In addition to five “Forest Heroes” from Brazil, Rwanda, Thailand, Turkey and the United States, the UN Forests for People Awards also recognized filmmakers and photographers for their creative efforts to raise awareness about forests and their contributions to people’s lives.

“The winners of these awards are remarkable individuals who have been working to make a difference through community activities, film, or photography. Their stories serve as inspiration to us all,” said Wu Hongo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

Nearly 600 entries from 68 countries competed for the Awards, which are being presented today at the tenth session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF10) in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Forest Hero Award recognizes people who are working in their own ways to sustain, protect and manage forests, as well as inspire change, such as Rose Mukankomeje.

Ms. Mukankomeje, who lost her parents and siblings during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has devoted her life to the protection and restoration of forests and has pioneered a unique home-grown solution – Umuganda – which ensures that the growth of forests in Rwanda supports livelihoods and benefits the rural poor.

Hayrettin Karaca, 92, is a successful textile businessman, who became aware of the dangers of environmental degradation as he travelled about his native Turkey. He went on to found TEMA, one of the country’s largest environmental non-governmental organizations.

Preecha Siri from Thailand has helped guide his community into a model ecosystem management village by successfully integrating wet terrace fields, rotational farming, beekeeping, native tea and bamboo farming along with forest conservation.

Environmentalist and political activist Almir Narayamoga Surui was elected chief of his Paiter-Surui tribe in Brazil’s Amazon at the age of 17, and has been fighting to safeguard both his tribe and the rainforest for more than 20 years.

Ariel Lugo, a scientist from Puerto Rico in the US, has published over 470 scientific articles, and has worked to conserve forests and improve communities around the world. His most recent project helps to prevent violence and promote healthy childhood development by encouraging the participation of youth in planting seasonal organic products and native trees.

Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat, said this year’s recipients represent a “truly amazing” group of individuals who have devoted their lives to nurturing communities and forests.

“Through their eyes we see that there are creative pathways to realizing that we are an integral part of forests, and forests are a vital part of us all. Their stories are our shining inspiration and they our heroes.”

The Forum’s Secretariat partnered with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival to honour “the power of the narrative” and the creative efforts of filmmakers who visually capture what forests mean to people – with short films of five minutes or less.

“Over the years I have seen hundreds of environmental films, most of them made for broadcast television and running 40 to 55 minutes,” said juror William Grant, Chairman Emeritus of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. “Watching so many beautifully done short films was a new experience and a pleasure. And to see the work of so many talented young filmmakers from all across the globe was an added delight.”

The winning filmmakers are Rowan Pybus of South Africa (“Amazing Grace”), Paul Rosolie of the US (“An Unseen World”), Elio Alonso Vasquez Miranda of Peru (“Feel Like a Mountain”), Sébastien Pins of Belgium (“Ma Forêt”), and Dan Childs and Nick Werber of the United Kingdom (“Reynaldo”).

Chaim Litewski, Chief of the UN’s Television Section said, “While watching the films, I was transported to a familiar and yet alien world. In my imagination I could feel the smells, sounds, texture, colours and shapes of all living things. In spite of seeing it through a computer screen, I felt that I belonged, it was part of me and I was part of it.”

The winning photographs of the first ever International Forest Photograph Contest – chosen from over 400 submissions from more than 40 countries – were taken by Atakan Baykal of Turkey, Eka Fendiaspara of Indonesia, Riccardo Gangale of Italy, Olga Lavrushko of Ukraine, Prasetyo Nurramdhan of Indonesia, and Pablo Pro of Spain.

The defendants include two prominent human rights lawyers, Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken and Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansoori. The proceedings began on an inauspicious note on 4 March after international trial observers were banned from attending the trial. Other observers, including those representing Amnesty International, were barred from entering the country at all.

“It has become apparent that the proceedings are being conducted in flagrant disregard of accepted international standards for a fair trial, and amid repeated and credible allegations of mistreatment and torture of defendants,” ANHRI said.

“The UAE 94 were arrested following a broader crackdown on freedom of expression and opinion that took place over the 12 months preceding the trial. Among the defendants are members of Al-Islah (the Reform and Social Guidance Association), a non-violent movement advocating for political reforms. Others are civil society activists including jurists, professors of law, practising lawyers and human rights defenders. The charges are categorised as state security offences. The rulings of the Federal Supreme Court are final, depriving the defendants from their right to appeal the final verdict, in a clear violation to international standards.”

