amnesty DECEMBER 1982 Volume XII Number 12

international newsletterReport on the Philippines

President says Al findings

will be investigated fll

President Marcos has given apublic undertaking that the find-ings of the AI Report on a Missionto the Philippines, published inSeptember, will be investigatedand responded to point by point.

The assurance was made on26 September in San Francisco,California, towards the end ofthe Philippine President's 14-dayvisit to the USA.

The report was published on 22September to coincide with the launchof a worldwide Al campaign againstexecutions, torture and illegal detent-ion in the Philippines (see OctoberNewsletter).

The report received widespreadnotice internationally, particularly inthe USA, where President Marcos wasrepeatedly asked about Ars concernsin the Philippines during his visit.

Cuban poet Armando F. ValladaresPerez, prisoner of the month in June1980, seen here with his wife, Martha,after their arrival in Paris on 22 October1982. He had been released earlier inthe month after serving more than 21years of a 30-year prison sentence.

On 24 September 1982 Al issueda public statement in response to com-ments made by President Marcos onits report to the effect that the organ-ization had never visited the Philippinesand had never attempted to contactgovernment officials.

During President Marcos' visit to theUSA, an editorial in the daily SanFrancisco Chronicle of 24 Septemberstated: "The voluminous [A/1reportis supported by affidavits and first-hand testimony of former prisoners andof relatives of persons taken intocustody and never seen again. Names,places and dates are reported. Molethan a bland and general denial isrequired to refute such accusations."

In his speech in San Francisco on26 September, President Marcos said:"We can answer, and will answer, thereport word by word."

The Mayor of San Francisco laterannounced that she had received apersonal assurance from PresidentMarcos that he would respond toArs charges point by point.

In the Philippine press, the adversecomments on the Al report of PresidentMarcos and the Minister of NationalDefense, Juan Ponce Enrile, were widelyreported. A commentator in the dailynewspaper Bulletin Today did note,however: "The local press in its guidedreportage of the Marcos performanceprojected the President's dismissal and

his countercharge that Al serves as acommunist tool as having cleverly putan end to all that. But clearly the issuerages on. With or without Al, there isenough knowledge at home aboutpolitical detention." It was also report-ed in the Philippine press that JuanPonce Enrile had ordered a "review"of the Al report.

On 26 October Al wrote toPresident Marcos welcoming theannounced investigation nto the A/report and asking for further clarifica-tion of its terms of reference andmethods El

Alexander Podrabinek, aged 29, afounding member of the MoscowWorking Commission to Investigatethe Use of Psychiatry, is reported tobe seriously ill after being premature-ly removed from hospital and return-ed to a corrective labour colony.

The author of Punitive Medicine,a detailed account of the politicalabuse of psychiatry in the USSR,he is serving a three-and-a-half-yearprison sentence imposed in January1981 for circulating "anti-Sovietslander". A/ has adopted him as aprisoner of conscience.

In April this year a doctor diag-nosea him as suffering from activetuberculosis and ordered that he behospitalized immediately—but thecamp authorities refused to do sountil he had completed a term ofpunishment in the camp prison for"violating the camp regime". Hewas eventually sent to hospital in

June. He was reportedly remavedfrom the hospital against the adviceof doctors in October.

He is serving his sentence in acolony in the Yakutsk AutonomousRepublic, where the climate is parti-cularly severe.

Also in this issueHope for 22 prisoners in Taiwan, page 2OAS General Assembly,page 4Polish arrests, page 8

2 DECEMBER 1982

IsraelFresh call for inquiry intoill-treatment allegations

TaiwanHope for 22prisoners —after 30 years

Al has again called on the IsraeliGovernment to set up a full inquiryinto allegations that people detainedby Israeli forces in Lebanon after 6June 1982 were ill-treated, and toallow access by the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross (1CRC)and families to all detainees.

In response to the organization'sprevious call on 1 July 1982, theAttorney General of Israel on 25 August1982 rejected reports that such ill-treatment had occurred and stated thatthe [CRC was indeed "conductingvisits on a regular basis to the detaineesheld in Ansar Camp" (south Lebanon).

However, in a letter of 22 Octoberto the Attorney General, AI reiteratedits concern that although detainees atAnsar Camp were now being visited bythe ICRC, a number of Palestiniansdetained in Israel proper were still heldincommunicado and had not beenvisited by the ICRC or by their families.Al noted also that detainees in AnsarCamp had not received visits fromfamilies or lawyers after up to fourmonths in detention.

In his response of 25 August, the

The former editor of an unofficialPeking magazine, who was active in theChinese "democracy movement", isreported to have been sentenced recent-ly to 15 years' imprisonment.

Xu Wenli, who edited April 5 Forum.was arrested in April 1981. Al hasreceived no further information aboutthe charges on which he was reportedlysentenced or about any trialproceedings.

