South Korean activist charged over Kim Jong-il tweet
01 February 2012
The South Korean authorities should immediately release a social media activist accused of helping “the enemy” for re-tweeting messages from North Korea’s official government Twitter account, Amnesty International said today.
Park Jeonggeun, a 24-year-old Socialist Party activist, was yesterday charged by South Korean law enforcement authorities with violating the country’s national security law for re-tweeting the message “long live Kim Jong-il” from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
Park, who says his re-tweets were meant to ridicule North Korea’s leaders rather than support them, has been held at Seoul Detention Centre since 11 January and could face up to seven years in jail.
“This is not a national security case, it’s a sad case of the South Korean authorities’ complete failure to understand sarcasm,“ said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.
“Imprisoning anyone for peaceful expression of their opinions violates international law but in this case, the charges against Park Jeonggeun are simply ludicrous and should be dropped immediately,” he said.
The South Korean Socialist Party, of which Park Jeonggeun is a member, has frequently criticized North Korea for exploiting its labour force, outlawing trade unions and forcing people to work under appalling conditions.
“Park is a member of a party which openly criticizes North Korea but the absurd case against him is not an isolated one. For too long South Korean authorities have been using the National Security Law (NSL) to restrict basic freedoms and gag civil society in the name of national security,” he added.
Police have accused Park Jeonggeun of spreading North Korean propaganda.
“My intention was to lampoon North Korea’s leaders for a joke; I did it for fun,” Park Jeonggeun told Amnesty International.
“I also uploaded and changed North Korean propaganda posters on Twitter – I replaced a smiling North Korean soldier’s face with a downcast version of my own face and the soldier’s weapon with a bottle of whisky.”
“Even though I disagree with North Korean communism, I’m interested in North Korean culture and have a right to know about it,” he added.
“The NSL has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in South Korea. It is used not to address threats to national security, but instead to intimidate people and limit their rights to free speech. It should be reformed in line with human rights law, and if the government cannot do this, it must be abolished,” said Sam Zarifi.
During South Korea’s military rule in the 1970s and 80s, people were regularly imprisoned under the NSL. Torture, forced confessions and unfair trials were commonplace within the criminal justice system.
Despite the end of military rule in South Korea, authorities have increasingly used the NSL to harass critics of the government’s North Korea policies since 2008.
South Korean authorities – especially the police, the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service – continue to use the NSL as a tool to suppress dissent, in particular critics of the government’s policy towards North Korea.
Numerous arrests have been made under the NSL for “propagating or instigating a rebellion against the state”, under which an individual found guilty of praising, inciting or propagating the activities of an “anti-government organisation” could face up to seven years in prison.
The criteria that would define “praise”, “incite” or “propagate” are open to interpretation.
There are currently a number of investigations under way against those who have posted materials related to North Korea, where authorities have deemed the materials to be “enemy benefiting”.
A South Korean activist faces up to seven years in prison after re-tweeting messages from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
Yemeni President Ali Abudllah Saleh’s arrival in the United States for medical treatment highlights the need for international action to serve justice for serious crimes in Yemen.
(New York) – YemeniPresident Ali Abudllah Saleh’s arrival in the United States for medical treatment highlights the need for international action to serve justice for serious crimes in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said today.
Video: Indian police forcibly evict Indigenous people
30 January 2012
Protesters in the state of Orissa, India have clashed with police during a demonstration against forced evictions from land earmarked for a Vedanta Aluminium toxic waste dump.
Protesters in India have clashed with police during a protest over land earmarked for a Vedanta toxic waste dump.
A Haitian judge’s decision to dismiss the case against former president-for-life Jean-Claude Duvalier for grave human rights violations ignores Haiti’s international obligation to prosecute such crimes.
(Washington, DC) – A Haitian judge’s decision to dismiss the case against former president-for-life Jean-Claude
Thirty five Ethiopian Christians are awaiting deportation from Saudi Arabia for “illicit mingling,” after police arrested them when they raided a private prayer gathering in Jeddah in mid-December, 2011. Of those arrested, 29 were women. They were subjected to arbitrary body cavity searches in custody, three of the Ethiopians told Human Rights Watch.
(Beirut) – Thirty five Ethiopian Christians are awaiting deportation from Saudi Arabia for “illicit mingling,” after police arrested them when they raided a private prayer gathering in Jeddah in mid-December, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Of those arrested, 29 were women.
