International Observatory of Lawyers at Risk
26 September 2023 The wave of protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Jîna Amini, a young Kurdish woman from Iran, aged 22, arrested for “improperly wearing the hijab” triggered a violent crackdown that resulted in numerous executions and mass arrests of protesters and human rights activists, including many lawyers. As September marks the sad anniversary of Mahsa Jîna Amini’s death in custody, the family’s lawyer is being targeted by the Iranian authorities, accused of undermining the Islamic regime. Saleh Nikbakht has been charged with “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and faces a prison sentence of up to one year for his statement to the press in September 2022 that Mahsa Jîna Amini’s family had filed a complaint against the police officers who arrested and interrogated her. The trial of lawyer Nikbakht, who is also President of the Association of Political Prisoners, began on Tuesday 29 August 2023 before the 28th Chamber of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Prominent lawyer, human rights defender and academic of Kurdish origin, Saleh Nikbakht defended many Iranian opponents and elected representatives in 2009 following the “green movement” that followed Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s controversial and corrupt presidential election. As a result, he was […]
22 August 2023 Maryam Arvin, an Iranian lawyer and fervent defender of the rights of women who were victims of discrimination, died two months after her release from prison. She had been pursuing a doctorate in law since the age of 28, after obtaining her bachelor’s degree three years earlier. Her death was announced by the Kerman Lawyers’ Association on 7 February 2023, although she had been released on bail on 13 December 2022, along with her mother Tayyebeh Nazari. The causes were not specified by the Association. However, on 10 February 2023, the day of her burial, the office of the public and revolutionary prosecutor in Sirdjan declared that the victim had committed suicide. After the demonstrations that took place in Iran in September 2022, Maryam Arvin showed her support to the families of the demonstrators detained in the town of Sirjan, where she was a university professor and ran her practice. The Intelligence Police Department began targeting Maryam Arvin after an altercation with the judge of the Revolutionary Court, when she defended a 15-year-old orphan. As a result, Ms Arvin was accused of inciting and participating in demonstrations, without any supporting evidence. Abused, insulted and handcuffed […]
Senegal: Lawyers Juan Branco and Babacar Ndiaye involved in Ousmane Sonko’s defence team under investigation. 21 August 2023 Between Friday 4 August and Saturday 5 August, several of Ousmane Sonko’s lawyers were arrested. These arrests are linked to the public appearance of French lawyer Juan Branco at a press conference in Dakar on 30 July, after he had entered Senegal illegally. Juan Branco had been the subject of an international arrest warrant since 14 July for crimes and misdemeanours linked to the events that took place in Senegal in June. Juan Branco was arrested while attempting to leave Senegal and charged with attack, conspiracy, spreading false news and acts and manoeuvres likely to compromise public security or cause serious political disturbances, and was sent to prison in Dakar on Sunday. He was placed under judicial supervision on Monday 7 August before being deported from Senegal to France. Following Mr Juan Branco’s public appearance, Senegalese lawyer Babacar Ndiaye was also arrested on 4 August on the instructions of the Public Prosecutor on a charge of receiving stolen property. Mr Babacar Ndiaye was arrested at the Colobane police station, where he was carrying out his duties, before being handcuffed and transferred […]
Mexico: lawyer Oscar Zamudio Campos facing harassment and criminal proceedings for his professional activities 4 August 2023 Oscar Zamudio is a lawyer with more than 15 years’ experience in criminal litigation in Mexico, participating in the defence of complex legal and political cases. In 2021, Oscar Zamudio represented Carlos Treviño, former director of “Petróleos Mexicanos”, and uncovered acts of corruption committed by the Attorney General’s office and the federal judge before whom his client’s trial was to take place. The Observatory has received information that Oscar Zamudio is being investigated for the offence of abandoning his defence. The investigation was opened following his strategic decision, as a defence lawyer, to inform the judge that neither he nor his client would appear before him. According to him, the minimum conditions guaranteeing his client’s right to a fair trial had not been met. To sanction this, the judge considered that he had abandoned the defence, with the intention of leaving his client without legal representation. He also ordered the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation against lawyer Oscar Zamudio for the offence known in criminal law as “abandonment of the defence”. The Observatory has also been informed that the Attorney General’s […]
RUSSIA: The Observatory strongly condemns the violent attacks against lawyers in the Russian Federation and demands an impartial investigation
SENEGAL: The OIAD condemns intimidation and violence against lawyers in Senegal and strongly denounces restrictions on the exercise of the profession
Democratic Republic of Congo: The Observatory condemns the death in prison of lawyer Banzu Misongo Effremel and calls on the Congolese authorities to carry out a thorough investigation
IRAN: The Observatory condemns the sentencing of Iranian lawyer Farzaneh Zilabi to 18 months in prison and calls for all other charges against her to be dropped.
