Am nestyINTERNATIONAL

N EWS

HONG KONG

Frontline forhuman rights

or more than a Year, a giant clock

has cast red digital light on

Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

measuring the time until the return of

I long Kong to China's sovereignty. But

what does the future hold?

The return of liong Kong marks the

virtual end of centuries of colonialism

and fOreign encroachment. mit just in

China hut in Asia as a whole. Fhe

transition plan represents an important

experiment in law, sovereignty :Ind

ututonoinv and, tf implemented to the

letter, Ilong Kong's social system,

economic- management, legal uoid

institutional framework will remain

"basically unchanged- for 50 years.

International human rights standards

such as the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) will

remain in force.

The way in which China handles the

challenge of maintaining two different

systems within one country will be

critical to Hong Kong's future stability,

ProsPeritY a"d cOmPentiveness as aregional centre. Hong Kong's economic

partners are looking for certainty and

continuity in the things that make I long

Kong unique - the strong lade of law,

government accountability, the free flow

°I information. an °Pen civil society a"da vibrant community of 11011-

governmental organilations (NG00. In

this, the interests of business protection

and human rights protection converge:

human rights guarantees underpin

economic- stability and openness.

Political stability will also be

underniined withoutt protection of

htnnan rights. The citirens of }long

Kong have shown themselves to be

acutely aware of the importance of their

fundamental freedoms and their open

political culture. One in six cared

enough to join massive peaceful

demonstrations in the wake of the crack-

down in mainland China in June 1989.

And widespread criticism has come from

the community since the incoming Chief

Executive of the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region, Ttmg Chee-hwa,

proposed in February 1997 to amend

legislation on civil liberties. The

incoming authorities have shown some

responsiveness to ptifilic concern, but

questions remain its to whether freedom

of association and assembly will he

limited in ways which go beyond the

restrictions allowed under the ICCPR.

I long Kong is .1 model of how civil

iind political freedoms can contribute to

economic dynanustn. of how Asian and

Western values can be successfully fused.

It shows how a system can successfully

guarantee human rights and maintain

stable economic development,

countering the arguments in favour of

commit itself unequivocally tomaintaining and developing humanrights safeguards in Hong Kong;

maintain the Bill of Rights, whichenshrines most of the provisions ofthe ICCPR, in Hong Kong law;

set up an independent human rightscommission to provide an accessibleremedy for human rights violations;

continue reporting to the UNHuman Rights Committee onimplementation of the ICCPR;

reinforce safeguards for theindependence of the judiciary;

authoritmianism that come from some

other states m the region.

'Flue human rights defenders of Hong

Kong art' already taking up this debate

seeking to make the Chinese

Government and the world aware that

their fUndamental human rights cannot

be compromised. It is essential now that

the international community :Ind human

rights movements around die world hear

their voice — and add their own.

ensure that laws passed underArticle 23 of the Basic Law on internalsecurity do not curb freedom of

expression, association, peacefulassembly and other fundamentalrights;

ensure that Chinese armed forcesstationed in Hong Kong can be held

accountable for their actions beforeHong Kong courts;

adhere to their commitment not torestore the death penalty;

encourage and protect Hong Kong'sdiverse and active NGO community.

A demonstration inHong Kong in April1997, to protestagainst restrictionson civil libertiesbeing considered byits futuregovernment

NEWSAlgeriaDeath in custody

hears hallmark of

extrajudicial

execution

Argentinajournalists in fear

for their lives

MozambiqueA landmark for

human rights

protection

Russian Federation/Ukraine(louncil of Europe

condemnation

over continuing

executions

WORLDWIDEAPPEALSIranVenezuelaIndonesia

Focus

Pakistan

'Time to take

human rights

seriously'

Al is calling on the new Hong Kong government to:

R sachid Medjahed was killed while

in the custody of the Algerian

ecurity forces in February 1997.The authorities have failed to provideany information about the circumstancesof his death either to his family andlawyers or to AI and other internationalhuman rights organizations.

