Lawyers have been invited to take part in a campaign to show solidarity with lawyers imprisoned or murdered simply for carrying out their professional duty.
The campaign is being organised by barrister Jason Hadden, of St Ives Chambers, and Courtenay Barklem, human rights adviser at the Law Society, who say five lawyers have been murdered in Columbia this year, while more than 300 have been killed there since 1991.
They say similar stories exist throughout the world—for example, Iranian human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment and sent to a remote corner of the country in March this year.
The campaign is inspired by the Chinese lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, also known as the Barefoot Lawyer, who was placed under house arrest from 2010 until his escape to the US last month.
On 12 November, lawyers are invited to post a photo of their bare feet on Twitter (@tweetlawfeet) or Facebook. They can also sign the petition against ill treatment of lawyers at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31796.
