• AMNESTYINTERNATIONALNEWSLETTER

Al delegates meet President Ramiro de Leon Carpio, shortly after he tookoffice on 6 June 0 Manuel Medizabal

GUATEMALA

Ramiro

de Leon Carpio,Guatemala's former Hu-man Rights Procurator,

became the country's presidentearly on the morning of 6 June,after his near unanimous selec-tion by Congress to serve outthe term remaining to Presi-dent Jorge Serrano Elias. For-mer president Serrano hadbeen forced from office aftertrying to seize near-dictatorialpowers.

De Leon himself had narrowlyescaped arrest on 25 May, the dayof Serrano's attempted coup, byfleeing over the back wall of hishome as security forces attemptedto enter through the front.

The new president will faceserious challenges, includingwidespread hopes that he willtake a strong stand on humanrights issues and move against theapparently rampant official cor-ruption. An Al delegation metwith the new president only hoursafter his inauguration, urging himto make respect and protection ofhuman rights an integral part ofhis program.

President de Le6n welcomedAl's plans to return to Guatemalain the near future to discuss thesteps the new government musttake to protect human rights, andagreed to take part in these

In May the chief federalprosecutor of Germanycharged that Iranianauthorities had ordered the1992 killings of four Kurdishactivists, asserting "Theringleader of the Berlin at-tack was Kazem Darabi, anagent of the Iranian secretservice." He is under arrestin Germany together withfour Lebanese nationals whohave been charged with aid-ing him.

Sadegh Sharafkandi, Secre-tary General of the Kurdistan

discussions.

The Al delegates also deliv-ered a letter calling on Presidentde Le6n to publicly declare thatthe protection of human rightswill be a fundamental state policyas required by the Guatemalanconstitution, and to ensure thatthose responsible for humanrights crimes do not benefit fromimpunity. AI also asked for viola-tions committed by past admini-strations to be resolved, and forlocal non-governmental organi-zations to be consulted about thereforms necessary to protecthuman rights. It stressed the ne-cessity for effective jurisdictionof the courts over all cases ofhuman rights violations whethercommitted by civilians or the

Democratic Party of Iran(KDPI), Fattah Abdouli,KDPI's Europe representative,Homayoun Ardalan, KDPI'srepresentative for Germanyand Nuri Dehkordi, a trans-lator and social worker, wereshot dead in a Berlin res-taurant on 17 September 1992.The delegates of the KDPIwere in Berlin for a SocialistInternational convention.

The Iranian Governmenthas denied any involvement inthe killings.

AI is totally opposed to

military, and for the fundamentalrights of vulnerable people, suchas street children, shanty-towndwellers, indigenous peoples, thedisplaced and the repatriated to beprotected. Finally, the organiza-tion pressed for the protection anddefence of human rights to be anintegral part of any agreementreached with the armed opposi-tion during peace negotiations.

The AI delegation had gone toGuatemala in order to monitor themeasures announced by Presi-dent Serrano on 25 May, includ-ing the suspension of keyprovisions of the Constitution,the dissolution of Congress andthe suspension of the SupremeCourt and the ConstitutionalCourt. LI

extrajudicial executions — de-liberate and unlawful killingsby governments which resultfrom a policy at any level ofgovernment to eliminate orpermit the elimination of spe-cific individuals or groups —as well as to deliberate and ar-bitrary killings by oppositiongroups. In this case, it is con-cerned that the four men mayhave been victims of extraju-dicial executions by Iraniangovernment's agents and willbe closely monitorin the out-come of the trials. L.

'The summitof missedopportunities'The

United Nations WorldConference on Human

Rights, billed as the mostimportant gathering of thehuman rights community in25 years, took place in Viennain June. Yet after two weeksof debate, the more than 170participating governmentsagreed on a Declaration andProgram of Action, butfailed to address some of themost pressing human rightsissues facing the victims oftyranny around the world.

Negotiators failed to give firmendorsement to the controversialproposal, first launched by AI lastNovember, of establishing a UNHigh Commissioner for HumanRights. The official governmentdelegations represented at theWCHR passed the issue to thenext session of the UN GeneralAssembly for further action.