There has been no news either of oneof his associates, Yang Jing, who wasarrested at the same time.

Al has adopted both men as prison-ers of conscience, detained for the non-violent expression of their politicalopinions.

Xu Wenli, the son of a doctor, work-ed as an electrician in a Peking factoryuntil his arrest. He and a group offriends brought out April 5 Forumuntil 1980 when they ceased publicat-ion, after stern warnings by the author-ities to those who continued to publish.

Attorney General stated that "anyspecific allegation of maltreatment willbe carefully looked into and, ifnecessary, the appropriate actiontaken". In its letter of 22 October, Alasked for details on the number ofcases in which administrative or judicialsanctions had been imposed, the natureof the proceedings, the penalties imposedand any compensatory measures takenas regards the victims.

Al also called upon the Governmentof Israel to conduct an inquiry "toestablish whether ill-treatment occurred,separately from the process of establish-ing individual responsibility throughcriminal and disciplinary proceedings,and that the methods and findings ofsuch an inquiry should be made publicin full."

The organization called on thegovernment to give public and detailedaccount of all prisoners taken by theIsraeli Defence Forces during the eventsin Lebanon, to allow the ICRC andfamilies access to all prisoners, and torelease promptly all remaining detaineesor "grant them the right to confrontand refute evidence against them"D

such magazines despite the official banimposed on them in 1979.

Afterwards the group published aprivate newsletter and joined in appealsby similar groups calling for the releaseof imprisoned dissidents or for greaterdemocracy and freedom.

Two other well-known activists inChina's "democracy movement" whowere also arrested in April 1981, weresentenced earlier this year to longprison terms for "counter-revolutionaryactivities"—Wang Xizhe to 14 yearsand He Qiu to 10 years (see AugustNewsletter)E

ZAIREThe Zairian authorities announced on15 November 1982 that KabakisaMatuka, prisoner of the month inNovember 1982, and other conscriptedstudents had been released and returnedto Kinshasa to resume their studies.No further details were available abouttheir statusE

The cases of 22 political prisoners whohave been detained on charges ofsedition for more than 30 years arebeing reviewed by the Government ofthe Republic of China (Taiwan) with aview to releasing them on humanitariangrounds.

A government announcement to thiseffect was made in Taiwan's parliamenton 20 October by the Defence Minister,Soong Chang-chih.

The 22 prisoners had been specific-ally excluded from Taiwan's lastamnesty, the 1975 Commutation Act,because they were convicted of beingcommunists.

They were sentenced to life imprison-ment on charges of planning to over-throw the government. Al adopted 16of them as prisoners of conscience afteryears of investigation and inquiries tothe authorities which produced noevidence that the political activitiesthey had been engaged in involved theuse or advocacy of violence. Al haslittle information on the other sixprisoners.

In all cases about which informationis available to Al, the prisoners weretried by summary military tribunals inclosed courts without proper rights ofdefence. These prisoners are now agedbetween 55 and 65 and most of themare in poor health.

On 11 November 1982 Al wrote tothe authorities welcoming the announc-ed review of the cases and expressingthe hope that it would soon lead to theunconditional release of all prisonersof conscience, and to the release onparole of the others in view of thenumber of years they had spent inprison.

The 16 people adopted by Al asprisoners of conscience are: WangChin-huei, WangTeh-sheng, Lin Shu-yang, Li Chin-mu, Li Kuo-min, ChenShui-chuan, WangJu-shan, WangYong-fu, Wang Wei-ching, Li Chen-shan,Chen Lieh-chen, Liu Chen-sung,HsiehChiu-lin, Hsu Wen-tzan, ChuHuei-huang and Hung Shui-liu0

DEATH PENALTY

Al has learned of 27 people beingsentenced to death in six countriesand of 45 executions in 10 countriesduring October 1982.

ChinaEx-editor gets 15 years

DECEMBER 19823

Campaign for Prisoners of the MonthEach of the people whose story is told below is a prisoner of conscience. Eachhas been arrested because of his or her religious or political beliefs, colour, sex,ethnic origin or language. None has used or advocated violence. Their continuingdetention is a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of HumanRights. International appeals can help to secure the release of these prisoners orto improve their detention conditions. In the interest of the prisoners, lettersto the authorities should be worded carefully and courteously. You shouldstress that your concern for human rights is not in any way politically partisan.In no circumstances should communications be sent to the prisoner.

MAZETTE Jackson,Central African Republic

Headmaster of Bangui's Tech-nical School, he was arrestedin January 1982 and is beingheld without trial at a militarycamp in Bangui.

Mazette Jackson, a member of thePolitical Bureau of an oppositionpolitical party. the Mourcment deliberation du peuple centrafricain(MLPC), was arrested with 11 otherpeople at a meeting on 3 January.They were accused of attending anillegal political meeting arranged bythe MLPC.

