This posting is part of our Write-a-Thon Cases Series. For more information visit www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/

Four years ago, Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His crime? Sending an e-mail.

©AI Shi Tao

In April 2004, Shi Tao e-mailed a pro-democracy Web site in the United States about a government regulation ordering the country’s media outlets to down play the upcoming 15th anniversary of the military crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square.  Authorities arrested him seven months later, charging him with “providing state secrets to foreign entities.”

China has a history of cracking down on freedom of expression through restricting journalism. It has implemented broad censorship of the Internet. Authorities used information provided by the host of Shi Tao’s e-mail account, Yahoo!, to convict him in April 2005.

Amnesty International considers Shi Tao to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his peaceful self-expression.  His family has been continually harassed, and his wife eventually divorced him under immense pressure.  At the beginning of his prison term, Shi Tao was forced to labor under hard conditions in prison that has compromised his health. Although his prison conditions have later improved, he still has six years left in his sentence.  Help us campaign against this injustice during Amnesty International’s Global Write-a-thon from December 5-13, calling on the Chinese authorities to release Shi Tao immediately and urging Yahoo! to stop violating customer privacy.  Call attention to China’s ambiguous prosecution laws, and remind officials that freedom of expression, promised in the Chinese constitution, is an inherent human right.

AIUSA activists in Chicago demand the release of Internally Displaced People in Sri Lanka. November 2009. (c) AI

Across the U.S., from Boston to Chicago to San Francisco, Amnesty International activists are demanding:  “Unlock the camps in Sri Lanka!”

As the 26-year-old war between the Sri Lankan government and the opposition Tamil Tigers ended this past May, about 280,000 Tamil civilians fleeing the fighting were put in overcrowded, military-run camps which they were not allowed to leave.  The Sri Lankan government said that the civilians first had to be screened to determine if any of them were Tiger fighters.  Amnesty International has pointed out that this constitutes arbitrary detention and violates the civilians’ right to freedom of movement.

Although some civilians have been released from the camps, around 150,000 still remain and camp shelters have deteriorated as Sri Lanka has entered the rainy season.

Amnesty’s “Unlock the Camps” campaign calls on the Sri Lankan government to let civilians leave the camps if they wish, to put the camps under civilian (not military) management, and to allow aid agencies full access to the camps.

Earlier this month, AIUSA members gathered in Boston and San Franscisco signed petitions and postcards demanding that the Sri Lankan government “Unlock the Camps!”

Activists in San Francisco sign petitions to urge the Sri Lankan government to release IDPs. November 2009. (c) AI

Today, it was Chicago’s turn.  I joined activists from the AIUSA Chicago office and demonstrated in downtown Chicago.  Despite the rain and wind, we made our voices heard.  One man signing the petition told us that he had just returned from Sri Lanka and didn’t think anyone in the U.S. cared about what was going on there.  We were happy to show him that he was wrong.

Also today, AIUSA sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking  the U.S. government to publicly express concern about the treatment of the displaced civilians.  The campaign was also publicized in a college paper today.

We’ll keep campaigning for the displaced civilians until their rights are restored.  Please join our campaign and add your voice.

This posting is part of our Write-a-Thon Cases Series. For more information visit www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/

©AI Le Thi Cong Nhan

Vietnamese human rights lawyers Le Thi Cong Nhan and Nguyen Van Dai were arrested on March 6, 2007 for “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and sentenced to four and five years’ imprisonment respectively for their activism and education efforts. Although the sentences have since each been reduced by one year, the two will be subject to several more years’ house arrest upon their release. Meanwhile, the human rights situation remains grave in Vietnam, which has silenced activists through surveillance, restrictions on movement, arbitrary detention and imprisonment.

©AI Nguyen Van Dai

The two lawyers together spoke through Radio Free Asia and Voice of America to publicize the deficiency of human rights in their country. Nguyen Van Dai has represented some dissidents in court and founded the Committee for Human Rights in Vietnam, which seeks to document abuses. Le Thi Cong Nhan joined this committee and was also the spokeswoman of the Vietnam Progression Party, a pro-democracy group formed in 2006. They have both been supporters of Bloc 8406, an online petition for democracy and freedom in Vietnam.

