Jacqueline Moudeina
2007
oil on canvas
60" x 36"
$7,500 (Purchasing Information) Chad
Jacqueline Moudeina was still an infant when she first became acquainted with
political peril. A few years before Chad gained independence from France in
1960, the colonial government tried to recruit her father into politics. Jacques
Moudeina
rejected the overtures, preferring instead to continue his medical practice
in the southern town of Koumra. A few weeks after his namesake was born, he
was
mortally poisoned by a potion containing the saliva of a lion.
More than four
decades later, Jacqueline Moudeina has received numerous death threats and
survived a 2001 assassination attempt that came harrowingly close
to succeeding — unintended consequences of her distinction as one of
Chad's most prominent human rights lawyers.
Moudeina has won international
acclaim as her work began to cross borders. She received the 2002 Martin
Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, given
by an
international network of human rights organizations including Amnesty International.
Over the desperate pleas of her family, she continues to pursue legal cases
against Chad's most murderous political figures. Currently in temporary
sanctuary at
the Penn State Dickinson School of Law as part of the Scholars at Risk
Network, Moudeina has not stopped her work. She has been studying advocacy
methods
and meeting with potential funders for various human rights initiatives,
ever mindful
of the work that awaits her when she returns to Chad.
(Biographical material
written by Jungwon Kim and Amnesty International)
All images on this site are copyright © 2008 by Tom Block Arts.
Please contact the artist for use of these images.
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