Benenson Society
The individuals and issues we
campaign for.
The White Rose – name of the student resistance group at the University
of Munich during Nazi rule.
In China, Cuba, Congo, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, the United
States, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Burma. Pakistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Syria,
Yemen, Kuwait, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Russia, France… we have
campaigned for:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Human rights activists
Prisoners of conscience
Imprisoned migrant workers
People on death row
Minority groups
Those suffering religious persecution
Lawyers and journalists involved in human rights
advocacy
• The rights of indigenous people
The famous
Nobel Peace Laureate,
Aung San Suu Kyi, still
under house arrest in
Burma (Myanmar)
Capital punishment
• Troy Anthony Davis has been
on death row in Georgia, in
the United States, since 1991.
Three execution dates have
been set. His case is well
known among opponents of
capital punishment. Sr. Helen
Prejean, c.s.j., Desmond Tutu,
and American Catholic bishops
among others have raised
their voices on his behalf.
• - in March 2011 his appeal to
the Supreme Court was
rejected
In Pakistan, Aasia Bibi, 45, a
Christian and mother of five,
was sentenced to death on
charges of committing
blasphemy.
Christian minister Shahbaz
Bhatti and Pakistani
government politician
Salmaan Taseer were both
assassinated in 2011 for
opposing the blasphemy
laws under which Aasia was
convicted.
Religious persecution in China
76 year old Christian,
Bishop, Jia Zhiguo of
Zhengding, China was
arrested at the end of
March, 2009 (he had been
in jail for 20 years before
that)
- released in 2010, but still
under close surveillance
Lawyers who defend human rights
advocates
Le Tran Luât, legal counsel
for a number of human
rights activists, was
arrested by Vietnamese
authorities in 2009 – a
tactic used by the
authorities to limit protest
- He remains under
surveillance and is largely
prevented from working.
The assassination of advocates
Floribert Chebeya, head
of the national network of
human rights
organisations in the Congo
was assassinated on 2
June 2010
China has the largest number of
human rights’ activists
Chen Guangchen, a blind
self taught lawyer.
- under house arrest
because he spoke up for
women against forced
sterilisations and 130,000
forced abortions.
• beaten by police in
February 2011
Rizana Nafeek
Rizana Nafeek was a 17 yearold Sri Lankan working in Saudi
Arabia as a housemaid. She
has been sentenced to death
for killing the baby left in her
care in 2005. She claims to be
innocent.
- There is a major international
campaign underway to save
her, and Rizana’s plight has
come to symbolize the lack of
rights of migrant workers in
places like Saudi Arabia.
Child brides in Afghanistan
• Sakhina, 15, was sold
into marriage to pay off
her father’s debts when
she was 12 or 13.
Child witches
In some African countries,
thousands of children have
been identified as witches
and have been abused or
expelled from their homes
or in some cases killed
because their families and
communities believed them
to be witches or wizards.
Albinos can also be targets.
Chinese activist
Activist Hu Jia has focused on
the Chinese democracy
movement, Chinese
environmentalist movement,
and HIV/AIDS.
Hu Jia and his wife Zeng Jinyan
are peaceful human rights
activists and documentary
makers who have a ninemonth old child
- released by authorities in
June 2011 – evidence that
world opinion can have an
impact, even in China
Dr Garcia Paneque of Cuba
Dr. García Paneque is a medical
doctor and independent
journalist who was arrested in
March 2003 as part of a major
crackdown on peaceful dissent in
Cuba. He was serving a 24-year
sentence for his legitimate, nonviolent activities.
- released in 2010 and deported
to Spain as one of a number of
prisoners released through
negotiations between the
government and the Catholic
Church
Egyptian blogger – social media as a
means of protest
• Wael Abbas had been
jailed and tortured for
expressing his views. At
various stages his
YouTube and Facebook
accounts were closed
• This year he played a
role in the Egyptian
uprising streaming
coverage of the protests
around the world.
Vietnam remains a hotspot in
suppression of human rights
Fr Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, was
sentenced to 8 years in prison in
2007 after being charged with
spreading propaganda against
Vietnam’s Communist government.
He had previously served 16 years in
prison for activities in which he
advocated for human rights.
- released in 2010 to receive
medical care and kept under
house arrest
- In May 2011, a US diplomat was
roughed up as he tried to meet
Ly.
- Ly’s case, again, is an example
where public opinion around the
world can have an impact
Scott Rush and the Bali Nine
Scott Anthony Rush on
death row since 2005 had
his death sentence
commuted to life in
prison.
- Andrew Chan and
Myuran Sukumaran
remain on death row
The rights of indigenous people
The Guarani Indian people of the
Amazon became famous as the people of
the Paraguay Reductions and featured in
the film The Mission.