Article 88 of the Penal Code, under which Le Thi Cong Nhan and Nguyen Van Dai were charged, has been criticized as unconstitutional and in violation of international human rights covenants. The two lawyers are considered prisoners of conscience, as they were arrested only for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. Activists will campaign for their unconditional release during Amnesty International’s Global Write-a-thon from December 5-13. Send a letter demanding justice for Le Thi Cong Nhan and Nguyen Van Dai, as well as other human rights advocates and peaceful dissidents whose voices have been stifled and basic civil liberties breached by the republic of Vietnam.

This posting is part of our Write-a-Thon Cases Series. For more information visit www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/

Aung San Suu Kyi, © Chris Robinson

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has called for political change in Myanmar and has spent 14 of the last 20 years being punished for it. The military junta that has run the country since a 1962 coup has cracked down on political dissent, jailing thousands of reformists and activists. Aung San Suu Kyi, the primary face of the movement for democracy, has been kept under house arrest, unofficially detained, and subjected to other restrictions since the National League for Democracy (NLD), which she co-founded, won a 1990 general election. The NLD was immediately denied power by the ruling State Peace and Development Council.

Aung San Suu Kyi is one of Amnesty International’s 10 priority cases who you can help free by participating in our Global Write-a-thon running from December 5-13. She has most recently been placed under 18 months’ house arrest in August, a move that the international community has censured as a government pretext to prohibit her from participating in state elections scheduled for 2010.

Placing pressure on the Myanmar authorities to release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression could be especially effective now.  Addressing Asian state leaders on Saturday, General Thein Sein, Myanmar’s prime minister, announced that the government would be open to including Aung San Suu Kyi in reconciliation processes before the elections. In addition, it may ease some restrictions on her movement if she “maintains a good attitude.” While initially encouraging, the ambiguity of Thein Sein’s words do not guarantee Aung San Suu Kyi’s freedom or involvement in the elections, and with your help, Amnesty International will campaign for her immediate release in our Global Write-a-thon.

By Michele Hong, AIUSA Campaign for Individuals at Risk

Freedom of expression is again under assault in Sri Lanka.  On October 22, two editors at the Sunday Leader (a Sri Lankan newspaper), Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushataq, received identical death threats in the mail, handwritten in red ink.  Ms. Jansz is the editor-in-chief and Ms. Mushataq is the news editor.  The threats relate to coverage by the paper of a video which allegedly showed Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamil prisoners.

The paper’s founder and former editor-in-chief, Lasantha Wickrematunge, was killed last January after receiving a similar death threat three weeks earlier.  No one has yet been prosecuted for his murder.

Last month, Dileesha Abeysundera, who works for the Sinhala-language edition of the Sunday Leader, was threatened.  The newspaper has suffered numerous serious attacks on its staff and offices in the past. 

Over the past three years, numerous journalists have been detained in Sri Lanka while others have fled the country.  At least 14 media workers have been killed.  Investigations haven’t resulted in  prosecutions.  For more on this issue, see the AI report, “Sri Lanka:  Silencing dissent.”

Amnesty International has issued an urgent action appeal calling on the Sri Lankan government to ensure the safety of Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushataq, and to investigate the death threats received by them and the attacks on other Sri Lankan journalists and media workers.  Please take action in response to our appeal and write to President Mahinda Rajapaksa (email:  prsec@presidentsoffice.lk).   Thanks for your help.

The U.S. Department of State‘s Office of War Crimes Issues released its investigation into the final stage of the conflict in Sri Lanka today. Requested by Congress, the report (pdf) covers the period between January and May 2009 and consists of an overview of incidents that happened during the final stage of the conflict. It is based on a wide range of sources, including Amnesty International’s own reporting, and uses both traditional, and innovative evidence such as satellite imagery and aerial photographs.

While the report “does not reach any legal or factual conclusions”, it provides a disturbing overview of what happened in the so-called “No-Fire Zone”, looking at both the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE):

Children in armed conflict—According to reports, on numerous occasions during the January to May 2009 reporting period the LTTE took both male and female children, some as young as 12, to join LTTE cadres. 

