Welcome to the latest newsletter, in which we share some good news stories.
Our next meeting is on Thursday 6th March 2025, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We will have updates on campaigns, letter writing and planning future events. In particular our second Iftar next Saturday… |
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Iftar in Bournemouth
After last years successful event we will be co-hosting an Iftar on
Saturday 8th March from 5pm.
This will be alongside Feed our Community. An Iftar is the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. It is a significant religious observance during the holy month of Ramadan, symbolizing the breaking of the fast.
Last year we had a few false starts with a venue, but we are returning to
Ensbury Park Community Centre, Ensbury Avenue, BH10 4HG
Please contact us if you would like to attend or help |
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We are delighted share the news that Neth Nahara, featured in last years Write for Rights (W4R) is finally free after more than a year of arbitrary imprisonment.
Neth was arrested on 13 August 2023 in her home in Luanda, Angola, simply for broadcasting a TikTok video criticising President Lourenço. During her time in custody, she was denied vital HIV medication, which caused her health to deteriorate significantly. Neth was later hospitalized due to the condition that worsened during her detention.
Thousands of supporters demanded her release through W4R 2024. Following this global campaign, Neth Nahara and four other Angolan activists were finally freed in the first week of January 2025. |
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Salma al-Shehab, 36, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two, was arrested on 15 January 2021 for tweeting and retweeting Saudi women’s rights activists on Twitter. Based on these tweets, she was charged, amongst other things, with “disturb[ing] public order, [and] destabiliz[ing] the security of society and the stability of the state.”
In March 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Salma al-Shehab to six years in prison. At her appeal trial in August 2022, the prosecution demanded a harsher punishment, and the SCC drastically increased her prison sentence to 34 years. Salma appealed that judgement and the court reduced her sentence to 27 years’ imprisonment.
We featured Salma al-Shehab on our stall at Increase the Peace, May 2023. Her release last month is fantastic news. |
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After more than four years of wrongful imprisonment for peacefully exercising her human rights, Dorgelesse Nguessan has finally been released.
In September 2020, over 500 people including Dorgelesse, were arrested for participating in protests in several cities across Cameroon.
Having never been politically active before, Dorgelesse joined her first protest in Douala due to her growing concern about Cameroon’s economy. Charged with “insurrection” and “public demonstrations” among other charges, she was then sentenced to five years in prison by a military court on December 7 2021.
In 2022, she was featured in W4R. On January 16 2025, she was finally released. |
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Europe Newsletter
Februarys newsletter also contains good news. Three of the GEZI defendants have been acquitted, overturning their previous 18-year prison sentences. But the other four defendants remain in prison serving long sentences for attending peaceful protests. Osman Kavala is serving a life sentence.
Since the newsletter was published Taner Kılıç a founding member of Amnesty International Türkiye and its former Chair, has been released from prison. He was convicted of “membership of a terrorist organisation” and sentenced to more than six years in prison. The end of the almost eight year ordeal for Taner Kılıç comes amid a new wave of detentions in Türkiye, in which rights defenders, journalists, political activists and others have been targeted.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/europe-newsletter-february-2025
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/turkiye-acquittal-of-taner-kilic |
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South America Newsletter
The latest South America Newsletter has updates on Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Suriname. There is a new Urgent Action for Venezuela, calling for the release of four human defenders currently arbitrarily detained for their activism. At our last meeting we sent letters to the Colombian Minister for the Interior. This is regarding the safety of civil society organisations, and the communities, of the Magdalena Medio region. They continue to be under persistent threat from armed groups, who have labelled them as collaborators and declared the community a “military objective”.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-february-2025 |
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