Author: Amnesty International

Amnesty International today criticised Iran for rejecting important recommendations by the United Nations to improve human rights in the country.

The recommendations rejected by Iran include: ending the execution of juvenile offenders; upholding fair trial guarantees, investigating torture allegations, including rape and releasing people detained for peacefully exercising their human rights.

The Iran delegation also only paid lip service to cooperation with the Human Rights Council.

While accepting a recommendation to cooperate with UN’s human rights experts, Iran rejected several others to allow the Council’s Special Rapporteur on torture to visit the country.   

The delegation accepted the recommendation to respect freedom of religion but rejected a recommendation to end discrimination against the Bahai’s.

“By rejecting specific recommendations made by dozens of countries the Iranian authorities showed contempt for international obligations just as they have done in their treatment of their own people,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

“By promising to consider recommendations to eliminate the execution of juvenile offenders, the Iranian authorities are cynically camouflaging their existing obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child not to execute juvenile offending,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

The UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva has been reviewing Iran’s human rights record where the Iran delegation responded to a series of recommendations put to them by other UN member states.

The delegation accepted 123 recommendations, reserved its position on 20 other and rejected 45 recommendations.
 
Amnesty International is perplex by the numerous contradictions between recommendations accepted and those rejected.

The cavalier rejection of some recommendations similar to others accepted cast doubt on the willingness of the authorities to implement the recommendations accepted.

Iran has said it is carrying out investigations into cases of torture and killing that occurred following the unrest that occurred following the presidential election in June 2009.

However, despite reports of parliamentary investigations, no one appears to have been brought to justice over the killing of Neda Agha Soltan, a peaceful demonstrator who was shot in a street in June 2009 or Mohsen Ruholamini who died in custody in July 2009.

On the other hand, it rejected recommendations on investigations of torture allegations and unlawful killings and thereby perpetuate a climate of impunity.

The country’s authorities also said they would strengthen cooperation with human rights organizations, yet they have failed to respond to repeated requests by Amnesty International to meet with members of the Iranian delegation.   

”For human rights to really improve in Iran, the authorities must end the double-speak and take concrete measures, like ending the execution of juvenile offenders; ensure fair trials; halt torture and end impunity for all violations.”

Iranian activists at UN conference in Geneva tell of harassment by the authorities

International and local human rights organisations have urged the Nepali authorities to stop obstructing criminal proceedings over the alleged torture and murder of 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar by four army officers.

An open letter to the Attorney General of Nepal, Professor Bharat Bahadur Karki, on the sixth anniversary of Maina Sunwar’s death, calls on him to end ongoing obstructions to bringing the officers to trial.

They are accused of subjecting Maina to prolonged simulated drowning and electrocution with a 220-volt current, which led to her death. Her body was secretly buried but later exhumed at an army barracks where Nepali UN peacekeepers are trained.

"Nepal’s politicians continually talk about taking the peace process to its ‘logical conclusion’ but what is ‘logical’ about a peace process that allows those accused of killing a young girl to remain free? Or law enforcement agencies that do not respect the law courts?" said Mandira Sharma, Director of Advocacy Forum – Nepal.

The letter coincides with the release of a comprehensive analysis of the case by the Nepali NGO, Advocacy Forum.

These two documents highlight multiple failings by the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible for Maina’s murder along with hundreds of others during the country’s decade long conflict between Maoists and the government which ended in 2006.

The organizations demand justice for Maina’s family after an inquiry conducted by the Nepal Army resulted in the court martial of three soldiers for only minor disciplinary offences.

Despite a September 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the case falls under civilian jurisdiction, and subsequent arrest warrants issued in January 2008 by the Kavre District Court, the Army is refusing to cooperate and police have failed to make arrests.  The Nepal Army is harbouring one of the four accused, Major Niranjan Basnet, instead of handing him over for trial.

"The failure to arrest and prosecute those charged with Maina’s murder reveals all too clearly the longstanding weaknesses in the Nepal justice system. This makes a mockery of promises by politicians to address human rights abuses and end impunity as part of the peace process. The government must now ensure those accused of killing Maina are arrested and held accountable in a court of law," said Donna Guest, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director, Amnesty International.

The repatriation to Nepal of Major Basnet from the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Chad on 12 December 2009 raised hopes that he would be arrested. Yet more than two months later the army continues to shield him and he has still not appeared before a court.

“A government that sends thousands of troops on UN peacekeeping duties must take steps to ensure no one accused of grave human rights violations is sent abroad. This is essential not only for the integrity of the Nepal Army, but for the credibility of the government in dealing with past human rights violations,” stated Birendra Thapaliya of FOHRID.

Contrary to instruction by the Prime Minister of Nepal, the Defence Minister, Bidhya Bhandari, has publicly taken the position that the Court Martial closed the matter. However, given that the Court Martial did not deal with torture and murder and chose the lesser charges of ‘indiscipline and not following procedures’, the accused have not yet been tried for the murder of Maina Sunuwar.

"Taking a 15-year-old unarmed girl from her bed and torturing her to death by drowning and electrocution goes far beyond the disciplinary infractions considered by the Court Martial.  For such serious crimes, whether the suspects are State officials or Maoists, they must be held criminally responsible before an impartial and independent civilian tribunal,” stated Sushil Pyakhurel of the Accountability Watch Committee.

Maina’s death has come to embody the widespread injustice and failure of accountability experienced by thousands in Nepal today. Despite the focus on the Nepal Army in the killing of Maina, members of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) are also responsible for numerous human rights abuses during the conflict, abuses that remain equally unresolved.

“Failure to respect and comply with a decision of Nepal’s Supreme Court and to abide by valid arrest warrants sends a signal of lawlessness. Guaranteeing a judicial remedy and fair trial before a civilian court in this case will send the much-needed message that all are equal before the law, strengthening the foundation of Nepal’s peace process,” stated Roger Normand, Director of the International Commission of Jurists’ Asia Pacific Program.

Devi Sunuwar, Maina’s mother, said she hopes the resolution of the case will help end the cycle of impunity that has gripped Nepal.

"Today, six years since my daughter Maina was murdered I feel great sadness for her loss, but also for the thousands of mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters across this country who face a similar struggle to find peace and justice," said Devi Sunuwar.

Image caption: Devi Sunuwar pleaded for information about her daughter, Maina. © Thomas Kelly/The New York Times

If the State of Texas has its way, it will execute Henry Watkins Skinner shortly after 6pm local time on 24 February. This would be the 450th execution in Texas since judicial killing resumed in the USA in 1977. More than one in three of the nearly 1,200 men and women killed in US execution chambers over the past three decades have met their death at the hands of Texas executioners.

Such geographic disparity is just one aspect of the USA’s capital justice system that should trouble even the most ardent advocates of the death penalty. Another is the number of errors in capital cases.
More than 130 wrongful capital convictions have been uncovered in the USA since 1976, with DNA testing a substantial contributor to exoneration of the death row prisoner in 17 of these cases.

Given such empirical evidence of error, one would hope that the state, even if it is yet to be persuaded to abandon the death penalty altogether, would leave no stone unturned before carrying out this irrevocable sentence.

