giovedì 25 aprile 2013

Bangladesh: Further information: Detained editor alleges torture.

Detained Bangladeshi newspaper editor Mahmudur Rahman was hospitalised on 18 April 2013. His lawyers say he was tortured in police custody. Blogger Asif Mohiudeen, arrested on 3 April for allegedly posting blasphemous comments online, remains in detention and at risk of torture.

Pakistan: End election-related violence, prioritize human rights in election campaigning.

Pakistan has seen a wave of attacks and threats on political candidates and election workers.
Pakistan has seen a wave of attacks and threats on political candidates and election workers.
© ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images
 
The Pakistani authorities must investigate the wave of attacks and threats on political candidates and election workers, Amnesty International said in an open letter released before the country goes to the polls for general elections on 11 May.

The organization also called on all political parties, and candidates to commit to specific measures for improving the country’s human rights situation during their election campaigns.

“This has been a particularly deadly election period marked by an alarming surge in attacks and intimidation of political activists and election officials,” Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan Researcher, said.

MORE: http://amnesty.org/en/news/pakistan-end-election-related-violence-prioritize-human-rights-election-campaigning-2013-04-24

domenica 21 aprile 2013

India, sentenza storica della Corte suprema in favore dei dongria kondh!

Il 18 aprile 2013 la Corte suprema dell'India, con una sentenza di portata storica che riconosce i diritti dei popoli nativi, ha stabilito che gli adivasi avranno la decisione finale su una miniera di bauxite di una sussidiaria della britannica Vedanta Resources, che avrebbe dovuto divenire operativa su 670 ettari di terreno delle colline di Niyamgiri, nello stato di Orissa. La comunità dongria kondh considera sacri l'habitat e quelle terre tradizionali.

"Per 10 anni i dongria kondh, la cui identità è strettamente legata alle colline di Niyamgiri, hanno lottato per la sopravvivenza del loro stile di vita. La miniera avrebbe violato i loro diritti in quanto popoli nativi, oltre che quelli all'acqua, al cibo, alla salute e al lavoro. È una sentenza di grande importanza, che dà ragione alle proteste delle comunità locali, alle ricerche condotte da Amnesty International sin dal 2009 e alle grandi campagne che hanno sposato il punto di vista degli adivasi" - ha commentato G. Ananthapadmanabhan, direttore generale di Amnesty International India.

"Ora le autorità indiane devono avviare un procedimento chiaro e trasparente per accertare il consenso libero, preventivo e informato delle comunità native di Niyamgiri e di ogni altro luogo in cui le terre tradizionali e l'habitat possano essere minacciati da progetti statali o di imprese private. Nelle decisioni dovranno essere coinvolte le donne e altri gruppi marginali delle comunità. Le autorità dovranno inoltre garantire che tutte le informazioni sul potenziale impatto negativo dei progetti siano messe a disposizione, in una lingua comprensibile, prima che sia presa ogni decisione. Questa dovrà essere rispettata e nessun progetto dovrà essere autorizzato senza l'assenso delle comunità interessate" - ha aggiunto  Ananthapadmanabhan.

"Dopo un decennio di proteste, oggi abbiamo un canale ufficiale attraverso il quale poter dire che il progetto della miniera rovinerà le nostre terre sacre e pregiudicherà gravemente le nostre terre e i nostri mezzi di sussistenza. Ora utilizzeremo questo canale per portare avanti le nostre decisioni" - ha dichiarato ad Amnesty International Lado Sikaka, uno dei leader dei dongria kondh di Niyamgiri.

"Sollecitiamo le autorità a portare avanti questo processo in modo libero e sincero, senza lasciarsi intimidire dalle imprese o dai paramilitari presenti nella zona di Niyamgiri, alla presenza delle organizzazioni internazionali per i diritti umani e, come ha stabilito la Corte suprema, di un ufficiale giudiziario" - ha fatto eco Kumiti Majhi, leader della comunità majhi kondh, che si trova ai piedi delle colline.

