23 June 2006

INDIA

ein führendes mitglied der organisation[  babbar khalsaist der erste mensch in den knästen in punjab der in einem extra ausbruchsicherem haus im knast in burail inhaftiert ist. um eine weitere flucht des mannes unmöglich zumachen ( er war mit anderen gefangenen im januar 2004 durch einen tunnel geflüchtet), wurden die wände und böden aus stahl, steinen und zement gebaut, außerdem wurden 4 kameras installiert.

In Burail Jail, a steel-lined cell for Hawara

Chandigarh, June 23: If Babbar Khalsa International chief Jagtar Singh Hawara wants to make another successful escape from Burail jail, he will have to do a lot more than dig.

For the first time in the history of Punjab jails, an inmate is going to be double-caged in a barrack with walls of steel, concrete and bricks. Four CCTV cameras would also be installed in the barrack.Concrete mixture machines are working round the clock in the jail these days, with labourers busy fixing and welding the steel and iron rods in the walls, floor and roof of Hawara’s barrack.“There will be a case of steel rods with bricks and cement filling. The cage is being covered with a 3-inch concrete plaster, which makes it almost impossible to break. The idea is not to give any chance to Hawara, because if he can dig a 104-ft long tunnel, he is capable of a lot,” said one of the highly-placed sources.

The jail authorities, who procured permission from the Administration for getting one of the barracks renovated and specially designed to keep Hawara in safe custody, are personally supervising the work. The renovation is expected to be over by a fortnight and Hawara will be shifted to his barrack.He is at present lodged in one of the “solitary confinement cells”.Besides the steel mesh, the authorities have put other restrictions on Hawara. He will not be allowed to put up any curtains in his barrack, nor will he be provided with any gym equipment. He will not be allowed any utensils beyond the basics. Of the 10 accused in the Beant Singh assassination who are facing trial for past 10 years, the jail authorities are particularly focusing on Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora. Bheora, who is not considered as notorious as Hawara, has still been kept in a separate “solitary confinement cell”.

The two are not allowed to accept any outside food, fruit, clothing or money unless permitted by the authorities. “We are only permitting one kg of fruit daily to them. Earlier, they used to get sacks full of dry fruit, vegetables and other fruits,” said Subhash Chander, Deputy Superintendent, Model Jail, Burail.Hawara is also allowed to keep only four pairs of clothing, a pair of shoes and a pair of slippers in his barrack. He is to get a change only when these are worn out.The authorities have also shifted the gurdwara from Hawara’s earlier barrack to the main compound of the jail, near the canteen. “Now the temple and Gurudwara are next to each other. Though Hawara protested against the shifting of Guru Granth Sahib, there was no protest from the other Sikh inmates,” the jail officials added. While other jail inmates can go to Gurudwara anytime during the day, Hawara and Bheora are allowed to go separately and only at particular times.

[  /cities.expressindia.com

18 May 2006

JAPAN

Japan beschließt Empfangsritual für Besucher

Fingerabdrücke am Flughafen, biometrische Kameras in der U-Bahn - Japan folgt beim Antiterrorkampf den USA

TOKIO taz Japan begrüßt seine Besucher künftig mit einem erkennungsdienstlichen Erfassungsritual. Wie in den USA sollen Ausländern ab 2009 die Fingerabdrücke genommen werden. Ergänzt wird das Besucherdossier mit einem Foto.

Das japanische Oberhaus billigte gestern eine entsprechende Änderung des Einwanderungsgesetzes. Politiker der regierenden Liberaldemokraten betonten, die Maßnahmen richteten sich gegen Terroristen. Japan sei als enger Alliierter der USA gefährdet. Die Gegner der Vorlage hatten vergeblich argumentiert, eine solche Behandlung von Ausländern bei der Einreise sei diskriminierend und schade dem Ansehen des Landes.

"Japan steigert sich in eine Terrorhysterie", befürchtet Takashi Kawamura von den oppositionellen Demokraten. Ihn stört, dass im öffentlichen Raum immer mehr Überwachungskameras installiert werden. Ein besonders leistungsfähiges Gerät ist probehalber an der U-Bahn-Station Kasumigaseki in Tokios Regierungsviertel montiert. Jeden Mittag um halb zwei wiederholt sich dort ein bizarres Schauspiel: 40 Personen versammeln sich am Eingang C2 zum Gesichtserkennungstest. Dann passiert einer nach dem anderen die Fahrscheinschranke. Während die vermeintlichen Terroristen ihr Ticket in den Schlitz stecken, werden sie von einer biometrischen Kamera erfasst. Blitzschnell rechnet ein Computer die Gesichtszüge in einen Barcode um und vergleicht das Resultat mit einer Verbrecherdatenbank. Stimmen die Daten überein, löst die Maschine Alarm aus.

Ob solche biometrischen Kameras künftig in Tokio tatsächlich eingesetzt werden, steht nicht fest. Noch handelt es sich um einen Versuch, an dem sich das Transportministerium und die Eisenbahngesellschaften beteiligen. Als Testterroristen werden deren Angestellte eingesetzt. Um die Grenzen der Geräte auszuloten, tarnen sich die Passagiere mit Hüten, Sonnenbrillen und den in Japan üblichen Mundmasken. Tokios Nahverkehrssystem transportiert täglich mehrere Millionen Menschen und wäre für Terroristen ein Ziel mit maximaler Wirkung.

Rechtsanwalt Yukio Yamashita hält das Experiment mit biometrischen Kameras für unzulässig. "Es fehlt an den rechtlichen Grundlagen, auf öffentlichem Boden solche Tests durchzuführen", sagte Yamashita gegenüber der Japan Times. Yasuhiko Tajima, Professor für Journalismus an der Sophia-Universität in Tokio, spricht von einem völlig inakzeptablen Versuch eines erster Schritts zur totalen Überwachung. Außerdem sei unklar, nach welchen Kriterien Personen in die Kategorie "verdächtig" fielen.

[  taz.de

6 May 2006

PAKISTAN

familienangehörige einer vergewaltigten frau und unterstützerinnen wurden während einer kundgebung vor dem polizeigebäude in model town verprügelt und etwa 50 teilnehmerinnen verhaftet. nach berichten hatte die familie der vergewaltigten frau anzeige gegen den täter gemacht. die polizei änderte die anzeige und verhaftete den 10jährigen bruder des täters. mit der kundgebung forderten die menschen die freilassung des 10jährigen und die inhaftierung des täters.

Rape victim's family stage demonstration against police

Family members of a rape victim along with people of the area held a demonstration here on Saturday to protest against Model Town police for allegedly registering a false case. Reports said one Fida Husain of Muhammadabad locality, Garjakh had abducted a minor girl ?S? and raped her which was confirmed by a medical report. The police did not register a case against Fida and booked his younger brother Ali, 10, instead. On this, the victim?s family and area residents besieged the office of DSP (investigation) Rashid Sundho and chanted slogans against the police. A police team baton-charged them, allegedly smashed the camera of press photographer Talib Husain and arrested many of them. Later, Model Town police booked 50 people, including father of victim girl Rana Akbar Ali, her uncle Muhammad Mansha, M Afzal, Muhammad Ali, Haji Ghulam Nabi, Siddiqa Bibi and Suriya Bibi, under Sections 353, 427, 186, 148 and 149 and 6/7 of anti-terrorism act for attacking the police.

[  dawn.com

6 May 2006

PAKISTAN

nach einem nichtangemeldeten besuch im adiala knast in rawalpindi sprach die parlamentarische kommission für menschenrechte ( pchr) auf einer pressekonferenz von massiven menschenrechts-verletzungen. von vielen gefangenen wurden den delegationsmitgliedern verletzungen durch folter und mißhandlungen gezeigt. der knast wurde für 1. 964 gefangene gebaut, zur zeit sind 5. 400 menschen dort inhaftiert.

A parliamentarians' fact-finding mission has reported "massive human rights violations" in Adiala Jail after a surprise visit to the penitentiary in Rawalpindi. A press statement of the Parliamentarians? Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) said on Saturday that during its unannounced visit the mission detected cases of physical and mental tortur

In their report on the visit the mission members threatened that unless the concerned authorities improved the situation in the jail ?on emergency basis?, they would raise the issue in the parliament. They also demanded that the government provide funds for changing prisons into "reform places" rather than being places for torture and inhuman treatment as they found the Adiala Jail to be.

PCHR sent its mission to Adiala after receiving complainants from the jail inmates, NGOs and media. It comprised Executive Director PCHR Kashmala Tariq, Syed Javed Ali Shah, Haroon Ihsan Paracha MNA. Shafique Chaudhry acted as chief coordinator of the commission. It said the mission visited the punishment cells, or Kasuri cells in jail parlance, A-class barracks, the jail hospital and women ward unaccompanied by the jail staff. Only DIG prisons Nadeem Kokab from Lahore accompanied the team during the visit. Mission members interviewed the inmates in the absence of the jail officials to preclude post-visit victimisation of the prisoners.

They observed that jail authorities used coercion in a regular manner to run the routine affairs to maintain law and order on the jail premises. Most prisoners showed marks of physical torture on their bodies to the delegates.

They also noted that the torture victims were rarely provided medical treatment. Overcrowding was in evidence everywhere in the Adiala Jail and appeared to be the fundamental problem facing the inmates and the jail authorities. Unlike other big jails in the country, Adiala does not have separate barracks for the convicted and the under-trail prisoners. And a ban ordered by the Supreme Court on remissions was contributing to growth in the jail population, according to the mission. During its visit of A-class barracks, the mission was briefed by two detained members of parliament, Khwaja Saad Rafique and former speaker National Assembly Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gillani briefed the problems in the jail.

They accused the jail authorities of inflicting worst kind of torture on the inmates. They said during the recent hunger strike by prisoners, the officials treated the protesters in a very degrading manner and alleged ringleaders were still facing torture. When questioned, DIG prisons Nadeem Kokab and the jail superintendent told the PCHR mission that the jail was built for 1,964 inmates but was hosting today 5,400 prisoners. There were only 200 wardens and officials, the staff was underpaid and no basic facilities existed for them, the officials said. One of them was quoted as saying that ?the mafia inside the jail is very active and whenever we launch a campaign against them they engineer a media trial against us.

"This is the reason we are unable to remove drugs and the culture of impunity from the jail,"the jail superintendent told the mission.

[  dawn.com;

5 May 2006

PHILIPPINES

einem an menengitis-tb erkrankten mann ,der im bezirksknast in prosperidad inhaftiert ist, wird seit seiner festnahme am 20 februar eine medizinische behandlung verweigert.

Denial of adequate treatment; irregularities in arrest and detention; arbitrary use of authority by police and military

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)-Mindanao that Elvie Apolona, a sick inmate presently detained at the Provincial jail in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, has been denied adequate treatment since his arrest on 10 February 2006.

Apolona was then confined at the Butuan Doctors Hospital in Butuan City when joint elements of police and military arrested him at around 11am. Those who arrested him were elements of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID 13), Police Regional Office (PRO 13), Intelligence Platoon attached to the 36th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army led by Colonel Wilfredo Flores Reyes, the group of 42nd MICO and 4th MIB PA. Apolona?s family has filed a petition through their counsel asking the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 6 in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, to have him either examined further for at least two to three days or to confine him to a hospital in Davao City. They are also requesting that a Neurologist attend to him for his post Meningitis-TB condition. The petition, however, has yet to be decided upon by the court.

According to the Apolona, at the time of his arrest he was admitted in the hospital and unconscious for several days, strapped with dextrose and oxygen support. He was suffering from Meningitis-TB according to his physician?s diagnosis. He had been previously confined at a hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.

According to his wife Venus, Apolona was confined at the hospital on February 7. On the morning of February 10, some members of the RIID arrived and later in the afternoon members of the 36th Infantry Battalion of Philippine Army. They were looking for her husband. On February 11, a group of policemen handcuffed him in his hospital bed. Venus did not enter her husband?s room because of fear that she too would be arrested. The victim?s father attended to Apolona at the hospital.

When Apolona regained consciousness he was surprised that his hands were already handcuffed to his bed and a platoon of military were guarding him. Some of his visitors were refused entry to his room. The military also interrogated him in the absence of legal counsel even though he was having difficulty in talking due to the oxygen support. They also threatened to poison him. Apolona said no warrant of arrest was presented to him and they did not properly explain to him the nature of his case.

On February 18 at 9pm, some members of the police intelligence forcibly discharged him from the hospital without obtaining clearance or full discharge orders from his attending physician. The nurse removed his dextrose and oxygen support as instructed by the police intelligence officers. He was then taken to Butuan City Police Office (BCPO). He was detained inside the detention cell without adequate medical facilities. Apolona said he was so weak yet they forced him to sleep on a cement floor. His visitors were refused entry to the jail. While detained some police intelligence officers visited and interrogated him. At about 10pm on February 20 he was taken by Colonel Reyes to the Provincial Police Office (PPO) in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur where he stayed for one night before he was remanded to the Provincial jail, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur the next day on February 21.

On February 22, Apolona?s lawyer, John Gil S. Unay, visited him at the Provincial jail together with Medico legal officer Roselyn D. Orais, M.D. of the regional office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Caraga. Orais strongly recommended for Apolona?s continued confinement to the hospital with sufficient medical facilities or place where he can recuperate from his illness while being examined for his condition. Orais discovered that Apolona was having difficulty in breathing and required oxygen support ?on stand by?. Hence, his counsel filed an urgent motion to confine him to the hospital. On February 23, Apolona was admitted at the D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital, Patin-ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur until March 15, as per the medical certificate issued by his attending physician Dr. Jocelyn Pantaleon, M.D. He was later remanded to the provincial jail where he is presently detained.

Apolona is facing charges of robbery under criminal case number 4390 and 6299 filed on 14 June 1999 and 15 September 2005, robbery with homicide and double frustrated oomicide under criminal case number 4821 filed on 29 September 2000 and murder under criminal case number 5020 filed in 2001 before the Regional Trial Court, Branch 6 in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur. The AHRC has previously raised concern about the inadequate medical and treatment facilities of government jails in the Philippines. There have been cases of health related deaths of inmates as a result of the poor condition and inadequate medical facilities. Please see our previous appeals: UA-242-2005; UP-01-2006. Even though the government is completely aware of this situation, their response to remedy it has been negligible.

[  ahrchk.net

4 May 2006

PHILIPPINES

mit der unterzeichnung durch die präsidentin, tritt ein juvenile justice and welfare act in kraft. danach soll "die inhaftierung von jugendlichen straftätern als letztes mittel angewandt werden und dieses auch nur für die kürzeste angemessene zeit". jugendliche unter 15 sollen in "interventionsprogramme".

Philippine President signs new law merciful to young offenders

MANILA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, which creates a special institution under the Department of Justice, showing mercy to the surging of minor delinquency, a government statement said on Thursday. Signed on April 28, the Act will establish the "juvenile justice and welfare system" to deal with children in conflict with the law, outlining proper methods to ensure normal development of the "young offenders," the statement said. Among children's rights that the Act upholds are the right not to be tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, it said.

The new law also confirms minors' right not to be imposed a sentence of capital punishment or life imprisonment without the possibility of release. Detention or imprisonment of "young offenders" should be a last resort, and which shall be for the shortest appropriate period, the statement quoted the law as saying. The Act exempts from criminal liability of a person below 15 years old at the time of the commission of the crime, but shall be subjected to an "intervention program". Upon enforcement of the Act, cases of children 15 years old and younger will be immediately dismissed and they shall be referred to local social welfare and development officer for appropriate action, according to the statement.

Thousands of juveniles aged nine to 17 in the country were detained each year. Most of the young prisoners must take care of themselves in overcrowded jails among grown men charged with murder, rape and other violent crimes, according to an earlier report of ABS-CBN TV. The Philippine Senate passed the Juvenile Justice Bill by unanimously on Dec. 6, 2005. It was expected that 70 percent of criminal cases against children will be dismissed outright upon the law's implementation.

[  xinhuanet.com

1 May 2006

INDIA

obwohl seit 40 jahren keine hinrichtungen im ranchi knast mehr stattfanden, arbeiten ingenieure an einem neuen galgen.

Jail awaits 'gallows'

The newly constructed building of the Ranchi jail is awaiting a right design for its gallows, as engineers have been entrusted with the task of coming up with the perfect device. The Birsa Munda Central Jail here was shifted to the outskirts of the city last month to house more prisoners. The modern building, however, does not have gallows, though no execution has been conducted in the past 40 years. The engineers and jail authorities are still baffled over a suitable design for the gallows. "This is true that the engineers and jail authorities are unable to draw the design of gallows," news reports quoted Kulwant Singh, chief engineer of the building construction department.

"We need a specific design but we do not have one right now," he said. In Jharkhand, there are about a dozen prisoners awarded with death sentence by the lower court and their appeals are pending in higher courts. The jail authorities point out that no person has been hanged in the last 40 years in Ranchi jail as the gallows were in a bad shape in the previous building. "Whether a prisoner is hanged or not, we should have gallows. We are sending a team to Bhagalpur central jail of Bihar to get a design," informed a jail official. According to him, the Jharkhand government has never taken interest to even appoint a hangman.

[  timesofindia.indiatimes.com

30 April 2006

AFGHANISTAN

nach 21 monaten im knast wurde ein mann aus den usa, der in kabul einen illegalen knast eingerichtet hatte indem er mit zwei weiteren männern afghanische menschen folterte, vom präsidenten begnadigt und in die usa ausgewiesen.

Afghanistan Releases American Involved in Private Jail

April 30-An American cameraman imprisoned in Afghanistan for his part in running a private jail and torturing hostages, was released under a presidential pardon and whisked out of the country today on a flight home via Dubai. Edward Caraballo, 44, a filmmaker from the Bronx, was convicted with two United States servicemen, Jack Idema and Brent Bennett, in 2004 after their arrest in a house in Kabul where police found a number of detained Afghans. Mr. Caraballo had served 21 months in jail and was due for release in July. His original sentence of eight years was reduced to two years on appeal last year.

"I am not trusting it until it happens," he said hours before getting on the plane todayon a borrowed mobile phone from the prison. American embassy officials and the Afghan prison chief had informed him he was to be released and to get ready Saturday afternoon and then again this afternoon, he said. "I am ready for it," he said of the shock of going from an Afghan prison straight to the United States. "I just want to get back and see my daughter." He was driven into the airport in a convoy of United States Embassy vehicles. An Afghan airport official said the embassy had asked that reporters be prevented from speaking to him.

Mr. Caraballo was released under a general pardon by President Hamid Karzai in celebration of two national holidays, the Muslim Prophet Mohammed's birthday, and Afghanistan's defeat of Communism on April 27, 1992, in which all prisoners with less than a year to serve were granted an early release. Mr Idema and Mr. Bennett are serving longer sentences, five and three years respectively. Mr. Caraballo had made a concerted effort since last year to separate himself from Mr. Idema and persuade the Afghan authorities of his innocence in the case, stating that he was a journalist making a film about the war on terror and was filming Mr. Idema's group and was not part of it.

