Thousands rally in central
#HongKong
tonight for event organized by local teachers' unions who say members are targeted by the govt for supporting the ongoing protests
But Xmas was tough for Boris, says
@annietrev
.
A few miles from Downing St, with my mum dying from Covid in hospital, I was looking after my dad who has advanced Alzheimer’s. We both had Covid. No-one could come in, no extra help. We respected the rules
#Hongkong
lunchtime protest among the fancy brands of the Central shopping district.
Chants include usual favourites of "5 Demands, Not One Less" & "Carrie Lam, Go To Hell"
#HongKong
is about to put on trial 15 veteran pro-democracy activists. We at
@humanrights1st
call on the authorities to drop the charges & cancel the trial. “International reaction should be strong & unequivocal in its condemnation.”
@stegersaurus
@KASKB
#Poland
’s double standards:
I’m at the
#Belarus
border forests for
@humanrights1st
, where Polish authorities are attacking refugees from the Middle East & Africa & those defending them. So different from Poland’s great welcome of refugees at the
#Ukraine
border
@GrupaGranica
If anyone in
#HongKong
wants help on deleting their internet history, we at
@humanrights1st
have issued this short guide in English & Chinese on erasing your digital footprint (we also issued a guide last week on avoiding online surveillance)
@SophieHRW
50 years ago today October 21, 1970: Bernadette Devlin MP leaves prison after serving four months of a six months sentence for “riotous behaviour” in Derry
That night of the
#DowningStreetParty
, May 20, 2020, was my mum’s 89th birthday.
We didn’t have a party because they weren’t allowed.
I thought then the rules applied to everyone.
It was her last birthday because she died from Covid months later.
In January
@humanrights1st
published my piece about social media attacks on leading
@QUBHRC
human rights academic
@cjhumanrights
.
The attacks have now intensified. Here’s the piece again.
Please show your support for Colin’s right to academic freedom
In 10 mins on Bloody Sunday, 30 Jan 1972, 21 British paratroopers fired 108 times at unarmed protestors in Derry. 26 civilians were shot. 14 died, 12 injured & 2 more run down by army vehicles. Tomorrow families are to learn if anyone more than Soldier F is to face prosecution.
As a journalist in my 20s I reported on the vilification & murder of Belfast human rights lawyer Pat Finucane 33 years ago today.
Today smears continue against Belfast human rights lawyers, including
@cjhumanrights
Colin Harvey
@FinucaneCentre
@humanrights1st
@PatrickCorrigan
My father died peacefully on Monday. He was many things, including one of
#Ireland
’s best marathon runners (2:38 & second place in the 1962 Irish national marathon). RIP Dad.
At Tseung Kwan O where
#HongKong
schoolchildren are giving out info on best masks & organizing a petition to close the border with mainland China to prevent the spread of
#Coronavid19
@WilsonLeungWS
For
#BlackHistoryMonth
in Ireland: In 1943 there were around 37,000 Black American soldiers stationed in the Six Counties. A Unionist MP complained that local women dating Black GIs “were mostly of the lowest type & belong to our [Catholic] minority”
Mum’s in hospital with Covid. Am isolating with dad - we both have the virus too. He’s 92 & one thing that breaks through his Alzheimer’s is old music. Here he is reminding Elvis of the lyrics to Danny Boy.
Happy Christmas
Prof Phil Scraton of
@QUBelfast
has issued a public statement in support of his colleague Colin Harvey
@cjhumanrights
which references the support Harvey has also had from
@FordhamLawNYC
Dean Matthew Diller, following social media attacks on Harvey
This Thursday, celebrate International Human Rights Day with a special event honoring our 2020 Roger N. Baldwin Award Winner: Hong Kong-based human rights activist Albert Ho.
To register, visit . The virtual event kicks off at 12 PM ET.
When Abdelrahman’s al-Shweikh’s mum Hoda heard her son was tortured in Minya prison she made a public call for help
Last night she was arrested & is charged with spreading fake news
Meanwhile
@USEmbassyCairo
is busy tweeting about supporting
#Egypt
’s military
@sarahleah1
@soltan
China has passed the new security law aims at crushing dissent in
#HongKong
. The US govt should sanction Chinese & Hong Kong govt officials involved in human rights violations, & provide safe haven to Hong Kongers fleeing the regime
A year ago today I was at this
#HongKong
protest in Mong Kok when police attacked with tear gas. The repression has intensified since - elections scheduled for today have been postponed in a further assault on democracy
2019 at the
#Iran
embassy, 2021 at the British Foreign Office, Richard Ratcliffe continues his protest to have Nazanin released from prison so she can come home
#FreeNazanin
I’m continuing my work for
@humanrights1st
& from today I’ll also be Senior Advisor to the new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders,
@marylawlorhrds
, as she starts her three-year term. Please follow her for latest HRD news
For
#BlackHistoryMonth
in Ireland: In 1971 civil rights leader Bernadette Devlin McAliskey visited Black feminist icon Angela Davis in prison in the US. Davis told me of 1960s debates on whether the Six Counties “belonged politically to the Third World because of colonisation”
لسنوات عديدة ونحن في هيومن رايتس فيرست نطالب بالإفراج عن المدافع عن حقوق الإنسان في #البحرين، الدكتور عبد الجليل السنكيس.
