Derechos Human Rights

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Derechos: The Week in Human Rights - Sep. 23 to Sept. 29, 1996

Sept. 23

(Compass Newswire) - Egypt - Twenty-two international human rights, religious and academic organizations have condemned a court-ordered divorce of Cairo University Prof. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid from his wife, Prof. Ibtihal Yunis. The court ruled that Prof. Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid was guilty of apostasy because of his writings on the Quran. The groups called upon President Hosni Mubarak to find a legal option to prevent the court order from being implemented.

(BBC) - France/Africa - The African and French Leagues of Human Rights met in Paris to join forces in opposing French deportation of illegal immigrants on charter flights. They will also raise the issue, including the conditions of transport, arrival, and reception of the deportees, with the UN Human Rights Commission and the Organization of African Unity.

(AFP) - Sweden/China - According to Viola Furubjelke, a Social Democrat, China and Sweden will sign a bilateral agreement that will impress the importance of human rights upon Chinese civil servants when Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson visits China this fall.

(AFP) - Rwanda - Jean-Paul Ayekusa, former mayor of Taba, will go on trial Thursday Sept. 26. He is charged with crimes against humanity and genocide in the 1994 slaughter of Tutsis. According to a report by African Rights, the defense is likely to portray Ayekusa as just following orders. However, witnesses have reported that Ayekusa was ruthless in his attempts to exterminate Tutsis.

(AFP) - India - According to the newspaper Indian Express, police may soon be presumed guilty if detainees die while in their custody. The paper reported that such a proposal is under serious consideration by the home ministry of the Indian government as is a plan to compensate victims or their relatives. A bill introduced last year to give people illegally detained by the police the right to compensation has not been passed and a 1994 bill requiring judicial investigations of custodial deaths, disappearances and rapes is still under consideration.

(AFP) - Indonesia - Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Suderman warned Indonesian editors against a "liberal spirit" during a mandatory 10-day course on Indonesia's national ideology, Pancasila. The Indonesian government regularly intervenes in press coverage and banned DeTik, Editor and Tempo, three leading weeklies, in June 1994.

Sept. 24

(Reuters) - Latvia - Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis suspended the death penalty today during a meeting of the Council of Europe and a parliamentary vote may soon finalize his decision. Abolition of the death penalty is a condition of joining the Council of Europe, even though countries like Britain have yet to abolish the death penalty.

(Reuters) - Argentina/Spain - Lawyers today said that some members of the Argentine military who participated in human rights abuses during the "Dirty War" may be ready to testify in the disappearance of 300 Spanish citizens. Judge Baltazar Garzon has summoned more than 100 "Dirty War" officers, including former Preident Jorge Videla, and Adolfo Scilingo, who broke the military's code of silence by confessing his participation in throwing live prisoners from a plane into the Atlantic Ocean. Spanish lawyer Angel Garcia Castillejo and Isabelo Barros, human rights secretary of Izquierda Unida, a Spanish opposition party, said that the list of Spanish "disappeared" had grown from 266 to 300 as a result of evidence collected while in Argentina. Barros said that six "Dirty War" veterans were willing to testify in Spain if their safety was guaranteed. Human rights groups, such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo hope that trials in Spain will result in international arrest warrants for the guilty, preventing them from traveling outside of Argentina.

(UPI) - Indonesia - According to the Indonesian government news agency Antara, two people detained as a result of riots in July will be charged with subversion, a crime punishable by death. Muchtar Pakpahan, chairman of the Indonesian Welfare Labor Union, was arrested July 30, and Budiman Sudjatmiko, chairman of the Democratic People's Party, was accused of causing the riots. The arrest of Pakpahan sparked protests in Australia, where the Maritime Union has a running ban on Indonesian ships.

(Toronto Sun) - The British parliament's human rights group will investigate the human rights situation of aboriginals in Quebec. A similar group in the US House of Representatives and Senate has sent letters to Canada expressing its concerns about Quebec's treatment of minorities. The US letter urged Canada to make Quebec adhere to its obligations as part of the 1975 Helsinki agreement, which Quebec's language and ethnic discrimination violates. According to the Toronto Sun, "It's embarrassing that Americans and Britons may end up protecting the rights of Canadians within Quebec."