At the time of their trial, Mr Caraballo was given little chance to state his case. The court found that all three men, along with four Afghan employees, were guilty of involvement in the detention and torture of some eight Afghans found detained in the house. Several of the detainees were witnesses at the trial. Mr. Caraballo said his release from Kabul's once notorious Pul-i-Charkhi prison, was expedited after he narrowly escaped a lynching during a prison riot in February in which at least five people died.

The Americans were imprisoned after their trial in the sprawling Russian-designed prison along with 1,000 other inmates, some of them Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners. On two occasions suspected Al Qaeda prisoners attacked their guards and then attempted to reach the Americans in an apparent attempt to kill them. Also today, the body of an Indian engineer working for a mobile telephone company was found beheaded beside the main highway in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said. A Taliban spokesman today claimed responsibility for kidnapping the engineer on Friday and said he had been killed when trying to escape. The man, named as Mr. Surayanarayan by the Roshan telephone company for whom he was working as a subcontractor, was kidnapped Friday afternoon with his Afghan driver on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.

His body was found this morning by police some 40 kilometers from where the kidnapping took place, the police chief of Zabul province, Muhammad Nabi Malakhel, said. The Taliban had announced a 24-hour deadline for the Indian government to withdraw all Indian workers and diplomats from Afghanistan in return for his release, the Taliban spokesman, Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, said in a telephone interview. The Indian was killed when he was trying to escape this morning. "When he tried to escape the mujahideen shot him in the back," he said. "We wanted to negotiate and give more time but it happened suddenly."

He denied that those in charge of the Indian had beheaded him, but added that "irresponsible fighters" could have done it. The Afghan driver was still being held but would be released unharmed, Mr. Ahmadi said.

[  nytimes.com

29 April 2006

TURKEY

Prosecutors Lay Charges Against 175 Turkish Kurds

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) -- Prosecutors in Diyarbakir in the restless Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey have charged 175 people with involvement in violent clashes last month, court sources said Friday. Charges include violation of laws on demonstrations, and one of operating and membership of an armed group - a reference to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), accused of orchestrating the riots. If convicted of the charges, the accused will face possible sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment. The latest charges bring the number indicted so far to 265, including 80 minors who could face up to 24 years in prison.

Riots erupted in Diyarbakir, the main town of the Kurdish region, on March 28 after youths demanding vengeance attacked the police following the funerals of PKK rebels killed in fighting with Turkish armed forces. A total of 16 people, including three small boys, were killed when security forces opened fire and used tear gas to disperse crowds, which attacked the police with Molotov cocktails and vandalized public buildings and shops. http://www.dailystar.com.lb Three women were crushed to death in Istanbul when Kurdish rioters set a city bus ablaze with a petrol bomb.

Court officials said legal proceedings were in progress against some 171 people, of whom 135 were in detention. The prosecution has already charged suspects with offenses including membership in an armed organization, damaging public property, preventing public servants from carrying out their duties and breaching the country's law on meetings and demonstrations. Ankara has accused the PKK, which has fought for Kurdish self-rule in the region since 1984, of deliberately pushing hundreds of children into clashes with the police in a bid to discredit the government.

The bloody Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and the United States, took up arms to back its demand for self-rule in the southeast.

[  aina.org

28 April 2006

TURKEY

am 26. april wurden neue regelungen im antiterrorgesetz von einem parlamentsausschuß beschlossen. das gesetz muß jetzt noch von den abgeordneten verabschiedet werden. ein bündnis von 17 ngos hat erneut die rücknahme der gesetze gefordert, nach denen sie selbst als nichtbewaffnete terroristische organisationen eingestuft werden.

17 NGOs demand new Anti-Terror Law be withdrawn, say they themselves will be treated as "unarmed terrorist organizations".TIHV says bill means "tolerance policy towards torture" and shifting from EU position.

Reaction to amendments proposed to Turkey's Anti-Terror Law mounted this week with new statements from human right organisations branding the move as one that will lead to systematic violations and 17 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) demanding a withdrawal of the Bill from Parliament. Representatives of the 17 NGOs read a press statement in front of Istanbul's Sultanahmet Justice Hall on Thursday where an appeal was made to Turkish MPs to end the debate on the bill and reject it. The move came after similar appeals from leading Turkish human rights groups including the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER). On Wednesday, as the controversial bill was debated and approved by the Internal Affairs Commission of Parliament, the country's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) joined in the criticism and said the law would not only shift Turkey from its previous EU projections but also meant a turn to "tolerance policy towards torture".

NGO's React Strongly

In the press statement they read out in Istanbul, representatives of the 17 NGOs united against the bill said "anti-terror laws will not prevent terror but make it more violence, push more innocent people on the side of terror" and argued Turkey did not need an Anti-Terror Law (TMY) but the supremacy of justice. The statement said "in systems based justice where rights and those who own them are upheld, such laws are not required".

It criticised the draft for: * Aiming to punish people for intent as well as actions whereas no judicial system should be able to punish intent. * TMY does not cover new crimes. All offences that are listed in the TMY are already covered by the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and are punished. * Citizens are seen as terrorists in the draft.

Listing what would happen if the bill was approved in its current state, the NGOs said:
* Freedom of expression will be restricted.
* The right to rally and protest will be restricted.
* Press freedom will face punishment in the form of imprisonment.
* NGOs can be treated as "unarmed terror organisations"
* The right to collect and disseminate news will be seriously restricted.
* Just because of a sign during a protest suspects can be put on trial facing 15 years imprisonment on charges of terrorist organisation membership.
* Those who want to give innocent assistance can be put on trial on charges of providing finances for a terrorist organisation.
* Defence rights will be seriously restriced.
* A monetary award can lead to many innocent people being put on trial.

Jurists Association: Draft full of ambiguity

The Jurists Association which also undersigned the NGO statement simultaneously issued a report on the TMY draft where it was stressed that such a bill was not necessary. The report said that an act of terror had not been defined in contemporary law or international documents and that in this context it was more a political, rather than a legal determination to identify whether an act against the law was in nature an act of terror.

The report said the wording of the law itself was full of ambiguity and that any act that did not conform with any "type of offence" described elsewhere could be regarded as a "terror offence". The NGOs that issued Thursday's statement are the Akabe Culture and Education Foundation, Akder Research Culture Foundation, Askon Businessmen Association, Egitim Bir-Sen (Union), Ensar Foundation, Gaye Foundation, Gunisigi Association, Hikmet Foundation, Jurists Association, Mazlumder Istanbul Branch, T?YEMDER, T?MAV, Consumers Union, Society and Law Researches Association, and the Volunteer Organisations of Turkey Foundation.

TIHV: Tolerance to Torture

In a separate development, Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) said in its own statement against the controversial bill that it showed Turkey had come from a "zero-tolerance to torture" approach adopted due to the EU accession period, to one that could only be seen as "tolerance to torture".

TIHV said that if the bill was approved in Parliament in its current form, this would mean:
* Restrictions in every field of rights with the right to life, individual safety, freedom of expression and prohibition of torture coming at top of the list.
* As result of these restrictions the channels for the society to breathe through will be blocked.
* All opportunities to create social peace will be eliminated.

The Foundation summarised the contents of the Bill as:
* Eliminating the right to life under the excuse of security.
* Justifying torture and allowing it to re-produce.
* Creating a public opinion without reaction to lawlessness and branding and treating the freedom of expression as same as "terror".

TIHV said the draft law needed to be criticised and evaluated according to the standards and norms of international human rights documents. Arguing that with the bill, "suspect rights are becoming exceptions, restrictions are becoming regulations" the Foundation expressed serious concern over restrictions on access to attorneys and the detention periods of 4 to 15 days which it said paved the way for "systematic torture".

[  bianet.org

28 April 2006

THAILAND

am 26. april wurde von der armee zugegeben das es ?schwarze listen? gibt die von polizei und armee bei der suche nach angeblichen rebellen im süden des landes benutzt werden . nach welchen kriterien die listen zusammengestellt werden wurde nicht bekannt. dazu ahrc:

"[...]durch die umbenennung von todeslisten in "schwarze liste" wird der wahre zweck verdeckt. das was eigentlich gemeint ist geht dadurch verloren. eine "schwarze liste" kann eine liste für beliebig viele dinge sein. diese werden in den verschiedenen jüngsten berichten abwechselnd als verhaftungen oder "umerziehung" bezeichnet. normalerweise werden verdächtigte festgenommen und inhaftiert. nach notstandsregelungen und mit einer liste werden sie ermordet. das ist der zusätzliche zweck einer schwarzen liste. schwarze listen sind entführungslisten. schwarze listen sind todeslisten. da kann es kein mißverständnis geben.[...]"

Does anyone have the right to make a list for killing and kidnapping people?

Since it was reported on April 26 that General Sonthi Boonyaratglin admitted that the Thai army and police are using "blacklists" to hunt for alleged insurgents in the south, discussion has turned on how the lists are being made. "One wonders exactly what sort of evidence is needed to have a person put on one of these blacklists?" asks The Nation editorial of April 28, before suggesting that a thorough investigation is needed "if only to separate the innocent from suspects who pose a real menace to the nation". Other reports indicate that a special committee will be established to monitor use of the lists.

These reports impliedly justify the use of blacklists, so long as they distinguish correctly between the innocent and the 'real menaces'. But how are the innocent separated from the real menaces? In making a list, who is the judge of guilt? A police officer? An army or intelligence officer? A governor, deputy governor or district chief? And what is the real purpose for separating them anyway?

Does anybody have the right to put someone's name on a list to be killed or kidnapped? That is the question. By referring to death lists as "blacklists" their real purpose is disguised. The real meaning of what has been said is lost. A blacklist can be a list for many purposes. These are variously described in current reports as arrest or "re-education". But if these were the real objectives, then ordinary criminal procedures would be adequate. Under normal circumstances, criminal suspects are already apprehended and jailed. Under emergency regulations, with the use of lists, they are murdered. That is the added purpose of a blacklist. Blacklists are kidnapping lists. Blacklists are killing lists. Let there be no misunderstanding about that.

Under normal circumstances, to establish guilt or innocence requires a number of agencies operating independently from one another with specific powers, qualified persons and resources assigned to each. An informer or complainant may come to a police officer regarding an alleged crime. The police officer does not decide there and then if the person is telling the truth or not. He conducts an investigation to find out. But even after the most thorough inquiries, he alone cannot decide that a person is guilty. He is not even entitled to determine if his investigation is worthy of being put before a judge. Rather, he must refer evidence to a prosecutor. The prosecutor weighs up the evidence and makes another decision. But she too cannot decide if the person is guilty or not. She only determines whether or not the case presented by the police officer is sufficient to bring it before a judge. Only at that stage is the question of guilt or innocence determined, and only through an evolved system of hearing evidence in a court of law.

Under emergency conditions, all of this is made irrelevant. There is only one basic rule: maintain order, with or without the law. The firm ties between the criminal justice system, the rule of law and basic morality are loosened. The limitations on police and army officers that exist under normal conditions no longer apply. A policeman becomes informer, investigator, prosecutor, judge and executioner all in one. Judicial supervision is discarded, and with it all checks and balances associated with a rational law-enforcement system. And although these are easily lost, they are hard to regain. Ultimately, what a blacklist invites is the surrender of civilisation; a return to barbarism.

The experience of other parts of Asia where lists have been used to abduct, torture, and murder people--including Sri Lanka, Nepal and Kashmir--informs of how they precipitate social collapse. Take the horrendous example of Sri Lanka. There, at least 30,000 persons were forcibly abducted and killed in the late 1980s. A series of presidential commissions in the 1990s uncovered the use of "lists" as a key method for organising mass kidnappings and murder under the cover of emergency laws. In one inquiry, Lt. Gen. Rohan Daluwatta, commander of the Sri Lankan Army, is reported as stating that

"While I was co-ordinating Officer [in] Ratnapura certain political pressures were brought to bear on me. I was given a list of names with the direction to take them into custody, that they were [insurgents]. I received the List from a former Minister... When I checked the List with the Police, I came to know that they were [other insurgents]. I was told that area could be cleared were I to catch them."

What Lt. Gen. Daluwatta means, of course, is that he was ordered to catch and kill the persons on the list, then dispose of their bodies by dumping them in the sea, beheading them and scattering the body parts, or burning the remains with car tyres and petrol. The army, police, paramilitary units and others were all involved, with the guidance of local politicians, administrators and their informers. In the same report, E E B Perera, the Sri Lankan police chief at the height of the emergency explains how

"When the second insurrection-wave struck the Police Force was dependent on informers. Hence the phenomenon of Members of Parliament who were providing the political direction to the anti-subversive drive being supplied with 'Lists' of names by informers, who in turn passed them over to the Forces and the Police."

The admission by the Thai army chief that blacklists are being used is the same admission as these senior Sri Lankan officers. It is an admission that the security forces are abducting and killing people. It is an admission that under "certain political pressures", blanketed by emergency regulations, the basic norms that have been laid down by society and law have been abandoned, as is always the case where an army or police force is given unrestricted control.

Any proposal that the use of blacklists be monitored, for whatever purposes, is immoral, illegal and nothing short of sheer madness. The idea that blacklists can be used systematically is atrocious. It is repulsive. It is to invite the very chaos that in recent days the King of Thailand has warned the country's top judges to avoid, through exertion of their authority. The "real menace to the nation" consists of the persons and agencies that draw up and use these lists, not the persons named in them. They must be vigorously and unequivocally opposed, in every form, and at every opportunity.

The Asian Human Rights Commission again calls upon the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, Lawyers Council of Thailand, concerned outgoing senators and members of parliament, all human rights defenders and other concerned persons in Thailand, together with UN human rights officials and other international bodies to unreservedly condemn the use of blacklists by the security forces in Thailand, demand full disclosure and investigations, and an immediate end to this heinous practice. We also call upon the country's judges to follow the King's exhortation, and press their authority to oppose the expansion of political, military and police powers at every opportunity, especially in the south. Failure to resist the move by the Thai army to incorporate the use of blacklists into its official practices by way of committees and public announcements will spell disaster, and destroy any possibility of Thailand building a society founded upon human rights and the rule of law at any time in the foreseeable future. At such a critical time in Thailand's history, this cannot be allowed to happen.

[  

25 April 2006

BURMA / MYANMAR

in rangoon gilt seit den bombenanschlägen am 20. april eine ausgangsspeere ab 9 uhr abends. aus zwei stadtvierteln gibt es berichte das die polizei willkürlich jeden festnimmt den sie nach 9 uhr antrifft und die menschen oft gegen geldzahlungen wieder rausgelassen werden.

BURMA: Arbitrary & illegal arrest & detention; extortion; denial of child rights; un-rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has heard reports through shortwave radio broadcasts and other sources that police in at least two townships of Rangoon are arbitrarily arresting and detaining people at night, including children--then sometimes releasing them after demanding money--since bombs exploded in the city on April 20. According to the information available so far, since the Thursday morning bomb blasts, in which no one was hurt, the Rangoon authorities have ordered tight security after 9pm at night and have been arresting people still out on the streets from that time, causing great difficulty to people still returning home from work or elsewhere. Some have been immediately charged with offences such as loitering, and put in detention. Some have been threatened with arrest and released after they have paid money.

A resident of South Okkalapa Township interviewed on the Voice of America Burmese Service on April 24 said that people in that township are being threatened with jail by ranking officers if they don't pay from 10 to 20,000 Burmese kyat (USD 8-16). The resident estimated that some 60 persons may have been arrested from the area and immediately placed in remand so far.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio broadcast a very similar report from a resident of Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township on the same day, alleging that some 30 persons from there are known to have been arrested and sent to the central Insein Prison since last Thursday. The resident said that the township authorities announced that they would be checking for non-residents in the neighbourhood. After 9pm at night members of the police force, auxiliary fire brigade and government-organised security units patrol the streets in vehicles and on foot making arrests. He alleged that among the people that have been arrested are women and school children. The DVB reportedly called to the local police station where an officer on duty confirmed that 37 persons, including five children, had been sent to Insein Prison.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The AHRC has in recent times reported on various cases of abuse by the police and local officials in the cities and towns of central Burma (where conditions are less serious than more remote regions), including extrajudicial killing, rape and assault: see for instance, UP-075-2006, UP-064-2006, UA-080-2006, UP-029-2006 and UA-044-2006. Recently, the chief of police said that any wrongdoing by police would be dealt with through numerous rules and regulations (AS-070-2006). However, there is no evidence that in any but a few very exceptional cases the Burmese authorities are prepared to deal with the sorts of illegal arrests reportedly going on at present, particularly when they are coupled with special security measures to counter further bombings.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of only two international human rights laws that Burma has joined. The government has introduced a law in accordance with that convention, which gives special protection to children. If it is true that children have been arrested and detained with adults, as alleged, then the authorities are acting illegally under both domestic and international law.

[  ahrchk.net

April 2006

TURKEY

"Anti-Terror Bill Restrictive, Unnecessary"

24/04/2006

Rights activist and lawyer Y?ld?r?m evaluates Ankara's new Anti-Terror bill, says it's against fundamental rights and freedoms. "Defendants are to be categorized as terrorists until they can prove their own innocence... Turkey does not need such a law."

Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER) executive board member lawyer Nesip Y?ld?r?m has said Turkey's new draft amendment to the Anti-Terror Law (TMY) contains so many excessive restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms that it is crammed with articles that are in themselves "violations". Yildirim believes there was no need for such a law in the first place due to current legislation in Turkey and that there is genuine ground to be concerned if it is passed by Parliament to replace that very legislation which is already subject to criticism and debate. The lawyer and human rights activist evaluated the draft bill to Bianet with emphasis on the balance between freedom and security, in light of whether a requirement for such a law existed.

[  bianet.org

Turkish media criticize new governmental anti-terror law

19.04.2006

Turkish media criticized the government's proposal for a revised anti-terror law Wednesday, saying the draft defined too many actions as terror and could easily be misused. If passed by parliament, the law could give prosecutors the authority to file terrorism-related charges against people arrested for human trafficking, polluting the environment and even the misuse of credit cards if those offenses are thought to be related to terrorist groups.

The new bill was submitted to a parliamentary committee Tuesday night and comes as Kurdish guerrillas stepped up their attacks in southeastern Turkey and followed a week of rioting in overwhelmingly Kurdish southeastern Turkey that left 13 people dead, mostly protesters. Turkey also is struggling to bring its laws into conformity with the regulations of the European Union, which Turkey is pressing to join.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper devoted its front page to criticizing the proposed law. "The reforms passed in the European Union process will be erased by a definition of terror that encompasses all crimes," Cumhuriyet said. "There is nothing left out in the definition." The Radikal newspaper said the law would also bring back stiff restrictions on the press. "A journey to the past for freedom of expression!" the front page headline blared. But Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul defended the draft. "The fundamental spirit is to differentiate between the people and a terrorist organization," Radikal quoted him as saying. "There can be no going back on freedoms."