Yet, as it has in a number of other cases, Texas is pressing ahead with its plan to kill Henry Skinner despite serious doubts about the reliability of his conviction. The case against Skinner remains circumstantial, proving only that he was present at the scene of the three murders in question, a fact that he has never disputed.

He maintains, with expert and other evidence to support his claim, that he was too incapacitated by alcohol and codeine to have been able to carry out the killings. Since the 1995 trial, further evidence pointing to a possible alternative suspect has emerged and a key prosecution witness has recanted parts of her trial testimony.

The Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University in Illinois – whose work has contributed to the release of 11 wrongfully convicted prisoners in the USA, including five on death row – has investigated the case and concluded that Henry Skinner’s “guilt is questionable at best, and in fact he may well be innocent”.

The Project’s Director, Professor David Protess, has written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that “in more than twenty years of investigating and researching possible wrongful convictions, I have rarely seen a case this circumstantial and shaky in which the prisoner was actually guilty”.

Henry Skinner has for a decade been seeking DNA testing of a number of items from the crime scene which he maintains could support his claim of innocence. Texas is opposing such testing.

After the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed his habeas corpus petition in 2009, Henry Skinner brought an action under the Federal Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1983) seeking to compel the local prosecutor to release the items in question for DNA testing.

On 20 January, the federal District Court dismissed the action on the grounds that it could only adjudicate the matter as a question brought in a habeas corpus petition. Skinner’s lawyers immediately filed an appeal to the Fifth Circuit, which summarily affirmed the District Court’s finding on 8 February. In a petition filed in the US Supreme Court on 12 February, Henry Skinner’s lawyers are appealing for a stay of execution:

“[I]t is important for the Court to understand that this is a case involving a prisoner who may actually be innocent of the crimes for which he is to die in less than two weeks – and whose actual innocence could possibly be established through DNA testing that has never been performed…

“It is beyond question that Mr Skinner will suffer irreparable injury if a stay is not granted. Death by execution is the ultimate irreparable injury… There will be no significant harm to… the State of Texas if the stay is issued”.

A second petition filed with the Supreme Court on 12 February seeks to have the Justices take the case and answer the question as to whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert that claim in a civil rights action or only under a habeas corpus petition.

The petition argues that the case provides the Supreme Court with the opportunity not only to provide the necessary guidance about “where the boundary lies between 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the habeas corpus statutes”, but also to ensure uniformity among the various federal judicial Circuits on the question of post-conviction DNA testing: “[L]ower courts’ treatment of federal civil rights suits for access to DNA evidence post-conviction is profoundly unequal”, the brief asserts; “Prisoners in the First, Second, Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits can proceed with such actions, while those in the Fourth and Fifth Circuits find the courthouse doors altogether closed to such claims”.

Meanwhile, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is being urged to recommend that Governor Rick Perry commute Henry Skinner’s death sentence or, at the very least, to recommend a 90-day reprieve so that Skinner has more time to pursue his claims.

Those who support the execution of Henry Skinner will likely point to the fact that the appeal courts have upheld the death sentence over a period of 15 years. Surely this shows the reliability of his conviction and the need to bring the case to its final conclusion, they may say. Yet the system has been proven fallible.

An example of this systemic fallibility is provided in the letter to the Texas clemency board from Professor Protess, who recalls the case of Anthony Porter. The latter had been on death row for more than 16 years in Illinois, his conviction and sentence upheld by the courts and the state given the green light to execute the prisoner. Fifty hours from execution in 1999, Porter received a temporary stay. The Medill Innocence Project then uncovered Anthony Porter’s wrongful conviction and he was subsequently released.

Texas should think again. This is a state where a number of prisoners have gone to the Huntsville lethal injection chamber despite serious doubts about their guilt. They include Cameron Willingham, executed in Texas in 2004 despite expert evidence that the fire which killed the victims was accidental rather than the result of arson.

Amnesty International unconditionally opposes the execution of Henry Skinner, regardless of his guilt or innocence, as it does all executions. This is a punishment that is incompatible with human dignity, as much of the world now recognizes. Indeed, since Henry Skinner was sent to death row in 1995, some 40 more countries have abolished the death penalty, bringing to 139 the number that have abolished judicial killing in law or practice.

International standards prohibit the execution of anyone where there is “room for an alternative explanation of the facts” in relation to their conviction. The refusal of the Texas authorities to allow DNA testing of crime scene evidence in a case where there are serious doubts about the prisoner’s guilt plainly leaves the Texas authorities, and hence the USA, on the wrong side of this international safeguard as well as the global trend away from the death penalty.

Update
19 February: Henry Skinner’s execution date has been postponed until 24 March.

People have gone to Huntsville lethal injection chamber despite doubts over their guilt

Amnesty International calls on both sides to protect Afghan civilians as NATO and Afghan forces continue a major military offensive in the southern province of Helmand.

“About 10,000 civilians have fled the conflict zone, but thousands more are caught up in the fighting,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.

“Afghanistan is likely to witness heavier fighting this year than ever before, and last year the war already claimed more than 2,400 civilian casualties, the highest number since 2001. So it’s crucial for all sides to take efforts to minimize harm to civilians.”

Displaced residents have reported that the Taleban tried to prevent civilians from leaving the conflict area and in some instances have fired from, and sought shelter among the civilian population

The Taleban and other anti-government groups were responsible for some two-thirds of all civilian casualties and injuries last year, according to UN estimates.

“The Taleban have a record of knowingly endangering Afghan civilians in their operations, which can constitute a war crime,” Sam Zarifi said.

“Insurgent groups are bound by international law to take every possible precaution to protect the lives of civilians. The Taleban invoke international laws of war when it suits their purposes. Their failure to respect these laws is inexcusable and they should be held to account for their actions.”

Amnesty International also urged Afghan and international military forces to ensure they comply with their legal obligation to protect civilians from harm.

Operations by NATO forces have already lead to the deaths of at least 15 civilians in and around the Marjah region since the “Operation Moshtarak” (“Joint Command”) offensive began on February 13th.

Twelve people, including six children, died after two US missiles struck a house on the outskirts of Marja district on Sunday. NATO has claimed that the attack was caused by a faulty missile system.

“The US and NATO have made commitments to minimise civilian casualties. But international and Afghan forces still lack a consistent, clear and credible mechanism to investigate civilian casualties, provide accountability and ensure that such incidents do not recur,” Sam Zarifi said.

“This is now particularly urgent with more than 30,000 extra foreign troops deployed in Afghanistan and apparently committed to a more aggressive military strategy.” 

Amnesty International also called on all warring parties to ensure that humanitarian assistance can reach needy civilians. The operation, which targets Marjah and Nad Ali districts of Helmand, has resulted in thousands of residents fleeing the conflict zone for Helmand’s main town, Lashkar Gah, as well as to the towns of Kandahar and Herat.

The Afghan Department for Refugees and Returnees has reportedly registered more than 6,000 displaced people from Marja and Nad Ali since the operations were announced.

“We know that in other recent campaigns, thousands of displaced people have not been registered with the authorities, as they have chosen to stay with family and friends, often ignored or out of reach of humanitarian assistance,” Sam Zarifi said.

