amnesty-tas

[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

SHAWKAN’s TRIAL ADJOURNED UNTIL 17 MAY

Egyptian authorities adjourned until 17 May the trial of photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan. He is facing trumped-up charges as a result of his journalistic work. He is a prisoner of conscience and, if convicted, risks a death sentence.

On 10 May, Cairo Criminal Court postponed the trial of Mahmoud Abu Zeid to 17 May. According to his lawyer, the trial was postponed to allow for the prosecution to bring the remaining physical evidence to the court.

The court session marked over 1000 days that Shawkan has spent in jail. He is the only Egyptian journalist to be held for this long, far in excess of the the two-year maximum pre-trial detention limit set out in Article 143 of Egypt’s Code of Criminal Procedures (CCP). Mahmoud Abu Zeid has been detained since 14 August 2013, when he was arrested while photographing the violent dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo.

Mahmoud Abu Zeid is being tried in a mass trial with 738 other defendants, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. The photojournalist faces nine trumped-up charges, which include “joining a criminal gang” and “murder”. He has denied all the charges against him. On 26 March 2016, the Prosecutor submitted charges that were specific to Mahmoud Abu Zeid. A lawyer for the Press Syndicate submitted an affidavit to the court confirming that Mahmoud Abu Zeid had been doing journalistic work at the time of his arrest and requesting his release. The court session was then adjourned to April, so that the prosecution could bring forward the physical evidence in the case. On 23 April the court session was adjourned again, because one of the co-defendants in the case was not brought to the courtroom. Mahmoud Abu Zeid’s defence team also requested that he undergo a medical examination to confirm that he has Hepatitis C. This has not been done yet and he continues to be denied access to medication, one of his lawyers said.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

n  Urging the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against Mahmoud Abu Zeid and release him immediately and unconditionally as he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;

n  Calling on them to provide Mahmoud Abu Zeid with any medical treatment he may require.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JUNE 2016 TO:

Public Prosecutor

Nabil Sadek

Office of the Public Prosecutor

Madinat Al-Rihab    

New Cairo, Egypt

Salutation: Dear Counsellor

 President

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

Office of the President

Al Ittihadia Palace

Cairo, Egypt

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

Salutation: Your Excellency

  And copies to:

Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights

Laila Bahaa El Din

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Corniche al-Nil, Cairo

Arab Republic of Egypt

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MfaEgypt

Also send copies to: His Excellency Mohamed Khairat Mahmoud KHAIRAT, Ambassador, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 1 Darwin Avenue, Yarralumla ACT 2600, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

  URGENT ACTION

SHAWKAN’S TRIAL ADJOURNED until 17 MAY

ADditional Information

 Mahmoud Abu Zeid is a freelance photojournalist who was arrested while on an assignment for the London-based photo agency Demotix. He previously worked for a range of publications, including Time Magazine, Die Zeit, BILD and Media Group. At the time of his arrest, he was covering the Egyptian security forces’ violent dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in on 14 August 2013. The agency told the Prosecutor’s Office that he was working with them at the time, but he was still detained.

 His detention order has been renewed repeatedly, to allow for questioning and investigations by the Public Prosecution. The CCP allows pre-trial detention for such purposes for up to six months when a defendant is charged with misdemeanours, or 18 months if charged with felonies, and two years if the alleged offence is punishable by life imprisonment or death (Article 143 of the CCP). Mahmoud Abu Zeid’s detention exceeded this limit in August 2015. His lawyers submitted a petition to the Court of Appeal for him to be released immediately, but without success.

 Mahmoud Abu Zeid has said police and soldiers beat him during his first day under arrest and on 17 August 2013, when he was transferred from an overcrowded cell at a police station in Cairo to the capital’s Abu Zaabal Prison. Officers are understood to have punched and kicked him, and beat him with batons. He was also kept in a parked truck for eight hours when the temperature was above 30°C, without food, water or fresh air when he got to Abu Zaabal Prison. He wrote a letter in April 2015, which has been published by Amnesty International, detailing the appalling conditions and describing his indefinite detention as “psychologically unbearable”.

 The proceedings against Shawkan have been unfair. His lawyers have repeatedly been denied access to key documents relating to the case, including the list of charges. This has made it difficult for them to prepare his defence. Mass trials also make it difficult to ensure the right to a fair trial is guaranteed for each of the defendants. The Egyptian authorities have used mass trials to target opposition groups, with many of those put on trial facing trumped-up charges without consideration of proving each defendant’s individual criminal responsibility.

 Egypt is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 9 of which prohibits arbitrary detention. And Article 19 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. Article 14 guarantees the right of everyone to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. The article further guarantees the rights of everyone facing criminal charges to be informed promptly of the nature and cause of the charges against them; the right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence; the right to be tried in their presence; and the right to examine, or have examined, the witnesses against them.

  Name: Mahmoud Abd Al Shakur Abu Zeid (“Shawkan”)

Gender m/f: m

Further information on UA: 243/14 Index: MDE 12/4026/2016 Issue Date: 13 May 2016

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the sixth update of UA 243/14. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE12/3786/2016/en/

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

government critic's conviction upheld

Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s appeal was rejected on 26 April and she must serve 320 hours of “corrective labour”. She was convicted for criticising online the Russian annexation of Crimea and Russia’s military involvement in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. She will be appealing her sentence.

Yekaterina Vologhzeninova’s appeal was rejected on 26 April by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, in the Urals region. She was found guilty on 20 February of “inciting hatred and enmity” for her social media postings. The appeal court’s judge rejected all pleadings by Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s lawyer, including a request for amnesty. The sentence has now come into force and Yekaterina Vologzheninova – a single mother and a sole carer for her elderly mother - will now have to serve 320 hours of unpaid “corrective labour”. Her laptop and computer mouse will be destroyed as the “weapons of crime”.

In a separate proceeding which took place on 13 April, three judges of the same Sverdlovsk Regional Court ruled that Yekaterina Vologzhenina must remain on the List of Terrorists and Extremists compiled by Rosfinmonitoring - the official Russian agency which set up to combat money laundering and terrorism funding - and her bank account and cards remain blocked. She will be taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Please write immediately in Russian, English or your own language:

n  Urging the Russian authorities to immediately take the necessary steps to overturn Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s conviction and stressing that she is being prosecuted solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression;

n  Urging them to ensure that her name is removed immediately from the Rosfinmonitoring’s List of Terrorists and Extremists;

n  Calling on them to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression for all persons in Russia.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JUNE 2016 TO:

Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation

Yurii Yakovlevich Chaika

Prosecutor General’s Office

ul. B. Dmitrovka, d.15a

125993 Moscow GSP- 3

Russian Federation

Fax: [phone]

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General

Human Rights Ombudsperson

Tatiana Nikolaevna Moskalkova            

Ul.Miasnitskaia, 47

101000 Moscow      

Russian Federation  

Fax: [phone]

Salutation: Dear Ombudsperson

 Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Vladimir MOROZOV, Ambassador, Embassy of the Russian Federation, 78 Canberra Avenue, Griffith ACT 2603, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

 URGENT ACTION

government critic's conviction upheld

ADditional Information

Since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the outbreak of fighting between Ukrainian forces and armed groups supported by Russia in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, in April 2014, several people have been sentenced in Russia for purportedly inciting hatred and enmity on the Internet in connection with their posts that criticised Russia’s policy towards Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. The number of Internet users who have faced prosecution for expressing online their critical views on Russia’s current politics is growing. Article 280 (“public calls to commit extremist activities”) and Article 282 (“publicly inciting hatred or enmity as well as denigrating human dignity”) of the Russian Criminal Code are being increasingly often used to silence dissent, and particularly those who criticise the official policy in relation to Ukraine.

