URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa16009.pdf
Note: Please write on behlaf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on June 19, 2009. Thanks!
27 August 2009
Further information on UA 160/09 (19 June 2009) - Arbitrary arrest/prisoner of conscience
IRAN Abdolfattah Soltani (m), lawyer, human rights defender
Abdolfattah Soltani was released on bail (amounting to just over US$101,000, taken in the form of property deeds) on 26 August 2009. He had been held in Evin Prison and had been granted at least one meeting with his family, along with several telephone calls with them, during his detention. On release he was said to be in reasonable health.
Abdolfattah Soltani had been arrested on 16 June, at his office in central Tehran, in the aftermath of the disputed 12 June presidential election in Iran.
On 21 August 2009, in an open letter to the Head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Abdolfattah Soltani's wife appealed to the judiciary to act impartially and independently and to release Abdolfattah Soltani. Press reports on 22 August stated that officials from the prosecutor’s office had entered his solitary cell and threatened him with a long imprisonment unless he severed his links with the CHRD and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, one of its co-founders, and stopped giving interviews about the cases he was working on.
The CHRD, which Shirin Ebadi and many other leading human rights activists founded in 2002, was forcibly closed in December 2008 shortly before the center was to hold an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The CHRD, whose members continue to work under the name of the center, has three stated roles: reporting violations of human rights in Iran; providing free legal representation to political prisoners; and supporting the families of political prisoners.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Abdolfattah Soltani was previously arrested in 2005 and spent 219 days in detention, of which 43 were in solitary confinement. In 2006 he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for "disclosing confidential documents", for which he received a sentence of four years; and one year's imprisonment for "propaganda against the system". On 28 May 2007, he was acquitted of all charges brought against him.
Abdolfattah Soltani wanted to stand for election to the Central Bar Association's Board in 2008, but his candidacy was rejected on grounds of "unsuitability".
Subsequently he has been banned from travelling outside Iran. He has been awarded a human rights prize by the city of Nuremburg in Germany. It remains to be seen whether he will be free, let alone allowed to travel, to collect this award in person in October 2009.
In the days following the 13 June 2009 announcement that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the presidential election, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took part in mass and generally peaceful demonstrations throughout the country, disputing the election results. The authorities quickly imposed sweeping restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly and telecommunication and internet systems were severely disrupted. Iranian publications were banned from publishing information about the nationwide unrest and foreign journalists were banned from the streets, their visas not renewed and others arrested or expelled from the country.
In response to the mass protests, security forces, notably the paramilitary Basij, were widely deployed and around 4,000 arrested in the three to four weeks following the 12 June 2009 election, including prominent political figures close to either presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, or former President Khatami, who supported Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign. Some human rights defenders and journalists were also detained. They have been denied access to legal representation, but have generally been able to meet family members.
Security forces used excessive and lethal force against demonstrators, leading to the death of tens of protestors and the injuring of hundreds more. At least tens of others were killed and injured as a result of being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during the demonstrations themselves or later, in the custody of the security forces.
Mass trials of hundreds starting on 4 August 2009 were grossly unfair, as was one held on 25 August. Detainees were filmed "confessing" to vaguely worded charges, which are often not recognizably criminal offenses, and some of these "confessions" were aired on TV, often before their trials took place. Evidence obtained through duress was accepted by the court. Some of those on trial could face the death penalty.
Iranian officials have confirmed the allegations of torture and other mistreatment of those detained after the post-election protests and that abuses took place in at least one detention center, Kahrizak, a center outside of Tehran. On 29 July, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered its closure and the head of a detention facility and three guards, thought to have worked at the Kahrizak detention center, were reportedly dismissed and possibly detained.
Amnesty International has received reports consistent with a statement made by Mehdi Karroubi, one of the four candidates in the 12 June 2009 presidential election. He is reported to have complained that both women and male detainees have been tortured, including by rape, by security officials.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to drop charges against Abdolfattah Soltani and other human rights defenders that criminalize their peaceful and legitimate human rights work;
- Calling for an end to the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Iran, including members of the Center for Human Rights Defenders (CHRD);
- Urging the authorities to facilitate the reopening of the CHRD and to allow its legal registration.
APPEALS TO:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
COPIES TO:
Minister of the Interior
Sadegh Mahsouli
Ministry of the Interior
Dr Fatemi Avenue
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 8 896 203
011 98 21 8 899 547
011 98 21 6 650 203
Salutation: Your Excellency
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Phone: 202 965 4990
Fax: 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 8 October 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
UA August 19, 2009
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12809.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on May 18, 2009. Thanks!
