News releases

The Australian government’s newly announced policy of transferring prisoners detained in Afghanistan to Afghan and United States forces could violate international law, Amnesty International warned today. On 14 December 2010, Australian Minister of Defence, Stephen Smith, announced an agreement for managing detainees, with allegedly ‘high risk’ prisoners handed over to the US, ‘low risk’ prisoners handed to Afghan forces, and the remainder of those being held released.

“The handover of detainees to the US and Afghan forces raises real concerns about potential human rights abuses,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. “The US continues to hold prisoners without access to fair legal processes. And the Afghan National Directorate of Security, which runs some of the detention facilities, is all too often linked to disturbing accounts of torture and mistreatment.”

Amnesty International has welcomed the arrest of a former Croatian military official accused of responsibility for war crimes committed during the 1991-95 war. Tomislav Merèep, who was named by Amnesty International in a report released yesterday as an individual whose case needed urgent attention, was arrested in Zagreb this morning at the request of the country’s state prosecutor.

"The arrest of Tomislav Merèep is a welcome development. Investigations into those alleged to have been involved in war crimes has been slow in coming,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Program Director at Amnesty International.

“People need to know the truth about events from the recent past that have marred the lives of many. Victims and their families need justice. The Croatian authorities must intensify efforts to investigate and, if appropriate, to prosecute all those responsible for committing crimes during the 1991-95 war.”

The arrest comes one day after the release of an Amnesty International report that called on Croatia to speed up the investigation and prosecution of war crime suspects.

Amnesty International is today calling on the Chinese government to end its intensifying crackdown on Chinese human rights activists ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony in Oslo on 10 December.

Amnesty International and Chinese human rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of people being detained, interrogated, or arrested in advance of the event honouring jailed Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo.

“The Chinese government’s travel restrictions target not just human rights defenders, but also ordinary travellers who somehow trigger the government’s suspicion,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “This reaction violates Chinese law as well as China’s international obligations and constitutes a serious breakdown in the rule of law.”

Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo is currently serving an 11-year sentence for “inciting subversion of state power" for his part as the leading author behind “Charter 08”, a manifesto calling for the recognition of fundamental human rights in China.

Video footage allegedly showing evidence of war crimes by Sri Lankan soldiers in the closing days of the war against members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) underlines the need for an independent investigation by the United Nations, Amnesty International said today. Footage aired this evening by the UK’s Channel 4 News television, allegedly reveals new details about the location, date and time of the events, the military units involved in the incident and the identity of at least one victim. The Channel 4 video was allegedly filmed in northern Sri Lanka in May 2009 and appears to show Sri Lankan soldiers executing prisoners. A portion of the five-minute video was aired last week, but the remainder was considered too graphic. Channel 4 released a similar, but shorter, video segment in August 2009.

On December 10th, thousands of Canadians across the country will join hundreds of thousands of activists in 50 countries to participate in the world’s largest letter-writing event. Write for Rights celebrates International Human Rights Day and the write-a-thon, as it is known has grown tremendously. Last year, participants used their pens or keyboards to send 700,000 letters to governments for people facing human rights violations. There were more than 2,000 events held in Canada alone. Events are held in schools, community centres, faith institutions, cafes and living rooms across the country. They write on behalf of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders under threat, and other cases of serious human rights violations. Participation in the event is free and open to everyone.

Amnesty International has called on the security forces in Côte d’Ivoire to protect civilians, as the number of people shot dead in violent incidents following the country's presidential elections rose to at least 20. Tensions have risen in Côte d’Ivoire since both presidential candidates in the 28 November election declared themselves the winners on Friday. Both the incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara have sworn themselves in, prompting increased clashes between supporters of both parties and the security forces.

The call comes ahead of meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Nigeria on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.

"The international community, especially the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and ECOWAS must take steps to prevent further escalation of violence in Côte d’Ivoire," said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher.

Amnesty International has condemned an armed raid led by a paramilitary force (gendarmerie) on an opposition party headquarters in the city of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire on 1 December, which left at least four people dead and several wounded. The raid happened at the offices of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), the party of Alassane Ouattara, a presidential candidate in last Sunday's election. More than 10 people were arrested during the attack in the Yopougon neighbourhood of Abidjan. The whereabouts of those arrested are unknown.

"If the authorities do not condemn this attack and bring those responsible to justice, it will be a sign that they condone this very serious human rights violation,” said Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s West African researcher.