اليوم أرسلت له مطارة ماء ساخن لأنه على الرغم من آلام ظهره الشديدة إلا أن السلطات ترفض إعطائه واحدة.
#الحرية_للسنكيس
@humanrights1st
I wear this because when my parents’ generation emigrated from Ireland to England & looked for accommodation, they sometimes saw signs on places for rent like the one on the left
@cliosceptic
@barry_shep
@Luiseach
نحن في هيومن رايتس فيرست نواصل دعوتنا للإفراج عن المدافع البحريني عن حقوق الإنسان عبد الجليل السنكيس، المسجون مدى الحياة بسبب نشاطه السلمي.
ترفض السلطات إعطائه مطارة ماء ساخن للتخفيف من آلام ظهره الشديدة ، لذلك سأرسل له واحدة.
The Taliban now likely has biometric databases & tech in
#Afghanistan
, including some left by foreign military. Fooling facial recognition & fingerprint tech is hard & risky, but we at
@humanrights1st
have now issued these tips for activists & others
As
@AMushaima
enters his 3rd week of hunger strike to protest the mistreatment of his father & other political prisoners in
#Bahrain
I will spend the night tonight in solidarity with him on the pavement outside Bahrain's London embassy
#Bahrain
HRD Abdulhadi Al Khawaja was arrested 10 years ago today. For a decade we at
@humanrights1st
have campaigned for his release. I’m doing an overnight prayer vigil outside the Bahrain embassy in London tonight for his release & the release of all HRDs
@AMushaima
@sonyaphotoart
I’m so sorry you went through this. That date was my mum’s 89th & last birthday. Ofc we didn’t have a party, we stuck to the rules.
That day was the “Bring Your Own Booze” party in Downing St.
My mum died from Covid months later, no family allowed to visit her in hospital.
47 years ago tonight the late Richard McIlkenny was wrongly arrested for the Birmingham Pub bombs, where the IRA killed 21 people. He & 5 others spent 17 years in jail for a crime they didn’t do. This is a prison letter he wrote to me in 1987 when I was covering the case
This postponement has all the hallmarks of a full dictatorship. Muzzling democratic dissent is a totalitarian move & a dangerous one. We know when people can’t criticise peacefully some look for alternatives
@creery_j
@maryhui
I’m near the Poland-Belarus border for
@humanrights1st
not far from Hajnowka, where a group of people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq & Yemen & elsewhere are trying to claim asylum. Many are children. See clips below from Marta of
@GrupaGranica
for what’s happening
For years we at
@humanrights1st
have supported
@AMushaima
in highlighting the case of his father & other
#Bahrain
dissidents in jail, including Abduljalil Al Singace, Abdulhadi Al Khawaja & Naji Fateel. Ali is back outside London’s Bahrain embassy now
Delighted with myself for getting pic with Irish civil rights legend Michael Farrell at Dublin release of Bitter Legacy, new report on State impunity in Northern Ireland conflict
#Bahrain
airport officials finally return passports to
@lars_aslan
& me & we're on our way out 24 hours after being categorised too much of a "security risk" to enter the country. We just wanted to see jailed human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja.
I'll be back.
10 years ago today I was in the military court in
#Bahrain
for
@humanrights1st
to observe the sham trial of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, but I was thrown out before the defendants were brought in. He was given a life sentence; it’s time to release him
@FrontLineHRD
My mum died in hospital from Covid a year ago today.
Restrictions meant no family could be with her in her last weeks.
She was cared for by fantastic
#NHS
staff at
@ChelwestFT
who were overworked, dedicated & kind. We’ll always be grateful. Protect the NHS
@90ButlerNatasha
#البحرين: المدافع عن حقوق الانسان عبدالجليل السنكيس بدأ احتجاجه قبل عام من هذا اليوم من أجل استرجاع بحثه الاكاديمي.
لا يجوز حبسه من الأساس.
رسالتي له من هيومن رايتس فيرست.
@humanrights1st
#الحريه_للسنكيس
My mum died in January. She always said she had - but had lost - a school certificate showing classes she passed.
I just found it & it’s beautiful - from Dingle 1944. She was 13
@numoorepain
@MimiVonPeach