19 August 2009
Further Information on UA 128/09 (18 May 2009) - Torture/unfair trial
RUSSIAN FEDERATION Aleksei Sokolov (m), human rights defender
Russian human rights activist Aleksei Sokolov has been remanded in custody for questioning about a 2004 theft. AI fears that the charges were brought against him in order to prevent him carrying out his human rights work. The Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Russian Federation ruled on 31 July that Aleksei Sokolov, the activist under investigation for a 2004 robbery, should be discharged from pre-trial detention. Instead of releasing him, police told him he was now under arrest on suspicion of a different crime - a theft committed in 2004. At a 4 August hearing, Yekaterinburg District Court ordered that he should be remanded in custody to await trial.
The 4 August hearing should have been open, but the public was excluded from the courtroom without any explanations, and only Aleksei Sokolov's lawyers were allowed in. The court did not consider whether the charges against Aleksei Sokolov were well-founded, and took no account of his lawyers' claims that no proper record had been kept of his detention.
The judge agreed with the prosecutor, that Alexei Sokolov, as a member of the public commission for the control of places of detention would have met the men convicted of the 2004 theft, and could have influenced them. The judge decided to remand Alexey Sokolov in custody even though his membership of the public commission for the control of places of detention had been suspended in May 2009.
On 17 December 2005 the police had suspended their investigation into the theft in which Alexei Sokolov is accused of involvement, because they had not identified a suspect. The investigation was reopened on 23 July 2009, eight days before Alexei Sokolov was arrested again. The prosecution had obtained witness statements incriminating Aleksei Sokolov in the theft. However, the detention record did not specify who those witnesses were.
When Alexei Sokolov was arrested on suspicion of robbery, Amnesty International learned from other human rights organizations working in Sverdlovsk Region that police had pressured prisoners into making statements incriminating Aleksei Sokolov. He had repeatedly expressed fear that the police might do this to stop his human rights activities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Aleksei Sokolov is the head of the organization Pravovaia Osnova (Legal Basis), which campaigns against torture and other ill-treatment of people held in Russia’s prisons and detention centers.
In 2006 Aleksei Sokolov distributed a film about torture and other ill-treatment in prison colony IK-2 in Yekaterinburg. Part of the prison colony had been used as a temporary holding center for people under arrest, and here, according to the film, people were tortured. The film received wide coverage, both in Russia and internationally, and led to the closure of the temporary holding center. The work of Legal Basis brought about several investigations into police and prison colony staff, accused of crimes including the use of torture to force suspects to confess.
On 13 May 2009 Aleksei Sokolov was detained on suspicion that he had taken part in a 2004 robbery. The investigation into this robbery had been closed several times because of failure to identify a suspect. On 23 April 2009 the investigation was reopened yet again: according to police, one suspect, already in prison for another crime, had confessed to committing the robbery together with Aleksei Sokolov.
While he was in custody after being charged with involvement in the 2004 robbery, police told Aleksei Sokolov that they "could not beat him but would know how to torture him." Aleksei Sokolov also told his lawyer that police said, "You thought you could control us, nobody can control the police. You’ve got what you deserved as a human rights defender."
Aleksei Sokolov has been attacked and harassed before. On 2 August 2006, police searched his apartment, claiming that the previous owner might have kept stolen goods there. However, they confiscated material relating to cases Aleksei Sokolov was preparing for the European Court of Human Rights, correspondence with prisoners, copies of documents regarding investigations into allegations of human rights violations as well as a TV, computer and children's toys.
On 10 June 2008, he had eggs thrown at him, when he and two other human rights defenders, Lev Ponomarev and Ludmila Alekseeva, gave a press conference about deaths of detainees in a prison colony on 31 May. In January 2009 several prison service officials were charged with exceeding their authority in this case. Aleksei Sokolov's wife told Amnesty International that her husband had been threatened on many occasions and was warned not to continue his work.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the authorities to release Alexei Sokolov to await trial;
- demanding that they grant Alexei Sokolov a prompt and fair trial;
- calling on them to demonstrate respect for the lawful work of human rights defenders, and ensure they are free to pursue their lawful activities without fear of repercussions.