Harm to civilians and civilian objects— (…) The GSL announced that it would observe a 48-hour ceasefire on two occasions. The stated aim of these was to allow civilians to move into areas in which they would not be subject to shelling. Incident reports suggest, however, that the GSL may have begun shelling before the end of the second 48-hour ceasefire. Reports also indicated that the LTTE forcibly prevented the escape of IDPs and used them as “human shields”.

Killing of captives or combatants seeking to surrender—A number of sources alleged that the GSL committed unlawful killings.(…)

Disappearances—According to reports, GSL forces or GSL-supported paramilitaries abducted and in some instances then killed Tamil civilians, particularly children and young men. (…)

Humanitarian conditions—Reports include instances of severe food shortages;(…)

Additionally, the report raises the issue of the Sri Lankans that are still locked up in de-facto detention camps:

With the conflict now over, more than 280,000 Sri Lankans who fled their homes in the conflict zone during or in the aftermath of the conflict are internally displaced persons (IDPs). The vast majority are still in IDP camps and are denied the freedom to leave those camps (…) The GSL has not allowed international organizations or journalists to have unrestricted access to the IDP camps, which has made it difficult to have an accurate picture of events and conditions. Some IDPs have reported that they have been unable to confirm the whereabouts of injured persons who were evacuated from the battleground and taken into custody by GSL forces.

We are continuing to campaign both on the accountability issue and the IDP crisis.

What’s Up This Week:

1. Afghanistan: Elections Run-Off
2. Angola: Humanitarian Crisis
3. Upcoming This Week

Afghanistan Elections – Take Two
On Sunday, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) announced the results from its fraud investigations regarding the August 20th Afghanistan presidential elections.  The commission’s conclusions invalidated nearly one million votes cast as fraudulent, with 210 out of the 350 polling stations marred by fraud.  As a consequence, incumbent President Hamid Karzai’s margin of victory has diminished to below the 50% vote threshold necessary for an outright win forcing him to concede to a run-off election against opponent Abdullah Abdullah on November 7th. 

Prior to the announcement of the November 7th run-off, there were concerns that violence between Abdullah’s Tajik supporters and Karzai’s Pashtun supporters would erupt. Although Abdullah had previously stated that he would urge calm among his supporters, the apprehension that a Karzai victory would result in violence in the northern part of the country remained.  Fueling the potential for ethnic clashes, a Balkh province governor previously accused Karzai’s government of distributing weapons to northern Pashtuns in the event of post-recount conflict.  

Worries that a run-off election could be as flawed as the first presidential election linger.   More importantly, politicians have already expressed concern that the run-off election has the potential to incite violence between Pashtuns and Tajiks, potentially causing more instability and violence in the region.  There is also fear that the Taliban in Afghanistan could be strengthened by looming uncertainty with regard to the presidential elections. 

Overheard

I hope that the international community and the Afghan government and all others concerned will take every possible measure to provide security to the people so that when they vote, that vote is not called a fraud – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

The United Nations will do its utmost for the conduct of the second round of elections scheduled for 7 November 2009 in a free, fair, transparent and secure environment  – Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General

Must Reads

• Foreign Policy: Crunching the numbers on Karzai’s fraud 
• New York Times: Audit Finds Almost a Quarter of Afghan Vote Is Fraudulent

Angola: Humanitarian Crisis Looms

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned of a humanitarian crisis in Angola today, after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expelled tens of thousands of people to Angola. The forced returns came in retaliation to the waves of expulsions of large numbers of Congolese from Angola since December 2008.   Tit-for-tat expulsions escalated over the last months. Since August 2009, 32,000 Angolans were being repatriated to Angola, and about 18,800 Congolese nationals were kicked out from Angola.

Following a needs assessment by UN agencies last weekend in Angola, UNHCR was ringing the alarm bells today:

According to the initial assessment, there are close to 30,000 people living in and around three overcrowded reception centres in Cuimba (11,000 people) and Mama Rosa (some 18,000 people) respectively at 30 and 8 kilometres from the DRC border. Their most pressing needs are shelter, food, medicine and sanitation facilities. The supply of clean water is insufficient. Some of the expelled drink from the nearby contaminated rivers. Among the interviewed over the weekend in one of the makeshift camps at Lendi near Cuimba which hosts around 5,800 Angolans, many families reported cases of diarrhea and vomiting. In the same camp, most of the population is sleeping in the open air.

