Amnesty International News & Updates Feed

Spotlight on torture

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:24:55 +0100

On 26 June, International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Amnesty International members and supporters are taking action around the world. They are calling on governments to reaffirm their commitment to the consensus affirmed after the Second World War - that torture and other ill-treatment are absolutely prohibited.

Click on the pictures to the right to watch a slideshow with images of the day.

Recently, there has been a new and acute threat to the international prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment in the context of government responses to the threat of terrorism. It is the validity of the absolute prohibition itself that has been challenged by the actions of governments around the world.

What this means in reality is that individuals are subjected to horrific practices. In the context of government counter-terrorism strategies, Amnesty International has documented practices such as:

beatings, electric shocks, simulated drowning, prolonged isolation and other physical abuse;
the return of individuals to countries where they are at risk of torture, sometimes on the basis of flimsy “diplomatic assurances”;
secret detention.

Amnesty International is calling on all governments to: condemn all forms of torture and other ill-treatment; prevent torture, including through ending secret and incommunicado detention; and hold to account those responsible for authorising, facilitating, or inflicting torture or other ill-treatment.

Today is not a day of passive remembrance but one for action: governments and citizens across the world should act to reverse the trend of recent years and eradicate these cruel and inhuman practices.

Don’t let torture go unchallenged:

In view of France’s Presidency of the European Union, please send an email to President Nicolas Sarkozy and urge him to lead the EU Council to take action to end rendition and secret detention;

Write to the Tunisian government and demand it taks steps to end torture and other ill-treatment;

Time for real change as Supreme Court rules on Guantánamo detentions

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:55:15 +0100

On the 12 June 2008 the US Supreme Court recognized, in the case of Boumediene v.Bush, the right of those detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to challenge their detention in US civilian courts. Amnesty International described the ruling as an essential step towards restoring the rule of law to the USA’s counter terrorism measures.

The judgment removes a key obstacle to vindicating basic rights ending the lawless environment of isolation, enforced silence, invisibility, and unrestrained executive power in Guantánamo Bay.

The Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional attempts by the administration and Congress (through the 2006 Military Commissions Act) to strip the detainees of their right to habeas corpus. The Court also dismissed as deficient the substitute scheme established by the administration and Congress to replace habeas corpus proceedings. That scheme consists of “Combatant Status Review Tribunals” (CSRTs), panels of three military officers empowered to review the detainee’s “enemy combatant” status, with extremely limited judicial review of final CSRT decisions under the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act (DTA). The first CSRTs were not held until more than two years after the detentions began. No judicial review of CSRT decisions had been undertaken at the time of the Supreme Court's decision.

"This is the third time since 2004 that the US's highest court has rejected arguments advanced by the Bush administration that it can indefinitely detain people without charge or trial, with no meaningful access to justice," said Amnesty International. The organisation had filed an amicus brief in the case.

“The time has come for the US government to finally bring its detention policies and practices in the 'war on terror' in line with international standards. It must stop all interference with the access of detainees to civilian courts. It should close Guantánamo promptly, abandon the fundamentally unfair military commission proceedings and either release or charge and try detainees held there in US federal courts”, Amnesty International said.

President George W. Bush’s immediate response to the judgment was to side with the four Justices who dissented from the majority opinion. The President stated that the dissenters had been concerned about national security, and that the administration would “study this opinion, and we'll do so with this in mind, to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate, so that we can safely say, or truly say to the American people: We're doing everything we can to protect you.”

The organization expressed concern that the US Government has in the past sought to circumvent rulings of the Supreme Court dealing with their detention policies and practices - notoriously introducing the Military Commissions Act after the court ruled against it in Hamdan v Rumsfeld - and its hopes that the President’s response is not a signal the administration will not adequately address the substance of the Court’s ruling.

"Justice is long overdue for the some 280 detainees, many of whom have been detained for more than six years without access to any court,” said Amnesty International.

