Responding to the news that a separatist “court” in Russia-occupied Donetsk ordered the death of two captured two British nationals and a captured Moroccan national, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law on so many counts.

“The three were members of the Ukrainian regular forces and under the Geneva Conventions, as prisoners of war, they are protected from prosecution for taking part in hostilities. The only exception is prosecution for alleged war crimes, in which case there must be sufficient admissible evidence, and fair trial standards must be ensured. Not only this is not the case in this scenario – they were not tried by an independent, impartial regularly constituted court but by Russian proxies. The so-called ‘charges’ against them would not constitute war crimes. And most outrageously of all, the taking of their lives as result of the grossly unfair proceedings would constitute arbitrary deprivation of life.

“In fact, wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the right to a fair and regular trial constitutes a war crime. Russia, as the occupying power, bears responsibility for the treatment of all prisoners of war and others deprived of their liberty. They must ensure this so-called ‘sentence’ is immediately quashed, and that these men are treated in full compliance with international humanitarian law.”

Background

The “death sentence” against British nationals Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin and Moroccan national Saadun Brahim, was pronounced on 9 June by the de-facto Supreme Court of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, a self-proclaimed separatist entity under Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine.

They were “convicted” of being foreign mercenaries and “actions aimed at violent seizure of power and overthrow of the constitutional order of the DNR”. The three were taking part in the fighting with Russia as members of the regular Ukrainian forces, and were taken captive in May by Russian forces in Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine.

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Bahraini authorities’ inadequate response to people with tuberculosis in Jaw prison is inconsistent with their human rights obligations and especially the right to health, Amnesty International said today.

Since the end of May, prison authorities disregarded at least two prisoners with symptoms of tuberculosis for over a week without testing them. A third prisoner who was granted hospital care, was returned to the prison two days after a doctor told his family he has tuberculosis.  Prisoners’ families have been sounding the alarm and raising complaints given that no measures have been put in place to protect other prisoners from this contagious airborne disease. In one egregious case, prison authorities failed to move a fourth prisoner with tuberculosis to a hospital until he had been sick for almost a year and was semi-paralysed.

“Bahrain’s inadequate response to address cases of tuberculosis in prison shows a disturbing lack of concern for prisoners’ health, and puts their right to health at grave risk. The prison authorities have stood by for too long in the face of the risk of further infections,” said Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The Bahraini authorities must immediately provide people in prison who are sick with all necessary medical care. They should put in place measures to prevent the spread of the illness, including access to voluntary testing for tuberculosis for people with symptoms. Authorities should further investigate any allegations of delayed access to health care and hold those responsible to account.”

Inadequate precautions taken to prevent the spread of tuberculosis

One prisoner, Ahmed Jaber, was confirmed to have tuberculosis by medical examinations at Salmaniya hospital after being left sick for 11 months in prison. In a video posted on social media by an exiled activist on 4 June, Ahmed described how he fell sick in April 2021 and was unable to walk or dress by December 2021.

Despite thi, prison authorities did not transfer Ahmed Jaber to hospital until he was semi-paralysed and bedridden in March 2022. He is currently in a halo vest – a medical device that holds the head and neck in place to prevent further damage to the spine – after severe deterioration of his neck vertebrae due in part to advanced tuberculosis.

Another prisoner, Hasan Abdulla Bati, who also suffers from sickle cell anaemia, was diagnosed with tuberculosis last month. He had been ill with swollen lymph nodes since 2019, and doctors had recommended he undergo an operation, but the prison administration refused to schedule it. On 30 May 2022, after transfer to Salmaniya hospital due to a severe episode caused by his sickle-cell anaemia, doctors informed his family that he had tuberculosis; yet two days later, Bahraini authorities returned him to the prison, placing him back in the same cell with eight other people. He continues to be transported by bus with other prisoners for family visitations inside the prison. Hasan Bati has described his illness and the prison administration’s delay in providing treatment in a voice recording given to Bahraini human rights defender Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei that he posted on social media.