In September 2010 the bishops of Brazil
called for an urgent government
intervention to stop the "armed attacks"
conducted against two communities of
Guarani Indians in the southwest of the
country. These communities are being
attacked with firearms and are subject to
"brutal intimidation," being deprived of
their freedom of movement, access to
water, food, health services, and schools.
One of these threats appears to come
from Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s ethanol joint
venture with Brazil’s Cosan
The Roma people
The Roma (or Romani),
sometimes called gypsies,
are an ethnic minority
across Europe. In the
Holocaust hundreds of
thousands died at Nazi
hands. In 2010 France
deported hundreds of
Roma.
Against capital punishment
Romell Broom, on death
row in the American State
of Ohio. His execution was
botched.
- still on death row
Persecution of Christians and Muslims
in India
In recent years there has been an upsurge in
violence against the Christian minority in India.
Often these communities are tribals or
untouchables. in Orissa state numbers have been
killed. The situation appears to be deteriorating
across India. Burning of homes and churches,
rape and murder, and forced conversions to
Hinduism are becoming ever more common, with
some State governments apparently doing very
little to prevent such violence.
The All India Christian Council said the toll after
nearly two months of sporadic violence has
reached 59 dead and 50,000 displaced. Other
religious minorities – Muslims, Sikhs and
Buddhists could all find themselves under
pressure if such religious intolerance is allowed to
thrive. There has been growing violence against
Muslims – in Andhra Pradesh the latest clash
between Muslims and Hindus left three people
dead.
Iran – one of the worst offenders
Amir Yaghoub-Ali, a 21-year-old
student from Tehran, is a member
of the Committee of the One
Million Signatures Campaign,
which calls for an end to gender
discrimination in Iranian laws.
While collecting signatures on
behalf of the campaign in Tehran
in 2007, he was arrested. In 2008
he was sentenced to a year in
prison
- I have not anymore up to date
information since 2008
Behrooz Javid-Tehrani
Political prisoner, Behrooz JavidTehrani, has been in prison since
2004. He was sentenced to 7
years in prison and 74 lashes
which was upheld by the appeals
court. His charges included antiregime propaganda, insulting the
Supreme Leader, gathering in
front of the office of the United
Nations and membership in the
Democratic Front of Iran.
• He went on a hunger strike in
2009.
• He is still in prison.
Judicial independence in Venzuela
• Judge María Lourdes Afiuni was
detained on December 10, 2009
• Her arrest threatened judicial
independence and the rule of law
in Venezuela, Human Rights
Watch said today. Venezuela has
disregarded calls by UN and OAS
human rights authorities to end
her arbitrary detention and
ensure her safety.
• In February 2011, she was
granted house arrest during
recuperation after emergency
surgery for cancer.
Over 865 journalists worldwide have been killed
since 1992 (21 to date in 2011)
The murder 2009 of Sri
Lanka journalist, Lasantha
Wickramatunga, was a sad
blow to the human rights
movement in a country
that has been ravaged by
civil war.
Human rights activists in the Middle
East
Mohanad Al-Hasani, human
rights lawyer and the president
of the Syrian Human Rights
Organisation (SHRO), was
arrested on 28 July 2009.
- He was brutally attacked by
a violent cellmate whom
the authorities left in the
same cell for several days
after the attack
- I have no information since
the beginning of protests in
Syria this year.
Lack of due process
Patrick is currently incarcerated
despite a High Court judgment in
2001, which pronounced the
sentence of death on him to be
illegal, null and void.
• He is currently detained under
section 368 (3) of the Criminal
Procedure Act permitting his
imprisonment “during the
pleasure of the governor.”
• Patrick Okoroafor has spent more
than half his life in detention. He
was 14 years old when he was
arrested in May 1995 and
arraigned for robbery and
kidnapping, crimes he said he
never committed.
The rights of migrant workers
Jakatia Pawa, a young
Filipina Muslim maid
working in Kuwait, is on
death row after being
convicted of murder in
2007
Death by stoning!
Iranian women, Sakineh
Ashtiani, sentenced to
death by stoning
- Her case remains very
much in the spotlight of
world opinion
Freedom of conscience
In 2011, Musa Sayed, an
Afghani and Red Cross
worker, was arrested
faces a possible death
sentence for converting to
Christianity.
The Saffron revolution
One of our first campaigns
was in 2007 during the
saffron revolution led by
Buddhist monks.
- The repressive regime
remains in power
Titus Ani
Titus Ani is a Nigerian on death row in
Indonesia in 2011.
Titus was charged with the smuggling
350gms of drugs into Bali. He pleaded
guilty and was given a life jail term. The
prosecution, however, appealed the
judgement and his sentence was
upgraded to death by the Supreme
Court. He has now been on Death Row
for over five years now and for much of
this time has been without legal
representation and largely without hope.
This is a common occurrence for many
prisoners from Third World countries
who do not receive the publicity and
support received by the Bali Nine from
Australia.