The observer from GCHR, FIDH, ANHRI and CIHRS was British lawyer Melanie Gingell, who attempted to observe the trial on 4 and 11 March, ANHRI added, while other observers from many different countries and backgrounds, including jurists from Turkey, Norway, Switzerland and the United States also travelled to the UAE aiming to observe these hearings.

“The authorities confronted them with procedures that they claimed were necessary to gain access to the hearings, supposedly open to the public. All these procedures were complied with, with the observers supplying copies of passports, passport photographs, and documentation in Arabic. Nonetheless, access was denied to the hearing on 4 March as well as on 11 March. All routes leading to the court were subject to police roadblocks. Observers who tried to approach the area on foot were stopped and their passports examined before they were ejected from the area. There were also signs that the hotel rooms of the observers were searched while they were elsewhere following the procedures the authorities had laid down,” the rights group stated.

It aslo said that relatives who had gained access to the trial, interviewed by the observers after the hearings, were shocked and distressed by the physical presentation of the defendants as some were unsteady on their feet, needing support to stand.

“The blanket ban on all international observers leads the organisers of the mission to believe that the UAE authorities did not want the physical condition of the detainees to be seen, for fear it would have supported the torture allegations. The organisations consider as particularly preoccupying that the government of the UAE, after ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) in July 2012 and taking up its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in January 2013, now finds itself having to conceal events in its Supreme Court and facing credible and very serious allegations of torture,” ANHRI said.

The trial is ongoing and at the most recent hearing over two days on 18 and 19 March, the Court heard the prosecution witnesses, mainly experts of the criminal investigation department who have been requested to examine different equipment and devices of the detainees (laptops, phones, memories, SIM cards, etc) in order to try to establish relations between the defendants and the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Forty-three MPs voted in favour of a bill on Wednesday with only two abstentions. In order to take effect, the law must now be signed by the Amir of Kuwait.

“While this bill is a welcome step, the Kuwaiti government must intensify its efforts to find a lasting solution for all the Bidun in the country,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“The Bidun’s human rights must be upheld without discrimination, in particular their rights to health, education and work.

“The absence of policies to resolve the plight of the Bidun, rooted in human rights standards, is a stain on the country’s international reputation. It deprives thousands of Bidun families of their basic political, economic and social rights and bars them from contributing fully to Kuwaiti society.”

In February, the Kuwait parliament passed the first reading of the bill, which stipulated the naturalisation of at least 4,000 of Kuwait’s stateless people. The bill has since been amended from “4,000 stateless” to a “maximum of 4,000 foreigners”, which could essentially exclude the Bidun, or at least limit the number that could receive citizenship.

Amnesty International has previously raised concerns about the Bidun and, in October 2012, Kuwait’s Prime Minister, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah told Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty, that his government would resolve the status of the Bidun people within five years.

In the past the Kuwaiti government pledged to address some Bidun’s grievances but stated that only 34,000 Bidun were eligible for citizenship.

The benefits for Bidun that were promised by the Government in April 2011 have not yet materialised, leaving many Bidun without access to employment, health care, education, and other vital public services, as well as documents such as birth certificates. Bidun children are excluded from primary and secondary education.

Inspired by protests which broke out in 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Bidun community have protested peacefully since February 2011, demanding to be recognized as citizens of Kuwait.

The security forces have used force to disperse demonstrations and arrested protesters, some of whom are facing trial for participating in the demonstrations.

The Kuwait Criminal Court this week reportedly postponed until 19 May 2013 the trial of 33 Bidun for participating in “unauthorised demonstrations” in December 2012.

Background Information

Many Bidun are descended from nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed freely across the borders of the Gulf countries. Their ancestors did not apply for nationality around the time Kuwait gained independence in 1961. As a result, the Bidun have been trapped in limbo and denied Kuwaiti nationality and access to some public services.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish released a statement on January 27, 2013, alleging that the 94 “launched, established, and ran an organization seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power.” But as of February 27, the authorities had not released to lawyers the identities of all 94 detainees, documents setting out the charges against them, or the evidence on which these charges are based. Authorities have held 64 detainees whose identities are known at undisclosed locations for periods of up to a year and denied them legal assistance until late February. The decision to prosecute the case before the Federal Supreme Court under state security procedures deprives those being tried of the right to appeal, Human Rights Watch said.

