Am nestyINTERNATIONAL
N EWS
HONG KONG
Frontline forhuman rights
or more than a Year, a giant clock
has cast red digital light on
Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
measuring the time until the return of
I long Kong to China's sovereignty. But
what does the future hold?
The return of liong Kong marks the
virtual end of centuries of colonialism
and fOreign encroachment. mit just in
China hut in Asia as a whole. Fhe
transition plan represents an important
experiment in law, sovereignty :Ind
ututonoinv and, tf implemented to the
letter, Ilong Kong's social system,
economic- management, legal uoid
institutional framework will remain
"basically unchanged- for 50 years.
International human rights standards
such as the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) will
remain in force.
The way in which China handles the
challenge of maintaining two different
systems within one country will be
critical to Hong Kong's future stability,
ProsPeritY a"d cOmPentiveness as aregional centre. Hong Kong's economic
partners are looking for certainty and
continuity in the things that make I long
Kong unique - the strong lade of law,
government accountability, the free flow
°I information. an °Pen civil society a"da vibrant community of 11011-
governmental organilations (NG00. In
this, the interests of business protection
and human rights protection converge:
human rights guarantees underpin
economic- stability and openness.
Political stability will also be
underniined withoutt protection of
htnnan rights. The citirens of }long
Kong have shown themselves to be
acutely aware of the importance of their
fundamental freedoms and their open
political culture. One in six cared
enough to join massive peaceful
demonstrations in the wake of the crack-
down in mainland China in June 1989.
And widespread criticism has come from
the community since the incoming Chief
Executive of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, Ttmg Chee-hwa,
proposed in February 1997 to amend
legislation on civil liberties. The
incoming authorities have shown some
responsiveness to ptifilic concern, but
questions remain its to whether freedom
of association and assembly will he
limited in ways which go beyond the
restrictions allowed under the ICCPR.
I long Kong is .1 model of how civil
iind political freedoms can contribute to
economic dynanustn. of how Asian and
Western values can be successfully fused.
It shows how a system can successfully
guarantee human rights and maintain
stable economic development,
countering the arguments in favour of
commit itself unequivocally tomaintaining and developing humanrights safeguards in Hong Kong;
maintain the Bill of Rights, whichenshrines most of the provisions ofthe ICCPR, in Hong Kong law;
set up an independent human rightscommission to provide an accessibleremedy for human rights violations;
continue reporting to the UNHuman Rights Committee onimplementation of the ICCPR;
reinforce safeguards for theindependence of the judiciary;
authoritmianism that come from some
other states m the region.
'Flue human rights defenders of Hong
Kong art' already taking up this debate
seeking to make the Chinese
Government and the world aware that
their fUndamental human rights cannot
be compromised. It is essential now that
the international community :Ind human
rights movements around die world hear
their voice — and add their own.
ensure that laws passed underArticle 23 of the Basic Law on internalsecurity do not curb freedom of
expression, association, peacefulassembly and other fundamentalrights;
ensure that Chinese armed forcesstationed in Hong Kong can be held
accountable for their actions beforeHong Kong courts;
adhere to their commitment not torestore the death penalty;
encourage and protect Hong Kong'sdiverse and active NGO community.
A demonstration inHong Kong in April1997, to protestagainst restrictionson civil libertiesbeing considered byits futuregovernment
NEWSAlgeriaDeath in custody
hears hallmark of
extrajudicial
execution
Argentinajournalists in fear
for their lives
MozambiqueA landmark for
human rights
protection
Russian Federation/Ukraine(louncil of Europe
condemnation
over continuing
executions
WORLDWIDEAPPEALSIranVenezuelaIndonesia
Focus
Pakistan
'Time to take
human rights
seriously'
Al is calling on the new Hong Kong government to:
R sachid Medjahed was killed while
in the custody of the Algerian
ecurity forces in February 1997.The authorities have failed to provideany information about the circumstancesof his death either to his family andlawyers or to AI and other internationalhuman rights organizations.