Amnesty International calls upon the Afghan government and all relevant national and international aid agencies to provide immediate assistance for the displaced, including essential food and potable water, basic shelter, appropriate clothing and heating materials as well as essential medical services and sanitation, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

US marines enter Marjah, Helmand province

Amnesty International has called on the Council of Europe to strengthen the protection of human rights in Europe, as ministers of the 47 member states prepare for a two-day meeting to discuss proposals for further reforms of the European Court of Human Rights.

Ministers are set to gather in the Swiss resort of Interlaken on 18 and 19 February to discuss the future of the court.

It was set up in 1959 to enforce the European Convention on Human Rights, which Council of Europe member states are obliged respect, through binding judgements.

Since then, it has delivered some 10,000 judgments in cases where governments have failed to honour their obligations under the European Convention.

However, the Court has had to deal with a backlog of over 100,000 cases and receives an enormous number of applications annually which put an enormous strain on its resources.

Also under discussion are problems with enforcement of the Court’s judgements in member states.

"The way forward is better implementation of the Convention at national level that would increase respect for human rights throughout Europe," said Jill Heine, Legal Advisor at Amnesty International.

"If governments complied with their obligations under the Convention and implemented the Court’s judgements quickly and effectively, the applications to the Court would be seriously reduced.

"In the meantime, the direct access of the hundreds of millions of Europeans to the Court that they now enjoy should be further facilitated, not obstructed.

"Proposals requiring applicants to pay fees or to be represented by a lawyer and communicate with the Court in English or French, should be shelved."

Amnesty International said it wants a strong and independent European Court of Human Rights, accessible to individuals claiming violations of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights when they have had no effective redress domestically.  

The organization called on the Council of Europe to consider only such reforms to the Court that aim to strengthen the protection of the human rights of the people in Europe and ensure the Court’s independence and excellence:

• Individuals must continue to be able to petition the Court when they have not been able to get justice for violations of their human rights domestically.
• The applications must be screened in an efficient, fair, consistent, transparent and effective way to weed out the very high proportion (around 90 per cent) of applications that are inadmissible under the current criteria.
• The Court must be allocated adequate financial and human resources to be able to give judgments within a reasonable time but without adversely impacting the budgets of other Council of Europe human rights mechanisms and bodies.
• Any reforms to the Court should be based on informed analysis, transparent evaluation of both the root of the problems impairing its efficiency and recent and future reforms.
• The role of the Committee of Ministers in supervising states’ implementation of the Court’s judgments should be strengthened.

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The European Court of Human Rights has delivered some 10,000 judgments since 1959

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Amnesty International has called on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to protect human rights defenders, who continue to be arbitrarily detained by security agencies and subjected to an alarming number of death threats.

In its briefing "Human Rights Defenders under attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo", Amnesty International documents the persecution faced by eight prominent human rights defenders in the DRC, harassment the organization fears will intensify in the build-up to 2011 presidential and national elections.

“The government of the DRC must uphold the right to freedom of expression and ensure that Congolese human rights defenders are protected from threats, arbitrary arrests and assault, said Andrew Philip, Amnesty International’s researcher on the DRC. “Many human rights defenders are detained simply because they speak out on behalf of others.”

Golden Misabiko, head of the Katanga branch of a national human rights organization, was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) in July 2009 after his organization published a report alleging that government security officials were involved in illegal mining of highly radioactive uranium and other minerals from the Shinkolobwe mine, Katanga province.

Following detention for almost a month, Golden Misabiko was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison with eight months’ suspended after being found guilty of “publication of false information”, a conviction that his lawyers are seeking to overturn. Golden Misabiko suffered severe stomach pains, persistent vomiting and psychological trauma brought on by the appalling conditions of detention, where he was forced to pay the guards to sleep outside on a piece of cardboard to avoid an overcrowded and dirty cell.

Robert Ilunga, a community advocate and head of a human rights NGO in Kinshasa, was arrested by the ANR and held incommunicado for nine days in September 2009 after the NGO issued a press release denouncing harsh working conditions endured by workers at a gravel-making company in Kasangulu, in the province of Bas-Congo.

The ANR in particular, frequently arrests, detains and intimidates human rights workers in the DRC. Amnesty International receives regular reports of torture and other ill-treatment taking place in ANR detention facilities.

“Human rights defenders in the DRC play a crucial role in drawing attention to human rights abuses but intensifying harassment makes it increasingly difficult for them to carry out this important work,” said Andrew Philip.   

Leaders of four human rights organizations based in the south-eastern city of Lubumbashi, Katanga province, received anonymous and increasingly sinister SMS messages since mid-September, when they led a local campaign in support of the then detained Golden Misabiko.

“I do not know how much longer I can bear the stress and mental suffering caused by these threats, but every day I resist the temptation to just return to normal life with my family, because I refuse to be intimidated into stopping my work,” a human rights defender told Amnesty International.

One of the four human rights leaders who campaigned for Golden Misabiko, Grégoire Mulamba, was abducted on 18 October 2009 on his way home from work. The taxi that was supposed to take him home (suddenly) diverted from the usual route and as Grégoire Mulamba challenged the driver, one of the passengers pushed a gun into his ribs and blindfolded him. Stopping after 20 minutes, Grégoire Mulamba feared he would be killed but was instead dumped in a cemetery on the outskirts of Lubumbashi.

The other three leaders, Timothee Mbuya, Emmanuel Umpula and Dominique Munongo, fled Lubumbashi in the end of September 2009, fearing for their lives. All three returned to the city in October to continue their human rights work, despite an escalating stream of death threats.

Congolese human rights defenders have told Amnesty International that harassment and arrests directed towards them have increased sharply throughout 2009, reports echoed by UN observers in the country.

A number of states expressed concern over the situation of human rights defenders in the DRC and made recommendations to the DRC government during the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the DRC that took place in Geneva in December 2009.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is an opportunity for the UN Human Rights Council to examine the human rights record of all member states. Each country is reviewed every four years with the aim of ensuring states are meeting all of their human rights obligations.

The DRC has since indicated that it supports the UPR recommendations to “take further measures to protect the rights of human rights defenders…”; to “ensure that crimes and violations against human rights defenders and journalists are effectively investigated and prosecuted” and to “adopt an effective legal framework for the protection of human rights activists in line with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders”.

Amnesty International urges the government to make these changes in law and practice promptly.

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Human rights defender Floribert Chebeya was the victim of illegal arrest and detention.

Activist Robert Ilunga Numbi was the victim of illegal arrest and detention.

Members of the organization, Friends of Nelson Mandela for the Defence of Human Rights

Human rights defender Timothée Mbuya has received death threats by SMS

Amnesty International has reiterated its call to the Mexican authorities to urgently establish the fate of three people who were taken by army personnel in December and have not been seen since.

Jose Angél Alvarado Herrera and his cousins Nitza Paola Alvarado Espinoza and Rocío Irene Alvarado Reyes were last seen on 29 December 2009, when a group of 10 soldiers took them from the town of Buenaventura, Chihuahua State, northern Mexico. The soldiers did not show any arrest warrants to them or their relatives who were present.

