Amnesty International is urging the Syrian authorities to release or charge a Kurdish man who has been detained for almost two years.

Reports from exiled Kurdish activists have raised fears that ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf has been tortured at the hands of State Security.

The political activist is reportedly being taken from Damascus Central prison to a State Security office every few weeks to coerce him into “confessing” to the killings of two Syrian security agents in the north-eastern city of Qamishily in early 2008, a crime he denies committing.

“We are seriously concerned about reports that ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf has been repeatedly tortured under questioning by State Security agents in an attempt to force him to confess to a crime that he says he did not commit,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“These allegations must be independently and impartially investigated without delay and those identified as responsible brought to justice.”

Previously a member of the Syrian Kurdish political party known as the Popular Union (Ittihad al-Sha’b), ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf had helped establish a clandestine library of Kurdish-language books, which are banned in Syria – a country where Kurds face discrimination and where Kurdish civil society activists risk arbitrary arrest, torture and unlawful imprisonment.

‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf has been refused access to a lawyer and his family was on one occasion prevented from visiting him, allegedly because he had been tortured and was not in a fit state to be seen.

“‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf must be allowed immediate access to a lawyer of his own choosing and any medical attention he may require,” said Philip Luther.

Masked men abducted ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf as he was closing his clothing store in Qamishily in September 2008 after he told friends that he believed security agents were monitoring his movements.

Until early 2010, the activist was held incommunicado at an unknown location, where he was reportedly hanged by his wrists and shackled to a wall for the first eight days of detention.

Torture and other ill-treatment are widely carried out in detention and interrogation centres in Syria where four deaths as a possible result of torture have been reported in the last two months.

Dozens of Kurds have been detained over the killings of the security agents, including brothers Munther, Nedal and Riad Ahmed, who were arrested after they discussed with other Kurdish activists setting up an organization to promote Kurdish culture through books on Kurdish issues.

The brothers also ran an unofficial library that was supported by ‘Abdelbaqi Khalaf and lent books on Kurdish issues, as well as printing works by Kurdish writers who had been refused publication elsewhere.

Kurdish language and culture suffer severe restrictions in Syria, where publishing and printing materials in Kurdish as well as teaching the language are forbidden and punishable by imprisonment.

Many Kurds are denied Syrian nationality, depriving them of education, employment, health care and other rights enjoyed by Syrian nationals. Those connected with Kurdish political parties or groups that raise concerns about the discrimination against Kurds, risk arbitrary arrest, torture and imprisonment after unfair trials.

Amnesty International has condemned attacks on politicians and journalists in the run-up to the presidential election on August 9 and calls on the government to ensure the poll is held in an atmosphere where Rwandans can freely express their views.
 
The murder of a journalist and an opposition politician – both critical of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – in late June and mid-July has created a climate of repression likely to inhibit freedom of expression ahead of the vote, the organisation said.

“In recent months killings, arrests and the closure of newspapers and broadcasters has reinforced a climate of fear,” said Amnesty International’s Africa Programme Deputy Director, Tawanda Hondora. “The Rwandan government must ensure that investigations into the killings are thorough and reinstate closed media outlets.”

On 14 July, André Kagwa Rwisereka, the vice president of the opposition Democratic Green Party, was found dead in Butare, southern Rwanda. Amnesty International has obtained photographs that show that his head was severed from his body.
 
Rwisereka, who left the RPF to create the Green Party, had reportedly been concerned for his security in the weeks before his murder. Other Green Party members said they had also received threats .  

Investigations into Rwisereka’s death continue, but insufficient evidence has been gathered to press charges, according to the Prosecution.  

None of the main opposition parties are able to stand in Monday’s elections. The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and FDU-Inkingi have been obstructed from holding the meetings required to register their parties.

The only new opposition party to secure registration – PS-Imberakuri – was unable to stand after the party’s leader, Bernard Ntaganda, was arrested on June 24. Ntaganda was charged with “genocide ideology” and “divisionism” under vague laws, ostensibly used to restrict hate speech, but often used to silence legitimate dissent.

Opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, has still not been brought to trial on charges of “genocide ideology”, “minimising the genocide”, “divisionism” and “collaborating with a terrorist group” following her arrest in April. In May, the Prosecution said that investigations may take up to a year, ruling out a trial before the elections.

“Until an independent enquiry into Rwisereka’s murder reveals the true circumstances surrounding his death, Rwandans will fear that it was linked to his opposition activities,” said Tawanda Hondora. “They may be reluctant to express themselves as a result.”

Jean-Leonard Rugambage, a journalist working for the Umuvugizi newspaper, was shot dead on June 24 outside his home in the capital, Kigali.  Rugambage had been investigating the shooting in South Africa of the exiled former general, Kayumba Nyamwasa. On the day of his murder, Umuvugizi published a story alleging that Rwandan intelligence officials were linked to Nyamwasa’s shooting.  

Two suspects have been arrested for Rugambage’s murder and are currently awaiting trial.

Rwandan media critical of the government has effectively been dismantled in the run-up to elections. In late July, the Rwandan High Media Council, a regulatory body close to the ruling party, banned some 30 media outlets arguing they failed to adhere to a 2009 media law. The law restricts media freedom.

Agnes Nkusi Uwimana, the editor of the Urubayo newspaper, was arrested in July and charged with “genocide ideology”.  Two other newspaper editors fled Rwanda in recent months after their papers were suspended and they received repeated threats.

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States, France and Spain have already publicly expressed concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in Rwanda ahead of the election. Amnesty International calls on other countries to also express their concerns.

“No country should be a silent witness to pre-electoral repression”, said Tawanda Hondora.  “Speaking out about violations is the best way to ensure that the next Rwandan administration respects human rights.”

Colombia’s new government must ensure the independence of the country’s justice system, allowing it to bring to justice those responsible for human rights abuses committed during the country’s long-running armed conflict, Amnesty International has said.

Juan Manuel Santos is set to be inaugurated as President of Colombia on 7 August, after winning a landslide victory in a second round of elections held on 20 June.

“If human rights abusers are to be held to account, urgent action also needs to be taken to stop the killing of and threats against witnesses, lawyers, judges, human rights defenders and prosecutors involved in human rights cases,” said Marcelo Pollack, Colombia researcher at Amnesty International.

A UN report on Colombia published earlier this year found that at least 300 people working as part of judicial investigations had been killed in the past 15 years.

Amnesty International documented the killing, mainly by paramilitaries, of at least 8 human rights defenders and 39 trade unionists during 2009

“The new government has an opportunity to move away from the hostility shown by the outgoing administration towards human rights defenders and end the culture of impunity that has allowed those who commit abuses to evade justice,” Marcelo Pollack said.

Amnesty International also called on the government to resist the temptation to weaken the ability of the civilian courts to investigate security personnel implicated in human rights violations, something suggested only a few months ago by the outgoing administration.

The Colombian security forces have in recent years been implicated in thousands of extrajudicial executions of civilians. Most are yet to face trial over such killings.

“If the new government is serious about ending impunity it must put an end to the campaign waged by the previous administration to discredit the Colombian Supreme Court, which has successfully prosecuted some of those with links to paramilitaries who carry out human rights violations,” said Marcelo Pollack.

“Guerrilla groups must also be condemned for their attacks on civilians. They should once and for all take steps to put an end to the human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law committed by their fighters.”

The situation faced by Indigenous Peoples, as well as by Afro-Colombians and peasant farmers, also remains acute.

Amnesty International documented the killing of at least 114 Indigenous People in 2009, carried out by members of the guerrilla, the security forces and paramilitaries.

“The recent increase in killings of leaders of displaced communities, who are campaigning for the return of lands stolen from them by paramilitary groups, has been a source of particular concern, and urgent action must be taken to protect these leaders”, said Marcelo Pollack.

“The new government must also make clear that the defence of human rights is not a threat to the security of the state. An immediate public statement asserting the legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders would help assuage fears that activists will continue to be harassed and left unprotected”.

