Torture

Amnesty International today urged the Egyptian authorities to order security police to stop harassing and intimidating the family of a man allegedly tortured to death in detention after being arrested in connection with the 1 January bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria. Sayyed Bilal was detained in Alexandria on 5 January by State Security Investigations (SSI) officers, and was dead by the next day. His family filed a complaint with the public prosecutor in Alexandria alleging that he was tortured to death, and have since been reportedly threatened by the SSI officers with detention and deaths of further family members.

“Both the death of Sayyed Bilal and the reported threats against his family are very disturbing developments and point to a continuing pattern of unlawful behaviour by the SSI, which has long been accused of using torture,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The Egyptian authorities must take immediate measures to protect the family, ensure an independent investigation into Sayyed Bilal’s death, and safeguard other detained suspects from torture or other ill-treatment.”

Amnesty International has welcomed the sentence handed to a former Argentine president responsible for crimes against humanity in the 1970s and '80s. Jorge Videla, a former military general, was found guilty of killing dissidents during the country's "Dirty War" - a period of military rule between 1976 and 1983.

The 85-year-old, who was the de facto president of Argentina between 1976 and 1981 after becoming the first leader of the military junta, was ruled "criminally responsible" for the torture and deaths of 31 prisoners in Córdoba.

Twenty-nine other military officers were also found guilty for the murders by a court in the city of Córdoba on Wednesday. Among them was General Luciano Benjamín Menendez, who was also sentenced to life in prison.

"This judgement represents another important step in the fight against impunity. Finally those responsible for the grave human rights abuses committed under past military regimes are being brought to justice," said Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International's Americas Deputy Director.

Videla was already serving a life jail term for abuses committed during the "Dirty War".

Eyewitnesses have told Amnesty International that abductions, disappearances and physical abuse are increasing as post-election violence escalates in Côte d’Ivoire. Amnesty International has received a growing number of reports of people being arrested or abducted at home or on the streets, often by unidentified armed attackers accompanied by elements of the Defence and Security Forces and militia groups.

Gendarmes and police officials are accused of attacking a mosque in Grand-Bassam, using live ammunition on crowds and of beating and groping female protestors.

“It is clear that more and more people are being illegally detained by security forces or armed militiamen and we fear that many of them may have been killed or have disappeared,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s West Africa researcher.

Amnesty International has condemned the Spanish authorities’ decision to forcibly return a man accused of terrorism-related offences to Morocco where he faces the risk of torture, incommunicado detention and unfair trial. Ali Aarrass was extradited from Spain to Morocco last Tuesday. The dual Belgian-Moroccan national had been held in Spain since his arrest in April 2008.

The Moroccan authorities accuse him of belonging to a terrorist network headed by Abdelkader Belliraj, a Belgian-Moroccan national who was sentenced to life imprisonment last year in Morocco after he and others were convicted of planning terrorist acts.

"By forcibly returning Ali Aarrass to Morocco, the Spanish authorities have exposed him to a serious risk of torture and other human rights violations amid persistent reports of abuses by Moroccan security forces committed in the name of countering terrorism," said Andrea Huber, Deputy Programme Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.