APPEALS TO:
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Yurii Ya. Chaika
Ul Bolshaia Dmitrovka 15a
Moscow GSP-3
125993
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 692 17 25
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk Region
Yurii A. Ponomarev
Ul. Moskovskaia 21
Yekaterinburg
GSP 1036
Sverdlovsk Region
620219
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 343 377 02 41
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor
Department for Internal Affairs Yekaterinburg
Colonel Marat Kh. Bisinbaev
ul. Frunze 74
Yekaterinburg
620144
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Salutation: Dear Colonel
Ombudsperson for the Russian Federation
Vladimir P. Lukin
ul. Miasnitskaia 47
Moscow
107048
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 607 74 70
Salutation: Dear Mr. Lukin
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 298 5735
Email: russ-amb@cerfnet.com
(Currently unavailable)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa12809.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on May 18, 2009. Thanks!
19 August 2009
Further Information on UA 128/09 (18 May 2009) - Torture/unfair trial
RUSSIAN FEDERATION Aleksei Sokolov (m), human rights defender
Russian human rights activist Aleksei Sokolov has been remanded in custody for questioning about a 2004 theft. AI fears that the charges were brought against him in order to prevent him carrying out his human rights work. The Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Russian Federation ruled on 31 July that Aleksei Sokolov, the activist under investigation for a 2004 robbery, should be discharged from pre-trial detention. Instead of releasing him, police told him he was now under arrest on suspicion of a different crime - a theft committed in 2004. At a 4 August hearing, Yekaterinburg District Court ordered that he should be remanded in custody to await trial.
The 4 August hearing should have been open, but the public was excluded from the courtroom without any explanations, and only Aleksei Sokolov's lawyers were allowed in. The court did not consider whether the charges against Aleksei Sokolov were well-founded, and took no account of his lawyers' claims that no proper record had been kept of his detention.
The judge agreed with the prosecutor, that Alexei Sokolov, as a member of the public commission for the control of places of detention would have met the men convicted of the 2004 theft, and could have influenced them. The judge decided to remand Alexey Sokolov in custody even though his membership of the public commission for the control of places of detention had been suspended in May 2009.
On 17 December 2005 the police had suspended their investigation into the theft in which Alexei Sokolov is accused of involvement, because they had not identified a suspect. The investigation was reopened on 23 July 2009, eight days before Alexei Sokolov was arrested again. The prosecution had obtained witness statements incriminating Aleksei Sokolov in the theft. However, the detention record did not specify who those witnesses were.
When Alexei Sokolov was arrested on suspicion of robbery, Amnesty International learned from other human rights organizations working in Sverdlovsk Region that police had pressured prisoners into making statements incriminating Aleksei Sokolov. He had repeatedly expressed fear that the police might do this to stop his human rights activities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Aleksei Sokolov is the head of the organization Pravovaia Osnova (Legal Basis), which campaigns against torture and other ill-treatment of people held in Russia’s prisons and detention centers.
In 2006 Aleksei Sokolov distributed a film about torture and other ill-treatment in prison colony IK-2 in Yekaterinburg. Part of the prison colony had been used as a temporary holding center for people under arrest, and here, according to the film, people were tortured. The film received wide coverage, both in Russia and internationally, and led to the closure of the temporary holding center. The work of Legal Basis brought about several investigations into police and prison colony staff, accused of crimes including the use of torture to force suspects to confess.
On 13 May 2009 Aleksei Sokolov was detained on suspicion that he had taken part in a 2004 robbery. The investigation into this robbery had been closed several times because of failure to identify a suspect. On 23 April 2009 the investigation was reopened yet again: according to police, one suspect, already in prison for another crime, had confessed to committing the robbery together with Aleksei Sokolov.
While he was in custody after being charged with involvement in the 2004 robbery, police told Aleksei Sokolov that they "could not beat him but would know how to torture him." Aleksei Sokolov also told his lawyer that police said, "You thought you could control us, nobody can control the police. You’ve got what you deserved as a human rights defender."
Aleksei Sokolov has been attacked and harassed before. On 2 August 2006, police searched his apartment, claiming that the previous owner might have kept stolen goods there. However, they confiscated material relating to cases Aleksei Sokolov was preparing for the European Court of Human Rights, correspondence with prisoners, copies of documents regarding investigations into allegations of human rights violations as well as a TV, computer and children's toys.