Al's Secretary General, PierreSane, denounced the WCHR as a"summit of missed opportuni-ties". During the two weeks of theconference, he said, "at least 20people have been tortured todeath, more than 40 people have'disappeared% more than 100death sentences have been passedand every four hours a prisonerhas been executed in one of the106 countries which continue touse the death penalty."

"The people who have the kill-ers and torturers on their payrollswere in Vienna mouthing phrasesabout human rights, but there is noevidence that those words saved asingle life. There is no evidencethat a single order was given tostop the torture and killing."

The Declaration, agreed at theend of the WCHR, contains someconcrete proposals, such as those forprotecting the rights of women,children and indigenous peoples.However, references to nationaland regional "particularities"stand to undermine the universal-ity of human rights, and the out-right failure to guarantee theprotection of international law tothe media could weaken the rightto freedom of information. 0

New president faces human rights challenges

IRAN

Prosecutors link Iranian Government to killingsof Kurdish activists in Berlin

2 AUGUST 1993

I

An appeal from you to the authorities can help the victims of human rights violations whosestories are told below.

You can help free a prisoner of conscience or stop torture. Your message can bring liberty toa victim of "disappearance". You may prevent an execution.

The victims are many, the violations wide-ranging. Every appeal counts.

AZERBAYDZHAN SAUDI ARABIALiana and Ulyana Rarsegyan: ethnic Armenian sisters, aged nine and 10, they were reportedlytaken hostage on 10 April 1992 by Azerbaydzhani troops in the disputed region of Karabakh.Their family has had no news of them for nearly a year.Hundreds of civilians have been exchange point, .011.,„taken hostage by government w a s killedforces, paramilitary units and when his tractorprivate individuals — to be hit a landmineexchanged for other hostages or on the journeybartered for petrol or money — back home.during intercommunal violence The two sis-in and around Karabakh. The ters reportedlyconflict over this region, remained withpopulated mainly by ethnic an Azerbay-Armenians but administratively dzhani familypart of Azerbaydzhan, has seeking the re-escalated since 1988 to claim turn of a rela-thousands of lives, many of them tive's body incivilian. exchange. They

Liana and Ulyana Barsegyan, were last seen in August 1992 intogether with their brother, the Fizuli district, southeast ofmother and grandmother, were Karabakh, by their young cousinsaid to he among 40 civilians who was also held hostage there.taken from their village of Ma- Their current whereabouts are notraga in April 1992. The three known.other family members were ex- Azeris have also been takenchanged about a month later, hostage by ethnic ArmenianThe girls' father, who had come forces. Hostage-taking is ex-to collect his family from the pressly forbidden by the 1949

Liana and Ulyana Barsegyan

Since the KwaZulu Police tookover responsibility for KwaMak-hutha township more than fouryears ago, the township residentsand lawyers have repeatedly triedto alert the authorities to policeinvolvement in unlawful shoot-ings. assaults and threats againstpeople perceived as ANC sup-porters. The failure of theauthorities to respond, togetherwith the gravity of the continuingviolations, has led the townshipresidents to seek Supreme Courtinjunctions restraining theKwaZulu Police from further at-tacks. Eden Mngadi, who partici-pated in these legal actions, hasbeen harassed and arbitrarily de-tained as a result. In 1990 hisfamily home was attacked by

gunmen linked to the police.The police released Eden

Mngadi shortly after his arrest inMarch, but they held Mfundiovernight in a police station. Thefollowing day, according to hu-man rights monitors and eyewit-nesses, police officers broughtMfundi Mngadi back to his home,apparently to force him to pointout alleged weapons caches.While searching the backyard ofthe Mngadi home, the police al-legedly opened fire on Mfundi,who then tried to run away, butfell wounded. The police in coldblood then shot him in the head atclose range.