On 12 February the security forcesattacked an apartment building oppositethe headquarters of the General Unionof Algerian Workers (UGTA) in centralAlgiers, killing eight people — including

two women and two young children. Theauthorities claimed that the victims weremembers of an armed group responsiblefor the assassination of Abdelhak

Benhammouda, leader of the UGTA, on

28 January 1997.

Rachid Medjahed was reportedlyarrested around 15 February and accused

of being the leader of the armed groupresponsible for the assassination. On 23

February he appeared on Algerian tele-vision and confessed to being the leaderof the group. This was the first his family

n Argentina, journalism has becomea dangerous profession. In recentyears, there has been a resurgence

of violent attempts to muzzle those who

undertake investigative journalism orcriticize the authorities.

Santo Biasatti knows this all too well. A

well-known radio and TV journalist, hehas been among the many journalists

and members of the press subjected torepeated threats and attacks. In February1997, death threats against him and hisfamily were left at the Rivadavia radiostation in Buenos Aires where he works,and at the Buenos Aires Ombudsman'soffice. These threats indicated thatmembers of the police could be involvedin abducting him, and that he wouldmeet the same fate as Jose Luis Cabezas,a press photographer killed in January1997 in circumstances yet to be clarified.

Although he infOrmed the BuenosAires Governor of these threats and aninvestigation was reportedly launched,further anonymous death threats againstSanto Biasatti and his family continued

into April. In a communication to CarlosMenem, the

Argentine

President, Al

expressed serious

fears for his safety.

Between the end

of January and the

middle of March,

there have been

around 60 cases of

physical attacks,

threats and

harassment againstjournalists,

according to the

knew about the arrest. They immediatelycontacted the authorities asking forinformation about where he was being

held, but to no avail. On 2 April, thefamily were told by the gendarmerie togo to a hospital in Blida. When theyarrived they found Rachid Medjahed'sbody; it was riddled with bullets.

Increasingly, the Algerian securityforces are extrajudicially executingdetainees instead of bringing them totrial before a court of law. Al believesthat Rachid Medjahed may be anothervictim of this widespread practice and

has called for an immediate, independentand public investigation into the killingsof Rachid Medjahed and AbdelhakBenhammouda.

Al condemns unreservedly the killingsof civilians and other abuses committedby armed opposition groups in Algeria.However no level of violence by such

groups can ever justify extrajudicialexecutions and other human rightsviolations committed by the securityforces.

Santo Biasatti

Buenos Aires Press Workers' Union.Scores of cases involving similar abuseshave been acted on by Al over the pastfive years — most have remained

unresolved. In several of the cases, thereseas involvement or acquiescience ofmembers of the police or security forces.

Al has appealed to the authorities tolaunch immediate

and thorough

investigations into

all allegations of

threats, harassment

and attacks against

journalists; to

bring to justice

those found

responsible; and to

guarantee the

protection of those

journalists under

threat and their

families.

newsin

briefCUBA

ubin Hoyo Ruiz, featured in a

Worldwide Appeal case in theJanuary 1996 issue of Al News,wasreleased on 15 November 1996 oncondition that he leave Cuba. On 19November 1996 he left for the USA.

Ruben Hoyo, a member of the CubanCommittee for Human Rights, hadbeen arrested in March 1990, chargedwith "illegal association" and distributing

"enemy propaganda", and sentenced tosix years' imprisonment. He was latersentenced to two additional years'imprisonment for "disrespect".

While AI welcomes the release ofRuben Hoyo, it considers that releasingpeople from prison on condition theygo into exile violates their freedom ofmovement and effectively excludesthem from public life in their own

country.

EL SALVADOR

p lans by the ruling NationalistRepublican Alliance (ARENA) toseek the ratification of an amendmentto the Constitution, which would havereinstated the use of the death penaltyfor certain common crimes, were

abandoned in April. The measure wasdropped after the March 1997

Legislative Assembly elections, when itbecame evident that it did not

command sufficient support in theNational Assembly to ensure

ratification. However, ARENA made itclear that, although it will not seekratification of the amendment duringthe life of the current parliament, itcontinues to support the reinstatementof the death penalty.

LIBYA

Jum'a 'Ateyqa, a lawyer in his early

fifties, who had been illegally

etained despite his acquittal by acriminal court in 1990, was released on16 April 1997. Jum'a 'Ateyqa featured asa Worldwide Appeal in the April 1996issue of AI News.Thanks to all thosewho sent appeals on his behalf.