On 12 February the security forcesattacked an apartment building oppositethe headquarters of the General Unionof Algerian Workers (UGTA) in centralAlgiers, killing eight people — including
two women and two young children. Theauthorities claimed that the victims weremembers of an armed group responsiblefor the assassination of Abdelhak
Benhammouda, leader of the UGTA, on
28 January 1997.
Rachid Medjahed was reportedlyarrested around 15 February and accused
of being the leader of the armed groupresponsible for the assassination. On 23
February he appeared on Algerian tele-vision and confessed to being the leaderof the group. This was the first his family
n Argentina, journalism has becomea dangerous profession. In recentyears, there has been a resurgence
of violent attempts to muzzle those who
undertake investigative journalism orcriticize the authorities.
Santo Biasatti knows this all too well. A
well-known radio and TV journalist, hehas been among the many journalists
and members of the press subjected torepeated threats and attacks. In February1997, death threats against him and hisfamily were left at the Rivadavia radiostation in Buenos Aires where he works,and at the Buenos Aires Ombudsman'soffice. These threats indicated thatmembers of the police could be involvedin abducting him, and that he wouldmeet the same fate as Jose Luis Cabezas,a press photographer killed in January1997 in circumstances yet to be clarified.
Although he infOrmed the BuenosAires Governor of these threats and aninvestigation was reportedly launched,further anonymous death threats againstSanto Biasatti and his family continued
into April. In a communication to CarlosMenem, the
Argentine
President, Al
expressed serious
fears for his safety.
Between the end
of January and the
middle of March,
there have been
around 60 cases of
physical attacks,
threats and
harassment againstjournalists,
according to the
knew about the arrest. They immediatelycontacted the authorities asking forinformation about where he was being
held, but to no avail. On 2 April, thefamily were told by the gendarmerie togo to a hospital in Blida. When theyarrived they found Rachid Medjahed'sbody; it was riddled with bullets.
Increasingly, the Algerian securityforces are extrajudicially executingdetainees instead of bringing them totrial before a court of law. Al believesthat Rachid Medjahed may be anothervictim of this widespread practice and
has called for an immediate, independentand public investigation into the killingsof Rachid Medjahed and AbdelhakBenhammouda.
Al condemns unreservedly the killingsof civilians and other abuses committedby armed opposition groups in Algeria.However no level of violence by such
groups can ever justify extrajudicialexecutions and other human rightsviolations committed by the securityforces.
Santo Biasatti
Buenos Aires Press Workers' Union.Scores of cases involving similar abuseshave been acted on by Al over the pastfive years — most have remained
unresolved. In several of the cases, thereseas involvement or acquiescience ofmembers of the police or security forces.
Al has appealed to the authorities tolaunch immediate
and thorough
investigations into
all allegations of
threats, harassment
and attacks against
journalists; to
bring to justice
those found
responsible; and to
guarantee the
protection of those
journalists under
threat and their
families.
newsin
briefCUBA
ubin Hoyo Ruiz, featured in a
Worldwide Appeal case in theJanuary 1996 issue of Al News,wasreleased on 15 November 1996 oncondition that he leave Cuba. On 19November 1996 he left for the USA.
Ruben Hoyo, a member of the CubanCommittee for Human Rights, hadbeen arrested in March 1990, chargedwith "illegal association" and distributing
"enemy propaganda", and sentenced tosix years' imprisonment. He was latersentenced to two additional years'imprisonment for "disrespect".
While AI welcomes the release ofRuben Hoyo, it considers that releasingpeople from prison on condition theygo into exile violates their freedom ofmovement and effectively excludesthem from public life in their own
country.
EL SALVADOR
p lans by the ruling NationalistRepublican Alliance (ARENA) toseek the ratification of an amendmentto the Constitution, which would havereinstated the use of the death penaltyfor certain common crimes, were
abandoned in April. The measure wasdropped after the March 1997
Legislative Assembly elections, when itbecame evident that it did not
command sufficient support in theNational Assembly to ensure
ratification. However, ARENA made itclear that, although it will not seekratification of the amendment duringthe life of the current parliament, itcontinues to support the reinstatementof the death penalty.
LIBYA
Jum'a 'Ateyqa, a lawyer in his early
fifties, who had been illegally
etained despite his acquittal by acriminal court in 1990, was released on16 April 1997. Jum'a 'Ateyqa featured asa Worldwide Appeal in the April 1996issue of AI News.Thanks to all thosewho sent appeals on his behalf.
