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Myanmar’s government must halt its repression of ethnic minority activists before forthcoming national and local elections, Amnesty International warned in a major report released on Tuesday.

The 58-page report, The Repression of ethnic minority activists in Myanmar, draws on accounts from more than 700 activists from the seven largest ethnic minorities, including the Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Chin, covering a two-year period from August 2007.

The authorities have arrested, imprisoned, and in some cases tortured or even killed ethnic minority activists. Minority groups have also faced extensive surveillance, harassment and discrimination when trying to carry out their legitimate activities.   

"Ethnic minorities play an important but seldom acknowledged role in Myanmar’s political opposition," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert. "The government has responded to this activism in a heavy-handed manner, raising fears that repression will intensify before the elections."

Many activists told Amnesty International that they faced repression as part of a larger movement, as in Rakhine and Kachin States during the 2007 Buddhist monk-led "Saffron Revolution". Witnesses described the killings and torture of monks and others by the security forces during its violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in those states.

Others said they were pursued for specific actions, such as organizing an anti-dam signature campaign in Kachin State.   

Even relatively simple expressions of political dissent were met with punishment as when Karenni youths were detained for floating small boats on a river with "No" (to the 2008 draft Constitution) written on them.

"Activism in Myanmar is not confined to the central regions and urban centres. Any resolution of the country’s deeply troubling human rights record has to take into account the rights and aspirations of the country’s large population of ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.   

More than 2,100 political prisoners, including many from ethnic minorities, languish in Myanmar’s jails in deplorable conditions. Most are prisoners of conscience who have expressed their beliefs peacefully.

Amnesty International urged the government to lift restrictions on freedom of association, assembly, and religion in the run-up to the elections; to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and to remove restrictions on independent media to cover the campaigning and election process.

Amnesty International called on Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as China, Myanmar’s biggest international supporter, to push the government to ensure that the people of Myanmar will be able to freely express their opinions, gather peacefully, and participate openly in the political process.

"The government of Myanmar should use the elections as an opportunity to improve its human rights record, not as a spur to increase repression of dissenting voices, especially those from the ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.

This year, Myanmar will hold its first national and local elections in two decades.   

In 1990, two years after mostly peaceful anti-government protests resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 demonstrators, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a coalition of ethnic minority parties resoundingly won national elections.   

The military government ignored the results, however, and continued their long-standing campaign against the political opposition.   

Myanmar’s most well-known human rights activist, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD, has been under some form of detention for over 15 of the last 20 years.

In 2007, monks from ethnic minority Rakhine State initiated country-wide demonstrations against the government’s economic and political policies, in what has become known as the Saffron Revolution.

In May 2008, a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, the government insisted on holding a referendum on the draft constitution. The official results were that 99 percent of the electorate had gone to the polls, 92.4 percent of whom had voted in favour. While the 2008 Constitution potentially allows for greater representation in local government, it ensures that the military will continue to dominate the national government.   

Ethnic minorities constitute some 35-40 percent of the country’s population, and form the majority in the seven ethnic minority states. Each of the country’s largest seven ethnic minorities has engaged in armed insurgencies against the government, some of which continue to date.

Amnesty International has documented serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity by the government in the context of the Myanmar army’s campaigns against ethnic minority insurgent groups and civilians.

Myanmar’s government must halt its repression of ethnic minority activists before forthcoming national and local elections, Amnesty International warned in a major report released on Tuesday.

The 58-page report, The Repression of ethnic minority activists in Myanmar, draws on accounts from more than 700 activists from the seven largest ethnic minorities, including the Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Chin, covering a two-year period from August 2007.

The authorities have arrested, imprisoned, and in some cases tortured or even killed ethnic minority activists. Minority groups have also faced extensive surveillance, harassment and discrimination when trying to carry out their legitimate activities.   

"Ethnic minorities play an important but seldom acknowledged role in Myanmar’s political opposition," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert. "The government has responded to this activism in a heavy-handed manner, raising fears that repression will intensify before the elections."

Many activists told Amnesty International that they faced repression as part of a larger movement, as in Rakhine and Kachin States during the 2007 Buddhist monk-led "Saffron Revolution". Witnesses described the killings and torture of monks and others by the security forces during its violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in those states.

Others said they were pursued for specific actions, such as organizing an anti-dam signature campaign in Kachin State.   

Even relatively simple expressions of political dissent were met with punishment as when Karenni youths were detained for floating small boats on a river with "No" (to the 2008 draft Constitution) written on them.

"Activism in Myanmar is not confined to the central regions and urban centres. Any resolution of the country’s deeply troubling human rights record has to take into account the rights and aspirations of the country’s large population of ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.   

More than 2,100 political prisoners, including many from ethnic minorities, languish in Myanmar’s jails in deplorable conditions. Most are prisoners of conscience who have expressed their beliefs peacefully.

Amnesty International urged the government to lift restrictions on freedom of association, assembly, and religion in the run-up to the elections; to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and to remove restrictions on independent media to cover the campaigning and election process.

Amnesty International called on Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as China, Myanmar’s biggest international supporter, to push the government to ensure that the people of Myanmar will be able to freely express their opinions, gather peacefully, and participate openly in the political process.

"The government of Myanmar should use the elections as an opportunity to improve its human rights record, not as a spur to increase repression of dissenting voices, especially those from the ethnic minorities," said Benjamin Zawacki.

This year, Myanmar will hold its first national and local elections in two decades.   

In 1990, two years after mostly peaceful anti-government protests resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 demonstrators, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a coalition of ethnic minority parties resoundingly won national elections.   

The military government ignored the results, however, and continued their long-standing campaign against the political opposition.   

Myanmar’s most well-known human rights activist, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD, has been under some form of detention for over 15 of the last 20 years.

In 2007, monks from ethnic minority Rakhine State initiated country-wide demonstrations against the government’s economic and political policies, in what has become known as the Saffron Revolution.

In May 2008, a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, the government insisted on holding a referendum on the draft constitution. The official results were that 99 percent of the electorate had gone to the polls, 92.4 percent of whom had voted in favour. While the 2008 Constitution potentially allows for greater representation in local government, it ensures that the military will continue to dominate the national government.   

Ethnic minorities constitute some 35-40 percent of the country’s population, and form the majority in the seven ethnic minority states. Each of the country’s largest seven ethnic minorities has engaged in armed insurgencies against the government, some of which continue to date.

Amnesty International has documented serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity by the government in the context of the Myanmar army’s campaigns against ethnic minority insurgent groups and civilians.

The Iranian government’s view of the state of human rights in the country is severely distorted, Amnesty International said on Friday in an analysis paper prepared ahead of a review of Iran by the UN Human Rights Council.

The Amnesty International paper was prepared in response to Iran’s own submission to the UN in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review. The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group will evaluate Iran’s human rights record on 15 February.   

During the review, UN member states have the opportunity to raise questions about Iran’s human rights record and make recommendations to the Iranian government, which may then say which, if any, it will accept.

"The Iranian authorities seem either to have lost touch with reality or are unwilling to acknowledge it," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "The government report reads as if there is no human rights crisis, just politically motivated criticism."

"UN member states must look at what is actually happening in Iran: mass arrests and detentions, beatings of peaceful demonstrators, torture and deaths in custody, ’show trials’ and politically motivated executions. Complacency or misplaced solidarity with Iran should not stand in the way of demands for Iran to fulfil its human rights obligations."

Amnesty International’s analysis includes examples that illustrate Iran’s failure to uphold human rights, such as those to a fair trial, to freedom of expression and, in the case of women and ethnic and religious minorities, to freedom from discrimination, and highlights obfuscations in the Iranian government report.

Iran’s report states that it prohibits the use of torture to force "confessions" but the reality is very different. Torture and other ill-treatment for the purpose of extracting "confessions" are widespread. Recent Iranian broadcasts of extracts of "show trials" taking place in Tehran, show haggard-looking defendants apologizing and delivering what appear to be coerced "confessions".

