Schlagwort: human rights

On Sunday 4 December, the Israeli authorities plan to deport French-Palestinian human rights defender Salah Hammouri, who has also had his Jerusalem residency status revoked. 

Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, said: 

“Salah Hammouri has already spent nine months in administrative detention without charge or trial this year, in retaliation for his tireless campaigning for an end to Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. These latest plans are not only a shameless attempt to hinder Salah’s human rights work, they are also an expression of the Israeli authorities’ chilling long-term policy aim of reducing the number of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.  

“Unlawful deportation from the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime. Deportation carried to maintain a system of apartheid constitutes a crime against humanity. These crimes are all in the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, whose Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the situation in Palestine. We reiterate our call for the crime of apartheid to be included in that investigation; Israeli authorities must be held accountable.   

This is an expression of Israeli authorities’ chilling long-term policy aim of reducing the number of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.  

Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

“Over the past two decades, Salah Hammouri has faced many of the inhumane acts which Israeli authorities use to enforce and maintain their system of apartheid. He has been subjected to prolonged administrative detention on various occasions, as well as harassment, family separation, surveillance, and constant threats of residency revocation. This persecution must end now. Israeli authorities must release Salah Hammouri, restore his residency status in Jerusalem, and allow him to continue his human rights work without fear of reprisals.” 

Background

Salah Hammouri was notified on 30 November that he will be deported to France on Sunday 4 December 2022 – the date his current administrative detention order expires. Salah has been detained without charge or trial since 7 March, under a three-month administrative detention order that has been repeatedly renewed. 

The deportation of Salah Hammouri would set a dangerous precedent. It is based on an amendment to a law which authorizes the Israeli Ministry of the Interior to deport permanent residents (the legal status held by most Palestinian-Jerusalemites) if they are found to have “breached” allegiance to the state of Israel. This is at odds with international law: allegiance to the occupying power is not required from an occupied population. 

Under Israeli law, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are not Israeli citizens and are not residents of the West Bank. Instead, they are granted fragile “permanent residency status” which allows them to reside and work in the city, and which may be revoked on a number of discriminatory grounds. 

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Hussein Abo al-Kheir, a Jordanian man and father of eight who has been on death row since 2015 on a drug-smuggling conviction is at risk of imminent execution, Amnesty International said today, as Saudi Arabia resumes executions for drug-related offences after a two-year moratorium.

Since 10 November 2022, Saudi Arabia has executed 20 people convicted on drug-related charges, 60% of whom were foreign nationals. Dozens more prisoners are feared to be facing the same fate.

Hussein Abo al-Kheir could now be put to death at any moment. He has already seen other detainees from his facility taken away to be executed. These callous executions must end now.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

“The resumption of executions for drug-related offences in Saudi Arabia mean that Hussein Abo al-Kheir could now be put to death at any moment. He has already seen other detainees from his facility taken away to be executed. These callous executions must end now. Nobody should have to suffer this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The Saudi authorities should immediately commute his sentence and the sentences of all those on death row. They must urgently declare a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty altogether.”

Hussein Abo al-Kheir was arrested on 18 May 2014 by customs officials while crossing from Jordan into Saudi Arabia for allegedly smuggling amphetamine pills. He was detained incommunicado at an unknown location for 12 days and was only able to contact his family two weeks after his arrest. He says that the authorities obtained a ‘confession’ from him by suspending him upside down by his feet and beating him so badly he could no longer hold a pen. In the end, he said he could only ‘sign’ the document using his fingerprint. He later retracted this ‘confession’ before the Tabuk Criminal Court and requested a medical report, but says his claims of torture have not been investigated. He had no access to legal representation or consular assistance throughout his pre-trial detention and court proceedings.

In June 2021, Hussein shared positive news with his family after the authorities told him his death sentence had been suspended and was being reviewed in light of a directive issued by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which stated that some detainees held on drug offences would be pardoned. Although it was unclear whether this order would apply to those on death row, some detainees held within his facility were released.

Since then, however, the authorities have not said anything to Hussein about the status of his case, and as Saudi Arabia has once again ramped up its use of executions for drug-related offences, Hussein’s family are living in agony knowing that he could be executed at any moment.

Hussein’s sister, Zainab Abo al-Kheir, told Amnesty International: “Hussein called us yesterday and told us that the prison authorities took a Saudi man from his ward to be executed yesterday, and that two weeks ago two Jordanians were taken to be executed. We felt like he was preparing us for his imminent death, as if he was telling us ‘goodbye’. We don’t know what will happen to Hussein, but how is it possible that the authorities might execute him at any moment without telling us? Our anger and desperation are unexplainable.”

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Hussein is being arbitrarily detained and that his deprivation of liberty “lacks a legal basis”, before recommending that Saudi Arabia “quash his death sentence” and “immediately and unconditionally release him.”

Today, on 1 December, UN experts raised concerns that Hussein Abo al-Kheir “may soon be executed” and called on the Saudi government to establish an official moratorium on all executions with a view to fully abolishing the death penalty.

