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<font size="4">INDEX : AMR 37/006/2012 Issue Date: 18 April 2012
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</font><p><font size="4">URGENT ACTION<span style="background:red"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><font size="4">
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</font><p><u></u><font size="4"> <u></u></font></p><font size="4">
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</font><p><font size="4">UA 106/12<span style="background:yellow"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><font size="4">
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</font><p><font size="4">Human rights journalist threatened<span style="background:yellow"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><font size="4">
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</font><p><font size="4">Honduras<span style="background:yellow"><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p><span lang="DE-CH">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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)”).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 […] <span lang="FR">CAM (“Les
vamos a quemar con cal la pipa hasta q griten y luego toda la
quadrilla va
gozar” CAM ). </span>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. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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. </p>
<p>Additional Information</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.<br>
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. <br>
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.<br>
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. <br>
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. <br>
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).<br>
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).<br>
<br>
</p>
<p><span>Please
write
immediately in Spanish or your own language:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt/normal "Times New Roman";font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span></span><span>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;<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="FR"><span>·<span style="font:7pt/normal "Times New Roman";font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span></span><span>Urging
that the authorities take immediate steps to fully comply with
the IACHR
orders. </span><span lang="FR">The form of protection provided
to Dina Meza must
be agreed with her and reflect her own wishes;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt/normal "Times New Roman";font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span></span><span>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.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p>PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE <b>30 MAY 2012.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>APPEALS
TO<br>
</b><br>
Attorney General,<br>
Sr. Luis Alberto Rubí,<br>
<span lang="FR">Fiscal General de la
República,<br>
</span>Lomas del Guijarro, <br>
Avenida República Dominicana, <br>
Edificio Lomas Plaza II,<br>
Tegucigalpa, <br>
Honduras<br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%2B504%202221%205667" target="_blank" value="+50422215667">+504 2221 5667</a><br>
<span style="font-size:7pt">Salutation: Sr. Fiscal General/ Dear
Attorney
General<br>
</span><br>
Minister of Interior,<br>
Sr. Pompeyo Bonilla,<br>
Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Seguridad,<br>
Plantel Casamata, <br>
subida al Picacho, <br>
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C, <br>
Honduras <br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%2B504%202220%201756" target="_blank" value="+50422201756">+504 2220 1756</a><br>
<span style="font-size:7pt">Salutation: Dear Minister / Estimado
Sr.Ministro<br>
</span><br>
<span lang="FR"><br>
<br>
<b>COPIES TO<br>
</b><br>
Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras
(COFADEH),<br>
Barrio La Plazuela, Avenida Cervantes,<br>
Casa No. 1301,<br>
</span>Tegucigalpa,<br>
Honduras<br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%2B504%202220%205280" target="_blank" value="+50422205280">+504 2220 5280</a><br>
(Ask “me da tono de fax, por favor”) <br>
<br>
<span lang="FR">Ambassade de la
République du
Honduras,<br>
Rue Crevaux 8,<br>
F - 75116 Paris.<br>
</span>Fax: 00331 47 55 86 48<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:ambassade@honduras.9pass.net" target="_blank">ambassade@honduras.9pass.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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