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the criticisms came from an incomplete reading of the draft. "There is a need for both security and freedom," he said. "The government continues to be sensitive on this subject." The bill will now face debate in the committee and could face revisions before it is brought to parliament's floor by the government, which has a strong majority in parliament. Some 37,000 people have been killed since autonomy-seeking guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party took up arms in 1984. Turkey , the EU and the United States regard the group as a terrorist organization. Predominantly Muslim Turkey became an official candidate for the European Union last year, but negotiations over membership are expected to last a decade or more, reports the AP.

[  pravda.ru

T: Politisches Klima hat sich verschärft

Bürger und Journalisten in der Türkei müssen vielleicht schon bald wieder sehr genau darauf achten, was sie öffentlich sagen und schreiben. Selbst die Unterstützung für einen friedlichen Wehrdienstverweigerer könne nach dem geplanten neuen Antiterrorgesetz der Regierung mit über vier Jahren Haft bestraft werden, warnen Anhänger der EU-Reformen im Land. Noch ist das Gesetz nicht verabschiedet, doch es kann kein Zweifel daran bestehen, dass sich das politische Klima beim EU-Beitrittskandidaten Türkei erheblich verschärft hat. In den letzten Monaten beklagten EU-Politiker einen Reform-Stillstand in Ankara - inzwischen stehen Reform-Rückschritte auf der Tagesordnung. An eine Ausweitung der Bürgerrecht denkt derzeit niemand. Die Türkei ist dabei, die in den vergangenen Jahren erzielten Fortschritte bei der Demokratisierung über Bord zu werfen.

Ein Grund dafür ist die gewachsene Bedrohung durch den Terrorismus. Die kurdische PKK (Kurdische Arbeiterpartei) hat ihre Gewaltaktionen in den vergangenen Monaten deutlich ausgeweitet und wird dabei immer brutaler: Vor einigen Tagen war ein Schulbus das Ziel einer PKK-Bombe; elf Kinder wurden verletzt. Um die PKK aus der Türkei zu vertreiben, hat die Armee im Südosten des Landes eine Großoffensive gestartet. Diese Spannungen haben Auswirkungen auf die politische Stimmung. EU-Gegner sind in den Umfragen im Aufwind, einige Nationalisten fordern sogar die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe.

Hinzu kommt, dass der Widerstand der EU-skeptischen Kräfte im türkischen Staatsapparat keineswegs erlahmt ist. Die Armee lehnt es weiterhin ab, sich von der Justiz oder anderen zivilen Institutionen kontrollieren zu lassen. Das Oberste Berufungsgericht bestätigte erst kürzlich die Verurteilung eines türkisch-armenischen Journalisten wegen einer angeblichen „Beleidigung des Türkentums“. Die vom Aussterben bedrohten christlichen Minderheiten warten vergeblich auf die seit Jahren versprochene Verbesserung ihrer Rechtslage.

Der Entwurf für das neue Antiterrorgesetz ist Ausdruck dieser Stimmungslage. Nach den Vorstellungen der Regierung sollen Verteidigerrechte eingeschränkt und der Schusswaffengebrauch durch die Sicherheitskräfte erleichtert werden. „Propaganda“ für die PKK und deren Ziele können mit langjährigen Haftstrafen geahndet werden. So wurde schon in den neunziger Jahren die Meinungsfreiheit geknebelt.

Begünstigt wird der Abschied vom Reformkurs durch die anti-türkische Stimmung in der EU. Das Gerangel um den Beginn der Beitrittsverhandlungen im vergangenen Jahr hat türkische Politiker und viele Bürger in der Annahme bestärkt, dass die Europäer ihr Land nicht aufnehmen werden. Dass sich das EU-Mitglied Dänemark beharrlich weigert, den von Kopenhagen aus sendenden PKK-Satellitensender Roj-TV zu verbieten, verstärkt das Misstrauen.

Zur europapolitischen Enttäuschung tritt ein durch die anstehenden Wahlen ausgelöster Rechtsruck in der türkischen Innenpolitik. Im kommenden Jahr wird das Parlament neu gewählt. Mehr denn je achtet Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan darauf, dass seine Partei AKP, die sich als bürgerlich-konservative Kraft versteht, nicht rechts überholt wird. Insbesondere das Erstarken der europakritischen rechtsnationalistischen MHP, die nach den jüngsten Umfragen mit einer Rückkehr ins Parlament rechnen kann, macht dem Wahlstrategen Erdogan Sorgen. Zumindest vor den Wahlen wird sich an Erdogans Prioritäten nicht mehr viel ändern, weshalb es in Ankara bis auf weiteres keine großen reformpolitischen Durchbrüche geben dürfte. Anders als in den Reformjahren 2003 und 2004 fehlt in der türkischen Hauptstadt heute der politische Wille zu tief greifenden demokratischen Veränderungen.

[  vol.at

Strenges Gesetz gegen Terror
Türkei geht gegen Unterstützer von Terror vor - Auch Eltern von Tätern strafen

19. April 2006

Ein neues Antiterrorgesetz soll in der Türkei nicht nur härtere Strafen bringen, sondern auch die Möglichkeit, Eltern für die Taten ihrer Kinder zu belangen.

Auf die Unruhen im hauptsächlich von Kurden bewohnten Osten des Landes hat die Regierung Erdogan schnell und hart reagiert. Innert zwei Wochen wurde eine Verschärfung des Antiterrorgesetzes ausgearbeitet, die bereits von allen Regierungsmitgliedern unterschrieben ist und deren Verabschiedung durch das Parlament als sicher gelten kann.

Eine der wichtigsten Neuerungen ist, dass nun auch Eltern bestraft werden können, wenn sie wissen und billigen, dass ihre Kinder an Sympathiekundgebungen für die verbotene PKK oder anderen terroristischen Aktivitäten teilnehmen. An den Ausschreitungen in Diyarbakir und anderen Städten hatte sich eine grosse Zahl von Kindern und Jugendlichen beteiligt. Bei den Ausschreitungen wurden zwölf Menschen von der Armee erschossen, darunter ein dreijähriges Kind.

Gleichzeitig starben bei Anschlägen in Istanbul drei Frauen und ein Strassenverkäufer. Bei einem weiteren Anschlag am Osterwochenende in Istanbul wurden 31 Menschen verletzt. Unklar ist, ob die Anschläge einen Zusammenhang haben.

Den Gesetzentwurf, mit dem nun wieder Ordnung geschaffen werden soll, wollte Regierungssprecher und Justizminister Cemil Cicek nicht gleich aus der Hand geben, sondern antwortete nur auf Fragen von Journalisten.

Die neuen Bestimmungen betreffen nicht die Ausübung von Terror, sondern den Bereich der Propaganda und Unterstützung. Wer vermummt an eine Demonstration geht oder durch Kleidung, Transparente oder Parolen eine Terrororganisation unterstützt, muss künftig mit bis zu 15 Jahren Haft rechnen.

Dagegen sind die viereinhalb Jahre Gefängnis, die einem Journalisten drohen, wenn er Propaganda für eine Terrororganisation macht, direkt bescheiden. Doch weil in der Praxis nicht so klar ist, was Propaganda für eine Terrororganisation ist, bleibt zu befürchten, dass sich hier neue Zensurmöglichkeiten gegen kritische Berichte und Kommentare auftun. Zudem beinhaltet das Gesetz die Bestrafung der finanziellen Unterstützung von Terrororganisationen und die Ausdehnung des Terrorbegriffes. Anders als zuvor angekündigt, will die Türkei ihren breiten Terrorbegriff nun doch nicht auf die Definition des Terrorismus, die der Europarat empfiehlt, einschränken, da es in Europa auch keine einheitliche Definition für Terrorismus gebe.

[  tagblatt.ch

21 April 2006

INDIA

ein 75 jähriger, der wegen einer mordanklage 1968 festgenommen wurde und ohne anklage seitdem im knast bzw. in einer psychiatrie war, wurde vom obersten gericht freigesprochen nachdem die staatsanwaltschaft zugab das es weder beweismittel noch zeugen gibt.

75-year-old man "acquitted" after 38 years in jail

Faizabad (UP): After spending 38 years as an undertrial in jail and in an asylum, a frail old man of 75 has been acquitted in a murder case by a court Faizabad following a Supreme Court directive to release him on bail. Additional District Sessions Judge L C Tiwari on Thursday acquitted Jagjivan Yadav who was arrested on the charge of murdering his sister-in-law Kulaba Devi in Mitaura village in the district on January 29, 1968. The judge gave the septuagenarian the "benefit of doubt" as the prosecution submitted there was insufficient evidence or witness against him and that he be "honourably acquitted". Of the 38 long years he was confined within four walls, Yadav spent a major part in an asylum in Varanasi where he was sent for treatment for a mental disorder. He was brought back to Faizabad jail only in December 2005.

Yadav#s counsel had moved a bail application on January 18 this year but it was rejected by the district court. The Supreme Court took cognisance of the matter after a news item appeared in a Delhi newspaper recording the plight of Yadav and it directed the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court to release him on bail. Leaving 38 years behind him, Yadav shuffled out of Faizabad division jail on Thursday evening to his family who were waiting outside the prison. In a feeble voice, he said "I am glad to be free... I will spend the rest of my life in my village in peace". Yadav also thanked the Supreme Court for if humanitarian attitude.

[  sify.com

20 April 2006

INDIA

zum 2.mal innerhalb einer woche haben naxalites den narayanpur knast angegriffen.

Naxals attack jail, trigger blasts

Naxalites attacked Narayanpur jail for the second time in six days and triggered landmine blasts but there was no damage, police source said. Two blasts were carried out by the Maoists very close to the jail last night. Another blast took place near a college and in all the three blasts no one was injured, police said. On April 15, armed Maoists had cordoned off the prison and opened fire and triggered landmines.

[  chennaionline.com

18 April 2006

BANGLADESH

in der stadt chittagong wurden am 16. april mind. 16 journalisten von polizisten verletzt, und ihre kameras entweder beschlagnahmt oder zerstört, weil sie bilder von einem brutalen polizeiübergriff auf journalisten gemacht hatten und gegen die bahandlung der männer protestierten. obwohl es livebilder gab die sowohl von nationalen als auch internationalen sender übertragen wurden, stritt die chittagong metropolitan polizei alles ab. am 17. april hat sich der innenminister für den vorfall entschuldigt.

BANGLADESH: Torture; intimidation; threat; deprivation of professional duty; collapse of rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that at least 16 journalists were injured due to police brutality at the Bir Sreshtha Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium in Chittagong on 16 April 2006. The police beat the on-duty journalists with guns, sticks, boots and fists. The perpetrators also damaged and confiscated the journalists? cameras after photos were taken of the police atrocities. A Deputy Commissioner and a traffic police sergeant of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) allegedly initiated the attack. Two journalists were seriously wounded during the incident.

On 16 April 2006, at around 9:00am, photojournalist of the Agence France-Presse (AFP), Ms. Farzana Godhuli, and a senior photojournalist of the daily Prothom Alo, Mr. Shah Shamsul Haque Tengku were going to the Bir Sreshtha Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium in Chittagong to cover the news of the second test cricket match between Bangladesh and Australia by three-wheeler scooter. Traffic police sergeant of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), Mr. Anwar Sattar, stopped the journalists and asked them to get off the vehicle. The police sergeant reasoned that passengers without car-parking passes are not allowed to enter into the stadium area. The journalists then showed their accreditation cards and Very Important Person (VIP) car-parking pass to the policeman and requested him to allow them to proceed. The police sergeant became aggressive towards the journalists and verbally abused them. When the journalists questioned why he was behaving in this way, sergeant Anwar pulled down journalist Tengku from the vehicle and proceeded to punch and kick him while the other policemen joined in. The sergeant also threatened to kill Tengku. When other photojournalists witnessed this scene they began to take photos of the police violence. Some journalists rushed to the scene and tried to save Tengku from the brutality of the police. The sergeant became annoyed with the journalists and tried to steal their cameras.

The journalists decided not to cover the news of the cricket match protesting instead against the barbaric action of the police. The leaders of the journalist community demanded exemplary punishment of the errant police sergeant. When the local cricket organisers and administrators attempted to arrange a reconciliation between the journalists and the policeman, on condition of an unconditional apology by the perpetrator for this crime, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) port zone, Mr. Ali Akbar Khan, led a group of around 25 policemen and attacked the journalists, who were sitting on the cricket ground. The DC of the CMP and his subordinates proceeded to beating the journalists with their guns, sticks, boots and fists. The police stole and broke the cameras of the journalists. At least 16 journalists and photojournalists were injured due to the atrocities of the police. Among them photojournalist of the daily Purbokone, Mr. Anurup Tito, was bleeding from his head due to the police attack. He was admitted to the Royal Hospital in Chittagong where he underwent an operation on his head that evening. Sixty-five-year-old photojournalist of the daily Ajkal, Mr. Zahurul Haque, was severely beaten by the police with sticks and riffle butts. The police also kicked and punched him while he was lying on the ground of the stadium.

The CMP head quarters denied the action of the police in a press note on April 16 despite the scene being recorded and shown by national and international television channels and broadcasted with live pictures. However, the State Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Lutfozzaman Babar, expressed his sorrow over the incident on April 17. The minister announced that police sergeant Anwar Sattar had been temporarily suspended while DC, Mr. Ali Akbor Khan, has been withdrawn from his duties. Meanwhile, the journalist community across the country termed the government's action an "Eye wash". The journalists are continuing their protest and avoiding the news on the cricket match. They are demanding judicial inquiry into the incident and requiring the permanent suspension from service of those policemen who were involved.

[  ahrchk.net

18 April 2006

PAKISTAN

wieder ist ein mensch , nachdem er von militärgeheimdienstler am flughafen von karachi festgenommen wurde,"verschwunden".der mann, ein mitarbeiter eines in bahrain stationierten tv-senders , baloch voice, wollte technisches personal für den sender anwerben , der am 16. juni sein programm beginnen wollte.belutschistan wurde 1947 teil des neuen staates pakistan. seitdem gab es immer wieder aufständevon nationalisten die mehr autonomie bzw. unabhängigkeit fordern.2001 begann das militär den hafen von gwader auszubauen. damit soll der hafen von karachi entlasten werden, aber auch die absolute kontrolle über den hafen sichergestellt werden, der die centralasiatischen ländern mit den südasiatischen verbindet. seitdem hat die repression gegen die bevölkerung so stark zugenommen, das verschiedene gruppen seit 2003 wieder bewaffnet kämpfen.am 8. dezember 2005 hat das innenministerium angegeben das seit beginn des jahres 4.000 menschen in belutschistan verhaftet wurden.

[  mehr zu belutschistan

PAKISTAN: Forced disappearance; absence of effective investigation; impunity; collapse of rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the continuous disappearances of political and human rights activists in Balochistan, the southern province in Pakistan. It is alleged that government?s security personnel are involved in these disappearances.

The latest disappearance took place on 7 April 2006. Mr. Munir Mengal, the management director of Baloch Voice, a Balochi-language television station based in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, went missing after arriving in Karachi, Pakistan from Bahrain on April 7. His family alleges that he was arrested by the military intelligence officers at the airport. Mr. Mengal's wife Mrs. Aziza Mengal said that the victim went to Karachi to recruit technical staff for a TV station, which was scheduled to start its broadcast from Bahrain on June 16. Mr. Mengal's whereabouts remain unknown. Reporters Without Borders showed its concern about Mr. Mengal's disappearance saying "Launching a TV station for 10 million Balochi in Pakistan and other parts of the world cannot be considered a crime." Due to the ongoing military operations in Balochistan, the Government of Pakistan has severely restricted Balochi people's right to access information. Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, a staff of the Balochistan National Movement said, "When Pakistan has electronic channels of each language, why are Blaochis denied to have their own channel?"

This is not an isolated case. There have been several reported disappearance cases in Balochistan. The whereabouts of most of the missing persons are unknown. In some cases, the courts ordered that the disappeared be produced before courts but this was ignored by the authorities. Some other disappearance cases are described below:

1. Dr. Haneef Shareef, the prominent poet and writer in Blochi language has been missing for over three months after being picked up by the military intelligence officers in Turbat, Balochistan on 15 January 2006. His whereabouts are not known to his family. Dr. Sareef has written articles and poetry regarding the poor economic and social conditions of the people in Balochistan. Desperate to learn of Dr. Shareef's whereabouts, his mother and relatives have staged a hunger strike in front of the Karachi Press Club for over 40 days.

2. Mr. Asghar Bangulzai, the political activist in Balochistan, has been disappeared for the last four years since he was abducted by law enforcement agencies on 18 October 2001 in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan. His young children and relatives have staged a hunger strike for the past five months in front of the Quetta Press Club.

3. Mr. Hafiz Saeed Ahmed was also allegedly abducted by law enforcement officers in 2002 in Quetta. His family members have been on a hunger strike for over four months in front of the Quetta Press Club urging the government to locate his whereabouts and release him.

4. Mr. Rauf Sasuli, a member of the central committee of Jamhoori Watan party has been missing since 2 February 2006. Mr. Salim Baloch, the vice-president of the same political party, has been missing since 10 March 2006. He was arrested by the police after holding a demonstration in front of the Karachi Press Club.

5. Seven members of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO), including its president, Mr. Imdad Baloch, were taken by law enforcement officers in March 2005 and detained in a secret place in Punjab province, where they were severely tortured. Three months later, three students including Mr. Lmdad Baloch, who were suffering from severe medical conditions at the time, were thrown on the street in a remote area in Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab province. They later told their families and the media that military officers had tortured them while asking information about the Balochistan Liberation Army, which the students claim they knew nothing of. Meanwhile, the remaining four students are still missing and their families fear that they have been killed as a result of the torture inflicted on them.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Balochistan was incorporated into the new state of Pakistan, as the Indian subcontinent was split at the end of British rule in 1947. Since then, there have been continuous insurgencies by Baloch nationalists in the province seeking greater autonomy.

The Pakistan Army started military operations in Balochistan province in 2001 to construct the cantonments and to have full control over the sea port of Gwader and routes connecting Central Asian countries with those in South Asia. During this time, the clampdown in Balochistan has become serious. According to a January 2006 statement by Pakistani Senator Sanaullah Baloch, at least 180 people have died in bombings, 122 children have been killed by paramilitary troops and hundreds of people have been arrested since the beginning of the campaign in early 2005. On 8 December 2005, the federal interior minister stated that some 4,000 people had been arrested in Balochistan since the beginning of 2005.

Baloch people also suffer from great poverty. According to the Karachi-based Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), poverty levels in Balochistan are the highest in the country. Every second person in Balochistan lives below the poverty line. Only 50 percent of the province's 7 million people have access to clean drinking water, only half the children attend primary schools and only a third of children between 12 and 23 months are immunised, according to the SPDC.

Balochistan has in fact very rich mineral resources. However, all the resources in the province are controlled by the federal government and no royalty or compensation has been paid to people in Balochistan. Also, the country's most populous province, Punjab, is controlling the military, the administration and utilises of all the resources. In addition, the government has provided little resources towards social welfare in comparison with other provinces. People in Balochistan blame the federal government for their plight and point out that the benefits derived from the province's natural wealth have not been returned to it.