The current military governmentsuspended the activities of all politicalparties when it came to power inSeptember 1981. The parties them-selves were not banned, however, andmembership of the MLPC is not there-fore illegal. The authorities appear tohave considered that attending a meet-ing broke the ban on political activities.

When the 12 detainees appearedbefore a judge in February, he orderedthe release of seven of them on thegrounds that they had no case toanswer. The judge was subsequentlyarrested and detained for four months.

Mazette Jackson, who is marriedwith three children, and the four otherprisoners have remained in detentionwithout again appearing in court andhave not yet been charged with aspecific offence. The others are:Bavinam Jean, a driver; Djiro JeanEdgar, an educationalist; DobangaJean-Claude, a librarian, and SikossiAntoine, a civil servant.

Since February they have beenheld in prison cells at Kassai militarycamp, Bangui, where conditions aresaid to be poor. Since March MazetteJackson has been held incommunicadoin cramped conditions and allowedvirtually no exercise.

Al believes he and the other fourhave been imprisoned for exercisingtheir rights to freedom of expressionand association.

Please send courteous letters, preferably in French, appealing for their release to: Son Excellence le

Général A. Kolingba/Président de laRepublique/Presidence de laRépublique/Bangui/Central AfricanRepublic.

KANG Jong-kon, Republic ofKorea

A former kw student, aged 31,he has been held in preventivecustody without charge or trialsince February 1981, after serv-ing a five-year prison sentenceimposed in 1976.

Kang Jong-kon, who was born in Japanof Korean parents, was studying law atKorea University, Seoul, when he wasarrested in October 1975. Around thistime more than 300 students, many ofthem Koreans normally resident inJapan, were detained and interrogatedby members of the country's securityservices about student activities criticalof the government.

Kang Jong-kon was one of 21 peoplewho were later formally charged andtried as a result. In 1976 he was sent-enced to five years' imprisonmentunder the Anti-Communist Law (ACL)and the National Security Law (NSL)after being convicted of passing infor-mation on student demonstrations inSouth Korea to an agent of the People'sDemocratic Republic of (North) Korea.

His sentence expired on 14February 1981. Since then he hasbeen held in preventive custody underthe Public Security Law. This allowsfor renewable two-year terms ofdetention, on an order from the Ministerof Justice, for prisoners previouslyconvicted under the ACL and the NSL,where it is considered that they maycommit an offence if released.

Kang Jong-kon's preventive custodyis due to end in February 1983—butthere is no guarantee that anotherterm will not then be imposed on him.

Al believes that his detention hasbeen prolonged because he refused tochange his political views.

Please send courteous letters appeal-ing for his release to: His ExcellencyMr Bae Myung-in/Minister of Justice/

Ministry of Justice/77 Sejong-no/Chongno-gu/Seoul/Republic of Korea.

Jiri GRUNTORAD,Czechoslovakia

A 30-year-old mason and signa-tory of the unofficial humanrights movement Charter 77, heis serving a four-year prisonsentence for "subversion", im-posed in July 1981.

Jiri Gruntorad was arrested and re-manded in custody in December1980 on charges of editing anddistributing uncensored publications(including one on the trial of twounofficial rock music groups); oflistening to foreign broadcasts and ofcooperating with an unofficial humanrights group, the Committee for theDefence of the Unjustly Persecuted(VONS).

In a closed trial more than sixmonths later, on 10 July 1981, thePrague City Court found him guiltyof "subversion" under Article 98 ofthe Czechoslovak Penal Code andsentenced him to four years' imprison-ment in the second (stricter) prisoncategory.

His prison sentence is to be followedby three years' "protective surveill-ance", during which he will have toreport regularly to the police, who willcheck on all his activities. To Arsknowledge this is the first politicaltrial in Czechoslovakia in which acourt has imposed such surveillance.

In another closed session on 15October 1981, the Supreme Courtupheld the sentence on appeal.

Jiri Gruntorad is serving hissentence in Liberec prison, NorthernBohemia.

Al believes he has been imprisonedfor the non-violent exercise of hisrights to freedom of expression, con-science and association.

Please send courteous letters appeal-ing for his release to: His ExcellencyJUDr. Gustav Husak/President of theCSSR/11 908 Praha-Hrad/Czechoslovakia.

4 DECEMBER 1982

The 12th Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) opened in Washington,DC, on 15 November. The role of the OAS in ensuring compliance with human rights agreements in force in the hemi-sphere has become vital and urgent and Al believes that it is the duty of the General Assembly to speak out strongly andinsist on member governments observing fully the rights set out in these agreements.

Human rights abuse a 'normal' function ofgovernment for several OAS membersAl has called on the OAS to insistthat its members stop floutinginternational standards which bantorture, government-ordered kill-ing, "disappearance" of politicalprisoners and other human rightsviolations.