On 12 December 2014, Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s apartment was searched by law enforcement officials and she was taken to the local police station for questioning. She then learned that a criminal case had been opened against her under Article 282, part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code, in connection with her posts on social networks. The investigation concluded that, by criticizing the government’s policies online, Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s intention had been to incite hatred against the Russian government and the Russians fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Yekaterina Vologzheninova told Amnesty International that her account on the Russian social media site VKontakte (VK) was not public and only accessible to friends. She browsed Ukrainian media because she was looking for alternative information to that provided by the state-controlled television and other media in Russia, and shared some publications from Ukraine on her personal page. The investigation claimed that the “likes” placed by other users under some of her online posts indicated that she did incite hatred via these posts.

In late September 2015 the case was forwarded by the Prosecutor’s office to Zheleznodorozhnyi Court in Yekaterinburg. The trial started on 27 October and on 20 February 2016 she was found guilty of “inciting hatred and enmity”.

Among the materials reposted by Yekaterina Vologzheninova and on which an expert opinion was requested was a poem called “Confession of a Russian from Ukraine” condemning the “treacherous stabbing in the back” of Ukraine by Russia and declaring that ethnic Russians living in Ukraine would defend it from Russia’s aggression. There were also two pictures, one depicting a man – with some remote likeness to President Vladimir Putin – with a knife in his hand over a map of Donbass. His hand is being stopped by another hand and the text under the image reads “Stop the pest!” Another is depicting a young woman in a Ukrainian ethnic costume holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle with a caption saying “I am Banderivka. I am Ukrainian. Death to Moscow occupiers.” The pictures’ style is similar to that of the posters issued in the Soviet Union during the Second World War calling the citizens to defend their country from the occupiers.

The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment 34, on the right to freedom of expression, states that “it encompasses even expression that may be regarded as deeply offensive”. In any event, criminal sanctions for private social media posts would be excessive and disproportionate under international human rights standards, infringing on the right to freedom of expression.

Name: Yekaterina Vologzheninova

Gender m/f: f

   Further information on UA: 232/15 Index: EUR 46/4031/2016 Issue Date: 13 May 2016

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the third update of UA 232/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR46/3522/2016/en/

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

youth activists detained, speak of ill-treatment

Youth activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov were arrested on 10 May in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for alleged drug possession after they painted political graffiti on the former President’s statue. According to their lawyer, they have been beaten and otherwise ill-treated in detention.

Youth activists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov were detained by police in Baku on 10 May on drug-related charges. Bayram Mammadov is a member of the pro-democracy youth movement NIDA. Both activists are 22 years old. Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov told their lawyer that the drugs had been planted on them by police, and then “discovered” in the presence of “witnesses” who work for the police. On 12 May, the judge at Khatai District Court in Baku approved their pre-trial detention for four months. They are held at the Baku Detention Facility at the Kurdakhany Settlement. If convicted, the activists could face up to 12 years in prison.

The arrest happened a day after Bayram Mammadov posted a photo of the graffiti which Giyas Ibrahimov and he had painted on 9 May over the statue of Heydar Aliyev. Heydar Aliyev is Azerbaijan’s late former president and the father of the current president, Ilham Aliyev. The activists used obscene language in the graffiti as a message of political protest.

During questioning by the police, Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov were asked questions about the graffiti, not about the drugs. Police officers repeatedly demanded that the activists publicly apologize for insulting Heydar Aliyev and subjected them to beatings when they refused. They also forced the activists to clean the police station’s toilets while filming it, in order to humiliate them. Their lawyer told Amnesty International that during a meeting with Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov on 12 May he saw the bruises resulting from the beatings. The activists have not been examined by an independent doctor and have not been allowed to contact their family members to date. The lawyer filed a complaint about their ill-treatment with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan.

Please write immediately in Azerbaijani, English or your own language:

n  Expressing concern that the criminal charges against Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov appear to be politically motivated and based on fabricated evidence;

n  Insisting that Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov are examined by an independent forensic expert and their injuries are appropriately documented;

n  Calling on the authorities to carry out an immediate, effective and impartial investigation into their allegations of their ill-treatment and the fabrication of false charges.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JUNE 2016 TO:

President Ilham Aliyev

Office of the President of Azerbaijan

19 Istiqlaliyyat Street Baku AZ1066, Azerbaijan

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear President

Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov

7 Rafibeyli Street Baku

AZ1001, Azerbaijan

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General

Baku Detention Facility, Kurdakhany Settlement

(Bakı şəhəri Kürdəxanı qəsəbəsi,

Bakı İstintaq Təcridxanası)

Sabuncu Rayon, AZ1059

Azerbaijan

Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Rovshan JAMSHIDOV, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 5 Mialli Place, O’Malley ACT 2606, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

 URGENT ACTION

youth activists detained, speak of ill-treatment

ADditional Information

According to the lawyer of Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov, the Azerbaijani authorities claim that police discovered around eight grams of heroin in possession of the activists on 9 May. The lawyer claims that the drug charges were fabricated and that the real reason for their arrest was the painting of the graffiti.

The lawyer also told Amnesty International that the witnesses who testified about the drugs found were not independent as they work for the Azerbaijani police. Amnesty International documented similar practice that has been used in Azerbaijan to fabricate evidence in other cases against activists and human rights defenders.

Amnesty International has longstanding concerns about the Azerbaijani authorities' failure to respect their international obligations to protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Dissenting voices in the country frequently face trumped-up criminal charges, physical assault, harassment, blackmail and other reprisals from the authorities and groups associated with them. Law-enforcement officials regularly use torture and other ill-treatment against detained civil society activists, with impunity.

In March 2016, Azerbaijan released eight prisoners of conscience, including prominent human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, human rights campaigner Rasul Jafarov, and the head of the local election monitoring watchdog, Anar Mammadli. However, at least seven prisoners of conscience still remain behind bars and the ongoing reprisals make human rights work virtually impossible. Most prominent NGOs working on human rights, corruption or election monitoring have criminal cases pending against them, their accounts frozen and/or registration revoked.

Independent monitoring of human rights in Azerbaijan is increasingly difficult. Several international human rights organizations and international media were barred from entering Azerbaijan in 2015. Amnesty International’s delegation was refused entry into Azerbaijan and deported from the Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport on 7 October 2015.

Names: Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov

Gender m/f: m

 UA: 114/16 Index: EUR 55/4039/2016 Issue Date: 13 May 2016

 Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

provide ADEQUATE medical care to jailed lawyer

A lawyer sentenced to eight and a half years’ imprisonment for alleged extortion and damage to property after a possibly unfair trial is in urgent need of specialized medical care.

