URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa16810.pdf
2 August 2010
UA 168/10 - Fear for safety
GEORGIA Timur Tskhovrebov
Maria Pliyeva
Timur Tskhovrebov, an independent journalist and civil society activist, was attacked and badly beaten in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, a breakaway territory from Georgia. The attackers also issued threats against his colleague Maria Pliyeva. Both activists are currently outside South Ossetia, but their safety is at risk if they return.
Timur Tskhovrebov told Amnesty International that on 24 July he was attacked in the center of Tskhinvali by a group of up to 10 people, leaving him with a knife wound to the neck, a broken finger and injuries from punches to his face and body. He recognized his three main attackers, all of them members of the South Ossetian parliament.
Timur Tskhovrebov took refuge at the local office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), though initially he was denied entry by the office's staff and had to climb over the fence. While he was doing so, one of his attackers threatened him with a gun. During the attack, the assailants also shouted threats addressed to Timur Tskhovrebov's fellow journalist and civic activist Maria Pliyeva, promising that she "will be next". Timur Tskhovrebov has since left South Ossetia and is now in hospital in the city of Vladikavkaz, in the Russian North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, recovering from his injuries. Maria Pliyeva told Amnesty International that she has also fled South Ossetia in fear for her safety following this incident.
Timur Tskhovrebov and Maria Pliyeva believe that they are being targeted because of their independent journalism and civic activism, and both have previously received threats. In July 2010 Timur Tskhovrebov and Maria Pliyeva attended the Georgian-Ossetian Civic Forum, a meeting of activists from the region, in the Netherlands. They co-signed a document which calls on the parties of the Geneva talks on Georgia to ensure that the humanitarian needs of those affected by the 2008 Georgian-Russian war are addressed and free movement of people in the region is permitted. On 22 July, Boris Chochiev, a senior South Ossetian official, made a televised speech condemning this initiative as "traitorous" and "harmful to the position of the South Ossetian delegation at the Geneva talks," and specifically named Timur Tskhovrebov as a South Ossetian participant in the Forum.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Timur Tskhovrebov is editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper 21 Seculare. His colleague Maria Pliyeva also writes for 21 Seculare, and is also the chair of the independent NGO, Civic Initiative.
South Ossetia, a breakaway territory from Georgia, was at the center of a five-day war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008. Following the conflict, severe mutual travel restrictions were introduced by Georgia and South Ossetia, severely disrupting economic, family and other links. In addition, problems with the supply of gas and water since the conflict have severely affected the lives of people in the region. As part of the truce established in September 2008 between Georgia and Russia, delegations of the two countries meet in Geneva to discuss post-crisis management. Members of South Ossetian parliament are protected from prosecution by parliamentary immunity, and criminal allegations against them can only be initiated if their immunity is lifted by the parliamentary decision.
Like most people in South Ossetia, Timur Tskhovrebov and Maria Pliyeva hold Russian passports as well as passports issued by the de facto authorities in South Ossetia. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via its consular service, is tasked with protecting the rights and interests of its citizens abroad.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the de facto authorities in South Ossetia to take all necessary action to protect Timur Tskhovrebov and Maria Pliyeva upon their return to South Ossetia;
- Calling for a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the attack on Timur Tskhovrebov irrespective of the status of his alleged attackers; and urging them to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice;
- Urging them to ensure freedom of expression in South Ossetia, including for people with dissenting political views.
APPEALS TO:
Prosecutor General of South Ossetia
Taimuraz Khugayev
Fax: 011 79974454527
Salutation: Dear Mr. Khugayev
Minister of the Interior of South Ossetia
Valeriy Valiyev
Fax: 011 79974454532
Salutation: Dear Mr. Valiyev
COPIES TO:
Director of Consular Department
Andrei G. Karlov
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Smolenskaya-Sennaya Sq., 32/34
Moscow 119002,
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 74992442476
Email: text@dks.ru
(Please highlight that Timur Tskhovrebov and Maria Pliyeva are Russian citizens)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 September 2010.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success ----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa26209.pdf Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on September 30, 2009. Thanks!
2 August 2010
Further information on UA 262/09 (30 September 2009) - Prisoner of conscience
CHINA Dilixiati Paerhati (m)
Dilshat Paerhat (or, using the Chinese transliteration, Dilixiati Paerhati), an ethnic
Uighur and editor of a Uighur-language website, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on 21 July for "endangering
state security". He is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for exercising his right to peaceful freedom of expression, and is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
Dilshat Paerhat, editor of a website called Diyarim, was tried by the Intermediate People's Court in the city of
Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Two other men who run Uighur-language websites were tried and convicted on the same day, also for "endangering state security". They were all tried separately. Nureli, who administered a website called Salkin, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and Nijat Azat, who ran a website called Shabnam, was given an eight-year prison sentence. There is little further information on their cases.
