Hamas, the de facto administration in the Gaza Strip, released a video of 23 year old Gilad Shalit. Gilad, an Israeli soldier, was seized by armed Palestinian groups over three years ago in June 2006 in a cross ‘border’ raid. The video is significant as armed Palestinian groups have been detaining him incommunicado except for a couple of letters and an audio tape released over two years ago. Gilad has been denied communication with not only his family, but also the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which contravenes international law. Since his capture, Amnesty International has consistently called for his releaseand for the ICRC to have access to him. AI has done this using both public actions and behind the scenes dialogue.
Negotiations for Gilad Shalit’s release have intensified under the current government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahuand Gilad’s family as well as the nation has been increasingly concerned about his condition and treatment. The following video, although in Hebrew, shows a pale, but otherwise healthy looking Gilad Shalit holding a paper from September 14th.
In exchange for the video, which Israel requested as ‘proof of life’, Israel released 19 Palestinian women prisoners; another female prisoner is due to be released sometime next week. Israel holds several thousand Palestinians, including hundreds of children, in Israeli prisons against international law. Hundreds of detainees are also held without charge or trial under administrative detention orders which can be repeatedly renewed and often includes children. Currently, one child is held under administrative detention, Hamdi Al-Ta’mari. Amnesty International is working on his case. More information available at http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?docID=1096&categoryid=16.
Others have been convicted in unfair trials in military courts. It is a major concern that prisoners are held in Israeli prisons instead of in the occupied Palestinian territories which is against international law. Since detainees are held within Israel proper, it is very difficult for families to visit minors in detention or other family members.
This video produced by B’tselem explains how the imprisonment of Palestinians inside Israel proper affects families, including the children:
This exchange, although bringing temporary relief to the Shalit family and joy to the families of the 20 detained female prisoners just highlights the concern Amnesty International outlined in the document ‘Detainees used as bargaining chips by both sides in Israel/Gaza conflict’ published in March 2009. Gilad Shalit, it is believed was taken as leverage in future negotiations with Israeli authorities and many believe Palestinians are regularly taken by Israeli forces for many reasons other than security and one of them is for leverage as well. Hostage taking, that is threatening to harm or continue to detain a detained person in order to compel a third party to do or abstain from doing something as a condition of their release is expressly prohibited under international law. Such practice threatens the fundamental right to life, personal integrity and liberty and is expressly prohibited by international humanitarian law. Under no circumstances is the taking of hostages justifiable.
Negotiations continue with Israel wanting Gilad Shalit released immediately and the Palestinians asking for at least 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to be released and/or an end to the punishing blockade of the strip.
The Iranian authorities have announced they have released 140 prisoners from Evin Prison in northern Tehran, reports Reuters. Parliament official Kazem Jalali says that 150 prisoners, arrested during the uprising after the June 12th Presidential election, still remain behind bars.
Ayatollah Khamenei has also ordered the closure of a detainment center in Kahrizak after it failed to “preserve the rights of detainees”. Whether the prisoners in that prison were released or transferred elsewhere remains to be seen.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya attempted to return to Honduras for the second time on Friday, July 24, 2009. After a brief moment in his home country, Zelaya retreated back into Nicaragua, setting up camp on Saturday to demand his return home and to power.
Since then, Zelaya has refrained from making another attempt to enter the country for fear of attacks against his supporters, as reported by the BBC. Curfews remain in place in southern Honduras, while supporters of Mr. Zelaya have blocked main roads.
The Honduran armed forces endorsed the San José Accord, an agreement that was forged in Costa Rica between delegates representing President Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the leader of the de facto government. According to the New York Times, the accord is supported by most governments in the hemisphere and it would allow the return of Mr. Zelaya as president with limited powers.
There are currently no further talks scheduled to take place between the de facto government and Zelaya.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was detained by Honduran military personnel and forced into exile at the end of June. Several government ministers are also reported to have been detained. Roberto Micheletti, Congress speaker, has been sworn in as “Interim President.” Micheletti has imposed a curfew.