In an open letter to the Headsof Delegation attending the OASGeneral Assembly in Washington,AI praised the role of the organ-ization in setting human rightsstandards—but said that in severalmember states the abuse of funda-mental human rights appeared tohave become a "normal" functionof government, despite the effortsof the OAS and its specializedbodies to ensure respect for thelaws of the Americas.

"The failure of governments torespect the standards of the Organ-ization, its conventions and recom-mendations, is a challenge to theauthority of the Organization ofAmerican States which the GeneralAssembly cannot ignore," the lettersaid.

Requests for cooperation

Despite repeated OAS recommenda-tions and requests for cooperation, itsaid, some governments had declaredthat questions of national securityshould override both their own lawsand the standards set by internationallaw.

In some countries the existence ofviolent opposition was used "to justifycounter-action which itself has beenfar outside the law," AI said.

"Peaceful opposition has, in somecountries, been branded the equivalentof 'terrorism' and has then been used asa pretext to introduce policies whichhave violated the right to life, the rightto personal liberty, and the right tohumane treatment. Illegal methods tocombat political and ideological enemieshave come to be regular practices."

Al's letter discusses human rightsviolations involving torture, "disappear-ance", extrajudicial execution and thedeath penalty.

Five members of the Barillas familywere among 12 Salvadorian refugeesand two Hondurans arrested byHonduran security forces on 22 April1982. Seen above are Jose MauricioBarillas, his wife, Nora, and one of theiryoung children. The couple have "dis-appeared"; their children—aged five,10 and 11—have been returned toEl Salvador. Al has received numerousreports of Salvadorian refugees inHonduras becoming victims ofarbitrary arrest, detention or evenextrajudicial execution at the handsof the Honduran security forces.

TORTURE

Torture is still a pervasive feature ofcriminal justice and law enforcementand of political repression in much ofthe Americas and several countrieswhich have been called on by theGeneral Assembly to end its use havenotably failed to do so.

For example, in a 1978 report onUrnguay the Inter-American Com-mission on Human Rights (IACHR)concluded that the right to life and tothe "security and integrity of theperson" had been gravely violated inthat country.

The report recommended that theUruguayan Government "adopt mea-sures necessary to prevent and curbany abuses committed against detainees,"

and order a thorough and impartialinvestigation to determine who wasresponsible for prisoners dying undertorture in custody. The governmentwas asked also to inform the IACHRof the results of such investigations.

The General Assembly resolved atits 8th Regular Session in 1978 to callon the Uruguayan,Government tofollow the report's recommendations.This call was repeated the followingyear.

However, AI has found that torturecontinues to be inflicted in Uruguayand during 1982 there were reports ofprisoners dying under torture. Nor, toArs knowledge, have the thoroughand impartial investigations called forby the General Assembly been carriedout.

Since 1973 the IACHR has prepareda series of reports on torture and crueland inhuman treatment in Chile andhas recommended definite steps to betaken to end the use of torture there.

Despite the consistent support ofthe General Assembly, these recom-mendations have not been effectivelycarried out—and torture continued tobe regularly reported in Chile during1982, the pattern suggesting that it isused as a matter of policy throughoutthe security services.

"DISAPPEARANCES"

In recent years the number of prisonersreported to have "disappeared" afterbeing detained has decreased in some ofthe countries in which previously therehad been massive "disappearances".But the abuse has not stopped entirelyin these countries and thousands ofprisoners who "disappeared" in pre-vious years have still not been accountedfor.

The fate of many hundreds of pris-oners who "disappeared" in Chile wasconsidered in each of the IACHR'sspecial reports on that country after1973.

In 1979 the General Assembly urgedthe Chilean Government to hasten theadoption of measures to provide forthe "clarification of the situation of

DECEMBER 1982 5

those detained persons who havedisappeared". The government failed todo this and most of these "disappeared"prisoners are unaccounted for.

In its April 1980 Report on theSituation of Human Rights in Argentina,the IACHR stated that it believed that"the problem of the disappeared is oneof the most serious human rights prob-lems that Argentina faces".

The report concluded that whatwas of prime importance was findingout what had become of each of the"disappeared": "It is necessary toestablish beyond any doubt whetherthese people are alive or dead; if theyare alive, it is necessary to knowwhere, when and under what circum-stances they lost their lives and wheretheir remains are buried" (see articleon Argentine mass grave elsewhere inthis Newsletter).

Argentine human rights organiza-tions have documented the cases of atleast 6,800 political prisoners who have"disappeared" there since 1976 and arestill not accounted for. Nor have "dis-appearances" in Argentina entirelyended (see below).

Detention procedures

The IACHR's 1981 annual reportto the General Assembly expressedconcern that detention procedures insome countries were particularly con-ducive to "disappearances" and that"the structures which have permitteddisappearances to occur still persist,as can be shown by detentions carriedout by elements of the security forceswith the acquiescence or consent ofthe government followed by a periodin which the authorities, especiallythe police, deny detention, including...[in responses given] to the judgesresponsible for deciding writs ofhabeas corpus".

