Good News for April 2014

Hakamada Iwao - Japan

Having been sentenced in 1968 after an unfair trial, he spent 46 years in prison, each day with the possibility of being hanged the next morning. Although he has now been released, AIUK comments "the Prosecution might still be able to appeal against the decision to grant a retrial".

Jabeur Mejri - Tunisia

This 29 year old facebook activist, a Prisoner of Conscience held for peacefully exercising his right to greedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia, was released on 5/3/2014. He was convicted for 7.5 years but spent 2 years in prison for publishing online articles and cartoons deemed offensive to Islam. His case was in the 2013 Write for Rights Campaign. AI Tunisia launched a facebook and Twitter campaign for Jabeur's release.

War Crimes - Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's war crimes are finally to be investigated. On 27th March, the UN Human Rights Council voted to establish an enquiry into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka. The resolution was passed with 23 states in favour, 12 against and 12 abstentions.

AIUK is now calling for: 1) the Sri Lankan authorities to co-operate fully with UN investigations and 2) Sri Lanka to end a national crackdown on dissent and to stop actively targetting those seeking justice.

Written by Jess Lynde on behalf of our Researcher, Pam Thickett