ALGERIA

P risoner of conscience AbdelkaderHadj Benakmane, featured as aWorldwide Appeal in the September 1996issue of AI News,was releasedconditionally on 19 February 1997. Heis, however, being kept under policesurveillance, and has been banned fromleaving the country until March 1998.

The 39-year-old journalist for theAlgerian news agency APS had beenarrested in February 1995 andsentenced to three years' imprisonment

for disclosing the place of detention of

a leader of the banned Islamic SalvationFront (FIS).

ALGERIA

Death in custody bears hallmark ofextrajudicial execution

ARGENTINA

Journalists in fear for their lives

WHAT YOU CAN DOWrite letters expressing

concern over reports of threatsand attacks against journalists, andasking for thorough investigationsinto all complaints, to:Dr Carlos MenemPresident of the RepublicCasa RosadaBalcarce 50Buenos AiresArgentina

July 1997 Vo1.27 No.4 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWS

CTI 0 Pakistan

Detainees in policecustody. Tortureand ill-treatment ofprisoners by policeare commonplacethroughoutPakistan.

Javed

AJafferji

Impact

Time to take human rights seriously0n u11 Agust 1997 Pakistan

will mark the ;Oh

anni\ ersary of its creation.

but tor the majority of its

coitens there will be hole to celebrate.

'Fhey have rarely been able to enjos the

Iiindamental rights iyhich the

Constoution guarantees. Econonm

development has bypassed them, and

many are demed even the 'Host basic

necessities — safe drinking watei.

education, health care. Illiteracy ;ind

discrimination are rife.

People cannot rely on the state to

protect their rights. Detamees are hkeb

to be beaten by police, who act safe in

the knowledge they will probably never

be brought to.justice. Torture.

including rape, is widespread; scores of

people are tortured to &alit evetv year.

SCnres more ;ire extrajudicially

executed. Armed opposition groups

take their opponents hostage,

sometimes torturing ;old killing them.

!Inman rights protection and

promotion have not been taken

seriously by ;my government.

During long periods of martial law,

political institutions — including

parliament and political parnes — were

suspended; the independence of the

. judiciary was restricted: the rule of law

was curbed to suit the ends of the

martial law regime; and the institutions

of civil sitcietv a free press and

professional gniups — were weakened.

However, since the end of martial law

in 1985, successive civilian governments

have done little to redress this damage

to the social and political fabric of

society. VVhde in power, both main

political parties (the Pakistan Muslim

League of Nawat Sharif and the

Pakistan People's Party of Benatir

Bhutto) have used false criminal

charges. arbitrary arrests, torture and

intimidation to muzzle the opposition.

;And both, while in opposition, have

tried to paralyse government.

Police personnel and institutions

have beets used extensively by

politicians for their own ends. Many

police staff have been appointed on the

basis of political patronage, not merit;

they act outside the law on behalf of

their patrons and see themselves ;ts

above the law. Its torts, their patrons

ensure that the police are not held

accountable for abuses.

Ordinary people in Pakistan have

been let down. The will of the people,

as expressed in the Constitution of

Pakistan, has remained an unfulfilled

wish.

`... it is the will of the peopleof Pakistan to establish anorder ...

'Wherein the principles ofdemocracy, freedom, equality,tolerance and social justice, asenunciated in Islam, shall befully observed; ...

'Wherein shall be guaranteedfundamental rights, includingequality of status, ofopportunity and before law,social and political justice andfreedom of thought,expression, belief and faith,worship and association ...'Preamble to the 1973 Constitution

NINEtill• IN IT aNATION.51 FOCUS Os. 1 997 l's/.27 !Vo. 4

Dr Rahim Solangiand Punhal Sario

ARBITRARY ARREST, DETENTIONAND 'DISAPPEARANCES'Successive governments have detained

their opponents. as well as journalists

who have exposed abuses and

corruption. They have done this by

lodging false criminal charges against

them under so-called "blind" First

Information Reports (FIRs) — criminal

complaints which do not name the

suspect — and using preventive

detention laws to hold people without

trial. Political prisoners. including

prisoners of conscience, are often held

in unacknowledged incommunicado

detention. sometimes in places not

officially designated as detention

centres. Police often do not obey court

orders issued in the context of habeas

corpus petitions seeking to establish the

whereabouts of prisoners, or they

mislead the courts by giving false

information.

