This page is maintained by Michael
Katz-Lacabe and Margarita
Lacabe. Last updated Nov. 8, 1996.
Oct. 28
(Reuters) - Guatemala - The human rights group Alliance Against Impunity
expressed its opposition to a complete amnesty for Guatemala's army and leftist rebels
who violated human rights. The announcement came on the eve of new peace talks
between the government and leftist guerillas.
(Reuters) - Burundi - The Burundi army, which is mostly Tutsi, admitted today
that its soldier killed 50 Hutu civilians in the province of Bururi. Lieutenant-Colonel Isaie
Nibizi said that arrests had been made and those responsible would be brought to justice.
A human rights worker suggested that the announcement was part of a move by the
government to clean up its image in the eyes of the Hutu majority.
(Reuters) - Burma - The Burmese government today freed 75-year-old Kyi Maung,
the deputy chairman of the opposition National League for Democracy, according to NLD
source. Kyi Maung had been detained last week and questioned about his alleged
involvement in a student protest.
(Reuters) - Jordan - Jordanian Information Minister Marwan Muasher defended
Jordan's human rights records and denied that the government has tortured prisoners or
carried out arbitrary arrests, in response to a report by the Arab Organization for Human
Rights. According to the report, human rights violations under Prime Minister Abdul
Karim al-Kabariti have been the worst since 1989. Muasher also confirmed the release of
journalists Fuad Hussein and Nahed Hattar. Both had been arrested and charged with
inciting riots.
(BBC) - Cambodia - Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk canceled a
previously-announced proposal to grant pardons to nearly all prisoners. In a statement, Sihanouk
said
that the pardon was withdrawn after criticism from students and political parties.
(AFP) - Pakistan - Arshad Jamil, a former captain in the Pakistan army, was
hanged today after being convicted of killing nine villagers from Tando Bahawal in 1992.
(AFP) - Egypt/Israel - The Egyptian Human Rights Organization today called for
the release of Mahmud Sulieman al-Sawarka, whom it said is ill and in danger of dying.
Sawarka was convicted of murdering several people and possession of explosives for
blowing up an Israeli military bus in the Sinai in 1977.
(AFP) - Russia - Andrei Babushkin, head of the human rights group The New
House, said conditions in Moscow jails are horrific and the rights of prisoners are
frequently abused. Babushkin cited the case of Alexander Polianin, who died on Octoner
10 after being tortured. According to Polianin's relatives, his ears had been cut off and the
skin of his hands was torn off. The death certificate listed breathing difficulties as the
cause of death. Babushkin also reported that prisoners may wait up to a year to talk to a
lawyer.
Oct. 29
(PR Newswire) - USA - The Philadelphia Bar Association's International Human
Rights Fund will honor attorney Jerome J. Shestack at its annual awards ceremony
tomorrow. Shestack served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights
Commission under President Carter and launched the UN Working Group on
disappearances. He also chaired the International Bar Association Standing Committee on
Human Rights.
(The Lawyer) - World - The UN Center for Human Rights is gathering legal
experts to produce standard guidelines for legal training in developing democracies.
According to UN Special Rapporteur Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the guidelines are being
produced "so that all the democracies will apply similar standards for the administration of
justice and for the promotion and protection of the rule of law and human rights."
(IPS) - Venezuela - More than 1,000 prisoners in Venezuela's jails have gone on
hunger strike, demanding that those responsible for burning to death 25 prisoners in La
Planta prison be brought to justice and for faster processing of cases. Prisons in Venezuela
are at twice their capacity and some prisoners have waited up to five years for trial and
sentencing.
(DPA) - Sudan - A committee has been set up by the Sudanese government to
investigate allegations that Rizigat Arab tribesmen seized some Dinka people and sld them
as slaves. Pressure from US Ambassador Timothy Carney is said to be partly responsible
for the action by the Sudanese government.
(DPA) - China - The Chinese Foreign Ministry has effectively refused permission
for any foreigners to observe the trial of dissident Wang Dan. International human rights
groups and the US Embassy had asked permission to attend the trial, but a spokesman at
the Superior People's Court said that he was too busy to deal with such requests. Wang is
charged with "endangering state security and conspiring to overthrow the government," for
which he faces ten or more years in prison.
