Responding to reports that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to announce that Myanmar’s military has committed genocide and crimes against humanity during its violent campaign against the Rohingya minority, Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Director, said: 

“Nearly five years after 740,000 people were driven from their homes at gunpoint in 2017, Rohingya families and survivors have yet to receive justice for the unimaginable horrors inflicted upon them. Momentum for international justice must be accelerated to end the rampant culture of impunity in Myanmar, where no senior figures have ever faced the consequences of their appalling campaign against the Rohingya people.

“Without accountability, Myanmar’s military will continue to believe it has a blank check to murder innocent people, bomb their homes, and destroy their families. Amnesty International supports the call for the investigation and prosecution of senior military officials for crimes under international law in Myanmar, which include crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. 

“The same generals who implemented the authorities’ brazen campaign of bloodshed against the Rohingya seized power in a 2021 coup. In response to a nationwide protest movement, they then turned their weapons on youth protesters in Myanmar’s biggest cities, deploying violent tactics previously used to target ethnic minorities for decades.” 

Background:

The administration of US President Joe Biden is set to formally declare on 21 March that the Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign against the Rohingya amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make the announcement at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

Myanmar’s military drove out more than 740,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State into Bangladesh in a brutal campaign of extrajudicial killings, arson and sexual assault. An estimated one million Rohingya refugees now live in Bangladesh, and many of their homes back in Rakhine State have been wiped from the map. 

The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a coup in the early hours of 1 Feb. 2021.  

There are multiple international efforts to provide justice to the Rohingya people, including a genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A separate case is ongoing in Argentina under the concept of universal jurisdiction. 

Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. 

In 2017, Amnesty International’s research in Rakhine State detailed a vicious system of institutionalized discrimination and segregation that severely restricted the human rights of the minority Rohingya Muslims. This system – amounting to apartheid – threatens and undermines freedom of movement, ability to access adequate food and healthcare, and right to an education. 

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“Mhux problema”, says 19-year-old Kader, smiling. He’s wiping down the kitchen table and I’m in the way.  “That’s ‘no problem’ in Maltese”.

It’s a Saturday afternoon and I’m in the spotlessly clean apartment on the outskirts of Valletta that Kader shares with Amara and other West African youths. Abdalla has just arrived from across town after finishing his shift in a toy warehouse, and Amara prepares coffee for everyone. These three young men are the El Hiblu 3 – and they’re facing years in prison.

It’s three years since Amara, Kader and Abdalla arrived in Malta, having fled Libya with 100 others on a rubber boat. They were 15, 16 and 19 years old respectively. When the boat began to deflate, it was rescued by a cargo ship, the El Hiblu. The captain promised to take them to Europe. Hours later, some of the people on board recognised the lights of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, drawing closer. They weren’t heading towards Europe after all.

Panic set in. People were threatening to jump off the boat – prepared to die before returning to Libya to face more horrific abuses. It’s well-known that Libya isn’t a safe country for migrants. In fact, taking them back there would have been unlawful. The captain needed to restore calm. He asked Amara, Kader and Abdalla to reassure the desperate passengers and to interpret for him into French. Eventually he changed course to Malta. 

On arrival, the three youths were arrested and detained. They had no idea why. The charges they face are so severe, some carry a life sentence.

Amara speaks English fluently. He had always hoped his language skills would be the key to a brighter future – and despite everything that’s happened, he still does. “I hope to be a translator one day. I thought my English would help people. We just wanted to help”. 

But it’s hard to plan for the future when you’re facing life-changing charges and living under strict bail conditions. All three keep as busy as possible to try to distract themselves from the worry of the case. They work long hours, and Abdalla has his hands full with his 16-month-old daughter. In their free time they play football, cook, and work on their English. Kader waves his phone towards me so I can see his progress on the DuoLingo app. Amara explains the “heavy load” they carry every day:

“We are between life and death. They are playing with our lives… I try to be strong but it’s eating me up…I don’t feel free.”

Amara

“We are between life and death. They are playing with our lives. We have no power. I used to be a happy man. Now I can feel myself withdrawing. I try to be strong but it’s eating me up – I just work and sleep. I don’t feel free.”

After a while we switch on the TV to watch some football. It’s clearly very painful for them to talk about their situation. Cameroon are playing Gambia in the African Cup of Nations. Their home teams, Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire, are already out, so everyone’s supporting Gambia. They’re rooting for the underdogs.

© Amnesty International/Joanna Demarco

A few days later, I meet them again outside the Courts of Justice in Valletta for their latest hearing. They’re all dressed extremely smartly – Abdalla’s gingham suit complete with matching tie and handkerchief. They’re used to these hearings by now, aware that often nothing much happens. They’re still nervous, though. The small court room is full of supporters observing proceedings. One of the migrants on board the El Hiblu is called as a witness. The young man from Ivory Coast describes what happened at sea at length. His testimony is entirely consistent with what the El Hiblu 3 told Amnesty’s researchers. It’s not clear why it took two years for these witnesses to be called – in that time, many of those who were on board the El Hiblu have left Malta. But it prolongs the uncertainty.

