Statements – Page 42 – free them all

India’s human rights situation is very serious says UN Special Rapporteur

22/01/2021 Rani

Indian American Muslim Council / by IAMC

UN Special Rapporteur asks India to free 16 Human Rights Defenders accused in Bhima-Koregaon case.
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy organization dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, today launched a report titled, “Crushing Dissent: 2021 Status Report on Human Rights in India,” detailing human rights abuses in India. At the launch of this report, UN Special Rapporteur Ms. Mary Lawlor called upon the Indian government to immediately release 16 human rights defenders who have been imprisoned on charges of terrorism in the ‘Bhima-Koregaon Case’.
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Poets Should Not Populate Prisons: Israeli Poets Demand Varavara Rao’s Release

21/01/2021 Rani

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

“The arrest of Dr. Varavara Rao is an integral part of the steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP to reduce the democratic space in the country, and part of the political persecution and indictment of journalists, human rights activists, critical politicians and citizens and minority groups.”
In a letter sent to the Indian ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Kumar Singla, a group of Israeli poets have called for the immediate release of poet and activist Varavara Rao. The octogenarian has suffered a number of medical issues in prison recently, and his lawyers have filed for medical bail in the Bombay high court.
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Fr Stan’s arrest figures in UK Parliament: Govt says, Indian authorities were “alerted”

18/01/2021 Maya

Counterview / by Rajiv Shah

Will Father Stan Swamy’s arrest, especially the fact that he is a Christian and a priest, turn out to be major international embarrassment for the Government of India? It may well happen, if a recent debate on a resolution titled “India: Persecution of Minority Groups” in the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament is any indication. While Jesuits have protested Fr Stan’s arrest in UK and US, the resolution, adopted in the Parliament, said, “This House has considered the matter of persecution of Muslims, Christians and minority groups in India”.
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UN voice raps government on Stan Swamy / Webinar Report: Defending Human Rights is not terrorism

17/01/2021 Rani

UN voice raps government on Stan Swamy

17/01/2021

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

He is one of 16 rights activists, lawyers, writers and academics arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and charged with Maoist links.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, on Friday evening criticised the Indian government’s treatment of human rights activists such as Father Stan Swamy.
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Webinar report: Defending Human Rights is not terrorism!

16/01/2021

Sabrang / by Sabrang India

100 days behind bars, Fr. Stan Swamy continues to inspire.
At an online event titled I cannot be framed 110 human rights organisations, including Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), came together to stand in solidarity with Father Stan Swamy and 15 other accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. They came together to mark the hundred days of Father Stan Swamy’s incarceration and hail the efforts and struggle of all Human Rights Defenders.
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UN representative: India doesn’t properly protect human rights defenders

16/01/2021

The Indian Express / by Aranya Shankar

Mary Lawlor was speaking at an online event marking 100 days of Swamy’s incarceration.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor Friday said India does not “properly protect human rights defenders”.
She also said she had written to the Indian government in November, “raising concerns” over Jesuit priest Stan Swamy’s arrest in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, but had not yet received a response.
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`Defending Human Rights is Not Terrorism’: UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Asks Release of Fr. Stan Swamy

16/01/2021

India Tomorrow / by Ishfaq-ul-Hassan

Pitching for the release of 83-year-old Father Stan Swamy, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights defenders Mary Lawlor expressed serious concern over the arbitrary targeting of human rights defenders in India using controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
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Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur HRDs (Jan 15, 2021):
On 3 Nov 2020, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, & I sent a letter to the Indian Government on the arbitrary detention of #humanrightsdefender Fr. Stan Swamy. This letter is now public. Our concerns in full

Also read/watch: VIDEO: 100 DAYS OF THE INCARCERATION OF FR. STAN SWAMY, SJ AND THE BRUTAL FACE OF THE INDIAN STATE

Sudhir Dhawale – We´re lightiing up the candels for you, tonight

14/01/2021 Rani

By Release the Poet

Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit activist, writer, journalist, and editor of a Marathi magazine called ‘Vidrohi’, was arrested by Pune police on 6 June 2018. He was arrested previously in 2011 for 40 months, for the same reason he has been arrested this time – purported links with the Maoists. Dhawale, previously an activist of the Republican Panthers Jaatiya Antachi Chalwal, was involved in planning and execution of the Elgar Parishad, where he tried to bring activists and leaders from across political spectrum together to speak out against the Hindutva fascist regime.
Today, he spends his birthday in the infamous Taloja Jail of Mumbai.
#ReleaseBK16
#ReleaseAllPoliticalPrisoners
#Release_the_Poet