Video: Murat Kurnaz, former detainee at Guantánamo and Afghanistan

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:55:34 +0100

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Murat Kurnaz was arrested in Pakistan in November 2001, and then held in US custody in Afghanistan and Guantánamo.

He was detained without charge or trial for nearly five years.

Released in August 2006, he is now back home in Bremen, Germany.

Women’s Rights Activists arrested in peaceful solidarity demonstrations in Iran

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:10:38 +0100

Nine women attempting to take part in a small, peaceful seminar to commemorate a day of solidarity with Iranian women were arrested in Tehran on Thursday. The women -Aida Saadat, Nahid Mirhaj, Nafiseh Azad, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Jelve Javaheri, Jila Baniyagoub, Sarah Loghmani Farideh Ghaeb and Aliyeh Matlabzadeh - were arrested and taken to a detention centre, and released later in the evening.

The seminar organized by the Campaign for Equality in honour of the anniversary of the day of solidarity of Iranian women, was due to take place in the Rahe Abrisham Gallery, but security forces prevented it from taking place by forcing the gallery owner to shut the doors. The nine women were arrested outside the gallery.

The Campaign for Equality is a network which works to end legal discrimination against women. The campaign informs women of their rights, and is aiming to collect one million signatures from the Iranian public to a petition against discriminatory laws.

22 Khordad (usually 12 June) is identified by women’s rights activists in Iran as their national day of solidarity against laws which discriminate against women. Three years ago on this day, women’s rights activists organized a demonstration in front of Tehran University, which was unprecedented in size. The following year, a similar peaceful demonstration was broken up violently, and resulted in 70 arrests. Activists have pledged to continue activities on this date until their demands are met by the authorities.

Women in Iran face widespread discrimination under the law. They are excluded from key areas of political participation and do not have equal rights with men in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.

The Iranian authorities must:

Stop the harassment of women’s rights activists and allow women to continue their peaceful activities, including future celebration of their day of solidarity unimpeded
Take concrete steps to bring laws governing the lives of women in line with human rights standards.

Different voices

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:52:17 +0100

When Amnesty International presented Report 2008 to the media at The Foreign Press Association in London on 27 May, several people involved in human rights campaigning around the world were invited as special guests. We caught up with three of them.

The first female judge to work at the High Court in Pakistan, Majida Razvi, is now retired. She is currently a women's rights defender and one of seven trustees of the Panah Shelter Home for women in Karachi.

Panah seeks to provide a peaceful haven and temporary refuge for women who are victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse, or under threat of honour killings.

Majida Razvi says she's happy to support the launch of Amnesty International's Report 2008 because "we established the shelter homes in 2001 and the seed money was given by Amnesty International to start with. Also other organizations connected to Amnesty International have been helping us in Karachi. So I think Amnesty International has been a great help and I hope it will be in the future."

Since starting Panah, Majida Razvi says the greatest change she has noticed is the overall awareness of the issues surrounding violence against women. "We are not only providing shelter for these women but we are also trying to create awareness amongst these women by holding workshops and the like."

"There's a greater awareness amongst the public now too. We've also been successful in changing the attitude of the police and the judiciary, trying to get them to be more sympathetic and polite to women who are victims. We need a revolution in the mind of the public and in the minds of men and also in the minds of the women who are governed by their husbands, and by the mullahs of the area."

A young Brighton-based Zimbabwean, Alois Mbawara, has been living in exile in the UK since 2002. He is one of the founding members of Free-Zim Youth, an organization that tries to influence institutions and organisations to take a tougher stance on Harare.

"We are young Zimbabweans in exile who fled the repression and political violence in Zimbabwe," says Mbawara. "As citizens of Zimbabwe we need to be exposing the gross human rights violations being perpetuated by the Mugabe regime. So that's how we came up with the idea for this civic organization to lobby the African Union, to get it to take a stance on what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Mbawara explains why he agreed to join Amnesty’s launch event "It's good exposure. In particular it gives us a multilateral venue to express what is happening in Zimbabwe. It is an historical opportunity to express our views on the political nature of Zimbabwe."

