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REVIEW FAILS TO ADDRESS HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES IN GITMO
On 22 January 2009, President Barack Obama signed three executive orders on detentions and
interrogations. One of them committed his administration to closing the detention facility at the US
Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay within a year, and directed officials to conduct an immediate review of
the cases of the approximately 240 detainees currently held there to determine what should happen
to them. As part of the executive order, the Secretary of Defense was required to undertake an
immediate review of the conditions of detention at Guantánamo. The review was made public in
February 2009.
Amnesty International noted that the review recommended increased socialization and recreational
activities for detainees, including those held in the maximum security Camps 5 and 6. The review also
reported that a new outdoor recreation area for group exercise and a classroom had recently been
added to Camp 6 and that further modifications were underway to provide open communal living for
some detainees. While such measures are long overdue, there is concern that many detainees may
not have access to such "privileges" - the report made a distinction between "compliant” and "non-compliant"
detainees of whom the latter could continue to be confined to cells for 22 hours a day.
According to lawyers, most detainees in Camp 6 are still held in 22 hour cellular confinement in
individual sealed cells with no window to the outside, in conditions Amnesty International believes
flout international human rights standards for humane treatment.
Kenya: Amnesty International calls for immediate investigation into execution-style killings of human rights activists
6 March 2009
Amnesty International today called on the Kenyan government to investigate immediately yesterday’s execution-style killings of two human rights activists.
The two men were shot dead in their car while stopped in traffic in the centre of Nairobi. It appeared to be a coordinated ambush. At least two gunmen fled the scene, according to eyewitnesses.
Oscar Kamau Kingara and Paul Oulu both worked with the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic (the Oscar Foundation), campaigning against illegal killings by the police and for the police to respect human rights in their security operations against alleged members of the Mungiki – a government-banned group operating in parts of Nairobi and central Kenya.
The Oscar Foundation has filed complaints against the Kenyan government in court, and called for investigations into illegal killings by police of people suspected of being members of Mungiki.
“Kenya must not become a place where it is unsafe to be a human rights defender. The Kenyan authorities should make it clear that attacks against those who promote human rights are completely unacceptable and that anyone who carries out such attacks will be brought to justice.”
The shooting followed a live television broadcast of a statement by a government spokesperson, Alfred Mutua, stating: "Mungiki has an NGO by the name of Oscar Foundation, which they use to try and get funds from overseas.... It is a front so that they can be able to carry out their activities”.
“It is unacceptable for the Kenyan government to make statements suggesting that opposition to illegal killings by the police amounts to support for banned groups,” said Erwin van der Borght. “The government should make it clear that this is not the case, and pledge support and protection for anyone doing legitimate human rights work – even if it amounts to criticism of government practice.”
Notes to editors:
Amnesty International, the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights and other Kenyan human rights organisations have documented the extra-judicial execution of hundreds of alleged Mungiki members by Kenyan security forces. On 27 February 2009, following a fact-finding mission in Kenya, the UN Special rapporteur on extra-judicial, arbitrary or summary executions issued a statement condemning these killings and calling for police perpetrators to be brought to justice. He also called for the resignation of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney-General of Kenya.
The Mungiki group is mainly active in Nairobi and parts of central Kenya. Group members say that they are guided by traditional religious and moral beliefs and the group claims to have a role in maintaining law and order and the running of the public transport industry in parts of Kenya.
Alleged members have demanded "protection fees" from owners of public service vehicles and been implicated in killings and the assault of members of the public.
Leaders of the group have publicly alleged that the group has tacit support from prominent government officials in the current and previous governments, but have so far not named any.
The previous government banned the group on 8 March 2002. At the time, the then-Commissioner of Police is reported to have categorized Mungiki as one of the "perpetrators of lawlessness and insecurity in the country. It is illegal and Kenyans are advised to keep away from them and their activities. Adherents to the group will be arrested and charged in court."
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL UK
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY
2009
BINYAM MOHAMED: RELEASE AND ARRIVAL TO UK WELCOMED
- INQUIRY URGED
Responding to the arrival at RAF
Northolt of Binyam Mohamed upon his release today from Guantánamo Bay, Amnesty
International welcomed his return but called for an independent inquiry into
allegations that the UK colluded in his secret detention and torture.
The organisation also called on the UK authorities to make
representations for the release or fair trial of other Guantánamo prisoners with
links to the UK.
Amnesty
International UK Director Kate Allen said:
“It’s a huge relief that Binyam Mohamed is finally
back in the UK - his release hasn’t come a moment too soon.
“It’s
nothing short of a disgrace that Binyam was held without trial for nearly years,
having to resort to a hunger strike to raise awareness of his
plight.
“The immediate focus should now be on providing
medical and other support for Binyam on his return to the UK, but we also need a
proper independent inquiry into Binyam’s case and allegations of a cover-up over
torture, as well as into the wider practice of rendition and secret
detention.