Iran’s judicial system is not the independent force depicted in the government’s report, with sensitive cases heavily influenced by political considerations. It also discriminates against women from top to bottom. Women are absent in any of the senior, decision-making posts, while a woman’s testimony in court is worth only half that of a man’s and she receives only half the compensation of a man for bodily injury or death.

Amnesty International’s report criticizes Iran’s failure to engage with human rights organizations and UN human rights experts, consistently stalling on allowing visits – contrary to Iran’s own assertions that it has co-operated with human rights groups. Amnesty International has been denied access to Iran to conduct firsthand research into human rights violations since April 1979.

Several human rights bills, currently pending before the Majles, have been under consideration for years without progress. These include the Juvenile Crimes Investigation Bill, which could reduce the number of death sentences imposed on juvenile offenders, and the bill setting out "political crimes" which was drafted over five years ago, by a previous parliament.

Amnesty International acknowledged some of the improvements in legislation referred to in Iran’s report to the UN. These include the revival of the Offices of the Prosecutor, the equalization of diyeh for Muslims with non-Muslims and efforts to combat human trafficking.

"It is time for Iran to implement the necessary measures to improve human rights in the country by allowing human rights defenders to work without fear, journalists to freely report, people to protest without being exposed to violence and ensuring mechanisms are developed to improve justice and ensure accountability," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Amnesty International on Friday accused the Mexican government of unfairly imprisoning two indigenous women for the kidnapping of six police officers in 2006 and demanded their immediate release.

The two women, who were sentenced to 21 years in prison, are awaiting the outcome of their retrial. Amnesty International has adopted them as "prisoners of conscience".
 
Alberta Alcántara and Teresa González Cornelio have been held in the Centro de Readaptación de San José El Alto prison since August 2006. In January 2009 they were convicted of kidnapping six agents of the Mexican Federal Investigation Agency (AFI).

The agents claim they were held hostage by the women and other market stall holders during a raid on pirate DVD vendors on Santiago Mexquititlán square in March 2006. The only evidence against them is a photograph published in a newspaper in which Alberta and Teresa are standing next to the AFI agents.

"There is absolutely no credible evidence against Alberta and Teresa," said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher at Amnesty International. "We believe they have been framed as a convenient target because of their marginal status in society as poor indigenous women."
 
Alberta and Teresa were originally detained and charged together with market stall holder Jacinta Francisco Marcial, who was released in September 2009. In her case, Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office decided to drop the case during the retrial because of lack of evidence.

However, despite a similar lack of evidence, the same office decided to continue to press charges against Teresa and Alberta and seek their reconviction. The final hearing of the women’s retrial was held on 3 February 2010. The judge now has 30 days to issue a new sentence.

"The case is emblematic of the discrimination and unfair trials that many indigenous people face in Mexico’s criminal justice system," said Rupert Knox. "The Mexican government must release them both immediately and without conditions. Reparations must also be awarded."

Alberta is from Santiago Mexquititlán, Municipio de Amealco de Bonfil, Querétaro. She is 31 years old. Before her detention she worked in a clothes factory and on a small plot of land owned by her family. She also made rag dolls to supplement the family income. She left school aged 13 to start work.

Teresa was born in San Francisco Shaxni, Municipio de Acambay, Mexico state. She is 25 years old. Before her detention she worked on the family land and made rag dolls. She is married to Alberta’s brother Gabriel. She gave birth to Jasmin, now 11 months old, while she was in prison.

On 26 March 2006, six police officers filed a complaint with the Attorney Federal alleging they had been kidnapped by locals during a market raid earlier in the day in Santiago Mexquititlán.
 
Four months later, the Attorney Federal ordered the arrest of three indigenous women whose faces appeared next to the police officers in a photo in a local paper. The women did not have access to an interpreter during judicial proceedings and their state appointed public defender never explained their rights or defence.

During the cross examination, the police officers contradicted each other and their main witness failed to ever appear before the court.

Amnesty International has welcomed the US military authorities’ reduction of a prison sentence being served by a US army sergeant, who refused to serve in Afghanistan because of his religious beliefs as a Christian.

At his court martial on 14 August 2009, Travis Bishop was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for going absent without leave, suspension of two-thirds of his salary and a bad conduct discharge.

Lt General Robert Cone, commanding general of Fort Hood in Texas, approved the sentence reduction on 4 February after considering Travis Bishop’s clemency application. His lawyer estimates that he should now be released in late March, taking his good behaviour into account.

Travis Bishop has asked his lawyer to relay this message to the many people who have written letters of support, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to everyone who wrote letters and supported me! This is amazing and unprecedented."

Following Travis Bishop’s sentencing, the prison’s military authorities received hundreds of letters appealing for his release. His lawyer has personally thanked Amnesty International members "for all of your help on this case. I think the letters may have made the difference. It is extremely rare to get this much time reduced from a sentence".

Travis Bishop has served in the US army since 2004. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 to October 2007. According to his lawyer, he had doubts about taking part in military action since then, but it was only in February 2009, when his unit was ordered to deploy to Afghanistan, that he considered refusing to go.

In the period before he was due to be deployed, Travis Bishop’s religious convictions became stronger, and led him to conclude that he could no longer participate in any war.

Travis Bishop’s sentence was imposed even though the US army was still considering his application for conscientious objector status.

In a statement made at the court-martial, Travis Bishop explained that he discovered he could apply for this status only days before his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan. He went absent without leave on the day of his deployment to give himself "time to prepare for my [conscientious objector] application process".

He was away from his unit for about a week, during which he drafted his application and sought legal advice. He returned voluntarily, and on his return to the unit he submitted his application.

Amnesty International considers Travis Bishop to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his conscientious objection to participate in war.

The organization has recognized as prisoners of conscience a number of US soldiers refusing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan because of their conscientious objection.

They include Camilo Mejía, who was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for his objection to the armed conflict in Iraq in 2004, and Abdullah Webster, who refused to participate in the same war due to his religious beliefs and was sentenced the same year to 14 months’ imprisonment.

Another, Kevin Benderman, was sentenced in 2005 to 15 months imprisonment after he refused to redeploy to Iraq because of abuses he allegedly witnessed there.

Agustin Aguayo was sentenced in 2007 to eight months’ imprisonment for his refusal to participate in the armed conflict in Iraq. All four have since been released.

Some of these conscientious objectors have been court-martialled and sentenced despite pending applications for conscientious objector status; others were imprisoned after their applications were turned down on the basis that they were objecting to particular wars rather than to war in general.

The comment below is by Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone.

There has been a lot of controversy in the media surrounding Amnesty International’s work with Moazzam Begg and Cageprisoners, in light of statements by Gita Sahgal, an Amnesty International staff member.

Contrary to Gita Sahgal’s assertions to the media, she was not suspended from Amnesty International for raising these issues internally. In fact, we actively welcome vigorous internal debate.  Up to now we have maintained confidentiality in line with our policy but wanted to correct this misrepresentation. This is not a reflection of the organisation’s respect for her work as a women’s rights activist and does not undermine the work she has done over the last few years as the head of Amnesty International’s gender unit.  

Our work with Moazzam Begg has focused exclusively on highlighting the human rights violations committed in Guantánamo Bay and the need for the US government to shut it down and either release or put on trial those who have been held there. Moazzam Begg was one of the first detainees released by the US without charge, and has never been charged with any terrorist-related offence or put on trial.

When President Obama promised to close Guantánamo, Amnesty International hoped that we could wind down our campaign and focus more broadly on human rights abuses related to security and terrorism. However, as that promise remains unmet, Amnesty International continues to work with Moazzam Begg and other former detainees to ask European governments to accommodate those who cannot be returned to their country of citizenship without risk of torture or ill-treatment.