ALGERIA
P risoner of conscience AbdelkaderHadj Benakmane, featured as aWorldwide Appeal in the September 1996issue of AI News,was releasedconditionally on 19 February 1997. Heis, however, being kept under policesurveillance, and has been banned fromleaving the country until March 1998.
The 39-year-old journalist for theAlgerian news agency APS had beenarrested in February 1995 andsentenced to three years' imprisonment
for disclosing the place of detention of
a leader of the banned Islamic SalvationFront (FIS).
ALGERIA
Death in custody bears hallmark ofextrajudicial execution
ARGENTINA
Journalists in fear for their lives
WHAT YOU CAN DOWrite letters expressing
concern over reports of threatsand attacks against journalists, andasking for thorough investigationsinto all complaints, to:Dr Carlos MenemPresident of the RepublicCasa RosadaBalcarce 50Buenos AiresArgentina
July 1997 Vo1.27 No.4 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS
CTI 0 Pakistan
Detainees in policecustody. Tortureand ill-treatment ofprisoners by policeare commonplacethroughoutPakistan.
Javed
AJafferji
Impact
Time to take human rights seriously0n u11 Agust 1997 Pakistan
will mark the ;Oh
anni\ ersary of its creation.
but tor the majority of its
coitens there will be hole to celebrate.
'Fhey have rarely been able to enjos the
Iiindamental rights iyhich the
Constoution guarantees. Econonm
development has bypassed them, and
many are demed even the 'Host basic
necessities — safe drinking watei.
education, health care. Illiteracy ;ind
discrimination are rife.
People cannot rely on the state to
protect their rights. Detamees are hkeb
to be beaten by police, who act safe in
the knowledge they will probably never
be brought to.justice. Torture.
including rape, is widespread; scores of
people are tortured to &alit evetv year.
SCnres more ;ire extrajudicially
executed. Armed opposition groups
take their opponents hostage,
sometimes torturing ;old killing them.
!Inman rights protection and
promotion have not been taken
seriously by ;my government.
During long periods of martial law,
political institutions — including
parliament and political parnes — were
suspended; the independence of the
. judiciary was restricted: the rule of law
was curbed to suit the ends of the
martial law regime; and the institutions
of civil sitcietv a free press and
professional gniups — were weakened.
However, since the end of martial law
in 1985, successive civilian governments
have done little to redress this damage
to the social and political fabric of
society. VVhde in power, both main
political parties (the Pakistan Muslim
League of Nawat Sharif and the
Pakistan People's Party of Benatir
Bhutto) have used false criminal
charges. arbitrary arrests, torture and
intimidation to muzzle the opposition.
;And both, while in opposition, have
tried to paralyse government.
Police personnel and institutions
have beets used extensively by
politicians for their own ends. Many
police staff have been appointed on the
basis of political patronage, not merit;
they act outside the law on behalf of
their patrons and see themselves ;ts
above the law. Its torts, their patrons
ensure that the police are not held
accountable for abuses.
Ordinary people in Pakistan have
been let down. The will of the people,
as expressed in the Constitution of
Pakistan, has remained an unfulfilled
wish.
`... it is the will of the peopleof Pakistan to establish anorder ...
'Wherein the principles ofdemocracy, freedom, equality,tolerance and social justice, asenunciated in Islam, shall befully observed; ...
'Wherein shall be guaranteedfundamental rights, includingequality of status, ofopportunity and before law,social and political justice andfreedom of thought,expression, belief and faith,worship and association ...'Preamble to the 1973 Constitution
NINEtill• IN IT aNATION.51 FOCUS Os. 1 997 l's/.27 !Vo. 4
Dr Rahim Solangiand Punhal Sario
ARBITRARY ARREST, DETENTIONAND 'DISAPPEARANCES'Successive governments have detained
their opponents. as well as journalists
who have exposed abuses and
corruption. They have done this by
lodging false criminal charges against
them under so-called "blind" First
Information Reports (FIRs) — criminal
complaints which do not name the
suspect — and using preventive
detention laws to hold people without
trial. Political prisoners. including
prisoners of conscience, are often held
in unacknowledged incommunicado
detention. sometimes in places not
officially designated as detention
centres. Police often do not obey court
orders issued in the context of habeas
corpus petitions seeking to establish the
whereabouts of prisoners, or they
mislead the courts by giving false
information.
