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Amnesty International

International Secretariat

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 8DJ

United Kingdom

TO: PRESS OFFICERS

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

DATE: 18 DECEMBER 1991

WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 48/91

Contained in this weekly update are external items on Cyprus and Burundi.

Please note that there will be no Weekly Update next week or the following

week because of national holidays in the UK. The next Weekly Update will be

sent out in the week of 6 January 1992.

1. NEWS INITIATIVES - INTERNAL

Women's Action - 5 February 1992

An international news release on rape and sexual assault in custody to

follow a Focus article in the International Newsletter.

Philippines - 26 February 1992

An international news release to go with a document on extrajudicial

executions. Possible questions and answers.

India - 27 March 1991

An international news release for the campaign against rape, torture and

deaths in custody.

Weekly Update NWS 11/48/91

2. EUR 17/WU 01/91 EXTERNAL

18 December 1991

CYPRUS: GOVERNMENT MOVES TOWARDS RECOGNIZING CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

Amnesty International has welcomed moves by the Cypriot government towards

recognizing the right to conscientious objection to military service in

Cyprus. However, the organization is concerned that they do not go far

enough.

According to a Cyprus News Agency report, on 12 December the

government tabled a bill which, if passed, would offer religious

conscientious objectors to military service three years' unarmed military

service or four years in social service as alternatives to the 26-month

normal military service.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has recognized

conscientious objection to military service as a fundamental human right,

and has called on governments to offer an alternative service which is

civilian and not punitive in nature. Amnesty International considers the

provisions proposed by the Cypriot government a definite improvement on the

current lack of any alternative, but is concerned that they fall short of

international standards on a number of counts.

Firstly, the alternative service would be available to religious

objectors only. Amnesty International has appealed repeatedly to the

government to recognize the right to conscientious objection on moral,

pacifist, philosophical, political and other grounds. Secondly, in Amnesty

International's view, its length - almost twice as long as ordinary

military service - is punitive, and as such falls short of United Nations

and Council of Europe standards.

"Defence Minister Andreas Aloneftis himself said that the length of

the proposed service was intended to act as a deterrent," said AI. "Both

the United Nations and the Council of Europe have called on states to

implement a service which is not of a punitive nature."

Amnesty International is calling on the government to amend the draft

legislation before it is passed and also to ensure that the service

provided is indeed purely civilian and under civilian control and that it

is also open to people whose conscientious objections develop after they

are drafted into the armed forces. If the bill were passed without these

crucial considerations being taken into account, Amnesty International

would consider conscientious objectors imprisoned either because they were

not covered by the provisions of the amendment or for refusing to perform

the service on grounds of its punitive length to be prisoners of

conscience.

This year, Amnesty International has adopted some 20 Cypriot

conscientious objectors as prisoners of conscience. They were all

Jehovah's Witnesses who were given sentences of up to six months for

refusing to perform military service or take part in reservist exercises.

Some of these men were serving their second or third prison sentence for

their conscientious objection. At the end of November two conscientious

objectors were in jail in Cyprus.

Not all conscientious objectors in Cyprus have objected to military

service on religious grounds. In 1989 Amnesty International adopted as a

prisoner of conscience Yannis Parpas, the first known conscientious

objector in Cyprus who was not a Jehovah's Witness. He objected to

military service in Cyprus on political grounds and was released in

December 1989 after spending six months in prison.

Weekly Update NWS 11/48/91

3. AFR 16/WU 01/91 EXTERNAL

18 December 1991

BURUNDI: REPORTS OF SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Amnesty International has received numerous reports of serious human rights

violations carried out by members of the Burundi security forces. The

violations come in the aftermath of violent attacks by armed government

opponents on military and other installations in the capital, Bujumbura,

and in the northwestern provinces of Bubanza and Cibitoke, which started on

23 November 1991. Reports concern arbitrary arrests, torture and other

forms of ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions and "disappearances".

The victims of recent human rights violations appear all to belong to

Burundi's majority Hutu ethnic group, whereas the security forces continue

to be dominated by the Tutsi minority. The authorities blame a clandestine

Hutu political organization for the attacks in late November and early

December.

Although few details are available of developments in the northwest,

there are reported to have been as many as 1,000 extrajudicial executions

by the security forces, mainly in Cibitoke and Bubanza provinces. Many

appear to have been carried out as reprisals or on the basis, without

evidence, that the victims had been involved in armed opposition. For

example, after searching one house in Muzinda, 15 kilometres north of

Bujumbura, in late November and finding a suspect was not there, soldiers

reportedly threw a grenade into the house, killing six people, four of them

children aged between eight months and 6 years. On 27 November soldiers

opened fire apparently without provocation on a group of at least 30 people

in Cibitoke province, including five government agricultural station

workers, killing all of them. In other cases, prisoners are reported to

have been executed extrajudicially in military custody at several army

barracks in Bujumbura. About 30 people are reported to have "disappeared":

unofficial sources report that they were arrested but the authorities deny

they are in custody and there are fears that they may be dead.

