Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AI. Show all posts

Jun 29, 2010

'We cry for justice’: Impunity persists 10 years on in Timor-Leste

Amnesty International logoImage via Wikipedia

Index Number: ASA 57/001/2009
Date Published: 27 August 2009

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In August 1999, the Timorese people voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored referendum. The lead-up to the polls and its aftermath were marred by crimes against humanity and other serious human rights. Most of those suspected of such crimes are still at large in Indonesia. In this report, Amnesty International sets out its recommendations to the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia, calling on them to develop and implement strategies that fully address the legacy of impunity for such crimes.


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Jan 6, 2010

Rights group decries Iran’s ban on 60 foreign organizations

Tyranny vs LibertyImage by wstera2 via Flickr

18:30GMT—1:30PM/EST


Washington, 6 January (WashingtonTV)—Amnesty International said on Wednesday that it fears that a ban by the Iranian government on contact between Iranian citizens with 60 organizations, including human rights groups, will further isolate the population.

On Monday, the deputy intelligence minister for foreign affairs said that it was an offense to communicate with the groups, which were accused of having played a role in inciting unrest following June’s disputed presidential election.

Among the groups blacklisted were Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy, as well as media outlets such as the BBC and the US-government funded Voice of America [VOA].

“The move leaves anyone making such contacts at risk of prosecution and appears designed to hide from the world the true scale of what is happening in Iran and to obstruct reporting on human rights violations,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

The deputy intelligence minister, who was not named, also stated that it is illegal for political groups and parties to receive any financial and non-financial aid from abroad.

The official also called on Iranian citizens to avoid “unconventional contacts” with embassies, foreign nationals or centers linked to the banned organizations, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Amnesty International also condemned the recent arrests of journalists and human rights defenders in Iran, who it said have been instrumental in providing information on the “gross right violations occurring in Iran”.

Both the ban on contact with the 60 international groups and the arrests are a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, said the human rights group.

On Wednesday, the pro-reform website, Rahesabz, said that Iran has arrested more than 180 people in recent days, following anti-government protests on 27 December.

Sources: Amnesty International website, IRIB News, Rahesabz website
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Aug 10, 2009

Rights Group Criticizes Saudi Arabia's Al Qaeda Reeducation Program

| Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Saudi Arabia's much praised rehabilitation program for terror suspects is under fire from the US-based Human Rights Watch because its participants are detained for lengthy periods without charges.

The program – a key part of Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism campaign – relies on preventive efforts to teach detained men that terrorism is un-Islamic. But since most of the detainees haven't been convicted of any crime, it violates international law, the group argues in a report released Monday.

"Except as part of a sentence imposed after conviction for a crime, international human rights law does not permit the detention of persons to undergo a reeducation program," the report says. Such programs "cannot be forced upon persons whose guilt has not been established."

Rehab program praised by US

The program has drawn praise from US and Saudi officials who argue that conventional policing alone is insufficient to control Islamist militants.

While the program "may deserve credit for its intentions, innovations, and apparently low rate of acts of violence pursued by those released," Human Rights Watch says, those extolling it overlook that its enrollees "were not convicted criminals but rather men held in long-term detention without charge."

The report also says that the convictions of 330 Al Qaeda terror suspects announced by Saudi Arabia in July were "flawed" because the trials were held in secret. It criticizes the Saudi Interior Ministry for detaining thousands of suspects for years without charges, and in some cases, refusing to comply with court orders to release prisoners.

Gen. Mansour Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said in an e-mail that he was unable to comment on the report until he had discussed it with ministry officials. An e-mail seeking comment to the Ministry of Justice spokesman went unanswered.

Indefinite detention is 'wrong'

Saudi human rights activist Mohammad Al Qahtani praised the report because "it documented the process of arresting people in indefinite detention." He disagreed with the protestation of a Saudi official quoted in the report, who said that public trials for terrorism suspects are unsuited to Saudi Arabia's tribal society.

"This is very wrong," said Mr. Qahtani. "A modern society should apply the law. This is an excuse to get away with illegal things. It doesn't make sense to hold secret tribunals."

The program has not been without its problems. In January of this year, Saudi Arabia disclosed that 11 graduates of the program, some of whom had previously been detained at the US prison camp in Guantánamo, Cuba, have been re-arrested for joining militant groups. Still, US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair described the program in glowing terms in a memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year, calling it "the most comprehensive of its kind [designed] to address the religious, psychological, and socio-economic issues that contribute to radicalization."

The Human Rights Watch report follows a July 21 study by Amnesty International that alleged Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism campaign led to increased human rights violations.