(Columbus Dispatch) - USA/Burma - US Army veteran Robert L. Helvey, now a
consultant at the Albert Einstein Institution, spoke last week at Ohio University about
strategies for non-violence in overthrowing repressive regimes. A former defense attache
at the US Embassy in Rangoon from 1983 to 1985, said that the objectives of non-violent
protest is the same as fighting on the battlefield, but without the weapons. The Albert
Einstein Institution is a group dedicated to using nonviolent strategies to fight dictatorships
around the world.
(AFP) - Japan/Burma - Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda said today that
Japan may make a direct request to the Burmese government to promote democracy and
improve its human rights record.
(AFP) - Sri Lanka - According to a report by the University Teachers for Human
Rights (UTHR), the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces are responsible for the
suffering of thousand of civilians who were deprived of basic needs such as food and
medicine.
(AFP) - Former Yugoslavia - A senior western official today said that four Bosnian
Serb alleged war criminals are openly working in the Bosnian Serb police force. The three
were named as Mladen Radic, Miroslav Kvocka, and Nedjelko Timarac, who work in
Prijedor, and Zeljko Mejakic, a commander of the Omarska detention camp, who is now
deputy commander of the Omarska police.
(AI) - Bahrain - Amnesty International called on the government of Bahrain to
commute the death sentences of 'Ali Ahmad Abd al-'Usfur, aged 31, an employee in the
Ministry of Agriculture; Youssef Hussein 'Abd al-Baqi, aged 31, teacher, and Ahmad
Khalil Ibrahim al-Kattan, aged 30, an employee in an aluminum company. The three men
were convicted of the firebombing of an Asian restaurant on March 14, 1996, which killed
seven Bangladeshi national. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases.
(AI) - Uganda - Amnesty International condemned the abduction on October 9 of
30 schoolgirls by the northern Ugandan armed opposition Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
and called on the group to immediately release all captives.
Oct. 30
(WP) - China - Chinese dissident Wang Dan was convicted today of trying to
overthrow the Chinese government and sentenced to 11 years in jail. Human Rights
Watch said that with Wang's sentence, "China's urban dissident movement . . . has in effect
been comprehensively smashed."
(Reuters) - South Africa - Known by his colleagues as "Prime Evil," Eugene de
Kock was sentenced to life in prison today for the murder of six anti-apartheid activists
and scores of lesser crimes. In testimony aimed at reducing the severity of his sentence in
September, de Kock said, "What we did was supposed to be in the interests of our
country. In the end we achieved nothing...All we did was hurt people. We left bodies,
injuries...children who will never know their parents."
(Reuters) - Cambodia - The Asian American Free Labor Institute, in a report
entitled Child Labor in Cambodia, said that increasing numbers of Cambodian children
were working as factory and construction workers, drivers, stone cutters, and salt field
workers.
(Reuters) - Argentina - Argentine Interior Minister Carlos Corach announced today
that the first group of relatives of those who disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War"
will receive $200,000 in government bonds as compensation. Lilia Orfano, a
spokeswoman for the group Relatives of Detained and Disappeared said that "This is a
political admission that they have been abducted and assassinated," but she said that it will
not stop them from demanding a full accounting of the fate of up to 30,000 people who
were disappeared from 1976 to 1983.
(UPI) - Burma/UN - Diplomats said today that a UN official will visit Burma to
observe and report on human rights in Burma.
(The Times-Picayune) - USA - Protestors in New Orleans yesterday denounced
Freeport McMoran for alleged human rights violations at its mining operations in
Indonesia and pollution from gypsum piles along the Mississippi River.
(The Press) - UK - John Joseph, an accountant from Egypt, yesterday claimed he
was abused and tortured by four police in the Christchurch central police station. Police
have alleged that he assaulted two police officers after he was stopped for running a red
light. The confrontation with the police left Joseph with lacerations to his face that
required stitches, a fractured ankle, fractured ribs, and a fractured eye socket. Police
claimed that Joseph smelled of alcohol while Joseph said that he is a devout Muslim and
doesn't drink alcohol. In Egypt, Joseph had been chairman of the Egypt League human
rights commission.
(Japan Economic Newswire) - Philippines/East Timor - Nobel Peace Prize
recipient and East Timor activist Jose Ramos-Horta has asked his lawyers to petition the
Supreme Court to grant him permission to visit the Philippines. The Philippine
government has banned the entry of Ramos-Horta, citing concerns about possible
disturbances.