In this complex and polarised world, we at Amnesty International face the challenge of  communicating clearly the scope of our work with individuals and groups. Amnesty International champions and continues to champion Moazzam Begg’s rights as a former detainee at Guantánamo. He speaks about his own views and experiences, not Amnesty International’s. And Moazzam Begg has never used a platform he shared with Amnesty to speak against the rights of others.

Amnesty International has a long history of demanding justice – in the case of our Counter Terror with Justice Campaign we called for both an end to human rights abuses at Guantánamo and other locations, and called for those detained there to be brought to justice, in fair trials that respected due process.

However, our work for justice and human rights spans a far wider range of issues than counter-terrorism and security. Amnesty International has done considerable research on the Taleban and campaigns to stop violence against women and to promote women’s equality. We continue to take a strong line against abuses by religiously-based insurgent groups and/or governments imposing religious strictures, Islamic or otherwise, in violation of human rights law. Sometimes the people whose rights we defend may not share each other’s views – but they all have human rights, and all human rights are worth defending.

The Chinese authorities must immediately release a human rights activist whose appeal against an 11 year prison sentence was rejected by a Beijing court, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court on Thursday upheld Liu Xiaobo’s prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power". Liu Xiaobo, a well-known scholar and advocate of political and legal reform in China, was given an 11 year prison sentence on 25 December 2009 simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

"By upholding the verdict the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong. His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China," said Roseann Rife, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific programme.  

Several Beijing activists were placed under surveillance beginning Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and prevented from attending the sentencing. Liu Xiaobo’s wife was allowed into the court room.

"The case is the third this week which has seen the authorities crack down on activists. The message is clear, if you criticize the system outside the parameters set by the authorities or independently try to organize civil society, you will be stopped." said Roseann Rife.  

On Monday, Huang Qi’s appeal against a three year prison sentence was dismissed, while Tan Zuoren was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday.

Both are human rights activists who have called for accountability for the deaths of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the military crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing.

Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter 08, a proposal for political and legal reform in China. The police took Liu Xiaobo from his home in Beijing on 8 December 2008, two days before the planned launch of Charter 08. Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by Chinese authorities since its launch but no one but Liu Xiaobo has been charged or tried.

Nobel Peace Price Laureates Vaclav Havel and the Dalai Lama, alongside many others, have supported the nomination of Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Price. Vaclav Havel co-wrote Charter 77, a document calling for respect of human rights in 1977 in Czechoslovakia on which the Charter 08 was modelled.

Several other signatories of Charter 08 have asked to share the responsibility with Liu Xiaobo and a group of senior Communist Party members including Hu Jiwei and Sha Yexin issued a letter to President Hu Jiantao questioning the legal grounds for Liu Xiaobo’s sentence.

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in the country, after warnings from police and judiciary that anti-government protests will not be tolerated.

The call comes amid a wave of arrests, unfair trials and executions of those involved in earlier protests against the government concerning the disputed presidential election of June 2009 and the authorities’ violent response.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two of the unsuccessful presidential candidates in June’s poll, have called on people to take to the streets and peacefully voice their opinions.

"It is the Iranian authorities’ responsibility to safeguard the public and maintain order," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. "However, this does not justify the suppression of peaceful protests, as has happened repeatedly over recent months, nor violence by state forces against peaceful demonstrators."

Amnesty International also urged the Iranian authorities to ensure that all policing is conducted in accordance with international standards by appropriately-trained personnel.

"Policing should not be conducted by the politically-partisan volunteer Basij militia, which has a record of committing serious human rights violations and is neither trained nor equipped for proper police work," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mass demonstrations against the government are expected to go ahead on Thursday, despite recent "show trials" of people accused of links to various opposition groups and of organizing protests. These trials have resulted in two executions in January, other death sentences and long prison terms.

Amnesty International expressed concern that the Iranian authorities appear to be coercing detainees to falsely "confess" to links to particular political groups or organizations alleged to be fomenting the demonstrations, in order to scapegoat them for the continuing anti-government protests and ongoing human rights abuses.

The two men executed in January, while arrested before last June’s disputed presidential elections, were convicted of having links to the opposition group Anjoman-e Padshahi Iran (API – Kingdom Assembly of Iran) and of attempting to make explosives.

Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani were represented by court appointed lawyers and their own lawyers were denied access to their trials. They are said to have made coerced "confessions" dictated to them by their interrogators.

"These trials and executions have been used by Iranian authorities to support their contention that the mass protests of recent months have not been an expression of popular discontent about the disputed outcome of the presidential election and the authorities’ brutal repression of protestors but, rather, were fomented by foreign powers and exiled opposition groups intent on achieving regime change in Iran," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Demonstrations against the government since the disputed presidential election of June 2009 have been met with harsh repression.

According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International said it believes the number to be at least 80 and possibly many more. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

More than 100 people are believed to have been sentenced to prison terms, flogging or to be executed after unfair "show trials". At least nine people are believed to be at risk of execution.

Several others among a group of 16 defendants whose "show trial" is currently underway and who face the charge of moharebeh (enmity against God), which can carry the death penalty, may also be at risk.

The most recent mass protests took place at the time of the Tasoa and Ashoura religious festivals on 26 and 27 December 2009, when more than a thousand people were detained. Since then more than 200 others are said to have been arrested at their homes or workplaces and detained.

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in the country, after warnings from police and judiciary that anti-government protests will not be tolerated.

The call comes amid a wave of arrests, unfair trials and executions of those involved in earlier protests against the government concerning the disputed presidential election of June 2009 and the authorities’ violent response.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two of the unsuccessful presidential candidates in June’s poll, have called on people to take to the streets and peacefully voice their opinions.

"It is the Iranian authorities’ responsibility to safeguard the public and maintain order," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. "However, this does not justify the suppression of peaceful protests, as has happened repeatedly over recent months, nor violence by state forces against peaceful demonstrators."

Amnesty International also urged the Iranian authorities to ensure that all policing is conducted in accordance with international standards by appropriately-trained personnel.

"Policing should not be conducted by the politically-partisan volunteer Basij militia, which has a record of committing serious human rights violations and is neither trained nor equipped for proper police work," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mass demonstrations against the government are expected to go ahead on Thursday, despite recent "show trials" of people accused of links to various opposition groups and of organizing protests. These trials have resulted in two executions in January, other death sentences and long prison terms.

Amnesty International expressed concern that the Iranian authorities appear to be coercing detainees to falsely "confess" to links to particular political groups or organizations alleged to be fomenting the demonstrations, in order to scapegoat them for the continuing anti-government protests and ongoing human rights abuses.

The two men executed in January, while arrested before last June’s disputed presidential elections, were convicted of having links to the opposition group Anjoman-e Padshahi Iran (API – Kingdom Assembly of Iran) and of attempting to make explosives.

Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani were represented by court appointed lawyers and their own lawyers were denied access to their trials. They are said to have made coerced "confessions" dictated to them by their interrogators.

"These trials and executions have been used by Iranian authorities to support their contention that the mass protests of recent months have not been an expression of popular discontent about the disputed outcome of the presidential election and the authorities’ brutal repression of protestors but, rather, were fomented by foreign powers and exiled opposition groups intent on achieving regime change in Iran," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Demonstrations against the government since the disputed presidential election of June 2009 have been met with harsh repression.

According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International said it believes the number to be at least 80 and possibly many more. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

More than 100 people are believed to have been sentenced to prison terms, flogging or to be executed after unfair "show trials". At least nine people are believed to be at risk of execution.

Several others among a group of 16 defendants whose "show trial" is currently underway and who face the charge of moharebeh (enmity against God), which can carry the death penalty, may also be at risk.

The most recent mass protests took place at the time of the Tasoa and Ashoura religious festivals on 26 and 27 December 2009, when more than a thousand people were detained. Since then more than 200 others are said to have been arrested at their homes or workplaces and detained.

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai to fulfil their promise to reform state institutions, in a bid to end human rights violations that have continued in the country since the formation of the unity government one year ago.
 