One response to 2003 attacks

Saudi Arabia was rocked by a wave of violence from Al Qaeda extremists in 2003 and 2004 that left 74 security personnel and 90 civilians dead, according to Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi interior minister. Another 1,096 persons were injured.

The government responded with mass arrests. An unknown but large number of the 9,000 civilians detained since 2003 are still held, though Saudi law stipulates that six months is the longest a person can be jailed without charges. Some detainees are held even after the rehabilitation program or Saudi courts recommend their release.

The rehabilitation program began in 2004. Using psychological and religious counseling, it aims to convince prisoners to abandon what Saudi officials call the "deviant" or "misguided" beliefs that led them into extremist groups.

Saudi officials have said the program is voluntary but also acknowledge that completing it is a condition, though not a guarantee, for a prisoner's release.

Half-way house added

In 2007, a second component to the program was added with a half-way house to ease prisoners back into society. Of the 270 detainees who went through this part of the program, 117 were former inmates at the US-run Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

The latest Human Rights Watch report also criticizes the lack of information about the trials of 330 terror suspects. "The absence of public observers at these trials cast significant doubt on their fairness, underlined by indications that defendants do not have legal assistance and adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense," the report says.

Jul 22, 2009

Saudi 'Rights Abuses' Criticised

Amnesty International has strongly criticised Saudi Arabia over abuses allegedly committed as part of its counter-terrorism operations.

In a report, the human rights group says since 2001 thousands of Saudi suspects have been detained for years without charge or trial.

The 69-page report describes Saudi Arabia's human rights record as "shocking" and "dire".

It says the international community has been far too quiet about the abuse.

In the report, entitled "Saudi Arabia: assaulting human rights in the name of counter-terrorism", the UK-based organisation accuses the oil-rich conservative kingdom of massive and widespread abuse.

It says that two years ago, the Saudi interior minister said the country had detained 9,000 security suspects since 2001, and 3,106 were still being held.

AMNESTY REPORT ALLEGATIONS
  • Thousands of people detained arbitrarily
  • Some of those held are prisoners of conscience
  • Abuses include beatings, suspension from ceiling, electric shocks
  • But, says Amnesty International, no information - not even their names and the charges - were forthcoming and unofficial sources put the numbers far higher.

    Over the last two years, it says, "new waves of arrests" have been reported.

    BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the Saudi authorities have been widely credited with defeating al-Qaeda in their country.

    And, he says, Amnesty International concedes that most of the thousands detained without trial are suspected of links to groups which have committed attacks, on westerners and other targets.

    But it says their cases are shrouded in secrecy and, quoting numerous examples, it doubts that even basic human rights standards are being met.

    The director of Amnesty's UK office, Kate Allen, said that, except for the re-education programme for ex-jihadists, and the carefully co-ordinated mass trials, Saudi Arabia's habitual cloak of secrecy was wrapped even more tightly than ever in "security" cases.

    "It is true", she said, "that Saudi Arabia faces a challenge in dealing with terrorism, but its response has been shocking - something the international community has been far too muted about.

    "We are calling for a fundamental change of policy by the Saudi authorities."

    Serious violations

    This is not the first time Saudi Arabia has been criticised for alleged human rights abuses.

    In February, the US-based organisation Human Rights Watch listed what it called "ongoing serious violations of rights" in the kingdom.

    They included restrictions on speech, association, assembly and religion; an arbitrary criminal justice system, discrimination against women; and serious abuses against migrant workers in the country.

    And in 2008, it published a 144-page report criticising Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system.

    It said that it had "found systematic and multiple violations of defendants' rights".

    Story from BBC NEWS:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8162256.stm

    Jul 3, 2009

    Amnesty International Accuses Israel and Hamas of War Crimes in Gaza

    By ALAN COWELL

    PARIS — Amnesty International on Thursday accused both Israel and Hamas, the militant movement that controls Gaza, of committing war crimes during the three weeks of fighting there early this year.

    The human rights group singled out what it called the “unprecedented” scale and intensity of the Israeli onslaught and the “unlawful” Palestinian use of rockets against Israeli civilians.

    Both Hamas and Israel rejected the report as unbalanced.

    The Israeli military suggested that the “slant” of the report “indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations” of Hamas. Moreover, it said in a statement, the report ignored Israeli efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

    The statement also said Israel’s investigations into the behavior of its forces during the war in late December and January proved that the military “operated throughout the fighting in accordance with international law, maintaining high ethical and professional standards.” It acknowledged, however, that the inquiries “found a few, unfortunate incidents” resulting from Hamas’s decision “to fight from within civilian population centers.”

