Amnesty International Newsletter

amnesty international newsletter

Vol. III No. 9 Se tember 1973 Founded 1961 prisoner issue. OLIVE Under the agreement 90,000 Pakistanis, mainly military prisoners of war, were to be released AI WELCOMES RELEASE OF PRISONERSfrom Indian camps, 160,000 Bengalis were to be AND CALLS FOR PROBE INTO TORTUREallowed to leave Pakistan, and the possibility AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL welcomed President GE- was opened for about 260,000 Biharis from Bang- ORGE PAPADOPOULOS' announcement August 19 of an ladesh to go to Pakistan. Some of the Bengalis and some Pakistani civi- amnesty for political prisoners in Greece but AI groups. The expressed concern that those imprisoned before lians in India were adopted by the 1967 coup had not been included. International Secretariat said a further 260 AI Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS called for people arrested in Pakistan in May were about a tribunal of enquiry into allegations that ma- to be adopted when the accord was announced. ny of the released prisoners had been tortured. These cases were collected during a recent re- The Papadopoulos announcement, made on his search mission to the Indian sub-continent. accession to the presidency, resulted in free- Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS wrote last dom for about 350 prisoners, including many ad- January to Prime Minister INDIRA GANDHI of In- opted by AI groups. The president also ended dia and President ALI ZULFIKAR BHUTTO of Paki- stan urging the immediate release of all the martial law and pardoned his would-be assassin, Newsletter). ALEXANDROS PANAGOULIS, and the latter's broth- prisoners (February er, STATHIS PANAGOULIS (FebruaryNewsletter). REPORT CONDEMNS BRUTAL TREATMENT Alexandros, although not adopted byAI because OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SPAIN he attempted to use violence, was known to have a 36-page AI suffered terrible torture in detention. . Political Imprisonment in Spain, Excluded from the amnesty were about 15 pre- report published August 26, condemned the bru- 1967 detainees, among them ELENI VOULGARI GOLE- tality and discrimination suffered in Spanish MAS, who was arrested in 1966 and charged with prisons by opponents of the Franco government. an alleged offence committed 12 years earlier: The report was promptly attacked by a top Spa- harbouring and aiding her brother-in-law. Mr nish police official who called the torture al- Ennals said he hoped the amnesty would be ex- legations "a defamation". tended not only to these prisoners but also to The report, published in English and Spanish, Greek exiles who have been deprived of their says the system under which political prisoners citizenship and right to return home. are detained violates not only the Universal "We further hope that all those released will Declaration of Human Rights and the United Na- be reintegrated immediately into Greek society," tions' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment Mr Ennals said. "Many former prisoners, for ex- of Prisoners, but in some cases laws on Spain's ample, have experienced great difficulty in own statute books. finding jobs." It details the machinery used by the regime to jail its opponents; the physical brutality RELEASED GREEK PRISONER THANKS AI many of them have endured, at times resulting Colonel NICHOLAS PAPANIKOLAOU, one of the in death; the illnesses prisoners suffer due to political prisoners freed in the Greek am- the cramped, unsanitary conditions in cells and nesty, thanked the people of Europe "and e- lack of adequate food and medical treatment; specially Amnesty International for helping and how political prisoners are denied the sta- in obtaining the releases," according to tutory concessions of conditional liberty and the Athens correspondent of the British remission of sentences. newspaper The Guardian. The report documents individual cases of bru- Wing Commander ANASTASIOS MINIS, who suf- tality and includes the biographies of four fered long periods of brutal torture in de- longterm political prisoners who suffered se- tention (March Newsletter),reportedly said vere damage to their health through lack of me- on his release: "I was for freedom before dical attention. arrest, but now that I have had the experi- In Madrid, a high official of the General Di- ence of interrogation and prison I have be- rectorate of Security, commenting on the torture come a hundred times more so." charges, told newsmen: "The accusation, made many times before, is a defamation." He claimed the AI report was inspired by Spain's Communist ADOPTEES INCLUDED IN THOSEParty FREED "to make propaganda against the govern- UNDER INDIA-PAKISTAN AGREEMENTment." India and Pakistan signed an agreement August AI sent the report to the Spanish government 28 to release all prisoners detained since the before it was published, urging it to take im- 1971 war over Bangladesh.AI welcomed the agree- mediate action to improve the lot of political prisoners. ment which will mean freedom for a number of a- is available dopted cases and which follows sustainedAI Political Imprisonment in Spain pressure on all three governments to settle the from Amnesty International Publications, 53