Torture, harassment and politically motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders and perceived opponents have persisted, while villagers in parts of Zimbabwe have suffered ceaseless intimidation by supporters of former ruling party ZANU-PF.   

"The Attorney General’s office, police and army have been left to freely violate human rights in pursuit of a political agenda," said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International’s Africa programme.

"By delaying reform, the situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile as perpetrators continue to escape justice and are instead effectively given the all clear to continue violating human rights."

Amnesty International called on the unity government to end on-going harassment of human rights defenders. Several peaceful protests organized by civic movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were violently broken up by police in 2009.

Seventeen human rights and political activists who were abducted by state security agents in 2008 continue to face charges that are widely believed to be trumped up. One of them, Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, had her prosecution permanently stayed by the Supreme Court in September 2009 because of overwhelming evidence that she had been tortured.

"The government must end the incessant harassment of human rights activists and take steps to seriously protect rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said Erwin van der Borght.

The Zimbabwean army and intelligence services, as well as the Attorney General’s office, have remained under ZANU-PF control, following an agreement brokered by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in 2008. The police are co-chaired by ZANU-PF and MDC-T ministers.

"The onus is on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF to ensure that key institutions under their control are reformed to end the culture of impunity that still threatens stability in the country," said Erwin van der Borght.   

Amnesty International’s call for reform comes amid reports that villagers in parts of Zimbabwe are being threatened with violence by army backed supporters of ZANU-PF, in an attempt to force them to endorse the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution.   

The Kariba draft constitution, agreed by unity government parties in September 2007, has been strongly criticized by some civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution without consultation.

Villagers in Mutoko, Muzarabani and MT Darwin are reportedly being warned that they will face beatings unless they support the ZANU-PF position. Similar threats were made and materialized in the run-up to the June 2008 presidential elections.

"These are early warning signs that the situation could deteriorate if no urgent measures are taken to stop state security agents from carrying out violent political campaigns," said Erwin van der Borght.
 
"Past involvement on their part has resulted in gross human rights violations, including deaths and torture of perceived opponents."

The government has so far failed to investigate gross human rights violations allegedly carried out by security forces during the run-up to the second round of the 2008 presidential elections, which left at least 200 people dead, over 9,000 injured and tens of thousands displaced.

"The unity government must investigate past and present allegations of human rights violations by state security agents, including torture and ill treatment of detainees," said Erwin van der Borght.

Gross human rights violations have also been taking place within the army.

At least two soldiers were tortured to death in October 2009 while being interrogated by intelligence and military police officials in Harare. Another soldier was reported to have committed suicide while in solitary confinement and several others are still receiving medical treatment for injuries caused by torture.

The victims had been arrested along with at least 95 others, on suspicion of breaking into an armoury at Pomona barracks and stealing 21 guns.
 
"Zimbabwean state bodies are riddled with human rights abusers that in many cases carry out violations with impunity," said Erwin van der Borght.   

"Without genuine reform of institutions this abuse is very likely to persist."

Amnesty International called on the Chinese authorities to release human rights activist Tan Zuoren, who was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for "inciting subversion of state power."

Tan Zuoren was convicted for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and the government through his articles and diaries posted on-line and on overseas websites concerning the authorities’ handling of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 .

"His arrest, unfair trial and now the guilty verdict are further disturbing examples of how the Chinese authorities use vague and over broad laws to silence and punish dissenting voices,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

"The Chinese authorities cannot continue to claim that they are dealing with human rights defenders according to the law when they violate so many of their own legal procedures in cases like this."

The verdict was announced this morning by the Chengdu City Intermediate People’s Court in China.

Tan Zuoren’s wife, Wang Qinghua, protested the conviction and told Amnesty International that "even one day of imprisonment is too much. He only exercised his freedom of expression and addressed corruption from his own conscience."

Tan Zuoren’s trial on 12 August was grossly unfair and disregarded China’s criminal procedure law. His lawyers reported they were unable to call their witnesses to testify in court or show the video footage they prepared, and they were unable to present their defence.

One of the defense witnesses, internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei, was beaten and illegally detained by individuals in uniform claiming to be police for hours until after the trial ended.

Two Hong Kong journalists were prevented from covering his trial when local police detained them in their hotel room under the guise of searching for drugs. Police barred supporters of Tan Zuoren from the courtroom, allowing only his wife and one of his daughters, from attending the trial. Court officials filled the rest of the seats. Journalists were again harassed today trying to cover the story at the court.

The Court also violated criminal procedure law by delaying the verdict for four months with no explanation to Tan Zuoren’s lawyers.

"By silencing human rights defenders the Chinese authorities are denying society an open and transparent debate and rejecting the concept of accountability. The calls for justice will only become louder as more human rights activists are sentenced," said Roseann Rife.

The arrest of retired General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s former Chief of Army Staff and opposition political candidate in Sri Lanka’s recently held presidential election, escalates post-election repression, Amnesty International said on Monday.

Sarath Fonseka was arrested late Monday evening and will reportedly face a military Court Martial on charges that he revealed military secrets and plotted the assassination of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Sarath Fonseka’s arrest continues the Rajapaksa government’s post-election crackdown on political opposition," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific programme.

"After the military defeat of the LTTE and a major election victory, President Rajapaksa should steer the country toward a better human rights record. Instead, we’re seeing less and less tolerance for criticism."

The timing of the arrest is troubling given reports that Sarath Fonseka had announced earlier in the day that he was prepared to testify before an international court on war crimes charges against the Sri Lanka government.

Since his defeat in the election, several of Sarath Fonseka’s key supporters have been arrested. Journalists with the state media suspected of supporting the opposition candidate have also faced threats and violence.

Allegations and counter allegations of responsibility for violations of human rights and humanitarian law featured prominently in the run-up to the election.

Sarath Fonseka was quoted in the press in December accusing the President’s brother, Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of ordering the executions of surrendering LTTE leaders at the end of the war in May 2009. He later retracted his accusations.

"Allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka should be subject to an independent international investigation," said Sam Zarifi.

"Sarath Fonseka was commander of the armed forces during a period when Sri Lanka’s army was accused of violating humanitarian law, including firing heavy weaponry into an area packed with civilians. Fonseka faces credible allegations of war crimes and should also be subject to investigation and accountability."

Amnesty International has welcomed the release of the Belarusian opposition activist and musician Igor Koktysh, who has been held in a pre-trial detention centre in Ukraine for two and a half years.

Igor Koktysh had been detained in Ukraine since June 2007 when Belarus requested his extradition over an accusation that he committed murder in Belarus in January 2001, an offence he had been acquitted of in 2002. He was released on Monday.

Amnesty International believes that he was charged by the Belarusian authorities because of his social and political activism. Before his release, the organization considered Igor Koktysh to be a prisoner of conscience.

Speaking from his home in Ukraine on Thursday, Igor Koktysh thanked Amnesty International "for the efforts you have taken". He said that he is still adjusting to his freedom and that his first concern is his health.

Igor Koktysh’s release follows a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling in his favour on 10 December 2009. He had filed a complaint with the Court in October 2007.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office initially stated that he would be released only after the judgment of the ECtHR became final in March 2010, but he was released on 2 February.

In its judgement the ECtHR said that Igor Koktysh should not be extradited to Belarus, where he would have been at serious risk of torture or other ill-treatment and could have been given an unfair trial and sentenced to death.

The Court said that there was no legal basis to detain him obliging Ukraine to release him immediately and also stated that the conditions in which he was held in Ukraine amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Igor Koktysh is accused of "premeditated, aggravated murder" of a close friend’s relative in January 2001, under Article 139 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, which carries the death penalty.

Igor Koktysh was held in detention in Belarus from January 2001 until his trial that December. While in custody he was allegedly tortured and ill-treated. This included being beaten and locked naked in a freezing cell, as well as being deprived of necessary medication for his asthma, in order to force him to confess.

