This page contains the most recent actions taken by Norwich Amnesty and details on how you can take action too.
URGENT ACTION: Ihsane El Kadi
FREE JOURNALIST SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS
On 2 April, the tribunal of Sidi M’hamed in Algiers convicted prominent Algerian journalist Ihsane El Kadi to five years in prison, of which two suspended, a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars (around USD 5,150), and ordered the dissolution of his media company, one of the last media outlets in the country, and a fine of 10 million Algerian dinars (around USD 73,862).
He was convicted on charges of “receiving funds for political propaganda” and “harming the national security of the state”, solely for investing money sent to him by his daughter into his media company and exercising his work of journalist.
His conviction is a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression and the latest example of the Algerian authorities tightening their grip on critical voices and the independent media. He must be released immediately and unconditionally, and his conviction must be quashed.
TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER
President of the Republic of Algeria
Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Presidence de la republique
Place Mohammed Seddik Benyahiya, El Mouradia,
Alger 16000 Algerie
Fax: +213021691595
Email: President@el-mouradia.dz
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express my deep concern about the sentencing of journalist Ihsane El Kadi to five years in prison and a fine of 700,000 Algerian dinars (around USD 5,150) on trumped up and vague charges which are being used to criminalize journalism.
On 2 April, the Sidi M’hamed first instance tribunal in Algiers convicted Ihsane El Kadi on charges of “receiving funds for political propaganda” and “harming the national security of the state”, under Articles 95 and 95 bis respectively of the Penal Code. According to his lawyer, these charges relate to money which his daughter sent to him and which he invested into his media company – something which is not a criminal offense under Algerian law. The court presented no evidence that Ihsane El Kadi’s media company creates political propaganda nor that it is harmful to state security, meaning the charges against him are unfounded.
On 2 April, the Tribunal of Sidi M’hamed also ordered the dissolution of Ihsane El Kadi’s media company “Interface Media”, which encompasses Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, and that it pays for damages to the Algerian audio-visual regulatory body a fine of 10 million dinars (around 73 862 USD), following the authorities’ launching a civil lawsuit against Interface Media for “exploiting an audiovisual communication service without authorization”. This is the latest in a long line of examples of Algerian authorities limiting media freedom and punishing dissenting voices.
Plainclothes security officials arrested Ihsane El Kadi in his home, without a warrant, on 24 December 2022. His arrest came just after he published an article on his predictions for the next presidential elections in 2024 and outlining the role of the Algerian army in repressing freedom of expression in Algeria. The Algerian authorities have previously targeted Ihsane El Kadi several times through judicial harassment and interrogations about his journalism. Ihsane El Kadi remains detained in El Harrach prison in Algiers.
I urge you to immediately and unconditionally release Ihsane El Kadi and quash his conviction. I further demand that you end the targeted crackdown and censorship of independent media and journalists in Algeria through vaguely worded articles of the Penal Code which are used to violate the right to freedom of expression.
URGENT ACTION: ALAA ABDELFATTAH
Alaa’s sisters have asked us to take an action during Ramadan. This is because the President pardons some prisoners when Ramadan ends at Eid.
Please send a card to President Al-Sisi.
Your card can be an Eid Mubarak card or a plain card, bought or handmade.
Please write Ramadan Mubarak inside the card, this means “Have a blessed Ramadan” or “Happy Ramadan”, and then write your own message asking the President to free Alaa
or use one of these messages:
- During this month of forgiveness, please pardon Alaa Abdelfattah
- During Ramadan, please feel it in your heart to free Alaa
- This Eid, please make Khaled’s dream come true and release his father, Alaa Abdelfattah
Please include your name and where you are writing from.
Please send your card to:
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, c/o Embassy of Egypt, 26 South Street, London, W1K 1DW
Please post your card by Monday 17th April so that the embassy can send it to the President before 21st April (Eid, when Ramadan is expected to end)
Social media If you use social media, you can share an image of your card and message
URGENT ACTION
Woman human rights defender, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, could soon stand trial for speaking out for women’s rights in Andorra, including abortion rights, before a UN expert body in 2019. She faces a heavy fine and a criminal record if convicted.
The authorities should drop the charge against Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, stemming solely from the exercise of her right to freedom of expression and advocating for women’s rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, and take all necessary measures to ensure access to safe and legal abortion in Andorra.
Update to Vanessa’s case – she was acquitted earlier this year!
URGENT ACTION
On 14 January 2023, Moroccan security officers detained Saudi citizen Hassan Al Rabea at Marrakesh airport at the request of Saudi Arabia who has charged him with terrorism- related crimes. He remains in detention in Rabat, the capital, and is at risk of forcible return to Saudi Arabia where he could face serious human rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment. The Moroccan authorities must release him and under no means carry out his extradition request.
TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER
Head of Government Aziz Akhanouch
Palais Royal Touarga
Rabat 10070, Morocco
Fax: +212 53 7771010
Twitter:@ChefGov_ma
Your Excellency,
On 14 January 2023, Saudi citizen Hassan Al Rabea was arrested at Marrakesh airport in Morocco on his way to Türkiye. He was arrested at the request of Saudi Arabia who charged him with “collaborating with a terrorist by assisting him with illegally exiting the Kingdom” of Saudi Arabia. This is allegedly in relation to him trying to help one of his brothers escape the state. He is currently being held in Rabat’s Tiflet 2 prison pending an advisory opinion from Rabat’s Court of Cassation.
If deported, Hassan Al Rabea faces a very credible risk of torture and ill-treatment, persecution, as well as a grossly unfair trial before the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC). In November 2022, an SCC judge convicted Hassan Al Rabea’s older brother on terrorism charges and used his discretionary powers to sentence him to death, even though the prosecution had not demanded a death penalty. Two of his cousins were executed last year.
I appeal to you to immediately release Hassan Al Rabea and under no circumstances deport him to Saudi Arabia where he would be at real risk of serious human rights violations. This is in line with Morocco’s obligations under international customary law and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment not to transfer anyone to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
Yours sincerely,
Activist supporting safe abortion risks jail
Woman human rights defender, Justyna Wydrzyńska, faces three years in prison solely for supporting people in need of an abortion. Charges against her appear to be intended to punish her activism and efforts to ensure people’s rights to access safe and legal abortion in Poland. The Polish authorities must drop all charges against Justyna, refrain from further reprisals against her or other activists campaigning for sexual and reproductive rights, and fully decriminalise access to abortion in Poland.
ILL-TREATED IRANIAN LGBTI DEFENDER AT RISK
An Iranian gender nonconforming human rights defender Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, known as Sareh, has been arbitrarily detained in Urumieh, West Azerbaijan province, since 27 October 2021 due to her real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity as well as her social media posts and statements in defence of LGBTI rights.
Authorities have ill-treated her and threatened to convict her of “spreading corruption on earth”, which carries the death penalty.
TORTURED IRANIAN DEFENDER DENIED MEDICATION
Arbitrarily detained Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi is being tortured and otherwise ill-treated in Shahr-e Rey prison in Varamin, outside Tehran, including by being intentionally denied the specialized healthcare including the medication she requires in reprisal for her human rights work. She is a prisoner of conscience who must be immediately and unconditionally released.
MOTHER WITH BABY DENIED PROPER CARE IN JAIL
Prosecution authorities and Ministry of Intelligence agents are denying arbitrarily detained Kurdish Iranian woman So’ada Khadirzadeh postnatal and post-surgical care after she gave birth on 20 June 2022 in hospital through a caesarean section operation.
She is also denied adequate healthcare for her kidney and heart conditions, and back pain. Hours after the delivery, authorities transferred her and her newborn to Urumieh prison, West Azerbaijan province, where she has been denied access to her lawyer since her arrest on 14 October 2021.
ACTIVIST RISKS PRISON TERM AS TRIAL ENDS
The trial against Yulia Tsvetkova, an artist and activist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East, is coming to an end.
On 14 June, the prosecution requested a jail term of three and a half years under the absurd charges of “production and dissemination of pornography” for posting online her body-positive drawings of women’s bodies.
The final hearing is expected to take place on 12 July. Yulia Tsvetkova will make her final statement and the sentence will be published soon after.
MARFA RABKOVA MUST BE IMMEDIATELY RELEASED
The next hearing in the trial against Belarusian human rights defender Marfa Rabkova has been scheduled on 25 April. She has been in pretrial detention since September 2020 and risks a lengthy jail sentence simply for her legitimate human rights work as coordinator of the volunteer network of the NGO Viasna.
The prison authorities have been denying her the urgent medical care she requires for months, despite worrying symptoms and deterioration of her health.
Marfa Rabkova must be immediately and unconditionally released.
Quash Mohameds Death Sentence
Mohamed Benhlima is an activist, former military official and whistle-blower who exposed the corruption of high-ranking Algerian military officials online.
He sought asylum in Spain but the Spanish authorities refouled him to Algeria in March without due process or evaluation of his asylum claim.
The Algerian authorities imprisoned him in El Harrash prison in Algiers before moving him to El-Blida military prison where he is awaiting completion of investigations and trial on several cases before the military and civil courts.
He was sentenced to death in absentia, while still an asylum seeker in Spain, on charges of espionage and desertion.
Ensure allegations of rape of activist are investigated.
Sultana Khaya, an activist for Sahrawis’ right to self-determination and her family have been under a de facto house arrest since November 2020. Security forces surrounding their home repeatedly and violently forced Sultana Khaya and her sister Luaara back inside their house when they attempt to leave. Security forces have also broken into their homes on several occasions, physically assaulting and raping the sisters. On 16 March, a group of American activists successfully accessed Sultana Khaya’s house but refrained from disclosing details of the visit for security reasons. While conditions of the house arrest were recently eased, police presence around Sultana Khaya’s house have not been completely lifted.
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