BHRC submissions to the Foreign Affairs Committee on two inquiries into the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have been published by the Foreign Affairs Committee. The first inquiry, whose oral hearings took place on 12 June, involved a review of the human rights work of the FCO. In its submission, BHRC raised...
BHRC has issued a statement raising concern for the continued detention of human rights lawyers on the third anniversary of the 709 Crackdown, a nationwide programme of arrests beginning on 9 July 2015. During the period of a few weeks, nearly 250 Chinese human rights lawyers, their staff and human rights defenders were arrested and...
BHRC has issued the following statement regarding the ongoing trial observation in Kuwait: The Trial The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) is monitoring the trial of 70 Kuwaiti defendants convicted of public order offences following protests at the Kuwaiti National Assembly in 2011. 13 of those convicted are current or former members of...
BHRC has issued an interim report regarding the case of 70 Kuwaiti defendants convicted of public order offences following protests at the Kuwaiti National Assembly in 2011 and sentenced to prison terms of up to nine years. Weston and Weatherby in the Court of Cessation with the father and lawyer of one of the accused and...
BHRC has published its interim trial observation report on the Zaman trial, in which 10 journalists and one lawyer are being tried on terrorism charges in Turkey. Verdicts are due for all 11 defendants this week. Vice Chair Schona Jolly QC observed two tranches of the trial in Istanbul in May and June, 2018. Although this is...
Following its recent joint side event in Geneva, BHRC joined 5 other organisations in oral statements at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council urging the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to address the situation of the legal profession in Turkey and Poland. The statement, read by a representative...
The Bar Council of England and Wales, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC), the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), and the Law Society of England and Wales have sent an open letter to Turkish authorities raising concerns over the rising number of cases...
BHRC, along with its partner EuroMed Rights have published its trial observation report for the appeal case of Khaled Ali, a prominent Egyptian lawyer who was expected to run for President in the election on 26-28 March. Ali was convicted in September 2017 for violating public decency in relation to the “making of an obscene gesture”...
BHRC has sent a letter to the UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, raising concern over the detention, prosecution and treatment of Nabeel Rajab, a human rights defender in Bahrain. Mr Rajab is the president and co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. On 21 February 2018 he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, to...
BHRC has released its hearing observation report on the opening of the trial of 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi, her mother Nariman Tamimi and Ahed’s cousin, Nour Tamimi.by co-Vice Chair Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh. Ahed, Nariman and Nour Tamimi are all facing charges relating to an incident on 15 December 2017, the recording of which went viral after being uploaded...
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.