Special Tribunals Against Human Rights Defenders

Cameroon

Cameroon Military Courts (June 2024)

Cameroon has witnessed a rapid deterioration of the rule of law and human rights since late 2016 with the outbreak of the conflict between the Cameroonian government and Anglophone separatists. This has led to an increase in the harassment, intimidation, and persecution of human rights defenders, particularly lawyers and journalists who have been at the forefront in the struggle for justice and the promotion of human rights. Many of these defenders have been arrested, detained, tortured, or even killed while carrying out their work, leaving many in fear for their lives. The Cameroonian government has responded to the crisis by cracking down on civic space, including counter-terrorism laws to try civilian human rights defenders and journalists in military courts. This report analyzes the use of military courts in Cameroon to try human rights defenders, including journalists, lawyers, and others in the context of Cameroon’s ongoing Anglophone Crisis. The use of such tools to persecute human rights defenders advocating for the rights of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority contravenes Cameroon’s international, regional, and national legal obligations.

Read the full report HERE

Israel

Standing Trial Before Israeli Military Courts: Palestinian Human Rights Defenders in the West Bank (July 2023)

In Palestine, while Israelis in the occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli civilian law, the majority of West Bank Palestinians are subject to a military code enacted, enforced, and interpreted since 1967 by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Under this system, Palestinian civilians, including HRDs, are tried before Israeli military courts, a practice regarded as highly problematic under international human rights law.

Considering this complex landscape, the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights (CHR) staff undertook a comprehensive study of the Israeli military justice system as applied to Palestinian HRDs in the occupied West Bank from a human rights perspective. The report begins by describing the law applied to Palestinians, including Palestinian HRDs, which derives from multiple sources and sets forth vague and broad offenses that are deployed in a manner that curtails fundamental freedoms. It examines the procedures attending the arrest, detention, investigation, indictment, and remand of Palestinians suspected of violating these laws. Finally, it assesses the Israeli military’s compliance with its obligations under international law to protect the rights of the accused at trial. It concludes with a set of recommendations to the government of Israel to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of the rights of Palestinian HRDs to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.

Read the full report HERE

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Counterterror Court Targets Activists (April 2019)

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, authorities created the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) in 2008 to prosecute terrorism detainees, thousands of whom had been languishing in detention without charge since being rounded up in the wake of terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom, claimed by al-Qaeda, in 2003. However, the court’s caseload was quickly expanded from alleged violent extremists to include political dissidents, religious minorities and human rights activists.

The American Bar Association Center for Human Rights (Center) has interviewed individuals familiar with proceedings in the SCC and reviewed judgments, public reports, press statements, and other materials concerning the court.  It has concluded that the SCC routinely convicts individuals of terrorism charges without any meaningful evidence.  Notwithstanding the fact that some defendants were accused of serious violent crimes, credible witnesses, victims, or physical evidence were not produced in the cases reviewed by the Center.  Indeed, in several judgments reviewed, Shia protestors were given the death sentence solely on the basis of confessions alleged to have been produced through torture.

Read the full report HERE

All three reports were prepared by staff and consultants of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights and reflect their own views. They have not been reviewed or approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and therefore should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association as a whole. Further, nothing in these reports should be considered as legal advice in a specific case.