(CTK) - Czech Republic - In a report to the Czech Republic, the US Helsinki Committee called on the Czech government to change a citizenship law that would deny citizenship to people convicted of crimes, even if they lived on Czech territory and were citizens of Czechoslovakia before 1993. The law appears to affect mainly Romanies.

(Stichting Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau) - Netherlands/Burma - Members of Parliament from the Labor and VVD government coalition parties voiced support for economic sanctions to pressure Burma's military government to improve its human rights situation.

Sept. 25

(Reuters) - Turkey - Lawyers for the People's Democratic Party (HADEP), Turkey's only legal pro-Kurdish political party, said that 18 senior members of the party, including leader Murat Bozlak, went on trial today. They are charged with "leadership of an armed gang," and face up to 22 years in prison. Another 23 members face up to 15 years in prison for a lesser charge. A similar 1995 case nearly derailed Turkey's attempt to become part of Europe's customs union.

(Reuters) - South Africa - South African President Nelson Mandela said today that he not consider bringing back the death penalty even though polls show that most South Africans want it to combat violent crime. Increasing crime prompted Justice Minister Dullah Omar to announce that the ANC would reconsider its opposition to the death penalty, but Mandela has insisted that state executions are repugnant.

(Reuters) - Peru - Peru's Congress chief Victor Joy Way announced that he supports an extension of the "faceless" tribunals that have jailed thousands of suspected guerillas and thousands of innocents. "The system has its weak sides ... (but) it is necessary to extend it in the short term," said Joy to foreign reporters. The faceless tribunals, in which judges and prosecutors wear hoods are sit behind screens, have been condemned by human rights groups for convicting suspects on flimsy evidence, often obtained under torture, and without any guarantees of due process.

(Reuters) - Morocco - The Moroccan government and the United Nations will cooperate in the inclusion of human rights in education in Morocco.

(Reuters) - UK - The European Court of Human Rights dismissed a claim by Jane Buckey, a gypsy, that her human rights had been violated by the South Cambridgeshire District Council's refusal to let her and her family live in three caravans on land she owned.

(Reuters) - Croatia - The trial of Viktor Ivancic and Marinko Culic, journalists with Feral Tribune, resumed today after a two-month break. The two were charged with defamation of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman under a new clause in the criminal code. A verdict is expected tomorrow which could mean up to three years in jail for Ivancic and Culic. According to state prosecutor Visnja Loncar, "This trial is not about freedom of press but responsibility for acts against the president of the republic." Helsinki Watch appealed yesterday for Tudjman to cancel the trial.

(UPI) - Egypt - An Egyptian high court's order for Dr. Nasr Abu-Zeid and Dr. Ibtihal Younes to be divorced was overturned in a surprise decision by an Egyptian court of "urgent cases."

(IPS) - Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said this week that a new hangman had been hired, signaling, Zimbabwe's intention to continue executing prisoners. Elizabeth Feltoe, acting director of Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, said that "We are opposed to this old fashioned way of punishing criminals." David Chimhini, director of Zimrights, another human rights groups, said that capital punishment is morally unjustifiable. Five convicted murderers were executed last week by hanging, the first executions since 1995.

(BBC) - Slovakia - Human Dignity, a newly-formed Slovak foundation, will provide its first assistance to Oskar Fegyveres, a former Slovak secret service agent. According to Helena Muckova, the statutory representative of the foundation, which supports citizens whose human and civil rights have been violated, Fegyveres is the star witness in the abduction of the president's son.

