27.05.04
Urgent Interventions
The Observatory - newsletter February - April 2004
The Observatory - Newsletter No. 27
February-March-April 2004
ALGERIA- Harassment
April 14, 2004 - ALG 001/1404/OBS 024
Mr. Mohammed Smaïn and Mr. Fethi Azzi have been subjected to harassment since the beginning of April when they came back from France, where they were witnesses in a case against two militia men, “the Mohammed brothers”, charged with torture before a court in Nîmes. On April 5, Mr. Fethi Azzi was fired from his job in the local administration. He was later re-hired, but in a lower position. He has also been receiving threats because of his contribution to the trial. Furthermore, Mr. Mohammed Smaïn, representative of the Relizane section of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (Ligue algérienne de défense des droits de l'Homme - LADDH), was arrested on April 10, while he was working with journalists investigating cases of enforced disappearances. He was detained for 20 hours. He later asked for a hearing before the General Attorney, but this was denied to him.
BANGLADESH – Restrictive Amendment Bill
April 22, 2004 - Open Letter to Prime Minister Begum Khalida Zia
In a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the Observatory expressed its concern about a proposed Amendment Bill to the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Ordinance (1978) in Bangladesh. The Amendment Bill, in its current form, presents a serious threat to the independence of NGOs, most notably of human rights NGOs. In particular, the proposed bill prohibits “political activity”, defined as “any activity which may be interpreted as political, or may affect politics, or such other activities which may be interpreted to be detrimental to national independence, sovereignty, culture, ethnic and religious sentiment (…)". The vagueness of the terms employed constitutes a risk for human rights defenders, since any critical activity to the government who might fall under the scope of the law, and as such be prohibited. In addition the lack of precision as to what would be deemed "detrimental to (…) religious sentiment" reinforces apprehensions that women's groups, or organisations defending freedom of religion, might be undermined in their activities.
BANGLADESH – Attack on NGO / Threats
April 30, 2004 - BGD 002/0404/OBS 029
On April 17, 2004, officers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the ruling party, broke into the premises of the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in Dhaka, ransacked and looted the offices, and assaulted the office assistant, Kazi Shuash Hasan, who was later taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. They occupied the premises until April 22, 2004. Lalbag police station allegedly refused to register a case at first, but later allowed the case to be registered. However, none of the perpetrators have been arrested, although they were seen near the HRCBM offices.
BELARUS – Repression of independent NGOs
Publication of a trial observation mission Report
April 22, 2004 – Press Release
The Observatory released a report of an international mission of judicial observation that took place from 19 to 26 of October 2003 in Belarus. The mission was sent to observe the trial against the NGO «Viasna», and more generally to investigate the situation of the right to freedom of association in Belarus. The report documents the legal reform governing freedom of association, and the increased obstacles faced by associations in the registration process. In 2003, authorities have increasingly used new restrictive legislation to initiate judicial procedures against NGOs. In January 2004, the Belarus minister of Justice confirmed that 51 associations had been shut down during 2003. Among them, Viasna, one of the most active human rights associations in Belarus, was shut down on October 27 2003.
The deterioration of the situation of human rights in Belarus, described by this report has just been examine by the UN Commission for Human Rights, which, during its 60th session, adopted a resolution appointing a Special Raporteaur to examine the situation of human rights in Belarus and to report on it during the next session of the Commission.
BRAZIL – Trial of the authors of the assassination of Joao Canuto
Publication of a mission report
April 7, 2004 – Press Release
On May 23, 2003, two land-owners were sentenced to 19 years and 10 months in prison for the murder in 1985 of João Canuto de Oliveira, President of the Trade Union of Rural Workers of Rio Maria, in the State of Pará. This trial is critical because it creates a precedent in the fight against impunity in Brazil, where trade unionists and farmers are frequently murdered. However, the Observatory, the Centro de Justiça Global (Brésil) and the Barreau des Hauts de Seine (France), which have sent observers to monitor the trial and produced a mission report, are concerned about the fact that the authors of the murder remain free ten months after their trial, while the procedure in appeal is still pending.
CHAD – Arrest / ill-treatment / Closure of a radio station
24 February 2004 - Open Letter to Mr. Idriss Deby
Mr. Tchanguiz Vathankha, the director of the private radio station Brakoss in Moissala, was arrested on February 9, 2004. Radio Brakoss broadcasts information relating to human rights in Chad and regularly criticises the country’s authorities for their violations of human rights. He was arrested following an interview he aired with Mr. Saleh Kebzabo, leader of the Union nationale pour le développement et le renouveau (UNDR), regarding the social and economic situation in the country. Mr. Vathankha was released on February 11, 2004, after 48 hours of detention. During his detention, Mr. Vathankha was tortured by the local police force. The radio station was closed until February 16, 2004, and since then its programming has been limited.
CHINA - detentions and ill-treatment
March 11, 2004 - Open Letter to Hu Jintao
Mrs. Jiang Meili, the wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a human rights defender who was sentenced on October 2003 to three years in prison on charges of "leaking state secrets", was illegally detained from February 28 to March 1, 2004, when she went to Beijing to petition the National People's Congress on behalf of her husband. She was then placed under house arrest, the authorities destroyed her two cellular telephones and disconnected her home phone line, preventing her from communicating with the outside world. On March 4, 2004, plain-clothed police officers prevented Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving her home to visit her husband and took her to the Guoqing Lu Public Security Bureau. She was released that same day. This was the third time Mrs. Meili has been unlawfully detained since her husband was sentenced last October to three years in prison.
Other activists and their relatives have been deprived of their liberty and in some instances subjected to severe physical abuse. Such was the case of Shen Ting, a Hong Kong resident campaigning on behalf of displaced residents in Shanghai, including Mr. Zheng Enchong, whose mother was abducted and threatened for several hours on March 5, 2004. In mid-February, Hua Huiqi, a church leader and an activist campaigning against forced evictions, was placed under de facto house arrest. On March 5, 2004, Mr. Hua Huiqi and his wife, Wei Jumei, were forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Fengtai PSB station after attempting to leave their home. Hua Huiqi was subsequently beaten, his house was ransacked and his life-savings stolen.
CHINA – Arbitrary arrests
March 30, 2004 - CHN 001/0304/OBS 019
On March 28, 2004, Mrs. Ding Zilin, Mrs. Zhang Xianling and Mrs. Huang Jinping, all three “Tiananmen Mothers”, were arrested and their homes searched by the police. Mrs Ding Zilin lost her son in the events of 1989 and since then has been collecting information about the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown and calling upon the Chinese government to make appropriate reparations. She has become the most prominent spokesperson for victims' families in revealing the truth and demanding justice. Mrs Zhang Xianling and Mrs Huang Jinping also lost their son and husband, respectively, and are well-known spokespersons of the “Tiananmen Mothers”. Their arrest occurred after a video CD was released in Hong Kong, presenting the testimonies of six family members of the June 4th victims, including the testimonies of Ding Zilin, Zhang Xianling and Huang Jinping. This video CD was taken to Geneva to be presented to the Human Rights Commission’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The three of them were all three released on April 1, 2004.
CHINA – Detention/Prison sentence
April 5, 2004 - CHN 002/0304/OBS 021
On March 16, 2004, the Shanghai’s RTL Administrative Committee sentenced Ms. Ma Yalian to one and a half years of Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) because of an article she posted on several Websites entitled, “A True Record of Being Turned Away from the National Petitions and Letters Office and the Petitions Bureau of the National People’s Congress.” In this article Ma Yalian provides an eyewitness account of physical abuse endured by petitioners from police and officials outside of Beijing’s main petitions offices. Ma Yalian had spent many years petitioning the authorities over her forcible removal during an urban redevelopment clearance in Shanghai. The Shanghai Public Security Bureau previously sentenced her to one year of RTL in August 2001 for her efforts. While serving that RTL sentence, Ma Yalian had both her legs broken by police. She has been physically disabled ever since.
COLOMBIA - Torture / armed attack / harassment
February 2, 2004 - COL 002/1003/OBS 053.1
On January 28, 2004, Mrs. Inés Peña, activist in the Movimiento Juvenil, del Convenio Universitario Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) – UNIPAZ, and coordinator of the “María Cano” Documentation Centre of the OFP, was arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to ill-treatment by paramilitaries. They threatened her with fire arms, forcing her to get into a vehicle near the main police station of Barrancabermeja, in the county of Santander. While pulling her hair and burning her feet with hot water, they threatened her, saying: “so that you leave this OFP …”, referring to the name of the section that she presents on a television programme. The day before, on January 27, 2004, three members of the OFP, including Mrs. Yolanda Becerra, the President of the organisation, were fired on by a group of armed individuals. These cases are part of a harassment and persecution campaign against members of the OFP that has been ongoing for several years.
COLOMBIA - Torture / extra-judicial executions
February 11, 2004 - COL 002 / 0204 / OBS 010
On February 6, 2004, Mrs. María Lucero Henao, a human rights defender, and her 16-year-old son Yamid Daniel were executed by individuals dressed as civilians who apparently belonged to paramilitaries who had forced them out of their home in Puerto Esperanza village, Meta county and taken them to the place of execution. The body of Yamid Daniel bore traces of torture. Mrs. María Lucero Henao had been subjected to an assassination attempt and had been threatened twice in the past three years. She was active in denouncing the grave situation of the inhabitants of Puerto Esperanza, which has a large population of displaced persons as well as a significant permanent paramilitary presence. Also, José Mendivil Cárdenas, a human rights defender, was assassinated on February 7, 2004, by two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle. He had worked with Amnesty International for many years, as well as with various other social organisations and NGOs that promote human rights.
COLOMBIA – President Uribe reiterated his accusations
against human rights defenders.
February 12, 2004 - Press release
In declarations before the European Parliament on February 10, 2004, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez criticised the work of certain organisations for the protection of human rights in Colombia, namely the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective. President Uribe accused some of these organisations of being terrorist outfits that hide behind the banner of human rights. The Observatory deems it unacceptable to discredit the work of human rights organisations in the name of the fight against terrorism. Moreover, these types of declarations only aggravate the violence to which human rights defenders are subjected to on daily basis in Colombia.
COLOMBIA - Detentions/ illegal search
February 25, 2004 - COL 003 / 0204 / OBS 014
On February 18, 2004, members of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) detained Mrs. Luz Perly Córdoba, President of the Asociación Campesina de Arauca (ACA), in Bogotá. Mrs Luz Perly Córdoba had to leave Arauca to live in Bogotá due to the death threats she had received from military personnel and paramilitaries, and had been afforded precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Following her detention, her residence was searched by the police. The latter took away her computer’s hard disc, pictures, floppy discs, documents, among other things. That same day, in Arauquita, members of the Dirección de Policía Judicial e Investigación (DIJIN), the Cuerpo Técnico de Investigaciones de la Fiscalía (CTI), the DAS and the police searched the ACA offices and confiscated documents and other materials. They also broke into the home of Mrs Nubia Vega, director of ACA and mother-in-law of the secretary of the association.