MOROCCO: The former president of the Rabat Bar Association and Moroccan Minister of Human Rights, Mohamed Ziane, imprisoned after a summary trial in absentia
BELARUS: The Observatory denounces the decision to sentence Belarusian lawyer Aliaksandr Danilevich to 10 years’ imprisonment for criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
TURKEY: Kurdish human rights lawyer Kurtulus Bastimar subjected to persecution and defamatory campaigns.
COLOMBIA: The Observatory condemns the new attacks against human rights lawyer Soraya Gutierrez Argüello, who was recently the victim of a break-in and attempted robbery at her home
COLOMBIA: Adil Meléndez Márquez, human rights lawyer facing threats.
TURKEY: The Observatory strongly denounces the arrest of 25 male and female lawyers and the searches of their personal and professional homes as well as the office of the lawyers’ association ÖHD.
HAITI: Assassination of lawyer André Charleus
THE OBSERVATORY CONDEMNS ATTEMPTED BREAK-INS AT THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BAR OF GABON, RAYMOND OBAME
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: The Observatory demands the immediate release of the Honorary President of the North Kivu Bar Association, Joseph Sanane Chiko, arbitrarily detained in Goma and recently transferred to Kinshasa
SINGAPORE: Persecutions against the lawyer Ravi Madasamy, engaged in the defence of Malaysian death row inmates.
IRAN: Iranian lawyer Mohammad Najafi imprisoned on false charges and banned from medical care
ESWATINI: Liswati lawyer Maxwell Nkambule was the victim of an assassination attempt because of his defense of pro-democracy activists
BANGLADESH: Environmental lawyer and human rights defender Syeda Rizwana Hasan and her team have been harassed and threatened
IRAN: Reza Khandan, human rights defender and husband of Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh summoned to prison
Mexico: Three break-ins in less than 15 days at the home of environmental lawyer Juan Carlos Flores Solís
TURKEY: The Observatory condemns the serious threats against the president of the Diyarbakir Bar and the disclosure, with impunity, of his personal and family information on social networks
Azerbaijan: Lawyer Elchin Sadigov is under preventive measure of house arrest and charged with “complicity in brive-taking”, with the risk of a 12-year prison sentence
VENEZUELA: Human rights lawyer Venus Faddoul has been publicly accused, threatened and harassed for her work
VENEZUELA: Lawyer Jecson Ricardo Cariel Garcia arbitrarily detained since August 5th, 2022
COLOMBIA: Lawyer Carlos Enrique Maldonado, victim of serious and worrying stigmatisation for defending peasant communities affected by the armed conflict
BANGLADESH: Human rights lawyer Shahanur Islam assaulted in court.
VENEZUELA: Human rights lawyer Engels Wladimir Puertas victim of arbitrary detention, torture, serious threats and criminalisation of his work
Haiti: Robinson Pierre-Louis, lawyer and general secretary of the Federation of Haitian Bars, has been arrested
Iran: The iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah has been arrested and sent to prison to serve a sentence that was handed down more than ten years ago
COLOMBIA:Human rights lawyer Andrea Torres Bautista, a has been victim of kidnapping, serious threats and gender-based violence, as well as the theft of sensitive information in a cyber attack 4 July 2022 Andrea Torres Bautista is a human rights lawyer, legal coordinator and deputy director of the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB). FNEB is an organisation composed mainly of women relatives of victims, and has been a major actor in the legal representation, visibility and support for victims of enforced disappearance, sexual violence and police abuse in Colombia. Andrea Torres represents victims in different cases, both in the ordinary justice system and in the transitional justice system (JEP), in which the main defendants are members of the Colombian armed forces. The Observatory has received information about serious threats against lawyer Andrea Torres Bautista. On 21 May, the lawyer was kidnapped, physically assaulted and had all her belongings stolen. According to the lawyer, the events occurred while she and her husband were returning home by taxi. Exceptionally, the lawyer was not in the presence of her bodyguards from the National Protection Unit (UNP). During the attack, carried out by four men, the human rights defender and her husband were physically and […]
COLOMBIA: Human rights lawyer María Alejandra Garzón Mora has been subjected to serious threats, cyber-attacks, surveillance and verbal attacks
Guatemala: The Observatory denounces the judicial harassment suffered by Claudia Paz y Paz.
