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Murdered filmaker Theo van Gogh was both an outspoken proponent and exponent of free expression who consciously courted controversy. Index on Censorship reports (04-NOV-04)
 

The Rafto Foundation together with Amnesty International has made a post card of appeal which can be sent to the Chinese government. The post card was introduced on Monday the 25th of October when Monica Mæland (Chief Comissioner of the City Government in Bergen) and Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen (the leader of the opposition in Bergen) signed a post card each.Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen said that it was an honour to sign the post card and by this act contributing to the campaign to free Rebiya Kadeer. Both politicians agreed that this was a political case they easily supported. (04-NOV-2004)

The “North Korean Holocaust Exhibition” will be held from November 8th through November 10, 2004, at the National Assembly Members Building in Yeoido, Seoul, Korea. This will be a powerfully dramatic depiction of the suffering of the North Korean people!  The exhibition will include hundreds of photos, letters, diaries, models, and artifacts by and from the refugees and NK people, which Mr. Moon from Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human rights and others risked their lives to collect over the past ten years.  (01-NOV-2004)

The Rafto Prize Ceremony 2004, honouring this years laureate, Rebiya Kadeer , will be held on 7 Nov. at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. Kadeers husband, Sidik Haji Rouzi, will receive the prize on behalf of his wife. Rouzi fled the People´s Republic of China in 1996 and was granted asylum in the USA. Distinguished Norwegian and international artists will participate at the Rafto Award Ceremony. The Rafto Symposium 2004 is named “Human Rights and Minorities in China: The Case of Xinjiang” and will be held on 5 Nov. at Clarion Hotel Admiral, Bergen. (01-NOV-2004)

In a letter to the president Mr. Ilham Aliyev the 29th of October the Human Rights House Foundation  and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) expressed serious concern about the Court of Grave Crime´s decisions. (29-OCT-04).
 

In January 2004 the re-newed Department of Information- and Media Sciences was established at the University of Bergen. “In accordance with our scientific goals we want to create an agenda for public debate on the conditions for freedom of expression, and the challenges it is facing. This has now come about through an inspiring cooperation with the Rafto Foundation, the Institution Fritt Ord and Bergens Tidende,” says Professor Knut Helland. (30-OCT-2004)

Chinese police raided two hide-out places in the outskirts of Beijing, and arrested 65 North Korean refugees and 2 activist workers on October 26th.  Among them, there are 11 teenagers and 1 senior aged over 70. In a press release, the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag (NK Gulag) urges chinese government to immediately release the North Korean refugees and the South Korean human rights workers. (29-OCT-2004)  

A group of Azerbaijani human rights defenders have appealed to a number of international bodies and influential human rights groups, including Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) to help secure the release of convicted oppositionists. “An unfair sentence was handed down on the convicted opposition leaders, who were charged with organizing disorders during the presidential elections on October 15-16, 2003,” the human rights groups underlined in their appeal. (29 OCT 2004)

A group of Azerbaijani human rights defenders have appealed to a number of international bodies and influential human rights groups, including Human Rights House Foundation (HRH) to help secure the release of convicted oppositionists. “An unfair sentence was handed down on the convicted opposition leaders, who were charged with organizing disorders during the presidential elections on October 15-16, 2003,” the human rights groups underlined in their appeal. (29 OCT 2004)