[  

17 April 2006

SAUDI ARABIA

ein 15 jähriger wurde wegen " schlechten benehmens" zu 2 monaten knast und 40 schläge verurteilt. die eltern des jugendlichen hatten ihn angezeigt weil "nicht auf ihre anweisungen hört und spät nachts draußen blieb".

Court Sentences Unruly Juvenile to 40 Lashes

MAKKAH, 17 April 2006 ? A local court in Makkah sentenced a 15-year-old boy to two months in a juvenile detention center and 40 lashes for bad behavior with his parents, Okaz reported. The parents lodged a complaint in the court saying that the juvenile did not listen to their instructions and stayed out late at night. He stayed in the company of people with a bad reputation and also verbally abused his parents.

[  arabnews.com

12 April 2006

TURKEY

in dem bericht über die festnahme und ausweisung eines human rights watch mitarbeiters, der im kurdischen teil der türkei nachforschungen über mißhandlungen durch jandarma und dorfschützern während der jüngsten auseinandersetzungen anstellte, steht: "[...]es wird angenommen daß mindestens 13 menschen getötet wurden. viele demonstranten , sowie angehörige der sicherheitskräfte wurden während dem konflikt verletzt. hunderte demonstranten wurden verhaftet und es gibt glaubwürdige berichte das viele gefangenen gefoltert oder schlecht behandelt wurden.[...]"

Turkey: Human Rights Watch Researcher Detained in Kurdish Area

A Human Rights Watch researcher conducting research in Turkey was detained by police on Wednesday, and is expected to be deported tomorrow, Human Rights Watch said today. At the time of his detention, the researcher, who has not been charged with any crime, was carrying out research in the predominately Kurdish southeast of the country into abuses allegedly involving the Turkish gendarmerie and government-armed local defense units called "village guards." "Turkey should not be arresting and expelling researchers looking into possible human rights abuses," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The desire to cover up human rights abuses is evidently still very strong, despite recent moves towards more accountability in Turkey's bid for membership in the European Union."

Human Rights Watch called on the Turkish authorities to halt the deportation and allow the organization to continue its research. The researcher, Jonathan Sugden, was detained by regular police in the town of Bingol, in southeastern Turkey, on the morning of April 12, 2006. He had been documenting abuses in the area allegedly carried out by Turkish paramilitary police, known as the gendarme, and the village guard. He was first moved to the town of Malatya and later taken to Istanbul, where he is expected to spend the night in police custody before being deported to London on April 13.

Sugden is a U.K. national and fluent Turkish speaker with more than two decades of experience monitoring human rights in Turkey. The Turkish authorities have claimed that Sugden did not have valid authorization to be carrying out human rights work in Turkey. However, Sugden was present in the country on a tourist visa, which Turkish authorities had confirmed provides a legitimate basis for him to carry out research in the country, as it is and has been for any human rights lawyer or delegation carrying out similar work. In recent years, Sugden has traveled repeatedly to Turkey on such a visa to perform research, with the knowledge of the Turkish authorities and without being detained. "This is not about a visa," said Cartner. "It is about the Turkish government wanting to prevent investigations of misconduct by its agents. The human rights situation had been slowly improving, but this is a big step backwards."

There has been a recent upsurge of violence in southeastern Turkey between separatist rebels of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces. Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish villagers remain displaced from the region, and the threat of violence from village guards against these villagers remains an important obstacle to their return. Last week, following the funeral of PKK rebels who had been killed by Turkish security forces, Kurdish demonstrators clashed with riot police in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, as well as in Batman, Kiziltepe, Nusaybin, Siirt and other towns in the region. Protest became violent, with protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at law enforcement officials. In response, law enforcement officials appear to have used excessive and disproportionate force in responding to the rioters. At least 13 people are believed to have been killed. Many other protesters, as well as law enforcement officers, were injured during the clashes. Hundreds of demonstrators were detained, and there have been credible reports that many detainees were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

[  alertnet.org

7 April 2006

PAKISTAN

2. 340 indische menschen wurden in den letzten drei jahren aus pakistanischen knästen entlassen

2,340 Indian prisoners released: Kasuri

ISLAMANAD, April 7: Minister for Foreign Affairs Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told the National Assembly that Pakistan released 2,340 Indian nationals during the past three years as compared to 547 Pakistanis set free by India. The statistics placed before the lower house revealed that the number of prisoners released increased significantly during 2005 as compared to the preceding years.

[  dawn.com

7 April 2006

TURKEY

einige der neuen rechtsvorschriften für den strafvollzug :

danach sollen die gefangenen nicht wegen "ihrer sprache, religion , der ethnischen zugehörigkeit , rasse, hautfarbe, geschlecht oder ideologie" diskrimiert werden. die türen von räumen und fluren müssen immer geschlossen sein, außer in fällen von "höherer gewalt".

durchsuchungen können jederzeit stattfinden, die wärter sollen dann respektvoll mit der person umgehen. sollte es den verdacht auf den "besitz von verbotenen substanzen und/ oder waren" geben können die gefangenen gezwungen werden sich auszuziehen. dabei sollen die betroffenen personen nicht berührt werden.

..der strafgefangene der zu lebenslang verurteilt wurde, wird in seiner zelle ein lebenlang allein sein.

..ihm wird erlaubt einmal am tag eine stunde im freien zu sein. diese zeit kann bei guter führung verlängert werden. der strafgefangene kann einen beruf oder eine künstlerische aktivität ausüben wenn dies vom verwaltungsausschuß als geeignet betrachtet wird.

..dem gefangenen ist es möglich alle 14 tage für 10 minuten zu telefonieren.

..gefangenen wird es nicht erlaubt frisuren, schnurbärter oder bärte zu tragen die in der gesellschaft nicht akzeptiert sind.

..während medizinischer untersuchungen wird nur medizinisches personal im untersuchungszimmer sein. kein gefangener wird als testperson für medizinische forschungen benutzt.

..keine der unterlagen und / oder akten die von dem anwalt des gefangenen zu verteidigungszwecken in das gefängnis gebracht werden werden gelesen oder vom personal durchsucht.

..briefe der gefangenen werden gelesen und dann mit der post verschickt.

..die gefangenen, deren sexuellen vorlieben außerhalb des üblichen sind werden in geeignete zellen überführt.

.. die gefangenen die eine gefahr für das gefängnis darstellen werden in einer zelle untergebracht, die 24 stunden am tag von einer kamera überwacht wird.

New Penitentiary Institutions Regulation

ANKARA - It will be mandatory for penitentiary institutions to take measures to protect the rights and maintain physical and psychological well-being of prisoners, indicated ''the penitentiary institutions regulation'' that got published in the Official Gazette. Accordingly prison executives will provide an atmosphere in which prisoners will pursue their normal lives. According to the regulation, prison executives would not discriminate among inmates because of their mother tongue, religion, ethnicity, race, color, sex or ideologies. ''They are also banned to accept money, gifts and the like from inmates and/or their relatives'', stipulates the regulation.

Domestic security of penitentiary institutions will be assured by Justice Ministry prison guards. In case of rebellion, fire, earthquake, mass escape attempts or tunnel digging, guards ensuring outside security may intervene upon a call from the chief administrator. According to the regulation, the doors of rooms and hallways in jailhouses will be kept closed all the time except cases of force majeur. The regulation said respect to human honor will be fundamental during body searches and nosecounts. Searches may take place at any time. In case of any sign of a forbidden substances or goods, the convict may be searched naked. Necessary care will be shown not to touch to the body of the convict while searching the convict naked.

The convict, who is sentenced to life imprisonment, will stay alone in a cell throughout his life. He will be allowed to go out to the open air for one hour a day. This time may be prolonged according to his good conduct. The convict may perform a profession or artistic activity that will be considered as appropriate by administrative committee. The convict will be able to talk on the phone once in a fortnight, and up to 10 minutes. According to the regulation, house imprisonment will take place in the settling which the convict declared to the court as his official domicile. Provisions of release under condition will not be applied for those who were sentenced to house arrest. Those inmates, whose sexual preferences are out of the ordinary, will be transferred to appropriate cells.

Inmates will be able to communicate their demands and complaints on a daily basis. Such demands and complaints will be made to the prison's highest authority. Inmates with certain abilities will be able to work within their prison's premises and earn money. They will not be able to work at their own business or the businesses of their immediate relatives. Prisoners will not be permitted to wear hair, mustache or beard styles not acceptable in the society.

For those prisoners who are pregnant, special care will be taken. If the baby in question is born in prison, the name of the prison will not be written on the identification card of the infant. During medical check-ups, only medical personnel will be present in the room where the inmate is being checked. No inmate will be utilized as a guinea pig in medical researches. Letters written by inmates will be checked and later sent via mail. All documents and/or files brought to prison by the prisoner's attorney for defense purposes, will not be read or checked by prison authorities. Finally, those inmates who may constitute a danger for the prison may be placed in a cell that will be watched by a camera 24 hours a day.

[  anatoliantimes.com

4 April 2006

INDIA

1973 wurde ein mann unter dem verdacht des mordes an seiner frau inhaftiert. jetzt , nach 33 jahren ohne anklage, wurde der mann von einem gericht freigesprochen.

Court orders release of man in jail for 33 years

A district court on Tuesday ordered release of one Devi Prasad, who had been languishing in jail for the last 33 years without trial, after acquitting him of all charges. Devi Prasad had been charged with killing his wife and was sent to jail in 1973. His case went without hearing for a long time as the police failed to submit the case diary on time. Prasad's advocate Jagadish Singh Chauhan said in Fatehpur on Tuesday that his client had to spend about 33 years in jail only because of faulty and lax police investigation. The family members of Prasad though happy at his release lamented that he had to spend so many years in jail without any fault of his.

[  hindustantimes.com

2 April 2006

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

das israelische militär hat den negev knast gestürmt um 240 gefangene in andere knäste zu verlegen. dabei wurden 3 gefangene verwundet.

IOF storm Negev prison, three Palestinian inmates wounded

Nablus - The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) Sunday morning stormed the infamous Negev prison where at least 2,200 Palestinian inmates are incarcerated in miserable conditions in a bid to transfer 240 inmates to more notorious central jails. The IOF troops fired scores of teargas canisters before storming the jail wards, but stunned by the stiff resistance of the Palestinian detainees who rejected the Israeli step. Representatives of the jailed movement that groups all Palestinian captives warned of bloody confrontations if the IOF troops forcibly carried out the transfer. They added that three Palestinian prisoners have so far been wounded and the number is expected to rise amidst the Israeli insistence to implement the transfer and the stubborn Palestinian prisoners' stand to resist it. More Israeli soldiers were called for back up as more than 2,000 fully geared Israeli troopers were surrounding the prison.

The IOF wittingly cut off water and electricity in the prison to force the captives yield, which didn't happen so far. The prisoners, in an urgent call to the outside world, called on all media apparatuses and human rights and legal institutions to rush to the scene and to cover the events so as to unmask the "barbaric offensive" of the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) Palestinian officials, including Wasfi Qubaha, the PA minister on prisoners' affairs, were anxiously monitoring the developments in the jail. Qubaha earlier warned the IOA against carrying out the transfer by force, adding that if they (IOA) did so, then they should expect more adverse consequences as a result of their act.

"This Israeli hostile act is actually a part of a systematic Israeli method to inflict as much harm as possible on the prisoners and their families who will be denied visits to their beloved sons and relatives while in central jails", the PA minister affirmed. For his part, Mohammed Besharat, head of the prisoner's support society in northern West Bank, unveiled that the actual transfer has started amidst IOF troops firing of rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters inside the prison tents, describing the events as "a grave Israeli escalation against the inmates".

[  palestine-info.co.uk

27 March 2006

BANGLADESH

nach einem prozess, bei dem er auf kaution freikam, wurde ein mann von der rab ( rapid action battalion-eine spezialeinheit der polizei) in dhaka festgenommen. am nächsten tag wurde die leiche des mannes auf einem feld, etwa 1 km von seinem wohnort entfernt, gefunden.

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary arrest and detention; torture; extra-judicial killing The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man was killed by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-4 in the name of ‘crossfire’ on 9 March 2006. The man was arrested by the RAB at around 11:00am on March 8 while he was walking out of the Session Judge’s Court of Dhaka after attending an ongoing trial in the court. The family of the victim alleges that they found several injury marks over the dead body when it was handed over to them. He was married with a wife and three children.

On 8 March 2006, Md. Masudur Rahman (alias Iman Ali), who was the general secretary of the Awami Jubo League of Savar upazilla unit and a businessman by profession, left his village home to attend a trial at the Session Judge’s Court in Dhaka. The case (Number: 53, date: 31 December 2000, section: 302 Penal Code) was filed against him and he was bailed by the Court later on. When he came out of the court the intelligence wing of the RAB arrested him. The following morning (March 9), Iman’s dead body was found in a field at Khagain village, around one kilometre away from his home. The Savar police recovered the body for autopsy and handed it over to Iman's family at around 4pm on the same day.

On March 11, Iman’s wife, Mrs. Rabeya Khatun, told the fact-finding team that the government is responsible for the killing of her husband. Likewise, Iman’s brother, Mr. Nazrul Islam, told the fact-finder that this was a blatant killing, not ‘crossfire’. “Two bullets entered into the left side of the chest and exited from the back while another bullet exited through the right of the back after entering into the chest; all three bullets hit from the front side of the body.” Nazrul also claims that his brother had been electrocuted before being killed after seeing burns to his brother's back and right hand. There was also swelling around the right ear, a bruise on the right side of the face and a hole in the toe of the right foot. Quoting eyewitnesses, Mr. Nazrul said that security guards, who were on duty in front of the Panna,Textile Mills, witnessed the RAB personnel shoot five rounds of blank fire after having already shot Iman.

Mr. Nazrul also alleges that the RAB personnel stole a gold chain, two gold rings, a mobile phone and about Taka twenty thousand from Iman during the arrest. He claimed that his brother was extremely popular and a reputed personality in the locality. However, he also noted that political opponents lodged 12 cases against Iman of which he was released from 11. On the day of arrest Iman went to attend the trial of the last case in which the plaintiff himself urged the court to grant bail to him while Iman’s name was implicated as a result of conspiracy.

Meanwhile, the RAB authority issued a press release from its headquarters claiming that Md. Masudur Rahman Iman was a wanted criminal of the Savar police. Following a long interrogation by the RAB-4 Iman admitted that he had illegal arms in his possession, the RAB claimed. When the RAB force took Iman to Akrain village under Savar police station, nearby the Panna Textile Mills to recover the arms, associates of Iman, opened fire on RAB, according to them. Iman was subsequently killed by ‘crossfire’ during the ‘encounter’ between the RAB and the associates of the deceased. The Savar police have lodged a case of Unnatural Death with the police station regarding this incident.

The victim’s family informed the fact-finding team that they want to sue the RAB personnel so long as their security can be ensured.[...]

[  more details: ahrchk.net

20 March 2006

BURMA / MYANMAR

polizisten in rangoon haben einen mann zu tod geprügelt und danach zwei seiner freunde wegen des todes verhaftet, verprügelt und angeklagt.

BURMA: Assault; torture; extrajudicial killing; impunity; un-rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by reports that officials in Rangoon, Burma beat a young man to death after which the police arrested two of his friends, who were also beaten, and have charged them with assault. Ko Thet Naing Oo and his two friends were reportedly beaten by municipal officers and fire-fighters after a quarrel in a market on March 17. Thet Naing Oo died in hospital on March 18. His two friends, Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw are known to have been taken into custody and face charges of physically obstructing government officials from carrying out their duties. Their families and friends complain that they have been denied access to them. Meanwhile, the mother of the dead man has complained that so far she has been unable to lodge a complaint about his death.

ccording to the information available so far, at around 8pm on 17 March 2006 40-year-old Ko Thet Naing Oo was at a teashop in Thirimingalar Market with his two friends, when he said he would go to urinate. At that time he quarrelled with municipal officers who were taking responsibility for market security, who accused him of breaking the market's regulations and hit him. After that Thet Naing Oo was infuriated, so he came home to get a weapon, and went back to confront his assailants. When the municipal officers saw him, they yelled that he was a thief, and then a pickpocket, until more officers and fire brigade members came and set upon him together. In Burma the fire brigade is used as an auxiliary security force.

According to eyewitnesses, the group beat Thet Naing Oo until he was on the ground and already half dead. Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw also were beaten, but not severely. After the assault, the alleged perpetrators called a trishaw and loaded Thet Naing Oo on to it face down and handcuffed. Still they allegedly kept assaulting him while he was unconscious and restrained on the trishaw. Thet Naing Oo did not regain consciousness and reportedly died in hospital on Saturday, March 18, at 11:40am. He was due to be cremated today, Monday, March 20. Thet Naing Oo earlier spent ten years in jail for political activism. He was released from Tharawaddy Prison in 2003.

Daw Sein Yi, the victim's mother, has lodged a complaint with the Kyimyintaing Township Police Station and been given an appointment to come for an interview, but has been told nothing by the officers there. She has stated that she wants justice and to have every person involved in the assault charged with homicide. However, in the meantime eyewitnesses and alleged assault victims Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw have themselves reportedly been charged with assaulting the municipal and fire brigade officers and preventing them from carrying out of their official duties. According to the limited information available so far, they have been transferred from Kyimyintaing to Dagon police lockup, and are also due to be brought before the court today, March 20. The families of the two men have reportedly been denied access to them. The AHRC is attempting to get further details on this case as they come to hand. Meanwhile, a number of radio stations that have contacted to the Kyimyintaing and Dagon police stations, including the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), BBC and VOA, have been consistently told by officers stationed at them that they know nothing about the case.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The AHRC has in recent times reported on a growing number of cases of police officers and/or local government officials in Burma seriously assaulting and sometimes killing local people over trivial incidents. The key feature in each of these cases also has been the inability of the victims or their families to complain, and the subsequent further legal action against the victim or victims to cover up the incident by the perpetrators. See for instance: UA-080-2006, UP-029-2006, UA-058-2006, UA-044-2006, UP-071-2005 and UA-111-2004. See further AS-015-2006.

[  ahrchk.net

18 March 2006

KUWAIT

264 menschen aus sri lanka ,die nach kuwait reisten um zu arbeiten, sind im knast, davon sind 64 frauen. weitere 200 frauen die in haushalten arbeiteten sind in abschiebeknast.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan workers in Kuwaiti jails

Some 264 Sri Lankan nationals who traveled to Kuwait for work are in prison in Kuwait, sources said this week. The Kuwait Times quoting Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau sources said 64 of these prisoners are women. They have been imprisoned for charges such as escape from houses, thefts and murder. Further, 200 women who migrated as housemaids are in Kuwaiti detention centres. It is reported that some Sri Lankan workers who are employed in garment factories in Kuwait have not received their salaries for months. Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau Chairman Jagath Wellawatta, who visited Kuwait last week, has discussed with the Kuwait Government the workers' welfare.

