Nigeria: Investigate Killings by Security Forces
(Jos, Nigeria) – The Plateau State Judicial Commission of Inquiry in Nigeria should investigate and call for the prosecution of members of the security forces responsible for the alleged killing of more than 130 people in November 2008, Human Rights Watch said today.
Wife of Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Speaks For Falun Gong on Anniversary
This is a moving, inspirational speech from Geng He, wife of the renowned human rights laywer Gao Zhisheng who is currently imprisoned in China. Geng He and her children escaped to the United States after intense persecution and harassment from the Chinese regime’s authorities since Gao Zhisheng has spoken out against the perseuction of Falun Gong on numerous occasion. She gave this speech over the weekend during activities marking the 10th year of the persecution of Falun Gong practitoners in China.
Here’s a powerful excerpt:
Though the same persecution as those done to the Falun Gong practitioners happened to our family and Gao himself, because of his three open letters, and Gao’s whereabouts is not known currently, we have never regretted his actions. Gao has said, to end this nation’s sufferings, we need people with high morals, Falun Gong practitioners have done it, and we must also do our part. Not to mention that there is also God, whose will cannot be resisted. When God is standing with us in this battle, dawn won’t be too far away.
Read her full speech here:
Wife of Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Speaks For Falun Gong on Anniversary
India: End Manipur Killings
(New York) – The Manipur state government in northeastern India should act to end a cycle of unpunished violence, including killings, by security forces and armed groups, Human Rights Watch said today.
Cambodian security forces forcibly evict 60 low-income families
Sixty low-income families in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia were forcibly evicted from their homes by security forces on Thursday and Friday.
The families dismantled their homes after three years of government harassment and intimidation, with no choice but to accept inadequate compensation rather than have their homes demolished.
“Amnesty International strongly condemns this forced eviction and the deeply flawed process that led to it,” said Brittis Edman, Amnesty International’s Cambodia researcher.
Before dawn on Friday, at least 70 security forces, some armed with guns and electronic batons, moved in and blocked off the area known as Group 78 where four remaining families were holding out. Human rights workers and journalists were monitoring the situation. Dozens of hired workers demolished what was left of the dismantled houses. Within hours, the resisting families had agreed to leave.
The families in Group 78 had been living under the threat of forced evictions for three years, with the Cambodian authorities following none of the safeguards required under international law.
“Group 78 was clearly cut off from due process and denied justice. The Municipality of Phnom Penh made no attempts to properly consult with the affected community or explore any feasible alternative to eviction,” said Brittis Edman. “This makes a mockery of the government’s obligations to protect the right to housing.”
The Municipality issued a final eviction notice to Group 78 in April 2009 and, in a series of subsequent meetings, officials, including Phnom Penh’s deputy governor, warned the community that the police and military police would demolish their homes if they did not accept the compensation on offer. The community had also received information that up to 700 security forces had been mobilized for the eviction.
Group 78 residents started moving into the area on the riverfront in 1983 and have applied for formal land titles several times since 2006, but the authorities have ignored their applications in spite of official documentation proving strong ownership claims.
The final eviction order was issued by the Municipality, which has no mandate under national law to issue such a document, and without the judicial overview required under the 2001 Land Law. It was issued despite the fact that a local Commission has yet to determine who owns the disputed land. The options for alternative accommodation and compensation offered by the Municipality were inadequate.
Under international law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR), Cambodia is prohibited from carrying out forced evictions, and must protect people from forced evictions.
The Cambodian Government has consistently failed to guarantee the right to adequate housing and protect its population against forced evictions. In 2008 alone, Amnesty International received reports about 27 forced evictions, affecting an estimated 23,000 people. Amnesty International is repeating its calls on the government to end forced evictions and introduce a moratorium on all mass evictions until the legal framework protects human rights.
As part of its Demand Dignity campaign, launched in May 2009, Amnesty International has called on the Cambodian Government to end forced evictions and introduce a moratorium on all mass evictions until the legal framework protects human rights.
The organization also called on governments globally to take all necessary measures, including the adoption of laws and policies that comply with international human rights law, to prohibit and prevent forced evictions.
China: Cease Attacks on Rights Lawyers
(New York) – The Chinese government’s closure of a Beijing-based legal aid and research organization and disbarment of 53 Beijing lawyers marks a sharp intensification of official efforts to silence China’s human rights defenders, Human Rights Watch said today.
Letter from the parents of murdered Russian journalist, Anastasia Baburova
Lawyer and human rights defender Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were murdered six months ago – on 19 January 2009 – in the centre of Moscow by an unknown man.
Stanislav Markelov was shot dead at about 2pm after attending a press conference at which he had discussed plans to appeal against the early release of a Russian former colonel who was imprisoned for the murder of a Chechen girl.
