page_title: Irene Fernandez
hierarchical_section_title: Irene Fernandez
caption_attribution_description: English: Irene Fernandez (standing in front), a reknowned Malaysian campaigner for the rights of the poor, graced the closing program of our DTP course on trade and human rights. In 1996, the Malaysian government charged her with "maliciously publishing false news" when she reported the abuse of migrant workers in Malaysia. Her sensational trial was the longest in the history of the Malaysian justice system after which she was sentenced to 1-year imprisonment. The case is currently on appeal. In 2005, Irene Fernandez was given the Right Livelihood Award "for outstanding vision and work on behalf of our planet and its people". During the training, I also have the honor of drinking a few beers and whiskey with Andre Frankovits (front row, second from the left) who was a long time campaigner for Amnesty International and the current Executive Director of the Human Rights Council of Australia. Nikon D40 (DTP Course on Trade and Human Rights, March 2008).
context_page_description: Irene Fernandez was a Malaysian human rights activist and politician. She was a People's Justice Party supreme council member and the director and co-founder of the non-governmental organization Tenaganita, which promotes the rights of migrant workers and refugees in Malaysia.
  In 1995, Irene Fernandez published a report on the living conditions of the migrant workers
  entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres". The report was based in part on information given to her by Steven Gan and a team of reporters from The Sun, who had uncovered evidence that 59 inmates, primarily Bangladeshis, had died in the Semenyih immigration detention camp of the preventable diseases typhoid and beriberi. When Gan and his colleagues were blocked by Sun editors from printing the report in the paper, they passed it to Fernandez.
  She was arrested in 1996 and charged with 'maliciously publishing false news'. After seven years of trial, she was found guilty in 2003 and convicted to one year's imprisonment.
context_section_description: Irene Fernandez (18 April 1946 – 31 March 2014) was a Malaysian human rights activist and politician. She was a People's Justice Party (KeADILan) supreme council member  and the director and co-founder of the non-governmental organization Tenaganita, which promotes the rights of migrant workers and refugees in Malaysia.
  In 1995, Irene Fernandez published a report on the living conditions of the migrant workers
  entitled "Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres". The report was based in part on information given to her by Steven Gan and a team of reporters from The Sun, who had uncovered evidence that 59 inmates, primarily Bangladeshis, had died in the Semenyih immigration detention camp of the preventable diseases typhoid and beriberi. When Gan and his colleagues were blocked by Sun editors from printing the report in the paper, they passed it to Fernandez.
  She was arrested in 1996 and charged with 'maliciously publishing false news'. After seven years of trial, she was found guilty in 2003 and convicted to one year's imprisonment. Released on bail pending her appeal, her passport was held by the courts, and as a convicted criminal, she was barred from standing as parliamentary candidate in the 2004 Malaysian elections.
  In 2005, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her outstanding and courageous work to stop violence against women and abuses of migrant and poor workers".
  Irene Fernandez's appeal at the High Court resumed on 28 October 2008. On 24 November 2008, Justice Mohamed Apandi Ali overturned her earlier conviction and acquitted her, ending the thirteen-year case.
  She died on 31 March 2014 of heart failure.
caption: Fernandez in 2008
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