In light of the aggravated crackdown against women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, ProtectDefenders.eu’s partners reiterate the call to put an end to all acts of harassment against human rights defenders in the country (see Front Line Defenders' appeal). More than 15 human rights defenders have been arrested, detained and interrogated in a repressive campaign that began in January 2018 - just weeks before the widely celebrated lifting of the driving ban - which only seems to aim at sanctioning peaceful and legitimate human rights activities in particular in defense of women's human rights.

• In addition to the alerts included in the June edition of the ProtectDefenders.eu digest, only in the past few weeks Hatoon Al Fassi, a prominent Saudi advocate for women’s rights, including women’s participation to municipal elections and women’s right to drive was arrested on June 24, 2018 and has since been detained in an undisclosed location. Also, prominent women human rights defenders  Samar Badawi and Nassima Al-Sadah have been arbitrary arrested, and female blogger and human rights activist Nouf Abdulaziz Al Jerawi became the latest victim of a wave of arrests of bloggers and rights activists.

• Moreover, the Saudi public prosecution called for sentencing pro-democracy defender Israa Al-Ghomgham to the death penalty during the first court session before the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in Riyadh -set up to try terrorism cases- against her and five other activists, following 32 months of arbitrary detention.

Saudi Arabic is ranked 169th out of 180 countries in the RSF Index 2018, as the country permits no independent media and tolerates no independent political parties, unions, or human rights groups. The level of self-censorship is extremely high and the Internet is the only space where freely-reported information and views may be able to circulate, albeit at great risk to the citizen-journalists who post online. Up to date, ProtectDefenders.eu has provided at least 2 emergency grants to Saudi defenders at risk, and one grant to a local human rights group. temporarily relocated 17 human rights defenders. Moreover, the project has conducted two advocacy initiatives addressing the situation of human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia. ​

ProtectDefenders.eu warns about the systematic persecution and judicial repression of human rights defenders in Vietnam:

• On 10 July 2018, the Hanoi Higher People’s Court upheld the sentences of Vũ Quang Thuận, Nguyễn Văn Điển, and Trần Hoàng Phúc. The defenders were sentenced to a cumulative 20 years and six months in prison, and 13 years of probation or house arrest, having been found guilty of “conducting anti-state propaganda”. Vũ Quang Thuận and Nguyễn Văn Điển are leaders of the Vietnam Progressive Movement. Trần Hoàng Phúc is a law student and the Founder/President of the Vietnamese Students for Human Rights Association. In 2016, he supported campaigns for stronger environmental rights protections and proper compensation for victims of the 2016 Formosa pollution catastrophe in central Vietnam.

• Imprisoned human rights defender Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh has been subjected to long periods of solitary confinement, frequently in complete darkness, and verbal abuse by fellow inmates. According to the defender’s description, prison guards take no action to prevent her abuse by fellow inmates and instead may be directly encouraging this behavior. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, also known by her online pen-name Me Nam (“Mother Mushroom”), is a blogger and human rights defender and has been incarcerated since her arrest on 20 May 2017, on the account of her advocacy efforts on behalf of the victims of the Formosa Ha Tinh steel company’s release of pollutants into the sea.

• Since 30 July, the People’s Court of Nghe An province is trying pro-democracy human rights defender Le Dinh Luong over a year after his arrest, on charges of “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration”. If convicted, Le Dinh Luong could face between twelve and twenty years in prison, life imprisonment, or capital punishment.

Vietnam is currently 175th out of 180 countries in the RSF Index 2018. As the media all take their orders from the Communist Party, the only sources of independently-reported information are bloggers and citizen-journalists, who are being subjected to ever-harsher forms of persecution including violence by plain-clothes policemen.

To date, ProtectDefenders.eu has provided at least 13 emergency grants to human rights defenders in Vietnam and supported the temporary relocation of 2 HRDs. Moreover, the project has carried out one training initiative for at least 14 defenders at risk.

ProtectDefenders.eu has received with concern the following information concerning the restrictions to travel faced by human rights defenders in Mauritania:

• According to the information received, on 22 July 2018, five human rights defenders were arrested by the police at the Oumtounsy International Airport, where they were to embark for Geneva to attend the 64th session of the Committee Against Torture the United Nations (CAT), before which the second periodic report of the Mauritanian State is currently being examined. The police confiscated their passports under the pretext of verifying the visas, just after the defenders had completed the formalities of embarkation, and asked the defenders to produce a letter from the Swiss consular authorities of Senegal attesting to have actually issued these visas. Due to these delays, the defenders could not embark on their flight and missed Mauritania's review session, which took place from July 23 to 25, 2018. All five defenders were in regular possession of their Schengen visas and a letter of invitation from OMCT explaining the purpose of their trip.

Mauritania is currently ranked 72nd out of 180 countries in the RSF Index 2018. Media freedom has declined dramatically in Mauritania since 2014 after several years of great progress. Under a law passed in November 2017, apostasy and blasphemy are punishable by death even when the offender repents.

ProtectDefenders.eu's partners have recently documented the following case of harassment of human rights defenders in Western Sahara:

• Messrs. Ettalbi Hafdalla and Babit El Kori, respectively Legal Counsel and President of the El Ghad Association for Human Rights, have been repeatedly threatened and attacked in relation to the invitation they received from the European Commission to participate in the process of consultation of the Saharawi people on the EU-Morocco trade agreements in March 2018. This process was considered biased by the Saharawi civil society, which accused the Commission of aiming to legitimize the renewal of these agreements without complying with two consecutive judgements of the Court of Justice of the Union, and therefore asked the Commission to consult the Polisario Front as representative of the people of Western Sahara, as recognized by the 1979 UNGA resolution.

22 emergency grants allocated to human rights defenders at risk.


COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
 

• Cambodia 1

• Colombia 1

• Egypt 1

• Iran 2

• Honduras 3

• Venezuela 2

• Philippines 1

• Thailand 1

• Kenya 1

• Libya 1

• Tanzania 2

• Brazil 1

• Russia 1

• Sudan 1

• Tunisia 1

• South Africa 1

• Pakistan 1

FIELDS OF ACTION
 

• Women's Rights 1

• Civil and political rights 8

• Child Rights 3

• Land & Environmental Rights 1

• Indigenous People Rights 1

• ESC Rights 1

• Denouncing police violence 1

• General Human Rights 1

• LGBTI Rights 5

• Elections / Good governance / Corruption 1

TYPE OF SUPPORT
 

• Legal support 1

• Urgent relocation 6

• Medical support 4

• Individual security 3

• Office security 1

• Family support 1

• Permanent relocation 1

• Solidarity 2

• Psycho-social support 2

• Social assistance during relocation 1

• The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a FIDH - OMCT partnership)

• Front Line Defenders

• Reporters Without Borders/ Reporters Sans Frontières