On 24 May 2017, the divisional court in Ankara overturned a conviction for sexual assault of human rights defender, Kemal Ördek. Instead the three perpetrators were sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment for the charge of ‘aggravated burglary.’ The man previously convicted and sentenced for the sexual assault was acquitted.
In April, 1,500 Palestinian prisoners launched the largest collective hunger strike in years under the banner of freedom and dignity. AWID interviewed Palestinian feminist activists to learn more about what the hunger strike means to them and what they want feminists around the world to know about the strike.
Question marks over support for short-term projects run by UN population fund prompt concern over future of programmes in Syria, east Africa and beyond.
Last Saturday, on 25 March 2017, AWID alongside other international organizations, attended a special Right Livelihood Award ceremony in Cairo where Mozn Hassan was honoured "for asserting the equality and rights of women in circumstances where they are subject to ongoing violence, abuse and discrimination."
The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Al-Khalil, Wa’el Hamada and Nazim Hammadi, who remain missing three years after armed men abducted them, should be released immediately, 56 human rights organizations said today, on the anniversary of their abduction.
Women’s rights defender, writer and blogger Ghada Jamsheer remains in jail in Bahrain serving a combined ten-month sentence for exercising her right to free expression on Twitter.
The regional coalition for women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is outraged by the arrest of both Kurdish WHRDs Ayla Akat, spokeswoman of the Free Women’s Congress (KJA) and a leading figure of the Kurdish women’s movement, who had participated in the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) 13th Forum in September 2016, who was arrested by the Turkish authorities on Wednesday 26 October 2016, which followed the arrest of WHRD Gültan Kısanak, Co-Mayor of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality on Tuesday 25 October 2016.
The Gulf State of Bahrain is known for its extravagance. Gloating over multi-million dollar investments in tourism, sports and banking, the kingdom does not shy away from showing off with the Grand Prix races, or celebrity visitors the likes of Kim Kardashian.
July 21, 2016
If Mozn Hassan and other activists are not able to continue their work for human rights the road towards gender equality and long-term stability in Egypt is not within reach.