Dr Solangi and
Punhal Sario,
members of a
Sindhi opposition
party, were
arrested in June
1996 at their party
office in
Hyderabad and
held under a
"blind" FIR. When
police found no evidence against the
men, they should have released them.
Instead, the men were transferred to
another police station, on the basis of
another "blind" FIR.
In August a police official asserted
during a Supreme Court hearing of a
habeas corpus petition that the men "were
neither wanted, nor detained in any
Police station in the entire district". The
relatives of the two men knew better;
their counsel told the Court that they
were being held in Tando Allayar, some
25 km from Hyderabad. A court bailiff
was immediately sent to investigate and
found the police station empty.
However, 27 people were confined in
police quarters, including Dr Solangi
and Punhal Sario. Their detention was
unrecorded and vital police records had
been removed.
The two men were charged with
robbery immediately after the court
officer's visit. Despite court orders to
release them, they were detained under
successive "blind" FIRs and transferred
from one police station to another until
late September, when police claimed to
have found unlicensed guns on them
and transferred them to jail.
IiiJanuary 1997, they were released on
bail. It is indicative of the systematic
nature of this abuse that the man seising
as law minister in Sindh province during
the arbitrary detention of Dr Solangi and
Punhal Sario had himself been detained
under a series of "blind" FIRs when he
was in opposition six years earlier.
Arbitrary' and unacknowledged
detention sometimes leads to prisoners
"disappearing" in custody. Barbar Sultan,
a I7-year-old Mohajir (migrants from
India at the time of partition of the
subcontinent, and their descendants),
"disappeared" in
April 1995 in
Hyderabad. Police
initially admitted
holding him and
demanded a large
sum of money fisr
his release. When
Isis family could
not raise the
money, police
denied ever
having arrested him. His fate and
whereabouts remain unknown. His
father, who continues to search for his
son, is today a broken man.
TORTURE AND DEATHS INCUSTODYThe term "law enforcement personnel"
is used by many in Pakistan with
bitterness. In practice, what the police,
army and paramilitary forces enforce is
not the law, but their will to extract a
bribe, to intimidate or to humiliate
people in their custody. Torture is
widespread, and scores of people die as a
result every year. Police beat, kick and
use electric shocks on detainees, hang
them upside-down and deprive them of
food, sleep or vital medical treatment.
Those families who seek redress face
numerous obstacles. Virtually no police
officers have been brought tojustice for
torturing or
killing detainees
in their custody.
Gradually the
victims are
forgotten.
.javed Masih,
32-year-old
Christian, was
arrested in August
1995 and charged
with theft. Eye-
witnesses said that
police began
beating him
outside his house,
punching and
hitting his head
against a wall until
he lost
consciousness;
they then revived him with water from
the gutter. In the police station they
allegedly gave him electric shocks and
inserted bottles filled with ground red
clnllies and kerosene into his anus. He
died early the following morning. Police
hung him by the neck to simulate
suicide then took lnm to a hospital
saying they had found his body in the
street. His teeth were broken and his
body bore multiple injuries. javed
Masih's family lodged a complaint
holding four police officers responsible
for his murder. In September 1996, the
family agreed to drop the charges of
murder. Local human rights activists
believe the police threatened the family
until they agreed to a "compromise" and
pardoned the suspects.
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONSPolice often take the law into their own
hands. Rather than arrest criminal
suspects or so-called "terrorists", they
shoot them dead. Scores of people are
extrajudicially executed in Pakistan every
year. The official explanation is always
that police fired in self-defence — even
when witnesses saw the victims being
arrested, disarmed and handcuffed.
Naeem Sherry, an activist of the
Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Refugee
National Movement) who had been in
hiding for months, was visiting a friend
in Karachi in March 1996 when police
and paramilitary Rangers raided the
house. They found Narem Sherry hiding
behind a TV cabinet and shot Inm dead
at point-blank range. His friend, Amjad
Baig, was taken outside the house and
shot dead, while his father and mother
pleaded with police to spare Ins life.