International action needed after killing of Somali journalist
30 January 2012
Amnesty International has urged the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on journalists after the latest killing of a Mogadishu reporter.
Hassan Osman Abdi, director of the Shabelle Media Network, was shot by unidentified men outside his home in the city’s Wadajir district on Saturday evening. He reportedly died on his way to hospital.
The reporter, also known as ‘Hassan Fantastic’, is the second journalist to be killed in the last six weeks in Somalia. The Somali authorities say they are investigating his killing.
“The numerous attacks on journalists in Somalia have been part of an attempt to silence reporting about human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict in the country,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Director for Africa.
“Despite Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government’s promises to investigate these killings, no one has ever been brought to justice for such acts. It’s time that the international community takes concrete measures to tackle impunity for the killings of journalists in the country and other human rights abuses.
“Anyone found responsible for committing or ordering the killings must be brought to justice, in fair trials and without the application of the death penalty” he added.
A major international conference on Somalia will take place in London on 23 February with the aim of delivering a new international approach to the country.
“The international community must use this opportunity to discuss ways to address impunity for human rights abuses and ask the United Nations to establish an independent and international mechanism to document and investigate human rights violations and abuses in Somalia,” said Erwin van der Borght.
“This should include the threats and targeted attacks against journalists by all parties to the conflict,” he added.
At least 24 journalists have been killed in Somalia since 2007, and many others injured, yet no one has been brought to justice for these attacks.
All parties to the conflict have threatened and attacked journalists and restricted press freedom.
On 18 December last year, Abdisalan Sheik Hassan, a freelance journalist for the Horn Cable TV station and Hamar radio, was shot in the head by a man wearing a government military uniform in the Hamar Jajab district in Mogadishu. He died shortly afterwards.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) promised to investigate Abdisalan Sheik Hassan’s killing and reportedly arrested suspects as part of the investigation.
However, as far as Amnesty International is aware, no one has yet been brought to justice for the killing of Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan.
Hassan Osman Abdi is the fifth Shabelle Media Network journalist, and the third Shabelle director, to be killed since 2007.
Four of these appeared to be deliberate killings.
Shabelle Radio director Muktar Mohamed Hirabe was shot dead on 7 June 2009 in Mogadishu by unidentified gunmen.
On 1 January 2009, Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan was shot dead outside Mogadishu in the town of Afgoye, by a man wearing a government uniform.
Bashir Nur Gedi, Shabelle Radio’s manager, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in his house in Mogadishu on 19 October 2007.
The international community must call on the Somali authorities to end impunity after the latest killing of a reporter in Mogadishu.
Recent decisions by Israel’s high court aim to legitimize clear violations of Israel’s international legal obligations. In one decision, the court disregarded international law prohibiting discrimination, and in another, it ignored international law on the use of resources in an occupied territory. Israel should annul a law preventing Israeli citizens from living with their Palestinian spouses and end policies that permit private Israeli companies to strip rocks and other construction materials from quarries in the occupied West Bank for their own economic gain.
(Jerusalem) – Recent decisions by Israel’s high court aim to legitimize clear violations of Israel’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. In one decision, the court disregarded international law prohibiting discrimination, and in another, it ignored international law on the use of resources in an occupied territory.
Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi authorities to reveal the whereabouts of two women arrested earlier this month, apparently for their connection to the country’s vice-president.
Rasha Nameer Jaafer al-Hussain and Bassima Saleem Kiryakos were arrested by security forces at their homes on 1 January. Both women work in the media team of Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is wanted by the Iraqi authorities on terrorism-related charges.
Al-Hashimi has denied the charges, saying the accusations are politically motivated.
“The arrest of the two women appears to be part of a wider move targeting individuals connected to Tareq al-Hashemi,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa.
“The Iraqi authorities must immediately disclose the whereabouts of Rasha al-Hussain and Bassima Kiryakos. At the very minimum they should have immediate access to their family and a lawyer.
“The circumstances of their arrest and their incommunicado detention when we know that torture is rife in Iraq can only raise the greatest fears for their safety,” she said.
Security forces detained the two women without arrest warrants, informing the women’s families that they were being taken away for questioning, without explanation.
Bassima Kiryakos called her husband on 20 January and informed him she was to be released the following day but neither woman has been heard from since.
Bassima Kiryakos was previously arrested and beaten in December but released without charge after three days in detention.
The two women worked for Vice-President Tareq al-Hashimi,who is accused of ordering his bodyguards to commit acts of terrorism.