Background

In January 2021, the Saudi Human Rights Commission said the country had introduced a moratorium on executions for drug-related crimes, and that “the Kingdom and its justice system are focusing more on rehabilitation and prevention”.

Between February 2020 and October 2022, Saudi Arabia did not carry out any executions for drug-related offences, but the moratorium on executions was never enshrined in law, which provides that drug smuggling or related crimes are punishable by death under ta’zir (the judge’s discretion). Between 2016 and 2020, the Saudi authorities executed at least 987 people, including 232 Saudi and foreign nationals convicted on drug-related offences.

Saudi Arabia has already carried out 148 executions this year. In March, the authorities executed 81 people in a single day – the largest mass execution in years –  including 41 people who were from the country’s Shi’a minority. The authorities have also continued to hand down death sentences to men from the Shi’a minority, including those who were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes.

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Women and LGBTIQ+ protesters, journalists and human rights defenders suffered sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence at the hands of Colombia’s National Police and its Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) during the repression of the National Strike in 2021, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

The police do not protect me: Sexual violence and other gender-based violence during the 2021 National Strike documents28 cases of gender-based violence that took place in seven cities against women and LGBTIQ+ people in the context of the protests. The report details an array of violent behavior by state agents, particularly National Police officers, ranging from the use of sexist, misogynist and abusive language to sexual violence, which can constitute a form of torture.

“Gender-based violence, and particularly sexual violence, have a painful history in the context of the Colombian armed conflict – a history that authorities have yet to overcome. We received hundreds of reports of gender-based violence during the National Strike in 2021 detailing psychological violence, discrimination, threats, touching, sexual harassment, forced nudity, torture and sexual violence. Having documented 28 of these incidents in depth, it’s clear that gender-based violence was a tool of repression that the National Police used to punish those who dared to speak out and protest,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International.

The cases documented took place in the cities of Cali and Palmira (Valle de Cauca), Popayán (Cauca), Soledad (Atlántico), Tunja (Boyacá), Manizales (Caldas) and Bogotá. Women protesters were broadly targeted, with Afro-descendant and Indigenous women, human rights defenders, journalists, healthcare workers, and mothers among the survivors.

Gender-based violence, and particularly sexual violence, have a painful history in the context of the Colombian armed conflict – a history that authorities have yet to overcome

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International

The report reveals how the violence against women and LGBTQI people was inextricably linked with other factors of discrimination, such as race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Testimonies from Indigenous, Afro-descendant and Trans women reveal how their identities became additional motives for repression, exacerbating the risks of violence. Further, women and LGBTIQ+ journalists and human rights defenders experienced attacks marked by machismo, homophobia and other forms of hatred, and stigmatization.

The human rights violations mainly took place in two instances: during the action the National Police took to disperse the protests and during detentions following the initial intervention. In both situations, acting in official capacity, members of the National Police committed acts ranging from sexist insults and threats to sexual violence. The common factors in all these cases were the intent with which the violence was carried out: the perpetrators were seeking to punish the protesters for challenging social gender norms and taking to the streets to exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

Amnesty International also received information regarding how the justice system – and particularly the Attorney General’s Office – either failed to respond or responded inadequately to the complaints that survivors of gender-based violence filed. Several survivors also said they decided not to file complaints before the Attorney General’s Office out of fear and mistrust.

“As the ultimate head of the National Police, President Gustavo Petro must issue an order condemning all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and demand it to stop. Each complaint from the National Strike in 2021 must be investigated and those responsible must be held to account. The Colombian authorities must also address the root causes of this violence and work with women and LGBTIQ+ people to develop and adopt effective measures to guarantee a life free from institutional discrimination and gender-based violence. This is the bare minimum to begin paving a road to justice and accountability,” said Agnès Callamard.

Prior to this new report, Amnesty International published several statements and reports documenting other serious human rights violations in the context of the National Strike, including disproportionate restrictions on peaceful demonstrations, urban paramilitarism, arbitrary detentions and torture and ill-treatment of peaceful demonstrators in the city of Cali, and eye injuries caused by ESMAD agents as a result of the unlawful use of less lethal weapons.

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Responding to reports that imprisoned opposition figure Mariya Kalesnikava has been rushed to intensive care from her ‘punishment cell’ to undergo surgery, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Marie Struthers, said:

“The Belarusian authorities must immediately disclose all information regarding Maryia Kalesnikava’s condition, whether her life is in danger, and her whereabouts. The secrecy that surrounds prisoners in Belarus is unacceptable. This situation once again demonstrates what a cruel and impenetrable system Aliaksandr Lukashenka has built in his efforts to punish those who dare to dissent or challenge his rule.”

“Lukashenka’s government will not achieve its aim to silence a powerful voice of peaceful protest by throwing Maryia Kalesnikava into a punishment cell in inhumane conditions, by denying her contact with her lawyer, and denying the rest of us any information about her well-being.”