Arrest of Fr Stan Swamy: UN makes public letter seeking explanation from Govt of India

14/01/2021 Rani

Counterview / by Counterview Desk

In a letter to the Government of India (GoI), three senior United Nations (UN) officials – Elina Steinerte, vice-chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Mary Lawlor, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and Fernand de Varennes, special rapporteur on minority issues – have said that the arrest of veteran activist Father Stan Swamy in October 2020 marks “the escalation of harassment the human rights defender has been subjected to since 2018.”
The letter, sent to GoI on November 3, 2020 but made public Mary Lawlor through a tweet on January 11, after giving two months time to send across a reply, expresses “serious concern” over the manner in which National Investigative Agency (NIA) officers have treated a senior human rights defender, suspecting, the intention appears to be to delegitimise “his peaceful human rights work.”
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Stan Swamy, has been harassed since 2018: OHCR / Endorse: International appeal

11/01/2021 Rani

Human rights defender Stan Swamy, has been harassed since 2018: OHCR

11/01/2021

Sabrang / by Sabrang India

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Special Rapporteur on minority issues; write to Indian Govt over Fr Stan Swamy’s prolonged detention.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the and Special Rapporteur on minority issues, have made public a letter they had written to the Indian Government expressing their concern over the “alleged arbitrary detention of human rights defender Stan Swamy”.
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Endorse: International appeal to United Nations regarding Fr. Stan Swamy, S.J

09/01/2021

By Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat – Society of Jesus

Fr. Stan Swamy, SJ is a 83 years old Indian Jesuit priest incarcerated for alleged anti-national activities. He was arrested on October 8, 2020. The antecedents of this case can be traced back to 1 January 2018 violence against the Dalits across the state of Maharashtra. One Dalit youth was killed and countless of number of Dalits injured. Even though all evidence pointed to the role of right-wing leaders in the violence that erupted after the annual celebration at Bhima Koregaon, the state thought it convenient to foist false cases against human rights defenders who are known to stand up for the poor.
Read more / read & sign appeal

India: Call to UN for release of Fr Stan Swamy

08/01/2021

Independent Catholic News / by ICN

The Jesuits of India, together with an international network of civil society organizations, have appealed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to obtain the immediate release of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, 83, who has been imprisoned since 8 October on charges of sedition with 15 other human rights defenders in India. The appeal is a joint initiative of the Jesuits, Claretians and other congregations and organizations present at the United Nations.
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Video: Tribute to Political Prisoners January 1, 2021

01/01/2021 Maya

en / hindi | 6min | 2021

By National Alliance of People’s Movements

As we enter a new year, 2021, full of challenges and possibilities, we look back and remember many of our comrades and follow-travellers who remain incarcerated and persecuted. Their only ‘crime’: trying to make this country a better place, with rights and justice for all of us, especially for those marginalized and oppressed.
To that spirit of resistance and resilience, we dedicate this video and our energies over the coming year. Stand with all those persecuted, jailed and vilified for standing with the human rights of others.
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #EndStateRepression

In solidarity,
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Watch video

Bhima Koregaon, Elgar Parishad: One-Sided Probe / Ex-HC judge condemns jailing of activists

31/12/2020 Rani

Bhima Koregaon, Elgar Parishad: One-Sided Probe

01/01/2021

HW English / by Neeta Kolhatkar

Hindu right-wing duo, Milind Ekbote and Manohar Bhide, the two main accused named by Anita Sawle in her FIR, are obviously still free.
This December 31, it will be three years since the Elgar Parishad held in Shaniwarwada, Pune, historically was considered the seat, of power seat of the Peshwas. The Parishad was attended by intellectuals, lawyers, activists, students, members of the Kabir Kala Manch and other participants.
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Ex-HC judge condemns jailing of Bhima Koregaon activists

01/01/2021

Deccan Herald / DHNS

The 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence has only increased the popularity of the Bhima Koregaon victory celebrations, retired Karnataka High Court judge H N Naga Mohan Das has said.
Participating in the 203rd historic Bhima Koregaon commemoration event organised virtually by the Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar Studies and Research Centre of Bangalore University, Justice Das on Wednesday condemned the term ‘Urban Naxals’ used on participants of the 2018 incident and the continued imprisonment of some of them.
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21 MEPs sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India asking the release Stan Swamy SJ

30/12/2020 Rani

JESC / by JESC

With the advocacy efforts of JESC Secretary for European Affairs, Martin Maier, 21 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the main political Groups sent a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and to the Ambassador of India to Belgium, Mr. Santosh Jha, asking the immediate liberation of Stan Swamy on humanitarian grounds.
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