La Corte suprema ha stabilito che i gram sabha (le assemblee costituite dagli adulti votanti) di due villaggi dovranno decidere se il progetto si ripercuoterà, in qualunque modo, sui loro diritti religiosi e culturali, compreso il diritto di svolgere i riti religiosi, e su ogni reclamo singolo o collettivo, compresi quelli futuri, sull'area designata per lo sviluppo della miniera. Le assemblee dovranno svolgersi in modo indipendente e libero da interferenze sia da parte del governo centrale che dei proponenti del progetto. Le decisioni dovranno essere comunicate entro tre mesi al ministero dell'Ambiente e delle foreste.

Questo ministero, nell'agosto 2010, aveva rifiutato il progetto della Sterlite India (una sussidiaria della Vedanta Resources) e dell'azienda statale indiana Orissa Mining Corporation, di estrarre bauxite dalle cime delle colline di Niyamgiri, dopo aver verificato che quel progetto avrebbe violato in modo massiccio le leggi sull'ambiente e sulle foreste, così come i diritti dei dongria kondh e di altre comunità delle colline. La sentenza della Corte suprema fa seguito al ricorso presentato dall'Orissa Mining Corporation.

La Corte suprema, infine, ha ribadito l'importanza della Legge sui diritti forestali del 2006, secondo la quale le autorità devono accogliere i reclami delle comunità sui loro terreni forestali tradizionali e sul loro habitat, nonché assicurare che le comunità diano il loro consenso prima di ogni tentativo di usare le loro terre a scopi minerari o industriali in genere.
 
Il principio del consenso libero, preventivo e informato è riconosciuto dalla Dichiarazione delle Nazioni Unite sui popoli nativi del 2007 come elemento centrale della protezione e della realizzazione dei diritti dei popoli nativi.
Lado Sikaka  © Suryashankar Dash
Lado Sikaka © Suryashankar Dash


giovedì 18 aprile 2013

Bangladesh: writers at risk of torture.

URGENT ACTION HERE:


Newspaper Editor Mahmudur Rahman was arrested in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 11 April after he published articles criticising the government and some bloggers. On 3 April blogger Asif Mohiudeen was also arrested in Dhaka after he was alleged to have posted blasphemous comments online. Both men are at risk of torture.

INDIA - Death Penalty: “One hardly finds a rich or affluent person going to the gallows”


In 2012, India saw its first execution in more than eight years.In 2012, India saw its first execution in more than eight years.
© DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/Getty Images
In November 2012, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was hanged in the country’s first execution in more than eight years. Three months later, Afzal Guru was executed after his clemency petition was rejected by the President; Guru had been convicted in 2005 of being involved in the 2001 attack on Parliament.
More recently, the government has expanded the scope of the death penalty by amending laws to provide for this punishment in certain cases of rape.
The Supreme Court last week also rejected an appeal against the decision by the President to reject Devender Pal Singh’s mercy petition. In a trial that has raised serious fair trial concerns, Devender Pal Singh was found guilty of planning an explosion that killed nine people in 1993. His sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2002 and he has been on death row since.
The recent decision of the Supreme Court is likely to affect at least 17 more prisoners who are asking for commutation of their death sentences on the grounds of delay in the disposal of their mercy petitions by the President.
Justice A. P. Shah, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, is one of the most outspoken opponents of capital punishment in the country. He shared his views on the death penalty in this interview with Amnesty International.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/death-penalty-india-one-hardly-finds-rich-or-affluent-person-going-gallows-2013-04-17

lunedì 15 aprile 2013

PAKISTAN - Buone notizie!

Una buona notizia dal Pakistan: Il 3 aprile 2013 una corte d'appello ha annullato la condanna a morte di Younis Masih, un cristiano arrestato nel 2005 a Lahore condannato a morte nel maggio 2007 per "blasfemia". Masih è tornato libero il giorno stesso.
Una buona notizia dal Pakistan: il 3 aprile una corte d'appello ha annullato la condanna a morte di Younis Masih, un cristiano condannato a morte per "blasfemia". Masih è tornato libero il giorno stesso. 
Gli appelli contro la pena di morte: http://bit.ly/dqcKu4

giovedì 11 aprile 2013

MALDIVES - Trouble in paradise.

Hilath Rasheed, the first openly gay and secular blogger in the Maldives, was about to walk through his front door one afternoon last year when he felt the box-cutter slice through his neck.

