Case History: Dina Meza
On 28 September 2015, unidentified men attempted to run over human rights defender Dina Meza.
The two men also subjected her to verbal attacks. The intimidatory event follows months of threats and intimidation against Dina Meza.
Dina Meza is a journalist and a member of the Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras - COFADEH (Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras). She is the coordinator of the Iniciativa Periodismo y Democracia (Initiative for Journalism and Democracy) as well as being active in movements in defence of rights of women and campesinos (peasants). In the past, she has also worked for Cofadeh and for the Women’s Movement for Peace “Padilla Visitation”.
On 28 September 2015, unidentified men attempted to run over human rights defender Ms Dina Meza.
The two men also subjected her to verbal attacks. The intimidatory event follows months of threats and intimidation against Dina Meza, detailed below.
Dina Meza is a human rights defender and journalist. She is the coordinator of the Iniciativa Periodismo y Democracia (Initiative for Journalism and Democracy) as well as being active in movements in defence of rights of women and campesinos (peasants). In the past, she has also worked for Cofadeh and for the Women’s Movement for Peace “Padilla Visitation”.
The incident on 28 September 2015 is the latest in a series of acts of intimidation and threats against Dina Meza as a result of her human rights work, including constant surveillance, intimidatory phone calls, digital attacks and sabotage to her vehicle.
On 5 and 7 September 2015 the human rights defender received viruses through two emails, supposedly from associates. The associates later told her they had not sent her the emails. In Latin America it is common for spyware to arrive through such emails.
On 22 August 2015 Dina Meza received both public and private messages on Facebook from a man who stated that Dina Meza and other journalists had received money and holidays from the ex president of Honduras, Pepe Lobo. This same man was seen the previous day outside the human rights defender's home and it appeared he was attempting to take photos of it. Dina Meza had previously been defamed via Facebook by the same man on 21 July 2015.
On 20 August 2015, Dina Meza accompanied Cesario Padilla to the National Commission for Human Rights (CONADEH) to report vigilance of the student by armed men. Once inside, she was threatened with an official complaint by an employee of the office because the human rights defender had published a note on her Facebook page on 30 July 2015 which stated that said employee had refused to give the human rights defender her details, as demanded by law. She had asked for the details during an incident in which hundreds of students had been arbitrarily detained by police.
On 20 June 2015 Dina Meza experienced some difficulty while driving. When she went to a mechanic to look at it, it was discovered that a screw had been placed inside one of her tyres. This was also the case on the 14 June 2015, when her daughter lost control of and almost crashed the car. It is worth noting that this tactic was used against human rights defender Mr Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño before he was killed on 17 June 2015 in Choluteca. The tactic was also used against human rights defender Ms Elizabeth Zúñiga, a colleague of Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño, on 17 August 2015. It is further worth noting that Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño was due to bring a case of defamation against the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras - UNAH (The National Autonomous University of Honduras) and Dina Meza, as coordinator of the Iniciativa Periodismo y Democracia, was due to represent him.
Since at least June 2015, Dina Meza has been subjected to constant surveillance at her house and on the street. On one of these occasions, on 5 August 2015, the human rights defender's children were home alone. On another, on 29 July 2015, the human rights defender felt so threatened by a man following her that she stood beside a security guard and phoned Peace Brigades International, an organisation which provides her with international accompaniment.
On 13 and 14 June 2015 Dina Meza received a series of phone calls from a person she did not know, who persisted in calling even when she had informed him of this fact.
Since the presentation of reports on human rights violations in Honduras in April-May 2014, the human rights organisation Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras – COFADEH (Committee of Families of Disappeared-Detainees in Honduras) and its members have been subjected to increased surveillance. Furthermore, on 5 June 2014, a member of the organisation was abducted in a taxi, suffering a physical assault before being released.
COFADEH is a non-governmental organisation that seeks justice for cases of violations of human rights and enforced disappearances committed by members of Honduran State Security. The organisation has contributed to the demilitarisation of the country and the promotion of democratic reforms, and has monitored the activities of state security bodies in the area of human rights and public security. The organisation has been granted precautionary protection measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
COFADEH has been the subject of various kinds of surveillance since February 2014, including vehicles without plates driving slowly around the office during the night and when staff are leaving the office in the evening, some park close to the office and observe the staff's movements. Since 13 May 2014, a red Toyota Corolla with a black stripe and darkened windows parks every day at 7am when the staff arrive, until the end of the day, without anyone getting in or out of the vehicle. On 5 June 2014, this car was replaced during an hour by a blue vehicle. A person inside the car was observed filming the office with his mobile phone.
Unknown persons, including an armed individual, watch the building. For example, on 29 May 2014 at approximately 10am, an unknown man took photos of the office.
On 5 June 2014, at 3pm, a female member of COFADEH was the victim of a temporary abduction in a taxi. Four people (three men and a woman) were inside and physically assaulted her while they drove through different areas of the city for two hours. They hit the woman's face, tried to choke her, and she suffered injuries to her leg, neck and left hand caused by a pencil. The incident occurred when she was leaving an event on 'Displacement due to Violence'.
The increase in surveillance follows presentations in April-May by COFADEH of reports on the situation of human rights in Honduras, to a delegation of Spanish Parliamentarians and at various events in Canada and Europe. Members of US Congress have also recently cited COFADEH reports in a letter sent to the US Secretary of State.
The aforementioned events are the most recent examples of the harassment against COFADEH and its staff, which includes intimidation, surveillance, break-ins at the offices, and defamation as a result of their work to defend the rights of victims of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the acts of surveillance and abduction committed against COFADEH, and considers that they are solely related to the peaceful and legitimate human rights work of the organisation. More information concerning the intimidation of COFADEH and its members is available in an article on the Front Line Defenders website.