Dr Solangi and

Punhal Sario,

members of a

Sindhi opposition

party, were

arrested in June

1996 at their party

office in

Hyderabad and

held under a

"blind" FIR. When

police found no evidence against the

men, they should have released them.

Instead, the men were transferred to

another police station, on the basis of

another "blind" FIR.

In August a police official asserted

during a Supreme Court hearing of a

habeas corpus petition that the men "were

neither wanted, nor detained in any

Police station in the entire district". The

relatives of the two men knew better;

their counsel told the Court that they

were being held in Tando Allayar, some

25 km from Hyderabad. A court bailiff

was immediately sent to investigate and

found the police station empty.

However, 27 people were confined in

police quarters, including Dr Solangi

and Punhal Sario. Their detention was

unrecorded and vital police records had

been removed.

The two men were charged with

robbery immediately after the court

officer's visit. Despite court orders to

release them, they were detained under

successive "blind" FIRs and transferred

from one police station to another until

late September, when police claimed to

have found unlicensed guns on them

and transferred them to jail.

IiiJanuary 1997, they were released on

bail. It is indicative of the systematic

nature of this abuse that the man seising

as law minister in Sindh province during

the arbitrary detention of Dr Solangi and

Punhal Sario had himself been detained

under a series of "blind" FIRs when he

was in opposition six years earlier.

Arbitrary' and unacknowledged

detention sometimes leads to prisoners

"disappearing" in custody. Barbar Sultan,

a I7-year-old Mohajir (migrants from

India at the time of partition of the

subcontinent, and their descendants),

"disappeared" in

April 1995 in

Hyderabad. Police

initially admitted

holding him and

demanded a large

sum of money fisr

his release. When

Isis family could

not raise the

money, police

denied ever

having arrested him. His fate and

whereabouts remain unknown. His

father, who continues to search for his

son, is today a broken man.

TORTURE AND DEATHS INCUSTODYThe term "law enforcement personnel"

is used by many in Pakistan with

bitterness. In practice, what the police,

army and paramilitary forces enforce is

not the law, but their will to extract a

bribe, to intimidate or to humiliate

people in their custody. Torture is

widespread, and scores of people die as a

result every year. Police beat, kick and

use electric shocks on detainees, hang

them upside-down and deprive them of

food, sleep or vital medical treatment.

Those families who seek redress face

numerous obstacles. Virtually no police

officers have been brought tojustice for

torturing or

killing detainees

in their custody.

Gradually the

victims are

forgotten.

.javed Masih,

32-year-old

Christian, was

arrested in August

1995 and charged

with theft. Eye-

witnesses said that

police began

beating him

outside his house,

punching and

hitting his head

against a wall until

he lost

consciousness;

they then revived him with water from

the gutter. In the police station they

allegedly gave him electric shocks and

inserted bottles filled with ground red

clnllies and kerosene into his anus. He

died early the following morning. Police

hung him by the neck to simulate

suicide then took lnm to a hospital

saying they had found his body in the

street. His teeth were broken and his

body bore multiple injuries. javed

Masih's family lodged a complaint

holding four police officers responsible

for his murder. In September 1996, the

family agreed to drop the charges of

murder. Local human rights activists

believe the police threatened the family

until they agreed to a "compromise" and

pardoned the suspects.

EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONSPolice often take the law into their own

hands. Rather than arrest criminal

suspects or so-called "terrorists", they

shoot them dead. Scores of people are

extrajudicially executed in Pakistan every

year. The official explanation is always

that police fired in self-defence — even

when witnesses saw the victims being

arrested, disarmed and handcuffed.

Naeem Sherry, an activist of the

Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Refugee

National Movement) who had been in

hiding for months, was visiting a friend

in Karachi in March 1996 when police

and paramilitary Rangers raided the

house. They found Narem Sherry hiding

behind a TV cabinet and shot Inm dead

at point-blank range. His friend, Amjad

Baig, was taken outside the house and

shot dead, while his father and mother

pleaded with police to spare Ins life.