The police involved claimedthat they had shot MfundiMngadi in self-defense after he

Geneva Conventions, and Alhas repeatedly urged all sides totake immediate steps to end theaactice.MPlease send appeals for infor-mation on the fate and where-abouts of Liana and UlyanaBarsegyan, to: Heidar Aliyev/Chairman of the Milli Mejlis/Baku/ Azerbaydzhani Republic

fired at them with a stolenweapon. Township residents fearthat the KwaZulu Police are inca-pable of independently and prop-erly investigating the killing. Bymid-June the police had still notannounced the results of any in-vestigation into the killing and noinquest date had been set.• Please send appeals, express-ing concern that Mfundi Mngadiappears to have been the victim ofextrajudicial execution by theKwaZulu Police, and calling foran urgent, impartial and inde-pendent inquiry into the circum-stances of his death, and for thoseresponsible to be brought to jus-tice, to: The Attorney-General forNatal/Supreme Court/Pieter-maritzburg 3200/South Africa

Dr Muhammad 'Abdullah al-Mas 'ari, a 47-year-old phys-ics professor, was arrested inMay for the peaceful expres-sion of his conscientiouslyheld beliefs. He is believed tobe held incommunicado andwithout charge or trial in adetention centre in Riyadh.On 15 May al-Mahahith al-'Amma (General Intelligence)officers arrested Dr al-Mas'ari atthe King Saud University campus.He has reportedly been deprivedof sleep and has not been allowedvisits from his family, legal coun-sel or doctors. Dr al-Mas'ari actedas the spokesperson for the Com-mittee for the Defence of Legiti-mate Rights (CDLR) which wasfounded two weeks before hisarrest by six religious scholarsand professionals.

A statement signed by thefounding members announcedthat the aims of the CDLR wouldbc the "alleviation of injustice...and the defence of the humanrights decided by the Shari'a [Is-lamic Lawr. The statement calledon individuals to report to thecommittee "an authentic piece ofinformation that may help elimi-nate injustice. support the op-pressed and defend legitimaterights".

In May the Council of Senior'Illama (religious scholars), thecountry's highest religiousauthority, stated that Saudi Arabiahad no need for human rights or-ganizations since it was ruled inaccordance with the Shari 'a.

Al is not aware of any calls toviolence by the CDLR and has notreceived any response to its ap-peal to the Saudi authorities forthe release of Dr al-Mas'ari. Albelieves that Dr al-Mas'ari is aprisoner of conscience.III Please send courteous appealsfor his immediate and uncondi-tional release, to: The Custodianof the Two Holy Shrines/KingFahd bin 'AM al-'Aziz/Office ofthe Custodian of the Two HolyShrines/Riyadh/Saudi Arabia

SOUTH AFRICAMfundi Mngadi, an African National Congress (ANC) supporter from KwaMakhutha township,which falls within part of the KwaZulu "homeland" south of Durban, was killed in KwaZulu policecustody 24 hours after he and his brother, Eden, were arrested on 24 March 1993.

AUGUST 1993 3ISRAEL/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES MAURITANIA

Upsurge in killings by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip Immunity lawfor violators

The body of I8-month-old Fares al-Kurdi, killed in May by Israeli forcesin Jabaliya Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip

AI believes that many of thekillings are absolutely unjustifi-

able, and that some may amountto extrajudicial executions. It hascalled on the Israeli authorities totake urgent measures to preventfurther killings.

At least 15 Israeli civilians, aswell as more than 50 alleged Pal-estinian "collaborators", havebeen killed by armed Palestinianssince December 1992. Respon-

sibility for some of these attacks

has been claimed by armed Pales-tinian groups. Fatah— the main

faction of the Palestine LiberationOrganization (PLO) — andHamas acknowledged joint re-sponsibility for the killing of twoIsraeli civilians and two Palestini-ans engaged in a business trans-action in the Gaza Strip on 16May. AI condemns such deliber-ate and arbitrary killings and ap-peals to the PLO and Hamas to

stop them.0

solitary confinement for severalmonths. Many were held in

hinged hand-cuffs for up to sixweeks.

During visits to the country in

1991 and 1992. AI was refusedaccess to observe a political trial

and to visit prisoners being heldat Dhoonidhoo detention centre

and Gamadhoo prison. 0*See Republic of Maldives:

Prisoners of conscience and un-

fair trial concerns, 1990-1993(AI Index: ASA 29/01/93)

Eritrea becomes independentEritrea formally became independent from Ethiopia on 24 May,the 30th anniversary of the beginning of its armed struggle forindependence and two years after the Eritrean People's Libera-tion Front (EPLF) defeated Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile-Mariam's army.