Sayed Nizar al-Wadaei, who was held in the same cell with Ahmed Jaber, has been sick with tuberculosis-like symptoms since the end of May 2022. When he complained to prison guards about his illness, they put him in solitary confinement as punishment, without time outside of the cell or contact with other prisoners. He received testing on 6 June 2022 only after his family had submitted multiple complaints to Bahraini authorities. As of this writing, authorities have not told Sayed Nizar or his family the results of the test or given him any further treatment.

Amnesty International has determined that prison officials moved Ahmed Jaber between cells holding tens of other prisoners in at least seven different buildings at Jaw prison while he was ill there. With the addition of Hasan Bati, who is held in a different building, this means that at least eight buildings at Jaw have had exposure to a person with tuberculosis.

Under international human rights law, the state has a responsibility to ensure that prisoners have access to the same standard of healthcare as is available in the community, free of charge, which includes transferring prisoners to specialized or civil hospitals for treatment that is unavailable in prison.

Background

Amnesty International has documented a recurring problem of medical neglect at the overcrowded and unhygienic Jaw prison in Bahrain. In 2021, there was a major Covid-19 outbreak. One prisoner died after prison authorities waited until he was suffering from severe breathing difficulties before transferring him to hospital.

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In response to the Brazilian authorities’ failure to locate British journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on Indigenous Peoples, almost four days since they disappeared in a remote area of the Amazon jungle, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

“The Brazilian authorities must not waste another second in the search for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. We urge President Bolsonaro to deploy every available resource into finding them alive. Every second could prove crucial to bringing them back safely to their loved ones.”

“We also call on the Peruvian and Colombian authorities to urgently deploy search and rescue teams to their respective regions that border the area of Brazil where Dom and Bruno went missing. International cooperation is more vital than ever in crisis situations like this.”

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Duncan Tucker (Amnesty International Americas): duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

Matheus Vieira (Amnesty International Brazil): imprensa@anistia.org.br

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Authorities in Bangladesh must immediately rescind the decision to arbitrarily deregister the NGO Odhikar and allow the leading human rights group in the country to function without fear of reprisals, Amnesty International said today.

In a letter issued by the NGO Affairs Bureau of Bangladesh on 5 June 2022, the renewal of Odhikar’s registration was cancelled. The authorities stated that Odhikar’s publication of “misleading information” on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in the country severely tarnished the reputation of the state globally. The organization had filed a writ petition in May 2019 seeking explanation from the Bureau as it withheld Odhikar’s renewal application for eight years since 14 September 2014.

“Odhikar’s documentation of human right violations have been critical in holding perpetrators to account in Bangladesh. It is absurd that the authorities withheld the registration of the rights group for eight years and then cancelled it because of the global ire they faced for a poor human rights record. The reprisals against Odhikar are an egregious and shameless act to silence and intimidate human rights defenders in Bangladesh,” said Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.

The reprisals against Odhikar are an egregious and shameless act to silence and intimidate human rights defenders in Bangladesh

Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.

The suspension and involuntary dissolution of an organization are among the severest restrictions on the right to freedom of association, protected under Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bangladesh is a party. Given the severity of the measure, it may only be used when there is a clear and imminent threat to national security or public order, and it must be strictly necessary and proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and used only when less restrictive means would be insufficient. The decision to suspend or dissolve an association should only be made by an impartial and independent court, and not by administrative bodies.

“The revocation of Odhikar’s registration also shows the authority’s disregard for rule of law as the matter of renewal is currently pending review at the High Court, which in 2019 ruled upon the NGO Affairs Bureau to explain the non-renewal of Odhikar’s registration. We have also learnt about disconcerting inquiries from the Bureau seeking sensitive details about families of individuals subjected to enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution on a sub-judice matter as this is one of the core areas of Odhikar’s work,” said Saad Hammadi.