Police claimed they fired at Naeem

Sherry in self-defence. The federal

'I fear thatmy sonhas beenkilled. Ispend allmy timelooking forhim nowand tryingto findpeoplewho canhelp mefind him...'Saraf Sultan Ran(V) and his son,Babar Sultan (inset),who "disappeared"in April 1995.

cabinet expressed its "satisfaction" at the

killing; the head of the Human Rights

Ministry said: "It will be most

unfortunate if the death of a ruthless

terrorist is once again portrayed as an

extrajudicial killing... such allegations

only lend support to the terrorists."

COLLUSION IN UNLAWFULPRACTICESA wide range of abuses — including

domestic violence against women and

children; the holding of bonded labour,

including child labour; tribal systems of

retribution which adversely affect

women; and the trafficking in women

and children — are regularly

documented in the media and by human

rights organizations.

Yet successive governments have done

little to implement the international

commitment they have made to protect

women and children, and all too often

officials collude in such practices.

Police have sided with abusive

husbands who pour kerosene on their

wives and set them on fire. They have in

most cases refused to register complaints

and investigate such killings. Bonded

labour is forbidden under a 1992 law, yet

hundreds of bonded labourers,

including women and children, are

discovered every year; police offer

protection to the exploiters, liot the

exploited, and rarely register or pursue

criminal charges.

FEAR OF THE LAWOrdinary law-abiding people in Pakistan

not only fear law enfOrcement

personnel, they also fear the law. SoMe

laws are inherently discriminatory, while

others prescribe cruel punishments.

The Zina Ordinance makes it possible

for women to be imprisoned solely on

the grounds of gender. Over half the

women imprisoned in Pakistan are

charged with the criminal offence of

zinc, (fornication). Some are held

because their fathers do liot like their

husbands and claim that the marriages

are liot valid and hence involves zina.

Some men also fail to register their

divorces and later claim that the second

marriages of their divorced wives are

invalid and hence involve zina.The Zinn Ordinance also allows

women who have been raped to be

accused of zina if they fail to prove rape. A

In cases of zina and rape where the most ksevere punishments — stoning to death

or flogging — are applicable, only the 1.3

testimony of four male Muslims of good

repute is relevant; women's testimony

and medical evidence are not taken into

account at all.

The blasphemy laws of Pakistan nruke

it a criminal offence for Ahmadis —

members of a minority religious group

— to preach, practice or propagate their

faith. Sonic of these laws make it a

criminal offence, punishable by death, to

"defile" the name of the prophet. The

vague fOrmulation of these lass's has also

allowed them to be used us harass,

intimidate, arrest and detain hundreds

of people solely for the exercise of their

right to freedom of religion. Hostility

unvards members of minority groups is

in most cases compounded by personal

enmity, professional jealousy or

eCOnorrliC rivalry. Many blasphemy trials

have involved serious miscarriages of

justice as a result of the intimidating

presence in court of Islamists shouting

slogans or the prejudice ofjudges.

Gul %Bill was sentenced to death in

1992 for allegedly saying blasphemous

words during a quarrel with a neighbour

over a broken community water tap. His

conviction was based solely cm the

strength of the complainant's statement

which the judge said he sayv no reason to

doubt as he was "a young man With a

beard and... the outlook of a true

Muslim".

Bail has sometinies been denied for

long periods to those charged with

blasphemy. Four Ahmadis — Riaz

Ahmad, Isis son and two nephew's —

were arrested in November 1993 in

Mianwali district. They were alleged to

have "said something derogatory" and to

have claimed that the fOunder of their

religion had worked miracles. Their bail

applications. refused in the lower courts,

have been pending in the Supreme

Court since 1994.

Several laws prescribe cruel

punishments, including fettering,

flogging, judicial amputation and public

stoning to death. The use of fetters and

iron chains is still widespread;

amputations and sumings have not been

carried mit for many years butt remain

on the statute book.

While more and more countries

worldwide abolish the death penalty', in

Pakistan the range of offences which

carry the most cruel punishment of all

continues to be expanded. The death

penalty can be imposed for zina, rape,

murder, kidnapping for ransom,

blasphemy, waging war against Pakistan,

and drug-trafficking. In March 1997, on

the verv day that the UN Commission on

Human Rights called on states to

suspend executions with a view to

abolishing the death penalty, the

Pakistan National Assembly passed a bill

to extend the death penalty to gang rape.

