Actions and Issues

2020 Main​ Actions:
Sri Lanka: Justice for the Trinco Five
China/Tibet: Unconditional release of Tibetan activist Tashi Wangchuk and Uyghur economist
​and professor Ilham Tohti
Iran: Unconditional release of Nasrin Sotoudeh from prison, for regular access to her family members and a lawyer of her own choice, and for the abolition of mandatory hijab laws
United Arab Emirates: Unconditional release of Human Rights Defender Ahmed Mansoor 

2020 Side​ Actions:
Saudi Arabia: Unconditional release of Saudi Women Human Rights Defender Loujain al-Hathloul
United States: Legislation for protecting people from gun violence

Sri Lanka: Justice For Ragihar Manoharan and the Trinco Five 

Ragihar Manoharan, a Sri Lankan Tamil student, and four fellow students had gathered for a chat near the seafront in the town of Trincomalee in northeastern Sri Lanka at about 7:00 p.m. on January 2, 2006, when a grenade was thrown at them from a passing auto rickshaw. The students ran, but at least three of them were injured in the explosion. A short while later, a group of 10 to 15 officers in uniform, believed to be police from the elite Special Task Force, arrived. They reportedly put the injured students into their jeep and beat them with rifle butts, and then pushed them out onto the road. According to a witness, the security forces personnel then shot the five students dead. 

Despite subsequent court hearings and an investigation by a presidential commission of inquiry, no one has been prosecuted for these murders. Ragihar’s father gave evidence at the proceedings and then received death threats. Ultimately, Ragihar’s family was forced to flee Sri Lanka.

Justice for Ragihar and the rest of the Trinco Five has been one of the GOTB actions for several years. In July 2013, due to the mounting international pressure, the Sri Lankan government arrested 12 Police Special Task Force members in connection with the murders. All 12 are out on bail and no further action has been taken since then. We are continuing to call on the Sri Lankan government to effectively investigate and prosecute those who murdered Ragihar Manoharan and the rest of the “Trinco Five."

In January 2018, the Sri Lankan government announced that it would allow evidence to be given by Skype in the Trinco Five case, which would facilitate testimony by witnesses living outside Sri Lanka.  To date, though, little progress has occurred in the case. In fact, both the 2017 and 2018 reports on Sri Lanka from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights cited the case of the Trinco Five students as an emblematic case of human rights violations for which no appreciable progress has occurred.


Take Action Now: Join the South Asia Regional Action Network
Sign up for monthly actions by email on Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, the Maldives and Bangladesh.

Email jmcdonald@aiusacs.org and write "SARAN sign-up" in the subject line.

Online Resources

Tibet/China: Unconditional release of Tibetan activist Tashi Wangchuk and Uyghur economist
​and professor Ilham Tohti

This year's Get on the Bus will once again call for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners being held by the Chinese government. We will have a special focus on two prisoners of conscience: Tibetan language rights activist Tashi Wangchuk and Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti.

Tashi Wangchuk:

Tashi Wangchuk is a Tibetan entrepreneur and language rights activist. He has been detained by the Chinese government since January 27, 2016 on charges of inciting separatism, after he worked to sue the Chinese government to expand access to Tibetan language education. He faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted. 

Coming to the China/Tibet rally? Please print and cut out this mask of Tashi Wangchuk's face. We will be bringing some to the rally, too.

Ilham Tohti:

Ilham Tohti has been held by the Chinese Government for more than five years. He was an economics professor at Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. He has worked for two decades to build understanding between Uighurs and Han Chinese. Rejecting separatism and violence, he tried to reconcile differences between these ethnic groups. Uighurs, a mainly Muslim Turkic ethnic group, have faced widespread discrimination in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China.

In January 2014, Ilham Tohti was taken from his home in Beijing by police. For five months, family and friends were not told where he was. He was denied food for 10 days and his feet were shackled for 20 days straight. In September 2014, following an unfair trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of separatism. 

Amnesty International recognizes Ilham Tohti as a prisoner of conscience, and continues to call for his immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty also is calling for the release of the many other Uighur scholars and community members who are being unrightfully detained.

Picture
Ilham Tohti
Picture
Tashi Wangchuk. Photo by Gilles Sabrié for The New York Times
          Tashi Wangchuk links:  ​