Sakharov Network

Salih Mahmoud Mohamed Osman is a prominent human rights actvist who for 20 years has defended victims of the ongoing civil war in his native country of Sudan.

"In a country governed by the rule of the gun, Salih believes in the rule of law” according to human Rights watch”. “He is a thorn in the side of those who use violence to cling to power. And for so many of his fellow Darfurians ,Salih is a lifeline, in a society that in recent years has had little cause to hope “

Salih Mahmoud Mohamed Osman, born 1957 in Tibbon Gabel Marra in Darfur graduated from the faculty of law in Khartoum in 1980.
He is lawyer working with the Sudan Organisation against Torture (“SOAT”) to provide free legal representation to people who have been arbitrarily detained and tortured by the Sudanese government and whose only crime is that the oppose government and whose only crime is that they oppose government policies or share the same ethnicity as the rebel movements in Darfur.

“Despite the difficulties we are giving support to the victims, assuring them that they are not forgotten” says Mr Osman. Over two decades during Sudan’s various civil wars Mr Osman has risked his own life to provide legal and medical aid to the victims of the conflict.

Mr Osman fights court cases on behalf of those charged by the Sudanese government, and, and has been successful with SOAT in overturning or reducing sentences to death or amputation.

Mr Osman and SOAT have also been active in cataloguing crimes that have taken place – particularly in the Darfur region - and they are engaged in a campaign to have rape prosecuted as a war crime.

As violence in the Darfur region has worsened over the past few years, Mr Osman has worked to provide a record of the alleged war crimes in that region.
He visits those who are detained and initiates legal action against Human Rights violators. His interviews with witnesses and records of crimes have been turned over to the international Criminal Court (ICC) to assist the Court’s prosecutions. As a matter of fact, the ICC prosecuted crimes in Darfur in 2005 and issued and arrest warrant against alleged Sudanese perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Osman’s fight against injustice in Sudan has come at a personal cost. Members of his own family have suffered as a result of action by the militias. Mr Osman himself was persecuted for his actions; detained several times, held incommunicado and tortured. In 2004 he was imprisoned by the Sudanese security forces for over seven months without any charge or trial. He was released only after the intervention of the international community and his own hunger strike.

Despite the greatest risk for him and his family, Mr Osman has continued after his release, his brave defence of basic civil, political, and human rights. Concerned by the possible widening of the Darfur conflict which seriously threatens stability and security in central Africa, he also travelled across Europe to call for international intervention in Darfur.
On 8 November 2005, he was awarded Human Rights Watch’s highest honour for his work in Sudan.

Mr Salih Osman is currently actively involved in the protection of over 2 million Sudanese who have been forced to abandon their homes.
In addition to achieving the return of these displaced people to their homes and their rehabilitation, Mr Osman works to secure the accountability of those responsible.

Since 2006, Mr Osman has served as an opposition member of the Sudanese Parliament.
His new role allows him to voice his convictions, and avoid the harassment by national security forces faced by the other human rights defenders in Sudan. In his role as member of the National assembly for the National Democratic Alliance, he works on legal reform and focuses on promoting the rule of law through the implementation of the provisions of the interim constitution. At the same time he continues to provide legal aid in Nyala and in Khartoum.

By awarding the prize Sakharov to Mr Salih Mahmoud Mohamed Osman, the European Parliament pays tribute to his efforts and his courage in coming to the aid of the people of Darfur who face such terrible violation of their most basic human rights.

Aliaksandr Milinkevich, born in 1947 in the city of Hrodna, is the leader of the democratic opposition in Belarus.

He was chosen to be the joint presidential candidate of the United Democratic Opposition in October 2005, collecting more than 100,000 supporting signatures, and he was able to keep the Belarusian opposition together to form a common front against Aliaksandr Lukashenka throughout the campaign for the presidential elections of 19March 2006. Aliaksandr Milinkevich called for a truly democratic future for Belarus and presented himself as a real alternative to the authoritarianism of Lukashenka.

His diplomatic approach to negotiation and cautious public appearances helped him to build firm international support for his struggle. The results of the elections were assessed by the European Union as neither free nor fair, and furthermore, subject to fraud. Mr Milinkevich officially received 6 % of the votes, but unofficial reports state that his popular support was much higher.

The human rights situation in Belarus has deteriorated since the elections of March 2006. The authorities have enacted a law criminalizing behaviour deemed critical to the state. The silencing and imprisonment of journalists, activists, and other critics found to be politically inconvenient by the current regime still continues.