Lawyer Olga Gisich was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in March 2016 for alleged extortion and damage to property after a possibly unfair trial. She has appealed against her sentence and has been in detention for the past year and a half. She is currently in the pre-trial detention centre (SIZO) in Syzran, in Samara Region, southwestern Russia. According to her brother, she has a number of chronic health conditions including kidney disease, a stomach ulcer and a prolapsed uterus and is currently suffering from heavy bleeding and frequent blackouts.

The prison administration have refused to allow her family to provide her with food appropriate for her stomach condition, and claim that they are able to provide her with the necessary diet and medication. However, she has not seen a gynaecologist since her incarceration, and the prison hospital can only offer general care of a low standard. Her brother has told Amnesty International that he fears she will not survive her sentence.

Please write immediately in Russian or your own language:

n     Urging the authorities to provide Olga Gisich with an independent medical examination by a doctor not working for the penitentiary system;

n     Calling on them to provide her with adequate medical care as required, including by transferring her to a civilian hospital if necessary;

n     Reminding the authorities that they have an obligation to provide health care to prisoners that is of the same standard as that available in the community.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 JUNE 2016 TO:

Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service

Gennady Kornienko

Federal Penitentiary Service

ul. Zhitnaya 14

Moscow 119991

Russian Federation

Fax: + 7 495 982 1950

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Director

Director of SIZO

Andrei Burkin

Sizo-2 GUFSIN

ul. Khlebtsevicha 1

Syzran 446010

Samara Region

Russian Federation

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Director

And copies to:

Chairperson

Dmitry Shtokov

Public Monitoring Commission

ul. Molodogvardeiskaya d. 2014, ofis 21

Samara 443001

Russian Federation

Email: [email protected]

  Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Vladimir MOROZOV, Ambassador, Embassy of the Russian Federation, 78 Canberra Avenue, Griffith ACT 2603, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

  URGENT ACTION

provide ADEQUATE medical care to jailed lawyer

ADditional Information

Olga Gisich was convicted of extortion after she demanded compensation from the director of a private clinic in the city of Samara, in Samara Region. The clinic had employed an unqualified doctor to carry out an operation on her in 2013 and subsequently misdiagnosed her with ovarian cancer. She was told that she had only two months to live and was offered another expensive operation. She sought a second opinion and a different clinic informed her that the cancer was at an early stage. Olga Gisich successfully applied to a court in Samara regarding numerous incidents of medical negligence relating to her care. She assisted other women to sue the clinic in her professional capacity as lawyer. Olga Gisich decided to seek an out of court settlement for compensation with the clinic. It was during negotiations with the director that she was accused of extortion and taken to court. During the court proceedings additional charges of threatening the director and ordering his car to be burnt were added.

Olga Gisich was convicted on the testimonies of the clinic doctors, and other witnesses. The witnesses included the man who allegedly burnt the car, who was Olga Gisich’s client and had been accused of serious crimes. He gave his testimony as part of a so called “special procedure” according to which he pleaded guilty in return for a reduced sentence. He is currently serving a two and a half year sentence.

Name: Olga Gisich

Gender m/f: f

   UA: 113/16 Index: EUR 46/4018/2016 Issue Date: 12 May 2016

 Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

JOURNALIST ARRESTED for facebook post

Jordanian journalist and poet, Tayseer al-Najjar, was arrested on 13 December 2015 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in connection with a comment he posted on his Facebook account in 2014. He has yet to be charged. He may be a prisoner of conscience detained for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Tayseer Salman al-Najjar, aged 43, a journalist specialising in culture for the Abu Dhabi al-Dar newspaper, was about to travel to the Jordanian capital Amman to visit his family on 3 December 2015 when he was told at the airport that he was banned from leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the morning of 13 December, he received a phone call summoning him to attend the Security Department in Abu Dhabi at 7pm. He spoke to his wife, who was in Jordan, by phone just before he entered the building and was arrested shortly after.  

Tayseer al-Najjar’s family were unaware of his whereabouts and the reasons for his arrest until he was allowed to call them on 18 February 2016. He told them that he was being held at the State Security Department in solitary confinement and put under “heavy pressure”. About ten days later, he made another call to his wife stating that he had been transferred to al-Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi. He has been able to phone his family on a weekly basis. Tayseer al-Najjar said that he was accused by security officers of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, of collaborating with Qatar and of insulting the UAE and its leaders in connection with a 2014 posting on his Facebook account, in which he praised the Palestinian’s resistance in Gaza and criticized countries including the UAE.

On 11 May he told his wife that for the past two weeks he had been suffering from severe toothache that kept him awake at night and that he had not been referred to a dentist but instead given a mild painkiller.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

n  Calling on the UAE authorities to explain to Tayseer Salman al-Najjar why has he been arrested, and urging them to either charge him promptly with a recognizable criminal offence or else release him immediately and unconditionally if he has been held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;

n  Urging them to ensure that while he is detained, he is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and given prompt access to a lawyer of his choice and any necessary medical treatment he may require.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JUNE 2016 TO:

Vice-President and Prime Minister

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin

Rashid al-Maktoum

Prime Minister’s Office

PO Box: 212000

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @HHShkMoh

Salutation: Your Highness

 Minister of Interior

Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan          

Zayed Sport City, Arab Gulf Street, Near to Shaikh Zayed Mosque

POB: 398, Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Your Highness    

And copies to:

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Crown Prince Court

King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz

Al Saud Street,

P.O. Box: 124

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Fax: [phone]

Twitter: @MBZNews

Also send copies to: His Excellency Dr Obaid Alhairi Salem ALKETBI, Ambassador, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, PO Box 5173, Garran ACT 2605, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

 URGENT ACTION

JOURNALIST ARRESTED FOR FACEBOOK POST

ADditional Information

Tayseer Salman al-Najjar is married and a father of five young children who live in Jordan. He moved from Jordan to the UAE in April 2015 to join Al Jewa, a large publishing house in the UAE, ahead of the launch of al-Dar weekly newspaper in January 2016 for whom he was to write in the cultural pages.

 In July 2014, during the Gaza conflict, Tayseer al-Najjar had posted on his Facebook page “Message to some journalists and writers who do not like the Gazan resistance ... There is no two rights in one case, but the right one is the Gazan resistance and all else is bad, such as Israel, the UAE, [The President of Egypt] Sissi and other systems that are no longer ashamed of shame itself.”

 Since 2011, the UAE authorities have mounted an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression and association in the country. The space for dissent has shrunk severely and many people, both Emiratis and non-Emiratis who have criticised the UAE authorities, their policies, or the human rights situation in the country have been harassed, arrested, tortured, or subjected to unfair trial and imprisonment. The authorities have arrested, detained, and prosecuted more than 100 activists, human rights defenders and other critics of the government, including prominent lawyers, judges and academics, on broad and sweeping national security-related or cybercrime charges and in proceedings that fail to meet international fair trial standards. Some individuals previously subjected to enforced disappearance have said they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated and were forced to make “confessions” during interrogations without the presence of a lawyer. The State Security Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court often allows the use of such “confessions,” in contravention of international human rights law, and convicts defendants even when they have repudiated them.

