amnesty international newsletter

Vol. IV No. 1 Januar 1974 Founded 1961 CONFEROCT FOR 1WE ABOLITION OF TORTURE AI SETS UP NEW DEPARTMENT TO IMPLEMENT PARIS ACTION PROPOSALS AFTER TWO-DAY MEETING BRANDS TORTURE 'CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY' AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL's Conference for the Abolition of Torture ended its meeting in Paris 10- 11 December by branding torture as a crime against humanity and adopting proposals for a broad program of action to end its systematic use by governments and their agencies. More than 250 participants from 40 countries attended the conference which was held in the Tour Olivier de Serres, to which the meeting was transferred after UNESCO withdrew the use of its own headquarters at the last minute (see page 2). They backed a series of recommendations for bring- ing anti-torture pressure on governments, int- ernational governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, and national . DECLARATION groups and individuals most directly involved The Paris Conference unanimously passed the with the problem, such as police, lawyers, doc- following declaration supporting the Novem- tors and military personnel. ber UN resolution which condemned torture The Conference's medical commission, one of and called on all governments to obey in- four which devised the program, promptly put ternational conventions forbidding it: some of its own recommendations into practice three hundred delegates and partici- by establishing three action committees, inclu- pants in the International Conference for ding a register of medical experts ready to un- the Abolition of Torture meeting in Paris, dertake on the spot investigations into allega- 10-11 December 1973, note with indignation tions of torture anywhere in the world. and extreme anxiety the growing use and in- Amnesty International announced at the end of stitutionalization of torture throughout the Conference that it was setting up a new de- the world, facts which have now been offi- partment within the International Secretariat cially recognized by the General Assembly in London to implement all the decisions and of the in Resolution 3059 carry the global campaign against torture into (XXVIII). its next phase. AI launched an appeal for funds We solemnly declare that: to finance the new drive. It called on govern- The use of torture is a violation of ments, professional and trade union organiza- all principles of human freedom and of the tions, businesses, churches, charitable trusts life and dignity of the human person, and and individuals to contribute money so that the as such must be identified as a crime effort to eradicate torture would continue un- against humanity. abated. There can never be any justification COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS for torture. It creates an escalation of In addition to the medical commission there violence in the internal affairs of states. were Conference commissions on identification It spreads like a contagious disease from of the individuals and institutions responsible country to country. It has lasting effects for torture, on the socio-economic and politi- on the mental and physical health of the cal factors behind the practice, and on inter- victim and brutalizes the torturer. national, regional and national legal factors. It is our fundamental duty as human Among their many recommendations were that: beings to express what is surely the con- all military, police and prison personnel science of mankind and eradicate this evil. be provided with an international code of prac- We call upon all governments to respect, tice forbidding the use of torture in all cir- implement and improve their own national cumstances, including counter-insurgency situ- and international laws prohibiting torture ations. Governments would be required to punish and to comply with UN Resolution 3059 (XX- firmly those who breached the code. VIII); we also call upon individuals and technical assistance and military, para-mi- organizations with moral, political, reli- litary and economic aid be stopped to countries gious and professional responsibility to practicing torture. give an active lead to the campaign to abo- pending success of current efforts to esta- lish torture throughout the world.) blish an international court of criminal just- ice, there should be international tribunals, or other recognized international organizations independent of governments, to conduct public to conduct on the spot inquiries into allega- hearings into allegations of torture, with de- tions of torture. fence safeguards for accused persons and insti- - all states that have not done so yet should tutions. sign and ratify existing international treaties channels be established for medical, legal against torture, particularly the UN Interna- •