In April 2006, Mr Milinkevich was himself imprisoned for 15 days, together with other opposition members, for taking part in an 'unsanctioned rally', a peaceful demonstration in Minsk, to mark the 20 the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Despite the oppression, Mr Milinkevich is committed to continuing his fight for democratic future in his country, and for the return of fundamental rights to the Belarusian people, despite an increasingly difficult political climate.

Reporters Without Borders - one of the three of Sakharov Prize laureates in 2005 - campaigns for press freedom around the world, defends and supports journalists and other media workers who are victims of persecution and censorship.

According to Reporters Without Borders, more than a third of the world’s population live in countries where they do not enjoy press freedom. As of 18 October 2007, 77 journalists have been killed worldwide while carrying out their work. Today ,around 130 journalists around the world are in prison and sometimes spend years in jail simply for doing their job. Reporters Without Borders has been fighting such practices for 20 years now.

Reporters Without Borders, kept on constant alert via its network of over 120 correspondents, rigorously condemns any attack on press freedom world-wide by keeping the media and public opinion informed through press releases and public - awareness campaigns. Not only does it highlight the moral arguments against restrictions of press freedom, censorship and persecution of the press but also offers practical assistance to journalists who work in war zones.

In January 2002, when it created the Damocles Network, Reporters Without Borders acquired a judicial arm. In order to ensure that murderers and journalists torturers are brought to trial, the Network provides victims with legal services and represents them in Court.

The organisation’s initiatives are being carried out on five continents through its national branches and regional offices, in close cooperation with local and regional press freedom organisations.

Reporters Without Borders’ trilingual website keeps a daily tally of attacks on press freedom worldwide and offers the opportunity of signing online petitions in support of imprisoned journalists. To circumvent censorship, it occasionally publishes articles which have been banned in their country of origin, hosts newspapers that have been closed down in their homeland and serves as a forum for journalists who have been 'silenced' by the authorities of their country.

On 10 December every year, the association awards the ‘Reporters Without Borders - Foundation of France Prize’ to journalists for their outstanding contribution to the cause of press freedom in their country .

One of the 2005 Sakharov Prize winners was Hauwa Ibrahim, a 37 year-old human rights lawyer from Abuja, Nigeria, and a mother of two sons. She was born in a small, poor village, the daughter of a Mullah. A career as a lawyer was not supposed to figure in her destiny. At the age of 12 she was supposed to get married and her studies ought to have ended at primary school, but she refused this destiny.

As one of only a few women lawyers practising in northern Nigeria, her work took her into the rural hinterland, where she had to travel by camel or donkey to get to the villages. She describes this time as among the best of her life, because she was able to relate to the grass roots that she came from.

She is acutely aware of importance of education on the empowerment of women and as a defence for those facing the greatest deprivation. Poverty and illiteracy go hand in hand – and fundamentalism feeds on ignorance. Hauwa Ibrahim, who was brought up as a Muslim herself, works tirelessly to fight for religious fundamentalism.

Hauwa Ibrahim has built up what can only be described as an extraordinary practice: defending people who are condemned under Islamic Sharia law which is applied in 12 northern states of Nigeria. Death sentences, although not carried out for the moment, continue to be handed down. Since 1999, Hauwa Ibrahim has worked free-of-charge as defence counsel in 47 cases, many of which have involved women accused of adultery and subjected to death by stoning. It was her ability to arouse international public opinion that made it possible to save the lives of Amina Lawa, Safiya Hussaini and Hafsatu Abukabar. She was equally heavily involved in other cases of cruel and inhuman punishment, such as women sentenced to flogging or young boys sentenced to amputation for theft.

Hauwa Ibrahim has become an iconic figure, but her charisma makes some uncomfortable. She is banned from pleading in Islamic courts. “I do not comment on the Koran”, she said . ‘My only objective is to have the fundamental rights of each and every human being respected, like the rule of law and the right to a fair trial’.

Hauwa argued successfully that Sharia law requires the Sharia courts to respect the procedural and substantive rights guaranteed by Sharia law as well as the Nigerian Constitution and that the international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is signatory are observed.

Today, Hauwa’s cause resonates beyond Nigeria’s borders. But for her the most difficult task is yet to be achieved, that of making her voice heard in her own country.

The Ladies in White from Cuba were one of the three laureates of the Sakharov Prize in 2005. With the award, the European Parliament recognised their courage and commitment to the cause of human rights in Cuba and drew attention to the continuing detention of the 75 political dissidents imprisoned since March 2003 mostly for simply criticising the lack of political freedom in the country. In Cuba, speaking out against the government is a subversive act punished by up to 25 years in prison.

Any attempt to forget about the prisoners has failed as their wives, mothers and daughters have brought international attention to their situation through their peaceful protest.

They call themselves the Ladies in White (‘Damas de Blanco’) and were formed as a spontaneous movement in early 2004. They are not a political party or bound to political organisation of any type. By wearing white to symbolise innocence and purity they act like the Argentinian women who used a similar tactic in the 1970s to demand information about their children who went missing during the military dictatorship. These women, the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, won the Sakharov Prize in 1992.

Every Sunday, the Ladies in White attend religious services in the Church of Santa Rita, after which they peacefully walk down Havana’s Fifth Avenue, flowers in hand, calling for the liberation of their loved ones and for all those arbitrarily incarcerated on the island. Initially, they started writing letters to the Cuban authorities but they did not get a single reply. It is the first time in 47 years that women in Cuba have gone out into the street to protest against unjust imprisonment.

Despite having been threatened and insulted, the Ladies in White continue to stand up for the rights of Cuban political prisoners and the dignity of all Cuban people. The most serious attack on them was 20 March 2004 - Palm Sunday - when they were assaulted and insulted by members of the pro-government Federation of Cuban Women.

Their demand for justice and their call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners is carried forward by a peaceful struggle. They are united in their anguish in the face of the appalling conditions their loved ones as prisoners are suffering. The Ladies in White have called for solidarity amongst all people for their cause.

Five women: Laura Pollán , the wife of Héctor Maseda, Miriam Leiva, the wife of Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Berta Soler, the wife of Angel Moya, Loyda Valdés, the wife of Alfredo Felipe Fuente, and Julia Núnez, the wife of Aldofo Fernández Saínz, were selected by the group to receive the Prize on behalf of the Ladies in White at the ceremony of the European Parliament in Strasbourg .

The Cuban authorities did not authorise the representatives to leave the country to receive the Prize in Strasbourg. They were represented by Blanca Reyes, one of their activists currently living in Spain. To this date, the Sakharov Prize has not been handed to the Ladies in White. The European Parliament continues to insist on their right to receive the Prize in person at a plenary session.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) occupies a pre-eminent position among the prize winners for its commitment to the cause of freedom of speech and the promotion of independent and professional journalism in Belarus.

Representing almost 1 000 media workers, the Association works under extremely difficult conditions to protect the legitimate rights of journalists, who are not uncommonly the victims of intimidation, harassment, criminal prosecution and expatriation. In a number of individual cases, prompt intervention by the BAJ has enabled those responsible for death threats against journalists to be brought to account. Despite the lack of an independent judiciary, the BAJ’s lawyers have frequently been successful in representing journalists and the media in court.

The Association also plays an important role as an observer, documenting conflicts between government authorities and the non-government media, advising newspapers and inviting the authorities to adopt equivalent measures. Journalists are also continuously striving to improve the high, professional standard.

An important part of the Association's work involves increasing public awareness of the constitutional right to freedom of information and of how people can exercise their rights. To this end the BAJ is working to prevent the adoption of a new repressive media law. Through its Law Center for Media Protection, the BAJ is working to improve the current regulatory framework.

On 3 May 2005, World Press Freedom Day, the Association called for support for the independent press in Belarus as the only source - given the situation in the country – of up-to-date and comprehensive information for the citizens of Belarus on what is happening in the country and the rest of the world .

In special memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello and the many other UN officials who have lost their lives in execution of their service for peace in the world.

In awarding the 2003 Sakharov prize to United Nations, the European Parliament gave recognition to UN action in favour of peace, human rights and fundamental freedoms and in support of democracy and the rule of law around the world.

In the era of globalisation efforts have been made under Kofi Annan’s leadership to develop the UN into a more efficient instrument for global needs: " We will continue our efforts to tackle poverty, disease, climate change, and the spread of small arms. And we will also work together to fight terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations must confront all these threats at once ".

The Sakharov Prize honours the United Nations staff who work tirelessly for world peace, often under difficult conditions. They run the risk of losing their lives and many of them have.

The Prize was awarded in special memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and one of the worthiest representatives of the UN agents who, while serving as Kofi Annan’s special representative in Iraq, was killed in 2003 along with other UN officials in an attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.