Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities to release three US nationals who have been detained without charge or trial for a year.

Shane Michael Bauer, Joshua Felix Fattal and Sarah Emily Shourd were arrested by Iranian forces while they were hiking in the Iraq-Iran border area on 31 July 2009.

“One year on from their arrest it appears clear that the Iranian authorities do not have substantial grounds to prosecute these three individuals, and we fear that they may be held on account of their nationality,” said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“If so, they should be released immediately and allowed to leave Iran.”

“If they are not to be freed, they must be charged with recognizably criminal offences and be tried according to international standards for a fair trial.”

Iranian officials have alleged that the three planned to carry out “acts of espionage” in Iran. Their families and the US government deny this and the three have not been formally charged.

Iranian claims that the three were arrested after straying into Iran have been challenged by The Nation, an American weekly news publication, which said it had eyewitness testimony that they were seized in Iraq by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and taken forcibly into Iran.

Statements by senior Iranian leaders – including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in February 2010 – have suggested that the three may be being detained in order to put pressure on the US government and to extract diplomatic concessions.

“If this were the case, then the continuing detention of these three individuals would amount to hostage-taking and be a very serious abuse of human rights,” said Malcolm Smart.

One year after their arrest, the Iranian authorities’ failure to charge them with illegal entry into Iran or more serious charges, such as espionage, has fuelled speculation that the Iranian authorities are holding them as a bargaining chip.

“We believe that their questioning ended several months ago, so if serious charges were being considered these should have been brought by now.”

The three are held at Tehran’s Evin Prison. They were allowed to telephone their families only several months after their arrest but in May 2010 they were taken to a Tehran hotel and allowed to meet their mothers who had travelled to Iran from the USA.

An Iranian lawyer appointed by their families to represent the three has not been given access to them and Swiss embassy officials, who represent US consular interests in Iran, have not been allowed to visit them since last April.

The families of two of the detainees, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer, say they have health problems which require regular monitoring.

“The detainees must be given immediate access to their lawyer, to renewed consular access and contact with their families, and to any medical attention or treatment that they need,” said Malcolm Smart.

“The Iranian authorities must release these three US nationals without delay and allow them to leave Iran unless they are to face recognizable criminal charges and be tried promptly according to recognized international standards for fair trial.”

Two of the detainees' mothers voice their frustration

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal have been held without charge for a year

Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi is one of hundreds of human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who face arrest, harassment, threats and even death over their work.

As head of the Goma-based Promotion of Democracy and Protection of Human Rights NGO (Promotion De La Democratie et Protection des Droits Humains) he has witnessed first-hand the increase in threats against activists and journalists in the DRC over the past year

Just last month, days before the DRC celebrated 50 years of independence, came the funeral of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, the country’s most prominent human rights activist, whose body was found the day after he was summoned to meet with Kinshasa police.

Floribert Chebeya was the executive director of one of the Congo’s largest human rights organizations and had been working on a number of sensitive affairs involving the head of Police General John Numbi. His body was found in his car early on 2 June.

“Floribert Chebeya was not a politician, he was not opposed to the government or to the opposition. He was a man who was trying to extend freedom and promote respect for the rights of citizens,” Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi told Amnesty International when he visited the organization.

“He defended people in Kinshasa, Bas-Congo and Equateur, not for political reasons, but for civic reasons and for the love of his country, of his fellow men, of his fellow citizens.”

Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi met and worked with Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, while trying to raise public awareness about the importance of the 2011 presidential and national elections.

“Floribert Chebeya’s capacity to inspire people to act and his capacity to organise successful action in defence of human rights and democracy might have upset people with bad intentions,” he said.

“Negative people are unable to tolerate a man like Floribert Chebeya. That is what human rights defenders are afraid of in the DRC.”

After he heard news of Floribert Chebeya’s death, Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi said he felt as though he had lost his voice. He, like other activists, felt anxious and intimidated.

“The death of a great human rights activist is like cutting the head off human rights organizations,” he said

“We do not believe that people will get going again immediately. If those implicated in the death of Floribert Chebeya and the disappearance of his colleague who was driving the vehicle, Fidele Bazana, are not brought before the courts in a serious manner, we fear that this might destroy or discourage the human rights movement in the DRC.”

“Because of this death, the death of a giant like Floribert, we fear that others will abandon human rights activism. They are going to ask themselves why defend human rights if there is a risk of being killed and the killers are not even brought to justice and the truth does not come out even when such a serious crime as this is committed.”

As part of his work, Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi visits detention centres to monitor the conditions in which people are being held.

He also visits secret prisons (military intelligence services, immigration services), which often escape the judiciary’s attention, to ask the security authorities to hand over detainees to the appropriate services.