It is not known why the three were arrested or where they are being held. They are believed to be the latest victims of human rights violations committed by troops deployed to combat the rise of organized crime and drug cartels in Chihuahua.

Increasing reports of abuses committed by the military carrying out policing operations include details of enforced disappearances, unlawful killings, torture and arbitrary detention.

When relatives of the three filed a complaint with the Chihuahua State Attorney General’s Office in Buenaventura, an official told them that the military had carried out a raid in the area to detain criminal suspects and that the three were being held by the military.

A spokesman for the Joint Anti-Crime Police and Military Operation in Chihuahua (Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua), later denied that the army was holding them.

Nitza Paolo Alvarado Espinoza, managed to make a phone call to a friend on 4 February. She was crying and said, "Please help me, get me out of here, I’m scared". At that moment the friend heard two men talking, one of whom said, "Bloody bitch, she is phoning, I told you not to leave her alone!" and the line was cut.

Two days later, soldiers went to the home of José Ángel Alvarado’s mother, and asked her a series of personal questions about herself and the three people being held.

The soldiers did not say why they were asking the questions, and told a neighbour who saw them going into the house that there would be consequences for him if he told anyone that they had been there.

Amnesty International urged the authorities to immediately start an impartial civilian investigation into this enforced disappearance and to charge the three with a recognisable criminal offence or release them, if they are in custody.

The organization also called for their families to be protected from intimidation and reprisals.

Released in December 2009, Amnesty International’s report, Mexico: New reports of human rights violations by the military, accused the authorities of failing to fully probe allegations of human rights violations committed by troops deployed to combat organized crime and drug cartels in the country.

Reports of abuses committed by the military during policing operations are on the rise

A deal agreed between lawyers representing victims of the Trafigura toxic waste disaster and a group trying to secure control of the $45 million compensation fund is open to serious abuse, Amnesty International warned on Monday.

Attempts by the group, known as the National Coordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Côte d’Ivoire (CNVDT-CI), to have the money moved to its bank account provoked an international outcry.

All of the 30,000 claimants in the case are actually represented by UK law firm Leigh Day & Co.

The latest deal follows a series of legal battles in Abidjan, the Ivorian commercial capital, to block CNVDT-CI from receiving the money.

Under the new agreement, Leigh Day & Co and CNVDT-CI will jointly oversee a process to validate individual claims for a share of the compensation, approximately US$1,500 per person.

“It is profoundly disturbing that the victims’ lawyers have had to strike a deal with an organization whose claim to represent the 30,000 victims is so patently untrue,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director for International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.

Following the validation process the 30,000 claimants will be able to collect their compensation money from branches of Société Générale bank over the next three consecutive Sundays. Amnesty International understands that any money not claimed in this period will be transferred to CNVDT-CI to distribute.

“This process is wide open to abuse,” said Widney Brown. “Distribution of funds to 30,000 people in just three days is simply not feasible. If the funds are not distributed within the allotted time Amnesty International is concerned that CNVDT-CI will end up walking away with the money anyway.

“We are also concerned that the agreement puts the claimants – who have to collect their payments on a known day and from a known place – at risk of being robbed.”

The situation in Abidjan is fragile, as evidenced by the recent decision of President Laurent Gbagbo to dissolve the government, and this raises even more concerns about the safety and the effective compensation of the victims.

There were reports of police using tear gas to quell unrest following news on Friday that President Gbagbo had dissolvedthe government.

Amnesty International has called on the authorities to ensure that adequate policing, carried out with full respect for human rights, is in place so that the claimants can collect their compensation money in safety.

In August 2006, toxic waste was brought to Abidjan on board the ship Probo Koala, which had been chartered by oil-trading company, Trafigura. This waste was then dumped in various locations around the city, causing a human rights tragedy.

More than 100,000 people sought medical attention for a range of health problems and there were 15 reported deaths.
 
On 23 September 2009, the High Court of England and Wales approved a $45 million settlement between nearly 30,000 victims of the toxic waste dumping and Trafigura.

Under the terms of the UK settlement, endorsed by the UK High Court, only Leigh Day has the mandate to distribute the money to each and every one of the victims.

Waste removal experts work to remove hazardous black sludge from a garbage dump, Abidjan, 18 September, 2006.

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Myanmar’s government must halt its repression of ethnic minority activists before forthcoming national and local elections, Amnesty International warned in a major report released on Tuesday.

The 58-page report, The Repression of ethnic minority activists in Myanmar, draws on accounts from more than 700 activists from the seven largest ethnic minorities, including the Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Chin, covering a two-year period from August 2007.

The authorities have arrested, imprisoned, and in some cases tortured or even killed ethnic minority activists. Minority groups have also faced extensive surveillance, harassment and discrimination when trying to carry out their legitimate activities.   

"Ethnic minorities play an important but seldom acknowledged role in Myanmar’s political opposition," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert. "The government has responded to this activism in a heavy-handed manner, raising fears that repression will intensify before the elections."

Many activists told Amnesty International that they faced repression as part of a larger movement, as in Rakhine and Kachin States during the 2007 Buddhist monk-led "Saffron Revolution". Witnesses described the killings and torture of monks and others by the security forces during its violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in those states.

Others said they were pursued for specific actions, such as organizing an anti-dam signature campaign in Kachin State.   

Even relatively simple expressions of political dissent were met with punishment as when Karenni youths were detained for floating small boats on a river with "No" (to the 2008 draft Constitution) written on them.

"Activism in Myanmar is not confined to the central regions and urban centres. Any resolution of the country’s deeply troubling human rights record has to take into account the rights and aspirations of the country’s large population of ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.   

More than 2,100 political prisoners, including many from ethnic minorities, languish in Myanmar’s jails in deplorable conditions. Most are prisoners of conscience who have expressed their beliefs peacefully.

Amnesty International urged the government to lift restrictions on freedom of association, assembly, and religion in the run-up to the elections; to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and to remove restrictions on independent media to cover the campaigning and election process.

Amnesty International called on Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as China, Myanmar’s biggest international supporter, to push the government to ensure that the people of Myanmar will be able to freely express their opinions, gather peacefully, and participate openly in the political process.

"The government of Myanmar should use the elections as an opportunity to improve its human rights record, not as a spur to increase repression of dissenting voices, especially those from the ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.

This year, Myanmar will hold its first national and local elections in two decades.   

In 1990, two years after mostly peaceful anti-government protests resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 demonstrators, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a coalition of ethnic minority parties resoundingly won national elections.   

The military government ignored the results, however, and continued their long-standing campaign against the political opposition.   

Myanmar’s most well-known human rights activist, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD, has been under some form of detention for over 15 of the last 20 years.

In 2007, monks from ethnic minority Rakhine State initiated country-wide demonstrations against the government’s economic and political policies, in what has become known as the Saffron Revolution.

In May 2008, a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, the government insisted on holding a referendum on the draft constitution. The official results were that 99 percent of the electorate had gone to the polls, 92.4 percent of whom had voted in favour. While the 2008 Constitution potentially allows for greater representation in local government, it ensures that the military will continue to dominate the national government.   