The new government must also ensure that the Interior Ministry’s protection programme for human rights defenders is strengthened to ensure its effectiveness.

President Álvaro Uribe’s government was tainted by its repeated efforts to smear defenders by falsely linking human rights work with support for guerrilla groups. This compromised their safety and weakened their capacity to defend human rights.

Amnesty International is also calling for:

• The new government to quickly announce a plan, with targets, benchmarks and a timetable, to implement in full the long-standing human rights recommendations of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN treaty bodies and special procedures, as well as those issued by the Inter-American human rights system.
• The new government to ensure that the integral mandate of the Office in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which expires at the end of October 2010, is renewed. 
• Guerrilla groups and the security forces to respect the right of civilians not to be drawn into hostilities. All parties to the conflict have been responsible for such abuses as unlawful killings, enforced disappearances or abductions and forced displacement.

The Georgian authorities must do more than the bare minimum to provide adequate housing, employment and access to health care to those displaced in conflicts in the 1990s and the war with Russia in August 2008, Amnesty International said in a report published today.  

In the waiting room: Internally displaced people in Georgia, documents how thousands of people displaced during the conflicts struggle to access basic services.

“Displaced people need more than just roofs over their heads. They need the government to ensure employment, access to health care and benefits. They also need to be consulted and be able to make the choices affecting their lives,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director.  

“Displaced people have the right to return to their homes in dignity and safety. However, the government has the obligation to those who cannot or do not want to do so to integrate or to resettle them in other parts of the country.”

About 6 per cent of the population of Georgia (some 246,000 people) are displaced within the country. About 220,000 of these left their homes during conflicts that took place in the early 90s.

Another 128,000 people fled South Ossetia and the Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia during and after the Georgian-Russian war in August 2008. The majority of them have since returned to their homes, but close to 26,000 people are still unable to return, and will not be able to do so in the foreseeable future.

In 2007, the Georgian government began to devise and implement programmes to provide durable housing to those displaced with international assistance.

However, many of those who fled their homes nearly two decades ago are still living in hospitals or military barracks that lack basic hygienic conditions and privacy. Some of the new settlements are located in rural areas lacking essential infrastructure.

Government assistance has yet to reach those who live with family members or in rented flats. Many complain that they have not been consulted about measures directly affecting their lives.

“All those displaced are still suffering from the consequences of war. Displaced people need durable solutions and they need them fast so that they can claim their lives back,” Nicola Duckworth said.

Displaced people suffer from high unemployment, and there are still no comprehensive government programmes targeting this issue.

Poor living conditions and poverty undermine the health of displaced people while the lack of information and the costs for medical treatment make it even more difficult for them to get health care.

“The Georgian government has taken important steps, but housing solutions have to go hand in hand with health care, employment and livelihoods opportunities. This is the only way to fully integrate the tens of thousands of its citizens still living in limbo,” Nicola Duckworth said.

As Iza, displaced woman in a collective centre in Kutaisi, told Amnesty International: “Seventeen years ago, when the war broke out, I was a student of foreign languages at the state university, but never finished. Now my son is in high school, but I do not have any means to afford his university education. I can not rebuild my future any more, maybe I no longer have the prospects of ever finding employment, but I ask the government to at least give more prospects to my children so they have a better future.”

Amnesty International has called for the release of four Angolan human rights activists unlawfully jailed in connection with an attack on the Togolese football team in Cabinda that left two people dead and several injured.

The four men, including prisoners of conscience Francisco Luemba and Raul Tati, were sentenced to between three and six years’ imprisonment by the Cabinda Provincial court for “other acts against the security of the state” over the January attack. 

“The Angolan authorities have used this deadly terrorist attack as a pretext to lock up human rights activists who have criticised them in the past,” said Muluka-Anne Miti, Angola researcher at Amnesty International.

“These men must be released unless they are charged with a recognizable criminal offence and guaranteed a fair trial.”

All four activists have been convicted of violating article 26 of the Angolan Law of Crimes against the Security of the State, which gives the authorities power to class any act as a crime.