It took a moment to notice the blood pouring down his shirt. As his attackers sauntered off, Hilath staggered to the main road, clutching the loose skin over his throat with one hand. He managed to hitch a lift to hospital from a horrified motorcyclist. When a doctor in the emergency room asked him to move his hand away, a policeman and nurse fainted.
Following a miraculous recovery – doctors told him there was less than a 1 per cent chance of surviving such an attack – Hilath, 35, now lives in exile in Sri Lanka. He misses home, but a country where it is illegal to be non-Muslim and violent forms of religious fundamentalism are on the rise is no place for a homosexual secularist, he says.
"Extremism is the biggest threat my country faces," he said at a coffee shop in Colombo. "I was the first person to talk openly about homosexuality and religious freedom. People said I was brave, but often I think I was stupid."
Recent weeks have put a spotlight on Islamic fundamentalism in the Maldives after a 15-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather was sentenced to 100 lashes for "fornication". A petition by the global advocacy group Avaaz has been signed by more than two million people demanding a tourist boycott until the flogging sentence is annulled.
In a rare interview at his home this week, President Mohammed Waheed told The Independent that he strongly opposes the court ruling. "This case should not have come to the courts at all. We see this girl as a victim," he said, adding that he has set up a committee to "understand what went wrong".
But that sits awkwardly with his recent decision to enter into a coalition with the religious Adhaalath party with elections to be held in September.
In a recent statement, Adhaalath backed the flogging, saying: "The purpose of penalties like these in Islamic shariah is to maintain order in society and to save it from sinful acts. We must turn a deaf ear to the international organisations which are calling to abolish these penalties."
Few of the million visitors to the Maldives each year see this side of the country. Most are whisked off to uninhabited resort islands before even setting foot on the crowded, alcohol-free capital of Malé. But the flogging case was not an isolated incident – Islamic hardliners, many trained in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, have become a shadowy but powerful presence here. They are blamed for a raid on the national museum last year in which a priceless collection of ancient Buddhist artefacts was destroyed. They are also thought to be behind the killing in October of a member of parliament who had spoken out against extremism. The police have made little progress in either case.
Religious conservatives were also the driving force behind weeks-long protests that toppled the country's first Democratic President, Mohamed Nasheed, in February last year.
Mr Nasheed's election in 2008 had ended 30 years of dictatorship, but his liberal, Western style was used by opponents to paint him as un-Islamic – even a secret Christian. Although Mr Nasheed resigned on live television, he later claimed it was done "with a gun to my head" and that he was the victim of a coup.
The new President says the changeover was perfectly legal. But eyebrows were raised when he gave ministerial posts to the son and daughter of the former dictator Maumoon Gayoom, and chose three religious leaders from the Adhaalath party for his cabinet, even though the party holds no seats in parliament.
Dr Waheed defended his choice this week, saying: "They want to ensure Islamic values are protected. We are all working with that in mind."
Out on one of the Maldives' 200 inhabited islands, Mr Nasheed and members of his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were back on the campaign trail last week, hoping they can regain through the ballot box what was lost to the mob.
On most islands he receives a hero's welcome, still the man who endured torture and years behind bars to bring democracy to the country. But this day's campaigning brought him to the island of Huraa: as stunning as the rest, with its turquoise waters, palm trees and white sands, but a stronghold of conservative forces.
Women greeted Mr Nasheed with a table of whisky bottles to imply his alleged love of alcohol. As he tried to address a small crowd in the town hall, they stood outside shrieking maniacally in an attempt to drown him out. Attempts to approach them for their views almost triggered a riot.
"They are screaming because they are losing and they know it," Mr Nasheed said at his hotel later that evening. "The coup has actually been a blessing in disguise. It exposed the mullahs. When they took jobs in government, it became obvious that they were just using religion for political ends. Hardly anyone is joining their rallies now."
It is not yet clear whether Mr Nasheed will be allowed to stand in September's elections. The current government and judiciary are doing their best to throw him in prison for his attempt to arrest a senior judge during the final days of his presidency. So far, his trial has been delayed by technicalities, but there are fears that more extreme measures are about to be deployed.
"There is no question that they wanted me dead during the coup," Mr Nasheed said. "They have unfinished business with me."
Such fears have put his supporters on edge. The islands have been gripped in recent weeks by news that a pair of alleged Armenian gangsters known as the Artur brothers have been photographed in the company of government ministers. Rumours quickly spread on social media that they were assassins sent to kill Mr Nasheed.
The brothers – who use the names Artur Sargsyan and Artur Margaryan – made international headlines in 2006 after being kicked out of Kenya amid allegations they had built a drug-trafficking empire with links to the highest government offices. They were deported only after pulling guns on customs officials in a Nairobi airport.
The Maldives government says they were in town to set up an investment company, and has hastily cancelled their permits in the wake of the media attention, but the episode showed how tense the political situation has become. "Everyone is worried about [Mr Nasheed's] safety," said Eva Abdulla, an MDP politician. "Things look calm, but if he is jailed or killed, there will be huge amounts of violence on the streets."
Despite their grievances, the MDP had its fair share of controversies during its time in power. The party was accused of bribing opposition MPs, sidelining critics and failing to clean up a deeply corrupt judiciary when it had the chance. Mr Nasheed's decision to arrest the judge was condemned internationally and only fuelled the protests that led to his downfall.
"It's true that we made mistakes," Ms Abdulla said. "We underestimated how much power the old regime still had and they managed to build a lot of anger against Nasheed. But the coup has jolted people out of their apathy. People have realised that their new democratic rights are quite precarious."
Mr Nasheed hopes that his focus on development will ultimately drown out the religious rhetoric.
He is particularly fond of his decision to allow locals to open guest houses on inhabited islands, which were banned. That is starting to break the monopoly enjoyed by millionaire resort owners, and bring tourist dollars into the rural economy for the first time.
He is also touting a financial-support scheme for single mothers – a particular hit because the Maldives happens to have the highest divorce rate in the world. "All the opposition can do is wave alcohol bottles at us," one of Mr Nasheed's campaign organisers said, walking away from the screaming women on Huraa. "We have actual policies, and eventually that will get through to people."