He adds that Amnesty’s work has been helpful in "documenting the day-to-day lives of the ordinary person in Zimbabwe. I have to stress that, due to the lack of free press and media, even people who work for human rights organizations don't have access to information about the political violence in Zimbabwe and are unable to publicize it. So, Amnesty International plays a very pivotal role."

Since starting Free-Zim Youth, Mbawara says their advocacy work, lobbying and demonstrations have had an effect. "Some may call it undiplomatic but we had to confront South African leaders when they came over to the UK and say to them 'now look here, you need to be in a position to do something'" he says, recalling the group's protest during South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dhlamini Zuma's 2006 lecture at the London School of Economics.

"We have been having a positive response from that. The South African government has since released a critical statement that they will take a tough stance on what is happening in Zimbabwe."

Released from Guantánamo on 24 August 2006, German-born Turkish national Murat Kurnaz had been held for four years and eight months without charge or trial, despite little evidence to link him to "terrorist" activities. Both US and German intelligence services secretly acknowledged this, yet it took years to secure his release.

Kurnaz has alleged that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment while in US custody. His book, Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantánamo, was launched at an Amnesty International event in Belfast on May 8. John Le Carre called it "The most compassionate, truthful and dignified account of the disgrace of Guantanamo that you are ever likely to read." Patti Smith wrote a song about Kurnaz called "Without Chains" in 2006. She also wrote the foreword to his book.

Kurnaz says he agreed to attend the launch of the Amnesty International Report 2008 because "I like to use all the chances I have to talk, not for me, because I am already a free man, but I'm still trying to help the ones still held in torture camps and prisons and I'm campaigning against those people supporting torture and building torture camps."

Speaking about Amnesty International, Kurnaz says "Amnesty International is trying to show the people what is going on. It's up to the people, when they know the truth, then they can try to make things change."

While positive, Kurnaz concedes that change won't happen overnight. "Because things that have happened in the past have come to light, maybe they won't happen again in the future. I feel like even if it's very slow, things are going to get changed. A few days ago I was the first former Guantánamo detainee to testify before the American Congress. It was the first time they had talked about Guantánamo. I hope this will mean big changes for the future."

Tiananmen activists must be released

Fri, 30 May 2008 18:53:02 +0100

Wednesday 4 June 2008 marks the nineteenth anniversary of the Chinese government's crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands injured by the Chinese military, with tens of thousands arrested during the protests in 1989. Many other activists have subsequently been imprisoned for highlighting or questioning the government's actions that year.

With two months to go before the Olympics in Beijing, Amnesty International asks the Chinese authorities again to release those still in prison, to hold those to account those responsible for the crackdown, and to allow public mourning for and commemoration of the victims. Such a response will go a long way toward ensuring that the Olympic Games leave a positive human rights legacy.

On 2 June, from London to Tel Aviv to Mexico City, thousands of Amnesty International supporters will hold demonstrations. Many will lay red and white flowers in solidarity with the relatives of those killed and arrested. Many will also hold a one-minute silence to commemorate the victims of the recent earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan.

Amnesty International commends the Chinese authorities for their prompt and responsive reaction to the needs of the many victims of this natural tragedy.

On the anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protestors 19 years ago, Amnesty International urges the Chinese authorities to respond with similar openness toward the families of those who were killed and those who were imprisoned or otherwise silenced for exercising their right to protest.

Official statistics are secret, but according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation, between 60 and 100 prisoners are still being held. On the eve of the anniversary this year, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network published a list of 8 individuals who remained in prison in and around Beijing alone.

The Chinese authorities freed several prisoners in 2006 but continue to keep them under tight police surveillance and prevent them from engaging in any activities deemed politically sensitive, including speaking to journalists about their experiences.

Those who remain in prison include:

Miao Deshun, detained in June 1989 and convicted of arson. His original suspended death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in 1991, and then to 20 years’ imprisonment in 1998. He is currently held at Yanqing Prison on the outskirts of Beijing and due for release on 15 September 2018.