(DPA) - Belarus - Critics today warned that a draft constitution submitted by
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko would enable him to suspend basic freedoms and
rule the country by executive decree.
(BBC) - Haiti - A Haitian National Police spokesman announced on Monday that
30 new officers had been dismissed after being accused of corruption and human rights
violations.
(San Francisco Examiner) - USA - Sergeant John Haggett, a San Francisco
policeman with a history of brutality complaints, faces a $10 million wrongful death suit in
the fatal shooting of Edwin Sheehan. Haggett was suspended on October 9 by the Police
Commission for using unnecessary force and making false arrests during a 1995 New
Year's raid on an AIDS benefit. He has previously been names in six brutality suits.
(HRW) - USA - In a letter to US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Human
Rights Watch expressed concern about racial discrimination in the US criminal justice
system and urged the Clinton administration to submit its report on the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which is now a year overdue.
Oct. 31
(Reuters) - Zaire - The Zairean human rights group Voice of the Voiceless said that
its president, Floribert Chebeya, and two colleagues were arrested on Monday and are
being detained by military intelligence. The three were arrested after inquiring about the
safety of 10 Tutsis who were accused of attempting to plant a bomb at the Bukavu airport.
(Reuters) - Balkans - US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor, John Shattuck, will visit the Balkans this weekend to persuade Serbs
and Croats to turn over indicted war criminals. According to US State Department
spokesman Nicholas Burns, the Clinton Administration was "very disturbed" by reports
that four indicted war criminals were working as police officials in the former Yugoslavia.
(Reuters) - Former Yugoslavia - Jim Landale of the UN International Police Task
Force reported that four Serbs and a Croat were freed after a protest by international peace
officials. The four Serbs, Sekula Mandic, Cedo Vukadin, Radenko Golijanin, and Predrag
Matkovic, had disappeared while driving on a road that crosses through areas of Moslem
and Serb territory. Franjo Markovic, a Croat, was arrested in a Sarajevo suburb earlier
this week.
(Reuters) - Germany - The Church of Scientology said today that the German
government was violating the human rights of its members by the Bavarian state's decision
prohibiting them from holding public sector jobs. The Church, in a complaint to the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, claimed that the measure violated Article 18 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Bavarian government said on
October 29 that it would require all job applicants to complete a questionnaire about their
ties to the Church of Scientology. Those who refused would not be hired and those
already employed would face punitive measures if they didn't comply.
(Reuters) - Turkey - Bakir Calgar, the lawyer defending Turkey in European
human rights courts, quit today, stating that Turkey's human rights record was becoming
indefensible. Calgar, a professor of constitutional law, had been the government's lawyer
for four years. He noted that 112 Turkish cases are before the European human rights
commission.
(Reuters) - Colombia - Colombian Defense Minister told a news conference that
armed forces commander Admiral Holdan Delgado was being replaced by Army chief
General Harold Bedoya. Bedoya taught classes at the US Army School of the Americas in
1979 and human rights group allege that he was involved with the right-wing paramilitary
group American Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple -A) at the time. The new Army
commander, Brigadier General Jose Manuel Bonett, was linked to cases of torture and
murder in the 1992 report "State Terrorism in Colombia" compiled by Pax Christi
International and other groups.
(Reuters) - Chile - Chile's Supreme Court, in a 15-1 vote, ruled against the armed
forces demand that it issue guidelines for applying a 1978 amnesty law to human rights
abuses. The ruling was welcomed by lawyers and human rights activists. Sola Sierra,
president of an association of relatives who were detained or disappeared under the
military dictatorship said, "This was the most serious situation we have faced in the last 23
years ... in which (the armed forces) have tried to close this issue without investigation."
The amnesty law was written by the government of General Augusto Pinochet.
(Reuters) - Austria - The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture today
asked the Austrian government to investigate allegations that police used electrical shocks
and plastic bags over suspects' heads during interrogations.
(Reuters) - Africa - The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights of the
Organization of African Unity has adopted a five-year plan to increase awareness of
human rights throughout Africa. During the 10-day meeting, the formation of an African
Court on Human Rights was discussed but no decision was reached.
(UPI) - Indonesia - The Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights today
began a probe into the death two months ago of Indonesian journalist Fuad Muhammad
Syarifuddin in Java. He died on August 16, three days after being beaten at his home by
an unidentified attacker.
