The Beirut Bar Association (BBA) must immediately withdraw its arbitrary restrictions on lawyers’ right to freedom of expression and end any related disciplinary proceedings against them, said the International Commission of Jurists today.
The Lebanese authorities must stop harassing judges who act independently and must revoke the unnecessary and disproportionate limitations they have imposed on their freedoms, the International Commission of Jurists said today.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has sent a letter to Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) urging a halt to the continued harassment and criminal investigations of human rights lawyers Dang Dinh Manh and Nguyen Van Mieng for allegedly “abusing democratic freedoms” under article 331 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
The Lao authorities must carry out a prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigation into the shooting of Anousa “Jack” Luangsouphom, a prominent human rights defender, to identify and bring to justice those responsible, called the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continue their sustained assault on human rights and freedoms, including targeting human rights activists, enacting repressive laws, and using the criminal justice system as a tool to eliminate the human rights movement. These policies have led to the closure of civic space, severe restrictions on freedom of expression, both online and offline, and the criminalisation of peaceful dissent.
For more than 10 years, UAE authorities have been unjustly detaining at least 60 Emirati human rights defenders, civil society activists, and political dissidents who were arrested in 2012 because of their demands for reform and democracy or their affiliation with the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah). Some from this group, commonly known as the “UAE 94” because of the number of defendants in their mass trial, were subjected to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment. They were sentenced to between 7 and 15 years in prison during a trial in 2013 that failed to meet minimum fair trial standards.
Tunisia must quash guilty verdicts against anti-pollution protesters and investigate alleged torture of human rights activist
Egypt: NGOs demand the immediate and unconditional release of Ibrahim Metwally, detained solely for peacefully exercising his human rights
Egypt: Authorities must stop persecuting political opponent Ahmad Tantawi and his wife
Libya: Investigate unidentified bodies and reported mass graves in Abu Salim