Igor Koktysh told Amnesty International that during his detention in Belarus the head investigator of Brest district told him that he knew he was not guilty of the crime, but that he was under pressure from his superiors. The investigator refused to repeat these words in court.

Able to prove that he was in another city when the murder took place, he was acquitted and released. This verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Belarus on 1 February 2002.

After his release, Igor Koktysh moved to Ukraine where he registered to live and work and met his future wife. In April 2002, the Belarusian Prosecutor General appealed against his acquittal and the case was returned to the lower court for a retrial.

Igor Koktysh is currently pursuing his application for refugee status in Ukraine. Amnesty International said it will continue to monitor the progress of his asylum application and the payment of compensation ordered by the European Court of Human Rights.

Amnesty International has called on the Belarusian authorities to release a conscientious objector, found guilty by the Minsk District Court of "draft evasion" and sentenced to three months in prison on Monday.

Ivan Mikhailau had refused military service because bearing arms contradicts his religious beliefs as an active member of the Messianic Jewish community. He was arrested in the town of Salihorsk, south of the capital, Minsk, on 15 December 2009.

Amnesty International considers Ivan Mikhailau to be a prisoner of conscience, detained for the peaceful expression of his beliefs.

Ivan Mikhailau’s lawyer told Amnesty International that his family intends to appeal against the verdict. His detention since 15 December counts towards his three-month sentence. He remains in the pre-trial detention centre in Zhodino – a town about 50km north east of Minsk – where he has been held since shortly after his arrest.

Military service is compulsory in Belarus for all males between the ages of 18 and 27. Even though the Belarusian Constitution states that citizens have a right to alternative civilian service, no such option is provided for in practice.

The right to refuse military service for reasons of conscience is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Belarus is a party.

According to his lawyer, after being summoned to military service in December 2008 Ivan Mikhailau told the Minsk district military that he was unable to carry out military service for religious reasons. Instead he requested to take part in civilian service as an alternative to military service.

In January 2009 the authorities denied his request on the grounds that an alternative civilian service does not exist. Ivan Mikhailau approached the military authorities a second time asking if he could substitute military service with service in the reserves. In June 2009 his request was again denied and the authorities then assigned Ivan Mikhailau to full-time military service.

Amnesty International is calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ivan Mikhailau. Furthermore, the organization urges the authorities to ensure that Ivan Mikhailau and other conscientious objectors are either absolved from military service or permitted to wait until an alternative service is in place.

The organization urges the authorities to adopt a law that provides for a genuine civilian alternative to military service and recalls that Belarus is a state party to the ICCPR, and therefore obliged to recognize the right to conscientious objection.

On 3 November 2006, the Human Rights Committee ruled that the prosecution and conviction of two conscientious objectors by the Republic of Korea for their refusal to perform compulsory military service had breached Article 18 of the ICCPR as no civilian alternative was available.

Amnesty International has again expressed its concern for a Yemeni journalist and government critic held incommunicado by the authorities since September, after fellow journalists said he appeared before a prosecutor in the capital Sana’a on Monday.

Yemeni journalists told Amnesty International that Muhammad al-Maqalih appeared before a prosecutor for the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), whose proceedings have been reported to fall short of international fair trial standards.

He was reportedly not allowed a lawyer during his interrogation and it is not known what charges he faces or when his trial is to begin.

A member of the Yemeni Socialist Party and the former editor of its website, Muhammad al-Maqalih is thought to have been detained for his comments on the government’s conduct in its conflict with followers of the late Zaidi Shi’a cleric Hussein al-Huthi in the northern region of  Sa’da.

Human rights activists in Yemen suspect his detention is linked, in particular, to his criticism of the army’s killing of civilians in Sa’da, which was published on the Socialist Party’s website.

Amnesty International said it believes that he is likely to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. If so, the organization demands that he be released immediately and unconditionally.

Muhammad al-Maqalih was abducted on a street in Sana’a on 17 September 2009 by men believed to be from the security forces. Eyewitnesses said that he was taken by a group of plain-clothed men who arrived in a white minibus which had its licence plates obscured.

Since his detention, Muhammad al-Maqalih’s family has staged a number of sit-in protests outside government offices, which have been attended by journalists and the general public.

Amnesty International wrote to Yemen’s Minister of Defence on 21 October 2009 asking where the journalist was being detained, and raising concerns that he had been detained incommunicado since he was seized, that he was at risk of torture or other ill-treatment and may have been subjected to enforced disappearance.

The Minister of Information acknowledged in December 2009 that Muhammad al-Maqalih was being detained by the state.

However, the Yemeni authorities have since refused to disclose his whereabouts and legal status or allow him access to his family or lawyer.

Critics and opponents of the state in Yemen are often at risk of arrest and detention, particularly at times of political crisis.

Although the SCC follows regular Yemeni criminal procedures, defence lawyers say its judges are not impartial and do not allow them to mount an effective defence; they say that their right to prepare a defence is hindered by restrictions that are placed on their access to their clients’ case files and that when they challenge procedural irregularities by the court these are routinely ignored.

Yemen’s Sa’da region, whose inhabitants are predominantly members of the country’s Zaidi Shi’a minority, has experienced several periods of conflict in recent years. There have been recurrent armed clashes between government security forces and followers of Hussein al-Huthi, who was killed by government forces in 2004.

The latest rise in violence began in mid-August 2009, when the area was placed under a virtual state of emergency and government forces mounted an escalating series of attacks.

Amnesty International has called on the Sri Lankan government to end its crackdown on journalists, political activists and human rights defenders following last week’s presidential election.
 
Opposition supporters and journalists have been arrested, several prominent newspaper editors have received death threats and trade unionists and opposition supporters have been harassed since the poll.
 
The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported more than 85 post-election incidents, including two murders and several assaults. The CMEV has not released details of these incidents.
 
Pressure on government critics has been mounting since President Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected on 26 January, defeating his former Chief of Defence Staff – retired army general Sarath Fonseka.
 
“Victory against the Tamil Tigers followed by an historic election should have ended political repression in Sri Lanka but instead we have seen a serious clampdown on freedom of expression,” said Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International’s Asia- Pacific Deputy Director.
 
Sri Lankan journalists have given Amnesty International a list of 56 of their colleagues who face serious threats, including some working for the government-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, as well as Independent Television Network, Lak Hada and the Lake House Group.
 
“Threats, beatings and arrests mean that Sri Lankan human rights activists live in fear of the consequences of expressing their political opinions,” said Madhu Malhotra.
 
Security officials detained 13 former military officials supporting the defeated presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka on 29 January during a raid on the candidate’s campaign office. They are being held incommunicado, according to opposition lawyer Shiral Lakthilaka.
 
The government has accused Fonseka and his supporters of plotting a coup d’etat.  
 
Also on 29 January, police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided the office of newspaper Lanka Irida and arrested chief editor Chandana Sirimalwatte, who remains in detention.

The newspaper had openly campaigned for opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka during the elections. The office was raided again the following day.
 
Offices of the popular internet site, Lanka E News, were sealed off by the authorities and Amnesty International received reports that a number of unidentified gunmen visited the Lanka E News office on at least two occasions during last week.
 
Sri Lankan journalist and political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda, a contributor to the site, disappeared on his way home from work two days before the election and is still missing.

When his wife reported his disappearance to the Homagama police, she was herself detained for several hours. Eknaligoda had been actively reporting on political events in the run-up to the election and had recently spoken out in favour of Sarath Fonseka.
 
“President Rajapaksa’s government has to show that it will now try to deal with the human rights violations that have plagued Sri Lanka, instead of using the post-election period to launch a new crackdown,” said Madhu Malhotra.
 
Numerous serious assaults by unknown perpetrators against journalists have not been properly investigated or prosecuted. Amnesty International calls on the Sri Lankan authorities to change this pattern and demonstrate their commitment to human rights standards by ensuring the prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation of these recent attacks.