Salamat Masih, a Christian, was

sentenced to death in February 1995. He

was acquitted later the same month on

appeal as there was no evidence against

him. At the tirne he was alleged to have

scribbled blasphemous words on the walls

of a mosque in Guijranwala, Punjab

province, Salamat was only 14 years old

'They told me I would go mad in custody and

at some stage threatened to kill me, nobody would know'

Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, abducted in 1994 and held for a month without charge

4

Shahida Parveen(left) was sentencedto death by stoningin 1987. A courtruled that hersexual relations withher second husbandconstituted rape,after her firsthusband deniedhaving divorcedher. She wasacquitted on appeal.

Javed Masih (left)died allegedly asa result oftorture in policecustody.

Jab: 1997 2 7 No. 4 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FOCUS AMNE.STY INTERNATIONAL FOCUSJuly 1997 Vol.27 No.9

WHAT THE GOVERNMENTSHOULD DO

AI is calling on the Government ofPakistan to:

ind illiterate. Soon ifter the arrest ofSalamat and his two co-accused, localIslamists held processitms demandingtheir deaths and during the hearings theythreatened to kill the accused, theirlawyers and thejudge. In April 1994, theaccused were shot at in the streets ofLahore; one of the accused, ManzoorNlasih, was killed, the others were injured.

Salamat's case highlights the dangersof retaining the death penalty. As in anumber of other cases nmnitored by Al,an innocent person was sentenced todeath. The Supreme Court of Pakistanin setting aside a murder conviction anddeath sentence in 1994 considered theconviction seriously flawed and added,"the error committed by the court ... isso serious that had the accused beenhanged, we are afraid that it would haveamounted to murder through.judicialprocess...

In Pakistan, most death sentences arcimposed for murder. This offence isgoverned by the Qisas and Diyal

Ordinance under which, if specificrequirements regarding evidence arefulfilled, the death penalty can beimposed as gisa.s (equal punishment forthe offence). The heirs of the murdervictim have the right to forgive theconvict and instead accept diyat

(compensation).In October 1994 Rehan stood for half

an hour with the noose around his neckwhile his family haggled with the familyof the victim over &vat. He waseventually hanged because he could notafford to pay the price demanded.Despite a government directive not tocarry out executions in public, twoprisoners were hanged in 1995 in frontof hundreds of prisoners, includingother prisoners sentenced to death.

IMPUNITY

Most people in Pakistan are unable toobtain redress for abuses committedagainst them. Agents of the state use allthe means at their disposal to prevent

those responsible being brought to. justice. Police refuse to register orinvestigate complaints; they suppress theevidence; they put pressure on medicalstaff to falsify their reports: and theythreaten complainants until theywithdraw their complaints.

The constitufional guarantee that "la111 cititens are equal before the law and entided to equal protection of law-has remained an empty promise as almostno one responsible for grave humanrights vi(dations has been brought tojustice. Impunity has in turn reinforcedthe belief held by some law enforcementpersonnel that the government sanctionshuman rights violations, setting in motiona self-perpetuating cycle of abuses.

RATIFICATION WITHOUT

HONOURING OBLIGATIONS

Members of vulnerable groups — suchas women, children and members ofethnic or religious minorities — arevirtually condemned to suffer in silence.

Pakistan ratified die UN Conventionon the Rights of the CAfild in 1990 andthe UN Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen in 1996. But this has not helpedwomen and children to eujoy their rightsmore fully because Pakistan has failed tohonour its international obligation tobring its domestic law into line with thetreaties' provisions. Children can still besentenced to death: the Zina Ordinancestill explicitly discriminates againstwomen.

In its report, Pakistan: Time to take

human rights seriously (AI Index: ASA33/13/97)„Al calls on the newGovernment of Pakistan to do just that— to use its strength, having gained atwo-thirds majority in the February 1997elections, to protect and promotehuman rights. Not as a birthday presentfrom the Government of Pakistan to thepeople of Pakistan, but as somethingthey have had a right to for the past 50years.

release all prisoners ofconscience, unconditionally andimmediately;

publicly and unequivocallycondemn torture andextrajudicial executions;

investigate every instance oftorture, death in custody orextrajudicial execution, andbring the perpetrators to justice;

replace all cruel, inhuman anddegrading punishments —including flogging, fettering,judicial amputation and stoningto death — with punishmentswhich are permitted underinternational human rightsstandards;

introduce legislative measures tocurb the abuse of the blasphemylaws as a first step towards theirabolition;

abolish the Zina Ordinance;

implement measures for theprotection of women andchildren to which Pakistan hascommitted itself internationally;

stop all executions and abolishthe death penalty;

ratify international human rightsinstruments, beginning with theInternational Covenant on Civiland Political Rights.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

I Approach your politicalrepresentative to raise with yourgovernment AI's human rightsconcerns in Pakistan.