    A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, quoted by The Associated Press, declared: “The report equated the victim and the executioner and denied our people’s right to resist the occupation. The report ignores the scale of destruction and serious crimes committed by the occupation in Gaza and provides a misleading description in order to reduce the magnitude of the Israeli crimes.”

    The Amnesty International report was the second this week by an international human rights organization calling into question Israeli military practices in the Gaza war.

    A report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch said 29 civilians were killed in what appeared to be six missile strikes by Israeli drones. The group questioned whether Israeli forces had taken “all feasible precautions” to avoid civilian casualties. Israel’s military has never acknowledged using the remotely piloted planes to fire missiles.

    Amnesty International, which is based in London, released its 117-page report on Thursday. It explicitly rejected Israeli claims that Hamas used civilians as human shields but said that in several cases, Israeli soldiers used Palestinian civilians, including children, as “human shields, endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses which they took over and used as military positions.”

    “The scale and intensity of the attacks on Gaza were unprecedented,” the report said, citing the deaths of hundreds of unarmed civilians, including many children.

    Referring to breaches of the “laws of war” in the conflict, Amnesty International said Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel — cited by Israel as its reason for invading Gaza — killed three civilians, wounded scores and drove “thousands from their homes.”

    “For its part, Hamas has continued to justify the rocket attacks launched daily by its fighters and by other Palestinian armed groups into towns and villages in southern Israel during the 22-day conflict,” Donatella Rovera, an Amnesty International official who led an investigation team in Gaza and southern Israel in January and February, said in a statement. “Though less lethal, these attacks, using unguided rockets which cannot be directed at specific targets, violated international humanitarian law and cannot be justified under any circumstance.”

    Jun 28, 2009

    Hospitalized Iranians Seized

    (CNN) -- Iranians wounded during protests are being seized at hospitals by members of an Islamic militia, an Amnesty International official told CNN.

    "The Basijis are waiting for them," said Banafsheh Akhlaghi, western regional director of the human rights group, referring to the government's paramilitary arm that has cracked down on protesters during the violent aftermath of the June 12 presidential election.

    Amnesty International has collected accounts from people who have left Iran and expatriates with relatives there who say the Basij has prohibited medical professionals from getting identification information from wounded demonstrators who check in, Akhlaghi said on Saturday. They are also not allowed to ask how the injuries happened, and relatives are hard pressed to find the wounded.

    Once the patients are treated, the militia removes them from the hospital to an undisclosed location, she said.

    Iran has restricted international news agencies, including CNN, from reporting inside the Islamic republic. However, CNN has received similar accounts, including that of a woman who arrived in the United States from Iran with a broken ankle and thumb. VideoWatch reports of the crackdown on protesters at their homes »

    The woman, who didn't want to be identified for fear of her safety, said she was injured in a rally, but was too scared to go to a hospital. Instead, a doctor came to her home to treat her.

    "The point is, when they are being taken to the hospital they don't actually get there," her friend who accompanied her told CNN last week. "Just like the reporters are being told not to report what they really see. Hospitals, administrative levels, are being told to stay out of the public because they're saying you're accusing the regime of being hostile."

    Amnesty International is also reporting the detention of at least 70 scholars and eight politicians -- most from former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's administration -- in addition to several opposition activists and international journalists.

    More than two weeks into turmoil, Iran's leaders turned up the heat Friday as a high-ranking cleric warned protesters that they would be punished "firmly" and shown no mercy.

    "Rioters and those who mastermind the unrest must know the Iranian nation will not give in to pressure and accept the nullification of the election results," said Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami during Friday prayers in Tehran, according to Iran's state-run Press TV.

    "I ask the Judiciary to firmly deal with these people and set an example for everyone," Khatami said.

    Khatami also blamed demonstrators for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition after her death a week ago was captured on a cell phone video. Khatami said the foreign media had used Neda for propaganda purposes.

    Human Rights Watch, citing interviews with people in Iran, said Friday the Basij is carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians in an attempt to stop nightly rooftop chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

    The nighttime chanting is emblematic of the protests 30 years ago during the Iranian revolution, which toppled the monarchy of the shah.

    "While most of the world's attention is focused on the beatings in the streets of Iran during the day, the Basiji are carrying out brutal raids on people's apartments during the night," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.

    Residents from northern Tehran neighborhoods told Human Rights Watch that the Basij fired live rounds into the air, in the direction of buildings from which they believed the chants were sounding.

    Basij members kicked down doors and "when they entered the homes, they beat" people, a resident said.