Amnesty International has urged the Malaysian authorities to drop politically motivated criminal charges of sodomy against Anwar Ibrahim, the country’s opposition leader, after he lost an appeal for access to the government’s evidence against him on Friday.

His trial is now set to begin on 2 February at the High Court. This case is the second time in 12 years that the authorities have brought such charges against the former deputy prime minister.

Following his public criticism of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed in 1998, Anwar was arrested and convicted on sodomy and corruption charges. He spent six years in solitary confinement before his conviction was overturned and he was released.

“The Malaysian authorities have resorted to the same old dirty tricks in an attempt to remove the opposition leader from politics,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director at Amnesty International. “Malaysia’s judiciary should throw out these charges.”

Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience before his release in 2004.

For five years, Anwar was banned from seeking public office as a result of his conviction on corruption charges. After the ban expired in April 2008, he won a parliamentary seat on 26 August 2008, and become opposition leader as head of the People’s Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat).

But one month before his election, on 17 July 2008, Anwar was again arrested on charges that he had committed sodomy with a male former aide. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and loss of political office.

The criminal charge of sodomy against Anwar, under Section 377B of the Penal Code, is at odds with international human rights standards. This British colonial-era law provides for prison and whipping, a punishment that violates the international law prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment. Moreover, the UN Human Rights Commission in 1997 ruled that sodomy laws infringe the fundamental right to privacy.

Amnesty International is seriously concerned about fair-trial issues surrounding Anwar’s case. The prosecution’s refusal to deliver evidence to the defence at the pre-trial stage infringes international fair-trial standards and Malaysian law.

“Anwar’s case has rightly raised doubts among the international community and investors about Malaysia’s commitment to justice and the rule of law,” said Zarifi.

Under Section 51A of the Malaysia’s Criminal Procedure Code, the prosecution must deliver documents and a written statement of facts favourable to the defence. The UN Human Rights Committee has established that the minimum facilities for fair trials “must include access to documents and other evidence which the accused requires to prepare his case.”

On 29 January, however, the Malaysian Federal Court failed to uphold the prosecution’s obligation to provide access to evidence which Anwar’s lawyers believe may help exonerate him. In an earlier decision, the Court of Appeals had termed the defence’s application for evidence a “fishing expedition.”

“The court’s decision to allow the prosecution to withhold key evidence sets a dangerous precedent for criminal cases in Malaysia,” said Zarifi. “This is a recipe for unfair trials.”

Amnesty International on Thursday issued a series of recommendations to newly elected Honduran President Porfirio Lobo to repair the damage done to human rights since the June 2009 coup d’état, which left hundreds seeking justice.

The 13 recommendations include issues relating to investigations into the human rights abuses committed by security forces, rejecting amnesty laws for those responsible for the crimes, training judges on international human rights legislation and setting up an effective witness protection programme.

"Honduras’ devastating coup d’état has left the country in urgent need of a programme of human rights reconstruction with clear objectives and a timeline for completion," said Kerrie Howard, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Americas programme.

"If President Lobo wants to restore the rule of law and confidence in his government, he must ensure the abuses of the past seven months are dealt with quickly and effectively."

Amnesty International’s report also summarizes 20 cases which include police killings, arbitrary detentions, beatings and ill-treatment in detention, sexual abuse of women and girls, harassment of journalists, judges and activists.

No-one has been held to account for these abuses and few investigations have been opened.

On 1 August, 38-year-old teacher Roger Abraham Vallejo died in hospital as a result of injuries sustained from a bullet wound to the head, caused by a rubber bullet reportedly fired by police during the break up of a protest in Tegucigalpa in July. An investigation into the killing is open but no advances have been reported.

On 23 September, 16-year-old Gerson Ariel Cruz was seriously wounded by police following the break up of a protest in Tegucigalpa. According to an eyewitness, the police chased protesters into a residential neighbourhood where they opened fire with live ammunition. Gerson, who had taken no part in the protest, was shot in the stomach.

When family members tried to take him to hospital they were turned back from a police roadblock, substantially delaying their journey to seek emergency treatment. Gerson survived but sustained serious injuries from which he has still not fully recovered. The shooting was reported to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights and an investigation is on-going.

"There are dozens of cases of killings, beatings, sexual harassment and other abuses by the security forces against members of the opposition movement and those seen as critical of the coup d’état which need to be urgently investigated," said Kerrie Howard. "Hondurans will expect President Lobo to provide answers and a resolution to the hundreds of human rights abuses committed by the security forces since 28 June 2009."

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo took office on 27 January. He was elected in November last year amidst a political crisis that saw President Manuel Zelaya ousted by military-backed right wing politicians in June.

Honduras: Recommendations to the new Honduran government following the coup of June 2009 (Document, 28 January 2010)

Amnesty International has condemned the execution of two men arrested during protests that followed Iran’s disputed presidential election last year.

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged on Thursday after being convicted in unfair trials of “enmity against God” and being members of Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran (API), a banned group which advocates the restoration of an Iranian monarchy.

They are the first executions known to be related to the post-election violence that erupted across Iran in June and has continued since.

"These shocking executions show that the Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out the peaceful protests that persist since the election," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

"These men were first unfairly convicted and now they have been unjustly killed – it is not even clear they had links to this group as their ‘confessions’ appear to have been made under duress."

According to the Iranian authorities, at least nine other people are currently on death row in Iran after being sentenced to death in similar post-election ’show trials’.  

"Our fear is that these executions are just the beginning of a wave of executions of those tried on similar vaguely worded charges," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were convicted of “enmity against God” by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in October. They were also convicted of "propaganda against the system", "insulting the holy sanctities" and "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national internal security".

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani was accused of illegally visiting Iraq where he was alleged to have met US military officials.  

Arash Rahmanipour’s lawyer says he played no role in the election protests and was forced to confess in a “show trial” after members of his family were threatened.

The two men’s lawyers were not informed of their clients’ executions, as is required by Iranian law.

"These executions highlight how the justice system is used as an instrument of repression by the authorities. They are sending a warning to those who may wish to exercise their right to peacefully demonstrate against the government, not to go out in the street,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Further anti-government demonstrations are widely expected to take place on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on 11 February.

According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International believes the number to be much higher. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Scores have been sentenced to prison terms, and in some cases flogging, after unfair trials, and at least 11 have been sentenced to death.  One man – Hamed Rouhinejad – has had his death sentence commuted on appeal in January 2010.

Amnesty International has urged the Uzbekistani government to allow its people freedom of expression after one of the country’s most prominent photographers was charged with "defamation of the Uzbekistani people".

Umida Akhmedova’s photographs, showing scenes of men, women and children carrying out everyday activities, were published in a book entitled Men and Women – From Dawn to Dusk in 2007.  

She was charged by the Uzbekistani authorities on Saturday with slandering and insulting the Uzbekistani people and their traditions.

She is also facing charges for making a documentary film called The Burden of Virginity, which focuses on the traditional obligation on women to prove that they are virgins on their wedding night.

A court hearing is due to take place in the next two weeks. If found guilty of these charges Umida Akhmedova faces up to three years in jail.

"The life that she recorded is not the image of Uzbekistan that the government wants to be seen," said Maisy Weicherding, Amnesty International’s researcher on Uzbekistan.

"This is the first time that someone in Uzbekistan has been charged because their artistic expression has been interpreted as dissent."

Amnesty International said it fears that the photographer has been targeted for exercising her right to freedom of expression, and that she will not receive a fair trial. Should she be jailed, she also risks cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Umida Akhmedova told Aljazeera English in an interview on Tuesday that she could not understand why several years after the initial publication of the images a criminal case had been brought against her.

Her statement was not intended to be political, and in her opinion her images were full of love and positivity, she said.
 
People expressing their dissenting opinion continue to be harassed, beaten and detained in Uzbekistan even though the authorities repeatedly deny this.