2 Write politely to the PakistanEmbassy in your country aboutthese concerns.

3 Write politely to:

Khalid Anwar/ Adviser onLaw, Justice and Human Rights/Ministry of Law and Justice/Pakistan Secretariat/ Islamabad/Pakistan

President Farooq Leghari/Office of the President/Islamabad/ Pakistan

Prime Minister NawazSharif/Office of the PrimeMinister/ Islamabad/ Pakistan

Ordinary people have been let down. It is up to the new Government of Pakistan to ensure that thefundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution become a reality.

fah 1997 Vo1.27 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

WORLDWIDEappeals

RAN POSS B E PR SONER OF CONSC ENCE

lo ittcnd the trial ()I Faraj Sarkouhi,

which Wit!, reportedly due to start in early

Faraj Sarkonhi, the editor of

.libnch magazine. is belies cd to have

been detained since kite jantratx 1997.

The authorities claimed that he was

arrested on 2 February while Irving to

leave Iran Illegally, lint there :111' fears

liii 1nS WilS pi/Ink:11h nionyawd

and that he may be a prisoner of

conscience.

Faraj Sitykonhi -disappeared- liii

about seven tvecks in November 1996

froin Tehran iiirport. 'The Iranian

authorities maintained that he had

travelled to Gennany, bin in a letter

believed to have IR'en hv Fara!

Sarkouhi, sent from Iran .ind made

public alter his later ',wrest. he claimed

that he had in f-act been held in

unacknowledged detention and fOrced

to -confess- to espionage and iedultery,

both of which carrt the death penaln.

Faraj Sarkonhi was among 134 writers

who signed an open letter published in

199-1 calling for an end to censorship in

Iran. Seyera1 it the signatories have

since died in unclear cininnstances,

while unconfirmed reports have suggested

that others have received death threats.

Faraj Sarkouhi was also among several

writers W111) were arreSled in September

1996 while meeting to discuss the final

draft of a new charter 01 Ihe Iranian

\Vriters' Association. He was reportedB

released without charge after three days.

'Please write, urgently requesting that

Faraj Sarkouln be released immediately

anti unconditionally if he is not to be

promptly charged with a recognizably

criminal offence and given a fair trial:

urging that the death penalty not he

applied should he he convicted of a

crime; iind seeking assurances that he is

treated humanely and granted regular

access to his family. and doctors and

lawyers of Ins choice. to: His ExcellenCV

The President / lityjjatoleslam Ali Akbar

Hashemi RafSartjani.' The Presidency

Palestine Avenue/ A/crbaijan.

Faraj

Sarkouhi

VENEZUELA — TORTURE / FEARS FOR SAFETY

F élix Faria Arias. a 24-vear-oldF student, was abducted, held for three

hours. ;Ind tortured bv members of the

Vene/uelan security forces in March

1997. There :ire grave COI-IC(111S !hal he

remains al risk of further attacks.

As Felix Farra Arias WaS entering 11112

lilliVerSIIV halls of residence in Bann:4

near (iiiracas, at Ilpm on 8 Nlarch, he

was sei/cd P mom behmd hi tiyo men,

handcuffed and forced into it Land

Cruiser. Once in the vehicle, he was

repeatedly heaten and burned — leaving

more than 40 wounds on his forearm.

I lis abductors threatened to kill him if

he did not give them mformanon about

the activities of the Bawler(' MO, Red

Flag, a legal opposition political party.

1 le was thrown out of the vehicle three

hours later and left on the street.

The following day Fedix Faria Arias

went to Ihe Attorney General's office I()

report Ins abduction and torture.