Colombia: The Observatory condemns the new threats received by lawyer Yessika Hoyos Morales in the context of her professional activity before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
Mexico: The Observatory condemns the murder of women’s rights lawyer Cecilia Monzón
Colombia: The Observatory condemns the harassment of lawyer Luz Estella Romero Villalba and her family 4 May 2022 Luz Estella Romero Villalba is under severe attack for her work as a human rights lawyer in Colombia. The harassment is directed against her and in particular against her family, having suffered an attempt to forcibly disappear her son. Luz Estella Romero Villalba is an ecofeminist human rights lawyer in Colombia, where she represents and coordinates the Asociación Colectivo Mujeres al Derecho (COLEMAD). COLEMAD focuses its work on the promotion, respect and defence of the human rights of women, girls, youth and marginalised communities, as well as on environmental and territorial issues. As of 2019, COLEMAD has consultative status with the United Nations. With regard to legal cases, COLEMAD carries out strategic litigation by accompanying organisations and women’s groups that are victims of the armed conflict before ordinary courts (criminal and administrative), courts such as Justice and Peace (Law 975), a special court for land restitution and an administrative mechanism for collective reparation (Law 1448), and a special court for Peace-JEP (Final Peace Agreement between the government and the FARC-EP). As a result of her defence work, between December 2019 and today, […]
Guatemala: Criminalisation and hindrance of former members of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) legal practice
Mexico: The Observatory condemns the murder of lawyer and indigenous rights defender Patricia Rivera Reyes
Tunisia: criminal investigation against the lawyer and former president of the Tunisian Bar Association Abderrazak Kilani, the Observatory expresses its concern.
China: The Observatory calls on the Chinese authorities to ensure the full and unconditional release of lawyer Yu Wensheng
CHINA: The Observatory denounces the disappearance of the lawyer Tang Jitian, his arbitrary detention incommunicado in a secret location, the silence of the Chinese authorities and the censorship imposed on this arbitrary detention by the Chinese authorities
Mexico: The Observatory calls on the Mexican authorities to ensure an effective, diligent and thorough investigation into the situation of Ms. Guerrero.
HONDURAS: “Justicia para los Pueblos” law firm denounces intimidation in the trial of the Guapinol Defenders’ case The Honduran law firm “Justicia para los Pueblos” is specialised in the legal assistance of peasant and indigenous populations in Honduras. The law firm has been representing for more than XX years, environmental defenders and peasants who have seen their rights violated by the state or by the management of macro energy projects. The law firm “Justicia para los Pueblos” filed a complaint before the National Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras (CONADEH) on Monday 24 January, alleging intimidation of the legal defence team by armed men inside the courts of Tocoa, in the department of Colón, where the trial of the 8 environmental activists detained in the “Guapinol” case is being held. This complaint, presented by lawyers, Carlo Jiménez, Mario Rojas and Kenia Oliva, described two armed men who, without identifying themselves at any time entered with the public prosecutor. When asked to identify these armed men, the public prosecutor stated that they were protecting an expert and the Public Prosecutor’s Office itself. The prosecutor refused to reveal the identity or security affiliation of these individuals. This incursion is not only irregular but […]
Lawyer Akum Michael Nche was abducted in Bamenda by unidentified gunmen on Saturday 15 January 2022.
Equatorial Guinea: Lawyer Gemma Jones was arbitrarily detained for more than three hours at the National Police station in the capital city of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo.
Nicaragua: Nicaraguan lawyer José Arnulfo López Cruz is forced into exile to avoid arrest for his legal defence of political prisoners.
Nicaragua: Lawyer Eilyn Margarita Cruz Rojas into forced exile
Chawki Tabib, lawyer at the Tunis Bar, former President of the Tunis Bar Association and President of the National Authority for the Fight against Corruption, placed under house arrest.
The election of lawyer Firmin Yangambi to the Bar of the Tshopo region arbitrarily cancelled
Afghan lawyer Latifa Sharifi, a member of the Hawca association, whose main aim is to protect women’s rights, has already received several open death threats in the past. On 15 August, she tried to leave Afghanistan but was turned away at Kabul airport.
