AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Press release
6 July 2009
China: Fair and impartial investigation must be launched in Urumqi
Amnesty International today called on the authorities in Urumqi to immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation into reports that 140 people were killed when a protest turned violent late on Sunday.
“The Chinese authorities must fully account for all those who died and have been detained. Those who were detained solely for peacefully expressing their views and exercising their freedom of expression, association and assembly must be released immediately. A fair and thorough investigation must be launched resulting in fair trials that are in accordance with international standards without recourse to the death penalty”, said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director Asia-Pacific.
“There has been a tragic loss of life and it is essential that an urgent independent investigation takes place to bring all those responsible for the deaths to justice”, said Roseann Rife. “Violence and abuses from either the authorities or protestors is in no way justified.”
Continue Reading »
Posted in AI press release, China | Tagged Uighurs | Leave a Comment »
The world has watched with shock and a profound sense of dismay the scenes of bloody, rampant violence that have filled the streets of Tehran and other cities in the wake of Iran’s hotly contested presidential elections.
But behind the scenes, Iranian authorities are conducting a simultaneous effort aimed at silencing dissident voices through arbitrary arrests and detention.
Plain clothes Iranian security officials have arrested leading human rights activist Abdolfattah Soltani and have rounded up countless other students, opposition politicians, journalists and rights activists and sent them to prison.
Soltani has for years stood by individuals who have suffered repression in Iran. And by putting himself in the line of fire, he too has become a target of the Iranian government’s brutal repression.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Iran | Tagged Abdolfattah Soltani, online action | Leave a Comment »
15 June 2009
UA 150/09 – Fear of excessive use of force/torture (PDF)
IRAN – Demonstrators against announcement of re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
Thousands of people, mainly supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has challenged the announcement that current President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had won the 12 June presidential election have been demonstrating, sometimes violently, in the streets in Tehran and other cities. They are at risk of injury or death at the hands of the security forces. Dozens have been arrested, and up to five students are reported to have been killed on Sunday and one person in a demonstration on Monday. Amnesty International believes the security forces are likely to use excessive force if, as expected, there are further demonstrations, and that those arrested are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. The organization also believes the authorities are unlawfully restricting freedom of expression and information by blocking access to phone services, including SMS messages, foreign media and various internet sites.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Iran, Urgent Action | Leave a Comment »
Amnesty International
15 June 2009
AI Index: AMR 51/076/2009
USA: Human rights must transcend party politics
On 11 June 2009 four Uighur detainees held without charge or trial in the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba since 2002 were transferred to Bermuda. Their transfer came more than eight months after a US federal judge ruled their detention unlawful and ordered their immediate release into the USA. The USA accepted that the detainees could not be returned to China, their country of origin, because of the risk of torture and execution that they would face there, but failed to release them into the USA as even a temporary measure while it sought a third country solution.
Amnesty International welcomes Bermuda’s acceptance of these four men, as it brings an end to their unlawful detention and offers them the chance to begin to rebuild their lives. It calls on all parties with interest or influence over this situation not to jeopardize the human rights of these men or their ability to get on with their future, until now put on hold.
Continue Reading »
Posted in AI press release, China, Counter Terror with Justice, Guantanamo Bay, USA | Tagged Uighurs | Leave a Comment »
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
10 June 2009
Guantánamo: Palau’s offer to accept detainees would not excuse USA
Reports that the government of Palau has offered to temporarily accept up to 17 Guantánamo detainees leave many questions unanswered and even if the offer is taken up it would not relieve the US authorities of their responsibility to the men, Amnesty International said today.
The President of Palau, Johnson Toribiong, said today that the Pacific island nation had agreed to accept on a temporary basis 17 Uighur men who have been held without charge or trial in Guantánamo since 2002 “as a humanitarian gesture”, subject to periodic review. In subsequent reports, an unidentified US official is quoted as saying that there has been “no final decision, no details arranged. We will continue talks with Palau.”
“Although Amnesty International has been calling on other countries to offer humanitarian protection to Guantánamo detainees, this announcement raises more questions than it answers and in no way absolves the US authorities of their responsibility towards these men,” Daniel Gorevan, of Amnesty International’s Counter Terror with Justice Campaign, said today.
Reports of Palau’s offer do not specify whether the men would face any further detention in Palau.
Continue Reading »
Posted in AI press release, China, Counter Terror with Justice, Guantanamo Bay, USA | Tagged Uighurs | Leave a Comment »