Recent cases cited by the IACHRinvolving such deficient structuresincluded the seizure of Angel AntonioRomano in Argentina on 27 March1981. He "disappeared" for eight days"during which time the military policeand civilian authorities denied hisdetention". On 3 April "the Chief ofPolice of the Province of Buenos Aires,in the face of public denunciations,acknowledged the detention".

A second example cited was fromHonduras where "disappearances" havebeen reported regularly since 1981.An increasing number of politicalprisoners "disappeared" in 1981 and1982, although some were releasedafter from three to 90 days in secretdetention.

EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONSExtrajudicial executions were reportedin a number of countries in theAmericas in 1981 and 1982.

In its October 1981 report on human rights in Guatemala, the com-

mission concluded that "an alarming climate of violence" had prevailed in that country in recent years and that:

"In a large majority of cases, thedeaths resulting from this violence weredue to illegal executions and to dis-appearances engineered by the securityforces or paramilitary civilian groupsacting in close collaboration with thegovernment authorities. .

"These illegal executions and dis-appearances not only violate the rightto life, they have created an endemicclimate of total alarm, and even terror,which has subverted the rule of law,and in practice, has inhibited theobservance of most of the rights setforth in the American Convention onHuman Rights."

The commission's main recommenda-tions to the Guatemalan Governmentwere:

That it take the necessarymeasures to prevent the occurrence ofserious violations of the right to life;that it end the participation of andtolerance by governmental authoritiesand paramilitary groups in the violenceand terrorism, and that it investigateand rigorously punish those responsiblefor such acts.

That it investigate and punish,with the full force of the law, thoseresponsible for the illegal executions,disappearances, arbitrary detentionsand torture."

Same pattern

Since that report a new governmenthas taken office in Guatemala. Al hasfound, however, that under this govern-ment, too, captives of Guatemalanpolice, army and new army auxiliaryforces known as grupos de "DefensaCivil", civil defence groups, have regul-arly been the victim of extrajudicialexecutions.

In spite of the commission's recom-mendations officials and securityofficers of the former governmenthave not, to Al's knowledge, beeninvestigated and prosecuted for theirpart in human rights abuses.

El Salvador, too, has been the sub-ject of a series of IACHR recommenda-tions on illegal and summary executionsand "disappearances".

The Salvadorian Government has notheeded these recommendations andextrajudicial executions on a massivescale are still carried out by the army,

various police bodies and the army'scivilian auxiliaries.

THE DEATH PENALTYIn recent years the trend towardsabolition in the Americas has beenreversed in several countries. Somestates have sought to reintroduce orextend the use of the death penaltyand in others that have retained itexecutions have continued and threatento increase.

In Barbados, Martin Marsh washanged on 28 September 1982—havingbeen sentenced to death at the age of17 in January 1981. His execution wasin contravention of the AmericanConvention on Human Rights which,in Article 4 [5] , states that the deathpenalty shall not be imposed on thosewho, "at the time the crime was com-mitted, were under 18 years of age...".

In Jamaica, 13 people were hangedbetween August 1980 and October1982—after a four-year halt on execut-ions while parliament consideredabolishing the death penalty (seeNovember Newsletter). Now thereare fears for more than 120 otherinmates on death row in Jamaica (seeNovember Newsletter).

As of 20 August 1982, there were1,058 prisoners under sentence ofdeath in the USA. Five prisoners havebeen executed since all executions inthe country were halted for nearly adecade starting in 1967.

Al is concerned that the number ofexecutions in the USA may increasedramatically once the appeals on behalfof many prisoners convicted since 1972have been exhausted.

A senior US Department of Justiceofficial, Benjamin H. Renshaw, wrotein the Department's Bureau of JusticeStatistics Bulletin in July 1982 that inview of the steady increase of people ondeath row "the situation is ripe forthe Nation to witness executions at arate approaching the more than threeper week that prevailed during the1930s".

Some countries in the Americas areextending the application of the deathpenalty to cover new crimes, particularlythose that are political or politicallyrelated.

This is in spite of provisions in theAmerican Convention on HumanRights that the death penalty "shallnot be extended to crimes to whichit does not presently apply" (Article4[2] ) and that it is inapplicable forpolitical and related common crimes(Article 4[4]). For example:• In Guatemala, the government of

Continued on page 7

6 DECEMBER 1982

PakistanNew regulations extenduse of death penaltyNew martial law regulations extendingthe application of the death penaltyand providing for it to be imposedretroactively in certain cases to July1977 have come into force in Pakistan.

Martial Law Regulation No. 53, issued on 27 September, provides for a maximum penalty of death for a wide range of acts aimed at causing damage to public property which the govern-

ment considers to be acts of sabotage.