On 10 June 2008, he had eggs thrown at him, when he and two other human rights defenders, Lev Ponomarev and Ludmila Alekseeva, gave a press conference about deaths of detainees in a prison colony on 31 May. In January 2009 several prison service officials were charged with exceeding their authority in this case. Aleksei Sokolov's wife told Amnesty International that her husband had been threatened on many occasions and was warned not to continue his work.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- urging the authorities to release Alexei Sokolov to await trial;
- demanding that they grant Alexei Sokolov a prompt and fair trial;
- calling on them to demonstrate respect for the lawful work of human rights defenders, and ensure they are free to pursue their lawful activities without fear of repercussions.
APPEALS TO:
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Yurii Ya. Chaika
Ul Bolshaia Dmitrovka 15a
Moscow GSP-3
125993
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 692 17 25
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk Region
Yurii A. Ponomarev
Ul. Moskovskaia 21
Yekaterinburg
GSP 1036
Sverdlovsk Region
620219
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 343 377 02 41
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor
Department for Internal Affairs Yekaterinburg
Colonel Marat Kh. Bisinbaev
ul. Frunze 74
Yekaterinburg
620144
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Salutation: Dear Colonel
Ombudsperson for the Russian Federation
Vladimir P. Lukin
ul. Miasnitskaia 47
Moscow
107048
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 607 74 70
Salutation: Dear Mr. Lukin
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 298 5735
Email: russ-amb@cerfnet.com
(Currently unavailable)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 29 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Friday, August 14, 2009
UA August 14, 2009
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa21709.pdf
13 August 2009
UA 217/09 Forcible eviction
CAMBODIA 160 Families
Two villages in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, have received an official notice that they will have to leave their homes within seven days, as a private company is redeveloping the site for tourism and commercial purposes. Around 160 families have been ordered to move from the area without adequate alternative housing or fair and just compensation being provided.
On 10 August 2009, two lakeside villages at Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh, Village 2 and Village 4, received an official notice signed by the Daun Penh district governor, giving them seven days to dismantle their houses. The notice offers three options to those affected: compensation of 8,000 USD plus an additional two million riel (approx 500 USD) to cover the cost of dismantling the houses; a flat at a resettlement site some 20 kilometers away plus two million riel; or new housing on-site but with temporary relocation. The offer of on-site development is welcome as it demonstrates that the authorities are exploring alternatives other than eviction. This is also the option favored by most of the 160 families. However, according to the notice, they still have to dismantle their homes within seven days and accept relocation to a site far away from their work places and schools for an undetermined period, while having no formal assurances that they will be able to return to secure tenure at Boeung Kak. The resettlement site also lacks shelter, clean water, sanitation and health services.
Around 4,200 families living on or around Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh are affected by the re-development, which is the outcome of an agreement reached in 2007 between the Municipality of Phnom Penh and a private company. The company started filling the lake with sand in August 2008, in preparation for building.
The agreement was made without any prior consultation with the affected families, who since learning about the deal have repeatedly protested and voiced concern about the plans. At least two villagers have been arrested for their peaceful protests. Company workers and security forces have intimidated and harassed many others, while the rising water levels caused by the filling of the lake, have flooded and destroyed many homes around its shore, forcing people to move.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Forced evictions are carried out without adequate notice and consultation with those affected, without legal safeguards and without assurances of adequate alternative accommodation. Under international law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR), Cambodia is prohibited from carrying out forced evictions, and must protect people from them.
In February 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh entered into a 99-year lease agreement for US$79 million for 133 hectares, including Boeung Kak lake and surrounding land, with a private developer, Shukaku Inc. The company’s president is Lau Meng Khin, a senator from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
According to official information, Shukaku will fill 90 percent of the lake and turn the landfill into “pleasant, trade, and service places for domestic and international tourists”. Since the company began filling the lake on 26 August 2008, flooding has increased and caused the destruction of some houses. Hundreds of families have been forced to move out of their flooded and crumbling houses. By August 2009, around a third of the lake had been filled.
The development may lead to the eviction of a total around 4,200 families, many of whom have strong legal claims to the land under the 2001 Land Law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to halt immediately any plans to forcibly evict the families living in Villages 2 and 4 in Boeung Kak;
- urging them to reconsider the plan to move the community to a resettlement site at Damnak Trayoeung, which has no adequate shelter, water, electricity, sanitation, sewerage, health care or job opportunities;
- Calling on the authorities to hold genuine consultations about the onsite development plans, including clarifying the time frame for temporary relocation and a guarantee of security of tenure at Boeung Kak;
- Demanding that they uphold Cambodia’s obligations under international human rights treaties prohibiting forced eviction and related human rights violations.
