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Following the ruling of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ordering President Jimmy Morales and high-ranking immigration officials to allow the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG by its initials in Spanish) entry to the country, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:

“The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala is an unprecedented initiative in the region in the fight against corruption and impunity, which continue to plague the region and lead to human rights violations being committed. In hindering the work of the CICIG the government is putting the sustainability and operations of institutions at all levels at great risk, affecting the state’s ability to fully guarantee the Guatemalan people’s right to exercise their human rights.

“The Guatemalan Constitutional Court’s order is clear. High-ranking public officials, including the president, must comply with the ruling allowing the re-entry of the CICIG Commissioner, Iván Velásquez. Failure to do so would lead to autocracy and disregard for rule of law in the country.”

Amnesty International is deeply disappointed by the adjournment of Abousfian Abdelrazik’s civil case against the federal government in which he is seeking remedy for Canada’s role in grave human rights abuses he endured while detained in Sudan from 2003-2006 and for obstruction of his return to Canada until 2009. The adjournment was granted following an indication, on the eve of the opening of the long-anticipated 8-week trial, that the government is making an application under Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act, for documents which the government itself has already released to be reviewed for national security concerns.  

Notably Federal Court Justice St. Louis agrees to grant the adjournment “reluctantly” and orders the government to immediately pay the costs of Mr. Abdelrazik’s legal team in preparing for trial, costs that she concludes have been “thrown away as a result of the adjournment”.

Responding to news that 24 Yemenis from the Baha’i faith - including eight women and a child – are facing charges that could result in death sentences by the Huthi-controlled Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said:

“Once again, we are seeing trumped up charges and flagrantly unfair proceedings used to persecute Yemeni Baha’is for their faith. And it is particularly abhorrent that some of these men and women could face the death penalty for their conscientiously held beliefs and peaceful activities.

“The group, which includes a teenage girl, were charged with various serious offences including espionage for foreign states, some of which can carry the death penalty. The Huthi authorities should drop these bogus charges, release those who are arbitrarily detained and end their abuse of the justice system to punish freedom of belief and persecute political critics, journalists, activists, Baha’is and other minorities.”

Background

The Ethiopian authorities must thoroughly and effectively investigate the violent dispersal of demonstrators by police in Addis Ababa today in which five people were shot dead, Amnesty International said. Today’s deaths follow a weekend of ethnic clashes in which more than 58 people were killed.

The demonstrators had taken to the streets of the Ethiopian capital to protest government inaction over ethnically motivated clashes that also wounded and displaced dozens of people. It was the latest incident in a spate of ethnic unrest that has killed hundreds of people and forced 1.5 million more to flee their homes in the past year.

“There is no excuse for the use of lethal force against people who are peacefully protesting. The authorities must leave no stone unturned to identify and bring to justice those suspected to be responsible for these senseless deaths. The first step is to order an investigation into the conduct of the police force,” said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

The Venezuelan state is using lethal force with intent to kill against the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in the country. It is violating their rights and treating them like criminals because of the circumstances in which they live, when it should be implementing preventive crime control policies that are in line with international human rights standards, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

“The government of President Maduro should guarantee the right to life, instead of taking the lives of the country's young people. All young people living in poverty should have equal opportunities for their future, and not live with the fear that the police or military see them as enemies that must be eradicated,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Responding to comments by Myanmar's State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, at the World Economic Forum in Hanoi today defending the conviction of Reuters journalists Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo, Minar Pimple, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Global Operations, said:

“This is a disgraceful attempt by Aung San Suu Kyi to defend the indefensible. To say that this case had ‘nothing to do with freedom of expression’ and that Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo ‘were not jailed for being journalists’ is a deluded misrepresentation of the facts.

“These two men were convicted under a draconian, colonial-era law that was deliberately misused to halt their investigations into the appalling atrocities that took place in Rakhine State. From start to finish, the case was nothing more than a brazen attack on freedom of expression and independent journalism in Myanmar

Message of support from Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International Secretary General

Ghana has lost one of its finest sons, Africa has lost a giant, and the world has lost a moral compass. This is a time of grieving not only for those who knew him well, but for countless people across the world whose lives were touched by the life he so exceptionally led. As a fellow African and a leader working for peace and justice, I count myself privileged to be among their number.

First and foremost, I would like to share my deepest condolences with his wife Nane and the rest of the Annan family. But I would also like to pay this tribute to Kofi Annan from the perspective of civil society and the struggles in which we are engaged – struggles which were engraved on his heart throughout his life.