“The UK government should also now press for the
release of Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha - two other men with longstanding
links to the UK - and it should assist moves to close the camp by offering
‘humanitarian protection’ to vulnerable prisoners who need a place to go
to.”
Amnesty International supporters
have long campaigned for Binyam Mohamed and other prisoners at Guantánamo,
including by sending hundreds of “greetings cards” to him and other prisoners.
However, Binyam’s US military lawyer Yvonne Bradley recently confirmed
that he has had no correspondence delivered to his cell for nearly a year, with
camp guards specifically denying him what they refer to as his “fan mail”.
Binyam’s lawyer has described this manipulation of Binyam’s emotions as just one
example of a battery of “psychological abuse” by guards in his case.
Some 240 prisoners are still held
at the prison camp, with an estimated 50 currently on hunger strike - many being
force-fed. Some 60 men are known to be at risk of torture or persecution if
returned to their home countries, and while the US may permit some of the men to
be admitted to the US mainland the remaining detainees are likely to need
“humanitarian protection” in other countries upon
release.
Note to editors
A new interview of Yvonne Bradley speaking about Binyam
Mohamed’s case can be watched and downloaded from: www.amnesty.org.uk
International community fails to protect Darfur
Internally displaced women carrying water, near Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan.
© Evelyn Hockstein/Polaris
17 February 2009
Amnesty International hopes the reported agreement marks a turning point in the human rights situation in Darfur. However, the organisation has demanded action, rather than words, to end six years of suffering for millions of Darfuris.
The military strategy employed by all sides to the conflict in Darfur has left more than 300,000 people dead and more than 2.2 million displaced. Amnesty International has repeatedly urged all warring parties to stop targeting civilians.
The deployment of peacekeeping troops by the UN more than one year ago has failed to improve the security of people in Darfur
In a new report, Amnesty International has exposed the continuing crisis facing the people of Darfur and called for the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) to be provided with troops and essential resources, such as helicopters, that will enable it to fulfil its mandate.
Despite the signing of the agreement the international community needs to redouble its efforts to protect the people of Darfur.
“Promises made to the people of Darfur that they would be protected through the deployment of a peacekeeping force ring hollow; UNAMID remains chronically under-resourced and attacks against civilians, including killings, continue,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s Africa Deputy Programme Director.
“Women are still exposed to rape and other acts of sexual violence. A climate of insecurity prevails and perpetrators act with impunity.”
“The recent fighting in Muhajeriya is the latest in a series of clashes between government of Sudan forces and armed opposition groups, which led to the displacement of thousands of civilians and left scores dead.”
Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to ensure UNAMID is provided with the essential resources that were pledged when UNAMID took over from the African Union Mission to Sudan (AMIS) at the end of 2007.
“Words alone are not enough. It is of no use to deplore violence in Darfur and deploy a force that is under-equipped,” said Tawanda Hondora. “UNAMID must be enabled to protect itself as well as the people of Darfur. It is simply unacceptable that more than a year after the deployment of UNAMID, civilians still live in peril.”
Amnesty International has called on countries that pledged troops and other essential personnel to UNAMID to ensure that they are adequately trained and promptly deployed to Darfur. It has also called on the wider international community, and particularly the country members of the Friends of UNAMID group, China, South Africa and Egypt, to use their influence and ensure that UNAMID is immediately provided with the military equipment it urgently requires.
The USA, China, Russia, Japan, Australia, Egypt, South Africa and European Union countries, among others, have been urged to pledge and deliver helicopters and other essential military equipment to UNAMID.
Egyptian blogger held incommunicado is at risk of torture
The Egyptian authorities have still not disclosed the whereabouts of 23-year-old Dia' el Din Gad, despite his family’s and lawyers’ inquiries to the Ministry of the Interior and the office of the Public Prosecutor. The blogger had been denouncing President Mubarak and the Egyptian authorities' attitude to the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“Dia’ el Din Gad has simply disappeared since his arrest two weeks ago, causing terrible anxiety to his mother and raising growing fears of torture and enforced disappearance” said Amnesty International.
Just before his arrest, Dia’ el Din Gad had returned to his home in Qotour city near Tanta city (north of Cairo) following the Friday prayer. He left the house to take a phone call and was immediately arrested by SSI officers. They beat him as he screamed to his mother for help.
Dia' el Din Gad’s mother told Amnesty International how he frequently suffers panic attacks that make it difficult for him to breathe. He also has difficulty walking or bending one of his legs, due to injuries suffered in childhood. He takes painkillers and other medication, which he did not have with him when he was arrested.
On his blog, Sout Ghadeb (“Angry Voice”) Dia' el Din Gad wrote views criticizing the Egyptian policy regarding Gaza – including the restrictions on humanitarian aid delivered through Egypt to Gaza – and later regarding the 4 February arrest of Ahmed Doma, a leading member of the civil disobedience youth movement, the Popular Movement to Free Egypt (usually known as Ghadeboun – "we are angry").
