They join the petition coordinated by the Catalan National Assembly and signed by around thirty political prisoners from different territories around the world, among them Julian Assange, to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.
Chinese artist and social activist Ai Weiwei, known by his criticisms of the Chinese government in the matters of human rights violations; former CIA agent and investigator John Kirakou, imprisoned for exposing the CIA torture program; and former vice president of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, victim of president Lenin Moreno’s lawfare, as an attempt to reverse or erase the achievements of the countries’ Citizen’s Revolution.
These activist and political prisoners are adding their signatures to those of some thirty political prisoners, supporting a letter sent on April 29th to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The missive, coordinated by the Catalan National Assembly and led by the Catalan Political Prisoners, had the aim of denouncing the situation in prisons during the Coronavirus crisis. Among the signatories were Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and other political prisoners imprisoned in Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, the Rif and Western Sahara.
This Monday, Michelle Bachelet insisted on her twitter account that “People in prison or other detention facilities are particularly at risk for #COVID19, given limited physical distancing possibilities and healthcare options. People detained arbitrarily or incarcerated for exercising their rights should be released without delay.”
In the recent days, the situation of alarm has intensified in many prisons around the world, especially on the Latin American continent. International institutions and organizations such as the Council of Europe, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recommended reducing the population in prisons due to its high risk of spreading of the disease.
The Catalan National Assembly denounces that Spain repeatedly ignores the recommendations made by international institutions and organizations and considers this fact as proof of their contempt for human rights and against the international organizations that work for their protection.
Photo: Alfred Weidinger, Flickr.