Venezuela: End Prosecutions of Dissenters
(Washington, DC) – The arrest of two prominent critics in retaliation for public statements that were critical of the government is a serious blow to freedom of expression in Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said today.
Libya: 202 Prisoners Released But Hundreds Still Held Arbitrarily
(New York) – The release on March 24 of at least 202 prisoners, including 80 who had been acquitted but continued to be held, was a positive step, but Libya should release all prisoners who continue to be detained despite judicial orders for their release, Human Rights Watch said today.
Bangladesh urged to lift ban on extrajudicial executions exhibition
Hours before the ‘Crossfire’ exhibition was due to open at a special ceremony in Dhaka, police moved in and demanded that the organizers cancel it.
Amnesty International has urged the Bangladeshi authorities to lift a ban on an exhibition of photographs raising awareness about alleged extrajudicial executions carried out by a special police unit.
“Yesterday’s closure of the Drik Picture Library exhibition ‘Crossfire’ in Dhaka is a blow to the right to freedom of expression,” said Amnesty International’s Bangladesh Researcher, Abbas Faiz. “The government of Bangladesh must act immediately to lift the police ban and protect the right to peaceful expression in words, images or any other media in accordance with Bangladesh’s constitution and international law.”
Hours before the “Crossfire” exhibition was due to open at a special ceremony in Dhaka, police moved in and demanded that the organizers cancel it. When they refused to shut it down police closed the premises, claiming that the exhibition had no official permission to open and would “create anarchy”.
The exhibition includes photographs based on Drik’s case studies of killings in Bangladesh, which government officials have portrayed as deaths in “crossfire”.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Bangladesh since 2004 when the special police force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), was established.
In most cases, victims who die in the custody of RAB and other police personnel, are later announced to have been killed during “crossfire” or police “shoot-outs”.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations consider these killings to be extrajudicial executions.
Human rights lawyers in Bangladesh see the closure of the exhibition as unjustified and with no legal basis. They are seeking a court order to lift the police ban on the exhibition.
Drik’s Director, Shahidul Alam says he has held hundreds of other exhibitions without needing official permission, and that “the government invoked a prohibitive clause only because state repression was being exposed”.
Abbas Faiz said: “By closing the ‘Crossfire’ exhibition, the government of Bangladesh has effectively reinforced a culture of impunity for human rights violations. Amnesty International is calling for the government to take action against those who carry out extrajudicial executions, not those who raise their voices against it.”
The ban is also inconsistent with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledges that her government would take action to end extrajudicial executions.
Amnesty International has urged authorities to allow peaceful protests against the killings and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
For a link to photographs planned for the exhibition:
http://www.shahidulnews.com/crossfire/
Bangladesh: Allow Photo Exhibit of Crossfire Killings
(New York) – The government of Bangladesh should allow a photo exhibit about extrajudicial executions in Dhaka to go ahead as planned, Human Rights Watch said today. Barring the exhibit from opening was a serious violation of freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said. There have been hundreds of such killings in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh urged to lift ban on extrajudicial killings exhibition
Hours before the ‘Crossfire’ exhibition was due to open at a special ceremony in Dhaka, police moved in and demanded that the organizers cancel it.
Amnesty International has urged the Bangladeshi authorities to lift a ban on an exhibition of photographs raising awareness about alleged extrajudicial executions carried out by a special police unit.
“Yesterday’s closure of the Drik Picture Library exhibition ‘Crossfire’ in Dhaka is a blow to the right to freedom of expression,” said Amnesty International’s Bangladesh Researcher, Abbas Faiz. “The government of Bangladesh must act immediately to lift the police ban and protect the right to peaceful expression in words, images or any other media in accordance with Bangladesh’s constitution and international law.”
Hours before the “Crossfire” exhibition was due to open at a special ceremony in Dhaka, police moved in and demanded that the organizers cancel it. When they refused to shut it down police closed the premises, claiming that the exhibition had no official permission to open and would “create anarchy”.
The exhibition includes photographs based on Drik’s case studies of killings in Bangladesh, which government officials have portrayed as deaths in “crossfire”.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Bangladesh since 2004 when the special police force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), was established.