“The people in charge of some services think they are not accountable to the judiciary. It is a serious problem. The security forces often want to arrest people without taking into account that the power of arrest lies with the courts and tribunals.” he said.

Since 2002, Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi has been detained several times for his work. In December 2005 he and some colleagues were kidnapped and taken to the T2 military intelligence detention centre in Goma where they were tortured. They were finally released after an appeal by Amnesty International.

“When we were arrested and were ourselves beaten and tortured, we saw other people being treated in the same way, particularly at T2 and Chien Méchant (another military detention centre in Goma).”

“If you look at the officer who ties your hands behind your back, he slaps you. If you turn your head, he hits you again. This is inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Despite being harassed, threatened, arbitrarily arrested and tortured, Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi is convinced that the work he does with PDH does is worthwhile.

“Our organization’s work is beneficial and helps many victims. We believe that without it there would be massive human rights violations, many more than there are now. We have also had a positive response from the security services, police services and intelligence services in some cases. We think that the situation would be even more out of control if the organization was not active.

“Politicians try to pressure us into abandoning human rights activism. We just want to help establish the rule of law and to build a country that respects human rights, without belonging to a political party or being the property of any particular group.”

Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi on the risks of fighting for human rights in the DRC

Since 2002, Joseph Dunia Ruyenzi has been detained several times for his work

Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was found dead the day after he was to meet with the police

read more

Amnesty International has condemned the closed trial and conviction of three Uighur website managers on state security charges.

Dilshat Perhat, web manager and owner of the Diyarim website was sentenced to five years by an Urumqi court in a closed trial on 21 July; Nureli, web manager of Salkin was sentenced to three years; and Nijat Azat, web manager of Shabnam was sentenced to 10 years, according to Dilmurat Perhat, Dishat’s brother.

The three websites were among the most popular Uighur language news and community forums operating in Xinjiang prior to the 5 July 2009 riots.

”The Chinese governments’ attempts to control all online activity in Xinjiang is not going to silence those with genuine grievances,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific Director for Amnesty International. “These three Uighur web managers must be released.”

Dilmurat was repeatedly warned by Xinjiang authorities against speaking to the media about his brother Dilshat’s case. He had earlier complied with their demands out of fear that his brother could be convicted. “But today, I’m not worried because my brother has been sentenced already,” Dilmurat told Amnesty International from the United Kingdom.

“This government charge against my brother and the other Uighur websites was for endangering state security, but they didn’t do anything” said Dilmurat, who had worked with his brother Dilshat in managing the Diyarim website.

“My brother was supportive of the Chinese government always. We ran the website from 2002 to 2009 – for seven years, we didn’t have any problems with the Chinese government.”

Dilmurat says that the secret nature of the Urumqi trials were a result of government fear of protest, because “the Chinese government has not any evidence to sentence these people.”

He suspects that web managers came under pressure from authorities due to articles that anonymous people posted on their websites prior to the 5 July, 2009 riots in Urumqi. The riots led to 197 deaths according to official figures, and more than 1,400 detentions.

Amnesty International’s investigation of the riots suggests that the Chinese government used excessive force in dealing with the riots and in their aftermath, arbitrarily detained Uighurs, and mistreated detainees. AI’s findings were published in June 2010 as ‘Justice, Justice’ – The July 2009 protests in Xinjiang, China.

From 3 July 2009, Dilmurat’s brother notified Chinese security officials five to six times to notify them that articles calling for a peaceful demonstration had been posted anonymously on the Diyaram website, and that he had deleted them. A demonstration notice was posted again at 3:30 am on Sunday 5 July, on the Diyarim, Salkin and Shabnam websites, and the web managers were not able to remove them until later in the day.

Following the riots, the three websites were all closed down by government censors.

Amnesty International is calling for the release of the Uighur language web managers and for the release of other arbitrarily detained Uighurs.

Prominent Uighur journalist Hairat Niyaz was recently sentenced to 15 years imprisonment through a secret trial in Urumqi, for little more than giving interviews to Hong Kong media.

Uighur writer Gulmira Imin, who had contributed to the Salkin website, was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2010 for ‘splittism, leaking state secrets and organising an illegal demonstration.’ During her trial she alleged torture and ill-treatment in detention.

Web manager Dilshat Perhat was sentenced to five years in jail by an Urumqi court

read more

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) must bring to justice those responsible for the murder a human rights defender five years ago, Amnesty International and Minority Rights Group International said.

Pascal Kabungulu, a prominent human rights activist, was killed on 31 July 2005 by a group of armed men who broke into his house in Bukavu in eastern DRC, dragged him out of his bedroom and shot him dead in front of his family.