2 Amnest International Newsletter Se tember 1973

Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8SP, England,tained for organizing local community work in at 50 pence ($US 1.25) per copy for illus-Seoul, some of it opposing government-approved trated English-language edition, or 30 programmes. pence (75 US cents) per copy for non-illu- In an interview with the leading Japanese strated Spanish edition, plus postage. newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Mr Ennals urged the Park regime to accede to the Japanese govern- BOLIVIA URGED TO FREE DETAINEESment's request to allow South Korean opposition AI urged President HUGO BANZER SUAREZ of Bo- leader KIM DAE-JUNG to return, if he wished, to livia to mark his second anniversary in power Tokyo where he lived in exile until kidnapped August 21 by releasing or bringing to trial all in August and returned forcibly to Seoul. political prisoners in the country and by end- ing the widespread use of torture. AI ASKS NORTH KOREA FOR DETAILS A letter from Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS OF 'ESPIONAGE' TRIALS also asked for an immediate enquiry into the MARTIN ENNALS wrote to President KIM IL- cases of 21 Bolivians who have disappeared with- SUNG of North Korea in August asking for out trace in the past two years and who are al- details of the precise charges against, and leged to have either been killed in custody or trials of, three alleged South Korean a- to have died as a result of ill-treatment by gents who were said to have been captured authorities. in North Korea while working with "unsound "In January of this year," Mr Ennals wrote, elements" for "subversive" ends. The SG re- "99 members of the church signed a document de- minded President Kim and other North Korean nouncing the killings and shootings carried authorities to whom he wrote of articles in out by the authorities; the physically and mo- the country's new constitution upholding rally degrading tortures, including the rape of the principle of fair and open trials. some women prisoners; the arbitrary detentions; the systematic intimidation of and threats.to MORE ASSASSINATIONS IN GUATEMALA families of the persecuted; the confinment of An upsurge in disappearances and assassinati- minors in internment camps; the systematic re- ons has taken place in Guatemala recently in jection by the Ministry of the Interior of the the wake of labour unrest and trouble in rural right of habeas corpus;and many other viola- areas, according to reports reachingAI in Au- tions of human rights." gust. The reports said at least three clandes- Mr Ennals pointed out that while 2,000 Boli- tine cemetaries have been found so far this vians have been detained at one time or another year con-taining the bodies of many who disap- since the military coup which brought General peared. This is in addition to individual bo- Banzer to power in 1971, not one had ever been dies discovered in isolated areas. Many bodies brought to trial. In spite of frequent announce- showed evidence of mutilation and torture. ments of prisoner releases in the Bolivian A/ cabled President ARANA OSORIO August 15 to press, over 200 political prisoners are still express concern for the safety of a number of detained without formal charge. teachers who were detained after a recent stri- LENIENCY SOUGHT IN MOROCCO TRIALke and asking him to guarantee full protection AI called on the Moroccan Permanent Military to all prisoners. Tribunal August 22 to show leniency toward the NEW DEATH PENALTY CALL TO YEMEN 157 persons on trial in Kenitra for alleged po- AI cabled President SALEM RUBIA ALI of the litical offences. The statement said serious People's Democratic Republic of Yemen on August breaches of human rights, including torture, 15 urging him to exercise clemency in the cases have occurred before and during the trial (Au- AI of seven people sentenced to death for taking gust Newsletter).It cited the report of an part in an alleged plot to overthrow the gov- observer, West German Federal Court judge Dr ernment. AI made a similar pleas to the presi- HORST WOESNER, who said that almost all the ac- dent in July over six others sentenced to death cused had been tortured by the police. (August Newsletter). STUDENTS CHARGED IN SOUTH KOREAA/ also cabled the Secretary General of the Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS wrote to Pre- Arab League, MAHMUD RIAD, asking him to inter- sident PARK CHUNG-HEE of South Korea in August vene to prevent further executions in Yemen. expressing AI's concern at the trial of 14 stu- AI WANTS URGENT RHODESIA ACTION dents accused of being members of a "campus es- AI asked leaders of the Commonwealth