Police claimed they fired at Naeem
Sherry in self-defence. The federal
'I fear thatmy sonhas beenkilled. Ispend allmy timelooking forhim nowand tryingto findpeoplewho canhelp mefind him...'Saraf Sultan Ran(V) and his son,Babar Sultan (inset),who "disappeared"in April 1995.
cabinet expressed its "satisfaction" at the
killing; the head of the Human Rights
Ministry said: "It will be most
unfortunate if the death of a ruthless
terrorist is once again portrayed as an
extrajudicial killing... such allegations
only lend support to the terrorists."
COLLUSION IN UNLAWFULPRACTICESA wide range of abuses — including
domestic violence against women and
children; the holding of bonded labour,
including child labour; tribal systems of
retribution which adversely affect
women; and the trafficking in women
and children — are regularly
documented in the media and by human
rights organizations.
Yet successive governments have done
little to implement the international
commitment they have made to protect
women and children, and all too often
officials collude in such practices.
Police have sided with abusive
husbands who pour kerosene on their
wives and set them on fire. They have in
most cases refused to register complaints
and investigate such killings. Bonded
labour is forbidden under a 1992 law, yet
hundreds of bonded labourers,
including women and children, are
discovered every year; police offer
protection to the exploiters, liot the
exploited, and rarely register or pursue
criminal charges.
FEAR OF THE LAWOrdinary law-abiding people in Pakistan
not only fear law enfOrcement
personnel, they also fear the law. SoMe
laws are inherently discriminatory, while
others prescribe cruel punishments.
The Zina Ordinance makes it possible
for women to be imprisoned solely on
the grounds of gender. Over half the
women imprisoned in Pakistan are
charged with the criminal offence of
zinc, (fornication). Some are held
because their fathers do liot like their
husbands and claim that the marriages
are liot valid and hence involves zina.
Some men also fail to register their
divorces and later claim that the second
marriages of their divorced wives are
invalid and hence involve zina.The Zinn Ordinance also allows
women who have been raped to be
accused of zina if they fail to prove rape. A
In cases of zina and rape where the most ksevere punishments — stoning to death
or flogging — are applicable, only the 1.3
testimony of four male Muslims of good
repute is relevant; women's testimony
and medical evidence are not taken into
account at all.
The blasphemy laws of Pakistan nruke
it a criminal offence for Ahmadis —
members of a minority religious group
— to preach, practice or propagate their
faith. Sonic of these laws make it a
criminal offence, punishable by death, to
"defile" the name of the prophet. The
vague fOrmulation of these lass's has also
allowed them to be used us harass,
intimidate, arrest and detain hundreds
of people solely for the exercise of their
right to freedom of religion. Hostility
unvards members of minority groups is
in most cases compounded by personal
enmity, professional jealousy or
eCOnorrliC rivalry. Many blasphemy trials
have involved serious miscarriages of
justice as a result of the intimidating
presence in court of Islamists shouting
slogans or the prejudice ofjudges.
Gul %Bill was sentenced to death in
1992 for allegedly saying blasphemous
words during a quarrel with a neighbour
over a broken community water tap. His
conviction was based solely cm the
strength of the complainant's statement
which the judge said he sayv no reason to
doubt as he was "a young man With a
beard and... the outlook of a true
Muslim".
Bail has sometinies been denied for
long periods to those charged with
blasphemy. Four Ahmadis — Riaz
Ahmad, Isis son and two nephew's —
were arrested in November 1993 in
Mianwali district. They were alleged to
have "said something derogatory" and to
have claimed that the fOunder of their
religion had worked miracles. Their bail
applications. refused in the lower courts,
have been pending in the Supreme
Court since 1994.
Several laws prescribe cruel
punishments, including fettering,
flogging, judicial amputation and public
stoning to death. The use of fetters and
iron chains is still widespread;
amputations and sumings have not been
carried mit for many years butt remain
on the statute book.
While more and more countries
worldwide abolish the death penalty', in
Pakistan the range of offences which
carry the most cruel punishment of all
continues to be expanded. The death
penalty can be imposed for zina, rape,
murder, kidnapping for ransom,
blasphemy, waging war against Pakistan,
and drug-trafficking. In March 1997, on
the verv day that the UN Commission on
Human Rights called on states to
suspend executions with a view to
abolishing the death penalty, the
Pakistan National Assembly passed a bill
to extend the death penalty to gang rape.
