Crumbs of human rights

Former Amnesty prisoner of conscience Fred Bauma about human rights and democracy Fred Bauma about the human rights situation in the DRC (c) Amnesty International UK I could not have dreamt of anything more exciting than meeting former Amnesty prisoner of conscience Fred Bauma . Together with thousands of activists, I had been campaigning for him and his colleague Yves Makwambala for the past few years. So, I was floating on air when I heard about Fred and Yves’ release on bail in August 2016. I felt extremely honoured to be able to organise an event where Fred could meet the Amnesty UK activists who had been standing in solidarity with him. Struggle for change in the Congo On 11 March, just a few days before the anniversary of his detention in 2015, Amnesty UK hosted a speaker event with Fred Bauma. During the evening, the young Congolese activist talked about his experiences and the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Fred explained ...

Fomusoh Ivo Feh, a 29-year old Cameroonian student was about to start university when he was arrested by six plain-clothes men in the South-West region of Cameroon on 13 December 2014. His arrest followed a sarcastic SMS message that he sent to a friend , Azah Levis Gob who also shared it with his friend, Afuh Nivelle Nfor, a secondary-school student. The SMS was sent as a joke about how difficult it is getting into university or finding a good job without being highly qualified in Cameroon – suggesting it was easier to get into Boko Haram. The message read: ‘Boko Haram recruits young people from 14 years-old and above. Conditions for recruitment: 4 subjects at GCE, plus religion.’ After a teacher saw the message on Afuh Nivelle Nfor’s phone and showed it to the police, Ivo and his friends were arrested in late 2014. Subsequently, all three were charged with several offences, including attempting to organise a rebellion. A military court in Yaoundé sentenced Ivo and his ...

Fred and Yves are like you and me: activists, committed to bring about change and advocate for rights for all. A year ago, they attended a conference in the capital of their home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The event’s aim was to launch a platform called "Filimbi" that works towards encouraging young Congolese people to peacefully and responsibly exercise their civic rights. Following a press conference, they took part in a workshop where pro-democracy activists from several African countries gathered to exchange experiences on the theme "Youth and Citizenship". But in the middle of the event Congolese security forces raided the building and arrested 27 participants. This all happened in spite of the meeting’s previous authorisation by the relevant state actors.  Although most of the detained activists have been released a week after their arrest, Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala are still in prison after a year. The young ...

Keywan Karimi’s new film Writing on the City ​had its first official screening ​just a couple of days ago, on 12 February​ ​at the Spanish Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival in Pamplona . However, the director ​wasn​'​t​ ​present: Karimi is ​in Iran, awaiting the outcome of his appeal ​against his six-year prison sentence. The hour-long film is “ a historic journey in terms of an essay through the use of murals and political paintings in Tehran ”. Through the graffiti and wall paintings the past of the city revives: The audience can learn about forgotten events, that the locals couldn’t express otherwise, due to the regime’s repression. In those artworks freedom of expression and idea can thrive. However, as Karimi said in an interview with the Times of India , “ [The authorities] say it is a propaganda against the government. ” He goes on saying: “Some picture[s] and archive photo[s] are [from] some period in Iran that the government hates.” But becau...

Graffitis on Tehran’s walls, close to some specific places sent a Kurdish filmmaker to prison. The new film of Keyvan Karimi, ‘Writing on the City’ was shot at scenes related to the protests following the 2009 presidential election. Two weeks ago, Karimi was sentenced to six years in prison and 223 lashes by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. His charges: 'insulting the sacred' and 'illegitimate relations'. As Karimi's lawyer highlights “ The maximum penalty for insulting the sacred is five years, but…Judge Moghisseh has condemned him to six years in prison ”. The lawyer added: Iran’s Islamic Penal Code states that an individual should serve no more than the maximum sentence for the charge carrying the heaviest penalty, in cases of multiple charges. Based on that, the sentence imposed on Karimi was unlawful.  A source close to the filmmaker said that Karimi’s Kurdish and Sunni background may also have contributed to his harsh sentence. Iran’s Kurdish ethn...

Article 18 and 19: these two articles of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights are left out for  the majority of people, as restrictions on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Opinion and Information are hand in hand in Iran. News on trampling on Freedom of Expression have lately become regular. On World Press Freedom Day, while we were chanting and tweeting slogans such as “#FreePress” and “Journalism is not a crime”, we hadn’t been able to digest the few-day-old news that Jason Rezaian, the Iranian-American journalist of the Washington Post had been charged with violating Iran’s national security . The judges evoked crimes such as “spreading propaganda against the system” and“collaborating with hostile governments”. We might also recall a few other examples of journalists and bloggers who fell victim to the authorities’ curbs on freedom of expression and the media , such as Soheil Arabi or Masood Seyed Talebi. The message seems to be clear and simple as Susanna Flood, t...