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Guatemala: Break-in and robbery at the offices of human rights organisation Fundación Guillermo Toriello (FGT)posted on: 2011/07/01

On the night of the 26-27 June 2011 human rights organisation Fundación Guillermo Toriello – FGT (Guillermo Toriello Foundation) was broken into and valuable equipment, containing sensitive and important information, was stolen. The FGT promotes the rights of poor rural communities in Guatemala, and works to improve the livelihoods of those communities through supporting their claims to access land and offering technical advice, agricultural support and humanitarian relief where necessary. At the national level the FGT lobbies the Guatemalan government to introduce laws and policies that benefit poor rural communities in Guatemala.

Bangladesh: Assault and robbery of human rights defender Mr Shahanur Islam and other members of the Bangladesh Institute for Human Rightsposted on: 2011/01/27

On 25 January 2011, a named individual was arrested on suspicion of participation in the physical assault and robbery of human rights defenders Messrs Shahanur Islam, Shohel Ahmed, and Uzzal Hossain, and is currently being held in remand.

Further Information

The assault and robbery took place on 9 January 2011 while the three aforementioned human rights defenders were carrying out field work in Bania/Jhargaon, Thakurgaon, Bangladesh. Shahanur Islam is General Secretary and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Institute for Human Rights (BIHR); Shohel Ahmed and Uzzal Hossain serve as Fact Finding Officer and Social Worker for the BIHR respectively. Front Line previously issued an Urgent Appeal concerning threats against Shahanur Islam on 9 August 2009.

On 9 January 2011, the three human rights defenders had travelled to the Bania/Jhargaon area of Thakurgaon district in order to carry out fact-finding in relation to a human rights violation against a minority woman.

Argentina – Robbery at the home of Ms Alicia Morales, human rights defender and witness in court hearing on crimes against humanityposted on: 2010/09/30

On 27 September 2010 the home of human rights defender, Ms Alicia Morales, was broken into and ransacked by unknown persons. The perpetrators took only a military saber belonging to her father. Alicia Morales is a member of the San Rafael branch of the Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (Permanent Assembly for Human Rights – APDH) and is currently acting as a complainant and witness in ongoing court hearings in San Rafael, Mendoza Province, regarding crimes against humanity committed under the Argentinian military junta. Alicia Morales is a former political prisoner and the widow of Juan José Galamba, who was disappeared in 1978.