The Day of the Endangered Lawyer on 24 January is a day on which we call for the attention to lawyers all over the world who are facing harassment, threats, persecution or even torture and whose work is therefore made increasingly difficult.
Turkey has arrested hundreds of lawyers since the military coup failed in July 2016. The legal profession is one of the main target groups of the Turkish authorities’ attack on the right to a fair trial and the administration of justice. The Human Rights Watch report “Lawyers on Trial: Abusive Prosecutions and Erosion of Fair Trial Rights in Turkey” published in 2019, examines in detail how lawyers are prosecuted, for example by associating them with their clients’ alleged crimes.
Further sad news for the legal profession came from Iran in 2019. The latest sentencing of Iranian human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh to 33 years of imprisonment and 148 lashes shows the danger that Iranian human rights lawyers are putting themselves in. Nasrin Sotoudeh is paying an incredibly high price for her devotion for justice and the rule of law.
Amnesty International and the German Bar Association (DAV) invite all interested to join us for the panel discussion on the situation in Turkey and Iran, with three reknowed human rights experts:
Dr. Leila Alikarami, Human Rights Lawyer, Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS University of London
Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey Director at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the Report “Lawyers on Trial – Abusive Prosecutions and Erosion of Fair Trial Rights in Turkey”
Stefan von Raumer, lawyer, co-editor of an ECHR commentary and chair of the Human Rights Committee of DAV, Chair of the CCBE Human Rights Committee
Light refreshments will be served during the event. We would like to point out that the event is held in English only. Free entry upon registration.
For registration please use the following link:
Contact:
Deutscher Anwaltverein e.V.
Littenstraße 11
10179 Berlin
Tel: +49 (30) 72 61 52 – 145, E-Mail: burova@anwaltverein.de
Amnesty Kerze