At least four human rights activists and independent journalists were sentenced to long prison sentences in 2009 and others have faced short-term detentions, beatings and accusations of harming the reputation of the country.

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on all states to take concrete steps to end secret detention, following publication of a detailed United Nations report on its widespread use in the name of countering terrorism.

The UN study highlights the global nature of the problem, naming dozens of countries, covering every region of the world, as undertaking secret detention, or being complicit in it through international networks of detainee transfers and intelligence agencies.

Secret detentions, as the UN report clearly states, constitute a series of human rights violations and "cannot be justified under any circumstances." The practice is irreconcilable with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

"Secret detention is not only unlawful in itself, it enables a range of abhorrent abuses including torture and extrajudicial execution," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy for Amnesty International.

"States must act swiftly to implement the recommendations in this important study, to confront and end secret detention and the human rights violations it entails and enables."

Amnesty International has campaigned for decades against human rights violations associated with secret detentions worldwide, including enforced disappearance, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, extrajudicial execution, and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

The UN study highlights secret detention practices in USA-led global "war on terror" operations since 11 September 2001.

Amnesty International said it continues to push for real accountability for abuses, including crimes under international law, perpetrated by the United States government in the course of such operations.

Governments that colluded in US rendition and secret detention programmes have also been urged to investigate the human rights and criminal implications of their own roles.

This week, Amnesty International wrote to the Lithuanian Prosecutor General urging him to open a criminal investigation into allegations that secret detention facilities existed on Lithuanian territory from 2003 to 2005.

Other human rights violations related to secret detention in the name of "countering terrorism" that Amnesty International has campaigned against include enforced disappearance in Pakistan, and the secret or prolonged incommunicado detention of "security suspects" in Saudi Arabia and those accused of involvement in terrorism-related activities in Tunisia.

The Joint Study was prepared by four Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council (the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism; the Special Rapporteur on torture; the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances).

Amnesty International welcomed the decision of the four Special Procedures to produce a joint study, which enabled them to address the human rights aspects of the practice of secret detention in an integrated and comprehensive manner, and welcomed the global geographic coverage of the report.

The Special Procedures will present the Study for discussion by states and civil society at the UN Human Rights Council at its next session; the presentation and discussion is scheduled for the week beginning 8 March.

Amnesty International submitted information to the experts and the organization’s published research features among the wide range of sources cited in the study report.

Amnesty International on Tuesday warned that the government’s heavy-handed response to the threat posed by al-Qa’ida puts Yemen at risk of being locked in a downward spiral on human rights.

In its latest briefing paper on Yemen, published ahead of Wednesday’s international high level meeting in London, Amnesty International highlights an increase in human rights violations against those who criticize or oppose the government.

"The fear is that international demands for a crackdown on suspected supporters of al-Qa’ida will be interpreted by the government as a green light to crush all opposition with no consideration for human rights," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme.

The government appears to have further intensified its new sweep against al-Qa’ida suspects following reports that a Nigerian national alleged to have tried to blow up a plane over Detroit last December had received training in Yemen.

Security forces claim to have killed and captured a number of leaders and activists of the group. Family members of such suspects have also been killed by government forces.

Attacks by al-Qa’ida, and groups apparently linked to it, have occurred sporadically throughout the last decade.

But most human rights abuses have taken place during conflict between government forces and armed rebels from the Zaidi Shi’a minority in the north and a strengthening, largely peaceful separatist movement in the south, both reportedly unconnected to al-Qa’ida.

"The government has resorted to increasingly repressive methods to counter this opposition, including waves of arrests, incommunicado detention and unlawful killings," said Malcolm Smart.

"Counter-terrorism is no excuse to sideline human rights. Whilst the government has a duty to protect people and hold to account those engaged in terrorism it must abide by its obligations under international law."

In Sa’da, in the north of the country, the long running conflict between government forces and the Huthis, armed fighters belonging to the Zaidi Shi’a minority, resumed with new intensity last August and has been marked by serious abuses on both sides.

Both sides are alleged to have killed civilians and according to the UN’s refugee agency, so far more than the 200,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

The government has sealed off the area, preventing independent reporting of the conflict, and aid agencies have faced continuing problems as they seek humanitarian access to those at risk

Civilians have also been put at risk, and some possibly killed, by Saudi Arabian security forces that have carried out attacks against rebels in Yemen’s northern border region. These attacks lacked any safeguards for the protection of civilians.

In Aden and other cities and towns in the south the government has faced growing protests from local people over the government’s failure to address discrimination.

The government’s response to these protests has been heavy-handed, with unarmed demonstrators being shot in the streets and those leading local demands arrested and detained. Since the protests began in 2007, the security forces have arrested and detained, in many cases arbitrarily, thousands of demonstrators and bystanders.

Independent media in Yemen has also come under sustained attack in connection with the unrest in the south of the country. The authorities have stormed newspaper offices, blocked distribution of newspapers and arrested journalists critical of the government.

