Turkey: Life sentences for journalists are “unprecedented assault on free speech”, say UN and OSCE experts

                            

Turkey: Life sentences for journalists are “unprecedented assault on free speech”, say UN and OSCE experts

  

GENEVA (16 February 2018) – Life sentences imposed on six journalists today by a court in Turkey are an unparalleled attack on freedom of expression and on the media, two international experts on media freedom have said in a joint statement.

  

“These harsh sentences are an unacceptable and unprecedented assault on freedom of expression and on the media in Turkey,” said David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Harlem Désir, the Representative on Media Freedom for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

  

“These prison terms represent an unparalleled level of suppression of dissenting voices in Turkey.

  

“We call on Turkey to reverse the decision and release the journalists. Imprisonment for journalism not only silences the journalists, but it also deprives Turkish citizens of their right to access pluralistic views on issues that can directly affect their lives.”

  

Journalists Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Fevzi Yazici, Yakup Simsek and Sukru Tugrul Ozsengul received life sentences at the hearing in Istanbul, after being found guilty of taking part in the unsuccessful coup attempt in 2016. They received additional 15-year terms for allegedly committing crimes on behalf of the Gülen movement, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey. 

  

“The court decision condemning journalists to life in prison for their work, without presenting substantial proof of their involvement in the coup attempt or ensuring a fair trial, critically threatens journalism and with it the remnants of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey,” said Mr. Kaye.

  

Mr. Désir said: “The magnitude of these punishments, and the fact that the court failed to implement a Constitutional Court ruling ordering Mr Altan’s release, raise fundamental questions about the ability of the judiciary to uphold the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.”

  

The Constitutional Court ruling, made on 11 January, ordered that Mr. Altan and another journalist, Mr. Sahin Alpay, should be freed from pre-trial detention on the grounds that their detention was disproportionate and infringed their rights to liberty, freedom of expression and freedom of the media.

  

The two experts described this binding ruling as a landmark decision that could positively affect other trials of journalists. However, lower courts have refused to implement it, saying the Constitutional Court had exceeded its authority.

  

Mr. Kaye has previously submitted a third partyintervention to the European Court of Human Rights on the cases of 10 Turkish journalists, including Mr. Alpay and three of the defendants jailed today.

  

END

Mr. David Kaye is the UN’s Special Rapporteur on thepromotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

  

As OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Mr. Harlem Désir

observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. He provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more on Twitter @OSCE_RFoM and Facebook.

  

For inquiries and media requests, please contact:

Azin Tadjdini (+41 22 917 9400 / atadjdini@ohchr.org).

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact:

Jeremy Laurence – (+ 41 22 917 9826 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)

  

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

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NEWS RELEASE - Planned US execution of seriously ill Doyle Hamm may amount to torture, UN experts warn

                                   

Planned US execution of seriously ill Doyle                                           Hamm may amount to torture, UN experts warn

  

GENEVA (16 February 2018) – Two UN human rights experts* have called on the US Government to halt the execution of a seriously ill man amid concerns that the use of a lethal injection could amount to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, and possibly torture.

  

The Special Rapporteurs also expressed concern that Doyle Hamm, who is due be executed in Alabama on 22 February, may not have received a fair trial. Mr. Hamm was convicted of robbery and murder in 1987 and has been on death row for more than three decades.

  

The execution is due to go ahead even though Mr. Hamm has cancer and medical professionals have previously had difficulty accessing his veins.

  

“We are seriously concerned that attempts to insert needles into Mr. Hamm’s veins to carry out the lethal injection would inflict pain and suffering that may amount to torture,” said the experts.

“The planned method of execution, using Alabama’s three-drug protocol, may also have torturous effects, because the sedative used is incapable of keeping a convict unconscious in the presence of the excruciating pain likely to be induced by the other drugs.

  

“We urge the authorities to halt his execution, annul his death sentence, and hold a re-trial that complies with international standards, as we have received information indicating that his original trial did not fully respect the most stringent due process and fair trial guarantees.”

  

The experts said that imposing the death penalty in a manner that constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment would render the execution arbitrary in nature and thus be in violation of the fundamental right to life.

  

The experts have written to the US Government to express their concerns about the case.

  

Judges have ordered a fresh medical report to be delivered by 20 February, two days before the scheduled execution.

  

ENDS

  

*The experts: Ms Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment orpunishment.

  

The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. SpecialProcedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

  

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Ms Rhiannon Painter (+41 22 917 9143 /  rpainter@ohchr.org ) or write to eje@ohchr.org.