These reports suggest that extrajudicial executions are occurring

similar to those committed on several occasions in the past, particularly

in 1965, 1969, 1972 and, most recently, in 1988. Following thousands of

killings by the army in 1988, the government refused to take action to

bring soldiers responsible for human rights violations to justice, although

at a political level steps were taken to bring about reconciliation between

Hutu and Tutsi.

In addition to the recent killings, at least 159 people arrested in

connection with the violent attacks on 23 November are reported to be still

in custody in Bujumbura. About 150 others were detained but have been

released. Amnesty International is concerned that many of those still

detained are held on the basis of unsubstantiated evidence, such as

denunciations by their personal enemies. Many of those arrested are

reported to have been subjected to severe beatings, both at the time of

their arrest and later, while in custody. For example, Isidore Ciiza, a

farmer and taxi operator arrested on 9 December is reported to have

sustained two broken ribs and swollen ankles as a result of beatings.

Amnesty International has called on the Burundi Government to take

action to end the present wave of gross human rights violations. It has

received no response to its appeals so far. As in 1988, the organization is

calling on the government to set up an independent and impartial inquiry

into reports of human rights violations and to bring those responsible to

justice. Amnesty International is also urging the authorities to end the

apparent impunity of the armed forces and to take action to prevent them

repeatedly committing human rights violations at times of political crisis.

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Amnesty International

International Secretariat

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 8DJ

United Kingdom

TO: PRESS OFFICERS

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

DATE: 20 December 1991

ADDITION TO WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 48/91

Contained in this addition to the weekly update are external items on Syria

and the USA.

PLEASE NOTE that all sections were sent out the latest Facts and Figures

earlier this week. Unfortunately, it seems it went out with two mistakes.

The first is the number of volunteer groups worldwide, which is given on

page 1 as 4230. This is being checked and may well be higher. The second

mistake is an editing query which has not been deleted - on page 4 please

delete the word (NEW?) which appears at the bottom of the page.

We will get back to you as soon as possible with the correct number of

volunteer groups. Our apologies for the mistakes.

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Weekly Update NWS 11/48/91 add

1. MDE 24/WU 03/91 EXTERNAL

20 December 1991

SYRIA: AI ASKS GOVERNMENT FOR DETAILS ON PRISONER RELEASES - EXPRESSES

CONCERN ABOUT HUNDREDS STILL DETAINED

Amnesty International has today written to the Syrian government asking it

to make public the list of prisoners reported to have been pardoned and

released in recent days.

The human rights organization is also asking for details of any

charges or trials these people faced, since many are believed to have been

detained for up to 10 years without ever being charged or tried.

The human rights organization remains concerned about the hundreds of

political prisoners, many of them prisoners of conscience, that it believes

may still be held in detention without charge or trial.

"The release of hundreds of these prisoners is obviously an important

step in the right direction," Amnesty International said. "But we're still

concerned about the fact that many should never have been behind bars in

the first place and that thousands could still be unfairly held without

ever being charged or tried."

The government has announced that some 2,800 prisoners "who committed

crimes against national security" have been pardoned and are to be freed

immediately.

Amnesty International has been able to confirm from reliable sources

that more than 700 prisoners have been released since 14 December and

understands that further releases are expected. The majority of those

already released are reported to be connected with various banned political

parties and of the Engineers' Association. None had been charged or tried

and many were detained for over ten years. An estimated 60 women were also

released on 1 December including members of the Party for Communist Action

and people held in lieu of their relatives.

But the organization said there is still considerable uncertainty

about who has been pardoned and whether some of those said to have been

released have in fact been freed. Amnesty International has heard that one

prisoner of conscience, Ghassan Najjar, who was said to have been released

from prison was in fact transferred to another prison. He had been detained

without charge or trial for 11 years for taking part in a one-day strike

protesting against the state of emergency in effect since 1963.

Other prisoners that Amnesty International believes are still being

held include former government officials, such as Hakem al-Faiz, a prisoner

of conscience held since 1971; members of the Communist Party - Political

Bureau such as Riad al-Turk, detained since 1980; and others such as Bara

al-Sarraj held in lieu of his uncle 'Adnan Sa'd al-Din, a leading figure in

the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, who has been held since 1984.