Other persons detained included Mr. Juan de Jesús Gutiérrez, treasurer of the ACA, and Messrs Víctor Enrique Amarillo and Moisés Elías Eregua, bodyguards appointed by the Ministry of the Interior to protect members of the ACA, as requested by the Inter-American Commission’s precautionary measures.
COLOMBIA - Threats
March 25, 2004 - Open letter to Alvaro Uribe Vélez
Members of the Colombian delegation participating in the XXXV World Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which took place in Quito, Ecuador, from March 1 to March 6, 2004, received threats.
On March 2, while Gilberto Arlanht Ariza, a leader of Kankuamo indigenous group, was denouncing the genocide suffered by his people since 2001 in the congress in Quito, a group of armed men broke into his home in Colombia, attacked the people there and threatened them and Mr. Arlanht.
On March 3, a number of pamphlets were circulated at the University of Tolima’s General Assembly that accused Mr. Germán Acosta and Mr. Diego Sierra, two students participating in the congress in Quito, of belonging to the guerrilla. The pamphlets also accused other members of the Students Committee of supporting violent actions. Given the high level of paramilitary activity at the University of Tolima, these accusations could pose a serious threat to the life and personal integrity of the above mentioned students.
COLOMBIA – Threats
March 29, 2004 – COL 004 / 0304 / OBS 018
On March 19, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (Paramilitary Group) in the Valle de Cauca issued a press release in which members of the trade union SINALTRAINAL, were urged to live the city of Palmira within three months, otherwise they would be declared “military objectives”. On March 20, a letter was sent to the offices of the section of SINALTRAINAL in Palmira, indicating that the leaders of the trade union were collaborators of the upsurge in Valle de Cauca.
COLOMBIA – Assassination
April 6, 2004 – Press Release
On April 1, 2004, Carlos Bernal, 43, lawyer, human rights defenders and member of the Comité Permanente para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CPDH), and of his bodyguard Mr. Camilo Jiménez, were murdered in Cúcuta, in the State of Norte de Santander by an unidentified man in a food shop in the Prado Norte neighbourhood. Mr. Carlos Bernal was a lawyer at the Universidad Libre in which he was a student and civil leader and had participated, in different regional and municipal governments, in looking for improvement of the human rights situation in Cútuta and Norte de Santander. He also occupied a position in the Communist Party, had participated in marches of peasants in the region of Catatumbo, and had been Commissioner of Peace of the Interior de Norte of Santander and of the Mayorship of Cúcuta, on top of his work as university professor of the Universities Libre and Simón Bolivar.
COLOMBIA – Death threats/Ill-treatment
April 19, 2004 - COL 006 / 0404 / OBS 023
Mr. Ademir Luna, journalist, human rights defender and member of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS), in Barrancabermeja, in the State of Santander, has been receiving death threats in the last few months. On March 29, 2004, around 23:15, two men approached the taxi belonging to Mr. Eduardo Moon, father of Mr. Ademir Moon, which is generally driven by Mr. Fabian Strap, forcing the driver to turn towards a dead-end road, site in which they threatened him with firearms saying: "You are Ademir Moon? We are going to kill you". Mr. Fabian Strap, was then placed against the car and while insulting him, they sprinkled gasoline on his body and the car, threatening to burn him. Later the armed individuals tried to put fire to the car, but as the lighter did not work they then moved away.
COLOMBIA – Extrajudicial killings
April 22, 2004 - COL 007 / 0404 / OBS 027
On April 20, 2004, Mr. Gabriel Remolina, brother in law of Mr. Efraín Guerrero, President of the section of the National Union of Workers of the Alimentos Industry (SINALTRAINAL) and worker of Coca-Cola in Bucaramanga, was assassinated in Bucaramanga. During these events, the wife of Mr. Remolina, Fanny Robles was also assassinated, and three of his children were hurt, one of which passed away hours later. The facts happened around 07h00 in the morning, when several armed men entered the house of Mr. Gabriel Remolina and indiscriminately shot all of his family. Mr. Efraín Guerrero participated in the hunger strike carried out by the Coca-Cola workers during the month of April 2004, undertaken with the objective to reiterate his denunciations at the international level on the serious violations of human rights inflicted against Coca-Cola workers and to demonstrate itself against the closing of 10 lines of production.
Another member of the National Direction of SINALTRAINAL, Mr. Onofre Esquivel, worker of the Nestlé multinational in Bugalagrande, (Department of Valle), was threatened in his house by several individuals travelling in two vehicles, last April 14, around 5 in the afternoon. Mr. Onofre Esquivel had already received death threats by the paramilitary of the United Self-defense of Colombia (AUC) through a letter dated October 11, 2003, and his house had been searched on of October 22 of the same year.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) – Threats/Arbitrary detention/Ill-treatment
April 14, 2004 - RDC 001 / 1504 / OBS 025
April 20, 2004 - RDC 001 / 1504 / OBS 025.1
Mr. Dieudonné Been Masudi Kingombe, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Centre des Droits de l’Homme et du Droit Humanitaire - CDH), was arrested on April 10, 2004 by officers of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements - ANR). He was violently beaten and released two hours later, without being given any reason for his arrest. These events occurred after a press release was issued by the CDH on April 8, concerning the state of insecurity in the province of Equator in Katanga. On April 10, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tshisakamba, Secretary General of the CDH, received anonymous death threats phone calls.
Moreover, the ANR has reportedly issued a list of ten people to be arrested. Among theses ten people are: Mr. Freddy Kitoko, Vice-president of ASADHO/Katanga, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tschisabamka, Secretary General of the CDH, Mr. Jean-Claude Katenge, President of ASADHO/Katanga, M. Oscar Rachidi, président de la LICOF (Ligue Contre la Corruption et la Fraude) and Mr. Hubert Tshiswaka executive director of Action against Impunity and for Human Rights (Action contre l'impunité et pour les droits humains). Furthermore, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tschisabamka continued to receive death threats after April 10.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) –Prohibition of peaceful demonstration
April 23, 2004 – Open Letter
On April 19, 2004, the governor of Kinshasa refused to give authorisation for a peaceful march against war, poverty and partition of the RDC and in favour of democratic elections, that was due to take place on April 20, 2004, in Kinshasa. That day, a heavy deployment of police forces prevented the demonstrators from going ahead with the march.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) – Intimidations / harassment
April 30, 2004 - RDC 002 / 0404/ OBS 030
Mr. Paul Nsapu, President of the League of Electors (LE), was victim of an attempted car accident. On April 27, two cars with tinted windows and covered number-plates, followed him as he was driving home from a seminar organised by the Organisation intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (OIF) in Kinshasa. Mr. Paul Nsapu manage to escape to a petrol station. The two cars watched him for a while and then left. These events occurred a day after an interview of Mr. Paul Nsapu on the political situation in DRC and on a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning impunity for human rights violation in east DRC, was broadcasted on Télé Kin Malebo (TKM).
ECUADOR - Attacks/ Intent to assassinate
February 3, 2004 - ECU 008 / 0204 / OBS 008
On February 1, Mr. Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE), was victim of an assassination attempt in Quito. While outside the CONAIE offices with his family, a group of unidentified men assaulted them, opening fire with their weapons. Three members of Mr. Leonidas Iza’s family suffered injuries. Reports have excluded the possibility that this attack was in fact a robbery because the assailants did not bother take the suitcases of the Iza family after they fled into the CONAIE building. There are reasons to believe that this attack is connected to Mr. Leonidas Iza’s work on the protection of indigenous people, his criticism of the free trade agreement, ALCA, and the current government.
ECUADOR – Arbitrary detention / Death Threats
April 2, 2004 - ECU 002 / 0404 / OBS 020
Mr. Floresmilo Villalta, President of the peasant association “Ecuador Libre”, and 14 peasants in the area known as “Las Golondrinas”, were arrested on March 9, 2004. Mr. Floresmilo Villalta had been receiving death threats since 1997 because of his activities, and was accused by Mr. Pedro José Arteta, legal representative of the timber firm BOTROSA, of being the “intellectual author” of terrorist acts against the firm. Mr. Floresmilo Villalta has been subjected to harassment and persecution by this firm many times before, and peasants of this region are in conflict with BOTROSA since 1998, year in which the firm received 3.123 acres from the National Rural Institute (INDA), in the estate the Pambilar.
ECUADOR – Death Threats / Harassment
April 30, 2004 - ECU 003 / 0404 / OBS 031
Mr. José Serrano Salado, member of Economic and Social Rights Centre (Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales - CDES), received death threats on April 25, 2004. He was driving in Quito, when he was forced to stop his car by three men, one of which was armed. The three men got into the car with him, and threatened him saying “he had to stop this”. Thinking he was being robbed, he told them to take everything. They answered that they were not interested in that. They let him go, warning him that next time they would kill him. Mr. José Serrano Salado and other members of CDES filed a complaint on April 24, 2004. There are reasons to believe that these threats are linked to the organisation’s support for the Sarayaku indigenous community in Pastaza province, which is opposing plans of a foreign petrol company to carry out their activities in their territory.
GUATEMALA – Tribunals in Guatemala acquitted Bruce Harris
February 2, 2004 - Press release
On January 30, the Tribunal Duodécimo de Sentencia Criminal of Guatemala dismissed defamation charges against Bruce Harris, director of the non-governmental organization Casa Alianza, during a trial in Guatemala City. Mr. Harris was charged with defamation after revealing the results of an investigation on the trafficking of children during a press conference. Also during the press conference, he accused several lawyers of being involved in irregular adoptions.
GUATEMALA – Arbitrary detentions
March 17, 2004 - GTM 001 / 0304 / OBS 016
On February 25, 2004, Mr. Victoriano Zacarías Mindez, Executive Secretary of the General Centre for Workers of Guatemala (Central General de Trabajadores de Guatemala – CGTG) and Secretary General of the Drivers Trade Union (Sindicato de Pilotos Automovilistas y Similares de Guatemala), as well as Mr. Wilson Carreto and Mr. Miguel Angel Ochoa, Directors of another trade union (the Unión de Pilotos de Transporte Pesado por Carretera in Guatemala City), were arrested. At the time of the arrest, the three men were demonstrating against the implementation of measures to reduce the flow of heavy vehicles. The detainees were charged with terrorism due to a gasoline spill from two tanks at a crossroads in Guatemala City. However, these incidents were caused by other individuals who had infiltrated the demonstration with the intention of provoking chaos.
GUINEA BISSAU – Arbitrary detention/ill-treatment
March 30, 2004 – Open Letter to Mr. Henrique Rosa
Mr. Joao Vaz Mane, Vice-President of the Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos (Guinean League for Human Rights -LGDH), was arrested by the police after he had openly criticised it for the ill-treatment of a young man. Mr. Vaz Mane was then taken to the scene of a murder and the police told a crowd of people standing there that he was the murderer. The people then started beating Mr. Vaz Mane until someone recognised him and managed to stop them. Following these events, Mr. Vaz Mane was taken to the police station where he was verbally abused and his life threatened for five hours before finally being released.