(Press Association Newsfile) - Britain - The European Commission of Human
Rights ruled today that the British government violated the human rights of a man dying of
AIDS by deciding to deport him to St. Kitts. The rights group Liberty said, "The decision
is extremely important as it has recognized that the Aids crisis has profound human rights
implications and that the needs of people living with Aids must be assessed against basic
human rights standards."
(Press Association Newsfile) - Britain - In an advisory opinion of 28-1, the
European Commission of Human Rights found that the British government violated anti-abortion
campaigner Phyllis Bowman's right to freedom of expression when it charged her
with a criminal offense for distributing 25,,000 leaflets in Halifax just before the 1992
election.
(News & Record) - USA/China - Human Rights activist Harry Wu told a group of
student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro that that Chinese products
should be boycotted because many are produced by prisoners who are beaten, starved, and
tortured. Wu, who spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, also called on President
Clinton to work for the release of Chinese dissident Wang Dan.
(LA Times) - Chile - Gladys Marin, secretary-general of the Communist Party in
Chile, was arrested yesterday after repeating statements that former Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet is a "psychopath and blackmailer" responsible for murders and torture.
Marin was arrested on a busy boulevard by four carloads of plainclothes police and
charged with defaming the commander of the armed forces, a post still held by Pinochet.
This the third case in which Pinochet has filed charges against political leaders who have
criticized him. One case has been dismissed and the other is pending.
(DPA) - Cambodia - Ieng Sary, former deputy premier and foreign minister in the
Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, denied that he instigated purges of party members and
Cambodia intellectuals during the Khmer Rouge period from 1975 to 1979. The
allegations were made in early October by Laurence Picq, a French woman who served in
Sary's foreign ministry during 1975 to 1979.
(AFP) - China - The human rights groups Information Center of Human Rights and
Democratic Movement in China today reported that Chinese dissidents Jin Chen and Yang
Qing, who signed a petition with Wang Dan, were detained during Wang's trial. They
were among 56 people who signed a 1995 letter called on the Chinese government to
allow greater freedoms. Yang was in prison seven years for his role in the Democracy
Wall movement of 1978-1979.
(NYT) - USA - Manuel Veriguete, who was mistakenly shot by police who
thought he was a robber, was awarded $12.7 million by a jury that ruled the officer shot
unnecessarily because his life was not in danger. Veriguete was rendered a paraplegic by
the shooting.
(AI) - South Korea - Amnesty International released a report today in which it
asserted that South Korean police were responsible for widespread ill-treatment following
the arrests of students after a demonstration at Yonsei University in August 1996. AI
urged the UN to take up the ill-treatment of students when it reviews South Korea's initial
report under the Convention Against Torture.
Nov. 1
(Reuters) - El Salvador - Slain Archbishop Oscar Romero was recommended by
the Roman Catholic Church of El Salvador for consideration for sainthood today. Romero
was an advocate for the poor and of human rights. He was assassinated while saying mass
on March 24, 1980.
(Reuters) - Colombia - British Petroleum's Colombian unit today called for an
investigation into recent reports linking it to human rights abuses in hopes that it clear the
company's name. In a letter, John Doust, executive director of BP's operations in
Colombia, said that BP employees had already been ordered to cooperate fully with any
investigation by Colombia chief prosecutor Alfonso Valdivieso. Recent reports in British
newspapers alleged that BP had a role in rights abuses and political killings since 1991 in
eastern Casanare province, where it operates two large oil fields.
(Reuters) - Indonesia - Indonesian coordinating minister for politics and security
Susilo Sudarman said that the Indonesian government will take action against 32
non-governmental organizations that it considers trouble-makers. Sudarman declined to name
the NGOs.
(Reuters) - Denmark - British author Salman Rushdie was barred from collecting a
European Union literary prize by the government of Denmark. Denmark said yesterday
that it would not allow Rushdie to collect his prize because of security concerns. Monica
Nagler, chairwoman of Sweden's PEN club, said that "To give out the EU prize in a
European Cultural Capital and then not allow Rushdie in (to the country) is scandalous."
(Reuters) - Colombia - The bullet-riddled body of Colombian human rights lawyer
Jose Eduardo Velandia was discovered yesterday on the outskirts of Cucuta, capital of
Norte de Santander province. Velandia, who advised the state government on human
rights issues, had been missing since Monday. Jose Giraldo Cardona, another human
rights lawyer, was killed two weeks ago.
