sentencing

On 2 October 2009, in Tashkent, human rights defender, Mr Farhad Muhtarov, was sentenced to five years in prison on fraud charges. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of fraudulently borrowing sums of money. Farhad Muhtarov is an activist with the grassroots movement Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, which works on a variety of human rights issues including torture, access to justice, right to a fair trial, economic and social rights, and the rights of vulnerable groups. 

Front Line is deeply concerned following the sentencing of detained human rights defenders Hassan Abdelnabi Hassan, Maytham Badar Jassim Al-Sheikh, Naji Ali Fateel, Mohammed Abdallah Al Singais and Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali to between one and seven years' imprisonment. Hassan Abdelnabi Hassan, Maytham Badar Jassim Am-Sheikh, Ahmad Jaffar Mohammed Ali, members of the Unemployment Committee; Naji Ali Fateel, member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), and Mohammed Abdullah Al Sengais, head of the Committee to Combat High Prices, were arrested between 21 and 28 December 2007 on charges of participation in an ‘illegal gathering and rioting’ and of ‘theft of a weapon and ammunition and possession of a weapon and ammunition without permission’. 

Front Line is deeply concerned following the sentencing of human rights defenders Al Sadiq Qashut, Ahmad Yusif Al Ubaidi, Jamal Al Haji, a writer who has worked to defend freedom of speech, Al Al Dirsi, Faraj Humaid, Ali Humaid, Al Mahdi Humaid, Al Sadiq Salih Humaid, Dr Idris Boufayed, Farid Al Zuwi and Bashir Al Haris to between six and twenty-five years' imprisonment, on 10 June 2008. The eleven human rights defenders were sentenced for planning a peaceful demonstration which was due to take place on 17 February 2007 to commemorate the first anniversary of a demonstration in the city of Benghazi, in which eleven demonstrators were killed when the demonstration was violently broken up by the police.