After the hearing, we all sit outside in a nearby square. The youths’ lawyer hands them a large bundle of mail. In 2020 the El Hiblu 3 were part of Amnesty’s Write for Rights campaign [insert link], and received thousands of letters and cards expressing support from all over the world. And they’re still coming. Abdalla, Amara and Kader open a few and read them carefully. The envelopes bear stamps from Singapore, Ukraine, France, the UK. This particular batch has lots from Quebec too, written in French by school children. “We stand with you”, one letter reads.

© Amnesty International

“They give us hope, and they give us strength” explains Kader thoughtfully. 

One card has a picture of a lilac ‘forget-me-not’ flower. Below, someone has written ‘El Hiblu 3’. These three young men know the world hasn’t forgotten them. Thousands of people around the world stand with them and are demanding justice.

Join them.

The post The El Hiblu 3: three years waiting for justice in Malta appeared first on Amnesty International.

Ahead of the fifth, and possibly final, hearing in the trial of human rights defender Osman Kavala and seven other defendants on 21 March, Amnesty International is calling for their acquittal and Kavala’s immediate release.

In his final opinion, the prosecutor requested that Osman Kavala and Mücella Yapıcı — one of his co-defendants, who served as the spokesperson of Taksim Solidarity at the time of the Gezi Park protests — be found guilty of “attempting to overthrow the government”. They face a possible aggravated life sentence.

“This weekend, Osman Kavala marked his 1,600^th day in jail. Despite committing no internationally recognized crime, he remains arbitrarily detained on baseless charges in a facility far away from his family,” said Nils Muižnieks, Amnesty International’s Europe Director.

“Since 2017, the prosecuting authorities have tried to conjure a crime out of thin air, but have repeatedly failed. On the contrary, each tortuous twist in this politically motivated prosecution has further exposed the hollowness of the Turkish justice system.”

In January, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers took the rare decision to begin the formal process of infringement against Turkey over their failure to release Osman Kavala. This came two years after the European Court of Human Rights found that the Turkish authorities have violated Osman Kavala’s right to liberty with the ulterior motive of silencing him, and called for his immediate release.

Strikingly, the prosecutor also said in his final opinion that the “espionage” charge Kavala is currently being held in prison for is included in the charge he would like Kavala to be found guilty of. Yet it was in response to this exact charge that the European Court of Human Rights ruled there was no reasonable suspicion that he had committed a crime to justify his imprisonment pending trial. Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities have spent the last two years arguing over the meaning of “espionage” in order to justify his imprisonment.

“Osman Kavala will never get back the four-and-a-half years he has already spent behind bars for no other reason than his civil society activism,” said Nils Muižnieks.

“But this shameful farce can only have one just outcome: the acquittal of Osman Kavala and all of his co-defendants. Crucially, Kavala himself must also be immediately and unconditionally released from prison.”

Background

Osman Kavala was first charged with organizing the Gezi protests — mass demonstrations in 2013 against an urban development project in Istanbul. After a court acquitted Kavala, the authorities immediately rearrested him for allegedly being behind the 2016 failed coup attempt. They also accused him of “espionage”.

Last summer, the court’s decision to merge the Gezi prosecution with that of 35 football supporters — a move that would have prolonged Kavala’s time behind bars, despite mounting pressure to implement the European Court of Human Right’s ruling and release him — was suddenly overturned at the last hearing in February following a request from the prosecutor.

Turkey is only the second country to face infringement proceedings for failing to implement a binding ruling of the European Court of Human Rights.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Stefan Simanowitz, press@amnesty.org

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Responding to the assault and torture of a supporter of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police on 17 March, Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, said:

This brutal and vicious assault against Godfrey Karembera is meant to intimidate political opposition supporters in Zimbabwe ahead of the upcoming by-elections

Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Southern Africa

“This brutal and vicious assault against Godfrey Karembera is meant to intimidate political opposition supporters in Zimbabwe ahead of the upcoming by-elections. This attack is a chilling reminder of the country’s history of unlawful use of force by police brutality around elections.

“It sends a message to supporters of the opposition that they will pay a price for aligning with the political party of their choice.

“The police claim that Godfrey Karembera, known as Madzibaba Veshanduko, used abusive language against them or tried to deface the statue of Mbuya Nehanda holds no water. Police are trained to enforce the law and not to break it themselves – they must use the proper process to deal with suspected criminals including bringing them to court for a fair trial.

“The police in question must be investigated and those found responsible must be brought to justice.”

Background

Photos of assaulted Karembera appeared on social media on 17 March. Justifying the assault, Zimbabwean police said in a statement that he was “engaging in unsanctioned political activities in the Harare Central District”.  Violence against the opposition has been escalating in Zimbabwe in recent weeks.

On 27 February, a gang appeared at Mbizo 4 shopping centre in Kwekwe, to stop the CCC from holding a political rally. The gang allegedly used not only machetes but also beer bottles, iron bars, spears and bricks to attack supporters while Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the CCC, was giving a speech. At least 1 person died and 17 were injured.

A CCC Candidate Thokozile Dube was surrounded by the ruling ZANU-PF militia who assaulted her and destroyed property for failing to withdraw her candidature in Umzingwane constituency. On 26 February, Zimbabwe’s Vice President, Constantino Chiwenga, sent a warning to the CCC, saying the ruling ZANU-PF party would “crush the party like lice”.

The post Zimbabwe: Police attack on opposition supporter raises alarm about partisan policing and torture appeared first on Amnesty International.