In most cases, victims who die in the custody of RAB and other police personnel, are later announced to have been killed during “crossfire” or police “shoot-outs”.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations consider these killings to be extrajudicial executions.
Human rights lawyers in Bangladesh see the closure of the exhibition as unjustified and with no legal basis. They are seeking a court order to lift the police ban on the exhibition.
Drik’s Director, Shahidul Alam says he has held hundreds of other exhibitions without needing official permission, and that “the government invoked a prohibitive clause only because state repression was being exposed”.
Abbas Faiz said: “By closing the ‘Crossfire’ exhibition, the government of Bangladesh has effectively reinforced a culture of impunity for human rights violations. Amnesty International is calling for the government to take action against those who carry out extrajudicial executions, not those who raise their voices against it.”
The ban is also inconsistent with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledges that her government would take action to end extrajudicial executions.
Amnesty International has urged authorities to allow peaceful protests against the killings and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
For a link to photographs planned for the exhibition:
http://www.shahidulnews.com/crossfire/
March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day
Many people think that tuberculosis is a disease of antiquity, eliminated decades ago by improvements in living conditions and the discovery of effective antibiotic treatment. But one-third of the world’s population has been infected with TB and in 2008, there were more than nine million new cases, about three million more than two decades ago.
Why isn’t it going away?
Cuban ‘Lady in White’ tells of police repression
Laura Pollan who, has been campaigning for the release of her husband since 2003, talks about police ill-treatment and her work on behalf of prisoners of conscience.
Laura Pollan is one of the “Ladies in White”, who has been demonstrating in Havana for the release of relatives imprisoned for their criticism of the Cuban government.
Her husband, Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez, 67, is an engineer and independent journalist and one of 75 people arrested during a crackdown by the authorities in March 2003.
He received a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted under laws that Amnesty International believes to be so vague that they are currently being interpreted in a way that infringes fundamental human rights.
Laura spoke to Amnesty International about the ill treatment she experienced when detained by police during a demonstration in Havana last week and her work on behalf of prisoners of conscience, one of whom died earlier this month following a hunger strike, in Cuba.
She began by describing a protest by the “Ladies in White” that took place on Thursday 17 March.
“We went to the Saint Barbara church in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo. We decided to go to Arroyo Naranjo because Miguel Valdés Tamayo died there. We arranged a mass for him, as we did for Orlando Tamayo Zapata [who died on hunger strike], as they were the two prisoners of conscience who passed away.
“We also wanted to go to the house of Orlando Fundora, who had been on hunger strike. Although he had stopped it, we wanted to know about his health. His home is seven or eight blocks from the church. That is where they [the security forces] attacked us.
“We were walking with a gladioli [a flower] in our hands, as we always do, when they [government supporters] started shouting at us. We only replied by saying ‘Freedom!’
“I have got many scratches and bruises on my body, because the police forced us onto buses. I still have a wound on my thumb.
“Once on the bus, they took us around many places. People were looking at us.
“We were carrying pencils and gladioli that we always distribute during our walks. Pencils saying ‘human rights’, saying ‘Ladies in White’. When we were on the bus, I was throwing pencils and gladioli [from the window]. People could not collect them immediately, but I’m convinced that later, out of curiosity, they would go and collect them; this way they would know that those who threw them were human rights defenders, the Ladies in White.
“When we arrived home, there were many people around. They had placed police patrols to close the way. There were many people watching.
“A woman said: ‘but if they are not doing anything wrong, the only thing they want is their husbands’ freedom, why do they treat them like this?’
“They [the police] can do anything they want. People are too scared to join in [demonstrations].
“We are exhausted. Whilst our relatives are in jail, the Damas de Blanco have to have the strength to be able to call for their freedom, and get them out of those prisons where they should never have been put.
“I have been invited to Holland for a film festival, but I know that they are not going to allow me to travel, they are not going to give me permission to leave.
“They told me I should go to the Ministry of Education and ask the Minister to give me permission to travel. They told me that if the Minister gives me a permit, then it would be seen by the Office of Migration. This doesn’t make sense. I am 62.