ISRAEL - Interior Minister cancels investigation into the organization “Adalah”
19 February 2004 - Press Release
In August 2002, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Adalah”, was informed in a letter signed by the Registrar of Associations of the Interior Ministry that an official investigation was to be opened into its activities. The decision to investigate was based on three claims: (1) that the organization provided legal aid and legal services to Arab organizations and institutions on issues of discrimination which was, according to the authorities, contrary to the specific goals registered with the Registrar of Associations; (2) that prior to its registration, Adalah had allegedly received funds from the Galilee Society to finance salaries for Adalah employees; and (3) that the registrar had suspicions concerning the use of money for the benefit of certain political figures. Following the Registrar’s decision to open an investigation, Adalah was subject to a defamation campaign by several newspapers. On February 7, 2004, Interior Minister Mr. Avraham Poraz decided to accept the appeal submitted by Adalah on September 5, 2002 calling for the investigation to be halted. Nonetheless, Adalah is considering the possibility of filing a tort suit against the Registrar for harming the reputation of the organization by providing false information to the media.
ISRAEL – Prison sentence
April 23, 2004 – Press release
On April 22, 2004, Mr. Jonathan Ben Artzi, a conscientious objector, was sentenced to another two months in prison and a fine of 2000 NIS after refusing to serve in the Israeli army. After more than a year after he was first brought before the martial court, the military court in Jaffa rendered its final verdict in his trial. Jonathan Ben Artzi had been considered a pacifist in the first verdict issued by the same court in November 2003, after he had already spent 18 months in detention. Nevertheless, the court held Mr. Artzi guilty for refusing to obey an order to enlist and asked the Military Conscience Committee to reconvene to examine his case once again. The Committee then decided, in February 2004, to discharge him from the army, on the basis that he was « unfit, due to lack of motivation » but did not acknowledge that Mr. Artzi was a « pacifist ».
LEBANON – Repression of a peaceful assembly
April 8, 2004 – Press Release
On April 7, 2004, in Beirut a peaceful gathering of nearly 500 people in favour of the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Syria, was violently dispersed by the army. The demonstration was announced two day earlier in a press conference. A delegation had planned to bring a petition to the headquarters of the ESCWA, the regional office of the United Nations. Water cannons were used against the crowd and some people were beaten with truncheons, including elderly people family members of the detainees and Mr. Ghazi Aad, leader of the NGO “SOLIDE” (Support Of Lebanese In Detention and Exile), whose wheelchair was damaged. At least one student was taken to hospital. The delegation was thus prevented to meet with M. Rawdha, in charge of human rights at the ESCWA.
LIBYA – Disappearance
April 20, 2004 – Open letter to President Qaddafi
Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi, a 63 year old civil engineer, was taken from his home by unidentified members of a security group on April 4, 2004. Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi has been missing since then. He had spent several years in jail for expressing his opinion about Libyan public affairs and for defending freedom of expression, assembly and association. In 2002, he was sentenced to five years in prison during a trial to which he was not allowed to attend, for stating that reform in Libya would require a constitution, free speech and democracy. He was released on March 12, 2004, following a United States intervention on the eve of an official visit to Libya. There are fears that his dissapearance is linked with his statements about prison conditions and the torture that he and other detainees were subjected to while in detention. Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi had recevied threats shortly before his disapearance.
Malaysia - Repression of a peaceful assembly
March 5, 2004 - Open Letter to the Prime Minister
On February 28, 2004, members of 64 NGOs and political parties who were peacefully demonstrating at the Bukit Aman National Police Headquarters, and who were about to hand a memorandum on the Misuse of Police Powers to the Inspector General of Police, were dispersed by the Police who deployed water canons that sprayed chemical-laced water. 17 people, members of political parties, NGOs and civilians, were arrested and sent to the police station at Jalan Hang Tuah, including Fahmi Reza, Eric Paulsen, Elizabeth Wong, all three members of the human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM). Later that same day, they were all released on bail. Among the released, Elizabeth Wong and Tian Chua, vice president of National Justice Party, sustained bruises. Reports have been filed against the police.
MEXICO - Threats
February 18, 2004 - MEX 001/0204/OBS 012
On February 4, Mr. Arturo Solís, president of the Centro de Estudios Fronterizos y de Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CEFPRODHAC), received death threats over the phone. He had previously received similar threats, just after he had made public declarations on the supposed responsibility of the Mexican police forces in the assassination of businessman José Antonio Cervantes Ezpeleta in December 2003.
MEXICO – Threats / Harassment
March 9, 2004 - MEX 003 / 0304 / OBS 015
The Committee for Human Rights, an organisation affiliated with the Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (LIMEDDH), received threats, in particular against one of its members, Mr. Fray Blas Alvarado. On February 6, 2004, the secretary of the Tenosique section Committee in the State of Tabasco received a threatening note, which was attached to the tail of an iguana in a plastic bag. Mr. Fray Blas Alvarado has been receiving threats since 2002 due to his work in favour of the protection of undocumented people.
MEXICO - Harassment
March 19, 2004 - Open letter to Vicente Fox
Women’s rights defenders in the State of Chihuahua, in particular the lawyer Mrs. Luz Esthela Castro, Mr. Abino Gómez, husband of the lawyer Alma Gómez, and members of the “Justicia para Nuestras Hijas” have been subjected to harassment by the Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua. On February 13, on the eve of the celebration of the "Day V"(global movement "Against violence against Women”), the latter ordered an investigation into offences allegedly committed by Mrs. Castro, Mr. Gómez, and Mrs. Guadalupe Ramos, including sedition and deprivation of liberty, although none of them had been questioned about these purported crimes.
MOROCCO – Ill-treatment at peaceful gathering
February 16, 2004 – Open Letter
The President of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), Mr. Abdelhamid Amine, was violently attacked by the Moroccan police forces at a peaceful sit-in held on January 28, 2004 in front of the Parliament in Rabat. Mr. Abdelhamid Amine remained unconscious for a few minutes. The gathering he was attending was a demonstration calling for the right to access medication and included a coalition of artists calling for cultural diversity.
NEPAL – Repression of peaceful demonstration
April 26, 2004 – Open Letter to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa
Since the beginning of April 2004, there has been a severe crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, leading to mass arrests, illegal and incommunicado detentions, ill treatment and violent repression of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Kathmandu. On April 8, 2004, the Kathmandu District Administration issued an order banning public demonstrations and the assembly of more than five persons within the Kathmandu Ring Road and Lalitpur areas. Dr Bhogendra Sharma, President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and the Centre for Victims of Torture Nepal (CVICT), was arrested in Kathmandu by Nepalese police on April 17, 2004. He was released later that same day. On April 9, 2004, after a demonstration, approximately 400 lawyers from Nepal Bar Association were arrested by security personnel in front of the Supreme Court. They were subsequently released. On April 15, 2004, the armed police arrested over 1,000 peaceful demonstrators, including the President of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, in the Bagbazaar area in Kathmandu. On April 21, several hundred lawyers were reportedly arrested during another peaceful demonstration organised by the Nepal Bar Association in Kathmandu. The purpose of that last demonstration was to protest against the government's prohibition of demonstrations and the ongoing repression against human rights defenders and people exercising the right to peaceful assembly. They were subsequently released.
PHILIPPINES – Extra-judicial execution
February 18, 2004 - PHL 001 / 0204 / OBS 011
On February 13, 2004, alleged members of the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippines Army (IBPA) attacked Mrs. Magsino and Mrs. Fortu while they were driving to Pinagsabangan. Mrs. Magsino was a human rights lawyer, the Chairperson of Mindoro for Justice and Peace and Vice Mayor of Naujan, in Mindoro Oriental. Mrs. Fortu was a volunteer at Mindoro for Justice and Peace and the Acting Secretary General of KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental in Philippines. Two men on a motorcycle without license plates peppered Mrs. Magsino’s vehicle with bullets, killing both of them. Shortly before this, Mrs. Magsino had received two death threats claiming that she would not live past February 15, 2004. She was a vocal critic of the increasing military deployment in the island province. She also spoke out against former 204th IBPA Commanding officer, Col. Jovito Palparan Jr. who was allegedly suspected of involvement in other extra-judicial execution in April 2003. Despite complaints about these events, the Commission on Appointments confirmed Col. Palparan's promotion as Brigadier General on February 4, 2004.
SAUDI ARABIA - Arbitrary Arrests and detention/ Incommunicado detention/Releases
March 18, 2004 - SAU 001/0304/OBS 017
April 22, 2004 - SAU 001 / 0304 / OBS 017.1
On March 15, 2004, eleven individuals, including several human rights defenders, were arrested because of their campaign in favour of reforms of the political and human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. These individuals had criticised the National Human Rights Commission, whose creation had just been officially announced by the government and had applied to form an independent human rights organisation. Four of the detainees were released on March 17. The Ministry of the Interior was reportedly willing to release the other detainees on the condition that they sign a pledge committing to stop their campaign to reform the political and human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. During the month of March, nine of them were released after pledging to end their participation in human rights activities in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdulla Al-Hamad, Mr. Matrouk Al-Faleh and Mr. Ali Al-Deminy remain in incommunicado detention because of their refusal to sign the pledge. No charges have been filed against them. The Intelligence Department has also denied their request to have access to a lawyer.
SUDAN - Arrests/ Arbitrary detention/fear for safety
February 4, 2004 - SDN 002/0104/OBS 009
March 5, 2004 - SDN 002/0104/OBS 009.1
Mr. Salih Mahmoud Osman, a member of the Sudan Organization Against Torture’s (SOAT) lawyers network, was arrested on February 1, 2004, at 11:00 pm at his home in Wad-Madani, capital of the Central Region in Sudan and convicted to the National Security Agency (NSA) offices in Wad Madani. He was reportedly transferred on February 3, 2004, from the NSA to an undisclosed location in Khartoum and has reportedly been held in incommunicado detention without being charged with any criminal offence. Mr. Osman is a well known lawyer and writer. Over the past year, he has provided free legal aid to hundreds of victims of human rights abuses in Darfur and has also provided legal representation to those facing capital or severe punishment (amputation and cross amputation) in the Darfur region. His wife has been allowed to bring him food. However, she has reportedly been denied the right to visit him.
SYRIA - Ongoing harassment against human rights defender
February 13, 2004 - Press release
On February 11, Mr. Akhtam Naisse, President of the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), was summoned to report to the so-called "al-Mintaqa" offices of the military secret service in Damascus. Mr. Akhtam Naisse was detained and interrogated by two high ranking military officers until after midnight. He was released on February 12 in the early afternoon. The military secret services accused him and CDF of having illegal contacts and being "the workers of Europe, USA and Israel". The arrest followed an on-line petition "To end the state of emergency in Syria" launched by the CDF at the end of January 2004. During his detention, Mr. Naisse was subject to verbal harassment and various threats from military officers.