Must Reads:

• AIUSA Blog: Angola and DRC Shoving Match Leaves Citizens With Bruises
• IRIN: ANGOLA-DRC: Humanitarian crisis now unfolding
• AFP: Deported Congolese tell of Angolan terror

Upcoming

• October 20: Center for American Progress Releases new report on Science and Human Rights: New Tools for Old Traumas. Using 21st Century Technologies to Combat Human Rights Atrocities
• October 20: U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell continues talks with Palestinian negotiators on the conditions to restart Mideast peace talks (Washington, DC)
• October 19-23: African Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa Kampala, Uganda

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response  team

Our ad in the Farragut West Metro Station, Washington DC

Last month I had the opportunity to meet with Tamil human rights defenders working to protect the rights of Tamil civilians displaced by the Sri Lankan government’s military campaign against the violent Armed Group known as the Tamil Tigers.

Displaced Tamils are confined to government run camps where conditions are harsh and there is no end to their detention in sight. Tamil and Sri Lankan human rights defenders are operating under great threat from the authorities and Sinhalese nationalist paramilitaries.

Journalists have been killed and activists have disappeared. An unmarked white van has been associated with several disappearances, evoking memories of the dirty wars of Latin America. The atmosphere in Colombo is increasingly one of fear and intimidation.

This is the context in which we learned earlier this month of a visit to Washington DC by the Sri Lankan Attorney General, Mohan Peiris, to meet with his American counterpart Eric Holder.

One of the principle items on the agenda at the Department of Justice was America’s use of Military Commissions at Guantanamo to try suspected members of Al Qaeda.

A Sri Lankan government spokesman told Agence France Presse:

“We want to study how the US handled terrorist suspects, particularly hundreds of them from Al Qaeda network, after the 9/11 attacks in New York.”

The Sri Lankan government is reportedly drawing up plans to try as many as 15,000 potential LTTE suspects before a ‘Special Tribunal’ modeled on the Military Commissions process with its reduced protections, secrecy and permissive rules of evidence.

This Sri Lankan initiative is a graphic illustration of the law of unintended consequences. The false steps made by the Bush administration in its fight against terrorism, and reinforced by the Obama administration, empower other governments around the world to flout international legal protections.

By its actions the US government has become an unwitting enabler, encouraging unscrupulous leaders around the world to roll back hard won freedoms, confident in the knowledge that US policies in the War on Terror prevent the American government from pressing its human rights agenda.

Closing Guantanamo and transferring the prisoners held there to the federal judicial system is an essential first step to rehabilitating America’s global reputation.

To this end, AIUSA’s Counter Terror With Justice campaign is launching a new ad – no Kangaroo Courts at Guantanamo – to keep up the pressure for reform and strengthen the Obama administration’s wavering commitment on these issues. The ad is running in the Farragut West Metro station in Washington DC, at the 17th street exit – an exit many White House staffers use.

We have to lead by example. Fine words and inspirational speeches are not enough. We are judged by our actions and, until we end the abusive practices introduced by the War on Terror, America cannot speak out for human rights around the world with any authority.

On October 16th from 11:30AM to 12:30PM Amnesty volunteers will be canvassing the crowds outside the White House, urging them to take action at www.amnestyusa.org/kangaroo. Come down and add your voice to those seeking to counter terror with justice. And remember: silence is consent.

What’s Up This Week:

1. Sri Lanka: Humanitarian Disaster Looms
2. Pakistan: New Violence
3. Upcoming this week

Sri Lanka: Trapped Between Military and Monsoon

The quarter of a million Sri Lankans locked up in military-run internment camps are facing a humanitarian disaster with the arrival of monsoon rains. Living situations in the overcrowded camps are likely to further deteriorate in the following weeks. The camps lack even basic sanitation facilities. During previous heavy rains, water flooded the camps and forced residents to wade through overflowing sewage.