    The rights group said it had collected similar accounts of violence from several other neighborhoods. Such accounts also are consistent with numerous accounts CNN has received of nighttime roundups of opposition activists and international journalists from their homes. Amateur videos sent to CNN also show members of the Basij, wearing plain shirts and pants and wielding clubs and hoses, dispersing protesters and beating a handful of Iranians at a time.

    Unrest in Iran erupted after the presidential elections in which hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner. Ahmadinejad's chief rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, called the results fraudulent and has asked for a cancellation of the vote. VideoWatch how Mideast cartoonists are capturing the unrest »

    Members of Iran's National Security Council have told Moussavi that his repeated demands for the annulment are "illogical and unethical," the council's deputy head told the government-run Iranian Labor News Agency.

    On Saturday Ahmadinejad slammed U.S. President Barack Obama, a day after Obama labeled as "outrageous" violence against demonstrators disputing election results.

    "Didn't he say that he was after change?" Ahmadinejad asked Iranian judiciary officials in a speech. "Why did he interfere? Why did he utter remarks irrespective of norms and decorum?"

    The National Security Council, which includes dozens of political leaders, assists Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's unelected supreme leader. Together, they set the parameters of regional and foreign policies, including relations with Western powers, and the country's nuclear programs.

    The Guardian Council, which approves all candidates running for office and verifies election results, has declared that there will be no annulment of the votes. However, it has reminded opposition candidates they have until Sunday to lodge any further complaints about the vote.

    Jun 26, 2009

    Somalia's Shebab Militiamen Publicly Amputate Robbers

    MOGADISHU (AFP), June 25 — Hooded Somali Islamist militiamen on Thursday chopped off the right hand and left foot of four thieves in front of a crowd of 200 people in Mogadishu.

    An ad-hoc court set up by the hardline Islamist group Shebab had this week found the four young men guilty of stealing mobile phones and guns from residents in the Somali capital.

    "The amputations have been carried out as scheduled," a Shebab official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "According to Islam, anybody who robs people will face a similar punishment."

    Residents in the Sukahola neighbourhood gathered to watch the amputations, but no cameras nor mobile phones were allowed.

    Two hooded men watched by masked Shebab gunmen carried out the amputations with a traditional Somali curved-blade knife known as a "torey" after applying tourniquets on the accused's forearms and legs.

    "Before the sentence was carried out, medics checked their health, we wanted to avoid anything that could put their lives at risk," the Shebab official said.

    Witnesses told AFP of the robbers' agony.

    "The four were screaming when their limbs were hacked off," said Ali Mohamed Ibrahim, a local resident. "It did not take long, within three minutes I saw them without their right hand and left foot."

    "Their faces were twisted in horror," he said.

    "Some of the people in the crowd had to look away when the punishment was carried out. It looked really painful but I want this to put an end to robbery in the area," said Farah Mohamed, another witness.

    The four suspected robbers' ages were not immediately clear but witnesses said they looked very young and that some of them were most likely teenagers.

    While most of the political players in Somalia recognise Islam as the main source of legislation, the Shebab advocate a very strict interpretation of Sharia.

    An alliance including the Shebab and other hardline Islamists already controls and administers large parts of southern Somalia, where courts impose tough sentences that have been condemned by rights groups.

    Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the Shebab -- who are engaged in a deadly military offensive against the fledgling administration of President Sheikh Sharif -- over the sentences.

    "These punishments amount to torture," said Tawanda Hondora, the London-based watchdog's Africa Deputy Director, in a statement.

    "The horrific nature of such acts that were carried out in front of a crowd adds further injustice and dehumanises these teenagers," Amnesty added.

    Thursday's public punishment, known as "cross-amputation", was the first such case in the capital in recent years.

    In May, Amnesty condemned amputations and unlawful killings it said were being routinely carried out by the local authorities in and around the southern city of Kismayo.

    In October, a 13-year-old girl was stoned to death in public by around 50 men on one of Kismayo's main squares. She was accused of adultery by local hardline Islamists after reporting that she had been raped by three men.

    Concern at Secret Thailand Trial

    By Jonathan Head
    BBC News, Bangkok

    The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the secret trial in Thailand of a woman charged with insulting the royal family.

    The woman was arrested a year ago after giving a speech in Bangkok in which she attacked the monarchy.

    The start of her trial was delayed this week when her lawyer appealed against the decision to hold a closed trial.

    Critics say strict laws against insulting the monarchy are being used to stifle discussion of its future.

    Thailand concedes that the lese-majeste laws are imperfect, but says they protect the monarchy.

    'Popular revolution'

    People in Thailand who have listened to the speech say they have never heard anything like it.

    Daranee Charncherngsilpakul took to the stage at a protest in central Bangkok in June last year and sharply criticised the monarchy.