“Defense lawyers cannot possibly defend their clients adequately without seeing the documents setting out the evidence against them,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It appears that UAE authorities will drag scores of citizens through a shamelessly unfair judicial process that makes a mockery of justice.”

Local activists in contact with family members of the detainees told Human Rights Watch that authorities finally allowed some defendants to meet separately with defense lawyers on February 20 and 21, and February 25, 26, and 27. These meetings took place at the office of the state security prosecutor in Abu Dhabi, the families said, with a representative of the prosecutor’s office listening in to the conversations. The reported circumstances of the meetings violated the confidentiality of conversations between lawyers and their clients.

Family members of five of the detainees told Human Rights Watch that their detained family members had told them about ill-treatment in detention, including prolonged solitary confinement, 24-hour bright fluorescent lighting, inadequate heating, forced wearing of hoods whenever they were outside their cells – including while being escorted to the bathroom or interrogation rooms – and persistent insults from prison guards. As Human Rights Watch has previously documented, a son of one of the detainees, who was at a court hearing to extend their detention on September 6, 2012, reported that they appeared disheveled, disoriented, and distressed. Two of the detainees appeared barely able to walk, one appeared unable to follow the proceedings, and another told the judge that he was weak because he had been given sleeping pills.

The specific whereabouts of the 64 detainees, who have ties to a peaceful Islamist group, al-Islah, remain unknown, prompting concern for their well-being. Al-Islah has been a legally recognized organization in the UAE since 1974. Human Rights Watch has previously documented how lawyers employed by the only Emirati law firm currently offering legal assistance to the detainees have themselves been arrested, deported, and intimidated.

Though most of the defendants were arrested between May and July 2012, local activists told Human Rights Watch that authorities only began allowing family visits in November. Currently, detainees are allowed to call family members twice a week for a maximum of three minutes per phone call. The calls are monitored by state security officers, who immediately disconnect the calls if the detainee or family member attempts to discuss his or her case or location.

Since November authorities also have allowed family members to meet all detainees in person once a month for a maximum of 30 minutes at the office of the state security prosecutor in Abu Dhabi, but only with a representative from the prosecutor’s office in the room.

Though details of the charges remain unknown, based on the attorney general’s January 27 statement it appears authorities will charge the activists with violating article 180 of the penal code, which mandates up to 15 years in prison for anyone who has “set up, established, organized, or run an association or organized body or branch of an organization that seeks to subvert the ruling regime of the country or to promote this through use of force or otherwise.” The same article provides for up to five years in prison for members of such organizations.

Family members of the detainees told Human Rights Watch that authorities froze all bank accounts and assets of detainees following their arrest as well as accounts and assets of their spouses and underage children, in many cases leaving them in difficult financial circumstances. Human Rights Watch has seen a copy of a signed order from the UAE attorney general dated October 25, 2012, ordering all money and assets of 23 of the detainees frozen as well as those of their wives and underage children.

Authorities told defense lawyers in late February that they will permit two family members of each male defendant and one family member of each female defendant to attend the March 4 court session, though in order to enter the sessions each visitor must hand over a copy of each of the following documents: his or her ID card, a personal photo, phone numbers, a proof of relationship with the detainee, and a copy of his or her car registration. The requirement to provide phone numbers, photographs, and car registrations heightens concerns that the authorities will use the trial as a means of gathering data on friends and families of those accused in an arbitrary interference of their right to privacy, Human Rights Watch said.

Previous trials of activists in the UAE have consistently demonstrated serious due process flaws. Following the 2011 trial of five prominent activists who had signed a petition calling for more democracy in the UAE, known as the UAE5, a coalition of five human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch issued a report showing that “flagrant due process flaws” had essentially denied the five men the right to a fair trial. Among the flaws were the prosecutors’ refusal to hand over to defense lawyers all the documents setting out the charges and evidence against them, denial of confidential meetings between defendants and their lawyers, and persistent unequal treatment of the defense and prosecution.

Article 13 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, to which the UAE is a state party, states that “[e]veryone has a right to a fair trial that affords adequate guarantees before a competent, independent and impartial court…” Article 16 mandates that in the course of an investigation and trial every defendant should enjoy minimum guarantees, including the right to be informed promptly of the charges, adequate time and facilities to prepare a legal defense, and the right to communicate confidentially and freely with lawyers.

“Trying these men and women before the Federal Supreme Court adds fair trial concerns to already established serious human rights violations underlying this case, including arbitrary detention and ill-treatment,” Whitson said.

Omar Aziz, 64, the peaceful activist, died on February 16 in Harasta military hospital, a relative told Human Rights Watch. A released detainee provided information about the possible second death of Ayham Ghazzoul, 26, a human rights activist in Military Intelligence branch 215 in Kafr Suseh, Damascus in November 2012. Security Forces had detained both activists in November.

“Aziz’s death, and Ghazzoul’s feared death are yet another reminder of the need to immediately lift the veil of secrecy over Syria’s prisons,” said Sarah Leah Whitson Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “How many more deaths in custody before the Security Council requires Syria to open up its detention centers?”

Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about the well-being of other activists, on the basis of evidence from fellow detainees and relatives, and the fact that in some cases they have been held by security forces incommunicado for months. Many of those being held are feared to have been subjected to torture.

They include Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), who was detained by the same Mezze branch of Air Force intelligence on February 16, 2012; Bassel Khartabil (also known as Bassel Safadi),a Syrian-Palestinian software engineer active in developing open source programs for accessible internet, detained by Military Intelligence on March 15, 2012; and Khalil Maatouk a prominent human rights lawyer abducted on October 12 while driving to his office, and believed to be in the custody of State Security in Kafr Suseh, Damascus.

A relative of Aziz told Human Rights Watch that on February 16 he was transported from ‘Adra Central Prison to the Harasta military hospital in the Damascus suburbs where he died. The cause of death was heart complications caused by high blood pressure, from which Aziz suffered before he was detained, and for which he was taking medication.

However, a witness who saw Aziz in ‘Adra, said that his physical condition had deteriorated significantly since Air Force Intelligence arrested him at his home on November 20. Air Force Intelligence held Aziz incommunicado at their facility in Mezze, Damascus until February 12, when they transferred him to ‘Adra.

The witness said that Aziz was incredibly thin, having lost more than 30 pounds, and that Aziz had said that while he was held in the Air Force Intelligence facility, he had suffered severe ill treatment, including being kept incommunicado in a 4-by-4-meter cell with 85 other people without adequate room to sleep, subjected to cold temperatures, fed poor quality and insufficient food, and told that his family was being detained with him. Aziz told the witness that he had not been physically tortured, and that he had been seen by a doctor and regularly given his blood pressure medication. Aziz’s relative told Human Rights Watch that the family learned he had died on February 16 from one of his co-detainees in ‘Adra. The detainee told them that Aziz was transported to the Harasta military hospital at 1:00 a.m. that morning. Hospital personnel told Aziz’s family that he died shortly after arrival. No representative of the Syrian government contacted Aziz’s family to inform them that he died in custody. Instead, relatives visited Harasta military hospital and searched for Aziz before confirming that he was dead.

Aziz, a 64-year-old husband and father of three, moved back to Syria in 2011 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was working for a computer company. A relative told Human Rights Watch that after the uprising began, in March 2011, Aziz began working with an informal group of activists to deliver humanitarian assistance to the Damascus suburbs. He was detained at his home on November 20 by armed Air Force Intelligence agents wearing civilian clothing.

A recently released inmate told Ghazzoul’s family that he saw him die in the Military Intelligence branch 215 facility in Kafr Suseh, Damascus, on November 9. The inmate said the death was from wounds sustained on November 5, when Ghazzoul was detained and beaten by members of the National Students Union (NSU), a pro-government student body, and two shabiha who were transporting him to the Military Intelligence detention facility. Despite repeated requests for information from his family, the Syrian government failed to provide any information about Ghazzoul’s well-being or whereabouts.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented widespread violations by Syrian government security forces and officials, including enforced disappearances, use of torture, and arbitrary and incommunicado detentions of, among others, peaceful protesters, activists, humanitarian assistance providers, and doctors. In particular, Human Rights Watch documented widespread ill-treatment and torture at the Air Force Intelligence facility in Mezze headed by Major General Jamil Hassan and the director of its investigative branch, Brig. Gen. Abdul Salam Fajr Mahmoud and in Military Intelligence branch 215 headed by Brig. Gen. Sha’afiq.