APPEALS TO:
Kep Chuktema
Governor
Phnom Penh Municipality
# 69 Blvd. Preah Monivong
Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
Fax: 011 855 23 526101
Email: phnompenh@phnompenh.gov.kh
Salutation: Dear Governor
Sar Kheng
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior,
# 75 Norodom Blvd. Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
Fax: 011 855 23 212708
Email: moi@interior.gov.kh
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Hem Heng
Royal Embassy of Cambodia
4530 16th St NW
Washington DC 20011
Fax: 1 202 726 8381
Email: recdc@embassyofcambodia.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa21709.pdf
13 August 2009
UA 217/09 Forcible eviction
CAMBODIA 160 Families
Two villages in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, have received an official notice that they will have to leave their homes within seven days, as a private company is redeveloping the site for tourism and commercial purposes. Around 160 families have been ordered to move from the area without adequate alternative housing or fair and just compensation being provided.
On 10 August 2009, two lakeside villages at Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh, Village 2 and Village 4, received an official notice signed by the Daun Penh district governor, giving them seven days to dismantle their houses. The notice offers three options to those affected: compensation of 8,000 USD plus an additional two million riel (approx 500 USD) to cover the cost of dismantling the houses; a flat at a resettlement site some 20 kilometers away plus two million riel; or new housing on-site but with temporary relocation. The offer of on-site development is welcome as it demonstrates that the authorities are exploring alternatives other than eviction. This is also the option favored by most of the 160 families. However, according to the notice, they still have to dismantle their homes within seven days and accept relocation to a site far away from their work places and schools for an undetermined period, while having no formal assurances that they will be able to return to secure tenure at Boeung Kak. The resettlement site also lacks shelter, clean water, sanitation and health services.
Around 4,200 families living on or around Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh are affected by the re-development, which is the outcome of an agreement reached in 2007 between the Municipality of Phnom Penh and a private company. The company started filling the lake with sand in August 2008, in preparation for building.
The agreement was made without any prior consultation with the affected families, who since learning about the deal have repeatedly protested and voiced concern about the plans. At least two villagers have been arrested for their peaceful protests. Company workers and security forces have intimidated and harassed many others, while the rising water levels caused by the filling of the lake, have flooded and destroyed many homes around its shore, forcing people to move.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Forced evictions are carried out without adequate notice and consultation with those affected, without legal safeguards and without assurances of adequate alternative accommodation. Under international law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR), Cambodia is prohibited from carrying out forced evictions, and must protect people from them.
In February 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh entered into a 99-year lease agreement for US$79 million for 133 hectares, including Boeung Kak lake and surrounding land, with a private developer, Shukaku Inc. The company’s president is Lau Meng Khin, a senator from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
According to official information, Shukaku will fill 90 percent of the lake and turn the landfill into “pleasant, trade, and service places for domestic and international tourists”. Since the company began filling the lake on 26 August 2008, flooding has increased and caused the destruction of some houses. Hundreds of families have been forced to move out of their flooded and crumbling houses. By August 2009, around a third of the lake had been filled.
The development may lead to the eviction of a total around 4,200 families, many of whom have strong legal claims to the land under the 2001 Land Law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to halt immediately any plans to forcibly evict the families living in Villages 2 and 4 in Boeung Kak;
- urging them to reconsider the plan to move the community to a resettlement site at Damnak Trayoeung, which has no adequate shelter, water, electricity, sanitation, sewerage, health care or job opportunities;
- Calling on the authorities to hold genuine consultations about the onsite development plans, including clarifying the time frame for temporary relocation and a guarantee of security of tenure at Boeung Kak;
- Demanding that they uphold Cambodia’s obligations under international human rights treaties prohibiting forced eviction and related human rights violations.