Ethnic minorities constitute some 35-40 percent of the country’s population, and form the majority in the seven ethnic minority states. Each of the country’s largest seven ethnic minorities has engaged in armed insurgencies against the government, some of which continue to date.

Amnesty International has documented serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity by the government in the context of the Myanmar army’s campaigns against ethnic minority insurgent groups and civilians.

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Many activists faced repression during 2007's Buddhist monk-led 'Saffron Revolution'

The Iranian government’s view of the state of human rights in the country is severely distorted, Amnesty International said on Friday in an analysis paper prepared ahead of a review of Iran by the UN Human Rights Council.

The Amnesty International paper was prepared in response to Iran’s own submission to the UN in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review. The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group will evaluate Iran’s human rights record on 15 February.   

During the review, UN member states have the opportunity to raise questions about Iran’s human rights record and make recommendations to the Iranian government, which may then say which, if any, it will accept.

"The Iranian authorities seem either to have lost touch with reality or are unwilling to acknowledge it," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "The government report reads as if there is no human rights crisis, just politically motivated criticism."

"UN member states must look at what is actually happening in Iran: mass arrests and detentions, beatings of peaceful demonstrators, torture and deaths in custody, ‘show trials’ and politically motivated executions. Complacency or misplaced solidarity with Iran should not stand in the way of demands for Iran to fulfil its human rights obligations."

Amnesty International’s analysis includes examples that illustrate Iran’s failure to uphold human rights, such as those to a fair trial, to freedom of expression and, in the case of women and ethnic and religious minorities, to freedom from discrimination, and highlights obfuscations in the Iranian government report.

Iran’s report states that it prohibits the use of torture to force "confessions" but the reality is very different. Torture and other ill-treatment for the purpose of extracting "confessions" are widespread. Recent Iranian broadcasts of extracts of "show trials" taking place in Tehran, show haggard-looking defendants apologizing and delivering what appear to be coerced "confessions".

Iran’s judicial system is not the independent force depicted in the government’s report, with sensitive cases heavily influenced by political considerations. It also discriminates against women from top to bottom. Women are absent in any of the senior, decision-making posts, while a woman’s testimony in court is worth only half that of a man’s and she receives only half the compensation of a man for bodily injury or death.

Amnesty International’s report criticizes Iran’s failure to engage with human rights organizations and UN human rights experts, consistently stalling on allowing visits – contrary to Iran’s own assertions that it has co-operated with human rights groups. Amnesty International has been denied access to Iran to conduct firsthand research into human rights violations since April 1979.

Several human rights bills, currently pending before the Majles, have been under consideration for years without progress. These include the Juvenile Crimes Investigation Bill, which could reduce the number of death sentences imposed on juvenile offenders, and the bill setting out "political crimes" which was drafted over five years ago, by a previous parliament.

Amnesty International acknowledged some of the improvements in legislation referred to in Iran’s report to the UN. These include the revival of the Offices of the Prosecutor, the equalization of diyeh for Muslims with non-Muslims and efforts to combat human trafficking.

"It is time for Iran to implement the necessary measures to improve human rights in the country by allowing human rights defenders to work without fear, journalists to freely report, people to protest without being exposed to violence and ensuring mechanisms are developed to improve justice and ensure accountability," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

At 'show trials' in Tehran defendants deliver what appear to be coerced 'confessions'

The President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, has committed to lifting all financial barriers to emergency obstetric care and access to family planning, as part of a strategy to fight maternal mortality in the country.

President Compaoré expressed this commitment during a meeting with an Amnesty International delegation led by interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone, and following the publication of an Amnesty International report highlighting the barriers women face in Burkina Faso to receiving adequate health care during pregnancy and child birth.

"The lifting of financial barriers for emergency obstetric care, accompanied by improvements in the quality of care and family planning will significantly reduce the number of deaths and complications for women in child birth," said Claudio Cordone. "Every woman has the right to life and the right to health. No woman should die giving birth when her death could have been prevented."

The government of Burkina Faso has made significant efforts towards improving maternal health during the last decade and Amnesty International welcomes the openness and constructive engagement it has experienced from the government while working on this issue. Costs associated with pregnancy and childbirth have been significantly reduced in Burkina Faso but remain an obstacle for many women in the country.

Pregnant women’s lives in Burkina Faso can be endangered by the distance they have to travel to access adequate care, as well as corrupt practices by some medical personnel and lack of effective mechanisms to ensure monitoring and accountability. More than 2,000 women continue to die every year during pregnancy and childbirth.

"Ultimately, in order to fully address maternal death there is a need to tackle the various forms of discrimination against women which prevent them from taking part in decisions on family planning and accessing health care," said Claudio Cordone.

"Amnesty International will continue to work with civil society organizations, medical associations and government officials to address such discrimination and the poverty that fuels it."

The Amnesty International delegation also met Burkina Faso’s First Lady Chantal Compaoré, the President of the National Assembly, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the Prime Minister, Tertius Zongo, the Minister of Health, Seydou Bouda and the Minister for the Promotion of Human Rights, Salamata Sawadogo.

During these meetings, interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone shared the findings and recommendations of a two-year research project published in the report, Giving Life, Risking Death: Maternal Mortality in Burkina Faso.

The meetings with the authorities followed two weeks of discussions throughout the country with local communities, health professionals and local government officials. Amnesty International was able to take the testimonies of the people who suffer daily from the loss of their mothers, wives, and sisters to the authorities in the country.

"All the families we met told us that giving birth should be a joy, but that all too often it becomes an ordeal that no one should have to suffer," said Claudio Cordone.

During a meeting with international donors, Amnesty International urged them to continue their support for the Burkina Faso government with adequate, long-term and sustainable technical and financial assistance to ensure the availability and accessibility of emergency obstetric care.

Amnesty International also welcomed the adoption by the Burkina Faso National Assembly in December 2009 of a law implementing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and called for an early abolition of death penalty.

President Compaoré (centre) with the delegation from Amnesty International

Women in Burkina Faso face inadequate health care during pregnancy and child birth

Amnesty International on Friday accused the Mexican government of unfairly imprisoning two indigenous women for the kidnapping of six police officers in 2006 and demanded their immediate release.

The two women, who were sentenced to 21 years in prison, are awaiting the outcome of their retrial. Amnesty International has adopted them as "prisoners of conscience".
 
Alberta Alcántara and Teresa González Cornelio have been held in the Centro de Readaptación de San José El Alto prison since August 2006. In January 2009 they were convicted of kidnapping six agents of the Mexican Federal Investigation Agency (AFI).

The agents claim they were held hostage by the women and other market stall holders during a raid on pirate DVD vendors on Santiago Mexquititlán square in March 2006. The only evidence against them is a photograph published in a newspaper in which Alberta and Teresa are standing next to the AFI agents.

"There is absolutely no credible evidence against Alberta and Teresa," said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher at Amnesty International. "We believe they have been framed as a convenient target because of their marginal status in society as poor indigenous women."
 
Alberta and Teresa were originally detained and charged together with market stall holder Jacinta Francisco Marcial, who was released in September 2009. In her case, Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office decided to drop the case during the retrial because of lack of evidence.