Salamat Masih, a Christian, was
sentenced to death in February 1995. He
was acquitted later the same month on
appeal as there was no evidence against
him. At the tirne he was alleged to have
scribbled blasphemous words on the walls
of a mosque in Guijranwala, Punjab
province, Salamat was only 14 years old
'They told me I would go mad in custody and
at some stage threatened to kill me, nobody would know'
Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, abducted in 1994 and held for a month without charge
4
Shahida Parveen(left) was sentencedto death by stoningin 1987. A courtruled that hersexual relations withher second husbandconstituted rape,after her firsthusband deniedhaving divorcedher. She wasacquitted on appeal.
Javed Masih (left)died allegedly asa result oftorture in policecustody.
Jab: 1997 2 7 No. 4 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FOCUS AMNE.STY INTERNATIONAL FOCUSJuly 1997 Vol.27 No.9
WHAT THE GOVERNMENTSHOULD DO
AI is calling on the Government ofPakistan to:
ind illiterate. Soon ifter the arrest ofSalamat and his two co-accused, localIslamists held processitms demandingtheir deaths and during the hearings theythreatened to kill the accused, theirlawyers and thejudge. In April 1994, theaccused were shot at in the streets ofLahore; one of the accused, ManzoorNlasih, was killed, the others were injured.
Salamat's case highlights the dangersof retaining the death penalty. As in anumber of other cases nmnitored by Al,an innocent person was sentenced todeath. The Supreme Court of Pakistanin setting aside a murder conviction anddeath sentence in 1994 considered theconviction seriously flawed and added,"the error committed by the court ... isso serious that had the accused beenhanged, we are afraid that it would haveamounted to murder through.judicialprocess...
In Pakistan, most death sentences arcimposed for murder. This offence isgoverned by the Qisas and Diyal
Ordinance under which, if specificrequirements regarding evidence arefulfilled, the death penalty can beimposed as gisa.s (equal punishment forthe offence). The heirs of the murdervictim have the right to forgive theconvict and instead accept diyat
(compensation).In October 1994 Rehan stood for half
an hour with the noose around his neckwhile his family haggled with the familyof the victim over &vat. He waseventually hanged because he could notafford to pay the price demanded.Despite a government directive not tocarry out executions in public, twoprisoners were hanged in 1995 in frontof hundreds of prisoners, includingother prisoners sentenced to death.
IMPUNITY
Most people in Pakistan are unable toobtain redress for abuses committedagainst them. Agents of the state use allthe means at their disposal to prevent
those responsible being brought to. justice. Police refuse to register orinvestigate complaints; they suppress theevidence; they put pressure on medicalstaff to falsify their reports: and theythreaten complainants until theywithdraw their complaints.
The constitufional guarantee that "la111 cititens are equal before the law and entided to equal protection of law-has remained an empty promise as almostno one responsible for grave humanrights vi(dations has been brought tojustice. Impunity has in turn reinforcedthe belief held by some law enforcementpersonnel that the government sanctionshuman rights violations, setting in motiona self-perpetuating cycle of abuses.
RATIFICATION WITHOUT
HONOURING OBLIGATIONS
Members of vulnerable groups — suchas women, children and members ofethnic or religious minorities — arevirtually condemned to suffer in silence.
Pakistan ratified die UN Conventionon the Rights of the CAfild in 1990 andthe UN Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen in 1996. But this has not helpedwomen and children to eujoy their rightsmore fully because Pakistan has failed tohonour its international obligation tobring its domestic law into line with thetreaties' provisions. Children can still besentenced to death: the Zina Ordinancestill explicitly discriminates againstwomen.
In its report, Pakistan: Time to take
human rights seriously (AI Index: ASA33/13/97)„Al calls on the newGovernment of Pakistan to do just that— to use its strength, having gained atwo-thirds majority in the February 1997elections, to protect and promotehuman rights. Not as a birthday presentfrom the Government of Pakistan to thepeople of Pakistan, but as somethingthey have had a right to for the past 50years.
release all prisoners ofconscience, unconditionally andimmediately;
publicly and unequivocallycondemn torture andextrajudicial executions;
investigate every instance oftorture, death in custody orextrajudicial execution, andbring the perpetrators to justice;
replace all cruel, inhuman anddegrading punishments —including flogging, fettering,judicial amputation and stoningto death — with punishmentswhich are permitted underinternational human rightsstandards;
introduce legislative measures tocurb the abuse of the blasphemylaws as a first step towards theirabolition;
abolish the Zina Ordinance;
implement measures for theprotection of women andchildren to which Pakistan hascommitted itself internationally;
stop all executions and abolishthe death penalty;
ratify international human rightsinstruments, beginning with theInternational Covenant on Civiland Political Rights.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
I Approach your politicalrepresentative to raise with yourgovernment AI's human rightsconcerns in Pakistan.