Following a two-year provisional government, a refer-endum supervised by the United Nations (UN) produced avirtually unanimous vote in favour of independence.Eritrea has joined the UN as its 183rd member state andhas become the 52nd member state of the Organization ofAfrican Unity.

AI has written to Eritrea's President, Issayas Afewerki, urg-ing swift ratification of relevant international and regionalhuman rights instruments by the newly independent state. Thepresident had told Al's representatives in Asmara in December1991 that after three decades of fighting against human rightsviolations in Eritrea, his government is committed to theprotection of basic human rights.

AI is also pursuing inquiries about over a dozen opponents ofthe EPLF, who have reportedly been arrested or "disappeared"over the past two years. AI has called on the government toaccount for what has happened to them. E

InMay an AI delegation vis-ited the Occupied Gaza Stripand Israel to investigate the up-surge in killings of Palestiniansby Israeli forces. Since the de-portation to South Lebanon ofmore than 400 alleged support-ers of the Islamic ResistanceMovement (Hamas) and Is-lamic Jihad in December 1992,more than 110 Palestinians, in-cluding at least 30 children,have been shot and killed byIsraeli forces. About 80 of themwere killed in the Gaza Strip.

Al is particularly concerned atreports of people killed whileapparently not engaging in anyviolent activity. They include 11-

year-old Rana Abu Tuyur, killedon her way to buy milk on 19December 1992 during clashes inKhan Yunes; 8-year-old Maheral-Maja`idah, killed in KhanYunes on 20 March in a busy

street during preparations for theforthcoming feast of 'Id al-Fitr;and Najah Abu Dalal, a 34-year-old mother of six who died inApril after having been shot in the

head five days earlier — appar-ently by a soldier stationed on atall building nearby while she wasstanding in a private courtyard.

MORE than three dozen politicalprisoners, including prisoners ofconscience, have been detainedsince 1990 in the Republic

of Maldives. Some have beenreleased, but others remain indetention after unfair trials.*

Some were arrested in March

1990 for distributing leaflets al-leging vote-rigging during parlia-mentary elections in 1989. Otherswere arrested later in the year inconnection with an alleged con-spiracy to explode petrol bombsin Male' during the summit of theSouth Asian Association of Re-gional Cooperation, and for plan-

ning other acts of violence. Somepeople involved in these caseswere journalists and writers whohad criticized the governmentduring a period of liberalizationfollowing the elections.

Some prisoners have beenheld for long periods withouttrial, others were sentenced to im-prisonment or banishment to dis-tant islands after unfair trials. At

least 15 were charged under thePrevention of Terrorism Act.passed in December 1990 and ap-plied retroactively. Some were ill-treated, apparently being held in

On 29 May Mauritania's Na-tional Assembly passed abill granting immunity fromprosecution to members of thenational army and securityforces for the massive humanrights violations committedbetween 1989 and 1992, whenmore than 400 black Mauri-tanians were executed extra-judicially, thousands weredetained for lengthy periodswithout charge or trial anddozens more "disappeared".

Between April 1989 and theend of 1990, thousands of blackMauritanians were expelled fromMauritania, along with manySenegalese, following clashes be-tween the Mauritanian andSenegalese communities. At least100 black Mauritanians were ex-trajudicially executed by Mauri-tanian government forces andthousands more were detainedwithout charge.

Following further arrests in late1990, members of the Mauritanian

security forces killed more than 300black detainees, who may havebeen prisoners of conscience.

AI has protested against theimmunity law and is repeating its

call for an independent and im-

partial inquiry into these humanrights violations so that thosefound responsible can be brought

to justice. El

PAKISTAN

'Disappearance'CUSTOMS inspector AllahRakhio "disappeared" in thecustody of the army after hisarrest on 18 November 1991 inHyderabad, Sindh province. Thearmy initially denied detaininghim, but then said they would

release him within hours. On 20November they claimed he hadbeen released. The Sindh HighCourt accepted the army's testi-mony hut ordered an investiga-tion to establish Allah Rakhio'swhereabouts. No such investiga-tion is known to have taken place

and the police have refused to filea complaint from the family.