Under the state of emergency imposed in 1963, security forces have

wide powers to arrest and detain indefinitely men and women accused of

"endangering security and public order". In practice, these powers have

been grossly abused, resulting in thousands of arbitrary arrests with those

arrested held sometimes for up to 20 years without being charged or tried.

Sometimes women and children have been arrested as a form of punishment for

male relatives already in detention.

Amnesty International also remains concerned about reports of

systematic and widespread torture or ill-treatment in Syrian prisons and

detention centres and the continuing use of the death penalty.

Last year, at least four prisoners died in custody, allegedly as a

result of torture, including having eyes gouged out and electric shocks

applied. The same number of people were publicly hanged in Damascus in

1990.

Weekly Update NWS 11/48/91 add

2. AMR 51/WU 05/91 EXTERNAL

20 December 1991

USA: JUVENILE OFFENDER SCHEDULED TO BE EXECUTED IN TEXAS IN JANUARY 1992

Johnny Frank Garrett is due to be executed in Texas on 7 January for a

crime committed when he was 17. Garrett was convicted of the rape and

murder of a nun and sentenced to death in September 1982. If this execution

is carried out, he will become the fifth juvenile offender executed in the

USA since the death penalty was reintroduced in the 1970s, and the third in

Texas under its current death penalty laws.

According to reports, Johnny Garrett has a history of drug and alcohol

abuse, has been diagnosed as chronically psychotic and suffered several

head injuries. Yet the jury at his trial was apparently not given an

opportunity to consider this important mitigating evidence in deciding

whether to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The sisters of St Francis' convent, to which the murdered nun belonged, and

the Roman Catholic Bishops of Texas have all strongly opposed the execution

of Johnny Garrett. In 1984 the Texas Catholic Conference called on the

Texas legislature to ban capital punishment in the state. "We reject the

notion that capital punishment is a deterrent to, or an acceptable

punishment for, these abominable acts," said the conference. "The sanctity

of life at all stages of its development must be safeguarded."

The execution of juvenile offenders is extremely rare worldwide. More than

70 countries which retain the death penalty in law have abolished it for

people aged under 18 at the time of the crime. The USA is one of only seven

countries known to have executed juvenile offenders in the last decade (the

other countries are Barbados, which has since raised its minimum age to 18;

Iran; Iraq; Nigeria; Pakistan and Bangladesh). Some 30 juvenile offenders

are currently under sentence of death in twelve US states.

The imposition of the death penalty on juvenile offenders is in clear

contravention of international human rights standards on the death penalty,

including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the

American Convention on Human Rights, both of which the US government signed

in 1977 but has not yet ratified.

Treaties and standards exempting people under 18 from the death penalty

were developed in recognition of the fact that the death penalty is wholly

inappropriate for individuals who have not attained full physical or

emotional maturity. However heinous the crime, the imposition on a young

person of a sentence which denies any possibility of eventual

rehabilitation or reform is contrary to contemporary standards of justice

and humane treatment.

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Amnesty International

International Secretariat

1 Easton Street

London WCIX 8DJ

United Kingdom

TO: PRESS OFFICERS

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

DATE: 20 DECEMBER 1991

ADDITION TO WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 48/91

Contained in this addition to the weekly update is an internal item on the resignation of Secretary General Ian Martin.

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Weekly Update NWS 11/48/91 add

1. ORG 60/WU 02/91 INTERNAL: FOR RESPONSE

23 December 1991

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON SECRETARY GENERAL'S RESIGNATION

A surprise article appeared in The Observer newspaper in London this Sunday giving an account of the resignation of Secretary General Ian Martin. It contained a number of inaccuracies and unattributed quotations, although it made it clear that "turmoil" within the organization was over following the decisions made in Yokohama. Stories based on this article have since been carried by several news agencies and in other media. Some of them refer to a "statement": no statement of any sort has been issued by the IS -- we have responded to the very small number of media inquiries about this as they have arisen.

Over the weekend, we gave quotes on Ian's behalf to Reuters news agency to make it clear that there was no leadership crisis in AI. You are free to use these if you need to: "Although I submitted my resignation in February, the work to which all of us at AI are committed has in no way been diminished. It was important that internal organizational issues be addressed and I have confidence in the way this is being done by the new IEC elected in September: it is now a logical time for the transition to a new Secretary General.

"It has been an immense privilege to be AI's Secretary General during the past five years of rapid political change in which the profile of human rights has been raised higher than ever. AI is a wonderful organization whose highly effective contribution to human rights will go on increasing and which I am continuing to lead with conviction until I hand over to my successor next year."

Please refer any inquiries about Ian's resignation to the Press Office at the IS. If you face any particular problems as a result of the distorted reports, please let us know so that we can see whether further advice or guidance for all press officers is needed.

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