 Under Article 49 of the UAE’s 2014 law on Combating Terrorism, a suspect can be held for 14 days following interrogation, and then up to three months, by court order.

 Name: Tayseer Salman al-Najjar

Gender m/f: m

  UA: 112/16 Index: MDE 25/4019/2016 Issue Date: 13 May 2016

 Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

Kho Jabing’s Execution date set for 20 May

The execution of Kho Jabing has been set for 20 May. The Court of Appeal in Singapore rejected the appeal of Kho Jabing on 5 April and upheld his death sentence.

The family of Malaysian national Kho Jabing have been notified that his execution has been scheduled in Singapore for 20 May and have been invited to see him for a final visit. On 5 April the Court of Appeal of Singapore unanimously rejected the appeal put forward by Kho Jabing, a 31-year-old Malaysian national, and lifted the temporary stay of execution it had granted in his case on 5 November 2015.

Kho Jabing was convicted of murder on 30 July 2010 alongside a co-defendant. At the time of conviction, the death sentence was mandatory for murder charges. The Court of Appeal substituted his co-defendant’s conviction to “robbery with hurt” on 24 May 2011 but confirmed that Kho Jabing had committed murder and upheld the mandatory death sentence. In 2012, Singapore’s mandatory death penalty laws were reviewed and some discretion was introduced in cases involving murder or drug trafficking.

For murder, the mandatory nature of the death penalty is retained only when the act was committed in an ‘intentional’ manner. For other instances, judges can use their discretion to impose the death sentence, life imprisonment and also caning. Following this, Kho Jabing’s sentence was changed to life in prison with 24 strokes of the cane. This sentence, however, was appealed again by the prosecution and on 14 January 2015, the death sentence was re-imposed against Kho Jabing by the Court of Appeal in a three-to-two decision.

Please write immediately in English or your own language:

n  Urging the President to immediately halt Kho Jabing’s execution and reconsider the rejection of his clemency application;

n  Noting that, while not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the crime or its consequences, Kho

Jabing did not intend to cause death, and there is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than imprisonment;

n  Calling on the authorities to immediately re-impose an official moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, and commute all existing death sentences.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 JUNE 2016 TO:

President of Singapore

His Excellency Tony Tan Keng Yam

Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore

Orchard Road, Singapore 238823

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Your Excellency

Prime Minister of Singapore

His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong Prime

Minister's Office

Istana Annexe, Orchard Road

Singapore 238823

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Your Excellency

 And copies to:

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia

His Excellency Dato' Sri Anifah Aman

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia

No. 1, Jalan Wisma Putra Precinct 2

Federal Government Administrative

Centre 62602 Putrajaya, Malaysia

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

 Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Burhan GAFOOR, High Commissioner, High Commission of the Republic of Singapore, 17 Forster Crescent, Yarralumla ACT 2600, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

 URGENT ACTION

Kho Jabing’s execution date set for 20 may

ADditional Information

On 18 July 2014, Singapore carried out its first two executions since 2012, when two men were hanged after they had been convicted of and mandatorily sentenced to death for drug trafficking. Their executions ended a moratorium on the implementation of death sentences established in July 2012 to allow the Parliament to review the country’s mandatory death penalty laws. Since then, the authorities of Singapore have executed at least four other people, including three for drug trafficking. At least five new mandatory death sentences were imposed in 2015, four for drug trafficking and one for murder. At least 23 people remained on death row at the end of the year.

Following the adoption of the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2012 and the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2012 on 14 November 2014, the courts of Singapore are now given the discretion not to impose the death penalty in certain circumstances. In murder cases, defendants may now be spared the death penalty if they are charged with murder under sections 300(b) and 300(c) of the Penal Code and prove that they did not intend to cause death. Following these amendments, the Court of Appeal of Singapore had to consider how to determine what punishment to impose in cases of murder for which both the death penalty and life imprisonment with caning are sentencing options in Kho Jabing’s case. The five judges’ bench unanimously established that the death penalty should be imposed when the manner by which the offender carried out the murder “exhibits viciousness or a blatant disregard for human life”. While the five judges agreed that the evidence available in Kho Jabing’s case specifically did not allow for a precise reconstruction of the murder, they reached different conclusions as to whether it was possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he had inflicted more than two strikes on the victim’s head, showing a “blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life”. Three judges found that Kho Jabing’s actions deserved to be punished by death, while two held that the evidence available did not prove that he had hit the victim more than twice. The death penalty was therefore re-imposed with a close three-to-two majority.

The legal appeal submitted in the lead-up to Kho Jabing’s scheduled execution on 5 November was rejected on 5 April 2016. While upholding his death sentence unanimously, the Court found that disagreement among the judges is not a ground to review a decision and that a simple majority is sufficient, including in death penalty cases. It also established new guidance restricting the grounds on which legal challenges can be submitted to review final decisions in criminal cases to new evidence or legal arguments, which must be “reliable, substantial and powerfully probative”; or to cases in which a miscarriage of justice has occurred, if “there is a powerful probability that the decision concerned is wrong” and if it can be shown that a decision by the court has been affected by “fraud or a breach of natural justice”. The Court also suggested that the Parliament considers the new guidance with a view to further regulating post-conviction appeals.

The mandatory imposition of the death penalty is against international law. The UN Human Rights Committee has said that “the automatic imposition of the death penalty constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life, in violation of article 6, paragraph 1, of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights], in circumstances where the death penalty is imposed without any possibility of taking into account the defendant’s personal circumstances or the circumstances of the particular offence”.

Amnesty International believes that the death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and a violation of the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International supports calls, included in five resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly since 2007, for the establishment of a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. As of today, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice; in the Asia-Pacific region, 18 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and a further 10 are abolitionist in practice.

Name: Kho Jabing

Gender m

 Further information on UA: 103/15 Index: ASA 36/4028/2016 Issue Date: 12 May 2016

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the fifth update of UA 103/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa36/3782/2016/en/

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

egyptian human rights defender detained

Lawyer and human rights defender Malek Adly was arrested and ill-treated by Egyptian security forces on 5 May. He is a prisoner of conscience and one of hundreds of people detained in connection with protests in Cairo on 25 April.

Egyptian security forces arrested human rights defender Malek Adly on the evening of 5 May, while the lawyer was walking in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. His defence team said that the security forces took him to Maadi Police Station for questioning, where they beat and struck him with firearms, blindfolded and stripped him of his shirt.

Malek Adly was then transferred to the Shubra al-Khaimah Public Prosecution, where a prosecutor questioned him for over four hours. The Prosecution ordered his detention for 15 days, pending investigation into trumped-up charges that include “joining a group to obstruct the law”, “spreading false rumours”, “attempting to overthrow the government”, and “using violence and force against National Security Agency officers”.

Malek Adly’s lawyers have formally complained to the authorities over his ill-treatment in detention. They have expressed their fears that the Prosecution may fabricate a narcotics charge against Malek Adly, because the Prosecution ordered he be tested for drugs and alcohol – despite the fact that they had considered him fit for questioning immediately after his arrest, and they did not question or charge him for drugs or alcohol possession.