(The Guardian) - Britain - Proposed new legislation in Britain would give
additional powers to British police and security forces to deal with terrorist organizations
such as the Kurdish PKK and domestic groups. Rights groups have expressed concern
that groups such as the Animal Liberation Front could be defined as a terrorist group. The
proposed legislation would permit evidence obtained from telephone taps to be used in
court cases and would reduce sentences for terrorist who give evidence against their
colleagues. The legislation would also reduce periods of detention from seven to four
days and the powers of internal exile and internment without trial would be ended.
(Financial Times) - UN/Nigeria - The head of the World Intellectual Property
Organization, a UN agency, recently presented a gold medal to General Sani Abacha, the
ruler of Nigeria. The medal is normally awarded to inventors or people who have
advanced the protection of industrial property rights. Nigeria's human rights records has
been condemned by two UN agencies: the Human Rights Commission and the
International Labor Organization. International business groups have cited Nigeria as a
thriving market for counterfeit goods, including films, television programs, and sound
records.
(Columbus Dispatch) - USA - The National Association of Human Rights Workers
awarded its Over-All Civil Rights Award to Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich. The
award is for individuals whose "'exemplary civil rights achievements have had a
demonstrable national impact.''
(BBC) - Iran/Afghanistan - A Tehran regional conference on Afghanistan declared
that human rights should be respected and expressed support for the UN secretary-general's efforts
in Afghanistan. The conference stressed that the human rights of women
especially are being abused and called for an immediate end to these actions.
(Asiaweek) - Asia - The subject of torture is being brought out into the open in
many Asian countries, including the Philippines, where a group of academics is studying
research on torture, its long-term effects, and how care can be provided to victims of
torture. The University of the Philippines organized a seminar on torture that was held in
Bangkok from October 2 to 5.
(Compass Newswire) - Saudi Arabia - The government of Saudi Arabia beheaded
a man who had shot and killed his own father. This brings to 49 the number of people
reportedly executed in Saudi Arabia this year.
Nov. 2
(Reuters) - Indonesia - According to armed forces chief General Feisal Tanjung,
the Indonesian armed forces will support an anti-torture law when the Indonesian
government ratifies the UN Convention Against Torture.
(DPA) - Turkey - After 38 days of a hunger strike, 19 Turkish prisoners are in
danger of losing their lives. The inmates are among a group a group of 90 trying to
pressure the government to improve prison conditions and to be allowed visits by friends
and relatives. Human rights groups and lawyers have called for the Turkish government to
comply with the hunger strikers' demands. In July, 12 prisoners died during a 70-day
hunger strike for improved prison conditions.
(BBC) - Israel/Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov met former
Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky (formerly Anatoliy Shcharanskiy) in Jerusalem on
October 31. Sharansky told reporters that they discussed the Middle East peace
settlement, Russian-Israeli relations and the role of immigrants from the former Soviet
Union.
(AFP) - Australia/Burma - During a visit to Singapore, Australian deputy premier
Tim Fischer said that sanctions won't work with Burma, apparently ruling out sanctions
against the Burmese government. Sanctions have been imposed on Burma by the United
States and the European Union.
(DPA) - Egypt - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak referred 19 suspected Moslem
militants to a military trial over-ruling the State Prosecutor who referred the cases to the
Supreme State Security Court. The military tribunals have been criticized by human rights
groups which says that they lack the conditions for a fair trial. The 19 are accused to
carrying out attacks against top security officials and foreign tourists.
Nov. 3
(Reuters) - Hong Kong - Thousand of protesters today demonstrated in the streets of Hong Kong, demanding that China release jailed Chinese dissidents, including Wang Dan. The protest included two flatbed trucks decorated to look like Chinese prison cells.
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AFP - Agence France Presse
AI - Amnesty International
AP - Associated Press
BBC - British Broadcasting Company
CTK - Czech News Agency
DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
GNS - Gannett News Service
HRW - Human Rights Watch
IPS - Inter Press Service
LA Times- Los Angeles Times
NYT - New York Times
PROVEA - Programa Venezolano de Educacio'n en Derechos Humanos
UPI - United Press International
WP - Washington Post
This page is maintained by Michael
Katz-Lacabe and Margarita
Lacabe. Last updated Nov. 8, 1996.