SYRIA - Restriction on freedom of movement
February 18, 2004 - SYR 001/0204/OBS 013
On February 11, 2004, the Syrian authorities prevented Mr. Haytham Al-Maleh, Director of Human Rights Association in Syria (HRAS), from leaving the International Airport of Damascus. He was on
his way to the Emirates “on a family visit”. This prohibition to travel followed Mr. Al-Maleh’s speech in front of the Human Rights Committee of the German Parliament on the International Day of Human Rights, concerning the human rights conditions under the law of emergency in Syria. He had not been allowed to leave Syria for several months until he received an official invitation from the German Parliament. At that point, the Syrian Ministry of the Republic Presidential Affairs asserted that Mr. Haytham was not banned from leaving the country. However, the prohibition of movement imposed by the Syrian authorities on February 11, 2004, demonstrated otherwise.
SYRIA – Arbitrary detentions and threats
March 19, 2004 - Press Release
April 15, 2004 – Open letter to President Bashar El Assad
A number of people were arrested in the days that followed a gathering of members of the Committees for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF) in front of the People’s Parliament on March 8, 2004. They were gathering in favour of the end of the state of emergency, the release of political prisoners and democratic reforms. Two members of the CDF Mr. Ahmad Khazen and Mr. Hassan Watfa where arrested respectively on March 15 and 16, in Homs by the military security services. They remained in detention after being sentenced to 45 in prison according to martial law. They were released on May 9, 2004. Ms. Mania Al Andari, a student of 23 and activist in the CDF was summoned on April 3 by the military security services of Suweida, for having participated to the gathering of March 8. She was questioned for seven hours, during which she was ill-treated and threatened of rape.
SYRIA – Arbitrary detention / Ill-treatment
April 15, 2004 – SYR 002 / 1504 / OBS 026
April 21, 2004 – Press Release
April 22, 2004 – Press Release
Mr. Aktham Naisse, president of Committees for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), was arrested on April 13, 2004, in Lattakia, by the military security services.
His whereabouts remained unknown until April 22, when he was brought before the State security Court in Damascus and accused of « undermining the objectives of the Revolution: the Arab Unity, Liberty and Socialism ». Aktham Naisse is being held in Saidnaya prison, well-known for the very harsh conditions of detention imposed on political prisoners, where he is isolated in an individual cell, in the section for ordinary criminals. There is great concerned about his health condition, which has deteriorated considerably after he had a cerebral stroke during the first week of his detention that resulted in the paralysis of the right side of his body.
Mr. Naisse was arrested following the publication of CDF's annual report, which denounces flagrant violations of human rights in Syria, and the recent declarations made by CDF representatives denouncing violations against the Kurdish population in the North of the country in March 2004. The arrest also follows a gathering organized by CDF on March 8, 2004, in which 400 participants requested the cancellation of the State of Emergency, the release of political prisoners and the establishment of democratic reforms.
THAILAND - enforced disappearance
March 18, 2004 - Open Letter to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis, 53, chairman of the Muslim Lawyers Group and vice chairman of the Human Rights committee of the Law Society of Thailand, was taken from his car on March 12, 2004 and has been missing ever since. He had reportedly told close friends that he was receiving threatening anonymous telephone calls and that he feared for his safety. Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis has been actively defending human rights in the southern part of Thailand and has also criticised state officials for excessive and unnecessary violence in law enforcement. These various activities have created tension between Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis and the security forces in the southern Thai provinces.
TUNISIA – Denied entry in country
April 13, 2004 – Press release
Mr. Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer and Honorary President of FIDH was denied entry in Tunisia, where he was due to attend a press conference for the launch of the Observatory’s Annual Report, held at the office of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH). This is the third time Mr. Baudouin is prevented from entering Tunisian soil; the first two times occurred in 1996 and 2000 as he was going to meet representatives of civil society.
TURKEY - Human Rights Defenders sentenced to prison
February 16, 2004 - Press release
On February 13, 2004, the Aliaga first instance Penal Court sentenced Dr. Alp Ayan and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, members of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) Izmir, to imprisonment. The defendants had attended the funeral of Nevzat Ciftci, one of the prisoners killed during the military operation in Ankara Ulucanlar prison on 26 September 1999, and were charged with “attacking the gendarmes with stones and bottles” and “resisting and opposing through violent means”. Dr. Alp Ayan and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, were among the 69 individuals who were arrested, beaten and detained, and the 14 individuals that were remanded. On February 16, 2004, after a four years trial, Dr. Alp Ayan, was sentenced to 18 months and one day in prison, and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, together with other 28 defendants, to 18 months in prison. Another defendant, Mr. Adnan Akin was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The rest (37) were acquitted.
TURKEY – Judicial proceedings
April 26 and 27, 2004 – Trial of observation missions
The Observatory sent an observer to the trial of Mr. Alp Ayan, psychiatrist of the Izmir Treatment and Rehabilitation Center of the Human Rights Foundation in Turkey (HRFT) and Ecevit Piroglu, former member of the Izmir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) on April 26, 2004, before the Izmir Penal Court of First Instance. They were accused of “insulting the armed forces and the Ministry of justice”, after issuing a declaration in February 2001, protesting against human rights violations by the Police in F-Type prisons. They were both acquitted.
The Observatory also sent an observer to the trial of Mr. Selahattin Dermitas, President of the section of the IHD, and other human rights defenders, who held a speech on June 21, 2003 in favour of a pacific resolution of the Kurdish question. The trial is still pending.
VENEZUELA – President Hugo Chávez Frías questioned the work of human rights NGOs
February 19, 2004 – Press Release
On February 16, 2004, President Hugo Chávez Frías’s made some declarations about the financing of various human rights organisations. He mentioned that some of the groups received funds from the United States government through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). President Chávez claimed that these funds were used to indoctrinate human rights organisations so that they would attack and denounce the Venezuelan government.
VIETNAM – Release
March 29, 2004 - VTN 001/0903/OBS 048.1
Mr. Pham Van Tuong (Buddhist name Thich Tri Luc), a former monk and member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), was released on 26 March 2004, after serving a 20 months-imprisonment sentence. He had been arrested by Vietnamese Security Police on July 26, 2002, on charges of “fleeing abroad in order to oppose the Vietnamese government”. He had fled Vietnam following religious persecution in April 2002 and was under UN protection in Cambodia after obtaining refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Phnom Penh in June 2002. During the next year, his family did not know whether he was dead or alive, and Vietnamese authorities denied all knowledge of his whereabouts. Mr. Pham Van Tuong was sentenced to 20 months in prison on March 12, 2004, at a closed trial at the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City of “distorting the government’s policies on national unity and contacting hostile groups to undermine the government’s internal security and foreign affairs”. Because he had already served 19 months and 15 days in prison, he was released two weeks after the ruling.
ZAMBIA - Harassment
February 19, 2004 - Open Letter to Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. George Kunda
Mrs. Sara Longwe, a member of United Nations Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO), Laureate of the 2003 Hunger Project African Leadership Prize and a well known human rights defender working on gender issues in Zambia, has been the target of serious acts of harassment. Firstly, on January 5, 2004, the Minister of Home Affairs signed a deportation order requiring Mr. Clarke, her husband and a British citizen, to leave the country within 24 hours. Mr. Clarke’s deportation order, was based on the grounds that he had allegedly insulted the Zambian President in his weekly ‘animal farm’ satirical column in The Post newspaper. Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Longwe went into hiding from January 5 to January 13 to avoid his deportation. Then, on February 12, 2004, Mr. Clarke was arrested and detained for allegedly assaulting a police officer at the Chelston police office in Lusaka. He was released on bail the next day. On February 16, Mr. Clarke appeared before the court for his allege assault and disorderly conduct. A hearing was scheduled for March 2004. Finally, on February 12, 2004, Mr. Clarke’s eldest daughter was kidnapped while driving Mrs. Longwe’s car. It is believed that the assailants meant to attack her or her husband. Mrs. Clarke’s daughter was later released.
ZIMBABWE – Ongoing repression of human rights defenders
Publication of a mission report on the situation of human rights defenders
February 18, 2004 – Press Release
A few days before the European Union decided to renew sanctions against Zimbabwe, the Observatory released a report titled « Evaluation mission 2003: systematic repression of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe ». The report highlights the growing abuses suffered by human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, noting that since the 2002 presidential elections, which maintained Robert Mugabe in office as Head of State, the pressure on human rights defenders has not only significantly increased, but also developed more subtle and sophisticated forms of oppression. In addition to direct threats and pressure on human rights defenders, the authorities use a wide range of legal provisions to silence them. This strategy is notably characterized by the implementation of a law limiting freedom of association; the drafting of a very restrictive law governing the work of NGOs; and the use of laws aimed at prohibiting any criticism of Government officials and suppressing freedoms of assembly and demonstration, under the pretext of maintaining public order. Human rights defenders, including members of NGOs, lawyers, magistrates, journalists and trade unionists, are constantly harassed and subjected to violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, and fiscal pressure or administrative sanctions.
ZIMBABWE - Arbitrary detention / Torture
April 29, 2004 - ZWE 001 / 0404 / OBS 028
Mr. Tinashe Lukas Chimedza, a student and a social rights and youth rights activist, was arrested in Harare on April 22, 2004, and ill-treated during his detention. He was preparing to give a speech on the right to education during a peaceful meeting at Mt Pleasant Hall in Harare when he was arrested by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He was taken to a room, where the police kicked and punched him, and beat him with sticks. He was then taken, unconscious and bleeding from his mouth, to Marlborough police station. He was later admitted to the Avenues Clinic for treatment where he was given treatment, but remained under police surveillance. He was released on bail a week later. During the same peaceful meeting on April 22, Mr. Bhatasara, was also briefly detained and taken to the Marlborough police Station on the grounds that he showed disrespect for the Zimbabwe flag. He was released soon after.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OBSERVATORY 2003
Human Rights Defenders in a “Security First” Environment
April 14, 2004
The Observatory published it Annual Report 2003, during the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights, where a briefing was organised. Two press conferences were also held in Tunis, at the offices of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) and in Dakar.
The report documents the impact that security and counter-terrorism policy, legislation and practices have on the safety of human rights defenders and their ability to carry out their work. Human rights defenders are finding it increasingly difficult to make their message heard. They are subject to general restrictions on the freedom of speech and association because of the stringent application of security-related laws and the adoption of new, restrictive legislation. Also, many opportunistic political leaders no longer have any hesitation in lumping together human rights defenders and terrorists, as a new way of criminalising them.
The 2003 Annual Report, “Human Rights Defenders in a ‘Security First’ Environment,” presents the situation of more than 550 human rights defenders and 80 NGOs facing repression in more than 80 countries.