A prosecutor had ordered Malek Adly’s arrest ahead of calls for protests on 25 April against the government’s decision to transfer control of two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. Malek Adly is one of hundreds of people arrested around the protests. On 7 May, the Front for the Defence of Egyptian Protesters reported it knew of over 1,300 people arrested during the crackdown, at least 585 of whom remain in detention and face charges.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

n  Calling on the Egyptian authorities to release Malek Adly immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression; and to drop all charges against him;

n  Urging them to ensure that others who have been arrested are released unless they are promptly charged with recognizable criminal offences that do not criminalize the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly and tried in full conformity with international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty;

n  Calling on them to repeal the Protest Law, Counter-terrorism Law, and other laws that arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression; otherwise amend them in line with international standards.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 JUNE 2016 TO:

Public Prosecutor

Nabil Sadek

Office of the Public Prosecutor

Madinat al-Rehab

New Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt

Salutation: Dear Counsellor

President

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

Office of the President

Al Ittihadia Palace

Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

Salutation: Your Excellency

 And copies to:

Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign

Affairs for Human Rights

Laila Bahaa El Din

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Corniche al-Nil, Cairo

Arab Republic of Egypt

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MfaEgypt

 Also send copies to: His Excellency Mohamed Khairat Mahmoud KHAIRAT, Ambassador, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 1 Darwin Avenue, Yarralumla ACT 2600, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

URGENT ACTION

EGYPTIAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER DETAINED

ADditional Information

Malek Adly is a prominent human rights lawyer who works for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights. His lawyers said the prosecutor’s questions focused on a lawsuit Malek Adly had filed against the president’s decision to transfer control of two uninhabited islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia in early April. He also faced questions about his views on Egypt’s economic situation, President al-Sisi and strikes by public employees. He was also questioned about his views on the death of Italian national Giulio Regeni, who went missing in Cairo on 25 January and whose body was discovered days later bearing marks consistent with torture and other ill-treatment.

On 15 April, activists staged a demonstration in Cairo to protest Egypt’s decision to transfer the two Red Sea Islands to Saudi Arabia, calling for further protests on 25 April, which marks the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982. Security forces arbitrarily arrested dozens of people ahead of the planned demonstrations and dispersed the protests, arresting hundreds more according to figures gathered by Egyptian human rights groups and lawyers.

The security forces also targeted journalists reporting on the protests. On 1 May, the security forces raided the building of the Press Syndicate in Cairo and arrested two journalists. The Interior Ministry said the two journalists were charged with incitement to breach the Protest Law and undermining Egypt’s “stability”. The Press Syndicate has responded to what it said was an “unprecedented” move by calling for the resignation of the Interior Minister.

Egypt’s Protest Law prohibits protesters from staging demonstrations without the consent of the authorities and gives security forces sweeping powers to disperse “unauthorized” demonstrations. In practice, the authorities have facilitated protests by supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, while routinely dispersing demonstrations by his opponents.

Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concerns over the draconian Counter-terrorism Law. The vague and overly broad definition of “terrorist act” included in the law allows the authorities to suppress any form of peaceful dissent. The 25 April demonstrations follow mass protests on 15 April, after the handover of the uninhabited islands was announced. The 15 April demonstrations were the largest seen in Egypt for over two years.

 Name: Malek Adly

Gender m/f: m

  Further information on UA: 98/16 Index: Index: MDE 12/4022/2016 Issue Date: 12 May 2016

 Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 98/16. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE12/3910/2016/en/

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

33 men STILL arbitrarily detained, ONE AILING

33 men are still in arbitrary detention at the National Security Service (NSS) headquarters in the Jebel neighbourhood of Juba, the capital of South Sudan. One of the men is Christopher Gwagbwe, an Episcopal priest in his sixties affiliated with the Charismatic Episcopal Church. His health is deteriorating in poor conditions of detention and he has been denied family visits since November 2015.

Amnesty International has knowledge of 33 men still in arbitrary detention at NSS headquarters. They have been denied the right to be brought promptly before a judge and the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Some detainees are being held incommunicado, without any access to family members or the outside world.

One of the men detained by the NSS is Christopher Gwagbwe who was arrested in September 2014 at his home in Juba. He is an Episcopal priest affiliated with the Charismatic Episcopal Church. He is over 60 years old and has high blood pressure. The conditions of detention are poor, including a lack of adequate ventilation and poor diet, and his health has been deteriorating. The NSS has neither charged Christopher Gwagbwe with any offence nor presented him in court. Though family members were initially allowed to visit him, since November 2015 NSS officers have repeatedly denied him family visits.

The NSS reportedly accused Christopher Gwagbwe of communicating with Alfred Ladu Gore, the deputy chairman of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO). SPLM/A-IO was part of the political opposition at the time of Christopher Gwagbwe’s arrest. However in April 2016, a new Transitional Government of National Unity was established in South Sudan in accordance with an August 2015 peace agreement that also called for the release of political detainees. The new Transitional government now includes members of SPLM/A-IO such as Alfred Ladu Gore who is now the Minister of Interior in South Sudan.

Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:

n  Urging the South Sudanese authorities to either charge each of the 33 men with a recognizable offence, consistent with international law and standards, or immediately release them;

n  Urging them to grant the 33 men access to adequate medical care, access to lawyers of their own choosing, and also allow visits from their families;

n  Urging them to ensure that the 33 men are not subjected to torture or any other ill-treatment while in detention;

n  Urging the authorities to initiate prompt, effective and impartial investigations into NSS detention practices, including enforced disappearances, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 JUNE 2016 TO:

Minister for National Security in the office

of the President

Obote Mamur Mete

Ministry of National Security in the Office

of the President

Juba, South Sudan

Salutation: Your Excellency

 Minister of Justice

Paulino Unango Wanawilla

Ministry of Justice

Airport Road

Juba, South Sudan

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Your Excellency

 And copies to:

Presidential Legal Advisor

Lawrence Korbandy

Office of the President

Juba, South Sudan

URGENT ACTION

33 men STILL arbitrarily detained, ONE AILING

ADditional Information

Amnesty International has documented an increase in violations committed by the NSS and other security agencies since conflict began in mid-December 2013. Cases of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, extra-judicial killings and prolonged detention have been on the rise, with reports of torture and ill-treatment while in custody.

Amnesty International is concerned that in addition to these 33 men, there are others who are arbitrarily detained not only at the NSS headquarters in Juba but also in other NSS or military places of detention across the country. Detainees are fed a monotonous diet, and sometimes only eat once a day. They sleep on the floor and do not have access to adequate medical care. Some have been beaten, especially during interrogation or as a form of punishment. These poor conditions amount to ill treatment and may also amount to torture in some cases.

The NSS Act of 2014 grants the NSS sweeping powers to arrest and detain, without ensuring adequate judicial oversight or safeguards against abuse of these powers. The Act does not specify that detainees may only be held in official places of detention or guarantee basic due process rights, such as the right to counsel or to be tried within a reasonable period of time. The law effectively gives a carte blanche to the NSS to continue and extend its longstanding pattern of arbitrary detention, with total impunity.

