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Amnesty International Newsletter amnesty OCTOBER 1984 Volume XIV Number 10 international newsletter PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE WEEK The Forgotten Women A Buddhist nun in Viet Nam, a ber of the unofficial Moscow Helsinki Guatemalan feminist and a univer- monitoring group, set up to monitor compliance with the human rights pro- sity law lecturer in Malawi—these visions of the Final Act of the 1975 three women have one thing in com- Helsinki Conference. Most of its mem- mon. Each is a political prisoner. bers have since been imprisoned. The Vietnamese nun, Thich nu Since Tatyana was sent to a labour Tri Hai, has been held incommuni- camp in 1981, she has been on hunger- cado in police custody since her strike at least twice, demanding to meet arrest in May this year. her husband, who is also a prisoner of Alaide Foppa of Guatemala has been conscience and is held in another camp missing since 1980 when she was abducted some 1,000 kilometres away. During a from her home, apparently by plain- hunger-strike that lasted from December clothes security agents. 1982 to March 1983, she lost 25 kilo- Vera Chirwa, 44, and her husband, grams, and was reportedly handcuffed Orton Chirwa, are serving life sentences while being forcibly fed. It is not yet in Malawi after their conviction in May known whether the authorities have per- 1983 on charges of treason—they were mitted her to see her husband. not allowed legal representation at their Ana Vujic, 23, a Yugoslav resident in Activism on behalf of women's rights trial. They were originally sentenced to Paris, was arrested while on holiday in may have been one of the reasons behind death and spent more than a year facing Yugoslavia in 1983 and is now in jail there the "disappearance" of Guatemalan execution, before being granted clemency after being sentenced for making "hostile feminist Alaide Foppa, who has now in June this year. propaganda" (see page 2). been missing for four years. She was Each is among a series of cases high- abducted when she returned from exile lighted in this issue of the Newsletterto citizens: political imprisonment, deten- in Mexico to visit her sick mother. Armed coincide with Prisoners of Conscience tion without trial, "disappearances" men forced her into their car and drove Week, which is being observed from 15 and extrajudicial execution. away. Like thousands of other Guate- to 20 October. The theme this year: A Chilean trade union leader, Reinalda malans abducted in the same manner, Women in Prison. Pereira Plaza, who was taken into she has never been seen again. custody eight years ago, has been "miss- The plight of the Forgotten Women While living in exile, she had become ing" ever since. She was five months needs international attention. Prisoners an active member of Al, campaigning pregnant at the time. A leading member of Conscience Week has previously high- for the release of prisoners of conscience, of a South African women's organiz- lighted the plight of other categories of fair trials for political prisoners and an ation, Florence Mkhize has been repeat- prisoner: trade unionists, children, long- end to torture and executions. term detainees, human rights activists. edly detained without trial or restricted One woman who has direct experience under banning orders over a period of This year Al points out that many of the of Al's efforts is Farkhanda Bukhari, a world's political prisoners are women, more than 20 years. women's organizer for the banned their cases spanning a wide range of The reasons for the victimization of Pakistan People's occupations, countries, ideologies and women cover a broad spectrum. Some Party now living cultures. are detained for their faith. Others have abroad. Imprisoned become involved in opposition political Women have suffered from the full three times after movements. Some have played a role in variety of injustices to which govern- the latest imposi- ments in recent years have subjected their their countries' trade unions or have tried to help organize the urban or rural poor. tion of martial law in Pakistan, she Some women have become victims because they themselves were active in was held in solitary Aboutthis issue . exposing human rights abuses in their confinement in the This issue of the Amnesty countries. In many countries, ranging Farkhanda Bukhari old Lahore Fort and tortured. She was deprived of sleep, International Newsletter from Argentina and El Salvador to South Africa, The Philippines and China, beaten and burned with lighted cigarettes. focuses on women in prison— When she was sent into exile, Al con- the theme of this year's women have been deeply involved in the human rights effort—and have faced the tacted her. The organization arranged a Prisoners of