“It is up to the authorities to provide convincing evidence that the two women have committed a crime. Otherwise they should be immediately released,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
A warrant for Tareq al-Hashimi’s arrest was issued on 19 December shortly after his Sunni-backed al-Iraqiya party announced it would boycott Parliament, accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government of being sectarian.
Al-Hashimi is currently in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a semi-autonomous area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
In December, state run TV channel Al-Iraqiya broadcast “confessions” by men said to be al-Hashemi’s bodyguards saying that they had killed police officers and officials from ministries in exchange for payoffs from al-Hashemi.
This was followed by a wave of arrests of Sunni politicians.
On 19 January, the Iraqi authorities reported they had arrested Ghadban al-Khazraji, the deputy governor in charge of investment in Diyala province and a member of the Islamic Iraqi party. Several of al-Khazraji’s bodyguards were also arrested.
In the last few years, hundreds of detainees have been shown on the Al-Iraqiyqa channel making “confessions” admitting responsibility for various terrorism related offences.
These confessions have invariably been extracted under torture and other ill-treatment. Many people were convicted by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on the basis of these confessions.
Two women working for Iraq’s vice-president have been arrested and are being held incommunicado.
United States President Barack Obama should publicly and privately challenge China’s Vice President Xi Jinping on the deteriorating human rights environment in China during Xi’s February 14 visit to Washington.
(New York) – United States President Barack Obama should publicly and privately challenge China’s Vice President Xi Jinping on the deteriorating human rights environment in China during Xi’s February 14 visit to Washington, Human Rights Watch said in a letter released today.
Guatemala: Genocide trial one more step against impunity
27 January 2012
A landmark ruling that Guatemala’s former head of state will join other former high-ranking officers in facing trial for genocide is another step towards justice and redress for the widespread human rights violations of the past, Amnesty International said today.
A Guatemala City criminal court yesterday ruled that General José Efraín Ríos Montt must go on trial for genocide over massacres of thousands of mainly Mayan villagers in 1982-1983, while he was de facto ruler of the country.
The decision came on the same day that Guatemala’s Congress voted in favour of the country joining the International Criminal Court – which has no retrospective jurisdiction.
“For some of the tens of thousands of Guatemala’s victims of human rights violations and their relatives, this trial is a watershed moment that has taken three decades to achieve – the man who allegedly bore command responsibility for some of the worst atrocities is finally facing justice,” said Sebastian Elgueta, Amnesty International researcher on Central America.
Widespread violations
A 1999 UN-backed truth commission found that during Guatemala’s 36-year internal armed conflict some 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. The commission documented more than 600 massacres, and concluded that genocide had occurred.
The commission found that nearly half of all the human rights violations committed during the conflict took place in 1982. General Ríos Montt was de facto ruler for nine months of that year.
The case against Ríos Montt is part of a criminal case filed in 2001 against various former military officials by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, a group representing hundreds of victims of human rights violations during the armed conflict.
The retired general, now 85, has been placed under house arrest until his trial’s conclusion, and could face 20 to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
“Three decades have passed since these massacres and the case was filed 11 years ago. Victims and their families shouldn’t have to wait any longer to obtain the redress they deserve,” said Sebastian Elgueta.
Backlog of cases
Numerous other cases of human rights violations from Guatemala’s internal armed conflict have yet to be fully investigated.
The 1999 UN-backed truth commission registered 23,671 victims of arbitrary execution, and 6,159 victims of enforced disappearance.
Despite a court order and a pledge from former Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom, the military has yet to hand over documents that could prove crucial to the investigations of these and other human rights violations.
Meanwhile, the families of thousands of those who were disappeared during the armed conflict still do not know what happened to their relatives’ remains.
“Guatemala’s new President, Otto Pérez Molina, should lead the way in ensuring accountability for past human rights violations and justice for victims and their families who have been waiting for over 30 years for justice,” said Sebastian Elgueta.
“Sending a clear signal that he will break the vicious circle of impunity that has marked the country should be his first priority.”
A former Guatemalan head of state will face trial on genocide charges over massacres of thousands of mostly Mayan villagers in 1982 and 1983.
The government of Bangladesh took no significant steps to investigate and prosecute torture in custody and extrajudicial killings during 2011 and showed an increasing intolerance for criticism.
(New York) – The government of Bangladesh took no significant steps to investigate and prosecute torture in custody and extrajudicial killings during 2011 and showed an increasing intolerance for criticism, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2012.The government missed the chance to ensure trials that meet international s