[  dailynews.lk

17 March 2006

NEPAL

am 1. märz wurde ein 22 jähriger mann wegen eines mordes festgenommen. er wurde mehrfach gefoltert und seine vorführung vor gericht bei einer haftüberprüfung geschah vom krankenhaus aus. dorthin wurde er eingeliefert da er durch die schläge der wärter bei den verhören nicht mehr atmen konnte. als er am 15. märz vor gericht war gelang es einem anwalt mit ihm zu reden. der anwalt stellte dann vor gericht einen antrag für den mann, der ihm gesagt hatte er hätte aus angst und schmerzen gestanden. im gerichtssaal waren 10 polizisten , die seitdem nach dem anwalt suchen .

NEPAL: Torture; arbitrary arrest and detention; threat and intimidation of a lawyer; collapse of rule of law

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is in receipt of information regarding the torture of Mr. Nar Bahadur Bista by police personnel from Mahendranagar District Police Office on 1 March 2006. Though arrested and detained on March 1, the victim was not provided a detention letter until March 12. After a lawyer from Advocacy Forum filed an application to the District Court on behalf of the victim, it was learned that ten policemen went in search of him.

Mr. Bista, a 22-year-old male, and permanent resident of Kanchanpur District Mahendranagar Municipality-13, Badaipur was arrested by police personnel from Mahendranagar DPO on March 1 on the charge of murder. The DPO handed him a detention letter only on March 12. He was first remanded by the District Court for three days on March 12, and on March 15 his remand was extended for a further seven days. During his detention Mr. Bista was tortured by personnel from the Mahendranagar DPO; in fact he was tortured to the point that he had difficulty in breathing. As a result, on March 14, Mr. Bista was admitted to the Mahakali Zonal Hospital to receive treatment for the injuries he sustained. He was produced before the court from the hospital itself when he attended on March 15.

On March 15, when Mr. Bista was brought to the court for remand extension, a lawyer from Advocacy Forum managed to talk with him about his condition. During the talk, he was quoted as saying: "Two policemen clutched my hands and Police Inspector Deepak Regmi hit me on my chest, knees and legs with a stick. They beat me for two nights. I don't know the dates that I was beaten. They tortured me until I confessed to crime. I was so scared and concerned of my life that I confessed to crime. The inspector was saying that he would reduce my age by 30 years by means of beating. At present, I am surviving on fluid intakes by the suggestion of the doctor."

Mr. Bista could not provide any other details of his torture due to his severe health condition. His family are currently meeting all treatment expenses during his hospital stay. An Advocacy Forum lawyer has filed an application on behalf of the victim to the District Court. There were some ten policemen in the court at the time of the lawyer doing this. It has since been learned that the police, upon hearing of the application, went searching for the person who had filed the case before the court.

[  ahrchk.net

13 March 2006

SRI LANKA

nach plänen der armee sollen 200 menschen die wegen geringfügiger delikte verurteilt sind auf einer farm im norden sri lankas arbeiten, um die lebensmittelversorgung der armee sicherzustellen. seit 2002 gibt es einen waffenstillstand zwischen der regierung und den tamil tigers. es kommt allerdings regelmäßig zu boykotten und da die grenze zwischen dem tamilischen teil und dem rest der insel vermint ist und von den tamil tigers kontrolliert wird, sollen die menschen auf einer bereits vorhandenen farm arbeiten. die armee soll den gefangenen monatlich 4. 000 rupies ( etwa 72 euro) bezahlen da die farm in einer hochsicherheitszone in der nähe der stadt palaly liegt könnten die gefangenen auch nicht fliehen.

Sri Lanka enlists convicts to feed army

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka plans to move dozens of convicts to an army-held enclave in the rebel-dominated north, officials said on Monday -- not as a punishment but to grow vegetables. Forced to fly up to 1.5 tonnes of vegetables a day into the Jaffna peninsula to feed 40,000 troops because of patchy local supplies, the army plans to send as many as 200 prisoners serving time for minor offences to work on a farm.

"We have a farm there. The farm is not maintained properly, because we don?t have (enough) people. So we can hand it over to them as an open prison and they can work there and we can get vegetables," military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are fighting for an independent Tamil homeland, have frequently imposed bans on sales of provisions to the army, cut off from the rest of the country by a landmine-strewn border with rebel territory. But the plan could also put the prisoners on the front line if peace talks between the rebels and the government fail, and the island falls back into a two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 people before a 2002 truce.

Sri Lanka's prisons chief aims to have the plan operational within weeks, and wants the army to pay the prisoners around 4,000 rupees (23 pounds) each a month for their services. The proposed site, on heavily defended army land with its gun turrets and the ruins of buildings destroyed by years of heavy shelling, is a natural open prison. "Because they (will be) in Palaly, a high security zone, they have no escape whatsoever," said Rumy Marzook, Commissioner General of Prisons, referring to the town of Palaly where the army's northern base is located.

[  newsone.ca

13 March 2006

CHINA

China: Regimekritiker 13 Jahre zu Unrecht in Polizeipsychiatrie
Bericht unabhängiger Experten bestätigt Anschuldigungen gegen China

Berlin, 17. März 2006 - Der Regimekritiker Wang Wanxing ist 13 Jahre zu Unrecht in einer von der chinesischen Polizei betriebenen Psychiatrie festgehalten worden. Das geht aus einem Expertenbericht niederländischer Psychiater hervor, den die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch und die Global Initiative on Psychiatry heute vorlegen. Beide Organisationen fordern ein sofortiges Ende derartiger Maßnahmen. Am 3. und 4. Januar, fünf Monate nach seiner Entlassung, untersuchte das Expertenteam Wang in Deutschland. Es kam zu dem Ergebnis, dass Wangs Einweisung jeglicher Grundlage entbehrte. „Es gibt keinen Grund, Wang in einer speziellen forensisch-psychiatrischen Klinik festzuhalten oder ihn in eine psychiatrische Anstalt einzuweisen. Wir konnten keinerlei psychische Störungen an ihm feststellen, die eine Einlieferung gerechtfertigt hätten“, so die Psychiater in ihrem Bericht. „Es gab keine Anzeichen von Depression, Psychose oder organischen Störungen.“

Wang, 56, ist wohl das prominenteste Opfer politischer Oppositioneller in China, das durch den Missbrauch psychiatrischer Anstalten zum Schweigen gebracht wurde. 13 Jahre lange wurde er in der von der Polizei betriebenen psychiatrischen Klinik „Ankang“ gefangen gehalten. Der Großteil der dort Inhaftierten sind psychisch schwer gestörte Straftäter - geisteskranke Kriminelle. Die Gefangenen haben weder Zugang zu einem Anwalt oder zu gerichtlichen Anhörungen noch können sie Einspruch einlegen. Außerdem wird die Haftdauer ausschließlich von Polizeipsychiatern und Funktionären festgelegt. Viele Häftlinge werden zwischen 5 und 20 Jahren festgehalten.

Wang reagierte mit großer Erleichterung auf den Bericht des niederländischen Expertenteams. „Er belegt eindeutig, dass es keine psychiatrische Grundlage für die 13-jährige Haft in Ankang gab. Darauf habe ich so lange gewartet. Endlich Gerechtigkeit - ein großer Erfolg.“[...]

[  China: Regimekritiker 13 Jahre zu Unrecht in Polizeipsychiatrie

China: No Medical Reason to Hold Dissident
Expert Team Finds Wang Wanxing Wrongly Sent to Asylum for 13 Years

(Berlin, March 17, 2006) - A report by Dutch psychiatric experts leaves no doubt that Wang Wanxing was a victim of China’s political abuse of psychiatry, the Global Initiative on Psychiatry and Human Rights Watch said today. Both groups called on China to halt this means of stifling dissent. On January 3 and 4, the team examined Wang in Germany, five months after his release, and concluded there were no grounds for his incarceration. “There was no reason that Mr. Wang had to be locked up in a special forensic psychiatric hospital or to be admitted to any psychiatric facility. He was not suffering from any mental disorder that could justify his admission,” they wrote. “We were not able to reveal any form of mental disorder: no signs of depression, psychosis or organic disorder.”

Wang, 56, probably the most internationally renowned victim of China’s use of psychiatric detention to silence political activists, spent 13 years in a police-run mental hospital, known as an “Ankang.” The great majority of Ankang inmates are severely mentally disordered offenders - the criminally insane. Those held in Ankang custody have no access to a lawyer, to a court hearing, or to the right of appeal, and the length of incarceration is determined solely by police psychiatrists and officials. Many inmates are held for between five and 20 years.

Wang reacted with enormous relief when told of the Dutch examining team’s report. “It clearly proves that there were no psychiatric grounds for my 13 years in the Beijing Ankang,” he said. “I've been waiting for this for so long. It’s justice at last - a great success.”

Robert van Voren, secretary-general of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP), which is actively involved in the mental health reform process in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, warmly welcomed the report’s findings. “This independent assessment confirms, finally, what Wang himself has been arguing for 13 years: that he was detained not because he was ‘dangerously mentally ill,’ as claimed by the Chinese authorities, but solely on account of his peacefully held dissident viewpoints,” he said. “Wang’s case underlines the urgent need for China’s Ankang network of police-run mental hospitals to be opened up to independent outside scrutiny as soon as possible.”

ang, released in August 2005 as a result of diplomatic efforts by the German government and other concerned groups, is living in Germany with his wife and daughter. He was examined there at the request of the GIP, an international Netherlands-based foundation that combats political abuse of psychiatry. The group was at the forefront of the international campaign to end similar abuses in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s.

“The conclusion of the expert team confirms our long-held suspicions,” said Brad Adams, director of the Asia division of Human Right Watch. “China has been repeatedly accused of using psychiatry as a tool of political repression, but until Wang left China, it was impossible to verify the accusations.”

The systematic abuse of psychiatry for political purposes in China became internationally known in late 1999, when large numbers of Falungong practitioners were reportedly interned in psychiatric hospitals. However, experts have long asserted that political abuse of psychiatry in China includes among its victims several other main target groups. In August 2002, GIP and HRW jointly published a 298-page report, "Dangerous Minds: Political Psychiatry in China Today and its Origins in the Mao Era", which detailed China’s extensive use of psychiatric detention as a means of silencing political dissidents, spiritual nonconformists, trade union activists, whistleblowers, and others. The report estimated that since the early 1980s more than 3,000 people had been incarcerated on such grounds.

The Dutch team’s conclusion should lead to renewed demands for the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) to send an investigative mission to China to meet with known political detainees in psychiatric hospitals and to examine conditions in the police-run Ankang network, as recommended by a resolution adopted during the WPA’s 2002 General Assembly. Since then, the Chinese government has refused to permit such a mission, although under the WPA’s Madrid Declaration of 1996, member societies that do not cooperate in investigating allegations of the political abuse of psychiatry face expulsion from the global professional body. The WPA’s leadership has declined to take disciplinary action against the Chinese Society of Psychiatrists on the factually incorrect grounds that political psychiatric abuse in China is “solely a Falungong issue.”

The examiners’ finding that Wang has no psychiatric illness contrasts strikingly with a “Summary Medical Record” issued by the Beijing Ankang authorities just days before his release in August 2005. According to the latter, “When the topic of conversation turns to politics, [Wang] displays impairments of thought association and of mental logic. His systematic delusions have shown no conspicuous improvement since he was first admitted to the hospital, and his [mental] activities are still characterized by delusions of grandeur, litigation mania, and a conspicuously enhanced pathological will... We recommend that [his medication] treatment regime be continued, and that the patient be kept under strict guardianship.”

The Dutch examining team consisted of B.C.M. Raes, professor in forensic psychiatry at the Free University of Amsterdam and the State University of Groningen, the Netherlands; and B.B. van der Meer, clinical psychologist with wide experience in long-term treatment of mentally disturbed offenders held in a high security forensic psychiatric hospital.

The details from the independent medical report are published here with Wang’s permission.

[  hrw.org

[  DANGEROUS MINDS
Political Psychiatry in China Today and its Origins in the Mao Era.pdf

12 March 2006

INDIA

es gibt in indien ein mahapanchayat genannte gesprächsrunde zwischen gefangenen und dem jeweilig zuständigen leiter des knastsystems. in dem artikel geht es um ein solches treffen von insassen des tihar knastes mit dem leiter der knäste in dehli. die gefangenen forderten u.a.einen offenen knast und hindi als gerichtssprache. die prozesse sind in englischer sprache , was die angeklagten "zu stummen zuschauerinnen" der verhandlungen macht.

angeblich wird ein offener knast seit 8 jahren geplant, aber bisher sei noch kein gelände gefunden worden das groß genug sei. es gibt bereits einige dieser knäste in indien. sie sind gedacht für zu lebenslanger haft verurteilte menschen, die nach 2/3 ihrer zeit außerhalb des knastes arbeiten können und mit ihren familien zusammenleben. voraussetzung ist angepasstes verhalten während der haft.

TIHAR: PROPOSAL FOR OPEN JAIL PENDING WITH HOME DEPT FOR 8 YEARS, SAYS DIRECTOR GENERAL (PRISONS)

Prisoners demand open jail, Hindi in courts

The issues of absence of an open jail and no use of Hindi during court proceedings were raised by the prisoners of Tihar Jail during a recent interaction (Mahapanchayat) between them and the Director General of Delhi Prisons, R.P. Singh.

"Under the open jail system, if a prisoner serving life-term has maintained good and reliable conduct for two-third of his term, he is allowed to work outside and earn, and also keep his family with him for the rest of the term," said Singh. The Director General said though the proposal for an open jail is pending with the Home Department for almost eight years now, nothing concrete has been done in this regard mainly due to unavailability of land. "Earlier, we were promised 70 hectares of land in Narela. But later, it was reduced to 40 acres. This cannot solve our purpose, as we need a larger space for an open jail. Now, land in Baprola near Najafgarh is under consideration," added Singh.

At present, around 250 prisoners are serving life-terms in Tihar Jail. Meanwhile, some 400 prisoners also complained about the use of English during court proceedings. "The inmates said they remain mute spectators when their cases are being heard, as the medium of communication in courts is English," said Law Officer, Tihar Jail, Sunil Kumar. The Director General has assured the prisoners that their demand would be forwarded to the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court, Kumar added. Mahapanchayats are held once a year to hear the grievances of the prisoners.

Eye on PUNE, Jaipur

Open Jail system is there in Sagarner Jail near Jaipur and Yarvada Jail in Pune. At Yarvada Jail, the prisoners are temporarily allotted land. They generate income by tilling this land. "Some staff is posted in such jails, and even the families of these prisoners are allowed to stay with them. They only have to register their attendance before leaving and after their return," said the Director General of Delhi Prisons, R.P. Singh. Similar facilities are available in some jails of Uttar Pradesh and the Andamans.

[  expressindia.com

07 March 2006

IRAQ

US holding thousands without trial
Torture in Iraq worse since Abu Ghraib

The US and its allies in Iraq are holding more than 14,000 civilian prisoners-in some cases for years-without charges or trials, while torture and abuse in detention camps are now worse than when the horrors of Abu Ghraib were exposed nearly two years ago. These are the damning conclusions of a report entitled “Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and Torture in Iraq,” released Monday by the London-based human rights group Amnesty International. The arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of Iraqis in the three years since the US invaded the country and the physical abuse of those held are ongoing war crimes by the US occupation. These practices, carried out in flagrant violation of international law, go a long way towards explaining the inexhaustible supply of recruits willing to die fighting to expel American troops from their country. Describing the human rights situation in Iraq as “dire” and the record of US and British troops in the country as “unpalatable,” the report charges that the “continuing detentions without charge or trial of thousands of people in Iraq who are classified by the MNF [Multinational Force] as ‘security internees’” had facilitated and encouraged the kind of torture seen in the images that emerged from Abu Ghraib in April 2004 and again in February of this year.[...]

[  wsws.org

US-Truppen halten im Irak Tausende willkürlich fest

Im Irak werden Amnesty International zufolge bis zu 14.000 Gefangene von amerikanischen oder britischen Truppen ohne konkrete Anklage festgehalten. In einem neuen Bericht wirft die Menschenrechtsorganisation beiden Ländern vor, gegen das Völkerrecht zu verstoßen.

London - Die US-geführten Truppen im Irak haben laut Amnesty International (ai) seit ihrem Einmarsch im März 2003 Zehntausende Menschen "willkürlich" festgehalten. Fast drei Jahre nach der Invasion der multinationalen Truppen sei die Menschenrechtslage im Irak finster, heißt es in dem heute in London veröffentlichten ai-Bericht. Ein Großteil der Häftlinge sei ohne Anklage ins Gefängnis gekommen. Zudem hätten weder die multinationalen Truppen noch die Iraker Vorsorgemaßnahmen getroffen, Gefangene vor Folter oder anderen Menschenrechtsverletzungen zu schützen. Ende November hielten die USA und ihre Verbündeten laut Bericht im Irak immer noch mehr als 14.000 Menschen fest.

Der Bericht mit dem Titel "Jenseits von Abu Ghureib: Haft und Folter im Irak" beruht auf Gesprächen mit ehemaligen Häftlingen, deren Anwälten und Angehörigen sowie mit Vertretern der multinationalen Truppen und irakischen Beamten. Er prangert die Verletzung internationaler Menschenrechtsstandards durch die US-geführten Truppen an.

Diese hielten Tausende Menschen ohne Gerichtsverfahren inhaftiert, einige hundert von ihnen zeitlich unbegrenzt, kritisierte der Bericht. Den Häftlingen im Irak werde das Grundrecht genommen, ihre Verhaftung anzufechten. In den ersten zwei Monaten der Inhaftierung dürften die Gefangenen weder ihre Anwälte noch Familien sehen. Einige Gefangene wurden dem Bericht zufolge nach monatelanger Haft ohne Erklärung, Entschuldigung oder Entschädigung entlassen. Sie seien Opfer eines Systems, das willkürlich und eine Anleitung zum Missbrauch sei.

Ende November vergangenen Jahres hielten die multinationalen Truppen dem Bericht zufolge im Irak mehr als 14.000 Menschen gefangen. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt saßen 4710 Häftlinge im Bagdader Gefängnis Abu Ghureib ein, 138 in Camp Cropper in Bagdad, 7365 in Camp Bucca in der Nähe von Basra und 1176 in Fort Suse nahe der nordirakischen Stadt Suleimanijah. Weitere 650 Menschen seien in anderen Militäreinrichtungen im Irak festgehalten worden.

Der ai-Bericht führte gesondert die Menschenrechtsverletzungen auf, für die die multinationalen Truppen "direkt verantwortlich" waren, und bezeichnete die Bilanz als "widerwärtig". Gleichzeitig häuften sich Berichte von Folter und Gewalt bis hin zu Todesfällen in Gewahrsam irakischer Sicherheitskräfte, erklärte der Mitautor des Berichts, Carsten Jürgensen. Ehemalige Häftlinge hätten ai berichtet, dass Misshandlungen in Haftzentren der Iraker teilweise unter den Augen der multinationalen Streifkräfte geschähen.

