Schlagwort: Amnesty International

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Responding to the news that the European Parliament’s Daphne Caruana Prize for Journalism has been awarded to the Forbidden Stories Consortium, of which Amnesty International was the technical partner, for the Pegasus Project which exposed the systematic targeting of human rights activists, journalists and lawyers with surveillance software, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said:

“The Pegasus Project revealed that journalists, activists, and lawyers around the world are being targeted by governments who want to silence and intimidate them. This prize provides important recognition for those whose work is under attack, and those journalists and technologists who brought the shady practices of surveillance companies and their tools to light.”

Eve Geddie

Harassment, intimidation and attacks on journalists, especially those reporting on sensitive topics such as corruption, rights violations and management of the pandemic, have become more commonplace globally. Across the EU, surveillance, defamation lawsuits, and other provisions restricting, or criminalising speech are increasingly used to intimidate critical voices into silence.

“It’s vital that EU countries address these abuses, protect journalists and rights defenders, and ensure robust and meaningful regulation over the cybersurveillance industry both at home and abroad. Victims of unlawful targeted surveillance must be provided with effective remedy and perpetrators for the violations – including Governments using Pegasus spyware – should be held to account,” said Eve Geddie.

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

Alison Abrahams on alison.abrahams@amnesty.org or +32 483 680 812     

Out of hours contact details     

+44 20 7413 5566     

email: press@amnesty.org      

twitter: @amnestypress    

The award ceremony will be held 12.00 CET on Thursday, 14 October 2021 in the Press Center of the European Parliament prize and hosted by the President of the European Parliament.

Amnesty International’s recommendations to the European Union on ending unlawful targeted surveillance

Daphne Caruana prize

Uncovering the Iceberg: The Digital Surveillance Crisis Wrought by States and the Private Sector

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Responding to today’s ruling by the Administrative Tribunal in Algiers accepting the government’s arbitrary request to dissolve the well-known Algerian civil society organization, the Youth Action Rally (Rassemblement Actions Jeunesse -RAJ), which played a prominent role in the Hirak protest movement, Amna Guellali, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International said: 

“The decision to dissolve the Youth Action Rally (RAJ) is a devastating blow for human rights in Algeria. It is also an alarming indicator of the authorities’ determination to tighten their crackdown on independent activism and suppress the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Shutting down civil society organizations is one of the severest restrictions on the right to freedom of association. Doing it in a bid to silence critics and crush dissent is unlawful and unacceptable.”

Background

On 26 May 2021, the Ministry of Interior notified RAJ that it had requested its dissolution on the grounds that the organization’s activities violated Algeria’s law governing associations. According to one of RAJ’s members, the activities involved included holding discussions with other civil society activists at its headquarters in Algiers, organizing protests, as well as being in contact with national and international NGOs. All these activities are protected under the right to freedom of association and are clearly in line with the rights established under the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In 2019 and 2020, 11 members of RAJ were arrested, prosecuted and nine were arbitrarily detained simply for peacefully protesting or expressing their views online. 

Since RAJ was established, the organization has worked to foster human rights in Algeria, playing a pivotal role in education, promotion of human rights and more recently, calling for a democratic process and radical political change during the Hirak protests. In a press release issued today, RAJ said that they will appeal the decision.  

The dissolution of an organization is among the severest restrictions on the right to freedom of association, protected under article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It may only be used when there is a clear and imminent threat to, for example, national security or public order, and it must be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and only used when less restrictive means would be insufficient.

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Following the repression of a protest planned on 9 October 2021 by opposition and pro-democracy activists in Chad, Abdoulaye Diarra, Amnesty International Central Africa researcher said:

“The crackdown on this weekend’s protest is the latest in a series of blatant restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful association we have documented for years in Chad.

When authorities’ attempts to ban the protest did not deter demonstrators, security forces took over the main streets in the capital N’Djamena and fired tear gas, injuring several people, and arresting dozens of demonstrators who have been released on the same day.

Abdoulaye Diarra, Amnesty International Central Africa researcher

“On the morning of the protest, text messages and Internet networks were reportedly slowed down for hours in some areas of N’Djamena, confirming the link between disruptions in Internet access and moments of political contestation we have been observing over the past five years in the country.

“Since the beginning of the political transition, several demonstrations were banned and suppressed by the authorities. Between 27 April and 19 May 2021,  at least 16 people were killed during protests in N’Djamena and the southern town of Moundou.  The investigations’ outcomes are still awaited.

“Authorities in Chad must end this campaign of intimidation against critical voices, respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The apparent restrictions on Internet connectivity which took place around the protest must be investigated, and people in Chad must be allowed to freely access and exchange information online.”