However, despite a similar lack of evidence, the same office decided to continue to press charges against Teresa and Alberta and seek their reconviction. The final hearing of the women’s retrial was held on 3 February 2010. The judge now has 30 days to issue a new sentence.

"The case is emblematic of the discrimination and unfair trials that many indigenous people face in Mexico’s criminal justice system," said Rupert Knox. "The Mexican government must release them both immediately and without conditions. Reparations must also be awarded."

Alberta is from Santiago Mexquititlán, Municipio de Amealco de Bonfil, Querétaro. She is 31 years old. Before her detention she worked in a clothes factory and on a small plot of land owned by her family. She also made rag dolls to supplement the family income. She left school aged 13 to start work.

Teresa was born in San Francisco Shaxni, Municipio de Acambay, Mexico state. She is 25 years old. Before her detention she worked on the family land and made rag dolls. She is married to Alberta’s brother Gabriel. She gave birth to Jasmin, now 11 months old, while she was in prison.

On 26 March 2006, six police officers filed a complaint with the Attorney Federal alleging they had been kidnapped by locals during a market raid earlier in the day in Santiago Mexquititlán.
 
Four months later, the Attorney Federal ordered the arrest of three indigenous women whose faces appeared next to the police officers in a photo in a local paper. The women did not have access to an interpreter during judicial proceedings and their state appointed public defender never explained their rights or defence.

During the cross examination, the police officers contradicted each other and their main witness failed to ever appear before the court.

Teresa González Cornelio gave birth to her daughter in prison

Amnesty International has welcomed the US military authorities’ reduction of a prison sentence being served by a US army sergeant, who refused to serve in Afghanistan because of his religious beliefs as a Christian.

At his court martial on 14 August 2009, Travis Bishop was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for going absent without leave, suspension of two-thirds of his salary and a bad conduct discharge.

Lt General Robert Cone, commanding general of Fort Hood in Texas, approved the sentence reduction on 4 February after considering Travis Bishop’s clemency application. His lawyer estimates that he should now be released in late March, taking his good behaviour into account.

Travis Bishop has asked his lawyer to relay this message to the many people who have written letters of support, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone who wrote letters and supported me! This is amazing and unprecedented."

Following Travis Bishop’s sentencing, the prison’s military authorities received hundreds of letters appealing for his release. His lawyer has personally thanked Amnesty International members "for all of your help on this case. I think the letters may have made the difference. It is extremely rare to get this much time reduced from a sentence".

Travis Bishop has served in the US army since 2004. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 to October 2007. According to his lawyer, he had doubts about taking part in military action since then, but it was only in February 2009, when his unit was ordered to deploy to Afghanistan, that he considered refusing to go.

In the period before he was due to be deployed, Travis Bishop’s religious convictions became stronger, and led him to conclude that he could no longer participate in any war.

Travis Bishop’s sentence was imposed even though the US army was still considering his application for conscientious objector status.

In a statement made at the court-martial, Travis Bishop explained that he discovered he could apply for this status only days before his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan. He went absent without leave on the day of his deployment to give himself "time to prepare for my [conscientious objector] application process".

He was away from his unit for about a week, during which he drafted his application and sought legal advice. He returned voluntarily, and on his return to the unit he submitted his application.

Amnesty International considers Travis Bishop to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to participate in war.

The organization has recognized as prisoners of conscience a number of US soldiers refusing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan because of their conscientious objection.

They include Camilo Mejía, who was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for his objection to the armed conflict in Iraq in 2004, and Abdullah Webster, who refused to participate in the same war due to his religious beliefs and was sentenced the same year to 14 months’ imprisonment.

Another, Kevin Benderman, was sentenced in 2005 to 15 months imprisonment after he refused to redeploy to Iraq because of abuses he allegedly witnessed there.

Agustin Aguayo was sentenced in 2007 to eight months’ imprisonment for his refusal to participate in the armed conflict in Iraq. All four have since been released.

Some of these conscientious objectors have been court-martialled and sentenced despite pending applications for conscientious objector status; others were imprisoned after their applications were turned down on the basis that they were objecting to particular wars rather than to war in general.

Amnesty International on Thursday called on the Chadian government to allow United Nations (UN) peacekeepers to continue protecting 250,000 refugees from Darfur and 170,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the east of the country.

The government has insisted that the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) must leave Chad when its mandate expires on 15 March 2010, arguing that the force has failed its mandate.

"Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians would be exposed to increased attacks by Chadian armed opposition groups, irregular militias, criminal gangs and members of the Chadian security forces, if MINURCAT were to leave" said Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa programme.

MINURCAT has been deployed to eastern Chad since March 2008 to protect and enable humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs that have sought shelter in the area.

Deployment has been slow over the past two years but the force is now for the first time deployed at around 70 percent of the level set by the UN Security Council and has received technical support from various countries.

Attacks on humanitarian workers and civilians, which reached alarming levels in the last months of 2009, have begun to decrease as MINURCAT soldiers have been able to carry out patrols in sensitive areas they were previously unable to patrol.

"The Chadian government has the responsibility and duty to protect its own population and other persons living on its territory but for many years it has shown itself incapable and unwilling to do so with respect to Eastern Chad," said Tawanda Hondora.

Human rights violations including rape and recruitment of child soldiers are carried out with almost total impunity in eastern Chad, by members of Chadian and Sudanese armed opposition groups, bandits and members of the Chadian security forces.

Amnesty International said it also fears that humanitarian agencies that assist refugees, IDPs and the local population in eastern Chad would be forced to close some or all of their programmes if MINURCAT were to pull out as the security vacuum left behind by the UN withdrawal would make it too dangerous for many to operate.

"This would leave hundreds of thousands without essential humanitarian assistance and facing increased security risks due to the absence of an international presence," said Tawanda Hondora.

"The UN Security Council must not accede to the request of the Chadian authorities until it is clear that the government of Chad is capable and prepared to protect the human rights of people living in eastern Chad."

In January 2010, the government of Chad sent a note verbale to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) requesting it to not renew the mandate of the United Nations Mission to the Central African Republic and Chad.

Following this request, the UN Secretary-General sent a Technical Assessment Mission to Chad to discuss the issue with Chadian authorities.

Chadian officials who met the UN team are reported to have confirmed the government’s insistence that MINURCAT’s mandate not be renewed when it expires on 15 March 2010.

On 8 February 2010, during a trip to Sudan, Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno reaffirmed that it is his government’s position that MINURCAT must leave Chad at the expiration of its mandate.

The UNSC passed Resolution 1778 (2007) on 25 September 2007 establishing both a military and policing component to MINURCAT. The military force was deployed on 15 March 2008.

For the first year it was under the command of the European Union. Command of the military force was transferred to the UN as of 15 March 2009.

MINURCAT has the mandate, inter alia, to contribute to the protection of refugees, displaced persons and civilians in danger by facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance in eastern Chad and the north-eastern Central African Republic.

Around 250,000 refugees from Darfur need the UN's protection in Chad

The comment below is by Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone.

There has been a lot of controversy in the media surrounding Amnesty International’s work with Moazzam Begg and Cageprisoners, in light of statements by Gita Sahgal, an Amnesty International staff member.