Die Menschrechtsorganisation forderte dringende, konkrete Schritte der multinationalen Truppen und des Irak, um Häftlinge vor Folter und Misshandlung zu bewahren. Dies beinhalte unverzügliche, gründliche und unabhängige Untersuchungen von Missbrauchsvorwürfen. Gegen alle, die Folter "angewendet, befohlen oder geduldet" hätten, müssten Maßnahmen ergriffen werden.

[  spiegel.de

Iraq: Thousands of detainees denied their basic rights

press release, 06.03.2006

Thousands of detainees being held by the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq are trapped in a system of arbitrary detention that denies them their basic rights, Amnesty International said in a report published today. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of torture of detainees by the Iraqi security forces that the MNF underpins.

"Three years after it toppled Saddam Hussain, the US-led alliance has failed to put in place measures which respect the basic rights of detainees under its control and to safeguard them from possible torture or other abuses. The system of detention that has been established is arbitrary and a recipe for possible abuse," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Some detainees have now been held without charge or trial by the MNF for more than two years without being given an adequate opportunity to challenge the reasons for their imprisonment. They face the prospect of being held for years more on the basis of information to which they do not have access. The systems the US and UK use to review detainees' cases fail to meet international standards, including the requirement for court oversight. Detainees are also routinely denied access to lawyers and their families.

The report Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq focuses on human rights violations for which the MNF is directly responsible but points also to mounting evidence of torture by Iraqi security forces operating alongside the MNF, including the so-called Wolf Brigade that reports to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. There have also been cases in which detainees have died in the custody of Iraqi forces. Amnesty International is concerned that these cases and torture allegations have not been properly investigated and those responsible held to account. US and UK investigations into abuses by their forces have also generally focused on junior military personnel and sentences have failed to reflect the gravity of the offences.

It is imperative that both the MNF and the Iraqi authorities take urgent steps to reassert the importance of fundamental human rights if there is to be any hope of halting Iraq's slide towards ever increasing violence and sectarianism. In particular, they must ensure that detainees' rights are respected in full, that all allegations of torture or other abuses are thoroughly and promptly investigated, and that those responsible for ordering or carrying out abuses, however senior, are brought to justice.

"International human rights law applicable in Iraq as well as domestic Iraqi legislation contain safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of people in detention - including the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. It is high time for all parties to the conflict to start observing the laws to which they have been and remain legally bound," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui

[  amnesty.org

[  Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq.pdf

06 March 2006

IRAQ

ein bericht von amnesty über folter, unbegrenzte willkürliche haft und das verweigern von grundlegenden rechten gegenüber von gefangenen durch die von den usa geführten multinational force, aber auch durch die irakischen sicherheitskräften.

Iraq: Thousands of detainees denied basic rights

Thousands of detainees being held by the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq are trapped in a system of arbitrary detention that denies them their basic rights, Amnesty International said in a report published today. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of torture of detainees by the Iraqi security forces that the MNF underpins.

"Three years after it toppled Saddam Hussain, the US-led alliance has failed to put in place measures which respect the basic rights of detainees under its control and to safeguard them from possible torture or other abuses. The system of detention that has been established is arbitrary and a recipe for possible abuse," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. Some detainees have now been held without charge or trial by the MNF for more than two years without being given an adequate opportunity to challenge the reasons for their imprisonment. They face the prospect of being held for years more on the basis of information to which they do not have access. The systems the US and UK use to review detainees' cases fail to meet international standards, including the requirement for court oversight. Detainees are also routinely denied access to lawyers and their families.

The report Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq focuses on human rights violations for which the MNF is directly responsible but points also to mounting evidence of torture by Iraqi security forces operating alongside the MNF, including the so-called Wolf Brigade that reports to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. There have also been cases in which detainees have died in the custody of Iraqi forces. Amnesty International is concerned that these cases and torture allegations have not been properly investigated and those responsible held to account. US and UK investigations into abuses by their forces have also generally focused on junior military personnel and sentences have failed to reflect the gravity of the offences.

It is imperative that both the MNF and the Iraqi authorities take urgent steps to reassert the importance of fundamental human rights if there is to be any hope of halting Iraq's slide towards ever increasing violence and sectarianism. In particular, they must ensure that detainees' rights are respected in full, that all allegations of torture or other abuses are thoroughly and promptly investigated, and that those responsible for ordering or carrying out abuses, however senior, are brought to justice.

"International human rights law applicable in Iraq as well as domestic Iraqi legislation contain safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of people in detention - including the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. It is high time for all parties to the conflict to start observing the laws to which they have been and remain legally bound," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui.

[  amnesty.org

[  Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq

06 March 2006

TURKEY

Turkey: First Steps Toward Independent Monitoring of Police Stations and Gendarmeries
Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper

Summary

Independent police station visiting is increasingly recognized worldwide as a safeguard for detainees and a protection against abuse. In Turkey such visiting is an innovation. Notwithstanding great improvements in combating torture and ill-treatment, the Turkish government has acknowledged the need for and the usefulness of police station monitoring by signing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in September 2005. The OPCAT sets forth a detailed and rigorous system of independent international and national monitoring of prisons with the aim of preventing torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. At least as an interim measure before systems based on the OPCAT are established, the network of provincial human rights boards (coordinated by the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Minister’s Office) are ready and willing to monitor police stations and gendarmeries, and some have already begun making effective visits. As the involvement of human rights boards expands towards countrywide coverage, there is a clear need for boards to work to high common standards, to set themselves a pace of monitoring work that will provide a reasonable frequency of visits, and to overcome an evident reluctance to carry out visits unannounced and in response to reports of ill-treatment in their province. Provincial governors’ close identification with the boards may help to establish the boards in the early stages of their monitoring activities, but already there have been instances where it has undermined the perceived or actual independence of a visiting delegation. In the longer term, the independence of monitoring activities should be enhanced, and the involvement of Turkey’s most respected nationwide human rights nongovernmental organizatons (NGOs), even in a consultative capacity, may significantly promote credibility and trust. Reporting of the boards’ visiting activities is as yet limited, but the Human Rights Presidency has committed itself to detailed reporting in the near future. Rolling out an interim independent monitoring system based on the human rights boards could ensure that the high standards observed in some police units are applied consistently throughout the country.[...]

[  Turkey: First Steps Toward Independent Monitoring of Police Stations and Gendarmeries .pdf

Özet

Bağımsız gruplar tarafından polis karakollarının ziyareti, gözaltındakilerin korunması ve suistimallere karşı dünya çapında bir önlem olarak giderek daha çok kabul görmektedir. Türkiye için bu türden ziyaretler bir yenilik. İşkence ve kötü muamele ile mücadele konusunda katedilen büyük gelişmelere paralel olarak Türk hükümeti, 2005 Eylül'ünde Birleşmiş Milletler İşkenceyle Mücadele Seçmeli Protokolü (OPCAT) imzalayarak, polis karakollarının denetimine duyulan ihtiyacı ve bu tür ziyaretlerin sağlayacağı faydayı kabul etmektedir. OPCAT, işkence, ve zalimane, insanlıkdışı veya aşağılayıcı muamelenin önlenmesi amacıyla, cezaevleri ve karakolların uluslararası ve ulusal bazında denetlenmesini sağlayacak bir sistemin nasıl oluşturulması gerektiğini detaylı ve kapsamlı bir şekilde tarif etmektedir. OPCAT'a dayanan sistemler oluşturuluncaya kadar, hiç değilse bir geçiş dönemi önlemi olarak, (Başbakanlık İnsan Hakları Başkanlığının koordinasyonundaki) yerel insan hakları kurulları şebekesi, polis ve jandarma karakollarını denetlemeye hazır ve istekli, hatta bazıları etkili ziyaretler yapmaya başladılar. İnsan hakları kurullarının yapacağı denetimler ülke çapında bir kapsayıcılığa ulaştığında, kurulların yüksek standartlara bağlı kalmak şartıyla çalışmaları gerekecektir. Kurullar, makul bir ziyaret sıklığı sağlamalı, özellikle kendi illerindeki kötü muamele duyumlarına karşılık olarak ziyaretleri yaygınlaştırmalı ve habersiz ziyaretler yapma konusunda bariz olan isteksizliklerinden vazgeçmelidir. Valilerin il kurullarıyla özdeşleşmesi, denetleme faaliyetlerinin ilk aşamalarında kurulların kabul görmesi için önemli katkılar sağlayabilir. Öte yandan, bu özdeşleşme ile birlikte ziyaret heyetinin algılanan gerçek bağımsızlığını zedeleyen bir kaç vaka da halihazırda meydana gelmiştir. Uzun vadede, denetleme faaliyetinin bağımsızlığı geliştirilmelidir. Türkiye'nin insan hakları konusunda ülke çapında en çok kabul gören sivil toplum kuruluşlarının (STK'ların), danışman sıfatıyla da olsa konuya müdahil olmaları, kurulların güvenilirliğinin arttırılmasına ciddi katkılar sağlayabilir. Kurulların ziyaretler hakkındaki raporlama sistemi halen oldukça sınırlı kalmakta, ama İnsan Hakları Başkanlığı, yakın gelecekte ayrıntılı raporlama yapacağına dair söz vermektedir. İnsan hakları kurullarına dayalı geçici bir bağımsız denetleme sisteminin yaygınlaştırılması, bazı polis birimlerinde gözlenen yüksek standartların tutarlı olarak ülke çapında uygulanmasını garanti altına alacaktır. [...]

[  Türkiye: Polis ve Jandarma Karakollarının Bağımsız Denetimine Doğru İlk Adımlar .pdf

03 March 2006

PHILIPPINES

nach dem sie am 14. februar festgenommen wurden, sind 11 menschen von polizisten brutal gefoltert wurden und sind jetzt unter falscher anklage inhaftiert. angebl. sollen die menschen ein militärlager angegriffen haben.

UA-082-2006: PHILIPPINES: Brutal torture of 11 persons and subsequent filing of fabricated charges against them

Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source that 11 persons were brutally tortured and subsequently charged with fabricated charges following their arrest on 14 February 2006. They were arrested at a checkpoint in Abatan, Buguias, Benguet while backpacking. According to a report by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), a human rights organisation based in Baguio City, the victims hitched a ride on a dump truck on their way to Sagada, Mountain Province. When they reached Abatan, Buguias, Benguet, they were stopped by policemen allegedly attached to the Provincial Police Mobile Group (PPMG) and the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) of Benguet who at the time were stationed at the checkpoint.

The policemen were heavily armed and wearing complete battle suits. They ordered the victims to get down from the dump truck. They were then ordered to kneel down and their backs and were kicked with such force that they all fell face-first to the ground. The policemen started severely beating them one after the other and threatened to kill them. The police confiscated all their belongings. Every time the police noticed any movement from the victims, they were punched, kicked and hit. One of the victims was forced to kiss the mouth of a policemen's dog.

They were later taken to the camp of the 1604th Police Provincial Mobile Group (PPMG) where they were allegedly severely tortured further. They were beaten on different parts of their body, exposed under the heat of the sun and had their hands tied behind their backs. They were also blindfolded, beaten in the genitals and threatened with death. Some of the victims were thrown into a pit and had soil, garbage and other matter dumped over their heads. They were electrocuted, stepped on and their fingers were squeezed with bullets inserted between them. Others were suffocated with plastic bags or had their heads forced into pails of water. Buckets were also hung on their heads and water was poured into them. They were also forced to strip naked, at which point they had freezing water sprayed on them.

It is reported that the victims were tortured to force them into admitting responsibility in a raid of a military camp in Cabiten, Mankayan, Benguet on 10 February 2006. A rebel group, however, had already admitted responsibility to the said raid. While in police custody, four of the victims were handcuffed and ordered to sketch the supposed battle area. The police forced them to guide them in locating the supposed hidden firearms. They were forced to trek a mountain where the supposed firearms are hidden. When the police failed to find any, they tortured the victims further. A day after their ordeal, the victims were turned over to the Benguet Provincial Jail where they are presently detained.

While in police custody, one of the victims, Rundren Berloize Lao, was able to escape. He escaped by jumping into a ravine beside the camp and immediately ran for safety while being fired upon by policemen. Rundren went back to Baguio City and sought help from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The DSWD, however, turned Rundren over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Soon after, elements of the PPMG and PRMG served an arrest warrant on Rundren. All of the victims are facing alleged fabricated charges of robbery with homicide in connection with the raid of a military camp in Cabiten February 10. The preliminary hearing is scheduled on 21 March 2006.

[  ahrchk.net

28. February 2006

CHINA

in dem ab 1. märz geändertem gesetz gegen die öffentliche ordnung, sind statt bisher 73 delikte jetzt 238 aufgeführt. diese änderung wird begründet mit 2"dem dramatischen anstieg an ausländern in china und veränderungen in der chinesischen gesellschaft". neue delikte sind u.a.: "unterwandern der sozialen ordnung unter dem deckmantel der religion", prostitution, "leben vom verdienst der prostitution" und das "kaufen von sex". ausländer die gegen dieses gesetz verstoßen sollen abgeschoben werden.

FOREIGNERS who break the law to be deported

As a new law on public order comes into effect, China's Public Security Bureau is warning that foreigners who break the law can be and will be deported. The Law on Penalties for Offenses against Public Order, which comes into being on March 1, provides guidelines on how to punish violators of 238 different offenses, said Wu Heping, spokesman of Public Security Ministry. The previous law listed 73 offences. "The Ministry of Public Security will be granted more authority in disciplining offenders, including deporting foreigners who break the law," said Ke Liangdong, director of the legal affairs office of the ministry.

This is the first update of law in two decades and was required because of the dramatic rise in the number of foreigners in China and changes in Chinese society. New offences include extreme cases of undermining social order under cover of religion, prostitution, living off the avails of prostitution and buying sex. "It is possible for foreigners to be deported for any wrongful act named in the law," said Ke, adding that there is some flexibility and the circumstances of the incident will be taken into account. He said, a foreign offender can also be fined or detained. Ke said local police can not deport any one without the approval from the ministry of Public Security or local

governments which are authorized by the ministry.

[  xinhuanet.com

26 February 2006

AFGHANISTAN / USA

relativ unbemerkt hat das us militär den knast bagram , der in der öffentlichkeit im gegensatz zu guantanamo eher unsichtbar ist, ausgebaut. dort sind mittlerweile über 500 menschen in "mehr als primitiven verhältnissen" unbegrenzt und ohne anklage inhaftiert. während guantanamo sorgfältig vorbereitete besuche von ausgesuchten journalisten und kongressmitgliedern zulässt, ist in bagram seit 2002 alles streng geheim. außer dem internationalen roten kreuz darf niemand in den knast, die namen der inhaftierten werden nicht veröffentlicht. selbst das fotografieren des knastes , auch aus der ferne, ist verboten.

die gefangene haben keinen zugang zu einem anwalt, keine anhörungen , wissen nicht weswegen sie inhaftiert sind und selbst bei den regelmäßigen neueinstufungen als "enemy combat" sind sie nicht dabei. untergebracht sind die gafangenen in käfigen, ähnlich denen in guantanamo am anfang, schlafen auf dünnen matten auf dem boden und hatten bis vor einem jahr keine toiletten. seit januar 2005 wurden 350 gefangene in verbindung mit dem afghanischen "aussöhnungs-programm" entlassen .

ein pentagon-mitarbeiter gab an, das die durchschnittliche haftzeit 14, 5 monate betragen würde. allerdings gibt es gefangene die zwischen 2 und 3 jahren im knast sind. begründet wird der ausbau von bagram von einigen militärs und regierungsmitgliedern mit dem supreme court urteil das den gefangenen in guantanamo einige wenige rechte ( anwälte, anhörungen usw.) gab. vor dem urteil sei der knast ein "clearing"-haus gewesen, dann aber seien die verschleppungen nach guantanamo gestoppt worden.

die frage ob das urteil auch für bagram gilt wurde noch nicht vor gericht gebracht. es gibt, auch unter den anwälten die gefangene in guantanamo verteidigen, bisher kein interesse die menschen in bagram zu unterstützen. andere behaupten dagegen das auf einem kabinettstreffen im september 2004 beschlossen wurde, keine neuen gefangenen nach guantanamo zu bringen. was auch immer die gründe sein mögen, tatsache ist das die zahl der gefangenen seit anfang 2004 von 100 auf zeitweise über 600 im letzten jahr stieg.

einige entlassene männer berichten das einige gefangene regelmäßig gegen ihre inhaftierung durch schlagen an die gitter oder durch einen hungerstreik protestieren. wer sich nicht an die knastregeln hält, es ist zum beispiel nicht erlaubt sich lange zu unterhalten, wird für kleinere verstöße stundenlang in einer kleinen zellen gefesselt oder kommt, bei größeren verstößen, tagelang in iso-zellen.

A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo

While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges. Pentagon officials have often described the detention site at Bagram, a cavernous former machine shop on an American air base 40 miles north of Kabul, as a screening center. They said most of the detainees were Afghans who might eventually be released under an amnesty program or transferred to an Afghan prison that is to be built with American aid.

But some of the detainees have already been held at Bagram for as long as two or three years. And unlike those at Guantánamo, they have no access to lawyers, no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as "enemy combatants," military officials said. Privately, some administration officials acknowledge that the situation at Bagram has increasingly come to resemble the legal void that led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June 2004 affirming the right of prisoners at Guantánamo to challenge their detention in United States courts. While Guantánamo offers carefully scripted tours for members of Congress and journalists, Bagram has operated in rigorous secrecy since it opened in 2002. It bars outside visitors except for the International Red Cross and refuses to make public the names of those held there. The prison may not be photographed, even from a distance.

From the accounts of former detainees, military officials and soldiers who served there, a picture emerges of a place that is in many ways rougher and more bleak than its counterpart in Cuba. Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.

"Bagram was never meant to be a long-term facility, and now it's a long-term facility without the money or resources," said one Defense Department official who has toured the detention center. Comparing the prison with Guantánamo, the official added, "Anyone who has been to Bagram would tell you it's worse." Former detainees said the renovations had improved conditions somewhat, and human rights groups said reports of abuse had steadily declined there since 2003. Nonetheless, the Pentagon's chief adviser on detainee issues, Charles D. Stimson, declined to be interviewed on Bagram, as did senior detention officials at the United States Central Command, which oversees military operations in Afghanistan.

The military's chief spokesman in Afghanistan, Col. James R. Yonts, also refused to discuss detainee conditions, other than to say repeatedly that his command was "committed to treating detainees humanely, and providing the best possible living conditions and medical care in accordance with the principles of the Geneva Convention."

Other military and administration officials said the growing detainee population at Bagram, which rose from about 100 prisoners at the start of 2004 to as many as 600 at times last year, according to military figures, was in part a result of a Bush administration decision to shut off the flow of detainees into Guantánamo after the Supreme Court ruled that those prisoners had some basic due-process rights. The question of whether those same rights apply to detainees in Bagram has not been tested in court. Until the court ruling, Bagram functioned as a central clearing house for the global fight against terror. Military and intelligence personnel there sifted through captured Afghan rebels and suspected terrorists seized in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, sending the most valuable and dangerous to Guantánamo for extensive interrogation, and generally releasing the rest.