Conscience consequences. medical examination and hospital treat- Week, which is being observed ment and then worked to get her accepted Tatyana Osipova, a 35-year-old com- from 15 to 20 October. Appeal puter operator, is now serving a sentence as a political refugee. cases are included on pages 2 of 10 years' imprisonment and internal "I and my family cannot forget the help that was given to me", she says. and 3. Other news items are exile in the Soviet Union, accused of "The local members of Amnesty Inter- on page 4. "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda". A human rights activist, she was a mem- Continued on page 2 • This month's File on Torture is on Women and Torture 2 OCTOBER 1984 Continued from page 1 VERA CHIRWA, Malawi national came to my home from time to Vera Chirwa, a 44-year-old university time and we share many common human law lecturer, is currently serving a sentence feelings, hope for the future and anger of life-imprisonment at Zomba Prison in at the insult that people, especially those Malawi together with her husband, Orton in Third World countries, have to face Chirwa, a former Minister of Justice and for their so-called insignificance." Attorney-General. "But," she adds, "above this, all the Vera Chirwa and her husband spent love that these sympathetic people have Communist Action, of which she was a more than a year under the death sentence given me and my family will remain a member. The party has faced periodic before they were granted clemency in late precious asset to our lives forever." suppression and many of its members June 1984 by Dr Hastings Kamuzu Her words echo those of another have been arrested, including Fatima al- Banda, Malawi's Life-President. They woman thousands of miles away—the Lazkani's husband. had been sentenced to death for treason former Soviet prisoner of conscience She is also a poet and novelist and was in May 1983 by the Southern Regional, Vulia Voznesenskaya. After her release, active in the promotion of women's Traditional Court in 1982 the Leningrad poet wrote to one rights. In 1977 she was arrested and briefly after a trial in of the Al groups that had worked for detained after leaflets on women's rights which they were over five years for her freedom: in Syria had been distributed on the denied legal repre- "Any letter or postcard addressed to campus of Damascus University. sentation. political prisoners, their families or to She left Malawi officials . plays an important role in soon after the the lives of the prisoners. It improves country became their position even if the letters never Vera Chirwa independent in reach their hands. ALAIDE FOPPA DE SOLORZANO, 1964. Orton Chirwa was then a cabinet "Sometimes in the camp, the camp Guatemala minister but a dispute within the govern- authorities and wardens would start to ment led him to go into exile in Tanzania be especially polite to me and they would On 24 December 1981 Vera Chirwa avoid ill-treating other women prisoners and her husband were detained by in my presence. I guessed something had Malawian security forces. The Malawi put them on their guard. Later on, quite Government alleged that they had entered by accident, I found out that a letter from the country clandestinely from Zambia abroad had come for me and caused this but the couple have stated throughout change in their behaviour." that they were abducted by force from As Al starts its campaign for the Zambia. Their son, Fumbani Chirwa, release of other women still held as was with them. He was detained without prisoners of conscience, hoping to engage trial for more than two years but was women's organizations in the drive and released uncharged in February 1984. to generate a worldwide deluge of letters and postcards to offending governments, the message from the front line of the struggle for human rights is unmistakable. "Even if you get discouraged by seeing ANA VUJIC, Yugoslavia no results from all your efforts," argues Ana Vujic, aged 23, was arrested while Yulia Voznesenskaya, "what you write on holiday in Yugoslavia in August 1983. makes a difference. We cannot live and She is serving a sentence of one and a half struggle without help from other years' imprisonment in Slavonska Pozega countries." Alaide Foppa de Solórzano was a lecturer prison, Croatia, for making "hostile in literature at the National Autonomous propaganda". University of Mexico (UNAM), and a She was born in Knin, Croatia, but APPEAL CASES well-known art critic and poet. She was her parents moved to Paris in 1969, where abducted on 19 December 1980 while she has lived ever since. She worked for Please send courteous letters visiting her native Guatemala to see her a travel bureau in Paris and was report- appealing for the immediate sick mother.
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