Contrary to Gita Sahgal’s assertions to the media, she was not suspended from Amnesty International for raising these issues internally. In fact, we actively welcome vigorous internal debate.  Up to now we have maintained confidentiality in line with our policy but wanted to correct this misrepresentation. This is not a reflection of the organisation’s respect for her work as a women’s rights activist and does not undermine the work she has done over the last few years as the head of Amnesty International’s gender unit.  

Our work with Moazzam Begg has focused exclusively on highlighting the human rights violations committed in Guantánamo Bay and the need for the US government to shut it down and either release or put on trial those who have been held there. Moazzam Begg was one of the first detainees released by the US without charge, and has never been charged with any terrorist-related offence or put on trial.

When President Obama promised to close Guantánamo, Amnesty International hoped that we could wind down our campaign and focus more broadly on human rights abuses related to security and terrorism. However, as that promise remains unmet, Amnesty International continues to work with Moazzam Begg and other former detainees to ask European governments to accommodate those who cannot be returned to their country of citizenship without risk of torture or ill-treatment.

In this complex and polarised world, we at Amnesty International face the challenge of  communicating clearly the scope of our work with individuals and groups. Amnesty International champions and continues to champion Moazzam Begg’s rights as a former detainee at Guantánamo. He speaks about his own views and experiences, not Amnesty International’s. And Moazzam Begg has never used a platform he shared with Amnesty to speak against the rights of others.

Amnesty International has a long history of demanding justice – in the case of our Counter Terror with Justice Campaign we called for both an end to human rights abuses at Guantánamo and other locations, and called for those detained there to be brought to justice, in fair trials that respected due process.

However, our work for justice and human rights spans a far wider range of issues than counter-terrorism and security. Amnesty International has done considerable research on the Taleban and campaigns to stop violence against women and to promote women’s equality. We continue to take a strong line against abuses by religiously-based insurgent groups and/or governments imposing religious strictures, Islamic or otherwise, in violation of human rights law. Sometimes the people whose rights we defend may not share each other’s views – but they all have human rights, and all human rights are worth defending.

Audio: Widney Brown, Amnesty International's Law and Policy Director, on the organization's work with Moazzam Begg

Video: Widney Brown on the case of Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed

The Chinese authorities must immediately release a human rights activist whose appeal against an 11 year prison sentence was rejected by a Beijing court, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court on Thursday upheld Liu Xiaobo’s prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power". Liu Xiaobo, a well-known scholar and advocate of political and legal reform in China, was given an 11 year prison sentence on 25 December 2009 simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

"By upholding the verdict the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong. His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China," said Roseann Rife, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific programme.  

Several Beijing activists were placed under surveillance beginning Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and prevented from attending the sentencing. Liu Xiaobo’s wife was allowed into the court room.

"The case is the third this week which has seen the authorities crack down on activists. The message is clear, if you criticize the system outside the parameters set by the authorities or independently try to organize civil society, you will be stopped." said Roseann Rife.  

On Monday, Huang Qi’s appeal against a three year prison sentence was dismissed, while Tan Zuoren was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday.

Both are human rights activists who have called for accountability for the deaths of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the military crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing.

Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter 08, a proposal for political and legal reform in China. The police took Liu Xiaobo from his home in Beijing on 8 December 2008, two days before the planned launch of Charter 08. Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by Chinese authorities since its launch but no one but Liu Xiaobo has been charged or tried.

Nobel Peace Price Laureates Vaclav Havel and the Dalai Lama, alongside many others, have supported the nomination of Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Price. Vaclav Havel co-wrote Charter 77, a document calling for respect of human rights in 1977 in Czechoslovakia on which the Charter 08 was modelled.

Several other signatories of Charter 08 have asked to share the responsibility with Liu Xiaobo and a group of senior Communist Party members including Hu Jiwei and Sha Yexin issued a letter to President Hu Jiantao questioning the legal grounds for Liu Xiaobo’s sentence.

Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter 08, a proposal for political and legal reform in China

Amnesty International has called on the Uzbekistani authorities to quash the conviction of "slander and insult" of a prominent photographer and documentary filmmaker who has been recording people’s lives in Uzbekistan.

Umida Ahmedova was found guilty as charged by the Mirabad district court in Tashkent city on Wednesday, but at the same time pardoned by the presiding judge.

The charges were based on the content of some of Umida Ahmedova’s photographs and film projects which were interpreted by the Uzbekistani authorities as slandering and insulting the Uzbekistani people and their traditions.

"While Umida Akhmedova was not jailed today she was nevertheless convicted simply for exercising her right to freedom of expression," said Maisy Weicherding, Uzbekistan researcher for Amnesty International.

"This conviction remains even if she has been pardoned and is at liberty. She now has a criminal record."

In 2007, Umida Ahmedova published a photo album under the title Women and Men – from Dawn to Dusk, which focused on gender inequalities in Uzbekistan. The album was sponsored by the Swiss embassy in Tashkent.

In 2008 she produced a film, The Burden of Virginity, which explored the traditional obligations on women to prove their virginity on their wedding night.

Umida Ahmedova was officially charged with the offences of slander and insult on 23 January, based on the analysis of the State Press and Information Agency and the conclusions of an "expert group", assigned by the office of the Prosecutor General to evaluate her photographs and documentary film.

The group was said to be composed of psychologists, experts on religious matters, propaganda and spirituality. It did not include any experts on human rights or gender despite the obvious link to gender issues in her work.

The group found that the documentary was damaging to the country’s image, denigrating its national traditions and undermining spiritual and moral values.

It also concluded that in the photo album Umida Ahmedova aimed to show only the "dark side of life in Uzbekistan", and recommended that her work be banned from public distribution.   

Amnesty International said that it considered that the charges against Umida Ahmedova constituted a violation of her right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Uzbekistan is a state party.

The organization also expressed its concern that the criminal proceedings against Umida Ahmedova may have been brought to intimidate other artists who are documenting traditional practices that discriminate against women and girls.

Umida Ahmedova’s photographs were said to be insulting to the Uzbekistani people

The 2007 photo collection was sponsored by the Swiss embassy in Tashkent

Charges against the artist were partly based on the findings of an 'expert group'

The criminal proceedings against Umida Ahmedova may have been brought to intimidate other artists

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in the country, after warnings from police and judiciary that anti-government protests will not be tolerated.

The call comes amid a wave of arrests, unfair trials and executions of those involved in earlier protests against the government concerning the disputed presidential election of June 2009 and the authorities’ violent response.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two of the unsuccessful presidential candidates in June’s poll, have called on people to take to the streets and peacefully voice their opinions.

"It is the Iranian authorities’ responsibility to safeguard the public and maintain order," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. "However, this does not justify the suppression of peaceful protests, as has happened repeatedly over recent months, nor violence by state forces against peaceful demonstrators."

Amnesty International also urged the Iranian authorities to ensure that all policing is conducted in accordance with international standards by appropriately-trained personnel.

