ß û An International Journal on Human Rights <? Published by Amnesty International of the USA Photo: L.A. Hyder Czechoslovakia Special Section: Greece Medicine Indonesia and Torture South Vietnam VOL. 1, NO. 2 FALL 1974 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATES Danilo Dolci Prof. Eric Fromm Sir Brian Horrocks Jean-Flavien Lalive Salvador de Madriaga Yehudi Menuhin Gunnar Myrdal Dr. Martin Niemoller Alan Paton Sean McBride Giorgio La Pira Archbishop Arthur Ramsey Prof. Julius Stone NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL Sen. James Abourezk Philip Amram Joan Baez Daniel Bell Nelson Bengston Zbigniew Brzezinski William F. Buckley, Jr. Joseph Buttinger David Carlner Rep. Don Edwards Richard Falk Jules Feiffer Richard Gardner Stephen Goldman Sanford Gottlieb Frances Grant Rep. Michael Harrington Rita Häuser Nat Hentoff Victor Honig Annapurna Lodge George Houser Sen. Jacob Javits Kathmandu, Nepal Dr. Albert Jonsen 20 July, 1974 Frank Mankiewicz John R. May Mary Messner Editor, MATCHBOX Rev. Paul Moore, Jr. Edward Mosk Stewart Mott Michael McCone Believe it or not, I discovered the first issue of MATCHBOX while I was sitting Prof. Frank Newman in the study of a large house in Kathmandu, Nepal. That was a profoundly Jan Papanek Stanley Plastrik exciting moment — proof that the Amnesty International family is becoming Millard Pryor • ever more and more a world family. Rex Stout Marietta Tree George Wald To find MATCHBOX like that, over a distance of 10,000 miles, had a special June A Willeru significance for me because it's my job as Amnesty's Field Secretary in Asia to see that this family of ours (which until recently has been exclusively Western NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS European) joins hands with and grows among those people in Asia who also Prof. Ivan Morris, Chairman share the vision of fundamental human freedom. Arthur Michaelson, Vice-Chairman Arthur Danto, Secretary Arnold Price, Treasurer But this much-needed growth, which is also taking place in Latin America and Mark Benenson Africa, is slow and difficult. After all, these continents hold the vast bulk of the Theodore Bikel Howard Blue prisoners we work for. But at the same time, the cutting edge of contemporary Joel Carlson history is here, in the so-called Third World, and if the Amnesty movement is to Ramsey Clark become truly a world force, it must avoid the sad fate of becoming just another Whitney Ellsworth Stephen Fenichell Western-oriented Goodwill Club. Maurice Goldbloom Frank Greer Hanna Grunwald So we are trying to discover people throughout these three continents — Asia, Thomas Jones Africa and Latin America — who are prepared to face the risks which Amnesty William Korey work can mean in their countries. In Asia, we have several good bases of growth: Arne Lewis Sally Hellyer Lilienthal National Sections in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Japan and South Korea and a Ginetta Sagan newly formed group in Thailand. Norman Schorr Barbara Sproul Rose Styron I mention this in the hope that you could ask your readers to do one more thing Telford Taylor for "the cause." Many must have friends in Asia, Africa or Latin America. A good idea would be for each reader to enclose some Amnesty material in the next WEST COAST ADVISORY BOARD Joan Baez letter to such friends or colleagues, asking them to join with us in building a Frank Greer t global network of "freedom fighters." Victor Honig Dr. Albert Jonsen Sally Hellyer Lilienthal , Also, a number of your readers must travel abroad (either for work or pleasure). John R. May Perhaps they could devote one day of their holidays or free days at conferences to Michael McCone Amnesty work. For example, if someone is going to Bangkok, she could easily Thomas Silk get the address of the Amnesty group there and arrange a visit to exchange ideas and share problems. And the same goes for Mexico City or Tokyo. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL is a worldwide And while I'm still writing from this tiny Himalayan Kingdom, (whose human rights movement which is independent of any government, pol itical faction or rel ig ious government, by the way, is the first in Asia to openly support Amnesty's creed. AI works, irrespective of political con­ initiatives to get torture on the UN General Assembly agenda) let me just say siderations, for the release of men and women how well-produced and inspiring I found MATCHBOX. Corragio! who are in prison for their beliefs, color, ethnic origin or religion, provided they have never used nor advocated violence. Founded in Richard Reoch 1961, Amnesty International has consultative Field Secretary — Asia status with the United Nations, the Council of Amnesty International Europe, the Organization of African Unity and the Organization of American States. M ATC H BOX VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2 FALL 1974 CONTENTS The Prisoners in South Vietnam Page Jane and David