Al fears that Allah Rakhiomay have been tortured or extra-judicially executed. Illegal deten-tion by military and paramilitary

forces in Pakistan is frequentlyreported and in many cases tor-ture, sometimes leading to death.is alleged. "Disappearances",however, arc rarely reported.

MALDIVES

POCs continue to be held after unfair trials

I

/

l

/ .

Against the death penalty: Cartoon by Palestinian artist Naji al Ali, who was assassinated in London in 1987. Nail al Ali's humanist cartoons were syndicated to several Arabic newspapers and have been displayed around the world

6 AUGUST 1993KUWAIT GERMANY

'Collaborator' executed after unfair trial, Al fearsthat further death sentences will be caffied out

Since April 1992, when thetrials of defendants accusedof "collaborating" with Iraqiforces during the occupationof Kuwait opened before theState Security Court, 24 deathsentences have been passed,two of them in absentia.

One of these sentences wasreduced to life imprisonment bythe Court of Cassation in Decem-ber 1992, while another was up-held, ratified by the Amir andcarried out on 5 May, the firstjudicial execution known to have

been carried out in Kuwait since1989.

Among those facing the deathpenalty are seven Iraqis and 10Jordanians of Palestinian origin

sentenced between 6 and 19 June.On 8 June, Kuwait's Foreign

Minister publicly affirmed

that all death sentences ratifiedby the Amir will be carried out.AI has called for the immediate

commutation of all these deathsentences.

In another case, 11 Iraqis and

I n June Al called for an urgentreview of all cases of political

detainees and an end to abusesin south and east Sierra Leone,where armed rebels are fight-ing government troops.

Al representatives visiting

Sierra Leone in May found 264political detainees being heldwithout charge or trial and virtu-

ally in secret at the Central Prison,Pademha Road, in Freetown.

Many of their families appar-ently did not know whether theywere still alive or where they were

being held. A few of the prisonershad been captured in 1991 fol-lowing a rebel invasion from

Liberia — hundreds of others

captured at the same time haddied in 1991 and 1992 fromtorture, starvation or medical

neglect.

Others had been detained

after a military governmentseized power in April 1992.Although apparently held be-

cause they were suspected ofbeing opponents of the new

Amjad Ibrahim al-Shikhaiti, a30-year-old Iraqi sentenced todeath on 6 June

three Kuwaitis appeared beforethe State Security Court on 5

June, charged with involvementin a plot to assassinate the formerUnited States President GeorgeBush during his visit to Kuwait inApril. The prosecution asked forthe death penalty to be imposedon 12 of the defendants. Atthe start of the trial, two of themadmitted the charges againstthem. One of seven court-

appointed defence lawyers

government or active in therebellion, there had been noproper investigation into their

cases. Al urged the release ofprisoners of conscience andcalled for others to be freed if

they were not to be charged withspecific offences.

Outside Freetown, there wascontinuing evidence that thosecaptured in the conflict betweengovernment and rebel forces werebeing tortured and extrajudicially

executed. Rebels taken on the

intervened, requesting that theseadmissions he struck from the

court record since none of thedefendants had been allowedaccess to lawyers before the trial.The trial continues.

AI is concerned that ifconvicted, 12 of these defen-dants may be sentenced to deathand executed after unfair trials.In addition, AI believes that the

defendants' right to a fair trialmay have been seriously jeopard-

ized by Kuwait Government

statements before the start ofthe trial, and by United StatesGovernment statements follow-ing the air strike on Baghdad on

26 June, which undermine thedefendants' right to be presumedinnocent until proven guilty ac-

cording to law.