In a cable to President Zia Ul-Haq sent on 4 October, Al expressed con-

cern at the new regulation and called on him to reconsider it. Al said it was particularly disturbed that it reversed normal court procedures by putting the burden of proof on the accused insteadof the prosecution and that it was retro-active to July 1977, the month of themilitary coup which brought the pre-sent government to power.

A further martial law regulation—No. 54—was issued on 23 October andstated that the death penalty could be

Al has replied to criticisms by theUganda Government of its recent acti-vities in spotlighting human rightsviolations in Uganda.

On 1 September 1982 a number ofAl sections appealed to the UgandanGovernment to investigate and actimmediately to end the abuses.

In a separate action, a memorandumhad been sent confidentially to theUganda Government in early August.In it, Al had summarized its concernsin the country and set out its recom-mendations, following an Al mission toUganda in January 1982.

A cover letter with the memoran-dum made it clear that in view of theurgency and gravity of the human rightssituation in Uganda, Al intended topublicize its concerns in September.

The Uganda Government's writtenreply to the memorandum was deliveredto Al on 1 September by the country'sHigh Commissioner in London. On thefollowing day the Ugandan ForeignMinistry issued a communique accusingAl and other organizations of conduct-ing a "well-orchestrated campaign'against the government and of issuing

imposed, also retroactively to July1977, on people who harbour andabet "lawless elements".

Al is concerned that the offence ofharbouring and abetting is too broadlydefined in the regulation. It coverspeople who fail to pass on informationconsidered relevant by the authoritiesand those providing any assistance,including shelter, food, drink or anyimplement, to any terrorist or officiallyproclaimed offender or anybody whohas either committed or intends tocommit or is likely to commit anoffence liable to cause insecurity orfear among the public or affect publictranquility.

The government has blamed a waveof violence in Pakistan earlier this yearon "foreign-trained terrorists". On 12October the Interior Minister said that650 "terrorists" had been arrestedrecently; 95 cases were pending beforethe military courts and 22 sentences ofup to 50 years' imprisonment had beenimposed0

"hostile publicity" on the eve of orduring important internationalmeetings.

The communique said also that Alhad committed a "gross breach of dip-lomatic understanding and confidence".Copies of the communique were dis-tributed by the Ugandan authorities todiplomatic and consular missions insideand outside Uganda.

During October Al replied in writingto the Uganda Government's originalwritten response. It also sent a copy ofits reply to the Foreign Ministry inanswer to the ministry's communique.

Ars written response—which dealtwith the procedural criticisms raised bythe government as well as with theorganization's substantive human rightsconcerns—is not yet being made publicin order to give the Uganda Govern-ment time to respond.

Copies of Al's original memorandumof 30 July 1982 and the UgandanForeign Ministry's communique are nowavailable from Al sections or theInternational Secretariat in London,together with copies of Ars coverletter to the Foreign Ministry 0

Two Malians adopted by AI as prisonersof conscience, Dr Marnadou Gologo,former Minister of Information (above),and Idrissa Diakite, a school headmaster,were among 40 prisoners released on22 September, after an amnestyannounced by the head of state,General Moussa Traore, to commemo-rate the 22nd anniversary of Mali'sindependence. The two men werearrested and detained in April 1979for distributing tracts critical of thegovernment and were sentenced to •four years' imprisonment in Octoberthat year. They were prisoners of themonth in February 1982.

ArgentinaCall for inquiryafter massgrave is foundFollowing reports in October of thediscovery of a mass grave in the GranBourg cemetery, 18 miles west ofBuenos Aires, Al has cabled PresidentReynaldo Bignone of Argentina callingfor a full investigation.

The cable, sent on 26 October,urged the President to instigate aninquiry to determine the identity ofthose buried in unmarked graves in thecemetery and to ascertain under whatcircumstances they were buried. Alfurther called on the authorities tomake the results of such an investigationknown to the relatives.

Argentine human rights groups issueda press statement on 22 October 1982reporting the discovery of the unmark-ed graves in which up to 400 bodiesmay be buried. It is feared that thebodies may be those of people who"disappeared" after the military coupof 24 March 19760

UgandaGovt. criticizes Al

DECEMBER 1982 7

German Democratic RepublicSolidarity sympathizer heldafter bicycle rideRoland Jahn,a resident of the town ofJena in the southwest of the GermanDemocratic Republic (GDR), wasarrested in September for expressingsympathy with the now-banned Polishtrade union Solidarity.

On 31 August 1982—the secondanniversary of the Gdansk agreementrecognizing independent trade unions—he rode through Jena with a Polishflag attached to his bicycle on whichwere written the words "Solidarity withthe Polish people".

He was arrested on 1 September andis now in pre-trial detention in Gera.He is reported to have gone on hunger-strike in protest against the fact that hehas been denied both visitors and accessto a lawyer.