    The Thai government will have a very difficult time explaining why the trial of someone charged with making an insulting remark could compromise Thailand's national security
    Sam Zarifi Amnesty International

    She even made personal attacks on the country's revered King Bhumipol Adulyadej, warning him that the monarchy would be overthrown by a popular revolution.

    Going by the nickname Dar Torpedo, she was already well known as an outspoken supporter of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

    But the blunt language she used to criticise the King in a public arena, just a short distance from the palace, has shocked even those Thais who do not consider themselves ardent royalists.

    'Risk of injustice'

    Given the severe penalties for insulting the monarchy in Thailand, no-one was surprised when Ms Daranee was arrested shortly afterwards.

    Her trial, however, which started this week, has alarmed human rights groups.

    The presiding judge ordered hearings to be held in secret, citing national security concerns.

    Her lawyer is appealing, on the grounds that Thailand's constitution guarantees defendants the right to a public trial.

    Sam Zarifi from Amnesty International has warned that "when a judge closes the doors on a trial it significantly raises the risk of injustice taking place.

    "The Thai government will have a very difficult time explaining why the trial of someone charged with making an insulting remark could compromise Thailand's national security," he said.

    Ms Daranee faces between nine and 45 years in prison if she is convicted.

    Until recently the lese majeste law was rarely invoked in Thailand - but the number of cases has risen sharply during the political turmoil of the past three years.

    A colleague of Daranee Charncherngsilpakul was jailed for six years last November.

    Earlier this year a 34-year-old engineer was jailed for 10 years for posting a video deemed insulting to the monarchy on the website YouTube.

    Neither trial was mentioned in the mainstream Thai media.

    Republican sympathisers

    In January this year an Australian man, Harry Nicolaides, was also jailed for three years over a novel he wrote four years ago in which he referred briefly to the scandalous private life of a Thai crown prince. He was later pardoned.

    Police say they are now preparing to arrest several more anti-government activists on the same charge.

    The pro-Thaksin red shirt movement is known to have a number of republican sympathisers and former communists in its ranks.

    Mr Thaksin himself has been accused by his critics of harbouring plans to abolish the monarchy, accusations he has strongly denied.

    The government has acknowledged that the lese majeste law has flaws - but says it is necessary to protect the monarchy.

    Critics of the law argue that it is being used to stifle discussion of the monarchy's future, at a time of heightened public anxiety over the succession, because of the King's age and frail health.

    Story from BBC NEWS:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8120433.stm

    Published: 2009/06/26 09:12:15 GMT

    Jun 17, 2009

    Amnesty International Report 2009

    Download, buy, or read whole report or selected country reports online from http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/

    ***

    Africa

    Africa

    Soldiers wearing red berets travelled 300 kilometres north from the Guinean capital Conakry, to Khoréra, near Boké. They were looking for Karamba Dramé, a youth leader in the town. When they found him, one of the soldiers shot him. He died before he reached hospital on 31 October 2008.



    Americas

    Women queuing outside a health centre in rural Huancavelica, Peru, 26 September 2008.

    The Enxet Indigenous communities of Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa in the Bajo Chaco region of Paraguay have been living at the side of the Pozo Colorado-Concepción highway formore than 15 years. Despite rulings in their favour by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, they remain excluded fromtheir lands. Deprived of their traditional livelihood and way of life, without adequate health care or sanitation, and dependent on irregular government food supplies, they face an insecure present and an uncertain future.



    Asia And The Pacific

    Displaces civilians moving to safety in the kilinochchi District, Wanni, Sri Lanka.

    On 20 May, in Kawhmu township, near Yangon, the Myanmar authorities prevented desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis from coming out onto the street to beg while punishing people who tried to help them– effectively cutting them off fromany informal assistance. Almost three weeks earlier, the cyclone had devastated much of southern Myanmar, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands more from their homes and livelihoods.



    Europe And Central Asia

    Bombed building in Gori, Georgia, 29 September 2008.

    At the beginning of August 2008, two European states went to war for the first time in almost a decade. Since the conflicts of the early 1990s, Europe had assumed a degree of stability in terms of its economy, security and embedding the rule of law, but these events showed how potentially fragile the security assumptions underpinning post-Cold War Europe could be. And how – as so often – civilians and their human rights pay the price when such assumptions fail.



    Middle East And North Africa

    Women from surrounding areas converge on Rabat, Morocco, for International

    On 27 December, as 2008 drew to a close, Israeli jets launched an aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, where 1.5million Palestinians live, crowded into one of the most densely populated areas of the planet. In the following three weeks,more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including some 300 children, and some 5,000 were wounded. Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians.