Kategorie: Humans

Former Hong Kong prison inmates have told of inhumane and degrading conditions in new research published today by Amnesty International, as the organization called for authorities to urgently investigate the situation in the city’s correctional facilities.

Nine former inmates jailed between 2016 and 2023 reported physical violence, prolonged solitary confinement, poor sanitary conditions and dangerously high summer temperatures during their incarceration across 11 prisons in the territory.

“These accounts of Hong Kong prison life by former inmates reveal a pattern of ill-treatment that has caused significant mental and physical harm and demands immediate investigation,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said.

“Subjecting inmates to extreme heat, filthy conditions and violent punishment amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may amount to torture under international law. Hong Kong’s government must end this culture of abuse and ensure those responsible for human rights abuses in its prisons are held accountable.”

Hong Kong authorities responded to Amnesty to refute the claims as a “malicious smear”.

“I heard screaming and the sounds of a ‘chicken wing’”

Tony Chung, a political activist held on remand at the Pik Uk Correctional Institution for juvenile offers from October 2020 to April 2022, told Amnesty International that violence by prison officers against inmates was commonplace.

“Sometimes, when officers were unhappy with an inmate, they would bring the inmate to a corridor where there was no CCTV coverage, and then I could hear the inmate screaming and the sounds of a ‘chicken wing’,” he said. ‘Chicken wing’ is a term used to describe officers striking an inmate’s shoulder blades with their elbows, a method intended to avoid leaving visible bruises.

Peter*, who was held in the same facility from 2016 over protest-related offences, said he was assaulted by a correctional officer on his first day because he did not know how to address staff properly.

“In juvenile prisons, inmates must use specific phrases to report their names and hold their ID cards in front of their chests,” he said. “I didn’t know that because I was new, so I was slapped in the face eight times as punishment.”

Peter said corporal punishment was used by officers to assert authority and to instil fear in juvenile facility.

“You could get beaten if your blanket wasn’t folded neatly or if your hands weren’t firm and straight enough while standing,” he said. “Once, I was asked to memorize the prison rulebook, then suddenly ordered to recite it backwards. For every wrong word, I was hit once on the soles of my feet. In the end, my soles turned purple.”

The inmates’ accounts appear to corroborate previous allegations of violence by Correctional Services Department (CSD) officers. In 2017, a Hong Kong media outlet interviewed 50 former juvenile inmates who described extreme physical and psychological abuse by CSD officers, including beatings and being forced to drink urine and eat faeces. In 2020, dozens of juvenile inmates were reportedly slapped by an officer after singing a protest song.

‘We had to be completely naked in the cells’

Hong Kong’s summers are extremely hot and humid with afternoon temperatures often exceeding 31°C. Pro-democracy online radio host “Giggs” Edmund Wan was remanded in 2021 in Stanley Prison for approximately 20 months, including two summers. He told Amnesty International that the cell was “like an oven” in the summer months and felt like it was “over 40°C”.

“Every night before we returned to our cells, we queued at the canteen toilet to use the hose there to pour water over our bodies to cool down,” he said. “But really, we were only fooling ourselves. By the time we walked from the canteen back to the cells, we were already drenched in sweat again.”

Although an electric fan was installed on the ceiling of each cell in Stanley Prison, Wan said it was tightly enclosed by a wire mesh that blocked airflow, rendering it “completely useless”.

“We had to be completely naked in the cells — not even underwear. I could hear people crying out in pain, and some had to be hospitalized because of the heat,” Wan said.

Amy*, who was held in solitary confinement at Lo Wu Correctional Institution during the summer of 2023, said her cell had no windows and she developed a heat rash. “Even the officers were completely drenched in sweat,” she added.

In 2024, imprisoned activist Chow Hang-tung mounted a legal challenge to the rules that require women – but not men – to wear long trousers year-round in prisons despite extreme heat in summer.

‘Where you could barely see the sun’

Hong Kong’s Prison Rules provide for two types of solitary confinement, both in violation of international standards. Rule 63 allows for punitive solitary confinement of up to 28 days for disciplinary offences. Rule 68B authorizes administrative solitary confinement initially for 72 hours and for a further period of up to one month for vague non-punitive purposes.

During his time in Pik Uk, Chung said he was put in solitary confinement under Rule 63 on at least three occasions, which he believed were acts of retaliation rather than legitimate disciplinary measures.

“Once, I told a friend during a visit that I had to do drill exercises for more than three hours because the officers thought we were too noisy at night. My friend posted this on social media, and a week later, officers searched my cell and ‘found’ a bookmark that didn’t belong to me. I was then sent to solitary confinement as punishment.”

Even the “non-punitive solitary confinement” appears to be, in practice, used as a punitive measure.

“When I first entered prison, officers put me into a room and pressured me to sign papers ‘voluntarily’ agreeing to solitary confinement,” Wan said. “There’s basically no way to refuse — they lock you in a room and keep you there until you agree to sign.”

Fernando Cheung, a former legislator held in Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in 2022 and now an Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas Board Member, said he was also required by officers to sign similar documents to “voluntarily” request solitary confinement.

Interviewees described the significant mental suffering caused by solitary confinement.

“I was locked in a tiny cell, completely alone for more than 22 hours a day,” Wan said. “I ate and used the toilet inside the cell. Although there was one hour of daily exercise, it was just walking alone inside a fenced cage where you could barely see the sun.”

Amendments of the Prison Rules in July 2025 included allowing the use of solitary confinement under Rule 68B based on the grounds of “safeguarding national security”.

Interviewees said solitary confinement was more likely to be used against prisoners detained for “political” offences.

‘Cockroaches were crawling on my body’

Interviewees also reported poor sanitary conditions inside prison. Tommy*, held at Lai Chi Kok in 2021, said: “There were cockroaches crawling on my body — I couldn’t sleep at all.”

Cheung, who was imprisoned in the same facility that year, described it as “extremely filthy — beyond imagination.

“In the cell, dust had built up into pillars hanging from the ceiling. In the prison hospital, the toilets couldn’t be flushed, and the stench was unbearable.”

Amnesty International calls on the Hong Kong authorities to take immediate and concrete steps to address the abuses it has documented, including by undertaking the necessary investigations and reforms to prevent further violations of inmates’ human rights.

The government should also implement recommendations made by the UN Committee against Torture in 2016, including:

• Establish an independent body with the mandate to carry out effective unannounced visits at all detention facilities.
• Reduce the maximum duration of solitary confinement and limit its use as a measure of last resort, for as short a time as possible. Clear and specific criteria should be established for decisions on solitary confinement, indicating the conduct, type and maximum duration.
• Compile and regularly publish comprehensive disaggregated data on the use of solitary confinement, including related suicide attempts and self-harm.

“Using solitary confinement as a tool of retaliation and coercion is an abuse of power that can spiral into psychological torture. The Hong Kong government must urgently bring its practices in line with international standards by strictly ensuring that solitary confinement is only imposed in exceptional, individualized circumstances and as a last resort, and subject to regular, substantive and independent review,” Sarah Brooks said.

Background

Hong Kong’s CSD currently maintains 29 correctional facilities across the city. Inmates in these facilities include people on remand awaiting trial or sentencing, convicted individuals serving sentences and people detained for immigration reasons. For simplicity, Amnesty International has used the term “prison” to refer any of the 29 facilities managed by the CSD.

In addition to interviews with former prisoners, Amnesty International also conducted extensive desk research and spoke with lawyers and researchers with expertise in the correctional service.

In response to Amnesty’s findings, the CSD said it “categorically refutes the allegations”. The CSD said it had zero tolerance of physical violence, that solitary confinement is only imposed “in strict adherence to the law”, that it enforced the “highest possible degree of cleanliness” and that it had taken “extensive measures” to address the effects of hot weather.

