ill-treatment of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Claudia Genlui, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;

  3. Ensure that the treatment of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, while in detention, adheres to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment’, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;

  4. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Claudia Genlui as well as of members of the San Isidro Collective, in consultation with them;

  1. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Cuba, in particular those defending freedom of expression in the context of Decree 349, are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.