Dilshat Paerhat was taken away from his home in Urumqi on 7 August 2009 by unidentified men. His family have not been able to meet him since, and it is not known where he is imprisoned.
During the trial, Dilshat Paerhat was represented by a court-appointed lawyer. Dilshat Paerhat told the court that he had not broken any laws and was just doing his job. It is unclear whether he will appeal against the judgment.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 5 July 2009, a police crackdown on an initially peaceful demonstration by
Uighurs in Urumqi was followed by violent riots. The initial demonstration was in reaction to authorities’ perceived inaction following the death of at least two Uighur workers after a riot at a factory in
Shaoguan, in the province of
Guangdong, on 26 June. According to the official figures, nearly 200 people died in the violence in July in the XUAR, the majority of them "innocent
Han Chinese killed by angry mobs," and over 1,700 were injured.
However, eyewitnesses interviewed by
Amnesty International report human rights violations that occurred during and in the aftermath of the 5 July protests and riots. These include beatings, arrests and shootings by the security forces to disperse peaceful protesters and the unnecessary or
excessive use of force, including lethal force, in the process of restoring order. The evening of 5 July and the following days and weeks also saw widespread arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, enforced disappearances, and unfair trials, in violation of international human rights law and standards.
The initially peaceful demonstration at Urumqi’s People's Square on 5 July, had been announced a few days earlier on Uighur websites including Salkin and Diyarim. In addition to websites, information about the demonstration was circulated on
QQ, an instant messaging service in
China, and via SMS. The Chinese authorities cut internet access in the XUAR during the night of 5-6 July 2009. According to Li Zhi, the then
Chinese Communist Party secretary in Urumqi, this was "to quench the riot quickly and prevent violence from spreading to other places". SMS and international telephone services were also cut.
Access to internet was gradually restored in the region with email facilities partially restored in February 2010 and internet access "fully" restored on 14 May 2010. However, internet access in the XUAR, like elsewhere in China, is still far from free since the government censors the internet, blocks certain sites and monitors individuals' activities online.
On 27 September 2009 the XUAR Regional People's Congress Standing Committee issued new regulations that explicitly forbade the use of the internet to "endanger state security" or "instigate ethnic separatism". In March 2010, XUAR delegate to China's legislature the
National People's Congress called for a further tightening of controls over the internet "so it won't be used by criminals as a tool of communication". China's
Criminal Law already includes provisions on "endangering state security", which include "subversion of state power", "splittism" and "leaking state secrets". Over recent years the authorities have increasingly used these vaguely-worded provisions to silence and imprison peaceful activists and to curtail freedom of expression.
According to the Dui Hua Foundation, an NGO based in San Francisco, trials of Uighur defendants have accounted for two-thirds of all "endangering state security" case in China since the early 2000s. In January 2010, the president of the Higher People's Court in the XUAR, Rozi Ismael, said that in 2009, courts throughout the region handled a total of 437 cases of "endangering state security", compared with 268 such cases in 2008. The publicly available statistics do not reveal how many individuals were involved in the cases.
In April, Gulmira Imin (f), a regular contributor to Salkin, was sentenced to
life imprisonment, and on 23 July, Hairat Niyaz, a journalist who administered another website called Uighurbiz was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, also for "endangering state security".
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the authorities to release Dilixiati Paerhati immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience;
- Calling on them to reveal his whereabouts immediately, and guarantee that Dilixiati Paerhati will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated;
- Calling on them to ensure that he is given immediate access to legal counsel of his choice, his family and any medical attention he may require.
APPEALS TO:
Director General, XUAR Department of Justice
USOUR Abuliz Tingzhang,
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Sifating,
27 Renminlu, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu,
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 991 2311590
Salutation: Dear Director General
Chairman of the XUAR People's Government
Nur BEKRI Zhuxi
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu Renmin Zhengfu Bangongting
2 Zhongshanlu
Urumqi 830041
Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 991 2817567 or 2803621
Email: master@xinjiang.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Chairman
Premier of the People's Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
Ambassador Yesui Zhang
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
3505 International Place NW
Washington DC 20522 Phone: 202 495 2000
Fax: 1 202 465-2138
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 September 2010.
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To
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$0.79 - Postcards
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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:
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202.544.0200 Fax:
202.675.8566 ----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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