Name: 33 men including Christopher Gwagbwe

Gender m/f: m

Further information on UA: 87/16 Index: AFR 65/4016/2016 Issue Date: 12 May 2016

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the second update of UA 87/16. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr65/3916/2016/en/

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Please sign and share the petition!

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Malawian authorities must take immediate action to stop the ritual killings of people with albinism following the discovery of two more mutilated bodies in the past week. Click on the image to take action!

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Thank you to all our Volunteers and activists, we couldn’t do it without you!

#Amnesty volunteerweek volunteers thankyouvolunteers

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URGENT ACTION

HUMAN RIGHTS defender THREATENED

Venezuelan human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes has been threatened for his work examining prisons. Humberto, his family and his colleagues from the NGO Venezuelan Prison Observatory (Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones) are at risk.

On 23 April, after a magazine published an interview with Humberto Prado Sifontes in which he highlighted the responsibility of Aragua state Governor, Tareck El Aisami, in the development of the current penitentiary and security crisis during his time as minister in charge of prisons, the Governor slandered Humberto Prado Sifontes through his Twitter account, naming him a “PRAN”. PRAN are negative figures that lead Venezuelan prisons and are responsible for the violence inside them and the coordination of gangs, kidnappings and other felonies. That same afternoon Humberto Prado Sifontes’ Facebook account was hacked, and messages with an altered photo were published on it, naming him a PRAN once again. This information was replicated on his Twitter account through different government supporters’ accounts, including Governor El Aisami, using the hashtag #HumbertoPradoPranDePolar. The same posts included information related to his work as a human rights defender that was only stored in his private communications. This amounts to a violation of his right to privacy.

On 4 May the former president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, discredited the work of Humberto Prado Sifontes and his colleagues from the Venezuelan Prison Observatory in his television show. During the show, Diosdado Cabello stated that the organization receives money every time they seek out international organizations, or when they use any mechanism, to claim justice. Humberto Prado Sifontes has led the Venezuelan Prison Observatory for many years, recording and denouncing Venezuela’s terrible prison conditions. In June 2011, Humberto Prado Sifontes was the target of an intimidation campaign and received death threats after peacefully asking the government to address a riot in El Rodeo prison.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

n  Calling on the authorities to order an independent, thorough and impartial investigation into the interception of Humberto Prado Sifontes’ communications and those of other members of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, as it is a violation to his right to privacy, that they publish their results and bring those responsible to justice;

n  Urging them to implement effective measures to protect Humberto Prado Sifontes and his family, as well as all other members of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, in accordance with their wishes, and to end the harassment and threats against them;

n  Urging them to publicly recognize the legitimacy of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory’s human rights work, and reminding them of their duty to guarantee that the organization can work without fear of retaliation, in accordance with the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 17 JUNE 2016 TO:

Vice-President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Aristóbulo Istúriz    

Esq. De Carmelitas, Av. Urdaneta

Caracas, Venezuela                

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Vice-President/ Sr. Vicepresidente

 Attorney General    

Dr. Luisa Ortega Diaz            

Sede Ppal del Ministerio Publico

Esquinas de Misericordia a Pele El Ojo  

Avenida México      

Caracas, Venezuela

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Attorney General/ Dra. Fiscal

 And copies to:

Ombudsman          

Tarek William Saab  

Av. Urdaneta – in front of El Universal

Centro Financiero Latino, Piso 27          

Caracas, Venezuela                

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

  Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Nelson DAVILA-LAMEDA, Ambassador, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, PO Box 37, Woden ACT 2606, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

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[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

EIGHT-year sentence for having A miscarriage

Twenty-seven-year-old Belén has been held in pre-trial detention for over two years in Tucuman Province, northern Argentina, after suffering a miscarriage in a public hospital. Medical personnel and police officials violated her right to privacy and have unfairly accused and mistreated her.

On 21 March 2014, Belén went to the public Hospital Avellaneda in San Miguel de Tucuman complaining of abdominal pain. She was referred to the gynecologist because of heavy bleeding. The doctor informed her that she was having a miscarriage of a foetus of about 22 weeks. Belén said she was unaware that she was pregnant.

Hospital staff later found a foetus in the bathroom and denounced Belén to the police claiming it was Belén’s "son", without any evidence or DNA analysis to prove she had any relationship to the foetus. Belén has explained that a nurse brought the foetus in a box and insulted her, arguing the foetus “was her son”. When she woke up in her bed after surgery, several police officers were surrounding her and she was subjected to an examination “in private parts of her body”, which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

According to international law and standards, non-consensual disclosures of personal medical information, including to law enforcement officials, is a violation of the right to privacy. Medical professionals have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of the information to which they have access as part of their profession.  

Belén was accused of self-inducing the abortion and held in pre-trial detention for over two years on charges of abortion. The prosecutor then changed the accusation to aggravated murder, which entails a harsher penalty of up to 25 years.  

On 19 April 2016, the Third Chamber of the Criminal Chamber of Tucuman sentenced Belén to eight years in prison for murder and deferred its final arguments to 3 May. Belén’s defense has said they will appeal the decision and request her immediate release.

Please write immediately in Spanish or in your own language:

n  Urging the authorities to  release Belen immediately and unconditionally, guaranteeing that no criminal process is conducted against her nor any other girl or woman who suffers a miscarriage or other obstetric complications;

n  Calling on them to instruct health professionals to guarantee the doctor-patient duty of confidentiality and to guarantee mechanisms to sanction anyone who fails to protect women’s right to privacy;

n  Urging the authorities to open a prompt, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment and infringements on the right to privacy committed both by health professionals and police officers. 

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 JUNE 2016 TO:

General Prosecutor, Province of Tucumán

Edmundo Jesús Jiménez

Fax: [phone] 

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor/ Sr. Procurador

Health Ministry of Tucuman

Rossana Chahla

Fax: [phone] ext. 504/505

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Minister/ Sra. Ministra

And copies to:

Amnistía Internacional Argentina

Email: [email protected]

 Also send copies to: His Excellency Dr Hugo Javier GOBBI, Ambassador, Embassy of the Argentine Republic, PO Box 4835, Kingston ACT 2604, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

 URGENT ACTION

EIGHT-YEAR sentence for having A miscarriage

ADditional Information

Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 11 of the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Argentina is a State party, protect the right to privacy and impose an obligation on States to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to guarantee the confidentiality of medical information, particularly in health settings. Every girl or woman who seeks an abortion in a medical facility or who suffers a miscarriage or stillbirth is protected by doctor-patient confidentiality.

 The person who causes an abortion can face prison from one to four years in Argentina. The law permits abortion when the life or health of a pregnant woman is at risk or when the pregnancy is the result of rape. Miscarriages or other complications during pregnancy are not criminalized.

 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights bodies have called on States to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe and legal abortion in law and practice as a minimum in cases where the pregnancy poses a risk to the life or health of the woman or girl, where the foetus suffers from severe malformation or is not viable, or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

 Regardless of the legal status of abortion, States have the obligation to ensure access to quality and confidential health services for the treatment of complications arising from unsafe abortions and miscarriages. This treatment must be free from discrimination, coercion and violence.

