November 2000

Over ten years ago on 26 December 1989, Zhuo Xiaojun was caught up in a fight outside his home in Changle County during which three people were wounded, two fatally. Posted: 30 Nov 2000

Amnesty International wrote to the Turkish authorities on 27 November 2000, to express its concern about solitary confinement and small group isolation in Turkey.The organisiation believes that prolonged isolation including small group isolation may have serious effects on the physical and mental health of prisoners and may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It can also facilitate torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. Posted: 29 Nov 2000

"The Government must sit up and take notice of the Foreign Affairs Committee's conclusion that the UK's human rights dialogue with China has "not yet delivered meaningful results", said Amnesty International UK. Posted: 29 Nov 2000

"The violent methods used by the Kenyan police over the weekend to break up rallies in various parts of the country are appalling,"Amnesty International said today. "The authorities appeared to be unwilling to prevent violence by some of their own supporters." Posted: 29 Nov 2000

A report by Amnesty International on torture in Bangladesh published in Dhaka today concludes that torture is a normal part of police investigations - a fact ignored by successive governments so long as the politically well-connected are exempted from such treatment. No serious attempt by any political party has been made to end the use of torture, despite Bangladesh having signed up to the UN Convention Against Torture in 1998 and the outlawing of torture under the Constitution. Posted: 29 Nov 2000

Amnesty International is calling on the government of Guinea Bissau to protect the human rights, including the right to freedom of expression of political opponents. "All the civilian detainees should be released immediately and unconditionally unless they are charged and tried incompliance with international standards of fair trial" said Amnesty International. Posted: 28 Nov 2000

Amnesty International is calling on the government of Mozambique to ensure that the investigation into the recent deaths in custody of least 80 people in Montepuez, is independent and thorough, and carried out by qualified experts. Posted: 27 Nov 2000

In a letter sent today to United Nations Security Council members, Amnesty International called for the deployment of human rights observers in the Occupied Territories, including areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, as a response to the continued grave human rights situation. Posted: 27 Nov 2000

"The torturers of Fatma Tokmak and her two-year-old son Azat are still free, despite the sufferings they caused," Amnesty International said on the occasion of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Posted: 27 Nov 2000

Amnesty International today expressed its deep concern about the decision of the Military Collegium of Russia's Supreme Court, in which it ordered the military court of the Pacific Fleet to reconsider the case of the Russian journalist and environmentalist Grigory Pasko. Posted: 24 Nov 2000

'The Man Who Cried', the latest film from British director Sally Potter, starring Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Johnny Depp and Harry Dean Stanton, will receive a gala screening on Tuesday 5 December in support of Amnesty International UK. Posted: 24 Nov 2000

Amnesty International today expressed shock at the killing of human rights defender T. Puroshottam in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and called on the authorities to order an immediate independent and impartial investigation. Posted: 24 Nov 2000

Amnesty International today expressed concern about tomorrow's trial in Kosovo of Momcilo Trajkovic, a Kosovo Serb and former police station commander, and about the fate of Afrim Zeqiri, an ethnic Albanian accused of the murder of three Serbs, who has been unlawfully imprisoned for at least two weeks. Posted: 23 Nov 2000

"The lack of concrete action by the Algerian authorities to address the wide range of outstanding human rights concerns, repeatedly raised by victims, their families and Algerian and international organizations, is a cause for deep disappointment," Amnesty International's delegates who visited Algeria from 5-19 November, have said. Posted: 23 Nov 2000

The Belarus government should immediately implement the UN Committee against Torture's recommendations to stop torture, said Amnesty International today. Posted: 22 Nov 2000

Yesterday's executions of two men sentenced to death 12 years ago are a sad reminder that the right to life in Malaysia is still not fully respected, Amnesty International said today. It also goes against worldwide trends towards the abolition of the death penalty. Posted: 22 Nov 2000

Two months after their dramatic arrest at Yangon train station, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and nine other National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders are still held under house arrest and should be released immediately, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 22 Nov 2000

Civilians are suffering worsening human rights abuses at the hands of both the Indonesian security forces and the armed opposition group in Aceh, Amnesty International said today launching three reports on women, children and human rights activists. Posted: 22 Nov 2000

The Chinese Government has yet to demonstrate it is willing to cooperate with all arms of the UN and enforce proper human rights protection, Amnesty International said today as China signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Posted: 21 Nov 2000

The Armenian Government should implement without delay recommendations issued by the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture on Friday in Geneva, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 21 Nov 2000