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Paris – Geneva, May 2004
To contact the Observatory call the Emergency Line :
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
Un programme de la FIDH et de l’OMCT - An FIDH and OMCT venture - Un programa de la FIDH y de la OMCT
International FederationFor Human Rights17, Passage de la Main d’Or75 011 Paris, France World Organisation Against TortureCase postale 21 - 8 rue du Vieux-Billard 1211 Genève 8, Switzerland
February-March-April 2004
ALGERIA- Harassment
April 14, 2004 - ALG 001/1404/OBS 024
Mr. Mohammed Smaïn and Mr. Fethi Azzi have been subjected to harassment since the beginning of April when they came back from France, where they were witnesses in a case against two militia men, “the Mohammed brothers”, charged with torture before a court in Nîmes. On April 5, Mr. Fethi Azzi was fired from his job in the local administration. He was later re-hired, but in a lower position. He has also been receiving threats because of his contribution to the trial. Furthermore, Mr. Mohammed Smaïn, representative of the Relizane section of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (Ligue algérienne de défense des droits de l'Homme - LADDH), was arrested on April 10, while he was working with journalists investigating cases of enforced disappearances. He was detained for 20 hours. He later asked for a hearing before the General Attorney, but this was denied to him.
BANGLADESH – Restrictive Amendment Bill
April 22, 2004 - Open Letter to Prime Minister Begum Khalida Zia
In a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the Observatory expressed its concern about a proposed Amendment Bill to the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulations Ordinance (1978) in Bangladesh. The Amendment Bill, in its current form, presents a serious threat to the independence of NGOs, most notably of human rights NGOs. In particular, the proposed bill prohibits “political activity”, defined as “any activity which may be interpreted as political, or may affect politics, or such other activities which may be interpreted to be detrimental to national independence, sovereignty, culture, ethnic and religious sentiment (…)". The vagueness of the terms employed constitutes a risk for human rights defenders, since any critical activity to the government who might fall under the scope of the law, and as such be prohibited. In addition the lack of precision as to what would be deemed "detrimental to (…) religious sentiment" reinforces apprehensions that women's groups, or organisations defending freedom of religion, might be undermined in their activities.
BANGLADESH – Attack on NGO / Threats
April 30, 2004 - BGD 002/0404/OBS 029
On April 17, 2004, officers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the ruling party, broke into the premises of the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) in Dhaka, ransacked and looted the offices, and assaulted the office assistant, Kazi Shuash Hasan, who was later taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. They occupied the premises until April 22, 2004. Lalbag police station allegedly refused to register a case at first, but later allowed the case to be registered. However, none of the perpetrators have been arrested, although they were seen near the HRCBM offices.
BELARUS – Repression of independent NGOs
Publication of a trial observation mission Report
April 22, 2004 – Press Release
The Observatory released a report of an international mission of judicial observation that took place from 19 to 26 of October 2003 in Belarus. The mission was sent to observe the trial against the NGO «Viasna», and more generally to investigate the situation of the right to freedom of association in Belarus. The report documents the legal reform governing freedom of association, and the increased obstacles faced by associations in the registration process. In 2003, authorities have increasingly used new restrictive legislation to initiate judicial procedures against NGOs. In January 2004, the Belarus minister of Justice confirmed that 51 associations had been shut down during 2003. Among them, Viasna, one of the most active human rights associations in Belarus, was shut down on October 27 2003.
The deterioration of the situation of human rights in Belarus, described by this report has just been examine by the UN Commission for Human Rights, which, during its 60th session, adopted a resolution appointing a Special Raporteaur to examine the situation of human rights in Belarus and to report on it during the next session of the Commission.
BRAZIL – Trial of the authors of the assassination of Joao Canuto
Publication of a mission report
April 7, 2004 – Press Release
On May 23, 2003, two land-owners were sentenced to 19 years and 10 months in prison for the murder in 1985 of João Canuto de Oliveira, President of the Trade Union of Rural Workers of Rio Maria, in the State of Pará. This trial is critical because it creates a precedent in the fight against impunity in Brazil, where trade unionists and farmers are frequently murdered. However, the Observatory, the Centro de Justiça Global (Brésil) and the Barreau des Hauts de Seine (France), which have sent observers to monitor the trial and produced a mission report, are concerned about the fact that the authors of the murder remain free ten months after their trial, while the procedure in appeal is still pending.
CHAD – Arrest / ill-treatment / Closure of a radio station
24 February 2004 - Open Letter to Mr. Idriss Deby
Mr. Tchanguiz Vathankha, the director of the private radio station Brakoss in Moissala, was arrested on February 9, 2004. Radio Brakoss broadcasts information relating to human rights in Chad and regularly criticises the country’s authorities for their violations of human rights. He was arrested following an interview he aired with Mr. Saleh Kebzabo, leader of the Union nationale pour le développement et le renouveau (UNDR), regarding the social and economic situation in the country. Mr. Vathankha was released on February 11, 2004, after 48 hours of detention. During his detention, Mr. Vathankha was tortured by the local police force. The radio station was closed until February 16, 2004, and since then its programming has been limited.
CHINA - detentions and ill-treatment
March 11, 2004 - Open Letter to Hu Jintao
Mrs. Jiang Meili, the wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a human rights defender who was sentenced on October 2003 to three years in prison on charges of "leaking state secrets", was illegally detained from February 28 to March 1, 2004, when she went to Beijing to petition the National People's Congress on behalf of her husband. She was then placed under house arrest, the authorities destroyed her two cellular telephones and disconnected her home phone line, preventing her from communicating with the outside world. On March 4, 2004, plain-clothed police officers prevented Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving her home to visit her husband and took her to the Guoqing Lu Public Security Bureau. She was released that same day. This was the third time Mrs. Meili has been unlawfully detained since her husband was sentenced last October to three years in prison.
Other activists and their relatives have been deprived of their liberty and in some instances subjected to severe physical abuse. Such was the case of Shen Ting, a Hong Kong resident campaigning on behalf of displaced residents in Shanghai, including Mr. Zheng Enchong, whose mother was abducted and threatened for several hours on March 5, 2004. In mid-February, Hua Huiqi, a church leader and an activist campaigning against forced evictions, was placed under de facto house arrest. On March 5, 2004, Mr. Hua Huiqi and his wife, Wei Jumei, were forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Fengtai PSB station after attempting to leave their home. Hua Huiqi was subsequently beaten, his house was ransacked and his life-savings stolen.
CHINA – Arbitrary arrests
March 30, 2004 - CHN 001/0304/OBS 019
On March 28, 2004, Mrs. Ding Zilin, Mrs. Zhang Xianling and Mrs. Huang Jinping, all three “Tiananmen Mothers”, were arrested and their homes searched by the police. Mrs Ding Zilin lost her son in the events of 1989 and since then has been collecting information about the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown and calling upon the Chinese government to make appropriate reparations. She has become the most prominent spokesperson for victims' families in revealing the truth and demanding justice. Mrs Zhang Xianling and Mrs Huang Jinping also lost their son and husband, respectively, and are well-known spokespersons of the “Tiananmen Mothers”. Their arrest occurred after a video CD was released in Hong Kong, presenting the testimonies of six family members of the June 4th victims, including the testimonies of Ding Zilin, Zhang Xianling and Huang Jinping. This video CD was taken to Geneva to be presented to the Human Rights Commission’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The three of them were all three released on April 1, 2004.
CHINA – Detention/Prison sentence
April 5, 2004 - CHN 002/0304/OBS 021
On March 16, 2004, the Shanghai’s RTL Administrative Committee sentenced Ms. Ma Yalian to one and a half years of Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) because of an article she posted on several Websites entitled, “A True Record of Being Turned Away from the National Petitions and Letters Office and the Petitions Bureau of the National People’s Congress.” In this article Ma Yalian provides an eyewitness account of physical abuse endured by petitioners from police and officials outside of Beijing’s main petitions offices. Ma Yalian had spent many years petitioning the authorities over her forcible removal during an urban redevelopment clearance in Shanghai. The Shanghai Public Security Bureau previously sentenced her to one year of RTL in August 2001 for her efforts. While serving that RTL sentence, Ma Yalian had both her legs broken by police. She has been physically disabled ever since.
COLOMBIA - Torture / armed attack / harassment
February 2, 2004 - COL 002/1003/OBS 053.1
On January 28, 2004, Mrs. Inés Peña, activist in the Movimiento Juvenil, del Convenio Universitario Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) – UNIPAZ, and coordinator of the “María Cano” Documentation Centre of the OFP, was arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to ill-treatment by paramilitaries. They threatened her with fire arms, forcing her to get into a vehicle near the main police station of Barrancabermeja, in the county of Santander. While pulling her hair and burning her feet with hot water, they threatened her, saying: “so that you leave this OFP …”, referring to the name of the section that she presents on a television programme. The day before, on January 27, 2004, three members of the OFP, including Mrs. Yolanda Becerra, the President of the organisation, were fired on by a group of armed individuals. These cases are part of a harassment and persecution campaign against members of the OFP that has been ongoing for several years.
COLOMBIA - Torture / extra-judicial executions
February 11, 2004 - COL 002 / 0204 / OBS 010
On February 6, 2004, Mrs. María Lucero Henao, a human rights defender, and her 16-year-old son Yamid Daniel were executed by individuals dressed as civilians who apparently belonged to paramilitaries who had forced them out of their home in Puerto Esperanza village, Meta county and taken them to the place of execution. The body of Yamid Daniel bore traces of torture. Mrs. María Lucero Henao had been subjected to an assassination attempt and had been threatened twice in the past three years. She was active in denouncing the grave situation of the inhabitants of Puerto Esperanza, which has a large population of displaced persons as well as a significant permanent paramilitary presence. Also, José Mendivil Cárdenas, a human rights defender, was assassinated on February 7, 2004, by two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle. He had worked with Amnesty International for many years, as well as with various other social organisations and NGOs that promote human rights.
COLOMBIA – President Uribe reiterated his accusations
against human rights defenders.
February 12, 2004 - Press release
In declarations before the European Parliament on February 10, 2004, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez criticised the work of certain organisations for the protection of human rights in Colombia, namely the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective. President Uribe accused some of these organisations of being terrorist outfits that hide behind the banner of human rights. The Observatory deems it unacceptable to discredit the work of human rights organisations in the name of the fight against terrorism. Moreover, these types of declarations only aggravate the violence to which human rights defenders are subjected to on daily basis in Colombia.
COLOMBIA - Detentions/ illegal search
February 25, 2004 - COL 003 / 0204 / OBS 014
On February 18, 2004, members of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) detained Mrs. Luz Perly Córdoba, President of the Asociación Campesina de Arauca (ACA), in Bogotá. Mrs Luz Perly Córdoba had to leave Arauca to live in Bogotá due to the death threats she had received from military personnel and paramilitaries, and had been afforded precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Following her detention, her residence was searched by the police. The latter took away her computer’s hard disc, pictures, floppy discs, documents, among other things. That same day, in Arauquita, members of the Dirección de Policía Judicial e Investigación (DIJIN), the Cuerpo Técnico de Investigaciones de la Fiscalía (CTI), the DAS and the police searched the ACA offices and confiscated documents and other materials. They also broke into the home of Mrs Nubia Vega, director of ACA and mother-in-law of the secretary of the association.