Egyptian human rights lawyer Mohammed El-Baqer continues to be arbitrarily detained in miserable conditions.
Philippines: Human rights lawyer and activist Czarina Musni openly threatened, persecuted and harassed
ALGERIA: Arrest and detention of lawyer Abderraouf Arslane
LEBANON: Arrest and arbitrary detention of lawyer Rami Alleik
Colombia: Arbitrary detention of lawyer Johan Sebastián Moreno Castro and possible criminalization
El Salvador: New attempt to criminalize lawyer Bertha María Deleón’s work
COLOMBIA: Colombia: Lawyer Sebastián Escobar threatened again in the course of his work
Turkey: Lawyer Aytac Unsal imprisoned at the risk of his health: sign the petition!
Philippines : Assassination of lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit
China: Risk of enforced disappearance of lawyer Chang Weiping
RUSSIA: Lawyer Mansur Gilmanov assaulted and arbitrarily detained.
RUSSIA: Lawyer Mikhail Benyash sentenced for a publication on social networks.
LIBYA: Lawyer and women’s rights defender Hanane Al-Barassi murdered in Benghazi
TURKEY: Last hearing for human rights lawyer Levent Pişkin
HONG KONG : Arrest of US lawyer John Clancey
Cameroon: Assault of a lawyer by police officers in Yaoundé
PAKISTAN: Lawyer Muhib Azad Laghari missing.
HAITI: Assassinated Monferrier Dorval, President of the Port au Prince Bar Association.
TURKEY: Death of lawyer Ebru Timtik after 238 days on hunger strike for the simple demand of a fair trial.
THAILAND: Lawyer Anon Nampa arrested in Bangkok.
TURKEY: Taner Kiliç, lawyer and former president of amnesty international Turkey sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison.
GUATEMALA: The Lawyer Esteban Celada is at risk.
NICARAGUA: The OIAD calls for measures to ensure due process and the personal safety of Julio A. Montenegro.
IRAN: Lawyer Soheila Hejab violently arrested as she exits court.
PAKISTAN: Saïf ul-Malook, lawyer of the Christian couple sentenced to death for blasphemy.
SRI LANKA: Arrest and arbitrary detention of prominent lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah.
CHINA: Disciplinary sanction against lawyer Lu Siwei for defending a lawyer.
EGYPT: Lawyer Mohsen Bahnasi, arrested and arbitrarily detained despite risks of contracting COVID-19.
CHINA: Release of lawyer Wang Quanzhang!
ZAMBIA: Practice ban against Zambian lawyer John Sangwa.
TANZANIA: Fatma Karume suspended indefinitely by the High Court of Tanzania.
AZERBAIJAN: Condemned by the ECHR for violation of the right to a fair trial.
EGYPT: Lawyer Zyad El-Elaimy sentenced to one year in prison.
UNITED STATES: Lawyer Steven Donziger under house arrest since August 2019.
COLOMBIE: Gerardo Vega Medina, avocat des droits de l’homme menacé.
PAKISTAN: Abduction of lawyer and human rights defender, Mr. Shafiq Ahmed.
KAZAKHSTAN: Search of the Belgian and Kazakh Authorities at the home of the refugee lawyer Botagoz Jardemalie.
MEXICO: Arnulfo Cerón Soriano, Mexican lawyer and human rights defender found murdered.
GABON: French-Gabonese lawyer Anges-Kévin Nzigou victim of an attempted kidnapping.
SRI LANKA: Lawyer Kumaravadivel Guruparan, prevented from practicing his profession at the request of the Sri Lankan army.
PHILIPPINES: Lawyer and human rights defender Ben Ramos murdered a year ago.
EGYPT: Arrest of lawyer and human rights defender Amr Imam.
EGYPT: Threats and attacks against human rights lawyer Gamal Eid.
Colombia: El OIAD expresa su profunda preocupación por los repetidos ataques y amenazas a la integridad personal y profesional de German Romero Sánchez destacado abogado comprometido con la defensa de los derechos humanos en Colombia.
EGYPT: Arrest of lawyer and human rights activist Mahienour El-Massry.
NETHERLANDS: Assassination of the Dutch lawyer Derk Wiersum.
NICARAGUA: Detained incommunicado for 52 hours the lawyer María Oviedo.
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