But according to interviews with current and former administration officials, the National Security Council effectively halted the movement of new detainees into Guantánamo at a cabinet-level meeting at the White House on Sept. 14, 2004. Wary of further angering Guantánamo's critics, the council authorized a final shipment of 10 detainees eight days later from Bagram, the officials said. But it also indicated that it wanted to review and approve any Defense Department proposals for further transfers. Despite repeated requests from military officials in Afghanistan and one formal recommendation by a Pentagon working group, no such proposals have been considered, officials said.

"Guantánamo was a lightning rod," said a former senior administration official who participated in the discussions and who, like many of those interviewed, would discuss the matter in detail only on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy surrounding it. "For some reason, people did not have a problem with Bagram. It was in Afghanistan." Yet Bagram's expansion, which was largely fueled by growing numbers of detainees seized on the battlefield and a bureaucratic backlog in releasing many of the Afghan prisoners, also underscores the Bush administration's continuing inability to resolve where and how it will hold more valuable terror suspects. Military officials with access to intelligence reporting on the subject said about 40 of Bagram's prisoners were Pakistanis, Arabs and other foreigners; some were previously held by the C.I.A. in secret interrogation centers in Afghanistan and other countries. Officials said the intelligence agency had been reluctant to send some of those prisoners on to Guantánamo because of the possibility that their C.I.A. custody could eventually be scrutinized in court.

Defense Department officials said the C.I.A.'s effort to unload some detainees from its so-called black sites had provoked tension among some officials at the Pentagon, who have frequently objected to taking responsibility for terror suspects cast off by the intelligence agency. The Defense Department "doesn't want to be the dumping ground," one senior official familiar with the interagency debates said. "There just aren't any good options." A spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.

Conditions at Bagram

The rising number of detainees at Bagram has been noted periodically by the military and documented by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which does not make public other aspects of its findings. But because the military does not identify the prisoners or release other information on their detention, it had not previously been clear that some detainees were being held there for such long periods. The prison rolls would be even higher, officials noted, were it not for a Pentagon decision in early 2005 to delegate the authority to release them from the deputy secretary of defense to the military's Central Command, which oversees the 19,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and to the ground commander there. Since January 2005, military commanders in Afghanistan have released about 350 detainees from Bagram in conjunction with an Afghan national reconciliation program, officials said. Even so, one Pentagon official said the current average stay of prisoners at Bagram was 14.5 months.

Officials said most of the current Bagram detainees were captured during American military operations in Afghanistan, primarily in the country's restive south, beginning in the spring of 2004. "We ran a couple of large-scale operations in the spring of 2004, during which we captured a large number of enemy combatants," said Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, who was the ground commander for American troops in Afghanistan at the time. In subsequent remarks he added, "Our system for releasing detainees whose intelligence value turned out to be negligible did not keep pace with the numbers we were bringing in." General Olson and other military officials said the growth at Bagram had also been a consequence of the closing of a smaller detention center at Kandahar and efforts by the military around the same time to move detainees more quickly out of "forward operating bases," in the Afghan provinces, where international human rights groups had cited widespread abuses.

At Bagram, reports of abuses have markedly declined since the violent deaths of two Afghan men held there in December 2002, Afghan and foreign human rights officials said. After an Army investigation, the practices found to have caused those two deaths ? the chaining of detainees by the arms to the ceilings of their cells and the use of knee strikes to the legs of disobedient prisoners by guards ? were halted by early 2003. Other abusive methods, like the use of barking attack dogs to frighten new prisoners and the handcuffing of detainees to cell doors to punish them for talking, were phased out more gradually, military officials and former detainees said. Human rights officials and former detainees said living conditions at the detention center had also improved. Faced with serious overcrowding in 2004, the military initially built some temporary prison quarters and began refurbishing the main prison building at Bagram, a former aircraft-machine shop built by Soviet troops during their occupation of the country in the 1980's.

Corrals surrounded by stacked razor wire that had served as general-population cells gave way to less-forbidding wire pens that generally hold no more than 15 detainees, military officials said. The cut-off metal drums used as toilets were eventually replaced with flush toilets. Last March, a nine-bed infirmary opened, and months later a new wing was built. The expansion brought improved conditions for the more than 250 prisoners who have been housed there, officials said. Still, even the Afghan villagers released from Bagram over the past year tend to describe it as a stark, forsaken place.

"It was like a cage," said one former detainee, Hajji Lalai Mama, a 60-year-old tribal elder from the Spinbaldak district of southern Afghanistan who was released last June after nearly two years. Referring to a zoo in Pakistan, he added, "Like the cages in Karachi where they put animals: it was like that." Guantánamo, which once kept detainees in wire-mesh cages, now houses them in an elaborate complex of concrete and steel buildings with a hospital, recreation yards and isolation areas. At Bagram, detainees are stripped on arrival and given orange uniforms to wear. They wash in collective showers and live under bright indoor lighting that is dimmed for only a few hours at night.

Abdul Nabi, a 24-year-old mechanic released on Dec. 15 after nine months, said some detainees frequently protested the conditions, banging on their cages and sometimes refusing to eat. He added that infractions of the rules were dealt with unsparingly: hours handcuffed in a smaller cell for minor offenses, and days in isolation for repeated transgressions. "We were not allowed to talk very much," he said in an interview.

The Rights of Detainees

The most basic complaint of those released was that they had been wrongly detained in the first place. In many cases, former prisoners said they had been denounced by village enemies or arrested by the local police after demanding bribes they could not pay. Human rights lawyers generally contend that the Supreme Court decision on Guantánamo, in the case of Rasul v. Bush, could also apply to detainees at Bagram. But lawyers working on behalf of the Guantánamo detainees have been reluctant to take cases from Bagram while the reach of the Supreme Court ruling, which is now the subject of further litigation, remains uncertain.

As at Guantánamo, the military has instituted procedures at Bagram intended to ensure that the detainees are in fact enemy combatants. Yet the review boards at Bagram give fewer rights to the prisoners than those used in Cuba, which have been criticized by human rights officials as kangaroo courts. The two sets of panels that review the status of detainees at Guantánamo assign military advocates to work with detainees in preparing cases. Detainees are allowed to hear and respond to the allegations against them, call witnesses and request evidence. Only a small fraction of the hundreds of panels have concluded that the accused should be released.

The Bagram panels, called Enemy Combatant Review Boards, offer no such guarantees. Reviews are conducted after 90 days and at least annually thereafter, but detainees are not informed of the accusations against them, have no advocate and cannot appear before the board, officials said. "The detainee is not involved at all," one official familiar with the process said. An official of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Shamsullah Ahmadzai, noted that the Afghan police, prosecutors and the courts were all limited by law in how long they could hold criminal suspects. "The Americans are detaining people without any legal procedures," Mr. Ahmadzai said in an interview in Kabul. "Prisoners do not have the opportunity to demonstrate their innocence." Under a diplomatic arrangement reached last year after more than a year of negotiations, Afghan officials have agreed to take over custody of the roughly 450 Afghan detainees now at Bagram and another 100 Afghans held at Guantánamo once American-financed contractors refurbish a block of a decrepit former Soviet jail near Kabul as a high-security prison.

Because of the $10 million prison- construction project and an accompanying American program to train Afghan prison guards, both of which are to be completed in about a year, military officials in the region have abandoned any thought of sending any of the Afghan detainees at Bagram to Guantánamo. Still, many details of the deal remain uncertain, including when the new prison will be completed, which Afghan ministry will run it and how the detainees may be prosecuted in Afghan courts. Pentagon officials said some part of the Bagram prison would probably continue to operate, holding the roughly 40 non-Afghan detainees there as well as others likely to be captured by American or NATO forces in continuing operations.

Prisoner Transfers Stalled

Until now, military officials at both Bagram and Guantánamo have been frustrated in their efforts to engineer the transfer to Cuba of another group of the most dangerous and valuable non-Afghan detainees held at Bagram, Pentagon officials said.

Three officials said commanders at Bagram first proposed moving about a dozen detainees to Guantánamo in late 2004 and then reiterated the request in early 2005. In an unusual step last spring, the officials added, intelligence specialists based at Guantánamo traveled to Bagram to assess the need for the transfer. But as Central Command officials were forwarding a formal request to the Pentagon for the transfer of about a dozen high-level detainees, at least one of them, Omar al-Faruq, a former operative of Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia, escaped from the Bagram prison with three other men. Mr. Faruq had first been taken to Bagram by C.I.A. operatives in late summer 2002, but was removed from the prison about a month later, a soldier who served there said.

Two officials familiar with intelligence reports on the escape said that last July, after Mr. Faruq had been returned to Bagram by the C.I.A., he and the other men slipped out of a poorly fenced-in cell and, in the middle of the night, piled up some boxes and climbed through an open transom over one of the doors. In August, weeks after the escape, a Defense Department working group called the Detainee Assistance Team endorsed the Central Command's recommendation for the transfer of nine Bagram detainees to Guantánamo, two officials familiar with the matter said. Since then, the recommendation has languished in the Pentagon bureaucracy. Officials said it had apparently been stalled by aides who had declined to forward it to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld out of concern that any new transfers to Guantánamo would stoke international criticism. "Out of sight, out of mind," one of those officials said of the Bagram detainees.

[  nytimes.com

23 February 2006

IRAN

seit einiger zeit geht die regierung gewaltsam gegen die [  sufis vor. bei einer durchsuchung mit anschließender zerstörung eines sufi hauses in qom wurden im februar über tausend menschen festgenommen. 150 davon sind immer noch im knast.

Repression of Iranian Sufis continues

Following the violent raid and destruction of the Sufi hosseiniyeh in Qom on February 13, and the arrest of an estimated 1,000 followers, Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and former Majles speaker Mehdi Karrubi condemned the regime on Monday for the attack and called for an apology and compensation to the Sufi community. The regime has acknowledged the arrests, and said that 200 people had been injured. Opposition sources tell FDI that 3 women were killed when they tried to flee Revolutionary Guards troops and their car overturned, while a man was shot dead, apparently by Pasdaran troops. 150 people remain in custody. The Islamic-Arabic government of Iran has recently attacked the center of Sufis in Qom, and arrested a number of Dervishes (Iranian Sufis). Although arresting the Iranian Sufis by the Islamic regime is a new move, bothering the Sufis in the last 27 years is nothing new. The Sufis are among the most peace-loving and tolerant people in Iran and probably in the world.

[  iranian.ws

10. February 2006

BANGLADESH

vor einer von einer 14 parteien opposition geplanten demonstration wurden in dhaka 2.500 menschen festgenommen. bis zum 9. februar waren 1.900 davon wieder entlassen worden. die menschen wurden alle in den dhaka central knast gebracht. der knast ist für 2.500 gefangene gebaut, alltag ist dort aber eine gefangenenpopulation von 10.000. die vorübergehend festgenommenen berichten u.a. davon das es für viele kein platz zum schlafen gab, es nur wenig zu essen gab und rtliche krank wurden.

Blanket Arrest
Inmates suffer hell in crammed Dhaka jail

In addition to inmates four times its capacity, Dhaka Central Jail had to cram in some 2,500 newcomers following the recent blanket arrest. Packed like sardines, prisoners and detainees are forced to live an inhumane life, suffering insufficient food, space and toilet facilities.

A number of blanket-arrest victims on release from the prison yesterday said they had not have enough space even to sit comfortably, let alone sleep. The number of toilets is too little and many of the inmates are falling ill due to the unbearable crams, they added. "I would receive a chapati and a drop of molasses as breakfast, and a small amount of rice and lentil soup as lunch and supper," mass-arrest victim Abdul Quddus told The Daily Star, adding the menu was the same for the seven days he spent in the jail. "For the last eight days I had to sleep in the jail sitting in a highly congested space," said Abdur Rahim, another victim.

Prison department sources said as per the rule they serve a chapati and some molasses as breakfast, and rice with lentil soup and fish or beef of vegetables as lunch and supper. Many relatives crowding at the jail gate yesterday were seen sending foods and fruits for the blanket-arrest victims. Usually 10,000 detainees are kept in Dhaka Central Jail that has a capacity to house just 2,500 inmates. The jam-packed situation aggravated further with the arrival of 2,500 more arrestees ahead of the February 5 rally of the 14-party opposition combine.

However, until yesterday evening about 1,900 people arrested under the police clampdown on the opposition line-up had been released, including 260 released yesterday. Sabujbagh police arrested Abdur Rahim, a rickshaw-puller, and his wife Nargis Begum at their house before the opposition's long march programme. They alleged a police sub-inspector (SI), who had arrested them, exacted Tk 2,000 from them threatening otherwise to implicate them in a case under the Narcotics Control Act. The SI finally showed them arrested on suspicion.

Rahim and Nargis who came out of jail yesterday said they had to spend Tk 3,500, collected by selling their daughter's silver ornaments, some furniture and utensils, to get the bail. Halima Khatun, 52, looked the most weary among a few hundred relatives of the mass-arrest victims waiting at the prison gate yesterday. "I have searched for my son, Mohammad Hanif, everywhere and have not slept at all for seven days at a stretch until I came to know on Tuesday that Tejgaon police had arrested him," she said in a feeble voice. The police picked up Hanif, a rickshaw-puller from Muktagachha in Mymensingh, on February 1 from a tea-stall at Begunbari in the city, where he had come to visit his sister.

His sister Azida Begum was also waiting at the jail gate with a one-year-old child in her lap. Azida said she had to spend Tk 2,000 borrowed on interest from a neighbour to bail out her brother. With a baby in her lap and holding another by hand, Shahnaj Begum, wife of rickshaw-puller Belal Hossain, has been waiting at the jail gate for the last four days. The police arrested her husband, the lone earning member of the family, at Keraniganj crossroads at about 11:00am on February 3. A court granted bail to her husband on February 6, but he had not been released until yesterday. "Every day I come to the jail gate in the morning with the hope to see my husband released. But, every time I return alone at 8:00pm," said Shahnaj in desperation.

[  thedailystar.net

7. February 2006

INDIA

nachdem ein gerichtsurteil in west bengal veröffentlicht wurde, nachdem gefangene die zu lebenslang verurteilt wurden keine aussicht auf entlassung haben , haben gefangene im nashik central knast mit einem hungerstreik begonnen. laut angaben der knastleitung befinden sich 300 gefangene im hungerstreik. inoffizielle quellen sprechen behaupten die meisten der 2.253 gefangenen hätten sich dem streik angeschlossen.

REPORT on life term triggers jail strike

Inmates of Nashik Central Jail started a hunger strike today morning after they came to know of a report on a West Bengal court judgment that prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment can?t be released till their death. The problem started after inmate Vilas Ghag, sentenced to 14-year life imprisonment, read a newspaper report on the court judgment. ??As the newspaper article circulated, prisoners got worried about their future,?? said jail Superintendent Kishore Mahure, adding, that the authorities tried to allay their fears.

But, not totally convinced, inmates went on a strike on Tuesday morning, refusing even their morning tea. Over 700 prisoners serving life terms reportedly stayed off food on Tuesday. Though officials claim only 300-odd inmates were on hunger strike, unofficial reports say most of the 2,253 prisoners were protesting. Inmates who run the kitchen have also joined the strike. On behalf of those serving life terms, Ghag had written to the government asking for an explanation of the rules.

[  indianexpress.com

6. Februar< 2006

INDIA

ein 70 jähriger mann ist seit 1968 ohne prozess im knast in faizabad. nach dem sie zeitungsberichte über den mann gelesen hatten, haben die richter des supreme court in einer sog. suo motu gerichtsbarkeit ( eigenständig, ohne anzeige) jetzt die zuständigen stellen angeordnet ihnen alle akten zukommen zulassen. angebl. sind alle polizeiakten des mannes verschwunden.

SC notices man in jail for 38 years without trial

Taking suo motu cognizance of a news report about a 70-year-old man languishing in a jail in Faizabad for 38 years without trial, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh Government and the Registrar General of Allahabad High Court. A Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, asked the Uttar Pradesh government and Allahabad High Court Registrar General to file replies by next Monday. Jagjivan Ram Yadav is in jail since 1968 when he allegedly killed his neighbour's wife. The trial court has rejected his bail application as all records relating to his case were missing from the police files.

[  rediff.com

16. January 2006

KOREA

Police, Army Robots to Debut in 5 Years

By the 2010s, Korea is expecting to see robots assisting police and the military, patrolling the neighborhoods and going on recon missions on the battlefield. The Center for Intelligent Robots on Monday said the state-backed agency plans to check the feasibility of security robots by convening a 40-member planning committee late this week.

``If the robots prove to be viable technically and commercially, we will be able to begin developing them late next year,'' said Lee Ho-gil, head of the center. When completed, the outdoor security robots will be able to make their night watch rounds and even chase criminals, according to Lee. The government also seeks to build combat robots. They will take the shape of a dog or a horse, with six or eight legs or wheels.

Toward that end, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Defense Ministry will combine to channel a total of 33.4 billion won ($33.9 million) through 2011. ``The robots will be directed by a remote control system or move autonomously via their own artificial intelligence systems,'' MIC project manager Oh Sang-rok said. ``The two sophisticated robots will be empowered by the country's state-of-the-art mobile network, thus enabling mass production at an affordable price,'' Oh noted.

Smart robots need three basic functions of sensing, processing and action. Thus far, robotics researchers have tried to cram the three into a single dummy, causing expenses to soar. Instead, the planned robots will be receiving most sensing and processing capabilities via a Web connection. Only the ability of movement will be located in the robot.

``In a nutshell, the mobile robot offers a hardware platform for the smart functions provided by the country's advanced network connected to the super computers,'' Oh said. Korea boasts the world's highest penetration of high-speed Internet with roughly 12 million out of total 15.5 million households hooked up to the always-on connection. On top of their use in national defense and social security, the MIC hopes to use the network robots for the private sector late this year.

``Three kinds of households machines will commercially debut this October. They will sell for 1-2 million won, a price that will not scare off customers. The low price is possible since they are empowered by outside networks instead of incorporated software,'' Oh said. The three sorts of wheeled robots will be used for various applications: cleaning rooms, health-care programs, Internet connection, home monitoring or reading books to kids. The mechanical servants, some of which have the ability to re-charge automatically, can also order Chinese food and pizza by connecting to the local network.

The MIC already finished a test run of the household robots late last year by installing them in 64 households and two post offices in Seoul and its vicinity. Hyung Tae-gun, director general at the MIC, expected the robots will sell up to 3,000 units for this year alone and the sales will surge in the near future. ``Recently Japan unveiled household service robots priced at up to 10 million won, almost 10 times as expensive as ours. So you can guess the competitiveness of our network robots,'' Hyung said.