“This is a worrying example of how this vague law is open to misuse by the authorities. It means that any act they decide is a crime will be a crime, even if this was not stated in law when the act was committed. Article 26 clearly violates international human rights law,” said Muluka-Anne Miti.

Francisco Luemba and Raul Tati are members of the now banned human rights organization Mpalabanda. They are long-standing critics of the government and the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda State (FLEC) – an armed group fighting for secession of Cabinda.

Police arrested both men shortly after the attack on 8 January, when the Togolese football team came under fire while travelling by bus through Cabinda to attend the Africa Cup of Nations.

Francisco Luemba and Raul Tati were found with documents on Cabinda and had recently attended a conference aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in the troubled region.

The two other convicted men, José Benjamin Fuca and Belchior Lanso Tati, had also attended the conference and allegedly confessed to being members of FLEC.

Francisco Luemba and Raul Tati have each been given five-year jail sentences, while Belchior Lanso Tati has been a given a six-year term and José Benjamin Fuca faces three years behind bars. Amnesty International understands that all four men are set to appeal the verdict.

Amnesty International has called on Kenyan politicians not to incite ethnic hatred or violence and for the country’s security forces to protect the population from human rights violations during a key referendum on a new constitution.

Tensions are high ahead of Wednesday’s poll. Kenya’s most recent elections in December 2007 led to a wave of violence and associated police killings in which over 1,000 people lost their lives. The UN estimated that over 500,000 people were displaced from their homes.
 
“Another bloodbath is not inevitable so long as Kenyan politicians act responsibly, do not stoke ethnic tensions, and avoid making statements that may be construed as advocating ethnic hatred or incitement to violence,” said Justus Nyang’aya, director of Amnesty International Kenya.
 
“The referendum also provides an opportunity for the Kenyan security forces to show that they are capable of carrying out their professional duties in line with international human rights standards, particularly at such a moment of heightened political tension,” said Justus Nyang’aya.

During the 2007 election some Kenyan police and security agents used excessive force, including the firing of live ammunition into crowds, to quell violence and mass protests.

As part of the power sharing deal that ended the deadly wave of violence following the disputed Presidential elections in 2007, it was agreed that a new constitution would be drafted.

If passed, the new constitution will, among other things, introduce checks to the President’s power and ensure greater regional devolution.

Despite repeated calls by human rights organisations ahead of the referendum that politicians moderate their language, concerns remain that hate speech has already created divisions in parts of the country that could lead to violence.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has captured various politicians on film using hate speech in their campaign rallies between May and July 2010. An MP from the Rift Valley was reportedly arrested by police and detained for one night, on allegations of circulating leaflets warning some people to leave his constituency.

“Kenyans have a responsibility to desist from acts of violence and the use of hate speech,” said Justus Nyang’aya.

Amnesty International said it is also concerned about the failure of the government of Kenya to address impunity for human rights violations and crimes committed during the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, including by individuals, armed groups and security personnel and police.

“Unless the perpetrators of human rights violations and crimes are held to account, then such violations and crimes will continue to be perpetrated. By failing to punish the perpetrators of violations and crimes committed during the post-election violence, the government of Kenya is giving a green light for further violence,” said Justus Nyang’aya.

Amnesty International has urged the Belgrade authorities to halt plans to destroy a Roma settlement amid fears that an eviction could be imminent.

At least 70 families living in an informal settlement in the Vidikovac area of the Serbian capital, many of whom fled there after being forcibly evicted from other sites, could be left homeless again if the demolition goes ahead.

“The authorities have yet to find a long-term solution for Roma who, after seeing their homes repeatedly destroyed, live in constant fear of being evicted at any time without warning,” said Sian Jones, Amnesty International’s expert on Serbia.

Under international law, evictions can only be carried out as a last resort, once all other alternatives have been exhausted.

The Belgrade authorities have not offered the families any alternative accommodation or compensation. They have failed to consult the community, instead issuing them with two eviction notices in April and mid-June, the latter threatening the settlement with eviction from early July.