2 Write politely to the PakistanEmbassy in your country aboutthese concerns.
3 Write politely to:
Khalid Anwar/ Adviser onLaw, Justice and Human Rights/Ministry of Law and Justice/Pakistan Secretariat/ Islamabad/Pakistan
President Farooq Leghari/Office of the President/Islamabad/ Pakistan
Prime Minister NawazSharif/Office of the PrimeMinister/ Islamabad/ Pakistan
Ordinary people have been let down. It is up to the new Government of Pakistan to ensure that thefundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution become a reality.
fah 1997 Vo1.27 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
WORLDWIDEappeals
RAN POSS B E PR SONER OF CONSC ENCE
lo ittcnd the trial ()I Faraj Sarkouhi,
which Wit!, reportedly due to start in early
Faraj Sarkonhi, the editor of
.libnch magazine. is belies cd to have
been detained since kite jantratx 1997.
The authorities claimed that he was
arrested on 2 February while Irving to
leave Iran Illegally, lint there :111' fears
liii 1nS WilS pi/Ink:11h nionyawd
and that he may be a prisoner of
conscience.
Faraj Sitykonhi -disappeared- liii
about seven tvecks in November 1996
froin Tehran iiirport. 'The Iranian
authorities maintained that he had
travelled to Gennany, bin in a letter
believed to have IR'en hv Fara!
Sarkouhi, sent from Iran .ind made
public alter his later ',wrest. he claimed
that he had in f-act been held in
unacknowledged detention and fOrced
to -confess- to espionage and iedultery,
both of which carrt the death penaln.
Faraj Sarkonhi was among 134 writers
who signed an open letter published in
199-1 calling for an end to censorship in
Iran. Seyera1 it the signatories have
since died in unclear cininnstances,
while unconfirmed reports have suggested
that others have received death threats.
Faraj Sarkouhi was also among several
writers W111) were arreSled in September
1996 while meeting to discuss the final
draft of a new charter 01 Ihe Iranian
\Vriters' Association. He was reportedB
released without charge after three days.
'Please write, urgently requesting that
Faraj Sarkouln be released immediately
anti unconditionally if he is not to be
promptly charged with a recognizably
criminal offence and given a fair trial:
urging that the death penalty not he
applied should he he convicted of a
crime; iind seeking assurances that he is
treated humanely and granted regular
access to his family. and doctors and
lawyers of Ins choice. to: His ExcellenCV
The President / lityjjatoleslam Ali Akbar
Hashemi RafSartjani.' The Presidency
Palestine Avenue/ A/crbaijan.
Faraj
Sarkouhi
VENEZUELA — TORTURE / FEARS FOR SAFETY
F élix Faria Arias. a 24-vear-oldF student, was abducted, held for three
hours. ;Ind tortured bv members of the
Vene/uelan security forces in March
1997. There :ire grave COI-IC(111S !hal he
remains al risk of further attacks.
As Felix Farra Arias WaS entering 11112
lilliVerSIIV halls of residence in Bann:4
near (iiiracas, at Ilpm on 8 Nlarch, he
was sei/cd P mom behmd hi tiyo men,
handcuffed and forced into it Land
Cruiser. Once in the vehicle, he was
repeatedly heaten and burned — leaving
more than 40 wounds on his forearm.
I lis abductors threatened to kill him if
he did not give them mformanon about
the activities of the Bawler(' MO, Red
Flag, a legal opposition political party.
1 le was thrown out of the vehicle three
hours later and left on the street.
The following day Fedix Faria Arias
went to Ihe Attorney General's office I()
report Ins abduction and torture.
