[HNA] Fwd: [Presente-Honduras] Amnesty International Alert for Dina Meza

Tue Apr 24 06:28:48 PDT 2012

INDEX : AMR 37/006/2012 Issue Date: 18 April 2012

URGENT ACTION****

** **

UA 106/12****

Human rights journalist threatened****

Honduras****

Dina Meza, a Honduran journalist and human rights activist, has received a
series of threats of sexual violence against her in recent weeks. Her
safety is at risk.

Dina Meza reports on human rights issues for the website Defenders Online
(Defensores en Linea). She is also a human rights activist with the
Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared (Comité de
Familiares de los Detenidos y Desaparecidos, COFADEH), a prominent human
rights organization in Honduras.

On 14 April, Dina Meza received three silent calls to her mobile phone in
the morning and afternoon from the same number. As she answered a fourth
call, a male caller asked her “What’s new?” (“¿Qué hay de nuevo?”) and hung
up. Dina Meza phoned back, asked the man who he was and what he wanted. The
caller said his name was Miguel and claimed that he had dialled the wrong
number, but ended the call by telling Dina “Look after your pussy (“Cuidese
la pipa)”).

A week earlier, on 6 April, Dina Meza was walking in her neighbourhood with
her children when she noticed two men taking photos of them.

Weeks earlier, on 22 February, Dina Meza received two threats by text
message with reference to sexual violence. The first text message said
“We’ll burn your pussy with lime until you scream and the whole squad will
enjoy it […] CAM (“Les vamos a quemar con cal la pipa hasta q griten y
luego toda la quadrilla va gozar” CAM ). The second text message said
“[…]You’ll end up dead like people in the Aguán there’s nothing better than
fucking some bitches […] van a terminar como los del aguan muertos no hay
nada mas rico q cojer a unas zorras". CAM is an acronym for Comando Álvarez
Martinez, a pseudonmym which has been used in threats to human rights
activists and journalists in the aftermath of the 2009 coup d’etat.

Dina Meza is a beneficiary of Precaution Measures granted by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2006 and 2009 to
safeguard her security. To date, the authorities have not implemented the
orders.

Additional Information

Dina Meza is a well-known journalist and human rights defender. As part of
COFADEH she has worked on the land conflict in the Lower Aguán region of
Honduras. The Lower Aguán region is at the centre of a series of land
disputes between peasant farming communities and various companies and
private landowners that have erupted into violent clashes. In March Dina
participated in a session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
in Washington DC, regarding the human rights situation and legal framework
in Honduras.
Comando Álvarez Martinez (CAM) is a pseudonym which has been used in
threats to human rights activists and journalists in the aftermath of the
2009 coup d’etat. Álvarez Martinez was a General in the Honduran armed
forces between 1982 and 1984 at the time of grave human rights abuses, and
has been linked by local human rights groups to paramilitary death squads
in that period.
In 2007, Dina Meza received Amnesty International UK’s “Special Award for
Human Rights Journalism Under Threat’ for her journalism for the website
Revistazo, which she carried out in spite of harassment and intimidation
after investigating several private security firms for labour rights
violations.
In 2006, Dina Meza and colleagues at online publication Revistazo.com and
its publisher the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), were subjected
to a campaign of harassment and intimidation after investigating several
private security firms for labour rights violations. ASJ lawyer Dionisio
Díaz García, was shot dead in December 2006 while on his way to the
Honduran Supreme Court to prepare for a related case taken up by the
organization. The investigation and trials on Dionisio Díaz García’s case
were carried out from 2007 to 2009 and resulted in the sentencing of a
former security guard, who had worked for SETECH, and a police officer for
his killing.
In the months leading up to his murder, Dionisio Díaz García and Dina Meza
were followed by unmarked cars. Dina Meza’s children were followed home
from school and personal, derogatory comments were posted about her on the
Revistazo.com online message board. Amnesty International issued an urgent
action on behalf of the ASJ, including Dina Meza who was at the time one of
its members, in 2006 – Honduras: Fear for Safety/ Death Threats (AI Index
AMR 37/007/2006). Several other Urgent Actions followed in 2007 on behalf
of ASJ.
Dina Meza’s case was also featured in the report “Persecution and
resistance: the experience of human rights defenders in Guatemala and
Honduras” (AI Index AMR 02/001/2007).
Human rights defenders and journalists in Honduras are at risk: they are
threatened, attacked or killed because of their work, often exposing human
rights violations. In January 2012, journalist Gilda Silvestrucci received
telephone death threats. (UA 78/12 AMR 37/004/2012). In February, Wilfredo
Paz and Juan Chinchilla, two human rights activists campaigning for land
rights of peasant farmers amid ongoing disputes over land ownership in the
Lower Aguan region, received a death threat by text message. (UA 66/12 AMR
37/003/2012). In March, journalist Mavis Ethel Cruz received a telephone
death threat. (UA 28/12 AMR 37/002/2012).

 Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:****

·         Calling for an independent, thorough and impartial investigation
into the threats against Dina Meza, with the results made public and those
responsible brought to justice;****

·         Urging that the authorities take immediate steps to fully comply
with the IACHR orders. The form of protection provided to Dina Meza must be
agreed with her and reflect her own wishes;

·         Reminding the authorities that human rights defenders have a
right to carry out their activities without any unfair restrictions or fear
of reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.***
*

** **

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE *30 MAY 2012.*

*APPEALS TO
*
Attorney General,
Sr. Luis Alberto Rubí,
Fiscal General de la República,
Lomas del Guijarro,
Avenida República Dominicana,
Edificio Lomas Plaza II,
Tegucigalpa,
Honduras
Fax: +504 2221 5667
Salutation: Sr. Fiscal General/ Dear Attorney General

Minister of Interior,
Sr. Pompeyo Bonilla,
Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Seguridad,
Plantel Casamata,
subida al Picacho,
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C,
Honduras
Fax: +504 2220 1756
Salutation: Dear Minister / Estimado Sr.Ministro

*COPIES TO
*
Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH),
Barrio La Plazuela, Avenida Cervantes,
Casa No. 1301,
Tegucigalpa,
Honduras
Fax: +504 2220 5280
(Ask “me da tono de fax, por favor”)

Ambassade de la République du Honduras,
Rue Crevaux 8,
F - 75116 Paris.
Fax: 00331 47 55 86 48
E-mail: ambassade at honduras.9pass.net

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