nations pionage ring". Mr Ennals said information recei who met in Ottawa early in August to take ur- ved by A/ indicated that the students were in gent action to secure the release of all un- fact being tried because they had been organiz- tried political prisoners in Rhodesia. In a ca- ing mine workers into trade unions. ble to the conference, International Executive The SG asked National Sections to act on two Committee Chairman SEAN MacBRIDE also voiced - other political trials in South Korea. One is concern at the arrest of six top African Na- the trial of an A/ Korean Section member, the tional Council officals and at the reported de- Reverend UN MYUNG-KI, which finally resumed in terioration in detention conditions in Rhodesia. July after a long delay (MayNewsletter).The Reverend UN was arrested last December on char- 17 NUNS 'ABDUCTED' IN VIETNAM ges of "spreading a groundless rumour". The oth AI wrote to Republic of Vietnam authorities er trial involves four churchmen charged with and to the Archbishop of Saigon in August seek- plotting to overthrow the government. Reliable ing further information about 17 nuns and a sources told AI that the four were actually de- priest alleged by Saigon to have been abducted Se tember 1973 Amnest International Newsletter 3 and held by the National Liberation Front. The ORGANIZATION International Secretariat is also seeking further details about 50 other civilians whom Sai- RELIGIOUS BODIES BACK ANTI-TORTURE gon says are NLF prisoners. This is with a view CAMPAIGN;APPEAL DEADLINE EXTENDED to the cases being taken up byAI groups. Meanwhile the civilian exchange programme The Anglican Church's Consultative Council which resumed at the end of July (AugustNews- meeting in Dublin has passed a motion of supp- letter)has ground to a halt again with less ort for AI's Campaign for the Abolition of Tor- than 1,000 exchanges carried out. Among those ture. Bishop JOHN HOWE, Secretary General of released by Saigon to the NLF were 20 self-pro- the Council, will represent the Anglican Commu- fessed members of the "third force" who resis- nion at December's Paris conference on torture. ted the transfer and who are apparently trying Other world confessional bodies which will be to return to their families on the Saigon side. represented in Paris are the World Muslim Con- AI is investigating their cases. gress, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Jewish Congress, the World Alliance of Reformed AI CHALLENGES PARAGUAYAN CLAIMChurches, the World Council of Churches' Commi- AI has challenged Paraguayan President ALFRE- sion on International Affairs and the Friends' DO STROESSNER's claim, made during a visit to World Committee for Consultation. Germany in July, that Paraguay has no political The final deadline for signatures on the In- prisoners (August Newsletter). AIsaid in a ternational Appeal to Outlaw Torture has been press statement in August that it had ample do- extended to December 11. Collection of signa- cumentation of individual as well as general tures therefore will continue after October 24, cases of people who have been detained for long the date indicated on International Secretariat periods for no more than verbal opposition to appeal forms. the regime. Among the many signatures received in August "In the comisarias(police stations) of Asun- was that of the former Tunisian government min- cion and in different places of detention in ister AHMED BEN SALAH, anA/ - adoptee who escap- the interior of the country, one finds persons ed from prison in February and fled to Europe detained who have not been formally charged (March Newsletter).The appeal has also been with a crime, nor have had access to appropri- signed by members of political parties and go- ate legal counsel, nor have been heard by a tribunal," Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS said TORTURE REPORT DATE SET in a letter to President Stroessner quoted in The Amnesty International Report on Tor- the statement. "Many of them have been detained ture, which surveys the systematic practice for long years, some as much as fifteen. The of brutality towards prisoners by govern- fact that in all this time Paraguayan justice ments throughout the world, will be publi- has not been able to present proof of the alle- shed October 15. The book will be launched ged crimes committed by these persons can only in London the same day with a news confer- lead any observer to the conclusion that they ence for the world press. are innocent." The price per copy will be £1.50 (paper- AI said it has also received recent reports back) and £3.95 (hardback). AI Sections and that the practice of torturing prisoners is in- members wishing to order copies should write creasing in Paraguay. It called on President directly to the publisher: Duckworth and Stroessner to mark his re-inauguration in Au- Company, Old Piano Factory, Gloucester Cre- gust by releasing all political prisoners. scent, London NW1, England.