The post Hong Kong: Prisons rife with violence and inhumane treatment, inmate testimony reveals appeared first on Amnesty International.

Reacting to the detention of three prominent human rights defenders in Yekaterinburg on charges of “organizing activities of an undesirable organization,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“The Russian authorities are blatantly attempting to criminalize human rights work. By conducting intrusive searches and arbitrary arrests, and by criminalizing peaceful cooperation with international partners, the authorities are determined to force human rights defenders into submission.

“Russia’s authorities must immediately release Aleksei Sokolov, Larisa Zakharova and Roman Kachanov and drop all charges against them, which stem solely from their human rights work. Instead of prosecuting those who expose the abuses of the justice and penal systems, the authorities should address these violations themselves.”

Russia’s authorities must immediately release Aleksei Sokolov, Larisa Zakharova and Roman Kachanov and drop all charges against them, which stem solely from their human rights work

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director

Background

On 16 December, law enforcement officers carried out coordinated searches at the homes and workplaces of Yekaterinburg-based human rights defenders Aleksei Sokolov and Larisa Zakharova, as well as lawyer Roman Kachanov. All three work with “Human Rights Defenders of the Urals.” They were subsequently charged under Article 284.1(3) of the Russian Criminal Code, for “organization of activities of an undesirable organization” which is punishable by up to six years’ imprisonment.

The authorities have claimed that the case is connected to alleged cooperation with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, both designated “undesirable” in Russia.

Aleksei Sokolov is also currently facing criminal prosecution for the alleged display of “extremist symbols” based solely on references to Facebook in the online posts of their human rights group, following the Russian authorities’ designation of Meta as an “extremist organization” and the resulting ban on links to its platforms. He spent six months between July 2024 and January 2025 in pre-trial detention before being released under restrictive measures.

The post Russia: Prominent human rights defenders targeted under “undesirable organizations” legislation appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to today’s conviction of Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai on national security charges, Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said:

“The predictability of today’s verdict does not make it any less dismaying – the conviction of Jimmy Lai feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong, where the essential work of journalism has been rebranded as a crime.

“Lai has been jailed simply because he and his Apple Daily newspaper criticized the government. The activities for which he has been convicted would never have been considered crimes before the 2020 National Security Law was enacted.

“But this verdict shows that Hong Kong’s so-called ‘national security’ laws are not in place to protect people, but to silence them. It should also serve as a warning to all people doing business in Hong Kong: that pursuing opportunities in the city comes with severe legal risks.

“This verdict is not just about one man; it is the latest step in a systematic crackdown on freedom of expression in Hong Kong: targeting not only protests and political parties, but the very idea that people can – indeed, should – hold power to account.

“Jimmy Lai is a prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, and he must be immediately and unconditionally released. The law that has been used to target him, and so many others, must be internationally condemned for what it is: a cover for the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong to carry on their crackdown.”

Background

Hong Kong’s High Court today found pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to commit sedition. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Lai was charged with “collusion with a foreign country or external elements” under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) on 11 December 2020. He has been continuously detained since 31 December 2020. He was later charged with two more counts of “conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or external elements” under the NSL, and one more count of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications” under the Crimes Ordinance.

Hong Kong authorities said the charges related to the publication of articles in Apple Daily, a newspaper owned by Lai, that called on foreign countries to impose sanctions. Authorities also cited Lai’s meetings with US politicians and interviews with overseas media, his Twitter (now X) posts and his list of followers on the platform which included prominent foreign politicians and NGOs supportive of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

Lai, a British national, was denied bail in February 2021 when Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that National Security Law cases were an exception to the presumption in favour of bail. The Hong Kong government also prohibited Lai’s British lawyer Timothy Owen from representing him.

Jimmy Lai founded the outspoken Apple Daily in 1995. Shortly after the National Security Law was introduced on 30 June 2020, nearly 200 police raided the newspaper’s headquarters. It was the first time the law was invoked to search a media outlet’s premises, and Lai was arrested along with his two sons and several newspaper executives.