Roland Jahn's arrest may also beconnected with a number of activitiesby himself and two friends, MichaelBlumhagenand Manfred Hildebrandt,to draw attention to the case of theirfriend Matthias Domaschk,who diedwhile in the custody of the statesecurity service on 12 April 1981.

At the time his death was reportedto be a suicide but a number of hisfriends expressed doubt that he couldhave committed suicide in pre-trial

OAS General AssemblyContinued from page 5

President Rios Montt, through DecreeLaw 46-82, has increased the number ofoffences for which the death penaltymay be imposed, established a summaryprocedure for having the suspects triedby special military courts and announc-ed that anyone sentenced to death forsuch crimes would have no right ofappeal or be eligible for presidentialpardon. Four Guatemalans were report-ed to have been executed under the newdecree law on 17 September (seeNovember Newsletter. (Since Al'sletter was sent, it has learned thatexecutions may be suspended until anappeals procedure is introduced.)

In Chile, a draft law introducing thedeath penalty for crimes defined as"terrorism" was announced by thegovernment in February 1982. Accord-ing to the Ministry of the Interior, thepurpose of the Anti-Terrorist Law(Ley antiterrorista) was to introducethe death penalty and provide specialswift procedures to deal with terrorist

detention, where elaborate precautionsare taken to prevent it.

Michael Blumhagen, who is anamateur sculptor, dedicated one of hisworks to Matthias Domaschk and placedit beside his grave on 9 April 1982,shortly before the first anniversary ofhis death. A few days later the statuedisappeared.

The authorities are reported to havegiven contradictory accounts of theepisode, saying first that it had been"confiscated" but later claiming ithad been stolen.

Removal photographed

Manfred Hildebrandt, whose hobbyis photography, took a photographshowing four men, alleged to be fromthe state security service, removing thestatue. This photograph was publishedin the Federal German Republic weeklyDer Spiegel on 28 June 1982.

On 3 June Michael Blumhagen re-ceived a summons to do reserve servicein the army. He refused to do so ongrounds of conscience and has in con-sequence been sentenced to six months'imprisonment. Manfred Hildebrandthas also been arrested. Al has adoptedall three as prisoners of conscience0

offences.Chile's 1981 constitution specifies

in Article 9 that terrorism "in any ofits forms" is to be the subject of animpending law that will define it andprescribe penalties for it, and that thoseaccused of terrorism will not beeligible for amnesty, pardon or por-visional release.

In Peru, Article 235 of the 1980constitution states that "there is nodeath penalty, except for treason tothe nation in the case of a foreign war"

However, in July 1982 PresidentFrancisco BelaUnde Terry sent a draftconstitutional amendment to thelegislature intended to expand theapplicability of the death penalty toinclude aggravated homicide (homicidiocalificado).

The amendment was stated to be inresponse to a dramatic increase insuch crimes committed during a waveof violence including "terrorist actsthat result in deaths"111

MalaysiaSeven hangedin a week fordrugs offencesSeven prisoners were hanged inMalaysia during one week in October1982. All of them had been sentencedto death for drug trafficking offences.

Lim Boey Nooi, aged 51, was hangedon 8 October. She is reported to be thefirst woman ever hanged in Malaysia.On 12 October three Singaporeancitizens were hanged in Taiping Prison,near lpoh—the first executions reportedto have taken place outside the capital,Kuala Lumpur, since 1960. Two dayslater three more men were hanged inTaiping Prison.

Some 15 prisoners are now believedto have been executed for drug traffick-ing offences in Malaysia during 1982.Ruling on the use of the death penaltyfor drug trafficking offences, the ChiefJustice of the Federal Court, Tan SriRaja Azlan Shah, stated in June 1982:"Other than in the most exceptionalcircumstances, a sentence of deathshould be imposed following a convict-ion for trafficking...".

Al cabled the Prime Minister,Dr Mahathir Mohamed, on 15 October,expressing deep concern over theexecutions.

Others facing deathAt least 20 prisoners are reported to

be under sentence of death for drugoffences at present. Another 50 prison-ers whose cases are at various stages ofappeal are under sentence of death forfirearms offences.

Among the 50 are five people whoseappeals procedure has now beenexhausted. A stay of execution hasbeen lodged on their behalf while theirlawyers appeal to the Federal Court tooverturn a ruling of the High Courtthat the imposition of a mandatorydeath sentence for prisoners tried underthe Internal Security Act, 1960, accord-ing to Essential (Security Cases)Regulations, was constitutionalD

STOP PRESS: Prison officials in KualaLumpur reported on 24 November thatanother three Malaysians, sentenced todeath last year for drug trafficking,had been hanged following the failureof their appeals for clemencyD

Prisoner Releases and CasesThe International Secretariat learnedin October of the release of 68 prisonersunder adoption or investigation; ittook up 77 cases.

