Press Release Aug 29, 2016 HRF Welcomes UN Special Rapporteur’s Opinion Curbing Broad “Hate Speech” Prohibition On August 15, the Special Rapporteur condemned the government of Singapore for prosecuting 17-year-old blogger Amos Yee on charges of “wounding religious or racial feelings.” Mr. Yee published several videos that contained language disparaging devotees of Islam and Christianity, as well as their religious beliefs.
Press Release Aug 24, 2016 HRF to Angola: Withdraw Secret Social Media Bill Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns Angola’s obscure Statute of Journalists Bill and calls on the National Assembly to both make it public and reject it immediately.
Press Release Aug 18, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Court Proceedings; Requests Release of Political Prisoner Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reiterates its February 2014 designation of López as a prisoner of conscience and calls on Venezuela’s authoritarian regime to release him immediately.
Press Release Aug 15, 2016 Turkey: HRF Calls on the UN to Inquire into Gross Human Rights Violations Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on the United Nations (UN) to immediately take action and inquire into credible allegations of gross human rights violations in Turkey following last month’s failed coup.
Press Release Aug 4, 2016 Nicaragua: HRF Condemns Arbitrary Dismissal of Opposition Congressmen Last Friday, the National Assembly enforced a decision issued by the Supreme Electoral Council on July 25, which ordered the dismissal of 16 principal and 12 alternate opposition congressmen belonging to the main opposition party.
Blog Post Jul 29, 2016 HRF to Gabon: Stop Violence Against Peaceful Protesters; Release Youth Activists and Union Leaders Human Rights Foundation (HRF) condemns the Gabonese government’s crackdown on activists and union leaders, and calls for their immediate release. In recent weeks, more than 30 civil society leaders were arrested and imprisoned for organizing demonstrations in opposition to president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is seeking a second term in the upcoming August election.
Press Release Jul 28, 2016 Turkey: HRF Condemns Erdogan’s Firing of Almost Three Thousand Judges Human Rights Foundation (HRF) condemns the removal of 2,745 judges in Turkey without due process following the failed coup attempt to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. HRF urges the Turkish government to reinstate the judges immediately until proper investigations are carried out.
News Jul 22, 2016 HRF Commemorates the Fourth Anniversary of the Death of Cuban Dissident Four years after Payá’s death in a mysterious car accident, his family is still searching for the truth. Today marks the fourth anniversary of the death of Cuban pro-democracy dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas.
Press Release Jul 18, 2016 Zimbabwe: HRF Welcomes Dropped Charges Against Mawarire; Urges Authorities to Stop Arbitrary Arrests Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomes the release of civil society leader Evan Mawarire and the court’s ruling that his rights were violated. Mawarire is a popular evangelical pastor who started the “#ThisFlag” movement to protest against police brutality and the destruction of the economy under President Mugabe’s rule.
Press Release Jul 13, 2016 HRF to Rafael Correa: Stop Muzzling the Media According to a recent investigation by Fundamedios, Ecuador’s most prominent free press watchdog, the country’s 2013 Organic Law of Communications (LOC) has so far led to hundreds of legal proceedings against independent journalists and media outlets.
News Jul 12, 2016 HRF in the Washington Post Javier El-Hage and Celine Assaf Boustani, members of HRF’s legal team, originally published this piece in The Washington Post. This week marked two years since a Saudi Arabian kangaroo court sentenced human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair to 15 years in prison for “inciting public opinion.”
Press Release Jul 11, 2016 Infographic: Repression in Venezuela Violence is rampant, the media is censored, members of the authentic opposition are in prison, corruption is out of control, there is a historic food and supply shortage, blackouts occur daily, the currency has been destroyed by hyperinflation, and a militaristic regime has slowly taken over all key functions of government and civil society.
Press Release Jul 6, 2016 Saudi Arabia: HRF Publishes Legal Report on Waleed Abu al-Khair Today marks two years since a criminal court arbitrarily sentenced Saudi Arabian award-winning human rights lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair to 15 years in prison.
Press Release Jun 30, 2016 Nicaragua: HRF Condemns Court Ruling Leaving Ortega As Sole Presidential Candidate Callejas was the only presidential candidate competing against President Daniel Ortega for the general election, which is scheduled for November 6.
Press Release Jun 24, 2016 OAS: HRF Welcomes Long-Overdue Session Assessing Venezuela’s Democratic Erosion During his opening remarks, Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS, lamented: “The people of Venezuela are faced with a government that is no longer accountable to them.
Press Release Jun 21, 2016 Cuba: Activists Arrested After Meeting With OAS Secretary General Both activists were detained for six hours last week at José Martí Airport in Havana when returning to the country after taking part in meetings with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro.
Press Release Jun 17, 2016 HRF Met with OAS Chief in the Dominican Republic El-Hage praised Almagro’s moral courage and congratulated him for activating the Inter-American Democratic Charter’s (IADC) 2001 democracy clause, which could lead to the suspension of the government of Venezuela from participation in all organs of the OAS.
Press Release Jun 13, 2016 HRF to Cuba: Stop Harassing Dissident Doctor In March, Herrera — a surgeon at the Calixto García University Hospital in Havana and a deputy editor for the Hablemos Press independent news agency — was barred from leaving the country to attend a human rights conference in the Czech Republic.
Press Release Jun 9, 2016 HRF to Almagro: For 8 Years We’ve Urged Suspension of Venezuelan Regime from OAS The session may lead to the suspension of Venezuela’s Maduro’s regime from the OAS for violating the organization’s rules making democratic governance a requirement for participation.
News Jun 1, 2016 This Nonprofit Wants the U.S. to Ally With Syria’s Dictator In this turbulent election year, one constant theme for leaders of both major parties is a desire to build a global coalition against the Islamic State. Now a relatively unknown group is taking that message literally.