The government should provide immediate and unhindered access for recognized international detention monitors to all detention facilities, official and unofficial, without prior notification, Human Rights Watch said. These monitors include the office of the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi and the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria. The Joint Special Representative’s Office and the COI should deploy professional human rights monitors who are trained to organize random and regular visits to all places of detention, including suspected secret detention centers. These experts should have the capabilities and resources to identify people who are arbitrarily detained, and those who may be suffering from ill-treatment, protect interviewees from retaliation, and ensure the confidentiality and safekeeping of interviews.

“A constellation of abuse surrounds each incident of arbitrary detention in Syria, from the government’s unwillingness to even acknowledge who is in their custody, to widespread torture and chilling reports of deaths in detention.” Whitson said. “The international community, and first and foremost Syria’s allies, needs to bring pressure to bear on the government to stop these rampant abuses.”

To this day, dozens of activists affiliated with the 20 February movement are reported to be detained for peacefully expressing their views. Some have said they were tortured and ill-treated in custody.

The 20 February movement, which was formed in the wave of popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa region, demands greater respect for human rights and democracy, better economic conditions and an end to corruption.

“It is unfathomable that the authorities continue to violently suppress critics in blatant disregard of the new constitution adopted in July 2011, which guarantees the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful demonstration and association,” said Ann Harrison, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme.

“Ostensible reforms launched by the Moroccan authorities appear to be designed to shake off criticism from international partners while the authorities continue to suppress protests.”

One the members of the 20 February movement, Youssef Oubella, 24, was arrested at a demonstration in July 2012 in Casablanca. He told Amnesty International that police officers had beaten, insulted and tortured him during his arrest and in police custody. He said he had been forced to sign a statement declaring he had hit a police officer.

In September 2012, Oubella and five other members of the movement were sentenced to up to 10 months imprisonment for insults and violence against police officers. All said they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated. They were released in January 2013.

Mohamed Messaoudi, a lawyer who has worked on many cases of activists linked to 20 February movement, said he had recently noticed increased state repression of the group’s demonstrations. He told Amnesty International that the authorities routinely charged those arrested with offences such as insults and/or violence against police officers, drug trafficking and participating in an unauthorized demonstration.

Mohamed Messaoudi said the ill-treatment of activists during and following their arrest is widespread, and that the torture Youssef Oubella described is far from being an isolated case.

Rap singer, Mouad Belghouat – another member of the 20 February movement – was arrested in March 2012 and charged with insulting the police after a video of a policeman wearing a donkey head was posted on the internet to one of his songs denouncing police corruption.

He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, a sentence upheld by the Casablanca Court of Appeal in July 2012. He has been on hunger strike at least twice to protest against his detention conditions. He remains in Oukacha prison in Casablanca.

“So far, the Moroccan authorities have acted against – not for – the rights of people. Peaceful protests must be allowed to take place without harassment or repression, and in no event must protesters or others be arrested and detained arbitrarily. Any allegations of ill-treatment or intimidation must immediately be investigated and anyone found responsible brought to justice,” Said Harrison.

“It is also crucial that those arrested have immediate access to a lawyer, as they are at particular risk of torture and other ill-treatment in the first hours following their arrest.”

Following his visit to Morocco and Western Sahara in September 2012, Juan Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, stated that although the Code of Criminal Procedure guarantees access to a lawyer, “…that guarantee is neither fully respected in law nor in practice. The detainee only has access to a lawyer of his choice 24 hours after arrest, for 30 minutes in the presence of an investigator.”

Amnesty International is calling on Morocco to amend its laws to ensure that detainees have effective access to a lawyer of their choice from the outset of and throughout their detention, and that they can consult their lawyer in private.

“The criminal court’s decision to acquit five online activists could become a victory for free speech,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Kuwaiti authorities should take a cue from this decision and revoke sentences and drop charges against others accused of offending the emir.”

Authorities should suspend and then abolish laws that criminalize peaceful criticism of public officials because they violate international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.

