Irene Fernandez TENAGANITA (Protecting the Rights of Women and Migrants) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Prosecuted Migrant Rights’ Activist

Irene is an advocate for the rights of migrant, farm and domestic workers, sex workers, and people living with HIV&AIDS in Malaysia. Founder and director of TENAGANITA (Protecting the Rights of Women and Migrants), she has documented conditions in migration detention centers and exposed practices of torture, forced stripping, unsanitary conditions, sexual abuses and police corruption. Upon making her findings public in 1995, the Malaysian government charged her with “maliciously publishing false news.” She appeared in court over 300 times during her trial. In 2003, she was sentenced to one year imprisonment. She is now out on bail, pending appeal of her case. Irene is also a founding member of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), a human rights organization, and the Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development, a regional women’s rights network. In 2005, she was awarded the Rights Livelihood Award, for work to stop violence against women migrant and poor workers in Malaysia.

*New development: ACQUITTED! Following 13 years of judicial battle, Ms. Fernandez was finally acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur Criminal High Court on November 24, 2008. Read the full press release from the Observatory here.