“I have been retired from my work [as teacher] for more than 5 years, so why does the Ministry of Education have to give me permission before seeking a further authorization from the Office of Migration? This is because they don’t want to appear to be the ones who will not allow me to travel. The Ministry [of Education] has got my file waiting for an authorization since November 2005.
“I think they have had them [the prisoners of conscience] in prison for too long, seven years, just for wanting to say what they think, to enjoy freedom of movement, free association. They are not terrorists. They just defend human rights and want a better future for Cuba, a future of peace and democracy.”
Iran: New Coordinated Attack on Human Rights Groups
(New York) – Iran’s state-owned media, judiciary, and security forces have opened a coordinated attack on human rights groups in recent weeks under the guise of defending the nation against "cyber warfare," Human Rights Watch said today.
Malaysia must end abuse of migrant workers
Lured to the country on the promise of jobs, many people from countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal are used in forced labour or exploited in other ways.
The Malaysian authorities should take action to end widespread workplace and police abuses of the migrant workers who make up more than 20 per cent of the country’s workforce, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.
Trapped: The Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Malaysia documents widespread abuses against migrant workers from eight South Asian and Southeast Asian countries who are lured to Malaysia by the promise of jobs but are instead used in forced labour or exploited in other ways.
“Migrant workers are critical to Malaysia’s economy, but they systematically receive less legal protection than other workers,” said Michael Bochenek, the report author and director of policy at Amnesty International. “They are easy prey for unscrupulous recruitment agents, employers and corrupt police.”
Migrants, many from Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nepal, are forced to work in hazardous situations, often against their will, and toil for 12 hours a day or more. Many are subject to verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
Most pay recruitment agents substantial sums of money to secure jobs, work permits and training. Once they arrive, they often find that much of what their agents told them about their new jobs is untrue — the pay, type of work, even the existence of those jobs or their legal status in the country.
Most workers have taken out loans at exorbitant interest rates and simply cannot afford to return to their home countries. Some are in situations close to bonded labour.
Nearly all employers hold their workers’ passports, placing workers at risk of arrest and in practice preventing them from leaving abusive workplaces. Coercive practices such as these are indicators of forced labour.
Labour laws are not effectively enforced, and labour courts may take months or years to resolve cases. For domestic workers, who are not covered by most of the labour laws, recourse to the courts is usually not an option.
“Malaysia can and must do better for its workforce. Everyone, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to safe and fair working conditions and to equal treatment under the law,” said Michael Bochenek.
Amnesty International’s report concludes that many workers are victims of human trafficking. The Malaysian government has the responsibility to prevent such abuses but instead facilitates trafficking through its loose regulation of recruitment agents and through laws and policies that fail to protect workers.
In addition, Amnesty International heard over a dozen cases in which Malaysian authorities delivered immigration detainees to traffickers operating on the Thai border between 2006 and 2009.
Malaysia imposes severe and excessive criminal penalties — in some cases caning — on migrants who work without proper permits, even when errors by the employer are the reason for immigration violations.
Large-scale, public roundups in markets and on city streets and indiscriminate, warrantless raids on private dwellings in poorer neighbourhoods are common. Police frequently ask migrants for bribes. Those who cannot pay are arrested and held in deplorable conditions in immigration detention centres.
“The Malaysian government must stop criminalizing its migrant worker force and instead tackle forced and compulsory labour,” said Michael Bochenek. “Until Malaysia’s labour laws offer effective protection and are effectively enforced, exploitation will continue.”
Amnesty International called on the Malaysian government to reform its labour laws and promptly investigate abuses in the workplace and by police. Malaysia should also make more effective use of its Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act to prosecute individuals who recruit, transport or receive workers through fraud or deception in order to exploit them.
This work is part of Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity campaign, which aims to end the human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty. The campaign will mobilize people all over the world to demand that governments, corporations and others who have power listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights. For more information visit the Demand Dignity website.
Tunisia Tries to Silence Human Rights Watch
(Tunis) – The Tunisian authorities blocked journalists from attending a Human Rights Watch briefing to release a report critical of the government, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 22 and 23, 2010, officials said they would not allow Human Rights Watch to hold the event but did not present any legal basis for the decision.