July 2007
Council of Europe Confirms Secret CIA Prisons
On June 8, the Council of Europe released a report confirming allegations first made by Human Rights Watch in 2005 that the CIA used locations in Poland and Romania for the secret detention of terror suspects. During several years of research, we combed through flight records and other documents, and assembled accounts from former detainees to expose the existence of the secret program. In response to our revelations, which Poland and Romania contested, the council's Parliamentary Assembly launched an investigation. Its June report corroborates and expands upon our findings, providing a comprehensive account of illegal CIA operations in Europe and condemning European governments' complicity in US abuses. After sustained international criticism, US President George Bush admitted the existence of secret CIA prisons in September 2006, and said he had emptied the centers. We remain concerned, however, that the program has not been fully dismantled. In April, the US government announced the transfer of an Iraqi national from CIA custody to Guantanamo, confirming that CIA detention continues. More recently, Human Rights Watch and five other groups published a list of 39 people believed to have been held in secret US custody whose whereabouts are still unknown. We will continue to press the United States to stop using secret detention, and to compel European governments to acknowledge their complicity in the program and prevent further abuses. Read More.
Chilean Prosecutor Recommends Fujimori Extradition
On June 7, the Chilean Supreme Court's chief prosecutor recommended the extradition of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who is charged in Peru with murder, torture, and forced disappearances, as well as with multiple charges of corruption and bribery. In 2005, Human Rights Watch released a report that documented Fujimori's abuses and built a case against him. Since then, we have worked in both Chile and Peru to publicly dispel the notion put forward by Fujimori's attorneys that there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Fujimori. Using arguments and evidence first put forward by Human Rights Watch, Chile's prosecutor recommended extradition on all five of the criminal cases documented in our report. As a Chilean Supreme Court justice considers extradition, we will campaign for Fujimori to face trial in Peru. Read More.
Georgia Revises Proposed Prison Law
In response to our June 1 letter to Georgia's president and parliament, the government revised a draft amendment that would have allowed prison authorities to prolong an inmate's detention without guaranteeing due process rights. Under the proposed law, inmates who violated prison rules could have been punished with up to 90 days of administrative detention in addition to their prison terms. Our letter pointed out that the amendments violated the European Convention on Human Rights, leading to unlawful deprivation of liberty, and could result in numerous cases against Georgia in the European Court. Together with several other NGOs in Georgia, we convinced lawmakers to change the amendments to explicitly state the prisoner's right to counsel and due process, make clear that administrative detention should be used as a last resort, and limit the additional number of days of administrative detention to which a prisoner can be subjected. In 2006, Human Rights Watch documented widespread inhumane and degrading conditions in Georgian prisons, and we will continue to urge reform.
Read More.
Bahraini Authorities Release Police Brutality Victims
On June 2, two days after Human Rights Watch sent a public letter to the king of Bahrain, authorities released two men who had been severely beaten by the police. Anti-riot police apprehended the men, Ali al-Khabaz, 22, and Hassan Yusuf Hamid, 46, on May 21 as the two were gathering with others to protest a police action the previous evening. For more than a week, authorities refused to disclose al-Khabaz's whereabouts to his family, and the police beatings resulted in multiple fractures to al-Khabaz's face and fractured Hamid's jaw. On May 25, Human Rights Watch wrote a private letter to Bahrain's Minister of Interior, requesting information on the detention and beating of al-Khabaz. After receiving no response, we wrote to the king on May 31 to protest the beatings, demanding the release of the men and pressing for investigations to determine who was responsible and hold them accountable. The attention we drew to the case, including the posting on our website of pictures of al-Khabaz before and after his beating, kept the pressure on Bahraini authorities to release the men.
Read More.
Bangladesh Announces New Refugee Camp
Three months after Human Rights Watch reported that Bangladeshi authorities had destroyed a camp sheltering 6,000 Rohingya refugees from Burma, Bangladesh announced on June 20, World Refugee Day, that it will build a new camp to house 9,500 people. In addition to denouncing the camp's destruction, Human Rights Watch urged Bangladesh to uphold its obligation to protect Rohingya refugees and allow their unfettered access to humanitarian aid. Over 250,000 Rohingya Muslims from western Burma were forced into Bangladesh by the Burmese military in 1992 in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Arakan state. Since then, thousands have been detained in crowded camps in Bangladesh, and many have been repatriated to Burma, where they face repression by that country's military dictatorship. We will continue to urge Bangladesh to provide safe refuge and access to services for Rohingya refugees. Read More.
US Foreign Aid Should Cover Contraceptives
Women's Rights Advocacy Director Marianne Mollmann, writing in Huffington Post, argues that President Bush's plan to veto a bill authorizing foreign aid for family planning programs is bad foreign policy and bad for women.
Revive UK Human Rights Leadership
In the Guardian Unlimited, London Director Tom Porteous argues that the new UK prime minister must adopt an approach to terrorism that is in line with European and international standards and British values.
UN Human Rights Council Needs More SupportGlobal Advocacy Director Peggy Hicks, writing in the
International Herald Tribune, urges governments and civil society to increase their engagement with the year-old UN Human Rights Council.
Portugal Should Raise Human Rights With Russia
Moscow Director Allison Gill, writing in Publico, calls on Portugal, which is assuming the EU leadership mantle, to press Russia to restore freedom of expression, stop harassing NGOs, and start a meaningful accountability process for atrocities in Chechnya.
