YEM 001 / 0710 / OBS 083
Intimidation / Threat of travel ban
Yemen
July 7, 2010
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Yemen.
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the acts of intimidation and threats of travel restrictions faced by Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
According to the information received, on June 19, 2010, upon his arrival at the airport of Sana’a in Yemen, Mr. Nabeel Rajab was stopped, interrogated by two security officers about the aim of his visit to Yemen and his religious beliefs, and his luggage was searched between 3 and 6.30 pm, before being eventually authorised to enter the country. Upon his departure on June 23, 2010, Mr. Rajab was again stopped at the airport, submitted to a rough interrogation by a team of three security officers, including a security officer named Mr. Fayez Ali, his luggage was searched and his passport confiscated until his departure. During the interrogation, the officers used rude language and asked him about whom he met and the places he had visited in Yemen. After two hours, he was brought by the officers to the plane and asked not to come back to Yemen otherwise he would “face consequences”.
In August 2009, Mr. Nabeel Rajab had conducted an FIDH fact-finding mission on the situation of human rights in the framework of the fight against terrorism and security threats in Yemen. The findings of the report were published in January 2010[1] and Mr. Rajab was then visiting Yemen to present the report to the Yemeni authorities, civil society and diplomatic missions and to participate in a workshop aiming at discussing about the follow-up of the recommendations addressed to Yemen by the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations - in particular the Universal Periodic Review and the Committee Against Torture. Following these events, FIDH asked the authorities of Yemen for clarification regarding these acts of intimidation against its mission delegate but did not receive any reply.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about the above-mentioned acts of intimidation and threats of travel restrictions in Yemen faced by Mr. Nabeel Rajab, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities and in particular the cooperation of Mr. Rajab and the organisation he is representing with UN mechanisms. The Observatory believes in this regard such travel restrictions unfairly and arbitrarily impair his ability and the ability of the organisation he is representing to address regional and international organisations and fora about human rights concerns, thus violating Article 9.5 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to unhindered access to and communication with international bodies with general or special competence to receive and consider communications on matters of human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The Observatory urges the authorities of Yemen to:
Please also write to diplomatic representations of Yemen in your respective countries.
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Paris-Geneva, July 7, 2010
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
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