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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

NEWS SERVICE 188/94

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TO: PRESS OFFICERSAI INDEX: NWS 11/188/94

FROM: IS PRESS OFFICEDISTR: SC/PO

DATE: 18 AUGUST 1994 NO OF WORDS:865

NEWS SERVICE ITEMS: EXTERNAL - SOUTH KOREA (This item is not being sent to international media by the IS press office, but is being sent to correspondents in South Korea by the research team); TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (This item is not being sent to international media by the IS press office)

PLEASE NOTE: English language copies of the Haiti report embargoed for 24 August have been sent by the research team to section campaign co-ordinators, apart from the Latin American sections who will be receiving copies of the extended news release. Please would press officers contact section campaign co-ordinators if they want a copy of the report.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELEASES

** Rwanda - 19 August ** - SEE NOTE ABOVE

Haiti - 24 August - SEE NEWS SERVICE 184/94

Brazil - 14 September - PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL RELEASE. SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

Kosovo - 19 September - SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

Algeria - first week of October - SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

France - 12 October - SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

TARGETED AND LIMITED NEWS RELEASES

Thailand - 6 September - SEE NEWS SERVICE 184/94

Bhutan/Nepal - 25 August - See news service 168/94

Togo - 15 September - See news service 168/94

Indonesia - 28 September - LAUNCH OF CAMPAIGN

Turkey - 14 October - SEE NEWS SERVICE 181/94

News Service 188/94

AI INDEX: ASA 25/WU 05/94

18 AUGUST 1994

SOUTH KOREA: NEW ARRESTS IN CLAMP DOWN ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of two well-known dissident leaders arrested on 9 August under the National Security Law for their allegedly pro-North Korean activities, the latest arrests in a clampdown that started last month with the arrests of dozens of student activists who expressed sympathy for the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.

The two men, Lee Chang-bok and Hwang In-sung, Chairman and Executive Committee member of the dissident organization National Alliance for Democracy and Unification of Korea (NADUK), are long-time advocates of peaceful reunification.

They are accused of supporting North Korea's reunification ideas at a rally in March and for expressing sympathy for North Korea following the death of Kim Il Sung. They face charges under the National Security Law which prohibits activities deemed to "praise", "encourage" and "side with" North Korea, on penalty of imprisonment.

"Over the past month, the South Korean government has stepped up its use of the National Security Law to clamp down on the rights to freedom of expression and association," Amnesty International said.

The organization said that these rights are guaranteed by international human rights standards to which the South Korean Government has publicly committed itself, and that the government cannot use the current situation on the Korean peninsula as an excuse to curtail these rights.

Others targeted since the start of the clampdown include nine professors of Kyungsang University in Chinju City who are jointly accused of writing a pro-North Korean textbook which has been used in teaching for the past four years. The nine have reportedly refused a summons by the prosecution and face imminent arrest.

Amnesty International believes that the recent National Security Law clamp down has led to a climate of fear and anger in student and dissident circles which has contributed to the recent student-police clashes.

The organization calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all people held for the non-violent exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association.

News Service 188/94

AI INDEX: AMR 49/WU 05/94

18 AUGUST 1994

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATES IN FORUM REVIEWING TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO'S GOVERNMENT VIOLATION OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Next week, Amnesty International will participate in an International Commission of Inquiry to review the conduct of the Trinidad and Tobago authorities in connection with the execution of Glen Ashby on 14 July 1994, the first hanging there in nearly 15 years.

Amnesty International strongly condemned Trinidad and Tobago at the time of the execution for their flagrant violation of national and international law by hanging Ashby.

He was executed not only while the Court of Appeal and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London (the final court of appeal for Trinidad and Tobago) were still hearing his case and while his case was still pending before the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), but also despite assurances given by the Attorney General that the execution would not go ahead while proceedings to obtain a stay where in progress.

The government's decision to proceed with the hanging while these avenues of appeal were still in force led the UNHRC to "express its indignation" at the attitude of the Trinidad and Tobago authorities.

The Commission is to be held in Bridgetown, Barbados on 21 and 22 August. Among other things, it will inquire into the legality of Ashby's execution and whether lawyers or other persons or officials involved in the matter committed any impropriety in the conduct of the proceedings. It will also examine whether the State has been guilty of fomenting the harassment of lawyers acting for condemned persons in Trinidad and Tobago and whether the government was in breach of any of its obligations under international law.

"We hope this Commission will demonstrate to the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago that the international community feels very strongly about this kind of conduct", Amnesty International said.