Lukashenka’s government will not achieve its aim to silence a powerful voice of peaceful protest by throwing Maryia Kalesnikava into a punishment cell in inhumane conditions, by denying her contact with her lawyer, and denying the rest of us any information about her well-being

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

Background

The news of the hospitalization of Mariya Kalesnikava came from the team of imprisoned Belarusian politician Viktar Babaryka – an associate of Maryia Kalesnikava – on 29 November. On the same day Mariya Kalesnikava’s lawyer was denied a visit for the third time in a row. According to Viktar Babaryka’s team, earlier in November, Maryia Kalesnikava was placed in a punishment cell, a harsher type of confinement, usually solitary. The team received no information about the reasons for and duration of this reprimand measure.

According to further information, later confirmed by the lawyer, Maryia Kalesnikava was transported to the Homel city hospital on 28 November, underwent urgent surgery and was then transferred to intensive care.

On 6 September 2021, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Maryia Kalesnikava and her associate Maksim Znak, members of the opposition Coordinating Council and associates of the jailed presidential contender Viktar Babaryka, to 11 and 10 years respectively, on trumped-up charges including “conspiracy to seize power by unconstitutional means”.

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United Nations member countries should establish an international, independent entity to track and identify those missing and disappeared since the start of the Syria crisis in 2011, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today.

The Syrian conflict has been marked by prolonged arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and forced disappearance at the hands of all parties to the conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed the mechanism in a landmark report published in August 2022 on how to bolster efforts to address the thousands of detained and disappeared and provide support to their families.

“The practice of “disappearing” people in Syria has left a devastating legacy for hundreds of thousands of people and their loves ones,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “A new international entity to address this devastating unfinished business that can never be overlooked from the Syrian conflict offers a glimmer of hope for families.”

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been responsible for the vast majority of those disappearances, which frequently result in deaths in custody and extrajudicial executions. Even before the crisis began in 2011, Syrian authorities forcibly disappeared people for peaceful political opposition, critical reporting, and human rights activism. Non-state armed groups have also abducted people, with some like ISIS, taking hostages and summarily killing them.

As of August, the Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated that about around 111,000 people remain unaccounted for, most believed to have been in the hands of the Syrian government. The exact number cannot be determined because the overwhelming majority of detention facilities, especially those run by the intelligence forces, are off limits to outsiders. Those detained by government security services or many of the non-state armed groups in Syria routinely are subjected to enforced disappearance or held incommunicado, with families unable to get information about the whereabouts of their loved ones or what happened to them.

Groups representing families of people formerly detained as well as Syrian civil society and international human rights organizations, have tirelessly advocated on behalf of torture victims and the thousands who have been disappeared, arbitrarily detained, and kidnapped, calling for a robust independent body to investigate thousands of disappearances. Most recently, 10 Syrian victims’ associations laid out their views on what such a body should look like.

As tens of thousands languish in detention facilities or elsewhere, there are no reliable avenues for families to learn the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.

Diana Semaan, Amnesty International

Consistent with the views of the Syrian victims’ associations, the secretary-general’s August report acknowledged the systemic challenges families across Syria face when seeking information about their missing loved ones and highlighted the gaps in current efforts. The secretary-general also set out the proposed mandate and priorities of a new body for this purpose, including providing adequate support to victims, survivors and their families. Such a body would offer a single avenue to register new cases, as well as coordinate with other existing mechanisms, to build upon the wealth of available information and streamline efforts to tackle this issue.

“Eleven years into the conflict and the Syrian government and armed opposition groups continue to disappear or abduct anyone who opposes them, while their allies, Russia and Turkey, do nothing to stop these violations,” said Diana Semaan, Amnesty International’s Acting Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “As tens of thousands languish in detention facilities or elsewhere, there are no reliable avenues for families to learn the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. The lack of political will to address this issue has only prolonged the suffering of families. The UN SG’s proposal provides a way to fulfil the families’ right to truth and member states should rally behind it.”

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has thrown its weight behind the secretary-general’s proposal, with the commissioners announcing in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera English that the considerable wealth of information the Commission had collected over 11 years will be made available to the new mechanism. The commissioners also warned that the longer it takes to establish such a mechanism, the more difficult it will be to clarify the whereabouts and fate of the missing and those forcibly disappeared. “Families have waited far too long for action at the international level,” the commissioners said. “The time to act is now.”

Member states should do everything in their power to ensure that a new international body in line with the secretary-general’s recommendations is established quickly through General Assembly action. Countries with influence in Syria should also put pressure on parties to the conflict to act swiftly to resolve what has come to be seen as one of the major tragedies of the Syrian conflict, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.

Russia and Iran, the most prominent backers of the Syrian government, should press the government to immediately publish the names of everyone who died in Syrian detention facilities, and to inform families of the deceased and return the bodies to their relatives. They should also press the government to provide information on the whereabouts of and what happened to all those forcibly disappeared, end the practice of enforced disappearance, and allow independent humanitarian agencies access to detention facilities.

Backers of non-state armed groups, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, should compel groups they support to reveal what happened to the detainees in their custody and allow humanitarian agencies access to their detention facilities.

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