The trial of the men accused of killing him, who include a Colonel in DRC’s armed forces, has been deadlocked since December 2005.

“President Joseph Kabila made a public and personal commitment in 2006 that justice would be done in the case of Pascal Kabungulu,” said Claire Morclette, DRC campaigner at Amnesty International.

“The fact that Pascal’s wife and six children have had to flee the country and yet his killers remain free makes a mockery of this promise.”

In a joint letter to the Congolese Minister of Justice and the Minister of Defence, the two human rights organizations pressed for a speedy resumption in the trial of Pascal Kabungulu’s alleged killers, last adjourned in December 2005.

After an investigation into Pascal’s murder, a number of soldiers were arrested and a military tribunal opened in late November 2005. It was suspended after evidence emerged that more senior political and military figures may have been involved in the killing.

The ruling of the military tribunal was that a higher military court had to hear the case, but no date has been announced for the new trial.

While some of the accused have remained in detention since 2005, the senior figures alleged to be involved in Pascal Kabungulu’s death remain at large, including a brigade commander of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC). The commander in question has not even been suspended from duty.

“Pascal’s family have waited too long to see justice done,” said Carl Soderbergh of Minority Rights Group International.

“Other human rights defenders in the DRC will remain at risk if senior figures in the army and in government are seen to act above the law.”

The body of another leading human rights defender, Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, was found bound in the back of his car in Kinshasa on 2 June 2010.

The trial of the men accused of killing Pascal Kabungulu has been deadlocked since 2005

Amnesty International has urged the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against two leading human rights activists and a well-known blogger whose trial is expected to conclude in Cairo on Saturday.

Gamal Eid, Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hamad and blogger Amr Gharbeia, a staff member at Amnesty International, are accused of “defamation”, “the use of threats” and “misuse of communication tools”.

The charges are connected to allegations made by a judge in 2007 that the two activists tried to extort money from him. Amr Gharbeia is charged with defaming the same judge on his blog.

Amnesty International will be sending an observer to Saturday’s trial, where all three men may face imprisonment and a fine if convicted.

“A guilty verdict would be a further nail in the coffin of freedom of expression in Egypt, where questionable criminal defamation charges are frequently used to harass those critical of the authorities and public officials,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

“We fear this is the latest attempt to intimidate independent human rights organizations as part of a wider crackdown against dissent.”

Gamal Eid is director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hamad is the founder of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC).

Both men were accused in February 2007 of trying to extort money from Judge Abdel Fatah Murad.

Days before the judge’s complaint, ANHRI and HMLC had published a statement accusing Abdel Fatah Murad of plagiarizing an ANHRI report on restrictions on the internet in the Arab world and reproducing it in his book.

The statement by ANHRI was in response to a book review written by Amr Gharbeia on his blog on 7 Feb 2007, in which he covered the anti-freedom of expression stance in Judge Murad’s book, The Scientific and Legal Principles of Blogs.

An investigation by the Egyptian Public Prosecution followed and Amr Gharbeia was interrogated for possible “defamation” on account of comments posted by third parties on his blog.

“The right to freedom of expression involves the right to freely criticize public officials, public officers, public personalities and authorities. Egyptian officials should respond on the merits of the criticisms raised rather than resort to criminal defamation charges to penalize and try to silence them,” said Malcolm Smart.

Gamal Eid and other two activists may face imprisonment and a fine if convicted

read more

read more

Amnesty International has called on all United Nations (UN) members to uphold the rights to water and sanitation, after the General Assembly voted in favour of recognizing the rights.

The UN said an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water while more than 2.6 billion people have no access to basic sanitation.

The resolution was supported by 122 countries while 41 countries abstained from voting and none voted against.

“After this promising first step, all states must now take the opportunity to protect the life and health of millions and unreservedly support the rights to water and sanitation, said Amnesty International’s specialist on the right water, Ashfaq Khalfan.”

The rights will next be debated by the Human Rights Council in Geneva in September.

Germany, India, China, Brazil and South Africa supported Wednesday’s resolution but the UK and the US, who were among those abstaining from voting, argued that there is no legal basis for the right to water and sanitation.

“There is no legal reason why countries could not support the resolution, the right to water is already part of international law and there is also a strong legal basis for the right to sanitation,” said Ashfaq Khalfan.

“Women who risk their lives when they go to public toilets at night and people whose children die due to lack of clean water should be able to hold their leaders to account over clean water and sanitation,” said Ashfaq Khalfan.

The vote comes after every state in the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia, Africa and South America, at several summits over the past 5 years, recognised the rights to both water and sanitation.

All 165 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Council of Europe have also recognised the right to water.

Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity campaign aims to end the human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty. The campaign will mobilise 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

The UN said an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water