We had heavy rains about a month ago. It was hell. The ground here cannot absorb water so it just gathers. We couldn’t even walk around. The authorities have done some work to improve drainage, but I doubt it will help much.

A recent escapee from Chettikulam camp reported to Amnesty International that some women had been forced to give birth in front of strangers without privacy:

Medical staff are only available in the camps 9 to 5. People start waiting in line for medical assistance from early morning…how can you expect a lady who is pregnant to stand in a line for hours? If the war has ended, why doesn’t the government let these people out?

The situation worsened on October 5, when a main water pipeline was turned off in Menik Farm camp. The escalation of the humanitarian situation also leads to violent tensions, both within the camp residents and between residents and the military.

Overheard

I remain particularly concerned about the slow pace of identifying those in the camps who do not pose a threat to security and the lack of transparent criteria in this regard. (..) Immediate and substantial progress in restoring freedom of movement for the displaced is an imperative, if Sri Lanka is to respect the rights of its citizens and comply with its commitments and obligations under international law – Walter Kaelin, Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons

Must Reads

• Amnesty International: Displaced in Sri Lanka Trapped Between Military and Monsoon
• Human Rights Watch: Sri Lanka: Tensions Mount as Camp Conditions Deteriorate
• Alertnet: FACTBOX-Five political risks to watch in Sri Lanka
• Economist: A view framed by barbed wire

Pakistan: The fighting goes on

The situation in Pakistan has escalated with the fourth militant attack in the last week occurring yesterday in Peshawar. A Punjabi faction of the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, signaling a disturbing level of increased cooperation between militant groups to the Pakistani government and its Western allies. Other attacks included a 22 hour assault on Pakistan’s army headquarters and began with the suicide bombing of a UN aid agency. In total 119 have been killed and several injured. The group has threatened more strikes across the country in advance of the army’s plans to launch a ground offensive of the Taliban’s major base in South Waziristan.

In response to the deadly attacks, Pakistani jets have bombed the Taliban’s major base in South Waziristan and Bajaur, another tribal agency in northwest Pakistan.  

The renewed escalation of violence has increased concerns for the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The surge in attacks has come as the Pakistani government is trying to respond to U.S. aid package conditions requiring the government to do more to control its armed forces and extremists operating within the country.

Overheard

Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants. We will continue our fight till the death of the last terrorist – Mian Iftikhar Hussain, provincial Information Minister

Must Reads

• The Washington Post: In Pakistan, a Deadly Resurgence
• Reuters: Pakistan bombs militants in South Waziristan 
• BBC: Now or never for Waziristan push? 

Upcoming

• October 12: How to Feed the World in 2050, FAO High-Level Expert Forum
• October 13: Turkish and Armenian governments are due to complete protocols on normalizing ties between the two countries
• October 13: Trial of Roy Bennett, a senior official in Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, on terrorism charges
• October 14: Open debate in the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the recent Gaza conflict 
• October 15: Publication of Irene Khan’s (AI Secretary General) book The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights

Human Rights Flashpoints is a weekly column about countries at risk of escalating human rights violations and is brought to you by AIUSA’s Crisis Prevention and Response team

Amnesty International has been calling on the Sri Lankan government to grant freedom of movement to over 250,000 displaced civilians now being held in internment camps in the north.  The government has said that it can’t allow civilians to leave the camps until they’ve been screened to determine if any of them are connected to the opposition Tamil Tigers.  (For more information on this subject, please see our Sri Lanka page.)  The Sri Lankan government has announced releases of some of the civilians.  But are they actually being released?

Amnesty has received reports that some of those released have apparently been transferred to other camps where they may be subjected to additional screening by local authorities.  The UN has also reported that some of the displaced civilians have been transferred from the camps and are now being held in transit sites in other areas with restricted freedom of movement.  The UN refugee agency last week said that they were concerned about approximately 3,300 displaced civilians who’ve been held in transit sites for more than two weeks rather than being returned to their homes.  A British minister visiting the camps this week said that the British government funding couldn’t support people simply being transferred from one “closed” camp (meaning, a camp which people aren’t free to leave) to another closed camp.

The displaced civilians should be immediately allowed to leave the camps if they wish.  Unlock the camps now!