Background

Since the death of former President Idriss Deby Itno in April 2021, Chad has been ruled by the Transitional Military Council (Conseil militaire de transition in French) led by his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby.

On Saturday 9 October 2021, ‘Wakit Tama’, a coalition of civil society organizations and opposition parties in Chad, called for a protest to denounce the transitional authorities’ governance.

The authorities, evoking “risks of disturbing public order”, banned the protest, but  people gathered in the capital N’Djamena.  According to ‘Wakit Tama’s’ spokespersons, at least 10 people were injured by tear gas and 45 others were arrested during the  protest repression.

On 2 October, police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators starting to gather around the headquarters of the opposition political party  ‘Les Transformateurs’ . The police  also dispersed demonstrators in other areas of Ndjamena. According to the authorities, the agreed itinerary for the protest has not been respected. .

On 10 October, Wakit Tama  said in a statement that five of its main leaders were to be heard by the judicial police today, after police reportedly raided the headquarters of ‘Les Transformateurs’.

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The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the planned execution of a young man who was sentenced to death for a crime that took place when he was a child, following a grossly unfair trial marred by torture-tainted “confessions”, Amnesty International said today.

Arman Abdolali was moved to solitary confinement in Raja’i Shahr prison in Karaj in preparation for his execution on Wednesday 13 October. His execution was scheduled twice before – in July 2021 and in January 2020 – but was halted both times after an international outcry.

“Time is rapidly running out, the Iranian authorities must immediately halt all plans to execute Arman Abdolali on 13 October. Use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time the crime was committed is prohibited under international law and constitutes an abhorrent assault on child rights,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“The Iranian authorities are demonstrating their ruthless intent to resort to the death penalty in complete disregard for their obligations under international law by scheduling Arman Abdolali’s execution for a third time. Global action helped to stop Arman Abdolali’s previously scheduled executions, we now urge the international community, including the UN and EU, to urgently intervene to save his life.”

Use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time the crime was committed is prohibited under international law and constitutes an abhorrent assault on child rights

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International

Arman Abdolali was first sentenced to death in December 2015 after being convicted of murder in a grossly unfair trial, in which the court relied on torture-tainted “confessions”, in connection with the disappearance of his girlfriend in 2014. Her body was never found; the court stated that the murder had been committed without leaving any trace indicating that Arman Abdolali had attained “mental maturity” and understood the nature and consequences of the crime. The international legal prohibition on sentencing people who were children when they allegedly committed the crime to death is absolute, therefore is not subject to claims of “maturity” or “understanding the crime”.

In reaching this decision, the court also relied on the opinion of a Children and Adolescent Court Advisor who stated that Arman Abdolali understood the “abhorrent” nature of the crime. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in July 2016. The trial and appeal verdicts both noted Arman Abdolali’s allegations that he was held in prolonged solitary confinement for 76 days and repeatedly beaten to “confess”, but no investigation was ordered and the “confessions” were described by the court as “unequivocal”.

In February 2020, the Supreme Court granted him a retrial after the Children and Adolescent Court Advisor withdrew her initial opinion, saying it had been issued without meeting him in person or studying his casefile. His retrial, at Branch 5 of Criminal Court One of Tehran Province, largely focused on whether there were doubts about his “maturity” at the time of the crime.

In September 2020, the court ruled that it was not possible to determine Arman Abdolali’s “maturity” so many years after the crime had taken place and ruled that in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, his criminal responsibility stands.

Given these deeply flawed proceedings, Amnesty International is also calling on the Iranian authorities to quash Arman Abdolali’s conviction and grant him a retrial in line with fair trial standards generally and those pertaining to children in particular, without resorting to coerced “confessions” or use of the death penalty.

Under Iranian law, in cases of murder and certain other capital crimes, boys aged above 15 lunar years and girls aged above nine lunar years are treated as adults and can be sentenced to death. However, Article 91 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code grants judges the discretion to replace the death penalty with an alternative sentence if they believe there are doubts about the individual’s “maturity” at the time of the crime. In practice, there is no clarity over the evidence and the standards of proof needed to demonstrate “full maturity”.

“This case highlights the deeply flawed nature of Iran’s child justice system. We again urge the Iranian authorities to put an end to the violations of the right to life and children’s rights by amending the Penal Code to ban the use of the death penalty against anyone who was under 18 at the time of the crime without exception, pending the full abolition of the death penalty,” said Diana Eltahawy.

Iran continues to use the death penalty for crimes committed by people under the age of 18, in violation of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The authorities executed at least three people who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offence in 2020. Earlier this year, they executed in secret Sajad Sanjari, a young man who was 15 at the time of the offence. Scores of people similarly convicted of crimes committed when they were children remain on death row in Iran. In 2020, Iran carried out at least 246 executions securing the shameful place of second top executioner worldwide.

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