  

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

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NEWS RELEASE - Zeid urges Iran to stop violating international law by executing juvenile offenders

Zeid urges Iran to stop violating international law by executing juvenile offenders

  

GENEVA (16 February 2018) – Noting a surge in the number of juvenile offenders being executed in Iran, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday urged Iran “to abide by international law and immediately halt all executions of people sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under eighteen.”

  

Already, during the first month of 2018, three people – two male and one female –have been executed for crimes they committed when they were 15 or 16 years old. This compares to the execution of a total of five juvenile offenders during the whole of 2017. A fourth juvenile offender, who was believed to be on the point of being executed on Wednesday, has reportedly received a temporary reprieve of two months. A number of other juvenile offenders are also believed to be in danger of imminent execution in Iran, with a total of some 80 such individuals reported to be currently on death row, after being sentenced to death for crimes they committed when they were under eighteen.

  

“The execution of juvenile offenders is unequivocally prohibited under international law, regardless of the circumstances and nature of the crime committed,” said Zeid. “The imposition of the death penalty on people who committed crimes when they were under 18 is in clear violation of Iran’s obligations under two international treaties that is has ratified and is obliged to uphold – namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child*.”

  

“I am sad to say that Iran violates this absolute prohibition under international human rights law far more often than any other State,” he said. “No other State comes even remotely close to the total number of juveniles who have been executed in Iran over the past couple of decades.”

  

The UN Human Rights Chief also noted that Iran ascribes criminal responsibility to girls as young as nine years old, whereas boys are not considered criminally responsible until they reach the age of 15**. He described the discrepancy between the two genders as “wholly unjustifiable on every level,” and the application of the death penalty to any person, female or male, under 18 as “illegal and unacceptable.”

  

The three juvenile offenders subjected to the death penalty in January were:

  

Mahboubeh Mofidi, who was 16 years old when, with the help of her brother-in-law, she allegedly killed her husband, who had married her when she was just 13 years old. She was 20 at the time of her execution on 30 January.

18-year-old Amir Hussein Pourjafar who allegedly raped and murdered a young Afghan girl when he was 16;

22-year-old Ali Kazemi who was just 15 when he allegedly committed murder.

  

The UN Human Rights Office is particularly concerned about the fate of Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi, whose planned execution in Qom on 17 January was postponed  for unknown reasons (he is believed to have been scheduled for execution at least four times in all for a crime allegedly committed when he was 15); and Hamid Hamadi, whose trial is widely considered to have been grossly unfair, is also believed to be at risk of execution at any moment for a crime allegedly committed when he was 17. He is believed to have been scheduled for execution at least five times.

  

Omid Rostami, whose scheduled execution along with 12 other people on Thursday in Karaj was postponed after the family of his alleged victim agreed to pardon him in exchange for diyah or ‘blood money,’ is still at risk if his family fails to raise the required funds within two months.

  

The High Commissioner noted that there had been some partial improvements in relation to other aspects of the application of the death penalty in Iran, most notably a bill amending the drug-trafficking law that was approved by the Guardian Council in October 2017. As a result of this amendment, some drug offences that were previously punishable by the death penalty are now subject to a prison term, although the mandatory death sentence is retained for a wide range of drug-related offences.

  

The amendment provides for retroactive applicability, which means that all people currently on death row for drug-related offences which are no longer punishable by the death penalty should see their sentence commuted. The Deputy Head of the Justice Committee of the Parliament has stated that about 5,300 inmates were on death row for drug crimes, and the High Commissioner calls for the swift establishment of modalities for the review of all cases of individuals sentenced to death under the drug-trafficking law, and that the review should follow the principles of transparency, due process and ensure effective legal representation of all those sentenced to death .

  

Successive High Commissioners for Human Rights have urged Iran to stop all violations of international law relating to the death penalty, in particular the absolute prohibition of the application of the death penalty for juvenile offenders, and impose a moratorium on all executions with a view to ending the use of the death penalty altogether.

  

ENDS

  

*ICCPR Article 6.5  Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.

 CRC Article 37:  “States Parties shall ensure that:

(a)   No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;

**The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Iran is nine lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys, and the amended Islamic Penal Code retains the death penalty for boys and girls who have attained these ages.

  

For media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org).