Since October 2012, the Public Prosecution Office has charged at least 35 individuals, including online activists, with offending the emir, the defendants, their lawyers, and human rights activists told Human Rights Watch. Criminal courts havesentenced at least six of them, including the three former members of parliament, to prison terms. Al-Enzi, acquitted in this case, is currently serving a two-year prison term for “offending the emir” in a different case.

“The Kuwaiti judicial system is clearly at odds with itself, sentencing some for offending the emir, while freeing others,” said Whitson. “The court needs to set clear and unequivocal precedent that offending the emir is not a legitimate charge.”

Jafar Panahi and Nasrin Sotoudeh have won the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the Sakharov Prize will shine a light on injustices in Iran.

“I congratulate Mr. Panahi and Ms. Sotoudeh,” she said. “This prize will draw public attention to violations of human rights in Iran. This prize highlights a lack of freedom of expression in Iran, and it also pays tribute to people who work for human rights.”

Jafar Panahi is a film director known for his humanistic portrayal of Iranian life in films like “The Circle,” “The White Balloon,” and “Offside.” After years of conflict with the Iranian government over the content of his films, in 2010 he was jailed and sentenced to a six-year term and a 20-year ban on working on films, giving interviews, and from leaving the country.

The regime charged him with “assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

European Parliament President Martin Schulz suggested that Panahi had clearly demonstrated the shortcomings of the current regime: “As in every good portrait,  Panahi’s films shows not only the merits but also the contradictions and the daily problems of Iranians,” he said. “State regimes clearly fear nothing more than the portrayal of the bitter reality that reigns inside their nations. And this is why people like Mr. Panahi are silenced in such regimes.”

Nasrin Sotoudeh became known as one of the most active human rights lawyers in Iran, representing Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the controversial June 2009 presidential election. She has gained international recognition for her defense of juveniles facing death sentences.

Sotoudeh was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to 11 years in jail for charges that included “activities against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.” She was also barred from practicing law for 20 years. The prison term and the ban have since been shortened to six and 10 years respectively.

Recently, she started a hunger strike to protest against the restrictions imposed on her family’s visits. Her husband and daughter are forbidden from leaving the country.

Mr. Schulz told the assembly in Strasbourg on October 26 that Sotoudeh deserved the award for her strong opposition to objectionable Iranian government practices.

“If the fight for freedom, if the fight for human rights, for human dignity, for freedom from torture and against the death sentence, for freedom of opinion and for justice in criminal proceedings is an attack on national security, then we support this person in her attack on the national security of a regime that does not respect any of these fundamental rights,” he said. “The prize for Mrs. Sotoudeh is a clear rejection of the regime in Iran.”

This is the first time the award has been given to Iranians. The imprisoned activists will probably be unable to make it to Strasbourg for the ceremony on December 12 to collect the 50,000 euro prize.

The High Criminal Court of Appeal in Bahrain on Tuesday upheld the convictions and sentences of the 13 men, who were convicted last year before military courts on charges related to anti-government protests.

Amnesty International sent a trial observer to Bahrain who was present in court.

“Today’s court decision is another blow to justice and it shows once more that the Bahraini authorities are not on the path of reform, but seem rather driven by vindictiveness,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“Today’s verdict further engulfs Bahrain in injustice. Instead of upholding the sentences, ranging from five years to life in prison, the Bahraini authorities must quash the convictions for the 13 men who are imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their human rights and release them immediately and unconditionally.”

The 13, who include prominent activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and opposition political activist Ebrahim Sharif, were originally sentenced by a military court in June 2011 to between two years and life in prison on charges including “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution”.

All maintain their innocence.

Farida Ismail, Ebrahim Sharif’s wife, said: “I was expecting this outcome as it is clear to us the government is not ready to be held accountable – its procedures continue as before.

“There is not enough pressure from abroad. What happens next will depend on which steps are taken by the international community and what states do in the next Universal Periodic Review session. As for our government, it is clear it is not ready for justice.”

The convictions and sentences of the 13 were originally upheld before a military court of appeal in September 2011.

But on 30 April 2012, the Court of Cassation ordered their appeal be held before a civilian court – a process which began on 22 May 2012 and ended with today’s verdict, which was announced in a session that lasted only three minutes.