Anastasia Baburova, a journalist from the newspaper Novaya Gazeta who was accompanying Stanislav Markelov, was seriously injured when she tried to stop the killer. She died later that day in hospital, without regaining consciousness.
Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova’s killings are being investigated by the Main investigative Department of the Investigative Committee at Prosecutor General’s office.
The following is a letter from the parents of Anastasia Baburova to Amnesty International…
We want to thank Amnesty International activists for the attention and concern you have shown towards Stanislav Yurevich Markelov and our dear and beloved daughter Nastenka [Anastasia] Baburova.
We hope that the international community’s demands made of the President and government of Russia will have a positive influence on the course of the investigation and on bringing to justice the killer and those who ordered the killing. It is wrong to be indifferent and to forgive any crime, and even more so when people are killed. No one has the right to take a human life.
The work that the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and the journalist Anastasia Baburova were doing was connected with protecting people, nature, and our environment from crude interference and annihilation. They loved Russia and fought for its image. Nastia was deeply offended by the debasement of human dignity:
"It is hard to look in the eye a Korean student, who has just been hit on the temple by two young yobs as they jump off a moving tram and run away. They jumped out, gave a Nazi salute towards the tram and ran off. They clearly copied this method from subway thieves"
19 November 2007
And again: "I couldn’t sleep; I left home at seven in the morning, lying on the ground I saw a murder victim"
9 August 2008
We think that these lines are hard for any reasonable person to read. Like all parents we tried to shield our daughter from any harm. But she noticed it all the same, and tried her best to protest against it.
Nastenka was someone who expected a lot of herself: responsible, honest, kind, beautiful inside and out. She was true to her friends, and always ready to sacrifice her own interests for the sake of friendship. Our daughter was equally as unselfish as Stanislav Markelov, who helped everyone without recompense and did not profit from the misfortune of others.
Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova were highly educated people. Stanislav gave such wonderful lectures on the history of the Russian state! People listened to those lectures with such interest and amazement!
Anastasia was fluent in English, French and Ukrainian, graduated from high school with the highest possible grades, played competitive chess at a senior level, was competent at computer programming, practised yoga and martial arts, and was due to graduate from the journalism faculty of Moscow State University. She was enthusiastic about making a parachute jump and going underground exploring with the Sevastopol diggers. And still she protected us, her parents, from any anxiety.
The eminent Ukrainian writer, Nicolai Ostrovsky, once said: "A person is only given one life, and one should live it in such a way that one will not agonize over years lived aimlessly, so that there will be no burning shame about a mean and insignificant past, and that, on dying, one will be able to say: all my life and all my efforts were given to the struggle to free humanity."
We believe that Stas and Nastia were guided by these words in their lives. Our daughter wrote to us saying that her view of the world was shaped while she was still at school: "Just remember the books I used to read then!"
She was proud of her professional activity, and wrote to us: "I really want you, my parents, to know about what I am doing!"
And we read her articles about economics in "Izvestia" but we didn’t know anything about her work for "Novaya Gazeta".
How hardened and certain of his impunity must the killer be, if he calmly, in full view of many people, could shoot Stanislav and our daughter? Shoot them and just as calmly leave the scene of the crime. And Stanislav, and Nastia, who was still alive, lay on the snow in pools of blood. And not one of the passers-by came to their aid, nobody helped to stop the killer.
This is why we believe it is important to remind the Russian leadership about the demands to find and punish the killer and those who ordered this crime.
With gratitude, Eduard Fyodorovich Baburov and Larisa Ivanovna Baburova.
Uganda: Charge or Release People Secretly Detained
(New York) – The Ugandan government should urgently charge or release five detainees held by military intelligence, one of them for 16 months, Human Rights Watch said today. Lawyers for the detainees’ families and friends filed petitions for habeas corpus with the High Court in Kampala on July 17, 2009 seeking to compel the government to justify the legal basis for continuing detention.
Death in custody in France highlights police abuse accusations
A young man of Algerian origin died in unclear circumstances in France last week, following a night in police custody. The death comes three months after the publication of an Amnesty International report detailing human rights violations committed by French police officers – frequently against ethnic minorities, reflecting a pattern of impunity.
According to media reports, 21-year-old Mohamed Benmouna, who had been arrested on extortion charges, died on 8 July. Police said he had attempted to hang himself in his cell and fell into a coma. He died in hospital.
Three nights of rioting and arson by youths in protest at Benmouna’s death, took place in the small southern French town of Firminy, where Benmouna worked as a supermarket cashier. Police are reported to have fired teargas and plastic bullets.
Benmouna’s family filed a lawsuit to establish the circumstances of his death and whether alleged police ill-treatment was covered up.