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tional Covenants on Human Rights. All statesence Report will be published at the end of should, under the Covenants, accept the juris-January. diction of the Human Rights Committee to re- ceive and examine communications from states UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY NAMES SEAN MacBRIDE or individuals claiming to be victims of viola- AS NEW COMMISSIONER FOR NAMIBIA tions of these rights. SEAN MacBRIDE, Chairman AI'sof Interna- judges should be obliged to examine closelytional Executive Committee, has been named all allegations of torture and not admit evi- United Nations Commissioner for Namibia. dence obtained as a result of torture. His appointment was approved by the General professional legal bodies should aid, and aAssembly on 18 December. special fund should be established for, lawyers Mr MacBride, a former Irish Minister for in their own and other countries who are perse-External Affairs, will discuss details of cuted for defending political or forthe appointment with UN General drawing attention to acts of torture. KURT WALDHEIM in New York on 8 January. the production and sale of torture instru-Among the topics will be Mr MacBride's re- ments as well as training in torture techniqueslationship withAI and other international for whatever reason should be forbidden. organizations with which he is associated medical, scientific, technical and associa-after he takes up his new appointment on 1 ted personnel should refuse to allow their pro-February. Mr MacBride has been Chairman of fessional or research skills and findings to beAI since it was founded. used for torture. Earlier in December Mr MacBride was nomi- doctors should refuse to commit persons to nated to a commission being set up by the mental hospitals as a means of avoiding due UN to investigate reports of atrocities in process of law. Mozambique. doctors, lawyers and others who know of in- stances of torture should report them to theirUNESCO BAN FAILS TO HALT CONFERENCE national or international organizations. CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY A last-minute withdrawal by UNESCO of the use The final Conference report by Ambassador ED-of meeting halls in its Paris headquarters fai- VARD HAMBRO of Norway, former President of theled to disrupt the Conference for the Abolition UN General Assembly, was preceded by a solemnof Torture which opened on schedule 10 December. declaration by the delegates that torture a UNESCO blamed its action on theAmnesty Inter- crime against humanity (Iireepage 1). national Report on Torture(DecemberNewsletter) "Wemust realize that a crime against humani-which discussPs allegations of torture received ty means also a crime against every one of us,against more than 65 countries over the past 10 a crime against you and me," Ambassador Hambroyears and which it alleged was a conference doc- said. "Every time a helpless individual is be-ument by virtue of a statement appearing on the ing tortured, our own dignity is being dimini-first page. Under UNESCO regulations and the A/ shed and degraded." terms of the contract for facilities which The Conference, which was covered by more signed last April, member states may not be cri- than 100 individual journalists and radio andticized inside UNESCO House or in documentation television teams from all over the world, wasfor conferences held there. opened by SEAN MacBRIDE, ChairmanAI's of In- AI denied categorically that the statement ternational Executive Committee and of the Con-that the report "was designed to provide basic ference itself. He told the delegates that thesource material for Amnesty's Conference for the November UN resolution unanimously condemningAbolition of Torture in Paris in December 1973" torture (DecemberNewsletter)was more import- constituted a breach of contract. It noted that ant toAI than UNESCO's withdrawal of confer- the phrase had been employed in connection with ence facilities. the report since the campaign was launched in The Conference also was addressed by formerDecember 1972 - four months before the UNESCO Greek government minister GEORGE MANGAKIS, him-contract was signed. self a torture victim, and former Indian gov- AI Chairman SEAN MacBride said he believed ernment minister Mrs LAKSHMI MENON, who was onepressure from "some governments whose practices of her country's representatives in Paris whenare exposed in the report" prompted the cancel- the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights lation. Within 48 hours of the UNESCO decision, was proclaimed there on 10 December 1948. AI'sFrench Section found an alternative confer- Messages of support were read out from UN ence site in the large and modern Tour Olivier Secretary General KURT WALDHEIM, President KEN-de Serres, and preparations went on and were NETH KAUNDA of Zambia, Chancellor WILLY BRANDTcompleted without interruption. of West Germany, and the Prime Ministers and Governments of Australia, , Canada, Den-ANTI-TORTURE PETITION 'WIRED' TO UN mark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.Seven officers and leading partipants of the There were also messages from prominent churchParis Conference signed a.certificate 10 Decem- and world figures, from organizations and ordi-ber formally attesting to the fact that more nary people all over the world, and one from thana one million people from 85 countries had number of political prisoners in the Dominicansigned Al's International Appeal to the Presi- Republic. dent of the UN General Assembly calling upon the Detailed reports of the four commissions andAssembly to outlaw torture immediately (December other Conference documentation have already Newsletter).A photograph of the certificate was been sent to National Sections. A full Confer-then transmitted by wire to New York where it Januar 1974 Amnest International Newsletter 3 was delivered the same day by Dr AMELIA AUGUS-"We are very happy to note that the recommen- TUS, Executive Director of Ars United Statesdations submitted to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who Section, to Assembly President LEOPOLDO BENITEShimself was once adopted by Amnesty as a priso- just before the start of the Assembly sessionner of conscience, are now embodied in the dec- called to commemorate the 25th anniversary oflaration of clemency," Mr Ennals said. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After the Conference A/ announced that signa-IEC PROTESTS EXECUTIONS IN CHILE International Executive Committee cabled tures were still coming in and that the numberArs the Chilean Government on 10 December to pro- of countries represented had risen to 91. test against the continuing arbitrary execu- AI OBSERVER CONDEMNS TRIAL INtions SPAIN in the country and against excessive sen- AI has condemned the sentences of 12 to 20 tences of up to 30 years imprisonment passed on years imprisonment passed by a Madrid court 29political opponents of the regime. The IEC, December on 10 Spanish trade unionists accusedwhich sent the cable during the Paris Conference, of "illegal association". AIAn representative, pleaded for an immediate end to the executions. English barrister EDMOND McGOVERN, was one of Thea report of the three-manAI mission which number of international observers who attendedvisited Chile in November (DecemberNewsletter) the three-day trial of the 10, all of whom arewas presented on 1 January to the Chilean Gov- adopted prisoners of conscience. ernment through its London embassy. The report In Mr McGovern's view, the arrest of the 10will be published in February. in the grounds of a monastery constituted a SWISS TRIBUNAL REVERSES ACQUITTALS breach of Spain's concordat with the Vatican, AI pro tested to Switzerland 31 December over which was also violated by trying worker-priestthe reversal by a Military Appeals Tribunal, in Father GARCIA SALVE without Church approval. secret session, of a lower court's acquittal of Mr McGovern said the 18 months the defendantsfour soldiers and five civilians of charges of spent in detention awaiting trial was unaccept-fomenting a breach of military discipline (July able by any international standard. Freedom ofNewsletter). The acquittal of another civilian peaceful association was enshrined in the Uni-was allowed to stand. All 10 had been arrested versal Declaration of Human Rights, and it wasafter distributing pamphlets calling for, among even doubtful whether the facts alleged by theother things, the right of soldiers to organize. prosecution actually constituted the "illegal AI, which sent an observer to the first trial, association" offence defined in Spain's Crimin-learned that the Appeal Tribunal met behind clo- al Code. The evidencethe prosecution producedsed doors in Berne on 22 November and sentenced to prove the facts were completely inadequateeight of the accused to three months' imprison- and no witnesses were produced. ment and one to two months, with all sentences Mr McGovern saidin his report that the courtsuspended for two years. treatment of the 10 created the impression thatIn a letter to President ROGER BONVIN of the they were already convicted. He said the sent-Swiss Confederation, Secretary General MARTIN ences demanded by the prosecution and imposedENNALS expressed dismay at the "high-handed pro- by the court were outrageous. cedures" apparently adopted by the tribunal. "The accused were not present, nor was their 1,059 ADOPTED PRISONERS FREED IN 1973lawyer, a particularly egregious denial of fun- The International Secretariat learned of damental human rights, given that a conviction the release of 1,059 A/-adopted prisoners was substituted for an acquittal without possi- during the calendar year 1973. Some 1,875 bility of appeal or retrial," Mr Ennals said. new cases were taken up during the same period, according to the year-end figures. NEW APPEAL FOR AMNESTY IN BRAZIL In November the Secretariat learned 89 of AI is planning a concerted campaign to secure releases and took up 250 new cases. In Dec- an amnesty for all political prisoners in Bra- ember the figures were 19 released 94and zil. The campaign begins with an appeal for am- new cases taken up. nesty on 15 January when Brazil's electoral college is due to select the next president. Other campaign focal points are 15 March, the BANGLADESH FREES 37,000 PRISONERSpresident's inauguration date, and 1 April, the AI cabled its appreciation to Sheikh MUJIBUR10th anniversary of the military coup that RAHMAN, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in Decem-brought the present regime to power. ber for his government's act of clemency in freeing an estimated 37,000 prisoners held forOTHER AI ACTION IN DECEMBER nearly two years on charges of collaborating In DecemberAI also: with the Pakistan Army. Among those released - wrote to President RAFEZ ASSAD of urg- were such prominent figures as the former civiling that all prisoners of war be treated in ac- governor of East Pakistan, Dr ABDUL MOTALEB MA-cordance with the 1949 Geneva Convention. The LIK who, along with his former cabinet minis-letter followed allegations that Israelis cap- ters, was sentenced to life imprisonment fortured by Syria during the recent fighting had his pre-independence activities. been tortured. A statement by Secretary General MARTIN EN- - urged Colonel I.K. ACHEAMPONG, Chairman of NALS said the prisoners had been oneArs of Ghana's National Redemption Council to commute main priorities during the past two years andthe death sentences of former Foreign Minister had been the subject of close contacts with KOJO BOTSIO and two other prominent Ghanaians high Bangladesh government officials. Last sum-convicted of subversion by a military tribunal. mer anAI mission visited Bangladesh. - sent cables to the chief North Vietnamese