Bahrain’s human rights record will be under scrutiny during the next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the Human Rights Council in mid September, when the Gulf state will have to confirm which recommendations made by its peers it accepts.

During the previous UPR session in June, 176 recommendations were presented to Bahrain, including key proposals that, if accepted, would signal commitment towards ensuring accountability.

“Bahrain cannot get a free pass at the UN Human Rights Council and we urge states to tell the Bahraini authorities that today’s verdict crosses a red line and that they can no longer be considered credible partners,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Despite the Bahraini’s government attempt to portray themselves as on the path to reform, little has been done on the ground to ensure accountability and true justice for victims of human rights abuses.

Violations are ongoing and prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

Amnesty International also repeated its call to the authorities to order an immediate and independent investigation into some of the allegations made by defendants during previous court hearings, that they have been tortured and suffered other ill-treatment while in detention, including sexual assault, in order to coerce “confessions” from them.

Fourteen opposition activists were originally arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 after taking part in pro-reform protests in Manama. One of the men was later released.

Many have alleged they were tortured during their first few days of detention when they were being interrogated by officers from the National Security Agency (NSA).

None of the 13 was allowed to see their lawyers during the NSA interrogations. Some saw their lawyers during questioning by the military prosecutor ahead of the trial in 2011.

Others were only allowed to see their lawyers during the first court hearing in May 2011, which was the first time any of the activists had seen their families since their arrest.

There are fears in particular that Aden University student activist Abdul Raouf Hassan Zain al-Saqqaf – who has already been arrested twice this year – may be at risk of arbitrary detention and torture or other ill-treatment before he sits an exam at his university on 3 September.

“Peaceful political activists in Aden and other parts of southern Yemen face repression from the Yemeni authorities, including widespread intimidation and arbitrary arrests, as well as torture or other ill-treatment in some cases,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme Director.

“This repression needs to stop and authorities throughout Yemen must uphold the right to exercise freedom of expression.”

Abdul Raouf is an active member of the Southern Movement, and at the time of his most recent arrest on 10 August he and four other activists had been organizing an event for the Movement in Aden’s al-Mu’alla area.

The Southern Movement (known also as al-Hirak, a short form of its name in Arabic) is a loose coalition of political groups, many of whom call for the peaceful separation of southern Yemen, which was independent until its unification with the north in 1990.

Their gathering was interrupted around 6am when around eight security officers arrived in two vehicles – one of them mounted with a machine-gun turret – and arrested all five activists.

The five were taken to Khormaksar police station in Aden, where they were held until late that night. They were said to have been beaten with rifle butts and a stick that day. The security officers and men in plain clothes singled out Abdul Raouf, accusing him of “teaching” the other activists.

While the other four activists were released by around 10pm on 10 August, Abdul Raouf was hooded and handcuffed before being taken to the Central Prison in al-Mansurah, a district of Aden.

He said he was beaten again in the prison and then held in solitary confinement in a tiny cockroach-infested cell without light or fresh air.

“I had to lie on the cockroaches,” Abdul Raouf told Amnesty International. “I was beaten when I asked to see the director of the prison and they handcuffed me to the bars on the door of the cell for three to four hours. When it was sahur time [the dawn meal before observing the daily fast during the month of Ramadan] they brought bread and milk, but I was not given the milk that was given to other prisoners. Two hours later I started to have severe pain in my stomach and started to throw up.”

A doctor – himself an inmate at the Central Prison – investigated Abdul Raouf’s stomach problems and a spasm in his right leg, and insisted that he be given treatment. On 13 August, the detained activist was again hooded and handcuffed before being taken to al- Naqib hospital for checks.

He said he was beaten again on his way to the prison. Later on the evening of 13 August, he was released but was threatened that “this is not a complete release; you could be brought in at any time”.

Because of an earlier detention in May 2012, Abdul Raouf was forced to miss his second-term exams. He later received permission from the university to take the same exams on 3 September – missing them again will force him to miss a whole year of his studies, he told Amnesty International.

“We’re urging for an independent and impartial investigation to be carried out into Abdul Raouf’s alleged torture by the Yemeni security forces and for anyone found responsible to be brought to justice,” said Luther.

“Threats to keep on disrupting activists’ lives by hinting that they could be whisked away at any moment are outrageous and the Yemeni authorities must not allow such intimidation to continue.”