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VOL. 79 PART 2 MARCH 2021
communists or terrorists) before being killed. There have been few proper
investigations.
Turkey has imprisoned more lawyers than any other country.17 Lawyers
who represent people considered to be dissidents are targeted, disparaged,
detained, charged and sentenced to prison as “terrorists” for performing
their professional duties. The situation in Turkey was described in LRWC’s
November 2020 report to the Advocate.18
Saudi Arabia makes claims of social cohesion and cultural norms as it
routinely violates international human rights law by arbitrarily detaining
numerous defenders. Included among those arbitrarily detained is women’s
rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul, who in December 2020 was sentenced
to imprisonment for campaigning against the driving ban for women and
against Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system.19 She was convicted in
unfair proceedings on spurious charges by a tribunal that lacks the compe-
tence, impartiality and independence required by international law stan-
dards.20 Ms. Al-Hathloul was convicted of charges that fail to comply with
the international principle of legality,21 including “trespassing the country’s
religious and national foundations”, “suspicious communication with for-
eign entities”, “recruiting people working in government positions”, and
“funding hostile groups abroad to undermine Saudi national security, stabil-
ity, social peace and to destroy the social cohesion”.22 Human rights advo-
cates around the world joined forces in a well-publicized campaign to
secure her release. Ms. Al-Hathloul may be released in March 2021 after the
court suspended a portion of her nearly six-year sentence. Ms. Al-Halthloul
was ultimately released on or about February 10, after submission of this article
for publication – Asst. Ed. A Saudi Arabia court peremptorily dismissed complaints
that Ms. Al-Hathloul was tortured and ill-treated during detention.
China stigmatizes dissent as a violation of proclaimed ideals of social harmony.
Dissidents and human rights defenders have been subjected to kid-
napping and incommunicado detention in secret locations where they are
likely to be tortured and ill-treated.23 They are charged with vague offences
such as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” or national security
offences.24 Despite increased intensity in international calls for accountabil-
ity for its human rights abuses25 (including allegations of genocide against
Uighur people26 and convincing civil society findings of forced organ har-
vesting27), China continues its resistance to international human rights,
refusing to remediate its ongoing rights violations and instead attempting to
reframe international law in “win-win” terms of “dialogue and
cooperation”.28 Despite China’s egregious and systematic human rights
abuses, in October 2020 the UN General Assembly narrowly elected China
to the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term (2021–2023).