Apple Daily closed in June 2021 following another police raid and the freezing of its assets, in what Amnesty at the time called a “brazen attack on press freedom”.

Prior to today’s verdict, Hong Kong courts have convicted Lai in four separate cases involving “unauthorized assemblies” and fraud and handed down prison sentences totalling over seven years.

Last year, Amnesty International recognized Lai as a prisoner of conscience alongside human rights lawyers Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi.

The post Hong Kong: Conviction of Jimmy Lai sounds death knell for press freedom appeared first on Amnesty International.

Reacting to the release by the Belarusian authorities of 123 individuals, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and Maryia Kalesnikava, prisoner of conscience and subject of Amnesty International’s Write for Rights 2024, Marie Struthers, Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said:

“We welcome reports that Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski are among those have been freed. But let’s be clear: the latest release doesn’t erase a system that still holds hundreds if not thousands of others languishing behind bars merely for speaking out. Nor does it mean justice for Ales, Maryia and all those who should not have spent a day in prison and suffered severe human rights violations.

We welcome reports that Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski are among those have been freed. But let’s be clear: the latest release doesn’t erase a system that still holds hundreds if not thousands of others languishing behind bars merely for speaking out

Marie Struthers, Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International

“Maryia, Ales and all those freed today must receive full reparations for their ordeal. Every official suspected of responsibility for their wrongful imprisonments – no matter how senior – must be held accountable.

“We must also remember others whose release is long overdue. If this release is a part of political bargain, it only underscores the Belarusian authorities’ cynical treatment of people as pawns. The fate of the released and others like them must never depend on backroom deals. We call for the release of Marfa Rabkova, Nasta Loika and countless other prisoners in Belarus who are unjustly jailed on politically motivated grounds.”

Background

On 13 December, the Belarusian authorities have released 123 prisoners, including opposition politician Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski, a leading human rights advocate and founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre, following an agreement with the United States to ease sanctions on the country’s potash exports. The vice chair of Viasna Valiantsin Stefanovich, the organisation’s lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich and Kalesnikava’s close associate Maksim Znak are reportedly among the released.

On 7 September 2020, Maryia Kalesnikava was abducted by masked agents and taken towards the Ukrainian border, where she resisted deportation by tearing up her passport, after which she went missing. Later it transpired that she was arrested, charged with “undermining national security” and other fabricated offences, and on 6 September 2021 she received an 11-year prison sentence.

Ales Bialiatski was convicted in 2023 on charges of “tax evasion” and “financing actions deemed to violate public order” – charges widely seen as politically motivated – and had been serving a 10-year sentence in a penal colony.

The post Belarus: Long overdue release of Maryia Kalesnikava, Ales Bialiatski and others must not mask the scale of repression appeared first on Amnesty International.

Tunisian authorities must drop charges against six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the French NGO, France Terre d’Asile, who are facing a bogus criminal trial for their humanitarian work with refugees and migrants, and cease the relentless criminalization of civil society, Amnesty International said ahead of the opening of their trial on 15 December.

Three of the Terre d’Asile Tunisie staff – including Sherifa Riahi and Mohamed Joo – have  been arbitrarily held in pretrial detention for over 19 months, along with local municipality staff who collaborated with them.   

“The recent verdict against the Tunisian Council for Refugees staff confirms the criminalization of support for refugees and asylum seekers, coming after Tunisian authorities put an end to access to asylum in the country. It sends a chilling message to humanitarian workers and civil society organizations, who are often helping to fulfil states’ international obligations with regards to refugees’ and migrants’ rights as well as social and economic rights for the wider population,” said Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“We call on the Tunisian authorities to respect their obligations under international human rights law, put an end to this injustice and ensure the release of NGO staff and those held arbitrarily with them from the municipality. They are being prosecuted simply for their legitimate work providing vital assistance and protection to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in precarious situations.”

