December 2000

Amnesty International expressed concerns about the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on 4 December not to bring any criminal charges against the police officers of the armed response unit who shot dead unarmed Harry Stanley on 22 September 1999, in Hackney, East London. Posted: 22 Dec 2000

The recent deaths of seven women prisoners in a California prison points to the pressing need for independent scrutiny of medical care, Amnesty International said today as it called for an independent investigation into the deaths. Posted: 21 Dec 2000

Amnesty International has written to the President of Albania to express concern over reports that supporters of the Democratic Party were ill-treated during arrest or in detention following last month's sometimes violent demonstrations. Posted: 21 Dec 2000

Amnesty International today condemned in the stongest terms the recent killings and massacres in Algeria that have claimed the lives of more than 100 civilians, including women and children, in the past week alone. Posted: 21 Dec 2000

Responding to reports in today's media (20 December) about a United Nations investigation into the trade in arms and diamonds in Sierra Leone, Amnesty International said, "This is not simply a question of the governments of Liberia and Burkina Faso directly contributing to a human rights catastrophe in Sierra Leone by using international criminal networks with tentacles in other African countries and the United Arab Emirates; it is also a tragic failure by powerful governments such as those of Belgium, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) to set up proper regulatory systems to control arms brokers and transporters and traders in rough diamonds." Posted: 21 Dec 2000

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by reports that Turkish security personnel today stormed 20 prisons, resulting in the deaths of at least 6 prisoners and 2 gendarmes, and dozens of injuries. The operation was designed to bring to an end a 61 day death fast by over 200 prisoners protesting at a plan to transfer them to smaller cells. The human rights organisation has today written to the Turkish government, calling upon it to: Posted: 20 Dec 2000

"While China claims it is committed to promoting and protecting human rights, the crackdown on the Falun Gong and other 'heretical' groups is being stepped up and the number of victims is growing daily," Amnesty International said today. Posted: 20 Dec 2000

The passing in parliament today of a blanket amnesty law for virtually all crimes and human rights abuses committed during the two-year ethnic conflict may encourage future political torturers and killers to expect to get away with atrocities, Amnesty International warned. Posted: 19 Dec 2000

"Lebanon should start the new century by declaring an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and commute all outstanding death sentences as a first step towards its abolition," Amnesty International said today. Posted: 19 Dec 2000

A new investigation is needed into the military police action on 22 April 2000 against indigenous and black groups, landless activists, and others protesting against Brazil's official 500th anniversary celebrations in Porto Seguro, Bahia state, said Amnesty International today in a new report. Posted: 18 Dec 2000

A new Turkish law providing for conditional prisoner releases "simply does not address concerns over Turkey's human rights record," Amnesty International said today. Posted: 15 Dec 2000

As North Korea seeks to normalise relations with the international community, Amnesty International reiterated its call for dialogue on human rights. The organisation today released a report on the plight of thousands of North Koreans who have fled to China to escape critical food shortages since 1994. Posted: 15 Dec 2000

"The mass detention of dissidents and political opponents in the weeks around the 52nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights indicates a continued disrespect by the Cuban authorities towards several of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Declaration," Amnesty International said today. "Although the number of prisoners of conscience in Cuba appears to have dropped slightly during 2000, these events clearly demonstrate the government's will to suppress attempts to exercise the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly." Posted: 15 Dec 2000

The Court made its ruling on the basis that there was no apparent impediment to the crimes included in the suit being investigated in Guatemala, and that there was no indication that the suit filed in Spain had first been rejected by Guatemalan Courts. Posted: 15 Dec 2000

Amnesty International today is calling for the immediate release of Dr Mazen Al-Najjar - a Palestinian detained in the USA for more than three years without charge on the basis of secret evidence purportedly linking him to a terrorist organisation. Posted: 14 Dec 2000

"The beating by the security forces of dozens of people over the weekend and the arrest of dozens more during demonstrations organised by human rights activists and political associations represent a serious affront to freedom of expression in Morocco," Amnesty International said today. Posted: 13 Dec 2000

Amnesty International today welcomed the reported release of 54 political prisoners including 46 Lebanese, seven Palestinians and one Egyptian from Syrian prisons. Those released, including 10 apparently arrested in 1999 and 2000, were handed over to Lebanese authorities. Posted: 13 Dec 2000

On the eve of the second anniversary of the arrest of Alpha Condé, President of the Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinée (RPG), Guinean People's Rally, and some of his supporters on 15 December 1998, Amnesty International is publishing a damning report on the unfair trial of 48 people accused of threatening the security of the State, before the Cour de Sûreté de l'État (CSE), State Security Court, which led to the sentencing of Alpha Conde to five years' imprisonment. Ten others were also given prison sentences ranging from one year suspended to three years, and four were convicted in absentia. Posted: 12 Dec 2000

On the sixth anniversary of the start of the first Chechen war, Amnesty International today called upon the international community to apply pressure on Russia to bring to justice those accused of human rights abuses in the breakaway republic. Posted: 12 Dec 2000

Torture has become an institution in Myanmar, used throughout the country on a regular basis, Amnesty International said today in a new report. Police and the army continue to use torture to extract information, punish, humiliate and control the population. Posted: 12 Dec 2000