Recent reports also suggest that journalists who have published news stories on the crisis or covering the issue of protests and scores of detentions have been intimidated. Prosecutors have also reported threats on account of their attempts to verify human rights abuses during protests.
Council on Foreign Relations’Interview with Kevin Casas-Zamora, Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy, Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution
Overheard
“President Zelaya’s effort to reach the border is reckless.” Hilary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, July 24, 2009.
“The United States should be helping me, not criticizing.” Manuel Zelaya, Ousted Honduras President, July 25, 2009.
SOMALIA
The worsening security situation in Somalia was exemplified by Al-Shabab raids on two UN compounds in Baidoa and Wajid last week, which severely hindered the UN’s humanitarian work in Somalia. Al-Shabab has also threatened to shut down 3 UN operations in Somalia, accusing the UNDP, UNDSS, and UNPOS offices of working against Somali Muslims. Ongoing fighting in Mogadishu has already led to the closure of many feeding centers throughout the city, putting pressure on already crowded IDP camps and straining the capacity of aid agencies all over Somalia.
Meanwhile, newly appointed Somali Security Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Ali vowed Friday to reform the security forces, telling Reuters by telephone that his “main priority is to gradually re-establish capable security forces that can defeat the terrorists.”
“Such acts target the whole gamut of UN peace and humanitarian operations in Somalia. The UN is providing life-saving support to people in need throughout Somalia, and will continue to do all it can to help the country emerge from decades of violence.” Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General, July 21, 2009.
“We again appeal to the warring parties in Somalia to respect basic international humanitarian and human rights principles and to guarantee the safety and security of the civilian population as well as for the humanitarian workers trying to help the victims.” Ron Redmon, UNHCR Spokesperson, July 21, 2009.
Coming This Week
July 27: Obama begins economic talks with Chinese leaders
July 28: Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to arrive in Washington, DC for further discussions
July 30: Senate hearing on US strategy on Sudan
July 31: Renewal of UNAMID mandate
July 27 - July 31: George Mitchell, Dennis Ross, and Robert Gates in Jerusalem for talks regarding West Bank settlements
Juliette Rousselot and Jacki Mowery contributed to this post.
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.
The Sri Lankan Supreme Court yesterday acquitted five soldiers for the murder of 10 Muslim youths in Udathalawinna on December 5, 2001, during a general election. The five had been security guards of Anuruddha Ratwatte, the then deputy minister of defence. Ratwatte and his two sons had earlier been charged for the murders as well but were acquitted in 2006. Ten young men are dead and no one, to my knowledge, has been convicted for their murder. Is this how Sri Lanka punishes the guilty?
I couldn’t help thinking of this case when I heard that a verdict is expected on August 31 in the trial of J.S. Tissainayagam, a Sri Lankan journalist. Tissainayagam is being tried for allegedly violating the country’s emergency regulations and Prevention of Terrorism Act. The only evidence against him are two articles he wrote in 2006 in a monthly magazine criticizing the government’s conduct of the war against the Tamil Tigers and a confession that his lawyer says was obtained under duress. Amnesty International has adopted him as a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate, unconditional release and for all charges against him to be dropped. Will we see an acquittal for him on August 31? Or do acquittals only apply for the powerful and those connected to them?
Saturday marks the 41st birthday of Chinese journalist and poet Shi Tao. It will be the fifth birthday he celebrates in prison. He is serving serving a 10-year prison term for sending an e-mail summarizing a memo advising journalists on how to handle the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananman Square crackdown.
Chinese authorities have not lessened their restrictions on Internet freedom since Shi Tao was arrested on November 24, 2004. This was particularly apparent on the days immediately before and after June 4 of this year, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananman Square crackdown. The government blocked foreign news Web sites like CNN and the BBC and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in anticipation of the day. Controls over other media outlets, including newspapers and magazines, have also intensified in recent years.
