Washington, D.C., June 1, 2021. The freedom of expression organization of Honduras C-Libre reported that journalist and human rights activist Thirzia Galeas was detained at the Atlanta airport while requesting political asylum. Sunday 23, Galeas entered the country with her tourist visa and asked for asylum upon arrival due to the persecution suffered by her organization.
Her family and colleagues didn’t know anything about her until Wednesday 26, when she communicated with her brother and reported that she was detained at the ICE Steward Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. C-Libre said that the journalist is held in a confined space with about 30 other detainees, some of them infected with COVID-19.
Galeas has high blood pressure and requires medication. She told her brother that in the U.S. detention center she has not been able to get her medicine.
The 34-year-old journalist has worked over the last eleven years at C-Libre. The Honduran human rights organization has backed independent journalists who unveil corruption and aggressions against communities at risk. As a critical watchdog, C-Libre has documented sensitive information for the administration of President Juan Orlando Hernandez. In 2020, the organization led the strategic litigation actions to fight the «Intelligence Law,» issued to surveil journalists and human rights defenders without a court order.
As reported by C-Libre, in December 2020, a man identified as Lester Obando, who presented himself as a prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, threatened to kill Galeas. He told her that «her head had a price for having a lot of information about the C-Libre organization.»
Harassment on Galeas started almost a decade ago, in December 2011, when Thirzia Galeas, among other women journalists, were assaulted by members of the Presidential Honor Guard while covering the protests to condemn the murders of communicators in Honduras.
The Honduran journalist detained in Georgia does not have an attorney to represent her. Fundamedios demands her immediate release as she has not committed any crime, and makes an open call to support Thirzia Galeas, as she faces death threats if returning to her home country, Honduras
For more information contact
Dagmar Thiel
Fundamedios
+1 321 424 7474