“The city authorities have no respect for the Roma people’s dignity and human rights, we have been suffering discrimination in this society for far too long,” a Roma activist, who wants to remain anonymous due to fear of eviction, told Amnesty International after her visit to Vidikovac on 30 July.

“The youngest of the Vidikovac residents are the most vulnerable to forced evictions. We are talking about kids with no chance to live normally. They can’t learn like other children, their health is at risk.”

Thirty-five of the families at risk of eviction joined the Vidikovac settlement in April 2010, when their homes on the other side of the street were destroyed by the Belgrade authorities. They were offered no alternative accommodation, assistance or compensation.

Another 20 families arrived at site after being evicted from a nearby area without prior notice, leaving them unable to rescue anything but the few belongings they could carry. Promises of food and assistance from the authorities failed to materialize.

“This vicious circle of forced evictions can only be broken through the development of a sustainable resettlement plan, which ensures the right to adequate housing for all affected communities,” said Sian Jones.

Many of the Roma families living in Vidikovac were forcibly returned to Serbia from several EU states between 2006 and 2008.

Many had left Southern Serbia in the 1990s in search for work and, after failing to find adequate housing or employment when returned to their home towns, joined informal Roma settlements across Belgrade.

The Belgrade authorities have reportedly said the city’s settlements will be removed because they lack proper sanitation. However, they have not specified where families living on the site can be relocated or how their human rights will be protected when their homes are demolished.

“The authorities act as if it is our fault that we live in the settlements, as if it is our choice. What other choice have we got? If you are Roma you haven’t got many choices,” the Roma activist said.

Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity campaign aims to end the human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty. The campaign will mobilise people all over the world to demand that governments, corporations and others who have power listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights. For more information visit the Demand Dignity pages

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari should use his UK visit to announce reforms in the country’s northwest that will help combat human rights violations there, Amnesty International said on Monday.

President Zardari is due to arrive in the UK on Tuesday, amid increased focus by international leaders on Pakistan’s response to the Taleban-led insurgency in its northwest tribal areas and in Afghanistan.

“The conditions are right for Pakistan to show it is serious about political solutions to the human rights violations, poverty, and constitutional rights vacuum in the northwest that allowed the Taleban to assert such control there in the first place,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s director for the Asia-Pacific programme.  

“The Pakistani people have suffered tremendously at the hands of the Taleban, but a predominantly military response has led to more than a million civilians still displaced and thousands of deaths while not dealing with the root of the problem.”

Amnesty International called on President Zardari to deliver on his promise made on 14 August 2009 to reform the exclusionary laws that still govern the northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province).

The Frontier Crimes Regulation is a colonial-era law that excludes the population of FATA from the protection of the national courts and Constitution of Pakistan, allowing for collective military punishment and restricted electoral rights.  
 
“President Zardari should take this opportunity to answer his critics by announcing specific, major reforms, like the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulations that treat northwestern Pakistan like a human rights-free zone,” said Sam Zarifi.  

Amnesty International also called on Zardari and UK Prime Minister David Cameron to incorporate real human rights benchmarks in their counter-terror efforts, and into development aid to Pakistan.  

Political reform and development will improve the region’s human rights, and strengthen accountability and rule of law, which need to be at the core of any anti-terror strategy in Northwestern Pakistan, the organisation said.

“The UK and Pakistan government have to work together to deliver human rights and development for the people of the northwest. Aid to these regions will be wasted in the absence of political reform and guarantees of human rights,” said Sam Zarifi.

The UK has pledged £600 million over five years in humanitarian aid to people affected by the conflict in the northwest, but needs to include human rights benchmarks in how that money is used, and to push for an end to enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and mistreatment of detainees.  

Amnesty International released its report As if Hell Fell On Me: the Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan in June, which portrayed the civilians of the northwest as caught in a human-rights free zone, between Taleban rule and heavy-handed responses from the Pakistani military.

Amnesty International has urged the Yemeni authorities to launch an immediate independent investigation into the extrajudicial execution of a man accused of murdering a tribal sheikh.
 