While prison conditions have improved slightly for Shi Tao in the past two years, freedom may still be as much as five years away. An appeal to review Shi Tao’s case was rejected last year. His mother’s request for medical parole for Shi Tao–because of a stomach condition that has worsened as a result of a poor prison diet–was also rejected. Don’t let Shi Tao spend any more birthdays in jail!
On July 25, people in more than 60 cities across the world will be standing in solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle for human rights. Protesters in Iran continue to experience brutality on the city streets while the number of arrests steadily rises– the latest being the detainment of opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi’s brother-in-law, Shapour Kazemi.
That member states and civil society organizations of the international community give sustained attention to the Iranian people’s human rights as a matter of international concern, and that the UN should immediately initiate an investigation into grave and systematic human rights violations in Iran, including the fate of prisoners and disappeared persons, unlawful killings, and torture and other ill-treatment;
An end to state-sponsored violence, accountability for crimes committed and no recourse to the death penalty.
The immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, including politicians, journalists, students, and civil society activists; and
Freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and freedom of expression (including freedom of the press) as guaranteed by the Iranian constitution and Iran’s obligations under international covenants that it has signed.
Supporters include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Sean Penn, Dariush, Jody Williams, Betty Williams, Mairead Maguire, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Simin Behbahani, Reza Aslan and Ismael Khoi. Dariush will actually be performing at the rally in DC!
Attend an event near you! Visit united4iran.org for a complete listing.
Speaker: Roxana Saberi
Time: July 25, 12 noon Place: Federal Plaza, Dearborn and Adams Rally time: Noon Rally location: Federal Plaza at Dearborn and Adams Street in downtown Chicago More information:Facebook or contact aiis@chicago.edu
Part one: Demonstration @ UN Office
Start at 4:00pm, corner of 18th+K. We have requested road closure from DCDOT. Signs, slogans, use of bullhorns.
Part two: March to Rally
March starts at 5:15pm, East on K st one block, South on 17th st (march past WH w/o stopping), Enter Constitutional Gardens at 17th + Constitution St.
Part three: Rally at National Mall Constitution Gardens (on 19th + Constitution) Speakers:
Jody Williams, Nobel Laureate
Mehrangiz Kar, Human Rights Lawyer
Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch, Deputy Director of Middle East and North Africa Division
Parisa Saeb, Human Rights Activist
Dariush, Prominent Iranian Singer and Social Activist
Amnesty International has just released a report detailing the consistent human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia under the facade of combatting terrorism. Thousands of people have been arrested and detained in virtual secrecy, while others have been killed in uncertain circumstances. Hundreds more people face secret and summary trials and possible execution. Many are reported to have been tortured in order to extract confessions or as punishment after conviction.
Reported methods of torture and other ill-treatment include severe beatings with sticks, punching, and suspension from the ceiling, use of electric shocks and sleep deprivation. Flogging is also imposed as a legal punishment by itself or in addition to imprisonment, and sentences can include thousands of lashes.
Lawyer and human rights activist Shadi Sadr has been arrested and detained by Iranian authorities. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Sadr was walking with friends to Friday Jummah prayers when she was violently confronted by a group of unidentified plain-clothed men. She was beaten with batons after attempting to escape, losing her headscarf in the process. Sadr was then pushed into an unmarked car and was subsequently driven off.
She confirmed in a phone call to her husband that she had been arrested and was detained in ward 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison. Ms. Sadr has long served as a defender of human rights issues in Iran and is a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters. A lawyer and journalist, she was the director of Raahi, a legal advice center for women until it was closed down. She founded Zanan-e Iran (Women of Iran), the first website dedicated to the work of Iranian women’s rights activists and has written extensively about Iranian women and their legal rights. She has represented activists and journalists, several women sentenced to execution, whose convictions were subsequently overturned.