According to local state prosecutor, Jacques Pin, an autopsy confirmed that Benmouna died of suffocation and that his body showed no signs of violence. A second autopsy confirmed his death by suffocation.
Mr Pin also said that there was no video recording of Benmouna’s period in custody, as the camera in his cell was apparently not working. The internal police inspectorate has opened an investigation.
Published on 2 April, Amnesty International’s report Public outrage: Police officers above the law in France, revealed how allegations of unlawful killings, beatings, racial abuse and excessive use of force by France’s police officers are rarely investigated effectively.
The report showed how procedures for investigating complaints against the police in France fail to meet standards required by international law. Individuals who complain of police ill-treatment increasingly often find themselves charged with the criminal offences of insulting or assaulting a police officer. Amnesty International’s research showed that the vast majority of complaints come from French citizens from ethnic minorities or foreign nationals.
One of the cases detailed in Amnesty International’s report was that of Abou Bakari Tandia. An irregular migrant of Malian origin, he fell into a coma in a cell in the police station in Courbevoie, Paris in December 2004, after being taken in for an identity check. He died shortly afterwards without ever regaining consciousness. The autopsy report stated his death was the result of multiple organ failure, but did not indicate how this was caused.
In March 2005 the public prosecutor closed the investigation into his death without further action, having found "no evidence to support a prosecution".
In April that year, Abou Bakari Tandia’s family made a civil party complaint of "torture and ill-treatment resulting in death", and the case was reopened. ??Around this time Abou Bakari Tandia’s family was informed that the CCTV camera in his cell was not working on the night of his arrest because a detainee had pulled out its cables. It was later proven that this was not true.
More than five years on, the cause of Abou Bakari Tandia’s death has still not been established.
Amnesty International called on the French authorities to take steps to reform the current system of investigating allegations of human rights violations by law enforcement officials, and create an independent police complaints commission with adequate powers and resources to conduct thorough and effective investigations.
"Whatever the cause of Mohamed Benmouna’s death turns out to be, incidents like this clearly demonstrate the need for thorough, independent and impartial investigations", said David Diaz-Jogeix, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme. "Such investigations are essential to eradicate impunity for serious human rights violations which may be committed by police officers, and to clear all suspicion when such accusations are misplaced."
Palestinian Authority: Lift the Ban on Al Jazeera
(Jerusalem) – The Palestinian Authority should immediately reverse its decision to suspend the operations of Al Jazeera satellite television in the West Bank, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human rights activist Natalia Estemirova murdered in Russia
Amnesty International has strongly condemned Wednesday’s murder of Natalia Estemirova, a leading human rights activist working in the North Caucasus region and a long-standing friend of the organization.
"Natalia Estemirova’s murder is a consequence of the impunity that has been allowed to persist by the Russian and Chechen authorities," said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Natalia Estemirova, one of the leading members of the Russian human rights NGO Memorial in Grozny, Chechnya, was abducted on Wednesday at around 8:30am local time. She was dragged into a white car (VAZ-2107) and driven off in an unknown direction. According to witnesses, Natalia Estemirova managed to shout out that she was being abducted.
Later on Wednesday, the Russian news agency Itar-TASS reported that her body had been found in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia with gunshot wounds.
"Human rights violations in Russia, and especially in the North Caucasus, can no longer be ignored. And those who stand up for human rights need protection," said Irene Khan.
"The terrible tragedy of the killing of Natalia Estemirova is a crime that should be denounced by the authorities and every effort must be made to bring those responsible to justice. It is yet another attempt to try to gag civil society in Russia and highlights the instability in the region."
"Natalia Estemirova was a most courageous and inspiring woman who never tired of defending the human rights of others. She was a truly exceptional person and a friend to many of us."
"We are shocked and saddened by the news of her death and wish to express our deepest sympathy for the family of Natalia Estemirova, for her friends and for her colleagues."
Natalia Estemirova’s work was crucial in documenting human rights violations in the region, such as torture and other ill-treatment, unlawful killings and enforced disappearances, since the start of the second Chechnya war in 2000. She also devoted herself to providing assistance to displaced people and other socially disadvantaged groups. No one has claimed responsibility, but colleagues believe she was killed for her human rights activities.
Her work has been recognized both at home and internationally by numerous awards, including the Robert Schuman medal of the European Parliament (2005), the Right Livelihood Award of the Swedish Parliament (2004 – the so-called Alternative Nobel Peace Prize), and she was the first recipient of the Anna Politkovskaya Award (2007).
The murder of Natalia Estemirova sheds further light on the precarious circumstances in which human rights defenders work in the Russian Federation. It follows the killings earlier this year of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, both close friends and colleagues of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who herself was murdered in 2006.
Amnesty International has called for an end to impunity for the murder of human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers in Russia.