Detention
Between walls – Omar Ben Amor (Art Acquis) : “Access to culture to every detainee at any time”
Discover the work done by the association Art Acquis with prisoners in Tunisia. With its Perspectives project, supported by ASF and ATL MST SIDA Bureau National, the organisation uses art as therapy. Through the activities offered, it seeks to help prisoners express themselves better about their experience, to occupy themselves constructively during their incarceration and to promote their reintegration into society.
Between walls – Walid Bouchmila (Horizon d’Enfance) : “When you make a project in prison, you really have to think of everyone”.
Within the “Projet Alternative”, implemented by Avocats Sans Frontières and ATL MST SIDA, Horizon d’Enfance sets up cultural activities at the Gabès prison, training courses for prison staff and qualifying training courses (plumbing, plastering, culinary arts and pastry making) for prisoners. The latter also benefit from training in entrepreneurship, support in setting up micro-projects and psychological follow-up to prepare for release. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the rehabilitation and reintegration of the inmates of the Gabès prison.
ASF joins the “Poverty is not a crime” campaign
ASF joins the Open Society Foundation, APCOF, PALU, and ACJR in a campaign to promote the decriminalisation and declassification of minor offences. Particularly affecting people in vulnerable situations, these laws and their application are both arbitrary and discriminatory. “Vagrancy”, “disorderly behaviour” or “idleness” remain valid grounds for arresting and imprisoning individuals, contributing to the endemic overcrowding of prisons throughout the world.
Arbitrary detention in DR Congo: The Detention ExPEERience network introduces a liability action against the State in 4 jurisdictions
On September 15, 2020, 6 requests were filed at the High Courts in Kinshasa, Mbuji-Mayi (Kasai Oriental), Lubumbashi (Haut Katanga), and Kindu (Maniema). Written in the name of citizens and civil society organisations, they ask the competent judges to recognize instances of arbitrary dentention as well as the disastrous state of prisons in the country, particularly due to prison overcrowding. This action also seeks recognition of the State’s liability for the damages suffered by the plaintiffs.
Ebru Timtik est morte, sauvons Aytaç Unsal
Les avocats Ebru Timtik et Aytaç Unsal, condamnés à respectivement 14 ans et 11 années de prison, ont décidé de faire une grève de la faim illimitée pour dénoncer le procès injuste dont plusieurs dizaines d’avocats turcs font l’objet. Ils demandent à pouvoir bénéficier d’un procès équitable. Ce jeudi 27 août 2020, nous avons appris avec une peine immense le décès de Ebru Timtik, en grève de la faim depuis 238 jours. Aytaç Unsal est toujours en grève de la faim aujourd’hui et sa libération pour raisons de santé a déjà été rejetée. Nous demandons la libération immédiate de Aytaç Unsal, afin qu’il ne subisse pas le même sort qu’Ebru Timtik. Nous demandons également le respect, sans délai, du droit à un procès équitable, garanti par l’article 6 de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme à laquelle la Turquie est partie.
The spread of COVID-19 requires urgent and immediate measures to be taken to protect the rights of detainees in Africa
Joint statement adressed to the member states of the African Union and to human rights international organisations in Africa.
Detained for 10 years for no reason
Makala, which means “coal” in Lingala, is the central prison of Kinshasa. It is also one of Africa’s main penitentiaries: there are around 8,500 inmates in a complex of pavilions and brick and metal shacks, initially designed to accommodate 1,500 people. It is a small town, an ecosystem, where all can be valued, exchanged, and negotiated down to the floor space to sleep on. Some cells of 100 m2 house 200 inmates, many of whom sleep on the floor. They are underfed and have serious problems of malnutrition. The beatings and the ill-treatments can sometimes lead to death. The extreme overcrowding and the insecurity inevitably create conflicts which will only be handled with violence.
Désiré, free at last after “9 years of death”
With the help of ASF, Désiré Loko has been released after spending exactly 8 years, 5 months and 21 days in preventive detention at Kinshasa’s central prison, even though he was innocent. His case illustrates the problem of preventive detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Prisoners sometimes spend years in detention without having a judge make a ruling on their fate and without access to a lawyer.
Tunisia: the law against drugs grinds to a standstill
In spite of declarations in the media and the adoption of a new bill by the Council of Ministers, the current anti-drug law is now entering its 25th year. Even though it is largely considered to be unfair, ineffective and obsolete, this law continues to victimise the most vulnerable sectors of the Tunisian population. ASF is working hard to push for faster legislative reform on the issue.
Voices from Kinshasa (3/3): “Freedom is under the hammer”
In DR Congo, defending the rights of victims of injustice and exercising fundamental rights remains a challenge. Faced with an often failing legal system and, at times, intimidation, men and women are pursuing an ideal: to live in a fairer world. Last of three encounters: lawyer Hervé Mafwila, on illegal detention.
publications
News Archives
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- September 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- November 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- April 2011
- December 2010