BHRC has published the Turkish version of its trial observation report of the “Gezi Park” trial of sixteen leading civil society individuals in Turkey, including Open Society Foundation Board member Osman Kavala. The report was first published in English in May 2020. BHRC had closely monitored the trial over several months since June 2019, which ostensibly...
The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (“BHRC”) expresses grave concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe. BHRC are particularly concerned by a number of reports of the arrest, detention and intimidation of opposition party activists, lawyers and journalists. Further, there appears to be a clear pattern of systematic and targeted...
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,...
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.