His abductors reportedly identified

themselves as members of the

Directorate of Intelligence and

Prevention Sellices (DISIM, a special

innt witlnn the security forces. Ftdix

Faria Arias had been detained on

previous occasions bv the DISIP in

connection with his political activities.

He was also inle (11 Ihe winlesSeS I() dn'

killing ()I 111115vrsity studcnt Belinda

Alavare/ ()II 3 .April 1991 bv nwmberstub

the security force's.

The pattern of repeated abductions

and torture in Venezuela raises serious

fears for his safety.

• Please write, expressing concern

about the abduction and torture of Felix

Faria Arias, urging the authorities to take

steps to ensure his safety, and calling for

a prompt, full and impartial

investigation into the attack anti for

those responsible to he brought to

,justice. to: Dr Jos(' Guillermo Andueza

Minister of the Interior NIinisterio de

Relaciones Interiorcs Carmehtas a

Santa Capilla –.Av. Lrdaneta Caracas

Venetuela Fax: (5821 8611967 Telex:

29694 NIRI

An appeal from

you to the

authorities can

help the victims

of human rights

violations

whose stories

are told here.

You can help

free a prisoner

of conscience

or stop torture.

You can bring

liberty to a

victim of

"disappearance".

You may

prevent an

execution.

Every appeal

counts.INDONESIA — HEALTH CONCERNS OVER PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE

Remember:

AI members

should not take

up cases from

their own

countries.

P udjo Prasetio, a 71-

ear-old prisonei

of conscience, has spent the last 30

Years in prison in Indonesia. Despite

serious concerns about his health — he

had a stroke in 1993 and suffers from

Parkinsons Disease — his request to be

transferred to an old people's honw,

where he would access to the

constant medical care he needs. has

recently been turned down.

Pudjo Prasetio Was inn' ()IfIle

111011Sands Of people wnh left-wing

sympathies who were arrested after an

alleged coup attempt in 1965. which is

blamed hy the government on the now-

banned Communist Party of Indonesia

IPMJ A shipbuilder hv trmle :Ind a

trade unionist, Pudic) Prasetio joined

the PM in the 1950s. He WaS arrested in

1967 but was only hrought to tnal in

1979. Alth(mgh there was no evidence

lniking him to the alleged coup

attempt. he WaS finind puny of

subversion and sentenced to hie

nnprisonment.

Thirteen people are still imprisoned

in connection with the alleged coup.

'The health of most of these elderly

prisoners has deteriorated in recent

sears. Many of those imprisoned alter

haVe died III (=liquids , 111()S1

recently the former member of

parliament. Sukatno, who died on 8

Nlitv. He hiid been under sentence of

death snwe his tyial in 1971.

'Please write, calling for the immediate

transfer from prison of Pudic.) Prasetio

and any others among those still

imprismwd in connection with the

alleged 1965 coup attempt who are

suffering from ill health so that they can

obtain the mechcal care they require: to:

President Suharto Presiden RI / Istana

Negara Jalan Veteran Jakarta Pusat

Indonesia.

\MI SIN I \ R\ IRA \I ir1t1.1 1,S jul.. 1997 14.27 .Vo.4

Activists make a commitment to eradicate female genital mutilation

(FGM) at a conference organized by Al's Tanzanian Section in May. The meeting

took place in Dodoma, Tanzania, where FGM is still

prevalent, and focused on

the physical and psychological devastation

caused by a practice which affects 135 million women

and girls worldwide, and on strategies for its eradication. ERV1CATE

[Ng GEO

Conscientious Objection

AI launches its Europe-widecampaign on the right to

conscientious objection tomilitary service. Pictured at aMoscow press conference in

April (from left to right):

Sergey Kovalyov, formerpsri oner of conscience, a

founder of the first Al group in Moscow, and Russia's first

Ombudsman on Human Rights; Vadim Hesse, a

conscientious objector to military service, released

from prison in March 1996 after a successful AI

campaign on his behalf; Valery Borshchev, Duma

deputy and major supporter of the alternative service law.

comemovuotX BO

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egpacCyAKOB ,"Nom K TINY.orpaH04

MOZAMBIQUE

A landmark for humanrights protection

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...AI CAMPAIGNS...Female Genital Mutilation

Council of Europe condemns Russian Federation and Ukraine for continuing executions

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