We call on the Tunisian authorities to respect their obligations under international human rights law, put an end to this injustice and ensure the release of NGO staff and those held arbitrarily with them from the municipality.

Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for MENA

The NGO staff face trial alongside 17 former municipality officials and employees accused of collaborating with the organization. It follows the sentencing to two years in prison on 24 November of two staff members from humanitarian NGO the Tunisian Council for Refugees (CTR), amid a deepening crackdown on civil society organizations that has contributed to the complete dismantling of protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the country.

Bogus charges against humanitarian workers

On 15 December, 23 NGO staff and local municipality officials who collaborated with them will face trial before the Tunis Court of First Instance. Three of the Terre d’Asile Tunisie staff, human rights defenders and NGO workers – former director Sherifa Riahi, financial and administrative director Mohamed Joo, along with the current director — have been held in arbitrary pretrial detention since their arrest in May 2024, in addition to Imen Ouardani, former deputy mayor of the eastern city of Sousse, and another former local official solely for having allowed the NGO to use a municipality building for their activities.

The group are being prosecuted for their humanitarian work assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants with overbroad charges, including “sheltering individuals illegally entering or leaving the territory” and “facilitating the irregular entry, exit, movement or stay of a foreigner.”

Terre d’Asile Tunisie was properly registered under Tunisian law and operated transparently in direct cooperation with local and national Tunisian authorities. The prosecution not only violates their right to freedom of association but also criminalizes collaboration between civil society and local authorities, in direct contravention of Tunisia’s obligations under international law towards refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and towards human rights defenders, by actively hampering protection and assistance work.

Providing humanitarian and human rights support to migrants, irrespective of their legal status, is protected by the right to freedom of association under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders  and must not be equated with human smuggling or trafficking, in line with the United Nations (UN) Convention on Transnational Organized Crime ratified by Tunisia. States also have an obligation to create a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders in which they can work without fear of reprisals.

Escalating crackdown on civil society

The trial follows the alarming conviction on 24 November of staff from the CTR, an NGO that worked with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to provide essential assistance. The Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced the CTR founder and project manager Mustapha Djemali and Abderrazek Krimi to two years in prison, while suspending the remainder of their sentence after taking into account the 18 months in pre-trial detention already served. They were released as a result.

Since May 2024, Tunisian authorities have been escalating their crackdown on civil society organizations, particularly those working on migration. This campaign has included arbitrary arrests, detentions, asset freezes, bank restrictions, and court-ordered suspensions, which have impacted over 15 organizations in the last two months.

According to a statement shared by the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LTDH) on 8 December 2025, the Tunisian authorities have on at least four occasions in the past month refused access to the organization to visit prisons, despite a memorandum signed in 2015 between the League and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry refuted wanting to put an end to the memorandum.

Other organizations targeted with criminal investigations and arbitrary detentions include the anti-racism NGO Mnemty and the children’s rights NGO Children of the Moon of Medenine, whose presidents have been in detention since May and November 2024 respectively. Authorities have also held the executive director of the Association for the Promotion of the Right to Difference (ADD), Salwa Ghrissa, in arbitrary pretrial detention since 12 December 2024.

In June 2024, Tunisian authorities ordered the suspension of registration and refugee status determination (RSD) activities by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, effectively removing the only avenue for seeking asylum in the country.

The crackdown on civil society organizations and the suspension of UNHCR activities have severely affected access to protection and vital services such as emergency shelter, healthcare, child protection, assistance for victims of gender-based violence, and legal aid. It has left potentially thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, including unaccompanied children, at greater risk of human rights violations and abuse.

“The relentless targeting of NGOs, notably those protecting vulnerable refugees and migrants, reveals a deeply worrying state strategy to dismantle the foundations of Tunisia’s civic space,” said Anne Savinel-Barras, president of Amnesty International France.

The post Tunisia: Authorities must immediately drop charges against humanitarian workers facing bogus criminal trial  appeared first on Amnesty International.