Barton 2 Medical/Scientific: Dr. Edward N. Opton, Jr. 6 Dr. Leonard Sagan 8 A Personal Matter Ginetta Sagan 22 Civilian Government Returns to Greece Dennis Piper 24 Indonesia: Background: Barbara French 26 The Current Situation: David Hinkley 28 Czechoslovakia Under Dubcek David Hinkley 30 During the final days of World War II, a captured resistance member sat alone in a black prison cell, tired, hungry, tortured and convinced of approaching AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL MATCHBOX STAFF: With death. After weeks of torture and torment, the prisoner was convinced that OFFICE STAFF: special there was no hope, that no one knew or cared. But in the middle of the night the Editor: thanks door of the cell opened, and the jailer, shouting abuse into the darkness, threw New York Grace Harwood a loaf of bread onto the dirt floor. The prisoner, by this time ravenous, tore to open the loaf. Pamela Bond David Fenichell Layout/Design Editor: Nowels Sarah Foote Joanjfr O'Donnell Press, Inside, there was a matchbox. Inside this matchbox, there were matches and a Menlo scrap of paper. The prisoner lit a match. On the paper there was a single word: San Francisco Contributing Editors: Park, Coraggio! Coraggio. Take courage. Don't give up, don't give in. We are try­ Kit Bricca Barbara French and ing to help you. Coraggio! Theo Brown David Hinkley Janet Johnstone Resource Resistance people disguised as SS doctors later freed this prisoner, who has Ginetta Sagan Staff: One, spent many subsequent years helping others who sit in prisons without hope, alone. L.A. Hyder San Lucille Melander Francisco To the people of Amnesty's Western Regional Office this matchbox has Dennis Piper become a symbol and a mandate for continuing and expanding the work of Amnesty International. To those still in prison throughout the world, and to all those concerned about human rights, we offer MATCHBOX. MATCHBOX is published quarterly by the Western Regional Office of Amnesty Amnesty International International in the United States, 3618 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, Califor­ Amnesty International nia 94118. ©1974 by Amnesty International. All rights reserved. Write for reprint USA National Office West Coast Regional Office permission. 200 West 72nd Street 3618 Sacramento Street New York, NY 10023 San Francisco, CA 94118 Sent to all Amnesty International members, contributors and concerned individuals and distributed by Amnesty International groups. Newsstand price, $0.50. Sent free Amnesty International to prisoners on request. International Secretariat 53 Theobald's Road We welcome submissions of photographs and graphic art on international events London WC1X 8SP, England and human rights themes. Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope; Phone: 01-242 1871 MATCHBOX assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. THE PRISONERS IN SOUTH VIETNAM CHAINED TOGETHER Jane and David Barton Tran thi Thin Photo: Bartons (Jane and David Barton were field di­ We continued to make medical visits to rectors of the American Friends Service Tran thi Thin each day, but in spite of our Committee Rehabilitation Center in care she got worse. Now, when Tran thi Quang Ngai, South Vietnam, May 1971 Thin fed herself she couldn't use chopsticks — May 1973. In addition to providing and ate with a large metal spoon which she medical services, physical therapy, and As Tran Thi Thin's was too weak to lift. Grains of rice stuck to prosthetic care for the many thousands health failed, we asked the side of her face or spilled down her front. of war-injured civilians, the AFSC the police if she could be program also included medical visits to In a land where old people are honored, people at Quang Ngai Prison and the buried in her ancestral Tran thi Thin lay in a prison bed, alone, prisoner ward in Quang Ngai Hospital.) grave rather than in a helpless, and bewildered. As her health numbered coffin in a lot failed, we visited the South Vietnamese A very old woman lay under a gray blanket police and requested that Thin be allowed to in a far corner of the prison ward of the behind the hospital, go home to die where she could be buried in Quang Ngai Hospital. As we approached used for trash dumping. her ancestral grave rather than in a num­ her motionless form we began to smell the bered coffin in a lot behind the hospital, stench of dried human waste which used for trash dumping. permeated. The old woman's mattress was a piece of cardboard with a hole cut through which she defecated. Flies gathered around Tran thi Thin Photo: Bartons her and another prisoner sat nearby trying to fan them away. The other prisoners explained that special police from the Interrogation Center brought her to the hospital on a stretcher that morning. We examined her and discovered that she was completely paralyzed on her right side. She weighed only 70 pounds; her bones were so exposed that the skin stretched and wrinkled across them.