This is not the first time the government has attempted to obstruct the work of Odhikar. In 2014, Odhikar’s secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and director Nasir Uddin Elan were detained for 62 days and 25 days, respectively, on allegations of producing “fabricated reports” after they documented the violent dispersal of protests at the hands of government forces during May 2013, which left several people dead. The latest actions against Odhikar raises fears of further retribution against members of the organization and the larger civil society in the country.

“Odhikar’s deregistration is a clear demonstration of the government’s anger about the credibility the human rights organization enjoys internationally. Reporting on human rights violation is not anti-government or anti-state. Their decision to deregister Odhikar is akin to shooting the messenger. The government must respond to the allegations of human rights violations through credible independent investigations and refrain from punishing human rights defenders and civil society organizations,” said Saad Hammadi.

Reporting on human rights violation is not anti-government or anti-state

Saad Hammadi

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The Ugandan authorities must release the six politicians and activists arrested solely for protesting the high cost of living and respect the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International said today ahead of their bail hearing tomorrow. 

The arrest and continued detention of these activists amounts to intimidation and harassment. This is a clear attempt by the Ugandan authorities to suppress freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly

Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa

Police arrested the six women on 30 May 2022 at Mulago roundabout in Kampala while they held placards protesting inflation, high prices of essential goods and the continued detention of Kizza Besigye, the leader of the political pressure group People’s Front for Transition.

“The arrest and continued detention of these activists amounts to intimidation and harassment. This is a clear attempt by the Ugandan authorities to suppress freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“These six activists must be immediately released. Instead of criminalizing public criticism of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, the Ugandan authorities should take steps to mitigate the impact of rising food costs on those who can least afford it.”

The six women include MP Anna Adeke, Deputy Mayor of Kampala Doreen Nyanjura and four women activists, Wokuri Mudanda, Susan Nanyojo, Mariam Kizito and Alice Amony. They were charged with inciting violence and unlawful assembly and remanded at Luzira Prison in Kampala.

The protests were sparked by rising inflation, which grew from 2.7% in January 2022 to 6.3% in May 2022 and increased the cost of essential consumer goods. Food inflation disproportionately impacts people living in poverty, who spend a greater percentage of their income on food. While inflation is currently a global problem, governments have an obligation to ensure the right to sufficient and adequate access to food, including through international assistance. The arrested politicians and activists had criticized the Ugandan government’s response to rising food costs.

Clampdown on dissent

Ugandan police arrested Kizza Besigye at Arua Park in Kampala on 23 May, where he was addressing people in one of a series of protests about the economic situation.

On 12 May, the police had placed him under a “preventive arrest” which the Ugandan authorities use to pre-emptively prevent an offence.

On 25 May, Besigye was charged with incitement to violence in Buganda Road Court and granted a UGX 30,000,000 (about USD 8,100) cash bail. He objected to this on the grounds that it was excessive and instructed his lawyers to apply for a review of the bail conditions. On 6 June, the High Court reduced the cash bail to UGX 3,000,000 (about USD 810).

The Ugandan authorities must stop using preventive detention and criminal charges to deter people from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The Constitution of Uganda obliges the state to ensure that Ugandans are able to petition the government, exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and to enjoy decent shelter, health and food security.

By arresting people who are concerned about the high cost of living, the Ugandan authorities risk seeming disconnected from the everyday reality of those living in poverty, including people who cannot afford to put a meal on the table

Deprose Muchena

“By arresting people who are concerned about the high cost of living, the Ugandan authorities risk seeming disconnected from the everyday reality of those living in poverty, including people who cannot afford to put a meal on the table,” said Deprose Muchena.

Background:

Protests continue to be criminalized in Uganda with no legal basis even after the country’s Constitutional Court declared Section 8 of the Public Order Management unconstitutional. It was thought that nullifying parts of the law would limit the power held by the Inspector General of Police to arbitrarily prevent or stop public gatherings and crack down on protests.

The state uses Section 83 of the Penal Code Act to charge people for incitement to violence to deter them from protesting.

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