prison – Page 7 – FoRB in Full

Silenciados por defender a los oprimidos: defendiendo a los presos de conciencia de Vietnam

Posted on 17/04/2023 by cswpress in Asia ES, español, Vietnam ES

El Partido Comunista de Vietnam viola continuamente los derechos civiles y políticos de su pueblo. El derecho a la libertad de expresión, opinión y expresión está estrictamente restringido y reprimido, con poco o ningún espacio para la voz de la sociedad civil. El gobierno vietnamita encarcela regularmente a personas por su trabajo de derechos humanos, esto incluye la denuncia de la corrupción, la oferta de asistencia legal, la organización de protestas pacíficas y el uso de las redes sociales para abogar por cuestiones sociales y denunciar las injusticias sociales.

Muchos defensores y defensoras de los derechos humanos arriesgan su propia seguridad para defender a las víctimas de violaciones de derechos humanos, incluido el derecho a la libertad de religión o de creencias. Quienes hablan con frecuencia se enfrentan al acoso, la intimidación, la vigilancia intrusiva e incluso a el encarcelamiento por parte del gobierno vietnamita.

Seis de estos activistas son Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thu Ha, Nguyen Trung Ton, Nguyen Bac Truyen, Pham Van Troi y Truong Minh Duc. El 5 de abril de 2018, fueron juzgados acusados de “llevar a cabo actividades destinadas a derrocar al gobierno”, y recibieron penas de prisión de entre siete y 15 años.

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Silenced for defending the oppressed – standing up for Vietnam’s prisoners of conscience

Posted on 05/04/2023 by cswpress in Asia, Vietnam

The Communist Party of Vietnam routinely violates the civil and political rights of its people. The right to freedom of expression, opinion and speech is tightly restricted and suppressed, with little or no space for the voice of civil society. The Vietnamese government regularly imprisons individuals for human rights work including exposing corruption, offering legal assistance, organising peaceful protests, and using social media to advocate on social issues and speak out against social injustices.

Many human rights defenders risk their own safety to stand up for victims of human rights violations, including the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Those who speak out frequently face harassment, intimidation, intrusive monitoring and even imprisonment by the Vietnamese government.

Six such activists are Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thu Ha, Nguyen Trung Ton, Nguyen Bac Truyen, Pham Van Troi and Truong Minh Duc. On 5 April 2018, they stood trial under accusations of ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government’, receiving prison sentences of between seven and 15 years.

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Abune Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

Let us honour the memory of Patriarch Antonios by bringing an end to the violations of the Eritrean regime

Posted on 09/02/202313/02/2023 by cswpress in Eritrea, Sub-Saharan Africa

Abune (Father) Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, died a year ago today. He was 94 years old, and had spent the last 16 years of his life under house arrest following his repeated objections to unwarranted government interference in church affairs.

In April 2004, the patriarch was appointed with the unanimous endorsement of the Holy Synod of the Church to lead one of only four recognised religious denominations in Eritrea (the others being Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism, and Sunni Islam). As a leader of one of the few religious communities not directly outlawed by the Eritrean authorities, one might have expected that he would not face the harassment and pressures the Eritrean regime excels in dispensing.

However, this was not the case. By August 2005 he had been removed by the government from administrative control of the patriarchate, and confined to ceremonial duties. Then in January 2006 he was removed from office in violation of canon law, his advisor Merigeta Yitbarek Berhe was detained, and he was held under de facto house arrest at his official residence. Eventually, in 2007 the patriarch’s personal pontifical insignia and clothing were seized, and he was formally placed under incommunicado house arrest in an undisclosed location in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

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“There is no excuse”: The international community must finish the work of holding North Korea to account

Posted on 29/07/202111/08/2021 by cswpress in Asia, North Korea

Content warning: This blog contains descriptions of rape, sexual violence and violence against infants

By Benedict Rogers

Almost exactly twenty years ago, CSW began to investigate the human rights situation in North Korea, and in particular the persecution of Christians.

It is fair to say that we were one of the very first human rights organisations to sound the alarm about the gravity and scale of human rights atrocities in the world’s most closed and most repressed nation.

The tragedy is that twenty years on, little has changed and the world continues to turn a blind eye.

Dislodging the bricks

In 2007 we published one of the first and most comprehensive studies of the atrocity crimes in North Korea, in a report titled North Korea: A Case to Answer, a Call to Act. In so doing, we became one of the first organisations to call for the establishment of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity.

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许那：遭遇过两场镇压的人生

Posted on 13/07/202110/08/2021 by cswpress in Asia CN, China CN, chinese

六月是个悲伤的季节，对无数的中国人来说，1989年春夏之交发生在北京天安门广场的一切，是一条从未愈合仍在流血的伤口。在中国，“六四”是禁忌的敏感词，任何回忆和纪念都被中共当局视为公然反抗。但每年此时在世界各地都会有很多追思纪念活动。在中国，无数人的生命轨迹因为八九六四发生了巨大的改变。他们至今仍以各自无声的方式坚守着对历史的记忆。

当年天安门广场上的绝食学生中，有一位名叫许那（又名许娜），是北京广播学院（现中国传媒大学）的学生。32年前，她曾和同学高举“新闻自由，言论自由”的横幅，满怀希望地走在北京街头游行的人群中。32年后，许那仍在北京，却已在东城区看守所被刑事拘留近一年了。