Amnesty International has called for the unconditional and immediate release of Ms. Sadr. “This was an illegal, arbitrary and violent arrest in which no attempt was made by the authorities to show identification or provide any explanation for their action,” said Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
US air base in Bagram, Afghanistan. (c) Digital Globe 2009. Screenshot taken from Google Earth
Detainees held in the U.S. military detention center at Bagram Air Base are in the middle of a conundrum over their legal rights. Human rights campaigners argue that the prisoners should be provided with the same rights as those being held in the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United States military, however, argues that they deserve different treatment since they are held in a current war zone. In Bagram, detainees are informed about the reason for their arrest, and are offered the ability to defend themselves without outside legal counsel at six-month military review sessions.
To protest their lack of legal representation, the detainees themselves have begun protesting, refusing privileges such as recreation time and family visits in order to obtain access to lawyers or independent reviews. The prisoners further refuse to leave their cells to shower or exercise. The prison wide protest started on July 1 and only became public recently through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The U.S. detention facility in Bagram is even more closed off to the public than Guantanmo Bay. The Washington Post has more background information on the expanding detention facility.
A group of Sri Lankan doctors currently in detention were produced by the Sri Lankan government before the media today in order to recant their prior reports of civilian deaths during the last stages of the war between the Sri Lankan military and the opposition Tamil Tigers. I’d written about three of these doctors in an earlier entry on this blog, expressing concern that their arrest by the government shortly after leaving the war zone was in reprisal for their earlier reports. The doctors had provided eyewitness accounts from the war zone detailing the extent of civilian suffering earlier this year.
Since January, an intense military offensive by the government gradually reconquered all the territory once held by the Tigers. In mid-May, the government announced that it had defeated the Tigers and recaptured all their territory. Trapped in the war zone with the Tigers had been thousands of civilians who were prevented by the Tigers from leaving; some civilians who did flee were shot by the Tigers as they did so. The government forces repeatedly shelled the war zone, despite the heavy concentration of civilians in an increasingly shrinking area. The government denied that it had caused any civilian casualties. Since the government barred independent observers and the media from the war zone, the doctors’ reports were one of the few eyewitness accounts available as to what was actually happening in the war zone.
Despite U.N figures of more than 7,000 civilian deaths this year, the doctors today said only 650-750 civilians were killed this year. Their estimate also happens to be far below the Sri Lankan government’s own estimate – a Sri Lankan government official last month estimated 3,000 – 5,000 civilians had been killed.
The Sri Lankan government had said, and the doctors today asserted, that their earlier reports from the war zone had been given under pressure from the Tigers who then controlled the area they were in. Consider this: the doctors have been in detention by the government since mid-May and have yet to be charged. At today’s press conference, they expressed hope that they might now be released.
Also consider that last week, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa had said in an interview with the Indian newspaper, The Hindu, when asked why the doctors couldn’t be released now, “I told them to organize a press conference. Let the doctors come and say what they have to say.” You might think that that would mean that the doctors have now done what the President wanted, so they’d now be released. But note that in the same interview, Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to President Rajapaksa, had said about the doctors, “If they go scot-free, it will set a very bad precedent.”
If the doctors had been under pressure earlier from the Tigers while the fighting was going on, have they since been under pressure from the government to “recant” their earlier reports? AI said today that the doctors’ statements were “expected and predicted,” since we feared that their detention by the government was intended to produce exactly the result we saw today.
I’ll repeat the request I made in my earlier entry about the doctors: please write to President Mahinda Rajapaksa (Presidential Secretariat, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka, email: priu@presidentsoffice.lk) and to the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the U.S. Jaliya Wickramasuriya (email: slembassy@slembassyusa.org). Please ask that the doctors be released immediately from detention unless they’re promptly charged with a recognizable crime. They should be given all the medical care they may need, especially Dr. Varatharajah, as well as access to their relatives and lawyers of their choice. Thanks for your help.
Amnesty International works to protect human rights worldwide. We have more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, and are completely independent from government, corporate or national interests.
Learn more about us at AmnestyUSA.org »
Brian Evans is the Campaigner for Amnesty International USA’s Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, in 2006, he was a founding member of the Texas Moratorium Network and a member of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, organizations working to stop executions in the state of Texas. See all »