APPEALS TO:
Kep Chuktema
Governor
Phnom Penh Municipality
# 69 Blvd. Preah Monivong
Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
Fax: 011 855 23 526101
Email: phnompenh@phnompenh.gov.kh
Salutation: Dear Governor
Sar Kheng
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior,
# 75 Norodom Blvd. Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA
Fax: 011 855 23 212708
Email: moi@interior.gov.kh
Salutation: Dear Minister
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Hem Heng
Royal Embassy of Cambodia
4530 16th St NW
Washington DC 20011
Fax: 1 202 726 8381
Email: recdc@embassyofcambodia.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 24 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Urgent Action 8-8-09
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa21209.pdf
7 August 2009
UA 212/09 - Fear of torture/Medical concern
IRAQ Thirty-six Iranian nationals
Thirty-six Iranians detained in Iraq are being held at a police station. Iraqi security forces detained the Iranians when they forcibly seized control of Camp Ashraf. Most are reported to have been beaten and tortured after their arrest and at least seven need urgent medical care. They are said to be on hunger strike in protest against their detention and treatment.
On 28 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed Camp Ashraf, about 60km north-east of Baghdad, home to about 3,500 members of the People's Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group which has been based in Iraq since 1986. Thirty-six camp residents were detained and taken to a police station which the Iraqi security forces had set up inside the camp. The detainees were held there for an hour during which they are reported to have been tortured and beaten, before being transferred to a police station in the town of al-Khalis, about 25 km south of Camp Ashraf.
Seven of these detainees are said to be in need of medical treatment. Mehraban Balai sustained a broken arm after being beaten by Iraqi security forces and a gunshot injury to his leg; Habib Ghorab is said to suffer from internal bleeding, and Ezat Latifi has serious chest pain after he was apparently run over by one of the military vehicles used by Iraqi forces in seizing control of the camp. The detainees have been asked to sign documents written in Arabic but have refused to do so. They have also sought access to lawyers but so far unsuccessfully. All 36 detainees remain at risk of being forcibly retuned to Iran where it is feared that all or some of them could be at risk of torture or execution.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The PMOI is a political organization that opposed and fought against governments appointed by the last Shah of Iran, and in 1979 took part in the fighting in Iran that became known as the Islamic Revolution, which ended in the creation of Iran's present system of government.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invited the PMOI to establish itself in Iraq in 1986 during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) war, and afforded the PMOI his protection. In 1988, from their base at Camp Ashraf, the PMOI attempted to invade Iran. The Iranian authorities summarily executed hundreds, if not thousands, of PMOI detainees in an event known in Iran as the "prison massacres".
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the PMOI members disarmed and were accorded "protected persons" status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, this lapsed in 2009, when the Iraqi government started to exercise control of Iraq's internal affairs as stipulated for by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a security agreement between Iraq and the US signed in November 2008 and which entered into force on 1 January this year.
US forces in Iraq provided effective protection for Camp Ashraf until mid-2009, after which they completed their withdrawal to their bases from all Iraqi towns and cities.
After they disarmed, the PMOI announced that they had renounced violence. There is no evidence that the PMOI has continued to engage in armed opposition to the Iranian government, though people associated with the PMOI still face human rights violations in Iran.
Since mid-2008 the Iraqi government has repeatedly indicated that it wants to close Camp Ashraf, and that residents should leave Iraq or face being forcibly expelled from the country.
At least eight Camp Ashraf residents were killed and many more injured when Iraqi security forces stormed the camp on 28 July 2009. Iraqi government spokesperson, Ali al-Dabbagh, acknowledged that seven camp residents were killed but claimed that "five of them threw themselves in front of Iraqi police vehicles" and two others were shot by other camp residents when they sought to leave. However, camp residents have strongly refuted this, asserting that those shot were killed by Iraqi security forces, and video footage seen by Amnesty International indicates that other deaths and injuries were caused by Iraqi forces driving vehicles into protesting residents of the camp.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern that 36 Camp Ashraf residents under arrest have been beaten and tortured and that at least seven of them are in need of medical treatment;
- Urging the authorities to investigate all allegations of torture and beatings, and to bring perpetrators to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to provide appropriate medical care to the detainees;
- Calling on the authorities to release the detainees unless they are to be promptly charged with a recognizable offense and brought to trial according to international standards for fair trial;
- Urging the authorities not to forcibly return any Camp Ashraf resident or other Iranians to Iran, where they would be at risk of torture and other serious human rights violations.