AI has called on the KuwaitiGovernment to retry the 14 defen-dants while affording them allinternationally recognized guar-

antees for fair trial, and to ensurethat no death sentences are assedin the event of conviction. Ll

battlefield have been summarily

killed while others accused of be-

ing rebels have been executedwithout any form of legal proce-dure, often in public and bybeheading. AI urged the gov-

ernment to ensure that their mili-tary forces have clear orders notto kill prisoners. Al also con-

demns the torture and deliberate

and arbitrary killings by rebelforces which have continuedsince the rebellion started in1991. El

Police attacksreported asracist violenceescalates

Asracist violence continuesto escalate in Germany,Al has registered a markedincrease in the number ofalleged assaults on foreignersby German police officers.Some cases of alleged policeill-treatment may have beenracially motivated. Many ofthe victims have been thosewho fled political persecutionor torture in their own coun-try. Attacks against foreignersin Germany culminated inMay, when five Turks —threegirls and two women —burned to death when theirhome in Solingen was fire-bombed.

In July last year Thiyagara-

jah P., a Sri Lankan asylum-

seeker, was stopped in thestreet by Berlin police andaccused of stealing a bicycle.

Officers ignored the proof ofpurchase which he showed

them, and told him that it wasonly foreigners who would

commit such acts of theft.They then arrested him,

breaking his wrist in theprocess.

Police officers have alsobeen accused of failing to actwhen foreigners have beenattacked by Germans. In one

recent case police arrestedthe victim, rather than theassailant. Habib J., an Ira-nian student, was assaulted bythe driver of a bus last

December in Berlin.

When the police arrived theyarrested Habib J., who allegesthat he was repeatedly hit inthe face by a police officer inthe station and that when he

tried to make a formal com-plaint he was merely handedan information sheet and thenviolently thrown out into

the street.

The assault on Habib J. by thebus driver was witnessed by awoman who later contacted the

victim.

AI is raising these and othercases with the appropriate

German authorities. The or-ganization will report on

the outcome of the judicial in-vestigations into these allega-tions when they are

complete.0

SIERRA LEONE

Hundreds of political prisoners held in secret

Women and children held in Darn military headquarters in May 1993 forquestioning about rebel activities in Kailahun District, Eastern Province

AUGUST 1993 7

INDIA

Student survives being tortured and left to die

Masroof Sultan recovers in hospital from the vicious attack that nearly cost

him his life

Masroof Sultan, a 19 year-old college student from

Batamaloo in Jammu and

Kashmir, was brutally tor-

tured, shot five times and left

for dead by the paramilitary

Border Security Force (BSF),

one of the government's

counter-insurgency units.

The Indian security forces

have often claimed that people

who died or "disappeared" after

being taken into custody were

killed in a "cross fire" with armed

government opponents. Masroof

Sultan's testimony clearly illus-

trates that such official accounts

simply serve as an attempt to

cover up widespread atrocities.

Masroof Sultan says that on

the morning of 8 April, as he was

returning from a visit with his

cousin in a village near Srinagar,

the BSF boarded and searched the

bus he was in, lining the passen-

gers up outside.

He was taken to a building,

along with three other young

men, where four men in BSF uni-

form tried to force him to admit

he was a militant Kashmiri sepa-

ratist. When he refused, they

stripped him, tied his hands and

knees together, suspended him

from a pole by his knees and beat

him with a heavy wooden stick

until his leg was broken.

When he still refused to "con-

fess" after three hours, a senior

officer told the torturers to take

him to Papa 11, an interrogation

centre near Srinagar where many

detainees are reported to have

been tortured. After he had been

bundled into a van, he heard his

parents crying outside. "They

took sticks", he says, "and beat

my mother. The security forces

men told me it's thc last time

you'll sec her, after that you will

die."

In Papa II, he says that metal

rings and wires were attached to

his body and he was given electric

shocks until he started bleeding

from his mouth and nose. "I lost

all my senses," he says, "I was

like a dead body."

BSF soldiers then put him in a

jeep, and told him that they were

going to kill him in retaliation for

the deaths of four BSF personnel

who had been killed in Batamaloo

the night before. They took him

to a nearby river, stood him

Masroof Sultan

against a tree and opened fire.

hitting him in the legs. About 10

minutes later, when they realized

he was still alive, an officer or-

dered one of the men to shoot him

in the heart.

The next bullet hit Masroof

Sultan in the chest. A final shot

was aimed at his head, but hit him

in the neck. "I made myself look

dead," he says, "they kicked mc

and I stopped breathing." He

believes that three other people

were killed nearby, but their

bodies have not been found.

