Urgent appeal for human rights defender Charles Hector

Many of you have already responded to petition and call on Hitachi, who claims to source from Asahi Kosei, an electronic producing company in Malaysia. Asahi Kosei is suing Charles Hector in order to stop him from writing about the threats to the 31 migrant workers employed by Asahei Kosei, who complained about disproportional wage deductions and lack of sick leave.

In response to workers complaints, workers were threatened to lose their jobs and four employees were immediately deported. Charles Hector risks an outrageous penalty of approximately € 2.3 million, and an effective gag on further publications of any information about migrant workers at Asahi Kosei. Despite thousands of e-mails sent to Hitachi, they have not responded nor pushed their suppliers to withdraw the case.

So far the judge hearing the case appears to not recognize Charles Hectors’ rights as a Human Rights Defender. There are serious concerns that the 31 migrant workers will not be added as parties to the suit, which would have resulted in their deportation protection. In the case of the five workers who were willing to testify concerning the working conditions at Asahi Kosei meant that they would risk losing their work visas and consequently face possible arrests, detention and deportation back to Burma.

The trial against Charles Hector is rapidly approaching, the dates set are for August 24th, 25th and 26th; and none of the companies involved have done the right thing. Immediate action by buyers is needed to halt the proceedings.

Please continue to put pressure on Hitachi and sign the petition today at:
http://goodelectronics.org/urgent-appeals/hitachi(opens in new window)

See also:
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• Malaysia: Japanese Firm Must Drop Defamation Charges Against Human Rights Defender
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• Take Action – Stop the court case against Malaysian Human Rights Defender Charles Hector(opens in new window)