Liu Zhihua was among a group of workers who organised a strike at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery plant in Hubei province. His original sentence of life imprisonment for giving ‘anti-government’ speeches and inciting a mob to engage in ‘beating, smashing and looting’ was reduced to 15 years in September 1993, but extended again by five years in 1997 after he was involved in a brawl. With his sentence reduced by a further two years for good behaviour in 2001, he is currently due to be released on 16 January 2011.

Wang Jun, at the time an 18-year-old worker from Shaanxi province, was given a suspended death sentence for throwing rocks, breaking street lamps and setting fire to several vehicles during a "serious political disturbance" at the Xincheng Factory in Xi’an city on 22 April 1989. He is currently held at Fuping prison in Shaanxi province. After four sentence reductions, he is due for release on 11 December 2009.

More recently, journalists and other activists seeking to keep the crackdown in the public eye have been harassed, detained and imprisoned. They include:

The Tiananmen Mothers, a group of human rights activists whose children and other close relatives were killed during the crackdown, who have been calling on the Chinese authorities to allow victims’ families the right to mourn in public, to end persecution of victims and their families, to release all those still imprisoned for taking part in peaceful protests and to implement a full and open inquiry into events of June 1989. Government authorities continue to subject them to harassment, discrimination and arbitrary detention.

Yang Tongyan (pen-name: Yang Tianshui), a freelance writer, continues to serve a 12-year prison sentence in Nanjing Municipal Prison, Jiangsu province, for "subversion" in connection with several charges, including writing in support of political and democratic change in China. He had previously served a ten-year prison sentence for criticizing the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement and allegedly trying to form an opposition political party. In 2007 he was reportedly forced to work making footballs and basketballs in an apparently toxic environment for 8-10 hours per day, but was transferred to lighter work as a prison librarian at the end of the year

Shi Tao continues to serve a 10-year sentence for sending an email summarizing a Chinese Central Propaganda Department communiqué on how journalists should handle the fifteenth anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement. At the end of June 2007, he was transferred to Deshan Prison in Changde city, Hunan province, where his conditions of detention appear to have improved and he is now allowed to receive regular visits from his mother. The Supreme People’s Court has reportedly accepted an application to review his case, but there has been no further response.

Kong Youping, a former trade union activist, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in September 2004 after he had posted articles and poems on the Internet calling for a reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement. He is serving his sentence in Lingyuan prison, Liaoning province.

Parliamentarians meet US authorities over illegal detentions

Wed, 14 May 2008 09:49:40 +0100

International parliamentarians are meeting with US government officials from 14-16 May 2008 to discuss Amnesty International's framework to end illegal US detentions.

Sir Menzies Campbell, Member of the UK Parliament, and Christophe Strasser, Member of the German Bundestag, will represent the 1,236 parliamentarians from 30 countries that have already joined the call to US authorities to end illegal detention at Guantánamo and elsewhere, in accordance with Amnesty International's framework.

Sir Menzies Campbell and Christophe Strasser will meet with officials from the US Department of State, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Office of Senator McCain and the US Navy, among others.

Replica Guantánamo cell touring the US

Since 8 May, a replica of a maximum security cell at Guantánamo has been touring the US. The tour, organized by Amnesty International, is a way to enable people to get a glimpse of the harsh realities of illegal detention and prolonged isolation.

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a representative of the Global Elders, visited the cell in Miami on 10 May and spoke to Amnesty International activists who had gathered for a concert and rally.

Getting a glimpse of Guantánamo

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:46:52 +0100

Amnesty International is bringing a life-size model of a maximum security cell at Guantánamo to cities across the USA. The tour is a way to enable people in the United States to get a glimpse of the harsh realities of illegal detention and prolonged isolation.

Most of the detainees at Guantánamo are held in isolation, many of them with virtually no access to natural light or contact with other human beings, for up to 24 hours a day. Compounding their suffering is the fact that they have no indication of when or if they will be freed from Guantánamo.