Other persons detained included Mr. Juan de Jesús Gutiérrez, treasurer of the ACA, and Messrs Víctor Enrique Amarillo and Moisés Elías Eregua, bodyguards appointed by the Ministry of the Interior to protect members of the ACA, as requested by the Inter-American Commission’s precautionary measures.
COLOMBIA - Threats
March 25, 2004 - Open letter to Alvaro Uribe Vélez
Members of the Colombian delegation participating in the XXXV World Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which took place in Quito, Ecuador, from March 1 to March 6, 2004, received threats.
On March 2, while Gilberto Arlanht Ariza, a leader of Kankuamo indigenous group, was denouncing the genocide suffered by his people since 2001 in the congress in Quito, a group of armed men broke into his home in Colombia, attacked the people there and threatened them and Mr. Arlanht.
On March 3, a number of pamphlets were circulated at the University of Tolima’s General Assembly that accused Mr. Germán Acosta and Mr. Diego Sierra, two students participating in the congress in Quito, of belonging to the guerrilla. The pamphlets also accused other members of the Students Committee of supporting violent actions. Given the high level of paramilitary activity at the University of Tolima, these accusations could pose a serious threat to the life and personal integrity of the above mentioned students.
COLOMBIA – Threats
March 29, 2004 – COL 004 / 0304 / OBS 018
On March 19, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (Paramilitary Group) in the Valle de Cauca issued a press release in which members of the trade union SINALTRAINAL, were urged to live the city of Palmira within three months, otherwise they would be declared “military objectives”. On March 20, a letter was sent to the offices of the section of SINALTRAINAL in Palmira, indicating that the leaders of the trade union were collaborators of the upsurge in Valle de Cauca.
COLOMBIA – Assassination
April 6, 2004 – Press Release
On April 1, 2004, Carlos Bernal, 43, lawyer, human rights defenders and member of the Comité Permanente para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CPDH), and of his bodyguard Mr. Camilo Jiménez, were murdered in Cúcuta, in the State of Norte de Santander by an unidentified man in a food shop in the Prado Norte neighbourhood. Mr. Carlos Bernal was a lawyer at the Universidad Libre in which he was a student and civil leader and had participated, in different regional and municipal governments, in looking for improvement of the human rights situation in Cútuta and Norte de Santander. He also occupied a position in the Communist Party, had participated in marches of peasants in the region of Catatumbo, and had been Commissioner of Peace of the Interior de Norte of Santander and of the Mayorship of Cúcuta, on top of his work as university professor of the Universities Libre and Simón Bolivar.
COLOMBIA – Death threats/Ill-treatment
April 19, 2004 - COL 006 / 0404 / OBS 023
Mr. Ademir Luna, journalist, human rights defender and member of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS), in Barrancabermeja, in the State of Santander, has been receiving death threats in the last few months. On March 29, 2004, around 23:15, two men approached the taxi belonging to Mr. Eduardo Moon, father of Mr. Ademir Moon, which is generally driven by Mr. Fabian Strap, forcing the driver to turn towards a dead-end road, site in which they threatened him with firearms saying: "You are Ademir Moon? We are going to kill you". Mr. Fabian Strap, was then placed against the car and while insulting him, they sprinkled gasoline on his body and the car, threatening to burn him. Later the armed individuals tried to put fire to the car, but as the lighter did not work they then moved away.
COLOMBIA – Extrajudicial killings
April 22, 2004 - COL 007 / 0404 / OBS 027
On April 20, 2004, Mr. Gabriel Remolina, brother in law of Mr. Efraín Guerrero, President of the section of the National Union of Workers of the Alimentos Industry (SINALTRAINAL) and worker of Coca-Cola in Bucaramanga, was assassinated in Bucaramanga. During these events, the wife of Mr. Remolina, Fanny Robles was also assassinated, and three of his children were hurt, one of which passed away hours later. The facts happened around 07h00 in the morning, when several armed men entered the house of Mr. Gabriel Remolina and indiscriminately shot all of his family. Mr. Efraín Guerrero participated in the hunger strike carried out by the Coca-Cola workers during the month of April 2004, undertaken with the objective to reiterate his denunciations at the international level on the serious violations of human rights inflicted against Coca-Cola workers and to demonstrate itself against the closing of 10 lines of production.
Another member of the National Direction of SINALTRAINAL, Mr. Onofre Esquivel, worker of the Nestlé multinational in Bugalagrande, (Department of Valle), was threatened in his house by several individuals travelling in two vehicles, last April 14, around 5 in the afternoon. Mr. Onofre Esquivel had already received death threats by the paramilitary of the United Self-defense of Colombia (AUC) through a letter dated October 11, 2003, and his house had been searched on of October 22 of the same year.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) – Threats/Arbitrary detention/Ill-treatment
April 14, 2004 - RDC 001 / 1504 / OBS 025
April 20, 2004 - RDC 001 / 1504 / OBS 025.1
Mr. Dieudonné Been Masudi Kingombe, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Centre des Droits de l’Homme et du Droit Humanitaire - CDH), was arrested on April 10, 2004 by officers of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements - ANR). He was violently beaten and released two hours later, without being given any reason for his arrest. These events occurred after a press release was issued by the CDH on April 8, concerning the state of insecurity in the province of Equator in Katanga. On April 10, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tshisakamba, Secretary General of the CDH, received anonymous death threats phone calls.
Moreover, the ANR has reportedly issued a list of ten people to be arrested. Among theses ten people are: Mr. Freddy Kitoko, Vice-president of ASADHO/Katanga, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tschisabamka, Secretary General of the CDH, Mr. Jean-Claude Katenge, President of ASADHO/Katanga, M. Oscar Rachidi, président de la LICOF (Ligue Contre la Corruption et la Fraude) and Mr. Hubert Tshiswaka executive director of Action against Impunity and for Human Rights (Action contre l'impunité et pour les droits humains). Furthermore, Mr. Grégoire Mulamba Tschisabamka continued to receive death threats after April 10.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) –Prohibition of peaceful demonstration
April 23, 2004 – Open Letter
On April 19, 2004, the governor of Kinshasa refused to give authorisation for a peaceful march against war, poverty and partition of the RDC and in favour of democratic elections, that was due to take place on April 20, 2004, in Kinshasa. That day, a heavy deployment of police forces prevented the demonstrators from going ahead with the march.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) – Intimidations / harassment
April 30, 2004 - RDC 002 / 0404/ OBS 030
Mr. Paul Nsapu, President of the League of Electors (LE), was victim of an attempted car accident. On April 27, two cars with tinted windows and covered number-plates, followed him as he was driving home from a seminar organised by the Organisation intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (OIF) in Kinshasa. Mr. Paul Nsapu manage to escape to a petrol station. The two cars watched him for a while and then left. These events occurred a day after an interview of Mr. Paul Nsapu on the political situation in DRC and on a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning impunity for human rights violation in east DRC, was broadcasted on Télé Kin Malebo (TKM).
ECUADOR - Attacks/ Intent to assassinate
February 3, 2004 - ECU 008 / 0204 / OBS 008
On February 1, Mr. Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE), was victim of an assassination attempt in Quito. While outside the CONAIE offices with his family, a group of unidentified men assaulted them, opening fire with their weapons. Three members of Mr. Leonidas Iza’s family suffered injuries. Reports have excluded the possibility that this attack was in fact a robbery because the assailants did not bother take the suitcases of the Iza family after they fled into the CONAIE building. There are reasons to believe that this attack is connected to Mr. Leonidas Iza’s work on the protection of indigenous people, his criticism of the free trade agreement, ALCA, and the current government.
ECUADOR – Arbitrary detention / Death Threats
April 2, 2004 - ECU 002 / 0404 / OBS 020
Mr. Floresmilo Villalta, President of the peasant association “Ecuador Libre”, and 14 peasants in the area known as “Las Golondrinas”, were arrested on March 9, 2004. Mr. Floresmilo Villalta had been receiving death threats since 1997 because of his activities, and was accused by Mr. Pedro José Arteta, legal representative of the timber firm BOTROSA, of being the “intellectual author” of terrorist acts against the firm. Mr. Floresmilo Villalta has been subjected to harassment and persecution by this firm many times before, and peasants of this region are in conflict with BOTROSA since 1998, year in which the firm received 3.123 acres from the National Rural Institute (INDA), in the estate the Pambilar.
ECUADOR – Death Threats / Harassment
April 30, 2004 - ECU 003 / 0404 / OBS 031
Mr. José Serrano Salado, member of Economic and Social Rights Centre (Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales - CDES), received death threats on April 25, 2004. He was driving in Quito, when he was forced to stop his car by three men, one of which was armed. The three men got into the car with him, and threatened him saying “he had to stop this”. Thinking he was being robbed, he told them to take everything. They answered that they were not interested in that. They let him go, warning him that next time they would kill him. Mr. José Serrano Salado and other members of CDES filed a complaint on April 24, 2004. There are reasons to believe that these threats are linked to the organisation’s support for the Sarayaku indigenous community in Pastaza province, which is opposing plans of a foreign petrol company to carry out their activities in their territory.
GUATEMALA – Tribunals in Guatemala acquitted Bruce Harris
February 2, 2004 - Press release
On January 30, the Tribunal Duodécimo de Sentencia Criminal of Guatemala dismissed defamation charges against Bruce Harris, director of the non-governmental organization Casa Alianza, during a trial in Guatemala City. Mr. Harris was charged with defamation after revealing the results of an investigation on the trafficking of children during a press conference. Also during the press conference, he accused several lawyers of being involved in irregular adoptions.
GUATEMALA – Arbitrary detentions
March 17, 2004 - GTM 001 / 0304 / OBS 016
On February 25, 2004, Mr. Victoriano Zacarías Mindez, Executive Secretary of the General Centre for Workers of Guatemala (Central General de Trabajadores de Guatemala – CGTG) and Secretary General of the Drivers Trade Union (Sindicato de Pilotos Automovilistas y Similares de Guatemala), as well as Mr. Wilson Carreto and Mr. Miguel Angel Ochoa, Directors of another trade union (the Unión de Pilotos de Transporte Pesado por Carretera in Guatemala City), were arrested. At the time of the arrest, the three men were demonstrating against the implementation of measures to reduce the flow of heavy vehicles. The detainees were charged with terrorism due to a gasoline spill from two tanks at a crossroads in Guatemala City. However, these incidents were caused by other individuals who had infiltrated the demonstration with the intention of provoking chaos.
GUINEA BISSAU – Arbitrary detention/ill-treatment
March 30, 2004 – Open Letter to Mr. Henrique Rosa
Mr. Joao Vaz Mane, Vice-President of the Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos (Guinean League for Human Rights -LGDH), was arrested by the police after he had openly criticised it for the ill-treatment of a young man. Mr. Vaz Mane was then taken to the scene of a murder and the police told a crowd of people standing there that he was the murderer. The people then started beating Mr. Vaz Mane until someone recognised him and managed to stop them. Following these events, Mr. Vaz Mane was taken to the police station where he was verbally abused and his life threatened for five hours before finally being released.