8 DECEMBER 1982

Poland: More than 5,000 arrestedafter martial law protestsMore than 5,000 people were arrestedafter demonstrations against martiallaw in some 66 towns and cities inPoland on and after 31 August—andmore than 4,000 of them have beenfined, interned, imprisoned or detainedfor further investigation, according toinformation released by the Polishauthorities.

The authorities have stated that5,131 people were arrested during thedisturbances. Of these, 1051 werereleased; 2,821 were fined; 520 formerinternees were interned again, and 263people were given jail sentences.

About 475 others appear to have remained in detention for investigation

236 of them on charges of havingorganized the demonstrations.

Five workers are officially aLknow-

ledged to have died in clash, s with thepolice during this period.• The independent trade union organ-ization Solidarity, which had beensuspended since the imposition ofmartial law on 13 December 1981, wasformally banned when the Polish Sejm(Parliament) passed a trade union lawon 8 October 1982.

The law dissolved all existing tradeunion organizations, including indepen-dent and official trade unions, and laiddown the regulations for forming newtrade unions.

The new law places restrictions onthe right to found unions and on theright to strike. Penalties of up to five

AI has received a number of reportsof the ill-treatment of people arrest-ed, detained in pre-trial detention orfollowing conviction and imprison-ment. One account concerns thealleged beating of people detained inGdansk prison on 23 July 1982.

The incident reportedly tookplace after rumours in the prisonthat inmates were about to hold aprotest hunger-strike after GeneralJaruzelski, in his speech of 21 July,had failed to announce an expectedamnesty.

At 5.30 am on 23 July guardsreportedly entered the cells and ledout the prisoners one by one. Theywere ordered to undress and werethen beaten with truncheons; thosewho resisted were taken to a room,stretched out on a table and furtherbeaten.

Part of a "wanted" poster put up bythe authorities in Wroclaw. .. the manthey were seeking, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk,aged 28, former Chairman of Solidarity'sRegional Executive and one of themain leaders of Solidarity's under-ground, was sentenced on 24 November1982 to six years' imprisonment oncharges of continuing trade unionactivity after the imposition of martiallaw and organizing protest actions.Al has adopted him as a prisoners ofconscience.

years' imprisonment are provided forviolations of the law.

Official figures on martial law pro-ceedings since 13 December 1981 weregiven by the Procurator General at asession of the Sejm on 26 October1982.

He announced that summary pro-ceedings had been used against 11,980people in the 10-month period up to22 October. Of these, he said, 2,368were tried for offences of a political

About 20 young prisoners weretaken to shower rooms where theywere forced to take a very hot showerfor 40 minutes and then againbeaten. Police dogs were reportedlyset on certain prisoners.

Afterwards, prisoners were nottaken to hospital but put in cellswhich were for the occasion turnedinto an infirmary.

Those beaten reportedly includedat least 15 political prisoners—Solidarity members arrested for vio-lations of martial law—as well asordinary criminals.

An account of this incident,dated 2 August and based on thetestimony of several prisoners, certi-fied by a prominent Polish lawyerfrom Gdansk, was presented toArchbishop Glemp on 4 August.

nature defined in martial law decrees.The rest were tried for "serious crim-inal misdemeanours", including those"striking at citizens' interests". In afurther 3,316 cases the procuracy hadnot used summary proceedings.

Official Polish figures indicate thatin early October 1982 just over 1,000people remained interned withoutcharge, and that 308 of these werereleased on, or shortly after, 8 October.By mid-November, according to offici-al Polish sources, the number of inter-nees held in some 14 or 15 centres wasonce again about 1,000.

Three days after the new law wasintroduced, on 11 October, therewere spontaneous protests in Gdanskand workers in the Lenin Shipyardwent on strike. The strike was accom-panied by clashes between demonstra-tors and riot police--148 people wereofficially reported to have beenarrested.

On 12 October the authoritiesannounced that the shipyard had beenmilitarized: workers who disobeyedinstructions or organized strikes wouldface court martial and penalties of upto five years' imprisonment. A totalof 500 workers were reported to havebeen dismissed for taking part in strikes.

The next day work resumed in theshipyard but other demonstrations andmore arrests took place in Wroclaw.Poznan and Kracow, where a youngworker, Bogdan Wlosik, was shot deadby riot police when workers from theNova Huta steel mill marched to achurch. This was the 17th officiallyacknowledged death in clashes betweendemonstrators and police since theimposition of martial law0

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA-TIONS. 10 Southampton Street, LondonWC2E 7111. England. Printed in GreatBritain by Shadowdean Limited, Unit 2,37 Briscoe Road, Colhers Wood, SW19.Available on subscription at ES (US S12.50).per calendar year.

ILL- TREATMENT OF PRISONERS ALLEGED

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