solidarity – Page 30 – 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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Videos: Persecution by Prosecution – PUCL and 100 Organisations demand: Repeal UAPA / Session Reports

22/01/2021 Maya

en | 2h 17min | 2021

The Leaflet / by People’s Union for Civil Liberties

PUCL India and over hundred organisations present:

Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution

Also watch:
► Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj? (en + hindi | 2h 53min | Jan 2021)
► 100 Days of the incarceration of Fr. Stan Swamy (en + hindi | 3h | Jan 2021)

Session Report: Under UAPA, anything can be an offence based on flimsy evidence

22/01/2021

The Leaflet / by Megha Katheria

Bringing together lawyers, activists, and victims of UAPA, the second day of PUCL’s national consultation on repealing UAPA was packed with heart-wrenching stories of abuse and torture by the law. This underpinned the passionate launch of the campaign to repeal UAPA by PUCL and 100 other organisations. It is similar to the cohesive action by human rights organisations against TADA in 1990s and POTA in the early 2000s.
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Session Report: PUCL and 100 Organisations demand the repeal of the UAPA

21/01/2021

The Leaflet / by Parvathi Sjiv

In a session packed with human stories of abuse and misuse of law where activists and commoners were abused, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) began a three-day session on January 20th with over 100 other organisations comprising advocates, activists and others who spoke about the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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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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Elgaar Parishad’s Jan 30 event: Arundhati Roy, ex-IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan among main speakers

19/01/2021 Rani

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

‘Bhima Koregaon Shourya Din Prerna Abhiyan’ has released a pamphlet for the coming Elgaar Parishad, which mentions its main speakers as Arundhati Roy, Kannan Gopinathan along with Rohith’s brother Raja Vemula.
Author Arundhati Roy and former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from the services in protest against abrogation of Article 370, are among key speakers at the Elgaar Parishad event being organised in Pune on January 30 by ‘Bhima Koregaon Shourya Din Prerna Abhiyan’.
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Also read: WHY IS ELGAR PARISHAD BEING REVIVED ? ELGAR PARISHAD ON JAN 30

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

Video: 100 Days of the incarceration of Fr. Stan Swamy, SJ and the brutal face of the Indian State

15/01/2021 Rani

By Stand with Stan Campaign and 100 other civil society organisations

A programme in solidarity with the 16 human rights defenders arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case

Date: Jan 15, 2021
en + hindi | 3h | Jan 2021
► Watch video @ PUCL fb page

Moderator: Apoorvanand, Teacher and Writer
Special Address: Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
Speakers: Mihir Desai, Xavier Dias, Dayamani Barla, Aloka Kujur, Virginius Xaxa, Dorothy Fernandes
Performances:
Mallika Sarabhai, “I Shall Rise” (Maya Angelou’s poem)
Santhali Dance by Shikari Pada Santhal Pargana and other cultural expressions from Jharkhand
Performance video of arrested artists from Kabir Kala Manch

More programmes: …

Video: Stand with Father Stan Swamy – A live chat hosted by Teesta Setalvad

15/01/2021 Rani

en | 40:56min | 2021

CJP / by CJP

CJP secretary Teesta setalvad in conversation with, Human right activist and Jesuit priest, Father Cedric Prakash and, former principal of St Xavier’s College, Father Frazer Mascarenhas to discuss the arrest of octogenarian human rights defender Fr Stan Swamy.
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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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