This past week was not a good one for human rights lawyers.
As reported on this blog earlier this week, on Monday the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) suspended an Arab human rights group at the request of Algeria for hosting a “known terrorist” at a speaking event last year. The “known terrorist” here is Rachid Mesli, a lawyer who defended members of a rebel party that violently fought the Algerian government during the 1990s. The Algerian government alleges that by defending the members in court, Mesli himself is part of an armed terrorist group. He fled to Switzerland where he was granted political asylum, but Algeria has not let it go. By speaking at an event hosted by the Arab Commission for Human Rights, he has now cost that organization its ability to address the UN and its access to the UN Human Rights Council. While some Western countries abstained from the vote, the suspension passed without any major problems.
On Tuesday, Mohannad al-Hussani, a prominent human rights lawyer in Syria, was arrested by State Security. Hussani has been defending several opposition leaders in court recently was interrogated on statements he made in public and in court in defense of his clients. He has now been charged with making statements that “weaken national morale” after calling for the release of political prisoners in Syria. It is a common charge against those who seek to revive democracy in the Arab country, which has been under one party rule since 1963.
Then on Wednesday, Xu Zhiyong, a well-known human rights lawyer in China, was taken from his home by security forces in the early hours of the morning. Xu is a member of the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, a legal aid group that has represented victims in China’s tainted milk scandal and other human rights violations. He is the second member of Gongmeng to be arrested this past week while the government shut down the organization itself and its website two weeks ago. The Australian is reporting that at least 53 human rights lawyers have been detained in China in the past few weeks, while other nonprofit organizations have faced increased harassment. The likely reason is the growing economic and social unrest within China that in the past month resulted in deadly riots between Uighers and Han Chinese in Xinjiang Autonomous Region and rioting by 30,000 steelworkers in Jilin Province that culminated in the factory’s manager being beaten to death by the workers. With the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party scheduled for October, it appears that the Chinese government is willing to go to extremes to make sure no one dampers that party. Meanwhile, no one has heard from Xu since his arrest, leaving many in China and abroad asking, where is Xu Zhiyong?
Meanwhile, the Iranian government continues to arrest and harass human rights lawyers there in an apparent attempt to prevent them from helping the thousands of protestors that were arrested following the presidential election in June. Rights activists are being intimidated as well, and the arrest last week of the prominent women’s rights lawyer Shadi Sadr did not help. Since being released on Tuesday, Sadr has refused to talk to the media about her detention, a sign that even this veteran human rights lawyer who has been arrested before is scared this time around. It’s unfortunate, as the 100 detainees currently on trial en masse in Iran could really use a lawyer.