martedì 9 aprile 2013

Afghanistan, nuovi attacchi contro i civili.

A seguito di una nuova serie di attacchi contro la popolazione civile dell'Afghanistan, Amnesty International ha rinnovato la richiesta a tutte le parti in conflitto di prendere tutte le precauzioni necessarie per evitare perdite civili.

Il 3 aprile 2013, un attacco contro un edificio pubblico nella provincia di Farah ha causato almeno 41 morti e oltre 100 feriti. A rivendicarlo sono stati i talebani, che in precedenza si erano pubblicamente impegnati a ridurre le perdite civili.

Il 6 aprile, almeno 12 civili tra cui 10 bambini sono stati uccisi nella provincia di Kumar in un attacco aereo della Nato.

Il 7 aprile, nella provincia di Wardak, un autobus ha urtato una mina ed è esploso, causando almeno nove morti e 20 feriti. Si ritiene che l'attacco sia stato compiuto dai talebani.

Secondo la Missione Onu d'assistenza in Afghanistan, nel 2012 i civili uccisi nel corso del conflitto sono stati 2754. Le forze afghane e quelle internazionali sarebbero responsabili dell'otto per cento di queste morti. Amnesty International ha chiesto alle forze Nato/Isaf di indagare su tutte le denunce relative a civili uccisi a seguito delle loro operazioni, di processare i responsabili, fornire risarcimenti alle famiglie delle vittime e individuare, prima del ritiro dall'Afghanistan, meccanismi efficaci di accertamento delle responsabilità.

I talebani sono chiamati in causa per 2179 vittime tra la popolazione civile, soprattutto a causa di ordigni esplosivi improvvisati o di attacchi mirati contro i civili.

Amnesty International ha ulteriormente chiesto che la Corte penale internazionale avvii un'indagine contro coloro che sono sospettati, in ogni parte coinvolta nel conflitto, di crimini di guerra e crimini contro l'umanità.


sabato 6 aprile 2013

India: Arrested theatre activists at risk of torture.

Theatre activists Sheetal Sathe and Sachin Mali were arrested on 2 April 2013 on various charges, including criminal conspiracy and being part of a banned organization. They are being held in Mumbai, India and are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.