  

2018 is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70thanniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights

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NEWS RELEASE - African states affirm the rights of persons with disabilities in a new landmark Protocol

                                          

African states affirm the rights of persons with disabilities in a new landmark Protocol

  

GENEVA (15 February 2018) - The newly adopted Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights has great potential to strengthen the implementation of universal human rights for 84 million Africans with disabilities, a UN human rights expert has said.

  

“I welcome the African Union’s historic adoption of a Protocol that deals specifically with the rights of people with disabilities. The hard work and leadership of people with disabilities across Africa had made the milestone possible after nearly 20 years of preparation,” said Catalina Devandas, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities.

  

“This positive development should lead to considerable improvements in the lives of African people with disabilities. The Protocol addresses some of the urgent issues that have the most disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, such as poverty, systemic discrimination and harmful practices.

  

“The Protocol is expected to trigger a much greater inclusion of the concerns of people with disabilities in laws, policies and budgets, because it ensures increased accountability and closer oversight of how States implement their human rights obligations,” the Special Rapporteur added.

  

Ms. Devandas encouraged all 53 States which have already signed up to the Charter to ratify the Protocol without delay. She also reminded the African states of their responsibility to ensure protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities in conformity with the standards of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

  

“The Protocol, builds on the Convention, for example by explicitly recognizing people’s rights to exercise legal capacity and by providing protection against any interference with such capacity – a right set out in my recent report to the Human Rights Council,” the Special Rapporteur said.

  

The adoption of the Protocol, which took place at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 29 January, is the culmination of a process that began in 1999 with the declaration of the African Decade for Persons with Disabilities and the creation of an ad hoc WorkingGroup.

  

ENDS

  

Ms. Catalina Devandas (Costa Rica) was designated as the first Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities in June 2014 by the UN Human Rights Council. Ms. Devandas has worked extensively on disability issues at the national, regional and international level with the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, the UN unit responsible for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the World Bank. Her work has focused on the rights of women with disabilities and the rights of indigenous peoples with disabilities.

  

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

  

For more information and media requests, please contact: Alina Grigoras (+41 22 91 79289 / agrigoras@ohchr.org) or Cristina Michels (+41 22 928 98 66 / cmichels@ohchr.org) or write to sr.disability@ohchr.org

  

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact

Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

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NEWS RELEASE - US urged to protect rights defenders as activist Maru Mora Villalpando faces deportation case

                     

US urged to protect rights defenders as activist Maru Mora Villalpando faces deportation case

  

GENEVA (14 February 2018) – The United States Government must respect the rights of human rights defenders, a group of UN experts* has said, amid concern over action being taken against a Mexican woman who campaigns to protect migrants’ rights.

Maru Mora Villalpando, who has been in the US since 1996, is facing deportation proceedings after fronting a high-profile campaign against alleged human rights violations at a US immigrants’ detention centre, operated by a private company on behalf of the US Government.

  

“Ms. Villalpando’s notice to appear at deportation proceedings, received without warning, seems to be related to her advocacy work on behalf of migrant detainees,” the experts said.

  

“We urge the US Government to protect and ensure Ms. Villalpando’s rights as a defender and her right to family life.

   

“The authorities should take all necessary measures to guarantee that no action, including detention and deportation, as means of retaliation, is taken against Ms. Villalpando for reporting cases of the detention of immigrants and alleged violations of their human rights, especially in view of the reported conditions in these centres of detention.”

  

The experts said they were concerned that Ms. Villalpando’s case appeared to be part of a pattern.

  

“Giving people notice of deportation proceedings appears to be a part of an increasing pattern of intimidation and retaliation against people defending migrants’ rights in the US,” the experts said.

  

“People working legitimately to protect migrants’ rights must not be restricted or silenced. Their rights must be upheld so they can continue to exercise their vital role.”

  

Ms. Villalpando, whose 20-year-old daughter is a US citizen, is co-founder of a group which highlights human rights concerns about the Northwest Detention Centre in Tacoma, Washington.

  

She has raised the issue with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, alleging corporate involvement in human rights violations as well as expressing concern over hunger strikes and the deportation of migrants.

  

The experts also stressed the need for the centre to meet international human rights standards and for the Government to exercise proper oversight of the privatized facility.

The UN experts have been in contact with the Government regarding their concerns.

  

ENDS

  

*The UN experts: Ms. Elina Steinerte, Vice-Chair on Communications of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Mr. Felipe González Morales, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ms. Anita Ramasastry, Chair person of UN Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises

  

The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

   

UN Human Rights country page: USA

  

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Lucie Viersma (+41 22 928 9380 / lviersma@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact

Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

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