DEATHS WITHOUT TRIAL IN LAOSvernment representatives in a number of count- An AI cable to Prime Minister SOUVANNA PHOUMA ries, including Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, of Laos on August 22 expressed grave concern at Luxembourg and Australia. the announcement that rebels captured after the Letters are being drafted to all member sta- attempted coup had already been executed or tes of the United Nations seeking their support were shortly to suffer the death penalty with- for AI's Draft for a UN Resolution on a Conven- out trial. The cable urged the prime minister tion on Torture and Treatment of Prisoners. to institute trial proceedings quickly. Special discussions with UN delegations re- garding the tabling of the Draft at the forth- PRISONER RELEASES AND CASES coming meeting of the General Assembly will The International Secretariat learned in take place in New York when Secretary General July of the release of 87 A/-adopted pris-MARTIN ENNALS visits there from September 29 to oners and took up 133 new cases. October 10. All National Sections andA/ members are urged to seek support from their own URUGUAY CRACKS DOWN ON DISSENTgovernments for the Draft and for UN conventi- SEAN MacBRIDE, chairman of Ars International ons relating to human rights. Sections which Executive Committee, cabled President JUAN MAR- have already approached their governments are IA BORDABERRY of Uruguay in August urging him urgently requested to communicate the outcome to restore the country's constitutional system to Martin Ennals as soon as possible. and its legal guarantees. The call came as widespread arrests continued of opposition party PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE WEEK PLAN members, doctors and trade unionists, as part Prisoner of Conscience Week, which this year of the crackdown that has taken place since the will be held the third week in October in con- military coup in June. junction with the Campaign for the Abolition of 4 Amn st International Newsletter Se tember 1973

Torture, will have as its theme Article 5 of ing for her release to:Erich Honecker, Erster the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Sekretär des Zentralkomitees der SED, DDR-102 No one shall be subjected to torture or toBerlin C2, Marx-Engels-Platz, German Democratic cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or Republic; and to:Justiz minister der DDR, Hans- punishment. Joachim Heusinger, DDR-108 Berlin W8, Clara- Selected cases of prisoners who have been sub- Zetkin-Strasse 93, German Democratic Republic. jected to such treatment or punishment will be Teresio ASILVERA,Paraguay sent shortly to National Sections for use in Teresio Asilvera was arrested nine years ago, their PoC Week programmes. accused with others of having plotted to kill President Stroessner during an annual religious IEC MEETS IN LONDON ceremony in a little town near the capital As- The International Executive Committee metunci6n. He was arrested six months after the e- in London August 11-12 to consider adminis-vent and the charges have never been substanti- trativequestions and to prepare forthe ated, nor has he been brought to trial. International Council Meeting in Vienna Teresio Asilvera is now nearly 60 years old. September 14-16. A full report is being He was a carpenter, an ex-combatant in the Cha- sent to all National Sections. co war and a member of the Febrerista Party. Of his 12 children, three are still minors. SECRETARIAT SEEKS JOB APPLICANTSAs is the case with other political prisoners The International Secretariat is seeking ap- in Paraguay he is detained in a small cell, plicants for the following posts in London: linked to a police station. The cells are ex- RESEARCHER FOR EAST ASIA (knowledge essential tremely small, yet they hold up to 12 prisoners. of Chinese, Vietnamese or Japanese, starting Like many other prisoners he has lost almost salary £1,722 per annum). all his teeth because of scarce and poor food PUBLICATIONS SECRETARY (£1,395). and lack of sunshine. In particular he is suf- SECRETARIES in Latin-America Department (Spa- fering from a lung complaint for which he has nish mother tongue), Eastern Europe (German mo- asked to be examined and treated but in vain. ther tongue), Africa (French mother tongue), Medicines that have been sent from outside the all starting at £1,395. Good typing needed. prison have not always been delivered to him. All posts also require fluency in English. Appeals for his release should be made on Write for full job description and application grounds of his detention for many years without form to the Administrative Manager, Amnesty In- trial, his ill health and old age. Exmo. ternational, 53 Theobald's Road, London WC1X8SP Please send courteously- worded cards to: Sr. Presidente de la RepUblica del Paraguay, POSTCARDS FOR PRISONERSGral. de Ejercito Alfredo Stroessner, Palacio AttarCAMPAIGNS de Gobierno, Asuncidn, Paraguay;and to:Exmo. FROM Sr. Ministro del Interior, Dr Sabino Montanaro, Rizal YUYITUNG of Taiwan, who was on thePost- Ministerio del Interior, Estrella y Montevideo, cards for Prisoners Campaignin June 1970,was Asuncidn, Paraguay. released in August at the end of his three-year sentence. Sitor SITUMORANG,Indonesia Tran Huu KHUE, South Vietnam (February 1973), Sitor Situmorang was born in 1923 in Tapanuli, was scheduled for release to the National Lib- North Sumatra. After extensive journalistic ex- eration Front under the civilian exchange pro- perience during the late 1940s, he spent some gramme, but since the exchanges have been cal- time at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris as cul- led off he remains in prison(see page 3). tural attache, where he developed his creative talents as a writer and poet. T HI S MONT H ' S CAMPAIGN He published many collections of verse and won Dr Helga PETSCHIK,GDR high respect among Indonesian and foreign cri- Helga Petschik, a 37-year-old doctor, tried tics. In 1959 he helped found LKN, the National to leave the German Democratic Republic (GDR) Cultural Institute of the Indonesian Nationalist illegally via Czechoslovakia in August 1972 to- Party (PNI) and became its first chairman. In gether with her husband, a research chemist, the early 1960s he developed a strong socialist- and their three children. They were arrested on realist approach to literature and verse, stres- the border and handed over to GDR authorities sing the need for clear commitment to the peo- two months later. ple's interests and the cause of the Indonesian Dr Petschik and her husband were brought to revolution. He was a member of parliament in trial in March 1973, charged with trying to the early 1960s and also attended a number of leave the GDR illegally. They were sentenced to Afro-Asian meetings of writers. 3 years 5 months' and 3 years 9 months' impri- After the coup attempt in 1965, LKN continued sonment respectively. The recent GDR amnesty in existence. But he was arrested early in 1967 declared on the 23rd anniversary of the found- when Army intelligence found him in possession ing of the state did not affect this case since of material sharply critical of the regime. He investigations had not been concluded in time. has been held in detention since then in Jakarta, The three children are to be allocated to dif- most of the time in Salemba Prison. He has never ferent homes, although Dr Petschik's sister-in- been tried. law, who lives in West Germany, has offered to Please send courteously- worded cards appealing' care for them during their parents' imprison- for his release to:The Attorney General, Gener- ment. al Ali Said, S.H., Kedjaksaan, Jalan Hassanuddi- Please send courteously-worded cards appeal-ni, Kebajoran Baru, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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