"Policing should not be conducted by the politically-partisan volunteer Basij militia, which has a record of committing serious human rights violations and is neither trained nor equipped for proper police work," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mass demonstrations against the government are expected to go ahead on Thursday, despite recent "show trials" of people accused of links to various opposition groups and of organizing protests. These trials have resulted in two executions in January, other death sentences and long prison terms.

Amnesty International expressed concern that the Iranian authorities appear to be coercing detainees to falsely "confess" to links to particular political groups or organizations alleged to be fomenting the demonstrations, in order to scapegoat them for the continuing anti-government protests and ongoing human rights abuses.

The two men executed in January, while arrested before last June’s disputed presidential elections, were convicted of having links to the opposition group Anjoman-e Padshahi Iran (API – Kingdom Assembly of Iran) and of attempting to make explosives.

Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani were represented by court appointed lawyers and their own lawyers were denied access to their trials. They are said to have made coerced "confessions" dictated to them by their interrogators.

"These trials and executions have been used by Iranian authorities to support their contention that the mass protests of recent months have not been an expression of popular discontent about the disputed outcome of the presidential election and the authorities’ brutal repression of protestors but, rather, were fomented by foreign powers and exiled opposition groups intent on achieving regime change in Iran," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Demonstrations against the government since the disputed presidential election of June 2009 have been met with harsh repression.

According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International said it believes the number to be at least 80 and possibly many more. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

More than 100 people are believed to have been sentenced to prison terms, flogging or to be executed after unfair "show trials". At least nine people are believed to be at risk of execution.

Several others among a group of 16 defendants whose "show trial" is currently underway and who face the charge of moharebeh (enmity against God), which can carry the death penalty, may also be at risk.

The most recent mass protests took place at the time of the Tasoa and Ashoura religious festivals on 26 and 27 December 2009, when more than a thousand people were detained. Since then more than 200 others are said to have been arrested at their homes or workplaces and detained.

Anti-government protests since last June's election have faced harsh repression

Amnesty International called on the Turkish authorities to end its harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations after a new attempt to close down an LGBT group through the courts began on Tuesday.

The case against the Black Pink Triangle association, which has worked in the city of Izmir to combat discrimination against LGBT people in since it was founded in February 2009, was adjourned after the first hearing, amid fears that the Turkish authorities will engage the group in a protracted – yet groundless – legal battle.
 
The association faces closure following a complaint by the Izmir Governor’s Office that its aims violate "Turkish moral values and family structure".
 
"The decision to adjourn the hearing rather than dismiss this baseless and discriminatory case is a signal that the judicial harassment of LGBT associations continues," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher.

Amnesty International is concerned that this closure case follows similar cases targeting LGBT associations in recent years.
 
Cases were brought against LGBT association KAOS-GL in 2005 and Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) in 2006. In April 2009, the solidarity group Lambda Istanbul won its appeal against the closure of the association – but only after an arduous four-year legal battle.

In the trial, which was observed by Amnesty International, lawyers for Black Pink Triangle association called on the court to uphold the right to freedom of association.

The public prosecutor stated that if the authorities did not audit associations such as the Black Pink Triangle, it "would turn social life into anarchy".

The case was adjourned until 20 April after the judge said there had been letters from abroad regarding the case that he wanted translated before continuing.
 
Outside the court, Black Pink Triangle association issued a statement criticizing  the authorities for attempting to close an LGBT association at a time when LGBT people are victims of hate crimes in Turkey.

"The only way for LGBT people to resist the oppression, isolation and marginalization in social life due to their sexual orientation and gender identity is through solidarity and coming together," said the Black Pink Triangle spokesperson.

"A protracted legal battle, hampering the vital work done by Black Pink Triangle in defending the rights of LGBT individuals, would be a further indictment of Turkey’s failure to uphold the right to freedom of association and non-discrimination." said Andrew Gardner.

The Turkish authorities have been urged to end their harassment of LGBT organizations

Members of the Black Pink Triangle association ask 'whose morals?'

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai to fulfil their promise to reform state institutions, in a bid to end human rights violations that have continued in the country since the formation of the unity government one year ago.
 
Torture, harassment and politically motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders and perceived opponents have persisted, while villagers in parts of Zimbabwe have suffered ceaseless intimidation by supporters of former ruling party ZANU-PF.   

"The Attorney General’s office, police and army have been left to freely violate human rights in pursuit of a political agenda," said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International’s Africa programme.

"By delaying reform, the situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile as perpetrators continue to escape justice and are instead effectively given the all clear to continue violating human rights."

Amnesty International called on the unity government to end on-going harassment of human rights defenders. Several peaceful protests organized by civic movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were violently broken up by police in 2009.

Seventeen human rights and political activists who were abducted by state security agents in 2008 continue to face charges that are widely believed to be trumped up. One of them, Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, had her prosecution permanently stayed by the Supreme Court in September 2009 because of overwhelming evidence that she had been tortured.

"The government must end the incessant harassment of human rights activists and take steps to seriously protect rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said Erwin van der Borght.

The Zimbabwean army and intelligence services, as well as the Attorney General’s office, have remained under ZANU-PF control, following an agreement brokered by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in 2008. The police are co-chaired by ZANU-PF and MDC-T ministers.

"The onus is on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF to ensure that key institutions under their control are reformed to end the culture of impunity that still threatens stability in the country," said Erwin van der Borght.   

Amnesty International’s call for reform comes amid reports that villagers in parts of Zimbabwe are being threatened with violence by army backed supporters of ZANU-PF, in an attempt to force them to endorse the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution.   

The Kariba draft constitution, agreed by unity government parties in September 2007, has been strongly criticized by some civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution without consultation.

Villagers in Mutoko, Muzarabani and MT Darwin are reportedly being warned that they will face beatings unless they support the ZANU-PF position. Similar threats were made and materialized in the run-up to the June 2008 presidential elections.

"These are early warning signs that the situation could deteriorate if no urgent measures are taken to stop state security agents from carrying out violent political campaigns," said Erwin van der Borght.
 
"Past involvement on their part has resulted in gross human rights violations, including deaths and torture of perceived opponents."

The government has so far failed to investigate gross human rights violations allegedly carried out by security forces during the run-up to the second round of the 2008 presidential elections, which left at least 200 people dead, over 9,000 injured and tens of thousands displaced.

"The unity government must investigate past and present allegations of human rights violations by state security agents, including torture and ill treatment of detainees," said Erwin van der Borght.

Gross human rights violations have also been taking place within the army.

At least two soldiers were tortured to death in October 2009 while being interrogated by intelligence and military police officials in Harare. Another soldier was reported to have committed suicide while in solitary confinement and several others are still receiving medical treatment for injuries caused by torture.

The victims had been arrested along with at least 95 others, on suspicion of breaking into an armoury at Pomona barracks and stealing 21 guns.
 
"Zimbabwean state bodies are riddled with human rights abusers that in many cases carry out violations with impunity," said Erwin van der Borght.   

"Without genuine reform of institutions this abuse is very likely to persist."

Activist Jestina Mukoko, left, had her prosecution permanently stayed

Protests by Women of Zimbabwe Arise were violently broken up by police in 2009

President Mugabe, centre and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, left, must fulfil promises of reform