 Women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health care in professional settings are often exposed to ill-treatment, including practices that inflict severe pain, or are subjected to coerced or unwanted procedures and examinations that may constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The denial of certain services or ill-treatment in the context of sexual and reproductive healthcare; usually grounded in gender stereotypes; is discriminatory and constitutes a form of violence against women.

 The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has stated that: “International and regional human rights bodies have begun to recognize that abuse and mistreatment of women seeking reproductive health services can cause tremendous and lasting physical and emotional suffering, inflicted on the basis of gender. Examples of such violations include abusive treatment and humiliation in institutional settings; involuntary sterilization; denial of legally available health services such as abortion and post-abortion care; forced abortions and sterilizations; female genital mutilation; violations of medical secrecy and confidentiality in health-care settings, such as denunciations of women by medical personnel when evidence of illegal abortion is found; and the practice of attempting to obtain confessions as a condition of potentially lifesaving medical treatment after abortion.”

 Sexual and reproductive rights are protected under international and regional human rights law, which enshrine the right of people to take informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives, free from violence, coercion or discrimination and to ensure that those decisions are respected. These include the right to health, personal integrity, autonomy and equality, among others.

 Name: Belén

Gender m/f: f

   UA: 95/16 Index: AMR 13/3905/2016 Issue Date: 2 May 2016

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

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[amnesty-tas]

http://www.amnesty.org.au/

URGENT ACTION

stop political leader’s imminent execution

The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal against its ruling, upholding the death sentence against Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami. All legal appeals have now been exhausted and his only remaining option is to seek clemency from the President. His execution is imminent.

Motiur Rahman Nizami, the current chief of the Bangladeshi opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami, was convicted and sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in October 2014. The ICT is a Bangladeshi court set up by the Government in 2010 to investigate mass scale human rights violations committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. He was convicted of murder, rape and the mass killing of intellectuals during the War of Independence.

Motiur Rahman Nizami appealed the ICT’s decision and on 6 January, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. After the full verdict was released on 15 March, Motiur Rahman Nizami petitioned the Supreme Court for a review of its ruling. On 5 May the Supreme Court rejected his latest appeal. This has exhausted his legal options since the number of reviews available for ICT cases is lower than for ordinary cases. He faces imminent execution unless presidential clemency is sought and granted. Nizami has yet to decide whether to seek clemency.

So far, the ICT has sentenced 21 persons to death for crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. In the past three years, four of those convicted by the ICT have been executed. There are serious and important issues around the fairness of ICT trials which have not been addressed. These have also been highlighted by the UN and other credible organisations.

Please write immediately in Bangla, English or your own language:

n     Calling on the Bangladeshi Government to immediately halt the execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami and any other prisoners and commute all death sentences;

n     Urging them to establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty;

n     Reminding them that in proceedings related to offences where the death penalty might be imposed the most rigorous internationally recognized standards for fair trial must be respected.  

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 16 JUNE 2016 TO:

President

Md. Abdul Hamid

President's Office

Bangabhaban, Dhaka

Bangladesh

Fax: [phone]

Salutation: Honourable President 

Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister’s Office

Old Sangshad Bhaban, Tejgaon, Dhaka

1215, Bangladesh

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

 State Minister

Ministry of Home Affairs

Bangladesh Secretariat, Building-8 (1st & 3rd Floor),

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Fax: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Minister

Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Kazi Imtiaz HOSSAIN, High Commissioner, High Commission for the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 57 Culgoa Circuit, O'Malley ACT 2606, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency.

URGENT ACTION

stop political leader’s imminent execution

ADditional Information

At least 197 people were sentenced to death in Bangladesh in 2015, while four executions were carried out during the year, three of which had been sentenced by the ICT.

The government set up the ICT in 2010 to investigate mass scale human rights violations committed during the 1971 War of Independence. Amnesty International welcomed the Government’s move to bring those responsible to justice, but insisted that the accused should receive fair trials without recourse to the death penalty. Previous ICT cases were marked with severe irregularities and violations of the right to a fair trial.

In contrast to death sentences imposed by other courts in Bangladesh – which can be appealed twice to the High Court Division and once to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court – death sentences by the ICT can be appealed once to the Appellate Division only. Nizami appealed the ICT’s decision and on 6 January, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. Prisoners in Bangladesh convicted by ordinary courts and ICT and whose death sentences have been confirmed have the right to petition the Supreme Court for a review of its ruling once the full verdict has been published. The Supreme Court on 15 March released the full verdict, giving Nizami an opportunity to lodge a petition. Should the Supreme Court reject his petition, Nizami faces imminent execution unless presidential clemency is sought and granted.

Article 6 (1) of the ICCPR, to which Bangladesh is a State Party, protects against the arbitrary deprivation of life, which is absolutely prohibited under customary international law. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that the imposition of a sentence of death after a trial which does not comply with standards for fair trial set out in the ICCPR is a violation of the right to life. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions has underlined that “it is arbitrary to impose the death penalty where the proceedings do not adhere to the highest standards of fair trial.

Furthermore, Article 6 (6) of the ICCPR also sets abolition of the death penalty as the goal to be achieved by States that still retain this punishment. As of today, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. In 2015, four more countries – Congo (Republic of), Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname – abolished the death penalty for all crimes and the Parliament of Mongolia adopted a new Criminal Code abolishing this punishment, effective from September 2016. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life, as recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

Further information on UA: 66/16 Index: ASA 13/3974/2016 Issue Date: 5 May 2016

 Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 66/16. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA13/3693/2016/en/

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URGENT ACTION

Gennadii Yakovitskii’s death sentence upheld

The Supreme Court of Belarus upheld the death sentence of Gennadii Yakovitskii on 4 April. He is now at imminent risk of execution.

Gennadii Yakovitskii was sentenced to death on 5 January having been found guilty of the murder of his partner in June 2015. His was the first death sentence to be passed in 2016. Gennadii Yakovitskii was accused of killing his partner in the flat which they shared, following two days of drinking with friends. Amnesty International has recently learnt that he has denied the charges against him and his defence lawyers maintain that vital evidence was omitted from his trial and that his guilt had not been unequivocally established. Gennadii Yakovitskii and his lawyer have lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court to establish whether or not there were procedural or fair trial violations during the trial, which they maintain there were. This could lead to a retrial at which point they will present the omitted evidence. Nonetheless, Gennadii Yakovitskii’s death sentence remains in force.

Gennadii Yakovitskii has also appealed for clemency to the President. It is highly improbable that this will be granted; since coming to power in 1994, President Lukashenka has granted clemency only once. If clemency is denied, Gennadii Yakovitskii might be executed soon after, without due warning. In Belarus, death row prisoners are executed with a shot to the back of their heads. Gennadii Yakovitskii’s family will not be informed or given the opportunity for a final meeting with him. In accordance with Belarusian practice, the whereabouts of his body will not be disclosed.