(Baltimore Sun) - USA - Correctional officers Donald Pryor, Alex Jacobs, James Ford and Thomas Kimball face possible assault charges in the alleged beating of former inmate Michael Alexander Saukas while he was detained at Howard County Detention Center. University of Baltimore law professor Martin Geer noted that it's unusual for assault cases against correctional officers to get this far. The prison warden considers Saukas' charges warrantless and calls him a troublemaker. Saukas alleges that officers used too much force to get him to go to his cell while he was wearing handcuffs and that he was beaten unconscious while handcuffed when he protested the theft of his headphones by sitting on the floor of a cellblock.

(AFP) - Yugoslavia - The Kosovo Human Rights Committee said that Ismet Mahmuti, Faik Ajeti, and Sali Mustafa were mistreated in the jail at Dubrava near Istok. According to Fazli Balaj of the committee, prisoners in Kosovo are frequently ill-treated. The committee stated that more than 200 Albanians had been imprisoned for political motives since 1990 and half were still in jail.

Sept. 26

(WP) - Robert E. Morin, a defense lawyer who specialized in death penalty cases, was seated as the newest judge on the D.C. Superior Court. He was named 1993 Lawyer of the Year by the Maryland Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys for his work in clearing a man who was charged with raping and slaying a 9-year-old girl. In 1982, he helped fond the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represents poor people facing the death penalty.

(Reuters) - USA - Reebok invited Nike to help put an end to child labor at their factories, especially in Pakistan. Nike and Reebok have come under increased scrutiny after press reports that their soccer balls were produced by Pakistani companies that use child labor. A Reebok company review revealed that 20 to 25 percent of the stitchers of its soccer balls were between nine and 13 years of age. Reebok sponsors its own human rights award and various Amnesty International projects.

(Reuters) - Greece - Greece was ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to pay the legal costs of four Jehovah's Witnesses for violating their freedom of religion. Titos Manoussakis, Constantin Makridakis, Kyriakos Baxvanis and Vassilios Hatzakis will be compensated $US 16,700 for legal costs because they were refused permission to open a place to prayer. While Greek law states that all places of worship have permission to open, the four had been awaiting and answer from the Education and Religion Ministry since March 1983.

(Reuters) - Croatia - Viktor Ivancic and Marinko Culic, journalists for Feral Tribune, were acquitted of defaming Croatian President Franjo Tudjman today. Croatia's leading human rights activist, Zvonimir Cicak, said "The judge had the courage to deliver this verdict and we must also take into account international pressure."

(The Guardian) - UK/Germany - The Guardian reports that the UK thankfully lags behind Germany in its attempts to censor the Internet. The German government has pressured Internet service providers to prevent access to Nazi propaganda and now it has targeted Radikal, a left-wing magazine that apparently contains advice on committing terrorist acts. The Radikal World Wide Web site is hosted by Access for All (http://www.xs4all.nl), founded by Felipe Rodriguez and Rop Gongrijjp. Rodriguez has been told by German journalists that he may be arrested if he travels to Germany. However, the user who had posted Radikal at the xs4all.nl site has taken it down and Rodriguez is deciding whether to sue the German government for damages or take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. The German government now must decide what to do about the 47 other web sites that have posted copies of Radikal in response to its attempt at censorship.

(BBC) - Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov said that human rights should be at the heart of international security and UN policy in his address to the UN General Assembly. The "strengthening of the international mechanism for enforcing human rights would ensure their protection. At the same time, the legitimate striving of people to ensure such rights cannot be used for transient political considerations." All this is applicable to the problem of protecting the rights of ethnic minorities. The protection of the rights of ethnic minorities should be coupled with the observance of the principle of the territorial integrity of states."

Sept. 27

(Reuters) - Vietnam - Nguyen Than Tai's appeal against the death penalty for embezzlement was rejected by a Ho Chi Minh City court today, according to the Tuoi Tre newspaper. The newspaper report did not give a date for an execution.

(Reuters) - Nigeria - The Nigerian military government named a panel to investigate the cases of political prisoners detained without trial under a measure known as Decree Two. The attorney general and the national security adviser would sit on the panel led by the inspector-general of police. However, two of Nigeria's most prominent detainees, Moshood Abiola and former president Olusegun Obasanjo are not imprisoned under Decree Two.