His abductors reportedly identified
themselves as members of the
Directorate of Intelligence and
Prevention Sellices (DISIM, a special
innt witlnn the security forces. Ftdix
Faria Arias had been detained on
previous occasions bv the DISIP in
connection with his political activities.
He was also inle (11 Ihe winlesSeS I() dn'
killing ()I 111115vrsity studcnt Belinda
Alavare/ ()II 3 .April 1991 bv nwmberstub
the security force's.
The pattern of repeated abductions
and torture in Venezuela raises serious
fears for his safety.
• Please write, expressing concern
about the abduction and torture of Felix
Faria Arias, urging the authorities to take
steps to ensure his safety, and calling for
a prompt, full and impartial
investigation into the attack anti for
those responsible to he brought to
,justice. to: Dr Jos(' Guillermo Andueza
Minister of the Interior NIinisterio de
Relaciones Interiorcs Carmehtas a
Santa Capilla –.Av. Lrdaneta Caracas
Venetuela Fax: (5821 8611967 Telex:
29694 NIRI
An appeal from
you to the
authorities can
help the victims
of human rights
violations
whose stories
are told here.
You can help
free a prisoner
of conscience
or stop torture.
You can bring
liberty to a
victim of
"disappearance".
You may
prevent an
execution.
Every appeal
counts.INDONESIA — HEALTH CONCERNS OVER PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE
Remember:
AI members
should not take
up cases from
their own
countries.
P udjo Prasetio, a 71-
ear-old prisonei
of conscience, has spent the last 30
Years in prison in Indonesia. Despite
serious concerns about his health — he
had a stroke in 1993 and suffers from
Parkinsons Disease — his request to be
transferred to an old people's honw,
where he would access to the
constant medical care he needs. has
recently been turned down.
Pudjo Prasetio Was inn' ()IfIle
111011Sands Of people wnh left-wing
sympathies who were arrested after an
alleged coup attempt in 1965. which is
blamed hy the government on the now-
banned Communist Party of Indonesia
IPMJ A shipbuilder hv trmle :Ind a
trade unionist, Pudic) Prasetio joined
the PM in the 1950s. He WaS arrested in
1967 but was only hrought to tnal in
1979. Alth(mgh there was no evidence
lniking him to the alleged coup
attempt. he WaS finind puny of
subversion and sentenced to hie
nnprisonment.
Thirteen people are still imprisoned
in connection with the alleged coup.
'The health of most of these elderly
prisoners has deteriorated in recent
sears. Many of those imprisoned alter
haVe died III (=liquids , 111()S1
recently the former member of
parliament. Sukatno, who died on 8
Nlitv. He hiid been under sentence of
death snwe his tyial in 1971.
'Please write, calling for the immediate
transfer from prison of Pudic.) Prasetio
and any others among those still
imprismwd in connection with the
alleged 1965 coup attempt who are
suffering from ill health so that they can
obtain the mechcal care they require: to:
President Suharto Presiden RI / Istana
Negara Jalan Veteran Jakarta Pusat
Indonesia.
\MI SIN I \ R\ IRA \I ir1t1.1 1,S jul.. 1997 14.27 .Vo.4
Activists make a commitment to eradicate female genital mutilation
(FGM) at a conference organized by Al's Tanzanian Section in May. The meeting
took place in Dodoma, Tanzania, where FGM is still
prevalent, and focused on
the physical and psychological devastation
caused by a practice which affects 135 million women
and girls worldwide, and on strategies for its eradication. ERV1CATE
[Ng GEO
Conscientious Objection
AI launches its Europe-widecampaign on the right to
conscientious objection tomilitary service. Pictured at aMoscow press conference in
April (from left to right):
Sergey Kovalyov, formerpsri oner of conscience, a
founder of the first Al group in Moscow, and Russia's first
Ombudsman on Human Rights; Vadim Hesse, a
conscientious objector to military service, released
from prison in March 1996 after a successful AI
campaign on his behalf; Valery Borshchev, Duma
deputy and major supporter of the alternative service law.
comemovuotX BO
kuipa ,OTmid myCBO6001 01111111P
egpacCyAKOB ,"Nom K TINY.orpaH04
MOZAMBIQUE
A landmark for humanrights protection
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...AI CAMPAIGNS...Female Genital Mutilation
Council of Europe condemns Russian Federation and Ukraine for continuing executions
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