He lay by the road for several

hours, bleeding and crying in

pain. He was eventually found

near Solina by the Kashmir

police, following a tip-off from the

BSF, who told the police where

they would find the bodies of

several "militants" killed in a

gunfight.

Kashmiri and foreign doctors

in Srinagar confirmed that Mas-

roof Sultan had been shot at least

five times and had injuries consis-

tent with beating and electrical

torture.

Reports indicate a rise in cus-

todial killings in Jammu and

Kashmir: since mid-1992 hun-

dreds of Kashmiri men have been

killed in military and paramilitary

custody. In April The Kashmir

Times said that 132 people had

been killed in custody in just the

preceding 33 days.

Earlier in the year, a senior

state official in Jammu and Kash-

mir, asked about deaths in cus-

tody, told a journalist: "Yes

they're killing them. Maybe it's

because the jails are full — or

they want to frighten people." El

PERU

Reduced "disappearances" overshadowed by impunityIn July 1990, on assuming the

presidency, Alberto Fujimori

promised the nation that his

government would pursue a

policy of "unrestricted respect"

for human rights. But during

the first 30 months of his ad-

ministration, AI documented

560 unresolved "disappear-

ances"— nearly 20 a month. By

contrast, there have been 10

new "disappearances" re-

ported during the first sixmonths of this year. This reduc-

tion has been claimed by the

government as evidence of an

improvement in Peru's appall-

ing human rights record.

Although AI has welcomed

the decrease, the organization re-

mains concerned about continu-

ing "disappearances" and does

not, at present, regard the de-

crease as definitive. Al has noted

similar periodic reductions in the

past, which were then followed

by significant rises. Moreover,

at least 4,01)0 "disappearances"

documented by the Public

Ministry's Attorney General's

office since 1981 still remain

unresolved.

Al has repeatedly urged Pres-

ident Fujimori's government to

thoroughly investigate all "disap-

pearances", make the findings

public, and bring the perpetrators

to justice. So far the government

has failed to do so. Peru's armed

forces, responsible for the vast

majority of "disappearance"

cases, continue to enjoy an almOst

unbroken record of impunity.

The government's statenlent,

made in September 1991, that

"we are firmly determined.., not

to have one single disappearance

more", and President Fujimori's

declaration "that government

forces who do not comply with

their I human rights] obligations

will be... severely punished",

have yet to be translated into

reality. E

Peruvian government forces patrol 'La Cantuta' University, where several

professors and students have 'disappeared' in recent years. The military

has had a base there since November 1991 © La Repühlica

8 AUGUST 1993BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA TURKEY

Civilian casualities mount as war rages on

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosnian Croat soldiers at a roadblock in Travnik beata Bosnian Muslim who had been driving a lorry in an aid convoy headedfor the the Muslim town of Tuzla. The Croats reportedly killed at least sevenMuslims after halting the convoy ©David Brauchli for AP

Thousands of civilians in cen-tral Bosnia-Herzegovina

were the victims of fierce battlesfor control of territory and sup-ply routes which flared up be-tween the nominally alliedBosnian Croatian forces andthe largely Muslim BosnianGovernment forces in April.

Armed groups apparentlybeyond the control of either ofthese forces also carried out re-

venge attacks. In eastern Bos-n i a -H erze gov in a, Muslimcivilians were indiscriminately

shelled by Bosnian Serb forces.All sides detained civilians ashostages or for exchange: somewere held for months in deten-

tion camps like the Batkoviccamp near Bijeljina under Bos-nian Serbian control.

On 16 April Bosnian Croatian

forces of the Croatian DefenceCouncil (HVO) attacked thelargely Muslim village of Ahmicinear Vitez. As villagers fled, at

least 20 were reportedly am-bushed and shot at close range.Others who remained were sum-marily executed by HVO soldierswho moved through the village

torching Muslim homes. Most ofthe 89 bodies recovered from thevillage were of women, childrenand elderly people.