‘Ali ‘Abdullah Muhsin al-Rajhi had been accused of murdering the sheikh, but instead of being arrested and brought to trial by the authorities, he was handed over to the victim’s family and summarily killed.
 
He is reported to have been shot dead by a relative of the murdered sheikh on 18 July 2010 in front of a crowd outside a mosque in the village of al-Hajfa, south-east of the capital Sana’a.
 
Amnesty International said it understands that the authorities, including the police, were aware of what was happening but did nothing to intervene and have taken no action against the perpetrators.
 
“This killing was nothing less than ‘lynch law’, carried out apparently by agreement between the families of the sheikh and his alleged murderer and with the complicity of the police and local authorities,” said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
 
“It must not be allowed to pass unpunished. The Yemeni authorities must ensure that those who carried out this unlawful killing are promptly brought to justice.”
 
According to reports, ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Muhsin al-Rajhi was not handed over to the authorities because his family and relatives of the murdered sheikh decided that the process would take too long and prove costly for them.
 
Instead, ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Muhsin al-Rajhi was made to sit facing the wall of the mosque in al-Haifa village, and then shot in the back at close range by a member of the murder victim’s family.
 
The killing reportedly took place in front of a large crowd of villagers. ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Muhsin al-Rajhi was shot three times in the back and then further bullets were fired into his chest. His body was then removed by his family and buried.
 
“Those accused of crimes must be treated in accordance with the law and their human rights must be respected, whatever they are alleged to have done,” said Malcolm Smart.
 
“They must be arrested, charged and given a fair trial by the Yemeni judiciary and if convicted should have a right of appeal and should not be liable to the death penalty.”
 
Following the murder of the sheikh, ‘Ali ‘Abdullah Muhsin al-Rajhi is said to have sought refuge in the nearby Hawlan region but to have been handed back by tribal leaders there to his family and tribal leaders from his village.
 
There were then negotiations between his family and that of the sheikh, who are related, about a possible pardon and reconciliation but the sheikh’s relatives are said to have demanded that he be executed immediately.
 
“This case is all the more shocking because of the alleged complicity of the police and other local authorities,” said Malcolm Smart.
 
“Their role too must be investigated and they too must be held to account if they are found to have allowed, and effectively condoned, this crime.”

The worldwide ban on cluster bombs that comes into force on 1 August, marks the most groundbreaking disarmament and humanitarian treaty in over a decade, Amnesty International said On Sunday.

The Convention on Cluster Munition, which bans cluster bombs and compels states to assist victims while clearing their land of munition, will become binding international law in countries that have signed and ratified the treaty, including Spain, Japan, Niger, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

“This treaty is a crucial step towards protecting civilians, during and after armed conflict, from this cruel and indiscriminate weapon,” said Sauro Scarpellli, Amnesty International weapons campaigner.

“As with the treaty banning anti-personnel landmines in 1997, this convention is a landmark victory for civil society campaigners across the globe and shows that governments are willing to end civilian suffering caused by cluster bombs.”

Amnesty International and hundreds of NGOs and survivors of indiscriminate cluster bomb explosions have been campaigning for a total ban on cluster munition.

Adopted in Dublin on 30 May 2008 and opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008, the Convention bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.

It also calls for stockpiles to be destroyed within eight years; for cluster munition-contaminated land to be cleared within 10 years; and for assistance to cluster munition survivors and affected communities.

To date, 107 countries have signed the Convention and 37 have ratified. Among them are former users and producers of cluster munitions, as well as countries affected by the weapons.

The last confirmed use of cluster munitions in a major armed conflict met with international condemnation when both Russia and Georgia used them in the conflict over South Ossetia in August 2008.

In recent weeks, Moldova and Norway destroyed the last of their cluster munition stockpiles, joining Spain, which eradicated its stockpile last year.
 
Nearly a dozen other states have begun destruction, including the United Kingdom, a major former user and producer of cluster munitions.
 
Amnesty International has called on all governments that have not already signed the treaty, to do so immediately and commit to protecting civilians from the deadly effects of armed conflict.