Most are detained without charge. Those who have been charged face unfair trials by military commission. Some may face execution.

Starting in Miami on 8 May, the tour will make a stop in Washington D.C. on 26 June, to mark International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Visitors to the cell are encouraged to enter and to experience the conditions of isolation and then share their experience in a video message. Watch a panoramic photo from inside the model cell to get an idea. And before leaving, they can also take action to end illegal US detentions at Guantánamo and elsewhere.

Follow the cell as it travels across the USA:

Take action now:

Killings of trade unionists on the rise in Colombia

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:30:12 +0100

“We do not want marches crying for the dead, nor 1 May protests” - taken from a paramilitary death threat sent to trade unionists in the department of Santander on 22 April 2008.

Across much of the world, May Day – International Workers’ Day – represents an opportunity for workers to celebrate their rights and stand together in solidarity. May Day rallies are held from London to Moscow to Jakarta to Caracas to Cape Town.

Across the world, trade unionists face violence and oppression. Despite nearly 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, in Article 23, guarantees everyone the right "to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his/her interests", this right is widely violated.

Year after year, Colombia has symbolised the most serious and consistent abuses of this human right. In Colombia, participating in May Day marches or engaging in other legitimate trade union activities cannot be taken for granted.

So far this year, some 22 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia, a significant increase on the number killed in the same period last year. Despite the setting up in Colombia of a permanent office of the International Labour Organization and a specialist unit to investigate human rights abuses against trade unionists, the security of trade unionists remains precarious.

On 17 April 2008, the body of Jesús Heberto Caballero Ariza, a leader of the Union of SENA Public Sector Employees (Sindicato de Empleados Públicos del SENA, SINDESENA) was found in Sabanalarga Municipality, Atlántico Department. His body was reported to bear signs of torture. Prior to his death, he was reported to have received death threats made by the “Aguilas Negras” paramilitary group.

His death occurred a few days before a death threat signed by “Aguilas Negras”, dated 21 April 2008, was circulated in Atlántico Department by email to trade union and human rights organizations. Jesús Heberto Caballero was reported to be exposing corrupt practices within the SENA, the National Apprenticeship Services (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje).

A member of the National Union of Coal Industry Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria del Carbón, SINTRACARBON), Adolfo Gonzalez Montes, was tortured and killed at his home in the town of Riohacha, in the department of La Guajira, on 22 March 2008. His killing coincided with telephone death threats received by other SINTRACARBON leaders.

Some of these leaders have also reported that their homes have been kept under surveillance by unidentified individuals. Adolfo González’s death comes as the trade union was preparing to start negotiations on working conditions with the companies that own the Cerrojón mining operation in La Guajira Department.

Paramilitary groups, often acting in collusion with or with the acquiescence of the security forces, have been responsible for most of the killings of trade unionists; the security forces and guerrilla forces have also been directly responsible for the killing of and threats against trade unionists. The aim of such threats and killings is clear – to undermine and discredit the work of trade unionists.

Since Amnesty International launched its report, Colombia: Killings, arbitrary detentions and death threats – the reality of trade unionism in Colombia, in July 2007, the Colombian government has argued that the human rights situation of trade unionists has improved dramatically.

Amnesty International acknowledged in its 2007 report that there had indeed been a drop in the number of trade unionists killed in comparison to the early 2000s. However, the organisation is marking May Day this year by calling on the Colombian government to do far more to protect trade unionists, particularly given the rise in killings again in 2008.

Trade unions, along with human rights and other social organizations, have often been labelled as guerrilla collaborators or supporters by government officials, as well as by the security forces and paramilitaries. Such accusations have often been followed by threats or attacks against human rights activists.

Amnesty International has highlighted how, over the last two decades, the numbers of trade unionists killed have experienced years of dramatic falls followed by large increases. The organization has insisted that a lack of decisive action by successive Colombian governments to end the over 90% impunity in such cases means that there cannot be any guarantee that a fall in figures one year necessarily translates into a sustainable improvement in the human rights situation.