Belarus is the only country in Europe and Central Asia which continues to apply the death penalty. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, as a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Please write immediately in Belarusian, Russian or your own language:

n     Urging President Lukashenka to halt any planned executions and immediately commute the death sentence of Gennadii Yakovitskii and all others sentenced to death in Belarus;

n     Highlighting the defence’s claims that vital evidence was omitted from Gennadii Yakovitskii’s trial in violation of his right to a fair trial and call for him to receive a retrial in accordance with international fair trial standards;

n     Calling on President Lukashenka to establish an immediate moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

 PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 14 JUNE 2016 TO:

President

Alyaksandr Lukashenka

Vul. Karla Marksa 38

220016 Minsk, Belarus

Fax: [phone]

[phone]

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear President Lukashenka

Prosecutor General

Alyaksandr Kaniuk

Vul. Internatsianalnaya 22

220050 Minsk, Belarus

Fax: [phone] (Say "fax" clearly if voice answers)

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General

 And copies to:

Vyasna

Vul. Merzhinkovo, 8-26

220012, Minsk, Belarus

Email: [email protected]

Also send copies to: His Excellency Mr Viktar SHYKH, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Belarus, 31 Guilfoyle Street Yarralumla ACT 2600 Email: [email protected] Salutation: Your Excellency

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 18/16. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR49/3294/2016/en

URGENT ACTION

Gennadii Yakovitskii’s death sentence upheld

ADditional Information

The European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have issued statements this year urging Belarus to respect the right to life for each of its citizens and to join a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its full abolition. Its continued use stands in direct opposition to any intended progress of Belarus’ parliamentary working group on the prospect of abolishing the death penalty which was established in February 2010. The working group continues to report to international observers on the use of the death penalty in Belarus.

Death sentences are often imposed in Belarus after unfair trials which include forced confessions; they are implemented in strict secrecy and without giving adequate notice to the condemned prisoners themselves, their families or legal representatives. The authorities refuse to return the bodies of those executed to their relatives or even tell them where they are buried. Executions are carried out despite requests from the UN Human Rights Committee to the government not to do so until the Committee has considered the cases. In November 2012, the Human Rights Committee found that the application of the death penalty in Belarus violates the human rights of those condemned and their families.

 The Belarusian authorities argue that there is strong public support for the death penalty in Belarus. However, by failing to publish full information about the use of the death penalty, including comprehensive statistics about the number of death sentences imposed and executions carried out, the Belarusian authorities prevent informed public debate about the issue and hamper the movement towards abolition.

 As of today, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

e

[amnesty-tas]

URGENT ACTION

EIGHT-year sentence for having A miscarriage

Twenty-seven-year-old Belén has been held in pre-trial detention for over two years in Tucuman Province, northern Argentina, after suffering a miscarriage in a public hospital. Medical personnel and police officials violated her right to privacy and have unfairly accused and mistreated her.

On 21 March 2014, Belén went to the public Hospital Avellaneda in San Miguel de Tucuman complaining of abdominal pain. She was referred to the gynecologist because of heavy bleeding. The doctor informed her that she was having a miscarriage of a foetus of about 22 weeks. Belén said she was unaware that she was pregnant.

Hospital staff later found a foetus in the bathroom and denounced Belén to the police claiming it was Belén’s "son", without any evidence or DNA analysis to prove she had any relationship to the foetus. Belén has explained that a nurse brought the foetus in a box and insulted her, arguing the foetus “was her son��. When she woke up in her bed after surgery, several police officers were surrounding her and she was subjected to an examination “in private parts of her body”, which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

According to international law and standards, non-consensual disclosures of personal medical information, including to law enforcement officials, is a violation of the right to privacy. Medical professionals have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of the information to which they have access as part of their profession.  

Belén was accused of self-inducing the abortion and held in pre-trial detention for over two years on charges of abortion. The prosecutor then changed the accusation to aggravated murder, which entails a harsher penalty of up to 25 years.  

On 19 April 2016, the Third Chamber of the Criminal Chamber of Tucuman sentenced Belén to eight years in prison for murder and deferred its final arguments to 3 May. Belén’s defense has said they will appeal the decision and request her immediate release.

Please write immediately in Spanish or in your own language:

n  Urging the authorities to  release Belen immediately and unconditionally, guaranteeing that no criminal process is conducted against her nor any other girl or woman who suffers a miscarriage or other obstetric complications;

n  Calling on them to instruct health professionals to guarantee the doctor-patient duty of confidentiality and to guarantee mechanisms to sanction anyone who fails to protect women’s right to privacy;

n  Urging the authorities to open a prompt, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment and infringements on the right to privacy committed both by health professionals and police officers. 

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 JUNE 2016 TO:

General Prosecutor, Province of Tucumán

Edmundo Jesús Jiménez

Fax: [phone] 

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor/ Sr. Procurador

Health Ministry of Tucuman

Rossana Chahla

Fax: [phone] ext. 504/505

Email: [email protected]

Salutation: Dear Minister/ Sra. Ministra

And copies to:

Amnistía Internacional Argentina

Email: [email protected] 

Also send copies to: His Excellency Dr Hugo Javier GOBBI, Ambassador, Embassy of the Argentine Republic, John McEwen House, Level 2 7 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600, Fax: [phone] Email: [email protected], Salutation: Your Excellency

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

EIGHT-YEAR sentence for having A miscarriage

ADditional Information

Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 11 of the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Argentina is a State party, protect the right to privacy and impose an obligation on States to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to guarantee the confidentiality of medical information, particularly in health settings. Every girl or woman who seeks an abortion in a medical facility or who suffers a miscarriage or stillbirth is protected by doctor-patient confidentiality.

The person who causes an abortion can face prison from one to four years in Argentina. The law permits abortion when the life or health of a pregnant woman is at risk or when the pregnancy is the result of rape. Miscarriages or other complications during pregnancy are not criminalized.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights bodies have called on States to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe and legal abortion in law and practice as a minimum in cases where the pregnancy poses a risk to the life or health of the woman or girl, where the foetus suffers from severe malformation or is not viable, or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Regardless of the legal status of abortion, States have the obligation to ensure access to quality and confidential health services for the treatment of complications arising from unsafe abortions and miscarriages. This treatment must be free from discrimination, coercion and violence.

Women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health care in professional settings are often exposed to ill-treatment, including practices that inflict severe pain, or are subjected to coerced or unwanted procedures and examinations that may constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The denial of certain services or ill-treatment in the context of sexual and reproductive healthcare; usually grounded in gender stereotypes; is discriminatory and constitutes a form of violence against women.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has stated that: “International and regional human rights bodies have begun to recognize that abuse and mistreatment of women seeking reproductive health services can cause tremendous and lasting physical and emotional suffering, inflicted on the basis of gender. Examples of such violations include abusive treatment and humiliation in institutional settings; involuntary sterilization; denial of legally available health services such as abortion and post-abortion care; forced abortions and sterilizations; female genital mutilation; violations of medical secrecy and confidentiality in health-care settings, such as denunciations of women by medical personnel when evidence of illegal abortion is found; and the practice of attempting to obtain confessions as a condition of potentially lifesaving medical treatment after abortion.”

Sexual and reproductive rights are protected under international and regional human rights law, which enshrine the right of people to take informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives, free from violence, coercion or discrimination and to ensure that those decisions are respected. These include the right to health, personal integrity, autonomy and equality, among others.

    UA: 95/16 Index: AMR 13/3905/2016 Issue Date: 2 May 2016