The Iranian authorities must not execute a Kurdish man on death row whose transfer to solitary confinement last week raises fears that his execution could be imminent, said Amnesty International.br /
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Habibollah Latifi was sentenced to death in July 2008 after he was convicted of emmoharebeh/em (enmity against God) in connection with his membership of and activities on behalf of the Kurdish Independent Life Party (PJAK), a banned armed group.br /
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He was transferred to solitary confinement at Sanandaj prison, Kordestan province, north-western Iran on 16 January.br /
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Another man, Sherko Moarefi, was arrested in October 2008 and subsequently sentenced to death and remains on death row in Saqqez prison.br /
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At least 18 other Kurds – 16 men and two women – are believed to be on death row in connection with their links to banned Kurdish organizations. nbsp;br /
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In October, fears were raised that Habibollah Latifi, Sherko Moarefi and Ehsan Fattahian were at imminent risk of execution after a judge in Sanandaj, the provincial capital, received orders to carry our their executions. Ehsan Fattahian was executed on 11 November 2009.br /
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Habibollah Latifi was arrested on 23 October 2007 in Sanandaj. His trial was held behind closed doors and neither his family, nor his lawyer, were allowed to attend. His death sentence was upheld by the Appeal Court in Sanandaj on 18 February 2009.br /
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His lawyer is not known to have been notified of a scheduled execution as is required by law, although in some cases ndash; such as that of fellow Kurd Fasih Yasmini, who was executed for emmoharebeh/em on 6 January 2010 – executions have taken place without this notification being issued. His family has not been notified that he will be executed but fear that he is at imminent risk of execution.br /
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The scope of capital crimes in Iran is broad, and includes moharebeh, which is often imposed for armed opposition to the state, but can include other national security offences such as espionage.br /
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Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities to commute the death sentences of Habibollah Latifi and Sherko Moarefi and any others imposed for political offences.br /
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One of Iran’s many minority groups, Kurds experience religious, economic and cultural discrimination. For many years, several Kurdish organizations conducted armed opposition against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Formed in 2004, PJAK continues to carry out armed attacks against Iranian security forces.br /
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No group has claimed responsibility for the spate of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Kordestan, which targeted mainly religious figures and judges between 9 and 19 September 2009.br /
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The authorities have variously blamed PJAK and quot;hard-line Sunni fundamentalistsquot; linked to foreign intelligence services. According to Iranian media on 28 September 2009, several of those believed to have been responsible for the attacks were arrested at the scene of another attack in which two others were killed.br /
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On 18 January 2010, Vali Haji Gholizadeh, the prosecutor in the north-western city of Khoy, was shot dead. Four suspects were arrested. The Iranian authorities blamed PJAK for the killing although PJAK later denied responsibility.br /
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Amnesty International condemned without reservation attacks on civilians, which include judges, clerics and locally or nationally elected officials, as attacking civilians violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.br /
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The organization said that these principles prohibit absolutely attacks on civilians as well as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Such attacks cannot be justified under any circumstances.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AMR/mexico-prisoners-protest-100.jpg alt= title= /br/p
The Mexican authorities are failing in their duty to protect human rights activists from killings and life-threatening harassment and attacks, Amnesty International warned on Thursday in a new report.br /
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The report emstrongStanding up for justice and dignity: Human Rights defenders in Mexico/strong/em describes more than 15 cases of defenders who have suffered killings, attacks, harassment, threats andnbsp; imprisonment on fabricated charges between 2007 and 2009 to prevent them from doing their work.br /
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quot;Defending human rights in Mexico is life-threatening and the government is not doing enough to tackle the problem,quot; said Nancy Tapias-Torrado, researcher on human rights defenders at Amnesty International. quot;When one human rights defender is attacked, threatened or killed, it sends a dangerous message to many others and denies hope to all those on whose behalf the defender is workingquot;.br /
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Amnesty International said it believes there are dozens of such cases, very few of which are effectively investigated and even fewer brought to justice. In none of the cases included in the report has a full investigation been carried out and in only two of them suspects are in detention.br /
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Human rights defenders take action to protect and promote human rights. States have a responsibility to protect these people and ensure they can carry out their work.br /
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Activists working to protect the rights of communities living in poverty, those who defend the rights of Indigenous peoples or work to protect the environment are at particular risk of attack. Their work is seen as interfering with powerful political or economic interests. Too often they are treated as trouble-makers not as human rights defenders working for a better society where respect for human rights can be a reality.br /
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Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, founder and president of the Organization of the Mersquo; phaa Indigenous People (OPIM) in Guerrero, southern Mexico, has been the victim of numerous death threats and acts of intimidation since 1998.br /
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The campaign of intimidation against her got so serious in recent years, Obtilia and her family were forced to flee their community out of fear. For example, in January 2009, a man who had been following her on several occasions shouted at her: quot;Do you think yoursquo;re so brave? Are you a real woman? Letrsquo;s hope you also go to prisonhellip; If you donrsquo;t go to prison, we’ll kill you.quot;br /
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None of the threats or acts of intimidation against Obtilia has been investigated.br /
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In another case, Ricardo Murillo Monge, a spokesperson and founder member of the Sinaloan Civic Front (FCS), was found dead in his car in the city of Culiacaacute;n, Sinaloa State, on 6 September 2007. Only two years later, on 31 August 2009, Salomoacute;n Monaacute;rrez, another spokesperson for the FCS, narrowly survived an assassination attempt.br /
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quot;The Mexican government must urgently develop an effective and comprehensive programme of protection for human rights defenders,quot; said Nancy Tapias-Torrado.br /
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a href=http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/activists-standing-justice-mexico-20100121Activists standing up for justice in Mexico/a (Feature, 21 January 2010)br /
a href=http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/call-mexican-government-protect-human-rights-activists/a
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strongCall on the Mexican government to protect human rights activists/strong
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img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AMR/usa-gitmo-cells-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/strongemquot;A commitment to human rights starts with universal standards and with holding everyone accountable to those standards, including ourselveshellip; When injustice anywhere is ignored, justice everywhere is denied. Acknowledging and remedying mistakes does not make us weaker, it reaffirms the strengths of our principles and institutions.quot;/em/strongbr /
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Not Amnesty International’s words, but those of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month in an address on the Obama administration’s quot;Human Rights Agenda for the 21stCenturyquot;. – Accountability, she said, was elemental to the administration’s approach, and it was under this principle that President Barack Obama had ordered an end to CIA torture and closure of the Guantaacute;namo detention facility.br /
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While Secretary Clinton’s words are welcome, the fact is that a year into the new administration, almost 200 individuals remain detained without fair trial at the Guantaacute;namo prison camp, and accountability and remedy for the human rights violations committed against these and other detainees in what the USA previously called the quot;war on terrorquot; remain more myth than reality.br /
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It is nearly eight years, for example, since Abu Zubaydah was arrested in Pakistan. He was hidden away in secret CIA custody for the first four and a half years, subjected to torture and enforced disappearance, crimes under international law for which no-one has been brought to justice. For the past three years he has been in Guantaacute;namo, still held without charge or access to remedy. The Obama administration continues to resist disclosure of what happened to him and others held in secret CIA custody.br /
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Information which the administration had wanted to keep classified emerged in federal court earlier this month in the case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, namely that he had been subjected to quot;enhanced interrogation techniquesquot; for 14 hours over five days at some point in secret CIA custody.br /
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In its written briefing to the court, the Obama administration argued that its predecessor had quot;justifiablyquot; treated Ghailani as an quot;intelligence assetquot; rather than a criminal defendant, despite a pre-existing indictment in US federal court against him at the time of his arrest in Pakistan in 2004.br /
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It added that the Bush administration had made the quot;entirely reasonablequot; decision to continue to hold Ghailani without charge as an quot;enemy combatantquot;. Ahmed Ghailani was held in secret CIA custody for two years, and in Guantaacute;namo for nearly three more years, before being transferred to New York for trial in June 2009. No one has been brought to account for the human rights violations perpetrated against him.br /
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The impunity goes well beyond abuses in the CIA programme. Shortly before President Obama took office, for example, the Bush administration’s Convening Authority for military commissions confirmed that Saudi Arabian national Mohamed al Qahtani had been tortured in military custody at Guantaacute;namo. Despite this admission, a year later, with Mohamed al Qahtani still held without charge in Guantaacute;namo, no criminal investigation is known to have been opened into the torture allegations.br /
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Earlier this month, a US federal judge found quot;crediblequot; the allegations that Yemeni national Musa’ab al Madhwani had been subjected to acts amounting to torture and other ill-treatment in a secret US facility in Kabul before his transfer to Guantaacute;namo where he remains detained without charge more than seven years later.br /
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What accountability will there be for this abuse? None, it would seem, unless the current administration has a rethink about whether accountability and adherence to the USA’s international human rights obligations will truly be among its governing principles.br /
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In litigation implicating the USA’s international obligations to ensure accountability and remedy for past human rights violations, the Obama administration has all too often adopted a stance that promotes impunity and blocks remedy. For example, in its first year it has:br /
ul
liinvoked the state secrets privilege to seek dismissal of a lawsuit brought by five detainees for the human rights violations, including crimes under international law, they say they were subjected to in the CIA quot;renditionquot; programme;/li
liopposed a lawsuit brought by four UK nationals for the torture and arbitrary detention to which they say they were subjected in Guantaacute;namo, the administration arguing that it was quot;not clearly establishedquot; at the time of the men’s detention that they had the rights they said were violated and that the officials concerned were therefore quot;shieldedquot; from civil liability. In December, the US Supreme Court sided with the administration and declined to take the case;/li
liintervened to petition a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against John Yoo, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Justice Department, for the role the lawsuit claims he played in unlawful detention conditions and interrogation techniques. The Obama administration argued that the context of quot;the detention and treatment of those determined to be enemies during an armed conflicthellip; implicating matters of national security and war powersquot; counselled against the quot;judicial creation of a money-damage remedyquot;;/li
limaintained the Bush administration’s denial of and opposition to access to lawyers and courts for those held at the US airbase in Bagram in Afghanistan, cementing the accountability gap for abuses committed there and the detaineesrsquo; lack of effective remedy for them;/li
lirefused to release of photographs and other documentary material relating to detainee abuses./li
/ul
When the USA assumed its seat on the UN Human Rights Council in 2009, the Obama administration said: quot;Make no mistake; the United States will not look the other way in the face of serious human rights abuses. The truth must be told, the facts brought to light and the consequences facedquot;. A year on, the administration continues to look the other way when it comes to full disclosure of and remedy for human rights violations perpetrated by the USA in the name of quot;countering terrorismquot;.br /
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The change of tone the Obama administration has brought to the USA’s pronouncements on human rights is welcome. It must now match these words with concrete action, including on accountability, remedy, and ending the Guantaacute;namo detentions in line with its international human rights obligations.