[  times.hankooki.com

Polizeiroboter gehen ab 2010 auf Streife

20.01.2006

Schon in wenigen Jahren sollen die Polizei und das Militär in Südkorea von Robotern unterstützt werden. Verschiedene Robocop-Typen könnten nachts durch die Straßen patroullieren und Angreifer verfolgen. Südkorea plant den Einsatz von Robotern bei Polizei- und Militäreinsätzen.Konkret stehen zwei Robotertypen zur Diskussion. Während ein Modell vor allem für den nächtlichen Patrouilleneinsatz vorgesehen ist und sogar in der Lage sein soll, Kriminelle zu verfolgen, ist für das Kampfrobotermodell eine tierähnliche Körperform mit sechs oder acht Rädern angedacht.Eine Machbarkeitsstudie soll nun klären, ob die Roboter technisch und finanziell realisierbar sind.

Steuerung aus der Ferne und via KI

"Die Steuerung wird über ein Fernbedienungssystem oder über Künstliche Intelligenz erfolgen", meint Projektleiter Sang-rok Oh.

Externe Hard- und Software senkt Kosten

Um die Produktionskosten zu minimieren, werden laut Oh nur die Bewegungsbefehle roboterintern verarbeitet und ausgeführt. Die meisten Wahrnehmungs- und Verarbeitungsprozesse werden über eine kabellose Hochgeschwindigkeitsverbindung und externe Hard- und Software ausgeführt.Im Falle einer positiven Prüfung durch das südkoreanische Ministerium für Information und Kommunikation sowie das Verteidigungsministerium dürfte dem Entwicklungs- und Produktionsbeginn der künstlichen Assistenten ab Ende 2007 nichts mehr im Wege stehen.Als budgetäre Ausstattung nannte die Regierung den Betrag von 34 Mio. US-Dollar bis zum Jahr 2011. Haushaltsroboter ab 800 EuroAbseits des Einsatzes im Rahmen der Sicherheit und Verteidigung hoffen die Entwickler, die blechernen Helfer auch an möglichst viele Interessierte für den Hausgebrauch vermitteln zu können.

Schon Ende dieses Jahres sollen zahlreiche Modelle der südkoreanischen Bevölkerung als Saubermacher, Kinderunterhalter, Mechanikergehilfen und Hausüberwacher unter die Arme greifen.Der Handelspreis soll mit ein bis zwei Mio. Won [rund 800 bis 1.600 Euro] pro Roboter deutlich unter dem japanischer Produkte liegen und zu Verkaufszahlen jenseits von 3.000 Einheiten in diesem Jahr führen, so die Einschätzung des südkoreanischen Ministeriums.

[  

16. January 2006

GEORGIA

neue liste mit verbotenen sachen für die knäste. nicht mehr mitgebracht oder geschickt werden können: fernsehgeräte , spiegel, video-und audio- geräte, geld, parfüm, wertvolle dinge, alkohol, medikamente, landkarten, kompasse, militäruniformen, farbstifte und farbe. pakate in denen zuviel zucker, ein handy oder telefonkarten sind werden zurückgeschickt.

Prisons crack-down on deliveries
Police bust prison break attempt; three conspirators shot dead

The Georgian Penitentiary Department is intensifying restrictions on sending parcels into prisons. The department had already informed prison administrations on the changes and issued a new list of prohibited items.

The department has said it would strictly punishment anyone helps bring contraband into prisons. "The list has been significantly reduced and specified. All prisons are given these lists of what is allowed and what not and it is posted. Though this does not mean that visitors are not allowed there," Sergo Gulordava, the deputy director of 7th prison told journalists Saturday. He added that the current situation in prisons is stable and they are supplied with natural gas and electricity. The list of banned items includes several newly prohibited goods: televisions, mirrors, video-audio equipment, money, valuable items, perfume, alcoholic drinks (including beer), medications, maps, compasses, military uniforms, color pencils, and paints. In parallel with the inspections on parcels, prison administrations are making raids at wards more frequently in an effort to seize contraband. "These prohibitions were not here before. But now there are lots of things that are prohibited to take into the prison. We are cannot accept parcels if they contain too much sugar, mobiles, calling cards and so on," a prisoner Levan Narimanidze told Rustavi-2.

The penitentiary department has said the restrictions would remain in place indefinitely. They have also said it is in response to reports that prisoners are using some of the contraband goods to plan escape attempts. "I cannot say that this will happen today or tomorrow, but there are number of prisoners who are intent on escaping by digging tunnels," Bacho Akhalaia, the head of Penitentiary Department said Friday. The police prevented an alleged escape attempt from the Rustavi 2nd prison on Friday. Ministry of Internal Affairs officers killed three of five accomplices who were reportedly preparing to launch and attack on the prison to free their friends.

The ministry released a video recording of the special operation. Police opened fire after the suspects refused to obey the police warning shoots and tried to resist to special operation forces. It was not specified how the men had resisted the police. "It was a five-member group of criminals, who planned to attack the prison administration these days by using weapons and help to escape criminals who are sentenced nine and twelve years of imprisonment," Akhalia told journalists Friday. Officials did not say how they had uncovered the escape plot but did say the conspiracy was to have a prisoner inside the prison feign an illness. Afterwards, they expected a city ambulance to enter the prison. When the ambulance was to enter the prison, the police said, the plotters had intended to attack the ambulance and raid the prison.

[  messenger.com.ge

13. January 2006

GEORGIA

bei einem einsatz eines spezialkommandos wurden drei männer erschossen die angeblich geplant hatten "5 gefährliche kriminelle aus dem rustavi nr.1 knast zu befreien".

Bloody Raid Spoils Prison Brake

Certain Gogoladze and Surmanidze and one unknown person killed during the special operation by the officers of the special squad of the Interior Ministry in Tbilisi on Friday were plotting escape of five dangerous criminals from the Rustavi 1st Penitentiary, Bacho Akhalaia, Head of the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice says. The killed people, relatives of the above-mentioned prisoners planned to deliver weapon in the prison on Friday to attack the guard and prison administration officials to let the prisoners escape. It could be followed by the mass escape too. The Penitentiary Department issued a video record on the same day, depicting one of the prisoners confessing the prison brake plot.

[  primenewsonline.com

8. January 2006

KUWAIT

polizisten die einen jugendlichen/ ein kind gefoltert haben, wurden verhaftet. (da steht nicht wieviele es sind) allerdings sind sie bisher nicht angeklagt. außerdem wird in dem artikel eine liste erwähnt auf der menschen stehen die zum tod verurteilt wurden. diese liste ( keine angaben wie viele namen darauf sind) wurde dem amir von kuwait (scheich jaber al-ahmad al-sabah ,am 15. januar 2006 gestorben ) vorgelegt. alle todesurteile müssen vom amir bestätigt werden. wann die hinrichtungen sein werden, steht da nicht, nur das es bald sein wird.

Police chief orders detention of cops for torturing innocent boy; more hangings soon; Officer hit;

KUWAIT CITY: Director of Hawalli Security Directorate Brigadier Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalifa has ordered the detention of concerned policemen of the Al-Zahra Police Station who have been accused of torturing a suspect although no charges had been filed against him, reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. This came after an unidentified Kuwaiti woman visited a local daily and complained about her son who was illegally detained and tortured by police and appealed to the First Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad to open an investigation and punish those guilty. The son is said to have been admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital.

The mother told the daily an unidentified girl much older than her son one day requested him to drive her to her friend's apartment in Salwa. Upon reaching the apartment, she requested the youth to wait for her for some time until she checked on her friend. She then told him the apartment belongs to her fiancé and that he has traveled abroad. She also requested the youth to find her a place where she could live for some time until her friend returns. The mother added her son brought the girl home and his family refused to entertain her because the family discovered a missing person's report had been filed against her by her family. The son then dropped her near the Mishref Cooperative Society however when she was arrested she guided police to her house. The girl's father upon learning she did not spend the time with the boy withdrew the complaint. Later the mother panicked when her son did not show up for two days. Finally she learnt he had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Adan Hospital with fractures on his body, broken teeth and bruised eye and neck according to a medical report. The mother added her son was detained by police without the knowledge of the family and he was tortured brutally by securitymen.

More hangings soon: The Public Prosecution has referred a list of names of convicts who have been sentenced to capital punishment to the Amiri Diwan for ratification by HH the Amir, reports Al-Qabas daily. The convicts were sentenced to death for trafficking in drugs by the lower courts and upheld by Kuwait?s highest court, the Court of Cassation. All death sentences have to be ratified by HH the Amir before they are carried out.

Officer hit: A police captain working at the Central Prison was rushed to the Al-Bahar Ophthalmology Center with an eye injury, reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. He was allegedly punched in the eye by an unidentified inmate. The incident happened when the officer, identified only as B.H., was interrogating some prisoners who were involved in a fight. One of the inmates lost his composure and attacked the officer. The daily gave no other details.

[  arabtimesonline.com

6. January 2006

BAHRAIN

in einem artikel über auseinandersetzungen zwischen demonstrantinnen und polizei steht u.a. daß 17 menschen, die letzten monat nach auseinandersetzungen am bahrain international flughafen verhaftet wurden, im hungerstreik sind. als die demonstration , die die freilassung der 17 zum thema hatte, am sitz des innenministers war, wurde diese von der polizei mit tränengas und gummigeschossen aufgelöst. tieffliegende hubschrauber sollen junge leute durch die straßen gehetzt haben. die auseinandersetzungen bei denen 6 menschen verletzt wurden, endeten erst am frühen Freitag morgen. wieviele inhaftiert wurden steht nicht in dem artikel, nur das die einige der kurzzeitig festgenommenen zwischen 10 und 14 jahre alt waren. viele seien von den polizisten angehalten und verprügelt worden, und wurden dann wieder freigelassen. nach dem bericht eines augenzeugen wurden die festgenommenen auf dem weg zum polizeiknast verprügelt.

Renewed clashes between protesters, police in Bahrain

MANAMA - A demonstration that began peacefully on Thursday ended in a clash between Bahraini police and protestors, and the violence spread overnight to the Manama suburbs and at least one outlying village. About 150 protesters lead by human rights activists marched through the old part of the city, demanding the release of 17 people arrested following clashes last month at Bahrain International Airport. The protest turned violent when riot police stormed protesters as they marched past the fort that houses the Ministry of Interior. Protesters reacted by hurling stones and setting trashcans ablaze.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, protest organizers alleged. It was not clear what provoked the police action. Organizers said that they had received confirmation that the protest would be allowed to go ahead as long as it remained peaceful. The Interior Ministry did not comment on Thursday's clashes. The clashes quickly spread to the heart of the capital's market area, as riot police tried to chase the protesters and deployed a low-flying helicopter. Shop owners closed their doors and shuttered their windows, and at least six protesters ages 10 to 14 were reported injured.

The clashes quickly spread to the busy suburban Seef business district, where about 20 youth set tyres and rubbish bins ablaze. Some hurled Molotov cocktails at police officers trying to storm the area, with clashes running well into early Friday. Six people were injured in the overnight clashes, mostly claiming that they were attacked after being detained. "The police stormed into my aunt?s home, pulled me out, and I was assaulted at the door step and en route to the police station," said 17-year-old Jaffer Mohammed, who bore signs of beating following his short detention. Human rights activists criticized the Interior Ministry's handling of what had been a peaceful protest before authorities intervened.

"Many, some aged no more than 13 or 14, were stopped, severely beaten and then released on the spot," a human rights activist said. Protesters who were detained at police stations reported that they were not beaten after being turned to officials there. Protesters also set tyres on fire in Sitra village just outside Manama. A number of protests, some of which saw clashes with police, have been organized in recent weeks to demand the release the 17 detainees from the airport incident on December 26. The 17 people were reportedly on a hunger strike to protest their detentions.

[  khaleejtimes.com

5 January 2006

IRAQ

am 17. dezember 2005 wurde ein kurde , der die österreichische staatsbürgerschaft hat, zu 30 jahren knast verurteilt weil er den präsidenten der kurdischen regionalregierung im irak, barzani, in internetartikeln kritisiert hat. der in wien lebende 48 jährige mann wurde am 26. oktober festgenommen und ist zur zeit im knast in erbil. laut seiner in deitschland lebenden schwester ist der mann seit einer woche im hungerstreik.

Thirty-year prison sentence for criticising Kurdish regional president in Internet articles
FAMILY SAYS CYBER-DISSIDENT HAS BEEN ON HUNGER STRIKE FOR MORE THAN A WEEK

Reporters Without Borders wrote today to the president of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, asking him to intervene in the case of an Austrian citizen of Kurdish origin, Kamal Sayid Qadir, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison on 19 December for libelling him in articles posted on the Internet. "This incident bodes ill for freedom of expression in Iraq's Kurdish region," the press freedom organisation wrote. "We condemn the use of prison sentences to punish press offences and we are especially shocked by the length of this sentence, even if Qadir really did libel you. We therefore hope you will intervene to obtain his release and thereby show you intend to establish a fair judicial system in your region that complies with international standards."

Qadir was arrested on 26 October by members of the Parastin, a security service operated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the region's two ruling parties. He is currently held in a prison in Erbil, one of the region's main cities. A lawyer normally based in Vienna, Qadir, 48, is accused of libelling and insulting Barzani in web articles. He has written dozens of articles for websites such as Kurdishmedia.com and Kurdistanpost.com in which he has been very critical of Barzani's policies. He was reportedly convicted on the basis of Kurdish customary law and not the law approved by the regional parliament. According to his sister, who lives in Germany, he has been on hunger strike for more than a week in protest against his conviction.

[  electroniciraq.net

3. Januar 2006

ISRAEL

die firmen africa- israel investment und minrav engineering and construction werden südlich von beersheba den ersten privaten knast bauen und betreiben.

First private prison to be established

Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Finance Minister Ehud Olmert signed a contract on Monday allowing for the establishment of the first privately-owned-and-operated prison in Israel. In November, Africa-Israel Investment and Minrav Engineering and Construction jointly won a government tender to build and operate a private jail south of Beersheba. It is expected to open its doors in 2009. But alongside the celebratory signing of the contract on Monday, Ezra and Prisons Service head Ya'acov Ganot could not hide their concerns of the consequences of having civilians run a prison. "I am concerned," Ezra said frankly at the signing. "There is no doubt that there are financial considerations involved in the companies' decision to open a jail and sometimes you try and save money but if you save money in the wrong place it can backfire like a boomerang." Ezra added one last tip, telling Africa-Israel CEO Pini Cohen, "Just make sure you hire the right people to run the facility."

The construction of the new prison will cost the companies an estimated NIS 200 million, but according to Treasury officials, it will save the government NIS 350 million. Cohen said that alongside the business venture, Africa-Israel viewed the investment as a contribution to society. He expressed hope that the new prison would succeed in educating criminals and preventing them from returning to crime after their release from jail. "We will establish several factories in the prison so the prisoners can make money and support their families while carrying out their sentences," Cohen said. "We will also offer education programs inside the jail so the prisoners will come back to society as educated people." Cohen also said that the companies planned to hire former Prisons Service officers and guards to run the prison. Africa-Israel has hired Emerald - a US-based company that operates six prisons with a total of 5,000 inmates - as a consultant to the project.

Meanwhile, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi inaugurated a new Police Investigations and Intelligence Department school in Holon on Monday. The school will train police investigators and will try to create a "common language" between the different investigative fields, including forensics, intelligence and investigations. During a tour of the new facility, Karadi told reporters that according to internal police surveys, the public's feeling of security has severely deteriorated over the past year. "The police force will not stay quiet during 2006 until we improve the situation," he promised.

[  jpost.com

1. January 2006

ISRAEL

zahlen des palästinensischen ministeriums für gefangene und ehemalige gefangene:

2005 wurden von den israelischen soldaten 3. 495 palästinenserinnen festgenommen, 1. 600 sind noch im knast.

96.3% der festgenommen kamen von der west bank, jerusalem oder sind palästinenserinnen die in israel leben,3.7% kamen aus dem gaza.

400 kinder wurden festgenommen, 253 sind noch im knast.

24 frauen sind seit letztem jahr im knast.

ein mann ist seit dem 29. 7. 1977 inhaftiert, ein libanese seit dem 22. 4. 1979 und vier männer seit 1985. 5 gefangene sind 2005 im knast gestorben.

3495 arrested in 2005, 1600 of them are still imprisoned

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Freed Detainees, reported on Sunday that Israeli soldiers arrested 3495 residents in 2005, from several Palestinians areas; 1600 of them remained in custody. An Annual report of the ministry revealed that 96.3% of the arrestees are from the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Arab residents of Israel, while 3.7% of them were arrested in Gaza. Also, hundreds of residents, and students were detained for several hours or days after being stopped at military roadblocks.

Abdul-Nasser Farwana, head of the statistics department at the ministry said that soldiers arrested children, men and women regardless of age, and arrested pregnant women. 400 Palestinian children were arrested in 2005, 253 of them are still detained and facing harsh living conditions and treatment, and deprived from their rights to receive education. Also, 24 female detainees are currently imprisoned and deprived from their basic rights, and subjected to different sorts of violations.

They are exposed to continuous humiliations, which includes naked body searches and insults. The ministry revealed that as the year 2005 started, 21 detainees have been imprisoned for more than 20 years, 35 detainees spent more than 20 years, including detainees Sa'id Wajeeh Al Ataba, from Nablus, who was arrested on 29/7/1977.

There are five Arab detainees who have been arrested a long time ago, including the Lebanese detainee Sameer Quntar, who was arrested on 22/4/1979, and four detainees from the Golan, who were arrested since 1985. The ministry reported that in spite of the truce, Israeli soldiers conducted repeated invasions and attacks against the Palestinian territories and arrested 3000 residents since the declaration of truce in the Sharm al Sheikh summit in February 2005. Israeli Prison Authorities did not attempt to improve the living conditions of the detainees, which caused sharp deterioration in their living and health conditions. Also, Israeli soldiers attacked several prisons and detonation facilities and fired gas and burning-bullets at the detainee; dozens were injured.

The number of detainees who died in detention facilities since 1967 arrived to 181 detainees, including 59 detainees who died since the beginning of the Intifada late 2000. Most of the fatalities were caused by medical deprivation, torture, and assassination after arrest. Five detainees died in 2005, following are their names and causes of death as reported by the Ministry of detainees;

- Rasem Abu Gharra, from Kafer Malik village near Ramallalh, he died in 27 January 2005 after fire broke out in Majeddo detention facilities, while prison administration stood still without aiding the detainees.

- Abdul-Fattah Raddad, from Saida village in Tulkarem, died of medical neglect in May, 5. He was shot by the soldiers while attempting to arrest him, and died three days later after being barred of any medical treatment.

- Mohammad Abu Al Rob, from Jenin, died on May 15 during torture in a detention facility in the Galilee; he was arrested at a military checkpoint after the soldiers claimed that he carried no entry permit into Israel.

- Bashar Bani Odeh, from Tammoun village, near Jenin, died of medical neglect in Galboa' detention facility; he died on June 23.

- Jawad Abu Mgheisib, from dir Al Balah, in the Gaza Strip, died on January 28, as a result of medical neglect; he was detained in the Negev Detention Facility.

[  imemc.org