ISRAEL - Interior Minister cancels investigation into the organization “Adalah”
19 February 2004 - Press Release
In August 2002, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Adalah”, was informed in a letter signed by the Registrar of Associations of the Interior Ministry that an official investigation was to be opened into its activities. The decision to investigate was based on three claims: (1) that the organization provided legal aid and legal services to Arab organizations and institutions on issues of discrimination which was, according to the authorities, contrary to the specific goals registered with the Registrar of Associations; (2) that prior to its registration, Adalah had allegedly received funds from the Galilee Society to finance salaries for Adalah employees; and (3) that the registrar had suspicions concerning the use of money for the benefit of certain political figures. Following the Registrar’s decision to open an investigation, Adalah was subject to a defamation campaign by several newspapers. On February 7, 2004, Interior Minister Mr. Avraham Poraz decided to accept the appeal submitted by Adalah on September 5, 2002 calling for the investigation to be halted. Nonetheless, Adalah is considering the possibility of filing a tort suit against the Registrar for harming the reputation of the organization by providing false information to the media.
ISRAEL – Prison sentence
April 23, 2004 – Press release
On April 22, 2004, Mr. Jonathan Ben Artzi, a conscientious objector, was sentenced to another two months in prison and a fine of 2000 NIS after refusing to serve in the Israeli army. After more than a year after he was first brought before the martial court, the military court in Jaffa rendered its final verdict in his trial. Jonathan Ben Artzi had been considered a pacifist in the first verdict issued by the same court in November 2003, after he had already spent 18 months in detention. Nevertheless, the court held Mr. Artzi guilty for refusing to obey an order to enlist and asked the Military Conscience Committee to reconvene to examine his case once again. The Committee then decided, in February 2004, to discharge him from the army, on the basis that he was « unfit, due to lack of motivation » but did not acknowledge that Mr. Artzi was a « pacifist ».
LEBANON – Repression of a peaceful assembly
April 8, 2004 – Press Release
On April 7, 2004, in Beirut a peaceful gathering of nearly 500 people in favour of the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Syria, was violently dispersed by the army. The demonstration was announced two day earlier in a press conference. A delegation had planned to bring a petition to the headquarters of the ESCWA, the regional office of the United Nations. Water cannons were used against the crowd and some people were beaten with truncheons, including elderly people family members of the detainees and Mr. Ghazi Aad, leader of the NGO “SOLIDE” (Support Of Lebanese In Detention and Exile), whose wheelchair was damaged. At least one student was taken to hospital. The delegation was thus prevented to meet with M. Rawdha, in charge of human rights at the ESCWA.
LIBYA – Disappearance
April 20, 2004 – Open letter to President Qaddafi
Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi, a 63 year old civil engineer, was taken from his home by unidentified members of a security group on April 4, 2004. Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi has been missing since then. He had spent several years in jail for expressing his opinion about Libyan public affairs and for defending freedom of expression, assembly and association. In 2002, he was sentenced to five years in prison during a trial to which he was not allowed to attend, for stating that reform in Libya would require a constitution, free speech and democracy. He was released on March 12, 2004, following a United States intervention on the eve of an official visit to Libya. There are fears that his dissapearance is linked with his statements about prison conditions and the torture that he and other detainees were subjected to while in detention. Mr. Fathi El-Jahmi had recevied threats shortly before his disapearance.
Malaysia - Repression of a peaceful assembly
March 5, 2004 - Open Letter to the Prime Minister
On February 28, 2004, members of 64 NGOs and political parties who were peacefully demonstrating at the Bukit Aman National Police Headquarters, and who were about to hand a memorandum on the Misuse of Police Powers to the Inspector General of Police, were dispersed by the Police who deployed water canons that sprayed chemical-laced water. 17 people, members of political parties, NGOs and civilians, were arrested and sent to the police station at Jalan Hang Tuah, including Fahmi Reza, Eric Paulsen, Elizabeth Wong, all three members of the human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM). Later that same day, they were all released on bail. Among the released, Elizabeth Wong and Tian Chua, vice president of National Justice Party, sustained bruises. Reports have been filed against the police.
MEXICO - Threats
February 18, 2004 - MEX 001/0204/OBS 012
On February 4, Mr. Arturo Solís, president of the Centro de Estudios Fronterizos y de Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CEFPRODHAC), received death threats over the phone. He had previously received similar threats, just after he had made public declarations on the supposed responsibility of the Mexican police forces in the assassination of businessman José Antonio Cervantes Ezpeleta in December 2003.
MEXICO – Threats / Harassment
March 9, 2004 - MEX 003 / 0304 / OBS 015
The Committee for Human Rights, an organisation affiliated with the Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (LIMEDDH), received threats, in particular against one of its members, Mr. Fray Blas Alvarado. On February 6, 2004, the secretary of the Tenosique section Committee in the State of Tabasco received a threatening note, which was attached to the tail of an iguana in a plastic bag. Mr. Fray Blas Alvarado has been receiving threats since 2002 due to his work in favour of the protection of undocumented people.
MEXICO - Harassment
March 19, 2004 - Open letter to Vicente Fox
Women’s rights defenders in the State of Chihuahua, in particular the lawyer Mrs. Luz Esthela Castro, Mr. Abino Gómez, husband of the lawyer Alma Gómez, and members of the “Justicia para Nuestras Hijas” have been subjected to harassment by the Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua. On February 13, on the eve of the celebration of the "Day V"(global movement "Against violence against Women”), the latter ordered an investigation into offences allegedly committed by Mrs. Castro, Mr. Gómez, and Mrs. Guadalupe Ramos, including sedition and deprivation of liberty, although none of them had been questioned about these purported crimes.
MOROCCO – Ill-treatment at peaceful gathering
February 16, 2004 – Open Letter
The President of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), Mr. Abdelhamid Amine, was violently attacked by the Moroccan police forces at a peaceful sit-in held on January 28, 2004 in front of the Parliament in Rabat. Mr. Abdelhamid Amine remained unconscious for a few minutes. The gathering he was attending was a demonstration calling for the right to access medication and included a coalition of artists calling for cultural diversity.
NEPAL – Repression of peaceful demonstration
April 26, 2004 – Open Letter to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa
Since the beginning of April 2004, there has been a severe crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, leading to mass arrests, illegal and incommunicado detentions, ill treatment and violent repression of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Kathmandu. On April 8, 2004, the Kathmandu District Administration issued an order banning public demonstrations and the assembly of more than five persons within the Kathmandu Ring Road and Lalitpur areas. Dr Bhogendra Sharma, President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and the Centre for Victims of Torture Nepal (CVICT), was arrested in Kathmandu by Nepalese police on April 17, 2004. He was released later that same day. On April 9, 2004, after a demonstration, approximately 400 lawyers from Nepal Bar Association were arrested by security personnel in front of the Supreme Court. They were subsequently released. On April 15, 2004, the armed police arrested over 1,000 peaceful demonstrators, including the President of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, in the Bagbazaar area in Kathmandu. On April 21, several hundred lawyers were reportedly arrested during another peaceful demonstration organised by the Nepal Bar Association in Kathmandu. The purpose of that last demonstration was to protest against the government's prohibition of demonstrations and the ongoing repression against human rights defenders and people exercising the right to peaceful assembly. They were subsequently released.
PHILIPPINES – Extra-judicial execution
February 18, 2004 - PHL 001 / 0204 / OBS 011
On February 13, 2004, alleged members of the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippines Army (IBPA) attacked Mrs. Magsino and Mrs. Fortu while they were driving to Pinagsabangan. Mrs. Magsino was a human rights lawyer, the Chairperson of Mindoro for Justice and Peace and Vice Mayor of Naujan, in Mindoro Oriental. Mrs. Fortu was a volunteer at Mindoro for Justice and Peace and the Acting Secretary General of KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental in Philippines. Two men on a motorcycle without license plates peppered Mrs. Magsino’s vehicle with bullets, killing both of them. Shortly before this, Mrs. Magsino had received two death threats claiming that she would not live past February 15, 2004. She was a vocal critic of the increasing military deployment in the island province. She also spoke out against former 204th IBPA Commanding officer, Col. Jovito Palparan Jr. who was allegedly suspected of involvement in other extra-judicial execution in April 2003. Despite complaints about these events, the Commission on Appointments confirmed Col. Palparan's promotion as Brigadier General on February 4, 2004.
SAUDI ARABIA - Arbitrary Arrests and detention/ Incommunicado detention/Releases
March 18, 2004 - SAU 001/0304/OBS 017
April 22, 2004 - SAU 001 / 0304 / OBS 017.1
On March 15, 2004, eleven individuals, including several human rights defenders, were arrested because of their campaign in favour of reforms of the political and human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. These individuals had criticised the National Human Rights Commission, whose creation had just been officially announced by the government and had applied to form an independent human rights organisation. Four of the detainees were released on March 17. The Ministry of the Interior was reportedly willing to release the other detainees on the condition that they sign a pledge committing to stop their campaign to reform the political and human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. During the month of March, nine of them were released after pledging to end their participation in human rights activities in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdulla Al-Hamad, Mr. Matrouk Al-Faleh and Mr. Ali Al-Deminy remain in incommunicado detention because of their refusal to sign the pledge. No charges have been filed against them. The Intelligence Department has also denied their request to have access to a lawyer.
SUDAN - Arrests/ Arbitrary detention/fear for safety
February 4, 2004 - SDN 002/0104/OBS 009
March 5, 2004 - SDN 002/0104/OBS 009.1
Mr. Salih Mahmoud Osman, a member of the Sudan Organization Against Torture’s (SOAT) lawyers network, was arrested on February 1, 2004, at 11:00 pm at his home in Wad-Madani, capital of the Central Region in Sudan and convicted to the National Security Agency (NSA) offices in Wad Madani. He was reportedly transferred on February 3, 2004, from the NSA to an undisclosed location in Khartoum and has reportedly been held in incommunicado detention without being charged with any criminal offence. Mr. Osman is a well known lawyer and writer. Over the past year, he has provided free legal aid to hundreds of victims of human rights abuses in Darfur and has also provided legal representation to those facing capital or severe punishment (amputation and cross amputation) in the Darfur region. His wife has been allowed to bring him food. However, she has reportedly been denied the right to visit him.
SYRIA - Ongoing harassment against human rights defender
February 13, 2004 - Press release
On February 11, Mr. Akhtam Naisse, President of the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), was summoned to report to the so-called "al-Mintaqa" offices of the military secret service in Damascus. Mr. Akhtam Naisse was detained and interrogated by two high ranking military officers until after midnight. He was released on February 12 in the early afternoon. The military secret services accused him and CDF of having illegal contacts and being "the workers of Europe, USA and Israel". The arrest followed an on-line petition "To end the state of emergency in Syria" launched by the CDF at the end of January 2004. During his detention, Mr. Naisse was subject to verbal harassment and various threats from military officers.