The same day Muslim ir-regulars detained and killed

about 15 unarmed Croatian menin the village of Trusine near

Konjic; two women and twosmall children were woundedwhen Muslim soldiers fired into

their house, after first shootinga male member of the house-hold. Women and children from

the village were detained for up

AMNESTY INTERNATIONALNEWSLETTERis publishedevery month in four lan-guages to bring you newsof Al's concerns and cam-paigns worldwide, as wellas in-depth reports.Available from AmnestyInternational (address be-low)

to two days and threatened inorder to obtain the surrenderof Croats defending nearby

positions.

On 24 April Muslim irregu-lars killed four Croatian civil-ians they had detained in thevillage of Miletici, northwest of

Zenica. An official of the UnitedNations High Commissioner forRefugees said that the men had

been tortured before beingkilled.

In Zenica, a number of HVOsoldiers imprisoned by Bosnian

Government forces told Reutersat the end of May that they hadbeen held in a local music schooland beaten with rubber trun-cheons, wooden staves and

lengths of wire cable.On 10 June HVO forces near

Novi Travnik halted a civilian re-lief convoy of some 450 lorriestaking supplies to the mainlyMuslim town of Tuzla. They at-tacked the convoy and reportedly

shot at least seven Muslimdrivers, apparently in revenge forthe capture of Travnik by BosnianGovernment forces.

The following day HVO

forces again attacked, killing twoMuslim drivers, one of them atclose range. Some 30 other

Muslim drivers were reportedlycaptured and the convoy, whichhad been bringing supplies to thebeleaguered city of Tuzla, wasplundered. 0

CUBA

POCs go freeTHREE prisoners of conscience

were unexpectedly freed at theend of May. Maria Elena CruzVarela, poet and president of anunofficial opposition group, was

unconditionally released afterserving 18 months of a two-year

sentence on charges of illegal as-sociation and defamation.

José Luis Pujol, foundermember of two dissident groups,and Marco Antonio Abad Fla-

mand, a film maker, were condi-tionally released. Both had beenserving two-year sentences oncharges of "disrespect" and "dis-respect and enemy propaganda"respectively. 0

Police shoot tokill in hit-and-run house raids

MORE than 50 people havebeen shot and killed by po-lice during raids on houses inthe major cities of western Tur-key since 1991. Most of theseraids were directed at alleged"safe houses" of the urbanguerrilla organization DevrimciSol (Revolutionary Left) whichkilled 47 members of the secu-rity forces, mainly in hit-and-run attacks, during 1992.

The house raids carried out bypolice were characterized by a

high mortality rate with very fewprisoners taken, leading to allega-tions that these killings were ex-

trajudicial executions.

The police who killed studentsUgur Yasar Kilig and SengiilYildiran during a raid on a flat in

Istanbul in April said they founda pistol. Ergiil Uzundiz, whomanaged to escape from the flat,denied that the victims had been

armed. In many such raids therewas no evidence of an exchangeof fire; in other cases people mayhave been shot after surrendering.

Due to the reluctance of neigh-

bours and witnesses to speak, thedestruction of important evidenceand the practice of refusing law-yers entry to the scenes of thekillings and to autopsies, it hasbeen difficult to challenge the of-ficial police version of victimsbeing unavoidably killed in

armed clashes. But the credibility

of police claims that they only firein self-defence was furtherstrained when police burst intothe unoccupied flat of two stu-dents at the Middle East Tech-nical University in Ankara on thenight of 13 May and fired eightshots into the sofa.

Several of those killed werestudents who could easily have

been taken into custody in thestreet or at their place of study.

The UN Basic Principles onthe Use of Force and Firearms byLaw Enforcement Officials re-quire that non-violent measures

should be attempted first, and thatthe lethal use of firearms shouldnormally be used only after clearwarnings as a last resort to protectlife.There is strong evidence thatthe security forces have been inbreach of these principles and Albelieves that Turkish police maybe choosing to kill those suspectedof links with illegal armed organi-zations rather than arrest them. 0

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ, United Kingdom. Printed in Great Britain by Flashprint Enterprises Dd. London.Available on subscription at £7 (US$13.00) for 12 issues. ISSN 0308 6887 AI Index: NWS 21/05/93