The sharp increase in the number of trade unionists killed in the first four months of this year is a clear illustration of this problem.

The Colombian government has also argued that trade unionists are not the victims of human rights abuses as a result of their trade union work. Yet, Amnesty International repeatedly receives information indicating that death threats against and killings of trade unionists coincide with periods of labour dispute.

On May Day 2008, Amnesty International has called on the Colombian government to take decisive action to end the human rights crisis facing trade unionists in Colombia. The organization has called on the international community to insist that the Colombian government takes such action.

Other governments can ensure adequate resourcing of the office of the ILO’s permanent representative in Colombia. This would ensure that it is able to implement a mandate that involves active monitoring and reporting of the human rights situation facing trade unionists.

Other governments can also take action to ensure adequate resourcing of the specialist units created to investigate human rights abuses against trade unionists.

Refugee camp trauma continues for Palestinians

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:27:48 +0100

More than 3,000 Palestinian refugees are currently cut off from the rest of the world in dire conditions without access to adequate humanitarian assistance.

In March 2008, Amnesty International delegates met with Palestinian refugees stranded in al-Tanf camp in no-man’s land between the borders of Iraq and Syria.

Al-Tanf camp, a narrow strip of land wedged between a concrete wall and the main transit road from Baghdad to Damascus, is dry and dusty. Temperatures soar to 50ºC in summer and plunge to below freezing in winter.

The camp accommodates hundreds of Palestinian refugees seeking to flee from Iraq, where they were formerly long term residents. Palestinians have been among those particularly targeted for sectarian killings and violence.

Overcrowded tents are the only protection from the heat, the snow and the blinding sandstorms. Danger is everywhere, especially for the children. The land is infested with scorpions and snakes.

The school tents are unprotected from the busy highway, which has already claimed the life of a boy knocked down by a truck.

According to residents who spoke to Amnesty International delegates visiting the camp in March 2008, heating and cooking systems in the tents regularly cause fires that destroy tents – 42 tents in all so far.

Despite the unsafe and harsh conditions at al-Tanf, the number of Palestinian refugees from Iraq in the camp is growing as Palestinians who entered Syria on false passports are identified and deported to the camp. Many camp residents described to Amnesty International the horrific events that prompted them to flee Iraq and have left them traumatized.

The people in al-Tanf are also traumatized by the harsh conditions in the camp and the fear that they may be stuck there for many more years. One resident pleaded with Amnesty International delegates to "save us from this hell."

In addition, some 2000 Palestinian refugees are at al-Waleed camp in the Iraqi desert, facing even greater hardship as access by aid organizations and the UN Refugee Agency is extremely difficult. Their living conditions are dire and the only solution to their plight is resettlement to a third country.

As of February 2008, almost 300 other Palestinians were in al-Hol camp at al-Hassakah, north-east Syria; most were moved there from the Iraq-Jordan border in May 2006.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believes resettlement in third countries is the only possible durable solution for the Palestinians from Iraq at the present time. While hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled from Iraq to Syria and Jordan, both countries have generally barred the entry of Palestinian refugees from Iraq.

The Chilean government has offered to resettle an initial group of 116 Palestinians from al-Tanf. So far some 64 have arrived in Chile with the remaining group due to follow shortly.

A number of other governments outside the Middle East are reported to have said that they will resettle some of al-Tanf’s residents, but the refugees’ plight is desperate and resettlement to a safe third country cannot come quickly enough.

Amnesty International has launched a global campaign to draw attention to the plight of Palestinian refugees from Iraq highlighting the need for immediate action.

The organization has asked its members and supporters to call for urgent international help in resettling these Palestinians and other particularly vulnerable refugees from Iraq.

Download interviews with some of the refugees in the camp:

Interview with a Palestinian women from the camp

Interview with a doctor from the camp

interview with Muhammad from the camp