The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (“BHRC”) has called on the King of Bahrain to suspend or commute the death sentences of Mohamed Ramadan and Husain Ali Moosa in an open letter sent today. Mr Ramadan and Mr Moosa were convicted of carrying out a 2014 bombing in Bahrain. Both men allege...
The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) has today published a new high-level Briefing Paper on the responsibility of governments under international law in relation to the widely reported severe ill-treatment, repression and abuse of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims by China. The report, “Responsibility of States under international law to Uyghurs...
BHRC has published its observations in full of the “Gezi Park” trial of sixteen leading civil society individuals in Turkey, including Open Society Foundation Board member Osman Kavala. BHRC has closely monitored the trial over several months since June 2019, which ostensibly ended with the acquittal of Mr Kavala and eight other defendants in February 2020....
BHRC has issued a public statement expressing serious concern that draft legislation in Turkey, which aims to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across prisons and detention centres, contains a blanket exclusion of political prisoners. These include thousands of civil servants, lawyers, politicians, activists, and journalists whom Turkey has detained, prosecuted and convicted in the period since...
BHRC has joined the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), MENA Rights Group, and 37 organisations from around the world, to issue a statement calling on governments in the Middle East and North Africa to take a number of urgent measures to protect their prison populations, and in doing so, their populations as...
Following on from our previous trial observations of June and October 2019, BHRC has published an interim trial report of the “Gezi Park” trial of sixteen leading civil society individuals in Turkey, including Osman Kavala and Yiğit Aksakoğlu. The interim report covers the latest hearing in the case, which was in session for a day...
On the International Day of Endangered Lawyers, the IBAHRI, in cooperation with BHRC and other long-term partners Human Rights House Foundation, Lawyers for Lawyers and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, launched the Toolkit on Lawyers at Risk. The Toolkit on Lawyers at Risk is a unique tool aimed at facilitating the efforts of those seeking to...
BHRC has today received information that: A judge reviewed an application for the re-arrest of Ahmet Altan, one of Turkey’s most well-known writers, just over a week after his release pending appeal on Monday November 4. Altan had in effect served over three years in pre-trial detention. The Prosecutor in the case sought his re-arrest,...
Representatives from the Colombian Caravana (UK) and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales returned to Medellin to continue the international observation of the trial of Santiago Uribe Vélez, the brother of former Colombian President and current Senator, Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Santiago Uribe is accused of heading a paramilitary group in North Antioquia...
The Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales, European Bars Federation Human Rights Commission (Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe) and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada have today issued a statement expressing their condemnation of the excessive use of force which is alleged to have been deployed by State security forces in Chile in response to the...
The Bar Human Rights Committee is the independent,
international human rights arm of the Bar of England
and Wales, dedicated to promoting justice and respect
for human rights through the rule of law.