APPEALS TO:
Note: Please send appeals via the Iraqi embassy in the United States (see address below), asking them to forward your appeals to:
President
Jalal Talabani
Salutation: Your Excellency
Prime Minister
Nuri Kamil al-Maliki
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Minister of Human Rights
Wajdan Mikhail Salam
Email: minister@humanrights.gov.iq
Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org
fax: 1 202 333 1129
phone: 1 202 742 1600 EXT 136
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 11 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa21209.pdf
7 August 2009
UA 212/09 - Fear of torture/Medical concern
IRAQ Thirty-six Iranian nationals
Thirty-six Iranians detained in Iraq are being held at a police station. Iraqi security forces detained the Iranians when they forcibly seized control of Camp Ashraf. Most are reported to have been beaten and tortured after their arrest and at least seven need urgent medical care. They are said to be on hunger strike in protest against their detention and treatment.
On 28 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed Camp Ashraf, about 60km north-east of Baghdad, home to about 3,500 members of the People's Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group which has been based in Iraq since 1986. Thirty-six camp residents were detained and taken to a police station which the Iraqi security forces had set up inside the camp. The detainees were held there for an hour during which they are reported to have been tortured and beaten, before being transferred to a police station in the town of al-Khalis, about 25 km south of Camp Ashraf.
Seven of these detainees are said to be in need of medical treatment. Mehraban Balai sustained a broken arm after being beaten by Iraqi security forces and a gunshot injury to his leg; Habib Ghorab is said to suffer from internal bleeding, and Ezat Latifi has serious chest pain after he was apparently run over by one of the military vehicles used by Iraqi forces in seizing control of the camp. The detainees have been asked to sign documents written in Arabic but have refused to do so. They have also sought access to lawyers but so far unsuccessfully. All 36 detainees remain at risk of being forcibly retuned to Iran where it is feared that all or some of them could be at risk of torture or execution.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The PMOI is a political organization that opposed and fought against governments appointed by the last Shah of Iran, and in 1979 took part in the fighting in Iran that became known as the Islamic Revolution, which ended in the creation of Iran's present system of government.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invited the PMOI to establish itself in Iraq in 1986 during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) war, and afforded the PMOI his protection. In 1988, from their base at Camp Ashraf, the PMOI attempted to invade Iran. The Iranian authorities summarily executed hundreds, if not thousands, of PMOI detainees in an event known in Iran as the "prison massacres".
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the PMOI members disarmed and were accorded "protected persons" status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, this lapsed in 2009, when the Iraqi government started to exercise control of Iraq's internal affairs as stipulated for by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), a security agreement between Iraq and the US signed in November 2008 and which entered into force on 1 January this year.
US forces in Iraq provided effective protection for Camp Ashraf until mid-2009, after which they completed their withdrawal to their bases from all Iraqi towns and cities.
After they disarmed, the PMOI announced that they had renounced violence. There is no evidence that the PMOI has continued to engage in armed opposition to the Iranian government, though people associated with the PMOI still face human rights violations in Iran.
Since mid-2008 the Iraqi government has repeatedly indicated that it wants to close Camp Ashraf, and that residents should leave Iraq or face being forcibly expelled from the country.
At least eight Camp Ashraf residents were killed and many more injured when Iraqi security forces stormed the camp on 28 July 2009. Iraqi government spokesperson, Ali al-Dabbagh, acknowledged that seven camp residents were killed but claimed that "five of them threw themselves in front of Iraqi police vehicles" and two others were shot by other camp residents when they sought to leave. However, camp residents have strongly refuted this, asserting that those shot were killed by Iraqi security forces, and video footage seen by Amnesty International indicates that other deaths and injuries were caused by Iraqi forces driving vehicles into protesting residents of the camp.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern that 36 Camp Ashraf residents under arrest have been beaten and tortured and that at least seven of them are in need of medical treatment;
- Urging the authorities to investigate all allegations of torture and beatings, and to bring perpetrators to justice;
- Calling on the authorities to provide appropriate medical care to the detainees;
- Calling on the authorities to release the detainees unless they are to be promptly charged with a recognizable offense and brought to trial according to international standards for fair trial;
- Urging the authorities not to forcibly return any Camp Ashraf resident or other Iranians to Iran, where they would be at risk of torture and other serious human rights violations.
APPEALS TO:
Note: Please send appeals via the Iraqi embassy in the United States (see address below), asking them to forward your appeals to:
President
Jalal Talabani
Salutation: Your Excellency
Prime Minister
Nuri Kamil al-Maliki
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Minister of Human Rights
Wajdan Mikhail Salam
Email: minister@humanrights.gov.iq
Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida'ie
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
email: amboffice@iraqiembassy.org
fax: 1 202 333 1129
phone: 1 202 742 1600 EXT 136
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 11 September 2009.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