SYRIA - Restriction on freedom of movement
February 18, 2004 - SYR 001/0204/OBS 013
On February 11, 2004, the Syrian authorities prevented Mr. Haytham Al-Maleh, Director of Human Rights Association in Syria (HRAS), from leaving the International Airport of Damascus. He was on
his way to the Emirates “on a family visit”. This prohibition to travel followed Mr. Al-Maleh’s speech in front of the Human Rights Committee of the German Parliament on the International Day of Human Rights, concerning the human rights conditions under the law of emergency in Syria. He had not been allowed to leave Syria for several months until he received an official invitation from the German Parliament. At that point, the Syrian Ministry of the Republic Presidential Affairs asserted that Mr. Haytham was not banned from leaving the country. However, the prohibition of movement imposed by the Syrian authorities on February 11, 2004, demonstrated otherwise.
SYRIA – Arbitrary detentions and threats
March 19, 2004 - Press Release
April 15, 2004 – Open letter to President Bashar El Assad
A number of people were arrested in the days that followed a gathering of members of the Committees for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF) in front of the People’s Parliament on March 8, 2004. They were gathering in favour of the end of the state of emergency, the release of political prisoners and democratic reforms. Two members of the CDF Mr. Ahmad Khazen and Mr. Hassan Watfa where arrested respectively on March 15 and 16, in Homs by the military security services. They remained in detention after being sentenced to 45 in prison according to martial law. They were released on May 9, 2004. Ms. Mania Al Andari, a student of 23 and activist in the CDF was summoned on April 3 by the military security services of Suweida, for having participated to the gathering of March 8. She was questioned for seven hours, during which she was ill-treated and threatened of rape.
SYRIA – Arbitrary detention / Ill-treatment
April 15, 2004 – SYR 002 / 1504 / OBS 026
April 21, 2004 – Press Release
April 22, 2004 – Press Release
Mr. Aktham Naisse, president of Committees for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), was arrested on April 13, 2004, in Lattakia, by the military security services.
His whereabouts remained unknown until April 22, when he was brought before the State security Court in Damascus and accused of « undermining the objectives of the Revolution: the Arab Unity, Liberty and Socialism ». Aktham Naisse is being held in Saidnaya prison, well-known for the very harsh conditions of detention imposed on political prisoners, where he is isolated in an individual cell, in the section for ordinary criminals. There is great concerned about his health condition, which has deteriorated considerably after he had a cerebral stroke during the first week of his detention that resulted in the paralysis of the right side of his body.
Mr. Naisse was arrested following the publication of CDF's annual report, which denounces flagrant violations of human rights in Syria, and the recent declarations made by CDF representatives denouncing violations against the Kurdish population in the North of the country in March 2004. The arrest also follows a gathering organized by CDF on March 8, 2004, in which 400 participants requested the cancellation of the State of Emergency, the release of political prisoners and the establishment of democratic reforms.
THAILAND - enforced disappearance
March 18, 2004 - Open Letter to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis, 53, chairman of the Muslim Lawyers Group and vice chairman of the Human Rights committee of the Law Society of Thailand, was taken from his car on March 12, 2004 and has been missing ever since. He had reportedly told close friends that he was receiving threatening anonymous telephone calls and that he feared for his safety. Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis has been actively defending human rights in the southern part of Thailand and has also criticised state officials for excessive and unnecessary violence in law enforcement. These various activities have created tension between Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijitis and the security forces in the southern Thai provinces.
TUNISIA – Denied entry in country
April 13, 2004 – Press release
Mr. Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer and Honorary President of FIDH was denied entry in Tunisia, where he was due to attend a press conference for the launch of the Observatory’s Annual Report, held at the office of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH). This is the third time Mr. Baudouin is prevented from entering Tunisian soil; the first two times occurred in 1996 and 2000 as he was going to meet representatives of civil society.
TURKEY - Human Rights Defenders sentenced to prison
February 16, 2004 - Press release
On February 13, 2004, the Aliaga first instance Penal Court sentenced Dr. Alp Ayan and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, members of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) Izmir, to imprisonment. The defendants had attended the funeral of Nevzat Ciftci, one of the prisoners killed during the military operation in Ankara Ulucanlar prison on 26 September 1999, and were charged with “attacking the gendarmes with stones and bottles” and “resisting and opposing through violent means”. Dr. Alp Ayan and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, were among the 69 individuals who were arrested, beaten and detained, and the 14 individuals that were remanded. On February 16, 2004, after a four years trial, Dr. Alp Ayan, was sentenced to 18 months and one day in prison, and Mrs. Günseli Kaya, together with other 28 defendants, to 18 months in prison. Another defendant, Mr. Adnan Akin was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The rest (37) were acquitted.
TURKEY – Judicial proceedings
April 26 and 27, 2004 – Trial of observation missions
The Observatory sent an observer to the trial of Mr. Alp Ayan, psychiatrist of the Izmir Treatment and Rehabilitation Center of the Human Rights Foundation in Turkey (HRFT) and Ecevit Piroglu, former member of the Izmir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) on April 26, 2004, before the Izmir Penal Court of First Instance. They were accused of “insulting the armed forces and the Ministry of justice”, after issuing a declaration in February 2001, protesting against human rights violations by the Police in F-Type prisons. They were both acquitted.
The Observatory also sent an observer to the trial of Mr. Selahattin Dermitas, President of the section of the IHD, and other human rights defenders, who held a speech on June 21, 2003 in favour of a pacific resolution of the Kurdish question. The trial is still pending.
VENEZUELA – President Hugo Chávez Frías questioned the work of human rights NGOs
February 19, 2004 – Press Release
On February 16, 2004, President Hugo Chávez Frías’s made some declarations about the financing of various human rights organisations. He mentioned that some of the groups received funds from the United States government through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). President Chávez claimed that these funds were used to indoctrinate human rights organisations so that they would attack and denounce the Venezuelan government.
VIETNAM – Release
March 29, 2004 - VTN 001/0903/OBS 048.1
Mr. Pham Van Tuong (Buddhist name Thich Tri Luc), a former monk and member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), was released on 26 March 2004, after serving a 20 months-imprisonment sentence. He had been arrested by Vietnamese Security Police on July 26, 2002, on charges of “fleeing abroad in order to oppose the Vietnamese government”. He had fled Vietnam following religious persecution in April 2002 and was under UN protection in Cambodia after obtaining refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Phnom Penh in June 2002. During the next year, his family did not know whether he was dead or alive, and Vietnamese authorities denied all knowledge of his whereabouts. Mr. Pham Van Tuong was sentenced to 20 months in prison on March 12, 2004, at a closed trial at the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City of “distorting the government’s policies on national unity and contacting hostile groups to undermine the government’s internal security and foreign affairs”. Because he had already served 19 months and 15 days in prison, he was released two weeks after the ruling.
ZAMBIA - Harassment
February 19, 2004 - Open Letter to Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. George Kunda
Mrs. Sara Longwe, a member of United Nations Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO), Laureate of the 2003 Hunger Project African Leadership Prize and a well known human rights defender working on gender issues in Zambia, has been the target of serious acts of harassment. Firstly, on January 5, 2004, the Minister of Home Affairs signed a deportation order requiring Mr. Clarke, her husband and a British citizen, to leave the country within 24 hours. Mr. Clarke’s deportation order, was based on the grounds that he had allegedly insulted the Zambian President in his weekly ‘animal farm’ satirical column in The Post newspaper. Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Longwe went into hiding from January 5 to January 13 to avoid his deportation. Then, on February 12, 2004, Mr. Clarke was arrested and detained for allegedly assaulting a police officer at the Chelston police office in Lusaka. He was released on bail the next day. On February 16, Mr. Clarke appeared before the court for his allege assault and disorderly conduct. A hearing was scheduled for March 2004. Finally, on February 12, 2004, Mr. Clarke’s eldest daughter was kidnapped while driving Mrs. Longwe’s car. It is believed that the assailants meant to attack her or her husband. Mrs. Clarke’s daughter was later released.
ZIMBABWE – Ongoing repression of human rights defenders
Publication of a mission report on the situation of human rights defenders
February 18, 2004 – Press Release
A few days before the European Union decided to renew sanctions against Zimbabwe, the Observatory released a report titled « Evaluation mission 2003: systematic repression of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe ». The report highlights the growing abuses suffered by human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, noting that since the 2002 presidential elections, which maintained Robert Mugabe in office as Head of State, the pressure on human rights defenders has not only significantly increased, but also developed more subtle and sophisticated forms of oppression. In addition to direct threats and pressure on human rights defenders, the authorities use a wide range of legal provisions to silence them. This strategy is notably characterized by the implementation of a law limiting freedom of association; the drafting of a very restrictive law governing the work of NGOs; and the use of laws aimed at prohibiting any criticism of Government officials and suppressing freedoms of assembly and demonstration, under the pretext of maintaining public order. Human rights defenders, including members of NGOs, lawyers, magistrates, journalists and trade unionists, are constantly harassed and subjected to violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, and fiscal pressure or administrative sanctions.
ZIMBABWE - Arbitrary detention / Torture
April 29, 2004 - ZWE 001 / 0404 / OBS 028
Mr. Tinashe Lukas Chimedza, a student and a social rights and youth rights activist, was arrested in Harare on April 22, 2004, and ill-treated during his detention. He was preparing to give a speech on the right to education during a peaceful meeting at Mt Pleasant Hall in Harare when he was arrested by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He was taken to a room, where the police kicked and punched him, and beat him with sticks. He was then taken, unconscious and bleeding from his mouth, to Marlborough police station. He was later admitted to the Avenues Clinic for treatment where he was given treatment, but remained under police surveillance. He was released on bail a week later. During the same peaceful meeting on April 22, Mr. Bhatasara, was also briefly detained and taken to the Marlborough police Station on the grounds that he showed disrespect for the Zimbabwe flag. He was released soon after.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OBSERVATORY 2003
Human Rights Defenders in a “Security First” Environment
April 14, 2004
The Observatory published it Annual Report 2003, during the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights, where a briefing was organised. Two press conferences were also held in Tunis, at the offices of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) and in Dakar.
The report documents the impact that security and counter-terrorism policy, legislation and practices have on the safety of human rights defenders and their ability to carry out their work. Human rights defenders are finding it increasingly difficult to make their message heard. They are subject to general restrictions on the freedom of speech and association because of the stringent application of security-related laws and the adoption of new, restrictive legislation. Also, many opportunistic political leaders no longer have any hesitation in lumping together human rights defenders and terrorists, as a new way of criminalising them.
The 2003 Annual Report, “Human Rights Defenders in a ‘Security First’ Environment,” presents the situation of more than 550 human rights defenders and 80 NGOs facing repression in more than 80 countries.
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Paris – Geneva, May 2004
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