(Mainichi Daily News) - Japan/China - One of Zhao Nan's attempts to gain political refugee status was rejected by the Tokyo High Court yesterday for failing to satisfy the 60-day time limit. A second application for refugee status is still under review. While in China, Zhao was imprisoned at a labor camp for his work as an editor of pro-democracy magazines in Beijing.

(BBC) - UK/Fiji - Michael Peart, British ambassador to Fiji, called on the Fiji government to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights. The government of Fiji responded by stating that it did not need to be told what was good for it by foreigners.

(AFP) - USA/Burma - The US urged the Burmese military regime to immediately and unconditionally release opposition members detained prior to a scheduled weekend conference of the opposition National League for Democracy. According to US State Dept. spokesman Glyn Davies, 33 NLD members had reportedly been arrested, including 16 elected members of parliament.

(AI) - Israel - Amnesty International called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mordechai Vanunu as the tenth anniversary of his arrest and solitary confinement approaches. Vanunu was kidnaped by Israeli government agents in Italy on September 30, 1986 and taken back to Israel. He had provided information about the Atomic Research Reactor at Dimona to The Sunday Times which revealed that Israel was operating a major nuclear military program.

Sept. 28

(Reuters) - Burma - Streets surrounding Aung San Suu Kyi's house were blocked by police a second day to prevent a meeting of the National League for Democracy. Foreign governments and human rights groups called for the military regime to release 109 activists who have been detained to prevent the meeting.

(Reuters) - Albania - Nine high-ranking Communist-era officials were sentenced today by an Albanian court to up to 20 years in jail for human rights abuses. Llambi Gegprifti, former communist party head of Tirana was sentenced to 20 years as were two officials of the Sigurimi secret police agency. Other received sentences of 15 to 16 years.

Sept. 29

(Reuters) - Nigeria - Commonwealth ministers decided against imposing sanctions on Nigeria but will send a fact-finding mission to the country.

(Reuters) - Indonesia - Eleven student activists in the East Java city of Surabaya were freed after they agreed to remain in Surabaya and report to police. The students were suspected of being involved with the outlawed People's Democratic Party (PRD), which was blamed by the government for the July 27 riots in Jakarta. Three PRD activists, Gita Indah Sari, Ponto and Soleh, remain in prison, according to the newspaper Republika.

(Reuters) - Kuwait - An estimated 300 Kuwaiti men and women demonstrated in support of political rights for women, including the right to run for office and the right to vote. On October 7, parliamentary elections will be held that will take Kuwait into the next century.

(Chicago Tribune) - France - The French government has proposed a law that would ban racially inflammatory speech. The journalist's rights group Reporters Without Borders has been fighting a lonely battle against what it calls "an unacceptable limiting of the freedom of speech." Political historian Yves Meny noted that "The government in France is always ready to ban speech to solve political or social problems." Violators of the proposed law could face up to a year in prison or a fine of $ 60,000 [US or FF not specified]. The proposed law is not expected to face much, if any opposition, in Parliament when it votes in October. The French government has previously banned a book about former President Francois Mitterand and a book on Islamic theology for "endangering public order through its clearly anti-Western tone." French human rights groups have endorsed the proposal, with some saying that the proposed law isn't strong enough.

Copyright 1996 Michael Katz-Lacabe and Margarita Lacabe. This information may be freely distributed (and we encourage you to pass it along) so long as it remains intact.

AFP - Agence France Presse
AI - Amnesty International
AP - Associated Press
BBC - British Broadcasting Company
CTK - Czech News Agency
DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
GNS - Gannett News Service
HRW - Human Rights Watch
IPS - Inter Press Service
LA Times- Los Angeles Times
NYT - New York Times
PROVEA - Programa Venezolano de Educacio'n en Derechos Humanos
UPI - United Press International
WP - Washington Post


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daisy This page is maintained by Margarita Lacabe. Last updated Sept. 30, 1996.