He also referred to President Hosni Mubarak as "Ehud Mubarak" – in a reference to Israeli Minister of Defence Ehud Barak. According to local activists, a few days before he was arrested, Dia' el Din Gad had taken part in demonstrations organized by the liberal Wafd opposition party in Cairo in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Amnesty International has urged the Egyptian authorities to disclose Dia' el Din Gad’s whereabouts immediately, to ensure that he is not tortured or otherwise ill-treated and to give him access to lawyers of his choice, his family and any medical attention he may require.
"The Egyptian authorities should release Dia' el Din Gad immediately and unconditionally, unless he is promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence," said Amnesty International. "He appears to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association."
What happened to Dia’ el-Din Gad is one instance of a series of attempts by the Egyptian authorities to silence critics of its policies towards Gaza.
In recent months, the Egyptian authorities have arrested, detained and tried those critical of the government’s position with regard to Gaza, including hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood for staging protests and bloggers and youth activists for their writings. They also tried others before military courts on charges of crossing Egypt’s eastern border illegally.
Egyptian-German blogger Philip Rizk was arrested by SSI officers on 6 February at a Gaza solidarity march. He was held in an undisclosed location for four days and was repeatedly interrogated, including about his relationship with Dia el-Din Gad and his emails accounts and passwords. He was released without charge; all his email and blog accounts were shut down and remain inaccessible.
Another blogger, Mohamed Adel, was arrested on 20 November and detained incommunicado for almost a month. He remains in detention and is being investigated by the State Security Public Prosecution on charges of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and crossing the Egyptian border into Gaza illegally. If charged, he would be tried before an emergency court known for denying defendants the right of appeal and whose proceedings fall far short of international standards of fair trial. Several hundred Muslim Brotherhood members remain in detention without charge or trial since their arrest following a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza in December 2008.
Ahmed Doma was sentenced by a military court on 10 February 2009 to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 Egyptian Pounds (US$365), along with Ahmed Kamal Abdel Aal. Both were convicted of illegally crossing the eastern border of Egypt into Gaza. While Ahmed Doma appears to have entered the Gaza Strip during the Israeli military campaign and returned afterwards, Ahmed Kamal Abdel Aal appears to have been arrested in Rafah, on suspicion of his intention to cross into the Gaza Strip. On 11 February 2009, Magdy Hussein, General Secretary of the suspended Labour party, was sentenced by a military court under the same charge to two years imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (US$912). The court restricted access to the court room and only allowed four lawyers to enter and plead.
Amnesty International opposes the trial of civilians before military courts without any exception and has repeatedly called on the Egyptian authorities to end such practices. Trials of civilians before military courts in Egypt flout international standards on fair trial.
“These recent waves of arrests and prosecutions suggest that criticism of Egypt’s policy towards Gaza became unacceptable to the Egyptian authorities and whoever dares to criticize it is exposed to arbitrary arrest, torture or unfair trial”, added Amnesty International.
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New Zimbabwe government urged to prioritise human rights
Zimbabwe's President Mugabe and new Prime Minster, Morgan Tsvangirai, at signing of power-sharing deal in Harare, 15 Sept, 2008
© AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
10 February 2009
Zimbabwe's new unified government has been urged to place human rights at the top of its agenda when it takes office this week.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is due to sign into law a
constitutional amendment allowing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
to become prime minister on Wednesday, paving the way for the men to
share power.
Amnesty International has called on the new administration to follow its five-point human rights plan:
- Release prisoners of conscience
The new government should immediately and unconditionally release Jestina Mukoko, Broderick Takawira, and Pascal Gonzo. It should also either promptly charge all political detainees with recognizable crimes, and ensure a prompt and fair trial for them, or release them immediately.
- Provide access for human rights groups
The new government should commit itself to opening up the operational environment for all NGOs and human rights groups, political parties and independent media.
- Deal with past human rights violations
The new government should publicly acknowledge all human rights violations by the previous government, commit to establishing the truth, and take effective measures to guarantee non-repetition.
- Address impunity and policing
The new government should immediately end partisan policing and combat impunity for human rights violations by the security forces.
- Tackle poverty
The new government should prioritise the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights including rights to food, health, education and housing. Where it is unable to meet its minimum core obligations, it should seek international assistance.
"The inauguration of an inclusive government is an important
opportunity for the ZANU-PF and the two formations of the MDC to
demonstrate to the Zimbabwean people and rest of the world that they
are committed to a future where human rights are truly and fully
respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled," said Simeon Mawanza,
Amnesty International’s Zimbabwe researcher.
The first 100 days of the new administration offers the chance for
President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai
to take concrete steps to demonstrate the commitment of the new
government to human rights.