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and US negotiators over Vietnam, LE DUC THO ousand military regime of Yahya Khan. On 23 March Dr , urging them during their1972 he was arrested after delivering a speech latest meeting in Paris to make all possiblecriticizing martial law and its chief adminis- efforts to secure thP immediate exchange by thetrator. He was sentenced by a special military two South Vietnamese parties of civilians stilltribunal on 10 April 1972 to five years' impri- eligible for release under the terms of the sonment. A week later martial law was lifted January 1973 peace agreement. The two partiesand the Supreme Court declared all actions later agreed to resume the exchanges. The cabletaken under it illegal. However the interim to Dr Kissinger also urged him to secure theconstitution which came into force with the unconditional release of non-communist politi-lifting of martial law maintained that such ac- cal prisoners held by the Saigon regime. tions were valid. So Mr Rana's conviction re- - cabled Portuguese Prime Minister MARCELO mained in force. CAETANO urging the immediate release on bail PZease send courteously-worded cards appeal- and access to defence lawyers of some 30 per-ing for his release Presidentto: Z.A. Bhutto, sons detained in recent weeks. The cable alsothe Presidency, Islamabad, Pakistan;and to: expressed the hope that reports that they hadHis Excellency, Mr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Minis- been subjected to torture were unfounded. ter of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Islamabad. - wrote to President ABDUL RACHMAN AL-IRYANIVladimir BUKOVSKY, USSR of the Yemen Arab Republic expressing concern On 30 December 1973 cele- at the death sentences carried out on eight brated his 31st birthday while serving a 12- people accused of assassinating Sheikh MUHAMMADyear sentence in a labour camp. Mr Bukovsky was ALI UNMAN, a member of the North Yemen Presid-first adopted byA/ in 1966 when he spent eight ential Council. months in prisons and mental hospitals follow- ing his part in a demonstration in support of POSTCARDS FOR PRISONERSthe imprisoned writers and Yu- THIS MONTH ' S CAMPAIGN li Daniel. He was arrested again in January 1967 for organizing a demonstration in protest General Liber SEREGNI, Uruguay at the imprisonment of Yuri Galanskov, Alexand- General Liber SEREGNI was the unsuccessful er Ginsburg and others. On his release in Janu- presidential candidate of the broad leftwingary 1970, he returned to and worked as coalition Frente Amplio in Uruguay's 1971 elec-secretary to a writer. tions. In June 1973, as the country's internal Mr Bukovsky remained in close contact conflict sharpened, Parliament was closed and with Western journalists and was particu- there was an overt military takeover - althoughlarly active in collecting and distributing a nominal civilian president was maintained. material on the practice of interning poli- In reaction to the coup there were massive tical dissenters in Soviet mental hospitals, demonstrations and strikes leading to 3,000 ar-which he himself had experienced first hand. rests. This was in addition to the estimated In January 1971 he sent abroad copies of of- 4,000 political prisoners already detained in ficial diagnoses of certain prisoners of the country. Among the new arrests were those conscience by Soviet psychiatrists, with an of General Seregni and two members of the board"Appeal to Western Psychiatrists". This doc- of Frente Amplio, General Licandro and Colonelumentation has been vital in arousing the Zufriategui, all still in detention. attention and concern of people, including No formal charges have been brought against doctors, outside the to this General Seregni or any reason given for his problem. detention. He himself has requested in writingMr Bukovsky was re-arrested in March 1971 and that he be tried and sentenced if found guilty,examined at the Serbsky Institute for Forensic but otherwise released. There has been no res-Psychiatry. He was declared sane and brought to ponse either to this request nor to the appealtrial on 5 on charges of "anti- for habeas corpuslodged after his arrest. Soviet agitation and propaganda". At the one- General Seregni is held in solitary, allowedday trial he received the maximum sentence un- no contact with his family or fellow prisoners.der Article 70 of the RSFSR Penal Code: a total PZease send courteously-worded cards inof your 12 years, divided into two years' imprison- private capacity(without mentioning Amnesty) ment, five years' confinement in a labour camp appealing for his releaseSr to:Don Juan Marfa and five years' exile. Bordaberry, Presidente de la Repablica, Monte-Having served two years in prison, Mr Bukov- video;and to:Coronel Dr N. Bolentini, Minis-sky is now in a labour camp in the Perm region tro del Interior, Montevideo;and to:The Head where his health and general situation are re- of the National Security Council, General Gre-portedly deteriorating. Although he has spent a gorio Alvarez, COSENA, Montevideo;and to:Gen- great part of his youth in prisons and mental eral Hugo Chiappe Posse, Comandante en Jefe dehospitals, he remains convinced of the need to las Fuerzas Armadas, Montevideo. protest against all violations of human rights Mukhtar RANA, Pakistan in his country. Mukhtar RANA was a member of the Pakistan Na-PZease send courteously-worded cards appeal- tional Assembly representing the Pakistan Peo-ing for his release Mrto: Leonid Brezhnev, ples Party whose leader is President ZulfikarGeneral Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Ali Bhutto. When the party came to power in De-The Kremlin, Moscow;and to:Mr Roman Rudenko, cember 1971, Mr Rana protested strongly againstAttorney General, Pushkinskaya ul. 15a, Moscow, the continuation of martial law from the previ-USSR. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS 53 Theobald's Road London WC1X 8SP England