___________________________________________________________________________

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

NEWS SERVICE 198/94

___________________________________________________________________________

TO: PRESS OFFICERSAI INDEX: NWS 11/198/94

FROM: IS PRESS OFFICEDISTR: SC/PO

DATE: 25 AUGUST 1994 NO OF WORDS:1212

NEWS SERVICE ITEMS: EXTERNAL - CAMBODIA (This item is for response only), URUGUAY (This item is being sent to Uruguayan media by the research team)

EDAI PLEASE NOTE: The enclosed item on Uruguay is for priority translation. Please can you e-mail me the text of the translation as soon as it is done. Thanks - Dina

PLEASE NOTE: If press officers are interested in receiving copies of the Rwanda ENR used at the press conference on 19 August please contact Annabel Middlemas at the IS by Wednesday 31 August and let her know the number of copies and what format they should be. Plans for a longer video including footage of both Rwanda and Burundi are still in the pipeline, I will let you know more about that as soon as possible.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELEASES

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

Kosovo - 19 September - SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

Indonesia - 28 September - LAUNCH OF CAMPAIGN

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

France - 12 October - SEE NEWS SERVICE 137/94

TARGETED AND LIMITED NEWS RELEASES

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

Yemen - 1 September - See news service 194/94

Thailand - 6 September - SEE NEWS SERVICE 184/94

Togo - 15 September - See news service 168/94

Turkey - 14 October - SEE NEWS SERVICE 181/94

News Service 198/94

AI INDEX: ASA 23/WU 04/94

25 AUGUST 1994

CAMBODIA: CALL FOR RELEASE OF 16 KHMER ROUGE HOSTAGES AS POLITICAL DEMANDS TAKE OVER FROM CRIMINAL DEMANDS

Amnesty International is calling on the Khmer Rouge for the immediate and unconditional release of 16 hostages who, since Wednesday, are reportedly being used to demand that certain governments stop providing military aid to the Cambodian Government.

The 16 men -- three foreign nationals from Australia, United Kingdom and France, three ethnic Vietnamese and an estimated 10 Cambodians -- have been held by armed forces of the Partie of Democratic Kampuchea (PDK, or Khmer Rouge) in Phnom Vour, Kampong Trach district since 26 July.

Initially, the Khmer Rouge were asking for a ransom of

$50,000 for the release of each of the foreign nationals. However, according to a statement by the First Prime Minister of Cambodia on 24 August, this demand has been dropped and release of the hostages has now been linked to broad political issues.

The initial detention of the 16 appeared to be a criminal act carried out by a local renegade member of the Khmer Rouge acting alone. However, Amnesty International is concerned that the new developments indicate that the holding of the hostages may reflect an official policy position of the PDK.

A deadline of 30 August for resolution of the situation has now been mentioned in broadcasts transmitted over the official PDK radio station. Amnesty International is calling on the PDK to release all 16 hostages immediately and unconditionally.

Amnesty International opposes the taking of hostages by armed opposition groups if they are retained in custody as a means to enforce demands on others.

ENDS\

News Service 198/94

AI INDEX: AMR 52/WU 01/94

25 AUGUST 1994

URUGUAY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED ABOUT RECENT EXTRADITION

Three men were extradited to Spain from Uruguay last night. Amnesty International had made repeated calls to the Uruguayan Government to obtain, before the extradition, three guarantees from the Spanish government necessary for the protection of these men.

"We have received no formal response from the Uruguayan Government about these guarantees and we are therefore extremely concerned that the extradition went ahead", Amnesty International said today.

The three men -- Luis Maria Lizarralde, Miguel Ibañez Oteiza and Jesus María Goitia Unzurrunzaga -- are wanted by the Spanish authorities on charges under Spain's anti-terrorist laws, in connection with a number of killings and other activities attributed to the armed Basque group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Basque Homeland and Liberty.

"In cases where people accused under Spanish anti-terrorist legislation are under threat of expulsion or extradition, the government which carries out the extradition should obtain guarantees for the physical well-being of the detainee from the Spanish authorities," Amnesty International said.

Earlier this week Amnesty International sent a letter to the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Interior and the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission in Uruguay expressing its concern about their treatment once they return to Spain.

Under Spanish anti-terrorist legislation detainees may be held incommunicado for up to five days. Amnesty International is concerned that the three men could be subjected to torture or ill-treatment in Spain if detained incommunicado.

The organization has been concerned for many years about the use of incommunicado detention and ill-treatment in Spain. In May last year, the United Nations Committee Against Torture condemned the use of incommunicado detention under the anti-terrorist law. Experts on the committee felt that the use of this legislation was conducive to torture and ill-treatment.

"The committee's criticisms of the use of incommunicado detention underline the need to request guarantees from Spain for the physical security of the three men," Amnesty International said.

The organization asked that the accused be brought immediately before the Audiencia Nacional, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the case. The extradited people should not be placed in incommunicado detention before presentation to the court.

Amnesty International also requested that the Spanish government should guarantee that the detainees will be brought before the judicial authorities and placed in their custody, without passing through the Police Station or National Guard Headquarters where they would be at greatest risk of torture or ill-treatment.

Amnesty International considered that the Uruguayan authorities should also seek guarantees from the Spanish authorities that the detainees will be tried promptly and will be free to choose their own lawyers. According to Spanish law on criminal procedure a detainee held under anti-terrorist legislation does not have this right and is assigned a court lawyer.

Noting that the three men are in a poor state of health -- they had been on hunger strike since 11 August and began refusing liquids on 19 August -- Amnesty International had also asked for assurances that essential medical facilities would continue to be available to the three men under all circumstances.

Reportedly, according to the Uruguayan Minister of Interior it was not appropriate for Uruguay to demand these guarantees from a state such as Spain, where he argued that the rule of law applied and where there were sufficient guarantees for these rights to be observed.

However, under international law the judicial process, used by countries to decide whether extradition requests for an individual should be granted, should examine conditions and guarantees existing in the receiving country before decisions are made to grant or refuse the request.

Both Uruguay and Spain are bound by international standards which prohibit the extradition of a person to a country where they face a significant risk of human rights violations. Similar guarantees have been requested from Spain by other states following Amnesty International requests prior to the extradition of alleged ETA suspects from their territory.

"We are deeply concerned that the extradition went ahead when, to our knowledge, the necessary guarantees had not been obtained by the Uruguayan government", Amnesty International said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Further information on Amnesty International's concerns about the use of incommunicado detention and ill-treatment in Spain is available in an April 1993 report: Spain: Torture and Ill-Treatment: Summary of Amnesty International's Concerns AI Index EUR 41/01/93.